I got into
San Francisco midday on Friday and was greeted by my aunt and uncle. I pretty much crashed that day due to jet lag and uncomfortable seats, with no blanket or pillow. It was a miserable flight but I managed to sleep through the brunt of it. That night I had dinner with my family who made it out to greet me (which was very nice and flattering) and ended up falling asleep whilst watching
Ghost Whisperer (a terrible show my aunt loves). The next day my older cousin and I wandered around San Francisco where I stumbled upon a
Lush. I went in and there was some sort of foam celebration that resulted in me getting covered in suds to which an extremely gay employee fixed my hair and complimented me on it. It was a very fun experience. We went to a new shopping mall, and walked down to what seemed like the worlds longest corridor to get to the bathroom; left, got milkshakes, went to the Metreon, where I picked up a copy of
James Jean's
XOXO and my cousin got a cupcake cookbook. We made it all the way to the Embarcadero and then headed back home. We made some pretty good peanut butter cupcakes with homemade chocolate frosting and then called it a night after dinner. Sunday was pretty relaxed, I spent most of the day watching movies (
The Fly,
Waitress,
Die Hard 4) and then going to my Uncle's (he's my mom's Italian brother-in-law) sunday dinner which was fantastic. Enchiladas, and they were nice enough to make cheese ones for me that were extremely spicy. Monday I met up with my old friend
Angie who I hadn't seen since I was 16. She used to be
Poe' (the singer) PR person and we hit it off back in the day. She's doing well for herself and over a gin and tonic and cheese and crackers we caught each other back to speed on what had gone on in the past few years. The next day was the show. I met up with Aimee and
the rest of the gang around 5:30 for drinks and chill out time
backstage and got to watch
Chris tweak around with his projectors and do soundcheck which was fucking astonishing. The venue people however were nazi's and requested all guests leave and get in line. So, me and the head of
Metropolis Records were actually escorted out around 6:45.
theSTART and I ended up on their bus hanging out until they had to do their soundcheck at 7:00. I got in line and met up with my friend Phil and ran into Sammi and her boyfriend and danced to the songs the crackheads (
they were really crackheads - The venue was in a terrible part of town where I was privy to around 15 narcotic transactions) were singing to us for money. They let us all in, snagged a spot up in front, got picked up on by this girl who looks like the girl from that new Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist flick but with bleached hair. It was rather scary as she was groping me during theSTART's set and I just politely ignored her and danced my ass off. I'm pretty sure she was rolling on X.
IAMX went on, Chris hit our end of the stage, I pulled my buck out during the first song to which he grinned at me and said "Later." The show went on and at one point in the middle of the set he came up and teased me and wagged his finger "no" at me. Then during Spit It Out he curled his fingers at me and I put the dollar in. The crazy girl screamed "OH MY GOD!" and started groping me even more. I shook her off and then Chris collapsed in the crowd and I had to prop his leg up. He seemed a log angrier at this show as at one point during Bring Me Back a Dog he screamed "I'M SO FUCKING ANNOYED WITH YOU!!!" at the soundboard tech. It was fantastic. Afterwards I met up with theSTART and talked to Chelsea about
Venture Bros. and
Mighty Boosh while Aimee hung out at the merch table to greet fans and sign stuff. I bumped into Dean and chatted it up with him more to which he said they are planning on coming back in May. Wednesday I met up with Angie again to help her prepare for a shindig at the
Red Devil Lounge for this local musician, went to the show, had a few drinks, met these two really cool guys from England, handed out cake and had a beer. Thursday was a lazy day as it was my last day before heading back, so I hung out with my family and what not. Friday I returned and en route that evening to say hi to Stew and have a drink I almost hit a kitten that skittered into the middle of the road from beneath a car. I pulled over, coaxed the guy out, put him in my car, picked up a bag of kitten chow and introduced him to my dog (who adored him) and my cat (who wasn't the most enthused). That was my trip in a nutshell.