Sunday, July 15, 2007












I was given the opportunity to volunteer to furlough or to stay on probably another 2 weeks to month or so at work. I had so much to take care of in my personal life, and plans for concerts later in the month and at the beginning of August, so I decided to volunteer. My last day was to be Friday the 13th. Instead, I was able to use annual leave and take Friday off. That meant that the concert I thought I'd have to miss was not out of the question at all. I bought my will call ticket for The Rocket Summer. I've seen Bryce on 4 occasions in the past, and he always gives 100%. He loves Salt Lake City, and Salt Lake City loves him back.
So, I found myself leaving for Salt Lake City a few minutes after 2 p.m. in hopes of arriving by 2:30. I knew it would be a long day. I also was sure I wouldn't be quite the first in line. As it turned out, I took a different street off the exit than I should have, so it took me a bit longer to arrive. But, I made it.
Outside In the Venue (Club Sound), there isn't much shade. Some of us were fortunate to be able to wait near the entrance where there was a little shade. A lot of the day I was half in and half out of the sun. But now and again a small breeze from inside the building would blow out at us and it was very welcome. At one point one of the guys at the venue brought out cups with pitchers of ice water. I'm pretty sure at that point he was our hero. I've seen him around lots before, and he's always a pleasant sort of person. One young man who came a little later than me was spray painting arms with "Do You Feel" (check out The Rocket Summer's myspace to get this one) in your choice of hot lime green or hot pink. A lot of people went along. I wasn't particularly interested. I think I must just be too old for that sort of thing after all. At one point the guy with the stencil told me that I needed to get my arm decorated with Do You Feel or I couldn't go into the show. I declined, said I'd been waiting since 2:45 and I had a ticket so I think I'd get in just fine. LOL
After a trip to the bathroom at the Greyhound station, lots of chatter, getting my digital SLR approved and lots of heat, 6 p.m. finally did arrive and we were let into the venue. Lauralee was able to find a spot near the left side of the stage, but not directly in the front, so I motioned that I was going to the other side. I was able to get a spot along the stage, but about as far to the right as you can get. The window light was the worst I'd seen it. The sun was so bright that I wished I'd have had a hood for the lens with me. But you do what you can do.
Echo Screen played first, and I really enjoyed their set quite a lot. I was pretty sure I was going to like them since I could hear most of their sound check. After they finished playing, Anthony gave away all of his pics, and then some. It made some fans very, very happy and it was pretty cool, really.
Daphne Loves Derby played next, and started out with an acoustic song. It was a good start and another great set. I had seen Daphne Loves Derby a long while ago, and there was one change in personnel since that time. David replaced Jason. As it turns out, another favorite band of mine used to be in a band with David which was kind of cool, imo. I think I was able to get some good shots of David. I don't think I was able to get any of the lead singer because at that time he was standing primarily in really bright sunlight. I could barely even see him through the view finder. I was disappointed in not being able to get much in that regard, but the set made up for it. Another missed opportunity was David's game of paper, rock, scissors with the entire audience. I couldn't get it with the 100mm lens, but he only did it once, so when I swapped lenses, I basically missed it. But it was fun and funny. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Finally Daphne Loves Derby's set came to a close and The Rocket Summer aka Bryce Avery (and band) took to the stage. The whole show, Bryce was wearing this black hoodie and it was making me hot just looking at him. One thing about Bryce is that he puts 110% into his show and has a wonderful stage presence. He usually crowd surfs at least once during the show, and the show in Salt Lake was no exception. It was over too soon, as these things usually are.
After the show, I went over and purchased the cd from Echo Screen, and had my photo taken with them. Then I took Lauralee's photo with them as well. Then I tried to preorder Bryce's cd, but had to go outside to do that, so I purchased a tee and went to see Daphne Loves Derby and more photos and another cd purchase. Then I headed outside and found out I had to have cash for the cd. I was looking for my debit/credit card to no avail, so I had to go back in to look for it. Fortunately, I had it all along, but it was just hiding. LOL I was able to get cash for the cd and preorder, which gave me the great privilege of getting to wait in the autograph line. In the meantime Lauralee and I chatted long with David of Daphne Loves Derby, and nearly missed the line for Bryce. LOL We each had photos take with Bryce, although I almost didn't because the camera had shut off and it took a few tries. Bryce was O.K., but I don't think the security guy loved me much. ;)
Well, the night would have been over, but Lauralee and I were both very thirsty (and I was hungry as well) so we decided to walk over to The Gateway. When we arrived, Ryan Milligan was singing... another mini-concert. The truth is I really like his voice, so I plan to see him again sometime. Laura and I spent forever trying to think of a song he might know and were just thinking of indie bands he probably wouldn't. One gal came up and asked for him to play something from Dashboard Confessionial. He wasn't sure he was ready to play it without messing up. I think the song was called, "Stolen" and I loved it. he didn't mess it up that I could tell. :) I finally requested, "How to Save a Life" by the Fray, and he did know that one, and sang it quite well. So, he impressed me.
We finally found somewhere open, which happened to be Barne's & Nobles and bought some Fiji Water, and a Jones drink. I took a bottle of water back to Ryan and he was just wrapping things up. We chatted a bit, and I asked if he had any original songs and said I'd like to hear them sometime. He plays at the Gateway on Friday nights, so the next time I will be there on a Friday is Aug. 3 for Eisley. Hopefully he'll be there then.
I have lots of pics I'm in the process of uploading, so photos to follow soon.
In the really super strange things category, I just took my camera out of the bag to take out the last storage card to upload pics, and the top of the lens was completely missing. Now I"m puzzled. It's just gone. I didn't smack it on anything, and it's not even there. At least I know what the inside looks like now. The Canon 50mm 1.8 is my favorite concert lens, and this is the second one I've owned. The first one bit the dust just short of it's 1 year anniversary. I dropped it back in October at the House of Blues, and since I saw what looked like a piece broken inside, I figure it was probably my fault so I ordered another. The lens is only about $80 new, which compared to my other lenses is quite inexpensive, but it's not exactly chump change either. Not sure how I will explain this one. LOL I wonder if that is covered under warranty?
At any rate, that's my strange and wonderful Friday the 13th.
On to the next adventure. ;)
--Melanie

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