We had a wonderful time Sunday evening at a Memorial Day picnic in our neighborhood and as I was sitting down counting my blessings, including the fact that we have AMAZING neighbors (I seriously love them all...I posted Twitpics of the picnic here), I started thinking about why it's even possible for us to enjoy this weekend. Because of those that have fought for our country and its freedoms.
My son served at mass again today, as well. Freedom of religion. Something else I take for granted too often.
Our priest read a poem in his homily that really moved me. I found it online:
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protestor to burn the flag."
To all of those who have fought for our freedom, I want to thank you:
If you live in the Washington DC area, there was only one place to be Saturday night: at the 9:30 Club catching Chester French's phenomenal performance. CF, along with Hollywood Holt opened for the very bada$$ Lady Sovereign. While they were all amazing, I'm going to focus on Chester French because I <3 them times infinity. :)
After watching CF's performance on Jimmy Fallon, I knew that the energy from them would be off the wall. And I was right.
My friend/assistant Heather and I were in the front row (I was actually able to rest my purse and beer on the stage, ha!) and got to soak up all of that energy as it poured off of DA and Max and flowed over the crowd.
As you know from my previous interview, these two are talented beyond words. DA's voice was smooth and sexy (like buttah!) and that boy can work a tambourine! Max was right in front of me and I got a close-up view of his tight guitar playing while he simultaneously played the keyboard:
Still blows me away! And both of their moves just make you want to get on the stage and dance with them (as three lucky girls got to do. *jealous*)
What I love most about CF, though, is how in-touch they are with their fans. They mingled with the crowd after their perfomance, took tons of pictures with everyone, and were really just so down-to-earth.
The highlight for me was when Max and DA remembered who I was when I said I was "Blonde Blogger." DA even remembered my real name, saying, "Oh, Dawn!" and gave me a huge hug. And just so you know...because you really must know this....DA also called me "sexy." ;)
The only downside of the night is that the pics of me with DA came out so bad. I'll be brave enough to share this one with you:
But the most important picture (Heather and I with DA on CF's tourbus) came out so bad that my husband couldn't stop laughing. It was that bad. *sigh* Of all the pictures, that one was the one that I really needed to turn out good. Oh well...here it is cropped:
Heather is a journalism student so I was thrilled to bring her along with me to interview CF (her first interview ever!). Before you watch the videos, know that my way-too-loud laughter at DA's shout-out to you all was due to the fact that I thought he was making a joke about my blog title...you'll see what I mean when you watch. I thought he was referring to himself as the other blonde of "So Two Blondes Walk Into a Blog" because even though he's a (very hot) redhead, there is some blonde there!
And this is just more proof of how sweet he is...when we realized he wasn't joking, he felt so bad that he put his head into his hands and made the most adorable, "I'm so sorry" face. Then he let me shoot a quick correction. But seriously? He could've called my blog "Five Brunettes Walk Into a Phonebook" and I could not adore him any less. :)
The intereview is also in two parts because a couple of fans walked by and wanted a picture with DA. So I paused while he took the photo. See what I mean? EVERY fan is important to them and treated like a friend.
Finally, I have tried three different hosts for these videos and all of them darken them so much that you cannot see DA's face. Which sucks for you because he has a really cute face. :)
Here is the on-the-street, tourbus-side interview with DA, with a transcript below. DA starts by offering Heather tips for interviewing, then, in the spirit of CF's brand new album "Love the Future," talks about future plans, as well as Mick Jagger and pelvic thrusts. ;)
Part One:
Part Two:
Blog Title Correction:
HEATHER: You once tweeted that, when the Lady Gaga show got cancelled in DC, that two of your best shows [that] you’ve ever done were in DC and Richmond. So what is it about DC that made it so memorable for you?
DA WALLACH: DC is just the, the most exuberant city I feel like. For whatever reason, I don’t know if it’s us or if it’s DC, when we came to DC we just played an acoustic show before in a sneaker shop and there were...I was shocked at the number of people who came out because we do it in a lot of different cities, and I was just amazed at the number of people we had supporting us in DC just organically, maybe off the internet or whatever.
But I love DC, I would probably live here if I didn’t live in Wisconsin and you know, I spent summers here a couple of times in high school because I have family out here and it’s just a great place to come.
H: So when will you be headlining your own tour?
DA: I don’t know when we’re going to headline our own tour, it’s a little bit of a mysterious prospect because we’ve never headlined, so we don’t know how many people would come out to see us in a given city. But I think we can safely say we’ll try it in the fall at some point.
H: So you’re really awesome performers.
BLONDEBLOGGER: We’ve noticed you’ve acted really well in all of your interviews, any plans to do SNL, any improv, any kind of acting?
H: Because we would love to see you do that.
DA: Man, we would definitely do SNL in a second. Yeah, we would do SNL in a heartbeat. I mean, we don’t act but we like messing around and having fun and when people put cameras in your faces it’s usually the best option. So, we’re friends, so, so I’m giving you the real genuine side.
H: Who have you seen, that you’ve taken influence from when you perform? Like, what was your first show?
DA: Well, I’ll tell you a show I saw that stays in my mind and remains inspirational, and that is my mom took me, in like sixth or seventh grade, to see The Rolling Stones in Madison, Wisconsin and even at 60 years old, Mick Jagger is running back and forth across the stadium, and dancing his ass of and, you know, not that it competes with The Rolling Stones of the 60’s or 70’s, but I certainly feel like I can’t let a 60 year old man out-energize me every night. I’m not there yet, but I’m aspiring to his level of you know, energy.
BB: Your energy was amazing tonight.
DA: Thank you very much.
H: Yeah, I noticed the thrusts [like] you did on E!
DA: A lot of pelvic thrusts. We do a lot of pelvic thrusts.
H: It’s your signature.
DA: It is my signature. I just like people to know that that whole section is just working, you know what I mean? Just trying to clear the rumors up, you know? It’s all functional.
***********************************
Functional indeed! Mick Jagger doesn't have a thing on DA!
I'd like to thank 42West for making this review/interview possible, and thanks again to Heather for her assistance. Of course, thanks also goes to DA for the interview and the hugs. :)
Be sure to check out Chester French's website as well as their Twitteraccounts. You can also choose from a number of fun packages CF is offering along with their "Love the Future" album here (I so want that safari trip!), and get a free download of CF's "Jaques Jams" mixtape here.
Quick post to update you on the little thing I call "my life." Which is busy. I know I say that all the time, but it's REALLY busy right now. Like forget my name on some days kind of busy.
So I want to thank my blog friends who are still coming by and saying hello even though I haven't been able to reciprocate lately. I plan on remedying that soon. I really miss you guys a lot. Seriously...a LOT. *Love* to all of you!
Thank God for the microblogging that is Twitter because I can still get a semi-blog fix when I'm so busy. If I've been really silent here, you can usually see what's going on with me there. I also post Twitpics as well...consider them a bit like the illustrations that make a book easier to read. (Translation: a little less boring to read *smile*)
I'll sum up the biggest news going on in my life in a few quick tildas:
~My sweet Sophie became really ill on Thursday and had to be hospitalized (pancreatitis) but is home safe and sound now and is recovering well.
~I'm guest posting for my good friend Whall today (post will go live after 8 a.m.). Come play "True or Whalse" and see if you win. :)
~The very cool and debonair Ren gave me an awesome blog award that I'm very overdue for passing on. I will soon! And thanks, Ren. You rock.
And I was fortunate enough to score a post-show interview with them as well, so I'll be bringing you more news on them. My friend Heather will be assisting me. She's a beautiful, young journalism student and a fan of Chester French like me. I'm thrilled to have her as my partner!
Stay tuned for our interview and keep an eye on Twitter for live tweets and twitpics from the show.
~Happy Mother's Day in advance to all of my mom friends and readers! I'll be spending Sunday at my grandma's house with my mom, helping to fix up my grandma's yard. I was sick for my grandma's 88th birthday party in February, so it's been a long time since I've seen her or my mom. Being able to spend time with them beats out being spoiled with breakfast in bed any day and I wouldn't want to spend Mother's Day any other way.
~Ten points that are good for nothing if you know what's coming up in six days. ;)
Friday night, Dane Cook rocked the house hard with his ISolated INcident Global Thermo Comedy Tour at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, MD. I had the privilege of reviewing the show from amazing seats thanks to the wonderful people at 1st Mariner.
I have been a fan of Dane for a long time now and I am clearly not alone, as thousands of people filled the huge arena. Think Britney Spears' crowd level. It was that big.
Here's something you need to know about Dane and this particular tour. This is his first time touring since losing both of his parents. His mother passed away first from cancer and shortly thereafter, his father became ill with cancer as well and died within nine months of his mother.
So it would be hard for anyone to pick themselves up after such a loss, much less find laughter once again. But Dane performed with energy and zest in honor of his parents, who were his biggest fans, and even included them in his routine. He called the show his "therapy."
One of the best parts of the show in fact, was about how Dane's parents got to see the good part of his fame (such as the packed arenas) but not the bad. Which would include the haters that come along once you're a celebrity. Dane had me both laughing and cheering him on as he recounted stories on that issue (I won't give away any of the jokes).
And what he revealed, to me at least, was that he has a HUGE heart. This is a guy who can crack jokes about the most crude things in one breath, and then turn around and make you laugh about very profound, deep moments from his life. That not only takes talent. That takes guts. And the crowd loved him for it.
More proof of the big heart that lies beneath the animated, boyish exterior: directly in front of me were a group of Marines who yelled out "Oo-rah!" Dane heard them and knew right away they were Marines.
He stopped his act to acknowledge them, thanked them for their service to our country and promised he'd be back in Iraq to perform for the troops as he'd done before...despite having a dog take a chunk out of his arm the last time he was there, lol ("But then I thought, maybe there's a bomb in my arm!" Dane said. "Good dog!")
The jokes Dane tells for ISolated INcident lean heavily toward the sexual. There were less of the type of jokes I love best from him (car alarms and parking garage squeals, the friend nobody likes, don't get on the flight, pickles, etc.), but I was still laughing until I cried. I did hear others commenting on the same thing, though as we left the show so I wasn't the only one who noticed.
One thing that I found funny....the girl next to me visibly tensed up every time he cracked a crude, sexual joke and all I could think was, "What are you even doing here? Don't you know what Dane Cook is all about?!"
Seriously, if you're that easily offended you do not want to go to a Dane Cook show. Everyone else around me was in hysterics, though. I think the girl might have been brought to the show as a date by the guy she was with. Man did he read her wrong if that's the case!
If you're a Dane Cook fan, you know that nothing is too offensive and nothing is off limits for him - politics, racism, and even the death of his own parents were all part of his act. Which just proves that humor is what makes Dane tick and if you have an open mind and a good sense of humor, you will totally get him.
And if you get him, and you have the opportunity to see his show, you're going to have the time of your life:
I'm a homeschooling mom of three and I've been married to my husband Rob for 20 years. I have two fur babies: a bunny (Skippity) and my gorgeous Bichon Frise (Sophie). Learn more about me here!
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