st. louis: a very ludo christmas

with treaty of paris and ludo

the famous "a very ludo christmas" show! they're so much fun and this was my... third? fourth? i'm not sure. but i was extra excited this time around because my good friends in treaty of paris were coming down from chicago to open the show. treaty isn't exactly broken up, but they tend to stick close to home and only play a select few shows in chicago here and there, not touring anymore and the like. so it was really good to see them again and in such a big venue no less. abby and i went together and eventually met up with molly and claire, and katie, shannon, grant and ryan. we got there in time to catch the tail end of the opening band's set, and then made our way into the pit so i could get rowdy for treaty of paris. clearly only a handful of people in the crowd new who treaty was, because i got some strange sideways glances from people while screaming along and dancing like an idiot. oh well.

after their set we ventured out to meet up with more friends and watched ludo from afar. i've had my fair share of intense ludo pits and it's nice to watch their antics from way back in the venue. they played a good mix of old and new songs as well as some acoustic christmas carols, which they performed in the middle of the pit with the audience sitting around them.

we snuck into the merch room right after the show and talked with the treaty boys for a good while, and eventually gathered the troops for some ihop nomz. another yaer, another great ludo christmas show.

dekalb: state & madison and treaty of paris

just when i thought i could look forward to a nice relaxing saturday without any crazy roadtripping plans [FINALLY] for the entirety of my spring break, mike convinced me. he convinced me to drive the four hours north to dekalb, illinois to see treaty of paris [again] and state & madison. it was a fairly easy decision since one - i adore both those bands, two - all my chicago friends would be there, three - meesh and her parentals would be there, and four - honestly, what better plans did i have? so i rolled myself out of bed at noon, lazily got ready and was headed north by around two. my bladder was most definitely not in roadtrip mode so it took a little longer than four hours, but i arrived in plenty of time. and as i walked in, i was promptly knocked over by a collective group hug from sam, steph, claire, molly and meesh. have i mentioned how much i love them? well i absolutely adore them. so we hung out for a while and chatted it up, said hey to various band boys wandering aruond, and mike came over and pointed and laughed at me. he loves me, i swear, even told me i was his favorite person. WIN. [check that one off the bucket list.]

without a face [yes, again] played first and was hilariously entertaining as always. kirkland was next and they were really good. not exactly music i'd choose to listen to day in and day out, but they put on a great show and their lead singer, sarah, has an absolutely killer voice. next was state & madison, my chicago loves, and they were of course amazing as they always are. they're now tied for first place with cavashawn for "number of shows i've been to". ooh, the competition! [the magic number is sixteen if you were wondering.] and last but not least, was treaty of paris. quite the show, as was the one the previous night. they never fail to impress me, and phil kosch never fails to make me laugh with his crazy moves on stage.

so we all hung around for a while after the show, took some pictures, made fun of meesh for being WASTED [just kidding] and i made my goodbye rounds with most everyone. left around eleven, made it home by three thirty, crashed into bed.

/end last-minute-decision-saturday.

st. louis: treaty of paris

SPRING. BREAK. ...was ninety five percent of the reason i was STOKED about this show, haha. i hadn't seen treaty of paris since their january cd release show, and this was the perfect way to kick off my spring break in st. louis. i once again headed out to the firebird. the club was pretty empty, but it filled up as the night progressed and there was a pretty great crowd there by the end of the night.

the first band was surprisingly good; second band was without a face [henry is too precious for words. and his songs are hilarious.] and third was the trainwreck called nothing still. during all three previously mentioned bands, mike and i caught up on life, he made fun of me for this and that, and he somehow convinced me to drive to dekalb the following night to see treaty again with state & madison. he's damn persuasive and of course i can't turn down a show. so i eventually agreed and he gloated. we love each other. so treaty finally played and hot damn, i always forget how good they are. this was only my fourth or so time seeing them, but i feel like i've seen them a million times and we're old friends. all the guys are so friendly and they all love to give hugs. extra cool points for that one in my book. they played equal amounts of new and old songs, and everything sounded fantastic. i bought a shirt after the show, talked to most of the guys briefly, promised to see mike in less than twenty four hours, traded hugs, and made it home by around one. perfect way to start my break.

chicago (day one): treaty of paris cd release show

another roadtrip to chicago! and it came at a great time too, i was about to lose my sanity in st. louis. break has been nice and relaxing, don't get me wrong. but i can only sit at home and refresh twitter so many times a night before i get bored... and switch to facebook and refresh for a while... 

i had originally planned to go up on friday to see the noise fm play, but that didn't exactly work out. one, lawrence kansas got hit with a lot of snow and the highways were impassable. two, one member had the flu with no signs of a quick recovery. so i decided to just wait and drive up saturday morning. meesh, amanda, chelsey and i all got a hotel together and oh boy, did we have a time of it. four girls primping for a show at the same time... (pause a moment and picture it, giggle, move on) i'm sure it was funny. we headed down to metro, got a killer parking spot and met up with all 6947397 friends i have somehow accumulated in this city; notable people including sam, steph, nikki, liz, molly, and claire. the victory gins played first - not too bad, but nothing spectacular. last fast action was up second - they were a lot of fun and it was great finally seeing them play. i've met a few of the members and have seen them around at countless shows. it was nice to put... faces to a band? does that even make sense? anyway, the insecurities were next and i really enjoyed them. next was am taxi, and holy shit. i've heard a lot about them from friends and bands alike, but wow. their live set was amazing. and finally, treaty of paris. the crowd was pretty packed in by the time they played and it was so neat to be able to look around and know so many people. i'm not even FROM chicago and i feel a sense of unity with these people. so cool. we decided later that it was probably at 80-90 percent capacity; rough guess. but anyways. the show itself was incredible. there were balloons, confetti cannons, giant animals running around and stage diving, and my favorite part was probably the "cover" of the dog and everything's song hey luv. dan and augie from last fast action were originally members of the dog, so it was really cool to hear them play an old song of theirs for the first time in forever with members of treaty. so that was that. mass chaos of course ensued afterwards. i got quicks hellos and hugs from nick and tony, saw veronica and sonja, and chatted with mike for a while in the merch room. we snapped some pictures, stood outside in the cold for way too long talking to half of cavashawn, and FINALLY made our way to buffalo wild wings for some dinner. all sixteen of us. it was an adventure, let me tell you. we eventually made it back to our hotel, drank some peach champagne (absolutely amazing) and wine, had some obligatory girl talk and passed out.

[meesh, chelsey, dan, amanda and me]

[confetti!]

i had such a great time with such great people; i couldn't have asked for a better chicago show. the scene in that city never ceases to amaze me. the fact that five bands filled up metro, and they were all locals, will never cease to amaze me. and the way in which i happen to make friends, see them every few months or so, and still feel close with them, will never cease to amaze me. i absolutely love it.

columbia: treaty of paris, ha ha tonka, and the first week of school

nothing like a show on a thursday night to shape up my first week of classes. roman candle, treaty of paris, and ha ha tonka. even though i got there a good while after doors opened, i still seemed to be one of the first people there. so chris kept me company for a while and we discussed their soon-to-be recording session. (can't wait for a new treaty album!) and once again, just when i think i have to go to a show alone, molly and her friend rachel showed up. love those girls. roman candle opened, and although i'd never heard of them before, i really enjoyed their set. they reminded me a lot of the format, which is ALWAYS a good thing. then sam tweeted me that fun (basically a regrouping of the format, in simple terms) has a song called light a roman candle with me. weeeeeird coincidence. but anyway, i digress. treaty was up next, and they put on a fantastic show. it was my first time seeing them in a real venue, so that was cool. my treaty virginity was taken at wicker park fest; quite the different atmosphere. so the three of us sang along, danced and laughed at nick who was making ridiculous faces at us the whole time. ha ha tonka played last and HOLY CRAP do they kick some serious ass. i'll be honest - i bought their album a while back and just couldn't get into it... too folksy, a little bit too far on the side of country. but hearing them live was another story. four part harmonies that make your brain want to explode and your heart melt. it was pretty sweet. i intended to duck out fairly quickly, but got sucked into a lengthy and somewhat drunk conversation with nick. that was interesting to say the least, what a flirt. so after a good half hour of discussing college and cats with mr. fonzi, i finally made my goodbyes and after lots of hubbub about the ha ha tonka after party... i headed home. great way to wrap up the ending of week one.

speaking of week one...

it was quite successful if i do say so myself. classes are great, i actually enjoy most of them. and i feel like i'm headed in a direction of some sort with a major declared this year, which is an encouraging feeling - i'm taking writing about literature, french two, intermediate creative non-fiction, and writing intensive peace studies. i'm barely even into the school groove yet and i can already tell this year is going to be a million times better than last. i've complained about it before and most of you who read this already know; dorm life wasn't for me. i'm an only child; i never learned to share my room, my food, my belongings. i was quite uncomfortable with both roommate number one AND two, and i just couldn't catch a break from any of it. but i'll leave it at that. no need to dwell in the past. the present is what (dare i say it) has a hint of a smile on my face. yes, it's only been a week, and yes it's still technically summer, but i'm HAPPY. such a simple statement, but an absolutely huge one for me. i haven't been this happy during school in a very long time, if ever. i don't want to raise my expectations too high though. saying that winter leaves me depressed, and that i am most likely a victim of seasonal affective disorder, is quite the understatement. but hopefully this winter won't be as bad as the past few. this place actually feels like home, and i'm hoping it will take care of me when the cold comes around and tries to ravage my mind.

i was at a really low point last year, and was almost on the verge of just dropping out, or at least staying at home to finish school. mizzou is huge and to be honest, isn't the place for me. summer gave me time to clear my head and think though, and i now have some pretty focused ideas in mind for the future. good friends and good music have placed me in the midst of a fantastic job opportunity if circumstances will eventually allow. we'll see where everyone's at in three years when i get around to graduating though. i wouldn't dare speak too soon. as for how an english degree pertains to it all... well it doesn't really. but i like reading and writing, and a college degree is of utmost importance to me, so the english degree will be great cushion if life leads me in another direction in the next few years. i had some very thought-provoking conversations with a friend before moving back to columbia; about both staying in school and taking time off, and about moving here and there, about touring with one band or another, working here or there, in this coffee shop or the other one, writing this or that... on and on and on... you get the point. and while i think i'm finally coming around and breaking out of my obsessive-compulsive, perfectionist shell, it's still a work in progress and i'm hoping the journey through this semester and the next, will continue to point me in the direction best fit for me.

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].