Wavves!!

Yesterday was quite possibly the weirdest day ever.
It started with my mandatory reporting for Jury Duty.  When I got the original jury summons last October, I had to have it rescheduled because of Cassie and Mark's wedding.  The rescheduled date wasn't a problem until we had to reschedule a mandatory software training at work in January.  I reported for that date but I informed the staff that I had mandatory training at work but I showed up because of the reschedule.  They told me I could reschedule again but I HAD to report or else!  Just kidding - but I really did have to report or else I would've been in trouble (apparently).
Lo and behold - my jury duty was scheduled the same day as Wavves!  So I made a day of it in the city.
I had anticipated being at the courthouse all day but I was luckily let go at lunch time so I rolled around Atlanta - stopping at Cameli's for pizza, killing time at UO (getting a wardrobe update for that night and good thing I did because it was hot!) and meeting up with Michael for some coffee talk



And then it came time to hang until showtime.  I settled in to the parking lot of Book House until they opened (getting my eyebrows wrangled next door) and once the doors opened, I planted myself at the bar and had a few dark and stormies.  Lauren was kind enough to meet me once she got off work and I entertained myself by talking to this guy who had his California driver's license on the bar.  I asked him where in Cali he was from and he told me that he was actually from Hawaii and we started talking about island living and all that fun stuff and I honestly had no idea it was the lead singer of FIDLAR that I was talking to.  WHAT



So - that was crazy.  FIDLAR was AMAZING.  So were the Cheatahs.  I wish I had more cash so I could've bought CDs from each but I spent most of my cash on booze and some Wavves goodies.

Wavves was INCREDIBLE.  The energy was so much better than last time, I have to admit.  Last time was awesome, don't get me wrong but this time was even more awesome because this happened



I was able to get way better photos than last time (despite having to crop out some guy's ridiculously large and obtrusive afro - which you can see here) and overall, it was just fucking awesome!!  I mean, we all know how much I LOVE Afraid of Heights and experiencing those songs live was pretty amazing.

I also ran into my most FAVE BLOGGER EVER - Matt T.  He let me know they were hitting up the Clermont - which you can read about here.  I kinda wish I had stayed but I was really exhausted since I got up so freakin early for jury duty...All in all, it was a great fucking night!  Thanks Wavves, FIDLAR and Cheatahs!  You guys were great!

Check out more Wavves photos here!

The End of an Era - The End of MCR

The day has come for all of us secret and not-so-secret Killjoys / MCRmy members - My Chemical Romance has broken up.

My old man let me know that it was the top story on BuzzFeed's side bar on Saturday.  I had to read the article to make sure it was true.  I didn't want to believe it.  I still don't.  It's devastating.  I've turned my not-so-secret-anymore Killjoy Tumblr into a mourning / memorial page as I reblog and post random MCR love letters and messages from the incredible fans who have taken the time to make some really awesome GIFs







And so on...

But the burning question is: WHY?  Why all of a sudden?  And why like this?



It was so sudden and so not like them.  I mean, how can you sum up an amazing 12 year ride in such a short paragraph?  We were all stunned, of course.  Then last night, I saw links to something that Gerard had written via Twitter / TwitLonger.

It was beautiful.  I read it over and over - some sections more than others - with tears in my eyes at the thought of Gerard, Lindsey and Bandit chasing this bird around and Gerard feeling heavy-hearted that the iconic band he created that had saved so many lives (including mine) was over.

Tumblr, of course, is taking this terribly but I'm trying to remain optimistic.  I know the guys won't stop doing what they're doing - they love it too much!  Whether they take a break for a few months or a few years doesn't mean they're gone forever.  That's a little TOO dramatic, if you ask me.  Gerard's collab with Deadmau5 was only the beginning of things to come.  You know he's collaborating with others and he's got comics coming out and all that fun stuff.
Same thing for Frank, Ray, Mikey and the rest of the gang - I'm sure they're collaborating with others in other forums and things, so there's no way it's a total loss.  It is a shame, though.  My Chem got me through a pivotal part in my life and kept me from doing something I would've regretted forever and the only thing I can do is what I've been doing: holding them very near and dear (and secretly) close to my heart.

Thanks for everything Gerard, Frank, Ray, Mikey, Bob and everyone else who took part in this amazing band.

Killjoys will never die and your memory will carry on.

Photo Post - Weekend Antics

Outside Mellow Mushroom in Suwanee / Inside Rita's for some frozen custard /Ponderosa killing it during L5F at Criminal Records / A beautiful butterfly that was hanging out in my yard and was nice enough to pose for photos / A couple of turkeys at Z Gallerie

And now for a series I will call "Katzi's First French Press"



Since the old man doesn't particularly like coffee, there's been no need to ever get a coffee maker but my mom's cousin remembered that I really REALLY liked coffee from the reunion trip so she sent me some. Since I didn't own a brewer or need a large one, my mom and I settled on this reasonably priced French Press.  Yes, I made a mess - I wouldn't be me if I hadn't.  It turns out that what I really need is a percolator so...I'm on the hunt!

Best Coast

I was having a lot of "old lady" moments with Lauren last night at Best Coast!  Ugh!  It all started when I realized I hadn't been inside Variety Playhouse in over 14 years.  Yes, it has been that long!  I went with my friend and her Mom to some jam band concert thing because her Mom was friends with the band.  I couldn't even tell you who it was, I was just excited to be in Little 5 Points so late at night!  Oh, those were the days!
Anyways - old lady feelings aside, the show was wonderful.  I hadn't heard either of the opening bands but I heard very good things about them on the internets.
Moodrings was wonderful and I wish I had purchased their EP...
Those Darlins were awesome! I don't really know what I was expecting but I was pleasantly surprised! Those girls are feisty and their songs are super catchy and I kinda wish I had gotten some of their music as well. Guh - I was on the Fail Train last night! I think it was because I had to get up early this morning so I high-tailed it out of there as soon as the show was over.
Best Coast was wonderful! The last time Lauren and I saw them play was a their free show at Criminal a couple of years ago. I was glad to get tickets for the actual show this time! Hooray!




I think I also figured out the trick to my camera. The flash automatically comes up when the camera turns on and I usually push it down - which results in blurry photos (of course) or I'll let it flash and the result is whatever is below my flash is lit and the actual subjects in the middle of my frame are totally dark. So last night I tried what I do at work sometimes (on a different camera) - I let the flash pop up and I covered it with my finger so it would still go off. Oldest trick in the book, right?! Why didn't I think of that before?! Not the greatest results but much better than before!



I still like the camera for the zoom capabilities - on videos especially because I got in pretty tight for their cover of Storms and although it's pretty bumpy (because I'm in so tight), it's pretty damn good.



And here's a bonus video of No One Like You (before I was feeling adventurous with the zoom)


I was kind of hoping for them to play Angsty but that's okay. I loved the show and it was all kinds of wonderful and I hope that she comes back soon and I hope that Wavves will release their album so that they can come to Atlanta too!  I need more good shows this year!

More of my photos here!

New music for Thursday: Savages

Remember that band I told you about? Of course you remember Savages. Naturally, you'll want to know about new tracks right? Well you're in luck. Here are some new tracks from Diamondz that I think you'll enjoy.

Childish Gambino

I had technically waiting for last night's performance since December (when I originally bought my tickets).  There was an injury that postponed the original show date in March to yesterday and let me tell you - IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT.
I'm talking about the Childish Gambino show
Holy crap - I've never had so much fun!  And I'll admit my hopes were a little low when we were standing amongst bratty, teenage white suburbanites in line.  In the rain.
All of that aside, the show was AMAZING - although the opening act was not really my bag.  His beat man was tight but the performer was okay...
ANYWAYS - I felt a tiny bit out of place since *GASP* I don't own Camp just yet and it was the Camp Tour BUT I had my fingers crossed for some Cul-De-Sac stuff and that wish definitely came true.  I admit: I had a bit of a contained crazy moment during I Be On That (since that is my ultimate Gambino track) so that was definitely a highlight.  The other highlight was a short performance of Cashin Out.  I was NOT expecting that.
It's a bit of a joke with J and me since I was playing him Spend It and he said it sounded a bit like Cashin Out so now we'll text each other those tracks randomly.  But I think I win this one with Gambino



The energy was great, the old man and I got great seats, there were lots and lots of strobe lights and THE BAND WAS AMAZING. Don't get me wrong - I love me some Donald Glover but his band was INCREDIBLE. Where on Earth will you see a guy go from playing the keyboards to a violin to a guitar to a floor tom in one show? And on the other side, the guitarist went from guitar to keyboard to floor tom and the bassist went from bass to synth to floor tom and back again. WHAT.  And the drummer hopped off the drums for a minute to hype everybody up.  It was AWESOME. I tried to get video but I was having way too much fun (sorry!). I have a bit of the performance of Freaks and Geeks mainly because I liked how the lyrics were flying in on screen.





But look how energetic this kid is. And this was earlier in the show! So much fun!

My favourite is all the comments I'm getting in the Tumblr-sphere about this photo


Sounds like it's funny that there were lots of white kids there.  And Donald himself was like, "I know the answer to this because I'm in my hometown but, are there any black people here?"

ANYWAYS - all of that aside - it was an amazing show and I had a great time.  I hope he comes back again real soon!

What We Do Is Secret

A few weeks ago I came home from work to the sound of weird punk rock coming from upstairs.  I knew my old man was home and I thought he was watching some horror movie but the music was pretty familiar.  When I asked what it was, he told me he had started watching What We Do Is Secret and promptly turned it off.  I had no idea what it was about so he gave me the basic rundown: it was a movie about the Germs.
So let me tell you, I was a little punk kid when I was growing up and I dabbled with Germs but most of what I listened to was because I was hearing it through someone else - like in someone's car or at someone's house.  I hardly owned any music from my teen years because it was all on comps or tapes or I didn't buy it because I knew somebody had it.
I had first heard of the Germs when I told the story of how Pat Smear tried to get Oni and me on the Foo Fighters bus back in '96.  We only knew him as "former member of Nirvana" Pat Smear at the time and we commented on his super awesome bright neon green pants.  That prompted him to try and get us on the bus to show us more pants.  WHAT!!!  We were stopped by a security guard before we could even get one foot on.  He apologized, ran to a window and proceeded to show us many of his crazy pants out the window!  That was amazing to me at the time because it was one of my first shows (without adult supervision - whoa rebel) and a former member of Nirvana was actually talking to us!
Later, when I told that story to someone, they told me: He wasn't just a former member of Nirvana, he was a member of Germs.  Germs?  Huh?  Uh, duh, the most influential punk band from L.A.  Huh?  Yeah, I was clueless but you know I wasn't really into that kind of punk at the time.  At that time, I was into The Queers, Screeching Weasel, The Donnas, Teen Idols and pretty much everyone on Lookout! Records and I was pretty open to whoever my friends played.  I had one friend in particular, RM, who played stuff that was more along the lines of Germs and I know it was through him that I heard them.  Our other friends gave him grief for listening to stuff like that and Subhumans and The Exploited, etc but I didn't care.  I have a pretty open mind when it comes to a lot of stuff, especially music.
So when I heard the weird noises coming from upstairs that day, it definitely sounded like I was back in RM's basement sitting around listening to music.  So why not watch the movie?
I did a little IMDb-ing and discovered that my *secret* boy-next-door crush Shane West (from such greatest hits as A Walk To Remember) plays the one and only Darby Crash.  Okay - I HAD to watch it now.  Especially since I also read that Shane is the new lead singer for the newly re-formed Germs.  WHAT.  Okay - definitely had to watch.
One Saturday afternoon, I sat down and watched it.  And I LOVED IT.  Weird acting, bad wigs and Bijou Philips aside, it was great watching Shane West as Darby Crash.  Just like watching Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious, Shane West played this role to perfection.  I was swept away in the romance of Darby Crash.  I felt like was a teenager again and I was part of his Germs philosophy.  His words cut through me.  I was rooting for him and I was crushed when he overdosed (even though I already knew that was coming).  He kept reminding me of someone I know and maybe that's why I got so emotionally invested.  It was hard to watch at times because there are quite a few similarities between Darby and my friend but Shane West really took me there and I wished I had been born earlier to have experienced the punk scene in L.A.
Ugh.  Did I really say that?  Yes.  But I'm glad I didn't experience that because I'm experiencing great things now.

Anyways back to Shane West.



I felt this weird universal connection to something greater than myself.  I felt like Darby's words made sense.  In fact, I felt like I would be the Pat Smear to Darby Crash.  Pat seemed to really grasp what Darby was talking about and their relationship was rooted some place deep.  Before I had even realized it, I was feeling like I was missing that person in my life.  Like, you know, someone I could connect with on an adventurous level.  Sure, I have a very VERY close confidant and I love him dearly but I miss the old reckless days too...

Weekend Fun

This weekend was some good quality low key fun. My old man and I went shopping for a little black dress for me to alter for a work event (details to come soon) and we started looking for shirts for him but I ended up shopping more for Double D instead!





I decided I'd take the cute route for Tennis last night and I wore items I'd never usually wear to shows: a dress and some wedges. WHAT.



My way of thinking always was to never EVER wear skirts or shoes you like to shows for fear of messing them up or getting taken advantage of. Back in my younger days I was sort of a bully to girls that wore skirts to shows. I know, I know, I shouldn't have been but I always thought it was really careless to wear skirts to shows. And as far as the shoes are concerned, I thought it was careless as well. Why wear nice shoes if they're going to get scuffed up by drunk assholes? Well, I threw all that into the wind and wore a new black dress with leggings (in case of bully karma) and my new shoes from H&M. I mean, the Tennis crowd wasn't going to be crazy, right? Well...sort of...

The Tennis crowd was a little rowdy - which sort of irked me a bit but all I kept thinking was I bought my tickets a month ago and I wasn't going to let these fools ruin my good time - which they didn't.





Tennis was great live! I was so thrilled to finally have the chance to see them! I definitely recommend checking them out! I also recommend their albums Cape Dory and my recently purchased Young and Old. I listened to it on my way home and it was as dreamy as ever.

I'm definitely looking forward to next week for two major reasons: 1. Community is back on Thursday night! YES!! and 2. The old man and I are FINALLY getting to see Childish Gambino LIVE! WHAT WHAT!! We missed him last year because of work (boooooo) so I'm glad I get to take my old man a few days before his birthday this year! Hooray! I hope to have a good amount of photos from that.

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Photo Post: the weekend

Had lots of fun this weekend! I went to Star Bar for the first time, I ran into an old friend from high school AND met a MySpace-er in person! That right, MySpace. Whatchu know about dat





Can I just say that I'm still in awe of how great the camera is on the iPhone 4S?! I'm loving the picture quality! Too bad my lens kit doesn't fit since I originally bought it for my 3GS. Luckily they make a set for the 4S! Hooray! But it looks like I'll have to wait for them to get back in stock...

Photo post: Bleached and The Black Belles

You can see more photos HERE