Congratulations to my niece Bridget! She got a partial scholarship to attend NDNU. She graduated in May and this was a combination (graduation + leaving to college) party. There were so many people! Good food, drinks, family, & friends. We had a DJ but we also wanted to play a couple of songs. We hadn't performed in a long time but it was worth the effort to perform for my niece.
BENNER has been in limbo but this seemed like an appropriate time to come out of hibernation. We had 2 short practices and I can't believe that I had to relearn my basslines. We have over 10 songs but we just focused on 4.
COFFEE CART GIRL
YOU
SHAMPAIN
WATCHING YOU PLAY
The first song was an epic fail; we started it and stopped after 15 seconds, then started from the beginning and Dominic & I both got lost at the bridge, after a couple of embarrassing chuckles, we just continued to the ending chorus. The next 3 songs were great. Minus that little hiccup in the beginning, the set went well.
A little speech from the parents and then onto The PBs set. A little playlist of cover songs for my niece. It was a family affair. My bestfriend Ernest on guitar, Me on bass, my nephew Joseph on drums, my niece Kristeena (making her debut) on vox, and my other friend Rich on vocals. We worked with what we had and i'm confident enough to say that the songs came close to sounding similar to the originals.
Last Friday Night was a fun song to start off the set. Now this wasn't planned but my other 3 nieces ended up singing along for the chants: T-G-I-F and the yelling and that actually came out awesome!
Here Comes Your Man
Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance
Raise Your Glass
The songs we picked were pretty easy and repetitive except for Here Comes Your Man. It wasn't my best performance but everybody seemed to like it. Raise Your Glass was a crowd pleaser and it seemed to get everybody hyped. After the set, the DJ started spinning and was playing until the end of the night.
Last Friday I got a text message stating, “the first 10 people to reply – ‘I want to go’ win tickets to see The Ting Tings tomorrow night.” I promptly replied. I had signed up on a couple of artists’ text messaging lists via mozes.com but I hadn’t really got updates until now. So I went to the website and saw that several people already replied but I was still within the 10 people. Shortly after, I received a text message congratulating me and giving me an email address to contact for more info. I emailed and didn’t hear anything.
Friday night I was at home and checked my email and still no response; I thought it was for the best because I was working on Saturday anyways. So, I went to work and decided to email again and still nothing. I started feeling sad because I saw how fun the Manchester gig was and wanted to be a part of it. I was looking at photos of people covered in paint. This was going to be their “round 2” of the Adidas Paint Party.
I emailed PR again with my phone and got a quick reply. She stated that she had emailed me twice. Maybe my email address was acting up, so I emailed her with my cell number and told her to please text me the info. It was 5pm and I was at work until midnight. It seemed like time wasn’t on my side. I got a text with the address, the starting time (7pm) and a message saying, “have fun!” I’m afraid of rejection and I was scared to ask my job if I could leave early. I told them we were caught up and luckily my request was granted.
I clocked out of work, went to pick up my niece Kristeenah – yes she was the lucky one, and went home to change. We got to the place at exactly 7:01pm. I left her there to wait in line while I roamed the streets of Hollywood looking for parking. I parked almost a mile away, because everything was 1 hour parking, and walked back to the spot as fast as I could, trying to ignore all the dumb text messages (hurry up x 10; Where are you? The line is moving) my niece was sending me. I got in line and we were just waiting. A few workers passed by saying, “you guys are going to have so much fun.” The anticipation was killing me…let’s go in!
They checked off my name on the guest list, gave us release forms to fill out and a ticket to get our Adidas gear. Unfortunately they ran out of my size for jacket but I got a cool Adidas shirt and track pants. There were changing rooms and clothes check. After we were ready, WE WALKed downstairs into this little club with neon lights. They had photos on the walls from the Manchester gig. The DJ was spinning music, people were dancing, refreshments were provided, and a 21+ section with free beer was designated. I ditched my niece and enjoyed a few adult beverages.
Per The Ting Tings website, “the art/paints are going to transformed into collectible covers of our ‘Great DJ’ single.” A curtain was opened where the band was going to perform and girls walked around with trays of bottles of paint. Paint was thrown everywhere, squirting neon colors throughout the crowd and on the black walls. That went on for about 15 minutes and then the band took the stage.
We Walk was the song they started out with. The crowd was jumping and singing along while neon splats shot out in every direction. Great DJ was next and just thinking about it takes me back to that party. That’s exactly what it was; a huge paint party. I kept thinking how lucky everybody in that room was to be experiencing such an awesome event. I didn’t want the night to ever end. I tried to take as many photos as possible without ruining my camera. Actually, I just wanted to enjoy the performance and wish I had brought another camera to record the show. I attempted to take a video with my iPhone and it came out a bit muffled but it still captures the energy of the show. Keep Your Head was my favorite song performed and of course, That’s Not My Name was the highlight of the evening. All in all, this was the most fun I’ve ever had and wish everybody the opportunity to experience this.
Thank you TING TINGS & ADIDAS and everybody else that helped put this event together. I look forward to seeing the CD covers.
