"Keep your left eye open and your right toe twitchin',
Cuz I'm in the kitchen with a knife that's itchin' for your red blood,
On those white sheets...
I will kill you in your sleep,
So you better try to, try to keep awake..."
HERE'S YOUR BLOG, MONKEYS!
First of all - person that commented my Vegas blog and asked about the song of the day lyrics - I commented back under your comment, but in case you never read that, the song was "Great Lakes" by Telekinesis! Great album, go get it.
Secondly - to the chick who came up to me at the jam session while I was filming and said, "Are you Jodie?" and introduced yourself to me cuz you were a Twitter follower and read my blog -- I didn't mean to not pay attention to you, I felt bad afterwards and felt like I had blown you off -- thank you SOO much for coming up and introducing yourself to me... it's just... MONKEYS! I was a bit distracted by something shiny at the moment... I hope to see you out on tour, come and say hey to me again and we'll sit and chat for longer than 2 seconds!!!!
Alright, down to business.
Disclaimer: Please remember that there are some parts of this story that I'm flat out not going to tell you -- some are private, some I don't think the other people in the story would like me telling, some are quite frankly none of your business -- that being said, you're still in for a good read. :)
Amazing weekend. Best weekend of my freaking life. Amazing. Amazing. Wow. That's about all I can say.
Let's see, I got there Wednesday and was able to spend the entire day with Willow undisturbed. It was very peaceful. :)
Wednesday night Angie, from France, arrived... Thursday we went shopping at a huge mall... Willow got a new shirt to wear to drinks that night, Angie got some makeup and I got a Venti iced coffee, a harmonica at the Gibson warehouse and a memory card. :)
[Harmonica, by the way, harder than it looks... lip ring + harmonica = interesting, but I'm learning quickly. I can play "When The Saints Go Marching In" and the 12 bar blues. :)]
Thursday night we had drinks with Tim, who I swear, is busier than Dave. (One of the other tour mangers that I know. Of course, Tim isn't anywhere near old enough to be doing this as long as Dave has been.) Tim was busy, busy, busy, so we ended up going to this conference room thingy upstairs and drinking there with Tim, Vi, Heidi and a few other peoples.
I hadn't eaten all day and I had 7 of these badass drinks that Vi was making -- surprisingly I didn't fall over or have word vomit. LOL We played drunken Scrabble - (YETI!) and listened to Milli Vanilli. Was badass. I had waay too much fun.
Friday we got there kinda early, Angie had some posters that she needed to give to Shannon (ASCC Now) from the Euro Legacy site... The Monkeys were on TV for an interview and we all gathered around listening to the interview... that was when I officially met Madison.
Madison is this amazing little ball of energy - she reminds me soo much of Ben Graupner (who happens to be her "PEEP FOREVER" XD) and Maddy and I hit it off instantly. We spent the next five hours talking, making inside jokes and naming things, "PLANT!" Madison is the most badass person that I met all weekend. (Jackson Rathbone included.)
Friday afternoon I met Kimbra Hickey - the hand model from the Twilight book, she was so, so awesome and nice... very beautiful person. :)
So that night was the NewCon private party karaoke dealy on "the Bridge". The Bridge was literally a bridge that spanned across the road and had a bar on it. Super trippy and awesome.
...Before that amazingness, however, we had dinner with Brady Bell... well... yep, that's all I can say about that.
So! Then we karaoke'd! THAT was soo much fun! Heidi, Vi, Willow, myself and a few others did "Blame It On The Rain" by Milli Vanilli. I think that Willow and Heidi were the only ones who knew all the words. LOL
Madison and I did "At Last" by Etta James. (Those on here know that that is *my* song, and YES, I let Maddy sing it with me... that's how much I love this chick.)
I also did "Like A Virgin" by Madonna. Totes awesome. :) Jose Zuniga (Mr. Molina) was at the party that night and Willow and I spent an hour talking to him. He was incredibly genuine and so nice. (He said I asked good questions. XD)
It was a fantastic party... definitely one that I'll never forget.
'They' (the man) tried to shut us down at midnight after a few complaints... so we took the party down Broadway to another karaoke bar... It started out with 19 of us... then 16... then we finally came back at closing time with 11 people.
Before we went out we all sat in the lobby bar area and got drunk on Vi's drinks... we chugged lord knows how many of them and we didn't have to buy any drinks when we were out. LOL YAAY! At karaoke we all got up and sang "Bohemian Rhapsody" - I told Jennifer this and she goes, "I know you would never attempt that sober." She's very correct. I respect Freddy Mercury too much.
Oh! Forgot to tell you about the AMAZING jello shots that Jessie made! I hope to have some of them on tour, Jess! I think we need to corrupt the boys with those... just sayin'...
On our way back to the hotel we ran into Ned Bellamy (Waylon in Twilight) who was going out with his girlfriend - he was very quick witted and super nice.
Saturday was the big day... we showed up late to Jackson, Kimbra and Jose's Q&A -- oops. For whatever reason it was just so, so hard for me to get up and going Saturday morning... like something was literally holding me back... I felt bad, but I guess everything happens for a reason.
At the Q&A I was standing next to Jose's... uh... personal assistant? I think she was... she leaned over and asked, "Are you going to ask a question?" I said, "um... no. I wouldn't know what to ask." (Truth is when I thought I was going to Jackson's TwiTour in Chicago I came up with a question, but being in front of him for the first time, I... well... yeah, all that went out the window.) So she leans over and says, "you should ask..." and then she prattled on this very long question with very big words... I kinda nodded and was like, "Yeah, sure..." and then someone asked another question. She kept looking at me, and said, "are you going to ask?" I told her that it confused me. So she dumbed it down like twice for me...
Finally I raised my hand... (sounds so unlike me, I know... something came over my hand and it raised itself...) Jackson looked at me and did that head nod, eyebrows up, as if he were calling on me... and I spoke (I know, something came over my voice as well.) I said, "How do you stay in character when there are so many things that you can't control, such as weather and scheduling?"
I managed to get all of that out -- without stuttering -- all the while looking right in his eyes the entire time. He stared into my eyes and paid complete attention to me as I spoke. Then he answered... it was a long answer and he kept his eyes on mine the entire time. Of course, I couldn't tell you exactly what he said. LOL He did mention his role as Amanda, which made me happy since that's my favorite thing that he's done to date.
Willow told me later that she was so proud of me. :)
For those who don't know me -- that was a big deal for me to speak up like that. I can perform in front of thousands but with social anxiety, its very hard to do things like that. As soon as I started speaking everyone in the room turned to look at me - I didn't waiver, I didn't back down - I just kept my eyes on his and continued to breathe. :) Go me!
After that Q&A was the music Q&A with Tin Tin Can, Shawn Fernando (the Stevedores) and Ben J (the Stevedores, 100 Monkeys) -- it was very awkward, that was... I asked a question there too, which wasn't as nerve wracking... "Do you sit down and write your music collectively as a band or do some write lyrics, some write a melody and then you come together and iron it all out as a whole?" I thought that was a very good question and they all took the time to answer and said that it's a little bit of both... they also mentioned Spencer in answering my question, which was badass. :)
Jennifer arrived shortly after that - I was sooo happy to introduce her to Willow, Kasey and Madison. :) Poor Jennifer, 2 seconds after she got there she was forced to "ride escalators" with Maddy and I as we were like, "PLANT!" It sucks soo hard to be on the outside of an inside joke. I felt bad.
Jennifer and I were riding up the escalator with Ned Bellamy when I was asking him what time he got back in last night... "we were out late," he says, "4 or so." I told him we didn't get in until 5a. "I wasn't out that late!!" He later signed my book, "TWILIGHT FOREVER!" XD and gave Jennifer an autograph, "Worth the drive, yes?!" He's from Joplin, MO. Badass muthertrucker.
Next was the meet and greet with Jackson.
Willow left the meet and greet to go be with Ben Graupner... Can't say I wouldn't do the same thing if I were in her shoes. :) However, my shoes (my epic shoes that have tried to meet Jackson THREE times) were staying put!!
I met Jackson, walked up to him, shook his hand - told him that it was "great to finally meet" him, he smiled and asked my name... I told him... had him sign my Eclipse book on the chapter "Newborn." so he asked how to spell my name... "J-O-D-I-E". He has his hand on the book, he's not signing it... he's... he's... he's reading it?!! Heidi leans over and goes, "Stop reading that!" And he goes, "I was trying to figure out where in the book it was..." she goes, "Newborn... where Jasper tells his story." Jackson moves his hand, turns around to me and grins, "my hand was covering the chapter."
XD
So he asks again... "how do you spell it?" "J-O-D-I-E".
He ended up asking three times before he signed it. Pretty freaking adorable. He smiled big at me and hugged me, I said, "thank you so much," and he said, "it was my pleasure." In his Southern drawl. *giggles*
Then it was Jennifer's turn -- before Nashville she was all, "Jackson Rathbone just doesn't phase me," and I was like, "not even his Southern drawl?!" "No." "Not even his SMILE!?" "No." "His eyes?" "No." "His amazing talent?!" "No."
Nothing.
She gets up there in front of him and the girl is freaking star struck and SPEECHLESS.
Jackson has a certain energy about him... I was very humbled to be in his presence, but surprisingly, I was still able to speak. LOL Jenn? Not so much... she got a picture, hug and then she was going to be on her way... While she was getting her picture with him, Madison came up behind me and goes, "did you tell him?!!" and I shook my head. "TELL HIM!"
So then after Jennifer was done I said to Jay, "oh, by the way... your hat is *really* lame." ((inside joke with Jackson.)) He throws his head back in laughter, smiling as everyone around me goes, "AWWWW!!" like I'm the worst person in the history of the world and he turns to look at Maddy and says, "I guess it's catching on!"
XD Haaaha! It was great! Heidi later commented me on Facebook and said, "I can't believe Maddy got you to tell Jackson he was lame." Hahaa! I loved it! It was great!
So then we went downstairs and found Willow, showed her the pictures and asked where Graupner was... he was over at Starbucks with Johnson, so we went over there and talked with the Ben's for a bit... I introduced Jenn to Ben, finally. :) He said she needed a drink. Yes.
After that was the private jam session... which. was. incredible. I'll never forget it... Jackson's voice... his performance... amazing.
Willow and I got to dance with Jackson... Jackson sang at me... Ben gave Willow the cowbell and Jerad gave me the tambourine so now Willow and I are officially Monkeys!!! (The rule is once you've performed or jammed with the 100 Monkeys, then you're a Monkey!)
(You can see pics from all this on my Facebook.)
After the show I was talking with Jerad for a bit when a girl rubbed his head. He turned his head and another girl rubbed his head... then he offered his head to me... well, I didn't want to be rude, so I rubbed his mohawk and I said, "it's like a petting zoo." LMAO He laughed and said that was very correct. Loves it.
We talked with Ben for a bit... I kinda just let Jackson be - he was already surrounded enough - Willow gave him some shirts and he seemed very happy to be getting clothes!!
Then twas off to the hotel to change, then to the Wildhorse for the concert...
The show melted my entire face off, no lie. Twas a gone face by the end of the show. Jackson sang at me again and pointed to me during the "Thank You" song... which, during the jam session, he touched my arm, was right in my face looking in my eyes and goes, "thank you," :D I love the Thank You song, just sayin'.
We started out in the 10th row or so, by the end of the concert we were in the 4th. Badass. I got some videos, but YouTube can eat me cuz it's been a bitch lately. I'll be sure and post the links here when I get them all posted. I have a few up so far. Nothing amazing, though.
Something that I need to say about 100 Monkeys live - first of all, this was my third 100 Monkeys show, and it was the first with Jackson Rathbone... so I had never seen him perform live before. As you may or may not know, I've seen over 200 acts live and I can honestly say that I have never seen anyone perform with such passion and energy as Jackson. I was impressed beyond belief. His energy and stage presence was so huge it filled the room and it was impossible for you to take your eyes off of him. All the energy that he gave to the crowd I tried to give right back to him by singing every word that I knew, dancing my ass off and grooving along with him.
I was blown away and I left the concert feeling high and enlightened.
After the concert we went and bought some Tin Tin Can merchandise (soo my favorite band right after the Stevedores.) After buying their merch I talked to two of the boys and was like, "this is going to sound so weird and random, but I listen to your album, Confetti Machete, every time I straighten my hair, which is like, everyday..." then Jennifer goes, "it's true, I'm her roommate and it's like, 'oh! Tin Tin Can again!'" haaahaa!! They loved it.
When we got back to the hotel parking garage we got to ride the elevator with 2 other members of the band and I said, "I was just telling your other bandmates..." and then I said the same thing... they laughed... was great. I was sooo high at that point. (On music only.)
Sunday was sad... sad to say goodbye to Willow and Kasey... sad to leave Nashville... however, there was hope there at the end, hope because the boys would soon be releasing the rest of their tour dates!! (Those funky Monkeys are addictive!)
Driving home from Nashville was awesome, actually... we listened to Tin Tin Can the entire way home and made it back in record time... usually it takes us double time to get home - nope... we got home in 9 hours... and that was also counting our little Harold and Kumar White Castle adventure we went on in St. Louis.
I Heart White Castle.
So that's it, babes... phew. Now I'll have some mayjah cities to look forward to on tour. ;)
Little Rock & Fayetteville, AR • Auburn, Birmingham, Mobile & Tuscaloosa, AL • Phoenix & Tucson, AZ • Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego & San Francisco, CA • Colorado Springs & Denver, CO • Bridgeport & Hartford, CT • Wilmington, DE • Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, Tallahassee, Tampa & FT. Lauderdale, FL • Atlanta & Savannah, GA • Honolulu, HI • Des Moines, IA • Boise, ID • Chicago & Champaign, IL • South Bend & Indianapolis, IN • Wichita & Topeka, KS • Louisville & Lexington, KY • Baton Rouge & New Orleans, LA • Boston, MA • Baltimore, MD • Ann Arbor & Detroit, MI • Minneapolis, MN • Kansas City & St. Louis, MO • Jackson, MS • Missoula, MT • Asheville, Greensboro, Charlotte & Raleigh, NC • Omaha, NE • New Brunswick, NJ • Albuquerque, NM • Las Vegas & Reno, NV • Buffalo, New York City, Syracuse, Albany & Rochester, NY • Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus & Toledo, OH • Oklahoma City & Tulsa, OK • Portland, OR • Allentown, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton & College Station, PA • Providence, RI • Charleston, Columbia & Greenville, SC • Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis & Nashville, TN • Austin, Dallas, Amarillo, Houston, San Antonio & Midland, TX • Salt Lake City, UT • Arlington, Richmond, Virginia Beach & Roanoke, VA • Burlington, VT • Seattle & Spokane, WA • Madison & Milwaukee, WI • Huntington, WV
Pic of the Day:
Mr. Rathbone and I.
(I meant it when I said that I would trade all of my photos with Justin Timberlake just to MEET this man. His talent far exceeds any expectation that I would never dare set for him.)
<--THAT IS WHY.