Congratulations to Brett Favre today for a huge milestone. Brett overtook Dan Marino to hold the all time record for most touchdown passes in the NFL (421).

I love Brett - he's been one of my favorite QB's of the past decade and a half. He's a great, leave it all out there on the field QB who isn't afraid of risking it all to make the big play. Excitement is his middle name.

The defining characteristic of this man (for me) is his heart - I'll never forget that game on Dec. 22/03 where he threw for 4 touchdowns in the first half and won the game (41-7). Now, that in itself, is a huge accomplishment - any QB would be proud of those numbers. But this was no regular game for Brett...his father was killed the day before when he suffered a sudden heart attack at the wheel and drove into a ditch. Coincidentally, it was the same spot that Brett had been involved in an accident in years before (and nearly died as well).

Anyhow, the courage that it took for him to show up and play that day ("my Dad would want me to") won me over and, although I'd already been a big fan, that escalated through the roof at that point. The family stories are the ones that really get to me and I'll never forget the tears in his eyes at the end of the game as he looked up to the sky, in search of his father. He was named the NFC's offensive player of the week. And then he headed off to his father's funeral.

The adversity didn't stop there for Brett and his family. Less than a year after his father's death, his brother in law was killed in a tragic ATV accident. That was followed by his wife's cancer diagnosis and, as if that wasn't enough to break them, they were hit by Hurricane Katrina, which extensively damaged his home and devastated the family home. Luckily, noone was seriously injured.

I can relate to someone who's suffered so much pain. And he's been an inspiration throughout it all - a true pro who puts on a brave face and shows up everyday for work, despite the boulders on his shoulders.


So today I took off my Canucks tee to don my #4 "cheesehead" jersey (actually it's Ty's - shhh, don't tell him I wore it AGAIN).

Good on ya Brett, good on ya.

Gledwood was wondering about those" buildings that resemble a flying saucer impaled on a massive spike in northern usa and southern canada".

We have a few of them here in Vancouver, although I've only been once and it was many years ago (the ex took me for my birthday). I'm a bit confused as to how many of these types of restaurants we have here in Vancouver and what they're named. I'm quite sure that the one we visited was in the Sheraton Landmark Hotel and was called "Cloud 9", although I see there's also one by that name at Grouse Mountain. I've also found a "Vistas" revolving restaurant, but don't know much about it.

These restaurants generally offer spectacular views and mediocre food that's extremely overpriced. In other words, you pay for the view and sacrifice somewhat in food quality (at least from the reviews I've been reading). They also (apparently) are quite "snobbish", with fairly rude and inattentive servers. I can't recall from my visit - it was so long ago. I do, however, remember going to the washroom, only to come out disoriented and unsure of where we were seated - the panoramic window views made it hard to find my seat. Or maybe it was the wine?

Anyhow, here's what I found about one of our "revolving restaurants" and some pics that I grabbed from the internet (quite beautiful, aren't they?):


And these are Lindsay's pics from the Space Needle in Seattle:

Yes I know, this one's sideways (yet it isn't that way on the original pic)...Blogger's messed with it. I don't know how to fix it so you'll have to lie down to view it!

We Eat Sports At Every Meal

Today is a most EXCELLENT day. First of all, regular season hockey begins (actually, it's already started and I'm watching the game as I type). LA and Anaheim are playing IN ENGLAND (of all places), with the Kings up 1-0. Kind of strange to hear God Save The Queen performed before a game.

My guys (Canucks - duh) are still in the pre-season schedule - they beat Calgary (3-2) last night with rookies and young guns (yea). I expect we could beat them with babies and squirrels in the line up (booya). Barb?

Tonight my Lions take on the other Calgary team (Stampeders) in CFL football action. I expect to take that one as well and go 2-0 against the red teams (so that I may rub it in the face of my cousins, who deserted us to move there many moons ago). Yes, I admit, I DO have relatives in Calgary. And Fiona's originally from there. How did this happen?

Anyhow, a quick hello (as it's horse racing day today).

Hope you all have a fabulous day and I want to read about it when I get home.

For now, I'm off to get mayo and make clubhouses before we go.

Cheerio (that's English for goodbye. I think).

This scares the crap out of me and I'll tell you why.

Lindsay was at End Fest in Seattle this weekend and saw the Pumpkins two nights before this tragedy, along with a bunch of other bands. She went with her Dad, who expressed his concern to me afterward over her moshing and crowd surfing. This was not new info for me....I know that she does it and I hate it. I don't mean that she stands on the outskirts and gets pushed around a bit - I mean she goes headfirst into the biggest, baddest pits and comes out covered in bruises (and sometimes even other people's blood). I don't know why. When I express my concern to her she says "I'm o.k." and "I can handle it". But I don't know that she can - it's something that can quickly go terribly wrong, like the story above. Her friends don't do this stuff...she goes it alone. They avoid the pit area like the plague and I wish that she would too but, for some reason, she just won't, despite my pleading with her.

Keath told me that she was in the pit during most of the concert and that during "The Used" it got really intense and violent. That people were coming out spitting out teeth and blood and that he couldn't tell where she was at one point. He said he was actually relieved when he saw the crowd throw her up and surf her out. He felt helpless he said.

I'm glad that she's seen this story...I think (hope) it had an impact - it seems like it might've. I mean, I tell her all the time that she's not "allowed" to mosh, but she's 16 and she goes to concerts when I'm not there. And she moshes. Her friends are horrified when they see what she does, yet she's fearless (and I don't know why that is). She's all of 100 pounds and, for some reason, enjoys this aggressive style of "celebrating" the music. She tells me that when she's knocked down that people "help her back up". She's been lucky enough to get back up and it terrifies me. I'm seriously concerned.

I think this will be the end of concerts of this nature unless she solemnly swears that she will not enter another pit or crowd surf again. I don't have many rules, but this is gonna damn well be one of them. And I mean it, it's a done deal.

I'm too tired lazy to do a proper post...seems to be a recurring theme around here lately. I'm feeling quite run down again...I think I overdo it sometimes. I burn the candle at both ends, stay up really late (and always am up early) and it catches up with me. But normally I push through those times that I'm dragging...not lately though. I'm giving into them and going with the flow.

Dad's surgery is coming up so that's playing on my mind a bit. I know of the risk involved, but also realize that he's a ticking time bomb right now without the surgery. The sooner we can get him in there, the better. I think it's a crying shame that "priority/emergency" surgeries still take well over a month of waiting time. Unacceptable, yet the city keeps growing with no end in sight. What will the future hold?

Anyhow, enough of the gloom and doom.

I'm going to post a couple of videos of songs that I love (and haven't heard it in ages). I was reminded of Romeo and Juliet when I watched The Killers perform a cover of it on TV the other night....

This is a really important post. Something I must say, as I'm feeling it SO strongly. Last night especially. Here goes.....

My world is over when there's no milk in the house. Seriously.

Last night I really wanted toast & jam for dinner (noone was here but me, which explains my exquisite taste). I got pretty psyched up about this and was just about to make it when I realized I had a very serious emergency on my hands - no milk. It just couldn't work. I had lemonade in the fridge - but that would just BE too much fruit - a fruit explosion of sorts and I could od and die. I had water and love to drink it by the gallon, but not with toast. It was a serious crisis. I was shattered.

I could've gone to the store but, when I'm the only one here - I'M LAZY. I'd have to get dressed and drive and EVERYTHING. Just not happening (but it almost did for milk). Almost.

I never run out of milk. EVER. It rates right up there with toilet paper for me. I had expired milk AND expired chocolate milk (that never happens either - we always use it all). So I don't know what is going on in this madhouse, but I think I'd better hire someone to look after the milk duties because this is totally unacceptable.


I'm serious here.

Matthew Good In Vancouver

Someone please, scrape me (us) from the ceiling. Last night we attended the Matt Good show and, let me just say that this rates right up there as one of the best concerts EVER. Now, first of all, I admit that I'm pretty biased when it comes to Matt and his music and he could've probably shown up in his monkey suit and picked his nose and I still would've cheered him on. I'm a pretty big fan that way (and so are you, I know it).

But, that being said, he did so much more - he did some old stuff, some new stuff, some old stuff done a new way and spent a good portion of the show telling stories and keeping us all chuckling. Some of the in-between-songs banter was the best part for me. Well, o.k., maybe not THE BEST part - but close, as Matt is extremely entertaining and a funny, funny man - quick witted and intelligent, but also very down to earth and approachable (despite the "asshole" label). I especially liked the story he told of the Victoria show a night or two before hand. Apparently he'd been bashing Gordon Campbell onstage, only to learn later on that the premier had been in attendance at the show. I love it. (Gordo was likely too hammered to notice.)

Although I'm a diehard Matt fan from way back, I enjoyed the newer stuff from Hospital Music the most...I've become very attached to that CD and my kids didn't elbow me TOO much when I sang out loud to every song (they had me sandwiched, damn it. No escape). Although I was a little disappointed that he didn't do "A Single Explosion", he did do a beautiful job on Odette, Metal Airplanes, Black Helicopters, 99% Of Us, She's In It For The $$, Born Losers and True Love Will Find You In The End. They were all done to perfection. Thank God I remembered to bring Kleenex to this show. And I used it too (no, not for my nose).

The show started with "Girl Wedged Under The Front Of A Firebird", which was totally cool and a great show opener. The only thing missing was "I'm Not Safer Than A Bank" ("BITCH") - those two just kind of naturally lead into one another and, for me, you can't have one without the other. But he never did play it. I should've boo'd and thrown tomatoes. Or, maybe not.

A big highlight of the night (for me) was when Rod (Bruno) joined Matt onstage to play "I'm A Window" with him - superb. My only gripe is that he didn't return for "Champions Of Nothing" and kick some ass with his guitar solo. Maybe that would've put me over the edge though - I have visions of my "air guitar" solo that would've accompanied him. I don't know that the people seated around me would've appreciated the scissor kicks in the head as I stood on my seat, rocking it out. But I did kind of half expect Rod to come back out and play it (knowing that he was there, ready to go) but, no go. He was probably already back on Facebook by that time. Despite it being for only one song, it was a pleasure (and an extra added bonus) to see "Uncle Merle" in action.

A few of the other songs that stuck out for me: The Fine Art Of Falling Apart, Suburbia, and - YES ALANA, he charmed the devils acoustically...it was AWESOME!!! (I totally thought of you when he played it.) He did many of his "old standards" too - Apparitions, Strange Days, etc. He totally screwed up the words to one of my old standbys - Symbolisitic White Walls (should've zigged when he zagged). Threw me right off my timing. I sang it correctly mind you.

Anyhow, enough of the BS - now for the really BIG news. I'd be posting all the awesome pictures we took last night, but I can't because we had to delete them all TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE SHOTS OF OUR BACKSTAGE PASS EXCURSION!!!! I know, I know...I'm completely pathetic and bordering on a groupie/stalker/looney tune. But I was thrilled right down to my socks that we were provided this opportunity...Linds even brought her guitar along and had Matt sign it (Mama worked her magic and emailed him and I'll be damned if he didn't hook us up for a meet and greet after the show). Only thing was that, after deleting everything on the memory card (including some great video I'd taken of the show), we were too starstruck to remember to take pictures while we were back there. I did grab a very quick video, but it seems we could've kept our awesome show pics/video after all. D'oh. (I'll post the video later)

Matt was very gracious to do this, as he was totally spent after performing for 2 1/2 hours and was getting ready to embark on his cross country journey. We appreciated it SO much and are still on cloud 9 (especially Linds - although she's just set off to Seattle with her Dad today for End Fest or something like that. She's a maniac...oh, to be 16 again).

Anyhow folks, this has been a very good month (sans tree plummets - I've just found a new cut on my pinkie). Maybe things are turning around for us? It sure seems like it.

Life is good. :)

(And don't fear my babies...even though I suck, there are some EXCELLENT pics from the show here and here)

Yo Ho Ho

Ahoy wenches and mates. Ye swashbucklin bunch o'hornswagglers, what ye be doin this fine day? Walking the plank? Dancin' the Hempen Jig? Or are ya just recoverin after a night with the bumboo?

Avast! It be " Int'l. Talk Like A Pirate" day today, me favorite day of all. Yar 'tis true. So all hands on deck now, we've work to do. And bring me a noggin of rum while yer at it.

(Shiver Me Timbers, I think I sound more like an Irishman than I do a pirate. I think I need some work on this).

O.K....this is a happy sports week for me.

First of all, my Lion's redeemed themselves and kicked some TO ass on Saturday, to the tune of 40-7. Roar.

Secondly, the Canucks are back in action....I know, I know, it's just preseason BUT IT'S HOCKEY AND WE CAN ALL EXHALE NOW.

Too bad our guys play so intense that they take each other out in team scrimmages. Sami Salo is out and Roberto Luongo took a puck in the neck BEFORE they even skated onto the ice to face an opponent. D'oh!

Ty gets his new (authentic) jersey soon that I won from the good people over at Kukla's Korner. So cool.

And speaking of sports....what the hell is up with OJ? Is the man on crack? Did he get hit in the head with a golf ball by someone who forgot to yell "FORE"? What, exactly, is his deal? No news is good news OJ...remember that.

The last bit of sports news for today....someone played a $1 TOTO (Sports Action pick) on the weekend and won almost $67,000 for getting 12/13 games right. Wow, what a great return that is. No one got the perfect 13/13, so the pot is carried over until next week (when I plan on winning it). I've been coming close, but forgot to buy a ticket last week.

This guy was outside the window last night as I typed away on my computer...Linds was kind enough to point him out for me. The pictures don't do him justice....let's just say he's probably The Spidenator. He was frickin huge and I swear he was banging on the window for me to let him in. No dice fella...I'm scared shitless of you.

Oh, last but not least (we've kind of gotten away from sports, haven't we?)....the Led Zeppelin reunion show is a pretty big hit, isn't it? People were going crazy trying to register for the ticket lottery online - 80,000/minute at one point. That was enough to crash the site and the server yesterday...I'd say the boys have still got it. (I already saw them :P )

Sundays are for being lazy.

So I announce that Sundays will be the day for poker and these:

You Are Pink!

Tough. Sexy. Tough. Soulful. Tough. Guys are both attracted and scared of you. "I've been the girl with her skirt pulled high Been the outcast never running with mascara eyes"

Who's Your Inner Rock Chick?

You Belong in 1985

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Please, the next time I'm considering a garage sale, knock me on the head with a hammer so I come to my senses. I did the math - I made $4.69 an hour for the work I put into this thing. And I "donated" it all to my lovely children, who I basically paid to stay outta my way.

I refused to haggle. Everything was cheap and any offer worked for me. I actually gave away more than I sold...I just wanted to get rid of the crap. But why is it that after selling stuff all day long, it always seems like you have just as much to pack away at the end of the day as you hauled out in the beginning? Do people sneak stuff in there when you're not looking? I'd like to blow it up or pile it in a big heap in the yard and set it on fire when the day's done. I do not want to deal with it afterward. And my charity pick up date is Oct. 2 - the earliest available, so I had to repack it all in the carport and cover it up because they're calling for rain. I left a bunch in the yard with a "FREE" sign...hope it magically disappears.

I'd really like to know why I had to list EVERY SINGLE FEATURE (twice) on the typewriter(s) I sold my neighbour for two bucks!? I think he should've paid $20 for the time he stole from me. They were two bucks and they worked...what more did he want? He hummed and hawwed (at me) for AN HOUR, had me put them on hold while he left and then came back and looked at them for another twenty fucking minutes each. And then asked the same questions he'd already asked before he left. I had to explain everything TWICE because he wanted to be sure. They're two bucks dude, get over it. And the woman who showed up at 7:30, just as I was putting stuff out....she was bad. I sold her Lindsay's old Little Tyke's kitchen (yes, we still had it - long story). Again...five bucks. But I'd washed it down and it had some water still in it so I'll be damned if she didn't have me holding it upside down, shaking it to get every last drop out. I felt like it was a warped game of Twister and she was snickering inside as she had me perform a backbend while holding this thing over my head. Then she couldn't carry it to her car so I helped her. I can carry it with one finger - seriously. Not a problem except I WASN'T OPEN FOR BUSINESS YET. So that set me back half an hour and, by the time people started arriving, I was frantically throwing stuff out there and never did get it all put out. Some people expect alot for a $5 sale. I know I sound bitchy, but when I buy stuff, I deal with it. Or I don't buy it - easy as that.


Some people obviously don't understand "3 for $5" either....somehow it translates to 50 cents each for them. Even my inferior math skills know that that's wrong. My cousin (who showed up to help out) kept saying "Deb, STICK TO YOUR PRICES...THEY'RE DIRT CHEAP ALREADY". But I didn't and she cringed everytime I sold an item for 8 cents that I'd been asking four bucks for. Whatever...I'm not a good haggler. When I'm buying I am, but I make a pathetic saleswoman. "Here, just take it" was my favorite line. And "3 for 5" quickly turned into "5 for 2".

A hundred & fifty bucks for 2-16 hour days of work. I'm sweaty, gritty, tired, aching, and I feel broken. I swear it, never again. EVER. (But I think I said that last sale)

I will be back to my old self (and visiting your wonderful blogs) soon. But tonight I need to go die.

Hello friends.

Sorry, I've been quite remiss in responding to comments but I promise I'll get caught up soon. I have read them and feel very badly that I've only had short little spurts on the computer and haven't had time to answer them as I'd like. But I feel it's rude that I haven't acknowledged you at all, so I promise to catch up tonight (or maybe tomorrow....I'm fading fast here).

I'm having a garage sale tomorrow, so I've been getting ready for that. Today after work I was doing some prep and decided to tie a rope from the tree to a post so I could hang things on it - turned out to be a big mistake. I climbed up on a rickety old stool, being very careful, as I knew it wasn't too steady. I almost had it beat when the damn thing buckled and I came crashing down, landing hard on the (very big) tree roots. It hurt like hell and my ribs seemed to have taken the worst of it. Oh, and my foot. Mostly it scared the hell out of me because I really wasn't ready to take a dive. And of course, it was out front at rush hour with cars streaming by so my pride took a pretty good blow as well. Impressive.

Anyhow, I went up to my rock to honor Mom's birthday the other night and was totally pissed to see it already occupied when I got there. Why do I feel like I own it? I get really upset and want to tell people to move when they're there. They had wine and beer and snacks so I knew they were in for the long haul...I begrudgingly shuffled over to the smaller rock to do my thing.

These are the pics (and some from last night too). I've been doing my ride every evening while it's been nice out - which explains my absence here. King of the castle?

Happy birthday Mom....I miss you more than words can say. XO

OH CANADA!!

Well we proved (again) today why we are the hockey nation to beat...congratulations to our junior boys, who dominated the superseries against Russia with a record of 7-0-1 to take the cup in what would become a total obliteration . The Canadians outscored the Russians 39-13 during the series and the Russians began to unravel today when they showed their frustration in the form of a late, dirty hit on a Canadian player that sparked a bit of a melee.

The game was played here at GM place and the sold out crowd was treated to an awesome display of talent and a great team effort. Wish I would've been there...didn't get a ticket in time. :(

* * * * * * * *

Now we'll shift from a proud moment to one I find disgraceful and disgusting.











I think our days of slaughtering whales should be over. I understand that native tribes have permission to kill whales as a means of subsistence each year, but my honest opinion is that their right to practice traditional rituals should be done traditionally. Somehow a machine gun just doesn't fit this picture for me and I hope these guys get the book thrown at them. It appears that this particular hunt may not have had the required approval or exemption from the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

* * * * * * * *

And lastly, a story that has people divided. I know where I stand on it......

She pulled into work and unloaded donuts for the school for 6 minutes or so while her child slept in the vehicle. Then she parked the SUV and hurried into the school to start her day at work, leaving the kid in there.

Please tell me how you "forget" your kid? Please?

I'm sorry, I know the bleeding heart in me should feel horrible for this woman after this tragedy. But I don't. I want to shoot her. I feel for the kid who suffered terribly in a sweltering car before she died because her Mom "forgot" about her. "Woopsie" isn't good enough. She was worried she'd be late for work....but that's not reason to forget your kid. Was she supposed to take the child to daycare? Was she taking her kid to work? Was she smoking fucking crack for 3 days beforehand?

I have no sympathy for this woman. I'm sorry.

Starstruck

(I wrote this last night but saved it, because blogger wouldn't let me upload my pics for some reason)

This is gonna be long...I warn you now (and suggest you grab some snacks and a blanket).....

Tonight I finally got to see my all time favorite female artist in concert, something I've been waiting for since "Stuff" came out. Long overdue. Holly McNarland played the VECC (my new all time favorite venue) and I can hardly type this because I'm still in awe and reeling from the show. Seriously.

I am NOT a good reviewer of shows (like Barb). I get so caught up in the moment that I can barely scrape myself off the ceiling, much less remember what happened. I am very participatory (is that even a word?) and really get into the show...especially when it's someone I'm THIS fond of. I am not "together" or composed, as most of you would be at shows. I hoot and howl and dance and cry and stamp my feet and clap. I might even levitate, I don't know. Then, afterward, if I'm fortunate enough to do a meet and greet (like we were tonight), I'm a babbling fool who can barely harness her emotion. Tonight was no exception. (I think I drooled on Holly.)

First of all - did you ever have a day where everything just sort of fell into place and luck seemed to be on your side and you were shittin' gold? That was today.

It's funny, all day today the "buzz" around work was about the youngest lottery player in Canada to win a big jackpot. The 19 year old Maple Ridge girl won 2 million yesterday in the BC49 and I found her story quite compelling. She'd never bought a lottery ticket before in her life, but felt the urge to when her parents suggested that positive thinking could have a positive result on her life. They'd been reading "The Secret" and it prompted her to go out and buy her first ticket. And I'll be damned if she didn't win the jackpot.

Anyhow, it seems that MY day was affected by just reading this positive story because everything just fell into place for me after that. First, I'd planned on leaving for the show early - REAL early. It was general admission and I wanted front row. The venue is a teeny little intimate one and I was bound and determined to be up close and personal. Well, despite me telling Linds that I got off work at 3:30 and wanted to leave shortly afterward, I came home to find her sprawled on the couch with a movie, yakkin' on the phone (still in her pj's). So somehow 3:30 turned into 6:00 before we were actually on the road (where we hit a shitload of rush hour traffic)....I thought we'd be doomed in the "good" seats and parking departments (there are like 6 spots at the venue). And I was a little stressed over it because Linds blew me off and had no sense of urgency, like I did.

As we neared the VECC, I got worried and wondered why we didn't see anyone lined up outside (like we did for Matt Good). Then I panicked, as I thought the doors must've already opened and envisioned everyone already inside, in all the good seats (leaving us one in the corner, behind a pole on the second level). Great. I knew we should've arrived earlier.

But as we got closer, we noticed two guys sitting cross legged in front of the door, with three more on a bench beside the building. We pulled into the parking lot to find there were still 4 parking spots left. WTF? We started to wonder if we had the right date? The right venue? WHERE WAS EVERYONE?

As we got to the door we quickly made friends with the two guys sitting out front, who'd been as surprised as we were that noone had shown up. It was after 7 and the show started at 8. This meant that we were second in line behind these two guys! SCORE!!

A couple more people eventually straggled up and the doors opened to line up inside the lobby (and wait some more). We started to get a little nervous when it was finally time to be seated and the lady scanned the guy's ticket in front of us and it didn't work. She shuffled him aside and then tried ours, only to tell us that they "didn't work" either. She said we'd also have to step aside to let others through as she figured out why, but we insisted that we wanted to save seats first, then figure it out. As it turned out, Ticketmaster had screwed up and charged WAY more than they were supposed to for s/c and the glitch was affecting the ticket scanning process. We were relieved when a girl came over and brought the usher lady up to speed on what was happening and instructed her to let us in without scanning our tickets. It was a hassle, but nice to learn that if we saved our tickets we'd get a refund on the overcharge. I'd already thought they were reasonable (at $33 each), but apparently they were only supposed to be $19.50. YES! SCORE #2.

When we finally got inside, we were pleasantly surprised to see that there was no "stage" set up and our front row seats were mere feet away from Holly. This was getting good. Screw the lottery, we were winners.

The opening act was a delightful young lady who goes by "Adaline" (and is now apparently Lindsay's BFF...they've exchanged phone numbers and emails and are going to meet for coffee). She reminded us of Fiona and we are now her new biggest fans. She sings like an angel - sexy, smooth and sultry and she is utterly delightful - charming and sweet.She flirted with the cute guy sitting next to Linds during the show (the one in the line up that we befriended) and talked of how nervous she was, although it didn't show at all. Cool as a cucumber. Her music gave us goosebumps and I'll be the first in line to get her new CD (which is coming out soon). If you're smart, you'll be second. I'll be posting more on her later.

Anyhow, I'm tired, so let's cut to the chase.

Holly blew my fucking mind.

I'm not going to give a big spiel about the show because I can't do it justice. Just know that, for those of you who know Holly's music - live is even better than the CD. I thought maybe she'd "tone" it down now that she's a Mom and all - y'know, not belt it out like she used to. Wrong. She wailed. I've always loved her ability to go from beautiful, soft melodies to ripping the place apart. And she did.

That little firecracker's still smokin' hot. She's funny as hell, ditzy as a schoolgirl, honest, raw, and better than I'd ever imagine she'd be. She had to have all her lyrics in front of her because "she forgets everything". And she wasn't kidding either. She had to tune her guitar before each song she played because, well, she's unprepared. But she doesn't give a shit. She doesn't play guitar as much as she used to because she doesn't "feel like it" and has hired "the first girl she's every played with" and announced that "girls are better" (which got a big "hell ya" from us women in the audience). She ran out of things to talk about at one point which, in itself, was quite funny. She's quirky and does little Holly'isms throughout the show. Flails her hands around. Constantly tugs on her pants to pull them up. Silly little stuff that's just endearing and makes her seem like a nervous little child about to perform in the school assembly. And then this big, booming powerhouse voice comes outta this little thing. Awesome. I'm totally in awe, more than I ever was before. Didn't think that was possible.

Her son was in the audience and provided the sweetest banter back and forth with "Mom". It was touching to see her calm, (sweet) maternal side ravelled into the feisty little ball of energy. She tried to convince her son to tell his polar bear joke for us, but he declined and stood firm on "no Mom". And she respected that.

After the show, the rumor was swirling around that she was coming out to the lobby for a meet & greet session. I didn't buy it...I thought it was all a smokescreen by the crew to get everyone to clear out to the lobby and it appeared that that was the case. They were unconvincing with their casual "oh yeah, she'll be out soons". She's a mom with a baby and an 8 year old at the show, I doubted that she'd rush out to her fans. People hung around in corners and outside the doors for a bit, then slowly started to disperse as they realized the inevitable...Holly'd obviously already left out the back door. But Linds was bound and determined to stay and so was the guy that we'd hung out with all night (although I think he was staying because Linds was and it had nothing much to do with Holly coming out). Eventually the place was empty, except for Linds, her new friend and dude who needs his own story tomorrow - he's the one that looks like he's going to a Rancid concert.

It was quiet and desserted as I stood in the doorway to catch some cool air (and was just about to call Linds to leave). It was at this point that I looked over to see Holly there, standing with Linds and the other two guys and just about to give her a big hug! And because I'm a psycho stalker, I pushed my way in there with no sense of class or style at all - like a bull in a china shop. I'm pathetic. Anyhow, turns out Holly did come out to see our sorry asses because we'd hung in for the long haul and were officially the "diehards". We hung out and chatted with her for a bit, had a few pics done and then she graciously signed some stuff for us. She told me I was a cool mom for turning Linds onto her music and she was even more adorable "behind the scenes". I'm not gonna wash my ears for a week.

Anyhow, I'm beat and this was just too much excitement for my little peabrain. From food poisoning to meeting one of my female idols in a matter of days...what a week this has been. I've gotta go catch some sleep before I explode. More tomorrow (including some pheomenal video that Linds took and more about what songs she performed. Oh yeah, and the story of "dude"). What a night.





(FTR, Lindsay's pictures are much better...I'll post them later. I was too starstruck and wanted to be "in the moment" vs taking pictures of it. And in the dimly lit room, I didn't want to spoil the mood by being an annoying "flasher").