My totally epic week!

This past week of my life has been crazy, but very fun :)

It all started last weekend...
37 marching band kids showed up at school by 6:00 am on a Saturday to go to Mt. Airy.
What a weekend that was!
We were kinda the pep club at first. We were really the only people there for a while, and we just cheered for everybody. We hung out at Mt. Airy until about 2, then loaded back up and headed to Mellow Mushroom! Megan and I had a BLAST! Megan almost got whiplash from looking at the buildings.
"I feel like I've lived in a hole all my life!"
"You have, it's called Lexington..."
We got a virgin Strawberry Fields, Megan freaked out over the paint job in the bathroom, and we heard Lemon Song, which totally made my day ;)
We had our normal tripped-out, rambling conversations about doomsday on the way home.
And slept all day Sunday.

Monday was a somewhat stressful day, having to get ready for a band concert and all...
But that evening was great :) I finally got to meet one of my best Facebook friends in 'real life', and see his band play. That's like... double score!
I called one of my best friends, told her we were going to see Justin Rector and The Q's and that I would come pick her up in like 10 minutes.
And thus the fun began ;)
A great show, to say the least. The guys were great. Bethany sang and/or danced to every song they played. Me and Mom sang the backup part on 'American Girl'. I almost cried during Justin playing 'Hallelujah'. And 'Sometime Around Midnight' was amazing.
Definitely the most interesting version of 'Safety Dance' I've ever heard... ;)
We hung out and 'played roadies' for a while. Had a great time with the guys ;D
And we even got guitar picks. And Justin autographed a piece of clothing for the first time.
It was a very memorable night.

Then Tuesday came.
And the band concert...
The concert was GREAT. We had a very proud band director that night :)
But after the concert is when the fun really starts...
Abby and I went to Don Juans. Where we ran into Alice, Austin, and Stevie. And later all the band directors came in.
Oh it was great.
Me and Abby were minding our own... peacefully eating our dinner.
When we saw a sombrerro heading over to the Alice-Austin-Stevie table.
It was Austin's birthday a few weeks ago, but apparently we decided to celebrate it again.
So we had quite and exciting dinner. Then, in true Abby And Chrissy Fashion, we forgot our to-go boxes on the table.
So we ran back through Don Juans, in heels and dresses. Abby called it "our Marilyn Monroe moment".

Wednesday and Thursday were... interesting.
But thats another story.
Friday was crazy. We went to help the middle-schoolers for band, so that was fun.
And Abby is a friggin' beautician genius, so she French-tipped my nails in like 10 minutes at lunch.
And they still look great :)
Then the wedding rehearsal dinner. We had fun, goofed off, and almost got in trouble. As always.
Nothing starts a night off like hearing a Droid ringtone in the middle of the practice wedding vows.

Saturday was the Big Day! ;D
We got up at about 10 and headed to the BBQ Festival to see Ken Davis, a long-time friend rock out. Great show as always ;)
We actually saw him before the gig, and we talked for a while.
Then he got onstage for the soundcheck, and started playing "Pride and Joy", and I just started smiling...
He got done, grinned at me in the audience, and said "That's for you, Chrissy!"
That made my day :D
He played several of my favorites, picked a great variety of songs like always, and added his own dash of personality ;)
Talked to him a bit after the show, then headed back home to get ready for the wedding.
We hemmed up my dress with 3M tape, curled my hair with this amazing hairspray, all with Donovan in the background. :)

The wedding was beautiful. Everything went amazingly well, considering that our family was involved ;)
I'm so happy for Mike and Kendra. They really are a great couple.
But the reception was the best part. We danced. All night. Me and Jay were rockin' it out! I danced to "My Girl" with my Uncle Marvin, who is in his early 60's. So he knows how to REALLY dance to it :) I felt all classy getting spun in my full-length evening gown.
But, being ME, of course something went disasterous. I stepped on the hem of my dress and pulled out my 3M tape. So then I changed into my backup. Which happened to be a party dress with really cool ruffles. And I changed just as "Proud Mary" started playing and it was time for the traditional Tina Turner tribute. I just have great timing ;)
Later, we got into some newer stuff. 'Boom Boom Pow' started playing, and Mom just stared at me. "Who are you and what have you done with Chrissy?!"
White girls can dance... ;)
One of the best parts of the night was when the DJ took a break and told me to go check out the music he had. So yeah, I was DJ for like 10 minutes. I felt important.
And then to finish it all off, we 'family danced' to "Don't Want To Miss A Thing".
It. Was. Epic.

Sunday wasn't too bad either.
We slept a good part of the day, but then headed to a friend's house for a cookout that night.
We hung out, told stories, picked on each other, and cranked up the radio.
When I heard Stairway To Heaven, I knew it was going to be a good night.
Later we played some Stevie Ray, Abbey Road, and part of The Beatles greatest hits CD's.
And played random Beatles trivia amongst ourselves.
After dinner, we brought out the Zeppelin for the afterparty ;)
One of the guys had 'No Quarter', the Jimmy Page and Robert Plant solo CD. And we listened to that while trying to decipher the symbols on the Box Set CD covers.
We also had some epic Zeppelin conversations. It always feels so great to meet someone who's as Zep-obsessed as I am.
Us Zeppelin fans are a special breed...

So yeah. That concludes the most epic week of my life (well, the most epic week of my life at home. Not counting Disney World when I was 8)

I think this is proof that I could write a novel about my life.
Happy Monday and hope everybody has a good week THIS week ;)

John Lennon's 70th

I know this is late, but I just got a chance to actually sit down and collect my thoughts from this weekend.

So it all started Friday night...
We said that we were going to speak in Liverpoolian accents all night, but we forgot about that when we got excited.
Marching band traveled to the away game, so that was an adventure in itself. Well, while we were on 3rd Quarter break, they played 'Twist and Shout' over the loudspeakers. Me and Megan ( @simplymegan123 to my Twitter readers) FREAKED OUT! And that's and understatement...

So we jammed to The Beatles Friday night, and Saturday we had a marching band competition. So we sang John Lennon/Beatles stuff on the bus. But then again... that's normal for us...
(I still think that we should start an all-girls Beatles tribute band, but that's another day...)

On Sunday Mom walked around the house singing 'Nowhere Man' all day. Me and Megan were planning to see Nowhere Boy, but couldn't find it playing in a theatre around here. Of course. Nothing ever happens around here...
Sunday afternoon I was checking my email and out of my 29 unread messages, I randomly opened one from Aunt Sherry about The Vernaculars. Well it turned out that they are a local band at Catawba, and they were doing a free show that night.
They were performing Abbey Road. In it's entirety.
I was excited... to say the least.

So we cruised on over to to Catawba and had a great night!
There were 2 'opening acts', I guess. We got there late and only saw the whole set of Urb 'N Sol. They were a Motown group, and they were great. (I will be posting videos on my YouTube channel, MsBlackbird68 soon) The girls of the group played a cover of "Please Mr Postman". Mom agrued that they did it because it was originally Motown. I argued that they were getting The Beatles vibe started early. Either way, it was great :)

And then it was time for The Vernaculars.
It was AMAZING! I honestly didn't think they could pull off the whole album live.
Well I was wrong...
I can honestly say that as far as I could tell, they didn't miss a beat. (And that means a lot coming from me, being both a musician AND the huge Beatles fangirl that I am) The vocals, the harmonies were perfect. The musicians were rockin' it. I Want You (She's So Heavy) blew my socks off. They even pulled off the legendary Abbey Road Medley! It was just awesome! (Or should I say Fab? )
I felt like I had found my place in the universe.
And the bassist was kinda cute...
But anyways!

On a slightly different note, we got in the car to leave, and Get The Led Out was on. So I just had an amazing night!

Keep on the lookout for pictures and videos from the show :)

"And we all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun..."
Happy birthday to John Winston Lennon <3

Everybody's gonna dance tonight!!

"Hey, guess what?"
"What??!"
"I found that jacket I was looking for"
"Mom, that was mean... I thought it was about tickets..."
"Well, guess what else?"
"What?"
"We're gonna see Paul McCartney!"

A few hours later I was in the middle of The Beatles Universe - which is normally known as Charlotte. I've never seen so many Beatles shirts...
All that wandering around town looking for food, standing in line for tickets, it's all part of the adventure. We ended up eating at a little pizza place that was playing Wings on speakers outside. And we walked by a bar where a guy playing "Layla" unplugged. I knew it was going to be a good night.
There were 2 people standing outside, right in the middle of the mass of people in ticket lines. One had a sign about "Cleansing yourself" and "Your sins will be forgiven" and all that good stuff. I didn't mind that, but I did mind the guy with the megaphone. Some lady finally yelled at him "John Lennon was the one that said that about The Beatles and Jesus, NOT Paul! Why are you bothering US?"
I could've hugged her...
We stood in line forever, and when we finally got in it was chaos. But we finally found our seats and then embarked on The Epic T-Shirt Hunting Adventure. On the way back from the T-shirt stand, I was talking to Mom and said "Ya know, of all the Paul McCartney songs, and I've randomly got Venus and Mars...Rockshow, whatever it's called, stuck in my head." She kinda laughed at me and we kept walking.

All night I was wondering "Who would open for Paul McCartney??"
Well apparently nobody...
The "opening act" was pictures, old concert posters, a few Beatles videos, and old merchandise (Beatles lunchboxes and pins...that kinda stuff) scrolling up the screens behind/beside the stage while remixed Wings and Beatles stuff played. It was really cool...

And then the lights went down...
The arena exploded.
The band came onstage, Paul waved to the masses and donned the Hofner.
The first notes of "Venus & Mars/Rockshow" blared out of the speakers.
"Sitting in the stands of the sports arena...waiting for the show to begin..."
Mom just smiled at me.
I knew there was a reason I had it stuck in my head...
They went straight from that to "Jet", and I don't remember the order much after that...
After a few songs, he went to the edge of the stage, took off his jacket and handed it to a roadie. He came back to his microphone in the classic white shirt and suspenders with all the ladies cheering.
He smiled and said "Ok, but this is as far as it goes..."

I can't remember which song it was, but they went into "Foxy Ladies" at the end. After the song was over, Paul was talking about Hendrix, and how honored he was when Jimi opened his show with "Sgt. Peppers" right after the Beatles had released it. And how "He was goin' all crazy with the whammy bar..." (Paul McCartney air-whammying = the funniest thing EVER) and back then, whammy bars totally threw your guitar out of tune. Jimi was looking around in the audience after the song and asked if Eric was out there. "Well, he was lookin' for Eric Clapton, who was actually in the audience... and Jimi finally spotted him and goes 'Will you tune this for me, man?'" The place erupted.

He told stories or antedotes before several of the songs. After "And I love Her" he was talking about the 60's... "Because I remember the 60's...." (cheers) "and I bet you don't, and you dont...and you certainly dont! You dont even remember the 1900s...er 19..whatever!" (crowd laughs) "So anyways, back in the 60s..." and he started talking about the cival issues, especially in the southern states, like Arkansas... "So I wanted to write a song, that would kind of sum up what I was feeling...and maybe if somebody in Arkansas, somebody in the Little Rock 9 heard it...It might just give them a little bit of hope..." And he started playing "Blackbird"

After Blackbird, he was talking about trying to remember lyrics and chords when people have signs... "Part of you says 'Dont look at it'...but the other part goes 'Ohhh just read it...' but I still can't figure out why someone has a little car sign with 'McCartney' mispelled..."
(It was a license tag that said "MCCARTNY")
"You left the E out there...I suppose it's too many letters" They zoomed the camera in on it so you could see it on the TV screens. When everybody got done cheering, he said "I rather like it that way... it's easier for children to understand..."
When the crowd died down he started again.
"So anyway... I think sometimes that you dont say what you mean to say to people, 'Oh, I'll tell them tomorrow' or 'I'll do it next week'...but what happens is that when they pass away, you go 'Oh I wish I'd said that to them' ...and so you regret not having said something to them... And I wrote this next song for my dear friend John with that kind of thing in mind...of all the conversations we didn't get to have"
"And if I say I really knew you well what would your answer be?" The most beautiful, emotional performance of "Here Today" that I've ever heard. I was crying by the end of the song...for reasons some of my friends will understand more than others.

And then he picked up the mandolin...
"Ok, now we're gonna lift the mood from the sober to the jolly..."
"Everybody gonna dance tonight, everybody gonna feel alright! Everybody gonna dance around tonight!"
The drummer was dancing the whole time, and at one point I saw him doing the sprinkler...and that disco-arm-Stayin' Alive-thing. But in slow-mo to be with the song. It was hilarious.


A lot of what made it so special was the little things...

• I learned that they never played "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da" live before this year. That made me feel special...
• "In case you're wondering why we keep switching guitars out like this... it's because we're showing them off..."
• He was amazed by the age differences of the fans... teenagers, middle-aged people... "Then you've got the people my age... in their 40's..."
• During "Live and Let Die", one of the guitarist dramatically fell down and acted like he was dead. You could see Paul at the piano looking at a Brian like "Is just kidding around again?" He jumped back up and dramatically brushed dust off his jacket as he went back to the mike to sing backups.
• Paul's attempt at a Russian accent when explaining "Back in the USSR"...
• They way he smiled when he was listening to the ladies sing "Hey Jude"
• "Well, I'm not actually going to play the song, I just thought I'd tell you the story!"
• I felt the heat off of the fireworks in "Live and Let Die"
• All those thousands of people trying to do harmony on "Paperback Writer"... he just smiled at us.
• And of course; the McCartney Dance. After about half the songs he would stand at the mike and do the most random things. And he was doing the Twist at the piano. He's still just as goofy as he ever was... (just go watch A Hard Days Night and you'll understand)

They played 2 encores. Because "We had to come back!" he said with a smile.
Before the last song(s), he was telling us what a great crowd we'd been. "But there comes a time when we've got to go home..." (awwwwssss from the audience) He just smiled "And it's very close to the time you've got to go home..."
From my upper level row B seat, I yelled "Well can I go home with you??"
It was worth a shot...

We hung out in the parking deck for quite a while. And I didn't have my iPod. And all that came in was the "New Rock" station and the oldies station...
(While listening to Sublime) "Man, this is ruining my McCartney Vibe..."
The commercials finally went off on the oldies station, so I flipped it back.
Just in time for "Band on the Run"
You could say I was pretty happy...

Later that night, we heard "Twist and Shout" too. Which I've never heard on the radio before.
So that was fab ;)



In memory of "Stogner" and John Huey
I thought about you guys a lot last night <3

"And if I say I really loved you, and was glad you came along, when you were here today, for you were in my song"

And... that's a wrap!

Well, tonight I'm sitting at my own dinosaur computer in my living room.
It feels a little weird, honestly.
Today wasn't overly-exciting.
It kinda hurt my feelings to leave Cleveland this morning. I normally get depressed for a few days after we come back home from the beach for a weekend. How am I supposed to handle coming off of a 3-week roadtrip?
The answer turned out to be U2.
We tried to listen to the radio for a while this morning, but once we got into the mountains again, we couldn't keep stations. So, I plugged in my iPod and started playing "Elevation". it seemed fitting...
We listened to the playlist on shuffle for a while, then got annoyed and played all of "Rattle & Hum" in order. I never get over that album...It still amazes me and pulls on my emotions every time I listen to it.
And so today I survived my Post-Roadtrip Depression Syndrome with a little help from Bono, Edge, Adam, and Larry Jr.


Random observations about the last weeks:

• You know it's HOT when the heat-willies make it look like there's a river going through the road (this happened a lot between New Orleans and Arizona)
• Passing through time zones gave me a whole new outlook on "time" and what exactly it is...
• You know you're in "the north" when you ask "Do ya'll have.........." and they just stare at you for a second until you repeat the name of the item you're looking for. THEN they understand. That one word "ya'll" just got him all confused...
• Yes, James Taylor did write a song about Carolina, don't look so amazed...
• You can still get your kicks on Route 66
• We should all smile at more truckers
• No matter how long I'm gone, my room still smells like incense when I get back.
• Why are armadillos so hard to find?!

I hope somebody has enjoyed this little blog...this adventure of mine.

I don't know how often I'll be posting now that I don't have something to do everyday, but I will keep it up. I have enough stories, random observations/opinions on life, and musical journeys to keep this goin for a while... ;)

Thanks to all for hanging in there with me!

Peace and Love

Day 21: Cleveland rocks!

Today was amazing.
We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. AWESOME!
I saw John Paul Jones' "Christmas tree ornament shirt" (As us Zeppelin Maniacs call it) from 1972. It said that it was the one he wore in TSRTS, but I know better...
And I saw U23D. It blew my mind! It's from the Vertigo Tour, so it's not the same show I saw, but it still took me back to October 3, standing in Carter Finley stadium, screaming out songs at the top of my lungs...
And the 3D is amazing. I wanted to reach out to Bono...and kept ducking because I thought Adam's bass was going to hit me...
I feel a whole post on U2 coming up soon...

So anyways...
I can't describe all the stuff in the museum. I'm still so overwhelmed from it...
They have whole sections on The Rolling Stones, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks, Aerosmith, U2 (they have the Lemon Suits!), and a tribute to Les Paul.
And I found an awesome postcard! Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, with Charlie Watts on drums, onstage together.

Oh, and we ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. We've hit all of them along the way but Houston and San Francisco. They always have the most awesome employees...

And tonight we ate at an Irish Pub at about 10:30. It was great...
Live band, wicked flute/bagpipe/woodwind player. And they were kinda cute...
And our awesome waitor... ;)

So tonight, I'm in downtown Cleveland. In a nice hotel, on my own sleeper sofa.
I'm living it up before we have to go home tomorrow night...

Day 20: ROCK AND ROLL

Well, we drove all day. 12+ hours. Woohoo.
But, I've had some wicked radio stations come my way.
The first station was playing a Bon Scott tribute, so I got my AC/DC fix. Can you believe he would be 64 today?
I've been developing a hypothesis today: If you listen to a classic rock station for about 45 minutes, you will hear (including but not limited to) Run Like Hell, Mony, Mony (Idol or original), Taking Care Of Business, something Jethro Tull, Deep Purple (today I've heard Hush, Woman from Tokyo, and Smoke on the Water), What I Like About You, something Led Zeppelin, Summer of '69, Dream On, something ZZ Top, Baker Street, You Got Another Think Coming...
All the above songs/artists I've heard at least 3 times today.
Yeah, I have NO life...


And then my epic story about finding Nights With Alice Cooper...
Should I really post it all?
Well, here's the good part:
I had it on a station that has the show, but we only heard like 10 minutes of Alice and we lost the station...
So I had the radio on scan, and stopped it on "Cheap Sunglasses"
And what came on afterwords but a sweeper for Nights With Alice Cooper...
So I lost it, found it accidentally, but then eventually lost it again before we got to the hotel.
But now I'm streaming him live on my laptop!
Life is good...

Day 19: Awesome music and Mt Rushmore

I knew today was going to be a good day when...
I put the radio on scan, and fell asleep. Only to be woken up in a few minutes by "Travelling Riversibe Blues" by Led Zeppelin. Waking up to Zeppelin is always a good sign...

We found some nice stations this morning... An oldies that played "Eight Days A Week", "Heart Full Of Soul", "96 Tears", "Get Off My Cloud", "Rock Around The Clock", and "Great Balls of Fire" within an hour. I was in heaven.

Also on today's playlist: "Got To Get You Into My Life"
("This sounds like Chicago..." "No! That's Paulie singing...")
And "You're So Vain" was on two stations that kept bleeding into each other, so it was like listening to it in rounds. That sent me for a trip...

And "God, Pt. 2" inspired to make a huge rambling speech about life, love, religion, and Bono...
And then "I Wanna Rock" came on and totally ruined the moment...

And then we FINALLY got to Mount Rushmore. And stayed about 20 minutes...and drove another 2 hours.

Life is great...

Day 18: Yellowstone

Happy birthday Mom!
Still the coolest Mom ever ;)

So we drove some more this morning...
And went to Yellowstone National Park. It's beautiful. There's a river that runs all the way through the park. And talk about wildlife... We saw buffalo, deer, elk... At VERY close range. I could've petted (?) a buffalo. From the car! It was just standing there on the side of the road... And some elk were just hangin out in the side-ditches...missing cars by inches. All in all we saw about 15 buffalo and 2 huge herds (15-20 elk) and quite a few lone elk. It was amazing. I could live there...
And geysers! They're everywhere! It's kinda creepy, actually...
Oh and we saw some big thing called "Old Faithful"...

On the road again tomorrow...

And remember Mom; It could be worse...you could be as old as Ringo...

San Francisco...and driving

Well, yesterday we were driving from LA to San Francisco. And got to San Francisco this afternoon. I love it! Sadly, I did not have any flowers for my hair.
That is the steepest city I've ever seen... You go straight up a hill, and cant see at the intersection. It was slightly nerve-wracking.
We cruised around the city for a while, looked at the Golden Gate Bridge, and then got moving again.

It's a 22 hour drive from San Francisco to Yellowstone Park.
We got our work cut out.

Weekend in Vegas!

I feel like a rockstar.

It was a great weekend! Vegas is amazing. ;D

It all started when we walked into Hard Rock Hotel. The first thing I saw was a 2'x4' Led Zeppelin portrait. Yeah.
I love that hotel. It's just wicked cool. Oh and I had a huge picture of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick beside my bed. I slept well.

We saw the Hoover Dam yesterday. It was prettty cool. I guess. Meh.
It's really big, ok?
We wanted to go to the Grand Canyon, but hit traffic and couldn't have gotten back to Vegas in time.

Last night we saw "LOVE" cirque du soleil. It's and entire show all based on Beatles music that Sir George Martin arranged. It was amazing. I can't even begin to describe it. Even the people seating you were dressed up. I loved it! LOVE was the first Beatles album I ever bought, so I've been listening to it religiously for over 3 years. It was great to finally see the show. There were so many "Ohhh that makes sense now!" moments.
Then we walked The Strip for most of the night. I was soo revved up after that show.

I've discovered that Joshua Trees are everywhere around here. It's pretty nice.

Kenny Chesney was playing both nights that we were at Hard Rock. Talk about mass chaos...
And today was the 4th of July pool party. It was hellish trying to get outta there.
So, I got up, put on my Yellow Submarine shirt, said goodbye to all the huge pictures that helped me not get lost in the hotel (Jim Morrison, Janis, Paul and Linda, Jimmy Page...) and got lost trying to find the Hard Rock Cafe. That is half a block from the Hotel. Yeah.

This isn't even half the story, and I'm holding back some stuff 'cause I kinda want a somewhat family-friendly blog. Just trust me that it was a great weekend ;)

We're turning Tingting into a rocker girl.. \m/

Day 12: Big huge trees

Today we went to Sequioa National Park. Those trees are HUGE!!! I loved it! I had fun, being the tree-hugging hippie chick that I am ;D And of course, I had to play "The Trees" by RUSH.
Dad was looking for Bigfoot. And bears.
I was looking for Elves.
They had a controlled fire in part of the area, and the smoke was kinda drifting around. Tingting said that we might see faeres. I started playin my Lord of the Rings soundtrack to set the mood.
We wandered around and hugged trees for about 3 hours...
Now heading to Vegas!

PS- I was playing Queen this afternoon for the ride, and now Tingting has been singing "We Are The Champions" all night.

Day 11: LA! Sunset Strip, Walk of Fame, and another Hard Rock

I feel like I'm paying homage to the rockers before me just by being here. Live on the road for a while, get burned-out, then crash in L.A.
I really am living a little like a rockstar lately (without the sex, drugs, and money), and I'm loving it. I love being on the road, I love driving all night, I can't stand to stay in one place, But...
It was so great to finally get to sleep late! Yay for NO "Checkout is at 11..."
Mom won at finding a topless establishment. First thing this morning. "Topless Cooking" is what the sign said. I kept having flashbacks of Mrs Doubtfire...
We cruised Sunset Blvd this afternoon. And I, being the HUGE classic rock fan that I am, had to find some random places. The Whiskey-A-Go-Go was one... that was pretty awesome. Another was the infamous Continental Hyatt "Riot" House of the 70's (Led Zeppelin, in particular). Well, it's no longer the Hyatt House, but the building is still there, so we walked in, snuck around, and slipped back out.
We also drove past the Viper Room. It's not open during the day, needless to say...but it was awesome just to see it. (Johnny Depp owns it, if you didn't get why it's such a big deal to me).
And then there was the Walk of Fame. It's massive. Random observations: 1)Elvis' star isn't there anymore, but it's still in the brochure. 2) The Beatles star isn't there anymore, but it's also in the brochure. 3) Queen's star IS there, but not included in the brochure. Imagine my surprize to walk across a star that I had just looked up on the map and thought that it didn't exist. 4) If Motley Crue has a star, why doesn't PAUL MCCARTNEY??
Yeah, you know what I was complaining about all evening.
My complaints and attention have finally been turned from the ellusive armadillos to bigger problems. Such as why Paul doesn't have a star...
Random fact: we stopped outside a guitar store, and they we playing Black Dog/Bulls On Parade mashup. It was actually pretty cool.
And then we went to Hard Rock.
I don't have the time to explain all the stuff we saw and how many times I almost passed out, so just check out my pics tomorrow.
But here's the cool thing; Hard Rock Cafe is actually inside the Universal Studios park. It's just awesome, ok?
Well, Tingting decided to have a Purple Haze while we were at Hard Rock (don't worry, this "Purple Haze" is just berry-infuzed Long Island iced tea).
That was a trip...
When we were leaving, walking back through Universal, "We're Not Gonna Take It!" (Yeah, Twisted Sister) was playing on the huge video screen. Tingting was dancing and loving it.
Now, Tingting normally doesn't like rock. Mom laughed at her and said "When you get drunk, you love Rock, huh?" I answered "That's how rock and roll has survived all these years!" It was great... ;)
And then Tainted Love by Soft Cell came on. And I HAD to dance...
It's been quite a day.
And night.

Day 10: Joshua Tree and LA

This morning we left for Joshua Tree National Park. It was pretty amazing. Now, this isn't where the actual U2 Joshua Tree is, but there are thousands of Joshua Trees in this park. I love it. And knowing me, I had to hug one. Note for the stupid (me): don't hug the "fuzzy" ones. They're really not fuzzy. They're pretty spikey, actually.
And this evening we got to L.A. I am soooo hyped right now! And better yet, it's in "college town" ;D (woohoo!) It's great to see Tingting again, after all this time.
I have YET to see any armadillos.


PS- sorry these posts are getting shorter... I'm too excited to think straight lol.

Day 9: Painted Desert, Winslow, craters, and more Route 66

This morning we went to the Petrified Forset/Painted Desert. There's not much petrified forest any more, but the desert is pretty. we spent a few hours there. And met a family from West Virginia. Kinda nice to talk to people from close to home.
Then we were off to Winslow, Arizona. To stand on a corner. But it's more like THE corner. They have a whole park thing set up, complete with a statue of a 70's style guy. That was really cool. The play The Eagles there 24-7. Yeah, it was cool.
Then, we acidentally found the Meteor Crater on our way from Winslow to Flagstaff. It's a 3/4 mile across, 700 ft deep hole in the ground. With a astronaut and USA flag at the bottom. It's supposed to represent the moon, apparently.
Other than that, it's been more driving. And no armadillos. And I accidentally found "Nights with Alice Cooper"!! Excited is an understatement.
We're now in Kingman. Still on Route 66. We've been on and off it for a few days, so I'm pretty happy.
I'm excited about tomorrow...
But you have to wait 'till then to know why ;)

Day 8: Carlsbad, Albuquerque, and Route 66

Tonight's blog entry is brought to you from the Mother Road. Right now I'm in a hotel on Route 66. I'm pretty excited. But anyways...
This morning we went to Carlsbad Caverns for about 3 hours. It was actually pretty cool. Of course, I've read too much scary crap and was freaking out for a while. ("Desperation" by Richard Bauchman to be exact...) And knowing me, I was soon on a desperate search to find Gimli. Yeah, I'm a geek. Mom was looking for Gollum, so I dont seem so bad, now do I?
Then we drove some more. I've seen so many cows and trains lately... But New Mexico has prettier landscape than Texas (sorry, Hannah). We've seen mountains all day...and don't have a clue where they actualy are. I think you can see to California from here.

Day uhhhmmm 7?

We drove today. For 8 hours. And then took an hour to find a hotel. Yeah, I'm brain-fried.
Today I saw a lot of grass. And cows. And sky. And oil rigs. And it really is FLAT. You can see forever out here!
So uhm yeah. I'm burnned-out. And tired. And feel like I have sea-legs from driving all day. Sorry that this is a kinda crapy entry...but there's really not much to talk about tonight.

Tomorrow will be better. I promise <3
Thanks for hanging in here with me!

Day 6: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guitar Center, and Hannah

Yesterday was amazing. After we drove a few hours...that wasn't so amazing...but after that, yeah it was great.
First stop was Stevie Ray Vaughan's grave in Laureland. Once we got there we realized that it wasn't just his grave; it's the "Vaughan Estate" and his parents are buried there also. It was kinda weird to be there. I mean, I saw Elvis' grave, but I actually know the words to the songs on Texas Flood. The only Elvis song I know is Hound Dog. Needless to say, SRV's grave really touched me deeper.
Then we drove the rest of the way to Dallas. If you don't know by now, our goal is to stop at as many Hard Rock Cafes as we can. So, we found Hard Rock Dallas and just hung out at the bar most of the afternoon. We got there at about 2, so there wasn't anybody else around but employees. You wouldn't believe how excited I was to be sitting close to Tony Iommi's pants.
So we talked to the bartender a while, and wandered around for a while, and finally decided to go find Guitar Center.
Now, the next part of the story is very deeply rooted in my personal history. In 2008, I joined leszeppelin.com as "ms_zeppelin94" And within a few months had become best friends with "Heartbreaker_Girl".
That was 2 years ago, and yesterday we finally got to meet. In real life her name's Hannah (hence the title of this post). Neither of us go on the Zeppelin site as much, but we've been keeping up on twitter. We met at Guitar Center. (Which, by the way, has a huge Jimmy Page wall) We didn't talk much, since we're both awkward about meeting people. Instead we jammed out.
It was the best afternoon of my life. <3

Day 5: Galveston and Houston

Today we drove. and drove.
And finally got to Galveston. It has a lot of seaweed on the beach. But hey, we saw The Gulf of Mexico!
It's a really cool city though. It's historical, and a lot of the houses were built in the 1930's. They're HUGE! We just cruised around and listened to SRV for a while before we had to hit the road again. It was a nice break.
Next was Houston and seeing Brian, Mom's email buddy for close to 8 years. I was so glad to finally meet the guy that I've always heard so much about. It was a great afternoon. Until we tried to get out.
NEVER try to drive in Houston. It's horrible. Now I normally dont freak out that much...but that really made me nervous. We were soooo glad to see that "Now Leaving Houston City Limits" sign.
Sorry I'm not typing as much tonight, but it was kinda a slow day for once, and I'm tired.
I need to get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be great.. ;D

Day 4: New Orleans

Don't worry, I didn't forget about this. I just had a bad wi-fi connection last night.
So, New Orleans...
You can't explain it. I could tell you about it all day and show you pictures and everything, but you don't know what it's really like until you walk down Bourbon Street for yourself. The smells, the music, the sights... I'd never seen a public striptease store. There's about 3 on Bourbon Street. (One time we walked by and there was a group of older people standing outside of it with confused looks on their faces. It was pretty funny.) There's 2 different Hustler Clubs, and thats only the beginning...

If you're reading this, you probably know me pretty well. And you'll know why it was such a big deal for me to find The House of the Rising Sun. Well, we got to the address that I had for it, and there was a bar called "Mango MANGO" there. We walked a few doors down and asked the guy at the Cabaret if he knew where it was. He said that him and some buddies had just looked it up a few days ago. It used to be upstairs from Mango MANGO, but it doesn't exist anymore. But it's still listed under that address. Yeah, go figure.
We then ventured to Decatur Street to find the House of Blues. This is where Eric Clapton became Slowhand, ok? Good news is that I could actually get in, since it was during the day. (At night it's 21+) It is one of the coolest places I've been. It has wicked murals all over the place. I mean, everything is painted some funky color. And the Voodoo Garden is gorgeous. I had no idea that it would be such a nice place.
And then there was Hard Rock Cafe. I cant explain it all, You'll just have to find the pics I post. They had guitars from Clapton, Keith Richards, The Black Crowes, Jeff Beck, Foo Fighters, Sammy Hagar, Lenny Kravitz...it was amazing. And they had a whole wall of The Beatles/ Pink Floyd/ Megadeath. Yeah, it's random.
And upstairs...
I got distracted by the Stones stuff on the staircase. Mom was already upstairs and I hear her "Oh man, you gotta see this stuff...wait till you get up here......(gasp) Oh my God! (laughing) Chrissy, you're gonna pass out!"
I finally turned around and ran up the remaining 4 steps and saw a Led Zeppelin poster. And bukskin coat. Yeah, I was in heaven.
The rest of the stuff up there was (here we go again...) Jimi Hendrix's scarf, Steven Tyler's mic stand scarfish-thingy, Eric Clapton's sweater, Stevie Ray Vaughn's jacket, and Louis Armstrong's trumpet. And that's just the uber important stuff.
Needless to say, I was revved up the rest of the day.

Day 3: Graceland and more driving

Well, as you can tell by the title, we went to Graceland this morning. And I talked about U2 the whole time. (JK, not the WHOLE time, but I did make it my mission to find the bike that Larry sat on.) Bad news is that I ran my camera dead, and it's charging right now, so now pics tonight. Sorry =/
Anyways, Graceland was really cool. And you guys know how much I like retro style. I was lovin' the green shag carpet and paisley fabric designs. The pool room walls are covered with 350 yards of green and burgandy paisley cotton. Yeah, it's groovy. And then "The Jungle Room"! I'm posting pictures of that...I can't even begin to describe some of this suff.
Something else really cool is that they have "Lisa Marie", the airplane, set up across the street, and you can tour it also. It is one unique aircraft, I have to say.
So, we wandered around Graceland until about 2. Then truckin' for New Orleans. Sooo much fun.
We had been in Mississippi for about 15 minutes and passed 4 swamps. Mom goes "Well, I think we're in the swamps already..." And I had to laugh.
The thing is, we would cross a bridge that said "(Something Another) River", and it would be completly mud and grass. What a river...
Well, one time I decide to get video of the swamps. And guess what? It was an actual river. With water and everything. That will be on YouTube shortly. (MsBlackbird68 look me up)
I actually feel like we've accomplished something now. We've been in 3 states in one day. Is that cool or what? ;)
So, we're finally here. About 30 minutes from New Orleans. What a day it's been.

PS- I DID find the bike that Larry sat on. It's inside the car exhibit now. Apparently, Graceland has re-designed since U2 went there in '87...

Day 2: Memphis

Ohhh man I don't feel like doing this. I dont feel like doing anything, really. It's been a long day.
We left Nashville this morning and got to Memphis at about 1ish. We found the Gibson factory first, but we had afew hours to kill before the next tour started. So we went to Hard Rock Cafe. That was just awesome. We sat beside John Entwistle's bass, so I was distracted the whole time. They have a whole corner of Bob Dylan stuff beside the bar. And a U2 section across the hall. I was pretty happpy ;)
So after Hard Rock, we went to the Gibson tour. I was in heaven. They took us through the whole factory, through each step of building the hollow-bodies and double necks. (Other models are made in other parts of the country.) I bought some picks. The only thing I can afford there.
Then onward to Sun Studio. That was cool anyways, plus we had a really funny tour guide to make it all better. She walked us through the history of the studio and the bands that recorded there. And shared some interesting trivia on Johnny Cash. Then, to top it all off, she had a whole speech about U2 and Rattle & Hum at the end. Then we just wondered around while "When Love Comes To Town" blared out. I made a mini-documentary about Rattle & Hum that I'm quite proud of.
And them we found The Mississippi. While Proud Mary was playing on the radio. And I say "found" for a good reason. We were just cruising around looking for Memphis ribs, but the raod stoppped and we were facing The Mississippi River. Memphis is SERIOUSLY right on the border. One second you're in the city, the next you're in the river. Simple as that.
Anyways, we did eventually find some Memphis ribs. At B.B. King's Blues Club. I don't normally eat meat, and I'd never had ribs before, so it was a great first experience.
So, we walked down Beale Street again and called it a day.
Right now, I'm three doors down from Graceland.
Tomorrow should be another adventure....
Happy Solstice

Day 1: Nashville, Edgehill, and ZZ Top

Well, to start off our 3-week cross country road trip, we were fighting before we got out of the driveway. If you know my family, you're not surprized.
After that, the drive was fairly uneventful. We saw a lot of trees and rocks. And tried to find Get The Led Out on a radio staion up here. No luck. I just really hope they archive that interview or something....
Anyways, we finally got to Nashville. It's somewhere close to 10:00 by now (I'm not sure about the time change and everything).
There's an ironic story behind this; way back when I was addicted to ledzeppelin.com, and Robert Plant was recording "Raising Sand" with Allison Krauss (a great album, btw), someone on the forum talked about this little hole-in-the-wall in Nashville called Edgehill Cafe. It's in downtown Nashville, close to most of the major recording studios, and musicians often go eat there. (Of course, we were talking about Robert in particular at that time.) So years after hearing about this little place where all the musicians hang out, we finally pull up to Edgehill Village last night. After a horrible time with "that damn Tom Tom!!" The actual Cafe was closed, but the Mexican place across the street was open. We were standing outside, trying to decide if we should go eat or not.
A waitress comes out and goes "You guys comin' in?"
"Well, we're tryin' to decide..."
"I think you should" And she grinned and lead us inside.
This is where it gets good...
Before we even got to the booth, an older man with an iconic long white beard and signature beanie walked past us.
I knew instantly that it was him. I had just walked past Billy Gibbons.
Dad looked at me like a 10-year-old "Is it?..."
The waitress looked back at him, smiling"Yes, it is."
When I walked over to the bar and asked for his autograph, I had no clue that it would turn into one of the most interesting conversations of my life.
I stood at the bar in Taco Mamacita for about half an hour talking to Billy Gibbons and his really nice lady friend.
Oh, and he taught me how to gamble. He found out we were going to Vegas and whipped a set of red dice out of his pocket. Yeah, he carries dice in his coat pocket. I now know that if I ever shoot dice, I should throw left-handed. He could feel that it was my lucky hand. After four or five rolls switching between hands, we figured out that he was right. Of course he's right, he's Billy Gibbons.
So we talked. About everything. Music, war, religion, which religion was going to win the war, pop culture, EVERTHING.
"I'm a white man, why would the Indians (Native Americans, not real Indians) let me into their sacred holy land? 'Cause everybody wants to rock..."
Yeah, it was quite a night.
We finally left him alone to enjoy his drink, and on the way back to the booth, the waitress smiled and said "I told you needed to come in"

Because of Paul McCartney

Today (well, yesterday, by now...) (haha, Yesterday, get it?) Sir Paul McCartney turned 68. So, I figured this was a good time to start posting my longtime project. This is a collection of things that I have realized could be traced back to Macca or The Beatles.
Because of Paul McCartney:
I finally realized that Bon Jovi is NOT the most amazing band ever.
I now have an obsession with leftys.
I answer "No, we're just very good friends, actually..." to almost any question. (Go watch A Hard Day's Night if you don't get this one)
I use "Fab!" in everyday conversation.
I want a boy just so I can have a child named Jude.
I make people very uncomfortable by asking "Doesn't all the blood rush to your stomach?" (This one is from HELP!)
I attempt to have a Liverpool accent. And fail horribly.
I can't sleep at night because I'm trying to figure out "I Am The Walrus".
And most importantly: I joined Marching Band.
Now, this goes back to the 2008 All-County Marching Band meet. West Davidson (I think...) did an entire Beatles show.
At that moment I decided that I was going to march in High School.
The rest is history!

I know I have more than this, I'm just having issues with thinking right now. As time goes on, I will remember some and discover more, so look for more in the future :)

Hello, hello

Well, I hope this works...
So, this is my blog. If you don't know where I got the totally awesome title from, you need to look up a little band called "Them Crooked Vultures".
First thing: I have HORRIBLE grammar and spelling. Just warning you.
Second thing: I'm very random. Also just a friendly warning.
So, I hope I got this up and running correctly. This is really just a test, I suppose...