A Tale of Two Concerts: Part Two, Trans-Siberian Orchestra in Connecticut

Two weeks to the day after I had gone up to Massachusetts to attend the Hot Rize bluegrass concert that I wrote about in yesterday's post, I had the chance to go another concert - this one a lot closer as it was being held at the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena.  My Mom had picked up tickets for Jamie and I to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra - a group that I had been wanting to take Jamie to go see for years!

Believe it or not, I'm not going to get into the history of the band (gasp!) as you can read all of that in my post from November 13th, 2007 when I took Amanda to go see the same group at the same venue. Prior to that we had seen them once before when TSO performed in Worcester, Massachusetts in December of 2006.   Both times that Amanda and I attended a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert, the only thing missing was Jamie as the timing had never been right so it was always my hope to take her to see them at some point in time.  I was quite happy to see that they were returning to do a performance at the Mohegan Sun Arena (they'd skipped it the past few years) and it was even on one of my nights off, too!

I guess it was fate so I asked my Mom if she'd pick up tickets for me her next trip down to the casino.  I don't get there too often as they fail to send me enticing offers in the mail but my mom gets "free slot play" quite frequently so I figured she'd get there long before I would.  She was and she got the best available tickets that were left (the show definitely sells out) which were kinda-sorta in the upper reaches of the arena.  Considering my mom refused to take any money for the tickets I sure the heck wasn't going to complain and I figured that TSO puts on one heck of a show and if you don't see it even from the nosebleed section, you've got your eyes closed!

With the concert set to start at 8:00, Jamie and I got to the Sun early enough to have a nice dinner at Big Bubba's where they serve up a very tasty BBQ pulled pork sandwich amongst other tasty delights.  I had originally wanted to go to Bobby Flay's Burger Palace and have a Crunchburger (a to-die-for cheeseburger with potato chips!) but Jamie had her heart set on BBQ and the line at Bobby Flay's convinced me that the kid had a point and maybe BBQ wouldn't be bad after all!   It looked like not only was the vast majority of southeastern Connecticut going to the concert but they were eating out first!

While we were at dinner, I sent a text to my friend Frank who works as a Fire Inspector for the Mohegan Tribal Fire Department to let him know we were there.  Frank was working the concert and had said that he would see what he could do about getting me better seats as the stairs are quite steep in the section we were in and he figured my back would much prefer something a little lower.  I tend to forget that I have a bad back until I'm in the middle of doing something that perhaps I shouldn't be doing and it was nice of Frank to think of that. This getting old and feeble stuff is for the birds, I tell ya!

After we finished dinner, we made our way to the arena and barely got 20 steps into the place when Jamie spied the merch stand. I've taken Amanda to enough concerts to know what that means - "Mom, can I get something??" - so I handed Jamie some cash and told her to pick something out while I waited for Frank to arrive.  He showed up a few moments later and traded my tickets in the upper level of the arena for tickets that not only were in the lower arena but darned close to the floor of the arena!

Jamie, who was busy buying herself a knit cap with an official TSO logo on it, didn't know any of this so as we walked with Frank in the direction of our seats, she mentioned that we had passed the section we were sitting in.  I told her that no, we were being upgraded to better seats and she looked over at Frank and said, "I know I just met you but I love you!" She loved him even more when we finally got to our seats:

Okay, so there are definitely some perks to being old and feeble after all! While we were waiting for the show to start, Jamie called her grandmother to say thank you again for the tickets and to tell her how close to the stage we were. My Mom asked how that had happened and Jamie replied, "Mom knows people ... and she has a bad back!"  Sigh ...

Turns out that there were a couple of other people from work at the show with one of them being one of the paramedics that I work with who had bought front row seats for his wife for her birthday.  Very impressive!  I think some of the stage fog probably rolled down on him a time or two and no doubt his wife loved her present!

My friend Andrew, another paramedic, had seen the show a couple of weeks ago when they performed in Hartford and he told me that the band had changed the show up a little bit but that it was still really good so I sat back and waited to be entertained.  There was a "no photography or video taping" warning so I didn't bring my Nikon with me but Jamie had brought her small point-and-shoot camera - as had lots of people around us - and she managed to get a few halfway decent shots:

Jamie even managed to get a tiny snippet of video before she was told by the female security officer near us to not do that.  It gives you a little idea of the light show that the band employs; I'm pretty sure that people who are subject to seizure disorders should not go to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert!


As you can see, there was a lot of long hair that was flying all over the place but that's one of the things that makes the Trans-Siberian Orchestra unique - they perform classical music with a rock-band twist and they do it really, really well! If you aren't bobbing your head or clapping your hands or tapping your feet during one of their shows, there's truly something wrong with you in my own humble opinion. And you need not be young to enjoy TSO as the vast majority of people there were probably my age or older. Just probably most of them don't suffer from bad backs. Sigh.

At one point TSO performed a number where two rather long catwalks were lowered down over the audience and the band members took turns going out on it to perform - something that I wasn't too surprised about as I had thought that part of the stage that stretched out over the audience looked suspiciously like something one could perform on.

As it turned out, one of the platforms was almost directly over our heads and I managed to grab a quick shot of electric violinst Roddy Chong as he leaned over the railing above. This was taken with my iPhone so is not the best quality but that security officer was standing quite close by and I didn't want to risk pulling Jamie's camera out again for fear she might just take it away this time.  Not that everyone and their brother weren't taking pictures but I try to adhere to the rules as much as I can.

After about three hours of just about non-stop high-energy, head-banging, laser-shooting, fireworks-popping, mind-blowing performing, the band finally wrapped up the show with everyone in the arena on their feet and cheering loudly.

As is their norm following a performance, the band was going to be available for autographs following the show but it looked like the entire crowd in the arena was going to go out and stand in line so we had to pass as it was already after 11:00 and I needed to be back at work at 7:00 in the morning. As Jamie vowed that next time we'd stay for autographs, I was reminded of her sister and that same vow that she had made back in 2006 when we saw TSO for the first time and which came true in 2007. So ... guess where I may be next year??

All in all, Jamie and I had a wonderful evening out and she really enjoyed the concert just like I always thought she would.  Oh, and may I just state that I think that Jeff Plate is unequivocally one of the best drummers in the business - he deserved a standing ovation all his own for the performance he put on!  If you haven't seen Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert I highly, highly recommend you do next time they're in your area - you won't be sorry!

A Tale of Two Concerts: Part One, Hot Rize in Massachusetts

In addition to working a boatload of hours the past few weeks and getting virtually nothing done as one other dispatcher has been enjoying an extended vacation, I managed to fit in a couple of concerts that were about as far apart in similarity as one can get but both were highly enjoyable.  As I have always said, I love all kinds of music as long as it's good music and both of these groups - dissimilar as they are - get two big thumbs up and some happy toe-tapping!

The first concert that I attended was held on November 3rd at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Massachusetts; I went with my cousin Amy who will probably kill me for this picture that I posted!

We were able to head up to the concert a little early and stopped by the Old North Bridge in Concord on our way to Lexington - a spot that my cousin the head librarian had never been to before but that I had hit up in August.  Amy is just as much of a history fan as I am - it runs in the family - but like so many of us who never get to the stuff that's close by, she'd never been to the birthplace of the American Revolution.  She said she would have been more impressed if the Old North Bridge were the original bridge but alas, that ain't the case!

As you can see, the area looked vastly different from when I was there in August as even though it was only November 3rd, there was nary a leaf on a tree it seems!

Of course, I still wasn't able to get a decent picture of the Concord Minuteman as the light wasn't cooperating but I had to try!

Anyhow, after leaving Concord we made the short drive over to Lexington where we did a quick walk around the Battle Green and then hit up the local Bertucci's for some mighty fine Italian food before making our way over to the National Heritage Museum where the concert was being held.  The museum, which was founded by the Scottish Rite Masons of the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States as a gift to the country on our bicentennial, looked like a rather interesting place that I'll have to try to get to again sometime when they're actually open - yet another thing to add to the list!  The museum provided the perfect venue for the group that we were there to see - one of the few bluegrass bands that I can say that I truly like - Hot Rize.

As you can see, it's a small venue but smaller is the preferred venue of most bluegrass groups being that bluegrass is more of a personal style of music than what you're going to get in a bigger concert arena.  The 390-seat Maxwell Auditorium was almost full to capacity for the concert that was being sponsored by the Boston Bluegrass Union.

The "Berkley to Berklee Tour" was the first time that Hot Rize had reunited for a tour in 10 years and featured their first new music in 20 years as they toured nine cities coast-to-coast in eleven days.  Whew!  Amy said that the concert had sold out pretty quickly and people were scrambling around trying to get tickets as the band currently has no plans for future tours and they're quite popular.  Rightly so I might add as these guys are good and they put on a great show. This wasn't my first time seeing Hot Rize as I saw them perform twice in the distant past - once at the former Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival in upstate New York and once at a small hall in Nashua, New Hampshire.  Both times they were fantastic and I was quite looking forward to seeing them again.

To try to give you just a bit of a background on the band without getting carried away like I usually do (!), Hot Rize was formed in Colorado in 1978 and is named after the secret ingredient found in Martha White's “self-rising” flour - they even do a nice little commercial jingle for their namesake during every show which was originally performed by the bluegrass band whose television show was sponsored by Martha White - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs & the Foggy Mountain Boys. The Martha White Company allowed Hot Rize to use the name as well as print the logo on their t-shirts with no compensation with just one stipulation - "Keep the show clean."

 Original band members were Tim O'Brien who sang lead and harmony vocals while playing mandolin and fiddle;

Pete Wernick on banjo and harmony vocals; 

Charles Sawtelle on guitar, harmonies and lead vocals; 

and Nick Forster, who replaced the group's original guitarist after three months, on bass and main harmony as well as serving as the group's emcee.

The group released its self-titled debut album in 1979 and their second album, "Radio Boogie", came out in 1981. Concert-goers were treated to traditional as well as original bluegrass music from the group along with performances by their alter-egos who ride around in the back of the tour bus and perform while Hot Rize takes a rest in between sets - country-western swing band Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers.

Following the release of four more albums which included a concert album featuring The Trailblazers, the group amicably split up after 12 years of touring in 1990 in order to pursue solo interests. They reunited on and off for various bluegrass festivals over the years as well as several short tours here and there. In 1994, Charles Sawtelle was diagnosed with leukemia and in spite of a courageous battle, succumbed to the illness in 1999 following complications from a bone marrow transplant. The remainder of their concerts for that year were performed as memorial concerts with other guitarists filling in for their missing band member.

In 2002 a live concert recording from 1996, "So Long of a Journey", was released as the first Hot Rize album in over a decade and in that same year the group started performing again with several shows each year. At that time, Bryan Sutton - Nashville super-picker, Grammy winner, and five-time IBMA Guitarist of the Year - was added on guitar and became the permanent fourth member of Hot Rize.

In looking back over the pictures that I took at the concert that night, I'm going to have to guess that I was obviously smitten with Mr. Sutton as there appear to be more pictures of him then anyone else in the collection!  Truth be told, it was hard not to be smitten as this man can play a guitar like nobody's business (to quote my old Gram B) and I have always admired those who possess a great musical talent - he weren't too hard on the eyes either!  That's not to say that the rest of the band doesn't possess great musical talent though because - boy howdy - do they ever!  As my cousin likes to put it, I'm not really a "BG person" but I sure do like Hot Rize!

Just to give you an example as to why I really like these guys, I was able to find a video on YouTube with one of the songs that they performed that night.  This song is called "Just Like You" and was written by Pete Wernick aka Dr. Banjo!

Now I'm obviously no expert when it comes to music - and especially bluegrass music - but I do know what I like and the vocal harmonies of Hot Rize really cannot be surpassed.  My cousin, who is about as close to an expert as you can get, told me that Nick and Tim are probably the best non-brothers who harmonize as well as they do and I believe her as they really do compliment each other. Trust me, she knows bluegrass music and knows that of which she speaks!

By the way, have I mentioned that Amy hosts The Bluegrass Cafe on Sunday afternoons on WHUS, the University of Connecticut's radio station?  Indeed she does every other weekend (sometimes more) so if you're in the local area and want to tune in, the show runs from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. on 91.7 on your FM dial.  I do believe she may just also take requests, too, if you've got yourself a hankerin' for a particular song and would like to see if she could spin it for you (not that DJs actually spin records anymore but I'm sure you know what I mean!).

Anyway ... back at the concert ... in between Hot Rize's two sets, the audience is treated to music by those country-western cut-ups - Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers.

I've got to say that those boys add an element to the show that you probably don't get at any other bluegrass concert as - similar to the Statler Brothers alter-egos "Lester "Roadhog" Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys" - the Trailblazers give Hot Rize a chance to let their hair down and goof off a little bit while giving the audience some great laughs along the way.  That's not to say that The Trailblazers are the members of Hot Rize, mind you - they just look a lot like them!

The members of Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers are Red Knuckles himself on guitar with the mysterious Swade on bass:

Waldo Otto on the steel guitar (along with his brother Elmo Otto on the fiddle who joins the band during the second set!):

and electric guitarist and showman extraordinaire, Wendell Mercantile - who changes his shirt and guitar fringe in between their two sets:

The Trailblazers sing and dance and just flat-out have fun not only for the benefit of the audience but pretty obviously for themselves, too!  Had I been able to find a decent video on YouTube, I would have shared it with you here but alas, none of them did the band justice ... however, if you'd like to click on over to Ted and Irene's Most Excellent Bluegrass Adventure on Facebook you can check out a video clip of the band performing "One Woman Man".  I'm sure you'll agree the boys are mighty fine, mighty fine!  

All in all, the concert lasted about two hours with both Hot Rize and The Trailblazers doing two sets each. They played almost all of the songs that I've heard them do before as well as listened to on CD and I was quite pleasantly surprised to have remembered the words which I hadn't heard in quite some time. Their new music was almost most excellent and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the evening!  To say that these guys are good is an understatement and I've got no doubt that a lot of bluegrass fans were very happy to have them back and performing again.

As a matter of fact, if they come back around, I'd be more than happy to accompany my cousin once again!

If you'd like to read more about the concert then click on over to Ted Lehmann's Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms where he did a mighty fine review of the concert and if you 'd like to see more pictures from the show, please feel free to check out the set on my Flickr page - and not to worry, I got it down from close to 200 pictures to only 41! 

Another Mindless Post - Sort Of!

So ... while I was working my nether regions off this past weekend, Amanda was out doing one of the things she loves best - attending a couple of Mindless Self Indulgence concerts in the area. As part of their continued IF tour, they were playing in both Providence and New Haven this past weekend and with the band that close of course she had to go!!

Because I'm a pushover, I got her the tickets as part of her Christmas present but I told her that there was no way that I was going this time as I had to work, there was a snowball's chance in a warm climate that I would be able to get the time off, and -frankly - I figured she'd have a better time without her mother tagging along even though I have been deemed to be "epic", "awesome", and "amazing" (just to name a few adjectives) on the MSI forum that Amanda frequents. Apparently the child speaks well of me to her friends!

Anyhow, my greatness aside (!) ... there were two bands opening for MSI at these shows ... Leathermouth featuring Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance fame and Tub Ring who hail from Chicago. Amanda was more excited to see Tub Ring perform as she had heard that Curtis RX, a member of the band Creature Feature (whom I did a post on awhile back) was going to be playing guitar with the band as a guest. Excitement abounded!

Bright and early on the morning of the first concert in Providence, Amanda and Robert took up a place in line outside of Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel and even though they were there at 7:00 a.m. for a 7:00 p.m. show, there were already four people ahead of them in line. Amanda sent me a text that they were "MCR fan-girls" and were apparently there to see Frankie while not giving two hoots about MSI or the other band. Throughout the day Amanda kept in touch with me via text to let me know that she hadn't frozen yet, that she and Robert were taking turns popping into the nearby Dunkin Donuts shop to warm up, and that Steve Righ? of MSI fame had walked by and talked to her a little bit.

Finally it was time for the concert to start and Tub Ring took to the stage first followed by Leathermouth, whom Amanda didn't really care for, and then her favorite - Mindless Self Indulgence. Naturally Amanda and Robert stayed after the concert to chat with the band members (MSI is really good about that sort of thing) and Amanda had a chance to talk with Curtis RX; she told him that it was nice to see him on the East Coast and asked when the new album was coming out. Artist that she is, she also mentioned to him that she was trying to draw a comic based on one of Creature Feature's songs and he thought that was great and for her to send it off to him at MySpace when it was done.

The next concert was being held at Toad's Place in New Haven on the Yale campus and Amanda and Robert met up with some of the other members of the Nation of Crackers, the MSI forum to which she belongs and who think I am all that and a bag of chips (for reasons that I won't go into here). For this concert they didn't get into line until 11:00 and there were only about six or seven fans in front of them. As a note here, it's important to point out that one has to get to a concert ridiculously early if one hopes to be really close to the barrier and/or stage as what's the point of going if you can't be potentially crushed in the front of the crowd?!

When Tub Ring took to the stage to open the night this time, Amanda and Robert were right in front of Curtis' side of the stage and about 15 minutes in, Curtis spoke to Amanda from the stage and said, "Hi, I already broke a string!" At the end of their set Amanda yelled out "I have part of the comic finished" and he told her to meet him at the merch ('merchandise' for those not familiar with the lingo) stand in five minutes.

Of course she did and they had a chance to talk about comics and future concerts and Amanda getting a job so that she could pay for their next CD and concert tickets on her own (yay!). I guess they even talked about the weather when Curtis told her that he wasn't used to the cold being that he was from California so she told him that she was a Californian herself (born in Long Beach). Apparently they had a nice chat and she sent me a text all excited that she had made a new friend.

Being that she was so close to the front of the stage, Amanda had the chance to take some pretty good pictures so she asked if I would put them together in a slideshow for her and post it on my blog. After all, she reminded me, this blog is supposed to be about her, too, and this is exciting stuff for a 16-year old so how could I not write about it?!? Well, when she put it that way, I guess that I couldn't so without further ado may I present to you Tub Ring (whose music isn't too bad!) featuring Curtis RX of Creature Feature! -


Maybe the kid could have a future in concert photography if the whole art thing doesn't work out?!? Considering the video doesn't show Amanda's pictures off to their best, if you'd like to check out the pictures in a "better" setting then be sure to go check out Delirious Photography - Amanda's photo-page on MySpace!

... And The Band Played On

Due to my work schedule, assorted things to do around the house, and the 294 unread posts that were sitting in my Google Reader when I finally got around to opening it yesterday (ouch!), I have yet to get the chance to do a post about last Friday's Mindless Self Indulgence concert at Terminal 5 in New York City. Truth be told, I am also still somewhat worn out from last Friday's concert but there is no rest for the wicked - or for the parents of teenage daughters it seems - as tonight I will be attending yet another Mindless Self Indulgence concert - this time in Hartford at the Webster Hall Theater along with Jason, Amy, and Cate as well as Amanda and Darci.

No doubt it's going to be déjà vu all over again as I'm sure that the Long Beach, California band Julien-K will kick off the night's musical festivities as they did in New York. The band touts themselves as "Alternative - Electronica - Club" as their musical genres on their MySpace page but, honestly, I'm not so sure about the Electronica part. Now had they described themselves as "Alternative - Loud - Leather Clad" I think it would be more appropriate! I had to wear ear plugs with these guys and have the sneaky feeling I shall need them again tonight!

The next band to take the stage may very well be a local band like it was in New York City. Hopefully they can't possibly sound any worse than the New York local band who played at Terminal 5 - What What Where . That group was absolutely, positively horrible with the lead singer sounding more like a bag of wailing cats than any sort of vocal talent. To give credit where credit is due, their music is marginally better on their MySpace page and they did put their all into the concert but it was a very painful all! Honestly, they couldn't have gotten off the stage fast enough. Oh, and before I get lambasted by hostile fans who tell me I don't know what the blanketdy-blank-blank I'm talking about, I wasn't the only one who shared that opinion - I was with four other people who thought so and have read numerous reviews of the concert that said the same thing. So there!

Now, if the show goes according to Friday night's schedule, the next band to hit the stage will be The Birthday Massacre who were quite good and a definite crowd favorite. I suspect Amanda likes them because of their keytarist! The band originated in London, Ontario, Canada under the name Imagica but changed their name in July of 2002 shortly after relocating to Toronto and changing a band member or two. Their lead singer, Chibi, is very animated and the crowd just loves her. The only problem with this band is that the pit goes absolutely crazy with fans slamming into each other and forming what are known as "circle pits". These areas of the crowd make a mosh pit at a Metallica concert look a tea party with the Queen and are usually started by members of the crowd running wildly in a circle slamming into each other in response to the speed of the music and the beat.

Trust me, these things are pretty scary looking and I was very glad that Amanda and Darci were nowhere near one. People could - and do - get hurt even though audience members will typically try to pull dancers that have fallen over out of the way of serious injury as quickly as possible.

After all of that, Mindless Self Indulgence will finally take to the stage and the crowd will really go wild. There probably won't be any circle pits during their performance as their type of music doesn't inspire them but there will be plenty of crowd-surfing, singing along, and fist-pumping. Jimmy Urine, lead singer of MSI, is nothing if not a showman and again, I am somewhat reminded of Fee Waybill of The Tubes concerts that I used to go to when I was much, much younger!

Kitty will play her heart out on the drums, Steve will wander around the stage with his guitar making faces and acting strange, LynZ will do that incredible back-bend of hers, and Jimmy - well, Jimmy will wear you out just watching him!

Is it any wonder that I haven't recovered from Friday's concert? I'm going to be 50 in just a little over two months - this is no sort of activity for a card-carrying member of the AARP and respectable grandmother! Yet there I will be - once again - not crowd-surfing, not slamming into other bodies in a circle pit, not pumping my fist in the air but probably singing along because of course I know all the words - you would, too, if you lived with Amanda!

Even though the concert will be loud and no doubt the concert hall will be hot, probably the worst part will be Thursday morning when myself, Amy, and Jason all have to crawl into work while the three teenagers who are the ones who really, really, really need to see MSI again less than a week since they saw them last will no doubt sleep in! Doesn't sound quite fair, does it?

Let's hope that these kids realize and appreciate the sacrifices that we adults are making for them and their favorite band but somehow I think that's going to get lost in the excitement of the whole evening. I'm sure, though, that we can manage to remind them later ... Several times ... Repeatedly ... Ad nauseum!

Wish me luck folks, I'm going in again!

Taking a Bite Out of The Big Apple

No time for a long post as there is much to do before going into work this afternoon but I did want to let you all know that we have returned from our trip to New York City - safe, sane, and definitely sore! As soon as I get the time, I have a ton of pictures to upload and share but for now here's a few quick shots of some of our adventure -

Driving into the city on 34th Street - see the Empire State Building peeking out on the left? And yes, I drove in this traffic so I think I should get extra points for that!

Cate, Amanda, and Darci in Times Square shortly after our arrival. Don't let Cate's expression fool you - she had a great time but she refuses to ever smile for the camera!

Darci, Amanda, and Cate before heading to Terminal 5 where the Mindless Self Indulgence concert was to be held. Or should I say Kitty, Jimmy, and LynZ?

Friday night's event ...

Thank goodness I was up above all of this but Amanda and Darci are down there near the front of the stage. Yes, they are crazy and yes, I was worried. I'm too old for this kind of stuff!

Saturday afternoon's event ...

Even though it was a major culture clash from Friday night's concert - the girls absolutely loved the play and thought it was "practically perfect in every way"!

More to come later - for now I am practically pooped in every way because when you take a bite out of the Big Apple, it takes a bite of you, too!

Hair We Go Again ...

With the big Mindless Self Indulgence concert coming up in New York City, there has been a lot of preparation going on around here between Amanda, Darci, and Cate because - heaven forbid - they just put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt to wear to the concert. Nope - they have to have costumes complete with drawn on tattoos, make-up, and - of course - hair. Frankly, the whole thing has worn me down but that's probably because I'm old and never even went to a concert until I was over 18 and I certainly never went to one that inspired me to dress up like the band members. If the excitement of these three teenage girls could somehow be harnessed and used for energy, I wouldn't have to worry about an electric bill for a very long time!

Yesterday and today turned out to be the major prep days for the concert as yesterday was when my friend and trusted hair stylist Trisha was coming over armed with bleach, hair clips, scissors, and a couple tubes of hair color that will never see a shaft of hair on my head thank you very much! Trisha will happily bleach Amanda's hair for me but when it comes to applying her choice of outrageous colors she lets me take over as "it's just too messy". Gee, thanks, Trish!

As you might recall, Amanda's had blue hair for quite some time now and wanted to change it to pink and green in order to match the jacket that we had made as part of her costume for the concert. The first trick was to get her hair bleached out so that we'd have a clean slate to work with when it came to the new colors but there was a bit of trepidation as to whether or not Trish would be able to get all of the color out. After a fashion she was able to get most of it and that left me with a blonde for a night as we needed to let Amanda's hair rest for a bit before putting it through the rigors of coloring.

In the meantime, Darci had talked her mother into letting her have a couple of pink chunks in her hair so Trisha bleached out two spots on the top front of her hair and two spots in the back so that when she puts her hair up in ponytails as part of her costume, the color chunks are in the right places. This was Darci's first ever foray into bleach and color so she was quite excited and in the end, her pink chunks came out very pink but very nice! Hopefully her mother will approve but if not ... uhm ... yeah, give it time and it'll fade out!

Fast forward to earlier this evening and my adventures with applying color to Amanda's hair. The pink side went on quite easily and was definitely the right shade but we ran into problems with the green hair dye as once we got it on part of her hair, it became quite evident that it wasn't really what one could call green at all but more like a dark aquamarine or teal. Amanda had her heart set on green so was pretty disappointed with the color but she eventually came around and decided that she was just going to have to deal with it. I really do wish that the green dye had actually been green as it would have matched her jacket better but in the end I'm sure it will be okay. Not perfect but okay. I think a letter to the manufacturer is going to be in order, though, as the tube is clearly marked 'green' and it was definitely not green.

Being that you weren't here to share in the "fun" I have put together a little slideshow for you to enjoy a shortened version of the whole process (a small pun intended for those who know hairdressing terminology!) ...


Now if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling somewhat harried (no pun intended there at all!) and there's still a ton of stuff to do before we leave for New York City in the morning and our great adventure. Myself, Amy, and three teenage girls take on The Big Apple ... this should be interesting! Especially considering I'm not wearing a costume to this concert and have no clue what to wear. Whatever it is, I'm sure I'm going to be quite blah compared to at least three teenagers I know!