Concert, and Halloween party in a dank alley with 30STM

Someday my great great grandchildren will read this and look at these pictures and say, "Holy crap, great great grandma spent Halloween with 30 Seconds To Mars?!" (Because I'm pretty sure that people will still know of the band then. Or at least I hope so.) Anyway, let me preface this with a few disclaimers: Those of you who know me, who have heard me talk, know that when I get most urple and crazy and effusive, I'm usually being tongue in cheek and self-mocking. (At least I hope you know.) Keep that in mind when I go on at length about Jerrod and Shannon Frito Layto and whoever the hell the other two guys are. ;) Also, because I'm me, I have to write down every detail. I have some kind of weird neurosis that unless I write things down, they didn't happen. So this promises to be long. Also, because I was listening to some music while I was mentally writing this out, there are quoted song lyrics throughout that seemed to go with what was on my mind. It might read like a song-fic. O_o Bearing all that in mind, off we go.

It seems that The Train Gods either hate me or really don't like when I go to see 30 Seconds to Mars. Recall last Friday, when all of a sudden there was "rail work" as they said and they cancelled all the trains home and would have stranded Meghan and I in the city if not for my Dad. Well, Tuesday came around and I got up bright and early, all packed and ready, dressed in my finest black pants and 30STm shirt that was a gift from Jeremy, my "concert kit", and the gifts I had made for the band with help from my beautiful and awesome friend Kim. I had asked my Da to drive me to Ronkonkoma station because I didn't fancy leaving my car there overnight. There I was, all excited and with my leftover ticket from Friday, and I went to the desk to ask which track to take, only to be told by the vaguely discourteous teller that all the trains were cancelled. Yes, all of them, to everywhere. Because of sudden "rail work." So I called my Dad, who had only just turned the corner. I had a train to catch from Penn Station to 30th st. station in PA and I didn't have a lot of time between trains, only 25 minutes. He came back and ended up driving me all the way into the city. Again. With time to spare.

Until he couldn't find the perfect spot to let me off at the station. I swear we passed the entrance 3 times but he kept going around for like 40 minutes while I kept saying, "right here is fine, I can walk!" But that's not how Dads do things. Finally he did let me off a few yards from the entrance and I booked out of there like my butt was on fire and my head was catching. I wasn't feeling too zen when I got to the teller to get the tickets, and she must have sensed that because she gave me a lollipop. I needn't have worried about being late, though, because my train to Philly ended up being delayed.

But I still got there in plenty of time, and my cab driver to the hotel was very nice, unlike the NY cab drivers. He was a big black guy and we got into the subject of racial profiling, and from there he mentioned that he was into martial arts. I always feel, when men say that, that they expect women to change the subject. Because they always seem surprised when I say, "Really? I do martial arts, too. What kind do you do?" and then hold a conversation about it. He told me about his son, who was 11 and had that natural zen state that most martial artists study years to master. It seemed like "zen" was the order of the day, so when I got to the hotel I unpacked my bathroom stuff, laid out my costume, and because I had a few hours before dinner and the concert, decided to zen walk. Zen walking is when I just start walking with no destination and I just look at things. I ended up going into a "world culture" store and buying some trinkets that I thought I'd work into my costume. But then I ended up not using them anyway. I didn't really see or do much on my zen walk. Then I stopped for a slice of pizza and went back to the hotel. I was too nervous to finish the entire pizza (and I'm still not sure exactly why--I'm nervous now just writing about it,) and then got into my costume, all a-jitter. I think I thought I was going to be late.

( This was my costume, the escaped wild-woman: )

The front there reads, "Surrender To Nothing" which is a lyric from the song "Attack", which the first time I heard it I thought, "God, this song isn't about violence, it's about freedom." Much to my self-satisfaction, whenever Jared introduces this song he says, "This is a song about freedom." See, the gist of this costume is the wild woman who has escaped the prospect of confining marriage. And because this costume party was a blood ball, she obviously escaped it violently. One was supposed to think, "You should see the other guy!" The hand print was supposed to look like part war paint, part would-be groom's bloody handprint like, "OMG, somebody get her away from me!" The broken ropes, the blood, the feathers, all of that, was all supposed to mean freedom. But I knew that most people were going to take a look and say, "Hey, Bloody Bride!" I thought I'd correct them, "Escaped bride!" But, uhh, you'll see that I didn't.

The cab ride to the venue was sort of fun, everyone was looking in the window and I'd give them this cheesy "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" grin. One other cab driver who pulled up beside me cracked up when I did that.

I needn't have worried about getting there late, because I got there at 4:30 and doors weren't until 7. There were maybe 30 people on line by then and I felt like there was enough time to wander around. Except there was really nowhere to wander. The Electric Factory (the club where they played) was the only business on the street, it seemed like, aside fromthe Red Cross blood donation place across the street. (Appropriate, no?) I wandered around the back of the building and was stopped by three guys before I got to the other side. They asked where I was going and I told them that I wanted to see how big the place was. I refrained from saying, "I'm so totally not looking for the band's tour bus. Really!" One of the guys said, "Oh, it's pretty big. It goes from back here all the way to the front." The other two guys snickered. "Really big," they said. "Huh huh. Heh heh. Really big. Goes all the way to the street. Huh huh." I rolled my eyes and walked away from Beavis and Butthead and Beavis.

On my way back I passed a group of Echelon pouring fake blood (hereto referred to as just "blood" and you'll all gather that I mean fake blood,) all over themselves and each other. "'Surrender to nothing,'" one of them quoted to me. "Awesome, girl. You look beautiful. Great job on the costume." I thought, Here's someone who gets it. ^_^ Then as I was getting back on line another group of girls passed and said, "What a great custome!" and "YOU'RE LOVELY." Which made me think they had to be from the bulletin board, because "JULES YOU'RE LOVELY" is kind of an inside joke over there.

Also on line was this couple all in white, splattered liberally with blood. The guy had on a floor length, hooded robe with hand-painted Echelon X, glyphics, red arrow, and "PROVEHITO IN ALTUM" written across the bottom. They were having a marvelous time with their bottle of blood, up until security came out and told everyone that they couldn't do any more blood splattering in the parking lot. (I wonder if this was because the Red Cross was across the street. ;D )

I got on line behind a girl whose forum screen name is She'sMorbid. I sat down and whined, "I'M BORED!" She asked me, "How long have you been here?" "Five minutes," I told her, and she laughed. Then three other folks got behind me and sat down. It was only 5 PM and we had a loooong wait. I decided to talk to the nice people behind me which ended up being one of the best ideas I'd had all night. I whipped out the necklaces I had made with the help of Kim and said that I really wanted to get the chance to meet the band tonight and give them these. By the way, ( these are the necklaces I made: )

For those not in the know who might be reading, I've already explained the glyphics in a previous post, and the phoenix is another one of their symbols.

( The waiting adventures of She's Morbid, Blender Girl, and Hilarious Girl... )

Once inside, I lost Blender Girl and Hilarious Girl, but was right beside Pretty Goth Girl and her Cute Boyfriend who looked very very much like Sehing Tristan from Green Cloud.) I also met up with Katie and her Mom, who were the two awesome Echelon I mentioned after the last show. Behind me came two young girls (maybe in their late teens to very early 20's) who were both shorter than I am. I repeatedly offered them my spot but they would insist that they could see just fine. For a short while, they did.

I think I can safely say that I was not the only person there whose back was aching like mad after about fifteen minutes of standing around. I think it had something to do with the uneven floors. You kept having to shift your weight and you could never get comfortable. I was leaning on the railing, thinking, My God, I have hours of this. The two girls behind me started chatting with me to pass the time, and thank god, because there was a lot of time to pass.

( Onto the opening bands and THE BROS: )

It's also worth noting that there was a girl of around 14 behind Janna who had a scream so high and piercing that it felt like a shiny steel spike going through my head. It was so bad that everytime any of the bands said, "MAKE SOME NOISE!!!" as bands are wont to do, I'd put my hands over my ears. And the scream would go right through my palms and into my ears anyway. Why can't all 14 year olds be like Meghan? Eventually Janna turned around and said, "Look, you know, you don't have to make that noise. It's not going to accomplish anything." I'm surprised dogs weren't howling all over Philly.

They finished around 11:40, and the club didn't even bring the house lights up before O Fortuna started to play at around 11:45. ^_^

( Scraping the skylines with hypnotic observations Swooping and surfing over lyrical substations Embrace the flame again and again Like passion and pain hand in hand with each other. )

( What do you do when someone falls...? )

( I'm just a crazy mixed up kid Out comes the truth when you take off the lid And whats it all gonna mean When audio psychosis spills from the speakers cones And I can hear the music tear Tearin through my bones... )

( Why Jared calls his brother Shanimal: )

What was next, The Mission, I think? I tried to tape this, too, because I knew it was going to be fabulous. It was. I only discovered a little while ago, however, that I must have been right underneath the speakers for Matt's bass, because on the playback all you hear is a fuzzy, steady, "FOOMFOOMFOOMFOOM".

( Matticus )

Let me take a moment to address the various personnae of these guys in their fake blood. Tomo, okay, Tomo looks like he's covered in fake blood. His face is too sweet and unassuming; I think he'd have to work at it to look threatening. He's just boyish like that. Jared's blood-splatter looks like he freaked out momentarily and whacked someone with an axe. He's like the mercurial killer, like he could have just as easily not killed you, but hell, he was jumping around like a cracked out monkey and you and the aze happened to be there, oh well. Matt, on the other hand, for as nice a person as he is, comes across as a methodical serial killer. Here's a guy who takes his time, maybe even a few months. I don't know, it was Halloween, they were covered in blood, my mind wandered. Shannon didn't have any blood on him, WTF was that all about? Get with the program, Shannon!

( I'm the silver surfer hearin' lucifer Lay on the ground and nobody dies... )

I'm so bad at remembering the set list. Jared asked for requests and then did what he wanted to do anyway, which was Echelon. He did this one by himself ("Hang on, this was a long time ago. Let me see if I can remember it.") They did The Story (it used to be people would light their lighters when the slow songs came on, now it's cell phones.) What else? Of course they did The Kill, duh. I tried to tape this, too, like I always do. Once again, terrible sound, me getting jostled around, the audience singing most of it for Jared. Nice crowd walk in this one, too. He prefaced this song with, "Shhhh! This song is called The Kill!" I just had to giggle at how serious he was about it.
( The Kill )

To my annoyance, The Bros knew a few words to this song. The rest of the time they just stood there like big square blockheads being in everyone's way and falling drunkenly over each other. When The Kill came on, they vaguely mouthed some of the words like, "Oh yeah, this was on the radio." MOVE, DOUCHBAGS, BEFORE I PUNCH YOU IN THE VAGINA! God, I hated those guys.

Then, of course, they did Attack, and The Bros, surprisingly, knew even a few more words to this one. At the end of this song about five tons of orange and black confetti started to come down. It was actually a beautiful visual. I was recording already because I was getting some really cool shots of the crowd surfers and stagedivers, so the confetti thing was a nice surprise. ( Check it out: )

They closed with something I didn't recognize but felt like I should have. It was just all too hectic. After the four of them gathered together around Shannon's drums:

they disappeared before the confetti stopped blowing around.

And then, my dears, it was time to line up to get crap signed.
( Hey, Bloody Bride! Go and wait by the tour bus. )

So off I went to wait for the guys by their tour bus, in an alley between the club and a warehouse, with huge garbage bins and a loading dock about four feet high that we were all sitting on. There were at least thirty other people there, and I managed to find Janna and Megan again, as well as Katie and her Mom. We decided to wait by the end of the line (we were actually at what we thought was the beginning,) because we figured the crowd would thin out and we could actually say Hi and get some pictures.

Tomo came out first and very quietly said, "I'm sorry guys, but I have somewhere to be. If you'd like to take a picture, I have to do it now." And then he very patiently went down the line saying Hi to everyone and taking a picture with anyone who wanted one. Janna and Megan didn't have a camera, so I got pictures of them. Then Janna took one of me with Tomo. As I went to step up to him I fell into a huge hole in the pavement and almost took him down with me. The picture is blurry--my fault for not telling Janna to hold the button down for a second to let it autofocus.
( Blurry but nice. )

I thought about handing him the package of necklaces, but he was in such a rush and I didn't want to hold him up. I figured I'd probably catch Matt, because I know that Jared has been going into the bus to work on their video and stuff, and I wasn't sure if Shannon was in the habit of hanging around for too long, either. Jared actually did come out of the bus for a second, got mobbed, and went back in. After a few minutes, Janna nudged me, laughing, and said, "No one knows that's Jared. He's got a mask on." Now, the entire time we was walking by in the bloodied white tux and stupid furry mask, I was staring at the huge garbage bin thinking something along the lines of, "That's a really huge garbage bin. It sure has a lot of garbage in it. I wonder how much. There's probably, like, chairs and tables in there. Jeez, my feet hurt."

Echelonic Lord and Lady showed up, too. We watched Jared get mobbed for a while and I asked, "Should we be, like, mobbing him too? Because it doesn't seem polite." Echelonic Lord said, "Nahh, he'll come over here. He wants to see us." So we waited. And eventually, Jared did come over, and he jumped up onto the loading dock and started giving directions. Unfortunately I was still pretty deaf, but I got the gist of it.
( Everyone dressed in white and covered in blood, come up here and stand against the wall. )

'Round about this time, Shannon was milling around all the contestants. Echelonic Lord asked me, "Did you get to give them their gifts yet?" I told him I hadn't; they were busy and everyone else was sort of mobbing them and I didn't want to be rude. Echelonic Lord just went, "Okay, hold on." Then he hooked Shannon by the shirt and said, "Excuse me, this girl has something for you."
( BZZZZZT! )

After Shannon's effusive and sincere thanks, I saw Jared still milling around on the makeshift stage, still sort of getting mobbed. As this was going on, some girl came running down the street screaming at the top of her lungs in very much the same manner that Meghan and I were making fun of on Friday: "BLBLBLBLBAAAAAAA!!!" ANd then--I kid you not, people--"JARED LAYTO! JARED LAYTO!" I saw her doing something with her shirt, so I think she flashed him, but I could be wrong.

Jared turned around and, dude, without missing a beat, said, "Oh, yeah, hey, go have another drink." Rumor has it that Jared can be just slightly straight edge when it comes to stuff like drinking and smoking and whatnot, which is what makes all the comments like "Jared's on crack!" that much more ironic. The comment was a perfectly timed barb and everyone around him busted out laughing. However, I'm pretty sure that was the comment that started all the trouble for him. Because that drunk girl was a package deal, and the other parts were a handful of very aggressive Drunken Retarded Fratboys.

Which is, in fact, why Jared looks so paranoid in the picture he took with me.

( Strip-tease traffic lights Cut throat beer fights Poison friends/fakers and takers Stoic spectators And youre all cold, cold heartbreakers... )

After a few minutes of this, and while the security guards were trying to get rid of that group, Jared made his way back to his bus. Around then, Janna and Megan had to leave. "Those guys ruined it for everyone," Janna said. I told her that they might still be hanging around, and I'd walk with them back to the parking lot instead of going down the street where they'd left. Just as we got to the fence by the lot, I was a few steps behind and I turned around and saw Missy and Echelonic Lord and Lady by the bus and I thought, "They never got their prize." I called out to Janna to tell her I was going back to see those guys, and I guess she didn't hear me because they went back to their car.

I went back to the bus and found that the party was still going on. Jared leaned out of the bus, now in a blue T shirt and a silly hat with a red pompom on the top,(but whatever, he could put dead swer rats on his head and he'd still look good,) and said, ( Are those c---s gone yet? )

Dude and then Matt came out with two white, autographed Fender Strats.
( I think Echelon Lord and Missy were a little overwhelmed. )

*Sigh!* Le Jared. I took a bunch of pictures to send to the winners. I also did manage to tap Jared on the shoulder and say, "I left a gift for all of you guys with Shannon; I hope you get a chance to see it tonight." He said, "Oh, hey, thanks!" Then some girl very cutely tried to give him a balloon animal, much to her friend's chagrin ("No! Don't give him that, it's stupid!") and Jared said with a smile, "Um, you can keep that if you want." And then Shannon came back out. I smiled and he waved, then came over again and said, "Thank you so much." BZZZZT! "Uhhh ... you're welcome. There are four of those. Three more for, you know, three other guys..." And then he just grabbed me and hugged me, probably so that I would shut up. And again I got to say, "Thank you for such an awesome show and party." "No, thank YOU," Shannon said. Now when we do this at work, it could go on for minutes until everyone is giggling, but I have to remind myself that these are not my friends at work, just a band being nice to the people who are nice to them, so I just let him go and said, "You're welcome. I'll be sure to come out and see you guys next time."

Okay, it was a little hairy trying to get a cab at 3:30 in the morning. In the end it was down to me, Missy, Emma, and two other ladies I didn't know. I think their ride home bailed on them. I was starting to get slightly worried, because when I called the cab company the guy asked where I was and when I said, "Electric Factory, 7th Avenue," he said, "But I need an address. See, this is what happens on Halloween, you people go walking around at night and then you don't know where you are." I was digging around in my purse for the address when we got disconnected, and I had to try again. Finally I got through and he said, "We'll send someone out if we have someone in the area." IF?! It's 3:30 AM, I'm on a street corner in the middle of freaking nowhere, there is no if! I tried all different cab companies and no one picked up. Emma and the others had gone off to try to make calls of their own. The other tour buses had all pulled out (the guy from Men, Women and Children hanging off the outside of one of the windows,) and only the 30 Seconds to Mars bus was still there. Basically I just stood out there with the bodyguards, who were still outside by the door, and waited. Emma and the rest came back, and then my cab came around. I said goodnight to them and they asked the cabbie to come back and pick them up afterwards, which he said he would do. He freaking RACED back to the hotel and I thought we were going to die.

When I got in the lobby, 3:45 AM, covered in fake blood and probably with my eyes standing out from my head, the woman behind the counter looked up and "TSK"ed at me. "Uh," I said, "Happy Halloween." She "TSK"ed again and said, "I don't celebrate Halloween. Thanks anyway."

I just had to laugh. Her loss. I celebrate the crap out of that holiday.

Concert, and Halloween party in a dank alley with 30STM

Someday my great great grandchildren will read this and look at these pictures and say, "Holy crap, great great grandma spent Halloween with 30 Seconds To Mars?!" (Because I'm pretty sure that people will still know of the band then. Or at least I hope so.) Anyway, let me preface this with a few disclaimers: Those of you who know me, who have heard me talk, know that when I get most urple and crazy and effusive, I'm usually being tongue in cheek and self-mocking. (At least I hope you know.) Keep that in mind when I go on at length about Jerrod and Shannon Frito Layto and whoever the hell the other two guys are. ;) Also, because I'm me, I have to write down every detail. I have some kind of weird neurosis that unless I write things down, they didn't happen. So this promises to be long. Also, because I was listening to some music while I was mentally writing this out, there are quoted song lyrics throughout that seemed to go with what was on my mind. It might read like a song-fic. O_o Bearing all that in mind, off we go.

It seems that The Train Gods either hate me or really don't like when I go to see 30 Seconds to Mars. Recall last Friday, when all of a sudden there was "rail work" as they said and they cancelled all the trains home and would have stranded Meghan and I in the city if not for my Dad. Well, Tuesday came around and I got up bright and early, all packed and ready, dressed in my finest black pants and 30STm shirt that was a gift from Jeremy, my "concert kit", and the gifts I had made for the band with help from my beautiful and awesome friend Kim. I had asked my Da to drive me to Ronkonkoma station because I didn't fancy leaving my car there overnight. There I was, all excited and with my leftover ticket from Friday, and I went to the desk to ask which track to take, only to be told by the vaguely discourteous teller that all the trains were cancelled. Yes, all of them, to everywhere. Because of sudden "rail work." So I called my Dad, who had only just turned the corner. I had a train to catch from Penn Station to 30th st. station in PA and I didn't have a lot of time between trains, only 25 minutes. He came back and ended up driving me all the way into the city. Again. With time to spare.

Until he couldn't find the perfect spot to let me off at the station. I swear we passed the entrance 3 times but he kept going around for like 40 minutes while I kept saying, "right here is fine, I can walk!" But that's not how Dads do things. Finally he did let me off a few yards from the entrance and I booked out of there like my butt was on fire and my head was catching. I wasn't feeling too zen when I got to the teller to get the tickets, and she must have sensed that because she gave me a lollipop. I needn't have worried about being late, though, because my train to Philly ended up being delayed.

But I still got there in plenty of time, and my cab driver to the hotel was very nice, unlike the NY cab drivers. He was a big black guy and we got into the subject of racial profiling, and from there he mentioned that he was into martial arts. I always feel, when men say that, that they expect women to change the subject. Because they always seem surprised when I say, "Really? I do martial arts, too. What kind do you do?" and then hold a conversation about it. He told me about his son, who was 11 and had that natural zen state that most martial artists study years to master. It seemed like "zen" was the order of the day, so when I got to the hotel I unpacked my bathroom stuff, laid out my costume, and because I had a few hours before dinner and the concert, decided to zen walk. Zen walking is when I just start walking with no destination and I just look at things. I ended up going into a "world culture" store and buying some trinkets that I thought I'd work into my costume. But then I ended up not using them anyway. I didn't really see or do much on my zen walk. Then I stopped for a slice of pizza and went back to the hotel. I was too nervous to finish the entire pizza (and I'm still not sure exactly why--I'm nervous now just writing about it,) and then got into my costume, all a-jitter. I think I thought I was going to be late.

( This was my costume, the escaped wild-woman: )

The front there reads, "Surrender To Nothing" which is a lyric from the song "Attack", which the first time I heard it I thought, "God, this song isn't about violence, it's about freedom." Much to my self-satisfaction, whenever Jared introduces this song he says, "This is a song about freedom." See, the gist of this costume is the wild woman who has escaped the prospect of confining marriage. And because this costume party was a blood ball, she obviously escaped it violently. One was supposed to think, "You should see the other guy!" The hand print was supposed to look like part war paint, part would-be groom's bloody handprint like, "OMG, somebody get her away from me!" The broken ropes, the blood, the feathers, all of that, was all supposed to mean freedom. But I knew that most people were going to take a look and say, "Hey, Bloody Bride!" I thought I'd correct them, "Escaped bride!" But, uhh, you'll see that I didn't.

The cab ride to the venue was sort of fun, everyone was looking in the window and I'd give them this cheesy "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!" grin. One other cab driver who pulled up beside me cracked up when I did that.

I needn't have worried about getting there late, because I got there at 4:30 and doors weren't until 7. There were maybe 30 people on line by then and I felt like there was enough time to wander around. Except there was really nowhere to wander. The Electric Factory (the club where they played) was the only business on the street, it seemed like, aside fromthe Red Cross blood donation place across the street. (Appropriate, no?) I wandered around the back of the building and was stopped by three guys before I got to the other side. They asked where I was going and I told them that I wanted to see how big the place was. I refrained from saying, "I'm so totally not looking for the band's tour bus. Really!" One of the guys said, "Oh, it's pretty big. It goes from back here all the way to the front." The other two guys snickered. "Really big," they said. "Huh huh. Heh heh. Really big. Goes all the way to the street. Huh huh." I rolled my eyes and walked away from Beavis and Butthead and Beavis.

On my way back I passed a group of Echelon pouring fake blood (hereto referred to as just "blood" and you'll all gather that I mean fake blood,) all over themselves and each other. "'Surrender to nothing,'" one of them quoted to me. "Awesome, girl. You look beautiful. Great job on the costume." I thought, Here's someone who gets it. ^_^ Then as I was getting back on line another group of girls passed and said, "What a great custome!" and "YOU'RE LOVELY." Which made me think they had to be from the bulletin board, because "JULES YOU'RE LOVELY" is kind of an inside joke over there.

Also on line was this couple all in white, splattered liberally with blood. The guy had on a floor length, hooded robe with hand-painted Echelon X, glyphics, red arrow, and "PROVEHITO IN ALTUM" written across the bottom. They were having a marvelous time with their bottle of blood, up until security came out and told everyone that they couldn't do any more blood splattering in the parking lot. (I wonder if this was because the Red Cross was across the street. ;D )

I got on line behind a girl whose forum screen name is She'sMorbid. I sat down and whined, "I'M BORED!" She asked me, "How long have you been here?" "Five minutes," I told her, and she laughed. Then three other folks got behind me and sat down. It was only 5 PM and we had a loooong wait. I decided to talk to the nice people behind me which ended up being one of the best ideas I'd had all night. I whipped out the necklaces I had made with the help of Kim and said that I really wanted to get the chance to meet the band tonight and give them these. By the way, ( these are the necklaces I made: )

For those not in the know who might be reading, I've already explained the glyphics in a previous post, and the phoenix is another one of their symbols.

( The waiting adventures of She's Morbid, Blender Girl, and Hilarious Girl... )

Once inside, I lost Blender Girl and Hilarious Girl, but was right beside Pretty Goth Girl and her Cute Boyfriend who looked very very much like Sehing Tristan from Green Cloud.) I also met up with Katie and her Mom, who were the two awesome Echelon I mentioned after the last show. Behind me came two young girls (maybe in their late teens to very early 20's) who were both shorter than I am. I repeatedly offered them my spot but they would insist that they could see just fine. For a short while, they did.

I think I can safely say that I was not the only person there whose back was aching like mad after about fifteen minutes of standing around. I think it had something to do with the uneven floors. You kept having to shift your weight and you could never get comfortable. I was leaning on the railing, thinking, My God, I have hours of this. The two girls behind me started chatting with me to pass the time, and thank god, because there was a lot of time to pass.

( Onto the opening bands and THE BROS: )

It's also worth noting that there was a girl of around 14 behind Janna who had a scream so high and piercing that it felt like a shiny steel spike going through my head. It was so bad that everytime any of the bands said, "MAKE SOME NOISE!!!" as bands are wont to do, I'd put my hands over my ears. And the scream would go right through my palms and into my ears anyway. Why can't all 14 year olds be like Meghan? Eventually Janna turned around and said, "Look, you know, you don't have to make that noise. It's not going to accomplish anything." I'm surprised dogs weren't howling all over Philly.

They finished around 11:40, and the club didn't even bring the house lights up before O Fortuna started to play at around 11:45. ^_^

( Scraping the skylines with hypnotic observations Swooping and surfing over lyrical substations Embrace the flame again and again Like passion and pain hand in hand with each other. )

( What do you do when someone falls...? )

( I'm just a crazy mixed up kid Out comes the truth when you take off the lid And whats it all gonna mean When audio psychosis spills from the speakers cones And I can hear the music tear Tearin through my bones... )

( Why Jared calls his brother Shanimal: )

What was next, The Mission, I think? I tried to tape this, too, because I knew it was going to be fabulous. It was. I only discovered a little while ago, however, that I must have been right underneath the speakers for Matt's bass, because on the playback all you hear is a fuzzy, steady, "FOOMFOOMFOOMFOOM".

( Matticus )

Let me take a moment to address the various personnae of these guys in their fake blood. Tomo, okay, Tomo looks like he's covered in fake blood. His face is too sweet and unassuming; I think he'd have to work at it to look threatening. He's just boyish like that. Jared's blood-splatter looks like he freaked out momentarily and whacked someone with an axe. He's like the mercurial killer, like he could have just as easily not killed you, but hell, he was jumping around like a cracked out monkey and you and the aze happened to be there, oh well. Matt, on the other hand, for as nice a person as he is, comes across as a methodical serial killer. Here's a guy who takes his time, maybe even a few months. I don't know, it was Halloween, they were covered in blood, my mind wandered. Shannon didn't have any blood on him, WTF was that all about? Get with the program, Shannon!

( I'm the silver surfer hearin' lucifer Lay on the ground and nobody dies... )

I'm so bad at remembering the set list. Jared asked for requests and then did what he wanted to do anyway, which was Echelon. He did this one by himself ("Hang on, this was a long time ago. Let me see if I can remember it.") They did The Story (it used to be people would light their lighters when the slow songs came on, now it's cell phones.) What else? Of course they did The Kill, duh. I tried to tape this, too, like I always do. Once again, terrible sound, me getting jostled around, the audience singing most of it for Jared. Nice crowd walk in this one, too. He prefaced this song with, "Shhhh! This song is called The Kill!" I just had to giggle at how serious he was about it.
( The Kill )

To my annoyance, The Bros knew a few words to this song. The rest of the time they just stood there like big square blockheads being in everyone's way and falling drunkenly over each other. When The Kill came on, they vaguely mouthed some of the words like, "Oh yeah, this was on the radio." MOVE, DOUCHBAGS, BEFORE I PUNCH YOU IN THE VAGINA! God, I hated those guys.

Then, of course, they did Attack, and The Bros, surprisingly, knew even a few more words to this one. At the end of this song about five tons of orange and black confetti started to come down. It was actually a beautiful visual. I was recording already because I was getting some really cool shots of the crowd surfers and stagedivers, so the confetti thing was a nice surprise. ( Check it out: )

They closed with something I didn't recognize but felt like I should have. It was just all too hectic. After the four of them gathered together around Shannon's drums:

they disappeared before the confetti stopped blowing around.

And then, my dears, it was time to line up to get crap signed.
( Hey, Bloody Bride! Go and wait by the tour bus. )

So off I went to wait for the guys by their tour bus, in an alley between the club and a warehouse, with huge garbage bins and a loading dock about four feet high that we were all sitting on. There were at least thirty other people there, and I managed to find Janna and Megan again, as well as Katie and her Mom. We decided to wait by the end of the line (we were actually at what we thought was the beginning,) because we figured the crowd would thin out and we could actually say Hi and get some pictures.

Tomo came out first and very quietly said, "I'm sorry guys, but I have somewhere to be. If you'd like to take a picture, I have to do it now." And then he very patiently went down the line saying Hi to everyone and taking a picture with anyone who wanted one. Janna and Megan didn't have a camera, so I got pictures of them. Then Janna took one of me with Tomo. As I went to step up to him I fell into a huge hole in the pavement and almost took him down with me. The picture is blurry--my fault for not telling Janna to hold the button down for a second to let it autofocus.
( Blurry but nice. )

I thought about handing him the package of necklaces, but he was in such a rush and I didn't want to hold him up. I figured I'd probably catch Matt, because I know that Jared has been going into the bus to work on their video and stuff, and I wasn't sure if Shannon was in the habit of hanging around for too long, either. Jared actually did come out of the bus for a second, got mobbed, and went back in. After a few minutes, Janna nudged me, laughing, and said, "No one knows that's Jared. He's got a mask on." Now, the entire time we was walking by in the bloodied white tux and stupid furry mask, I was staring at the huge garbage bin thinking something along the lines of, "That's a really huge garbage bin. It sure has a lot of garbage in it. I wonder how much. There's probably, like, chairs and tables in there. Jeez, my feet hurt."

Echelonic Lord and Lady showed up, too. We watched Jared get mobbed for a while and I asked, "Should we be, like, mobbing him too? Because it doesn't seem polite." Echelonic Lord said, "Nahh, he'll come over here. He wants to see us." So we waited. And eventually, Jared did come over, and he jumped up onto the loading dock and started giving directions. Unfortunately I was still pretty deaf, but I got the gist of it.
( Everyone dressed in white and covered in blood, come up here and stand against the wall. )

'Round about this time, Shannon was milling around all the contestants. Echelonic Lord asked me, "Did you get to give them their gifts yet?" I told him I hadn't; they were busy and everyone else was sort of mobbing them and I didn't want to be rude. Echelonic Lord just went, "Okay, hold on." Then he hooked Shannon by the shirt and said, "Excuse me, this girl has something for you."
( BZZZZZT! )

After Shannon's effusive and sincere thanks, I saw Jared still milling around on the makeshift stage, still sort of getting mobbed. As this was going on, some girl came running down the street screaming at the top of her lungs in very much the same manner that Meghan and I were making fun of on Friday: "BLBLBLBLBAAAAAAA!!!" ANd then--I kid you not, people--"JARED LAYTO! JARED LAYTO!" I saw her doing something with her shirt, so I think she flashed him, but I could be wrong.

Jared turned around and, dude, without missing a beat, said, "Oh, yeah, hey, go have another drink." Rumor has it that Jared can be just slightly straight edge when it comes to stuff like drinking and smoking and whatnot, which is what makes all the comments like "Jared's on crack!" that much more ironic. The comment was a perfectly timed barb and everyone around him busted out laughing. However, I'm pretty sure that was the comment that started all the trouble for him. Because that drunk girl was a package deal, and the other parts were a handful of very aggressive Drunken Retarded Fratboys.

Which is, in fact, why Jared looks so paranoid in the picture he took with me.

( Strip-tease traffic lights Cut throat beer fights Poison friends/fakers and takers Stoic spectators And youre all cold, cold heartbreakers... )

After a few minutes of this, and while the security guards were trying to get rid of that group, Jared made his way back to his bus. Around then, Janna and Megan had to leave. "Those guys ruined it for everyone," Janna said. I told her that they might still be hanging around, and I'd walk with them back to the parking lot instead of going down the street where they'd left. Just as we got to the fence by the lot, I was a few steps behind and I turned around and saw Missy and Echelonic Lord and Lady by the bus and I thought, "They never got their prize." I called out to Janna to tell her I was going back to see those guys, and I guess she didn't hear me because they went back to their car.

I went back to the bus and found that the party was still going on. Jared leaned out of the bus, now in a blue T shirt and a silly hat with a red pompom on the top,(but whatever, he could put dead swer rats on his head and he'd still look good,) and said, ( Are those c---s gone yet? )

Dude and then Matt came out with two white, autographed Fender Strats.
( I think Echelon Lord and Missy were a little overwhelmed. )

*Sigh!* Le Jared. I took a bunch of pictures to send to the winners. I also did manage to tap Jared on the shoulder and say, "I left a gift for all of you guys with Shannon; I hope you get a chance to see it tonight." He said, "Oh, hey, thanks!" Then some girl very cutely tried to give him a balloon animal, much to her friend's chagrin ("No! Don't give him that, it's stupid!") and Jared said with a smile, "Um, you can keep that if you want." And then Shannon came back out. I smiled and he waved, then came over again and said, "Thank you so much." BZZZZT! "Uhhh ... you're welcome. There are four of those. Three more for, you know, three other guys..." And then he just grabbed me and hugged me, probably so that I would shut up. And again I got to say, "Thank you for such an awesome show and party." "No, thank YOU," Shannon said. Now when we do this at work, it could go on for minutes until everyone is giggling, but I have to remind myself that these are not my friends at work, just a band being nice to the people who are nice to them, so I just let him go and said, "You're welcome. I'll be sure to come out and see you guys next time."

Okay, it was a little hairy trying to get a cab at 3:30 in the morning. In the end it was down to me, Missy, Emma, and two other ladies I didn't know. I think their ride home bailed on them. I was starting to get slightly worried, because when I called the cab company the guy asked where I was and when I said, "Electric Factory, 7th Avenue," he said, "But I need an address. See, this is what happens on Halloween, you people go walking around at night and then you don't know where you are." I was digging around in my purse for the address when we got disconnected, and I had to try again. Finally I got through and he said, "We'll send someone out if we have someone in the area." IF?! It's 3:30 AM, I'm on a street corner in the middle of freaking nowhere, there is no if! I tried all different cab companies and no one picked up. Emma and the others had gone off to try to make calls of their own. The other tour buses had all pulled out (the guy from Men, Women and Children hanging off the outside of one of the windows,) and only the 30 Seconds to Mars bus was still there. Basically I just stood out there with the bodyguards, who were still outside by the door, and waited. Emma and the rest came back, and then my cab came around. I said goodnight to them and they asked the cabbie to come back and pick them up afterwards, which he said he would do. He freaking RACED back to the hotel and I thought we were going to die.

When I got in the lobby, 3:45 AM, covered in fake blood and probably with my eyes standing out from my head, the woman behind the counter looked up and "TSK"ed at me. "Uh," I said, "Happy Halloween." She "TSK"ed again and said, "I don't celebrate Halloween. Thanks anyway."

I just had to laugh. Her loss. I celebrate the crap out of that holiday.