Club Hollywood
So, we took MJ to what I think will be our last show with him on the day before Valentines and I’ve been really slack about putting these pictures up for you guys. MJ keeps reminding me he can’t do it himself, because he has flippers not fingers dammit, so here I go.
Kelsey and I headed to Augusta to Club Hollywood with our arms loaded full of gifts and MJ and our pockets loaded with money for merch.
However, someone at the door was an idiot because they didn’t let people in by checking a ticket or something like at a usual venue. Instead they had a long list of people’s names and were checking them off one by one as they came through the doors. This means that we were waiting in line long enough to miss the first two acts. You can imagine our disappointment, but MJ kept up his usual sharky smile. Nothing ever gets him down.
Luckily we got in because it started to lightly rain and we really didn’t want to be damp for the show. The first act was VersaEmerge and we’d missed them, but we did get some pictures with the guys afterward, so here’s MJ grinning like he does when he meets band members.
Mini Jizzle and Jerry Pierce
(After I take this pic, a girl in the crowd leans over and points at MJ and says, “Is it bad that I know what that is?” So, in a sense MJ is famous. People at shows recognize him.)
Mini Jizzle and Blake Harnage
Mini Jizzle and Devin Ingelido (I think it’s obvious, but this kid loved MJ.)
Mini Jizzle and Anthony Martone
Mini Jizzle and Sierra Kusterbeck (She’s stealing him.)
We got in to catch a song or two from There For Tomorrow before they left. It sounded decent, but the entire show that evening didn’t sound great so I imagine the performance could have sounded stellar in a better venue. (If you can’t tell, this place wasn’t our cup of tea, but alas, beggars can‘t be choosers.)
We could only find two of the There For Tomorrow boys, but I imagine us and MJ will probably all get another chance to run into them in the future so no one was too bummed.
Nice boys though and Maika thought it was a great idea to bring a shark to a show.
MJ and Maika Maile
MJ and Christian Climer (and poor Christian was so very sick. Luckily after this he had three days off at home with his mommy.)
Now, I love The Maine and so I was like, “YAY!” and I called busy_living during the show because she loves The Maine too. And MJ loved them and meeting them afterward because even though I made MJ wait around so we could talk to them (for a really long time) it was totally worth it. We found out lots of cool things- like Pat has two personalities (no seriously, the other is named Sean and Garrett said he can tell the difference from across the room without talking to him to find out*) and that Kennedy is becoming lactose intolerant and it makes him very sad.
MJ and Kennedy Brock (who is totally underappreciated and loved that we brought them hard candies like Nerds and Jawbreakers because of aforementioned lactose intolerance). He’s usually pretty quiet, but he came alive when MJ tried to bite him. (No one in bandom seems to understand that MJ is a veg!shark.)
MJ and Garrett Nickelsen
MJ and Jared Monaco (I don’t even know what that bug/alien thing is on his head. Jared‘s crazy.)
MJ and John Ohh (Ugh, fuzzy. Sorry.)
MJ and Pat Kirch (who is way too cute for words, imo.) I have another one, but it’s not as clear, however it is too entirely cute not to share, so here’s the link, at least.
http://i41.tinypic.com/dlp0ue.jpg
Maybe MJ went to a We The Kings meet and Greet just so he could meet them again. Hunter and Travis remembered him from dinner in Atlanta so he should feel special.
Danny got to see him this time. Hunter and Drew are holding MJ’s friends Gary and Billiam.
And, of course, the real reason this show was so awesome: family.
MJ and Cash (Bonus: Sonny)
As soon as the Cab set was over, Cash didn’t even go backstage. He walked right off the stage and through the crowd and to the merch table. We were the second people over there and so when we told him about MJ and he took him, the sweat was still dripping from dear Cash’s body and big, wet, sweaty spots got all over MJ. I figured on the rare occasion that someone thought we needed another Cash Colligan in this word, they could always extract the DNA from MJ and clone him (however, this is far from recommended. I mean, it’s Cash.)
MJ and Marshall
Now, Marshall is a sweet guy, but the little dude’s voice can’t be heard over the sound of The Maine playing on stage a few feet away, so it took three tries before I understood what he was asking, but he asked how old MJ was. I guess my face looked confused because he corrected, “I mean, like- how many shows has he been to?” Kelsey said he’d been to three and Marshall’s reply was pretty cute. “Oh, so he’s a baby shark!”
So now Mini Jizzle is “the baby!shark whom people know from LJ that’s named after that guy in the Cab”.
Also, Kelsey and I thought it was pretty cute that Marshall measured by shows.
This was my first time meeting some of the guys in the Cab too and since Marshall was the one who kind of got me into them two years ago, I thought it was only right to be allowed to fangirl over him a little, thus my picture with him.
MJ and Singer
Remember last time I got tongue tied when I talked to Singer? Well, this time I got so caught up in talking about puppies and his blog and stuff, that I remembered to get a pic with him and MJ, but I completely forgot to get a picture of ME with him!
I fail.
But MJ is happy.
Singer is the only band guy I’ve ever met (and I’ve met somewhere between fifty and a hundred) that manages to get me tongue tied and acting stupid.
MJ and Ian (Look, same face!)
We had to wait for over half an hour to talk to Ian. Jorge who does Stereo Bear was talking to him and we waiting off to the side while Ian, a man of nowhere near that long of an attention span, kept making faces at us and smirking and trying to include us in the conversation.
I didn’t want to interrupt too much though because Jorge was talking about Rock For Health which is an organization that Ian was rightfully interested in after last month’s horrendous food poisoning. (Random info I picked up from the conversation, Ian pays $500 a month for health insurance because he is considered unemployed. Musicians aren't covered because music is not a stable career that offers anything like health insurance. See why we NEED to support Rock For Health? Bands in this scene don't have that kind of money(!) and Ian seemed far from happy with his current situation.)
And of course…
MJ and Johnson.
I didn’t give MJ to Johnson because I knew I was the first person to have this MJ and if I gave him to Johnson then no one else could take him to shows, so I just got a picture and told Johnson about the project to which Johnson, a man of few words, only smiled and nodded and replied with “Cool” and a small happy shrug.
He was very nice, but quiet, which is kind of exactly how I imagined him, but it means that I don’t have a lt to tell you about the experience.
This was my first time meeting Johnson as well, so I think in my picture with Johnson, I probably smiled as big as MJ does.
I also have a crappy phone picture with Mini Jizzle and Sonny, but I'll have to get it off my phone and edit this post tomorrow or something.
The show itself wasn’t great, but I’d met all of those people except WtK before 9:30 and I got to talk to two people about working for them possibly at Crush or Fearless, so I’d say the evening was a complete and total success.
Again, I’m sorry it took so long to post these.
I hope it was worth the wait.
Also, I guess this should be my last show with him.
I have a lot of random pictures with him that I’ll try to post soon, but since I don’t have anymore shows till March and April, then I figured I should probably send him on.
Just tell me where he’s headed, I guess, and I’ll send him on (not without a teary goodbye, but still.)
-Seda* (and Kelsey)
*If you're a Maine fan and interested in The Pat/Sean thing, message me. I talked a good while with them about it, but summed up like it is here, it sounds like I am/they were making it up.