Wednesday, March 2, 2011

And Now I'm Back (From Outer Space)

Ack.  I've been really out of touch with the blogosphere for over a week now.  Please forgive me.  A lot has been going on and it might take a couple of posts to get everyone up to speed.

I realize I left everything off while I was still in San Diego.  I was only there for three days, but it was best weekend I've had in awhile.  Not to mention it gave me an inside look at the music industry.  Naturally, it was all a little intimidating.  But it was also really inspiring.  I did nothing but watch live music for three days.  At the end of those three days, I knew more than ever that I was meant to be a musician. 

On the last night, I pretended to be more outgoing than I actually am and I gave my demo CD to a couple of producers.  I don't know if anything will come from it, but it felt good to go out on a limb and do it.  I also trespassed backstage and ran into Vanessa Carlton eating a piece of cake.  One of the more bad ass moments of my life, for sure. 

I think it's time for a few blurry pictures from my adventures at The Sunset Sessions:

Augustana!  (I was right in the front)

Black Dub - my new favorite

Meeting Mike Mills

Blurry photographic evidence of my Mike Mills moment

I've never really listened to k.d. lang, but her set was one of the best all weekend.  I feel slightly embarrassed about saying that, but it's true.
k.d. lang owning it on stage.  Her cover of "Hallelujah" was awesome. 
The strange yet super talented Sia (wearing the poncho from hell).

Iron and Wine's first words on stage:  "Are you guys ready to get really f@#$ing mellow?"  He must know that I listen to his music when I need help falling asleep...
Vanessa Carlton!  Weirdly enough, she was the one person there that I was too star struck around to talk to.  I think I was just thrown off by how short she is in real life. 

This field was next to the resort we stayed at.  Yes, those are plastic horses.  California is really, really weird. 
The weekend was all very exciting and quite surreal.  We left California on a Sunday.  It's a two hour flight from San Diego to Portland and we were supposed to be back in the morning, but my mom and I let the airline bump us as many times as possible in exchange for flight vouchers.  We spent the day sitting around various airports and it was well worth it.  The only problem was that we had both gotten about three hours of sleep the night before and accidentally had our new complimentary wine bottle openers in our carry-ons.  That made for some fun times in security...

TSA Officer:  Excuse me ladies, you're going to need to step over here...let me look in those bags...
My Mom:  Please don't squish those R.E.M. posters on top!
Me:  Yeah, be careful!
TSA Officer:  (rifling through the bag)  What?
My Mom:  Those posters!  They are signed by Mike Mills!
Me:  Don't squish them!
TSA Officer:  R.E.M. was in town???

I think the most disturbing part of that whole security transaction was the fact that they only caught the bottle opener in my mom's bag and let me go through with mine.  They also missed out on two bottles of water.  By the way, the bottle opener was totally made of metal and had a little pop-out knife on the side.  Potentially, we could have gotten on the plane with two hydrogen bombs and a very sharp object.

That didn't really do anything to improve my opinion of flying.  But now I'm set to fly anywhere Southwest flies.  I haven't decided where I want to go yet but I have a few ideas. 

Anyway, I think that concludes this installment of "lauren vs. reality."  Tune in next time to potentially read about the following things:

-  A new music project
-  The possibility of getting a new cat
-  Adventures with The Fonz (trashy gay night club edition!)
-  Things that Urgent Care doctors shouldn't be allowed to say to their patients
-  Why my apartment now has a carbon monoxide detector plugged into the wall
-  The ongoing argument about the exact location of Funkytown. 

10 comments:

  1. u did really enjoyed urself n its showing :)
    n m hoping d producer likes ur CD *fingers crossed*

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  2. So far I really want to hear most about The Fonz and doctors. I have a feeling that hilarity will ensue.

    Damn... plastic horses! Was it also in the middle of a desert?

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  3. I love that you and your mom were insistant on the security agent not wrecking your signed posters. Awesome!

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  4. nabo - Haha, thanks. :) My fingers are definitely crossed too!

    Benny - Yeah, there are a lot of funny/strange stories from this weekend. It will probably be a two post affair (one post about losing The Fonz in a gay club and the other about my weird visit to an Urgent Care clinic this weekend) but it will all be on the blog soon!
    And the plastic horses weren't really in a desert, just in California (which is kind of a freaky alternate universe).

    Allison - Those posters were important! I feel like you would probably act the same way in that situation. Haha.

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  5. Oh - I totally would have freaked out too over the posters.

    And for some reason I felt like you'd already blogged about The Fonz and the gay club, but then I remembered that you emailed me about that story! I love getting insider info! I forgot to comment on your blurry photos of Mike Mills. Love them!

    As for the urgant care thing - I hope you're okay.

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  6. Awesome. I was begining to wonder if you were giving up on us!! I'm glad to see you back. =]

    I can't wait for some of thes posts! Looks like a good line up.

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  7. I once made a joke to a security agent at the Vegas airport about not being a terrorist.

    That was bad.

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  8. *R*R*R* - Aw, thank you!

    Stephanie - I would never give up on you guys. Sometimes "real life" just gets in the way of blogging. Fear not, I am back.

    Tabs - Haha, oh no! That might almost be as bad as the time I tried to take a bomb-shaped lamp through an Egyptian airport...

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  9. Oh man, this is awesome. Airport security, always making me feel safe. Sigh.

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  10. Haha, I realize how stupid my comment about the horses probably seemed. I was unsuccessfully trying to take a jab at how southern Cali is basically an irrigated desert, with barren land, then lush lawns that obviously weren't meant to be there. :-)

    And Tabs- there's nothing scarier - or funnier, if you're not the one being looked at - than the look a TSA agent gives when someone makes terrorist jokes!

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