Happy Birthdays...

to Brandon and Alex!

Brandon: almost stereotypical in adolescent little brotherness. Loves his own flatulence, making random noises, and being sullenly uncommunicative. In any case, he is now freshly 15 years of age. I suppose I have to feel some attachment to him since I used to change his diapers. Aaaanyway, happy birthday, you big bugger. Grow a few more inches (5'10" is my minimum goal for you), read some more books, and stay away from drugs and girls. :) Besides lower level seats for the Warriors vs. Houston game in a few months, I may teach you how to drive as a birthday present - frightening!


Alex: We've known each other for about eight years now - it almost seems like forever. Even through our random odd phases, I've always known you would be there for me, and I hope you know that I've always been there for you. Even when you call at 1:00 am the morning of your birthday fishing for birthday greetings and receive only grumpiness and sarcasm. Sorry, but not my fault! I wasn't completely awake! Anyhow, you know I wish you the best possible year ahead - I hope you remember the good times of your birthday tonight, like way too many watered-down drinks at D&Bs, shuffleboard, and getting your ass kicked at basketball :) Thanks for being the most wonderful Indie Music "Faerie" possible, an awesome fellow concert-goer, resident overthinker, and one of the best friends for which anyone could ever wish (I phrased that extremely awkwardly but correctly just for you). We'll always have junior prom! ;)

Matching green shirts, wristbands, and tequila shots!
The next step...
Result: Trying to keep Alex's eyes open...
And I am very happy to have Amanda back at home. The Ha sisters are reunited! Watch out :)


* * *
"Thank You" -Dido

My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
and I can't see at all
And even if I couldm it'd all be grey
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad
it's not so bad...

I drank too much last night, got bills to pay
my head just feels in pain
I missed the bus and there'll be hell today
I'm late for work again
And even if I'm there, they'll all imply
that I might not last the day
And then you call me and it's not so bad
it's not so bad and

I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh, just to be with you
is having the best day of my life

Push the door, I'm home at last
and I'm soaking through and through
Then you hand me a towel
and all I see is you
And even if my house falls down,
I wouldn't have a clue
Because you're near me and

I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh, just to be with you
is having the best day of my life...

Hell Yeah!!!

Everyone who wasn't at Slim's on Saturday night missed out on the best concert EVER! Oh, Butch Walker, how you entertain, amaze, and titillate me! Hell yeah!!

So for you uninitiated, Butch Walker was the lead singer of a band in the 1990s called "The Marvelous 3" - you may remember a one-hit wonder song called "Freak of the Week"...or maybe not. In any case, after they broke up, Butch went solo with the albums "Left of Self-Centered," "Letters," "The Rise and Fall of...Butch Walker & the Let's Go Out Tonites," along with a collection of covers called...*drumroll*..."Cover Me Badd" (incredible live Queen medley on there). Haha! THEN he went on to be named Rolling Stone's producer of the year in 2005, producing and writing for Hot Hot Heat, Avril Lavigne, SR-71, The Donnas, Pink, the list goes on. Alex and I discovered him at the very chill Hotel Cafe Tour last year - went to see Imogen Heap, Cary Brothers, Gary Jules, and left with Butch's album.

Bottom line: Butch Walker is awesome. Alex, Jen, and I bought tickets months ago for this concert, and then I happened upon another pair of free tickets through Alice radio and invited Bea, Eric, and Steven to join in on the awesomeness. We started the night out at 21st Amendment (gotta love that name) with watermelon wheat beer, ale, Mexicali pizza, and many burgers:
Unfortunately, you can't really see me or Jen since Bea has an absurdly large head (I kid! I love you, favorite nudie roomie, don't hate me!), so here is Take 2 with just the girls:And then onto Slim's...
See, I love my Bea. Uh...more than she knows. ;)
Yes, I had already purchased my Butch Walker t-shirt before the first opening band even started. By the way, Damone is pretty damn good too - may have heard their single "Out Here All Night" on Live 105. The female lead singer really likes to hock loogies though.

But one of the highlights of the night for the crazy inner fangirl in me was when we were standing there watching the opening bands, and Alex nudged me and whispered (okay, yelled, since we were at a concert), "Hey, who's that?" And it was BUTCH! He graciously took a picture with me after I babbled some nonsense to him about loving his music and wanting to have his children or something:
Don't mind the tool in the background. He was just awestruck by being close to Butch too ;)

So I knew his concert would be amazing, but DAMN, with his own full set as headliner, Butch just blew everything out of the water. Incredible stage presence and charisma, pitch-perfect vocal technique, and just full-on rockin' fun...
Besides playing crowd fan favorites like "Mixtape" and "#1 Summer Jam" and bigger-band songs from his most recent album with The Let's Go Out Tonites, he totally reinterpreted "San Fernando Sex Star" from his first album, making it a lot darker and emotionally complex than the recorded version. For the last song of his set, he played "Best Thing that You Never Had" and rocked out so hard on his acoustic guitar, he broke not one, but TWO strings, retuned the guitar while the song was going on, and finished! Insaaane :)

For the encore, Butch came back out yelling, "Did you think I'd leave you on such an emo-tastic note?! No, we're gonna rock the f*** out!!" After a great cover of "Crazy," Butch jumped down into the crowd right by our group, then had every single person in Slim's sit down and shut up before jumping up and dancing like crazy to "Lights Out" - Hell Yeah! Here's Bea and Butch's head:
And see if you can spot Alex under Butch's armpit:
Sigh. What a great night.

Thanks to Eric for taking all those photos! So there you go, Alex and Jen, you were right. It just took a while for me to get the photos in order to post this thing :) Yay for good friends and Butch Walker!