st. louis: the architects and am taxi

good old christmas break. plenty of time to be a hermit. plenty of time to stay up until five am and not leave my bed until the sun has already set. and also plenty of time to play hostess to some of my favorite chicagoans who came to visit me for the am taxi show! stephanie and claire got in town friday afternoon and we headed downtown a few hours later to the firebird for the one and only. to say that my circle of friends is obsessed with am taxi is quite the understatement. both sam and stephanie have been to close to thirty shows, and have been supporting the members, on one band form or another, for a good long while. i was a wee bit late to the taxi train, but better late than never. saying am taxi is rock and roll doesn't quite cut it. rock and roll is am taxi.

the architects were also on the tour and hailed from kansas city. great band. but am taxi stole the show and that's  really all there is to say. they had a really great crowd there and lots of people were dancing and singing along. always a good sign when multiple people know your lyrics. the group of us girls had a lovely time and  in the words of johnny, "things got weird."

columbia: the acbs, the noise fm and giant radio

and the noize boyz are back! in good old columbia no less, making it a piece of cake to go to the show, go home, and still have an entire evening left.

the acbs were great and hilarious. the noise fm slaughtered faces as always. giant radio was solid as always.

not much else to say, and i think that's a good thing.

st. louis: the heyday

i was totally guilt tripped and suckered into this one. one hundred percent. i had no intentions of going to this show whatsoever. it was two days after fall formal in chicago, the same night i was supposed to be making the seven hour drive back to columbia since i had class the following morning. well the day after formal, nick had some friends over. and among those friends were the heyday boys. and they guilt-tripped the shit outta me until i agreed to go. (it's really not that hard, i wanted to go to the show all along. it was more about my health and sanity, but who needs those things anyway? pshh.) so i agreed. and made a slight detour to st. louis for their show before driving back to columbia. and it was a good thing i went, because the turnout was low, and the least i could do was add to that low number, right? it was a fun and lowkey night. we hung out and talked all night when they weren't playing, and overall it was a good decision.



shenanigans at nick's place.

chicago: fifth annual fall formal

featuring: the phoenix philosophy, the aesthetic, the heyday, and state & madison





nothing like fall formal to be a milestone show. number twenty for state and madison! fall formal is a wonderful tradition that's been happening at beat kitchen in chicago the past couple, all thanks to my friends. it's always thanksgiving weekend, which gives me plenty of time to rest up before a wild weekend out of town, and leaves me energized and still on a hapy music high when i head back to school a few days post show. so i made the trip to chicago, stayed with my friend meesh, and we had ourselves a lovely weekend full of great people and shady shenanigans.



my favorite italian was in town from LA playing guitar for brand new band the aesthetic, the heyday was in town from colorado, and all of my friends with the most remote of musical connections were at beat kitchen. i couldn't have been happier. plus, who doesn't love dressing up for no reason at all?






the phoenix philosophy opened. they were alright. the aesthetic was really great, and played some bad ass covers, the heyday was solid as always, and state and madison brought the house down. chicago shows give me warm fuzzies, and this night did just that. it couldn't have been more perfect.

<3

columbia: company of thieves and the hold steady

okay, so here's the story:

i am obsessed with company of thieves.
and i'm not so much of a hold steady fan.
BUT i'm a harry potter fan.

what does this mean, you ask?

well company of thieves opened for the hold steady. and harry potter was coming out at midnight. therefore, i arrived in time to watch company of thieves play, stood there and drooled for a minute when genevieve walked past me, and left. then got in line for the midnight showing of harry potter.

YUP.

columbia: jenny owen youngs and wakey!wakey!

*one tree hill nerd alert*

i love one tree hill. 

my roommate loves one tree hill. 

the lead singer of wakey!wakey! is a main character in season seven of one tree hill.

so of course we had to go to the show.

and of course jenny owen youngs is fucking amazing.

great show. fun times with friends. short and sweet.

st. louis: good old war

once again, it pays to have friends who work at venue box offices. once again, guest listed +1. my friend raul immediately came to mind when i pondered what to do with my extra ticket. he's a friend of mine from school and we've carpooled to a couple shows together before. naturally, he accepted. we didn't carpool to st. louis, but met up at the venue. i made it just in time, and even though we'd cut it close, i was surprised to see a really scarce crowd. we walked right up to the front of the stage and had a great view the whole night. some guy opened, i can't remember his name. he was a pretty good freestyle rapper though. (sounds weird, but it was decent, i promise.) next was good old war (weee!) and finally joshua radin. but at that point it was getting really late, and i still had homework to get done back at school. i'm not a raging fan of joshua radin, so raul and i got in line, i bought a shirt and talked with the band briefly, and we were both on our way back to school. a long trip for such a short amount of show time, but it's always worth it to me.

check out good old war. they're fantastic and their harmonies give me chills:

www.goodoldwar.com

kirksville: relient k and jack's mannequin

this trip was mainly an excuse to visit my best friend who goes to truman university. but come on, would i ever miss a jack's show? or course not! so i made the day trip up to kirksville and was reunited with my BFF. we caught up on life and love, stuffed ourselves full of chinese food, and stood in the freezing cold line for relient k and jack's. we didn't make it inside the gym until about halfway through relient k's set (poor planning on the school's part) but i wasn't too upset. they're a great band, i've just never been super into them. jack's mannequin on the other hand, so much love for them. they put on a fantastic show and i sang and danced my little heart out, while all of best friend's friends stared at me. (they're not exactly the concert type.) it was great and i was so happy i could have about burst. there's just something about standing in a room with thousands of other people, feeling the bass in your chest, and screaming the lyrics along with ever single soul around you, knowing that they're feeling it just as much as you are.

st. louis: company of thieves

ahh, company of thieves. one of my favorite bands from chicago.

i drove to st. louis.
watched the opening bands, nothing too spectacular.
ran into tiffany, and met her friend nathaniel
nathaniel and i promptly bond, become BFFs, and realize we've been at about 20572927 of the same shows.
he informs me manchester orchestra is playing a private show at the blue note the following weekend.
(i pee pants.)
then informs me it's 21+.
(i pee pants again.)
then company of thieves played, and it was amazing.
i bought a sweet ass poster, received a free download card for a new song, and booked it back to columbia.
fuck yeah.



www.companyofthieves.net

st. louis: valenica, saves the day, motion city soundtrack, and say anything

HOLY NOSTALGIA, BATMAN.


saves the day: fuck yeah high school
motion city soundtrack: fuck yeah high school
say anything: fuck yeah high school

there was no way i COULDN'T be at this show. and of course it's nice having friends who work at the pageant and can get you guest list +1. teehee.



i was planning on going it alone but my friend molly got a last minute guest list spot, so i made a small detour, picked her up, and we had a lovely time together reliving our girlish fantasies. we missed all of valencia and most of saves the day, but niether of us minded much. i was mainly there for motion city and say anything anyway. and holy shit did i rock the fuck out. excellent show. truly, truly excellent. we mingled with people outside for a while, talked to most of the motion city boys (molly's good friends with them) and eventually found brian their tour manager, who molly is also friends with. he was the one who got her a last-minute ticket, so she wanted to say thanks. in the time we stood waiting for him by the buses, we ran into max bemis and kenny vasoli... kenny, who when he saw us yelped "hey!" and promptly tripped over a tree branch in front of him. funniest fucking thing i've seen in my LIFE. so we eventually said our goodbyes, i took her home, and made the lengthy drive back to columbia blasting old school say anything songs from unreleased albums. yeah. that's right. #morehipsterthanyou

columbia: tommy and the high pilots, the graduate, ludo

local show! local show!

tommy and the high pilots were great. the graduate was great. ludo fucking killed it. at one point, the entire audience was instructed to sit down. then the band came out and played love me dead acoustic standing among us. andrew's butt was in my face. literally. ahh, good times. and i had a bunch of friends with me too, so that made it even more fun.

fuck yeah, missouri bands. ...even though i can count you on one hand...

st. louis: the without a state tour

featuring without a face and state & madison


ohhh this. this tour, these people. so many stories and so many things that are to never be talked about again.

state and madison. my loves. words cannot describe my love for them. they came to visit me in wonderful st. louis on the craziest weekend of my life, and by the time their show rolled around i was exhausted. first up was one man band henry, of without a face. i'd probably seen henry play a good five or six times with my gaggle of chicago locals, but had never really introduced myself. let's just say that night was the beginning of what will eventually be marriage. he opened, made everyone laugh, and it was great to be among all of my st. louis music friends. we're a scarce bunch compared to those of chicago, but we're getting there. state and madison played next and of course tore shit up. it was my first time seeing alan play as their new drummer too, so that was fun. both bands and about eight of us friends all shipped out to denny's for a rowdy and way too sexual dinner. words cannot describe the topics of conversation and the pictures taken that night. oh my. both bands were going to drive to columbia and crash at my apartment there, so we were in for a long drive. tony knew i'd had a long and tiring weekend so he rode with me to keep me company and keep me awake, and everyone else followed behind.

and we'll leave it at that. many shenanigans commenced upon arrival in columbia. those italians, i tell ya. they snore all night long and drool on your pillow!

www.withoutafacemusic.com
www.stateandmadison.net

st. louis: gardening, not architecture

night two!

the wonderful sarah saturday arrived in st. louis with sidekick ian and we had ourselves a fun-filled night. sarah played with a bunch of local bands at a small, independent venue and it was so inspiring. local fans coming together for local bands, at a tiny venue. and everyone came together to support sarah and her touring project and some great thoughts and ideas were thrown around in the earn it yourself workshop session. i have so much admiration and respect for what sarah does. it's a wonder more people don't know about her and all that she does for the good of the udnerground music scene.



sarah, ian and i ended up at steak-n-shake later that night, recorded some HILARIOUS videos, and laughed our asses off until four in the morning. once again, another band was introduced to my forest of a basement. (it's becoming quite famous at this point.) here's a pic of god only know what at steak'n'shake:



check out all that sarah's involved in:

www.sarahsaturday.tumblr.com
www.twitter.com/sarahsaturday
www.twitter.com/GNAtweets
www.twitter.com/earnityourself
www/earnityourself.com

i promise you won't regret it!

st. louis: jarrod gorbel, steel train and fun.

thus begins the weekend of insanity and awesome music.
first up:

a sold out show at the firebird. what better way to start your weekend? am i right, or am i right? jarrod gorbel opened and it was pretty obvious that most people had no idea who he was. i'm a huuuuuge honorary title fan though, so whatever jarrod does, i follow closely. i guess you could say i'm obsessed, i mean whatever. he's fucking awesome. the three guys standing next to me about exploded with excitement when he played some of his old band's songs, and we bonded over that. fuck yeah show bonding. always the best kind. next was steel train. they're awesome, not gonna lie. i just don't know any of their music, so i stood back and enjoyed from afar. i was also a huuuuge format fan back in the day, so of course i'm a fun fan. they put on a killer show and the crowd was absolutely wild. the energy in the room was enough to lift a small country out of depression, and i most definitely left the show with a goofy grin plastered on my face.

columbia: love language, the union line, and local natives

a local show! amazing! it's such a great feeling driving 45 seconds to get to a show instead of six hours...

i was planning on going by my lonesome and was quite okay with this fact, but i ran into multiple friends the minute i walked inside. hung out with two girls from class until the show started, then moved a bit towards the middle, and then found my friends carlina and alex (of the noise fm) and stayed by them for the rest of the night. love language was great. the union line was great. local natives were spectacular. i can't believe that it was just a few months prior when i was seeing them at mojo's. they really blew up and i can't say that i'm surprised. they're all so talented. i bought music from both the opening bands, and still listen to both of them regularly. i highly reccomend all three  of these bands. local natives are in the process of blowing up, and we're all anxiously awaiting their sophomore album.



so hip.

www.thelocalnatives.com
www.thelovelanguage.com
www.myspace.com/theunionline

st. louis: wolfgang schaefer and pezzettino

awwwwwwww. this show was so much fun and gives me warm fuzzies just thinking about it. i'd never actually seen either artist before, but ben schaefer is wolfgang's brother. and ben is a great friend of mine who played drums for we the living. things regarding we the living and their state-of-being as a band were hush hush for a while, but i'd talked to all the guys about it a couple months before. i was bummed about the news, but excited to hear ben would still be playing shows. imagine my excitement when i heard he was coming to st. louis! so i headed downtown to a cute little coffee shop called foam and ben and i bear-hugged it out. wolfie played first and he's quite the folkmaster. check him out, he's got a rad beard. pezzettino is the brainchild of wolfgang's leading lady margaret, and she was probably the most precious thing i'd seen. bouncing blond curls and an accordion; you don't forget cool shit like that. she's fantastic as well, be sure to give her a listen. the show ended pretty early and ben and i sat down at a table and i don't think we moved for a solid two hours. there's no need to get into technicalities or anything of the we the living matter, but it was really great to sit down face to face and hear ben's story. he's such a great guy with a huge heart, and i just love him to death. we promised to keep in touch and we all left with happy hearts, i do believe.



the schaefer brothers: a view from my coffee cup.

www.myspace.com/wolfgangschaefer
www.pezzettino.net

st. louis: PLAY:stl fest: the noise fm, eagle scout, cast spells

surprise! my friend carolina met me in columbia and we carpooled to st. louis for the day for this festival. my noise boys were playing and she's quite partial to one of them, so i couldn't turn the cute girlfriend down! it was a lovely day out, perfect for walking the delmar loop. play:stl fest has been an ongoing thing for a couple years now and draws some pretty big acts. so sad they're not doing it again in 2011. oh well. so we met up with alex, got our wristbands, and made a beeline to chipotle to get our free burritos. we walked the loop a bit, made a trip to walgreens, and then decided to take a mini field trip to a really cool set-up we'd all noticed on the drive down. there was a church that had a bunch of ladders set up and it was a sight to see. carolina's photographer-self was freaking out and she got some really cool shots. here's me:



so after our little photo shoot we headed back to the loop so the band could load in at the regional arts comission. not the best place for a show (echo is the understatement of the year) but everyone made the best of it. somewhat-local-band eagle scout played a great set, then the noise fm, and finally cast spells, the side project of david davison, lead singer of maps & atlases. what a hipster day.

the noise boys (and noise girls) all crashed at my house and of course were introduced to the basement...

columbia: someone still loves you boris yeltsin

this was a fun little night out. i was back in columbia (my second home) working my on-campus job, and came across a little festival a local venue was putting on. i'm at mojo's all the time, so of course i made plans to go. i've always been a fan of someone still loves you boris yeltsin, but it was just one of those things... they're a small enough band where if i went to the show alone i'd feel really awkward, and i didn't know any of them personally.  but one of my cowokers emily was a huge fan and grew up going to their shows when they played to five and ten people, so we went together for the outdoor festival and had ourselves a grand old time prancing around in the grass.



check out this rad little indie band from my home state (missouri) here: www.sslyby.com

chicago: lollapalooza: days 1, 2 and 3

holy lollapalooza. where to even begin?! there were so many amazing things about this trip, and i could write an entire novel about my four days in chicago for this monstrocity. instead, i will leave you with my "daily calendar" with added notes which have been in blackberry for months now. katie, brianna, jared and i made the trip together.



day one: we didn't get into chicago until around two am the previous night, so we decided to sleep in and get to grant park in the late afternoon. we were staying with our friend allison who lives right next to wrigley field, and a couple hundred feet from the train. this made for easy access to travel, but craziness due to cubs games. there weren't too many great bands playing in the morning so we didn't miss out on much. we had lunch at the famed pick me up cafe, and made our way downtown around two pm.  dirty projectors were alright, but i wasn't too impressed. we wandered the grounds for a bit, getting our bearings and figuring out our schedules. we stumbled onto a massive crowd for matt and kim, and eventually made our way to the main stage to see hot chip (who were absolutely fantastic) and eventually lady gaga. katie and bri left to watch the strokes; jared stayed with me amongst all the little monsters. 


dirty projectors
matt and kim
hot chip
lady gaga

day two: up and at em! we decided to get breakfast at starbucks downtown on michigan, and walked the rest of the way to the grounds. rogue wave was pretty great, and we had a nice view. stars sounded fantastic and we were waaaay far away just sitting in the grass. love love love stars, they were deifnitely my jam this summer and it was fun to see them live. the xx, although you'd think would put on a boring show, were awesome. i loved it. once again, we sat in the grass for them. (it was freakin hot and we were malnourished all weekend long trying to avoid costly food. thank goodness for the free water!) bri and katie were super stoked for grizzly bear and i'm pretty sure they managed to get front row spots. jared and i laid in the grass for the majority of their set, i believe. great music to lay down and look at the clouds to. and finally phoenix. crazy, chaotic, and absolutely awesome. it took about five years to get from the park to the train to home, but we made it.

rogue wave
stars
the xx
grizzly bear
phoenix


day three: starbucks ten am breakfast take two. ...in a monsoon. we stopped and bought ponchos and although we looked like idiots, it didn't matter. we were tired and dirty, but we were dry for the day. we met up with meesh too, a good friend of mine who lives in chicago. the two of us danced in the rain to minature tigers, and met up with the rest of the group for the antlers, who put on a great live show. company of thieves were next and i was about to pee my pants with excitement. they are just so, fucking. GOOD. after that, meesh and i went to visit our friend joe who was working the festival. long story short, meesh and i won VIP cabana passes. so we got free food, star treatment, and got to sit in on interviews with mgmt and wolfmother. SWEET. we watched minus the bear from our air-conditioned cabana while chatting with worlfmother, and eventually made our way back to real life to watch mumford and sons in the heat, and they killed it. they stole the weekend for me in the nest way possible. after that was yeasayer, who i listened to from my back with eyes closed, and i did the same for mgmt, who, quite frankly, sucked. we were all exhausted after the long weekend and decided to leave before the headliner. we still had to go home, pack, and drive back to st. louis. it was a loooong drive home. but MAN, was it worth it. definitely foing again next year if i can scrape the cash together. 

miniature tigers
the antlers
company of thieves
minus the bear
(wolfmother)
mumford and sons
yeasayer
mutemath
mgmt






not at our best, but we were pretty freakin happy.

kansas city/bonner springs: warped tour

the last leg of my insane warped journey. i was absoultey exhausted at this point - i'd been travelling for quite a few days, city hopping and show hopping, all while working in 100 degree heat day in and day out, with minimal food and water.

BUT bonner springs, kansas was probably my favorite of the warped dates i worked for sarah. i left columbia at the crack of dawn and made it there by around ten or so. not until i paid ten bucks for parking though. (ridiculous.) 

IT. WAS. FLIPPING. HOT. i can't even explain to you how hot it was that day; it's a miracle we survived. and i was sitting under a tent all day! i really don't know how all the kids do it out there exposed on the blacktop. kudos to them. i will gladly sit under a tent and sell t-shirts and sew handmade CD sleeves any day of the week. if i remember correctly, sarah played pretty early and we were essentially done by around eleven. you can't forger the EIY meet-ups though. always so much fun, and so inpsiring to be surrounded by people with just as much passion oozing out of them as you have coming out of you. at some point we ended on sarah's bus with kevin and lyman, and there was a great conversation had. i believe this was when sarah brought up the idea of me going on her fall tour with her as right-hand woman... obviously didn't work out because of college. *sigh* patience isn't one of my stronger virtues, but i try. i really do. so we sat on the bus and talked and drank tea and pomegranate juice. then we were joined by stephen of haste the day. and before i knew it, we were sneaking out of the venue and taking my car to culver's. i legitamately thought sarah might have a heart attack from excitement. so hilarious. 

pure joy, i tell you. we then made a target run, and headed back to the venue. good times, and even better conversations. <3

notable memories: chattin it up with kevin lyman on the bus, sarah telling him how cool i was (SQWEEE!), tour offer?!?!, meeting stephen (can't day i knew anything about haste the day, but apparently they're pretty popular, and he was an amazing guy), ...and the awful drive home. i had such a terrible headache from the heat that i stopped at a gas station and bought name brand ibuprofen for NINE DOLLARS. yeah, that's how bad my head hurt. drink your water, warped kiddos!

chicago: warped tour

chicago. my favorite city in all the world, home of many of my favorite people in the world. free warped tour working for the one and only sarah saturday isn't too shabby either.

it was a warm day, but not terrible since it doesn't stand out in my memory. i was helping at the EIY (earn it yourself) tent with sarah and martin atkins, alongside my friends nora and ryan silver. (nora worked for my BFFs we the living. ryan is a singer songwriter based out of nashville.) it was a fun day and we sold quite a bit of merch. i don't really recall anything too crazy happening in our little tent, and there weren't any bands that i had the dying urge to see either. the day ended all too quickly and i joined the friends i had come with: some working at other merch tents, and others just there to enjoy the many shows.

notable memories: warped catering was fucking delicious. or maybe it was just because all i'd had to eat until six pm was a cliff bar. parmesan chicken, spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, lemon sherbet, and peanut butter cookies. BAM. there was also some quaility conversations amongst all of us. i don't claim to be a huge fan of some of the bands on warped, but the heart and soul of the people... it's unmatchable.

www.earnityourself.com

www.sarahsaturday.tumblr.com

st. louis: pm today, abandon kansas, and the noise fm

here we go.
updates from (literally) years past.
bear with me, because my memory is fuzzy and i just need to satisfy my OCD and get these over and done with so i can be up to date with all my shows.
also bear with me because you're about to be inundated with posts...

so this one time i saw my friends the noise fm play in st. louis at the firebird. they had themselves a little tour all lined up with pm today and abandon kansas, and even called themselves (adorably, of course) tour story 4. yeah, you just "awwed," don't even lie. from what i remember it was a great show. pm today plays a little bit harder music than i care to listen to on a daily basis, but they rocked it. abandon kansas was great as well - they're one of those bands that i've always heard about and never given the time of day. and my noize boyz were flawless as always.

notable memories: their discovery of the free panera bread in clayton (st. louis), as well as sleeping in hotel parking lots and "showering" in the hot tub, then stealing "complimentary" breakfast. love it. love them. good times.

www.twitter.com/pmtoday
www.abandonkansaslovesyou.com
www.thenoisefm.net