A lot has happened in the last few weeks, and I have to try to post it in a way that it won’t be a bagazillion pages long, so I’ll abbreviate some of my lesser adventures.
A few weeks ago, I saw Sugarcult in concert at the Bluebird – a really small venue about 10 minutes away from my dorm in Denver. The show was high quality, let me tell ya. Sugarcult kids are a good group to be around – punky, fun, happy kids who have colored, spikey hair and wristbands. I’m such a sucker for a cute punk girl. There’s a cute punky chick named Kathleen, whenever I see her I’m just like “awww…” I don’t know why. Cute punk girls just steal my heart. Anyway, I was in the small mosh pit during the Sugarcult show(about 8 feet from the stage), and Tom played a slow, guitar-only song and everyone started clapping together to the beat. 
When he was done he said “Alright guys, in the world of rock and roll, I do not have the best rhythm, so whenever the crowd starts clapping to the
beat I always find the person in the audience with the worst rhythm to bond with them.” I immediately started spastically clapping like there was something wrong with me, and everyone laughed. Tom pointed right at me down in the pit and said “Yeah, like that kid. Nice job, dude.” So I spasti-clapped again. 
He loved it. After the show, he went to the edge of the stage to talk to people, and he obliged to take a picture with me. What a nice guy. Oh, I also met Dan from Story of the Year… it was his birthday. I went up to him afterwards and I was like “happy birthday, man” and he started to sign my ticket and said “thanks man, I’m getting old, it sucks” so I said “f that, you rock hard. keep it up.” he was like “haha thanks a lot brother”. Also a very cool guy. I love rockstars who aren’t rockstars!
Next came the Good Charlotte concert at Magness Arena (our huge hockey/concert venue on campus) with Goldfinger and Eve 6. Stephie and I had decided that we were going to get backstage and meet em all and stuff. We do work for the school newspaper, after all. She is an interviewer and I’m a photographer. I know the arena pretty well so I got backstage way before the show started. I told the security guards and event staff that I was a photographer for the paper, and they just let me go. Didn’t ask to see my camera, a card, nothing. I actually got into all three bands’ dressing rooms! They were all sound checking, but it was still cool to go in there. To prove that I was in GC’s room, I took a picture and stole a pack of Dentine Ice. Good stuff. Finally some security guards told me I had to go to the production office to get a photo pass. I went up there and it was empty, but I swiped two ‘Working’ passes off of the table moments before a huge production manager dude walked in and asked if he could help me. I told him I was told to come in there and get a photo pass. He sat down, counted the passes on his desk, slammed them down and started yelling. He asked me if I took anything off of his desk, I was like “No dude, I just came in here 2 seconds before you did” and he bought it. He said he didn’t have what I needed so I left, new passes in hand. I went downstairs, met Stephie, gave her one of the passes and told her the story. She was psyched and went off to interview Eve 6. I chilled backstage and talked to Goldfinger a little bit, I was in the elevator with them and they all said they loved my Ninja hat. A dude came over to me while I was watching the Good Charlotte meet n’ greet and asked to see my pass, and I gave it to him and explained who I was, and he was like “Ohh dude, you’ve got the wrong pass for photos, lemme get you the write one.” I was super nervous that he would come back down with Mr. Production Manager dude and that guy would kill me, but he just comes down with a pass that says Photo and all is well. 
I was allowed between the pit and the stage for the first 3 songs of each act! You know the place where they security guards stand to catch the crowd surfers? I got to be there and take pictures! Of course I was the only photographer who was also a fan, so I was running back and forth along the edge of the stage snapping pics and singing along. Benji from GC saw that I was having a ball and pointed at me and sang with me for a little bit. In-sane. I was so happy, it was nuts. Also, this girl Danielle that I’ve had a crush on since last year was there and I got to talk to her. She’s so cute. Anyway, that nite rocked hard and I got a few good pictures.
And now Zebrahead – many of you know that my favorite band is a crazy rock/funk/punk/rap group out of Cali called Zebrahead. If you were to take my personality and turn it into a band, it would be Zebrahead. They are a crazy mix of styles and they’re silly and don’t themselves seriously at all. Just like me! I saw them Tuesday night in Denver at the Gothic with Stephie. She is friends with Stubhy, the lead singer of Lucky Boys Confusion (Chicago natives! Represent!!) and they were opening. The venue is really small and LBC was great, we were right up on the edge of the stage. Once they finished their set, it was time for the almighty Zebrahead. 
They put on an awesome show, they played my request, and I did 3 stagedives and crowdsurfed. Justin (the lead singer) kept commenting on all the acrobatic things people were doing off of the stage, so I did a front flip and a 360 diveroll. It was sick! I had worn my Zebrahead fan club tshirt under my regular shirt so I could stay at the venue after the show and meet the band. After a little while of talking to LBC, Zebrahead came out. This place was so small, they came out and there weren’t even enough people to mob them. I casually walked over to Ali (the rapper) and complimented their kickass set and talked to him for a few minutes. Really nice dude. Got a sweet picture with him too. Then Ed the bassist signed my CD and took a pic with me, and then I saw Justin come up. I walked over to him and we started talking. I was surprised at how non-”I’m way too cool to really talk to you” he was. I told him I was driving back to Chicago the next morning and I had to wake up early for a final but I came anyway. He thanked me a bunch of times and we exchanged stories about our old Volvo station wagons. It was hilarious. The picture I got with him is sick too.
The next morning I went to my Visual Meaning critique, aced it, and started the long drive home. After driving all day, I stopped in Nebraska to stay with friends of our family. When I got there, David (17 year old indie rocker kid) was in the basement practicing with his band, Raizing Atlantis. Their drummer was sick so I hopped on drums and rocked it out. I told them that I had never taken a lesson or had a drum set of my own but they said I was pretty damn good. The next morning I got up and drove another 8 hours home and finally got to sleep in my own bed.
On Saturday I got a haircut… heh. I shaved my head for the first time in my life. Usually when I get a haircut I get it pretty short but it’s still curly. This time I just said “Ann, shave it all off.” I’m not bald, as you can see, but I’m as fuzzy as a peach. It doesn’t look too bad, at least I don’t look like a match. That is a big relief. Now I know I can always shave my head and not worry about looking like a cancer patient. What do you think of my new look?
Today I went back to work in the Hancock Tower for Brandtrust. The new office is beautiful – all glass walls, it’s nuts. Maybe I’ll take some pics soon. Right now
I’m on the train writing this post, almost home and it’s gonna be dinnertime when I get there. Yummy… chicken! I’m excited.
Listening to: Metra – the train rumbling beneath me
I saw Matrix Revolutions on opening night in IMAX. It was sick. The action scenes were great, the Zion battle was epic and beautifully choreographed, and the ending was good. I’m not going to spoil it, but I’m glad they didn’t do a perfect happy Hollywood ending. Good job, fellas. Hey Gees, if you’re gonna go see this movie, see it in IMAX. It was way better in ridiculous surround sound and on a 2-story screen. It is the only way to see a big, crazy action movie. I don’t wanna write too much about the movie because I don’t want to spoil the surprises for anyone that hasn’t seen it. Did anyone notice the Tasty Wheat billboard outside the train in the beginning? That was a great throwback to the first movie. I strongly recommend watching the first two before and/or after the third. I noticed little things that were like ‘whoa cool!’. Like that.
I got my new hat at 
So I’ve been posting about the open 
Yesterday was Halloween!!! Happy Halloween everybody. I hope all you Gees had crazy fun. I know I did. I saw my homeboy 
