Mar 27, 2014

I had to go down to the AC Convention Center to shoot video at the Eastern Concrete booth at the Atlantic Builders Convention. Very exciting stuff. Everyone that was working there was really nice, even if 2/3 of them were camera shy. I got some good video of them interacting with customers and then did some quick interviews.

I kept thinking I should have kept my sub job as I wouldn't have made much less and I wouldn't have had to drive down there. Overall it was a pretty quick and easy job though. I was happy to be done and on my way home.

Alex, Tyler, and I went to the TLA for The Ataris' So Long, Astoria reunion show. The crowd was pretty stagnant for the first few songs, which made no sense to me since everyone was there to see them yet they didn't seem interested. A big group of big dudes came up front a few songs in and got things going and the rest of the show was great after that. They played the full album, which I forget how much I love sometimes. Kris played a couple of acoustic songs and then the band came out for one last song for the encore. At one point a pick Kris threw landed directly on my shoulder. Score.

Mar 19, 2010

I worked for a science teacher in the morning at Memorial. The assignment was to do a worksheet while watching The Crocodile Hunter movie. It was ridiculous (real ridiculous) and I had to watch it three times.

After work I didn't have much time before we had to be at Hangar 84 for load-in. It turned out we didn't really have to be there because all the openers were sharing a drum kit. But we hung around and set up our "merch," which consists of free stickers and our burnt cd. Michelle got us vegetarian foods so we partook instead of going out to eat.

We stood outside waiting for our peoples to show up until it was about time for us to play. We played right before the touring bands which was nice.

We had a shorter set than usual but we managed. The songs were not perfect and slower than we'd like to play them but the crowd didn't seem to mind too much.

Regardless of how we did it felt really good to be back up on the stage.

After the band they were touring with played, The Ataris came on and played through a bunch of old and new tunes. They played some off of their newest cd which I didn't expect.

It's somewhat nostalgic seeing them play. All of their songs remind me of a long time ago and it's strange to see the progression they have made through the years. I'm glad they're still touring.

We hung out for a while after the show but not for too long. I came home and watched some Californication before bed. It wasn't like the last time we opened for them; it just didn't feel the same. I wanted to be excited but I felt like things kept knocking me down. Oh well, I guess every show can't be the best of your life. At least we had the one last year.

May 14, 2009

I didn't work in the morning because I knew it was going to be a hectic day. I spent most of the morning finishing burning CDs and trying to sell the rest of our tickets. I managed to sell a handful more before we had to head over to Hangar 84 to load in.

We had some food at Dreamz Cafe while we waited for the alarms to get fixed and then we came back to load in. I managed to sell the rest of the tickets to people coming in at the door. So we ended up selling 77!

We set up our "merch" area really pretty with our new stickers and demos and a mailing list. We were really excited and we talked to Brian, the bassist for the Ataris, in the green room for quite a while before we played. He's an awesome guy.

Then we took the stage. It's a stage we've been on before but it felt bigger last night.

We played all of our original songs.. all nine of them.

We had a great time and had lots of energy.

Steve brought Gary along to the show this time.

I was just caught in the moment having a really great time and the set went by fast.

The crowd was pretty energetic too, there were a lot of people there and there was actually a pit for a little while.

We hung out at the merch area after the set chatting up all of our screaming fans...

We gave away quite a few demos and stickers too so that's awesome.

Tips are sexy!

Pull the Pin played next, followed by The Ataris of course. They played some great old songs and some "newer" ones from 2003.

They played the singles and fan favorites.

When it was time for San Dimas, they chose Chuck to play it!! I think his expression says it all.

He played great, he nailed all the stops and little parts.

The rest of the band seemed totally into playing with him as well.

I don't think he wanted to get off stage.

We hung out backstage with the bands for quite a while after the show. They are all awesome dudes.

Once it was finally time to go we got one last picture with the whole group, The Ataris, Pull the Pin and half of Argyle Gargoyle.

We met Tracy, Christie and Ian at Denny's after the show for some feed and talk about the night.

It was a completely amazing night that was better than I even expected it could be!

Apr 15, 2009

When I couldn't sleep, I made this flyer for the Ataris show. It's so awesome to be able to put my band's name next to theirs.... almost as awesome....

As having our names right under theirs on an official ticket for the show!! It's crazy. When we went and picked these up, we were all going nuts. It's insane to see your band's name right next to a band that has been a favorite for almost ten years! So excited!

We were going anyway, but we went to the Abbaye to celebrate this craziness with Victory beer night. It was just ten bucks for a Victory glass and free refills for two hours!

Jeff doubled up until Sam got there.

We kept pulling out the tickets to look at them.

It was awesome every time.

Sam was really excited for us too! Or maybe she's excited for the beer and we made her hold those things...

I was excited for both..

Katie and I had a chugging contest when it was almost time for the free refills to stop but she started with half a glass..

We got these awesome veggie nachos as well. I'd go back just for them.

The tickets got around.. but we still hadn't sold any.

After a long night of yelling to each other that we were playing with The Ataris and drinking a lot of beer, we headed home. Good celebration! Awesome night.

Apr 14, 2009

We got up pretty early in the morning to leave for home. We packed up and said goodbye to Harbor Hill and to Crystal, Kim and her kids, who had showed up the day before.

The drive back down didn't seem as bad as the way up.. probably because we weren't really tired.

We stopped in Connecticut to play a course that I had originally hoped to play on the way up, Cranbury Park.

The course was really nice, with rubber tee pads, chairs and bag holders but it was woody everywhere. The majority of the holes were in the woods and all the shots were tight. Almost every shot hit a tree.

There were some really cool holes like this one on top of a rock (which I deuced and Katie got a three on!) I also got some really good news on the course that our band would be playing with The Ataris! It was just a maybe at that point but we found out later that night for sure.

We stopped at Deptford Mall when we got close to home to kill some time before I went to my math class for the test review. After that was over we finally headed home. I got the awesome news that we'd be playing with The Ataris for sure and I couldn't sleep even though I was exhausted.