So, say what's on your mind.

 

The adult is one of the choir directors. She couldn't go, so she made us a sign!

4 minutes into the bus ride.

One of my favorite pictures taken from the bus.

OHAI GOOD MORNIN'!

Red Rocks ampitheatre. It's coincidence that most of my friends are wearing white shirts.

Being an emo teenager and writing in a journal in the corner. You can't really see the BADASS zebra striped notebook cover. :(

One of the buildings on the DU campus.

We randomly pose with our thumbs up.

In rehersal. Haha I'm so cool. (Can you even find me?)

OMG ROLLO, OMG.

For some background info, he was the festival guest conductor. Dr. Rollo Dillworth. He's actually quite famous in the choir music world. And he gave me this huge compliment in front of 400 people. I will share the portion from my journal:

OMG. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! So, guess who Dr. Dillworth complimented in front of 400 people? Oh, good guess! OMG. Like basically, I was just being myself, when all of a sudden, Rollo stops and says "So, there's this girl wearing a yellow shirt" (and at this moment I realize that I am a yellow shirted female) "and she is about 4 rows into the back section" (I realize that I totally fit this description, but I'm not convinced.) SOME GIRL (I will not include her name for private reasons) who sits two seats over from me thinks it's her, and people are confused, but then Rollo CLAIRE-ified (hahah c wut i did thur) that I am who he is talking about. He took a good minute or so and told me, that even though I was so far away, that I had such radiant facial expression. OMG. Everyone started cheering. I was embarassed because I hate getting put on the spot, but out of 400 people, I was noticed....by Rollo!

We did some explorin' around Hammonds Candy Factory. Found out that Laumbeau Lollies are made here! Green Bay Pride! (PS Lambeau Lollies= green and gold lolly pops sold at Laumbeau Field.)

She sat next to me in choir rehersal. She's really nice :)

WE IZ AWSUM.

The final concert. There were 400 people on that stage and it was really HOT. I felt light headed for my first time, ever. The people backstage were crazy and had walkie talkies and shit and were like WE HAVE TO GET YOU ON STAGE IN 2 MINUTES AND 17 SECONDS.

OMG ROLLO OMG. We look like a totem pole. Rollo is holding "Juan" on his finger. "Juan" is this little Mexican cactus finger pupet that my friend carries around (her boyfriend gave it to her) and we took pictures of the little creature everywhere it went. Including on Rollo's finger.

 
For example, here is Juan. By a river.

OHAI I C U THUR.

I heartz sun flarez.

I tried to immitate the cover of New SURRENDER. Tried, okay?

My friend and I with Darcy (in the middle). She's 11 and practically our little sister.

With Savannah, who's like...our other little sister. :)

LOL MY MAWM.

 

THE END.

 

A lot of these will be posted as photos, and there are more that will also be posted :)

 

I'm back, and I have plans for a very extensive photo blog, but they are being put on hold as I am going out with friends to see My Sister's Keeper in like, less than an hour.

So, a few things:

Hello, yes, I have returned. I had such an amazing time on the trip, but I don't have enough time to blog about it now. It will come later tonight.

My photo card drive still isn't working, but I can upload photos other ways, so I will also catch up on my 365.

I AM GOING TO SEE NO DOUBT AND PARAMORE ON THURSDAY. MY FRIEND HAS AN EXTRA TICKET. I AM EXCITED. :)

 

 

It will not upload pictures. Therefore, I will be so far behind in my 365 that it's not even funny. On top of that, I will be gone for a week starting tomorrow, so you will see absolutley NO posts from me until I return.

HOPEFULLY, I can take a photo each day for the project while in Denver. And HOPEFULLY, my computer will stop fucking shitting itself by the time I'm back.

Did I mention I leave for D-D-Denver tomorrow? Well, now you know.

I IZ GONE FOR A WEEK. KTHNKSBAI.

I should be on tomorrow for a bit, I hope.

 

On a completely unrelated note:

OMG YAY GEE AND JAMIE. I AM SO FULL OF JEALOUSY THAT I PRACTICALLY HATE YOU.

So, to those of you who caught my Tweet about tonight being dubbed as the scariest night of my life, I canz explain nao. I'm probably being overdramatic, but this definitley freaked me out.

I was at choir, and my mom had given me a ride. She had to stay after for a meeting, since she does a lot of administrative stuff for the organization as her job, actually, so I was waiting like I did before I could drive. Well, a girl in choir, who I know from other places as well needed a ride home. My mom basically volunteered me to take her home, and use her car. No problem, no problem.

Well, this girl, sorta....doesn't live in the best neighborhood. And on top of that, I iz directionally challenged. So, the girl gave me step by step directions on how to get to her house, and I was pretty confident on going back the way I came to meet with my mom again.

Somewhere, I must have made a wrong turn, because I ended up going COMPLETELY out of my way, and almost driving around aimlessly because there was almost no hope for me. I had NO idea where I was. On top of that, I was driving down a deserted street with old abandoned factories, vacant vandalized houses, and FREAKYDEAKY gangs loitering the area. In my mom's car. At night. =O

I honestly, was like, doing that creepy talk to myself while almost crying thing. Like, ~okay Cuhlaire, you're really lost, um, it's okay, except you don't know where you are, and OMG those people are looking at you weird, and there's no other cars around....*swallows hard*~

I ended up pulling into a random gravel parking lot next to, um, (you guessed it!) and old abandoned factory, where it appeared that no one was around. I called my mother, in hysterics. I seriously am TANKING TEH HEAFENZ FER CELL FONEZ. The first thing she told me was, make sure no one's around, and lock the doors. (Asdjaskldjaskldjaskldjaskldjljasdksjdklsajkljdas)

Then, I put her on speaker phone, and she guided me back. I ended up making it.

 

In a nutshell: I've had my license for a week, and I got lost in a really scary neighborhood at night driving my mom's car.

 

Okay, so I've decided to try something new. Once a week, I will blog about one of my most remembered happenings from Warped Tour 2008 to prepare for Warped Tour 2009. Things will be posted up until the day: July 30th, 2009.

BLOG #1- Claire meets 50% of We The Kings and gets her CD signed while acting like a 12 year old fangirl.

The ENTIRE story of how that shit went down.

Well, as most of you may know, this was my first year at "The" Warped Tour. It was also my first concert, actually. Before this day, I had never been to a "show" of one of my favorite bands, I had never purchased a general admission ticket, and I had never pushed and shoved other kids to fight for a view of the stage. THAT MEANS TODAY IS A HUGE MOMENT IN MY LIFE GUYS.

After arriving at Warped Tour and seeing Mayday Parade and The Color Fred, I get to see We The Kings' set. NOW, not only did I see We The Kings, but I saw We The Kings, in the front row. Barricade and center! I'd say that's not bad for my first concert experience ever. After their set, and a slightly pee-soiled pair of shorts later (I kid, I kid!) Travis mentions that they're going to have a signing at such and such a place at such and such a time. I have now made it my life goal to make it to this signing.

WELL, the day goes on. I end up LEAVING AUDIZZLE'S SET EARLY (I will repeat myself, LEAVING AUDIZZLE'S SET EARLY) to go to this signing. I run to WTK's merch booth and grab a copy of their cd, even though I had already bought it on iTunes, just so I could have something to get signed. There were no posters or anything of that sort. The line is a total bitch, as expected, but I'm determined to stick it out. After talking for a while with one of the dudes in Karrigan, this girl comes by, and at a very shrill pitch, yells

"IF YOU'RE STANDING RIGHT HERE THEN YOU'RE NOT GETTING INTO THIS SIGNING. THE LINE IS TOO LONG."

We kind of ignored her. Eventually, we met up with some friends from school in all of the awkwardness, and made an attempt to make some minor cuts in line. We succeeded at that, but then found a guy holding a sign that said If You're Standing Behind This Point, Then You're Not Allowed In The Signing. We were being really chill about the entire situation, and we simply responded by saying "DUDE, IT'S WAY CHILL, JUST PASS THE SIGN BACK TO US. WE'LL HOLD ON TO IT FOR YOU!"

It is at this point that we discover that people in front of sign dude have numbers Sharpie-d on their hands. Sign dude's number is 100. We have just figured out that only 100 people are let into the signing.

Now, we venture out of line and stand on the other side of the tent, creeping on WTK themselves. It was fun, yet creepy. The girl comes back and keeps glaring at us, so we keep our distance while she's still in sight. Once she leaves, we keep creepin' in closer. After the last kid gets his shit signed, (which of course, had to take an hour and he had to tell the band his entire life story), me and my sister (who has basically represented the WE in this entire story) start freaking out. Drew (bassplayerfromwethekingsomg) is still in the tent, but the others have wandered off. I decided that one autograph is better than zero autographs, so my sister pretty much pushes me into the tent and I come face to face with Drew. OHAI.

I ramble and babble in such a high pitched voice because I am too excited for my own good. I asked him if he would sign the cd, and he said he didn't have a marker. I seriously got shut down. I do believe saying

"THAT GUY HAS A MARKER! THAT GUY!" While pointing to his back pocket. Drew steals the marker and scribbles his name on my cd. My 15 year old heart has just skipped a beat. I asked him if anyone else could sign it, but he said that they'd left and I'd have to find them.

I left the tent feeling happy, and okay with one autograph, when, my sister sees a flash of shoulder length orange hair. THIS IS AN UNMISTAKABLE PERSON. Travis is standing outside the tent, talking with a couple people, and I literally starting freaking out. My sister and I are standing next to him, and my sister is telling me "Claire, if you don't say something, then you'll lose your chance at an autograph." So once again I'm awkwardly in a face to face position in which I begin the 12 year old high pitched babbling, telling Travis this mini-story about how I had already bought the cd on iTunes, but I bought another copy just so he could sign it. (Creppy as fuck, I say yes.) He said, "Hells yeah!" and smiled, then of course, I awkardly got in on a picture with him.

(I must share it again. I can't help it. You can seriously find this picture so many other places on my Buzznet account.)

BY THE WAY, HE'S TALL. I AM NOT SHORT.

THUS CONCLUDES MY STORY. WHAT A GREAT LIFE EXPERIENCE.

(Ps. He signed my cd with a smile face.)

Just wait to see what Blog #2 has in store!

Using only song titles from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think.

Pick Your Artist:
New Found Glory

Are you male or female:
All About Her

Describe yourself
Dressed To Kill

How do you feel about yourself?:
Doubt Full

Describe where you currently live:
Familiar Landscapes

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?:
Coming Home

Your best friend is:
Boy Crazy

Your favorite color/shape is:
Black And Blue

What's the weather like?:
It Never Snows In Florida

Favorite time of day:
Right Where We Left Off

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?:
This Disaster

What is life to you?:
I Don't Wanna Know

What is the best advice you have to give?:
Make Your Move

If you could change your name, what would it be?
Iris

Your favorite food is:
Too Good To Be

Thought for the Day:
Who Am I?

How would you like to die?
Make It Right

Your soul's present condition:
On My Mind

The faults you can bear:
Truth Of My Youth

Your motto:
Listen To Your Friends

I love life sometimes.

I stole this idea from the lovely VikkiVendetta. Some of these bands are ones I've just heard of, some I've known all of my life, and some that others have gotten me into. Here is the complete lists of all of my favorite bands of the alphabet.

A:

The Academy Is...

Ace Enders

The Aggrolites

All Time Low

Allison (Spanish punk rock= Win.)

Allison Weiss

The Almost

Ambulance LTD

Anarbor

Anberlin

Artist Vs. Poet

The Audition

B:

Bayside

Bedouin Soundclash

Between The Trees

The Bigger Lights

The Bird And The Bee

Brand New

Bright Eyes

Brighten

The Bronx

C:

The Cab

Cake

Carolina Liar

Cartel

Cash Cash

Charlotte Sometimes

Chiodos

Cinnematic Sunrise

City And Colour

The Classic Crime

The Click Five

Clint Mansell

Cobra Starship

Colbie Callait

Cold War Kids

Coldplay

The Color Fred

Conditions

Copeland

Crash Romeo

Cute Is What We Aim For

D:

Danger Is My Middle Name

Danger: Radio

A Day To Remember

Dean Martin

Dear And The Headlights

Death Cab For Cutie

Death In The Park

The Decemberists

Driving East

Dry Spells

Duffy

E:

The Early November

Eisley

Emery

Eric Hutchinson

Eric James And The New Century

Evan Taubenfeld

Every Avenue

F:

Farewell

A Fine Frenzy

Fireworks

Five Second Rule

Fleet Foxes

Flogging Molly

Floral Terrace

Forever The Sickest Kids

The Format

Four Year Strong

The Friday Night Boys

G:

Ghostland Observatory

Go Crash Audio

The Graduate

Gym Class Heroes

H:

Hawk Nelson

Head Automatica

Hey Monday

Hit The Lights

Homestar Runner

Hot Hot Heat

The Hush Sound

J:

Jack's Mannequin

Jason Mraz

Jem

Jimmy Eat World

K:

Karrigan

Kate Nash

Katy Perry

Keane

Klaxons

L:

Less Than Jake

Lights Out Dancing

M:

The Maccabees

Mae

The Maine

Man Without Wax

Matchbook Romance

The Matches

Mates Of State

Matt And Kim

Matt Costa

Matt Nathanson

Maxeen

Mayday Parade

Mayfield

McFly

Meese

Meg & Dia

Midtown

The Morning Light

Motion City Soundtrack

Muse

Mute Math

N:

Needtobreathe

Nevershoutnever!

New Found Glory

No Doubt

Noah And The Whale

O:

October Fall

Of Montreal

The Offspring

Oreskaband

P:

Panima

Paper Route

Paramore

Phantom Planet (R.I.P)

Pierce The Veil

Pink

The Pipettes

Plain White T's

PlayRadioPlay!

Powerspace

Protest The Hero

Q:

Quietdrive

R:

Radiohead

The Reason

Red Car Wire

Reel Big Fish

Regina Spektor

Relient K

The Rescues

Rise Against

Riverboat Gamblers

The Rocket Summer

A Rocket To The Moon

The Rumble Strips

S:

Said The Whale

Sam Sparro

Say Anything

School Boy Humor

Self Against City

Set Your Goals

Settings

The Silver Seas

Sing It Loud

Single File

Sleeper And The Sleepless

Socratic

Something Corporate

The Sounds

Sparks The Rescue

The Spinto Band

The Stiff Dylans

Story Of The Year

The Summer Obsession

Sunny Day Real Estate

The Sunstreak

T:

Tally Hall

TAT

Ten Second Epic

There For Tomorrow

This Providence

Thrice

Tourmaline

U:

(There iz none!)

V:

Valencia

Vampire Weekend

Versa Emerge

W:

The Wallflowers

We Are Scientists

We The Kings

The White Tie Affair

Y:

You Me At Six

You, Me, and Everyone We Know

Z:

Zox

Other:

3OH!3

 

Well, my friends, summer is quickly approaching and we all know what that means- Warped Tour is almost here!

I can barely contain my excitement too, with musicians like Valencia, Sing It Loud, Bayside, 3OH!3, You Me At Six, Conditions, Every Avenue, and many others, we are sure to be in for one excellent summer.

Now, since I had such a blast going last year, I thought I'd look back on what I learned from going in how to prepare myself for this year by making a list of tips that helped me, and maybe can help you too if you'll be going for your first time!

1.) Stay hydrated!

I cannot stress this enough! Drink tons of water the week that you're going, the night before, and even right before you go. It always seems as if Warped Tour occurs on the hottest day possible, but the only way you can let the bad weather get to you is if you don't keep those fluids going through your body! And by fluids, I mean water, and water only! Sugary drinks like soda, juice, and (my personal favorite) Vitamin Water will not do the trick. Those tasty but nasty suckers will end up keeping you dehydrated, which is not what you want.

What helps:

a) If you have a long drive, pack a cooler with plenty of water in the car and drink throughout your travels. I, being way too excited for my own good, have forgotten this step, but not to worry- if this happens to you, there are always handy dandy little places along the way to supply you with plenty of water.

b) Most venues allow you to bring in one unopened bottle of water. Wether you bring this from home (unopened!), or happen to find some dudes selling water outside (but please, use good judgement), always take advantage of this rule and bring in your one unopened bottle of water. The only trick- don't chug it down after rocking out to All Time Low at 11 AM. Your second bottle of water will cost you at least $4.00!

c) Don't ever take any of your precious water and perform any act such as dumping it on your head or splashing it on yourself. You should know that even though it feels good temporarily, water on the outside of your body does not keep you hydrated!

In conclusion of my hydration rant, water is your friend.

2.) Wearing sneakers is a MUST.

Go ahead, try to act cool and wear your brand new spankin' zebra printed flats to match your Cobra Starship sunglasses, but when you have bloody, scraped, stepped on feet and missing shoes, I will expect no complaints from you! Really, this is just common sense. The stages on all Warped Tour sites are far away, so you will want your feet to be in good shape for walking, and as comfortable as possible. And of course, your feet will get stepped on at some point during the day. Why have your feet crushed when you can just say "Ha! I'm wearing sneakers so it didn't hurt when you stepped on my foot!" Okay, I don't recommend saying that, but just know that sneakers is simply the smartest choice for footwear on your Warped-tastic day.

3.) ALWAYS wear sunscreen.

I do recall my sister calling me a dork as I slathered on the smelly lotion in the parking lot before going in, but this is absolutley necessary. You have most likely been sunburned in your life, and even though acting ~cool~ and refusing the goopy mess in the moment is fun, you know how bad you will be hurting afterwards. Please, just wear sunscreen. And reapply it often. Even if you have to hide out somewhere because you're too embarassed to be seen doing so.

...'Sides, I'm sure if you were to run into a certain Travis Clark, he'd be the one to tell you that he shamelessly uses SPF 145.

4.) Bring a drawsting backpack.

If you're stressing about how you're going to hold on to all of your free goodies, merch, and other things like water, your camera, and whatever else you plan to tote along, don't. Bring a drawstring backpack. They're easy to cary, and they don't get in the way when doing some serious front row fangirling during Sing It Loud's set. Plus, they are one of the only backpacks that you can tell are being pried open and pillaged for your belongings while they are on your back, and because of this, they are easy to keep close by and out of harms way.

5.) Don't spend too much time primping before you leave.

This applies to both ladies and gents. Make up is okay, but if you apply it excessively, keep in mind that when the sun beats down and make you perspire, whatever products you have on your face will combine with your sweat and it will irritate your skin. Just remember that all the time you put into your appearance isn't near as worth as you think it is, because you will end up getting quite sweaty and gross by the end of the day. If you have long hair, I recommend tying it back.

6.) Know your venue layout, stages, and set times.

There are two ways to be a pro at this.

a.) Find the giant set times balloon (pictured below) and snap a quick shot of it on your snazzy digital camera. Why, you ask? Because when you're dying to know where and when your favorite bands will be performing, you can always keep this picture as a reference. Zoom in on your camera to get to different parts of the picture and read it clearly. This is much better than huffing it back and forth to Ze Balloon after every set. HOWEVER: set times are ALWAYS subject to change, so this brings me to

b.) There are almost always people walking around selling "Info Sheets". Sounds like a total rip off, right? That's what I thought, but honestly, this is the best $2.00 you will ever spend. Not only is it a complete list of updated set times for every stage, it comes with a map of the venue with all of the stages labeled, which is an amazing help. It helps to know where your stages are, because it maximizes your chances of success at landing a front row spot for your favorite band by being early to the set.

and when both the balloon picture and your info sheet fail, there should be signs and reminders of who is playing where and when, and changes in the lineup will always be announced. You just need to be on the lookout.

7.) Never have a set in stone plan of which bands you must see. Always be flexible!

You should already know that after making an endless list of every single band you want to see, it is literally impossible to see them all in one day. I'll leave this one for you to decide on how to handle, but never say that you MUST see a certain band. It's always awful when something happens that prevents you from seeing your #1 pick. Conflicts will occur and you should plan on missing one of your favorite bands. But, unless the band breaks up RIGHT after your Warped Tour date, there will always be another time. Stay positive and flexible and don't be a crab when you miss a band you wanted to see!

This brings me to

8.) Don't be afraid to listen to some bands you've never heard of!

Bands always love new fans, and nothing is more fun than seeing a great band for the first time and then getting to go home to all of your friends and jabber about how awesome they are!

9.) Don't be determined to meet band members while there.

Because if you are, you have basically committed yourself to being a creepy Warped Tour stalker. It's cool if you run into a member of one of your favorite bands, but don't be on the hunt.

If you happen to see someone by their merch tent, then by all means take advantage of the opportunity!

This is not my photo.  

BUT, don't wait around for band members. You're missing out on seeing other great performances by doing so, and depending on how long you wait at any given area, that can be just plain creepy!

If you plan on going to a signing or two, make sure you get there early. It's a general rule that only the first 100 people are allowed in.

Lastly,

10.) HAVE A GOOD TIME!

Don't be a downer if you miss your favorite band, don't complain, and simply appreciate the fact that you're there to enjoy music, and not for anything else.

 

 

That's just about all I have to say, but if you have something else to add, feel free to do so!

-Claire