Best Albums of 2011

It was a good year for music and shockingly enough there was more good than bad. Though it's also the year that I swore off the radio and most mainstream music, so to me it seemed like a great year. I don't think Taylor Swift came out with a new album, unless she had some sort of live thing or we count wherever that horrid rendition of "White Christmas" came from. (I can not stand her as an artist. I think she is way over hyped and if I really get into it we'll lose track of what I'm trying to write about.) It took me a bit to come up with a list, but here's some of my favorite albums of the year, in no real order.

Early Morning Blues - Newest Versions EP - I'm not fully remembering when Bryan put this out, but I lean towards early early in the new year and it's been my favorite go-to music all year. Obviously, if you've read anything I've been up to this year that should be obvious. If you want to talk about music that save your life this is my music. Not because I was in a bad place or anything, but listening to it got me motivated to see it live and then I was actually living my life, writing about things I cared about and meeting new friends who shared the same passions.

I've got high hopes for the upcoming album, that there might be more coming our way that will be just as great or better. I'm hoping that will be around in 2012 and I can almost promise it will make the top of my list next year too. Yes I'm biased.

Cage the Elephant - Thank You, Happy Birthday - The sophomore album from my friends from high school dropped this year and made my January. It was so cool to see it out at Target, to see it sell out at stores and Rolling Stone grace them with a bigger honor, naming it their number #15 album of the top 50 of the year. There wasn't as much competition here on my blog, but yes this was a 'must have' of the year.

The Maine - Pioneer - This was a much anticipated album of the year, the self-produced album that was so different than their other music, but lived up to expectations. I kept it in my car for weeks, listening to it on loop and only pulled it out because Champ couldn't stand to listen to the album over and over again on a five hour drive. I would have been fine with it though, it's that good.

The Cab - Symphony Soldier - I've said before that while I only had to wait a few weeks for this one and the rest of the fanbase had been waiting years, it was worth every second. It's annoying to say an album is perfect, but Symphony Solider toes that line so well. Every song is good and every song gets better with each play. I listen to it when i"m driving, when I'm working out, when I'm sitting at my desk trying to get through the day.

Yellowcard - When You're Through Thinking Say Yes - It's always great when a band I already loved comes back with another album, but when a band I loved in college comes back with a vengeance and an album that sounds like a grown up version of what I used to listen to, I can't help but be thrilled. And it's just that. It's Ocean Avenue grown up and blasting in the car stereo.

Jack's Mannequin - People and Things - In a way I live for Andrew's music and this one, was completely fantastic. I'd gotten a taste of it seeing them live before the album released, but I had no idea what I was going to be getting when it did come out. It's a fantastic album, the work of a true singer/songwriter and the kind that you can just listen to over and over again (which is obviously a trend with my favorite albums this year).

So there you go, grab what you don't have already, because it's all good. What were your favorites that didn't make my list?

Theres a lot in store for 2012, so much that I can't wait. I'm looking forward of telling you all about it.

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H.E.L.L. Compilation: Pre-Order

Had a great thing blow up my twitter feed yesterday. H.E.L.L. (Helping Everyone Live Longer) is a non-profit group in Boston that works with bike safety awareness and they have gotten together with the punk and alternative scene in Boston to put together a compilation album that proceeds from will go directly to helping H.E.L.L.

There's tons of music, some never heard before, some additions from local groups. Some of my favorites, Early Morning Blues, Ghost Thrower, and The Tower and The Fool, have all joined up to add their music.

Use your Christmas monies for something good and for a huge collection of great music from great talent. More information on where you can pre-order the LP, a digital copy, or the casette (Seriously casette) here

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New Beginnings

I've been trying to post about this for a while, but it's been a little hard for me to do that.

When Boys Like Girls announced their return and posted their video update, they also announced they were short a bassist, one who seems to frequent my blog, Bryan Donahue.

Bryan took to twitter a few hours later and said that he'd been kicked out of the band and that it wasn't his decision to leave. (Yes. Whatever you are guessing in the way of my reaction is accurate.)

So the announcement of the new album from Boys Like Girls does come with mixed feelings, but Bryan's pointed out that he's still playing with The Tower and The Fool as well as Early Morning Blues. Early Morning Blues (Bryan) has also announced that their new EP is in work and that they'll tour as soon as they get booked and it's done. All good news.

It's a sad moment, but in a way it's good news. I've been a big Early Morning Blues fan (if the tattoo on my side is any indicator) and being able to go to small shows to see Bryan play was starting to get to be a thing. Losing that would make me sad (though there are plenty of small bands I go see now, but it wouldn't quite be the same).

Best of luck to Bryan in everything he does, and I'm guessing I'll be trailing along behind him no matter what it is.

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New Boys Like Girls album!

After much speculation from Bryan Donahue's hints at 'news' and 'announcements' everyone's favorite drummer let the cat out of the bag today.

Leave it to Beef to announce the return of Boys Like Girls to the studio with his own bit of flair.

There's chatter that his other band, Empire Kids, are also busy demoing (in the same place?) which means more music on the front for all of us.

The last puzzle piece is a missing blond bassist, but he's also got an EP in the works for Early Morning Blues. Here's hoping for good things all around. I'll take winter if it brings a spring and summer of new music.

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Early Morning Blues Threepeat

Does this make me a groupie yet? I think per one definition you're supposed to sleep with the band which is so not the case so maybe not. Still, 3 trips to Boston to see these guys play has got to count for something.

Since I never seem to have real time on these trips, I took the red eye out of Seattle trying to get to Atlanta in time to fly to Boston that AM. First flight out and I touched down gunning on about 4 hours of sleep totally for two days. I was in rare form. There was a fun moment explaining the T to a non-Boston native on the airport shuttle. I think I'm here too much now hmm?

Rana grabbed me and there was a trek to get our tattoos done and then off to the show. We met up with Victoria there (who I think needed my coaxing to show up) and ran into the two girls who run the EMB fan twitter, Courtney and Commie. So we had our own little group of girls to hang with even if I am more than a decade older than most of them.

It was a full line up of bands that I'd either somewhat heard of (Ghost Thrower & Lions Lions) or that I'd researched a little beforehand. A couple of the early bands were young, but with a lot of energy. They were going for getting the crowd jumping, which was really impressive. It reminded me of Matt from Cage the Elephant actually. He's sort of changed the way I look at that sort of stage work. (Meaning I get a lot more out of it.)

My biggest take aways from the night were obviously Ghost Thrower and Early Morning Blues though.

Ghost Thrower never fails to disappoint. I think there's something about Travis Alexander, the lead singer, dressed in a white undershirt and cuffed skinny jeans that doesn't make you think he'd have that sort of powerful noise that GT has, but he does and it's always good. I really enjoyed their set, and reminded myself, again, that I still need to pick up that EP package. Definitely recommend them.

Early Morning Blues was working with a slightly new line up. Nick Conway from A View From An Airplane has joined, taking Danny's place. He played with them at the Levi's acoustic show, but in Travis' stead, not Danny's. There's some shifting obviously and it's a little bit of a bummer to not see Danny on stage, but Nick won us over pretty quick. First he's a really nice guy and second (possibly more importantly?), his voice lends to Bryan's really well. Adding him on vocals a is a definite perk. There were some tweaks to the songs, a longer bridge on Chapter One and Never Leave, but all it did was make both songs just a little bit better. Never Leave in particular just sounded extra great.











After we caught some time with Bryan (and throughout the night as well, but longer at the end). I was surprised to see that he'd managed to get the bracelet I'd given him last time back on after taking it off for work. He explained it but I still handed over the back up one I'd made (this one came with a clasp). He seemed to really like the metal version and though it took us a moment to get it on he didn't get nearly as frustrated as I did.

Travis jumped into the conversation and won himself a hug for the effort. He asked if it was my second show, and I corrected him to say third. He's forgiven on forgetting the first since I didn't meet him after. He said "oh right third," then held up four fingers instead. I'm guessing that means show up again kT. We did talk about my birthday, to which Travis decided to change my sign from Leo to Virgo so it would mesh better with his and then I pointed out how old I'm going to be and Travis stared at me like I was insane. "I wouldn't have guessed a day over 22." Bryan just smiled. I think he'd sorted out that I was older already or he's just so stealth with his reactions that he kept it in check.

I said hi to Nick when he came to talk to Bryan, half introducing myself. I told him we'd tweeted back and forth some the other day, and when I told him my user name he nodded. "Oh yeah, Bryan was telling me about you." That got Bryan a look from me and he just sort of smiled and looked away with a shrug. "You talk about us all the time, spread the word. I figure I can do the same for you. It's like a mutual talking about thing." I'm not sure what I did to deserve promotion, but apparently I've got EMB out there promoting some kT action.

Bryan made sure he gave me some tips on bands playing in Atlanta (though I might have suggested he show up at Music Midtown since it is a good set) and we talked tattoos a little more. He made a tattoo parlor suggestion as well (I'm up to like three different places in ATL that I'm supposed to check out) and I mentioned that I liked his Star Wars tattoo. Of course he was impressed that I knew the logo and I asked if he was a closet nerd. He said yes, then shook his head, out of the closet. Mad props for the nerds.

Another perfect night that was 100% worth the lack of sleep leading into a drive to camp Saturday afternoon. It's nice to feel loved and welcome. Though nothing tops being spotted by Bryan and as soon as he sees me he comes over for hugs and to make sure my trip was good. Really can't get better than these guys, not in a million years.

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Tattoo #6 - The Set Up

I've been in love with this giant phrase from Early Morning Blue's "Chapter One" since…well since Bryan posted it on the EMB twitter before the song was even out. That long.

Can I bring my black and blue, bruised, broken body back to you / to mend for me / 'cause I have seen the ugly truth of the world

Obviously that's an entire paragraph and there's no where on my body that it's going to fit, which is a bummer but at the same time I get it. I've spent the past few months trying to break it down to something smaller to take pieces of it without ruining it and I wound up just completely lifting from it to just two lines

black & blue
bruised & broken

I like the way it hints at the lyrics, where I'd have to explain the whole phrase and I like that it touches on how the feeling of the lyrics are. The person is beaten and in need of repair. Having it like that is stating the state that it leaves someone in. And honestly? It's a way I feel often these days.

I was chatting with Rana, my cohort in most things EMB fan girl related, and we were tossing the idea about of her tattoo, which would be her first. I was telling her she needs to get around to getting it even though she hasn't yet and I was trying to be supportive. We chatted about getting it down when I'm in Boston of the EMB show, because why the hell not? I had my birds tattoo in mind for the joint effort, but Rana's idea is lyrics from her favorite band, written out by the lead singer. We joked about getting Bryan to write mine out, but there's this tattoo picture floating around that he supposedly wrote and it's almost impossible to read. We made jokes that it would be ugly and we'd feel bad.

After a while though she wore me down and she was right, it would be pretty damn cool if Bryan wrote it out and even if it was unreadable and kinda ugly, I'd probably still love it. Of course I wasn't even sure he would do it and there was always the worry he'd think I was completely 100% nuts, just for asking. (If he hadn't already come to that conclusion about me). Eventually though I wound up tweeting the EMB account, asking if he'd do it for me. He came back pretty quickly with an "of course, send us an email."

(I should point out here that I had a laugh that he knew I would know where to find the email for the band. Either that or it was some sort of test, but yeah I knew right where to go to grab it.)

When I emailed him, he got back to me pretty quickly, telling me he was flattered that I wanted the lyrics and honored to write them out for me. He asked how I wanted it to look which left me a little shocked because I hadn't thought it out that far. His handwriting was about where it ended.

I started talking it over with Nat and she asked me the big question. "How do the lyrics make you feel?" I said messy and in need of being stitched back together. That was about when I started drawing the stitched heart in my mini art journal I carry around I told Bryan messy and bold but readable.

There was a painful week of waiting and after 7 days I wound up sending a follow up email reminding him gently that I wanted to get it done this week. He came back with an apology that it took so long but he just didn't like anything he'd written out. Still he scanned what he had and offered it to me, telling me to let him know if I didn't like it and if I needed something else.



Of course I immediately fell in love with it especially the one on the far right. The top one has that same bold feeling, but the far right just looks so natural, so much closer to his own handwriting. (At this point I feel the urge to point out that he actually does have really nice handwriting, and I'm starting to wonder if that written out tattoo was actually him or just a a bad tattoo in general).

I emailed him back this sort of blathering type email where I told him how amazing he was for writing it out for me and how amazing it looked. I mentioned pairing it with my own artwork and that I couldn't wait to show it to him on Friday after I got it.

What shocked me was my phone going off a few minutes later, with a response email from him. He wanted to know what kind of artwork was going with it. A little surprised I explained the heart and said that it was a result of how the lyrics made me feel, like being in need of being stitched back together.

I got another email back with him agreeing to how the lyrics felt and telling me how much he liked the heart idea and that there was an urge on his end too for another tattoo. At this point we went back a few times, me asking about his ideas for his next, which surprisingly enough might wind up being inspired by mine. I guess he was due up for an EMB tattoo anyway. (He has logos from both of the BLG albums on his arm as well as a few 'tour' themed tattoos from when their tours. An EMB tattoo seems like a must right?)

My other favorite part of the night of emailing was to get the twitter update coming from him:

The fan would be me and of course my timeline on both twitter and tumblr blew up a little in excitement.

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Early Morning Blues Part Duex

The trip to Rhode Island via Hartford apparently wasn't enough and when Early Morning Blue announced their headlining show with The Rebels opening in Boston on a Saturday? I made a plan to make it work. I talked it over with Rana and Victoria whom I met at the RI show and then coaxed Heather into coming with me.

We've been planning, looking forward to and counting down to this trip for months now and finally it was here! We had a great day in Boston on Friday, but Saturday afternoon was the main attraction for sure. Saturday had a few complications including picking up my customized chucks and the Bruins parade to celebrate them winning the Stanley Cup earlier in the week, but we managed to arrive at the venue not ten minutes before they opened the doors.

Colleen was at the front of line and bounced out in our general direction as soon as she saw us. I handed over the extra Black Carbon Custom shirt I had (I bought it too big and had to re-buy it so I would actually wear it) and I think it left her speechless. She's been upset because she hasn't been able to get one herself and I thought it was best to give it to someone who would really truly appreciate it which meant Colleen. I loved watching her look all flabbergasted. Sometimes it's just nice to do something nice for someone else.

We got in and Heather directed us towards the merch table which I think is where it got real for her. I had my eyes out for a certain blond, but there was John Keefe (of Boys Like Girls and drummer for The Rebels) just chilling at the table. He's Heather's favorite and I sot of loved watching her eyes go wide. We got Rebel's shirts and Heather got an EMB shirt (I have 2 already). John chatted her up and gave us hugs for coming so far. He's a doll and completely precious in person.

After merch we drifted to the 21+ area because face it, there are a few perks of being old and after being faced with the sheer age difference between ourselves and the kids there we needed a drink. (In some cases I swear I was over 10 years older than these kids). Bryan was by the bar with some folks and I have to say I creeped a little, but eventually he spotted me and I waved, not thinking too much of it. I got a smile though and he left the others to come to me, gave me a big hug and asked how the trip up was. I think about there I freaked out a little, shocked that he knew who was just by looking at me.

I introduced him to Heather and he gushed again a little about us coming so far then told me about how the line up had changed a little due to the lead singer of the Rebels needing to be somewhere that late afternoon. I nodded and reassured him that we'd made it there before the opener an were good to go on seeing everyone. He nodded and then went back to his thing while we got settled.

As the openers started we (Rana, Heather and I) found a good spot to camp out at in the front of the 21+ area and we settled in. The first opener, The All Night Affair, was good. Nothing too earth shattering but they were cute and fun to listen too. It was a little bit poppier than EMB, but I wasn't going to fault them for that. Same with the second group that came on, Call Me Anything, poppier and local, but really cute and fun to listen to. I didn't hate their stuff and they did a great job considering how young they looked (and probably were). Solid performances from both groups.

There were a few moments to drift between bands and at one point we did spot Bry's brother whom I'd met in RI and I introduced myself again. It took a moment to clear up the 'swear we met before bro' bit but eventually he figured out Heather and I were the two from far away and we got hugs an the wound up just chatting. Bryan came over a little later and stood next to his brother all excited and grinning that I'd met him.

He asked his brother if I had told him my story yet which had us all staring at Bryan confused until he was like "She's come really far to see us twice now!" and then everyone laughed and nodded and said yes yes, that was me. Bryan wound up jetting off again and we chatted tattoos with the bro before we went back to Rana. She was definitely laughing at us but it was fun.

The Rebels were up next and I can't lie was a little nervous. No one had any idea what they were going to dish out and though we trusted John to only be part of something awesome, I was a little anxious. Halfway through the first song I was completely hooked. They had presence, they were awesome and of course they had great backing in John. It was a really, really solid sound for a first show ever and a really great set of tracks. We were actually freaking out just a little and I loved watching Heather get really excited. (The same way I do for EMB)







Then it was Ghost Ocean and they were pretty kick ass too. I can see why Bryan likes them so and I definitely grabbed their CD they were handing out because it was too good to pass up on. I really loved their sound and how they just weren't afraid to do their thing, which was loud and kinda in your face. Their keyboard was jacked so they couldn't do one of their covers but wound up doing it anyway and the keyboardist came out with the keyboard and 'air keyboarded' which was just hilarious.



After we had a break before another local band, Love Via Dance Machine, went on. We knew going in that Bryan wasn't stoked about them being in the line up and that the manager who set up the show pulled them in. I wasn't entirely sure why, just heard that they were pains and divas and that their sound wasn't right for the style of show. Not to mention they were only playing three songs. As the time went on in between sets, I'd gone to the bathroom and drifted to the merch table to try and chat up Bryan again but it was obvious that people were pissed. And by people I mean Bryan. Frustration and anger were sort of settled around him as they took thirty minutes (at least double all the others bands) to set up, and by they I mean their crew of kids from other local bands that weren't playing and not them. The break did give us a chance to chat with Luke and Russ from the Rebels (well Rana and Heather chatted with Russ, I only got Luke later). They were completely stoked we were there and I told Luke I follow him on twitter.

I didn't see Love Via Dance Machine much at all throughout the show so when they walked on stage I had no idea what to expect. I wouldn't have guessed and awkward looking kid with terrible hair, a guitarist who seemed to model everything about his style and playing after Jack from All Time Low. Actually that was the whole thing. They looked just like All Time Low. They sounded like All Time Low. And I don't mean that as a good thing. They were very musically talented, and they sounded okay, but it wasn't original. Not in any way. It was poppy and catchy but there wasn't any heart and I hate to break it to the world, that act didn't belong smushed between Ghost Ocean and Early Morning Blues.

There were in appropriate comments, tweets and possibly a hand gesture out of frustration but the three songs ended soon enough and EMB went through the fastest set up ever.

The house music went off and Heather turned her flip cam on me because she said I was freaking out and no lie I totally was. I couldn't help it. The tone of the entire room changed with four chords, darkening out the music and wiping all the poppy happy that was left. Early Morning Blues is not about catchy tunes that get played on repeat on a radio station and that's what I love about them. They opened with the new track "All About Tonight" and it really is awesome live (it's one of the ones I hadn't seen yet).



Bryan had an adorable moment trying to tune his bass and talk in between that and the next song and he commented that it was much harder than it looked. The rest of the set list was expected, "Never Leave", "Chapter One" and "Echoes". They were letting more of the crowd sing and I loved hearing the crowd singing "can I bring my black and blue, bruised broken body back to you," partially because it's part of my favorite lyrics ever and because it's just so cool to see the kids knowing the side project music.



During Never Leave Bryan's brother got the crowd jumping which was quite amusing to watch from where we were. Our little trio laughed because we knew who he was while the kids just sort of stared at him like he might have been nuts.

They closed with "War and Wisdom" and Bryan said "if you know any of the words sing along and if you don't know them….make them up." The crowd did their best to sing along and I know I was screaming as well. It was a really great bit of energy that they managed to build up in those final moments. Really great.

After Heather and I stopped by Bryan's brother and his friend to say goodbye and offer up a high five for their awesome pit antics. We wound up chatting a little more about accents (his is delightfully Bostonian) and he thanked us for supporting his bro again and gave us hugs. I told him we'd bug him when we came back.

Joining Rana and the others at the merch tables we got a chance to say hi to Jamel from The Rebels. Jamel was floored that we came so far that he grabbed up two Rebels key chain bottle openers and handed them over with hugs telling us that we were just awesome for showing up from that far away. It's always a little overwhelming to hear that sort of gratefulness in someone's voice, especially someone you respect so much. I know all about treating celebs like they are real people, which I try, but I'm so easily impressed and intimidated by what these musicians are capable of that it's hard for me not to be like "why would I not come forever to see you play?"

We went out back, following Colleen because they kicked us out of the venue and I felt bad leaving without saying goodbye to Bryan plus I had his bracelet in my bag still. Of course waiting resulted in a lot of waiting as the bands loaded their stuff into their cars (not Love Via but you guessed that right?) There were some things that had Bryan still frustrated, but he wound up finding time to chat up his fans. I enjoyed watching it and waving goodbye to John when he left. Eventually we made our way to Bry and the crowd thinned and I presented the bracelet, begging him not to laugh. Instead of laughter I got a wrist thrust at me and a "yes please." I think I just stared for a second before going "oh you want me to?" and then he nodded and said yes and I tried very hard not to focus on blushing and his hook tattoo (which hi, I love) while I tied it. He told me the last one he had had just fallen off and his wrist felt naked so he was glad to have the new one there, then pulled the knot tighter with his teeth.

I wound up in convos with Chris and Travis from EMB and got to be introduced to them and Bryan told them I came from far away and they got excited and we chatted a little. Bryan had a few things to take care of after a long moment and left us then came back again and I told him we had a bus to catch. I got a huge crushing hug and a promise that his plan was to make it to Atlanta by the end of the summer in some capacity. I promised that if he showed? I'd be there. I think he knew that though. Lots of thanks for coming again and I loved hearing him tell Heather it was a pleasure to meet her (that's what kind of guy he is).

Part of me wonders if this one was better than the other, but I can't decide. I loved both so much. He keeps getting better every time I see him. There's another show at the end of the month but that's probably not going to happen for me. Hopefully my Boston contingent will be there and send my love for me.

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Chatting with Bryan

Early Morning Blues had an impromptu-ish acoustic show at Diesel in Boston. Needless to say I couldn't be there. Not with Cage the Elephant on Wednesday night and work on Friday. Random Thursday trips need at least a week of planning.

V, Rana and Colleen (V and Rana I met at EMB's show back in February, and Colleen is an online BLG fan buddy) were going which meant I had front row twitter/text updates. V kept me updated and even called me during "Never Leave" so I could hear it (died a little).

She texted me that if things went well after she'd have Bryan call. Right, well that'd be awesome, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Just tell him hi for me, tell him I'll see him in June and sure if he wants to talk to me then yeah, but why would he?

About an hour after being called to hear the song, the phone rings with V's name on it.

k: hey what’s up

Bry: hey Katy

k: oh! hey Bry

Bry: oh! you recognized my voice!

That's how it started. With him being surprised that I recognized his voice and him calling me by name. (He has a great speaking voice as well as singing voice. It's a shame he's not the chatty one in BLG). Really I've listened to the EMB EP about 50+ times. I think I was going to recognize it.

He said the show went well for a first acoustic show and said it’s okay that I wasn’t there, it happens. Which was sweet because it's not like I'm living down the street. We gushed about me being there in June. He asked if I was bringing Josh again. He hesitated on the relation ("your brother?") but remembered that I had brought him with me the first time. I thought that was just...really awesome.

My friends and I had talked a little about what he remembers, because he tweeted some girl who was asking if she should drive from Jersey in June to the show in Boston and told her that 'someone was coming from GA'. We (Rana and I) were surprised that he remembered, but he did and now...well he obviously remembers more than we thought. He remembers me not just some person.

He said he really appreciates me coming all that way to see him, that it means a lot. I babbled about it being worth it because they were cool and great and something else that was probably lame.

“You’ve got a lot of friends talking about you here. You’re really missed tonight.”

That made blurt that I felt special and I got a 'good' type assent in response. I had to wonder if he meant himself too, but that's pushing into fan girl territory that I don't need to be in right now. We talked about how it was just three weeks until the show, not long at all.

“I’ll see you soon.” See you soon too Bry.

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Early Morning Blues

Sometimes even the most sane of us do some crazy things.

I've been going through this quarter-life crisis of sorts (about five years late or so), realizing that I did so little crazy things when I was younger. So little. Part of it was fear, part of it was just not knowing, but a lot of it was me just not doing it. So here I am, at 27, finally starting to do things.

I assumed when I added 'see a concert in another city' to my 27 Things Before 28 list, I'd be flying to DC to see Boys Like Girls with Eye. Turns out that they are still working on that new album and thus, no concert tour yet. Or at least no where that isn't Brazil. (Seriously would be tempted if I knew anything about Brazil).

But all was not lost. My favorite member of BLG, Bryan Donahue, has spent his time off from touring working on a few songs of his own and eventually recorded and released them off under a solo gig/band thing, Early Morning Blues. So while he was mucking around it he managed to get his little band a show, in Rhode Island, just outside of Providence (think, near Brown University). I got excited about a month in advanced and looked at my work calendar. No traveling. A quick check of google maps said it was an hour and a half from where lil brother is living in Connecticut.

Josh (lil brother) was not as on board and plead that he might have to work, etc etc. About a week before the show he realized, nope, no work. Which meant he had Tuesday night off. In a moment of eagerness, I bought us tickets, offered to help pay for gas and demanded he pick me up so we could go see Bryan play.

Super excited, I tweeted off a message to Bryan and shockingly enough he retweeted my tweet and hit me back with a response (freaked out in the airport a little folks)



Cut to the concert. Fly up to CT, spend the day with brother, drive to the concert which is a little hole in the wall. As soon as we walk in, there's Bryan, chatting on his cell phone, looking adorable and real. A little while later the drummer shows up, hugs his best friend and then Josh and I realize that there are very few non-friends and family at the show. When Bryan is at his merch table, talking to an older woman (old enough to be say... a mom) I swallow my pride and wander over, looking at stuff.

The conversation goes like this:

Mom (turns out to be Bryan's mom): You should get something from this side of the table *points at Bryan's merch*
Me: Well I was planning on it. I came all the way from Georgia to see him so yeah.
Bryan: *looks up* You came from GA?
Me: Yup
Bryan: Oh hi! I'm Bryan *shakes my hand*
Me: I'm Katy
Mom: You came all the way from Georgia to see him play? That's great. He's excellent isn't he?
Me: yes, yes he is

Seriously. I thought this was the end of the night. But no it gets better.









Bryan's set was amazing. The whole lot of them were great. And he was great. Even with just four songs (yes I traveled that far for FOUR songs), he was awesome.

After I wander towards the merch table again where two other fan girls (and mom) are chatting him up. Josh is adamant that I'm "more important" because I came farther and when there's a chance to chat with the fan girls (Bry's run off) they ask me if I'm from Mass/RI and when I say no the next question is "Are you from GA?" So apparently I'm psuedo fan famous.

I chatted with them for a while, had someone else introduce me as the girl from GA and Bryan grinning about it again. Still, no real face time with him, but it's okay, I'm having fun. Josh meanwhile is chatting up the guitarist, Danny, over at the bar. Danny's stoked about being complimented and when Josh explains that he's there with his sister who came from GA, Danny freaks.

The story goes that the EMB guys (or at least Danny and Bryan) were together when Bryan got my tweet and it went very much like "holy shit some chic is coming from GA to see me play" and then there were high fives.

Danny came over to us later after Josh came back and Josh was like this is her! My sister and Danny practically tackled me with hugs and love and adoration. "You coming means so much to us."

By this time it's getting late, still no real face time with Bryan but he's outside grabbing a cigarette and the other fan girls are very much like "tell him goodbye." So I stopped told him I had to head out and he reaches for me immediately, giving me a big hug. "So glad you came, it means so much to me." I got him to sign his Venture Guitars flyer and got a picture with him as well.


(look at him grinning!)

After we wound up chatting in a group that was mostly me and him chatting with people listening in. I got to meet his brother who was just stoked that I came that far (and I figure out was the guy staring at me half the night. Awkward). Best of all Bryan says "You're a story I'm going to tell for the rest of my life. I do my first solo gig and a girl comes all the way from GA to see me play." He hinted on a tour with EMB, hopefully coming through GA. I promised to be there with everyone I knew if he came (still waiting).


So scratch off #9 "Go see a concert in another city" Done and done.

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