Bringing the Drama

so to update on the sba loan status, i went to the harbor center on friday afternoon at 6 for my appointment. i walked in and found out it was cancelled because there was something going on at the harbor center on sunday. good thing nobody called me and i spent 20 minutes driving out there. its not that the plan for recovery is bad, but the people actually in charge are morons.

last night jacob and i went to see family force 5. his circle six connections allowed us to get an interview with the band before the show, so the whole way to baton rouge, i was saying how interested i was in finding out if it was all an act. were these guys seriously this over the top, and if so, they’re idiots. i wanted them to have a reason they were that crazy if it was serious. so we get to the bar, and find out they have $2 imports until 9. TWO DOLLARS! jackpot! about half an hour after we got there, we were able to start the interview. at first they seemed to want to keep up the persona of being this crazy band, but after a while, they settled down and really had some good things to say. i was VERY impressed. and when they said they were serious about what they were doing and it wasn’t an act, i wanted to hate them. but then they explained that they just want to be different from a lot of the bands out there and make people have a good time. through that they can show how they’re different, and if someone talks to them at the end of the night, they can tell them why. the reason would be God, cause they grew up in church and all. there were some quotes, but jacob has the tape recorder and i can’t remember too clearly right now. (i’m running on very little sleep, so if this doesn’t make sense, just go check these guys out and enjoy). jacob even said he wanted to hate the band, but after talking with them and seeing the show, he’s now a fan. i felt somewhat validated because i had been telling him how much i liked the album. thanks jeff for breaking the news, and thanks brandi for saying how good the live show was! it was a lot of fun, and the funny thing was, they were opening for a local band, so most everyone there was there to see the local band and not FF5. i can’t imagine how much better it would have been had everyone been there to see them.

and yes, i did get some merch including a wrist band that has a calculator watch on it (AWESOME!) and a shirt.

i leave in a few hours to go to north carolina for a week. so when i’m not commenting or returning your emails, that’s where i am….with probably no internet access.

today was my aunt’s retirement party, so there was a large gathering at my aunt and uncle’s house so everyone could get together and be happy for her not having to go to work anymore. this was the 2nd time i’ve seen my mom’s side of the family in the last two weekends, something i don’t do enough of.

i played golf with one of my uncle’s on friday….did pretty well considering i hadn’t played since january. afterward, my uncle invited me to play on the coon ass golf tour. you pay $100 and you play tournaments in the NOLA metro area. pretty cool, huh? hopefully the blisters i developed friday will heal up so i can practice and get some callouses back on my hands.

part of the hurricane assistance was not only fema but also getting an sba loan to fix your house. i signed up for everything back in september, and guess how long it took for anyone from sba to call me? at least march, when a guy came out to my house to check things out. too bad i already had most of everything fixed by then. so he tells me someone will be calling me about getting approved, how much i’ll get, etc. nobody calls me, weeks go by, and my sister calls to tell me someone from sba called my parents house looking for me. i NEVER gave that number out as a contact number when i was signing up for stuff. the guy gave a number to call him, but i just kept forgetting. so someone calls my cell phone a couple of weeks later and asks if i had gotten my paperwork. i told them i had not gotten anything. they say “well, you should have gotten your package. we’ll send out another set”. great, so they confirm my address. another week or so goes by and nothing comes. i get another call “did you get your stuff?” so i told them i did not get anything, and where did they send the package, NOT my house, but to my grandfather’s in baton rouge. so that’s two sets of papers and neither came to me. what an example of efficiency. i told her i’d see about getting my paperwork from my grandfather. she says “well, i’m not sure how far baton rouge is from slidell, but you could just go see someone locally”. i felt like telling her “you’re assisting with disaster relief, don’t you have a map of the area?” so they tell me i can just set up an appointment with someone locally and they’ll have my paperwork there. the lady says “would slidell be okay for you since you live there?” so i asked about scheduling an appointment and she says “well, the person scheduling appointments is busy…someone will call you later to set something up”. right, i’ve heard that before. so the next day (saturday) someone calls me with a heavy latino accent to set an appointment up. i’m going friday to see someone. this is why you should not depend on the government to bail you out….i couldn’t imagine waiting around until now to have money to fix my house. thank God for insurance. and after all this, i don’t even think i’m going to take the loan!

yesterday i bought nickel creek tickets for jacob and i to go see them play in mobile in june. this will be the 2nd time in three months i’ll be seeing my favorite band, the first of which i’ll now try to recount from memory.

march was supposed to be super concert month, which after a cancellation, and a sold out show, ended up only being two shows. but hell, it was mute math and nickel creek, which are tremendous shows in themselves. chad and i were going to go together, then jacob was going to weasel his way into getting free passes because he writes for an online magazine. and then finally fellow ag member chet would be going also. the plan would have been great for all of us to meet up downtown and eat, but that didn’t happen. chad and i ended up going to the house of blues to eat, which we figured wouldn’t be too bad. the food was good, and we were able to take advantage of the policy where if you eat before the show, you get in before everyone else. so we do that, and when we walk in, we see two spots on the rail in the front middle. i haven’t had those kind of ‘seats’ in years. i hurriedly call jacob, who’s not even close to getting to the show, and i was hoping i’d see him before i saw chet. no offense to chet, but jacob’s higher up in the friend chain (even if right now he owes me over $200). so the room gets packed, jacob and his wife end up standing near the back since they got there right before the show started, but chet and his freakishly tall friend are near us. rock on, so the band comes out (no opener, which was awesome) and they immediately break into ‘when in rome’. its intimidating to say the least to be that close to a band you love. maybe its just me, but you’re standing there, and you know you’re making eye contact….do you look away? do you play it cool and don’t look directly at them? do you look into their eyes like a super fan? it didn’t really matter, the first five songs were played and i think my mouth was open the whole time. it was an amazing show because i was THAT CLOSE and it was nickel creek. chris thile has a thing for stomping the stage while playing, and those of us up front could feel the vibration. and he’s not exactly mayer, but his face goes into some contortions while playing too. sean watkins did his thing, he’s pretty stoic up on stage….but his sister…dang. i had told my friend luke earlier that day that i was going to try to get a picture with sara watkins at some point in the night….totally thinking “like i’ll actually get a chance”, but hey, you have to go in confident or don’t go at all. she was wearing some ecletic clothes, i don’t even remember enough to describe them, but they were cool. the one lowlight of the evening was during the song ‘sweet afton’, i hear someone’s phone ring, and then they ANSWER it. now, for those of you who don’t know NC’s music, ‘sweet afton’ is a rather quiet song, so it wasn’t too difficult to pick up the conversation….AND IT WAS CHET! the guy i knew, who i told him where i was standing, was on the phone DURING the song. i don’t normally get that ticked when something like that happens, but i’m watching my favorite band from the front row. so after the song, i turn around and…

me: “chet, can you switch to text messages now?”
chet: (assuming i was kidding look on his face) “what?”
me: “i could hear you” (i had to have been looking pissed, cause he figured it out pretty quick)

now don’t get me wrong, chet’s a good guy, but damn, THAT was a bad move. the show continues, totally awesome, and then it comes to the point where they do their cover of ‘toxic’ (linked to an example). yes, THAT ‘toxic’. it about brought the house down, it was gret. much rejoicing. now, of course because of the hurricane, the song ‘louisiana 1927′ by randy newman has become the cover du jour for musicians around the country. i think it was probably played at jazzfest 47 times in one weekend or something i’m sure. but nickel creek played it, and it meant something. it meant they cared. they even prefaced it by saying “we know this song’s been played a million times, but we couldn’t think of anything more appropriate. we love new orleans.” and it was stunning. i think that was the loudest ovation of the night. they didn’t play it to act like they fit in with the locals or to try to look cool. i very much appreciated what they did. when i had seen them in 2003, they did a song called ‘banks of pontchartrain’ and it was great, and this year’s ‘local’ cover, even though it was a song that’s been overplayed, fit in perfect with a great night. they finished up their set, after 2 hours and change and left the stage to a roaring crowd. it was amazing.

after the show, we all made our way out, and i told chad about how NC somteimes plays out on the sidewalk after shows. so we’re hanging out at the door of the HOB, when we see sara watkins talking to fans. she even hopped the barricade to get pictures and all. so i walked over, asked if i could get a picture, and bam….totally fulfilled what i told luke i’d do earlier in the day (linked). after that, i didn’t think them coming out to play anything could top it. i totally had gotten a picture with sara watkins. so chad and i went back to the car and went home. it was a completely unbelievable night that i’ll remember for a long time.

and to think i paid $30 and for the show in june, i’m paying $42 for balcony. i have been to the mountaintop, and it is good. now i can just hang out on the lower ledges and remember the mountaintop experience, or at least until they come back to play new orleans.

this weekend was one of the best weekends i’ve had in a LONG time. i’ve talked about moving, and i still want to, but things like this weekend make me want to stay cause these things just don’t happen anywhere else.

last night, went to my first crawfish boil of the year, and that is very late considering its already may. it was a lot of fun, and all for my friend megan’s new baby who apparently will be born sometime in the next two weeks. definitely the best baby shower i’ve been to, and it has set the bar high for any others i may be invited to.

today the jacobs and i hit up jazzfest. it went rather well even though the rumored band didn’t actually play, and fats domino got sick and didn’t play . jacob got a picture with a famous person, we enjoyed the comfort of a corporate sponsor tent, and watched lionel richie sing “easy” (hey, its just a couple of guys enjoying lionel richie!). oh, plus i got to see one of the greatest clarinet players (his grand-daugher and i were in the same preschool class), and ellis marsalis play the piano with his band. you really can’t beat the jazz tent at jazzfest. there’s always something good there. we saw paul simon too, but he didn’t do many of his own songs. what’s the deal with that?

now for a second, let’s go back to the shell tent….that is the way i want to enjoy jazzfest from now on. free food, free beer, free ice cream….and in a fenced off area filled with tables and chairs. we stayed for almost two hours…and would have stayed longer had we not been coaxed out to see a few of the shows. i dropped my bottle of water, and my first reaction was “i’ll have to get another one, this one is dirty”. i think we each ate and drank at least $40 worth of stuff while inside. it was great. it helped make a super crowded day at jazzfest enjoyable. having connections is awesome.

i don’t mean to type this to brag or anything, but the saints getting reggie bush has excited me so much about the saints that i’m looking into actually going to a couple of games. hell, i’d even pay for some season tickets if i could get a good deal on some. for me, that’s a big step, because the last game i went to was a preseason game three years ago that i got free tickets for, and i thought it was a complete waste of my time. i mean, brees is going to be awesome, and provide a giant leap forward for the qb position over that deadbeat brooks, but having reggie bush…people at work were talking about the draft today. everyone i’ve talked to is excited, even people who don’t care that much about football. i wanted to string benson up by his toenails during the season. but him actually saying he’s ready to pay bush, and get the deal done….it looks like i’ll be able to forgive him. and reading this article from pasquarelli (linked) just now, i would have been one of the people in emeril’s cheering and giving reggie a standing ovation. and during this past season, i’m not sure i would have openly cheered for the saints. i don’t know if i can put into words how i’m actually looking forward to an nfl season, and a saints season nonetheless. this past weekend has gotten the area buzzing like nothing i’ve seen the past year or so, but it is certainly great to see and feel and be apart of.

now if they could just find a guy to replace stallworth to give horn a decent threat on the other side…