Oh, how you'd have a happy life if you did the things you like...

07 JAN 2005 - 10.06a
GBV 12/30 - 12/31 in Chicago. The Electrifying Conclusion.

So... where to begin? This is not going to be my most coherent piece of writing...

I'd like to write all of the details... like the stuff about Mike (my gracious host) and all kinds of other things that were utterly crazy.... meeting GBV fans in the airport, etc. But I'm just not in a writing mood, so it will probably never be written. I'll just stick to the show-related content.

The night of the 12/30 show, there was a pre-party for the members of Postal Blowfish at the Goose Island Brewery. Completely awesome... I am not a Blowfish, but I ate and drank and drank and drank and socialized with a totally awesome group of people. It was a great time... and I met so many people and saw so many people I already knew.

I was pretty much drunk by the time GBV played that night... open bar and then friends buying me beer at the show took its toll. I do remember quite a lot... meeting a really, really cool guy named Devon who was possibly one of my favorite people from the whole trip. Super GBV fan, excellent person to stand next to during the show... and he bought me beer! Woo!

Oh, let me mention that the neon "THE CLUB IS OPEN" sign was back... and there was a little bar manned by Trader Vic on the side of the stage. The show was awesome, I was drunk as a skunk, and I passed out on the ride home (only after our visit to the Wrigleyville Dog, though).

I'm not going to talk much about the setlists or anything, unless it's like something personal that I have to say... so if you want to know what they played, go to gbv.com and look it up there. I'm sure if you really care about gbv, though, you've already done that.

So I don't feel like writing anymore. I want coffee. I'll finish later.

13 DEC 2004 - 7.58a
Soooooooooooo... GBV's last two shows are just a couple of weeks away. Plans for this have changed for the millionth time. My boyfriend will NOT be attending the shows with me... it seemed kind of silly because he's not exactly a fan of GBV (even though he loves one of the songs off the new album because "it sounds just like interpol." uhhh... okay.) and I know that there are a lot of big fans that got shut out of tickets that probably would rather go. I sold my ticket for 12/30 and my ticket for 12/31 is spoken for. I'm flying to Chicago on 12/30, meeting up with Mikey "Ryan Adams" Bedding Consultant, staying with him, and going to the shows with him. He's getting my 12/31 ticket... buying it from me or whatever. Some random dude bought my 12/30 ticket... he lives in Chicago but oddly enough grew up in Hudson... he was home for Thanksgiving so we met up and he bought me some beer, bought my ticket, and then bought the scarf right off my neck. It was a nakedomalley original... the first one I've ever sold. How bizarre.

I'm very excited about the GBV shows... even if it means leaving my boyfriend in Ohio for the New Year.

Yes. I have another boyfriend. Dale. I've been with him for a couple of months now, I guess... and I couldn't be happier. We had been friends for a long time and I guess when my crush on him wouldn't subside, I knew something had to be done. It's a good thing he felt the same way about me. AND for the first time ever, I'm dating someone who is shorter than me... he's only like an inch shorter... but I think that's a pretty good indication about how much I like this boy. Everybody knows how weird I am about height and stuff. I love him, though...

Everything else is good, I guess. I'll most likely report back after the GBV NYE trip... if anybody's even reading.

08 NOV 2004 - 10.15p
So I've kept the few loyal readers I still have waiting all this time for my GBV road trip report. I just went back and read the notes from our travel diary and there are so many things we left out... to spice it up, I might add a few of the forgotten details here or there.

I'm having a difficult time reading some of the stuff that Paulie wrote... I'll do my best to interpret. Here goes...

Thursday, 1p. Recorded by Paul "Pizza Key" Huttner.
Found out that Meghan likes that Killers song now. I will be laughing at this anon.

Thursday, 1.20p. Paul.
SAW A TRUCK THAT SAID "COCK."

Friday, 1a. Paul.
Paul should have hooked up with the hottest chick (besides Meghan, of course) at the show, but life is like that. Meghan said she missed Dale 37 times. It's so cute I want to puke.

Meghan: Dale, Dale, Dale, Dale, Dale, boo.
Meghan
I (heart) Dale.
Exit Flagger x1
Choking Tara x1
Echos Myron x2 = 2 twice
Girlfriends (heart) me.
I (heart) Dale.
Can't believe I got this drunk. Nate spilled my beer.
Paul (heart) Nate. So do I.
Eric - saw him.
New friend Alex. Last GBV show.
New friend ? - had friend Nick, tall. Was in Eisenwiesel.
Saw Cliff B. Wife is expecting.

Paul cut off a cop on the way home and it didn't even fucking matter.

Time to go to sleep. Exit flagger. Exit flagger.

10/22, Friday. 12.50p. Meghan
Driving to Cincinnati. Paul at the wheel. I feel bad that Paul makes me nervous when he drives.

Another grey day. I had bacon for breakfast. Saw the funniest sign on the highway that said, "Hell is real." Okay, whatever.

Show last night was good. Too much to drink. I shouldn't have had so much. I didn't think they played for very long, but who knows? See previous entry about key songs.

The GBV memorial video was so funny. Loved Bob's commentary. Loved the queer shots of birds and clouds and butterflies.

Looking forward to tonight. I'm hoping Jimmy Mac is there. Boo - I don't remember hearing "Shocker" last night.

We went to Congress yesterday and I passed up my favorite apple dumplings with ice cream to get a pumpkin cream puff that was sadly just average. We watched barrel racing and saw a horse run into a wall. Also saw a kid that wasn't older than 10 kick some serious ass. Didn't do much shopping, just bought a few necessary things. The most necessary thingw as a decal for my car. It's a mule!! Can't wait to put it on with my Kerry sticker. I (heart) mules!

Paul
We tried to stop and visit "Fort Ancient," but it turned otu to be Fort Disappointment. The extra "p" is for "pretty disapointing." (note: I'm just typing things as they are written... spelling mistakes included.) However, we did see the City Girl Ranch and a bunch of furry horses.

Speaking of horses, I learned that horse people really are as weird as Meghan always says. A cup full of fries makes it all better, though. Even weirder are crazy pharmacutical reps who hope you've heard about the amazing new deal on wormer ($2.99 a dose!). I've also decided to name any children I have equine style. Ex: Basic Rotary x Hot Dayton Girl = Rotatin' Dayton.

Saturday. Time unknown. Paul.
Bob was in top form at Newport. More Exit Flagger. Tons of guests: Jimmy Mac, Greg Demos, Sammy Powers, Tobin Sprout. Give Mac gave Bob a tank.

Girlfriends made Meghan push a boobie girl Vegas wife out of the way.
Weezer vs. Wilco: Which do you think is the greatest band of all time?
Bob married a martian.
Dorks in crowd. Bob and Toby are better than Lennon and McCartney.
Bob sings his heart out every night, but we don't fucking care. Yeah, we do.
Crazies climbing on stage. Bob didn't fall over. Chris did.
Jimmy Mac looked like he just got out of hillbilly prison.
NO star for robot boy. Bartenders super nice.

Newport is very nice, with ample parking, fine eating and lovely shopping areas. There's a cool video game you can ride in the arcade, and pretty good pizza, but no bell in front of the aquarium. There is however a haunted barge and pirates come to visit the children. People also move into other peoples houses when they're away and redecorate.

Still no Glad Girls! YAY!
Did you know that Dale does not like green peppers? Well, he doesn't. And Hell is Red.
Superfan is still a little too pushy.
I ended up wearing more beer than I drank, which is all right.
Tractor Rape Chain. No Echos Myron this time. Still no Surgical Focus. Teenage FBI, I am a Scientist, Game of Pricks, Things I Will Keep, 14 Cheerleader Coldfront w/ Toby. I am a Tree. My Impression Now. Back to the Lake (effed up). Secret Star (effed up). My Kind of Soldier. Jilly Hives. ETC. (Meghan tired of typing titles. Who cares?)

Does anyone like the Brown Stripes?
The underlying message of all indie rock is "blow me."

END GBV ROADTRIP WRITTEN LOG.

I am somewhat disappointed that neither Paul nor myself made note of the best part of our roadtrip: My sleepwalking adventure at the hotel in Columbus. I got up at some point, let myself out of the room, and walked down to the lobby. I don't know when I realized I was not in bed, but I did go back up to the room and knocked but Paul thought I was just some random asshole fucking around. He had no clue I wasn't in bed, asleep. I eventually went back down to the lobby (still in my pajamas, barefoot!) to see if they could call up to the room and wake Paulie up... but they were checking somebody in, so I went back to the room and pounded some more. Paul was up, using the bathroom, and he heard me. Thank god.

The best show of the whole trip was definitely the Cleveland show. It was great being back home and it was more of a social experience for me than anything else. I mean, the show fucking rocked, best one of the tour... I finally got to see Dale that night (not at the show) which put me in an excellent mood considering I missed him 37 times after being away from him for like a day.

Dale and I went to Detroit a few days later and the show was the pits. WORST GBV SHOW EVER. Seriously. The sound sucked, the venue sucked, the crowd sucked, the band sucked. Dale ended up getting sick for no apparent reason. But we had fun together.

And I think that's about it. More GBV in Chicago to come... stay tuned?

18 OCT 2004 - 2.24p
No. I'm not back... I'm just preparing for my gbv tour diary. Yes, I'm a nerd.

Paul and I leave on Thursday for Columbus... then off to Newport, KY on Friday... Saturday back home to the Beachland. Then I have a couple of days off and Dale and I are going to Detroit.

So sad.