Picture Post Part 2 - Everything Else

After I realized my camera doesn't work on Erik's laptop, I stopped taking a ton of pictures. In retrospect, it is always a good idea to carry a camera with you especailly if Regina Spektor is singing on stage before your band plays and Greta Cohn, formerly of Cursive just happens to be there too.



Fafi mural at the Lit Lounge.



Erik loves Will Smith movies so I got a picture of where the Men in Black climax takes place.



An altered sign at DJ Frequency's studio. He hates rock music.



Handsome! Not.



Ryan and me in front of New Jersey.

Tour Picture Post Part 1 - Philly

Jon, Erik and I getting ready to pick up Ryan!



Yummy tortilla chips at Pico de Gallo.



I love cute things.



Me, Linds and the Benj.



Panda Riot being all artsy and awesome.

A User, A Boozer, and A Loser

Today in the Village I saw a cute little woman wearing a colorful mu mu and big glasses. I swore it was Amy Sedaris so I turned around and chased her down.
Sure enough, it was her. I told her I was a big fan and loved the mashed potatoes recipe in her book, "I Like You," and then parted.
Everyone pretty much knows by now that Amy does not look like Jerri Blank in real life. In fact, Amy is quite beautiful and petite with perfect skin.
There are only 2 more days of the first half of our tour. Tomorrow we play in Brooklyn and midnight and Sunday we play New London, CT. I can't wait to go home and wait in a long line to get my passport processed!

No Sleep Real Heat

It is beyond hot in this lovely city. Yesterday, we played at Fontana's in Chinatown with our good friends, Arbor Day. I was disappointed to learn their bass player, Joe Hasan, no longer has copies of his second comedy CD. His first CD is a Pash favorite. I wonder where that cd went...

Anyways, the show was great. We played to a good sized crowd. Two of my friends from college, Albert and Pat showed up. Hopefully I will get to see both of them again before we leave. James from the Gay Blades showed up. It is always a pleasure to be in his company. So handsome that one!

I had been planning on going to an after party all week but was bogged down with a migraine right before we played. It is my fault though - I didn't eat a proper lunch (the biggest migraine trigger in the world) and ate the raddest veggie dumplings for dinner. MSG always makes things worse.

Jon and I found free parking! Yesterday we paid $45 to park. The only catch with our spot was that we had to wait in the car from 9am - 10:30am to make sure cops didn't ticket us. While waiting in the car, we saw swarms of little children in red and blue shirts. It appeared to be the local schools' field day. So cute! It is gonna be a hot one but I have more shopping to do!

Hopefully Jon and I will watch Lost tonight. Thank you itunes!

This is the remix

Last night we worked on a remix of "Kill the Rich Boys II" with DJ Frequency. It sounds pretty rad so far. He didn't finish it but I am very pleased with how it sounds so far - like Timbaland but better! We also ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday's which is still weird no matter what state you are in.
We are all lazy and just got up. It looks nice outside so I am hoping Erik will get up in a bit and go shopping with me.
I am dying to see "Lost!"

tour tour tour

Disclaimer - there are no pictures for this post. I will update with photos as soon as I can.

We are on day 5 of our East Coast tour. We are at our friend's Shelly's apartment. Bibb and Ryan and are in Manhattan. Tour has been great so far. We got paid for the first time in New York. A lot of our friends from college now live here and showed up last night.

The night before we played in Philly. My BFF, Lindsey, and I were telling this guy we liked his Daft Punk shirt. Lindsey started singing Around the World and the guy said, "You should listen to that song on whippets." I'm gonna take his word on that one.

I feel like I have more to say but my mind is going blank. We are doing a remix with the famous DJ Frequency today. Tomorrow we play in New York again with my favorite band, Arbor Day. We also have Friday off so I am planning to hit up Uniqlo and spend lots of money that I don't have.

I'll be back with pictures soon, I promise.

Ripchord

"I was even havin' a good day, when I found out we lost you."

Alex has been gone for 4 years. It seems like just yesterday I came back to my dorm room after dinner at Chipotle to strange messages from some of my closest friends, all who wouldn't say exactly what was going on but only that they needed to talk and that they were sorry. Minutes later my roomates were trying to help me figure out what was going on. One of them got an IM from her friend, "Did you hear about the senior who died?" She read it to me and responded "Please tell me who. I think it is one of my roomates friends." I looked over her shoulder and read "Alex Naden." I was in shock as anyone in this situation would be. Before I could even process anything, someone knocked on our dorm. It was my friend Kim who lived down the hall. She was crying and we hugged and cried and cried and cried. After that, the calls and messages kept coming in. A large group quickly gathered across campus at someone's house. Everyone was in tears or silent. The German exam I had to take the next day was the last thing on my mind.

I thought about Alex everyday for 2 years. I still feel very fortunate that I ran into him at the Food Court the day before he left us. I said goodbye and got to see his beautiful smile one last time.

His parents returned to campus my senior year for a bench dedication. Alex always sat around the benches outside of the Underground - the first place I met Alex. I was selfishly going to keep a picture of Alex and some other friends who worked at the Underground that had been taken my freshman year. Marie talked me out of it. Instead, I gave the picture to Mr. Naden and told him that not a day went by where I didn't think of Alex, how wonderful Alex was and how proud I was to have known his son. His dad thanked me over tears. I considered this closure.

I now only think of Alex from time to time. I sometimes see people who look like him and start to chase them down before I remember. I was driving home the other night with my Ipod on shuffle and Radiohead came on. I immediately thought of Alex. Alex spent hours making Radiohead B-sides and rarities mixed CDs for the Underground. I always considered it a treat. I have so many things to thank Alex for...first and for most my friends. If it wasn't for Alex, I wouldn't have met the students that became my friends. Mostly, I want to thank Alex for making me smile. Whether it was telling me my crush was coming down to the Underground for my number or just doing a silly dance, he always made me and everyone smile. Even in his death, Alex continues to give his greatest gift- the gift of loving life.

We all miss you.

Thnks fr th Mmrs

Lissa graduated from college (sorta) this weekend. Radford is far away. I thought the hour and a half drive to Mary Washington was painful. Boy, was I wrong. Fun was had by all despite the crappy weather.

Also, Megan and Lissa turn 22 tomorrow (Lindsey, can you believe it???). HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!