st. louis: the rad bromance tour

featuring the heyday, state & madison and cavashawn

finally reunited with some of my favorite [chicago] locals and oh boy, was it a fun friday night. actually  thursday night was interesting too. state and madison needed a place to crash and although i wasn't at home in st. louis at the home they know so well, i did have a lovely little apartment with a couch and some floor space. so it was around four in the moring when they arrived. i let them in, went back to bed, and that was that. gotta love touring and crashing on random floors. so the weekend finally commenced at three on friday and i made my way home. stopped at the house for a little bit to freshen up, ate some dinner and headed out to the firebird. i was surprised to see people lined up outside, and even more surprised to see how many people were already inside. i'm not a big fan of this is energy, the headlining band, but they sure know how to draw a crowd, which was most fortunate for the bromance boys who needed fourteen hours worth of gas to get them to austin overnight. eek.

the heyday was the first of the three to play, and i had forgotten how great they are live. i'm kind of ashamed to say i haven't given their album as many listens as i should have, seeing as i've had it for months. they remind me of a delightful little mix of limbeck and the format. if that's your thing, definitely check em out, you won' t be disappointed. state & madison played next and MAN did they sound good. they always sound good live, but they sounded REALLY good this time. maybe it's because i hadn't seen them in so long and was excited, but regardless, it was great. the crowd flocked to their merch table immediately afterwards so that's always a good sign. loved the new songs they played too. can't wait for them to be released! and finally, there was cavashawn. scott's vocals never fail to make my jaw fall to the floor and benton never fails to make me smile with that permanent grin he always has plastered on his face. overall, it was the rad bromance boys that stole the show - the opening band was pretty terrible and like i said before, i'm not a big fan of this is energy.

it was so good to see some of my favorite people all in one venue, playing right after one another and all singing along to each other's sets and hopping up on stage to join in occasionally. i've said it before, but i love those state & madison and cavashawn boys like it's my job and it's always good catching up with them. scott and i talked crazy fan girls and tony and i gossiped about all things chicago-band related. nickolas about knocked me over every twenty minutes or so with huge bear hugs. and jonah thanked me about forty seven times for the amazingness of my apartment shower. the litte things in life, i tell ya. check out http://www.radbromancetour.tumblr.com/ for live updates on all their shenaningans at SXSW. it's entertaining, i promise.

st. louis: cavashawn and eikon

another blog? and so soon?

"devon, we're tired of your fucking show reviews."

i can read your minds already. but it's just too bad; you'll have to get over it. because it's what i do. and i try my best to keep in mind that i should write for myself, not to please an audience. have patience; because every once in a while a heartfelt something-or-other makes it's way in here. but for now, here's a little diddy about some of my favorite chicagoans.

amanda and michele came in town for this show and i couldn't have been more excited. i was still riding out the wave of my nashville high, and another show was right around the corner. partayyyyy. these two girls are some of my favorites and i would consider us the original three muskateers of our little "music group" if you will. they showed up to my house at two so we sat around and talked for a while, eventually got some dinner and headed down to cicero's. one of the bands dropped off the bill last minute, so some singer-songwriter was added and played first. he was alright, but i don't really remember much of him. we were too busy catching up on gossip, since that's generally all that gets thrown around when cavashawn comes to town. [the latest being that cavashawn got asked by the academy is... to join their "almost here" anniversary show at the metro... how fucking rad is that?] they eventually played second to a good sized crowd. lots of regular fans, lots of psycho fan-girls, and lots of fans of the headlining band, eikon, who played next. man oh man. this is my third time seeing eikon, and every time they just get better and better. i'm terrible at it, but if i had to do some comparisons, i'd say they remind me of a mix of thom yorke [solo album, not exactly radiohead] and muse, maybe. i'm sad to say i have yet to really talk to any of them or introduce myself, but i do know they're originally from st. louis, and moved to nashville about a year ago. the first time i saw them they claimed it was their last show since two members were going away to college, but obviously they're back in action. i know i don't really have the authority to say who's a legit band and who's not... but these guys are the real deal, and i don't think they quite realize it. i've been to a lot of shows and i've seen my fair share of bands. and i just know - i get this feeling - when bands have really hit the mark. and these guys have that "something" about them that's caught my eye. their myspace doesn't do them much justice and neither do their recordings even [look em up on itunes and listen to 'careful hands steady hands'] but the live show... whole different story. i'm just patiently waiting for the years to pass and hear their name pop up again in some magazine or whatnot. i have faith that they can "make it", whatever that means in today's music world.

so anyways. enough about bands that i don't even know. we sat around for a while afterwards and we eventually all made our way to a steak n shake. i don't know what it is, but the combination of us girls plus four band boys received lots of stares that night. hilarity ensued, good food was had, and we eventually said our goodnights and goodbyes. love those boys. what a fantastic night. we headed home and crashed into bed. amanda and meesh headed home around ten or so the next morning and that was that. successful trip to cicero's. if only i could count exactly the number of shows i've seen there... it's a ridiculous one, that's for sure.

upcoming blogs: some sort of "looking back on 2009/resolutions for 2010" narrative, a list of my top 25 songs in itunes, a list of unsigned bands that will forever humble me, and a treaty of paris review after their cd release party on january 9th -- BAM.

st. louis: state & madison, the heyday and cavashawn

weekday shows are a bitch when there's a two hour drive involved, but this one was definitely worth it. it had been three months since i'd seen cavashawn and two since i'd seen state & madison. definitely not okay when i was seeing them every few days over the summer. so i hauled ass to st. louis on a wednesday night, dropped off my stuff at home and headed down to the loop. hung out at starbucks for a while and eventually met up with nikki and stephanie who drove in from chicago/eiu. we made our rounds and said hello to everyone and caught up on always-interesting gossip. [tony was apparently a little impatient. i got a text saying "where you is?" to which i replied "right behind you..." haha.]

state & madison played first. and played a very short set. tony said later that they had to cut four songs - two of which were new. boo. so that was kind of a bummer, but they put on a great show nonetheless. one of their new songs that i've heard maybe twice before, finally has a name - phantoms - and i absolutely love it. once again though, it's cicero's, in which band line-up is key; there weren't too many people there yet. but i knew all the faces that were there, so they had their main group of fans present which is promising. i always forget just how much i love them until i see them play again, and everything is renewed. i probably look so dumb with my goofy smile plastered on my face, but oh well. the heyday played next, a band from denver whom i've never seen before. i've heard a lot about them though from various bands and friends, and they didn't disappoint. reminded me slightly of the format which is always a good thing. i ended up buying a shirt and cd for fifteen bucks and talked to the lead singer randy. good deal. at some point i'd seen jon and tiffany walk in and went over to say hey, and got sucked into quite the conversation. i've been really trying to get building rome to play shows with some, or one, or all of "my bands" and i'm really hoping it'll happen sometime in the future. *crosses fingers*

so cavashawn finally played and oh man. it was a great time. there was a large and very energetic crowd considering the night, and i feel like they've really improved since the last time i'd seen them. nick and tony came and sang for a few songs and the drunken shenanigans were definitely entertaining. there were also a few not-so-familiar faces in the crowd which is good. afterwards, we all stood around forever and had various strange conversations and were eventually kicked out, to where we then stood outside for a good forty five minutes and talked. lots of memorable events and conversations took place outside, but aren't quite suitable for a public blog... haha. so we eventually said our goodbyes, and nikki, steph and i got some jimmy john's for a much overdue dinner and headed back to my house. woke up six hours later. drove back to columbia. went to class. love it.

what is my life?

chicago: wicker park fest

once again, tales of my running away to chicago. and once again, a super last minute decision. they make life more fun, i've decided. and it's probably good therapy for my problems with change and weird obsessive compulsive and perfectionist problems. so i packed up the car and left saturday morning, headed north by around nine. made excellent time and got to sam's house by around two, who was so kind as to let me and michele stay with her for the weekend. we took the train [my first experience with public transportation!] to wicker park and oh man. milwaukee avenue. swarming with hipsters and scenesters and everything in between.

michele, sam, her little sister caitlin and i walked around for a little while exploring and decided on the kid's zone to occupy caitlin for a while. we then headed over to the south stage to see cavashawn. jesse unfortunately had his bag stolen which has his ipod, blackberry, and a bunch of clothes in it. so cavashawn didn't match today - jesse stuck out in red. but it was a nice change; also interesting was scott's vast amount of chest hair peeking out everywhere. we finally met up with stephanie and nikki and a whole slew of other people that i only sort of know based off of faceboook pictures. well cavashawn put on a great show as always. they had a few sound problems with the mic cutting out, but overall it went well and we all noticed quite a few new fans venturing over to the merch table. it was probably around six at that time and we still had a few hours to kill before treaty of paris played. so we hung out for a while and hipster-watched, got huge lemonades and took a trip to the disgusting bathrooms.

treaty played at around eight thirty and they had quite the crowd. granted it's their hometown and a huge outdoor festival, but it seemed like most people knew the music and were singing along. this was my first time seeing them and it was just as wonderful as everyone has described. i'd met phil at beat kitchen back in january, and chris a few show's back at mojoe's, and finally got to meet mike and dan who were super nice. didn't get a chance to say hey to fonzi, but they'll be in columbia soon; no worries there. chaos of course ensued after the set because every single fan girl was trying to get a word in with treaty, and our group was still standing up front talking with the cavie boys. [please give me a few seconds here, to express my deep love and adoration for scott salmon. what a sweetheart; even more so when he's drunk. ladies and gentlemen, this man knows how to hug so if you ever need one, go find him.] we soon left and made our way back to the el station. A MESS is the only way i can describe it. we'll skip the harrowing details. let's just say that we made it back to jefferson park and went to big top restaurant for dinner. perfect end to a fantastic day.

day two - sam made us some fantastic breakfast, we watched fern gully like fools, and decided we needed to take an adventure. so what did we do? we took filipino food [sam's mom's orders] to the cavashawn apartment. we hung out and gossiped for a while and chelsea made various hysterical comments [all in good fun of course] and we were on our way to a very late lunch by around four. noodles and company the the rescue! michele had to be on her way home since she lives a grown-up life, so we headed home and sent her on our way. sam and i then decided to drive back down the wicker park fest instead of taking the train... BAD IDEA. it took us about forty minutes to find parking and by the time we walked our sorry asses all the way to the gate, then all the way to the opposite end of the festival, company of thieves was already playing and we had both missed our favorite song, oscar wilde. but oh well. we met up with nikki and steph again and enjoyed the rest of the set. next up was margot and the nuclear so and so's, who put on a very good set. they're on those bands that would be a favorite if only i had the time to give them. but regardless i really enjoyed it. we then ventured to seven eleven for massive dr. pepper slurpees, and made our way back to sam's house where we burned cavashawn fliers for our bonfire [once again, all in good fun]. i had made a curfew for myself of midnight; leaving then would get me home by a solid five am. well i didn't end up leaving until two... and got home at a disgusting seven am and crashed hard. fantastic weekend with fanstastic people. i'm sad i won't be seeing cavashawn or chicago for a while. and i mean it this time... no more running away before i move back to columbia. [except for kansas city on saturday, but that's been planned for a while].

indianapolis: cavashawn, paramore, no doubt + mini family reunion

last minute decisions rule my life. sometimes i wonder if i'll regret doing crazy shit like this, driving so many miles for a half hour show, blah blah blah... but i know i won't. it's worth it. so it was at summerfest that amanda and i were talking about cavashawn's next show. they were playing an acoustic set at the VIP lounge at verizon wireless in indianapolis before the paramore and no doubt show. well neither of us were about to pay for the actual show, so i didn't think much of it. it wasn't until later that we were talking to jesse that he mentioned he might be able to get us on their guest list. i put it out of my mind [and was halfway planning a trip to columbia to see augustana instead], but a few days later amanda called to see if i was still interested in going to the show. jesse was able to get two VIP passes for us, so of course i said yes, like any lunatic would do.

i left around nine thirty on friday to meet amanda at her house in carmel. made good time, got a tour of the house and went out to dinner. we headed over to the venue around five and chaos ensued. we went to the box office to ask for our tickets, explaining we should be on the guest list. we both gave our names and were sent over to guest services. guest services promptly sent us back over to the box office. long story short, no one had tickets for us. so i called jesse [who was already an hour late] and he didn't answer. amanda called ben. he had no clue. jesse texted me and said he'd call me back in five minutes. forty minutes later he calls me back and we find out we have to walk to the complete opposite side of the venue to the VIP entrance. we make the hike and finally spot clifford and a tiny spec of a human being wearing a white v-neck with a vest. we had finally found the right place. jesse led us in through some bushes and a fence and got us our wristbands. scott and chris were already playing since they were so late, so we grabbed a table and sat down to enjoy the rest of the set. what an adventure, let me tell you. this was the first time for both of us seeing cavashawn play acoustic, and it was amazing! definitely hope it happens more in the future. background and the wonderwall cover just about made my heart melt. good times.

we hung out for a while and eventually made our way to the lawn to catch the end of paramore. they played the four or five songs i know very first, so that was kind of a bummer. but it was still cool to hear them live. no doubt was up next and wow... i'm not a big fan or anything, but they put on an amazing show. i knew more songs than i thought i did too. every time a new song would start, i would turn to amanda and freak out. "oh my god, this is no doubt TOO? i remember this song from first grade!" and gwen stefani is a BEAST. this girl has some rock hard abs and was doing push ups on stage. so cool. i wish i were half as cool as her. we ended leaving before the encore to beat the rush of people leaving, and it was a really good idea because we couldn't find the car for a good ten minutes. we finally found it though and saw clifford on our way out! we waved like idiots but who knows if they saw us. what a good night. we then made a taco bell run and proceeded to drink an entire 1.5 liter bottle of arbor mist and take shots of terrible vodka. then for some reason we decided karaoke was a GREAT idea, which involved some sir mix a lot and panic at the disco... it was epic.

i spent all of saturday with my some of my favorite family members who hadn't seen in FOREVER. my cousin faith lives in indy and ended up being only twenty minutes or so away from amanda's house. so i headed over to her house and we went out for a late lunch and talked and talked and talked. i finally got to meet her one year old daughter hope, who is absolutely adorable. i'm not really a baby person, but she is just the cutest thing. we decided to go visit my other cousin nathan [faith's brother] who actually lived about thirty seconds from the show i was at the night before. small world. so faith, brian, hope and i all piled in the car and headed over to nathan and his wife lachelle's house. i was on the road back to st. louis by maybe seven thirty or so and got home by around eleven.

and just when i thought the weekend couldn't get any better... i was about an hour out of st. louis when i got a call from my friend maria who i used to do gymnastics with. she told me our friend nicole was having a party and that i should come because she was only in town for a week. i hadn't seen her in AGES because she's on a gymnastics scholarship in alaska. naturally, she doesn't come home very often. so even though all i wanted to do was crash in my nice comfy bed, i swung by my house for five minutes, cleaned up a little and drove yet another hour out to o'fallon to nicole's house. back in the day me, nicole and maria were the three muskateers. we were inseparable. but things change of course and people grow up and grow apart. it ended up being a huge reunion of gym girls, some of them whom i hadn't seen in about two or three years. so we had a great time that night and took way to many obnoxious pictures. i crashed there for a few hours and drove home in the morning, only to crash once again in my own bed. i think i woke up in time for dinner. such a great weekend. then there was the underwear party that katie hosted on monday... lots of black lights and glow in the dark paint, way too much sour apple pucker. good times. great weekend.

st. louis: cavashawn || morton: state & madison and danger is my middle name

stellar shows two days in a row; my head might explode. thursday was cavashawn's cd release show here in st. louis. those boys have worked so damn hard to promote their new ep coming out and it was great seeing that work pay off. it's also neat from my perspective as a fan having been around for a while; every time they come here i watch the fan base just grow and grow. it's also neat when i'm standing in a room full of people i know just through cavashawn! we're our own little community and i love it. it was a little over six months ago that they played the creepy crawl for twelve people. yes, twelve. so thursday was definitely a success and i couldn't be more proud. it was also good to see the lovely scott feister again. what a character. looking forward to seeing them again next weekend at summerfest! THAT will be one amazing show.

the following day featured a lovely little town called morton. oh, you haven't heard of it? yeah, me either. not until a few weeks ago at least. and let me tell you, it's in the middle of fucking nowhere. but it was only three hours to nowhere so i said sure, why not. state and madison and danger is my middle name were two of the SEVEN bands playing... longest night ever. i arrived around five [to boys jumping on my car and stripping off clothes] and nickolas slid me in as merch girl, which was nice. i sat around [on fabulous comfy couches] through the first four bands before state and madison finally played. they put on a great show as always and we celebrated jonah's birthday with a lovely cake and princess balloon...? danger was up next and they really impressed me. i've been to one of their shows before but didn't actually watch the set. but they had some great energy and bill cox is a fucking beast on that guitar. i hung around for a bit afterwards, talked to people and was on my way home by about midnight. got home, crashed. and am awaiting the next show; july fourth, you shall be one of the most epic days of my life.

chicago: cavashawn, state & madison, and more

oh chicago. are you ever going to give me even so much as a chance to like you? first it was negative temperatures. this time, pouring rain and three inches of snow. lovely. someday, you shall redeem yourself. someday soon i hope.

i left st. louis saturday morning, drove the five hours on I-55, and arrived in chicago in the same pouring rain. what a drive, let me tell you. michele, amanda and i freshened up a bit and headed over to mojoe's for what was one of the best nights i've had in a long time. a great ska band opened, cavashawn rocked my face off next, and then state & madison. i think all three of us were done standing in a sea of smelly people by that time, so we ventured our way back to the merch/coffee shop area. [danger is my middle name and the frantic were up next.] the chicago scene never ceases to amaze me; i bet we stood around and talked to various important people, friends and band members for a good three hours. [and i'm pretty sure benton stole a solid hour for himself.] oh the gossip. it was certainly entertaining. we had dinner at steak n shake after the show with the cavashawn boys, jesse's adorable girlfriend chelsea, and michele's mom who is absolutely amazing and ended up picking up the tab for everyone. yes, everyone. she's amazing. we crashed hard that night, i got no sleep thanks to much snoring, and we were up at eight thirty the next morning to take full advantage of free continental breakfast. i was on my way back to columbia in the snow by nine thirty, not at all happy about the six or so hours ahead of me. but it went quicker than i thought, and taking some backroads proved to be a lot faster and far prettier than any highway i could have chosen. during those six hours, i fell madly in love with jack's mannequin again, had some profound thoughts that i have since forgotten, and ate an entire bag of chex mix. riveting, i know.

so now i'm back at school, trying to resist the inevitable groove of stressed out college life. i'm already behind, how does this happen? but i'm trying to keep my head up and continually remind myself of the mere six weeks left, and then finals. that's it. i can do it. ludo and my birthday this weekend, easter the next, cavashawn in chicago again three weeks after that, then finals, jack's mannequin and i'm out of here. i'm entirely capable.

st. louis: cavashawn and state & madison

there's nothing like driving home on a random wednesday night, only to drive there again in two days. but it's what i do, and it was well worth it.

went to my one and only class, packed up the car and was on the way to st. louis by 11:30. got home around one, threw in some laundry, went to starbucks number one, hit up guitar center and met amanda at starbucks number two. we sat and talked for a while when she pointed out the group of boys standing on the corner and noted they looked like band boys. i turned around and indeed, it was state & madison. we said a quick hello, got some dinner and made our way back to starbucks to meet emma before the show.

there was actually a line when we got to cicero's which was surprising, but exciting nevertheless. hard work and tireless promotion really does pay off. we made our way in, talked to almost everyone i think, and settled into a spot up front. cavashawn played a great set while we got very aquainted to psycho chick next to us. amanda needed a beer after that experience, so we hung back while HXC-STL band screamed for thirty minutes. state & madison was up next so we made our way back to the front and enjoyed another great set. jonah threw me a battered and bruised drumstick that's now hanging out in my backseat. i should have been creeper-fan-girl and had him sign it or something, i guess. amanda and i then confirmed our stay at the cavashawn hotel post-mojoe's show, said hurried goodbyes wishing them both safe travels to austin, and were on our way home. got back to school and was in bed by 2:30. successful trip, i say.

spring break starts after my ten minute class tomorrow. i'll be back in st. louis by 12:30. let the madness of trying to find a summer job [that works with my roadtrip/concert traveling] begin.

st. louis: cavashawn and state & madison

i have a problem. i somehow get myself way too involved with the bands that i like. i guess it's just something i'm good at. i have a passion for music that supercedes just about everything in my life. i will drop everything to go to a show. and i would do about anything to be with the friends i've met through all these bands and shows. that's precisely what happened this weekend. i knew cavashawn was going to be in st. louis and amanda and i had been planning on going for a while. meesh had to 'draw the line', which is of course understandable. as much as we'd all like to drop everything and drive across the country, sometimes school and work are more important. well her definite no turned into a definite maybe in the middle of last week. the more we talked and hypothetically talked logistics, the more clear it became that the ranch crew would be back in action. things were official once she realized state & madison was playing at cicero's the night following cavashawn. i added a day to my trip, meesh's maybe turned into a hell yes, and amanda happily agreed.

`

i drove the two hours home from school and the indy girls made the five hour drive. we met at my house, went out to a nice dinner at olive garden and made our way to cicero's. there were people! lot's of them! such a huge improvement from their last show at the creepy crawl. they had fans packed up front singing along and even got an encore. i was giddy; it was a proud mom moment. i can't believe the prorgess they've made in st. louis. all the guys were really stoked about the crowd's reception and we chatted for a while after the show.

[scott - cavashawn]

[chris and jesse - cavashawn]

we also briefly met nickolas and tony, lead singer and bass player of the band state & madison who we'd be seeing the following night. i'd never seen them live, but had heard some tunage via their myspace. they gave us a bunch of promo stuff to hand out so meesh and i spent the following afternoon sitting at starbucks working on flyers. amanda had to go home to take care of her poor cat and was greatly missed.

'

[meesh hard at work while i was scarfing down pumpkin loaf]

we went down to the loop a little early to promote and eat an amazing mexican dinner at el maguey's and eventually made our way to cicero's. we enjoyed a really great show. state & madison may not be big in st. louis yet, but all they need is time. chicago obviously loves them. we chatted for a while after the show and tony proceeded to enlighten us all evening with some truly fascinating jokes and bits of random knowledge. being the socialite alter-ego i am in show settings, i expressed my love and adoration of booking and promotional work, so hopefully the ball will be rolling again in st. louis as well as in columbia, if not at mizzou itself. i love my life and where it takes me. and i love meeting all these amazing new people. i also love the budding bromance between cavashawn and state & madison and will probably cry the next time i see them together. [middle of march in st. louis, anyone?]

[tony and nickolas - state & madison]

[nickolas - state & madison]

great friends, great bands, and an overall amazing weekend. i can't express enough how much these friends mean to me. it's such a relief for me to have people who understand me and my passion for music. and it's nice to have people who don't think i'm crazy for taking roadtrips and babbling on for hours about band stories that don't matter. i love them so much for loving that part of me. it means a lot. and it's just as great becoming friends with the bands. it's different when they're you friends. it different when you're not just another crazy fan girl. there's a thin line there i think, but somehow i think all band members have a sixth sense about themselves and can pick out the good from the bad. at least that's how it seems to work with me at least. and i love it. two weekends in a row of amazing shows and amazing friends, i'm not going to know what to do with myself for a while.

all pictures courtesy of michele.

chicago: urbanites, we the living and cavashawn

what better way to end holiday break than with a road trip to see some amazing bands and amazing friends? absolutely nothing! i packed up my stuff friday morning and started the five and a half hour trek to chicago at around eleven thirty. the drive was relatively painless and i arrived in the windy city at around five, just as predicted. i had some trouble finding parking and got a little lost on the way there, but i eventually made my way to a starbucks along with addy and stephanie, friends from minnesota. we waited around for a little while since doors didn't open until six and we didn't want to freeze to death standing outside the venue. we eventually made our way to the beat kitchen and met up with meesh and amanda, the coolest girls ever from indiana; meesh who almost knocked me over with a hug. i hadn't seen these girls since late june and it was wonderful being reunited once again. i also got to meet meesh's parents who were both wonderful.

the show started soon after we made our way to the front; urbanites opened. i'd never heard them live before, but have heard great things about them from friends. they certainly did not disappoint and i ended up getting their cd after the show. we the living was next and i was so giddy i thought i might explode. it had been four months since i'd seen them at mizzou and that was four months too many. they of course put on a wonderful show and i think by this point the crowd had really packed in tight. cavashawn was up next and it was really great to see them play for an almost sold out venue. i'm used to st. louis shows where there are maybe twenty people. cavashawn was having a big day; they were featured in the chicago tribune, the sun-times and the red eye. not to mention they were playing an almost sold out show on a night when the temperature was in the single digits... they of course played a great set and even got called back for an encore. as soon as things were over, people were getting kicked out left and right since there was a later show. i only got a chance to briefly say hi to matt, so that was disappointing. but oh well. they'll be back in st. louis in april.

addy, stephanie and i then had quite the adventure parking my car [parallel, mind you] near the cavashawn guys' apartment and headed out in search of food. we ended up getting some chinese and eventually made our way back to the apartment. meesh and amanda were already there, along with scott, ben, chris and jesse, as well as countless friends and siblings. it was quite the little shindig. i planted myself on the couch with a glass of wine in hand and hilarity ensued. memorable moments included a forty fougars song by jesse's brother, billy mays youtube videos and general catching up with good friends. it was a great night to say the least. scott made us breakfast in the morning and we left around one thirty. i even made it out without a parking ticket! [i paid for two hours of parking when in reality i was probably there for a good six.] the drive home was long and boring of course, but it was a really great weekend. i can't wait to be with such great people again. cavashawn is playing in st. louis this friday at cicero's and i'm of course coming home after having been at school for a mere five days. but what can i say? i hate columbia and would do just about anything to see a show. amanda's coming too so it should be a good time. here are some pictures i stole from various people.

[we the living]

[we the living]

[cavashawn]

[sara, paul, meesh, amanda]

[me, meesh, amanda, sam]