SKADVENTURES OF SKA JENNY

RIVER CITY EXTENSION @ GLASSLANDS, BROOKLYN

2010-09-17T17:06:00.005-04:00

River City Extension played The Glasslands Gallery in Brooklyn last night. They, of course, did not disappoint, even after my high expectations following the Gogol Bordello show at Starland Ballroom last July where they opened with The Dead Kenny G's (who by the way are absolutely insane and wonderful and are SO worth checking out live!) for their gypsy punk headliner. The gallery itself is located in the most obscure spot humanly possible which I very well may never have found had I not thought to acquire directions prior to making the voyage from New Jersey to Brooklyn. It's off the Bedford stop on the L, down a bunch of blocks, past what appears to be somewhat abandoned (or at least closed and abandoned for the night) buildings, around a corner and down toward the water. Walking back did not take nearly as much time as walking there, but I blame my quest for some delicious vegan fast food at FoodSwings for side-tracking me to Grand for an hour. (You can read about that on my food blog by clicking HERE).

Anyway, the venue is this little "hole in the wall" sort of place that is deceiving from the outside. Inside you have a very creative, inventive, swanky sort of vibe with a bar to your right, a bathroom with a shower in it, vines on the walls, church pews to sit in, a little overhang that reminds me of what a fort from when I was 9 would look like had I made one now complete with a few tables and chairs with flickering candles. The stage is framed by a piece of installation art resembling clouds against a sky blue wall, elevating the bands into the heavens and creating a very gorgeous visual. They are a fully licensed bar so there is beer on tap, some in bottles, wine, and other lovely spirits. I stuck to a night of Shock Top myself. The sound quality was considerably better than average and the event was fairly priced: $10 ADV / $12 DOS. This is the way shows used to be, the way they should be... no ticket, pay at the door, get your hand stamped, reasonably priced drinks, and a very intimate, inviting, and inspiring environment. Needless to say: I was most impressed by the space. I won't lie, though, it was slightly overrun by catty hipsters... but this is Brooklyn we're talking about, and Bedford at that.

Now, on to the show...

The opening band (Only Son) reminded me much of bands I would see in high school and the singer had a voice that I never expected to come out of his body. If I had more cash on me, I'd have looked into buying their CD. It's a nice mix of slow and upbeat with a very chill sound. Apparently the singer (Jack Dishel) was also the lead guitarist for The Moldy Peaches. I can dig that. Anyway, you can check them out on myspace if you'd like a sampling of their music, but they had a very different feel live. Perhaps I am partial to live music or perhaps these recordings do not do them justice. Regardless, check them out.

Second up was a band called Common Prayer whose website pretty much sums up the experience of seeing them live. The most valuable members of the band (musically) are without a doubt the singer and the drummer, flanked by an interesting keyboardist with a very ska scene vibe and ensemble to match, and two women with varied talents. One had a very sweet sort of style that reminded me of a friend from youth group ten years back. She sang and played a free standing drum. The other woman had the most peculiar style to match her instrumental expertise... she reminded me of a young Sophia from the golden girls (strictly based on her choice of glasses and hairstyle) and played the clarinet, a milk pail, and a coach whistle in addition to singing as vocal support to the lead singer. Their music is a little bit of Unicorns meets Neutral Milk Hotel, meets a mellowed-out family in the south playing banjo and whatever other creative instruments they had lying on their front porch. Listening to their music on myspace has a VERY different effect than seeing them live because of the visual distraction of how eclectic this band really was. It reminded me of a family of roomates, not that that's a bad thing, but it was different... more relaxed. I'd give their CD a shot to listen to in the car or just relaxing and editing photos or writing. The singer's voice reminds me a bit of Delta Spirit whom I love because of their fist album and am supporting through their second despite its different feel.

After a significant time of technical difficulties from the bands prior, we finally did get to enjoy River City Extension. Here are some clips from the show:

Something Salty, Something Sweet

Our New Intelligence

Friends & Family

With the single tweet: "River City Extension does not disappoint." I believe I summed up their performance. They were well worth the wait to see them between sets. Great job, guys. Very tight. I really appreciate the energy in an amazing live show... and quite frankly that was some of the hottest drumming I've seen in a long time.

The headliner for the night was Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea who is described on myspace as "heartache in combat boots climbing a mountain in the dreamy lands." The woman has quite a voice on her, let me tell you that. I'd have enjoyed her more had the venue not become a bit of a sauna from the energy of the crowd mixed with the humidity of what was apparently an insanely destructive storm outside... it was also after 1am, so I was starting to lose steam after a long day of being awake, traveling in, enjoying vegan fast food, and consuming numerous beers. Check her out and see what you think for yourselves... it's some very cool stuff if you're into sexy female singers. She's apparently on tour with The Black Keys on the west coast for the next few weeks if you're out there and want to check her out live.

Sadly ducking out early into a light drizzle, we caught the L to 14th, grabbed some garlic knots, and then waited an eternity for the PATH (which, as always, was only running one way at 2am and that way was of course not the direction we wished to head... I think it's NYC trying to tell us to stay). Rolled in around 3am and passed out cold. Overall, a great success on an otherwise stormy, dismal night.

And now, for a little exit music...

FOOD BLOG UPDATE!

2010-09-10T21:22:00.003-04:00

TWO FOOD BLOG UPDATES!
- HIPPIE JUICE
- CREAMY GARLIC SPAGHETTI!

CHECK THEM OUT & FOLLOW FOR MORE!
http://peaceloveguacamole.blogspot.com/

FOOD BLOG!

2010-09-08T12:20:00.003-04:00

Check out my food blog: http://peaceloveguacamole.blogspot.com

SKADVENTURE: A Day @ the Fair

2009-09-12T11:09:00.001-04:00

SKADVENTURE: 4th of July 2009

2009-07-06T04:13:00.001-04:00

MUSIC: "4 minutes of your life & a banana"

2009-07-02T13:43:00.001-04:00

SKADVENTURE: Rockaway Beach, NY

2009-06-26T11:39:00.001-04:00

THE OFFICIAL SKADVENTURE PROMO!

2009-06-05T09:07:00.000-04:00

SKADVENTURE: NYC Dance Parade

2009-06-02T00:53:00.001-04:00

SKADVENTURE: WMSC End-Of-Year Party

2009-05-03T11:59:00.000-04:00

MUSIC: World/Inferno F.S. Weekend Road Trip!

2009-04-29T16:36:00.003-04:00

Ska Jenny decided to drive to Baltimore, MD to see the World/Inferno Friendship Society on a whim. Giving her friend Christina 1 hour's notice to get out of her class, pack, and be ready... and giving Jordana only 20 minutes notice that they were leaving... she made arrangements to meet up with Doug's car and caravan down to Baltimore, switching Cashman out of his and into her car on the Maryland border. The weekend then turned into a wild ride of Inferno playing Ottobar in Baltimore, the girls and Brian hitting up the Paper Moon Diner, getting a 2am hotel room with a creepy concierge, discovering a pumpkin sign, driving to Red Bank, getting a giant pizza, visiting the Secret Stash, rocking out at Chubby's for ANOTHER Inferno show (getting there hours before the band!!!) and hitting a diner before venturing back to the suburbs of NYC. The entire trip lasted from 2pm on Friday until 1am on Sunday morning... when Ska Jenny had to work at 8:45am. WHAT A WEEKEND!

MUSIC: World/Inferno FS back in Brooklyn!

2009-04-22T00:48:00.001-04:00

SKADVENTURE: MSU'S Spring Bash 'o9 (aka: CHEERS)

2009-04-22T00:30:00.000-04:00

PRESS: Well, sort of. NJ SKA!

2009-04-20T21:33:00.000-04:00

Video from Asbury Lanes was featured on the NJ SKA message board this month.
CHECK IT OUT: http://www.njska.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3782

MUSIC: Slackers & HCS @ Asbury Lanes (3/21/09)

2009-04-08T12:32:00.006-04:00

The night of Saturday, March 21st was full of firsts for a Slackers fan such as myself. Never before had I managed to stand so close to the stage in such an intimate venue as Asbury Lanes without fear of being smacked in the head repeatedly by excited dancing and crowd surfing fans. Also, never having been to the Lanes in general since I was too young for the 21+ venue the last time anyone worth seeing was playing on a day when my schedule agreed, I was excited to experience their interesting food selection and overall environment. Sadly, I did no get to bowl despite carting my checkered bowling shoes to the venue. I did, however, try their version of grilled cheese with the cheese substituted for BBQ Tofu. It was a little tough like beef jerky, a strange consistency for the usually slimy-soft food. I think I should've chosen the buffalo chicken sandwich instead. Next time.

On a more personal note, I was insanely thrilled at getting to get up-close and film a band whose music most helped me through some of the roughest breakups in my life. I'm not even kidding here, and I'm sure that plenty of people have similar stories with various albums not necessarily ska or reggae related, but the Slackers' album Peculiar which ends with a beautiful rendition of the song "I Shall be Released" which was originally written and performed by Bob Dylan in 1967. Often refered to me as "driving west into the sunset music" and even given to friends who were traveling to California by car with strict instructions of what time of day to listen to the album, Peculiar helped me get back in touch with my ska-loving self as I recovered from a very tumultuous time in my dating life. It came off as a chill-and-enjoy comfort album. True story.

Getting back to the skadventure, I wanted to fill you in on the fact that Evan (from the band DIVE) and I had arrived significantly early but were not allowed into the venue for at least an hour when doors officially opened. Convinced via my skullycell by the something of a scene celebrity and friend/assistant to many a band, Bill Cashman, we climbed out of our nice warm car where I had been napping and ventured toward the venue by foot as the somewhat chilly ocean air. The Slackers were all gathered outside the Lanes and posing for a photo shoot with Joelle Andreas, a friend from the scene and fellow band photographer who creates and distributes the ever popular ska calendar. Bill was recruited by the Slackers' guitarist Agent Jay (formerly of the band Agent 99 from which he gained his nickname) to film some footage of the photo shoot. Somehow, I managed to get myself involved in this and ended up striking up a conversation with Jay about things not necessarily related to music and volunteering myself to contribute show footage toward the production of their up-coming dvd. It explains why I have half the show posted in this blog, which is still cool for your viewing enjoyment.

The show itself was quite awesome, filled with people dancing and bowling around the stage some of which had a considerable amount to drink but were not getting unruly. The bands were excellent, as always. I filmed a little of Hub City Stompers but missed the first band due to holding a conversation at the bar and a slight lack of interest in getting too close. They were sort of experimental and cool in theory but not really my thing. I listened to their set which was a creative version of a jam session from the bar where I was more comfortable. The Slackers headlined and I captured some footage of them dancing around, singing/playing (of course) and when their brass section jumped off the stage and into the audience to dance around and play. I loved the up-close-and-personal feel of their performance at this venue.

Thumbs-up, guys.

SKADVENTURE: The F' My Life NYC BUS STORY

2009-03-27T16:00:00.001-04:00

MUSIC: Scarlett Fever East @ Maxwell's

2009-03-16T16:38:00.000-04:00

WRITTEN BLOG COMING SOON!

SKADVENTURE: Hoboken St. Patrick's Day Parade

2009-03-10T18:46:00.001-04:00

MUSIC: Tristate Conspiracy & MORE @ BoweryPoetryClub

2009-03-03T15:28:00.002-05:00

Aside from the random show attendees who thought my outfit was vintage, attempted to buy me drinks, or danced with me to the bands who played, there isn't much else to say about my show experience other than to let you experience the show for yourself. Below you will find a playlist featuring the three bands who rocked the Bowery Poetry Club the night of February 27th. Enjoy your virtual concert!

Expect short band bios at a later date.

In case you wanted to check them out for yourselves in the mean time...

Opener 1: Kissy Kamikaze (http://www.myspace.com/kissykamikaze)
Opener 2: Tombstone Brawlers (http://www.myspace.com/thetombstonebrawlers)
Headliner: Tristate Conspiracy (http://www.myspace.com/tristateconspiracy)

More updates later!
<3, Ska Jenny*

SKADVENTURE: Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire

2009-02-24T22:23:00.004-05:00

Slightly unsure of what I was getting myself into, I entered the Hanover Marriott on Route 10 in Whippany, NJ the afternoon of February 21st with an open mind and even more widely opened eyes. Never before actually finding myself in attendance at one of these sort of themed conventions, I simply did not know what to expect from the oh-so-talked-about "Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire." Having been invited by both the White Elephant Burlesque Society and my ever-delightful friend in Brian Viglione (who was scheduled to guest perform with W.E.B.S.), I simply could not resist the urge to create a bit of costuming and enjoy the festivities.

Now, this all sounds well and good (and I shall get back to the actual story in a moment, but...) as in any real (sk)adventure story, there was a bit of a snag in the game plan which potentially could have been disastrous to the entire experience but ultimately ended with a most positive result.

First, we will start with the pull: costuming. Originally planning on wearing black/red striped thigh high stockings with combat boots, a black velvet skirt, and my all-time favorite red silk corset from Vicky's, I found that I no longer had the body of a straight edge 19 year old. Recovery from that set-back involved digging for a good two hours through decades of costuming until I found something I could destroy and recreate. The winner of this challenge was a purple velvet bodysuit/tutu combination from a dance recital in 2001. After carefully de-tooling the entire ensemble, I was left with a delightfully comfortable purple velvet body suit with renaissance peasant-top style trim along the bustline and around my shoulders. (It's good to know that although you may grow outward, your torso will still remain the same length as when you were a freshmen in high school.) The addition of the original black velvet skirt coupled with some fuscia stockings and killer high heels (I say killer because they KILLED my FEET!) brought the body suit into the appropriate time period. I tied a complimentary yet contrasting purple/white marbled sash around my waist and wore black velvet fingerless gloves which began as a point at my middle finger and stretched up 3/4 of my arm's length.

Now for the snag: Compliments of the horrid condition of suburban New Jersey roads I was left without any mode of transportation for the entirety of my jam-packed weekend schedule. I could have cried (and nearly did) thanks to local (and a few not-so-local) pot holes which did quite a number on my car's rims over the last few years. However, my family finally sensed my dismay and came to my rescue by offering to pitch in and drive me to the venue as long as I could return on my own. Feeling hopeful, I agreed to the deal and began asking around for assistance the moment I arrived at the faire.

After walking around and being quite unsuccessful in locating Jordana and the rest of W.E.B.S, I finally ended up at the rear entrance of the hotel where I cam across an interesting trio. The girl near the door was the first to attract my attention since she was wearing black pointe shoes which felt close to home. She had her hair in braids, face painted white, black leg warmers and a sort of fairy costume in black as well. The two men in her company were a gentleman perhaps half a generation older than my own and dressed in appropriate renaissance attire who kissed my hand then recited a poem and a handsome young lad with light hair and complexion dressed similarly to the love-of-my-life, Indiana Jones. Little did I know, my experiences in their company had just begun.

I left them talking to wander about from room to room poking my nose in to both look for Jordana and the vendor who supposedly sold those faerie figurines that I'm always collecting. Discovering that I quickly would fail at both attempts, I returned to the door and enlisted the company of a female in my ventures. As it turns out, the girl's name was Anna and she'd driven all the way from Georgia to take part in the convention. Quite impressed by her enthusiasm for faire and also relieved that I could browse with someone who also lacked the funding to actually purchase something, we began our exploration. Somehow we ended up in a room with beautifully hand-crafted leather corsets and a suspended torture rack both of which Anna tried out for size. The rack left Anna on her toes (quite literally) as I held a conversation with one of the nearby vendors. I was then offered a chance to hang from my ankles which, although it sounded like a grand old time, I politely declined... using my skirt as a prime excuse to pass by the experience. We then discovered some beautiful glass jewelry decorated with celtic symbols that were perfect for my collection but considerably out of my price range. Anna danced to a bit of live entertainment in the main ballroom while I was told by no less than three vendors that I belong with a whip in my hand. I am still unsure as to how I should take that comment aside from my initial reaction of blushing and temptation.

Through with the downstairs elements of the faire, we headed up to the "adult only" third floor to see what sort of shenanigans we might get ourselves into. There were the typical toys you would expect to see anywhere that requires an ID to enter, a few video vendors, and some with animal costuming for the "fur-verts" out there and... the erotic hypnotist. This is where things got interesting. For lack of the appropriate words of description, I will just say that he was probably something we should have passed by. There's nothing like holding your new friend's bag while a man you don't know makes her undergo hypnosis and the woman next to you who just so happens to work for a local newspaper interviews you about the convention, your outfit, and what is going on here and having to say "he is hypnotizing her to orgasm." Yup. That pretty much explains it.

Following this experience, Anna was brought back downstairs to our friend at the door (whose name was Sean) and I was told by a few people that they had seen Jordana roll by dressed as Princess Lolli from Candyland. I managed to find her changing in a room somewhere upstairs at the hotel where she was hanging out with Jen (another of our friends) before heading downstairs to wander about and await Brian's arrival. Jen had made him a painting before her return home to the south and I was simply waiting for the person who'd extended an eagerly accepted invitation to me.

Along one of the hallways were three guys dressed in some form of civil war attire which left them looking a bit dirty and tattered. They sadly had to deny a photo-op with me since they were in costume for a movie they were extras in and we began to have a conversation... mainly because I had asked them if they'd seen Jordana about thirty-nine times over the course of the afternoon. As it turns out, they are part of an acting group who sort of freelances their services to the production of major films... forging their own swords and making their own tools and costuming. They were like a union of independent actors who found the jobs that those in S.A.G. could not. I liked them and stayed a while.

Around six-ish I was summoned to the main ballroom to watch the belly-dancing gypsies who were loud and fun to watch... declaring that "gypsies love noise!" followed by the White Elephant Burlesque Society. Oh, and a random scottish guy hitting on me in between sets by telling me that he has a big... "ego"... and will make me chocolate martinis in his room. He also asked if I was Jen's little sister and that sealed the deal... the deal that there was NO DEAL and he was just there to make me blush and bugger off. So, needless to say- the show was great. W.E.B.S. ended up pulling Brian out of the audiences and onto the stage (errm, into the "brothel") where he could be exposed to their various styles of dance... before finally showing everyone up with a dance of his own. His facial expressions throughout the performance were priceless and the golden spandex finale topped it all off.

After the show he greeted a few fans, signed a drumstick and I'm sure a few other things, and then went upstairs to change. I hung out with the actors until Brian returned to wander through the rooms with me... but by that time most of the vendors had packed up and gone. We then decided to grab something to eat, and with the wonderful help of our friend Gen behind the wheel... head home.

Please enjoy a few excerpts from my day:

Overall, the "Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire" proved to be quite the entertaining and interesting experience. It is always nice to step out of your element a bit and just jump into a whole 'nother world. It is definitely something that I would love to do again... and I may even hit up the summer one this year in New York state. (once i get a fairy costume together, of course!)

Oh, and I think that "steampunk" is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Catch you next time!
XOXO, Ska Jenny*

SKADVENTURE: Eternal Sunshine Photo Shoot.

2009-02-08T03:45:00.000-05:00

Due to a few complications with travel and several shenanigans taking place on the days prior to Februay 2nd, our trip to Pennsyltucky (errm, Pennsylvania) to see Punxsutawney Phil's take on how fast spring will arrive was sadly canceled. On the bright side, I hear that there was such an ungodly enormous amount of people present this year that it would not have even been worth the trip. There is always next year... that is, of course, if Phil doesn't kick the bucket by then.

Our alternate plans for the day were to head down the shore to do a photo shoot inspired by my recent purchase of a fantastically bright orange hoodie and the upcoming valentine holiday... the reference of course being made to Clementine's featured wardrobe in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Since I was unwilling to once again dye my hair some unnatural neon color, I settled for something Bettie Page-esque, with a large pink tropical flower to accent the blackness of my curly locks.

My partner for this SKAdventure (and assistant photographer/model) was none other than Evan Canova of the band DIVE. After meeting up, the two of us piled into Sven (my beloved ford focus) and took off on the southbound Garden State Parkway listening to Modest Mouse and Delta Spirit. By some unfortunate stroke of misfortune, we managed to get two exits down the road before getting stuck about fifteen cars behind a construction vehicle that kept the traffic at a steady 5-10mph crawl for a few miles. It drove me crazy. Finally, the circus parade of lights and molasses slow driving came to an end as the construction vehicles exited the parkway, and we were smooth sailing all the way down to Seaside Heights.

Once at the beach, we took a series of photos in front of abandoned store fronts and games of chance which were left to hybernate until Memorial Day weekend. The sand was cold, yet calming and the icy water left my toes stinging and red with shock. We ate over priced pizza, I managed a few cartwheels, and celebrated my first trip to the beach of 2009. The trip ended with a small sing-along to the Beatles and, of course, a stop at Dunkin Donuts... which Evan cannot live without.

Below is the vlog of my SKAdventure. Enjoy the clips!

There is a bit of disappointing news to this SKAdventure, however. Upon returning home and looking through the photographs from our day at the beach, I noticed that something looked strange about an image of the back of my car. Running outside in a panic, I realized that someone had stolen my beloved checkered "support ska" (aka: "support racial unity") magnetic ribbon from just beside my license plate. The outline of it, still there after five years of love, leaves me in disbelief that someone could be that cold hearted. The ribbon has been present on the back of my car since I bought it and has made it through snow storms, wind storms, hurricanes, trips to Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York... to amusement parks and malls, beaches, and bars... but was never tampered with until now. I knew there was a reason we call that place "sleaze side" heights. The worst part is that I cannot find a replacement for it. If you can locate one, please let me know?

Until next time,
Peace, Love, and Ska Music.

PRESS: "Ska Jenny" gets some press.

2009-02-06T16:35:00.012-05:00

Upon grabbing a soda at the cafe where I work, one of the baristas brought it to my attention that I had been briefly featured in a local newspaper called the Clifton Journal. The author was writing an article on one of the bands I photograph, DIVE, and had exchanged a few words and a phone number with me at their most recent show in Allentown, PA's Crocodile Rock. DIVE was opening for Ryan Cabrera on this particular occasion.

The article can be found here -> http://www.cliftonjournal.com/NC/0/913.html
When you read it, I am not sure if he meant Betty Boop of Betty Page, but it's all good.

Check it out & MORE UPDATES LATER!

MUSIC: Dive & Man On Earth's "Take Off Your Pants And Dance" Mini Tour of New England

2009-02-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

MUSIC: Are You Addicted to Bad Ideas?

2009-02-03T10:47:00.003-05:00

Friday, January 9th was a chilly night in the ever bustling New York City. That, however, failed to stop over a thousand World/Inferno Friendship Society fans from lining up well before the doors of Webster Hall were open, ready to show their devotion to the band and their addiction “to bad ideas and all the beauty in this world.”

Taking reworked songs from former albums and mixing them with their latest tracks off the concept album "Addicted to Bad Ideas" (2007), WIFS performs a set known as "Peter Lorre's Twentieth Century" featuring small skits and monologues based on Lorre's biography which are acted out by the band between songs. This creative approach to the presentation of their music allows Inferno to transform a simple musical set into a theatrical performance. All members of the band dress in formal attire for this occasion, performing their set in a café setting, complete with chandelier, bistro style tables, and a mirrored wall across the back of the stage. Lead singer Jack Terricloth introduces the set in his snappy white suit preparing the audience for the story that is about to unfold before their eyes by setting the mood.

Throughout the set, audience members are crammed on top of one another as they push forward to get closer and closer to the band on stage. A wild, but not entirely violent, moshpit begins in the center of the room where fans dance wildly while shouting song lyrics and asking a neighbor to hoist them into the air so that they might crowd surf to the front all the while pumping their fits in excited Inferno devotion. During the song “Heart Attack ‘64” the audience pairs off with strangers and friends alike, turning the venue into a ballroom as they waltz with one another in organized chaos. When the Peter Lorre set is complete, the band makes a few adjustments and prepares to play older favorites for their wildly excited audience.

Once again, the show was everything that was expected and some. Upon later being asked, “Who opened for Inferno?” The correct reply was, of course, “They opened for themselves. What more could you ask for?”

Here is the vlog of the Inferno show for those of you who were unable to make it or would simply like to reminisce about the amazing experience they had that night in New York.

If you have never seen this band, check out their website at http://worldinferno.com/ and buy tickets for a show near you. If you love music, energy, and an all around good time, you will not be disappointed.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-20T12:45:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year, America. Barack and Roll! I am so sorry that I have not had the time to properly update you on all my SKAdventures over the last month, but I will be backdating such events as the Slackers in Brooklyn, Amanda Palmer @ Webster Hall, Dive w/Man on Earth @ the Junkyard, and Stephanie White & the NJ Philth Harmonic @ the Bitter End and publishing those updates in the near future. I would, however, like to provide you with a video recap of the last year and all my SKAdventures since starting this blog:

So far, January has been quite an experience. I have enjoyed yet another insane show with World/Inferno Friendship Society in NYC and hope to do so again. I have also gone on an amazingly crazy mini-tour of new england with Dive & Man on Earth featuring myself and 10 guys crammed into a van and battling a wicked snowstorm in order to bring music to the people of the north east. This will, without a doubt, be a fabulously amusing update and will be brought to you as soon as I get all of the video up and onto youtube.

Please enjoy the video recap and have a happy, safe, and two-toned new year!

MUSIC: Slackers Holiday Show 2008

2008-12-29T16:07:00.001-05:00

The SKAnta Award 2008!

2008-12-25T12:44:00.003-05:00

I have been surfing youtube for the best footage of Santacon.
Gammablog wins the SKAnta Award for 2008!

Congrats! . . . and thanks for your awesome footage!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

SantaconNYC: "Santas On The Move!"

2008-12-17T11:22:00.017-05:00

Rumor has it: the American Dream is to be drunk before 10am while surrounded hundreds (if not thousands!) of Santas. Now, that makes perfect, logical sense. I mean, seriously- what better way to raise holiday cheer than to be full of HOLIDAY SPIRITS, marching around the greatest city on earth in one of the most fabulous displays of "Christmas inSANTAty" the world has ever known?!? Hell, even Jesus was there enjoying himself with the masses who came out to celebrate the anniversary of his birth! True story. I have pictures.

The event is called Santacon. Taking place in a hundred cities not only across the United States, but also around the globe, Santacon is an underground gathering of Santa impersonators on a designated day with no other purpose than to have a drunken adventure. It is also a charitable function, seeing as how there was a canned food collection for the needy, but overall Santacon is about enjoying yourself amid a sea of red and white absurdity. We made the news.

Given my centralized location of Suburban New Jersey, I would naturally attend the festivities taking place in New York City. As always, I enlisted a male counterpart for both security and photographic purposes. This SKAdventure's lucky choice was an old friend from the local ska scene named, Mike. He went as "Santa Hef." I, on the other hand, went as "CocaCola Classic Mrs. Claus" to conveniently transport a liquid refreshment for myself that was santa-oriented. This served as an excellent means of saving money on city prices.

Santacon NYC's meet-up took place on the chilly morning of Saturday, Dec. 13th. Leaving my house at 9am to catch the Hoboken PATH to 33rd gave us just enough time to make the 10am meet-up about a block from the station. Upon arriving in Hoboken, we attempted to disguise ourselves, not realizing that it was fully acceptable to walk about in full costume prior to reaching New York. Almost boarding the wrong train, a cluster of red and white from the opposite platform attracted our attention and sent us sprinting in the right direction. On the PATH to 33rd were several Santas of various shapes and sizes, a Mrs. Claus, and "Santa's Biggest Helper" (a guy who was around 7'1, sporting that very title across his back). A family with small children was also citybound and one little girl kept pointing while other onlookers giggled as they shot glances in our direction. Now realizing that we could have been in full costume prior to boarding, I lifted my hood to reveal my Santa hat, as the other Santas gave Mike a bit of hell for not being fully clothed. While he dressed, however, I held on as the train barreled forward toward New York, trying to take in the first moments of what was to be quite the experience.

The Santas began at three pubs centrally located around 33rd. Upon our arrival at 9:45am, the pubs were already overflowing into the street with tipsy Kringles, Christmas Trees, and reindeer chatting away with excited banter. My friend Jordana spotted us through a window and quickly dragged us into one of the crowded pubs as the words "Excuse me, Santa" emerged from various lips as everyone struggled to snake through. The sound of glasses clinking echoed through the pub as most of the Santas ordered-up their beer-based breakfast before we moved to our first official location.

Outside the pub I shot some brief footage of the insanity which surrounded me, briefly befriending the condsiderably tipsy "Axel Rose Santa" who declared that he was in fact currently living the American Dream. Beside him was a Santa with amorphous belly fat. I informed him that his irregularly placed stomach made him appear impregnated, so he pushed it upward. Although it was an improvement from the pregnancy, he now had breasts. Behind these men were every holiday variation known to man. The streets were flooded with such entities as "Optimus Santa," snowmen, reindeer, "Santa Kong," and even a small group donning blue and white with a picketting sign which read: "Jews for Santa."

We stood outside socializing for about twenty minutes before a reindeer by the name of Stefan climbed on top of a mailbox and rallied the crowds with the traditional cheer: "Give me an S... S!" and so forth until the word SANTA was complete. Once he had their attention, the announcement was made that we were walking in the direction of Madison Square Garden and were to meet on the stairs of the Post Office. At the order: "Santas on the move!" we were off!

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View my SANTAdventure & Live Reports:

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I have few words to describe the sight I was about to see as I followed the droves of Santa impersonators down the block toward Madison Square Garden, crossing streets and holding up traffic. I managed to perch myself on one of the light poles in the street to get a better view of the red&white sea behind me as we marched down the street, approaching our first destination of the Post Office where 300 Santas had already situated themselves and waited for more to arrive. Mike and I climbed onto the steps as Jordana wandered around to take some photos. I positioned myself at the top of the group and turned toward the street to watch the Santas file down the block and onto the stairs of the Post Office to find their places. It sort of reminded me of a grammar school Christmas concert where you have to file onto the risers and sing the carols you only half know while wearing your holiday bests.

At the top of the stairs I ran into a friend of Jordana's. He was dressed as what some believed to be an elf in green but he strongly resembled a leprechaun. As it turns out, that is just what he was. Check out Paddy McDougall's story:

After chatting with Paddy, Santa did the wave:

After this, I decided that I wanted my own footage of the wave, but sadly the Santas did not do it again. Instead, I watched Jordana find some kids from Jersey with hula hoops and attempt to hoop herself, although it grew increasingly difficult with the large number of drunken Santas who kept crashing into her.

We danced a little and I took some killer photos of the Santa invasion as we asked a few Santas where they were from and listened to the small band of elves and reindeer who had brought with them instruments (ie: pocket trumpet!) to keep the group festive. However, it wasn't long after this that the declaration was made: "SANTA WANTS A DRINK" which prompted the move to our next location. Santa is once again ON THE MOVE! We pass up kool-aid Santa just as the NYPD drives down the street and announces "HO HO HO" from the speakers on their car.

Out of nowhere, someone yells "SANTA GOES TO MACY'S!" but the larger group did not enter. Some did, however, and rumor has it there are photos of that. The other thousand of us walked AROUND Macy's, jetting across the street, and holding up entire buses of traffic. The shocked faces on the people who were exiting the stores on 34th were priceless. The noise produced by these Santas before noon on a Saturday must have been quite the wake-up call for any residents who may still be recovering from their own Friday night. Stefan the reindeer began yet another call and response of "Whose Streets? / Santa's Streets!" as the rest of the crowd hooted and hollered at a passing Budweiser truck. One Santa even ran up behind it, climbed on, and rode on the back of the truck down the street!

Santa had discovered 3 bars on E36th and it was JUST in time! Not even noon yet, the Santas ran frantically into the pubs to enjoy even more glorious CHRISTMAS SPIRITS! Lucky for us, we choose to drink at the Galway Hooker, second floor, where a band was about to begin their set. The line for beer was twice that of the bathroom (something you rarely see except at maybe Montclair State's Spring Bash) and while on line I had a brief chat with the only chick not dressed for the occasion. As it turned out, she had just flown in from Florida to visit her boyfriend who I believe worked at the pub and had then invited her to come listen to music and drink there. She never expected the Santas... but will at least have a great story to take home with her. Once outside the bathroom and bar area, beer finally in hand, we sang along with the band as they played Feliz Navidad for us.

After maybe three more songs, Santa was once again on the move... this time to Grand Central. Since we were running considerably late at the pub, we missed the shenanigans that went on inside GSC, but caught wind of rumors that they were kicked out shortly after entering. Our next move was then to march over to Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree! The chanting changed from "Santa's On the Move" to "Santa On the Street" and/or "Santa Owns the Street" the second of which is more likely. Someone, who was obviously already drunk, even declared that "Santa wants a drink!" once again. Santa's a big guy, he's NOT a lightweight. We took a few photos upon arriving, enjoyed the tree, and some girls broke out into a chorus of "Jingle Bells."

Out of nowhere, however, the crowd of Santas seemed to have thinned out greatly. We found out that a few had been arrested for whatever reason, and being accused by some police officers of carrying open liquor, we decided to find out where the next location was and to make our way over.

We rounded up whatever Santas we could find and once the announcement of "South Street Seaport, 2:30pm" was made, we all filed into the subway to take the train over. Jordana, being one of the only sober Santas in addition to the only person who knew which subways to take and switch to in order to get to our next location, led the way. With the prompting of "Santas on the Train!" we were loaded into our various subway cars and on the move once more. At one stop, our group of Santas switched cars to pile into the overly crowded one and join the rest of our brigade to carol until we reached South Street.

Sick of Jingle Bells and this rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town":
You better watch out!/
You better watch out!/
You better watch out!/
You better watch out!/
Santa Claus is Comin' To Town!
Someone passed out Santacon songbooks for us to use on our caroling... filled with songs like "O Cum All Ye Perverts" and "Police Nabbed My Dad"

Finally a few blocks away from South Street Seaport, we stumbled across a playground which we took full photographic advantage of. Some family even offered to take our photo on the bridge of the structure while holding their kid up in the middle. On the way over, we passed THE REAL SANTA who actually did work at the mall, and discovered three floors of shopping, dancing, and bungee jumping Santas. There was even a dance party with hoopers!

After hanging out, we took some photos on other Santa's laps. He asked me what I wanted for Christmas and, thinking with my now growling stomach at 2:30pm, I declared "FRENCH FRIES!" Lucky for me, there was a Nathan's on the next floor up and for $5, my Christmas wish was granted.

Santa's next move was to take the Staten Island Ferry and watch the sunset. Some girls were pushing and hitting me because they, too, wanted to get onto the overcrowded bow of the boat to see Lady Liberty illuminated by the orange sunset, so I decided to follow the music to the other side of the boat where a band had set themselves up and started a crazy dance party... but by the end of the boat ride, Santa was getting a little TOO merry on the ferry. We made a brief stop in Staten Island before our return voyage and I got a kick out of these two British chicks in the bathroom saying that it's hard to wee in costume and that it will be "the quickest loo ever!" When I left the bathroom, I couldn't find Jordana or Mike so I met up with this random group of Santas and said "Hey, I lost my Santas, may I join you?" They were nice. One's name was Brian the elf and I forget the rest. Brian danced with me on the ferry on the way back while the band played and his drunken friends offered me whatever whiskey concoction they had before "santa-surfing" across the crowd.

Once off the ferry, it was announced that we were headed to Chinatown. A bit apprehensive after sunset, we went anyway, figuring that it was safe to be with hundreds of Santas. The place they brought us to was called Santos Party House, but once again, Santas who are full of HOLIDAY SPIRITS kept calling it "Santa's Party House!" We danced a bit and waited nearly 45 minutes to get beers at the bar. Deciding to leave, we actually found ourselves upstairs at an even better dance party where we watched people swing light sabers and dance with "Naked Santa!" to songs like Love Potion #9.

My day ended with some pesto and pasta at a friend's apartment and some NYC Rocky Horror in Chelsea. Mike then met up with one of his friends, we took the PATH back to Hoboken, paid an ungodly $30 for parking, and drove home. I was in bed by 4am and ever so glad they gave me off at work the next day to recover!

I will leave you with 2 things:
1- I can't wait for next year! &
2- words of advice: GET SOME HOLIDAY SPIRITS AND HAVE A GREAT F'ING CHRISTMAS!

Photo Finding: Santacon NYC 'o8

2008-12-14T13:09:00.001-05:00

Santa Con 2008
Originally uploaded by dietrich

You can spot me in the background... next to the elf... making room on my camera for more Santacon goodness.

NEWS: Check out Venus & Jupiter!

2008-12-02T20:28:00.005-05:00

Last night, I went out to see Venus & Mars (which was actually Jupiter, so ignore what I say in the video) as they shown brightly beside the moon. I had no idea that they were there. I assumed that they were one of those supernova stars which were about to burn themselves out, so I made a wish on them. Go figure.

SHOW REVIEW: SKA IS DEAD TOUR 'o8

2008-11-30T03:56:00.008-05:00

Ever since I was a little girl in the ska scene, I had been collecting posters and fliers from the ever-popular "Ska is Dead Tour." Never before having been able to attend, this year's "Skanksgiving" show at Starland Ballroom was, as you can imagine, much anticipated. After making a few phone calls to see who was going to go and paying a visit to my good friends over at ticketmaster.com, my ticket was on the way to my door.

Since it was decided at Hallowmas that Christina would be coming with me, she too had her ticket delivered and when the morning of 11/16 finally arrived, she and I decked ourselves out in ska-tastic checkered attire and embarked on our journey down parkway south.

When we got there, we were awarded prime parking for only $6 with the nose of our car facing directly out onto the street. Perfect. Next, we wasted some time drinking Coke and eating crackers in the car in an attempt to stay warm until the doors opened at 3pm. Forgetting the car is set ten minutes fast, we jumped out and got in line. We were now stuck in this line of high school kids in outrageous outfits who lined up along the side of Starland Ballroom early on and were now huddled into groups to stay warm. Christina and I were lucky enough to end up just at the corner of the building so we could seek shelter from the icy wind which was blowing on our nothing-but-a-sweatshirt-covered arms. We met up with Ska Mom and Shannon on the line and were excitedly shuffled in the door shortly after.

The first three bands were entitled "Local Support 1, 2, and 3" respectively followed by Hub City Stompers, Flatfoot 56, Bomb the Music Industry!, Toasters, Mustard Plug, Big D & the Kids table, and finally the Pietasters who would headline for an entire hour.

I had been sending my website twitter updates during the entire show and will reiterate my tweets/commentary.

Local band 1: "Awful Waffle... beeswat."

Local band 2: "Explosive Sheep... good drummer. played a cover to cover their a$s but has a long way to go."

As it turns out, someone on youtube posted a video of them covering Keasby Nights in case you're interested. This will not be a film, but a LINK instead. Perhaps they should work on becoming a ska cover band and advertise themselves as such. It seems like there would be less hostility from the crowd.

Local band 3: "On my list of bands who would do better without a singer. All talented instrumentally even if their guitars are bigger than them."

I have no idea the name of this band nor do I really want to take the time to go look them up on the internet to find out.

I think that pretty much sums it up.

I also made a few comments about people with curly hair amongst other things and had a brief conversation with Matt Jensen from Awful Waffle about how "you know you're old when the kids in the band are younger than you." Next we chilled again with Shannon and Ska Mom who were busy talking to the guys from Flatfoot 56... and oh man did they make me feel short! Shortly after, we met up with Amanda, Kevin Hay, and Mike who had arrived in time for the bands Starland deemed good enough to have actual names on their set list.

Hub City Stompers came on next. Not having seen them in a while, they were actually better than I remember. It was at this point that the circle pits really got started since, and I am sorry to insult the earlier bands (minus awful waffle whose fans dance along) but honestly this was the truth, the real ska music had hit the stage.

They were followed by Flatfoot 56, a four piece celtic punk band from Chicago Illinois complete with a bagpiper and music that inspires a fighting hardcore personality. They possess the traditional qualities expected of their genre of music which leaves their audience smiling and kicking the crap out of one another in a mosh pit gone wild! Hell, they even started their set with a song called "Stampede" during which they made all members of the audience put their hands up, form the \m/ with their hands before lowering them down to their temples to resemble a bull... encouraging the audience to run into each other at full speed in the moshpit. Each of their members is multitalented and can play each of their perspective instruments while singing as well, the most talented of the group being Josh, their bagpiper who also plays mandolin and guitar during the set.

Check 'em out as they play "Amazing Grace"

BTMI! played after Flatfoot. As always, Jeff's mouth was the highlight of their performance (for me at least) since we all know that I have been photographing it since he was in ASOB. This reminds me that I really miss ASOB... but yeah. BTMI! was pretty good, but I really loved all the bands that they came from more than the one they created. I think I just haven't taken the time to really listen to them and get into their crazy lyrics.I, however, do love their DIY ethics and the fact that they still will make you a shirt out of whatever you bring and the paint they brought. I will gladly support that since I have become victim time and time again to the high prices of albums and shirts sold at concerts that I simply had to have at that moment or would never bother to buy. I wore the sweatshirt they made me at one of their first shows in 2005 when they used some cheap white paint and sponge stampers to put their mark on my clothes, complete with Jeff's fingerprint as the do to the exclamation point!

Coming up next: the Toasters. They were fabulous, as always and started off their set with "2tone Army" which had us dancing in the back just like old times. They also played songs such as "Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down," "Decision at Midnight," and...

"RUNNING RIGHT THROUGH THE WORLD!"

Mustard Plug played next and we danced along for a while. During Big D. we peaced out for a bit and I bought myself YET ANOTHER Toasters t-shirt to go along with the skull and crossbones one I'd been wearing since oh... 2004? We went off into one of the corners to start a small pit in the back until the Pietasters came on. I had to stop taking video at this point and will not get into it, but I made my way over to the other side of the room and bumped into this kid Nick that I work with. I had no idea he'd be there, so that was cool to see and dance with him. I then met up with the group, enjoyed the band and prepared to head out to the diner.

Now, let's review.
To sum up our glorious experience with Ska is Dead Tour 'o8,
I have created a slideshow:

After the show, we headed to the diner to meet up with the rest of our ska family and various members of the phenominally tall band, Flatfoot 56. There was much conversation about the show and random banter at the diner, but here is a small show review typed vlog that I made while sitting there...

We all broke apart sometime around 1 or 2am and it was time to head home. My car takes an eternity to heat up. You are generally given 3 options if you want to makeit home: 1) drive home cold. 2) get the car to go as fast as possible b/c with speed comes heat. or 3) have a dance party to heat yourself up while the car does its job.

Christina and I chose option three...

We partied to MC Lars on the way home while talking about the show. The end.

PLAY REVIEW: Spamalot (aka: discover your grail)

2008-11-29T15:20:00.007-05:00

Rumor has it that Spamalot will be leaving Broadway in early January, this being said, it had become necessary to see the ever-sold-out-six-months-in-advance musical adaptation of the one film which seemed to make its way into every get-together that I can recall back in high school. Knowing the film entirely too well and having listened to numerous testimonials on the utter fabulousness of the musical, I had high expectations for the show.

My friend Doug and I went the night of Thursday (11/13) and much to my delight, there was one of those cardboard cut-outs with a place for you to stick your head through and plenty of people who had decided to do so. Finding it considerably difficult to resist the temptation in addition to not wanting to waste a perfectly good documentary photographic opportunity, I too indulged myself.

The theater itself was moderately cramped, jam-packed with people already in wintercoats scurrying about to get to their seats before the performance began. Numerous merch tables were strategically positioned and filled with all sorts of Monty Python references in the form of shirts, toys, and even slippers. I landed myself a nice shirt which reads "Fetchez la vache!" across the front, compliments of my lovely companion.

The show began with the considerably talented actor Tom Deckman playing the part of the historian (a role which probably should have been recasted to someone with a deeper or more powerful voice) and continued on for quite some time before I found myself confused as to where on earth Clay Aiken was. It was just my luck that he would not be performing on the one night of my life I had decided to come, but that is just fine with me. The person who took over his role was excellent. Most of the classic quotes and scenes from the Holy Grail were there including "Bring out your dead," the Knights who say NI, the swallow-coconut banter, and that killer rabbit who appears toward the end. The portion where they approach the French castle, however, was exponentially more amusing than the film version due to the talents of the actors who took their roles to a whole different level of ridiculousness.

The songs were catchy, witty, and amusing... adding stereotypes about show business and pop culture references of the last 5-10 years into the mix. All men did a fine job both singing and dancing be it in the part of a man, woman, or something in between. The only real disappointment, I feel, was in Merle Dandridge's grasp of her character as "The Lady of the Lake." I do not know if she was instructed to do so or not, but her constant fluctuations in pitch during each of her songs seemed a little overdone. Her overall performance I feel did no live up to her part's comic potential. Perhaps they should have cast a man? On a brighter note, however, despite what I said before about disliking him as the Historian, I would like to say that Tom Deckman stole the show, hands down. Playing a series of small, but memorable roles, his performance went above and beyond my expectations with particular focus on his executions of the roles of Not Dead Fred, French Guard, and Prince Herbert. Tom brought a certain absurdity to the stage which was pleasing to the audience and left nothing to be desired. The actor taking Clay Aiken's place as Sir Robin and Rick Holmes (Sir Lancelot) also executed their parts phenomenally and, might I add, are a pair that I didn't mind looking at (if you catch my drift).

Overall, the show was excellent, although I could not shake the feeling of whether I should be taking any aspect of it seriously or if I should take the entire thing as a deliberate attempt at being the equivalent of a mediocre high school's spring musical. It also delivered this message of "finding your grail, whatever it may be" that I was not sure if they meant as something to be taken seriously. In the end, I decided to take it for what it was: a silly extravaganza and tribute to one of the most beloved Monty Python films of all time with a message that is actually practical. My suggestion to you is to check it out before it leaves Broadway... I hear it is never the same twice and it is definitely something worth seeing.

A small update that will result in larger ones.

2008-11-26T17:51:00.003-05:00

Hey guys!
I am so sorry about the lack of a substantial update since the insanity of SKAlloween, but do not fear, there are many more to come! The lack of updates is due to abundance of opportunities I have been given to photograph, film, and meet some bands as well as attend a few parties here and there to keep things interesting between my work shifts. Here are the updates you should expect to see once the footage finally uploads:

11/13: Spamalot
11/15: Seth & Nick Make Magic @ Piano Bar
11/16: Ska is Dead Tour's "Skanksgiving"
11/19: Magic Tom Kennedy @ the BLVD
11/20: Aquabats w/Suburban Legends & Tragedy @ BB King's
11/21: Amanda Palmer @ Webster Hall

There will also be a weekly music/movie review added to this list.

Well, there ya go. Obviously I have a fine excuse for the lack of updates, but be patient because I not only have stories and footage for you, but also musical slide shows to sum up the night for your viewing pleasure.

This brings me to our next order of business: December.

December of course will be filled with various Christmas and Winter Holiday SKAlabrations/Shows including (but not limited to) SantaCon, Slackers, Bouncing Souls, Stella, and more!

Hope you enjoy it and if you want to come along to any of these fine events, you know how and where to find me. Now, HAPPY THANKSGIVING and see you guys soon!

Lots of love,
Ska Jenny*

OH, AND...
PS!

IF YOU WANT ANY FILM, PHOTOS, OR REVIEWS OF YOUR SHOWS...
PLEASE CONTACT SKA at: skajenny@rocketmail.com
AND INCLUDE THE DATE/TIME/LOC/ETC. OF YOUR SHOW OR PERFORMANCE!
(GUESTLISTING, RIDES, &/OR DRINKS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED!)

MAGIC REVIEW: Tom Kennedy @ the BLVD

2008-11-20T14:45:00.010-05:00

Upon coming in from dance, I received a delightfully surprising phone call from Sam & Seth letting me know that they were on the way to my house and that we were headed up to the BLVD Bar&Grill in Elmwood Park to see Tom Kennedy do some magic.

Now, if you don't know Tom Kennedy, you really should. He is an excellent magician, especially when involving cards, and has been a long-time college friend of mine. Hell, even is screen name is magical, but that (i am sorry) I will not give out to you. I will however bless you with a small review of his performance... complete with a montage of the night.

Instructions: Hit play and then pause it.
Please give this a second to load before you hit play again.

If for any reason this doesn't work, visit: http://tinyurl.com/MagicTom

(I SHALL FINISH THIS LATER, DO NOT WORRY!)

Well hello, jumpcut.

2008-11-17T23:10:00.001-05:00

I have just signed myself up for jumpcut for the sake of saving room on my computer when attempting to edit video. I have started with a slideshow of my SKAdventures in California from August, so check it out and tell me what you think of my first attempt.

SHOW REVIEW: SKAlloween & World/Inferno's Hallowmas

2008-11-12T20:33:00.003-05:00

Date & Location: Friday the 31st of October 2008 / New York City / Brooklyn, NY

Halloween (or what I lovingly refer to as SKAlloween) is one of the most magical nights of mayhem the world has ever known. It was, however, not until this year in particular that I was able to properly experience this sort of debauchery to its fullest potential. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, my average Oct. 31st would be spent dressing up mid-day in whichever time period costume I had recently whipped together for the occasion, attending a party or two themed with costumes and beer to distract me from the void I felt after ending yet another year's performance of Rocky Horror at MSU, and collecting candy that does not contain peanuts.

Regardless of all years passed, this year was to be different. The general plan of action for the day was to find a way into the city, head to Brooklyn for Worl d/Inferno Friendship Society's Hallowmas, and find our way back out. Now, that was all well and good, but somehow not good enough for us. As the week leading up to SKAlloween progressed, more and more was added onto our Friday night agenda which included (but was no limited to) meeting up with some friends at Montclair State beforehand, getting to the Village to help with the float World/Inferno would be playing on during the parade, physically being part of the parade, subway hopping to Brooklyn, attending Hallowmas, perhaps going to a party or diner afterward, and catching the PATH back home.

It was not until the execution of such a plan that things truly got interesting.

For the sake of warmth and speed of motion, I modified my costume into a pair of black leggins and combat boots which would thereby replace two bare thighs and heels. I then hitched a ride to Montclair State and met up with Jason who just got out of class and was subsequently covering himself in fake blood to celebrate the holiday. After trying to kill me and eat my brains, Jason headed outside to meet up with Christina. It seems that Jordana was also just arriving at MSU and calling his phone since my "replacement" phone literally has to be held together if you plan on speaking on it at all and even then will cut out at random. Nevertheless, after trekking across campus and hunting down Jason's car which was indeed parked on floor 4 and not 5 OR 6 as he had originally misinformed us, we made our way through traffic on Parkway South to get to the Harrison PATH station.

I had eight and change left on my Metrocard, but for some reason I couldn't help adding ten more dollars to it while I waited for everyone else. (this would prove to be a divinely inspired decision which you will understand as you read on) The train came quickly enough and since I never travel out of anywhere that isn't Montclair or Hoboken, I relied on my skalloween compatriots to lead the way. This, I am sure, was my first mistake of the day since I was detached from the group more often than not and left aimlessly wandering through the streets of New York City like a chicken without its head... but I am jumping ahead of myself again. At the time it was only perhaps 4pm and we should've known how the rest of the day would turn out when our particular PATH train got stuck between the last stop in NJ and the first stop in NY, compliments of "signals" (whatever that means). After maybe 10-15 minutes of standing still, the train finally began to run and successfully transported "people across the Hudson" (a phrase which would become a running joke as the night grew progressively more absurd). Forgetting that I was in fact not wearing pants, but instead a pair of leggins with a very short skirt to cover half of my bottom, I found myself confused by a small brigade of glaring police officers who were congregating just outside the PATH station's exit as we walked by.

The following video should properly explain the beginning of our journey:

On our voyage from the PATH station to the location of the float, we encountered many an interesting sight including but not limited to a chihuahua wearing an Obama mask (who we lovingly refer to as "Chubama!") and some guy who moderately resembled a sheep. With the cunning use of cupcakes (which Jordana carried in two giant boxes at the front of our train of people), we cleverly navigated our way through the security fences, passing crazed photographers who quite literally would push anyone out of their way for a shot, a few teletubbies, lots of zombies, and all sorts of people with (what I hope were fake) knives. Along the way we picked up two girls, one of which is a zombie cheerleader and the other someone who's had a bite taken out of them, and they join our merry little band on the hunt. These two wonderful ladies would prove to be valuable additions to our night of shenanigans.

A small taste of the madness:

Once at the float, Jordana dropped off the cupcakes and we headed off on what I hoped would be a small quest for a bathroom. Who would have known that getting out of the police barricades would be more difficult than getting into them? ("Not I," said the goose.) Nevertheless, after asking a cop if he knew of a bathroom nearby and him getting a little smart with us, we held a brief conversation with him which ended with his offering to let us back in after our quest was through. Easier said than done, we walked several blocks over and a few blocks up before finding a corner pub that let me in without even having to buy a shot (which I probably could've used anyway). After waiting what seemed like an eternity for Anne Boleyn to get her big hair with matching dress out of there, I was finally home free. The bathroom was fantastically pink and matched my outfit; therefore it simply had to be photo -documented. When I was through, Jordana came in to pin on her little hat.

We made our way back and filmed everyone prepping for the parade:

While we waited, I took the grand opportunity to photograph the float and the people around me to give you a better idea of the SKAlloween atmosphere prior to parade time. Fans were chatting excitedly while they watched World/Inferno setting up, sound checking their equipment, and interacting with the crowd. Nearby, the gyronauts were hooping beside a float filled with women all dressed as what I like to call "Bavarian Fruitcakes." Upon walking toward their float, however, they began to move into position for the parade and I make the quick decision to return to my own float and prepare for it's embarkation as well.

Check it out:

The excitement of our parade march was short due to the fact that we were only prepping to get into our place in line and not in fact marching yet. We did however pass a small crowd of onlookers who made us feel damned special to be on our side of the police barrier walking instead of simply standing on theirs for hours.

Our float pulled up next to the Dreamland Roller Rink / Save Coney Island float after which our on-float DJs decided to play "3 for 3" (meaning 3 songs each and alternate). Since it was considerably early and we were not to walk until 8pm, our little session turned into a bit of a dance party!

I seriously spent some time absorbing my surroundings into my memory bank as, I can only imagine, I would never be given another opportunity quite like this one in the future. In front of us were various news crews interviewing, as always, the half naked. Beside us was a burlesque paradise on the Coney Island float with the New York Jedi swinging their many light sabers just behind them. We also encountered some crazy Asians and a group of Obama supporters who were making a few last-minute promotions prior to the election... complete with an enormous cut-out of the senator on a stick which was held high above their heads and floated above the crowd.

Shelley Wade from Z100 was our float's main voice. She and the Z100 party patrol got the ball rolling as World/Inferno Friendship Society took over and held a mini concert for those fans which were invited to walk beside them during the official parade. If only I could bottle their excitement, I'd be set with energy for life.

Let me say right now that I was in no way prepared for exactly how wild the fans of World/Inferno Friendship Society would be, never having been afforded the opportunity to see them live prior to this but expecting great thingunderstatement for the enthusiasm that WIFS' fans bring to their shows in abundance. People were quite literally throwing themselves over ones from what I had heard. Wild, however, doesn't even cut it. It is a severe another to get closer to the band to either make an attempt to sing along on Jack's microphone or to use the float as a diving board to hurl themselves back into the crowd below. I must say, however, that the fans were considerably supportive to one another's crowd surfing attempts and there was never a lack of hands to hold up the next brave soul.

Sometime during this song, Jason managed to lose his cell phone in the moshpit. Thank heaven for some kid who also lost his phone and was nice enough to return it to us upon finding it somewhere amid the sea of fans... because we never would have made it home without it. Upon the float's departure from its docked position, Christina and I made our way to he back to wait for Jason. Meanwhile, I managed to finally say hello to Brian who in a considerably gentlemanly gesture reached over the side of the float to kiss the back of my hand... not to mention while all done up in makeup with a sort of zombie face. It's enough to make even the most ladylike girl swoon.

But anyway... the float began to move and our trio switched to the other side of the float and caught up to it just in time... but we wish that the Z100 crew did not talk over the music every five seconds. The fact that people were dressed as slices of pizza or the cat in the hat was not important to WIFS' fans.

A little while down the road the float was able to stop long enough for the fans to engage in an insane moshpit...

Next, the marching took us to a street light at which the cops forced us to walk so far ahead of the float that we were approaching the one just before it. In an attempt to make it back to our own float, I photographed some of the costumed marchers and successfully was not bothered again by the angry police. There was a girl dressed as an arcade crane complete with stuffed animals all around her head and a claw swinging above it, Palin and McCain's Myspace pages, a naked Obama supporter wearing nothing but two of those signs you put on your lawn stapled together, and an ATAT from Star Wars. I even got to take a photograph with who I am totally convinced is the real Michael Phelps!!! The best costume, however, was a group of people in white shirts holding onto strings which were attached to those giant balloons from party city like Dora and Spongebob yelling "Happy Thanksgiving, Shop at Macy's!" (can you guess what their costume was? yeah! i know... classic, right?)

Eventually the float caught up with us and stopped once again to play a few more songs. The fans were so excited this time that they began to take on a new (and more familiar to me) form of moshing called "the circle pit" as several onlookers watched from their 6th ave apartment windows. The following video I can only refer to as: "CIRCLEPIT MADNESS!!!"

To take a break from video footage, here are a few stills of the band: (click 'em!)

The rest of the night turned into a bit of a blur as we reached 14th where we planned on getting out of the parade and all heading to Brooklyn via the subway. I joined up with the gyronauts and a few others who had broken away from the float. Upon approaching the subway, we found it to be totally gated off. The worst part about this was that we had left the parade and were being forced in the opposite direction by a few stubborn cops who told us we can't stand still and wait for it. Pushed back further by the crowd mixed with the angry police who decided that even standing still on a side street was unacceptable behavior, we finally ended up about half a block up on 14th. A few phone calls were made to Jason and Jordana in hopes that they could come with the band and meet up with us, but our efforts were futile. The only option from here was to press forward.

At this point, a significant number of fans had all congregated in one spot and together ventured toward the subway in Union Square. Someone had an exceptionally long scarf that they instructed everyone to hold on to... everyone but the gyronauts, that is... who ended up making a right when the group with the scarf made a left. Lucky for me, I had the zombie cheerleaders with me... and when the group decided to make a bathroom detour after failing at entering the Barnes & Noble (since it was after 10 and therefore well after closing), we got Jordana on the phone, finally, and made our way toward the Union Square train. Almost missing her while running around with one arm in the air for Erin & Duffy (the zombies) to follow, I found myself screaming "we're in front of a subway" into the phone while onlookers snickered. We finally managed to find her and Brian as well as we all rushed to catch the subway train. To save time, I swiped the zombies through and met up with Jason and Christina on the other side. Thank haven we were all in this together now because I was really starting to get concerned that we would be left behind as was threatened due to our so-called "lateness."

The subway ride was moderately long since it would pause for extended periods of time between stops, but I only had to stand for half of it. Lucky for us, a whole row of seats opened up and I had the chance to finally rest my legs while making an attempt to catch up with Brian... although we were both too preoccupied with the little tiny dog on the woman's lap across from us. It was the cutest thing ever and I kept repeating the words "awww baby" over and over again in the little "i-just-saw-a-cute-puppy" voice that tends to take over whenever I actually do see one. This dog was no exception. In other news, I also found myself fascinated with the length of Brian's hair which is normally well-hidden beneath his hat. I am impressed and compelled to touch it... but who wouldn't be?

Finally getting off the train in Brooklyn, we had a bit of a difficult time exiting the subway and ended up setting off an alarm as we moved toward a sign that said "exit" on the other side of it. We then needed to make a brief stop to ask someone if we were walking in the right direction before scurrying off toward the venue. I then decided to briefly document what had happened while we ran and everyone confirmed that I had in fact been "LOST":

It took a few minutes for us to get inside for whatever reason, but since my stuff was on will-call they didn't even bother bag checking me and just shoved me inside. Finally through the doorway and out of the insanity which is outside, we got to experience a whole new form of craziness. The "ladies' lounge" just outside the bathroom was covered in what I hope was fake blood which had been smeared all over the walls. The line was nearly out the door for the three nearly toiletpaperless stalls that were inside and some people seriously couldn't wait so all sorts of things that I will not describe began to happen. Some people were smarter than others and definitely got creative, so I admire them more than feel awkward about it. I'd have done it myself under worse circumstances, but instead waited on line with Duffy and Erin. I then gathered up as much spare TP as I could for use after the show and offered some of it to a chick who was about twenty people deep in line and bugged out when I mentiond that it was almost gone.

By the time we had finished downstairs, World/Inferno had already started to play their first song. I can't believe that they all got everything together so quickly, especially Brian with a drumset. My next stop was to the bar to pay any price for just one beer after everything that had just happened. It was a glorious $6 well spent that, on an empty stomach, pretty much did it for me for the entire show.

Our zombies disappeared after that because they seriously needed to sit down and Christina came to chill with me while some guy who I swear I've never seen before had a whole drunken conversation with me about heaven only knows what. From there we watched yet another Marie Antoinette with the most enormous hairdo I have ever seen in my life descend the staircase. This was our cue to head upstairs for a bit. I had to chug my beer in order to be allowed to sit there, but once I was done, I came up with these three videos of:

"Me v. Angry Mob"

"Brother of the Mayor of Bridgewater" (which I like best)

and "Go With It, Girl"

After these three songs, we decided to had back downstairs and possibly dance for a bit. It was there that we bumped into a few of Christina's friends, someone who I am pretty sure was Kevin Hay, and Dave J. Ska! Small world, man. (well, we do all work the show circuit and have been doing so for years upon years so i mean, it was sort of expected while unexpected all at once).

I shot one more video of World/Inferno for the night, a song that everyone seemed to really enjoy and get into with their fists in the air as they yelled "CEOs"... "Zen and the Art of Breaking Everything in This Room":

After this, Christina and I waltzed and made our way downstairs to the bathroom before another run on it would happen at the end of the show. We stayed to the left of the stage once we came back up and I swear I saw this guy Bill I used to work with (or at least his look-alike) dancing a few feet in front of me. I was, however, too tired, hungry, and lightly buzzed to do anything about finding out if it was really him.

Check out some pix from the show so you can see what I mean:

Overall, I was more than impressed with several aspects of World/Inferno Friendship Society's performance. First, I think they are excellent live performers. The energy that they give off from the stage can definitely be seen radiating right back out of their fans who allow themselves to ricochet off one another as they dance and sing along... several of which had gone to the extreme of quite literally diving off the second story balcony and into the crowd. Miraculously, everyone came out alive and kickin' which of course resulted in some blood, but that is natural due to the circumstances and intense moshing environment. My second compliment to the band goes to their amazing patience and professionalism when dealing with fans who not only crowd surf their way onto the stage to dive back off again, but wrap their arms around the band's singer while attempting to also sing along into the microphone.

Once the show was over and they had cleared most of the people out, Christina and I waited to meet up with Jason who had mysteriously disappeared. I had his ipod in my purse to prevent that too from getting lost or damaged and figured he wouldn't leave us without getting that. (as it turns out he was swept out the door and not let back in until jordana went to get him). Meanwhile, Christina and I walked around the almost empty venue and laughed at all the random stuff that was left all over the floor and slowly being mopped toward the stage.
There were numerous shirts, about five cell phones, single shoes
without mates, boas, masks, cups, and CONDOMS GALORE! (that would explain why there was a blown up one floating about the top of the crowd for a while earlier on in the night). We specifically waited to talk to Brian whose makeup had long since come off and was now walking around shirtless.

After briefly soclaizing with him and getting my hug, we were shuffled into the ladies' lounge downstairs to hide out until the rest of the venue was clear. We waited inside before switching rooms while we waited for Jordana to talk to whomever she had to prior to our departure. At this point Christina, Jason, and I were tired, hungry, and ready to leave- no afterparty necessary, just food. The only problem here, is that we went a good 45 minutes or so hanging out there and by the time we were ready to leave, it was about 3am and Jordana had just decided that she was going to head out with one of her other friends. My trio was thereby left totally without direction. She recruited some other friend or acquaintence who was also seeking out a train for Manhattan and asked him to lead us there.

(HERE BEGINS OUR JUMBLEf*CK of NEARLY INDESCRIBABLE INSANITY!)

The guy walked several paces ahead of me while Christina and Jason followed quickly behind. We headed in a general direction of where we *thought* we could find a train home and were quickly coming up on some dark corners, a lady taking some stuff out of people's garbages, and a small gang of men on the corner ahead of us. We made a *clever* attempt to avoid them by crossing to the other side of the street and continuing on in the general direction we had already been moving. (mistake #1, I'm sure). Briefly after doing so, we were suddenly followed by a man who I was almost positive came from the small gang of people who were previously congregated on the corner opposite ours. Sensing some potential danger since we were a) 2 girls and 2 guys who were lost in Brooklyn at 3 in the morning, b) dressed in some pretty leg-revealing Halloween costumes, and c) coming out of a show which meant we were not from the area and were probably carrying a significant amount of money between us. This is when I started to empty the contents of my purse and shove them up my sleeve, tightly fastening my camera to my wrist. I sped up a bit and started to talk to the guy who was leading us. Feeling moderately more comfortable to be walking next to a significantly tall member of the opposite sex, I told the guy he was my new best friend... because frankly, in that situation, he had just become it.

We make a turn or two and cannot seem to find the proper subway, so our guide decides to ask some men hanging outside of a bar in which direction the Q train was. They give us some general direction that would send us backward a block or so and over one, which turned out to be quite accurate... minus the fact that in order to find the filthy, run-down, somewhat dimly lit subway, you had to walk through some sketchy boarded up passage way that wound around a corner and into an elevator curiously placed at the path's end. Luckily for us, the cable did not snap nor did the elevator get stuck as we had predicted prior to entering the shaft, but it did lead to a subway station that had me yearning for home.

Once inside, I quickly swiped my Metrocard and hurried in with our guide but was strangely not followed by Jason and Christina. I paused slightly to wait for them to follow, but they were neatly hidden around a corner recharging their cards while at the same time my guide turned to me and said "I have to go, you know where you're going, right?" This wasn't good. My response, was naturally, "No..." as I redirected my vision to the man who was about ten feet away and staring at me as if to say "fresh meat". This totally bugged me out, but our guide gave me instructions to take the Q train to Manhattan and then find a bath train to get home. Just after leaving me, the other 2/3 to my trio came rushing through the gate to what I shall thankfully refer to as MY RESCUE.

It was pretty nasty in the station and considrably scary considering the manner in which I was dressed, the fact that I was in Brooklyn after 3am and that there were nearly no other people in sight (or at least no one else still in a Halloween costume, which I found strange). This made me pretty uncomfortable, but I managed to stay clumped together on a bench with Christina and Jason as we then spotted our something-of-a-guide hopping on a train in the opposite direction than the way we planned to travel.

Finally on the Q train, we managed to miss all stops near the WTC and Christopher Street which made it moderately difficult to head off on our return voyage. This is partially due to my lack of direction when in the city without a predevised game plan and the fact that both of my sidekicks had fall asleep next to me on the way there. We ended up getting back off at Union Square since we had managed to get ourselves TO Brooklyn from there in the first place. At least we knew people would be around and it was nearly 4am at this point. Upon exiting, we made three despirate attempts to get hotdogs and/or pretzels from vendors on three separate corners and managed to watch him run out of them on the customer just before us each time. At the last vendor, we asked some guy who was behind us where the PATH station was and he pointed in what ended up being the complete opposite direction. It's a good thing we stopped to reconfirm our answer with the NYPD. After two more denied attempts at food (one of them being at PIZZA HUT so you KNOW we were desperate!) we ended up at the 14th Street PATH station where, of course, we came to find that the trains were not running.

At this point, it was necessary to blog:

There was a significant number of tired, angry Bridge&Tunnel people all decked out in their costumes and fighting with the policeman to let them through to wait for the train. Many of them were drunk as you can see from the video above... so drunk that when you offer to take a photograph with them because they *ruined* (or in this case, made) your blog, they try to kiss you and then harass you about pushing them away. Seriously though, this guy was slick. He got his head in close to mine for the photo (as you can see on the left) and just as I turned to look at him and back away, he leaned in for the smooth. My reaction was to jump away quickly, raise my hands in the air and say "No, No, No" while shaking my head and laughing with surprise and disgust. He replied with, "Aww, come on, it's just a mask..." while I continued to make every effort to restate my answer of "NO." He even took it so far as to take the mask off and say, "But it's only rubber, kiss the mask, just one kiss..." to which I had no other response but to say, "Well I don't like your mask's braces!" before attempting a second blog (which I shall not post) where the guy once again stepped in on the action. This time, he interrupts me by saying, "What up? How do you look so good?" and I somehow manage to think up, "I drink a lot." as my response although I meant to say "You drank a lot." Seriously.

Needless to say, we peaced out of there and were lucky enough to be one of the last... oh let's say... twenty(?) people to grab a slice of pizza at the place on the corner just above the 14th Street PATH. They didn't have any plan slices left over, so I chose the one that seemed to have the least amount of cheese. It was the most delicious $5 slice OF MY LIFE! (which probably wasn't even that good, but was the first thing I'd put in my stomach since the hamburger I had at noon the day before... mind you it is now just about 4:30am.) After they kicked everyone out of their pizzaria, we made one last attempt at taking the PATH which was an awesome failure. At this point the three of us were totally shot and stood in the street for a good half hour trying to hail cabs that were apparently already filled with drunks on their way home- some of which were quite literally passed out in the back seat and being chauffered at their own expense.

At 5, we gave up and started to walk aimlessly:

As you can see, at the point of just about giving up at five in the morning, a cabbie came to our rescue for a mere $20. He dropped us off just in front of the WTC PATH station and it was likewe could see home from there! BUT FIRST: we needed a small photo session with the monumental balloon art that is apparently scattered about the city and is totally awesome to climb on. I was so happy that I had to hug it.

I was also so happy that I blogged again:

Once on the train, you would *THINK* that we were home free. Of course, you know that to assume makes an ass out of u and me. Do you feel like an ass right now? Because frankly I couldn't belive my eyes when our night-into-morning's random insanity continued to ensue.

Finally seated on the PATH train, I found myself nicely sandwiched between Jason and Christina with her to my right. Just next to her, however, was a couple who for some reason saw the need to carry alcohol with them onto the train... in glass bottles, no less. Low and behold, while picking up the bag, the train either hit a bump or the woman was just clumsy and flying out of the bag came the glass bottles of beer which landed with a smash and shattered all over the floor. My eyes must have been huge at this point in disbelief as I shook my head and chuckled to myself that I couldn't believe this was happening. The man beside the woman took offense to this. He started making comments such as, "Oh, you think this is funny?" and others which are similar. Jason said that we were not laughing at them and that everything was all good. The guy went back to bashing his female companion and the three of us held our feet up in the air so that the river of alcohol would not run over our shoes as we listened to him telling her that she messes everything up and that she was a white trash loser.

Luckily, they got off at the next stop.

The team to get on, however, made it their point not to end our SKAlloween madness. As they boarded the train, shouts of "Someone peed on the floor! Someone PEED on the FLOOR!" came aboard with them. They were obviously referring to the spilled beer from the train's previous occupants. Among the strange and fantastically drunken characters in this group were a guy dressed as Willy Wonka and a chick all in white who the boys pushed back and forth because she was so drunk that she was falling on top of them. The one dressed as Willy Wonka was drunk as a skunk and swung himself around the support pole, turning to Jason. He started to question him as to what his costume was and decided that he was not a zombie nor any average blood spattered person, but was instead Scott Peterson. (you know, that guy who they are pretty sure killed his pregnant wife a few Christmases back?) He then decided that I was in fact not dressed as a 1960s go-go but instead was "a liberal" and I forget what he called Christina, but it was definitely not a flapper.

He then demanded a photo with Jason:

His friend was dressed as "Dog the Bounty Hunter" from that TV series and requested to take a photograph with Jason similarly captioned "Dog and Scotty P!" Christina then joined in on the bandwagon and wanted a photo with Dog, so I gladly granted her that wish but quickly put my camera away since I realized that you're technically not supposed to take photographs while on public transportation or some BS law like that. I don't know, maybe it's just subways. Someone find the article and you tell me.

But anyway, upon finally exiting the PATH train at Harrison, Jason declared, "Just when you thought the night was over..." and just like that we met up with Jason's friend Will (who, by the way, was originally supposed to be part of this SKAdventure but did not meet up with us on the way in as was originally planned). What an amazing end to this night of insanity.

We got in the car, and vlogged:

Let me say... the best news all night was that our car was still there and we all made it home, safely, by 6 or 6:30am... just in time to stay up and retell the story to my family who had already woken up for the day (they get up at 5:30 weekday or not) and sleep until 8am after which I headed to work.

WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

Friday the 24th: The Great Cellphone Debacle

2008-10-25T05:58:00.000-04:00

The events of this Friday night were not much unlike the events which took place last weekend. Once again in Jordana's company, a pink and black bag triggered off some interesting circumstances in which valuable things suddenly went missing. These instances may or may not be connected by some bad Friday night karma involving those particular colors and a certain someone. Either that or it's just some bad luck. Regardless, it proved to be a night of opportune happenings followed by unfortunate losses.

Oh, do allow me to explain.

The day started out on a good note... no one had called to back out of our Fright Fest Friday adventure and several others had decided to join in on the fun. Big-whoop, right? Evan arrived rather early, affording me the opportunity to share my handiwork involving the videos of Dive and a certain website known as youtube.com (and by this, I mean http://www.youtube.com/divebyska) while we awaited Jordana's arrival. The rest of our spare time involved a small raiding of my old radio bag, filled with cds and recordings from my college radio show "Montster Hospital" on 90.3fm WMSC. Upon Jordana's arrival, we loaded up the car and set out on our voyage to Jackson, NJ at approximately a quarter to four.

(let me add that i also had the fortunate circumstance of being unable to find my superman hoodie which was to be matched up with some blue jeans as my outfit for the day and instead took the track jacket, turtle neck, and black jeans out of the dryer, where i discovered that i had both washed AND dried my license, health insurance, and credit card without blowing anything up or destroying the magnetic strip)

Despite Evan's "think positive" approach to the 4pm traffic I originally intended to avoid by leaving at the strategically planned departure time of 3pm, we sat for about an hour and fifteen minutes bumper to bumper before the traffic finally broke up somewhere just after exit 11. With the addition of a small reststop bargain involving fries from Roy Rogers, the total travel time ended up being somewhere around 2 hours. Thrilling, right? It is just enough time for my driving foot to fall asleep and for us to go through four cds until we finally found something to listen to... sort of.

After receiving an awkward glance from the collector at the park's toll plaza for handing him several dollar coins as partial payment for the $15 parking fee, we found a spot next to a fantastically yellow colored vehicle who had done one hell of a parking job. We announced that it would be easy to find our car should this particular driver decide to stay in the park later than us, but boy oh boy were we in for a surprise at just how easy it would be to find our car later on that night.

We were still waiting on Paul who had sent me a text that he was stuck in monstrous amounts of traffic on his way from work to the park, so we took it upon ourselves to enjoy a bit of the "spooktacular" atmosphere while we waited. On the way in, a man approached us asking if we needed tickets. While Jordana quickly shooed him away, under the impression that all three of us were to enter with newly purchased season passes, I brought it to the man's attention that Evan did in fact need alternate admission. Ever so skeptical, Evan glared at the man in disbelief. Doing everything except requesting that the man hold his hand as they entered, Evan forced the man to accompany him into the park as proof of the ticket's authenticity prior to purchasing, should it have in fact been a scam. I even took a photograph of this whole scenario from behind as the pair walked to the entrance gate. It was too good to pass up. Meanwhile, Jordana took the 3.5 seconds that it now takes to get her prepaid season pass validated and her new id given to her.

Once finally through the gates, we were luckily not harassed by the usual photographers paid to dupe us into purchasing a photograph that we could have done just as well our selves by setting up a self timer on a garbage can... which is exactly what we did. Once our presence in the park was documented, we made out way to the far reaches of Great Adventure to enjoy a few thrills... and to force Evan to overcome his fear of heights using the cunning method of peer pressure and stories about how I did the same to my little cousins once I found them too old to be afraid.

We eased into it by checking out The Dark Knight, avoiding that $1 to keep our stuff safely hidden for 2 hours inside the lockers by stuffing our pockets with our various belongings. This, of course, was our first mistake of the night. Well, our second after leaving at 4pm... but it was, as always, beyond my personal control. The ride was what it was, containing a few sharp turns and strobe lights, despite the operator's denial to an obviously concerned epileptic boy. Although I sadly do not have a copy of the image from this particular ride, let me tell you that it involved moose ears and crazy faces. Enough said.

From there, we managed to ride both Batman the Ride AND Nitro without waiting on a line that took more than five minutes a piece. It was obvious as determined by the numerous puddles all around us that it had just rained thereby devising an excellent alibi for the absent guests. (which, of course, we had no problem with whatsoever.)

We literally ran with excitement from one ride to the next.

Oh, and did I mention it was Evan's first time on Nitro?

So anyway, after we got off the ride and the person behind the counter undoubtably failed at bringing up the image of our monumental coaster experience, we passed an enormous line of new arrivals to the park who had come just in time to kickoff the disastrous night ahead. It is at this point that we finally received word from Paul that he and his 3 sidekicks were entering the park and would promptly meet us at what we so lovingly named "the Blood Fountain." While we waited with the gloriously awkward visual of a woman (whom I truly believed to be an attractively skinny young man) with a tongue the length of the Nile and her partner, the Jareth from Labyrinth Wannabe, Evan failed to properly convey his feelings of extreme hunger. Should he have done this in a more persuasive manner, perhaps the night would have taken a turn down a different road. Alas, it did not.

Enter: Paul and company.
Paul's voice shouting the words "Ska Jenny" in a where-on-earth-are-you-hiding tone then filled the air as I spotted him walking through the crowded intersection. Following a brief round of introductions which Paul had taken upon himself to execute, our now significantly large group of seven headed toward El Toro.

(it is at this point that it is important to note a few things. first, that i had handed evan my cell phone and badgered him about putting it directly inside my pink polkadot purse which he was protecting in his coat pockets, and second that it was very cold outside... for had it not been cold outside, he would have had no need to stick his hands inside the pockets for warmth)

The girls (minus myself, who is often overlooked and lumped into the "one of the guys" category) decided to back out of the ride, too afraid to face the monumental wooden structure of doom while the five of us left over nestled ourselves neatly into the line. Realizing that each car only seats two riders, it was announced that one person would have to ride alone. It is here that the revival of the grammar school game from hell (lovingly named "rock, paper, scissors" due to its obvious inclusion of all three of these elements) to determine just who would see that fate. It only took about four rounds of terribly organized "round-robin" to come down to the decision that Evan and I would ride together behind Paul and his brother, leaving their friend to ride alone... or better yet, sit beside some unsuspecting single rider who I am sure would have been less than pleased with the unnecessary company.

The ride itself was a terrifying experience... so terrifying, in fact, that I was left screaming uncontrollably and sobbing in that sort of way where you're not crying or laughing but tears cannot help but flow. After attempting several times to properly photograph this reaction, we once again waited to view our ride image which the attendant in the booth failed to produce in a timely fashion. Giving up, we regrouped and headed in the direction of food. Marching in a line like ants behind Jordana, we were led to our potential feast of Papa John's pizza just beside the glorious Blood Fountain.

And this is when it happened.

Seriously believing that Evan was teasing me when I asked for my money from the pink polkadot purse, I questioned him in confusion, patting him down when he failed to produce the requested item. It is here when we acknowledged the purse's disappearance, leading the way to a man-hunt of sorts (but for a purse filled with cash, camera batteries, an unwrapped stick of cherry chapstick, and my life... i mean, cell phone). Searching up and down what we could see from outside the line, we attempted to reenter the line for El Toro in search of the purse and were denied by the security guard who gave us a bit of an attitude, but went to double check regardless.

No luck.

From there a few attempts were made to enter the line from the exit, but were also unsuccessful and denied when discovered. Jordana then declares that she shall return and storms off in one swift movement in the direction of the park's entrance. Not knowing exactly how to react to this due to a bit of shock and some residual confusion over what had indeed just happened, I turned to my video blogging for support.

Jordana returned shortly after with permission for me to search the station platform for my purse by entering through the exit... but let me tell you, the people who operate the rides were pretty upset over my hopping the turnstyle in reverse. It was a slight hastle, but once again resulted with nothing.

We gave up a little after that.

Paul and his family/friends went off to check out some $5 walk-through asylum of terror at the other end of the park while Evan, Jordana, and I decided on grabbing some pizza for our (by this time) starving bodies. $25+tax of a fabulous 1/2 cheese, 1/2 pepperoni Papa John's pizza was gone in a matter of minutes as I single handedly house 3 slices of the pep. Once we had finished our food, we were conveniently given the chance to watch the Dead Man's Party show with its crazy zombie costumes and "i-could-totally-do-those" dance steps. Afterward, we went on a bit of a walk through the park until we ended up back at the Dark Knight for one last hoorah.

Note: the park closes at 11pm.

The time is now 10:45 and we made a small voyage over to the Security office to once again tell our story of the lost purse and its contents, asking what the protocol was for retrieving these items. From there, we headed out to the Lost&Found booth just outside the park's gates. Here, we encountered the most rude woman I have ever met in my life- yelling at Jordana for filing the loss report for me before yeling at me for not understanding where or what Jordana had written in the report, besides. Outside, we befriended a few people who had also lost their cell phones on or around El Toro and some on Superman. Upon asking what I had lost and my response of "my purse," they all were deeply saddened by my loss.

We got kicked out around midnight and stuck with two of the security guards who gave us a few tips about what time to call and check up on the search results tomorrow as well as Sunday and what to expect or not expect to find once the item were uncovered.

This should sum it up:

That is basically all. For those of you who were just looking to see me placed into a situation where something disastrous has happened, please do enjoy the above posted video of my weakened state. As for the rest of you, just wish me luck on someone in the park finding my purse at a sooner than later time. That is all. //end transmission.

Thursday the 23rd: Dive @ Doc Watson's in Philly! (with Fosterchild and headlined by Man On Earth!)

2008-10-25T05:52:00.000-04:00

Kind enough to let me hitch a ride with them, Andy (Dive's Drummer), Sarah, and Evan (Dive's Guitarist) picked me up and set out down the NJ Turnpike and across our glorious state's stomach to get to Philly. This week's venue was Dr. Watson's Pub, a small but deep bar with a restaurant on the first floor and an event space on the second complete with stage in one room and pool tables in the other.

We arrived moderately late into what I believe was the second band's set, so it wasn't entirely too long before Evan and the boys had to head upstairs to set up their equipment. I remained downstairs, slowly sipping on the Smithwicks Evan obtained, much to my amazement since it is a significantly uncommon beer as I have come to find out. Mike ordered some random seafood dish involving pasta and clam sauce which came in due time and was, of course, not in fact what he had ordered. The clams were muscles and in a different sauce, there was no pasta, etc etc etc. (and this, my friends, is why you do not order such things at a pub), but with a bit of sorting out, he got what wanted... just in time to take it upstairs an watch Dive play.

Contrary to what Evan had claimed, I indeed paid the $7 to get in the door, chugged my beer, and began to video tape their set. Although I will not post all of them on here, I will glady feature a few and give you the link to the youtube account I made specifically for footage of Dive immediately following. But for now, please do enjoy this clip of "The Truth About Us" as per Evan's request:

And let's see if you can guess the next song's title:

The rest of their video files can be found at http://www.youtube.com/divebyska where I have cleverly and neatly compiled them for your viewing pleasure. They played something like seven songs in their set, which is decent for an opening band to be followed by both Fosterchild AND Man On Earth.

Dive was, as always, a pleasure to watch and film... not to mention to hang out with before and after they played. They are a great group of guys and once again please do let me urge you to check out their music and make the effort to come see them live. They are always a good show and my video footage is proof of that.

This is the between-bands report:

The next band to play was Fosterchild. They are a four piece rock band with a very interesting sound and the ability to give an outstandingly energetic performance. Unlike the ever-so-common watered down rock meets emo meets metal meets whatever the hell else that has been littering the airwaves over the years, Fosterchild's music has the traditional rock 'n' roll qualities that bands should never have lost in the first place... and with lead singer Danny Beissel quite literally rocking the mic, fans are able to truly experience the music and their passion for it first hand.

Check them out for yourself:

The final band of the night was Man on Earth who, if you recall, was our favorite opener from last week's show at School of Rock. They are also a four piece band, but with a different sort of sound than the previous two bands. With a great reputation and numerous influences (as can be seen on their myspace page) this is definitely a band worth taking the time to become acquainted with.

Here is a clip of their song, "It Feels Like":

Playing what felt like a full and enormous set, the band did not cease to live up to my expectations for its quality in both music and performance. Their lead singer, "N8", also once again proved to be my camera's best friend affording it the opportunity to snap some glorious open-mouthed shots while he sang into the microphone. (If you are reading this, don't be weirded out, you have a beautiful mouth, and those are my favorite sort of lead-singer photos, haha). The band itself put on an excellent performance all around. They even one-upped this particular set by inviting audience members up on the stage to sing and dance along with them. Featured in the video below is our beautiful friend Moxie and our very own Jonny Dive.

Check it:

In case you are at all interested, I just wanted to also include the music video for this song. It seriously makes you think about what it is that you really do want in life, your one thing if you could have it, and I think that it's a thought worth sharing... so check this out:

Here is the submission contest:

And here is the final product:

I hope you guys enjoyed that as much as I did.

NOW, BACK TO THE SHOW SHENANIGANS!

Compliments of Dive's free pitchers of beer for playing the show there, I was given a cut (and by that I mean, a cup, in this case) of the winnings. Naturally this resulted in a small trip to the ladies room where I discovered THIS:

How effing bizarre. Two toilets in one stall? Seriously, I had a few theories on the matter involving vomitting and such but I will, of course, refrain from explaining further. You figure out your own reasons.

The show itself went over very well. The setting was much more intimate than the week prior and only allowed in those who were 21+ (which is awesome for me since you know my feelings on under-aged drinkers annoying the hell out of everyone). It had a warmer more personal feel which I am sure is also due to the fact that you could reach out and hug a member of any given band from where you were standing to watch them. Each with their own type of sound that was similar enough to compliment each other but different enough to stand alone and be remembered separately watching Dive, Fosterchild, and Man On Earth proved to be a night well spent.

Here is a brief review:

And of course, to end this show review with a bang (or at least some laughter)... I bring you... DRUNKEN SHENANIGANS!

Shortly after filming this, we piled into separate cars and headed off in a few directions. I hear all sorts of things happened in the one that was opposite ours, but have too unclear an image in my head to discuss further. On our side, the backseat (aka: myself and Evan) stumbled gracefully into the nearest WaWa where we bought a sandwich, some chicken fingers, stale Blazin' Buffalo Ranch Doritos and some soda.

The end.

Tuesday the 21st: Night of a Thousand Costumes!

2008-10-23T00:33:00.000-04:00

We shall call Tuesday night the "Night of a Thousand Costumes" because there is no better way to put it. Following what was a significantly long morning at work, putting out the new releases and getting the music department in order... not to mention dealing with the insanity that is our clientele (ie: listening to a customer explain to me his research and theory on ufos, how the government is covering them up, and how he has proof of them on video) amongst other things, I headed off to Jordana's house for a night of girl-time, costuming, and hooping out in the freezing cold.

This is the result:

Followed by my character "the BlondeSkank" dancing to World/Inferno Friendship Society:

There are many photos, so ask nicely and I shall show them to you.
Enjoy these for now to hold you over:

Sunday the 19th: Ocean's 11 and Vodka Smoothies!

2008-10-21T02:45:00.000-04:00

After a significantly long day of work, I found a pleasant surprise waiting for me on my cell. It was a message requesting my presence at the home of none other than Jonny Dive (aka Jon from Dive) where we were to hang out, watch movies, and order pizza. What better activity for a Sunday afternoon than to do such a thing? I thought to myself as I pulled out of the Commons and quickly dialed Evan. It only took a brief mix-up before we finally got our directions straight and I was on my way to relax for the night in some very good company.

Rumor has it that I am a terrible parallel parker. This, however, is totally untrue. I am, in fact, an excellent parallel parker thanks to my family never letting me drive while I had my learner's permit at 16 and shoving 6 hours of driving school under my belt three days before my actual 17th birthday. Since I had already taken the 6 hours the June prior to my birthday (note that that was three whole months after I turned sixteen) the only thing to work on was parallel parking. It's not like they take you out on the roads and let you fend for yourself in Jersey. It's a contained course exam which takes approximately 3-5 minutes to complete... not even joking. This is beside the point.

It was when I was busy failing at parallel parking with a car behind me but none in front that everyone took notice of my front right bumper. It had obviously been hit from the front and at an angle so that the dent crammed the bumper up and into the hinge for my passenger side door. That would explain the monstrous creaking noises I had heard on my outing with Bryan several days earlier.

Once inside, we began to decide on our pizza order. Just before placing it, however, Jon's mom dropped a plain pie off for us. Since everyone was significantly hungry and there were about five people to share one pie, we decided on ordering the cheeseless one for yours truely topped half in pepperonis for me and half in onion for Evan. I have to say- I am all too glad they delivered the pizza with a huge line down the middle to separate the toppings... I HATE onions. (yes, i hate them with red letters).

We played a few rounds of guitar hero before deciding to do an Ocean's marathon. The five of us made it through Oce an's 11 and a few of Jon's other friends arrived somewhere in the midde to join us. Afterward, we watched some of the video from Saturday's show at School of Rock and I showed the band how to create a playlist for other people to post on their website compliments of projectplaylist. We also discovered that the inside of those 2packs of condoms have some pretty interesting illustrations and directions for use. Evan read them aloud for us like a children's storybook, but I find it moderately inappropriate to post the video online. I shall instead, settle for a photograph.

After everyone had pretty much left, Jon and Evan decided that we should invite a few more people over to have a few drinks and watch Ocean's 12. Several phone calls were made and taken. We got no word from Jova or the guys about coming back over, but ended up having a nice visit from Moxie who then joined in on our internet/movie shenanigans. She's super cute, btw :o). After a brief trip to Stop&Shop for lactose free ice cream, orange-peach-mango juice, and some pink toilet paper (Evan's brilliant choice) followed by a voyage to Andy's for what was left of the vodka from the night before, we began to make our concoctions:

These things smelled like eggnog (and by that, I mean rotten eggs) but went down so easily and tasted so delicious that they were quite the punch in the face. I don't even think I made it half way through the movie 'cause one minute I was watching it and the next, I was being woken up by Evan in the middle of the night because I was still on the couch, fully dressed including my combat boots. True story.

Saturday the 18th: Dive & ManOnEarth @ School of Rock.

2008-10-21T02:28:00.000-04:00

UPDATE TO COME LATER, VIDEO TO BE SEEN NOW!!!

First thing's first, the pre-show "interview" with Dive.
And by this, I mean pre-show shenanigans.

Next, we have Man on Earth, who opened up for Dive:

This was followed by Dive.
Here are a few of the songs I have decided to feature:

"Breaking" which is by far their most popular:

"All I Know" which involves a bit of audience participation:

And their newest song, "What You've Become" which they chose to close the show with.

After the show, I had a small interview with who I could find:

The show was followed by an after party at Dive's drummer (Andy's) house. An enormous amount of people showed up to celebrate the success of their show, many of whom I had never even seen before let alone been introduced to. Their usual fans and close friends were in attendance, of course, leading to the cutting of their excellent DIVE cake shaped like a guitar pick which was subsequently smashed in Jon (Dive's singer)'s face. There was some retaliation on Jon's part, a few other moderately tipsy shenanigans, and a game of beer pong. Sadly, due to my lack of a ride home and the necessity of going to work at 8:30am the next morning, I had to leave somewhere before 2am and missed out on what I hear was a pretty interesting night of celebratory partying.

Overall, the show was an excellent investment for my night and I would suggest taking the time to see Dive if ever you have the chance... especially since they play often and in different location within the Tri-State area (of NY, NJ, and PA, but not so much CT, haha).

By the way, if you liked these videos, check out the youtube account that I made to properly compile my collection of videos of this band playing live: http://www.youtube.com/divebyska and let me know what you think!

Friday the 17th: Full Moons & NYC Rocky Horror!

2008-10-21T02:22:00.001-04:00

Friday morning began much like any other after staying with the magicians: I woke half the apartment up with my fantastically loud cell phone alarm, gathered my stuff, searched the refrigerator for what portions of my food had not yet been scavenged by the roomates, and peaced out to get to work on time.

Work was 12-8 after which I would be picked up by Jordana and Sean and immediately transported to NYC to celebrate her birthday. The plans included a big BBQ dinner at Dallas followed by a night of shouting profanities to my heart's content during the New York City cast's production of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

All piling into Sean's car, we managed to make it into he city easy enough. The Empire State Building was all decked out for halloween in what presumably were black bulbs appearing purple once illuminated and orange. However, we unanimously agreed that it would have been better for them to have yellow and white surrounding the orange so that it might appear like a giant candy corn in the sky.

It only took a few moments of driving before we reached Chelsea, found parking a block from the theater, and headed to Dallas. Due to the size of our enormous party at prime-time for dinner on a Friday night, the reservation that we had made in advance was denied upon our arrival. Not only could we not sit to eat, but we were also forced to wait outside in the cold due to our massive group blocking the entrance way inside the restaurant.

Some car drove up and Tash danced while we waited:

Once outside, Jordana's guests arrived in little clusters of fishnetted boot-wearers donning all sorts of interesting accessories. She was given a big pink bag as a gift whose contents were a Betsey Johnson purse comparable only to Dorothy's ruby red slippers, and a birthday card. (These facts proved to be very important to note.)

As it turns out, in an interesting stream of events, we were unable to get a table at Dallas and gave up, deciding to try Trailerpark instead. Also booked, we moved on to wait for a table at the New Venus Diner that would only take a few minutes to have cleared. While we waited, Jordana and Sean went to switch out her bday gifts for the costumes that were in the car and put them inside the theater. About ten minutes later, we see Jordana, Sean, and the guy who runs the NYC cast running down the street with 2 bags and a jacket. They explained that Jordana had identified her pink Betsey Johnson bag with the red purse in it on the shoulder of some guy walking down the street, confronted him about it, and ended up with what stuff he'd left behind after he ran away. WOW.

Not knowing exactly what to do, I sort of stood around and watched what was unfolding before my eyes. Since that bag had been in the trunk of Sean's car, he went back to see what had happened to it and/or if it even was still there. Meanwhile, our table was ready and we had to deny it since the police were now being called when we found out that the guy's bag contained tools to break into cars, some other people's stuff, and that the car's window had been broken in order to steal what was ours. It was at this time that one of my friends from youth group in 8th and 9th grade came walking down the street. I gave her a brief explanation and took a photo with her before she once again disappeared from my life. Odd coincidence.

Most of the group hopped into he police car who drove them to meet up with everyone else at the car while one of Jordana's friends and I were in charge of guarding what bags were ours. Standing on the street at 11pm on a Friday night in Chelsea while dressed for RHPS was not the best of ideas, and since we were starving, the two of us peaced and ducked into the diner... for the greatest $10 burger and fries on the face of this earth! (i'd been STARVING!!!)

When we were done, we met up with everyone at the car where the police were taking information down. It was now considerably close to midnight (the time when we had to start rocky) and we were growing concerned... but, as luck would have it, there was a scream from down the street followed by the police car driving away with my friends' identification still in the car and five to seven other police cars speeding down the street with their sirens blaring the whole way. We later found out that some guy was fighting with his girlfriend or whatever and that when a policeman went to step in, the guy attacked him and tried to turn the officer's own gun on him for interrupting their dispute. Wow. It was a full moon, go figure.

Shortly after, the police return and finish out the report, giving us our stuff which allowed us to head back to the theater. While a few people got pizza next door and I got my ticket, the cast prepared for the show during which I sat with the Dresden Doll's own Brian Viglione, a dashing young lad if I do say so myself. Don't believe me? Here's photographic proof. I am on the left, he is in the back and his hand is on my shoulder... as is Jordana's.

So anyway, the show went off without a hitch, thank heaven. It started a little late but was an overall success. I had a blast screaming call-outs that did not exactly sync up with those of the NYC natives, but it was great to have some support sitting next to me for those times when I was the only person shouting things like "Blow me a kiss, now blow me a job" during floorshow... because you know there is nothing more awkward than being a female sitting next to two parental-aged people and yelling that at the top of your lungs.

We parted ways after the show with Sean just wanting to get home after the disastrous night. We got most of the glass off the back seat before I sat down and had a breezy ride home throught he Lincoln tunnel and on 3West. The end.

Thursday the 16th: Magic w/Nick&Seth

2008-10-21T02:07:00.000-04:00

After an interesting adventure with my friend Bryan (who has been going to Grad School in San Diego, California but came home for a wedding and was open enough during the day to take time to chill) involving driving around for an eternity in strange mid-weekday traffic just go head to Cheeseburger in Paradise and make our return. We had some time to kill afterward and ended up checking out this rose garden near his house... which it seems closes at 5, leaving us locked inside the gates. After a bit of thought, we plotted our escape by heading to the far corner of the garden where I put my feet up onto the iron fence while grabbing the chain-linked one for support, having me sit on top of this 10ft. pillar which just so happened to be unstable, and allowing Bryan to get himself over the fence to catch me as I insisted that I was too scared to jump. He eventually got me down (he's stronger than I thought) and we parted ways... He to his home and I to THE MAGIC SHOW!!!

From there, I made my voyage to MSU so that I could meet up with Magic Sam and head over to Nick & Seth's show back in Bloomfield. He said he had a surprise for me and drove me to the parking lot near the Village Apartments where, low and behold, MAGIC TOM emerged from his car and climbed in with us! Now, Magic Tom and I go back... back back way back to freshmen year of college when I made it my personal goal to meet and befriend everyone on campus. Although that ultimately did not happen, the effort proved significantly successful in keeping me busy. Tom was one of the first on the long list of people whom I met by walking from room to room inside the dorms and introducing myself. From there, we lost touch and were reunited a year later when stranded on a science trip for our honors program at the Delaware Water Gap. He did magic and I was amazed. It was shortly after when we realized we already knew each other. This, however, is beside the point. Back to the story...

After hanging out in Sam's apartment for a little while, our trio took to the road where Sam's GPS and my lack of familiarity with them got us lost... even though I could have provided my own directions to the Piano Bar. When we finally arrived, the show was just about to start. Admission was $10, but you got a coupon for buy1get1 drinks for after the show. Sitting front and center, however, we could not wait and ordered a fabulous pitcher of Yeungling.

There was an intimate turnout thanks to the awkward Thursday night time as opposed to their usual Saturday performances, leaving the show to be more interactive than usual... affording everyone the opportunity to experience the magic first hand. I, myself, had to calculate a few figures compiled from audience answers and compared to the magician's predictions. Both men proved to be talented and rather amusing, I must admit, and are very much something to see should you find yourself in Bloomfield Center on any third Saturday of the month.

After the show, the magicians socialized with their audience, performing tricks, answering questions, signing autographs, and taking photos. My experience with them is a perfect example of all of the above. They even teamed up with a few of our local magicians (and by that, I mean Magic Tom and Sam) to entertain a few of the guests following the performance.

Overall the magic show proved to be an entertaining activity for the night and I would highly recommend checking out any of these fabulous magicians as often as possible.

My night, however, did not end at the Piano Bar. On a quest for late-night Chinese food, our trio retook to the road... driving from restaurant to restaurant in search of an open spot to buy lo mein. Ultimately unsuccessful, we settled on prepared food from A&P: garlic fries with buffalo chicken riblets. Both of these choices were intense... and why I say intense, I mean that even a garlic lover such as myself could not stand to even finish a single french fry let alone consume the entire box. The wings were more spicy than the 911-wings from Hooters and had to be sacrificed to the fridge to be eaten at a later time. (and they were- by Sam's roommates when they came back to the room in the middle of the night... as I found out the following day when I went to bring them with me to work).

Giving up on staying at the apartment, we went on a small quest to my house for some party supplies and made the voyage over to Seth's apartment where several of the fans had already been hanging out with him. The night consisted of a few good drinks, ridiculous charades, and of course... lots of magic. With their powers combined, Magic Tom, Seth, and Sam are a pretty unstoppable force and never cease to fascinate their audience with their magical talents.

Updates on where to find me and where I was found.

2008-10-18T17:26:00.000-04:00

Thursday night was Nick & Seth's magic show.
Location: Piano Bar, Broad Street, Bloomfield.

Friday night was NYC Rocky Horror.
Location: Clearview Cinema in Chelsea.

TONIGHT! Dive is headlining!
Location: School of Rock, South Hackensack.

Thursday 10/23: Dive with Fosterchild and Man on Earth
Location: Doc Watsons, Philaelphia, PA / More Info

Friday 10/24: 6flags' Fright Fest. (5pm)
Location: 6flags Great Adventure, Jackson, NJ.

Saturday 10/25: MSU Players presents: Rocky Horror Picture Show. (8pm/midnight)
Location: Montclair State University, SC-126, Upper Montclair, NJ.

Thursday 10/30: White Elephant Burlesque Society show/halloween party! (8pm)
Location: Dive Lounge, Montclair, NJ. / More Info

Friday 10/31: World/Inferno Friendship Society's Hallowmass (8pm)
Location: Brooklyn Masonic Temple, Brooklyn, NY / More Info

Updates to come with photos and mild video footage.
-Ska*

Music Video Shoot

2008-10-15T14:58:00.000-04:00

Sometime between spring and summer of 2005, one of the local NJ ska bands that I had been following for years asked me to be part of a music video they were shooting. The name of the band is Too S h ort Notice and, with its members located within 15-20 minutes of the shoot's location, was able to attract some significant faces from the NJ Ska Scene, myself included. Other prominent figures included Dave J. Ska, Super Ska Sam, and even Ska Mom & Shannon who traveled all the way from Sayreville. My personal voyage to the video shoot involved me hitching a ride with one of my friends and heading west on Route 80 to exit 30 where, just off the highway, Davey's Dogs can be found.

The video above features one of their songs entitled "Go On Get Out of Here" off their album Diners, Jughandles, and Cigarettes. I am the small female who was told by the band's bassist to "Dress up like Gwen Stefani" which for some reason involved me going old-school Gwen in pink capri pants with matching headband, a pair of chucks, and black and white striped bikini top that you could see through the white tanktop he had picked out for me. Note that everyone and their mother (literally) wore black. Upon asking him why he wanted me to wear that, he responded: "It's hot." See if you can find me in the video, I'm dancing in the middle and toward the end you can see me twirl.

Enjoy the video guys. More updates later.

Saturday the 11th: Partying International Style

2008-10-15T14:14:00.001-04:00

There is no enormous back story to go with the events of Saturday night, however I can tell you that the party I attended was an international affair. Located on the international floor of Alice Paul in the MSU Village Apartments, students came from 'round the world to learn how to play Kings, reveal dirty little secrets during Never Have I Ever, get housed in Beer Pong, and socialize with the others around. This post will primarily consist of images.

Friday the 10th: 6flags Skalloween (aka frightfest)!

2008-10-15T13:55:00.001-04:00

Spontaneous trips are by far my favorite of all things to do on a night off from work and Friday's left no room for disappointment. The original plan for the night was to venture out into the city and check out the awesome way the Met lights its collection of artwork at night. This, however, obviously fell through. The next move for making plans was moderately risky, but highly effective: facebook invite.

Suddenly struck with the urge to visit 6flags Great Adventure and experience Fright Fest for what is probably the first time since high school, I logged into my facebook and sent out an open invite via my "status." With several responses declining my offer due to the previous creation of other plans, I managed to find one girl who would accompany me on my SKAdventure: Sara.

And now, I shall let the video take over:

Oh, and then we went back to Dead&Local to check out End of an Era one last time before leaving. They were marvelous and Sara bought their cd while this little boy who happened to be the nephew of their guitarist "JustJeff" pointed him out to us. After the show we had the chance to meet him and he's fantastically nice.

On the way home we rocked out to their cd and stopped for a midnight snack (quite literally) on the turnpike. Good times had by all and hopefully there are more to be had in the time ahead.

Thursday the 9th: "Friendly Chicken & a $5 Footlong"

2008-10-15T00:16:00.000-04:00

Thursday started off on the wrong foot. I had two sets of plans with my girl, Caitlin, both of which fell through. First, there was 11am. No call, no answer, went back to sleep. I woke up around noon after that and sent her a message that I was going to shower and looked forward to seeing her around 1pm. Well, 1pm came and went, no Caitlin. When I had pretty much chalked the day up to wasting time watching tv sometime around 2:30pm, however, I got the call.

Caitlin arrived shortly after in a black turtle neck to appear "artsy" and to mourn the death of the chickens we were prepared to eat. I finished the e-mail I was writing to one of my personal favorite high school teachers and we did a bit of web-surfing before heading out the door and preparing ourselves for "the big buh-gawk!" (and by this, i mean for a massive lunch at Friendly's).

On the drive over, we passed a house that was totally decked out in favor of one of the most creatively celebrated holidays of the year: SKALLOWEEN! As we drove by the house ever so slowly, we noticed the family outside in the driveway so we had to think quickly. Leaping out of the car door, I tossed Caitlin my camera as we rolled the passenger-side window down. I made a quick "I'm scared" face (which turned out to look more like an "ouch, the skeleton is biting me in the butt" face) and dove back into he car before speeding away.

As you can see, we almost missed the building, but managed to make it there regardless. I had the fabulous luxury of a $5 off coupon, so we split a buffalo chicken kicker appetizer for a dollar each before ordering our main course of... you guessed it... chicken. I got the tenders and fries, she got a salad... and was very excited to do so... so excited, in fact, that she equated her meal to the glories of the $5 footlong!

After eating, we decided to venture out on foot in search of more Skalloween decorations as well as McCain support. As we rounded the first corner we were distracted by a maniacal cackling noise coming from the heavily decorated house a few feet away. Once again, we approached it, but took the time to carefully look at the details of its decor.

Although Caitlin was considerably scared by the aforementioned house, she continued on our quest... under the power lines... and down the street, where she personally helped to decorate a neighbor's home with a single pumpkin.

I, on the other hand, wanted to take a more physical approach as I rubbed the grumbling belly of a giant inflatable ghost only angering it further.

From there, we walked by the old houses of friends I had grown up with, most of whom I have not seen literally in ten years. I know some moved away and others moved out, but I still had that curiosity inside my mind of what life would be like were we twelve years old once more, riding our bike's up and down the street in packs, doing tricks and throwing water balloons, building a fort in the wooded area behind one of the houses and pretending to be the Midnight Society from Are You Afraid of the Dark? Hmmm... :sigh:

Moving on.

We slowed down a bit for lack of decorations and began to take the time and appreciate the changing colors of the fall. Deciding to hug a tree in my own personal way, I became the self-declared goddess of the fall, complete with a moon of changing leaves atop my head.

Caitlin, however, had different plans. She was looking far beyond the color changing tree and onto the lawn of a... BUM BUM BUMMMMM... McCain supporter!!! She then took it upon herself to make a statement about eating him for breakfast.

Heading down a bit farther toward the old bike ramp where we would ride at full speed on our SINGLE SPEED BICYCLES and use a ramp on a hill to launch ourselves several feet into the air before crashing down. Sometimes we would land on top of the bikes, but others left us crushed on the bottom. It is here that I decided to "hide my driveway" so to speak.

Next, we took a walk through the "secret passage" as we called it years ago. It is this small space between a few houses that leads to the most bizarre street I have ever seen. The street is a one way, shaped like a small letter "u" with all of the backyards facing the street and the front yards of the six innermost homes facing one another in the fashion of an apartment complex with their own private quad at the center. We decided to hold hands and be best friends.

Little did we know, Skalloween decorations were waiting for us on the opposite side of that passageway! While Caitlin was busy helping a scarecrow to trust-fall, I was sitting on the curb waiting for a bus that will never come in a pose that would have been complete should I have been smoking a cigarette. What a shame that I don't smoke.

Last but not least, upon rounding out our mile or two of walking around my neighborhood, we discovered a cat chasing a squirrel full speed up a tree. Upon sensing our presence, the cat jumped down and stood there while we called out to it before finally rolling itself around in the dirt beside the tree where the squirrel was thereby trapped. Directly across the street from this, was a house that matched my outfit... so I felt the need to point that out to you.

By the end of the walk, we were dying from the heat that hadn't been there when our day first began. We turned a few more corners and strolled down the street until we were just about in front of my house. Taking one last photo before going inside to briefly blast the a/c in our faces and rest for the night, Caitlin and I enjoyed our last tree of ghosts.

Following her departure, I found myself totally exhausted and spent the night in.

Wednesday the 8th: GSPeeing avec the Jjjaime.

2008-10-14T20:45:00.000-04:00

A brief background on GSPeeing:
Starting early on in high school, my new found best friend whom I lovingly refer to as "Little One" (Jaime) and I would have a parent drop us off at the Garden State Plaza (Paramus, NJ) bright and early in the morning so that we might do such things as shop around (naturally), take random photos in crazy hats, giant sunglasses, and outrageous outfits, and eat Wendy's in our own special way (which involves dumping an enormous amount of salt&pepper in with the fries before shaking up the bag and trying to look as nonchalant as possible. Once we had our own cars, the trips were able to become more frequent and more outrageous- extending the madness into the front seat of what is usually Ska's Ford Focus, Sven.

This month's GSPeeing trip began a little differently, however. Little One decided to drive and showed up at my house bright and early, affording me the opportunity to film HER in the car this time.

Making record time, we parked below the new movie theater and headed up into the mall. Upon reaching the top of the escalator, we made an amazing discovery: lovesacs. They are fantastically comfortable and will swallow you alive! I almost bought one but my budget could not fit what is essentially a $650 beanbag.

Moving on from there, we did our usual snobbish hipster sweep of Forever 21 where we were once again mistreated by the nasty little girls who work there with attitudes that would imply that making minimum wage in a mall job somehow makes you ultra hip and the boys who are even larger divas brushing us out of whatever display they sectioned off with barriers of clothing so that they wouldn't be bothered by customers who might just so happen to want to purchase one of the fall-colored turtlenecks hanging directly in the center. Regardless of the poor service and attitudes of the store's employee's, I once again spent a good $70 on new dresses and various bits of party attire.

Next we had a bit of an encounter with some animals at the pet store.

I filmed their amazing shenanigans.

After that, we randomly walked around the mall from store to store in search of pumas for myself and jeans at PacSun for Little One. Neither of the two were much of a success. I did, however, manage to witness someone's fantastic depression on the job which made me wonder how I present myself to customers on bad days when I feel like I have more of a purpose in life than handing them exactly the book they had been seeking and waiting on them hand and foot.

This brings us to the puma fiasco. We went to about four to five different shoe places seeking the lowest price. Most shoe stores sold the basic black and white speedcat for $70. They were, however, on a display that read $59.99 at one particular store (whose name we will fail to mention intentionally) so I had them reserve a pair until I returned at the end of our trip. Low and behold, the lady had not held my size 7 1/2s behind the counter, but the guy working there was more than excited about going into the back to retrieve a pair for me. He then fed into my excitement of finally buying them with an up-selling attempt to get me to purchase $5 worth the waterproofing spray. I figured I was spending enough anyway, so I added that to the bill... the only problem here was that they shoes rang up $75. Full price. After asking the girl about the sign on the display, she said that it was only select pumas... and although the brown ones would have been nice to own, I quite literally NEEDED the black ones. She called the guy over and he offered to take $10 off, bringing the shoes to $65, but not the $60 I had intended to pay. I was confused and a bit frustrated at wasting that much money on a pair of shoes that were only moderately comfortable but in no comparison to my converse. He applied the discount by signing me up for a VIP pass which automatically saves you $10 and then attempted to convince me to sign up for the program after he had already processed it through. The girl was getting antsy, so I told them both that it was more than okay and that I could wait on buying them. They simply did not believe me, that is... until I walked out of the store.

I have recently won a 25% off coupon from McDonalds for that particular shoe store. I will send someone else in to pay in cash for them in my place. I really do not wish to enter that store again.

Our last stop of the day was at the Jamba Juice counter since my throat was still sore and I needed something to freeze it over before heading to dance at night. I had never wanted to waste that much money on a fruit smoothie before so I did not know what to order. Upon asking for the guy's recommendation, however, he took it as an opportunity to up-sell me. (seems like the theme of the day, huh? i must look like a sucker, but i work retail as well and am on to their little games!) Deciding that I did not need something with lemonade in it anyway, I got some crazy raspberry pomegranate concoction and was given a free boost of soy protein. The drink was excellent.

Here is a recap of the day's SKAdventure:

Jaime dropped me off at home where I discovered that I had been locked out of my own home. I made a few phone calls and was let in within the hour.

From there, I prepared for my weekly dance class at D&L Dance Expo. Tap and jazz are more my thing now that I have grown older and the people I've danced with all my life have either gone off to school or given up on their once beloved passion. I, however, rarely give up on anything I've loved and continue to dance hard and strong despite weighing about 40lbs more than I did when I danced every night of the week as a child. My twin, Jackie, showed up with one of the other teachers from her studio and a student in her early teens. I envy her youth. (Although I am not exactly what most would consider "old," in the dancing world I am ancient.) Our other regulars were there and it was quite the intense class... I loved it.

And that, my friends, concludes Wednesday.

Announcement!

2008-10-14T01:54:00.000-04:00

I have broken away from my generic youtube account to create one totally devoted to my video blogs. Check out: http://www.youtube.com/skablog if you want to see more!

Curse of the coxsackivirus.

2008-10-07T06:58:00.000-04:00

I have been dramatically ill for several days now. Beginning with a small sore throat on Friday morning and leading to a mindnumbing migraine and fever by the time the sun had gone down, I naturally treated it with a martini and sleep. Unfortunately, upon waking Saturday morning I found myself unable to even scrape myself out of bed, so I called my job and accepted their displeased reaction to my illness, agreeing to come to work the following day.

Supposedly some incompetent young man working for my doctor's answering service misinformed me as to whether or not her office was indeed open that particular Saturday, so I ended up shuffling off to an immedicenter for urgent healthcare. Now, as much as I hate my job, getting checked out free of charge is a dream come true. It was the same kooky doctor who had x-rayed my knee the Tuesday prior, but he was much nicer and considerably more helpful in at least making an attempt to diagnose my symptoms. He gave me a strep test (which ended up coming back negative) and prescribed me some amoxicillin to treat the "throat infection" he had discovered.

That was all well and good until I went to go to work on Sunday and could hardly keep my eyes open, my migraine was so intense. Somehow, I made it through the shift before collapsing at home where I broke into sweats both hot and cold for the rest of the night. Monday morning I awoke to the horrible urge to vomit, sacrificing the crackers I had managed to force myself to eat the night before to the porcelain schoolbus. From then on, I suffered out excrusiating haeadaches and a fever that left me waking up every 20 minutes under soakin wet covers with damp hair. It was really terrible.

I am currently writing to you from a sleepless night awake in my bed sweating on and off with a pain in my throat that matches none other. I have also developed blisters on my tonsils that are the nastiest things known to man. Judging by my symptoms of fever, sore throat, headaches, sinus pressure, muscle pain in the arms and legs, and blisters on the tonsils, I have diagnosed myself with coxsackivirus. I had this once before back in 2004 and ended up losing insane amounts of weight resulting from an inability to eat due to extreme pain while swallowing. If this is so, I am going to need to suffer it out but will call the doctor in the morning regardless. I am also to call out of work this morning for the sake of not infecting the entire world with this virus from hell.

More updates to come, but hopefully I will be well enough to go to the mall and dance tomorrow. I do not think that I can spend even one mor day in this bed alone drifting in and out of sleep and surfing the internet with my laptop propped up on my aching thighs. Wish me luck.

Dream of Californication.

2008-09-18T19:55:00.000-04:00

I have recently returned from sunny San Diego, one of the most beautiful places to live or visit in the United States. There, you get a taste of city living while still enjoying a more upperclass beach-vibe. An enormous county located at the very southern tip of California, San Diego is my ideal place to live as long as I am still without wee-ones. This is my photo collage of my visit:

This is Ska.

2008-09-18T15:35:00.000-04:00

My name is "Ska Jenny" and I am a quirky art historian in my early twenties who has recently received a degree from a state school in the armpit of America. Growing up in suburban New Jersey, I have an interesting view of life (although somewhat skewed, i might add) and use all my effort to make the best of my location. I attend shows, concerts, gallery openings, performances, magic acts, and parties... all the while planning beach trips, amusement park daycations, and actual vacations across the U.S.

I am into music, dance, and art. I love to make it, see it, and write about it. I also love to do cartwheels on the beach and wear flipflops at unseasonal times of year just for the hell of it. I work at a book store and am known to change my hair about as often as a scenester checks on his myspace. I take photographs for a living and live to take them. My favorite word is ephemeral, I like rollercoasters, and think in French when I'm nervous. I also have a profound fondness for obscure Disney musicals and all things H&R Block Green.

If you're into that sort of stuff, you will love my blog... for it is an attempt to meticulously yet creatively document the happenings in and around my life through the cunning use of whit, photographs, video, and words.

Tell your friends and I hope you enjoy!