Manic Monday - Ghost

The word of the day over at the Manic Monday blog is "ghost" and I bet you think I'm going to do a post with pictures like this one -


Nope, that's not the moon hovering over that grave as the moon was somewhere behind me and up in the trees so we'll just have to leave what that really is up to our imaginations. And yes, I was actually out in the middle of the cemetery when I took this picture but that's a story for another day as, believe it or not, this post isn't actually going to be about ghosts per say but about a ghost of a different kind - The Ghost of You to be precise. Feel free to listen to the video while I expound a little bit and see if I can instill a little music appreciation here!


On June 8th, 2004, My Chemical Romance released their second studio album titled Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge which produced four singles - Thank You for the Venom, I'm Not Okay (I Promise), Helena, and The Ghost of You.

The Ghost of You is a song about loss - whether it be the loss of a love, a family member, or a close friend. On the fourth day of its release, the video for the song rocketed to number one on MTV's music-video countdown show Total Request Live and benchmarked the changes in My Chemical Romance's musical style, fan-base and overall image paving the way for their next album, The Black Parade.

There are those who claim that MCR "sold out" from their earlier alternative rock image to one that was more pop punk or emo but I really don't think that's the case. Just because a band finally reaches some form of commercial success doesn't mean that they've forgotten their roots completely. Mainstream popularity is not a bad thing though there are those who seem to think it is. Apparently those people are the same ones who also love the title "starving artist" and figure that no good comes of anyone who can actually make a decent living off of their chosen art-form. Anyhow, I digress ... back to The Ghost of You ...

When MCR did the video for this song, they "shot a movie and just edited it to be a video" in Malibu, California over the course of two days. The video closely depicts the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan and the invasion of Omaha though most of the video takes place in a USO setting where the band is performing at a dance. In a scene at the bar, Mikey (the band's bassist) seems to be reassuring his brother Gerard (the lead singer) that he'll be okay and that there's nothing to worry about as they spend one last night out before heading into battle the next day, however that's definitely not the case. Many of the scenes are prophetic of what is going to happen during the invasion.

As the band members storm the beach, Mikey is shot and despite efforts by Ray (the band's guitarist) who plays a medic in the video, Mikey dies on the beach with his eyes wide open. Gerard stands in shock as he sees his brother die and then has to be restrained as he tries to run to him screaming - though, of course, you don't hear that, you just see him screaming. This is definitely loss of the highest order and it's hard not to feel Gerard's distress and pain.

Overall the video is very moving and the song is, in my own humble opinion, one of My Chem's best. Having a fan for a daughter, I've heard all of their songs many, many times over and even though their earlier music is good, I think they definitely grew as a band and as storytellers through songs like this. Now if they'd just put out a new album ...

While we're waiting for them to do so, don't forget to go check out the other participants in Manic Monday over at Mo's Manic Monday Meme blog and see what other ghostly-goings-on are going on!

Shipoopi, Stew, & Stuff

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After a rather busy day yesterday, it's been nice to have a Sunday to just relax a bit and sit on the couch. I think I could rather get used to having Sundays off though I guess I'd best not, I only have this afternoon off as I've got plans for later on.

I spent most of yesterday cleaning the house and cooking as we had invited Jason, Amy, & Cate over dinner. That would be the Jason, Amy, & Cate who are related to the phenomenal Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence fame who is married to the one and only Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance fame. Normally I wouldn't even mention that but I figure with Google dropping my Page Rank faster than the stocks crashed on Wall Street in 1929, I could go for some shameless self-promotion and drop names!

Truth be told Jason, Amy, & Cate don't need to be related to any one at all for me to want to invite them over for dinner as they are three fantastic people and I truly enjoy their company. It's good for Amanda to have Jason come over and pick on her unmercifully and then break out into a pretty decent rendition of "Shipoopi", originally made famous in Meredith Wilson's "The Music Man" but maybe more widely known in this video -


It was actually quite entertaining to have dinner and a show of sorts! Since the first time I met Jason at American Ambulance he's been making me laugh and last night was no exception! Poor Amy and Cate were getting quite the work-out with the eye-rolling but I could see they were holding back the snickers themselves! Cate is one lucky girl to have a father who has such a good sense of humor.

For dinner I made homemade beef stew in a bread-bowl that turned out to be quite tasty, in my own humble opinion, followed by apple crisp using a slightly different recipe than the last batch I made. In this one I added some chopped pecans to the topping and drizzled it with butter prior to baking it. Yum! Considering that it was a cold November day yesterday, it was the perfect meal - again in my own humble opinion! And one of the best parts is that there's plenty of leftover stew because I always make way too much and there isn't much better than reheated beef stew - yet again in my own humble opinion!

Unfortunately Amy wasn't feeling too well as she's battling the nasty cold that seems to be going around and around and around out here so they didn't stay for too long after dinner - just long enough to watch the latest episode of "House" that we had on DVR and then VH1's "Best Week Ever", though if you ask me if that was the best they could come up with for this week then NO ONE had a best week! Normally the show is pretty funny but this week - not so funny.

Later this evening Amanda and I will head over to the Mohegan Sun Casino for a concert by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - which thankfully wasn't canceled for any reason! We went to see them last year for the first time after Christmas at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts and they were excellent (you can read about it in my post here if you'd like) so I'm expecting no less of a spectacular show this evening. Add on the fact that it's less than 5 minutes down the road and what more could you possibly want? Well, I would like Jamie to be there with us as I'm sure she would absolutely love the show, too, but alas she won't be here until next month. Maybe next year if we're lucky?

Anyhow, I'm sure it will be a nice evening out with good head-banging classical music and pyrotechnics and maybe even a stop at Ben & Jerry's for some ice cream! Sure beats the heck out of being at work! Oh, and speaking of work, if you'd like a small glimpse into what I do (or is that say?) for a living, click on this link to WTIC-Fox 61 News and then scroll down to "EMS Shortage" on 11/8. That voice you hear as the ambulance rolls out of the bay is mine (cringe!). Ah, fleeting fame!

The Word of the Day

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As taken from Thesaurus.com the following describes the mood of the day:

Main Entry:	disappointed
Part of Speech:	adjective
Definition:	saddened
Synonyms:	aghast, balked, beaten, blue funk, cast down, chapfallen, complaining, defeated, depressed, despondent, disconcerted, discontented, discouraged, disenchanted, disgruntled, disillusioned, dissatisfied, distressed, down, downhearted, foiled, frustrated, hopeless, let down, objecting, shot down, taken down, thwarted, unhappy, unsatisfied, upset, vanquished, worsted

I just got an email from the online ticket broker for the University of Maine telling me that the My Chemical Romance concert that we were so looking forward to going to this weekend has been canceled and that there are no plans to reschedule it.

It's hard to say exactly how disappointed both Amanda and Cate are but I can tell you that tears have been shed. Amanda has recovered at this point but she's still pretty upset about the whole thing. We don't really know why it's been canceled; rumor has it that Bob, the drummer, is either sick or injured but that's just the word on the MCR message boards as there is nothing official up on the band's website yet.

Could be though that more evil forces than a simple illness or injury are at work here - I'm pretty sure that dreaded Pennywise the Clown had something to do with this as he didn't want me coming to Maine for some reason! Warning: Evil clown picture below!

There is no way that I am not going to believe that evil red-headed buffoon did not have something to do with this. All that plushie work for nothing ...

I am so chapfallen.

A Brief Plushie Update

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Today was most definitely "Bring Your Plushies to Work Day" for me as before I left this morning I packed up the entire band along with whatever sewing supplies I was going to need and hauled the whole kit and kaboodle into Dispatch with me. Amanda thought I was merely bringing Mikey in as he was the last one I needed to get pants sewn on but I wanted to do something with eyebrows and mouths as well as hem the sleeves on some of the shirts.

Being an anal retentive Virgo is not a good thing when it comes to stuff like this as I am so picky it's pathetic and I start having to fix every little detail! Normally when Amanda makes her plushies I don't have anything to do with them at all but being that she asked me to contribute to this project, I figured I could do more than just pants, boots, and belts without her being able to squawk too much! Besides, how could she possibly protest about improvements?

I'm quite glad I brought them into work with me as it turned out that Renee, our Employee Scheduling Coordinator, is a real whiz with all this artsy-crafty stuff and she had several really good suggestions for the eyebrows and mouths. My friend Paula, who is an art teacher, had made the suggestion that perhaps some sort of crewel work might finish them off nicely but I wasn't too sure how to do that without leaving loose ends of knots visible. Renee suggested gluing on matching pieces of yarn from the plushies' respective hair and that actually worked out perfectly. She also figured out how to do their mouths as well as fix Bob's lip ring (it was looking more like a fish hook!). I tell ya, the woman is a genius plus she had clear-drying craft and fabric glue in her desk - what a gal!

A couple co-workers asked what on earth I was doing but, for the most part, everyone seemed quite accepting and helpful of the whole process. I had to laugh when one of the supervisors came upstairs and asked what sort of dolls they were. When I told him that they were representative of a rock band he said "Oh? Is it Fall Out Boy?" Had Amanda been there she probably would have choked! When I explained to Paul that no, they were the guys in My Chemical Romance he just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he walked away.

Before I left work I had Mikey's pants sewn on as well as all the other little things done that I had wanted to take care of. When I walked in the door with them Amanda was quite surprised to see that I had all of them with me but was quite happy and almost squealed in delight at their new faces. At this point Mikey and Gerard still need ties but otherwise they are done - yay! I will be sure to post another picture when they are completely done.

Oh, and to answer several questions that were left in comments yesterday ... to Akelamalu - yes, this is Amanda's project but she roped me in by pleading great time restrictions and also by claiming that she couldn't sew the pants (I think she could have if she tried but there wasn't a lot of time to argue about it); to Travis - the reason they have shirts and boots before pants is because the pants have to be sewn on over the top of those two things (but you're right, I'll keep a towel around for modesty next time I take pant-less pics!); and to Asara - Amanda said that she could probably do an Amy Lee for you if you wanted to commission one from her sometime - just let her know!

Thank goodness my part in this project is over as I've got to get things together tomorrow before heading out to Maine Saturday morning plus I'd like to get caught up on my Google Reader before I go as I know I definitely won't be reading this weekend - again!

Creeping Up to Maine

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Despite my irrational fear of Maine based on having read way too many Stephen King stories over the years, I have decided to conquer them and will be heading north at the end of the month for yet another dose of My Chemical Romance when they play at the University of Maine's Alfond Arena.

For those of you who read my previous post where I was debating whether or not we were going to go, I can see you nodding your heads and thinking to yourselves "yep, I knew she was going to go as soon as she mentioned it!". Yeah, yeah, pat yourselves on the back - you were right! Of course, it probably wasn't all that hard to guess which way I was going to go on this, was it?

To be honest, part of the attraction of going is my irrational fear of Maine because, as it turns out, the University of Maine is not very far at all from Bangor, where Mr. King resides, and if I'm ever going to conquer my fear of the land of Cujo, Christine, Pennywise*, Richard Straker**, and Gage Creed*** then I apparently need to head directly into the wolves' den and face it head on. I'm pretty sure that's what one of the reluctant heroes of King's books would do. Shiver ...

The current plan is that myself, Amanda, Amy, and Cate will head up the morning of the 27th allowing ourselves enough time to drive the 5-1/2 hours north and arrive in the Bangor area right about the time of check-in at our reserved hotel which lies a mere 6 miles from my favorite author's home and an even closer four miles to the Paul Bunyan statute which towers a mighty 31-feet over the landscape in Bangor's Bass Park. Pretty impressive, eh? I see photo-ops galore for future blog posts!

The concert kicks off at 8:00 p.m. but I'm sure we're going to have to be there early as it's general admission seating and unless we want to sit in the rafters, we're probably going to have to line up with all the other bands' fans. Again - I see more photo ops! I'm pretty sure that Amanda and Cate will play the role of excited 15-year olds while Amy and I attempt to adopt some form of nonchalant masks of maturity. Most likely I will be humming the tune of MCR's last single "Teenagers" while the lyrics "Teenagers scare the living &$%* out of me" plays on a constant loop through my head! Oh yes, this should be great fun!

After the concert we'll retire to our hotel where the girls will continue to squee and relive every move of every band member. Once they've exhausted themselves, I will attempt to sleep with one eye open to insure that none of the ghosts and ghouls of Maine decide to stop by and attempt room service! Instead of counting sheep I'll just keep repeating "He thrusts his fists at the posts and still insists he sees the ghost" over and over until I fall into an exhausted sleep filled with balloons and toy boats that bounce along to the maniacal laughter of ...

Oh yeah - this should be fun!! Stay tuned for future posts!

*It; **Salem's Lot; ***Pet Sematary

Thinking About a "Maine" Attraction

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Ever vigilant when it comes to her bands, Amanda recently found out that My Chemical Romance was going to be playing at the University in Maine towards the end of October. Since then, she has been trying mightily to convince me that it's really not all that far and wouldn't it be great to take a road trip to Maine? Uh? Uh? Can we? Can we?

I checked the map and it's not all that far to Orono, Maine from Connecticut - just a bit over five hours - which to a 15-year old is simply the blink of an eye, especially when they aren't the one doing the driving! It wouldn't be all that much to me either except that the 5-hour drive up also requires a 5-hour drive back and with the concert not starting until 8:00 at night, there is just no way that I would be trying to do this all without spending one night in Maine (something I have always said I never would do because I have this irrational fear of the place based on reading way too many Stephen King novels!).

Out of curiosity, though, I decided to check out the accommodations in the general area and consulted an on-line trip planner to see what might be available and how much it might cost should I decide that maybe a weekend in Maine might not be too bad after all. A short road trip might not be a bad idea just to add a little spice to life and give me something different to blog about!

Anyhow, I did some searching over on RealTravel.com as it was voted one of "twelve essential travel sites" by Forbes Magazine as well as "Best of Web for Trip Planning" by Business Week. I figured those two magazines should know what they were talking about and they were right! What I really liked about the website was that all I had to do was I enter the location and dates I wanted to go and I was then redirected to another page where I could choose from six different travel sites to compare rates. Rather than have to visit Orbitz or Hot Wire or Priceline or any of those places myself, they were all easily located right on one page for my convenience. Sweet!

In addition to being able to search for air flights, cars, hotels, etc. RealTravel.com has a weekly list of travel deals that are hand-picked by their editorial team. There you can find flights, hotels, and even vacation packages all at some pretty amazing prices and, because it's updated weekly, if you don't see what you're looking for one week, you can always check back the next. Pretty cool!

Anyhow, getting back to Amanda and yet another MCR concert ... I'm not saying 'yes' but I'm not saying 'no' either as it looks like there are some pretty reasonably priced hotels in that area but I just don't know yet ... it's that whole "Maine" thing because I can't even think about the place without hearing Pennywise the Clown whispering "We all float down here!" Shudder!

I hate clowns.

House vs Boston Legal vs LA Ink

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I have a scheduling conflict of major proportions tonight! Normally there is just about zip, zero, and zilch that I care to watch on TV and if there is something I think I'm going to want to see, I program the DVR to record it so I can watch it later sans commercials. Well, leave it to Fox, ABC, and TLC to go and totally screw things up for me!

"Is this an intervention? You're a little late, since I'm not using drugs anymore.
I am, however, still hooked on phonics."

Tonight is the long-anticipated season opener of "House MD" on Fox. Those of you who watch the irascible Dr. House will remember that he lost his entire staff at the end of the last season - Foreman, Chase, Cameron, all of 'em gone - leaving our favorite physician with no team at all. What's a curmudgeonly curer to do? Well, I could find out at 9:00 tonight except that the show overlaps with one of my other favorite shows ...

... "Boston Legal" which is on ABC with its season opener from 9:30 to 11:00 - damn the luck! I have watched this show since its very first episode and I will be darned if I'm going to miss out on the antics of Denny, Alan, Denise, Paul, Shirley, and the rest of the gang at Crane, Poole, and Schmidt! The big problem, though, is that my DVR isn't the type where I can record one show while watching another so I'm probably going to have to record one while watching the other on the small TV upstairs. The question is, which one?

I rather like to think that Alan Shore and I have much in common as we're both slightly irrational, are masters of deadpan humor, are hilarious, and yet are still kind though people tend to think otherwise! Granted, James Spader, who plays Alan Shore, just won an Emmy and I can't seem to even win Employee of the Month at work as I must be truly awful despite having been the Employee of the Year in 2004 but still ... I think we are very much alike!

Alan Shore: ...I'm bored.
Paul Lewiston: I beg your pardon.
Alan Shore: You people keep assigning me these boring cases. At my old firm, I got murderers.
I had clients who would touch themselves in public restrooms. These were people you could root for,
not to mention relate to.
Paul Lewiston: Is there some other place you'd rather be, Mr. Shore?
Alan Shore: Yes, I want to be on cable. That's where all the best work is being done.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, TLC has managed to throw yet another monkey wrench into the mix by airing the episode of "LA Ink" featuring rhythm guitarist Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance that Amanda has been waiting all summer to see and it runs from 10:00 to 11:00 tonight! The TV gods are surely mocking me this evening, are they not??

Luckily, TLC likes to "chew their cabbage twice" as my Dad used to say and are running the same episode back to back so we'll simply set the DVR to record "LA Ink" from 11:00 to 12:00 and Amanda is just going to have to wait one more day to see it as she's got school tomorrow and is NOT staying up until midnight! I think she'll live, though I'm sure she'd beg to differ!

"If you don't listen, you're never gonna learn."

How about you folks? What are you watching tonight??

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt - "Music"

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Now here's a topic I haven't written about this week at all! Yeah, right! Because it has been so "rock star" heavy around here lately I wanted to do something different. In looking through my pictures, I was hoping to post one of Amanda's concert band pictures from last year for this week's Photo Hunt theme of music but apparently they are all downloaded onto the other computer that is at home - where I am not! Oops!

To that end it's back to rock & roll and I figured that nothing screams MUSIC! like a rock concert complete with pyrotechnics and a barrage of security personnel protecting the front of the stage. This picture was taken at the My Chemical Romance concert that I took Amanda to back in May at The DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. Up until recently it was the best night of Amanda's life but as earlier posts from this week indicate, that has since changed some!

Everyone have a melodious Saturday and happy photo hunting! Don't forget to vote in my poll here and to go by and say "Happy Birthday" to our favorite comedy provider - Sandee!

My Romantic Self Indulgence

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Amanda's chant for yesterday was "this is a good day! this is a good day!" and anyone who read yesterday's post about her plushie doll JimJamZ making his stage debut can figure out one reason why (and what kid wouldn't be thrilled that the doll she made was "performing" on stage with one of her favorite bands?) There was another reason, though, to which I was sworn to secrecy but since it has hit the Internet full-force, I think I can write about it now.

In addition to the excited phone call I got from Amanda at work yesterday, I also received a call from Amy, the person who was responsible for Amanda and I having such a fantastic time at Projekt Revolution. For those who might not remember, Amy is the sister of LynZ who is the extremely flexible bassist for Mindless Self Indulgence, the band that the aforementioned JimJamZ was sharing the stage with. In this picture JimJamZ hangs back while LynZ performs. For more photos, check out my post JimJamZ Goes on Tour With Mindless Self Indulgence.

JimJamZ watches LynZ play

Anyhow ... to try to make a long story short, it had been rumored on most of the My Chemical Romance message boards and elsewhere on the internet that LynZ was dating Gerard Way, lead singer of MCR. Someone had posted a single picture and speculation was running rampant amongst MCR fans as to just what was going on. Due to having an inside track, Amanda and I knew the truth of the matter but we were keeping it quiet out of respect for both Gerard and LynZ, who we met backstage at Projekt Revolution. In my post about the concert I wanted to write about what a happy couple they were but I didn't think it was my place to go public with their relationship. I figured when they were ready to announce it to the world, they would.

Which brings me back to Amy's phone call yesterday ... she told me that LynZ had called her earlier that morning to tell her that she and Gerard had gotten married but she swore me to secrecy, with the exception of Amanda, as she wasn't sure if LynZ had gotten the chance to talk to their mother yet and she sure didn't want her mom hearing it on Entertainment Tonight or some such thing. Not that I was likely to call my good friend Matt Lauer at The Today Show and fill him in as Matt usually has his cell phone off in the afternoons but still ... it was exciting news that I couldn't wait to get home and share with Amanda.

The Happy Couple

Of course when I got home Amanda was all excited about seeing JimJamZ on stage with Jimmy so I was thinking that the news of Gerard and LynZ might not sink in right away through the excitement of "I made that doll!" When she finished telling me all about the messages and pictures I said, "I talked to Amy today" and Amanda immediately stopped and said "It's bad news, right?" "No, but it's about Gerard and LynZ - they got married." Dead silence ... "Uhm, Amanda? Amanda? You going to breath anytime soon?" I was beginning to think I was going to have to call 911 for one of my own ambulances when she finally broke out into a big delighted smile and happy squee. "This is a good day!"

For those of you who might have popped by via a Google search let me just say that yes, Gerard and LynZ are honestly and truly married. They had a short ceremony after the very last show on the Projekt Revolution tour at the Coors Amphitheater in Englewood, Colorado on Monday. It was performed backstage by an ordained minister who is also a staff member of Live Nation, the concert promoter, and was attended by members of all the other bands. The bride wore a black and white baseball jersey while the groom wore a jean jacket over a t-shirt sporting a colorful unicorn and the name "Lyn-Z" (see picture above of LynZ wearing the same shirt).

Now tell me Ray (in the Pink Floyd shirt) doesn't look happy??

In my overly romantic and true-love-conquers-all opinion, I think it is just the sweetest thing ever and I wish them many, many years of happiness together. As a matter of fact, I'd like to see them be as happy as Amy and Jason (Gerard's new in-laws) whom I believe to be one of the most fantastic couples I know! Of course, Gerard has a long, long ways to go to be even close to the son-in-law that I'm sure Jason is - rock star or not! Having such fantastic daughters as she does, I'm sure LynZ's mom is not impressed easily!

As for those who keep wanting to post stupid comments on the message boards about how Gerard has changed, this was too soon, and this is the end for the band as well as all the other crap that I've seen, all I can say is STOP IT! When two people find love it's a good thing and there have been lots of band members who married members of other bands that have proved it's not the end for either band. If you're a true My Chem fan then you're going to stop crying over someone that chances are real good you never could have had anyway, you're going to wish Gerard and LynZ much happiness, and then you're going to find something else to talk about. I mean come on, just because Gerard and Mikey got married doesn't mean it's the end of My Chemical Romance or their music. Besides, look on the bright side - Bob Bryar might still be single!

Gerard and LynZ - if you ever read this (which I doubt) many congratulations; Jason and Amy (and I know you do you read this!) when are we getting together for Guitar Hero???

"Little Darling welcome to the show ..."

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Backstage Pass for the Revolution Stage

Lyrics from the Mindless Self Indulgence 2005 song "Straight to Video" seemed an appropriate title for this post about our day at the Projekt Revolution tour in Hartford as it was quite the show and I don't believe that Amanda has stopped smiling about it yet close to 24 hours later. I can't say that I blame her as if this sort of thing had happened to me when I was 15, I'm sure that I'd still be smiling about it even now and chalking it up as one of the all-time best experiences of my life. With any luck the memory of this show will keep Amanda from rolling her eyes and sighing in my general direction for at least a little while!

While watching the weather forecast yesterday morning, I was none too inspired by what the weathermen were predicting and was thinking that it was going to be a very long, very hot, very humid day which I wasn't too sure I was going to survive. If I've never mentioned it before, let me just reiterate that August in New England can be a major crap shoot and the dice usually come up NOT in our favor for outdoor activities. Had the forecasters of doom been right yesterday, there would have been major storms right about the time Mindless Self Indulgence hit the stage but thankfully they were once again wrong and the weather actually turned out to be quite pleasant.

After arriving at the Dodge Music Center and realizing that the rules for what you could and couldn't bring had changed, Jason, Amy, Katie, Jess, Amanda, and myself checked in at the VIP Guest ticket booth and got our tickets and the above sticker that gave us access to backstage at the Revolution Stage where MSI was the headlining act. After walking around a bit and killing a little time as well as quite a bit of money on a bottle of water ($4!!), we went out to the Revolution Stage where Saosin, a southern California alternative rock band, was finishing up their set and placed ourselves strategically stage left where security would allow us through to the back once the show wrapped up.

The Pit in front of the Revolution Stage

Just before MSI took the stage, right on time, Amy was able to make eye contact with her sister LynZ, bassist for the band, so she knew right where we were standing once the band began their show - and what a show it was! I had heard that the group was pretty wild and had seen them perform on the Carson Daly Show when they made their television debut a few weeks ago but it was nothing like being there in person and experiencing their energy and music first-hand. Thanks to repetitive (and that would be very repetitive!) playing of their music by Amanda, I was familiar with just about all of the songs they played and was even able to sing along with a few of them though their lyrics are pretty tough at times.

Just for the record, I should point out that I was not the only "older" person there and I even spotted a few ladies who seemed a bit older than me as well as a couple of men that I know were older than me! Well, either that or they had led some very, very rough lives! Whether they were singing along or not, I don't know but I figured everyone else was so why not me? Besides, Amanda was having too good of a time to be embarrassed that her mother was singing as Jess, another EMT that I work with at American Ambulance, took Amanda out into the center of the pit for awhile so that she could get a feel for it. They only stayed out amongst the crowd-surfing mob for about 15 minutes before Amanda decided that breathing seemed like a better option and returned to the edge of the crowd with the rest of us.

Unfortunately, we couldn't see Kitty, the drummer, from where we were and LynZ was only visible when she'd come to the front of the stage or the one time she decided to leave the stage and do some crowd-surfing of her own (the lady has guts!). Front-man Jimmy had more energy than someone who had consumed ten Monster drinks in a row and he played the crowd for all they were worth while bantering back and forth with guitarist, Steve. It was like nothing I had ever seen before except maybe for a long ago concert in Philadelphia by The Tubes. No doubt about it, though - front-man Little Jimmy Urine (Euringer) made The Tubes lead singer Fee Waybill look and sound like a kitty cat!

At the end of the show we were ushered through the gates by security and into the backstage area where LynZ and Amy gave each other gigantic hugs. After spending the summer refereeing Amanda and Jamie, it was really nice to see two sisters who truly loved each other and were obviously ecstatic to be together again. Could there be hope for my two someday?? Was it truly possible?? Before I had time to really speculate on those questions, Amy was introducing LynZ to us and I was so impressed by what a friendly, lively, dynamic woman she is. She was no doubt thrilled to see Amy and her husband Jason and even more so her niece, Katie - who I've decided has got to be one of the luckiest 15-year old girls in the world!

In addition to meeting LynZ, which was a total thrill, I also had the extreme pleasure to shake the hand of Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance, who had been backstage watching MSI perform. As he extended his hand to everyone and said "Hi, I'm Gerard" I was struck by the major difference in his "real life" persona and his stage persona. On-stage Gerard is off the scale but in person he is very soft-spoken and almost shy but very easy to talk to. Of course, idiot that I am, when he shook my hand and said "Hi, I'm Gerard" I replied, "Yes, I know." DUH!! How about "It's a pleasure to meet you." or "Hi, my name's Linda" or something more intelligent and eloquent then "Yes, I know"!! Who says you can't be star-struck just a few weeks short of 49??

Amanda had been so afraid that if she had the chance to meet some of her favorite rockers that she was going to say or do something stupid but she handled herself very well. No squeeing fan-girl at all but a very composed and calm looking teenager who respectfully shook Gerard's hand back and didn't drag the poor man kicking and screaming into a giant bear hug. Of course, being her mother's daughter, her reply to "Hi, I'm Gerard" was "Hi, and yeah, I know who you are." Yep, we're related!

From the time she knew that we were going to the concert right up until just before we left, Amanda worked on drawings that she hoped to give to the members of MSI and to maybe someone in MCR if she was lucky enough to meet one of them. She had showed the pictures to Jess earlier in the day and Jess told her that she wanted Amanda to design her next tattoo so when we were talking to Gerard and LynZ, Jess encouraged her to give them the drawings. Amanda was a bit hesitant as both Gerard and LynZ have attended art school and Amanda just didn't have confidence that her work was good enough to be judged by either of them but by the same token, she really wanted to give the drawings to them. For MSI she had done Chibi drawings of the band members and for MCR she had done drawings based on lyrics from some of her favorite songs.

Amanda asked LynZ if it was okay if she gave her some drawings she had done and she said absolutely, that she would love to see them. When she saw them LynZ told Amanda that she thought they were great and she then showed them to Gerard. At that point Amanda told him that she had done some for him, too, and as she handed the drawings to him, it was easy to see that she was a little nervous but as soon as Gerard said "These are fantastic!" and told her what a great job she had done drawing the feet on the angel as well as how good the wolf was, she relaxed quite a bit. She had thought she hadn't done a very good job on the feet and had never drawn a wolf before but when Gerard told her that he couldn't draw feet or animals very well at all but that she had done a terrific job on them she just started beaming. I can tell her that her art is great until the cows come home but like it says on Guitar Hero II, "your mom doesn't count as a fan" so I'm sure it meant a lot more to hear it from people who are artists themselves. LynZ and Gerard's compliments really meant a lot to her and hopefully gave her some more confidence in her art.

At that point, Gerard left with Worm, his bodyguard, to go over and join the rest of My Chemical Romance and LynZ was going to take Katie over to meet Linkin Park and a few other people backstage at the main stage. Before she did, though, she took Amanda over to the tour bus so that she could maybe give Jimmy the plushie doll that she had made for him.

In Amanda's own words from her journal, what happened was: "He took it and was "AWW MAN! THATS AWESOME! LOOK AT THOSE WINGS AND THE LITTLE OUTFIT!" and he started playing with the little wings and made it run in the air. Then he got this really excited look on his face and said:" Is this mine to keep?!" And I was just gonna have him sign it, but I couldn't say no to that face! So he was all happy and hugged me, then I turned to him and asked him for a picture. He said sure, but that he was all sweaty and icky from performing. I said that was to be expected and LynZ proceeded to take our picture."

Amanda, Jimmy, and the plushie

As she was turning to come back to where the rest of us were waiting, Steve was walking over to the tour bus and Amanda said "Hi, Steve!" and he said "Hi, Person!" She then asked if it would be okay to take her picture with him and he said sure so she took it MySpace style.

Amanda & Steve, righ?

As Amy, Jason, Jess, and I stood backstage talking Amanda came walking back from the tour bus but as soon as she saw us her held-back excitement finally got the better of her and she started to run over to where I was standing to show me the pictures she had. Instead of running up and stopping next to me, though, she ended up barreling right into me and glomped me into the ground. I wasn't familiar with the term until yesterday but apparently "glomping is is a form of greeting used mainly among Anime fans and a typical glomp involves bear hugging someone, tackling them, and latching on tightly, though not enough to intentionally hurt the recipient." I don't know about being glomped but I felt like I had been run over by a small deer or something as I lay on the ground amongst all the stones and dirt with Amanda on top of me. It felt like it happened in slow motion but Jason assured me that no, it happened pretty quick and I'm just glad that there wasn't a video camera around or it may very well have been one of the hottest new searches on You Tube!

My first thought was "oh no, my back!" but after being helped up off the ground and dusting myself off I was thankful to find out that I was a little sore but everything still seemed to be in working order. I'm sure that had I really been hurt the three EMTs that were standing there laughing at me would have swung into professional mode and rendered assistance but thankfully it wasn't necessary, though I am still somewhat bruised and banged up today. Oh well, better me than Gerard or LynZ or Jimmy or someone else and Amanda did apologize profusely for a long time afterwards. A very long time! I wasn't mad, though, as after all it was an accident and she hadn't meant to glomp me, she just had too much forward momentum to stop until we were both in a pile on the ground! Still, I'd rather not repeat the performance any time soon!

View to the stage from our part of the "Grassy Knoll"

Later on after getting more over-priced water, we met up with LynZ and Katie at the top of the "Grassy Knoll" and stayed there for the rest of the show. By the time we settled onto the grass HIM was playing followed by Taking Back Sunday and I was just relieved to be getting off of my feet for a little while, though I kind of wondered if I was was going to be able to get back up again!

My Chemical Romance took the stage around 7:45 and of course put on an excellent show, as I had no doubt that they would. Amanda actually managed to stay seated on the ground next to me for a little while but when they started playing House of Wolves she kicked off her boots, jumped to her feet, and didn't sit down again until they left the stage. We stayed up in the corner of the lawn for the show where the sound was excellent and there were big TVs that gave a great view of the stage so we didn't miss being closer. Plus the bad weather that had been predicted never materialized and it was a perfect night.

Amanda on her cell phone, Jess, Amy, Jason, & Katie (not visible behind her Dad) before MCR performed

Neither Amy or Jason were familiar with My Chem except for two songs that they had heard (The Black Parade and Teenagers) but I'm quite sure Gerard won them over before the end of the show. Again, I had no problem singing along and even stood for a couple of songs though I wasn't doing the jumping and arm waving that Amanda had down to a science. If Gerard said "jump" then Amanda jumped; if Gerard said "wave your wands in the air" then Amanda waved her arms in the air. I wonder if I could get Gerard to tell Amanda to clean up after herself and she'd do it? Hmmm .... Anyway, I do have to admit to the occasional scream of approval and cheer at the end of the songs. Hopefully this doesn't ruin my reputation as a cool, calm, and collected emergency medical dispatcher but I just couldn't help myself! I suppose it should be kind of scary that I know all the words to all of the songs they played but I really do hear them a lot at home and in the car so what's a Mom to do? Sing along and cheer I guess!

After a group discussion, we decided to leave after MCR was done in order to beat the crowds even though Linkin Park was the headlining act as most of us had to be at work early in the morning, it was already after 9:00, and the ride home was almost an hour long. Plus it had been a long, tiring day and I think there would have been a good chance I could have just fallen asleep in the grass if I stayed there much longer! The thought of sitting in traffic with thousands of other people just wasn't very appealing so we opted to head out early.

As we were walking out, we met up with LynZ again near the main gate and Amanda finally asked her if it was okay if she got a picture with her. Considering that it was LynZ we had come there to meet I was surprised she hadn't asked before but she had been hesitant to ask as she didn't want to bother her and act like a star-struck fan. I give Amanda a lot of credit for respecting the fact that rock stars are people, too, and tries to give them some space. LynZ happily agreed and Amanda walked back to the car one very happy 15-year old while I limped along beside her wondering if I was going to be able to get out of bed in the morning and crawl into work!

Amanda and LynZ

All in all, I have to say that it was an absolutely fantastic day and I am very thankful and grateful to Jason and Amy for inviting us to tag along. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that Amanda could meet some of her favorite musicians and singers as well as show them some of her art, which they were very complimentary towards. What an end to Amanda's summer but now I've got to wonder - what tops this??

We're going to have a Revolution

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I have a sneaky feeling that I'm going to need a certain period of recovery next week as, for the very first time in my life, I'll be spending almost an entire day at a rock concert. Heaven forbid I have been smart enough to do this sort of thing when I was teenager - oh no, I have to wait until just about my 49th birthday to attempt the sort of feat that leaves teenagers worn out for days! I shudder to think what my dispatching abilities are going to be like come Monday morning but I am taking my double-shift off from work on Sunday so that Amanda and I can go to the Dodge Music Center in Hartford for the Projekt Revolution 2007 tour. For those not familiar with the ins and outs of rock concerts, Projekt Revolution is an annual concert tour headlined by Linkin Park, a rock band formed by three high school friends from California that has sold more than forty million albums and won two Grammys. Projekt Revolution is dedicated to featuring revolutionary, cutting-edge talent with each band invited personally by Linkin Park to perform. This year the tour totals eleven bands with two of them being Amanda's all-time favorites - My Chemical Romance and Mindless Self Indulgence. Needless to say, Amanda has been talking about this concert ever since we went to go see MCR at the DCU Center in Worcester back in May.

The road to the concert has taken some rather interesting twists and turns along the way, especially when I found out that one of the EMTs I work with at American Ambulance is none other than the sister of Lyn-Z, bassist for Mindless Self Indulgence. The day I told Amanda about that fact I thought she was going to hyperventilate or something and she was beyond thrilled to meet Lyn-Z's sister Amy at the annual 4th of July fireworks show here in Norwich. At that time, Amy told Amanda that she would be happy to take her to a concert sometime and would be able to get Amanda backstage to meet Jimmy, Steve, Lyn-Z, and Kitty - the four amazing musicians who make up Mindless Self Indulgence. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how incredibly excited about that Amanda was and still is. What 15-year old wouldn't be psyched at the possibility of meeting one of her favorite bands? Exactly ...

Lyn-Z, Jimmy, Kitty, Steve are Mindless Self Indulgence

With MSI performing as the headlining band on the Revolution stage for Projekt Revolution Amanda spent the entire summer really hoping that she would have the opportunity to meet Lyn-Z at their show this Sunday. I spoke to Amy about it a couple times at work and tried to remain hopefully optimistic while also cautioning Amanda that there was always the possibility of it not happening for one reason or another.

All speculation ended yesterday when I was walking into work and met up with Amy in the ambulance bay. She said that she had finally been able to talk to Lyn-Z and that there was no problem getting Amanda in to the concert and getting her a VIP backstage pass but that she wasn't able to take her up as she already had a car full. A short, very short!, discussion ensued as to whether I should try to take the day off to take Amanda myself whereby I decided that if I told Amanda she had the chance to go to the concert but I opted to work instead I would have a really, really depressed teenager on my hands and that wouldn't be good. Plus she had been looking forward to this concert all summer long. I made a command decision at that point to do my darnedest to get the day off on very short notice, told Amy to put both of our names on the list, and went up to dispatch to beg one of my co-workers to take my Sunday evening shift in exchange for his Saturday evening shift.

Even with the evening shift covered that left Jen by herself for days but she assured me that she could handle it on her own as she has done so in the past many times over. Once Matt, my supervisor, came in I explained the situation to him and he told me that getting the time off would be no problem. Gotta love the fact that the man not only understands the importance of a rock concert but knows how much it means to Amanda to have the chance to meet a favorite band! When I called Amanda at home to tell her the news, I'm pretty sure I could have still heard the squee'ing with my cell phone ten feet across the room! Excited might not begin to describe how she feels right now.

So, come Sunday I will be following Amy and her entourage up to the Dodge Music Center where we will give our names to the folks at the gate, get our VIP passes, and have what I hope is an excellent time doing something that most teenagers only get to dream about. I'm rather psyched myself that my first time at an all-day concert event includes the opportunity to meet members of some of the bands that are performing while watching my daughter's head spin in awe. Ah, who am I kidding? I'm sure my head is going to be doing some of the same spinning as I just love Linkin Park's music and it's another chance to see My Chem in concert, too. Maybe I'll even get the chance to meet Gerard Way! The one downside is that there are NO cameras allowed at the concert at all so you guys are just going to have to take my word for it that we were there and that we met some totally cool people!


This is going to be good ...

"Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum." ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

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It dawned on me that I haven't posted any of Amanda's artwork in awhile so I asked her what she had good over in her Deviant Art account that I could snitch for here. She told me to take a look and after perusing her gallery I decided on the sketch below.

Lately she's been dabbling in watercolors a little bit and doing quite well with them (though making one heck of a mess on the dining room table!) and I'll probably be posting one of those pictures soon but for today I thought I would post this pencil sketch that she did of Bob Bryar, the drummer for her favorite band My Chemical Romance.

For those of you who have been following Amanda's art here, you'll recall that she generally does drawings in a Japanese animation Chibi style and even though she does very well with that, I was quite pleased when she did this sketch as it shows that she can draw in other styles as well and do what I think is a more than passable job.

It's beginning to look like we might need to start saving up for the School of Visual Arts New York very soon ...

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt - "Art"

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This week's theme for the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt is something near and dear to oldest daughter's heart as it is ART. It also made it pretty easy for me to find pictures as she has most of her artwork posted over on her DeviantArt account so all I had to do was copy and paste. For once I didn't have to go scrambling around trying to find something!

First, meet the artist: this is Amanda in one of her "Revenge" modes. "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge" was the second album by her favorite band, My Chemical Romance (of which no doubt regular readers of this blog are more than familiar!). Apparently Amanda is not alone in liking to dress up like the lead singer of the band as I have come across many, many "Gerards" on the Internet. Ah well, as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I'm sure that Gerard is quite flattered by all the attention lavished on him by adoring fans.

Speaking of Gerard, this first piece of artwork is a pen and ink drawing of the man himself, also in "Revenge" mode. The lyrics are from the song "To the End" which is based on the short story "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner.

This next picture is one of Amanda's crayon drawings entitled "Once Upon a Toaster" and is of Gerard's brother, Mikey, bass player for My Chem. Apparently Mikey has somehow become associated with toasters (I remain happily clueless as to why) so Amanda thought she would draw him sitting on top of a toaster holding one of his beloved cups of coffee.

This is another crayon drawing, entitled "The Patient". It is drawn in Chibi style which originated in Japan but has become very popular in Western fandom. Found mostly in anime and manga, chibi are typically known to be super-cute, have large puppy-dog eyes, and often a mischievous personality. This one definitely fits those parameters!

Another crayon drawing done in chibi style of Snoh, a character that Amanda created on her own and one of which she has drawings in several other styles and poses in her DeviantArt gallery. Snoh is carrying Kappu (Japanese for cup and another character that Amanda uses frequently) filled with coffee - one of Amanda's very favorite beverages, especially if it's iced!

One more crayon chibi is of Amanda's alter-ego in the DeviantArt world known as Art Munkey or Mandy. You'll notice she's also holding the requisite cup of coffee and looking quite happy about it! I believe I've seen this very look on her face many times!

Last but not least is a drawing of Bob Bryar, drummer of MCR, which was done using a computer mouse. This drawing became the basis of my Peace Globe that you see over on my sidebar and which will be flying prominently this coming Wednesday as my entry for my Wordless Wednesday post.

Wednesday, June 6th, will be the second Blog Blast for Peace when bloggers across the globe will be displaying their Peace Globes as well as blogging about the theme Dona Nobis Pacem - Latin for Give Us Peace. It's not too late to make plans to join us and if you don't have a Peace Globe yet, just click here where Mimi Lenox explains how easy it is to design and post one of your own.

It might just be the most important piece (peace?) of art you create all year!

If you've got the time while you're here please visit my weekly "I've Got a Question, You've Got an Answer" post below this one!

Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt Participants

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