Weezer Weekend: Rivers and Me!

 Here I am! Back with Weezer Weekend part two! On Saturday, Rivers Cuomo had tweeted about going to the Johnny Cash museum at 3 pm and I figured for sure it wasn't really going to happen, or they wouldn't talk to fans. But I was wrong and when I saw a group photo of him with a big crowd of fans I was sick about it! Like I said in my earlier post, Rivers Cuomo has been one of my biggest loves for a LONG time. So when he tweeted about being at Third Man Records on Sunday, I knew I had to go! I was prepared to get there early in the morning and stake it out, but my good friend Ryan was able to get some details so we headed down about 15 minutes before Rivers was supposed to arrive.

 Here we are! At this point I don't believe it is actually going to happen. I'm sure he isn't going to show up or there will be too many people around or something. We hung out for a while, went inside and tried to use their mold o rama machine (it was broken!) and the photo booth (out of paper!) then I saw the bassist Scott in the reflection of the door and my stomach dropped to my feet.

 And then we stepped outside and there he was, little Rivers, man of my nerdy dreams. Ah! 

I talked to Scott first, he was really nice! And had a half gold tooth (the bottom half) which looked awesome! There were maybe 30 to 40 people hanging out? People were being respectful and not crowding or pushing, just politely asking for signatures and photos. Other Weezer fans might notice Karl in the background!

 Ryan took this one of me waiting for my chance to talk to Rivers. I was trying to make a funny face, but it was mostly a real face. I was shaking! Just a little, but I was very nervous that I wouldn't get my chance. Travis encouraged me to step up and talk to him.

It was awkward, as you expect, but I am so thrilled that this happened! I still can't get over it! Here I am with one of my favorite people ever! The thrill of the year!

I didn't get a shot with Brian but I love this one I took of him with my friend Marissa. Doesn't it look like they are buddies?

 She wasn't able to get one with Rivers, but this one is pretty excellent! Haha!

The reason they were there was to record a record in Third Man's booth. They have this awesome booth where for 15 bucks you can record a record and it makes it right there! Here is a great video of the proceedings. If you have eagle eyes you can spot me at 2:03. I'm one row back, the only person in frame without my phone up. I could really only see Brian's back so I figured I would be able to find a better video online once I got home. It was amazing though! I was less than 10 feet away while they recorded that one of a kind 7 inch! 

 Here was my view. Still cool. 

 They signed it when they were done and played it on the stereo. It sounds like it was recorded in the 40's. I need to think of something we can record in that booth. It's so neat!

 So there you have it! Best experience of the year so far! I'm so happy we were able to go, and I was able to meet someone who has been important to me for so long. I got them to sign my well loved Weezer wallet, and now I'm going to retire it and frame it.

Weezer Weekend: I love a good theme!

My favorite band of all time, Weezer, was here in Nashville this past weekend for a two night gig at the Ryman. I've been looking forward to it for months! You can read a little bit about my love of the band here. They have been my biggest obsession ever and I have the blog name (and big dorky tattoo) to prove it! I'm gong to have to split the experience into two posts because it was the best weekend I've had in a long time! I'll be back soon to tell you about MEETING RIVERS CUOMO only my biggest nerd love. I still kind of can't believe it happened.

A bunch of friends were going, and we love a theme, so we had a little Pr(w)eezer party before the Saturday night show. Here is what we had:  

 Kimmie provided the "Somebody's Heine is crowding my icebox....pie"

 Our host Nettie made these perfect, delicious, Islands in the Sun. It is butternut squash soup with a gnocchi island, broccoli trees, quinoa beach, and a little umbrella. I'm still not over how cute it is!

 Kimmie's other half Jamie proved the El Scorcho spicy snack mix. 

 I made Pink Triangle cookies, which didn't turn out quite how I wanted, but you get the idea. 

 And Ryan brought "I'm a pig, I'm a dog, so scuse me if I drool" dogs! It was kind of a weird mix, but it was delicious and fun! I wish we had gotten a group photo before we headed out.

I wore this button that I made back in high school. See the nice packing tape job? I'm pretty sure I added the text in Microsoft paint. I wasn't sure I would wear it, because it's pretty lame, but a positive instagram response encouraged me.

 I stole this collage from Ryan, here we all are moments before the show started! There I am, looking towards the heavens!

 There really aren't any bad seats at the Ryman. We got the cheapest ones (since we were going both nights) and still had a great view. The shows were part of their "memories" thing where they play through their classic albums, plus a greatest hits set. I think I was one of the few people there who cared about them after Pinkerton came out so I was thrilled to hear the other songs!

The highlight was probably when they did an acoustic version of Suzanne. The Ryman is known for its acoustics (it was the home of the Grand Ole Opry for a long time) and the song sounded amazing. Here is a little video of it from youtube. I wish I had been so close!

After the greatest hits set they had a little slide show and the played the Blue Album all the way through. I cried a few times during the show, mostly from being overwhelmed with happiness. Karl posted this photo on the official site and I love it! We were in the balcony, a little to the left.

The second night saw our numbers a little diminished, and we moved the party to my house. I went simple and just had pork and beans with candy, cuz you know, the song "I eat my candy with the pork and beans." Backdrop provided by the stunning painting I made of Rivers in high school ( I told you I was obsessed!)

Such a delicious combo! We also had salt and vinegar kettle chips, just because.

The pugs love it when people come over because they get even MORE attention. Little Phyllis is pretty hard to resist.

Our seats for night two were a little more to the side, but I loved it because we could see Rivers' kids dancing around backstage!

See that? That is his little toddler son, running around pretending to shred on a ukelele. It was killing me! Rivers' 7 year old daughter Mia came out and played keys for a song both nights. How cool is that?

This time after the little intermission/slide show they came out and played Pinkerton all the way through. That album is critical to me being who I am today. It felt a little like a religious experience being there. I'm not even kidding.  It's just so GOOD, and sincere, and weird and meant to much to me at  a hard time in my life. I cried again, this time during the beginning of Across the Sea, and at the end during Butterfly (OF COURSE).

So it was a perfect weekend. I'm so happy they brought the memories tour here and I was in a position to be able to go both nights and scream along with so many other happy people. My voice was hoarse on Monday. But it was worth it!

Nostalgia

Last night I went with Travis and my friend Ryan to a bar in West Nashville called the Stone Fox. A local band called My So Called Band was doing a show where they played the Blue Album and Pinkerton by Weezer all the way through! Did you know I'm a HUGE Weezer fan? Maye be you did, looking at my blog name. I was totally stoked to see this show. And I met Lauren from Old Red Boots, which made it ever better! She is so cute, and really nice! I'm looking forward to seeing her again this week at a little blogger meet up back at the Stone Fox. The bar is really cute with great vintage stuff on the walls, like a huge velvet Burt Reynolds painting! 

The show was great. The played the songs perfectly and it made me so happy to hear them live again. I sang along with every one and had a little bit of a hoarse voice today. Pinkerton is my favorite album of all time, I absolutely love every single song on it. There were a few weird moments where we thought a fight was about to happen, and some girl's hair got in my mouth!! (Long haired ladies, please watch it when you are swinging your hair around in a crowd. I really hate it when a strangers hair is all in my face!) But over all it ruled. They said they are going to do it again soon, and I'd love to see them again!

Hearing all those songs made me really nostalgic. I was super into Weezer in high school and listened to them non-stop. I went back in my old live journal trying to find some really embarrassing pictures from the shows I went too, but most of them were in my oldest one and I couldn't remember the password. But I found a few, so please indulge me in a little trip down memory lane. 

Here I am the day I saw Weezer live for the first time! Check out the flying W's I made with the mustard. Those bracelets I have one were made by me and had alphabet beads that said "shakin' booty makin' sweet love all the night" which is from "The Good Life." It was actually the first day I ever talked to Travis! I am making that face because I rode to my best friend's house on the bus and Travis rode the same one. He accidentally hit me in the face as he was walking down the middle row. I had a crush on him so I was thrilled. Haha!

And here are my friends and I in line waiting to get in. There is Crystal to my right, who is still my best friend. We were 16 in this picture. So we have been best friends for over 10 years!

I've seen them live four times. This is the last one, about four years ago. At this show Tom DeLonge from Blink 182 sang with them and made all my high school dreams come true. Even though the later albums aren't as good, I still really like them (except Raditude. That one is AWFUL). I'm not even ashamed that this was my first big tattoo:

Dorky right? This is when it was fresh, I don't have any healed pictures of it sadly. It takes up most of my upper back. I want to get it redone, and add lots of flowers around it. We'll see. But I still love it.

I felt so happy when I fell into bed last night under the portrait I painted of Rivers in high school. There is nothing like singing along with a room full of people to your favorite songs. 

"Where young people go to retire." Portlandia Tour Review

Do you watch Portlandia? You should, it is hilarious! When they announced they were making a stop in Nashville on their tour I knew I had to go. The show was last night, I went with my friend Brittany and it was SO GOOD. I wasn't really sure what to expect. They played songs, played clips that haven't aired yet, talked to the audience and did some comedy bits. I had seen some reviews online of people who didn't like it, and thought it seemed unrehearsed, but I loved it! It almost felt like we were all just hanging out together. My favorite part was when they showed old photos from their computers. That sounds super lame but it was so hilarious. I got very few descent pictures, but I'm still going to show you!

Carrie Brownstein is so freaking cute. She has such a perfect haircut. If my hair wasn't curly I would have it. Here she is talking about a card she made for her mom when she was eleven.

Fred Armisen in high school. I'm totally in love with him. I mean, I was before last night, but now it is a super crush. Haha, he just seems so nice! And cute! And did you see him as Prince on SNL recently? So gooooood. And you know I have a thing for glasses.

They did this whole "She's Making Jewelry Now" bit that I really loved! Here is the video of it fro the show. Carrie said they wrote it because it seemed like they were hearing "She's making jewelry now" a lot when asking about someone they hadn't seen in a while. 

There was an audience question and answer which was just terrible. I don't remember there being even one good one. Someone asked if the "We can pickle that" skit was based on we can google that? and said something like "it took us a week to pickle ourselves and another week to unpickle ourselves." It was bizarre. Someone said "Fred can I put a bird on you?" I guess there was one good request, someone asked Fred to play drums, and it was awesome! They sang some songs with Eleanor Friedberger. She has a great voice, I wish I had brought more cash so I could have bought her cd. They did Patti Smith's "Because the Night" (that song comes on a work all the time and I love it!),  The Doors "Light My Fire", and Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark."

They said it was the only encore they did on the whole tour, and this was the last night. They pulled one dude up to dance and a ton up people ended up on stage. Security wasn't happy about it, but it was pretty great. Believe it or not I didn't wait after for a chance to meet Carrie and Fred. I really doubted they would come out, and the night had been so nice and weirdly intimate feeling I didn't want to ruin it if I ended up waiting a long time for nothing. 

I got a poster and this great tour bag. Check out the bread box that I put a bird on behind the bag, haha.
I love the we can pickle that sketch so much! You should watch it!

So in conclusion, I thought Portlandia: the tour, was great. I'm so happy I got tickets.

Harry and the Potters

Harry and the Potters played in Nashville yesterday. It took some schedule maneuvering and some bravery to go by myself (because i am a baby) but i am so glad i did! it was the most fun thing i've done in a while (and we do lots of fun stuff!) I've got lots of wizard rock on my computer (a lot of it is TERRIBLE but it is so fun!) but i had never been to a show.

i was right in the front, which is kind of embarrassing. i kept trying to let little kids get in front of me so they could see better but they were all too shy.

there was a pretty big, enthusiastic crowd!

you could tell they were having fun and really love harry potter and put on a great show. and the songs! my favorites were probably save ginny weasley, human hosepipe, the weasle, this book is so awesome, and the one about thestrals. i'm not quite sure what i was expecting but it really blew me away!

saxaphone solo!

i bought some cds, a shirt, and a silkscreen poster of that great ziggy stardust esque image. i love it! i'm going to frame it and hang it in our dining room.
then later that night marissa, travis, and i went to see them again at the "fortress of solid dudes" in murfreesboro. it was a house show full of stinky drunk hipsters. completely different from the library. 

we didn't go down into the room because people were slam dancing and i'm too old for that now. haha. they ended this show with "smells like harry potter" which was so hilarious and fun to sing. 

i cant seem to find to words to explain why it was so amazing. but if you love harry potter you should check out the rest of their tour scheduale and see if they are coming near you, and go! you won't regret it!