#but I've never been to a concert before and he's literally my favorite artist. i want to experience something for ONCE.

[liazrad]

trying to stay fed with only the money i get from art commissions is actually so fucking rough like all the business i was getting instantly died once my June sale ended. i have 8 cents left and am surviving on crackers and poptarts.

[misthxshira]

Swamp Con

★★★★★

Swamp Con was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. Honestly, I had thought that since it wasn't something big other conventions I've been to it wouldn't be all that, but I was so wrong for thinking that. I had invited some friends up from UCF to attend the con with me and they were also super impressed. The first thing I want to talk about is the variety of panels and activities that were offered, my friends and I had a hard time choosing what to attend. Something I thoroughly enjoyed about Swamp Con is that it's for college students (mainly) by college students (I think). This meant being able to attend panels you wouldn't normally see at a huge convention (at least I've never seen similar panels). One we were excited for was Rating Muscular Women in Animes but we didn't see in on the schedule day of the con. Saturday morning we went straight to the maid cafe (because there was no way we were missing that), I wasn't sure what to expect but the experience was nice. The maids were so nice and I loved the dance performance. From there my friends and I checked out the artist alley and the vendors. The prints were super cool, and although I didn't personally buy any, one of my friends went home with about 6 prints. I was honestly impressed with the variety of vendors, and I wish I bought a figure this weekend. From there my friends and I took a break from the con to go take a nap and drop off any purchases. Once we went back, we were practically running around reitz trying to see everything we wanted to see. First was the Kpop random dance play, which I was surprised to see a variety of Kpop events. It was cool to see all the dancers perform, I personally never went into the middle because I feel like the way I dance the choreos never compares to other who are actually good. One of the main guys who was always in the middle said he was participating in the dance contest, so my friends and I planned on going to that. But before the dance contest we stopped by the Vocaloid concert, which was also more fun than I anticipated it to be. The hologram machine broke, so we didn't get the full experience but nonetheless my friends and I enjoyed ourselves as if we were at a real Hatsune Miku concert. We did leave early to catch a bit of the dance contest, and I just want to say, I wish I had the confidence and talent to join a dance contest. I loved seeing all the dancers, everyone did so well. We actually did end up watching the guy we wanted to see from the Kpop random dance play and he performed one of my favorite songs. We left the dance contest early as well because we wanted to make it to the Reading Bad Fan Fictions panel. This was another panel that did not disappoint (although I didn't need to be reminded of a certain fic). The way the fan fictions were read along with the fact that people were acting out the story made this such a hilarious panel. My friends and I were dying laughing and we didn't even notice the panel wen't over time. After this, we finished our day at the arcade. I loved the opportunity to play games, such as Taiko No Tatsujin, which we don't normally get to play here. For those who went to the Bad Fan Fiction panel, I will include the detail that my friends and I then got dinner at Taco Bell... We didn't get to experience much of the con on Sunday. We wanted to go to the Kpop photocard trading but overslept and missed the whole thing (so if you want a nightmare version Beomgyu , a Lullaby Yeonjun, or a Manifesto J version Jake photocard please hit my line because I pulled them one too many times (like I literally have 6 Lullaby Yeonjuns)). We checked out the vendors and artists one more time but left after this because I had way too much homework to do.

My whole takeaway from this experience would be that I appreciate the way Cons allow someone to fully indulge in their interests. While none of my friends nor I went in cosplay, I loved seeing everyone else's cosplay. It's always so impressive seeing how people execute these characters' outfits in real life. My favorites were Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle and Gun Devil from Chainsaw Man. At conventions, you're surrounded by people who are just like you, and you know you're not going to be judged for what you're into. I mentioned before I didn't really participate in the Kpop random dance play as to not embarrass myself, but I was doing the choreos in the corner with my friends and this girl was encouraging me to dance in the middle because in the end, no one is judging, everyone is just doing what they love. I wish I hadn't procrastinated my homework all week so that I could've experienced what Sunday had to offer, but overall this weekend left me wanting to attend more cons. Although, I don't think they'll compare to Swamp Con. Swamp Con had its own appeal that other cons don't have, and I will be looking forward to attending next year.

[austinwehaveaproblem]

in a week I'll know if I'm going to see either Taylor swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Joshua Bassett, waterparks or nothing I'm so scared I've been asking to go to concert for months and my mom said yea and we tried for Taylor tickets but it went so wrong did I tell you about that? Then she got an email this week saying this

And then all of my favorite artists announced that they're goin on tour and coming to Denver co

the Josh ones are $75 for admission but I could maybe get m&g which would be wild because if there is like one celebrity I could meet it'd be him he's literally changed my life and perspective of it and is such a sweet person.

The parx and Sabrina admission is $35 ish but I don't feel like going to a parx concert with my mom haha but Sabrina would be a dream!!! And she's finally coming somewhere near me!! But idk btw I've never been to a concert before this would be my first

anyway please pray for me

<|:0 woAAHHhhh. lucky ducky i hope this all works out for u bestie !!! concerts are pretty fun except i've fallen asleep at an embarrassing number of them

[this-is-ally-and-im-confused]

ok i'm gonna try to be as detailed as possible fidkf any boy is fine! so: i'm 22, 5'10, red curly hair, green eyes, blue glasses, plus-size. i'm nonbinary so i use they/them pronouns but i don't mind being called someone's girl or boy :blush: usually i'm in just a long-sleeve shirt, a zip-up and jeans but i do really like to wear cute knee-length dresses with leggings. i also love hats and flowers in my hair, i never got over the flower crown thing. oh and pretty much everything i wear is blue!!

as for personality, i'm really shy when u first get to know me fhkjf bc i've been hurt a lot before. but if you ask me about one of my interests (disney, theater, superheroes, hockey, dolls) i'll literally ramble about it until someone makes me stop. i apologize and put myself down way too much according to my friends... i also try really hard to be a kind person and to make everyone around me happy even if i'm not. i also love physical affection like holding hands and hugs and such, it's my dream to be kissed someday... i'm very much just a disney princess lol.

perfect date... i honestly don't know! i don't love the idea of something like a movie where we don't talk the whole time... maybe like a museum or a bookstore or something? or a zoo or the aquarium! something where you can always focus on learning something if the date doesn't work out. also i would love if they bought or won me a stuffed animal, and maybe something sweet at the end (i have a huge sweet tooth!). or maybe something involving music? not a concert - again, that's way too loud and too much focusing on something other than each other. but if a song that we both like comes on, and we dance... i'd melt into a million pieces.

so, all that said: my favorite teams are the islanders, hurricanes, avalanche n bruins, but i also quite enjoy the devils, stars, and umich! tbh tho whoever u think would work is good with me. thank u sm my dear <3

Hi hi love! Sorry for the delay!

I ship you with….Sebastian Aho.

He’s a sweetheart, puppy dog, and I know he would take good care of you. He loves that you are always dressing comfy because it makes you look so soft. He is also pretty shy at first. So the two of you bond over how quiet you can be when meeting new people. Sepe never minds you rambles or your tangents. And he would never let you feel bad at him. He’s just happy that his person is so fun, create, and interesting.

*woooOo first date time*

It was going to be your first “real” date with Sepe. He had decided after months of debating his feelings–it was time to take you out and make you his. So the two of you geared up to go and see the art exhibit you had waited to see.

The two of you had gotten to the large, art-filled building about 20 minutes early. You waited in line with his hand locked in yours.

Quickly, the two of you were shuffled to the register where you proceeded to grab you admittance tickets. Sepe insisted that he pay. You obliged as long as you got to pay for the “coffee”after the museum.

It didn’t take long for the two of you to make it to the light filled room. Stunning pieces laid out around you. And you looked at Sebastian in awe. The room was mostly empty apart from a few stray couples and people. It was perfect.

As the two of you walked into the museum, sepe brought his arm around your waist (respectfully). He made little comments about the art into your ear, and almost made you cry out of laughter.

“What is with old times artists and painting penises. That can’t be normal.” He whispered as you looked at a particular piece.

Jokes and laughter spilled out of the two of you, and the museum was a bit boring at times–but none of that mattered. You were having fun with Sepe.

After the art exhibit, the two of you went for a long walk and got drinks. Jazz music flooded the streets and Sebastian took it as an opportunity to spin you around like a bad rom-com scene. Overall, it was a great 10/10 first date.

*mini moodboard*

[phoenixvinyl]

I was tagged by @louisinmadrid to choose my favorite all time 9 albums and this was a nightmare and I almost cried (miss you G!!!!).

Anyway here's wonderwall:

-Divinely unispired to a hellish extent by Lewis Capaldi. The best album I've listen to in many years. The lyrics are absolutely perfect (lewis is my favorite lyricist ever alongside Louis and Alex Turner): raw, straight to the heart and with wonderful metaphors. His talent is overwhelming and inmensurable). The album is overall perfect. The lyrics + the melodies + lewis' unique tone: I've never fell in love with an album (and artist) this fast ever. His voice is out of this world and it touches my soul in a way no other artist ever did. Also the album is wonderfully produced, layer by layer, by a great team. Srsly listen to this, he's perfect. Did I mention I love lewis capaldi? I love lewis capaldi and he's a sweetheart and always treats me so so well and that's a plus for me, I can't listen to someone that's a shit and Lewis is an angel. (me @ me we get it you're in love stop talking about lewis capaldi).

-Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves. Well there's a reason it won Best Album of the year. The album is overall great great great. Kacey's voice is beautiful, soothing, goes perfectly with her melodies and the lyrics are great. Also a wonderfully produced album, with the soul of country music that was missing in the mainstream media. Also special mention (bc I love when albums do this) the order of the song is perfect! It builds up the right way for it to flow beautifully.

-Flicker by Niall Horan. I don't know what I was expecting from niall's first solo album but I sure wasn't expecting one of the best albums of the last few years. Niall's voice is beautiful and getting a whole album of it? A blessing. I also love this album because niall is a WONDERFUL lyricist (srsly this song are,, perfectly written), he went exactly for the sound I love the most (thanks niall for the folk) and also this album has a perfect (srsly perfect) production. Layer after layer it was crafted so so perfectly, I applaud the team behind it. Also shout out to niall bc he's just ridiculously sweet and I miss him joking around with @louisandthedagger and me.

-Favourite worst nightmares by the Arctic Monkeys. All the monkeys albums are my favorite albums but I think this /is my favorite/ because it sums up the essence of the band perfectly (also because my favorite song is in there). But really, this counts as all AM albums except the last one. I could go on about production and lyrics (alex turner is my lyricist messiah) but I'd rather be sappy here and say this was the first band I was ever a fan of, the band that made me fall in love with music and they hold such a bright spot in my heart and soul. It's been it, 14 years now? I love you guys, forever. (since I'm sharing meeting stories, Alex and Matt are angels and they were the first people I met as a fan and I was ridiculously nervous and young and treated me so well and with so much love. I!!! Love!!! Them!!!).

-the black parade by my chemical romance. Anyone surprised I'm an emo kid?. Pretty much the same I said with AM. All Mcr albums are my favorites and they are very special to me. Mcr was my first fandom and I love them dearly. I chose this one because I think it has some of the songs that had the biggest emotional impact on me till this day (also, my favorite song is there). Love them lots lots lots.

Made in the AM by One Direction. My favorite 1D album that also has my favorite song! Also I think louis shines so so much here as the mastermind lyricist he is. I think this is the best album and it will always be ridiculously important to me not only because it's my favorite but bc it's meaning within the band. A band that gave me literally everything, the best friends, the best memories, the best adventures, a job fjdkdkd but srsly the most important will always be the amazing friends for life I made thanks to them and I'll always be so thankful for that. My band. I love you forever and always. I miss you every day, every single one. I love you. (also since I met harry and niall can I meet Liam and louis someday thanks @god).

-what's the story morning glory? By Oasis. Even though my favorite oasis songs are not in this album but in Be here now, I do think this is their best album, both lyrics and production wise. It's really solid and the built up is great (also some of their greatest hits are in this one). Thank you harry and louis for the Oasis reunion you'll achieve cheers I'll be very happy. aaaalso I know their media image is shit and has been their brand for years but I've worked with both of them as solo artists more than once and they are both very nice and very kind. Liam even more so than Noel. Liam was actually really funny and sweet with me, signed my stuff - even tho he didn't have to cause we were working- and even talked about one direction with me. I stan.

-the 1975 by the 1975. I love all their albums but this is my favorite one by far. The lyrics are the best here, raw, proper the 1975 essence (although with the years the production got better bc money!!!) and it was also the album that made me fall in love with this band and, just like in all my other fandoms, I've meet friends for life thru them and I'm very thankful. They are one of my favorite three bands and I love them so, so much. As for the meeting story this time, I gotta say that I always thought that matty would be a little (very) pretentious and not the coolest with fans and boiii he got me shocked there. He was so sweet to me, so kind, so patient, he was in a rush and told his security to stop and wait just to keep talking to me (because I was telling him about our fan club in Argentina) and he was so sweet and thankful. An absolute angel, all of them, I'll never forget meeting them bc it was beautiful (also I saw matty again this year at Leeds at he told me 'wow we look like shit in this picture' (we do fjfkdkos) I love him).

-multiply (✖) by Ed Sheeran. Again all Ed's albums are my favorites (my favorite song is actually in Plus) but I think this is - production wise- the most solid one and the one with the better build up. The mixing is wonderfully made, if flows perfectly and well I don't have to say ed is a genius writer but ed is a genius writer. Although as much as I love love love listening to him, he's one of my favorite people to see live because it actually blows my mind every fucking time that it's just him and a guitar giving a full on absolutely perfect show and performance. He's one of a kind and fun fact# the artist I've seen the most live on concert (although that will change now with lewis' new tour). Also shout out to Ed for the free beers he gave us in leeds and Ipswich this year. Love him.

Also what the fuck is this essay the music journalist pr jumped out. It is what it is I talk about music for a living folks fjdkwksl and music is my life and getting a little deep# here I'm just so thankful for music in general (songs, shows, fandoms): music saves lives every day and it's moving and beautiful.

SPECIAL MENTION TO MY FAVOURITE ALBUM EVER:

Before I start crying because I had to leave some albums out I'm gonna tag some people I love so they get a headache like me! But everybody is tagged just do it if you're bored.

@louisandthedagger @lt1grammy @louistomlinsonyear @emohl @rosesau @tomlinsun @curlyhairedprince @thegankles @sunflowrlouis @kissyhl @theystudyrainbows @buscandoelparaiso @tofiveohfive @givemewalls @chinny-chiin-chins @actionlou @suburbanlarrie @nexttxyou ❤️❤️❤️.

[lady-strange-i-dont-want-youu]

Thank you so much for the Platinum Blonde recs!! I listened to a little bit of both albums last night and I'm very impressed! My favorite song that I've heard so far is Crying Over You, that one is so good I had to listen to it a couple more times today. You're so right when you say music is made with creativity and drive, it seems like quite a few artists aren't 100% educated musically but they don't really need that - all they need is that drive! I wasn't expecting you to be so excited about the harmonica idk why 😂 I just smiled so much reading that. I'm not the best but I can play "mary jane's last dance" and "you don't know how it feels" (both tom petty songs) and I learned just a little bit of bob dylan's "like a rolling stone" and the beatles' "I should have known better" but that's about it lol. I can play harmonica just well enough that it doesn't sound like a dying cat y'know 😂 I DO have a ton of band merch actually. I have 4 posters - two of them are def leppard (one from 1988 and one from 1980), one is slash, and one is metallica. I also have two framed photographs now, one is stevie nicks and the other is tom petty. I have way too many band shirts to count - a few are guns n roses, alter bridge, bon jovi, dokken, pink floyd, two are def leppard, like 5 of them are the beatles, one is tom petty and the heartbreakers, I could go on but those are my very favorites. I also have a guns n roses lighter I lifted off my mom haha! It doesn't work anymore but I keep it because it looks cool. More recently I've gotten a pack of replicated signed photographs of the beatles that are scattered around my room and my little brother got me tom petty buttons from the wildflowers album for my birthday which was so sweet. I keep those on my dresser so I can see them everyday. I also actively collect cds and tapes. Most of the tapes I have come from my mom honestly 😂 and I've been buying myself cds for a few years now. And I know I keep mentioning him but my current goal is to collect every single tom petty cd there is - so far I have six of them and I'm pretty proud of that. Now a question for you: Have you gone to any concerts and are there any bands you'd really want to see live? -❄

Ouuuu! I'm glad you liked! Crying over you is A BANGER (definitely throw that song in the same playlist as Bon Jovi you gave love a bad name) And with the musical education it sometimes helps but I think (correct me if im wrong) music education is for those symphony orchestras, the drive is you practice practice practice and work hard for what your imagination comes up so it can be ✨reality✨ i went to my friends place since HE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN PLAY DRUMS and me and him did a play through of the song im working on for my single AND MAN I WAS SO HAPPY like he's in a band himself and gives me tips but thankfully i wasnt performing because i sometimes would mess up or forget i had my fingers on G chord😂 but i find the harmonica super cool though and over time you'll be better than before! It literally amazes me like you're the first person i know now who plays harmonica! HOLY THATS ALOT OF MERCH i wanna get one led zepplin, ratt, europe and 2 def leppard posters but i'm just waiting till i move out that way i wont have to deal with taking them down because my tapestries are enough already😂😅 I sadly never went to a concert (i mean i guess that aint true i went to my friends bands gig and my ex is part of the band oops) but FAMOUS WISE i wish to see def leppard but im too poor to go to the states to see them😔 europe i want to go and see too.. mötley crüe would prob be wild😂 how about you? Did you see any of your fav bands concerts or who do you wish to see live?!

[rndyounghowze]

An Interview with John D. Smitherman Part 2/2

By Ricky Young-Howze

Welcome back to part two of our interview with Broadway Theatre of Pitman Artistic Director John D. Smitherman. In this installment he talks about a key difference between the audiences of today and the dinner theater crowds of yesteryear and why his relationship with his team is the most important.

“Everything has become quick. Movies used to be three hours long now a movie is just under two hours long if that. And I really don't think people want to be in one place for that length of time. Because if you think about it in dinner theater it's not just an hour you're there for an hour and a half with dinner the way it's all set up and then you have a show that could be two and a half hours long when you add the intermission and so you've been in someplace for four hours. It's almost too much. I've found that people would actually prefer, like say using this theatre as an example, they would rather go to a restaurant across the street or down the street or whatever and then coming over because they have at least gotten up and changed location.”

He’s very quick to offer up examples.

“I’ll give you two things with one show. We did Camelot, our audiences were looking forward to Camelot. But our audiences also did not remember that Camelot when done as is is over three hours long. You add the intermission then suddenly it's four hours long. So that was my first quest, to cut down this classic, and I was able to so that when we were done with intermission we were done in two and a half hours.

John uses a very simple philosophy when it comes to creating a season.

“You also have to do what the people want. I'm sorry that's my thought. you can have shows, and I know that there are plenty of shows out there, that they pound a message to you and those audiences will go to those. But if you know your audience is not that type of an audience and that they just like theatre and they want to go home humming tunes and be happy or whatever then that's what you give them. This is my seventh year and when I got here we had about 4,000 subscribers and now we have 8,000 and so it's doubled in that amount of time. I think it's because of the shows. We’re giving them what they want and they tell a friend. Also the quality of the production.”

But sometimes giving an audience what they wanted is a double edged sword. Sometimes they like a song or a soundtrack more than the musical themselves. When we said that we loved John Stephan's production of Evita Smitherman was ready with yet another story.

“Now it's interesting that it happened to be Evita because Evita was one of those mixed shows for us. It didn't do as well as we thought it would. Our audiences said they wanted to see Evita but then once we presented it to them I think our audiences knew the one song (“Don't Cry For Me Argentina”) and then they see the concept of how the show actually is they were confused by some of it and and it just wasn't really their cup of tea. So we really didn't do well. It wasn't horrendous but didn't do well with Evita and that's one of the few examples I can give.”

But how does he get the info from the audience? We were imagining a call center or a survey manned by a huge team but Mr. Smitherman is just really in tune with his audience.

We don’t do surveys but I have an open door policy. I’m always very accessible so people come up to me and they’ll give me their suggestions on what should be done and what they’ve liked and that’s the main thing. I see what works.

He emphasizes heavily the role the owner, his general manager, staff, and tech team have in keeping the theater running. He doesn’t want it to seem like it was a one person job and he descended on the scene like some kind of demagogue to turn things around. The theatre was very strong when he got there and he leaned heavily on his team when he first got in.

“When I got here the general manager was my only source of input. He would say what has worked and what has not worked and I’ve worked from that.. When I can because it’s not always one hundred percent my [call] I do have the owner of the place, the general manager, and board people that we have to go through before we can actually have a finalized season and such.”

It takes a village to make a season and a lot of his stories start with the group supporting him and trusting him to take the theatre in new directions. Over the years they got in a rhythm together. During the interview his director is texting him to ask if he wants coffee while he’s out. He stops the interview when his interview walks in to make sure everything is alright with the upcoming matinee. You can tell that he has an army of staff behind him and he trusts them greatly.

“We wouldn’t do it if we were one hundred percent sure it was not going to work but there were some that we were nervous about. It’s funny one of the first years I was here I suggested Jekyll and Hyde so that we could start bringing in some of the younger audience but it would still be appealing to our older audience. I literally had to fight to get that show. I was confident that when they saw this production, because I really love Jekyll and Hyde because it was my favorite role, I knew that they would like it. But then of course as time got close to performing it, the production, I was like ‘Oh man they're not going to like it.’ So that one I was like nervous about but it ended up being one of the most successful shows in the history of this theater.”

“So it’s these things you have to take the chances on but then there’s been things I’ve been surprised. 39 Steps is basically a comedy version of all of [Alfred Hitchcock's] movies with a clear storyline played by four characters who all played multiple roles. I thought that they would all get it and find the humor. But they hated it. The audience hated it. So that was a rough one. If the people hung through to the end it was fine but there were so many of them that they were leaving in droves.”

Those are the breaks right? He takes it all in stride. Since he's done a lot of theatre he knows how to pick a show based on what he's seen work before.

“Not all shows translate to different theaters. When I was first given the information of what the age group our audiences are and this is what they’ve liked in the past and so forth there were certain things. I've done South Pacific a hundred thousand times, that to me is a no brainer, we’re going to do South Pacific. They hadn't done it yet so let's do it. And it did really well. I also know there are shows I’ve done before that will never work here. Prom Queens Unchained? It’s not going to work here.”

We couldn't believe that we had been sitting there for fifty minutes without really asking about his upcoming show. He had us entranced for the whole time. We finally got to ask him the all important question: What does the title mean?

“It's My Broadway in general because if we just did what I did in Manhattan it would just be a ten minute concert so it's spanning all of the stuff that I’ve done here and there. It's encompassing all of the leading roles that I've done both internationally, and Broadway, and here, the United States and so forth.

This isn't the first kind of show that he's done before.

“I've done “Music of the Night” that one was more of a variety of things because I love so many different types of music. Like I like Tom Jones, some of the Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Mario Lanza, those type of things, but then feature the Phantom stuff because everyone loves Phantom of the Opera.

Alas the director and hopeful auditionees for The Pajama Game were waiting to use the space so we had to call it a day. But it wasn't over yet. John invited us to enjoy Aida, their show that just closed. We decided this was a good chance to explore John's city that he loves so much and eat at Stage Right, the wine bar attached to the theater. John magically appeared onstage before the show even after a busy day to greet the audience. We have no idea how he does it all. You can see him do a lot of it on June 8 when his one man show My Broadway hits the stage for one night only. This is a man most beloved by the staff and subscribers of this theatre. You had better get your tickets now on their website.

[la-appel-du-vide]

09•20•18 - 09•23•18

Vegassss the SEQUEL baby!

Two weekends in Vegas in a row is FINE by me. (: This week's event? iHeartRadio! ❤️ After last year, we knew it would be a fun tradition. This time, it was me, Beach and Kena.

Kena and I headed down on Thursday night. Beach had to stay home for work until Saturday. It was Kena and I's first road trip in a while, but we fell right back into the swing of things. Between talking and singing along to all of the throwbacks, time flew by. We made it to St. George in record time, and then got caught up in 45 minutes at McDonald's waiting for subpar fries. Regrets, but also so funny. 😂

We made it to Lisa's around midnight, and headed to bed. (Side-note: Lisa's guest bed has the most amazing comforter. 😍 It's like sleeping on a cloud. I want one so bad. It's my favorite part of staying at her house!) On Friday, we got up and ready, and went over to the Neon Boneyard. I always try to do something new in Vegas every time I go, and this was the big one this trip. The Neon Boneyard is a a place where any old Vegas signs from the Strip go when they are retired. It was so cool to see all the old signs and lights. And it made for some amazing photos as well. The only issue was the 102 degree weather! ☀️☀️ We had to keep taking breaks from the unforgiving sun by hanging out in the adorable gift shop. I would definitely recommend this place.

After the Neon Boneyard, we stopped by the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign to take our traditional photos. Then we made yet another stop at the Seven Magic Mountains. (Kena's never seen them, but at this point, I've been like 10 times hahaha.) She also loved them, of course. We even took some photos of me sitting on her shoulders, and I'm just wildly impressed by her ability to stand up with me sitting on her! She got claps from strangers around us haha.

Then we had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, and did some shopping. Such a perfect day in one of my favorite cities. 

On Saturday, we got up and got ready for the music festival. We went to pick up Brady from the airport, and she told us that she had forgotten her ticket for the concert. She kills me haha, I had texted her to remind her, but also had told Kena that I was 98% sure she would forget it anyway. I should have gone to pick it up from her house beforehand. So poor Beach had to sit for seven hours waiting for us, because she couldn't get in. Life lesson - If you're going to a concert, remember your ticket!

The concert was moved to a different location this year, given the tragedy that took place a year ago at the original location. This one had zero shade, so that was rough. The nice part was, there weren't as many people here this year. We had a lot of space to go in and out, and didn't feel as much pressure to keep our spot at the front. I didn't know as many of the artists this year, but I was still excited.

Highlights were 5 Seconds of Summer, Dua Lipa, Bazzi, Logic, and Dustin Lynch. Dua Lipa was probably my favorite though. The girl is SASSY. Watching her perform was so fun. She really put on a show, and gave off great vibes. I liked her stuff before, but I'm a big fan now.

This may be the literal hottest I've ever been though. We were just standing in the sun, with no protection. It was over 100 degrees. We were surrounded by people. I was honestly pouring sweat. It was disgusting haha. When artists came on-stage that we weren't interested in, we would walk back to a little patch of shade a ways off, and just try to cool down for a few minutes. Taking breaks also made it so that my back and feet didn't suffer like they did last year.  

The worst thing that happened to me that day: During one of our shade breaks, I looked up and noticed a woman I was pretty sure was Brandi Cyrus literally 10-feet away from us. I pointed her out to Kena, and we were both pretty certain that it was her. She was wearing sunglasses, but it looked just like her and she was in an outfit I was sure she'd wear. I second-guessed, and didn't go up to her for fear of it being just a random stranger. Well, she walked away, and I later saw on her Instagram, a post of her at the concert IN THAT OUTFIT. IT WAS LITERALLY BRANDI CYRUS 10 FEET FROM ME, AND I DIDN'T GET A PICTURE?!?? ARE YOU KIDDING. I'm so upset. How did I miss my opportunity to talk to a Cyrus. I'm crushed. I tweeted about how sad I was, and she actually tweeted me back, so I guess that's cool. Anyway, it's still too soon to talk about this. 😭😭😭

After the concert, we went to meet Beach and go get dinner. (Poor girl, I feel so bad she had such a boring day.) Then Beach really wanted to try her hand at gambling. So we went to the Bellagio, and she played one round of blackjack. She lost, but it was fun to watch haha. Now she wants to go to Wendover, and play on some cheaper tables. We did all get to play some slot machines though. We had no idea what we were doing. But we each ended up getting the chance to cash out for like $0.25. Wooooooo, big winners. (; 🎰🎰🎰

On Sunday, we went to the other Las Vegas waterpark, Wet N Wild. We needed a day of relaxation after the stress our bodies went through at the concert. The water felt AMAZING. They had this one slide called the Rattler, and it was a blast. All three of us got to sit in a raft, and we'd go down these big hills into these spheres, and just get constantly soaked. We laughed the whole time and loved it. There were a lot of fun slides! And again, hardly any people were there. We also loved lounging in the lazy river, and just relaxing. I'm obsessed with the water and summer and whyyyyyy does it have to get cold.

I could have stayed there all day long. Kena was a little stressed about getting home early enough to get sleep before work, so we ended up leaving at about 3:30. We made record time getting home as well - girl is SPEEDY and it's impressive hahaha. It was a pretty easy ride home. (:

Missing Vegas already this week.... The city is a party and a half. You just gotta know how to do it right (;

Also quotes to remember:

"I'm Logic, and I represent one thing: peace, love and positivity.""That's 3 things..."

*at Kate Spade*"I LOVE THAT BACKPACK""It's $398""Ohhhhh perfectttttt"

*walking past a sunglasses kiosk at Caesar's Palace*"Laddiiesssss, meooooow!""He must know you're a cat person."

[rivetgoth]

3 4 8 !!

Thank youuuuuu 😭

3. Name five artists you wish more people knew about.

I answered this one before but I'm happy to do more 😈

Male Tears (I feel like I've talked people's ears off about this band already, but omg, I looooove them, they are such a fun electronic/goth modern act where the frontman is openly gay and a lot of their songs touch on that specifically and are about being a kinky gay goth guy, seriously so fun and has a lot of diversity in the music)

Spike Hellis (another local LA band, very classic EBM throwback but totallyyyy has their own stuff they're bringing to the table, really really fun and an amazing liveshow-- I've seen them three times and I hope to see them again!! Just awesome energy and totally deserving of more attention)

ACTORS (another band I've talked a lot about, but I'm just so surprised that of all the recent darkwave throwback bands they seem to get a bit less attention than some of the others? They are so good, their music is so nostalgic in such a good way, they have just a bit of a glam/Bowie influence IMO that gives them a bit more variation IMHO than some of the other big darkwave acts I've heard, I just really really love them)

Cocksure (OMG where is the love for this act? It's Chris Connelly of RevCo/Ministry/Pigface and Jason Novak of Acumen Nation!! It's super fun and dancey and it gets noooo attention for some reason, their 2018 album "Be Rich" Is PERFECT)

Curse Mackey (Curse my friend Curse 🖤 I have been such a massive fan of his solo work since his first album “Instant Exorcism” from 2019, though I liked this work before that too, but his solo work is just amazing, super fun electronic industrial music with a lot of danciness to it and amazingggg lyrics, you can hear a lot of ohGr inspo which I love and I feel like his newest album from this year, "Immoral Emporium," is his best work yet, so much variation and complexity in some of those tracks, I looove)

4. Top shows you have seen.

Omg EVER? That's a hard one, I've seen so many good shows, but off the top of my head...

For sure my favorite ever was probably when I went to Cold Waves Chicago in 2018 and saw Cocksure, Lead Into Gold, Chemlab, and ohGr all on the same night! That was seriously the best lineup I have ever seen in my entire life. It was such a magical night and I just remember hearing "Faster Than Light" by Lead Into Gold and looking around and seeing EVERYONE there in the birthplace of American industrial music in the theatre where a lot of it happened and everyone was singing along all hype, it was the perfect industrial anthem. That was also the second time I ever got to meet Ogre... the first time, when I saw him with KMFDM in 2017, was also a huge fucking highlight though, amazing fucking show and also just a lifechanging moment in general 🥺🖤

From this year alone, probably my very favorite concert so far was seeing IAMX. I think I talked about it at the time but Chris Corner did this amazing thing with his sound where he gave everyone a pair of fancy headphones to wear during the show. I was apprehensive at first worried that it would muffle the sound or make the show less immersive but OMG, I've never experienced anything quite like it-- The sound was PERFECT, Chris connected the audio in the headphones to his microphone so you could hear his vocals so clean and clear, it was like you were right up in front of him, it was so immersive and literally the best audio of any show I have ever heard. It was in a cool venue up on the rooftop of an old building in DTLA, super small audience, it was so intimate and so original and so cool and the setlist was to die for too :D

And finally..... probably seeing Ministry for the showing of the Wax Trax! Industrial Accident documentary. They did a Wax Trax-era set back in 2019 and it was just so fucking fun. Everyyyyyyyyy industrial fan in LA showed up to that I swear, I was around so many people and met so many amazing people and the show was just so fun and high energy, Ministry sounded great and I was so excited to hear all those songs and just UGHH.

8. What is the strangest thing you’ve witnessed at a show?

HMMM... I don't know if this is the very strangest because it's hard to remember every single detail, but a concert moment that always makes me laugh was back when I saw supposed to see Die Krupps perform at Cold Waves but last minute they weren't able to get their visas. Nobody really announced it properly (they literally made a post about it the day of, so a lot of people didn't know, we only knew because we got to the venue super early and were talking with all the other insane people in line who were obviously paying attention to the updates because we were crazy enough to be at the show hours early lol). They ended up replacing them with the band Caustic who are a super fun kinda goofy local Chicago act. When they got on stage to perform at the time when Die Krupps was supposed to, the frontman was like "What's up Cold Waves, we're Die Krupps!" before playing their set LMAOOOO. They never corrected themselves or properly introduced themselves as far as I remember, it was so fucking funny, to this day I wonder if anyone who wasn't in the know thought they actually saw Die Krupps 😭😭

[Music Asks]