I took my friend Sarah to see Metallica last night for her birthday. Pretty much I’m the worlds greatest friend ever. Please do not think about asking what I had to do to get these tickets. I’m not proud of it, but I have faith that with some counseling and maybe some shock therapy, I’ll eventually stop waking up screaming in the middle of the night. But I digress.

Sarah had the brilliant idea that we should dress up as 80′s rockers. Since I am such a great friend I agreed. So we ratted our hair and used super strength hair sprayed, we put on fishnets and miniskirts, we used thick black eyeliner with purple and blue eyeshadow and way too much mascara. Oh yeah, we looked HOTTT! In fact we looked so Hot that we decided to go to dinner before the concert and take public transportation just so even MORE people could get a look at just how Hot we were.

We didn’t end up staying for the whole concert. We came up with several reasons why it was OK to leave a little early, like Sarahs claw bangs were starting to get tired, we wanted to beat traffic, daylight savings was throwing us off, ass hole behind us spilled his beer on us, we are getting too old for this shit, etcetera, etcetera. Still it takes balls (or the female equivalent) to dress this hot and venture out into public like we did. But we’re mavericks like that.

Blogfully yours,
Summer

Concert whore, Out and About

OK, so I realize I am a little late getting this post up since the X96 Big Ass Show was last Saturday and Yes, that is the actual name of the show. For those of you who are wondering what the Big Ass Show is, and why I was there I will explain. The Big Ass Show is an all day out door rock/alternative music concert or in other words, rock heaven. I work in advertising and one of my clients had a booth there so I was “required” to attend. I got there early to help them set up and check in on them throughout the day, but I’d hardly call it working.
I love concerts and I go to quite a few, like this one and this one and this one. Oh, and this one too! I’m a bit of a rockstar junkie. Notice I did not say groupie. BIG difference! Anyway, here are some photos of me and rockstars.
This is a picture of the lead singer of Jacks Mannequin. So I guess this is Jack? I’m not super familiar with the band, but I really enjoyed watching little Jack passionately playing the piano while sweating profusely in the direct sun. Armpit sweat marks are super sexy!

This crazy looking band is called Mindless Self Indulgence. I didn’t watch them perform because I was too busy eating lunch and having a cocktail in the VIP section. But they were super nice people, like that one happy goth kid back in high school. Probably high on happy pills. Still their smiles were contagious and I’d like to think if I was wearing all black and had smudged makeup on my face, we could have been friends.

Now this band, 10 Years, I love this band. The lead singer sounds a little like the lead singer of Tool and that sound, that voice, it just does something for me. Not to mention he is super cute, short, but super cute. He could serenade me anytime. Seriously all he would have to do is hum and I’d be undressing. Ok, now I sound like a groupie.

Next up was Trapt. I like this band a lot too. They have a new song out called “Who’s going home with you tonight?”. Unfortunately he did not come home with me as I did not get to meet any of the band which kinda sucked but by this point in the day, there was not too much that could really upset me.

Speaking of not being upset at all, check out the huge shit eaten grins on me and my lovely girls faces while Trapt played in the back ground. Love those girls!

So there you have it, my Big Ass Show experience.

Concert whore, Out and About

Last night I went to a concert. No, I did not cut class to go either. My Humanities instructor is in Italy and canceled class this week so I was not “technically” being a bad student. In fact, I can use this concert as an assignment for class so really I am a good student after all! We have to attend 4 cultural events and a rock concert can count. Don’t you just love it when things fall right into place?

Shinedown is one of my favorite bands, I mean we are talking top 10 here folks and coming from a music fanatic such as myself, that is pretty huge! All day yesterday I was counting down the time until the show started. When we got there I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. I mean did you notice that huge toothy smile in the pictures? That is one happy rocker chick! I had never seen Shinedown in concert before, but the opening band, RED, I have seen 2 other times and I really like them as well.

Lucky for me I am a connected girl and know a lot of the people putting on the show so I got a few perks. For instance I got the lead singer of Shinedowns autograph (YAY!). And what did he sign? HIS all access pass (double YAY), so that meant that I gained access to use the real bathrooms behind the stage instead of the stinky port-o-potties. Other perks included a few free drinks and VIP standing area so we could actually see the concert!

The concert was so amazing and half way through Shinedown brought out a special surprise which turned out to be a full orchestra. Now let me back up just a tich and mention this is a FREE concert…with an amazing band who just brought out a full orchestra. How cool is that? It sounded so perfect. Of course I knew just about every song and was rocking out just as hard as I know how to. The one disappointment was that they didn’t play their cover of Lynard Skynards “Simple Man”. So I am just going to put the video up instead.

*SIDE NOTE:
On American Idol last season, David Cook sang the Shinedown version of Simple Man live on stage. I was freaking out when I heard it and I must admit, David Cook totally nailed it!

Concert whore, Out and About

What a crazy fun night! We all met in a parking lot and boarded the “Fun Bus” around 6:30. I, however, was screeching into the parking lot at 6:42 due to my innate ability to forget the most important thing…the tickets. Sense I had to run all the way back to my office, I was not able to get as 80′s glammed out as I had originally planned, but it still worked. I had a neon green tank, fishnet mesh top and neon green heels to match. Wearing heels when you are in general admission (on the grass) is never a great idea, but they made the outfit! I had planned to have really big hair and a mini skirt…oh well.

The Wiggin’ Out Crew

As you can see from the pictures it was a really fun group of people! I think I can safely say that everyone who went had a great time. The only bad part of the night was the ride home! The parking at USANA is HORRIBLE unless you leave before the encore. It took us over an hour to get out of the parking lot!
I have a few more pictures, that if my sister ever locates where her 2 year old hid the memory card to, I will post.

Concert whore, Out and About

Email from Ram:
“…would you be so kind in letting 5 not-so-smelly rock ‘n’ rollahs sleep on your floor? Your the only person I know from Salt Lake.”

Me:
“I live in a little one bedroom apartment so you literally would be sleeping on the floor, but you are more than welcome! Mi Casa Su Casa. Guess the after party from your show will be at my pad! But no bringing groupies home with ya! I do have a cat so I hope none of you are alergic.”

Ram:
“Thanks so much for allowing us to crash in your tiny one bedroom aparment. The floor is definitely better than sleeping in the van…Thanks again buttercup.”

Last night I went to see my friend Ram’s band, WHITMAN, perform at a local dive bar called Burt’s Tiki Lounge. I am not one who frequents dive bars, but this place was actually a lot of fun. It was voted one of Americas top 20 dive bar by Stuff Magazine.
I know Ram from my friend Ellen who moved from Salt Lake to Austin, TX for a job. I went and visited her twice in 2006 so I got a chance to meet a lot of her friends. Ram, or as I like to call him “Cute Ram” is one of those characters who can just make me laugh without even trying. The things that come out of his mouth always catch me off guard…in a good way of course.
Ram and the boys rockin out on stage.
Ram me & Ryan smiling pretty for the camera.
Anther band, The Slants lead singer with the oldest locals to frequent Burt’s. This lady was out there shaking it and dancing all night! You can’t see it in the picture, but she had a large Pabst Blue Ribbon in her hand too!

Here are all of the members for Whitman. I must say as far as house guests go they were fabulous! We came back to my place after the show and had pizza and beer. The boys all crashed on blowup mattresses on the floor. In the morning I made them pancakes with strawberries and whip cream and sausages. They were very polite, thankful nice guys, although Kyle told me as they were leaving that I had just fed the stray dogs and don’t be surprised if they pass through Utah again. I say – Please do!

Concert whore, Out and About

Today is Wednesday, so I thought I would do a mid-week post. The only problem is I can’t seem to narrow it down to one thing to write about! So here is a quick synopsis of the Summer highlights for the past 5 days.

Last Saturday I went to a fund raising event for PWACU, which is the People With AIDS Coalition of Utah. The invite, which I found in Q Salt Lake (our gay friendly paper), said it was a fashion show fund raiser and several of the local stores I like would be featured in it. So of course I ask the slightly homophobic guy I have started to date if he will go with me. He was actually a really good sport about it all. The runway models consisted of both regular and cross dressed men and women. It was fabulous!
My friend Heidi and her boyfriend came along which was also fabulous because in the 5 or 6 months that they have been dating, I have never met him! He seems to be very nice and has his act together. Not to mention he ADORES Heidi.

Sunday I went to a concert at the amazing Red Butte Gardens. I had never been to a concert there and I must tell you, it was beautiful! You get to bring up your own picnic and sit on the grass. You are allowed to bring up wine or beer too. I saw Emmylou Harris who I was not very familiar with but I was very impressed. Her voice is so different. A cross between country, folk and blues – I loved it!

Monday I went to John Mayer and Colbie Caillat with my cute Karina. I had asked one of my radio rep on Friday to see if he had any extra tickets but told him if not it is no big deal. He called me at 5:45pm, as I was pumping my life savings into my gas tank, and said that some station winners had not picked up their tickets so I could have them! Can I just say that sometimes I just love my job! Luckily Karina and I had already planned to hang out so she had a sitter lined up. We missed most of Colbie Caillat, which was perfectly ok with me seeing as how she is someone that I had listened to a lot with a previous x (not the swede, the one before that). John Mayer was great! The concert was out at USANA Amphitheater. So again I was out watching a concert on the grass under the stars. Karina and I had fun people watching. It was definitely a “date” concert. Couples littered the grass, but that’s alright, I was completely content with my date!

Concert whore, Out and About

Confession: Last night I played hookie from hiking to go to a free concert at the Hard Rock Cafe…now slap my wrists and send me to time out.

One of my greatest passions in life is music and I love – love – love going to concerts! I had heard on the radio that Justin Nozuka would be doing a free acoustic performance. Now I have no idea at this point in time who Justin Nozuka is, all I hear is free concert and I know I want to be there. I mentioned it to a few friends and they agreed that it sounded fun, although none of them knew who Justin Nozuka was either. Then I was on a weekly conference call between my client and 3 of the local radio stations and I mentioned to the PD of 107.9 The Mix, the station putting on the event, that I would see him at Hard Rock later. He tells me that if I am really going that he would put me on the list! Yay for having connections! I told him to count me in and went to Justin Nozuka’s myspace page and listened to him while I was at work so I would be familiar with his music.

My awesome friend Heidi met me at Hard Rock and we walked our VIP butts up to the front of the line (which was wrapping around the building an hour before the concert started) and were ushered to our VIP seats in the VIP section. There was such a huge turn out that they ended up doing 2 concerts to accommodate everyone. Justin’s performance was wonderful. He is very young but his music and his voice are very mature. He is a mix between a bluesy singer/song writer and a pop artist. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

This is one of my favorite song (that I know), called “Mr. Therapy Man” – Enjoy!

Concert whore, Out and About

1. PERSPECTIVE – courtesy of Karina (the Russian)

Text to Karina from me:
“I hate myself today. Sorry for the drunk phone call last night. I was out of control. I think I kissed a rockstar. I got tipsy in front of my client. I even fell when I crossed the street and I have cuts and bruises. I am so embarrassed!”

Her reply back:
“Embarrassed? Sounds to me like a memory making great night! Love and live and laugh!”

I love you Karina! Thank you for always being there and teaching me how to love myself and not be too hard on myself. You are truly one of my very best friends – forever and ever and ever!

Yesterday I went to an all day out door concert called VIVA Salt Lake. I had 2 clients there so I had to be at the venue around 11am until the event was over at 10pm. My sister met me there and we drank a few more than our share of the free VIP alcoholic beverages. I woke up this morning remembering bits and pieces of the days and nights events. Some parts are a little hazy. I have scrapes and bruises on my elbows, wrists, knees, and tail bone from falling while trying to cross a street. I told some rockstars (pretty much all of Candlebox) that I was going to marry them. But they invited Staci and I to meet them at a bar after the concert (where they got us even more drunk), so I couldn’t have been that bad. Embarrassment aside, I had a blast!

Sitting in the VIP section.

My future x-husbands…CANDLEBOX (new CD out on 7/22/08)

Staci and I with the band Endeverafter.

Me and Scott (the drummer for Candlebox)trying out the kissyface cowboy look.

My clients and friends from Graywhale doing what they do best…making me laugh!

You can’t read the label but it says “In the sun or in the can, let Beehive bail you out”. It is a little sunscreen bottle that they handed out at the event. Hey ya gotta get creative when you are marketing a bail bonds company!

Concert whore, K to the R stories, Lessons Learned, Out and About