How my weekend was originally supposed to pan out:

Saturday: Go to NJ for Christmas Part 3 with Brian's father's side of the family.
Sunday: A Baby Shower.

How I actually spent my weekend:

Saturday: Because of the snow that was going to rip through NJ on Saturday, Brian's aunt told us not to make the trip. karistan and I made a plan to meet up in the City instead.

We met at the Borders right outside of Penn station, walked around midtown for a bit, grabbed lunch and then went to Karaoke Duet on W 35th. We had sooooo much fun!! I hadn't done karaoke in 6.5 years and she never had before. Good times were had by all!! This was the first time I ever did karaoke in a private room setting. Woo! No crazy, bad singing, drunk people!! We stayed for 2 hours (and next time we go, we'll sign up for 3!!)

Afterwards, we met up with Brian and his brother Chris, watched Eddie Izzard and ate pizza. I walked karistan back to the subway so she could head home after that.

Brian and I spent the night.

Sunday: Brian and I didn't remember when the Shen Yun (Google it because LJ won't let me link you to the site) dance performance was going to be when I had RSVP'd to go to a Baby Shower. Whoops! Thankfully we'll be seeing each other this coming Saturday, so I can give her her shower gift then. The show was amazing!! The costuming was gorgeous and I appreciated the cheesy effects :) This was the first show I've ever seen at Lincoln Center. We went with Brian's gaming group, and the seats were perfect. Even though we were far up, we were centered and could see everything clearly.

After the show, Brian and I headed back to Chris, where our car was parked, grabbed our stuff and left. Didn't hit any traffic at all :) YAY!! We went to Jimmy's for dinner (YAY Sushi!) and then Brian dropped me home.

All in all a superb weekend! :) I look forward to spending more time with karistan. New friends for the win!! She is good people.

~*::Meow::*~

If there's one thing I've acquired from my friendship with chris_walsh (and I have gotten so much from it. I really am glad to be friends with you.) it's actually blogging more. What can I say? You inspire me :)

So, Chris asked me to compile a list of all the bands/musicians I've ever seen ever. This list will also include local bands because some have actually gone on to be famous (which is awesome for them!), as well as groups I've seen at Conventions. The only thing garaunteed to be in order on this list is my first concert ever, which happened on April 14, 1997 at Madison Square Garden. What a crazy night that was! If you ask nicely, I'll tell you that story. I'm even in the music video for "Cold Contagious". The lesser known/local acts will be at the bottom of the list. If you want to know anything about any of these bands/musicians, I'll be more than happy to indulge your questions.

The List

Bush
Veruca Salt (opened for Bush)
Stone Temple Pilots
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Tori Amos (I got to meet her!!!! so awesome)
Alanis Morrissette
Gin Blossoms
Early Edison
Counting Crows
Jonathan Coulton
The Turtles (YAY for B-103 Oldies concerts on the beach!)
Evanescense
Three Days Grace
Queensryche
Dream Theater
Aerosmith
Run DMC
Kid Rock
Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Joan Jett (she joined TSO on stage)
NY Philharmonic
LI Philharmonic
Royal Philharmonic
Regina Spektor (Before she was famous! Penn Station is good for something, apparently.)
Fair Warning
48 in the Basement
Hidden Agenda
The Microwave Orphans
Patent Pending
Ants Marching
Silent Generosity
Brian Verderosa
Squeaky Clean
The Hip Pickles
The Boogie Knights (Hi kradical & boogiebabe_smap!!)
The Brobdingnagian Bards (Hi marcgunn!!)
Emerald Rose
Voltaire
Kenny Young & the Eggplants
Captain Zorikh (The Death Star Repair Man)
Sudden Death/Devo Spice (Hi devospice!!)
Worm Quartet (Hi wormquartet!!)
the great Luke Ski
Power Salad
SETI
Black Tape for a Blue Girl
Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band
The Absinthe Drinkers
Clockwork Dolls
Walter Sickert & the Army of Broken Toys
What Time is it Mr. Fox?
Coyote Run
Reckoning
The New Deal
Everyone else that was at The Great South Bay Music Festival
Styccato (My uncle's band that was very well known in Brooklyn back in the 80s. I saw them play at their reunion show in 2003) That reunion show also included other bands I can't remember off the top of my head.
Jeff M. Jacobs
Wolgemut
Limey Birds
Hey Nunnie Nunnie

I think that's everyone.

~*::Meow::*~

I saw Wolgemut at The Delancey last night with kradical and his wonderful girlfriend Wrenn. This time, Wolgemut was in their Civvies because they figured they would be in their costumes for the extended weekend, so why the fuck not?! It was a smaller, more intimate crowd than last week. It was also a smaller venue. At the end of a good portuion of the songs, Micha shouted Achte Gesundheit (which means to good health), we'd repeat and then all take a drink. They played some of the stuff they played last week, in addition to a NEW never-before-played-in-public song, and a new arrangement of "The Polar Bear Dance" which they called "Techno Bear". :) At one point during the show, they taught us a dance that we did during one of the songs, with the band in the middle of the circle. Good times!

So, All in all a great show! Dinner is ready, so I shall post again later tonight with the rest of the evening.

~*::Meow::*~

Last night was AWESOME! After a day of 6 hours of labs (ugh), I took the subway into Manhattan to see Wolgemut. marcgunn's agent recruited me to help promote their shows, so I did and there was a really great turn out. They had a fucking awesome set!

Shortly after I arrived, kradical and his girlfriend Wrenn showed up. This was the first time I met Wrenn. She's so awesome :) After the show, we went and got dinner from a place called Panchito's. We had fajitas. They were tasty.

After dinner, we headed back to their place. There was a nasty accident that we ended up sitting in craptons of traffc for, but it was ok because we were having good conversations and listening to awesome music in the car. I got to meet the menagerie of pets they have and was greeted first thing by their doggie :) We watched Burn Notice and Royal Pains (I had never watched either series, but now I'm going to have to!).

I went to sleep around 2am, kinda. Scooter, who insisted that he lick my leg and my arm every chance he got, didn't let me really go to sleep untill about 3am. It was amusing as all hell though, and made me miss having a dog.

kradical was flying out of LaGuardia this morning, so Wrenn offered to drive me to QC, otherwise I'd have had to make my way from the Bronx, which wouldn't have been so bad. However, if I chose the latter, I wouldn't have gotten to spend more time with them, so it was a win/win :)

I asked kradical to sign my "Star Trek: A Singular Destiny" book, and I felt so fan girly asking. It was hilarious :-P

I had soooooo much fun, and it made my day/night/morning so much more awesome because of it :-D I am wolgemut!!! :)

~*::Meow::*~

Anyone interested in seeing the LI Philharmonic perform at Heckscher State Park tomorrow night?! It's FREEEEEE!!!!

~*::Meow::*~

Now that I actually have time to, I'm going to tell you all a story.

My story begins on Friday morning. It's a gorgeous day out and I'm trying to figure out what to wear. NO SHORTS!! Steve texted me to inform me that the wearing of shorts would not be permitted. So, at this point, I know I'm not allowed to wear White, Beige, Light Blue, anything with Elaborate patterns, or Logos. And now, no shorts. Well shit! So, I found a solid Lavendar colored short sleeved shirt and threw on a pair of jeans. Wandering around Manhattan in 90° heat wearing jeans really really blows, btw!

So, Steve came to pick me up around 1pm and we took the train from Port Jefferson, because why the fuck not?? So we get there and the alarm on the building is going off announcing that the cops will be there soon. Oh boy... Thankfully the alarm eventually turned itself off and the train came for us to board and travel to Penn Station.

While we were on the train, Steve was on the pohone with one of his friends and he was talking about stuff going on at home and said, "My dad isn't bi-polar, he's Gay polar. He's *flaming* polar!!" I was dying. The train trip was, thankfully, uneventful and we made our way through Penn. However, we did seranade the conductor when we transferred at Huntington. LOL! There was a really awesome band with brass in it playing in front of McDonald's and a guy was fanning their CDs. Unfortunately, there was no sign indicating the name of their band. Oh well. It's too bad too because they really were great. There was a lot of News crew video cameras (not taping the band) and every time we walked past, I made sure to smile and wave. Who knows, maybe I ended up on the 5 o'clock news on Channel 7, but I'll never know. LOL!!

We decided to walk from Penn to Rockefeller Center, where the LeAnn Rimes pretaping for the MACY's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular was going to be. On our way there, we saw Elmo and Steve suggested I get a picture with him. Elmo was very mean and demanded a tip before getting a picture with him. We decided against the picture. We were walking through the Plaza by Times Square and there was an Improv performance going on. We had no idea and almost walked through it! Thankfully I realized what was going on and rerouted us. At one point, we were crossing the street and I almost got hit by a car who came careening down the street through the red light. HOLY SHIT that was scary. And then he had the nerve to scream obscenities at me. So, I gave him the finger and moved on. Steve told me that if I was about to get hit, he would have shoved me to prevent it from happening.

The ticket said that we were supposed to go over by 30 Rock to wait on line. Luckily, we asked one of the security people setting up where to stand. If we followed what the ticket said, we'd likely still be standing there waiting. LOL! So we get to where we're supposed to be and there are 3 women waiting already. It was 6pm at this point. Steve and I decided to go find something to eat. We decided that since we are in the City that we should have Dirty Water Dogs. $4 EACH! Holy crap! But we did it anyway. They were delicious :) But Sooooo not worth $4 each. After food, we headed back to our spot on the line. No one new came by, so we were in the same exact spot :)

Around 6:30, a man walked up with a bag containing the flag to tell people that this is the spot where we check in as audience members. As he was placing the bag down, it grazed this woman's leg. Oh boy...she completely overreacted, acting like she was in OMG pain. I saw it happen, it barely touched her. I tried my hardest not to laugh.

It was around this time that these two really hot girls came on the line behind us. Kianna is from Vermont and Jacqueline is from British Columbia. It ended up that they were big flag holders, but they had no idea where they were supposed to go. So, we talked to them for about a half hour before one of the organizers came by to scoop them up. We were sad to see them go. They were really nice :)

Most of the people standing with us were fascinated about the fact that Steve came from Utah. This made for hilarious exchanges. We were talking to this one guy who had never been to a show in his life and he lived in Manhattan for all 69 years of his existence. And we noticed that there was a woman ahead of us that looked like someone famous. We couldn't place our finger on it until Steve decided to just go up to her and ask. Turns out, she occassionally does Today Show segments involving Fashion, and back when Al Roker was on, she did some segments with him as well!! I'm blanking on her name right now, but Steve got a picture of her (still waiting for all the pictures to be sent to me) and it was awesome! This other guy who was talking with us used to be a trucker and drove things from Texas to Utah and back, so Steve and that guy talked about different things out in Utah. Seriously, never thought so many conversations would spark from Steve being from Utah. He got a phone call from two of his friends that got married on Friday, they called him in between the ceremony and reception time. So, Steve's talking to them on the phone and says, "Oh my G-d! You're married!! CONDOMS!! Wait...we're Mormons. Do we believe in condoms??" Everyone within ear shot was rolling!

While we were waiting, we'd occassionally be visited by one of the organizers who looked exactly like a younger version of Sandra Bullock. She was really nice :-D And her partner in crime was pretty awesome as well. We were given Purple wristbands and American flags to wave. We had to wait till 8:30 before finally being herded into the area where the performance was going to happen. We were all wanded and then made our way to a very good spot...before being told to move back and stand in some weird spot. Needless to say, we were no longer in the excellent spot we had. They did 5 takes. Three were focused on LeAnn and the other 2 were focused on the audience. After each focused on LeAnn take, we were instructed to go back to where we were standing before they rolled camers. Oh boy. That was really difficult. There were soooooo many people. In between takes, Steve had a conversation with LeAnn :-D He said he came all the way from Utah and she said, "Utah? Really?" :-D The song she performed was really awesome!!! It's called "Swingin'" I loved it!

After the taping, we decided to wait till the crowd died down before leaving ourselves. We met up with Kianna and Jaqueline again, which was a complete surprise to us :) Too bad we never exchanged information. Oh well. Maybe one day our paths will cross again.

Steve and I headed back o Penn Station. Our feet were really hurting. We got back to Penn and grabbed some water and I got a pastry from Hot & Crusty. :) Yum.

The board wasn't displaying connections, so I had to look on the schedule to see where we were changing. Change at Hicksville, so we hopped on the 10:44 to Ronk and changed at Hicksville for Port Jefferson. On the way to Hicksville, Steve noticed that the woman across the aisle was reading a Yaoi and it turned out that it's one that the company he works for distributes. HA! So, he gave her his card and then we were off to Port Jeff.

The train ride was, once again, thankfully uneventful and Steve's dad picked us up from the station. Steve had called him earlier to tell him to bring two CDs for me, and he did, so now I'm the owner of two They Might Be Elders CDs!!! And they are great! :) They dropped me off in front of Brian's place and went on their merry way.

That concludes my story :)

~*::Meow::*~

The Aaron Copland School of Music, in conjunction with the NYC Labor Chorus and Riverside Inspirational choir, will be commemorating Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday at the Riverside Church in Manhattan tonight at 8pm.

I am part of ACSM's chorus and we will be singing "The Lonesome Train" with some very well known people. This includes, but is not limited to: Ruby Dee, Eric Weissberg, Michael Mark, and Sam Waterson. <~Yes, *that* Sam Waterson.

In addition to "Lonesome Train", we will be premiering a new arrangement of "Amazing Grace" by our own Bruce Saylor. The orchestra will be playing "Appalachian Spring" by Copland and "Black, Brown, & Beige" by Duke Ellington.

If you'd like to go, tickets are $15 at the door ($10 for students) and all proceeds go to the Food Pantry. http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/

Hope to see you there!!

~*::Meow::*~

Saturday, July 12th (that's this coming Saturday), the NY Philharmonic will be playing a FREE Concert at Heckscher State Park!!! The concert starts at 8pm, and there will be fireworks at the end. :-D

Let me know if you are interested in going.

~*::Meow::*~

On Thursday, December 20th, I will be performing at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan. Doors open at 6pm and the concert starts at 7pm. Admission is FREE and it is open to the public. They esimate about 3000 people attending the concert.

St. Patrick's Cathedral is located at the corner of 50th and 5th, directly across the street from the TREE.

How to get to St. Patrick's Cathedral:

Take the LIRR to Penn Station. Hop on the E Queens Bound to 53rd & 5th. Walk 2 "short" blocks downtown to Rockefeller Center. (That's in quotes because the blocks going cross town are LONG, and the blocks you want are SHORT).

-OR-

Take the LIRR to Penn Station. Go to street level and walk to Herald Square which is W 34th and Ave of America's/Broadway. (That's where the MACY's is) Hop on the Queens Bound B, D, V or F to 47-50 Rockefeller Center. (The announcer will likely say you're at the Top of the Rock). Take the subway exit by W 50th. Walk 2 "Long" blocks to 5th Avenue. You will be walking past Radio City Music Hall.

-ALTERNATES-

Take the LIRR to Jamaica. Go down to the subway and Hop on the Manhattan Bound E. Take the E to 53rd & 5th.

-OR-

Take the LIRR to Jamaica. Hop on the Manhattan Bound E. Take that to Union Trpk. Transfer to the F. Take the F to 47-50 Rockefeller Center.

Hope to see you there!!

~*::Meow::*~

So, my original Saturday plans got cancelled (they will be happening in 2 weeks). I was beyond ecstatic about this because that meant I could go see Silent Generosity!! I hadn't seen SG since October 2005, when they played with Halfmanwonder. As soon as I found out, I texted Dennis to let him know that I could go to the show. He spotted me and a friend because the show was sold out and you couldn't buy a ticket at the door even if you wanted to. Dennis rocks my socks :-D

The show kicked ass!!!!! It was so weird seeing them without Jay as the drummer though. My brain couldn't wrap around that fact. Ryan, Dennis, and Charlie rocked the house. I also got to see my friend Stina, who I hadn't seen since the summer, so that was nice. Oh, and I finally got my hands on "Disenchanted"...such a great album.

I can't wait for them to release the demo of their new stuff. Their new sound blew me away :)

~*::Meow::*~