HammerJam Reports & Pics -- Post Here!!!

[HY]

One of these days I'll learn how to use my digital camera in manual mode to try and get pics like that.

Do you use a filter?

[Mad For Martay]

lisac670 said:

ok here's another. It's a little intense..little spooky. Tis the season Lisa

Damn girl your killing me here

[palari]

Lisa...again...brava! Bellissima!!

[friendlylady90]

mchell your pics look great, it was fun hanging with you and the hubby. dawn

[LisaC670]

I wish I had filters! I've been wanting to learn some techniques with them. But for now, it's just plain old lens.
Thanks so much everyone for all your great comments. And here I thought they weren't too great this time.

Lisa

[feather]

Hey MCHELL - Great pic of you(?) and Billy. You redheads look good together!!

[needy]

shymcfan said:

Does anyone know who was singing with Marty during Trees?

It was his friend the lead singer from the first band Hotel and some number. He said he was one of their very first band mambers from way back.

[ShyNoMore]

Thanks. I didn't watch the opening band, so it was a mystery to me.

[Raison D'etre]

To be honest i didnt even know other bands were playing that night until i got there

[feather]

LisaC670 - WOW and I mean WOW!! Your work is stunning . the pic on page 3,reply #42 took my breath away. You are a fantastic artist and this picture totally captures the essence of Marty. your second pic is fantastic, too. I can't wait to see more. Girl, you have real talent!! Thanks so much for sharing !!

[ratdigger]

I had the most amazing time, and met the most amazing people. I'm gonna write my experience as soon as I have time.
Enjoy!!



















OH MY!

[chanvre]

Let me preface by saying that I have yet to claim a marty moment of my own, due to miscellaneous bumps in the road and bouts of rotten luck. The last blow came at the Roxy back in July, where I was lucky enough to meet the Kourelis brothers, but Marty was MIA after the show. This time around, I detached myself from the thought of getting to meet Mr. Casey, and just planned on enjoying the show. Completely low expectations, you know?

I have never, in my entire life, experienced anything like what those 4 boys did that night at the Metro. I could probably write a few chapters here, but I’m excited to get to the good stuff. I will highlight some moments briefly though: Dino giving Tara a huge shout-out on stage during the show, the guys singing “hit me baby one more time”, and Billy’s “that was the first and last time” quote afterwards, Marty’s storytelling in the middle of Give it Up (which I was so ecstatic about them singing, because it’s been my recent favorite for the past few weeks). He was so captivating during the story, that I literally stood frozen, hanging on every word, and had to snap out of it after it was over, like I’d been in a trance or something. Also: Marty stating that the show had little to do with Lovehammers, but everything about the fact that it was about all of us who had met on the internet, and made friends all over the world. He mentioned those who had came from Austraila (he pronounced it so cute, “ah-strahl-ya”) Hong Kong, New York, etc etc. Marty was super-chatty and extremely interactive with the audience, which was so endearing. Marty pointed out his brother and talked about how proud he wanted to make him, and that he continues to try to do good for him, etc. Later that evening, Bobby got up to the mic and talked for a few minutes, and ended with “You know what Marty was saying about his brother earlier? Well, that’s the way Dino feels about me” in a very serious tone. Then he flashed a famous Bobby grin and started laughing. Dino retorted with something like “that’s probably the funniest thing he’s ever said. I’ll let that one go.”

Marty also gave some insight to the songs, like Clouds and Bulletholes. I don’t think I ever knew the story behind Clouds, and now it’s even more special to me than before. So basically the guys were on FIRE and gave probably the best performance I’ve ever seen, and others who have been to many more shows than I have, will probably agree. We got a dose of “faded grey” and other older songs from L’Strange and of course Momm. They also did Wish you were here, which was freaking amazing. Matt Hoffer joined them for a song or two, too. It was all totally mind-blowing with every passing minute. And to add a pretty little cherry on top of all THAT, the performance was recorded for a DVD release. (was I the only one who didn’t know that beforehand?? The show ended with This Town (I think? Correct me if I’m wrong there. They came out for two last songs after the encore and by then, my throat was raw from singing and screaming, my body was tired from dancing, and my feet were about to fall off into pieces of mush, but I didn’t give a damn. They could have played forever and a day.)

I was debating on whether to stick around OR just leave, even though Marty announced that everyone would be partying until 4am. I went down to the SmartBar for a quick smoke and then came upstairs and hung out by the bar with my husband. There was a raffle drawing going on, but most of the prizes got lost in the shuffle because there weren’t that many people there, as most everyone went downstairs after the show. I had been standing there, leaning against the wall waiting for about 40 minutes, when I turned to see Marty getting a drink at the bar. NO ONE had spotted him yet, and I knew it was my chance. So what did I do? I fell over the trash can and knocked it over. I fell. Over the trashcan. And knocked it over. I mean, are you kidding me?!?! I was feeling a little light-headed from my nervousness, and the pressure to do something. To say something. To just DO IT! But it was already too late, and Marty was swamped in about 2.5 seconds. I’d missed my chance yet again. So I kind of stood there waiting with everyone else for about 15 minutes, and then Marty kind of escaped through the crowd to head downstairs. I think I heard NancyBBE say that the bartenders had asked him to move away, as it was last call and the bar was swamped with fans. Bobby had came up to the end of the bar, and secretly I had been hoping that more people would move over to him and open up a few spaces between me and Marty.

Later on, he had walked a few feet down from the Metro and was taking a quick smoke break. There were maybe 4 people with him, getting some pictures taken, so I walked over there and hung out for a few minutes. I was surprised that there weren’t more people around, but I wasn’t complaining! Again, I was thisclose to getting my chance, and (I don’t know her name, but an awesome lady said, “Marty, this girl has been waiting all night to say hello to you" and kind of parted the way so I could move forward. THANK YOU so much for doing that for me. A million thank you’s, actually.)

I felt my face get red and I just kind of looked at him like, “uhh." He smiled and said “You’ve been waiting? Aw, come here and give me some love.” And he opened his arms and gave me the sweetest hug ever. When we pulled away from each other, my husband said “can I get a picture of you two?” and Marty was like, of course! And while we were looking at the camera, I told him “thank you so much for such an amazing show tonight. You guys were so awesome.” And I think Marty knew that the picture would turn to shit because I had been yapping so he said, let’s take another. This time, let’s do a cool pose!! And he came down next to me and put his head up against mine. That one turned out well. After the picture, I turned to him and said, “ok, I have two things I want to tell you” and you guys, he went from being all light-hearted to dead serious and intense. The look on his face was so precious, and I could tell that he wanted to give me his undivided attention. Well, when we were taking that picture, my hair got caught in his sunglasses, which were hanging from his shirt. I was nervous so I said “first of all, you can give me my hair back!”, and I looked up at him to see that he hadn’t even cracked a smile. He was waiting for me to tell him my “two things”, and looked genuinely interested and very serious. So basically I had been waiting to spill my soul to him for all this time, but because there were a couple others standing there, and it was so damn quiet, I lost my nerve. So I told him, “ we’ve never met before, but I was the girl who hooked you guys up with some hotel discounts on your tour this summer.” And he said, “oh my god, that was you?? I never knew exactly who did that for us!” And then he said, “you have to give me some more love. “ Ladies, those of you who have hugged this man..isn’t it the most angelic and genuine feeling ever?? He cradles you, almost, and buries his head in your shoulder. Good god. Then he looked at me and said “I cannot begin to thank you enough. You helped us save thousands of dollars on this tour, and we were able to make money instead of spend money. Thank you so so much for doing that.” I was like, “of course! It was my pleasure! I was really happy to be able to do that for you guys, truly. After all that you do for us, especially.” And then I kind of touched his chest, and said “one last thing: I also sent you a card for your birthday that had a little heart and a hammer on it..” and he immediately interrupted me and said “Oh, I know that card! I thanked you in my blog, you saw that right??” And I said “yes, I did, thank you. The reason I’m telling you is because I said some things in there that were important for you to know, and I just wanted you to know who it came from.” I said “thank you so much for everything, and for hanging with me for a bit.” And he said, “no, thank you for being so patient in waiting for me. I'm glad we finally met.” And he shook my husband’s hand, who said “You guys put on a killer show tonight. We saw you at the Viper, which had been one of our favorites until now. Tonight was the best by far.” And Marty went on to say that it was great that they had more time to perform, with 90 minutes plus, and more time to actually plan some cool things in advance. And then we started to walk towards the metro again, and he said, “you guys should come downstairs. It’s not going to be crazy with autographs and pictures, just lots and lots of DRINKING!” and he laughed. But by then it was about 2:30 and the line to the smartbar was insane, so we left instead. My head was swimming and I needed to soak everything in, anyway!

I can't believe how freaking lucky I was to not only get some time with him, but I didn't have to scream in his ear with billions of other people around. It was very relaxed and chill, like I'd talked to him a thousand times before. He has SUCH a calming effect like that. And his laugh is contagious.

To those of you that I finally got to meet in person, it was such a pleasure and I will carry each of you with me, along with the fantastic Hammerjam ride that we shared that night. I adore all of you madly and can’t wait for Hammerjam 2007!

[ratdigger]

Chan, that was such a nice rememberence of your nite. I know exactly what you mean by his hugs. I'm a hard, pat on the back, mom kind of hugger., and when I hugged him, I felt like I was gonna break him. He is so gentle and kind.
I was so happy watching them on the stage, having such a good time. It wasn't like, "putting on another show". They were truly enjoying their craft and the fans.

[pines]

Hi Chanvre,

You enthralled me with your story... Thank you so much for sharing that with us, for taking the time to write it down... it means a lot to people like me who have to wait longer for that one chance to meet the man.

Awww, I just can't wait to get a hug like thatttt!!!!

Thanks again Chanvre!

Pines

[ladyslipperlady]

That was so good to read, glad you finally had a chance to talk to him! Thanks for posting it

[jalthoff]

HERE'S SOME PICS MY DAD TOOK AT HAMMERJAM! UNFORTUNATELY, ALL THE PICS OF BILLY DIDN'T TURN OUT WELL! HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE EM!

[Stiletto]

Well..........we're home!

What a weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!

A coupe pics...............

Waiting in Line


The guys like to tease the ladies.......lol


Me on Sunday at Navy Pier...........my oldest was soooo jealous of the second one.........she loves build a bear.......





We met soooo many people...........it was nice to meet Marty and chat for awhile with him and T-Bone and the other mods........and at the concert, until Chi pointed it out to me I didn't even realise Matt Hoffer was standing beside us......lol..........she wanted to introduce us but Matt was a little busy with the girls....lol........he's a cool dude and played awesome...........

[reddgt]

a few pics...




great show....

[keysunset]

So wonderful to see the photos and read the stories! Thanks all y'all!

xxoo to you "modfather"!

[reddgt]

a few more....