GET HAMMERED LIVE-A FANGIRLS STORY

[Diva]

RF, you do have a way with words and photos! LMAO ;D ;D

[greeneyes]

Nice try, rockfan! The Naked Cowboy wasn't out that day?

[nlt]

faden2u said:

Nice try, rockfan! The Naked Cowboy wasn't out that day?

Don't forget, there is a Naked Cowgirl, too! Or at least, when sil and I were there she was there.

Loved the pics with the story RF!!! And great effort on the wristband...too bad about that Abercrombie guy.

[Joan S]

Rockfan,

Great story, great pics!

[chitowngirl]

'ed the story, RF!

Thanks for sharing!

[rachael]

RF, Thanks for sharing. I love the pics interspersed with the review. Too bad on the dude wearing denim, the mc.org wristband would have completed his look.

[rachael]

Diva, thanks for sharing about your fangirl roadtrip. Loved reading it all. Have you really gone to the darkside?
Although, "Bob" really looks very nice in those pics.

[Diva]

Not sure Isa, I waiver daily, but what a nice dilemma to have huh? Light side? Dark side? Hee Hee but overall from this trip I am swaying to the dark side !

Sorry to psyche ya out, just when you thougth I was done huh? Reality has intervened this week but lets wrap this trip up with a neat little bow on top shall we? Here goes....

8/8/06 Day 5 NYC here we come.
I think I last left us in Baltimore and boy did I hate leaving my comfy digs at the Hyatt, , bye Hyatt, bye comfy bed, air conditioning and harbor view. I decided to go cheap in NYC (AS IF) and wrong choice that was but we'll get to that. We were excited though but this was to be our longest drive yet. 4 hrs and we had a show to go to so we knew we had to haul tail to get there that day in a reasoable fashion. But both of us were feeling the impending sadness that came with knowing this was ot be our last show.

We were grinning like loons when we finally pull into town. The NYC skyline is breathtaking and awesome! We were taking pics out the window, staring at the buldings and lovely lady liberty and I was videotaping out the window as we approach the Holland tunnel. We are so not concentrating that Jodie goes in a pass line instead of cash line at the toll and I am videotaping the whole thing--pulling up to the Holland tunnel (I know, idiots) and the cop stops us, "Hey ladies you cant film in the Holland tunnel!" Alrighty then. And No Pass? Doh we're tourists. No pics, no filming? So we wait a second, get going through the tunnel and whip out our video camera and pic camera again and shoot away. Sorry Cops we had too. Jodie and I were fascinated with bridges and tunnels--they dont make 'em like that out here in Cali.

After some heavy NYC traffic, some major honking and a few F.U's from taxi cab drivers we arrive at our hotel, aah we are feeling like locals aready after that. ;D Our hotel tells us that its a no parking zone in front but you can pull up and load your bags in the lobby. So we our gone literally like 5 minutes lugging all our crud from sidewalk to lobby and come back out--whammo $70 parking ticket. Welcome to New York! Someone tell me how the evil parking ticket troll came out in 5 minutes and found us like that? Seriously freaky. Welcome to New York!

Anyhow, our hotel is sort of like the shining part 2. It's a 1 bedroom apartment, older, but could be really cute if decorated. But the air consitioning was one of those window jobbies that was more of just a fan than actual a/c and we were sweating our butts off once in there.

Rockfan was due to come meet us at our hotel any minute. Her nice hubby who goes to NYC all the time was dropping her off in a cab. Finally we get to meet and she is awesome. But she tells us hubby was a little scared leaving her here when he saw our hotel ;D ;D ;D. Ok, so its like Baghdad, the area where we stayed but the food was better I am told. Not the best first impression of NY, the area we were at.

Anyhoo, we get ready and head to the club. We immediately meet, Yerbamate street teaming and giving out the LH tats and matchbooks (your the best girl, the fliers displayed looked awesome) and RF gets to meet Yak, Myo and some others and Jodie and I havent eaten all day, we are getting cranky and decide to head to Pepolino's next door for sustenance.

They promise they can get us in and out lickety split even though our waitor didnt speak a lick of english and proceeded to give us the run down best he could on every special in the place doh!

By the time we got done and in line, all the other girls we knew who were at the front of the line had made their way in and the line was moving quickly so we filed on in. We see Dino milling around outside, greeting old friends as we are headed into the club. While in line we meet some nice girls that I recognize from Lh.com and recognized me: Cyberocn, Jenny in Sarasota, Taxegirl and sorry if I am forgetting anyone. Good to meet you girls.

The Canal room is a slick little club with pricey drinks and one kick ass sound system that is too powerful for the room. I wasnt use to this but I guess alot of NY places are like this: You go to the bathrooms and all are unisex and there are like 5 different doors so its like standing there in line and when its your turn at the front its like "whats behind door #3, which door will open first and your looking all around to cover every door. Wierd. Saw Dino again down there so knew the backstage dressing room area was down there right away. What a little dungeon that place was downstairs. Once inside we meet Sundaydriver and Suezer 2--great to meet you cats, and CHK--Your so cute, who gave me international style kisses--ya know, one on each cheek. You can play on my basketball team anytime LOL. Sorry I missed meeting your hubby.

So the opening band kicks ass. I wasnt prepared for that. Evan is a cutie with a ton of energy and a powerful voice and Jodie bought their CD, watch out for Fixer they rock. They kinda reminded both of us as Iron Maiden meets Alice in Chains, I know sounds wierd but Jodie and I are 80's girls, so throw in a NY twist and we dug it! Look out or Fixer in the future and support them if you can!

Continued..............

[Diva]

Ok to finally finish this thing. How lame am I? Its taken me too long. Also I forgot to mention I met another wonderful lady SDbrins (Sharon), and finally, Velvet--so nice to finally meet you too. Who else am I fogetting? I am fuzzy on the timeline of things really. This was the first LH concert I had been too without a camera. Strangely liberating, I could focus on actually being present, and rocking out!


I went up to Dino's side at front for a bit to see where RF was and it was not a place condusive to actually hearing the show so I made my way back to my spot at the bar. What a great spot Jodie and I had, right at the bar, able to order anything at any second and a great viewing spot to boot where we could see everything. This NY crowd was kinda tough anyway, after seeing Myo get pushed to the floor after trying to reclaim her spot up front after a bathroom break, I was not about to try to stand anywhere near the front of the stage. And there were alot of guys up front it seemed to me, interesting but good. Anyhow, not saying Marty is predictable but looking around the club, with nothing for him to climb........I knew he was coming over to walk the bar and I'd have a birds eye view soon enough!

The guys were on fire as usual, and worked that little stage as much as possible. They opened with the usual and did all the main MCLH songs and its always nice for me to hear Lets Get Wasted and This Town, 2 of my faves, and WYWH and Ring of fire are awesome covers. Sure enough, Marty came over and walked the length of the bar stepping over Jodie's and my coats/purses to do it--thanks Marty.

The sound was good in this show but could have been just a tad bit better. I am an audio Geek. I have had a year of audio engineering classes in college, mostly studio vs. live stuff but I am really picky about how things sound and usually know why they sound the way they do. This sound system was state of the art but they just needed to dial it one notch down. Loud is good but sometimes not as loud is crisper.

Lots has been said about the leg touching onstage. Maybe my proximity to the stage kept me clueless but I have seen so much cringingly worse (cough, Roxy, cough). And Marty is getting so much better about it. I didnt mention in the Baltimore show dairy but at that show one girl I saw just touched his ankles, like she was gonna grab them (very dangerous). Marty firmly grabbed her hands and set them down flat on the stage. He is definitely aware and very in control now.

In a blink of an eye it was over. Finally I got to meet Needy, really awesome chick and her hubby is great too. Then we all made our way downstairs to the bathroom dungeon area and got our photos with Bob and Dino. Again (for the 4th time) when Jodie and I cozy up to Bob on each side for our photo, he says "I am all sweaty". Maybe I finally felt comfortable enough but both Jodie and I said something about it and I remember it just popping out "This is a problem, um, how?" he laughed says "Oh you like that?" and Rockfan took the photo. Brilliant, his smile and laugh. And Dino was nice to pose with us as well as people are zooming in for Marty.

It honestly felt claustrophobic down there. I could see Marty back against the wall and it felt to me as if the people just kept pushing and pushing towards him until he was backed in a corner-nowhere to go. You kind of had to go with the flow down there and I think Needy would've gotten to Marty next, before RF, Jodie and I, but it was most likely all he could take and he excused himself and left to the dressing room. No Marty moment for RF which was what I was hoping for most. She did snap away on the candids though--fabulous shots she got.

Then as the night ended we hugged Needy goodbye and went about our business reminiscing the show, saying bye to Randy and Dan at the trailor and the usual stuff. Kind of just an emotional roller coaster of a week of whirlwind travel and the one adrenaline rush we got was the nightly shows, and that was over for us.

The next day--Our last away was spent with RF and her awesome family touring the city. Of course we had our NY Pizza, cross that of the list, saw Times Square at night thanks to RF's hotel vicinity the night before. So this day we took the Subway (way cleaner and safer than I imagined) down to the World Trade center path station and got out to view the area. I was not prepared when I got there feeling happy go lucky and then viewing the memorial brought me right back to where I was when it was all going down. Pretty soon RF was asking me if I needed a tissue as the tears streamed down my face. Maybe I am a wimp, but just humbling isnt the word. The church across the street being unscathed--spooky. And what a gorgeous church and cemetery. I was moved and glad we went. We stopped at a beautiful little park to check out the water view after that. Then got Gelato in the World financial center and viewed more memorial related stuff. Then we headed to Wall Street and back to RF's hotel to meet up with her family.

They treated us to a wonderful dinner at Thalia--exquisitely beautiful restaurant with awesome food. Thanks RF! We then went walking and saw Rockafeller Center/Plaza, the awesome chandelier inside the NBC buliding--we were underdressed for the Rainbow room so no-go and walked by radio City music hall and St Patricks Cathedral (no neccessarily in that order) after that. More wristband pics were taken as you've seen. That wristband is a slut--it sure got around NYC ;D ;D. What a day and night in the city and it was time for us to turn into pumpkins and call it a night.

After a week of rock n roll oblivion with no TV or radio news (glorious actually) except a bit in the car, Jodie and I were unprepared for the scene we came into at Laguardia the next morning. It was chaos with huge lines an delays. Outside our skycap should have told us we had to put all liquid in our checked luggage but didnt and we had alot of liquid and expensive items still with us in our carry on. 1st day of liquid restrictions and we still dont know whats going on. We hear rumblings of terror plot, red terror alert, no liquid, liquid bombs etc. We see trashcan upon trashcan go by full of bottles of water, alcohol, toothpaste, shampoo, tanning lotion, saline soltion, makeup, lip gloss you name it. This is making me start to freak out as we got there 90 minutes ahead of time like your suppose to on a "normal" day. Well it took 45 minutes to check in. Another 45 minutes to get through security!

I had decided they were gonna have to strip me naked, and wrestle me to the ground holding up the line--whatever but they were not getting my brand new bottle of Marc Jacobs perfume AND lotion ($85 per bottle) away from me. So I was not giving it up, and let it go in my carry on bag. I got up to the screener, offered a lip gloss as a peace offering and my whole bag, perfume, lotion, liquid eyeliner and all other makeup go sailing right through. They didnt catch anything!

Poor Jodie right behind me got her laptop searched heavily and had to part with some of her spendy makeup and products. We get to the gate 5 minutes before our plane is due to depart thinking we'd get denied--the door would be shut already. Luckily everything was late and we boarded. Then ended up sitting on the Tarmac for 2 hrs! All before our 6 hr flight home. Finally on board a flight attendant told us about the terror plot. I was stunned and then scared they didnt catch my perfume ya know. Whew, it was never so good to see California when we got home.

Conclusion coming.........

[Diva]

Final thoughts: Here's where I go all sappy nostalgia on y'all, so endulge me here a minute. This has been the most amazing year of my life, truly. Seems silly to outsiders but not to me and as I have said before you all "get it" so I know I can speak Frankly here.

All of us came here for a reason. I must thank Mark Burnett some day for bringing us Marty Casey. And why can I never remember to do this when I see him? But I must thank Marty Casey for bringing us the Lovehammers. Most of us had full lives, husbands, kids, careers, pets, and went about our lives obliviously and happily mostly but had maybe just forgotten the qualities we had as teenagers. Its going to that first rock concert, or the first time a boy kisses you. Its that ultimate rush of when the lights going down, and the hair raising on the back of your neck when Van Halen hits the stage and the guitar riff to "You really got me" just starts to shred your ears. Today its the first drum beats to Ultrasound. Chills, people, Chills.

This is how LH makes me feel. Its a drug, I am addicted and I dont care. As with all addictions, the recovery time is great when your missing it. But its these highs and lows that make me feel gloriously alive! Something that goes away and gets jaded somewhere in your late in your late 20's as you struggle through life for stability, comfort, financial gain and other things. So thank you Marty, Dino, Billy and Bob for making us all wake up and bringing us to the party. Cheers mates!

Ok, so as I started this trip, I said I had a quest to find out what makes one live show better than the other. Did I figure this out? Yes and no. I have narrowed it down. It has alot to do with obvious stuff, like the venue, the proximity of me to the stage to feel the music, the setting, the setlist, the sound and all that. But I also discovered its something intagible that you cant describe. A mix of magic and alchemy and synergy really when the Lovehammers come together. They have that: "the sum is better than its parts" kinda thing going on. Its elusive, and really do I wanna have it all figured out?

And I'll say it again, its not about the answer or the outcome. Isnt it really the journey that counts?

Thanks for reading these blogs and coming with us on this journey, it meant alot. I look forward to the future with LH and all of you in it!
Kellee

[hammerheadfl]

Kellee -

What a great story. I've been following it since you guys started. I was at the NY show too and talked to you briefly (I was the blond with the brown top and jeans.) Anyways, I spoke to Jodi a lot longer. You guys seem really sweet. I love your description of why we are all here. People think I am nuts for going to all these shows....so much so that I've kind of gone underground and stopped babbling to everyone about the Lovehammers.

You guys Rock and I hope to see you both at another show. I'll be at the shows when they come to Florida. No more out-of-towns for me.

[rockfan]

Well said, Kellee. The LH's are magic and I get chills just hearing the music but doubly chilled seeing them live. Thanks for bringing us your stories of your East Coast Tour. Glad you are back and safe and see you soon at another show.

[Diva]

hammerheadfl said:

Kellee -

What a great story. I've been following it since you guys started. I was at the NY show too and talked to you briefly (I was the blond with the brown top and jeans.) Anyways, I spoke to Jodi a lot longer. You guys seem really sweet. I love your description of why we are all here. People think I am nuts for going to all these shows....so much so that I've kind of gone underground and stopped babbling to everyone about the Lovehammers.

You guys Rock and I hope to see you both at another show. I'll be at the shows when they come to Florida. No more out-of-towns for me.

I remember you girl! Glad we are all "in it" together so-to-speak and you know me, maybe I'll see ya in Florida for a show too! ;D ;D

and thanks RF!

[suezer2]

Kellee, I just loved your story. Thank you! And I have to chime in here to thank the Lovehammers for being so amazingly talented and accessible to their fans. When you meet them, you are the only fan they have in the world for that couple of minutes. No other band does this. And no other band that I know of post on message boards or blog regularly. I have loved seeing all the pictures from the Get Live tour. All the excitement leading up to the show and then most of us meeting and getting pictures with all or some of the members of this kind, talented group of guys. Thanks Kellee for putting it all into perspective.

[rachael]

Kellee, that was wonderful to read~Thank you for sharing your LH tour vacation with us. I loved all of the details and the pics you have shared.
You have a wonderful way with words.
Thank you,

[mcmaniac]

Diva, thanks so much for sharing your Lovehammers road trip with all of us. It was so much fun reading about all your experiences, not just the shows. Sounds like you had an awesome time. You are so right about this whole year of meeting Marty Casey and the whole band of Lovehammers. They are magical, beautiful, talented, and so down to earth. I wish them all the success the world has to offer, or as much as they wish for. Thanks again for sharing.

[needy]

Kellee,

I absolutely loved reading your reviews. You and Jodie just rock and are such sweethearts. So glad we got to meet. It certainly has been a wild year for all of us. A year ago I never dreamed I'd get a chance to see Marty live with my friends from California that I never knew I would have. What an amazing thing it all is.

[chk]

Hey Diva,
Love your stories. I am laughing at how you described me greeting you "international style", with a kiss on each cheek! You mean no one does that in the States? I haven't lived in the US for so long I forgot! Promise no cooties!
Great descriptions, funny how you and I did the same thing, scoping out the room and prediciting Marty's movements. I said to my husband before the show started, "There's nothing for Marty to climb, he's gonna be on that bar during Tunnel." we know our rock star so well!
And thanks too for your description of the WTC site -- my in-laws all live within the neighbourhood and had ash streaming thru their windows, etc. We always walk down to Trinity church and the memorial to pay our respects. Sorry you got stuck in LaGuardia -- i should have warned you that some sh*t like that always happens when I am in the States! You can pretty much bank on it.
Big kisses -- on each cheek --
~chk