always been crazy

I'm really bad at concert posts, but we'll try. :) I took Davey to see The Used in Charlotte last night. For anyone who doesn't know, Davey is my 8yo. He's completely ridiculous and full of himself and awesome (both my kids are awesome in their own ways, but Ronnie doesn't like music, which is why he didn't go - he and I are going to take a day and go to the aquarium in Baltimore in a few weeks, which is much more his thing) and has been asking me for about a year now to take him to see The Used. So, I took half a day off work, pulled him out of school early, and made the three hour drive to Charlotte.

We got to the venue about ten minutes or so before doors, and it was super cold and windy outside.

( Davey freezing waiting in line for the doors to open )

There were these two teenies behind us in spaghetti strap tank tops whining about being cold. Um, put some clothes on? Idiots.

We made friends with the couple in front of us, though, they were pretty cool. Inside, there were three different tiers of standing room, so after a stop at the merch tables we staked out a spot by the railing in the center of the second tier.

Drive A was, as always, energetic and loud and fun and adorable. I quite adore them, as the use of "adorable" may imply, but really. I LOVE THE BABY BAND! There was a group of teenies behind us talking shit about them at one point, but then Davey turned around and glared at them (while singing along, of course) and they moved off somewhere. My kid is fierce, yall. *g*

( a few pics of Drive A )

I really like the colors in some of those pics, lol. Maybe Davey will win another photography prize with his concert pictures this year at the Salem Fair.

( Davey waiting between sets )

Davey did take a handful of pictures of Atreyu as well, but he wasn't quite as impressed with them. Maybe b/c I don't listen to them much? Idk.

( pics of Atreyu )

Then we abandoned our spot and the guys next to us that kept spilling their beer, and went to the merch table to get Jason to sign Davey's Drive A poster. Jason was the only one out there at that time, although Taylor came out a little later and Bruno was around at the end of the show, but we never ventured back over.

( Davey waiting impatiently for The Used )

The Used is so fucking awesome, yall. I <3 them. They actually didn't come right out and start with Blood on My Hands like I was expecting. Dan and Quinn and Jepha came out and were just fucking off playing random shit for several minutes before Bert came out. Bert made sure to tell us more than once it was his birthday. ("It's my fucking birthday; we'll play whatever the fuck song I want!" and "Fuck you, bitch, it's my fucking birthday!") The crowd did sing Happy Birthday to Bert, obviously, and Bert said something along the lines of thinking he was going to be another one who died at the age of 27 but fuck that he made it to 28. Which, obviously, all of us are glad for.

I didn't get pictures of The Used because I spent the entire set with Davey either on my back or on my shoulders. But to give you a bit of perspective of where we were, here's a ( picture of the stage before they came on )

Bert said that the night before he had been trying to convince Bruno to smoke pot with him and Bruno kept telling him no, so Bert finally tackeled that motherfucker and blew pot smoke into his mouth til he was fucked up. Then Bert said he really just wanted an excuse to put his lips on Bruno because Drive A is really fucking adorable. <3333333

At one point, Bert asked if anyone's pussy was getting wet and he immediately turned around and pointed at Jepha and was all "I know your's is", which obviously made my mind go straight to dirty. And I missed part of what he said to Dan after that b/c there was something about Dan's pussy being all dry and dusty. Idek about our boys, yall. <3

Davey was ridiculous. I really kinda wish someone had been with us to get a picture of him. He was on my back or on my shoulders just rocking out and singing along and attracting all kinds of attention, lol. I love my kid, yall. Fyi, Davey's favorite TU song is All That I Got (probably b/c it was the first one he actually heard/learned; you know how that one always stick with you?) and he was SO EXCITED that they played it.

Oh, and Dan knocked over his kit at the end of the show? He had almost knocked part of it over when they came back for their encore because he leaned over it to give Bert a hug, but at the end of everything, I think maybe he was trying to climb over it or something but ended up tripping over it and knocking like half of it over, so then he just kinda shoved the rest of it over? idek, yall.

Afterwards, ( we waited around for m&g. )

Davey and Jepha had a conversation about Perry the Platypus, and I didn't get to hear what he talked to Dan and Quinn about, but he made buddies with Bert and got Bert birthday hugs and that totally made Davey's night. He got them to sign his new Blood on my Hands tshirt and also his shoes. I got them to sign a onesie and Jepha kinda laughed when I set in on the table so I explained that my little sister found out she was pregnant just before we saw them in Baltimore back in the fall so technically the baby's first concert was The Used and Jepha was like "that's awesome! a little weird to think about, but awesome!" And Quinn signed it and was like "is this for your baby girl?" and so I repeated my story and he was like "awww!" and took the onesie back to write "the USED" on it and draw little lines that he said were a cloud. :)

( pics of the shoes & the onesie )

And then I drove three hours home in heavy winds and blowing snow. boooooo!! But Davey had a great time, which is really what counts most, and it was definitely worth it. ♥

So, I just typed up an lj post & went to post it & got an "oops" msg. Wtfh? Let's see if I can remember it.

DAN WHITESIDES IS TOTALLY TINY! HE WOULD TOTALLY FIT IN THE TRUNK! I was actually gonna tweet yesterday about how we were cleaning out the trunk so we could kidnap a drummer, but I figured it could possibly misconstrued. Or properly construed, whatever. (Also, I have no idea how to spell "construed" lol)

I'm not quite sure why snarkyrainbow and I don't have a Dan sandwich (b/c he would totally fit!), but I guess it's for the best. I wouldn't wanna deprive those of you who haven't seen them yet of Dan. Even if Dan the Man Who Can cannot toss a drumstick in the air and catch it 2/3 of the time. Although, at the Dallas show we watched him break a drumstick, toss it over his shoulder, and grab another one to keep going without ever missing a beat. HOT. Fucking drummers, idek.

I'm not gonna go into actual concert recaps, but I'll hit the highlights?

Got to hang out with wendy on Thursday. And her puppies. I really wish she lived closer to me or vice versa because hanging out with her is always fabulous and she is the awesomest of the awesome. Also, she got a call with a job offer like right as she was coming to pick me up, so YAY WENDY! And I find myself saying "interesting" as an acknowledgement statement, which is totally a wendy-thing. :)

We went to lunch with snarkyrainbow and her sister shamrocks15, and then later I met up with them to go get lost in Dallas before we found the HoB.

I still think Drive A is adorable. Even more adorable was the fact that their grandparents were at the Dallas show. Seriously, cutest thing EVER.

I have nothing amusing or positive to say about The Almost other than the fact that they soundtracked the tambourine.

THE USED. Yeah, I love them. <3333 Um. Quinn's hair was all sticking up everywhere and there was some red lighting on the stage that made him look like he had little devil horns. He is precious, btw. Um. There was Bert creeping shamrocks15 out with his crazy Michael Jackson hat. And Jepha being hot sticky sex. Or, you know, being Jepha. And Quinn quinncerting himself into the Dan\Jepha OTP, which made snarkyrainbow all "Back the fuck off, Allman!" and highly amused me.

We were gonna stalk the buses afterward but there was this random older man there who had skipped bail to bring his daughter to the concert & get her barrier. And he was talking to his girlfriend on the phone, trying to get other people to tell her to fuck her husband and come see him instead.

Oh, and before the show we saw Dan and some of the other guys playing kickball behind the venue. :)

shamrocks15 is pretty damn awesome, I'm glad to have met her. Praise Jesus! Also, there were four twelve of them motherfuckers, I shit you not!

Friday, me and snarkyrainbow drove from Dallas to Houston (without getting lost!) and plotted (hahaha) ridiculous fic (SHUT UP AND TAKE OFF YOUR PANTS!) and talked about fic that needs to be finished and talked about other random shit. And we got passed by Drive A in their little van. In my head that totally means they had to hang out in Dallas to have lunch with their grandparents and then haul tail to make it to Houston on time.

Met up with irisgirl12000 & vic_ramsey & Cody-whose-lj-idkmercurybard (thanks arielchan!). And shutyourface joined us later. We found seats in the balconey with an awesome view. Drive A is still adorable, fyi. They aren't a band that would have ever caught my interest if I hadn't seen them live, but I really adore them right now.

Bert McCracken is CRAZYCAKES and TINY and ADORABLE. Seriously, he reminds me of one of those little yappy dogs that things they're big deal. He told us about his itchy balls, and did a little Michael Jackson dance, and told everyone that if they didn't have the album to go out and steal that shit from Walmart & say he said it was all cool, and was generally adorable and entertaining. And he let Quinn talk which... ahaha, no. Oh Quinn. <3 Oh, and he had Dan drumming out random shit. That was pretty amusing. Dan and Jepha are still hot. Color me surprised.
After the show, we waited for M&G. Heather bought one of the tour album download card things & I still had mine from the Baltimore show. Only one person was allowed per card, so snarkyrainbow had to wait outside for us & I told her I'd get my card signed for her. We were told they had black and silver sharpies so Heather was going to get them to sign her hoodie. So we go in and Quinn had a black sharpie & was signing my card with it & we asked him and he was like "no, we're out of silver ones" even though there were like six on the table and Heather asked if they could make their autographs stand out and Bert just jumped into their conversation and was like "sure we can make them stand out!" (and Dan tossed Quinn a silver sharpie & Quinn was like "it's probably out, it's only good for like 30 signings." Oh my god. Quinn, I'm fondly amused of you being a grumpy difficult bitch with an adorable grin, and also proud of you for making complete coherent sentences.) and so I moved on to Jepha, who was sitting on the other end of the table and we were making small talk while he signed my card & he was like "you're missing a couple people on here" b/c I only had Quinn & his autographs. So I told him Heather was a line jumper & he was like "Damn you, Heather!" And Heather had no idea what we were talking about, she just heard us say her name, so that was even more amusing.

We also caught up with Dan outside by the buses for pictures. HE IS REALLY SO SO TINY! OMG! snarkyrainbow told him not to drink in her picture, and Dan had to tell me how to work the camera because I'm retarded. And then irisgirl12000 & I got pictures too.

And we went for food & went home to irisgirl12000's house and snarkyrainbow & I were acting like giggly 13yo girls and also tweeting each other from the same bed.

Okay, now we're having fangirl hang times and I'm gonna go steal eckerlilas's baby from vic_ramsey and hold him. :)

Today is fangs_up1's birthday. He's 16. And he's a loser, but he's our loser and we love him. I guess I should actually wish him a happy birthday, huh? *looks for phone*

Anyway. Johnathan didn't go with us last night b/c he scheduled his driver's ed driving for yesterday afternoon. So it was just me and casualyobsessed. I let her drive for the first 100 miles or so. She does pretty good, seeing as how she's only been driving since March, plus a minivan is hard to get used to sometimes. Yes, I drive a minivan, and I LOVE her; she's a fantastic vehicle! Anyway, it was good we switched when we did, b/c I had to drive across Afton Mountain in the rain, which is never a fun experience. We left kinda early b/c we didn't want to get stuck in end-of-day traffic in Richmond, so it was about four when we got there. We walked around downtown for a while, around the capital building and stuff. (seriously, I haven't been to Richmond in probably ten or twelve years, and I don't know that I've ever been to the capital building.) ( We made a new friend: )

The venue was an old theater and was actually kinda neat inside. But it wasn't Tremont, which is the place we always go in Charlotte. And apparently everyone we talked to was actually from Richmond, which is also something we're not used to. (Tremont is always a mix of people who have driven from various places. Usually we're not the only ones from VA, and there are always a few people that have come up from SC, plus people from various places in NC) casualyobsessed made friends with a few people in the crowd. I have no idea where she got her social genes, but it sure as hell wasn't from me. She could make friends with a fence post, I swear.

The opening band was Days Difference. They weren't spectacularly memorable but they weren't bad, and they were cute. casualyobsessed met them after to talk and get pictures and whatnot (the drummer signed the back of her shirt with his name + "drummer was here"), but I wasn't planning on posting those pictures. Still, cute. I'm also not a big Cartel fan so I don't have anything to say about them.

I do love We The Kings, though. I blame reallythateasy. The first time I saw them was last year on tour w/ Cobra and The Cab and Metro Station, and for a long time I remember saying that I didn't dislike them, but that their music didn't do anything for me. But then reallythateasy kept talking about the boys, and I started following Travis's blog, and I kinda fell in love with them. But they were my main reason for wanting to go to the show last night. (I'm still sad that I missed them play earlier this year with The Cab at the roller skating rink in Harrisonburg.) Whatever, I adore them.

( more rambling + a few pics )