upcoming things to do in cleveland

i have a sneaking suspicion that i have some secret readers here. but i have no idea how many of them (if any) are in the cleveland area. maybe this post will be pointless...but i'm hoping not. either way, you should leave me a comment to say hi or at least follow this blog so i can find yours :)

in a few weeks they are having a bazaar at now that's class. it's kinda like a punk rock flea market of sorts where people come to buy and sell records, vintage clothes, artwork, books, skateboarding stuff, etc. josh and i are gonna set up a table just for the hell of it to try to get rid of some old records and see if we can manage to sell a photo or two (also available in our etsy store hint, hint).



it is going to be inside and outside and feature live music, a cookout, and mad dog 20/20 sno cones! only the classiest. come hang out if you're around.


i heard a PSA on my radio station for this summer beach partygoing on this saturday and i totally wanna go. it's on a beach in one of the metroparks and they are having all kinds of fun stuff: sandcastle building, a bonfire, live animals (?!) and a screening of THE GOONIES at 9pm! so you can bring your beach blanket and listen to some steel drum music and then watch the goonies. that sounds awesome. wanna go?


finally, here are two shows i just got done booking so it's an early warning for you. first up it's bad sports, which features members of the wax museums (who are on hiatus, maybe for good). that show is at now that's class on wednesday, august 12.

then it's beat beat, coming all the way from austria. they have a cool song about tacos. they will be on tour with the sweet sixteens. the show is at now that's class on monday, september 28th.

i know i've said this before, but i am a super lucky girl that i have a friend like paul and a venue like now that's class that pretty much lets me book whatever i ask him to. if he didn't put on a lot of the shows i asked about, they probably wouldn't have happened at all. despite the fact that i am the last person one would think of to have a love affair with a BAR of all places, i love it with my whole heart.


in other news, i don't want summer to end.

:(

my baby goes waaaaaaaaaaaah

yesterday there was an old man talking to me at work. i didn't like him but couldn't remember why, although i knew there was something creepy about him. a few minutes later it dawned on me when he came up behind me and said, "i gotta tell you: you do a wonderful thing for a pair of bluejeans. you just made an old man's day." WHO DOES THAT?!? then i remembered he was the same old pervert who watched me bend down at the bookshelf putting books away a few months ago and claimed that "made his day" that time, too. i felt dirty like i needed to go scrub myself with a loofah.

lacey recently admitted that she is amused when i post about all the different bands who check into hotel hot trash and have pajama parties with me. this made me wish i had a reality show to capture some of the madness that is my life at times. where was the camera crew when i walked in on paul collins changing into his pajama bottoms or when benji from the creteens was passed out curled around the toilet while members of brimstone howl sat on the toilet above him to go pee? in any event, i had a fun time when poppets from sweden came over the other day. lina and magnus are the cutest couple ever and i wanted to keep them forever.



they brought their friend emily from austin, tx with them and we realized we both know a ton of the same people (like theresa and ezra!)



she in turn pointed the band love collector in my direction when they were passing through cleveland and needed a show, so they came too! josh cooked cheeseburgers on the grill and the 9 of us had a hillbilly picnic on the grass where we laughed and told stories about dead cats. not that there is anything FUNNY about dead cats, unless they are on the phone in a telephone booth. don't ask me, ask dave from love collector. anyway, i hope someone sends me some photos after they get home from tour, because i was too busy making potato salad to take any of all of us hanging out.

the show at now that's class was in the basement and featured everyone's favorite, mr. california.





poppets dedicated a song about having a danceparty to me and my heart was so happy it almost melted.









love collector is soo much fun. BOO ON CLEVELAND FOR MISSING THIS.







it was a great show and the most fun i've had with bands in a while.

(l-r: robin/love collector, lina, me, magnus)


we went to the zoo the other day with josh's mom, stepdad, and three stepsisters. i love the zoo and i love the fact that it is right down the street from our house.















the dinosaur exhibit was cool.







i like that this thing is a retarded-loooking pizza dinosaur.



finally, my favorites: the otters!



i got my latest etsy purchase in the mail last week. i framed them and they are hanging on the living room wall next to nurse squirrel. they look awesome.







i made this one day out of a cover from some old sheet music that i found at the thrift store. isn't it the cutest?

all the rockets go BANG!

here is what has been going on lately.

last week or so i made josh go with me to see FAG COP. i've been into them for over a year and was excited to finally see them live. fun dudes. they ended up staying an extra day in cleveland and played two nights in a row, so i lucked out. check out the song "i'm fucking dead" which is my fucking JAM (and i got to hear it twice in a row! score!) the second nite they played "my daddy has white trash friends" which was also a bonus.







i don't know who this guy is but he came to the show and tried to peddle his flowers. he was nice enough to give one to the singer of fag cop, and you can see it sticking out of the top of his shirt in those pictures above where they are playing.



that same night, the homostupids (who are notorious for playing in the most awkward places possible) decided to do a set in the tiny foyer of the apartment above the bar. a bunch of us crammed into the room to watch that and it was cool. cleveland doesn't have nearly enough house shows, and josh and i decided that was because we realize that we are just too bad. by "we" i mean the city of cleveland, or more specifically the particular group of people who make up this "scene" who are always trying to out-do each other with stupid stunts at shows and functions. who would want to host a show at their house knowing that a cinderblock is going to end up through the floor and your curtains will probably catch on fire when someone throws a handful of firecrackers at the band while they play? so it was a rare occasion, and that made it all the more enjoyable. but as you might imagine, being crammed in a tiny room with 30-40 people smashing and crashing around makes it virtually impossible to take any photos.













the fourth of july was nice. josh and i went to lakewood park for fireworks. they always have a nice display. taking pictures of fireworks is awesome.

























the grand finale was INTENSE! it lit up the whole sky so that it seemed like daytime for about 10 seconds. amazing.











here is a photo that i absolutely adore. it will most likely appear in our etsy store very soon. while we sat there watching fireworks, i was sorta annoyed that we had some trees in the way obscuring the bottom portion of our view. but then i witnessed this, and i realized how badass it looked seeing the fireworks blow up the night sky and illuminate the trees in such a spooky way:




this past friday, josh and i went to see that new john dillinger movie "public enemies." let me ask you: what could be hotter than johnny depp as a mascara-wearing pirate? oh, yeah...johnny depp as a pinstripe suit-wearing gangster. hottt. that idea is almost as good as the one where someone cast johnny knoxville as a greaser in that "deuces wild" movie.

on saturday morning, we went with my parents to the west side market. this is the oldest publicly owned market in cleveland (in existence since 1840 but in its current location across the street since 1902) with over 100 stalls of local merchants. i remember going there early on saturday mornings with my dad as a kid and it has been years since i've been inside the place. we got some fresh vegetables and bakery and meat, but mostly i just went for the experience of walking around and taking in all the sights!









here was the booth that josh referred to as "hotsauce heaven":









doesn't everything look delicious?!



we tried to take our lunch onto the balcony to eat, where you can look down on the entire indoor portion of the market. it was too hot so we sat outside instead.



i was all geared up to try a gyro for the first time ever, but i chicked out at the last minute. mom, dad and josh got one but i had some sushi (i never used to like sushi and now i crave it ALL THE TIME!)



today josh and i went on a picnic in the park. it was sooooo nice outside.

























are you sick of us yet?

tonite i was looking around on craigslist to see if there were any poor old saps whose wives were making them get rid of their old records. i did not win. but i DID find THIS poor old sap who was getting rid of THIS!



he lived nearby, he only wanted $40, and we REALLY wanted to help him clean his house out. we ran.


Q: what's cooler than cool?
A: one of these ol' thangs!


Q: what's cooler than this ol' thang?
A: TWO OF THESE OL' THANGS!




that's right, i had the black & white one that my brother found in the trash (!!!) and gave me for christmas, so then i had to get the matching baby blue one when i saw it. am i ridiculous? YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!




in closing, i would like to say that i will be the first person to admit that i am a total crab ass in the mornings. but one thing that never fails to make me smile is when i go out to my car in the morning on my way to work, and i find tiny little mud paw prints on the hood of my car. we have a lot of cats in our neighborhood, so it happens often. aww!