It's that time again... Leaving this one public.

Sun, 31 May 2009 21:31:11 GMT

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Writer's Block: Close Call

Thu, 21 May 2009 16:40:04 GMT

Accidents happen all the time, and often we walk away miraculously uninjured. What has been your closest call with avoiding serious harm in an accident?

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Years ago, Janie, Erica, Matt S. and I were hanging out and we decided to go up to my old jr. high's parking lot and screw around. Matt and I got onto the hood of Erica's car and she drove around the parking lot (which was empty, btw) and as soon as she turned the corner, I flew off and hit the pavement. Everyone thought I was dead because I wasn't moving, but I wasn't actually hurt at all and instead of crying, I laughed my ass off. I didn't break anything, not even my glasses, and all I had was a nice scrape up my arm. It was a pretty funny experience.

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Completely unrelated: I hate when people post in lword about the cast members' new projects. Make a fan community for the person/show/movie/whatever and keep it out of the TLW community, because it has nothing to do with the show or its characters. :|

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:22:34 GMT

Alright, I'm going to quit being lazy and write about the show. Like I've said a million times, it kicked major, major ass and it was totally worth the long ass (and almost deadly!) drive there and back, not sleeping for over 24 hours and being sore as hell for at least another day.

The doors opened at 7:30 and I decided to get there around 7, so I had a chance at getting a good spot. I'd been walking around all day with my family and went back to the hotel around 6, hoping to get in a short nap so I didn't die at the show, but wasn't able to because my key was deactivated and my family was like, halfway down the strip and took a while getting back to our hotel, to let me in. No biggie, I was still able to chill for a couple minutes and that was enough. I got to the House of Blues a little before 7, got in line, talked to some people, blah, blah, blah. A few minutes later, I was told to move to another line and others followed. I talked to some of them for a little while and when we were all moved back over to where we were previously, we talked some more and I found out that a couple of them were also Gina fans, so we kind of bonded a little bit over that and it was fun. We were let in and we made our way down to where we were to go and I ended up close to the front, right in the center, with only two people in front of me. I kept looking up at the stage thinking, wow, Jaren and Chrissie are going to be right there. More people filed in, but it didn't get crowded and I had plenty of room to move around and it was comfortable. This girl in front of me was dancing to the music they were playing and she'd clap and yell Chrissie's name after every few songs, which might have been a little annoying, had she not been cute as hell :X

About an hour after standing around, waiting for the show to start, American Bang took the stage. Jaren looked hot, I have to say. He said, when they first got on stage, that they were staying at the Luxor, which is where we stayed. Too bad I didn't run into them at all. Anyway...They played Rock 'n Roll Queen, after a song I hadn't heard before, and that was when I really started to enjoy myself, because I fucking love that song. They played a couple others that I love, including Traffic and Wild and Young (which was amazing), as well as a couple I didn't know, and before I even knew it, they were through. I was hoping they would play All Night Long, seeing as how that song was one of the reasons I decided to go in the first place (it always gets me to do things when I'm having second thoughts, haha), but they kicked ass and it was great getting to see them. Hopefully it won't be the last time.

Chrissie and Co. came out about 15, 20 minutes after American Bang finished up and everyone went nuts, naturally. Chrissie was smokin', which is another given. She had on a white jacket, over a black vest-like top and a blue and white polka dot tie, with skinny jeans and a pair of really awesome sparkly silver boots. They opened with Boots of Chinese Plastic and played seven others from the new album (not in order): Boots, The Last Ride, Love's A Mystery, Break Up the Concrete, Don't Cut Your Hair, Rosalee (a favorite) and Don't Lose Faith in Me. She dedicated Don't Cut Your Hair to all of the guys in the audience, when she should have dedicated it to American Bang, haha. I don't remember the order of all of the songs, except for the two encores, but this is what was played: Stop Your Sobbing, Talk of the Town, Brass In Pocket, Kid, Don't Get Me Wrong, Back on the Chain Gang, Tequila (which is one of my all-time favorites), Thumbelina, Day After Day, Cuban Slide, Message of Love, Encore #1: The Wait and Tattooed Love Boys and Encore #2: Up the Neck and Precious. I think that's all they played....fuck me if I'm wrong. Hearing Precious live was a treat, because I love that song and it was a great song to end with. Chrissie was phenomenal, duh, and the rest of the guys killed it, as well. James Walbourne, the (newer) lead guitar player, kicked ASS. He got so into it and it was amazing to watch him play. He was with them when they came to Salt Lake in 2007, but I had kind of lame seats and wasn't really able to take him in back then. Chrissie's dancing is always great, I love it, and for as much as she hates Brass In Pocket, she sure plays it up when she does that song. Some guy close to me kept calling out to her and when she responded, he said something like, "I WANNA CLEAN YOUR CARPET!" and she just looked at him for a second and then laughed at him and started into the next song. And after the fourth song or so, she tossed a pick out into the audience and it hit me, but I wasn't able to catch it, or find it afterward, what a bummer.

It was one awesome show and as much as I wanted to stick around for a bit afterward, I was so exhausted, so I went back to the hotel instead. I passed Jaren on my way out, by the bar, and was going to say hi and tell him that they did an awesome job, but he was talking to someone else, so I just kept walking. I didn't get any merch because all I had on me was a 20 and the only things they had for that were a beanie, a belt buckle and pins, and I don't like beanies, don't wear belts and have no room for anymore pins. I would have loved to have gotten the North American tour hoodie or the Boots shirt, but they were too much. I can always buy something online if I feel like it, right? Right.

Anyway, that about sums it all up. For the millionth time, it was awesome, I had the best time and the only way things could have been better is if I had met Chrissie. Maybe tomorrow... maybe some day...