Oh, hiiii Warped Tour! Nice to meet you. You're pretty awesome! Especially when you're free!

1: Chain Reaction. 10.08.08




2: Chain Reaction. 11.10.08




1+2=




Make sense? No? Lemme explain...


I'll back up a few months... 8, to be exact. Laura and I went to Chain on October 8 of last year to see Out Together, and Kris Roe happened to be headlining that night with an acoustic set. Pretty meaningless to me considering I have never listened to the Ataris and I had no clue who the heck this guy was. The night ended relatively uneventfully [though I do seem to remember Kevin/Nate/Cody left without saying goodbye...minor side-note].

Flash forward 1 month [almost exactly] to another night at Chain. This time we were seeing The Scenic for the first time. They had friended me on Myspace over the summer and after listening to them for a while I bought their CD on iTunes. I was hooked. Got Laura even more hooked. But they were from PA and we had no clue if we'd ever have a chance to see them live. Well that chance came in November. As soon as we saw their show at Chain listed in their tour dates we exchanged messages with them to see if they'd be interested in an L&L video [I just went through said messages, and now that we actually know them "We can get you on the guest list in exchange for your services but thats about it" has a whole new meaning... hah yeah they've corrupted my brain]. November 10 came around and we found ourselves at Chain somewhat confused because we had to figure out the guest list situation and weren't really sure which one of them to talk to because, well, we didn't really know who any of them were. We ended up talking to the drummer because we were pretty sure he was the one who had been responding to us. We did end up learning all of their names, and they convinced us to come to their show at the Knitting Factory later that week [how could we turn down the Laura discount?]. That night we began the tradition of In-N-Out with Shane and Jake. After the show we parted ways and planned to see them again when they flew out for the Warped Tour Battle of the Bands at the Key Club in December.



After their show in December we spent well over an hour saying goodbye to them at their hotel room across the street from In-N-Out on Sunset despite the fact that this was only the third time we'd seen them. We left with marriage proposals from Frank and a signed, special edition Rock Band 2 which was intended to be given away at a later date as part of a contest prize.

6 months later: They were finally headed back to California. Laura and I started planning a road trip in early to mid-May and we thought, with some luck, we might be able to match the end of it with The Scenic's potential NorCal show listed in their tour dates. It was all up in the air really...just a thought. Well it actually worked out and we saw them in Oakland. Before we could even say hi to them ourselves Jake ran over to us and we all partook in a beautiful reunion. It was poetic really. Ok maybe I'm exaggerating. Anyways, it was so good to see them again after far too much time separated by the US of A. We also got to meet their awesome new addition, Zach, from Arizona, who is equally spectacular and fantastic and quite dashing, in fact [in case he's reading this I am attempting to score myself some Zach points at the moment...did it work?]. We also met Margot, who in my opinion is a superwoman for braving a nation-wide tour with 5 boys. The day after that show we all [Lauras and Scenic] drove back down to SoCal for their show at Chain Reaction. Saw them again Friday at The Wire, went to Huntington on Saturday, and saw them one last time [...or so we thought] on Sunday at the Knitting Factory. We ended the evening at In-N-Out obviously [could I get a 4x4 animal style with fries and a MELK please?!]. Megan was able to meet up with us for that show, which was fortunate because it resulted in the founding of the United Kneetions- I truly sense great things for that organization. But we eventually had to say goodbye. And it was sad.

SYKE! Saw them again 5 days later. They were stinky and hungry after braving the sun and masses at Warped Tour in Pomona, so they wound up at Laura's house for showers and French toast. Shane had mentioned before that he might be able to get us on the guest list for Warped in Ventura on Sunday. Wait? What? Didn't catch that? I'll say it again...

Shane had mentioned before that he might be able to get us on the guest list for Warped in Ventura on Sunday.

Yeah, that's right. Didn't really think it was tooooooo great of a possibility though. But it was in the back of my mind. Well he brought it up again on Friday as they were leaving, and basically we said that if he could get us in, we'd be there. Umm. Hi. My name is Laura and at this point I had never been to Warped Tour before. Wellllll, Saturday he called to get my last name...and shortly thereafter we were guest listed. For Warped Tour. Oh, also, we were on The Ataris' guest list. Ah hahhhhhh... the circle is now complete. Remember this?



Yeah, it all makes sense now.



[is it just me, or is Kris wearing the same shirt in the Chain video that he wore at Warped? No...that would just be creepy...but it does kinda look similar]

So basically this was quite an amazing first experience at Warped Tour. It was free, The Scenic was there, we saw some really great bands and ran into a bunch of other friends, got to stand on main stage with Shane, Jake, Frank, and Zach during The Ataris' set...oh and as icing on the cake it was NOT hot. The end of the day was bittersweet though because we had to say goodbye for reals. There's a chance I might sink into a depression until they once again traverse the nation in their little trooper of a red GMC van with a trailer clad in Jonas Brothers.




Moral of the story: Scenic, I love you. And Shane, I owe you BIG TIME. Back massages times infinity probably. You guys are such awesome people and you're wayyyyy too good to us. Come back soon please! I miss you already!

welp, tomorrow is going to be a good day I think. thanks to shane laura and I are on the ataris' guestlist for warped tour. well this is new!

...road trip dolores style from irvine to santa ana to hanford to fresno to hanford to discovery bay to roseville to orangevale to roseville to carmichael to orangevale to loomis to sacramento to discovery bay to sacramento to discovery bay to oakland to carmichael to santa ana to irvine to santa ana to anaheim [to upland and hollywood too!]. Phew!

So yesterday in my effort to regain lost quicktime components, thereby restoring my ability to import HD video, I idiotically erased everything on my computer. That includes an outline I had made of Laura's and my road trip...so now I'm going to try to remember everything off the top of my head...here we go:

Friday: June 12, 2009

We left Laura's house Friday morning around 11:15 and it only took about 4 hours to get to Hanford. Tami and Kevin fed us yummy pizza from Dominos. I learned that you can order pizza online, and with Dominos you can follow every step of the process...from the order being received to the delivery man [identified by name and everything] reaching your door. Dominos has pizza down to a science. Friday night we drove 35 minutes to Kuppajoe in Fresno because Bidwell happened to be playing. The security guard there wears a turban and is somewhat creepy. Josiah threw bugs at us. Ok maybe not at us but he threw them in the air to show that they could fly [which, in fact, they could not]. We got back to the Mannixes around 1:30 and I was completely exhausted. Good night's sleep on their comfy couch =)



Saturday: June 13, 2009

Woke up on Saturday and had breakfast. Tami made eggs and bacon and Kevin hovered behind her the whole time to make sure she didn't burn the house down. Their guest bathroom has a REALLY nice shower head. I think we left at about 1 or 2 to drive to the Delta. The Benjamins wouldn't be there until 5, but there's not much to do in Hanford so we just decided to start driving. Made it to Discovery Bay by like 3 or 3:30. I wasn't sure if we were at the right house because I had never been there before, so I called my dad just to double check. I swear he was a secret agent in another life because he led me to the back door where a key was hidden under the cover of an electrical outlet. So that was fortunate because we could then proceed to unpack the car...and then take pictures of the pretty house. When Steve and Sheri got there Steve was disappointed in our unhealthy road trip food [what were we supposed to pack? vegetables? no. cereal and bagels are much better options]. He also stole our grocery bags, which was inconvenient the next day when we had to decide where to put all of our food. When Cody got home from work he showed up with like 6 other guys - 5 of whom he had just met. Seriously, he didn't even know all of their names. We all went out on the boat for a while. Cody and one of his friends wakeboarded then a few of them wake surfed. I miss wake surfing. Wish I had a chance to get back out on the water while we were there but it just didn't happen. Steve made us steak for dinner and it was delicious. After dinner I had a chance to catch up with Cody. We hadn't seen each other in 2 years and he was under the impression that I was just the same as I was when he saw me shortly after I graduated from high school. Hah. We found out we have a lot of the same musical tastes.















Sunday: June 14, 2009



We woke up around 10 on Sunday and everyone else was gone. Reeses Puffs cereal for breakfast...yesssss. Left the Delta at like, hmmm sometime...don't exactly remember.
But we checked into our hotel in Roseville at 3:15, unpacked the car, got in touch with Matty, and headed to Club Retro. Bidwell had some intense light rigs set up that they were testing out. Heard Beauty Queen like 3 times. Confetti testing...pointless sweeping. Then we decided we were hungry so we drove up the street to Subway and bought a couple of sandwiches for Matty and us. The show was pretty darn cool. Lots of screaming children in masquerade masks, confetti, streamers, balloons, lights, people with video cameras, etc. etc. At some point we met Rian Flynn and he explained the genesis of ib'ish and the fact that he also speaks Arabic and another much more complicated modified version of English. Megan and Bidwell had a photoshoot in the girls' bathroom. There IS such a thing as too much Crunk. Back to hotel.



Monday: June 15, 2009

[Free breakfast...YES!] We didn't really have a plan for Monday aside from checking out of our hotel by 11. We thought maybe we'd find a park or something or go hiking...yeah really we had no idea what to do. Sooo...Matty became our activities director. We went to his apartment after checking out, where we met some friends of Goodnight Sunrise from Washington. We also met Dustin...Matty's brother's girlfriend's 7 year old son who is freaking amazing. Major plastic dart battle which resulted in The Lauras stealing Dustin's storage box top shield. We won, in my opinion, no matter how many imaginary shields Dustin created for himself. I think we might need to schedule a rematch at some point though. After World War III was over, Matty, Laura and I headed to Club Retro for Bidwell's scheduled photo shoot. Turns out the shoot wasn't happening, so we met Matty's friend Lord Beardacus for lunch at Pasta Pomodoro down the street a ways. We sat at the perfect table for watching people blatantly ignore a stop sign. I will forever be self-conscious about making a full and complete stop. Then it was time for Matty to return his borrowed drum kit [which was used by Katy Perry on American Idol] so we went back to Retro to collect that and take it back to the Shine factory in Loomis. We got to see Third Eye Blind's snare and a bunch of other kits in the making, including Mattys...which should be done soon I think. Then we followed Matty and Beardy to the mall and walked around for a while. Thennnn we followed them to Gary's house in downtown Sacramento. Gary has an awesome cat named Eggplant. We watched Cable Guy then decided we needed to go see The Hangover. We went to this really awesome dome movie theater that was freaking HUGE. One of the coolest theaters I've ever been in I think. After the movie we dropped Matty and Gary back off downtown then drove back to the Delta for the night.

Tuesday: June 16, 2009

We had kind of planned on going to San Francisco on Tuesday, but when we got back to Disco Bay in the wee hours of the morning we discovered that the neighbor's internet wasn't working. It was still being a butthead in the morning so we really had no way of finding a good bart station or researching the ferry that leaves from Vallejo that Beardy had mentioned. So we spent the better part of the late morning/early afternoon lying on the dock making friends with a duck. With nothing else to do we decided we'd seek out a Juice it Up that was 15-20 miles away, but right when we got in the car Matty called and next thing we knew we were driving back to Sac. Back at Gary's we saw Tasha from Palm Springs again because she was recording with Matty and Beardy over the next couple of days. While Matty and Tasha were going over songs in Gary's guitar room, Gary, Laura, Beardy and I decided to get Indian food. We spent a large portion of the experience asking Laura for her thoughts on the subject, seeing as how she's part Chinese, which is basically full Chinese, which means she's pretty much from China, which is on the same continent as India, which means she's sort of Indian herself =P. Indian food is GOOD! Can't wait to try some again =). Then we went back to Gary's and watched part of Hot Rod...but partially through the movie Laura, Gary, and I decided to walk to frozen yogurt. On the way there we had an in-depth discussion about how ridiculous it is when fro-yo places have non-dairy only in flavors like pineapple. People who don't eat dairy are a very small percentage of the population, and people who like pineapple fro-yo are even more rare. Wouldn'tcha know that when we get to the frozen yogurt place the only non-dairy option they have for Gary is pineapple. Laura and I didn't really want anything so we left empty handed. Back at Gary's Hot Rod had started over. We didn't really get to watch the movie the first time it played so we caught more of it the second time around. Beardy came over a while later. Then Matty left with Tasha and her friends, so the 4 of us started watching Big Trouble in Little China. What a funny, corny, ridiculous movie. Afterwards...back to the Delta [yeah, we did a lot of driving].

Wednesday: June 17, 2009

We took our time getting ready and packed up on Wednesday because we had nothing to do other than drive to Oakland for The Scenic's show at The Metro. On Tuesday night Cody texted me a warning that he and his friends would be at the Delta house on Wednesday night drinking and partying, so we wanted to pack everything up in case we found someplace else to stay that night. The Delta would have been fine... but noisy, and we had to make a long drive home on Thursday. We got to Oakland about an hour early and killed time exploring Jack London Square and getting an early dinner at Subway. Then it was time for our beautiful reunion with The Scenic. We hadn't seen them since December...far too long! Jake ran up to us before we even had a chance to say hi to anybody. I love those guys so much. After the show we made the first obligatory trip to In-N-Out. Meanwhile I had been in touch with Matty via Beardy [Matty's phone died on Tuesday] because we were really not interested in driving back to a house full of drunk 19year-olds [who sound like 14-year olds when they get together]. Fortunately Matty was willing to take us in, so after In-N-Out and loading out and such we drove back to Sacramento [wow, for the 4th time]. Watched part of Into the Wild with Matty [ironic because we had just been in Jack London Square] then came to terms with our exhaustion and went to sleep.

Thursday: June 18, 2009

On Thursday morning Matty's brother Mike made everyone French toast for breakfast, which we ate while we watched SNL: Best of Mike Meyers. I would have been perfectly happy staying there all day watching movies and battling Dustin, but we had to get home if we wanted to make it to The Scenic's show at Chain that night. I think we finally left around 12:30 or 1. We filled up the gas tank before getting on the freeway, and I was determined to make it all the way home on one tank. If it weren't for the ridge route I think we might have done it, but we had to stop for gas about 20 miles from home. So close!!! [But if you ask Zach, he'll tell you we made it all the way]. I went home for no more than 45 minutes just to shower and collect myself a bit, then headed back to Laura's, and off to Chain we went!

The next three days were mostly about catching some good hang-time with The Scenic...Upland on Friday, Huntington Beach on Saturday, then LA on Sunday [with Megan! =)]. Rode in Megan's car to In-N-Out so we could hear the other new GNSR songs [shhhh...don't tell them! =P], then after the 4th trip to In-N-Out [4x4 animal style with fries and a MELK please!] we finally had to say goodbye =(. I hate saying goodbye. It sucks having friends who are only in town for a few days then leave for another six months.

This road trip was pretty much amazing and coming home to The Scenic was a great way to end things. I definitely wasn't ready to come home. I feel so complacent. I just want to be out traveling and experiencing the world.

In 7 days we:
- Slept on 2 couches
- Stayed in a million+ dollar house
- Saw 17 friends
- Met 14 people and 2 cats
- Went to the Shine drum factory
- Ate Indian food for the first time
- Watched 8 movies [if you count Hot Rod twice]
- Drove 1,500 miles [and only filled my car up like 3 times]
- Followed our own schedule and went wherever the wind happened to take us

...When can we do this again?

So today I get to work and Suzie informs me that a man was arrested at the club this afternoon. Apparently a woman who lives nearby called the police because her boyfriend was abusing her. When they showed up I guess he ran through the parking lot of the tennis club, entered the club nonchalantly, and sat on the patio watching people play tennis for like half an hour. Suzie had spoken with the policemen in the parking lot and they told her to keep an eye out for someone wearing a red baseball hat. Well this guy fit the description, so she called 911, they showed up, ran outside, and arrested him. And now I'm here alone. Well almost alone. It's me and two 70 year old men pretty much. One of whom is asleep in his apartment, while the other does crunches in the weight room. Dang. Last week there was nearly an all-out brawl, this week there was an arrest. What's going on?

And in Montana there's a shooter on the loose. The world is falling apart around me as my own world implodes with the pressure of finals starting on Monday. Gahh I can't take it!

Today Amanda and I went on a scavenger hunt. Well actually I dragged Amanda on a scavenger hunt with me. I had to find the price-per-unit for every single item I'm going to purchase while working in the snack bar this summer. It was a ridiculous waste of precious time I could have used for studying. We spent about 2 hours in Costco and Ralphs going through my list of food products. Let's just say I'm not happy with my boss for making me do this when I told him this week was busy for me and I had finals coming up. Seriously on the brink of hyperventilating because I don't know how I'm possibly going to learn everything I need to know for history/art history by Monday. I need infinite energy and more hours in the day! Slash the ability to concentrate on studying [I say as I waste more time blogging...go me]

In other news...got my car's oil changed today. 1 step closer to road trip! I need to have my dad carefully inspect the tires to make sure they're up to the 868 mile challenge. Also my phone is dying a slow death. The OK button used to intermittently decide not to work, then my phone started sporadically turning off. Now the OK button doesn't work at all and it still shuts off by itself. Fortunately I have a warranty so I'll hopefully get a new phone next week sometime.

1 week from today it will be summer and I will be exponentially more happy with my life.

Now, back to writing a modern version of The Little Mermaid in French. Oofta!