Bolt of Blue

There’s some hope that Roswell is not going to be cancelled since no official statement will happen until May. I so enjoyed last night’s episode. Michael/Brendan with short hair! Man! And Max is always more fun when he’s not being typical Max.

Alright so the Phantom Planet show was so much fun. Of course. It was great to see them again. They seemed tired. But since they were in Chicago the day before and were headed to New York the next day, I don’t blame them. So ate yummy food (chinese shrimp salad). David Spade was sitting in a table near us. Very odd to hear his voice having a normal conversation with his friends. As we left the Rainbow Bar to get our will call tickets, Eddie sees someone in the patio stand up from his table and totally start waving to us. He realizes it’s Darren so he tells me and I go over and look over the wall of the patio and he’s still standing up. There’s a whole table of people he’s with… some of the Phantom guys, friends, etc… so I wave back to him.

When we walked into the Roxy, we showed our ids and the bouncer was all, yeah! You guys are numbers 5 and 6 who are getting stamped out of 160 so far! Woah!

The first opening band was The Skirts. They had done 2 songs at the fan club show. A Rooney boy joined them and when he’s the best one in the band and not even a member of the band, that’s saying something but I give them credit for going up there in front of so many people. That does take guts. Two of the girls though ended up standing right near us during PP and were being SO annoying. Whatever. Adam Duritz was in the crowd watching them. I think they did like 3 or 4 songs including a These Boots Are Made for Walking cover. Rilo Kiley was cool. I’ve only seen them one other time. It was nice to see them again. Alex came out to see some of their set. He was wearing this funky hat, covering up his shaggy hair. I liked it… Darren’s hair doesn’t seem to grow as much as Sam and Alex (they made a pact not to cut their hair until their album is released – still a month to go).

Phantom’s set was not as long as I would have liked… they actually played more songs then they intended too. Alex climbed up on these speakers during the last song. Very Damon Albarn rock star behavior. Alex claimed he was worried that no one would show up since as of that day only like 70 tickets had been sold but it ended up being sold out in the end. And he thanked everyone for coming out especially on a school night. HAHA!

Afterwards, Eddie left with Sue and Erica to meet up with Candice at Virgin. She was waiting in the freezing cold to try and get tickets for the $2 Strokes show. I stayed to check out the merchandise and then saw Jacques come out… and Jason and Sam and Darren. So I make my way to Darren and grab his attention. Poor boy was all sweaty since the Roxy is like a sauna. He gave me a hug and we chatted for a bit. He asked where Eddie was and I said how he went to try and get Strokes tickets and Darren was quite envious (though he had no reason to since we didn’t end up getting tickets). He said how tired he was, how he was jet lagged… how they were going to New York the next day, etc… I forgot to wish him luck on Letterman. But I told him to take care and how great it was to see them doing so well and gave him another hug as we said goodbye. I then found Jason and was going to talk to him really quick. Just as I was about to go up to him, Sofia Coppola and some other people come up to him. So I didn’t bother. I left and saw Sam outside but he was surrounded so I just left.

Went to Virgin. It was so cold. We didn’t stay long since there was no point. And that was that.

And now I’m stressing about money. And my lack of money. And why I can’t seem to pay off my credit cards and how I shouldn’t use them. Like ever! Sigh…

Oh… and who’s the coolest Starsailor fan in New York City? Laura, of course, who worked her magic and got into last night’s show. She rocks! I still haven’t posted my story about the Starsailor gig with the Charlatans that I went to. It was incredible. Pete Yorn was there. My friends had a priceless conversation with him… I got a set list cause Starsailor’s roadies are so nice and I had it rolled up in my hand. So I swatted Pete in the arm with it to get his attention and told him he was great on drums with Phantom Planet the previous week and he was taken aback and thanked me. That man is very nice. We got handshakes and quick hellos, etc. from Barry, James and Foxy (the other James) as they left during the last part of the Charlatans set (we had gone outside to the backstage entrance). And we then had a hilarious conversation with Ben, the drummer, who seemed to forget for about 15 minutes that his bandmates were waiting in a van for him. He burned his hand with his cigarette. Signed stuff for us. Told us James has a boyfriend by accident (he has a girlfriend). Found out he’s been to Disney World 3 times. He loves the weather in California. And was altogether charming, giving us kisses on the cheek (handshake for Eddie) as he left. Ben is the best! So that’s it in a nutshell.

I took this organ quiz and the results were so me it’s not even funny: You’re the LUNGS – You love life, but don’t really know what’s best for you. Sometimes you bite off more than can be chewed.

There are dozens of this quizzes I’ve seen posted on all kinds of blogs lately. They are very addicting. I am also cherry flavored (not as kinky as it sounds): You’re a sweet person to those who care the most and you have a kind heart. And I’m also a strawberry: You are caring and romantic. You are loyal to your friends. You friends can trust you. You are well loved.

Alright, Anna has a spectacular blog design… go now and bask in the glow of the green fairy. And Heather has a gorgeous new layout too.

And how awesome is this? Been making mixed cds for my pals to introduce them to the beauty and joy of Jeff Buckley’s music, if only my burner would cooperate with me.

Starsailor was very cool last night. James sang three songs, Coming Down, Way to Fall and Good Souls, by himself with just a guitar to keep him company. It was wonderful. Then the rest of the boys came out for a very casual autograph signing. There was a lot of people there which was nice to see. I was with a pretty big group of friends and so we were a little scattered throughout the line. After Eddie went by (he shook Ben’s hand and I was happy for him since he is in love with Ben), I was trying to get his attention to take pictures since he was just standing there by the end of the table. He was being difficult and I didn’t want to yell out or anything. James just watched us interacting and smiled at me when I rolled my eyes.

For some reason, I got flustered when I went up for my turn. I asked Barry how he was doing and then he got very excited about the cd booklet I was asking them to sign. It’s for their DVD single of Good Souls and they hadn’t seen it yet. So then Barry, James and Ben proceeded to pass it back and forth and tease each other about it concluding in Ben telling Barry that in his picture he has tits. It was hilarious. Barry and Ben smoked from time to time even though it’s illegal. And James drank a Corona (great choice after just singing with a show to do the next day). I was at a loss for words. I answered Barry’s question about where the booklet was from but I just didn’t say much else. When I got to James, I told him how wonderful his performance was and thanked him. He was very sweet. He signed the booklet and put down ‘love’ with it which I didn’t notice until later. All in all, it was a cool night. I got a lot of free stuff that Crapital handed out and Amoeba was pretty cool to those we were waiting a long time.

I’m very excited to see them tonight because like I predicted, James was on KCRW yesterday and he said that the show would be a double-bill. Both bands would do full sets. How rad is that?

So no Donnie for the celeb hockey game. I’m sad. I guess he didn’t make the team or something – I don’t really understand the whole set-up. But Brendan is going to be there so that’s okay then. And all kinds of shows are coming up… Nelly Furtado, Gorillaz, another Mellowdrone show… keeps me busy. Keeps me going… but doesn’t keep me counting the days until I see my babe again.

I feel like I have a lot to write about but I’m just feeling very lazy at the moment.

Forgot to mention how I saw Colin Hanks at the Gap the other day. Of course I didn’t go up to him even though it would have been the perfect moment to do so as he was by himself and just leaving the store, waiting to cross the street. It didn’t even cross my mind until later that I should have said hello. Oh well. I’m bound to see him again.

Because I’m a nerd and my friend is to, we are going to this celebrity hockey game at the Staples Center at the end of the month. Not only is Donnie Wahlberg going to be there but so is Brendan Fehr. I would not be going if it was not for Sue. I think we will have a blast cause we are dorks.

Tonight I’ll be hopefully seeing Starsailor. I guess it’s also a signing too. Then tomorrow I’ll see them again. And then Saturday I’ll be seeing LOTR for the 7th time. And hopefully going to this art gallery that is having an exhibition of LOTR photographs.

Aside from all that… I’m trying to set up a new domain. Should be interesting…

AHHH!!!

KROQ’s Acoustic Xmas at the Universal Amphitheatre

Sunday, December 9 (second night)
Bush
Coldplay
Linkin Park
Nickelback
Remy Zero
Staind
311
Travis
Pete Yorn

MUST GET TICKETS!!! MUST GET PIT TICKETS!!!

Too much is happening! Just found out about a Starsailor show too. I had no idea! Their website is not keeping me up to date. And I think it’s already sold out. I’m so sad. Going to try at noon to fax in for tickets. I need to go to that.

Trying to get myself ready for tonight as well. I hope it all goes ok… I’m quite nervous but trying to calm myself about seeing Ewan finally after all this time. He was on the KTLA morning news earlier. I set the VCR to tape it and I hope I got it all as it apparently was quite interesting and like when does Ewan go on a local morning news show? He is really helping out Baz with all this publicity he is doing. He never does this much even with Star Wars. KTLA is really popular here in Los Angeles too. I think it even beats the Today show in this market. So it makes sense he’d go on it and I’m sure it was hilarious.

AAHHH!! Too much! Going on overload pretty soon… this years has been nuts!

First, Starsailor was awesome. Great music… great singing. The opening band The Actual Tigers were pretty impressive too. We were first in line… the first ones there for like an hour. Saw Starsailor arrive in a freaking taxi! It was so cute! Three were sitting in the back and one was sitting in the front.

I guess there were a lot of industry people there but I didn’t notice. I was up front and took lots of photos and soaked in the wonderful music. James gave Eddie and me a huge smile at one point. I smiled back and he smiled even more. It was very cute.

James is so soft spoken. So shy and sweet. Comes off as young and a bit insecure but he is so talented and endearing. They did a long set of about 16 songs. It was great.

Last night went and saw Phantom Planet. We eat and drank a bit before and then walked around. We went to where the bands enter and leave and as soon as we walk over to the entrance, we see Jacques and Sam. We got nervous but this night we vowed to at least talk to one of the guys and not just say, nice show. We were going to break the ice, for our benefit more than theirs of course.

So back to the stage we went. It was great that Phantom was going to go on first. The crowd started to form and geez louise, what some people are willing to do for a free t-shirt! This announcer dude went on for like an hour handing out cds and t-shirts. He was so annoying. At one point he tried to talk to me but I gave him such attitude cause I just wanted to see Phantom and I was so sick of hearing this guy. He said the same thing over and over. Once the boys came out though, it was all better.

We stood right in front of Jacques. They sounded great and seemed to be enjoying themselves. I think they wanted to play more but weren’t allowed too. They rocked. Got lots of awesome photos I hope. They even played a little Radiohead which was rad.

So then we make our way to the side of the stage. And that’s when the mayhem started. Well, I guess it wasn’t that crazy. But all the times we’ve seen the guys and could have easily talked to them, they have been relatively alone or with very few people around. Not this time. Everyone and their mother was trying to get their autographs.

The first thing we did was find Selma Blair. Eddie found out his friend in Boston, also named Eddie, was a huge Selma fan. We see her all the time at Phantom shows so Eddie wanted to get her autograph to surprise his friend. But he was being kinda chicken. Selma was signing autographs and posing with fans so I grabbed a dollar bill and a pen and got myself next to her. By the way, she is so freaking skinny it’s a little scary. So she turned towards me and I tell her that my friend Eddie in Boston is a huge fan and I would love to surprise him with an autograph. I apologized that all I have is a dollar bill. We ended up talking for like 5 minutes. She was super sweet. I told her how I see her at shows all the time and I hoped she didn’t mind me coming up to her finally. She said I must be a huge Phantom fan and I said of course. Then she said, well, then let me give you Jason’s drumstick which she had been holding. She whips it out and was joking how I was probably not a fan of hers and wouldn’t care but she signed the stick anyways. She asked for my name and I told her how to spell it. She wrote on the stick: Alyse, love Selma and Phantom P. — I think. I can’t remember now what’s on the stick and I don’t have it in front of me. I was sort of shocked that she gave me the stick like that out of all the people there and who had already come up to her. I told her to take care and enjoy the rest of her night and said the same back to me. She was pretty darn groovy. Just a regular gal.

After that I noticed Sam signing stuff for people and taking pictures and Alex doing the same. I got nervous and tried to decide what to do… which ended up being hanging back from the crowd and letting it thin out. Jacques came out of the little baricade area and chatted with fans… posing with a stuffed animal (I think it was this monkey) that someone gave him. I got more nervous when Sam came out right by us and then Eddie called out his name as he was turning to leave and got his attention. He basically asked if I could take a picture with him and said yeah sure. He put his arm around me and I think I did the same to him. I noticed he smelled SO good. Eddie had a little trouble with my camera (which at that point was running low on batteries)… so I said out loud, come on, hurry up… I think Sam laughed. After that, I told him how great the show was and he thanked me and I jetted cause I’m a wimp. Then we found Alex. It looked like he really wanted to leave the baricade area. He noticed us and we called out to him to ask if he would take a picture with Eddie and he said sure but that he had to leave after this — he was saying it more to the other people around there then to us. We told him they put on a great show and he said thanks and that was it with Alex.

So then we walk over to where Jacques was hanging out. Two girls (that we later introduced ourselves too) started talking to him about CMJ. They had never seen Phantom before that night but were going to CMJ so they were asking him about it. I kinda pulled myself into the conversation talking about CMJ to one of the girls.

Then Jacques was alone so we went up to him and started chatting. Told him how great the show was (broken record I know) and then finally told him about how we had seen Phantom way back when at the Mayan. He was like where? Then he remembered and joked how there was like 5 people there. We said how we were there for John Taylor and then saw Phantom. Eddie said how Phantom had won us over and how we had been fans since. Jacques was like wow, how cool, thanks. I told him how they just keep getting better and better. I also wished him luck in New York. He was so sweet and so nice and very grateful to. He really listened to us. At one point when I first brought up the Mayan show, some guy came over and reached out to say hello. Jacques turned and said a few things to him. I guess he was a friend or something. I felt like we should let him go… but then he turned back and started up the conversation again.

I can’t wait to see them again. I’m bummed they aren’t doing the Key Club show. And I keep finding conflicting info on what shows they are doing for the American Hi-Fi tour. I really pray they do the Travis show that I have a pit ticket for. They are going to open for Travis at the San Fran show and Eddie and I are tempted. What would be freaking really rad is if they play at like the HOB or the Joint in Vegas. Oh man…