The One Where It Was “Mattober” (part 4)

The last edition of my very belated blog from October.

We drove for a day from Eugene to San Francisco, and then the sadness that was the end of tour funk started to set in.

SAN FRANCISCO

San Francisco ended up being a double show day for us.

We decided to head to the venue early, and claim our spots first for the evening show before heading over to the other side of town for the radio gig.

Paul got off the bus and was talking to us for awhile, then got all concerned. “Who is going to hold your spots in line when you go over for the radio gig?” Oh, you know. Just hired someone to wait in line for us because we’re professional front row people. “How do I get that job?!” Paul asked. HAHA.

We decided to just take one car over so we could save on parking, so we somehow fit 6 people into my car. Don’t try this at home, kids. We’re professionals. (Plus that’s not legal.)

The radio gig was at a Capital One Bank Lounge/Peet’s Coffee. It was a pretty cool spot. If I lived in San Francisco I would hang out there.

Matt played 5 songs and did a short little interview. Afterwards we got to go to the meet and greet. Amber and I went together, and as we walked up, he said, “I’m going to give you a low hug because I am sweaty and smelly right now.”

“I totally wear man deodorant. I have some in my bag if you need it.” I joked. (I really do wear man deodorant, and had some in my bag though…)

Matt then lifts up my arm, smells my armpit and says, “Oh yeah. That’s good.”

“I’m also wearing Justin Beiber perfume.” I admit. (it was a gift, I didn’t buy it, don’t judge.)

“Is it called ‘GIRL!’? GIRL.” Omg, I can’t even explain the way he said girl. It was hilarious.

We then take our photo, and we’re all pretty much cracking up. You know someone is your homie if he smells your armpit. HAHAHA.

We then headed back to the venue to get back in line, and SOME people were not impressed with our craigslist friend who held our spots. Haters gonna hate!

At one point of the day, Matt’s car almost got towed. It was parked behind the bus, and this tow truck got just came and tried to start towing it. Yvonne, the quiet one, gets up and bangs on the bus door screaming THEY’RE TRYING TO TOW YOUR CAR. Luckily they ended up talking the guy out of not towing it, and Yvonne saved the day. (I went to try to find a bathroom at this point, and missed 85% of the entire saving of the car mission, but saw the tail end of it while I was walking back down the hill and was like, “WTF is happening right now…?!” Later Matt walked past us in line and squeezed all our knees as a thank you. I’m like didn’t do anything…just tried to pee.

We bought dinner tickets for this show, which means you go in early, and some people again were not impressed that this was happening. Um, we were still first in line so even if it was all general admission we were first, period. Haters gonna hate, part two.

This show was really good, but also horrible at the same time, because once again there were douche bags in the audience. Matt got to the point where he said, “Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up. Shut the fuck up” and the people STILL KEPT TALKING. When someone tells you to shut the fuck up, you shut the fuck up!

I thought he was going to storm off the stage. He was angry. And I wanted to punch people in the face for him.

“I almost got into a fight tonight” Matt says as I walked up to him after the show.

“Do you need me to beat someone up for you? Who do I need to punch?”

“No.” He says and just hugs me. I felt bad for him.

Matt grabbed my hand for this pose and I was all like, what is going on? But this might be my favorite photo from the entire tour, so…weird pose, cute ass photo.

As we’re getting into my car to leave, Yvonne says, “Nina and Caroline’s car got broken into!” and we’re all like “WTF!” and go over to their car and everything is just GONE. I felt terrible.

They made us eventually leave them while they went to the police station and then to the rental car place to get another car. But I felt so bad and had trouble sleeping.

 

LOS ANGELES

We woke up extra early the next morning (it was still dark) and all piled into the car and headed down to Los Angeles.

We were super classy and lazy and ordered Veggie Grill and had it delivered to us in line. Which was also all kinds of awesome. Fat kids on tour. Lazy-ing it up with delivery.

While sitting in line, Shiben walked by and I was like HI DUDE. I’VE MISSED YOU. We talked for a few minutes and then he was off to do his thing.

Los Angeles was probably my favorite show of the tour. I LOVE the Troubadour. I used to follow a local LA band around a decade ago, and there are so many memories in that venue for me.

Matt was in a fantastic mood. The crowd was not acting like douches. Shiben and Lovejoy came out and played a few songs with Matt and Aaron. It was perfect.

When Matt started playing “Gold in the Summertime” he forgot the lyrics to the song and looked at me. I started singing the lyrics and he was like, “Oh yeah!” and then he sang the second verse…which is the verse I just sang at him. We kinda looked at each other like oh shit. Oops.

After the show we waited for the meet & greet. And when it was my turn, Paul says to me, “Only one left!” excitedly.

“No, don’t remind me!” I yelled at him sadly.

“What’d he say?” Matt asked.

“He said there’s only one left. I’m not ready.” I said pouting.

My friend Amy had asked if I could get lyrics written out for her for a tattoo. So I asked for him to write them out, and afterwords he was all,
“Does that look okay?”

“It’s not for me, so sure.”

“Oh, then who gives a fuck what it looks like.” he said jokingly. Hahaha.

While he was writing them out, I fessed up.
“So. I totally fed you the wrong lyrics. I didn’t realize until you started singing the second verse.”

“I didn’t notice until I started playing the second verse either.”

We both fail.

When Amber was talking to him, he kept asking her what time we were getting to San Diego the next day. And she was like, I don’t know. And then he was all give me a time. So she gave him a time and he said, “Okay, that works.”

Um. What? So the whole night we were like, why does he need to know when we’re getting there?!

 

SAN DIEGO

 

San Diego would be the day known as the day that Matt made me cry. And then the flood gates were opened and I just continued to cry like 5 thousand times over the next 48 hours. Read on.

The venue they played at was a fucking DIVE. When we arrived there were just homeless dudes hanging out out front. We set up our chairs and they left luckily, but we were like. Oh fun. Bum central.

About 15 minutes after we told Matt we’d be there, the bus rolled up in front of the venue. Matt came out to talk to us. I happened to be sitting in my chair and had just dosed off, but woke up because I heard voice. Matt was standing directly above my chair and it scared the shit out of me.

“Oh woah, I was just asleep and woke up and you were standing there and it scared me.”
“Oh man, you just woke up to a nightmare!” HAHAHA. Matt talked to us for a long time, and then eventually went into the venue.

It felt like a billion degrees that day. I mean, we sat there and sweat all the sweat. At one point of the day, Yvonne, Amber and I went to go get fro yo. And Nina texts us, “You need to get back here asap.” I was like, why? And she sent us a photo.

We were gone less than 20 minutes, and in that short time period, Matt came and brought us FLOWERS AND PASTRIES.

WHAT EVEN.

Nina and Caroline said that Matt was sad when he saw we weren’t there, and he was like, “WHERE ARE THEY?!” and put the flowers on our individual chairs. He said he just felt like he wanted to do something nice for us since we went to so many shows and felt like he needed to give us a gift in return. Nina told him he didn’t need to do that, that he gave us the gift of music and friendship, and that was enough. #truth

I’m sad I missed him dropping them off, but I’m also glad I wasn’t there because when I walked back and saw the flowers I got all emotional and teared up. That jerk made me cry!

I had already felt emotional all day considering it was the last show, I didn’t want to say goodbye to the girls, and I didn’t want to drive home the following morning. This was just the straw that broke the camels back and the flood gates opened. I think I ended up crying like 4 times in line that day. It was ridiculous. My emotions were broken. Those damn flowers. Haha.

The last show was so bittersweet. I wanted it to last forever. At one point of the set, Matt started talking and he was all, “The front row has pretty much been the same every night, and that’s awesome.” and I had to make myself not cry. #emotionsstillbroken

Waiting in line for the m&g was also sad. Matt had told us before the show that he was not good with goodbyes, which I think was a hint that he wasn’t going to say goodbye to us that night.

“You made me cry today.” I said to him as I walked into his opened arms for a hug one last time.
“Stop.” was his only reply.
“Do you know how many boys have given me flowers? Only 3. So now you’re the 4th.” I joked. He proceeded to start singing some song to me but I didn’t know what it was, so I couldn’t tell you what he was singing. Ha.
“Do you eat those pastries? I wanted to eat them all myself.”
“Um, yeah. I’m a fat kid.”
“You should have seen me. I was in Whole Food picking them out. And I NEVER pick out pastries for anyone! But I thought you would like them, because I know you like treats.”

He knows I like treats? Okay. I post too many #fatkidsontour posts. HAHAHA.

I don’t remember much of what we talked about after that, because it was probably just me trying to not be a dweeb and cry the entire time.

We took a quick “end of tour” photo, and then Matt literally walked away without saying goodbye. Well, he warned us…ha.

We drove super sleep deprived back to LA (a 2 hour drive took us over 3 hours because we kept switching drivers back and forth.)

The next morning I dropped Yvonne and Amber off at the airport. Cried the whole ride there. Cried after I dropped them off. Cried a majority of the drive home.

When I got home I took the flowers (we divided them up evenly) and pressed them in Harry Potter books for a few weeks. They sit next to my record player to this day. The cutest.

The One Where I Went To A Few Last Minute Andy Grammer Shows.

…and it was the best. decision. ever.

LOS ANGELES

Andy had announced in mid July that he was opening up for Shawn Mendes at the Greek in LA. Tickets had been on-sale since May though, so when Jane and I looked at tickets the only available tickets left were in the far back section.

I am spoiled and decided that if I was going to drive 5 hours to see a show, especially just an opening gig, I wanted to be in the general admission pit up front. So, as much as I wanted to go, it wasn’t worth it.

Fast forward a month and a half later, and three days before the show. I was making the schedule at work and randomly thought, “When is that Andy show?” and decided to look on AXS. OH. HI GENERAL ADMISSION PIT TICKETS. I texted Jane pretty much going OMGZ and we both bought tickets to go. (And then I changed the schedule so I could get back to work on Monday on time. THE biggest perk of being in charge of that thing.)

So. Sunday morning I drove down to LA. Jane and I figured that this Shawn kid was gonna draw all the crazy teenagers in super early even though the pit only holds 300, and it was 98 degrees, so we decided to not get in line super early.

We headed over around 4pm, and doors opened at 6pm. The venue gave us water while waiting in line, and once we got inside, so kudos to them for keeping us hydrated so we didn’t pass out in the heat.

When doors opened, it was a frenzy of teenagers all trying to get close to the stage. You entered the pit from the left side, and girls had smooshed all against the stage on that side. I am a right side stage kinda gal for Andy shows, so Jane and I headed to that side…and right into the second row. And there were short teenagers in front of us so ALL THE WIN. Thanks for not knowing how to concert, teenagers. Tons of space on this side…

Jacqui Lee opened the show and I had been a fan of hers when she was on The Voice, so I enjoyed seeing her live. Little body, BIG voice, that girl.

Andy was next. Jane and I got excited when the band came out to set up. Eman spotted me and gave me a wide eyed look and mouthed “what the fuck” to me. Once he was done setting up, he came to the end of the stage. He went to high five me and these teens in front of me were like OMG and tried to high five back and got denied because that high five was mine. HA. “It’s good seeing you!” he yelled to me.

When then set began, Zach spotted me within a minute or so and gave me a huge grin and HI! The girls behind me were like “OMG, they know you!” and I just said, “Yeah…I’ve seen them a few times.” There was a part in the set where I think Andy saw saw me and he had a huge smile on his face, so love to all those guys.

Since it was an opening set, they only ended up playing 7 songs. Which is not enough Grammer time. As they were walking off stage, Eman came over and handed me a drumstick. Again the teenagers in front of me reached out for it, and he told them “NO. NO. NO.” until they let go and it was in my hand. That’s my homie.

Jane and I then left the pit because we knew things were going to get crazy. I wanted to stay just to see girls go crazy when Shawn walked out though. The crowd was deafening. Jane and I looked at each like WHAT, and then we ran away because I didn’t understand the crazy.

When we were walking out, there were teenagers laying on the ground sobbing because they couldn’t get in. One guy asked if he could use my ticket stub. Um, teenagers, you can’t scan a ticket twice. He asked again. I said no and kept walking. #bitchmode

Jane and I went to Swingers for dinner afterwards. I had a soy shake which is the most delicious thing on the planet, and I nom’d on some of her vegan nachos.

We then headed back to her apartment because we both needed to wake up at be out the door by 5am. I drove 5 hours, and then went straight to work because I am a crazy person.

MINNEAPOLIS

Rachel and I had been talking about me flying out to Minneapolis for months. Flights were reasonably priced, and Andy was playing two free shows, so it’d be worth it.

I then went a little crazy and bought 15 tickets to see Matt Nathanson in October so…I was a little broke.

After the LA show though, I was all crazy and thinking “35 minutes in NOT enough Andy. I wonder how much flights are to Minneapolis…” and checked Kayak. UM. Flights were $118. Holy crap, I was all over that.

As I drove home from LA, I texted Rachel asking if she’d still have me, and she basically told me I had to buy the flight or else.

So. Once I got home, and double checked the work calendar to make sure everything was okay, and I bought the flights. And 12 days later I got on a plane. YOLO.

I got into Minneapolis late the Saturday evening before the first show. Rachel and I sat up and talked for a few hours before heading to sleep.

The next morning, I was super excited. Not only for the shows, but for state fair food. I am a fat kid.

We went to get coffee at Caribou first. Chris from Scars on 45’s girlfriend lives in Minneapolis (well, did live, she just moved to the UK!) so they stopped by to say hi to us. Love those two.

We then headed to the fair. We walked around for a few hours and ate a variety of things. And then we headed over to the Bandshell Stage where Andy was playing. There was some old people band playing a few hours before Andy, and it was a MESS trying to get seats. I almost got in a fight with an old lady, no joke.

We eventually settled into a second row seat, and were okay with it. There was an amateur talent show happening right before Andy, and we were getting ready to watch, when I spotted Eman talking to a security guard. I turned to say to Rachel, “They are going to FLIP OUT when they see me.” and she replied with, “Uh, yeah, Eman is staring at you right now.” I look up and he is in fact staring at me. “What the fuck!” he mouths to me and then heads over.

I stand up to hug him and he’s like, “You don’t have to get up.” I’m like no dude, real hug here.

He asks why I am in Minnesota and I tell him Rachel is my excuse and he basically is surprised, but stoked to see me. We stood around talking for a good 10 minutes before the talent show was about to begin. Eman said goodbye for the moment, and we watched the talent show.

There were some…interesting performances. Ha.

We got ready for Andy, and right as he was coming out, everyone rushed the stage and Rachel and I were, like WHAT THE HELL. It became a huge sticky pit of smooshed people. In the Minnesota humidity. Ew.

We ended up near Zach, who spotted me within a few seconds. His mouth DROPPED and he stood there staring at me for a few seconds before he walked towards me, reached his hand out for mine, and kissed the top of it. Such a gentlemen. And adorable.

#stankyface

I thought I was going to pass out a majority of the show. SO HOT. Humidity can suck it. I was sweating like crazy.

These boys are so entertaining though, so I embraced the sweat and just sang and danced it out the entire time.
When the set was over, Zach leaned down and squeezed my shoulder. “Thanks for coming gorgeous girl! Come say hi afterwards!” and I nodded that I would.

We stuck around until Zach came out and chatted for a bit. “What are you DOING HERE? You CONFUSE ME!” (See a band 15 times in multiple states in one year, and that’ll do it. Haha.)

The conversation lead to, “So, are we like your favorites now?”
I pretty much laughed in his face and said, “No. Matt Nathanson is my favorite.”
“Oh, he’s the one to beat? We’ll get there.”
I laughed again, “No. I’m sorry but he will be my favorite forever. I love that dude and he takes care of me. I’m seeing him 15 times next month, actually.”
“FIFTEEN?! HOW. Where are you going?”
“He’s on tour…everywhere.”

We talked for a few minutes and then he told us, “I’m gonna go find Andy for these other girls. I’ll be back.”

Well Zach never came back, but Andy did. We chatted for a super brief second.
“Hi sweetie! Nice to see you again. Thanks for coming!” he said opened arms for a hug.
“Thanks for being so fun! I flew from California for this.”

“I know.”

Well. At least Andy can keep it straight where I’m from. Ha.

I don’t know what I’m saying here, but I love Andy’s face. Ha.

I took a photo with Andy, and then he was like, “Is everyone good? Okay, bye” and peaced out before Rachel got a chance to say wait, you skipped me! I felt like such a jerk for getting a photo in her state.

We headed out of the fair, and to Rachel’s car which we found extremely dead in the parking lot. FAIL. I have AAA though, so we called and they gave us a jolt to get the car started and on our way home.

Since we sweat out all the sweat, we drank all the water before heading to sleep for the night. Stoked for a second show.

 

MINNEAPOLIS, DAY TWO.

The second day we were much more prepared than the first. Well. Rachel’s car wouldn’t start so we had to have her roommate drop us off at the fair, but besides that we were super prepared. Ha.

We got to the fair early, and then proceeded to sit at the Bandshell Stage all. damn. day. No old people saving seats or getting in our way. Nope. But we still managed to also eat ALL THE THINGS.

(Zach later was scrolling through Instagram and asked me, “Joslyn, did you EAT ALL THAT?” Yes. Yes, I did.)

Eman came out before the show again. “I wanted to say hi now, because I’m not sure if I’ll see you after the show.” ADORABLE. Foreshadow: we saw a lot of the band after the show.

We watched all the performances all day long, and then prepared ourselves to run to the stage once Andy came out.

We made it to the front row, but it was another hot and squished evening. Humidity is a BITCH.

After the set, we were talking to Zach for awhile. Then he was all, “I’m gonna be right back.” and disappeared. He came back a few minutes later and yelled at me from the side of the stage. “Joslyn, come here!” I thought he was just yelling at me to say goodbye, so I walked over and he was like, “Come backstage and say hi to everyone.” So I go back over to Rachel and say, “Uh…we’re going backstage?” and then the security guard drew smilies on our hands which was our “pass” and we headed to the back.

“Do you guys need anything? We have fruit and water and there’s really nice bathrooms you can use.” Zach says as he’s escorting us to their dressing room.

“Do you have bananas?” I joked. “Dude, I haven’t drank water all day, so I will take one of those.” I said.

“Oh my God! Yes, I will get you a water.”

We stopped to use the bathroom first (which was super nice) and Rachel and I had the whole whisper “WTF is happening right now?!” moment before we headed back out to the hall and lost where Zach went.

We could hear the band talking from a room a bit down the way, but I didn’t want to be a creeper, so we stood there both going, “You peek into the room. No, YOU peek in there!” until Zach pops out and goes,

“Oh there you are. I thought you two got lost.”

“No, I just didn’t want to seem like a creep just walking in there.” I said. He had bananas in his arms.
“I’m gonna let you pick which one you want.” Oh my god, I love that dude.

He led us into the back room and there were couches and such and we plopped ourselves down on and enjoyed the AC and water and the company of the band.

These dudes. Man, these are my HOMIES. They are SO fun. We were backstage for a long time. So many great one liners and inside jokes. Some strange lady cleansing Andy’s aura and him at one point giving us a “help” look. They all saw my fat kid photo and heard my snort laugh.

Accidental creeper photo that Rachel took. But look at that aura cleansing…

Then there was talk about going to Buffalo Wild Wings and Zach said, “I’m not going if you two aren’t going” so we all piled into a van with the band (and Alison Holker, who I had no clue who she was at the time…), and then we had drinks and talked and hung out until they closed. Perfect night.

Four and half hours later Rachel and I got in a Uber car and laughed the whole way back to her house. “WHAT IS MY LIFE?!” I exclaimed. I am grateful to have moments like these in my life.

I feel lucky to have gotten to know these dudes a little more than just what you see onstage, and for them to see the real me and accepting the snort laughs and all. Ha. Fantastic humans that just basically fell into my life, those ones.

The following morning it was coffee in hand, and back on a plane. There are some trips that are just so perfect, that I never want to head back to reality. Ever.

The One Where I Went To More Andy Grammer Shows.

A short week and a half after seeing my string of Matt Nathanson shows, I was back on the road. Concert, recover, repeat.

It was time for another  Andy Grammer show. If anyone is keeping track, this was the 8th time I had seen him since December. Whoops.

The night prior I had picked up my friend Rachel who was visiting from Minnesota in San Jose. It happened to be her birthday, so we went out to dinner with Dawn L and Tracy who had driven her there, and then the two of us stayed with my friends in SJ for the night. We woke up and showered and hit the road (after getting coffee of course!) because it was a 5 hour drive down to Los Angeles.

We got to LA in decent amount of time, and decided to begin the line for the show since we wanted to be up close.

About a half hour after we arrived, I saw a car pull up to the venue and a guy came out to take a guitar and some other stuff from the person driving. I only saw the side of his face, but I told Rachel, “I’m pretty sure that’s Andy is there…” and then he drove off.

We were on “Andy watch” for the next 15 minutes or so. And then Rachel says, “Is that him walking down the street?” YUP.

I waited until he got closer, and then I started to approach him.
Rachel gave me a look, “You’re just going to go up to him?!”
“UH, YEAH.” I have no shame.

Andy was totally chowing down on some Chipotle chips out of a bag, but he saw us walking up and was all, “HI!” and gave me a huge hug. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh, we’ve met before.” I said laughing. Oh, you’ll catch on and will know me soon, Grammer. You will know… (Flash forward a month and a half later: he knows me now.)

I began immediately talking because I never not talk. He super awesome to his fans and just chatted right on back. He asked if I wanted to take a photo and I was all YES PLEASE and this is just my most favorite photo of us yet.

We only got a short minute with him though, because the dude that had come out earlier was all, “We must go inside now.” all grumpy and DUDE. There were only two of us. Chill.

I ended up being in Rachel’s photo cause the guy was all, “i’ll take a photo. Quick.” and I felt bad and told her to crop me out. Haha.

Jane got to the venue maybe 15 minutes later, and I felt bad that she had JUST missed Andy. Soon after, my friend Lois showed up.

We waited for the next few hours until doors opened, and then claimed our front row spots.

AJR opened. I decided to call them “crazy legs” because the lead singer had some serious dance moves and I thought he was going to hurt himself. Ha.

Andy came out not long after they did. Since it was a “home town” show, there was a surprise guest…who tweeted a few days before about the show and ruined the surprise…but it was RACHEL PLATTEN. She came out and sang “Fight Song” with Andy and a million trillion heart eyes. Love.

Andy played Kamikaze for the first time since releasing the recording of the song, and Jane and I nerded out hard core. SO GOOD. Happy seal clapping all around.

Andy was fantastic as usual, and then HE got a surprise himself. “Honey, I’m Good” went platinum, and his record label came out and presented him with a plaque. I may be a “new” fan, but I’m still so proud of the guy.

After the show was over, we headed over to LACMA, because I have always wanted to see the Urban Lights. SO COOL.

We then headed to Swingers for dinner, and I’m pretty positive I learned this night I’ve become super sensitive to quinoa. I felt ill for the next 14 hours and didn’t sleep at all. And I didn’t even want coffee the next morning. Sad face.

The next day was the beginning of Rachel and I heading up to Portland and Seattle to see Scars for my 30th birthday, but all about that in the next blog. Let’s keep this Grammer related.

Three weeks later, I drove back down south to see him again in San Diego.

Getting there proved to be difficult. During my drive, a fire broke out on the freeway, and I was in stopped traffic for HOURS. I wasn’t supposed to get to Jane’s place around 1:45, and I pulled up around 3:30. UGH.

I literally threw my bag in her apartment, changed my clothes and screamed LET’S GO. San Diego is another few hours away, and I didn’t want another repeat of being stuck in traffic like trying to see Matt the month prior.

We got to San Diego a few hours after we initially planned, but still had enough time to be fat kids and eat fat kid food. Deep friend potatoes and deep fried peanut butter pickles for the win. So disgusting, yet so delicious.

We had 2nd row seats for the show, so we went to settle in about a half hour before the show was to begin. I was wondering if anyone was going to stand during the show. For the first 3 songs we were sitting, and it was KILLING me. So the 4th song, Jane and I were like EFF THIS and stood for the rest of the show. Which was maybe a little awkward because the people in the row in front of us, and the row behind us were sitting. Let’s just say we got a lot of looks from Andy that night.

Speaking of looks, Zach saw me about 30 seconds into the first song and gave me a wave. And then I thought Eman, his drummer waved at me a song or two later, but I had never talked to him so I just smiled back because I was all, “No way he knows me.”

The show was SO GOOD. Andy ended up playing 20 songs, and even that long, I didn’t want it to end.

Towards the end of the set, Andy announces, “I’m gonna pick a few of you to come backstage. Tweet me.” and Jane and I were all SAY WHAT. And began to tweet. I may have sent him 4. Ha.

BUT! Andy only picked 5 people, and would you be surprised when I say that I was one? Of course not. Thank you, universe, for always looking out for me.

We were standing around waiting for the magical tweet. And then my phone buzzed with an “Andy Grammer is now following you” notification. “OH SHIT. Andy just followed me. I think this is about to happen.” I said to Jane. And then I might have jumped up and down for a minute…

A moment later, I get a DM saying to show my phone to his tour manager at merch, and she’d bring me backstage. Thank you, Grammer.

So we waited for a bit until she finished selling merch, and then we were ushered to the back. Right before we were heading back, Zach spotted me as he was breaking down the stage.

“HEY!”

“Hi!” I waved back.

“How are you? It’s good to see you again.”

“You too! I’m doing good.”
“Remind me what your name is again.”
“Joslyn!”

We started headed back and Zach just kinda points at the line with a confused look like, “What is this?” and then says bye.

So we head to Andy’s little dressing room, and we ended up being last of the group. Zach and Eman had walked down not long after we had and Zach was like, “YOU.” and we began chatting.

“I can’t remember how I know you. When did I last see you?”
“I was in LA 3 weeks ago.”
“At the El Rey?”
“Yeah. But the last time I talked to you was at that college show. The Cowchella thing.”
“Oh yeah. And you’re from down here?”
“No. Monterey. You said your grandparents are from close to there, right?”
“Yeah, from Castroville…what are you doing all the way down here?”
“Uh…I came for the show.”
His eyes went wide and he says, “I’m really sweaty, but you deserve this.” and gave me a giant hug. He’s so fun.

We continued talking and I told him, “I’m pretty sure I’m going to the Oregon shows in two weeks.”

“Oh man. I’m going to guest list you. You deserve it for all the driving you’re putting in. Contact me a few days before through some social media to remind me. Tell me I promised in San Diego. It’s Oregon, we don’t know anyone up there, so the list shouldn’t be full.”

One of the Oregon shows was free, and the other was only $30, but I wasn’t about to turn down free tickets. “I will totally remind you.” He hugged me again, and then we said goodbye.

As Zach was leaving, Eman spotted me and came up and said, “I see you everywhere!” and gave me a huge hug. I laughed. I’ve heard that one a few times before. “It’s good seeing you again. Thanks for coming!” and then he was off. So I guess that wave was to me. It’s the hair. I swear I’m recognized by the hair…

So then it was our turn to talk to Andy, and I totally forgot everything I had planned on asking him, but I did ask him to write out some lyrics that I wanted to get tattooed.

Um…he has total man handwriting, and there’s no way I can put this on my body. I’m sorry Andy but I can’t. And WHAT is that heart?!?! I love you, but woah.

We took photos with him, which I totally attacked hugged him in and apologized for, because I don’t know why I was so damn excited. Haha. Whoops. Sorry for the black and white. Major red eyed.

We then headed out because the fair was long closed by then, and we had to drive back to LA. Which took an extra 2 hours because they had 3 out of 4 lanes closed for construction. WTF.

Eventually we made it back, and Jane’s alarm to go to work went off a short 2.5 hours later. Ouch. Sleep is for the weak anyway.

I slept a few hours more, and then fully caffeinated myself before heading home. Totally worth it, as always.

The One Where Matt Nathanson Continued To Be My Favorite.

Matt Nathanson will be one of my favorite people on the planet forever.

Let’s talk about about another round of shows.

Matt is currently on tour with Train. Opening. No one likes when their favorite musicians open, because the set is just never long enough. But I’ll take what I can get.

The first show of the tour started in Wheatland. (Yes, at the same venue that Adam Levine gave me a guitar.) But because the universe always spoils me, Yvonne won passes to a pre-show in studio Matt performance.

The radio gig began at noon, and since it was a 3.5 hour drive and I didn’t know how traffic was going to be, I got up before the sun was even out to get ready and pack a bag and go.

Yvonne met me at a Starbucks (caffeeeeeine) and we headed over to the studio. It was a billion degrees outside, and felt just as warm inside. But they gave us free “people” waters (What is that? Why are you taking my photo with it, radio man?) and we settled in to watch the show.

Before the performance, Matt came out to do a little interview. Um. You should watch this because he references me. Stairwell performance for the win!

Matt and Aaron then played a short little set. INCLUDING A BRAND NEW SONG. %^^#$^%#%^

I just happened to start recording it, not knowing that it was a new song. Matt asked Yvonne and I from onstage if we liked it. I think I barely nodded and Yvonne was still processing and gave him a “huh?” face so he yelled, “I’m never asking you again!” HAHAHA.

As he walked past our seats after they finished playing he says to me, “You didn’t like it, did you?!” and I was all, “I’M PEEING MYSELF!” (Which meant I LOVE IT SO MUCH, but I don’t know if he got that.)

So we let all the people go before us because Matt gets chatty when we’re around, and once it was our turn, we walked up. Yvonne was in front of me and Matt just says, “I SAW YOU AT U2 ON MONDAY.” (They both went to the same show and saw each other in the crowd and stared at one another apparently, but only when the other wasn’t looking. HA.)

They went on and on about u2 and Matt had turned his back pretty much right when he saw Yvonne. Paul, Matt’s tour manager, gave me a look at this point and I kinda just shrugged and went, “The only cool thing I did Monday night was work…”

I think Matt hadn’t realized I walked up right behind her because he whips around and goes, “OH, HI.” and gave me a giant hug. I am invisible at times, I guess.

“Hi. I love the new song.” I say.

“YOU DO? OKAY GOOD.” he says a little too excited.

“Yeah. I can totally hear it on the radio. It’s a good summer song. Unlike the new Maroon 5 song…”
“Oh man, don’t even get me started on that song…”

He began to tell us more about the new album, and how he was glad he has a happy upbeat song like this one, because the rest of the album is “dark” (I love dark and depressing! Call me emo.)

We started talking about the tour and I told him I wasn’t happy with it. “I know. But Aaron and I are going to have FUN TIMES this fall. It’s gonna be small.”

“Like on the stairs?”

“Did you like how I snuck that in there?” he says, grinning.

I pressed him for more info on the fall fun, but he wouldn’t cave. Damnit.

Somehow the conversation lead to me mentioning Andy Grammer. “Can you tour with Andy? He is my new obsession right now.”

“I LOVE that kid. Did you know that when he was younger he wrote me a fan letter?”

“Seriously? What’d it say?”

“Something like ‘play my town!'”

We were talking FOREVER (this is why we went last.) The conversation somehow lead me talking about the next few nights and I had mentioned that we hadn’t bought tickets to the two SoCal shows, and we were just going to buy crap seats and enjoy it from the back.

“No. Send me a tweet. A DM on Twitter to remind me.”

“Okay, but I can’t send you a DM. You don’t follow me. That’s why you haven’t gotten any HEEEEY messages from me.” I joked around.
“OH. I’ll follow you! I’ll follow you.”

I decided to give him shit, because the dude knows you can’t send DMs without being followed. (A few years back he followed me for a very short period of time to ask me something via DM. Don’t play dumb, Nathanson.)

“Oh, like that last time you followed me for 12 hours?” I said laughing.

Matt just gave me a look. “Maybe I got jealous that you talk about other bands.” HAHAHAHA. I love him. Favorite forever.

Eventually the radio people wanted Matt back, so we took a photo, and then had a rushed goodbye. One of the DJ’s after came up to us and he said, “WOW. You guys were talking to Matt forever. And HE was the one that initiated the conversation. Are you like BFF or something?” and I gave him a you have no idea who I am look and laughed.

The station fed us so we ate lunch, and then we headed over to where the show was that evening, because the venue was about 45 minutes away. But that was after we sat in my car for 2 hours listening to Gold In The Summertime on repeat. I had told Matt as we were saying goodbye that I would know all the lyrics by 5pm, and hey…I kept my word. 😉

When we got to the venue, we met up with Tara and her step daughter Bridget. Yvonne gave them the tickets that she had won from the station since we already had front row, and they had lawn tickets.

We headed into the venue and waited for Matt to start. He looked happy to see us up front.

The second song that they played was Car Crash. Matt usually samples a cover song in the middle of it, and this night…I’m still rolling my eyes and laughing because he started singing and it was ANDY GRAMMER. He gave me the goofiest grin and he just knows how to keep himself as my favorite, doesn’t he? I love you, dork.

After Matt was The Fray. I had seen them before, once when Scars on 45 opened and once again when they opened for Kelly Clarkson. I wasn’t super into them that night, but since we had really decent seats we stayed.

Train was headlining, and man, Train fans are crazy. Especially when Pat says, “It’s the selfie song!” Holy seated show turning into general admission…

I was starting to get tired and a little bored in the middle of their set, and I almost asked Yvonne if she wanted to leave when all of a sudden Matt and Isaac popped out to sing a song with Train! Um. This was all sorts of amazing. (And the look Matt gives me in the middle. Stop.)

We didn’t want to get stuck in concert parking traffic, so once the encore started we peaced the eff out.

We headed back to Yvonne’s place in SF and crashed. We had to wake up before 7am though, because SF has lame street cleaning at 7am and I wasn’t about to get a huge parking ticket for not moving my car. Ugh. Sleeeep. I miss you.

Jane was arriving at SFO around 9am anyway, so we sleepily drove to the airport to get her, and headed directly to get coffee. From there went to find food, because no one likes the hanger.

We then headed out to find donuts (omg…donut bread pudding?!) and wandered around SF a bit. Hey, mural that was in the Modern Love video…and a CAT.

We headed back to Yvonne’s place to get ready for the rest of the day. Andy Grammer was having a Q & A on twitter this afternoon, and I took this opportunity to ask him a question regarding what Matt told me the day before. BEST. HASHTAG. EVER. GRAMMER.

Soon after, we headed down to Mountain View (while I kept saying DIIIICK) for show number two. But first, more coffee.

You know you are an addict when your coffee is twice the size of your friends’….

When we arrived to Shoreline, we hopped into line after picking up our tickets from will call. As we were waiting, I saw someone I knew from years past. JONAH. Long story short, but Jonah basically used to be my Matt. I went to so many shows, everywhere. We go way back. Him and Matt were actually best friends back in college, so it’s kinda funny making a full circle between those two. (Jonah sings back up vocals on one of Matt’s super early albums.)

I yelled his name and we chatted for a bit. I hadn’t seen him in years! He was even sweet enough to run all the way back to his car to grab me one of his new CDs. Jonah Matranga, you are still so lovely in my eyes. I missed you.

We settled into our seats once doors opened, and waited for Matt to begin. Jane had gotten the day off super last minute so she just bought a cheap lawn seat so she was far away from us, waaah.

I laughed during Car Crash, because where Andy Grammer was thrown in the night before, Matt sang u2 and gave Yvonne the same goofy look he had given me. Such a nerd.

Speaking of nerd, here we are taking a selfie during Matt’s set.

The same deal as the night before. We sat through The Fray, then waited through Train until after Matt and Isaac came out to sing “A Little Help From My Friends” and then we ran to our cars to not get stuck in concert traffic.

We made the short drive to my place, and then slept for 5 hours before waking up and hitting the road.

The next show was all the way down in Chula Vista (past San Diego, and about 7 miles North from the Mexico border.) plus it was Memorial Day Weekend, so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get down there.

And it’s a good thing we did! The drive from Monterey to LA was effortless, and we made fantastic timing. We stopped to drop off our stuff at Jane’s and to switch cars before heading to Chula Vista.

THE DRIVE WAS HORRENDOUS. We were stuck in traffic for HOURS. There was a moment where I thought we’d miss Matt’s set completely, it got so bad.

But, after 11 hours (when it should have taken 8) we arrived to the venue, right before doors. I headed to will call to pick up the tickets. And I had to laugh because I think I might have been the only one on his list for the night? It took a few minutes for the lady to find them, and when she asked under what artists name it was again, she said “Nathanson?” in a confused tone.

Eventually she found my lonely tickets sandwiched between Train and The Fray’s. Kudos to the M.A.N.

12th row for free is better than a shit seat for not free.

After Matt’s set, we wandered around the venue because Jane wasn’t sitting with us again. I feel like Mean Girls. “You can’t sit with us!” Hahaha.

We once again stayed until after the cover song fun, then peaced out. It had started raining too, so bye Chula Vista.

The following day was the last of round one for the tour. Luckily it was in LA, so we didn’t have to go far since Jane lives there, and we had drove back to her place after the Chula Vista show.

We all wanted Veggie Grill, so we waited until 11am when it opened to get food. And we didn’t mess around. Also not pictures, huge ass Dunkin Donuts coffees. #fatkidsontour

We headed back to Jane’s for a bit to get ready and then headed to the venue. We are cheap so we parked almost a mile away and hiked up to the venue.

I had never been to the Hollywood Bowl, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be a fan of it. Yeah, I was correct.

When we first got there, we went to find the box office to pick up our tickets. And since we were guest listed, we were told to pick up our tickets at the “artist entrance”. Um. The artist entrance was behind the Bowl and we had to literally walk through the line of tour buses to get there. I felt like a major creep and just held my breath that no one opened the door of the bus as I was walking past.

Once inside we hung out again, because we were sitting separately from Jane. I swear we’re friends. Ha. We were chatting and all of a sudden I see Jane and Yvonne waving and I turned around and Matt was walking up a set of stairs behind us. He gave me a thumbs up and a look, and I gave him one back to let him know we were good.

 

We had ended up with these weird box seats that I’m pretty sure were charity seats around $500 on Ticketmaster. Kudos to the M.A.N. part two! We also were sharing the box with Aaron’s wife and kept getting side eyed when singing. I didn’t realize it was her until she was leaving and I was all, “Your dress is cute!” and then I was thinking “Oh, why does she looks familiar. Oh shiiiit.” I am not a quiet singer so, uh, sorry.

In the box next to us was Andrew McMahon’s keyboardist, Zach. He also looked at us during Matt, but smiled. I thought he was just smiling because we knew all of Matt’s stuff, but when Matt’s set was finished he was all, “I KNOW YOU GUYS!” and we chatted for awhile about the Andrew shows he had seen us at. Super nice and rad guy.

We sat through The Fray and Train, and once again left early after the cover song to beat the rush. Four shows, and I never made it to an encore. Sorry, T. I’m here for M.

We headed back to Jane’s and went to bed not long after. Jane had to be at work at 5am the next morning, and Yvonne and I made the trek back home. We fully caffeinated ourselves to the point where I had her Google what the recommended amount of daily mg of caffeine is. We’re both alive so I guess we were okay.

To round out by going to the first four shows of the tour, I am going to the last four of the tour in just a few days from now (yeah this blog post is two months overdue.) So, report back on those in September? HA. 😉

The One Where I Saw All The Maroon 5 Shows.

I went an entire year and a half without seeing Maroon 5. Tickets went on-sale for the tour way back in SEPTEMBER, and my first show wasn’t until March 31, which made the wait seem epically longer.

But finally, after months and months and months of waiting, the day finally arrived for the first show!

SAN JOSE

First show on the list was San Jose. Since San Jose is close to me (about an hour drive) I was able to work a half day, before heading to the airport to pick up Heather, my Maroon 5 partner in crime since 2002.

From the airport, we headed straight to the venue because to hop into line. But first, a photo with Adam. 😉

We had general admission pit for all the shows, and we are spoiled, so we had to have our spot on the rail every night.

We also take way too many pictures together, so bare with me. You’ll be seeing my face a lot. :p

We hopped into line with a few girls that Heather knew, and waited until doors opened. And then it was fun to run through a huge ass venue and down multiple flights of stairs to claim the rail. Luckily I used to run all the time so my body puts up with it…ha.

We waited for the show to begin. I wasn’t super stoked on the openers this tour. First up was Rozzi Crane, and hi, I’ve seen you open for Maroon 5 on 2 other tours, plus when she toured with Parachute and Gavin Degraw so…over her. She’s a great singer, but she just doesn’t have that WOW factor to keep my attention.

I would have sat through her set twice to not have to ever see the next act though. Magic! was the next opener and OH MY GOD I’VE NEVER BEEN SO BORED IN MY LIFE. I have nothing nice to say about this band at all, so goodbye.

As soon as the lights dimmed, and the smoke machine kicked in, I was READY for Maroon 5.

They put on such a fantastic show. I will love this band always. The smile that is on my face during their shows…love. So much love.

OK. And I’ve never been an Adam girl at all (Jesse Carmichael for life) but I have to admit when he took his shirt off towards the end of the set the words, “Oh fuck.” came out of my mouth and I took far too many photos. I won’t even bother sharing the other photos from the night, because I know all you want are these. Damn you, Levine…

We looked at the merch after the set, and then headed on the road for home. We drove back to my place to sleep for maybe 5 hours, before waking up and heading out the door to drive the 7 hours to San Diego.

SAN DIEGO

This is what we refer to as “The Adam Levine Loves Us” night. 😉

We picked up Laila on the way down to San Diego, and then headed to UCSD for the show.

This venue was about half the size of the other shows, so I was stoked about a shorter catwalk.

A shorter catwalk also meant that Adam gave us a TON of attention. Like..got down on a knee and serenaded us, winked at us as he was strolling by, and gave us this cute little wave during This Love. Lovefest.

Betcha can’t spot us. 😉

I was pretty much on cloud 9. Look at our faces as he’s singing to us (and the crazy girls to the side of us trying to grab him.) I hate him. Haha.

The following day was a day off, and I’m glad we had a break to just relax and hang out.

Heather and I met up with my friends Jeanette and Briana and her freaking adorable daughter for lunch. We had a million free samples of beer, which probably equaled an entire beer by the end of our meal. So good.

Us. Drawn by Madison.

No tour would be complete without being fat kids, so after lunch Heather and I headed to Sprinkles since we were only a few miles away. And cupcakes need friends, so I got two…

We ran a few errands, and then pretty much were lazy and laid around for the rest of the day, cause hi, food coma.

LA

 

The following morning we got up early and headed to get breakfast before hitting the road. We got to LA early, so we stopped at Jane’s apartment to drop off our stuff and change clothes. Jane was in Anaheim for the weekend, so big kudos to her for letting us stay even when she wasn’t there!

We headed over to Inglewood to check out the scene.

We attempted to line up early, but they wouldn’t even let us park, so we headed down the road to a grocery store to meet up with one of Heather’s friends who the venue didn’t allow to park either.

We headed back an hour or so later and were finally able to park. And then we parked our asses in line for the third day after getting our tickets from will call.

There was drama with this bitch trying to cut and we all basically wanted to cut her, but we are nice ladies who just used rude words instead. I’m polite as fuck. 😉

Adam took his shirt off again. You’re welcome.

After the show we had a balloon fight, and then headed back to Jane’s to sleeeeep.

 

LA 2:

The following morning we woke up and headed to Swinger’s Diner for breakfast. Swingers is one of my favorite restaurants on the planet. Their breakfast wins.

We hit up Dunkin Donuts after because I am obsessed.

We headed back to Jane’s and then slowly got ready to make our way back to Inglewood, for LA shows number 2.

Same shit, different day. Adam didn’t take his shirt off this night, but Randy Newman and the Laker Girls came out for the encore, so that was pretty cool to see.

 

 

After the show we found this awesome ice sculpture. I wish I could forever freeze it and take it home with me.

We headed back to Jane’s and enjoyed sleeping in because we had a day off.

That day off happened to be on Easter though, so we had trouble trying to find breakfast as a place that didn’t have an hour wait. We ended up at Mel’s which isn’t the greatest, but they did have buckwheat pancakes which was pretty damn tasty.

We got ready and then packed up our shit and headed down to Long Beach to pick Monica up from the airport. Before we got her we made a Dunkin Donuts stop (Heather was now addicted as much as I) and then we headed to a K-Mart because she doesn’t have one near her and she wanted to check out Adam’s clothing line.

We had fun there. 😉

We headed back up to Burbank after we had Monica to check into a hotel. We were going to a taping of The Voice in the morning before the show in Anaheim, and we had to be there by 9:30am so we wanted to avoid morning traffic and be close by.

Heather and Monica love this mexican food place, so we ended up there for dinner.

We headed back to the hotel and took advantage of the business center. The internet is our friend. We eventually decided to go to bed since it was getting late, and we had an early morning and a long day.

THE VOICE

The last day arrived sadly, but at least we had a double dose of M5 for the day.

So, yeah. Some parts of The Voice are NOT filmed live, I learned. We had to arrive at 9:30am, and we did a TON of sitting around waiting. We finally were let into the studio around noon, and Maroon 5 performed around 12:30.

This was a super long taping, that was supposed to last until 6pm, so we knew we had to leave early to make it to Anaheim on time. The thing is…they don’t just let you leave. The studio is in the middle of the Universal Lot, and they won’t just let you walk off.

So we did what we had to do. Which was Monica faked sick. It was hard not to laugh, but at the same time we had to pretend to be concerned for our friend. So it ended up working, but they had bused us in from the Equestrian center a few miles away.

We were escorted off the lot by an employee, but then basically had to find our way back to my car, since the buses weren’t coming back until after 6pm. Luckily we had snuck our phones in (they pretty much harass you to keep it in your car) so Uber it was! And then we drove to Anaheim full speed ahead to make it early enough to end the last night up front.

Oh, and when we got to Anaheim, I experience Del Taco for the first time. What kind of Californian am I?

ANAHEIM

Before the show had started, we had seen signs saying that Lonely Island were recording on scene. We didn’t see any cameras or anything anywhere, so I basically didn’t pay attention to it.

After we claimed our spots on the rail one last time Fred, Maroon 5’s tour manager, came out to say because we hadn’t talked to him the entire week. We met this guy in 2003 and he has been putting up with our crazy ass shenanigans for all these years.

Rozzi played, and then after her set, a few guys walked out onstage. If you don’t know, Lonely Island is the group that Andy Samberg is in, and all of a sudden THEY WERE THERE. UM HI ANDY I LOVE YOU.

So that was a good surprise. And then Magic! came out and bored me to death again. I am so glad I am done with seeing that band.

The last show was bittersweet, but at the same time I was happy for it to be time to go home. As much as I love being on the road, after a few days it’s always nice to go home.

After the show Heather headed back to San Diego with Laila, and I took Monica to the LAX airport after the two of us experienced the worst service ever at Denny’s. I just wanted a smoothie…

I then went back to Jane’s to pass the eff out before having to drive home the next day.

No road trip back home is complete without Dunkin Donuts though. LA, I love you. Maroon 5, I love you even more. ❤

The One Where Andy Grammer Totally Won My Heart.

OH.

MY.

GOODNESS.

You guys. Andy Grammer. Let’s talk about him for a little bit.

I am done for. Totally in it for life. Won over. Head over heels. If you took what I thought was love for him when I first saw him in December, and then multiplied it by a million, you still wouldn’t have the amount of love I have for him now.

Yes, I am kicking myself for not paying attention to him the last 4 years. But it’s OK. I make up for lost time quickly. I’ll catch up. Starting with these shows.

SAN FRANCISCO

Not long after I got back from seeing Andy at the radio gigs in December, a headlining tour beginning in February was announced. I instantly went YES and bought a ticket for the San Francisco show. I chose the VIP option, because it came with a meet and greet, and my entire goal was to hug that man and tell him he was amazing.

I had informed Mallory about the show and she decided to go. Eventually she caved and upgraded to VIP as well. Andy, hope you’re ready for us!

Since Mallory and I had met and it seemed we were both normal, it’d be silly for us not to carpool since we live 20 minutes from one another.

I worked a half day at work, and then I swung by Mallory’s place to pick her up. We hopped on the freeway and headed to San Francisco. It’s amazing how fast a 2 hour drive goes when you have someone else in the car with you to tell stories to. (Sorry I talk a lot, Mallory.)

We arrived in SF and found parking close to The Fillmore. We headed off to Safeway to grab something quick to eat, before hopping into line.

We met up with Lois, who was already in line, and we froze for a little bit before we were let in at 6pm. I had met Lois through YouTube about 6 years ago and Mallory through Instagram, so what up people on the internet! Let’s be real life friends. (Social media is so crazy…)

So. The Andy VIP was only an extra $20, and it was worth every cent. We received early admission, a pre-show acoustic song, a signed poster, and then a m&g. And the m&g was the RADDEST m&g I’ve ever done: PHOTO BOOTH STYLE WHAAAT.

First, we were treated to our little acoustic show. He’s so damn good. Shit.

Then, they explained how the photos were going to work. There’s an ipad with a photobooth app on it. And you have 4 second between each frame to take your photo. So you legit kinda feel like you’re in a photobooth, even though you’re just standing in front of a white sheet. Ha.

Andy loves when people call out the poses, but told us that he’d call them out if we were scared. Hahaha.

We were given our posters as we were waiting in line, but they weren’t signed yet. So while you were saying hi to Andy, he’d sign them for you.

I walk up to him, and he opens his arms for a hug. GOAL COMPLETE. As he’s signing my poster I say to him, “So I’m totally late to your party.”

He gives me a confused look. I continue, “I didn’t see you for the first time until December. But you blew me away. As soon as this was announced I was all over it.”

“Thank you so much! I am so glad you’re here!” he says.

We get ready to take our photos and I look at him seriously and ask, “Can I jump on your back? For a piggy back ride? Can you handle that?”

“YEAH. Let’s do this.”

So we did it.

It was amazing. I don’t know what’s going on in that second frame though…

And, don’t you love that I had met him for 5 seconds and asked if I could jump on him? I have no shame. Haha.

We then headed towards the stage to claim a good spot for the show.

3 weeks before the show, Rachel Platten got announced as an additional opener. I hadn’t seen her since she tour with Matt Nathanson three years earlier, so I was super stoked.

At this point, Rachel and Craig were onstage sound-checking. When we walked up Rachel gave me a look and I waved at her. I could tell she recognized me but was trying to process from where. She pointed to my headband and said, “That’s cute!”

I said Craig’s name and he looked up. “DUDE. WHAT’S UP.” It had been awhile since I had seen him too. Last time was drunken dance party shenanigans on The Rock Boat in 2013. Haha.

Rachel is looking at me again. Then she looks at Craig. Looks at me. Looks at Craig. I hear her ask, “How do we know her?” and Craig says, “Nathanson.” Her eyes go HUGE and she looks back at me and says, ‘OMG HI HOW ARE YOU?!” as if it all came back to her.

I start laughing. “You talking about me up there? Who HASN’T met me at a Matt Nathanson show?!”

They continue sound-checking and I am ready. Let’s start. Now. This has already been so much fun and the show hadn’t even started yet.

Eventually the doors open and people start piling in. It got pretty packed.

Rachel performed first, and she is still the cutest thing I have ever seen.

A band named Paradise Fears played next. They opened for Parachute a few years back (the show I danced onstage at.) I had no thoughts on them then (seriously, read the blog) but they weren’t half bad this time. Cool. But I guess I didn’t care enough about them this night because I forgot to take a photo. Whoops.

Alex & Sierra were next. DUDES. Teenagers were going bananas over this couple. They were on some season of the X factor in the past few years, so they had a bit of a following.

They weren’t bad, but I didn’t love them. It could have been the pushy and really rude teenagers that ruined the experience for me though. Teens. Learn concert etiquette. Thanks.

FINALLY….ANDY.

OH.

MY.

GOODNESS.

He came onstage and opened with my one of my favorites, “Kiss You Slow” and the night progressively got more and more exciting.

I mean THIS…come ON. How can you not be entertained by this?! (I wish I recorded the entire song. The dancing just got better.)

I danced and I sang along to every song and I never once stopped smiling. I mean, I knew it was probably going to be fantastic, but full band just added a whole other level. They are SO FUN.

By the end of the set, I knew I had made the best semi-last minute decision about driving to Anaheim the following morning and going to a second show.

I originally kept going back and forth on if I wanted to go to Anaheim. I had switched my days off at work to cover a co-worker’s shift at work, and I had ended up with a 3 day weekend. Well. All signs pointed to go, so a week before the SF show I bought another ticket and VIP upgrade to the Anaheim one.

By the time we got out of San Francisco, and onto the road it was nearing midnight. Mallory and I were talking non-stop about the show. “OMG the dancing!”

Smitten. Completely smitten.

I was so excited and pumped from the show, that even though I got home around 2:30am, I just laid in my bed and watched that video over and over and pretty much fan girled for an hour before I fell asleep, because I knew that I got to see it ALL OVER AGAIN the next night.

ANAHEIM

I woke up a fantastic 3.5 hours later and I showered, caffeinated, threw some clothes in a bag and hit the road. (I’m a procrasti-packer, but I’ve taken so many trips I can compile an entire bag in 15 minutes.)

I hopped on the road and made my way to Anaheim. Since it was a Friday, I knew that I had to leave early or I’d be stuck in LA traffic for hours. Yeah. Still encountered about an hour of it. Sigh.

I arrived to Downtown Disney around 4pm. I went straight to the Starbucks and ordered the largest soy latte with an extra shot of espresso (what up free drink from bonus stars) and then headed to start the line.

The VIP had been moved to AFTER the show this night, because Andy was performing at a benefit show in the early evening.

Regardless, they still gave us the option of early entry if we wanted it (duh.) It was still about an hour and a half or so before early entry was to go in, and I asked security where I should line up. The guy gave me a look and said, “You know that’s not for a few hours, right?” and I gave him a look back like, “This ain’t my first rodeo, cowboy.”

So. I was a party of 1 for awhile. Jane arrived awhile later and I was happy to not be the only one in line.

We were let in a bit later and made ourselves comfortable in the front row.

Rachel came out and killed it again.

After her set, I had warned Jane to be careful of the Paradise Fears, because the night before the singer had jumped into the crowd and stuck the microphone in a girl’s face.

Yeah. I totally jinxed myself.

Sam, the lead singer asked for us to repeat something back to them. And as we were singing he jumped onto the barricade right in front of us. He had been looking at the girl to my left, so I totally thought I was in the clear. But then he asked us to sing back some more and BAM the mic is in my face. It happened so fast that I had no time to react, so hey, I’m singing OH’s into a microphone.

So Sam then asks me what my name was. “Joslyn” I say into the microphone. “Give it up for Joslyn!” Oh jeez.

Then Sam said, “You’re pretty brave. I’m a stranger and I just stuck my microphone in your face. What would you say if I told you I just recorded back everything you just sang into the mic?”

So…they played my oh’s through out the next song. There’s the video to prove it. They also played me saying “Joslyn” in a warped auto tuned way through out the rest of the set. It was embarrassing, yet a little bit awesome all at the same time.

Alex and Sierra were next, and they held my attention a little bit more this round, since they had a full band at this show.

Then. Andyyyy. Being front row center made the show 1000% more enjoyable for me. Zach (aka Drake with Dreads) sang my favorite line of “Miss Me” to me and threw me a pic. His keyboardist pointed to me later. Eye contact with Andy. AND he played a Maroon 5 cover. All the love.

After the set was over, we headed upstairs to do the meet and greet. Andy played a song acoustic again, and then we waited forever for our photos. But come on. How effing cute are the right two ones?!

I told him the last two days had been two of the funnest days of my life. Hash tag, true story.

We headed back to Jane’s apartment and went straight to sleep since it was after 1am and Jane was running a 10k in a few hours. Yeah, crazy. The things we do for concerts…

ANAHEIM. NIGHT TWO.

I woke up around 8am and Jane was already running. After she got back we got ready to go to breakfast before I was going to head home…only I didn’t head home.

Andy was playing a SECOND show in Anaheim, and I was considering going since I was already in the area. The only problem with that was it had been sold out for awhile.

I kept looking at Stubhub while drinking coffee over breakfast and weighing my options on if I should just go home or not.

While we were driving back to Jane’s, a Andy song came on shuffle. I said, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME. FUCK IT I’M GOING.” and bought the cheapest ticket on Stubhub. (The good thing about me procrastinating about it half the morning was that the price went down a ton, and I only ended up paying $13 over face value.)

I knew since there were going to be a ton of people doing the VIP meet and greet that I wasn’t going to be anywhere near the front row, so I took my time driving back down to Anaheim.

I ended up with a semi-decent view from the side of the stage. Since I wasn’t stuck right up front, I was on a mission to find Rachel and Craig after their set since I hadn’t talked to them yet. These nice teenagers even held my spot for me. (I might have lied and said I was going to the bathroom…yeah that was a really long bathroom line.)

Getting through the crowd was rough (seriously packed like sardines!) but I was on a mission to hug Rachel. I waited by the merch for a few minutes and then she came out and instantly hugged me. She gives the best hugs.

We talked for a bit and then others wanted to say hi so I stopped being greedy chatting her ear off. I turned around and there was Craig, so then we talked for a good 10 minutes.

Making weird faces cause being weird is more fun.

They had to leave not long after that to drive to Arizona for a radio thing they were doing the next morning before the show in the evening, so I had to say goodbye. But seeing those two…made my night. They are legit good people.

I found my way back to my spot halfway through Paradise Fears, and then waited through Alex & Sierra again.

When Andy came out, I knew I had made the right decision, because even from the side the show was fantastic. UGH BE STILL MY HEART. Andy and his band is magical.

I got back to Jane’s around 1am and passed out. She was running another race the following morning, and I was so passed out, I didn’t even hear her leave at 6am.

I woke up at 8am and pretty much had to shower and throw my stuff in the car and book it. Los Angeles metered parking. Blah.

I texted Jane goodbye, and then headed home. And I listened to Andy the entire 5 hours. Can’t get enough is an understatement.

Andy ended the tour playing an LA show a month later, but I had to skip the show because I was already going to see Maroon 5 in LA that night. Totally sucked having to choose. I kept changing my mind. Scars on 45 even had a show in LA that night. UGH. All my favorites in the same city on the same night?! SO NOT FAIR.

Jane texted me this photo while I was waiting in line for Maroon 5 which made me feel a lot better, and yet question my choice all at the same time. Those faces.

MERCED

Unknown to me, I was going to see Andy again 3 weeks after missing that LA show.

I almost posted this blog last weekend. And then last minute (and I mean super last minute) I got to see Andy again.

So while we’re talking about Andy, might as well just add this show in…

The weekend before was a crazy 1,500 drive, and I had been looking forward to having a day of doing absolutely nothing. I was doing a great job at doing nothing, too. I finally got motivated to stop being a sloth around 2pm and worked out. I went out for a run, and I left my phone at home. I got back a little after 3, and I saw that Andy had Instagramed something. (KUDOS to twitter text alerts, cause I would have totally missed it otherwise!)

Turns out…Andy was playing at a college in Northern California. I didn’t even know he was IN California, because the night before my friend had seen him in Minneapolis and had texted me a photo.

So out of curiosity, I Google this college, and it’s only 125 miles away. Google also led me to this that said they opened the show to the public. And tickets were on sale. Starting at 3pm. Well, shit. And yeah. It was called COWCHELLA.

I jumped in the shower and my thought process went like this: it’s 3:30pm. The concert starts at 6pm. I am 2 and a half hours away. There’s no way I could make it. If i did, I’d be in the back. Hmmm. I should just try. You can drive fast. Don’t expect to be up front. I can be ready in 10 minutes. OH MY GOD HURRY DON’T EVEN WASH YOUR HAIR.

So. I jumped out of the shower. Threw on the first clean shirt I saw. Grabbed a banana and a protein bar, and threw myself into the car. I had second day/hot mess runner’s hair, guys. And I didn’t even care. I was just determined to get to this show.

So I got to UC Merced around 5:30. Um. Yes I went 80mph the entire time. It helped that this college is the middle of NOWHERE, so no one got in my way. Nowhere. HI, cows. Lots and lots of cows…I get the Cowchella name now.

From the looks of it, I am 99% certain that I was the only non-student at the show. Being surrounded by teenagers was not on my list of things to do on a Saturday night, but I guess I now do crazy things for the Grammer.

I ended up being in the second row after maneuvering my way through the children. Not bad for arriving right before the show was about to start.

There were 3 opening bands. The first band, Almost Classy was actually pretty fun. I was sad to see them go after only about 20 minutes. Especially since the next band played SIXTEEN SONGS. Oh boy. Anyone remember the band Default? Well the lead singer, Dallas Smith is now a country singer. 16 country songs…oh save me. (He did bust out with “Wasting My Time” towards the end of the set, and that was my only 4 minutes of not wanting to die.)

Hellogoodbye was next, and well…I have no feelings towards their set. I was tired. Thirsty. I had to pee. Pretty sure I was focusing on NOT passing out because I was crammed into a 1 x 1 foot spot.

I spotted Andy & band on the side of the stage at this point and I told myself YOU’RE SO CLOSE, JUST HANG IN THERE. So finally at 9:50, they hit the stage and I automatically forgot how much my old lady body was hurting and sang the words to every song. I got a bunch of looks from the band because I was the only one singing the non-single songs. I wanted to yell I DON’T EVEN GO HERE (Semi-Mean Girls reference. Mean Girls forever.)

After the set, I headed towards the back because the show was sponsored by Rockstar and they were giving out free drinks. I may have left with 5. Thanks, for getting me through my drive home, Rockstar.

As I was about to leave, I noticed that Zach, Andy’s bassist, was talking to people. I love this guy, he is super fun to watch and may be my favorite person in the band (sorry I pick favorites) so I stood off to the side to wait to say hi.

Zach walks right up to me and says, “Hi. Why do you look so familiar?”
I start laughing. “Because this is the 7th time I’ve seen Andy in the past 5 months.”
“That must be why. What’s your name?”
“Joslyn.”
“Joslyn? Zach. It’s good to see you again.”

We started talking and I told him how amazing I thought the band was. I mean, Andy solo, cool. But his band takes it to a whole new level. “You guys are SO MUCH FUN. I’m booking the Train cruise next week because of you all.”
“Thank you so much! Wait, we were asked back on the boat? I didn’t even know! Wow. So do you live here?”
“NO. I live over 2 hours away, in Monterey.”
“I know where that is! My grandparents are from Castroville!” (a city about a half hour away) “What freeways do you take to get here?”
“…I don’t even know. Back roads. There were a lot of cows. I actually didn’t even know about this show until 3 today.”

I told him my crazy get in the car and go story and he was super stoked that I came. Some other people yelled at him to take a photo with him, so he walked away to take pictures, and then came back to talk to me. So nice.

We chatted for a bit longer, and then more people were asking for photos, so we said our goodbyes. “So…I’ll see you on the Train cruise?”
“I’ll see you before then! June 23.” Actually, right after this show an LA show got added for June 3rd.
“…Where are we on June 23?”

I laugh. “You’re playing at the San Diego fair.”
“OH YEAH. I actually knew that. June. I’ll see you. Man, I’m glad someone knows our schedule better than I do.”

We took a selfie before he left and he says, “Man. That came out so good.” Hahaha. Adorable.

He was off taking pictures with other people, and then a few minutes later he’s probably 15 or so feet away and out of nowhere just yells, “BYE JOSLYN!” Yup. Totally my favorite.

Andy was then out, but people were way crowdy at this point so I basically took this photo and that was that. Too bad there’s a huge shadow across my face. Anyone with photoshop skills feel free to fix that…

I headed back to my car and sat there for a few moments. Sometimes the feet need rest before driving two hours back home. It was near midnight at this point, so by the time I got home, it was almost 2am.

Totally worth it.

I’m literally counting down the days until June 3rd. And June 23rd. And the cruise (which Rachel got added to as well, which so made the booking worth it!)

Oh man, Andy Grammer. Just keep being amazing.

The One Where I Saw Scars on 45 A Few Times…And An Orangutan.

SAN DIEGO ZOO!
SCARS ON 45!

They are not related to one another, by the way. Ha.

The zoo was a day off we had between the end of a bunch of Matt Nathanson radio holiday shows, and this round of Scars shows. Conveniently, Matt’s last show was in the San Diego area, and Scars was playing San Diego just two days later. Destiny.

I LOVE THIS ZOO.

Such a fantastic day. Besides my snotty cold face nose. Thank you Lisa, for hooking us up with free tickets!

This orangutan was the best thing in life. Beth and I were laughing to the point of tears. I had the excuse of too much cold medicine. Her name is Karen and she is amazing.

After the zoo, we headed to check into our hotel for the evening. We decided to stay closer to the downtown area, because our other hotel was about an hour north. We needed dinner by this point, so I took Beth to the fantastic Lucha Libre. Thanks again to Lisa, because she introduced me to this place a few years prior. I still want to bathe in the cilantro sauce.

We headed back to our hotel afterwards to relax. Only Beth and I don’t know how to sit still, even after walking around the zoo for 8 hours. After only an hour in our hotel room we got up and walked across the street to the strip mall, just to give ourselves something to do. After Beth bought a pair of shoes and I window shopped, it was 9 or 10pm at this point, so we decided to try and settle down. We are not sedative creatures, like those adorable koalas.

SAN DIEGO

The following morning I woke up and still couldn’t breathe out of my nose. So after breakfast at the hotel, we checked out and off to find me some more medication. I ended up buying this nasal spray from Target. It burned like all hell, but hallelujah, I could breathe again!

I wasn’t full of much energy after that though, so I subjected Beth to just sitting around because I didn’t know what else to do in San Diego anyway.

Eventually we headed over to House of Blues where the first Scars on 45 show was that night. They were opening for Augustana and I was pretty damn excited about that, because I had been a fan of Augustana for years.

We bought our tickets from the box office, and then Dawn L and Tracy showed up. It happened to be Tracy’s birthday that night, so we decided to start the night off right and go to the bar for a drink.

I’m not sure if drinking while sick was a smart idea. But I did it regardless. Ha.

We also had dinner while we were there, and then headed out to hop into line. There weren’t many people there, and doors were soon. Hmmm. Jeanette met up with us and joked around and enjoyed the company until it was time to head in.

Once inside, we claimed our favorite spots: front row. Half of the band walked by at that point and came up to say hello. I had started using a new hair product, and both Chris and Nova told me I smelled good while giving me a hug. Note to self: shea butter forever.

We watched Scars from up front, then headed to the back during Augustana. And then I ran away from the girls when they played my favorite song “Fire”. (I had warned them that if Augustana played it, I’d probably disappear.)

We were talking to Scars at one point, and they had asked me how many Matt shows I had went to in the last week. “Is this the only show you’re seeing us at, or are you jumping back on the Nathanson tour, Joslyn?” Danny accused me of. THAT WAS ONE SUMMER TOUR. GET OVER IT!

Aimee was talking to us about the zoo, and we were telling her about the orangutan.
“Oh yeah, I saw that photo. I thought to myself, which one is the monkey, and which are the girls?” CHEEKY LITTLE BEEOTCH. HA.

We stayed until about the encore, then decided to head out a little early. We drove to our hotel in Pasadena, and after it was midnight and no longer Tracy’s birthday, we went to sleep.

LOS ANGELES

The next morning we checked out the complimentary breakfast at the hotel. There wasn’t much of an option so we just got a little something small to snack on to hold us over, (I just wanted coffee, and it came out of a machine and was horrible) and decided to just go to a restaurant for brunch.

We had a FANTASTIC brunch, and we decided to head on over to LA, because traffic would start soon and we’d rather already be in the area than stuck in a car.

BUT FIRST…cupcakes. It was a buy one, get one day at Sprinkles, and just like last time I saw Scars in SoCal, I wanted my fat kid fix. Nom nom nom.

We ended up at the Galleria in Glendale aka fancy ass mall. And as we were walking to Sprinkles, I saw Bethany Joy Lenz having lunch! I was a huge One Tree Hill fan so I was all oh em gee on the inside, but I wasn’t going to bug her because she was with her family. She’s so cute though.

I ended up getting a cupcake sundae and OMG. Every fat kid’s dream right there. I hated myself a little bit for it. We texted Amber that we were at Sprinkles because Amber is obsessed like us, and she basically replied back that she hated us. I think Beth got a photo of Amber with a knife saying she’d stab her. Hahaha. True friendship.<3

We wandered around downtown LA for a bit. We were sitting in a cafe and I can’t even remember how we had ended up there, but there were a lot of fancy cars and people on walkie talkies and signs saying something about filming next door.

As we were leaving, we asked the security guard what it was for, but he wouldn’t say. But then this other girl we passed whispered to us, “We’re filming the Mindy Project” and we were all like OH MY GOD AWESOME.

(No sightings of Mindy though. But it’s cool to know someone from the show was right in there, though.)

We headed back towards the area of the venue to find dinner. We ate at this place next door. Happy hour, what up. (Again, not sure if I should have had a drink while sick. I’m not such a smart cookie sometimes. But I just wanted a be a cool kid…)

After spilling BBQ tofu down myself (fail) we hopped into the forming line.

The band had guest listed us for the night, and we were informed that will call would open AFTER doors. Um…what?

Steve was awesome though and made sure that 1) we had our tickets BEFORE doors and 2) that the venue let us in before the doors even opened. Only us…only Steve. #spoiled

So once again we watched Scars from the front, then headed to the back during Augustana.

We chatted with the band on and off as they passed through. At one point Danny came over to hug me, and Augustana was playing a slow song I loved.
“I LOVE this song.” I said.
“Let’s slow dance,” we swayed for a moment. “Joslyn, we are horrible dancers.” HAHA. Agreed.

As we were standing around, Austin appeared! He wasn’t playing with the band during this tour, which made me sad, but since he lived in LA (he’s relocated to Nashville now) he came out to support the band.

I hugged that kid big time. We chatted for several minutes, but he had to head home early to get back to his wifey.

We stuck around until the end of the show. The band did not. So once again the merch was left in our possession. They better love us.

We loaded up the car and then stayed awake talking and laughing for probably much longer than we should have. Beth had to Uber it to the airport at something crazy like 5am. We spooned for a bit (aww, wifey love!) and then went to sleep.

SAN FRANCISCO

I think I died this day and lived to tell the tale. I woke to Beth already having been gone. Sniff. I was feeling like I had a headache, so I just laid on the bed for a bit. Then, I started feeling nauseous.

I took a shower and tried to shake it off. Dawn L was heading down to get breakfast, and I joined her so I could have toast to try to make my stomach feel better. Yeah, no. As soon as we walked into the lobby the smells of breakfast made me almost throw up instantly.

Well this was just fabulous. It was a 6 hour drive to San Francisco, and since I had met up with Dawn L and Tracy in SoCal, we were in separate cars, so I was driving up solo. This day would be torture.

We stopped at a Target before we hit the road so I could buy some anti-nausea medicine.

OKAY. So lets count how many times I had to buy drugs on this trip. 1. Cold medicine from Vegas to San Diego. 2. Nasal spray while in San Diego. 3. Emetrol for nausea for the drive to San Francisco. I WAS LIKE A PHARMACY. What ails you, cause I got it folks.

The Emetrol said to take it every 15 minutes until the nausea subsided, and halfway through the drive I had taken half the bottle and I was still feeling disgusting. The girls had stopped at a Starbucks for drinks, and I ordered a hot tea hoping that’d help. Nope. Two sips and I was done. I also attempted to eat half a banana just because I had NOTHING in my system, and that was also a bad decision.

Death was nearing. A friend had called me while driving, and I told her that I thought I was dying. She told me to find pineapple, of all things, because that apparently helps with upset stomachs.

We had stopped at a rest area, and I almost decided to drive home instead of to San Francisco at that point. I was feeling ALL THE NAUSEA and I was sweating and getting the watery mouth. Tracy told me I looked horrible. I told her I needed to find pineapple somewhere.

“We have dried pineapple!” Dawn L said. (OMG!) They gave me a handful, I took a deep breathe in, and back on the road we went.

I was so afraid to even try it. But I slowly nibbled on those pineapple pieces and…IT WORKED?! MAGICAL FRUIT I LOVE YOU.

Once we got to San Francisco, I felt like the nausea had even happened. I was still reluctant to eat anything though. I swear I had the plague of some sort. BUT I WAS ALIVE.

I don’t know how I stood during that show, considering I had 5 pieces of dried pineapple and a half bottle of water the entire day. I am such a fucking trooper.

Afterwards, we decided to not stay through Augustana. This was the day California was supposed to have “Hella Storm” and I wanted to drive home before it hit, or my health started going more downhill.

The band had wanted to start driving to Portland that night, but we called them all crazy and told them not to do it. Danny asked me how long of a drive it was for me. “You’re a machine. If Joslyn can drive all these hours, so can we.” I think this does describe me well. Especially this trip. But still, don’t drive to Portland.

We said goodbye to the band before we left, and that we’d see them on The Rock Boat in about 6 weeks.

This is apparently how Aimee really feels about me. :p

The band left at the same time as we. They were walking out with us, and as we were leaving, Aimee was carrying a guitar that wasn’t in a case.

“Oh, is that for me?” I joked.
“We’re not bloody Maroon 5, Joslyn.” Hahaha. (Adam gave me a guitar a year and a half ago.)

We said another round of goodbyes, and then parted our ways. Luckily, Hella Storm held out until the following morning. I attempted to go to work the following day, and got sent home after 2 hours of arriving. My superpower machine-ism ran out had an expiration date, apparently. As crazy as the end was, I’d do it all over again if I had to.

The One Where I Went Everywhere To See Scars on 45 (Plus A Little Matty Nay Too)

When I say everywhere, I pretty much mean it. Vancouver, Portland, Napa, a house show, Los Angeles. I pretty much had the entire West Coast covered in a span of 10 days.

November marked when I got my life back again. I had quit my second job (still think that was the best decision I’ve made for myself in the past year) and I ran with the freedom.

The first stop of having freedom was…Canada!

I had just seen Scars on 45 a few weeks earlier, and I was pretty damn excited to be seeing them again so soon.

I flew up to Portland the day before the first show, and rented a car to drive to Leah’s place in Seattle. (That’s the Golden Gate Bridge/San Francisco from the sky.) But first, when in Portland…VOODOO DONUTS.

Look at that beautiful piece of delish.

I also hit up a record store in Portland that I knew of from attending an in-store at a few years prior, to see if they had anything I might like to own. (They didn’t) But I found fall outside the store.

Look at all those beautiful colors! You don’t see that in California.

It was time to head up to Seattle. It’s about a 3 hour drive, and I needed a coffee pit stop about halfway through. I had taken an exit to go to a Starbucks, but as I exited, I accidentally found DUTCH BROS COFFEE. I LOVE YOU PACIFIC NORTHWEST.

It missed me as much as I missed it.

Finally after trekking many miles in the rain, I arrived in Seattle. Leah and I headed out soon after to dinner. All I wanted was vegetables after a doughnut for lunch, so she took me to Veggie Grill. Long live the B Wings salad. So delicious.

Afterwards we ran a few errands, then headed back to the apartment to hang out for a bit before going to sleep.

VANCOUVER

The morning of the Vancouver show Leah had to work for a few hours, so I decided to play tourist and drive around Seattle for a bit while I waited. The plan: The Seattle Library. For some reason I had stayed in a hotel right down the street before and had NEVER been there. Oh em gee. I never wanted to leave!

They had a coffee shop and everything. Just put up a tent and let me live there. Please.

After geeking out, I headed to Leah’s work to pick her up on the way up North. We stopped at some random taco place for lunch, then we crossed the border a bit later. Putting that passport to use!

It was POURING RAIN in Vancouver that day, so sadly I did not get to see all that I had planned to see when I was there. We did go to the Vancouver Library though. (I know. I know. Two libraries in one day? Way to be a total nerd, Joslyn.)

That library was ginormous. And it had a little strip-type mall attached to it. So we wandered around a bit, then sat in a coffee shop since we couldn’t walk around outside. Boo.

An hour before doors, we stopped by the venue to see if we could pick up our Will Call tickets. We ran into Steve who basically was like, get in here, so we hung out with him while the band did sound check.

“I need to ask you a favor.” he said to me. “Is there anyway you could drive Austin to Portland with you tomorrow?” Um, what?

Long story short: their rental didn’t fit the entire band + Steve + Austin + the equipment. I explained that I wasn’t staying in Vancouver that night, because I had to get Leah back to Seattle so she could work the following morning. Poor Austin. Just trying to get passed off to me. Ha.

The band was still doing sound check so we couldn’t get their input on the situation. Steve and I decided that they’d just load up the (tiny ass) rental I had with as much guitars and amps as I could fit. (It’s nice to know they trust me with their equipment.)

After sound check Austin yells across the room, “JOSLYN. ARE WE ROADTRIPPING?” and I had to inform him we were not. Long story short again, he basically decided to just come along for an adventure with Leah and I that night and also crash at her place. “Alright. Let’s do this. We’re gonna road trip. Tell each other all of our secrets and become BFF.”

I hadn’t ever really talked to Austin before at the past shows besides a few words here and there, so I was hoping he wouldn’t think I was a complete weirdo since he was subjecting himself to a sleep over and being in a car with me for 6 hours. Ha.

So, the show. It was a little disappointing because maybe 30 people max showed up. I felt bad.

During Austin’s set, Leah and I were the only two standing.

I don’t know what was more awkward. There only being 2 people standing…or everyone else sitting off to the sides in the dark.

Scars played next and still, we were the only 2 standing. I can’t even imagine not being there and them having no one stand at all. It made me sad. I don’t understand people.

After the show we loaded as much as possible into the car (I think we fit 2 guitars, a drum symbol, and an amp in the backseat. TINY rental, man. The trunk of my car could fit this entire car in it.) and headed to pick up Austin’s things at the hotel.

As soon as he got back into the car, the fun begin. THAT DUDE. He is hilarious. The first thing out of his mouth as we began driving was, “OK. First kiss stories. Joslyn. GO.” I knew this was going to be fun trip.

When we got to Leah’s it was late so basically we all passed out. But not before Austin decided how many squares we each got to sleep on. (Leah has this HUGE COUCH that has sectional squares. I barely take up 2 squares. Her couch is 6. You could literally sleep 4 people on that sucker.) “You can have those 2 squares. Maybe I’ll share this other one. You can have 2 and a quarter squares.” That kid. Seriously. I think I fell asleep laughing.

PORTLAND

The next morning we sat around chatting before Leah sadly had to leave for work. Austin and I hopped back into the little car and headed off to find coffee. We ended up just getting coffee at a gas station since we were there, and we saw a sign for pumpkin coffee and were all over it. BUT THERE WAS NO PUMPKIN. 😦

It rained the entire way. I would have probably been sad and miserable and whiny the entire time if Austin wasn’t in the car with me.

We basically talked about EVERYTHING those few hours. From fun to serious. We covered it all. Thanks dude for being a legit awesome person and listening to some heavy shit. And for making me laugh.

At the end of it all, he picked up some quirks of mine when I tell stories. “I LOVE THE WAY YOU TELL STORIES.” he exclaimed. He imitated me and I practically laughed until I cried because well, it was the truth. Isn’t it funny how you don’t notice something about yourself until someone points it out, and then it’s TOTALLY OBVIOUS AFTER? Yeah.

So finally we arrived in Portland and met up with Dawn L and Tracy. They flew up the night before after work for the show. The venue was connected to the hotel we all were staying at that night, so we dropped off the guitars and such and then headed out to find food.

We ended up at this raw restaurant named the Lotus Flower. Which Tracy made fun of Austin and I for “fan girling over hippy food.” WHATEVS. That place was amazing. Then we undid the good by going and eating fro yo after. Ha.

We were all full and happy. We dropped Austin back off at the hotel, and then us girls decided to roam around Portland for a bit. We went to Stump Town for coffee, and then somehow we ended up at…VooDoo Doughnuts. HAHA. Oh doughnuts. You are the death of me.

We are evil so we bought a dozen to bring to Scars later. Muahaha.

Luckily, the Portland show was PACKED. And a ton of fun. They let us in early again to watch sound check and set up merch. And we had access to raid all the alcohol backstage…which we took full advantage of.

Dawn L and I took Tracy’s order, then we left her to keep an eye on merch while we went to grab the drinks. While making them, we watched Austin literally rip apart the doughnut shaped like a voodoo doll.

“Dude. What did you do to that?! Everyone is going to be all, ‘what happened to the doughnut?!” I said to him.

“Be Danny. Ask me what happened to the doughnut.”

“What?!”

“Just ask me what happened to it.”

“What happened to the doughnut, Austin?”

*Shoves a huge piece in his mouth* “Tracy did it.”

*I just give him a look*

HA. You see? Only Austin…

The show was awesome. The complete opposite of the show the night before in Vancouver.

Afterwards we all hung out in the bar area. I finally gave up around 2am because we needed to wake up at 4:30, and I needed some sort of sleep.

At 5am we headed out to return the car and to get back to the airport for our 6:30am flights. I slept the entire 2 hour flight because hi, I basically took a nap before headed to the airport.

I had contemplated just staying awake and pulling an all nighter, but after I got off the plane, I drove an hour home from the airport, showered, and then worked a half day at work. I dunno how I got through that shift. It must have involved multiple ounces of caffeine. Oh…and the doughnut that I had brought back with me. Don’t worry, it was in a plastic baggie, I didn’t just throw it in my backpack. Doughnut quota for the year met in just 3 days…

When my shift at work ended, I headed home, washed my face and went straight to bed. It was 8:30pm. No judging my old ass. I needed sleep.

NAPA

I only worked one work day before I was off for another fun weekend. Ha. I’m telling you, I ran with that freedom!

The day finally came when I got to witness a show with Scars AND Matt. Together. Again. BE STILL MY HEART.

This show was a part of Live in the Vineyard, which you can only win your way into. This year they had opened up a small amount of tickets to be purchased to benefit the Napa Earthquake Relief Fund, which had just occurred a few weeks prior.

So, this benefited Napa and it benefited ME. Win for all.

There was a HUGE group of us that decided to go. Nina, Caroline, Yvonne, Beth, Sam, Dawn L, Tracy, Tara, myself. Half of us got there early. Like, SUPER early. Train was headlining the show, and I had warned everyone that their fans are nutty and would show up early. And what do you know? The first fans arrived not even an hour after us. (Yes, we beat the Trainiacs.)

So. We wait and wait. Eat food. Wait and wait. Play Cards Against Humanity. Wait and wait. But when I’m with these girls, the time together always goes quickly, because we have so much fun!

Soon, we found out that our tickets were subjected to JUST THE BALCONY. That thing was way the fuck back there.

Lucky for us, the guy who was the head of operations was talking to us a few hours before doors opened. It was mentioned that we had been there since 10am and had to sit all the the way in the balcony.

“Oh, that’s not going to happen.” he said. Long story short, he reserved the 4th row for us.

10am automatic. HA.

If anyone finds that guy, give him a big hug from me. He saved our day.

So, we watched Scars on 45 and their set was FANTASTIC. Austin happens to be a classically trained cellist, and brought out the big guy for the show. SO BEAUTIFUL.

After Scars, we just decided to stand up against the stage for Matt. The security didn’t care, so hey, what’s up front row?!

Train was the headliner for the evening. I feel like we’ve seen Train a million times over the past year. Pat Monahan must think, “These bitches always up front at my shows, but bitches don’t know the words to my songs” hahaha.

After the show we decided to go and have dinner together since it was such a short trip and I didn’t get to see everyone for long. Dawn L and Tracy were in a different car and I got a text that their car had died a few miles away. Luckily they were parked, so I picked them up and we left it there for the night to deal with a tow truck the following morning, since all the ones that evening wanted a zillion dollars.

HOUSE SHOW

The following morning we had big plans. Dawn L and Tracy had booked a house show!

First we needed to deal with Dawn L’s car issue, so we drove to her parent’s house so she could borrow one of their cars so she could drive BACK up to Napa to deal with a tow truck. She left us there, and then Tracy and I assist the situation of the backyard, where we were going to have the show.

We went grocery shopping for some dinner items for after the show, and then went back to arrange the back yard for everyone.

It was weird waiting for the band to show up. We’re used to waiting in line at venues, and here we were at a house waiting for the band to come to US.

This house show might be my favorite show I’ve ever experienced. I mean, even the DOG liked the band. 🙂 The intimate setting of it all helped to make it an unforgettable day. I don’t have many words for it except if you ever get a chance to book a house show, DO IT.

Dawn L and Tracy had made it a point to invite a bunch of friends that hadn’t seen the band before. And everyone LOVED them. I think everyone bought an album.

The band stayed afterwards and the WCM threw them a dinner party. It was awesome being able to just sit around and chat for a bit.

Sadly the night had to end eventually, but my heart was so happy. I love those people more than words can express.

The band was heading back UP to Seattle for a radio gig, and they didn’t want to fly their huge heavy box of merch with them. So. Into my trunk it went, because I was seeing them again 4 days later. See how awesome I am? I just drive band members and guitars and merch around. Hire me. I can be your professional driver. Ha. 🙂

The following morning I stayed and had breakfast with the girls, and then headed home. I only had one day to rest, a day of work, and then BACK to the crazy life on tour!

LOS ANGELES

I survived the 2 days off, and I drove myself and the merch down to LA. It was Veteran’s Day, so yay to paid day off that give me an excuse to see my band one more time.

I met Jane at her place and we hung out for a bit before we had to head over to the hotel where the show was at to drop off the merch. There was a ton of traffic and I was informed to call when I arrived, but low and behold, the band was stuck in traffic too, so Jane and I illegally parked in a loading zone until the band arrived.

We dropped off the goods (Chris watched me struggle pulling this 40 pound box of merch out of my trunk and then walk up a hill to hand it off to him and just said, “Oh. That giving you a workout?” JERK) and then headed off to find a legal parking space. We still had an hour or so until doors opened, so we ended up just hanging out in my car until doors, then we headed back to the hotel down the street.

That hotel was SWANKY, and Jane and I totally felt out of place waiting for it to begin. But I am a lady and expected this so I wore a dress. But I also wore cat tights, because…yes.

When the band walked out, Danny almost immediately pointed to me and says, “I LOVE those tights.” (Pretty sure he lurks the Instagram) There was another point of the show where he was explaining a song, and joked around that it was about cats. Jane and I laughed and Aimee looked over and kinda pointed at my legs. Yes. Cat night at the Scars show!

I felt bad for the band, because they all had a case of what they called, “the man flu” even though Aimee had it to. Or maybe it’s because their voices were much deeper than normal? Manly? Either way, being sick is not fun.

Even though they had told me to avoid them, I still went in for long hugs and squeezes while saying goodbye because there is no way I drove 5 hours each way to not have a proper goodbye. (Even though I was seeing them again less than a month later, haha.)

Love those people.

Jane and I headed back to her place and immediately went to sleep, because she has to leave for work at 5am every morning, and I was driving the 5 hours back home and then working myself. (Um yeah. Crazy long day.)

BUT! Before I left the LA area, I finally went TO A DUNKIN DONUTS IN CALIFORNIA. And note to self: no one is at Dunkins at 5:30am. In and out and on the road in 5 minutes. BOOYAH.

Caffeinated, I hopped on the road for a sunrise easy drive home, and back to reality.

Part two of the MN summer tour. Also, my elbow touched Tom Hanks.

Part two of the summer shenanigans. The Los Angeles edition.

Originally, I had decided to not attend the LA show because while trying to buy tickets, no decent ones ever came up. Or, I am just spoiled when it comes to seating, and refused to sit anywhere further than the first 5 rows. Your pick. Scars on 45 added a San Diego show on that day, so, naturally I bought a Scars ticket and all was well. But then one night I was checking Ticketmaster “just to see” and a second row aisle seat popped up for Matt. And I freaked and bought it without even thinking. Then had the decision of having to choose.

Ultimately, Matt wins every time, so sadly I gave away my Scars ticket and went to see Matt. And it was SO worth it…My elbow touched Tom Hanks, guys. I’ll get there in a minute.

I drove down to LA the morning of the show, and met up with Jane and Trevor outside the venue. We chatted unil doors opened, and before the show started, then headed in to watch Mary Lambert. OMG, you guys. I adore her. I want to be BFFs. She is exactly like me, as she talks too much and snort laughs and has tattoos and wears the cutest dresses! LOVE HER.

Matt was next. (He closed in SD, but it was annoying me that all my shows so far were Gavin closing ones so far…) We were waiting for him to begin, and I was talking with Jane and over her shoulder I see TOM FREAKING HANKS. “Oh my God, turn around.” is all I could say when I spotted him. And Jane goes, “Why?” and I just reply with. “TURN. AROUND. NOW.” Haha.

Tom Hanks sat two rows behind me. Tom Hanks laughed at every joke Matt said. Tom Hanks DANCED TO FASTER. (That vision will never leave my brain.)

I did not take that photo. But hi, I could have seeing as he sat right behind us.

To make the set even better, Richard Marx came out to sing a song with Matt. Um. Yes.

After Matt’s set, Tom and his wife were heading out, and Jane told me he was walking up our aisle. I was standing there, and then I felt my elbow touching something and I turned around and OH HI TOM HANKS. I was too starstruck to say anything (and what do you say to Tom Hanks? “Hi, you are amazing but you obviously know that, and I love your son and his acting as well, am I talking too much? Probably. Your wife is pretty.”)

Everyone else decided to go wait in the Matt m&g line, but I decided to watch Gavin for some reason. It ended up being me watching Richard Marx stand in the front row and take a million selfies with his lady friend. For real. He took SO. MANY. SELFIES. It was a little distracting.

The girl next to me was drunk and decided she was going to be my friend. She kept holding my hand and trying to get me to dance and deep inside I was screaming HELP. When she wasn’t looking I ran away. Haha.

I waited in the m&g line the last few Gavin songs, and then quickly said hello to Matt. (The line was TREMENDOUSLY long.) He asked me how I liked the show and all that came out of my mouth was, “DUDE, TOM HANKS IS HERE.” and he was all, ‘Oh yeah. He came to see me. I’m friends with his wife.” like it was nothing. I fessed up that I watched Tom more than I watched him (haha, I ain’t gonna lie…) and then headed out.

I stayed with Jane that night and the next morning we decided to make a giant pancake in a crock pot (sorta succeeded) and be lazy all day, before heading out for dinner and then seeing Scars play at Hotel Cafe.

I had never been to Veggie Grill before so Jane took me there to introduce me to the magic. Jane and I got a few things to share, and then we ate it all. SO GOOD.

After, we headed over to Hotel Cafe cause we had nothing better to do. The band arrived not long after we did and they all seemed surprised that I was there. Summer of surprises? After the initial shock of me being there, I was greeted with huge hugs and love.

Quote of the night, thanks to my girl Aimee. She was walking in with a bottle of Jagermeister, and she asked, “Do you want some?” and I was all, “NOOO. You do not want to see me on Jager. I would we dancing all over you guys. Jager makes me crazy.” I got a look from her and then she goes, “Yeah. 4 or 5 shots and I’m throwing up.” “FIVE?! Two shots and I’m done. I’m a lightweight. Lightweight, but that makes me a cheap date…” to which she just says, “I’ll let Danny know.” HAHAHA. Yeah, yeah…tease me about my little crush.

We were standing outside and Danny told us to come inside and watch sound check. The staff was being douchey and kicked us out, and Danny ran after us to ask where we were going. Steve told us to come listen to some new songs in the van instead, (“This could be creepy you know. Hey guys, come into the van and hear new songs!”) and then walked us back inside the venue. I’m sure the staff hated us, but I don’t really give a shit.

After the show, we hung out and chatted with the band for a bit.

“Why the fuck is Matt Nathanson your phone background and not us?!” – Danny to me
“Because Matt is her jam.” – Aimee to Danny
Truth.

We attempted to take photos. But we were in a dark alley. So that kinda failed.

And then headed back to Jane’s since we were getting up at 5am the next morning for part three of the summer tour…

An inspirational and music mashup weekend in Los Angeles.

I spent a weekend back in May in LA attending two completely different events: a Jillian Michaels talk, and a Parachute concert.

JILLIAN MICHAELS

Alright. So as stated in this post, I have all kinds of crushes on Jillian Michaels.

Last year, she came to San Jose on her Maximize Your Life Tour, and I jumped at the chance to attend. When she announced she was doing the tour again this year, I wasn’t planning on going (it was the same talk, just in different cities) but this time around there were MEET AND GREET PACKAGES. Well. That changed my mind in about 2 seconds flat, even if I had met her 3 times before! Love that bitch.

I had had a conversation about Jillian with my friend Jane and our love for her while we waited for a Matt show to start a few months prior, so I immediately texted her “OMG JILLIAN MICHAELS IN LA” when I read the news. We planned to spend the big bucks and buy the VIP package. Woman crush wins all my money.

I drove down to LA the morning of the talk and dropped my things off at Jane’s. We hung out for a bit, and then headed over to the venue. The talk was late, 9pm, so it was weird having a ton of down time before it started.

Jillian could read the phone book out loud and I’d be mesmerized. Even though I had heard the same talk last year, I was still super sucked in. She also interacts with the audience quite a bit, and she is funny. And drops F bombs as much as I. Oh girl crush girl crush girl crush.

After the talk was over, we waited in a line of VIPers and by the time we got our turn, it was after midnight. Well worth the late night.

I walked up to her and automatically got a hug. “What is your name? Hi, Joslyn. It’s nice to meet you!” I told her this was our fourth time meeting and her eyes went wide. ‘Where else have I seen you?” and I spurted out the past 3 events. They were being really pushy and trying to get me to go away (give me a full minute, I paid a shit ton for this, jeez!) and I had never said THANK YOU to her ever, so I ignored the “keep moving” and told her, “I just have to say you are amazing. You are such an inspiration. Thank you.”  She grabbed my hands and thanked me, hugged again and then we were off.

I love her. #1 girl crush always.

PARACHUTE

The following morning, my friend Lois got dropped off at Jane’s apartment and we headed on down to Bellflower.

The event was at a highschool, and never again will I attend something like this. Ever. I definitely out aged everyone (yeah, hi, I graduated high school 11 years ago…) and it was just annoying screaming and crying girls all day long.

There were these teenagers who are “famous” for posting videos on Vine and YouTube or something. And girls were going batshit crazy! Like…these aren’t celebrities, these are kids who are popular for posting 15 second clips and are pretty, calm yourself!

We sat through hours upon hours of excruciating “appearances” by these people. Parachute of course went on last and I wish that we had showed up 10 minutes before their set, because by the time they went on, all the little teenagers had pretty much dispersed.

It was worth it though. We walked into the meet and greet and straight up to the boys because the fan girls were throwing themselves on the other guests. Weird. This entire day was WEIRD. So we had a selfie party.

I asked Will, “What the HELL is going on outside, because I have no idea?!” and we all laughed because none of us had the slightest idea.

I was surprised to see that Nate wasn’t there. I found out later it’s because he left the band to go back to school. OK. Let me just say…I AM STILL DEPRESSED. No offense, but Nate was my homeboy in the group and he made the band for me. It’s been months and I still get frown-y faced whenever I see a photo of him. I never got a goodbye and just…boo. (I’m seeing Parachute again this Sunday, so I will always support the remainder of the guys. Always. I’ve put 5 years of dedication into this band and I don’t plan on quitting.)

After their set, I dropped Lois off on my way north and drove the 5 hours back home. I was sunburned and dehydrated and sometimes I wonder how I still keep up with the crazy after all these years. Ha.