When the shit hits the fan

Well... looking for NYC hotels online. There is NOTHING in Manhattan... EVERY SINGLE HOTEL is sold out. We think there's some convention going on there.
But there ARE vacant hotels in Brooklyn and Queens, but Bri doesn't want to take the subway for a few minutes to get back and forth. I think THAT constitutes lazy. And isn't that a sin or something?

Brianna wants to go to Miami... i really don't. I could settle for LA or San Fransisco.. but not fucking Miami. I want culture, dammit!

Fuck.

Listening to Circa Survive.
The new cd, 'On Letting Go' i really kickass... good enough to spend your money on. I did, and you know I generally buy music, I STEAL music.

So I was at Warped Tour the day before yesterday (July 14th). It was AMAZING. There is no other way to describe it quite honestly.

I saw:

Killswitch Engage
Circa Survive
Coheed And Cambria
Family Force 5
Tiger Army
The Unseen
Bad Religion
Pennywise
Paramore
Chiodos
Big D and the Kids Table
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Funeral For A Friend
Pepper
New Found Glory
Yellowcard
Cute Is What We Aim For
The Starting Line


Everyone put on great shows, but I must say this year's Best Warped Tour Show goes to FAMILY FORCE 5, for sure. They got out the motorcycle helmets, ski suits, big-ass golden gloves and they just BROUGHT IT. Fuck they can rock. I love them... I hadn't really heard of them before Warped, but they're surely at the top of my list now.

It was really great to get to see LEGENDS like Band Religion, The Unseen, Pennywise and Tiger Army, bands I've been waiting to see since I first got into punk.

Coheed and Cambria's set was awesome, everything and more than I had expected. I love Claudio's hair, it's gotten even bigger. It was incredible when they played 'A Favor House Atlantic' and the entire crown sang like half the song while Coheed held their mics out towards us.
Oh yeah, and I was at the very front :)

Killswitch Engage's shows was just stellar as well, and the onstage antics were a definite plus. Adam came onstage in a straw sombrero and cut-off jeans, looking totallt hick (and hot)... and he kept cracking demeaning yet hilarious jokes, enough that they stopped playing for like a minute because Howard was on the floor laughing his ass off so hard he couldn't sing.
God I love them.
And I met them, too...
I went to their signing and shook their hands. They signed my orange tank top and a poster. I shook their hands and while I shook Howard's I let it slip that I was there from Sweden and he and Adam were like "Oh my god, wow".
Then Adam said something like "Dude, you should've brought meatballs for me, why didn't you bring me meatballs?"
So I explained to him that it was because I'm vegetarian and then he went
"There's this really good coffee they have in Sweden you could've brought me... I forgot what it's called..." And then he looked at me all confused like he was scanning his brain for the answer. I was like "Oh, you mean Gevalia?"
And yeah, he meant Gevalia... so we exchanged smiles and I told them again how much I fucking love their band.

Took a bunch of pics... should be getting those up sometime..


Circa Survive's set was almost on a par with Family Force 5's! Just in a different way. MAN did Anthony get the crowd going!
I got there early, before Yellowcard had finished their set, but it was already so packed I couldn't get to the very front.
They played a lot of stuff off the new cd, 'On Letting Go', and the crowd went NUTS.
Like, we were moshing and swaying so hard and everyone was trying to crowd to the front. That's why I wasn't able to get a single picture of Circa.
Oh well... the experience will make me never forget that show.
Anthony put on this ugly wrestling mask right before the end of the second to last song and then 4 HUGE WRESTLING DUDES got onstage and just stood there for the rest of that song. When it was over, Anthony tossed his mask into the crown and the guy standing RIGHT nest to me caught it. I was pissed, but hey... I didn't catch it.
THEN, and this was the best part, their last song was Act Appalled, my favorite song from Circa Survive. EVERYONE sang along and it was just amazing... I didn't want it to end.

And that was the last band that performed. Then I just left and waited for Mom to come pick me up. I'm bruised, cramped, stiff and sunburned still, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Also, between bands I picked up this year's Vans Warped Tour compilation CD and like 6 free cd's from different stands. Got some other free stuff too, magazines, pins and bandanas. At the RAN stand, I got into a really good conversation with a cute (and most likely gay) guy and he gave me tons of really cool feminist, anarchist, environmentalist, hardcore/punk literature. It's all really awesome, and I got to meet a new face :)

Also... I hadn't heard of Chiodos or Big D and the Kids Table before, but they were both really great live. Amazing, really. Chiodos play really good metalcore stuff and Big D play ska/punk stuff that's really fun to skank (ska dance) to. And they had an entire brass section of horns onstage too!

So, besides KsE, I met and got stuff signed by Family Force 5, The Unseen and Funeral For A Friend. They were all really nice, and so human.

This year's Warped Tour has made me realize that music really IS what I want to work with, now more than ever. I want to be in the hot new band perrforming on the Lucky stage at Warped in a couple years. And If I strike gold with my music, I wouldn't hesitate a second to put college on hold.

Because I really just want to be happy, and music is my passion.