finals...

suck. i need a remedy for something called 'stress'...

ernie was a womanizer.

wow, so i realized i never blogged on my first experience being merch girl. here's the story:

so on the night of the show at the canal room, everything was going as planned. harold and i had gotten on the train, we got off the train, we walked. the only problem was that we kept walking. and walking. and walking. how we got lost, i don't even know. but, the funny thing is that of all the places to get lost, the first people we bump into to ask for directions was a bownie! (or, rather, a person who went to John Bowne HS) it was hilarious because elizabeth (the girl we bumped into) looked at us and went, 'HEY!' and seriously..of all the places: a random block on Manhattan island in the middle of the night. so anyways, she and her friend pointed us in the right direction. by this time, i thought i was 10 minutes late. and if you don't know me personally, i'm a stickler to being on time.

when we finally arrived at the canal room, i told the girl my name, had her cross my name off the list, bought harold's ticket and walked in. thankfully, the tour's photographer girl (whose name I never got) was standing at the merch table digging for her camera. i told her I was Ernie's merch girl for the night and she was estactic. she ran off to get Ernie and I was sweating like a pig. it was disgusting. ernie came back and something i never noticed from pictures was that he's got this really huge, big eyes. anyways, so he was talking to me, thanking me for wanting to do this, gave me directions, and continued talking some more. he finally went away, and i was left to look over what i had to do.

it's pretty simple stuff. if they wanted a shirt, go over to the ridiculously huge suitcase and look for their size and design, ask 'em for $20, and then stick it into the money box. the only problem came when i realized i was the only merch girl there. someone came up to me and decided to buy 2 CD's from another performer, Curtis Peoples. Ernie told me not to worry too much about the other guys' because it was their responsibility to have someone merch for them in each different city, but i couldn't just let this poor shmuck wait around for curtis so i handled the money. into the right buttpocket the money went. then soon after that tony lucca, another performer that night, came up to me and asked if i could merch for him, too. of course i said yes, but ernie didn't look to pleased. and when ernie went on, he asked me to pass around the mailing list and said this was more important than selling merchandise, so i did. but 90% of the people there were there FOR ernie, so it was kinda pointless. then tony lucca came on (<3)>

after all three musicians were done and over with, the craziness at the merch table astounded me. i really couldn't walk away to find people shirt sizes cause then the line would get crazy but it ended up being a good night for all three guys. the mad rush at the end to sell before we got kicked out was fun & ernie was kinda enough to let me have whatever i wanted. (after tlaking up and macking with every girl at the bar) i didn't want any of his shirts that said 'fawesome' but i did take his latest CD which isn't too bad. i wish tony lucca let me have whatever i wanted. i woulda snagged all his merch (shhh).

anyways, so after the show, harold and i went to little italy and got some pizza after i found out i still had the money for curtis people's cds in my right butt pocket. so, thank you curtis, dinner was great. here's some photos in reverse order:

that's all for now folks.

restoration

i've been working in a photo studio and store since late september.
here's what i've been working on this week:





blogger obviously messes with the quality, but it's prettier in it's original size.
more to come.


edit/


i especially liked this one.

"she'll be front row at every show."

as december approaches, i sat back in sociology class this morning and thought about all that this year has blessed me with. i've been able to meet a lot of amazing musicians, meet new friends, and enjoy good music. now what i think is good music could very well be different from yours. actually, it probably is. but, i guess this entry is an ode to the musicians that have shaped MY year.

jonas brothers - maybe two years ago, i would have laughed at them. but i owe them so much. they've given me a really good friend and have gotten me closer to an old one. i've gone through really rough nights by watching old youtube videos just to make me smile. a fan since august '07, i can say, although not as much as fans since '05, that i've seen them blow up from playing a shotty stage in Queens for about 10 minutes to sold-out arenas in London, Paris, and here in lovely NYC. & without knowing about them, i would have never gotten to know this other band. . .

honor society - when i first 'friended' this band on myspace, they had almost 7,000 fans. they still had 'heartache in the suburbs' and 'unpredictable' on their player. they were trying to win an online contest for a record deal, which they ended up placing 2nd in. the first show i went to, i was able to interview them with my JB/AZ friend, Marie [look @ past blog entry for deets].some things i noted at that show were that they are hilarious, genuine, and serious lovers of making music. i want to say there were less than 40 people crowded around the stage, a few at the bar, and some up on the balcony. fast forward now to august 5th and i've never seen the line that long for HS (and by this time, I've been to 3 shows). it was the most exciting concert, feeling everyones energy around me, and even Jonas stopped by for the show! Now they are on the west coast, opening up for Jonas, playing for arenas when just 6 months ago, i was bopping my head making googly eyes to these kids just 3 feet away on stage. i'm proud of where they've gotten to in such a short time. and I'm glad that i got to know them before the hysteria.

now i will get choked up with nostalgia & provide you with videos of before and after:

jonas brothers
then...




now...


honor society
then...




now...




www.myspace.com/jonasbrothers
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/HONORSOCIETY

cheers to you boys, keep on rockin' =].

a lot of catching up.

to the future me that will read this in a year and ask, 'why the hell haven't you written since October?!', i apologize profusely. and since i haven't written since the 23rd of october, this will be an unnecessarily long entry.

1. fall of the albatross wins! i'm so happy for my FOTA boys. i was so anxious because i arrived late and was worried they were going to go on and...well, to avoid rambling, they actually didn't go on until 10:30pm because they sold the second most tickets next to this european band called, 'the clocks'. they were AMAZING. i'm not a fan of metal but boy did they win me over. here are some of my favorite shots:




2. halloween 2008 i really couldn't find anything better to do so we went to the parade. again.



3. our first black president wow, 11pm on the dot was the most moving moment of my year, if not my lifetime. i was a part of a generation that helped to elect change. cheers to president-elect, barack obama.



4. the post election PMS show the post-election radio show was really cool. i didn't have my camera BUT we did record it. i'll find a place to upload the entire broadcast ASAP. we invited members of the college democrats to share their thoughts. but, here's a picture from the pre-halloween show to fill the void.



5. i'm studying abroad! rome, paris, dublin in that order, folks =] i need to get my italian visa, like...now. i'm so excited for next term. i've worked for a year and a half just saving for this trip. my entries will be like those from the philippines/texas earlier this year.

i can't think/remember anything else that are blogworthy. so i'll end it here.




edit/ rasheem or "raz" will be on PMS this thursday. tune in, k?