let the summer concerts commence

if you don't stalk my real life & blog life bff, rachel, over at sunshine & sinatra, well you're fucking doing it wrong. & by it I mean life. yes, you're doing life wrong. anyway, that bitch has always got my back. we've been friends since the ancient times of middle school and through the rough & always inevitably awkwardness that comes with that.

we recently became close again & share a similar interest in day drinking & of course, summer concerts. she is my go-to concert gal, & if you don't stalk my insta, again doing it wrong, then you wouldn't know what concerts we've been up to lately.

towards the end of april we attended a free (my favorite word) concert of one of my favorite OG myspace-days artists, MIA. the concert was basically a huge dance party & was super fun. drinking in the car beforehand & basically stumbling my ass into the venue is & was always a plus.

last weekend we attended a classic, Ray LaMontagne. I've been a ray fan since I first bought my jeep wrangler back in '11 and fell in love with driving around with the top off while blasting, skinny dipping, & hey me, hey mama. good ass memories to those songs off-roading in the pine barons with good people, exploring, & photographing.

anyway, the two of us went & it was pretty dope, except the fact that that asshole didn't play either song. in other words, I left pretty butt hurt.

for good measure, heres a flashback to dave matthews tailgate circa '11.
"trashed & alone: a memoir" by me.
also, when I get drunk, that is my face. in. every. picture.

this weekend we have plans to attend another classic in my book, dave matthews band. I've loved them for a long time & have gone to basically every recent concert they've performed here in Philly since '08. they always put on a great show & I always get wasted. whats there not to enjoy? unfortunately, I was attempting to make a typed list of my favorite dmb songs for you guys to enjoy, but I just can't pick a few. theres a dave song for any occasion & you just can't go wrong. I will say that I am not a fan of his new album that came out in 2012. stick to the classics. I don't ever listen to that one.

let the motherfucking summer concert season commence.
I've already got my sunscreen lathered, natty ice chilled, & red cup ready.

Lately in Philadelphia

Life has been pretty hectic lately. The warm weather is finally inspiring me to leave me couch for once and go outside. Having an opportunity to go and explore Philadelphia has been lovely. Not to mention all of the events that Philadelphia offers in the spring/summer have been starting and they're pretty awesome!

Every month Old City takes place in an event called First Friday. Local artists line up on 2nd St between Arch and Market streets and display their work. The local galleries and shops are open later too. A lot of galleries have openings the night of first friday, which means wine… for free. Obviously the best part - other than looking at art.

I also recently stumbled on an event that took place on Friday too: Movies under the Stars & Stripes. The Betsy Ross House is putting on really lame, cheesy movies from the 50s and 60s every first Friday too. Admission is $5 each and its BYOB. I saw Plan 9 from Outer Space this past Friday and with a half a bottle of wine in me it was pretty decent and more hilarious with the special effects utilized for the time.

Phantogram

Saturday I was lucky enough to catch the last act at the 104.5 Summer Block Party at the Piazza at Schmidts in Northern Liberties. I missed CHVRCHES and Cherub but did catch Phantogram! The concert series takes place once a month and is always free. I'm excited to go and dance to whoever is appearing at the rest of their summer series.

Obviously if you can't tell the only things it takes for me to attend events is free/cheap and alcohol. Philadelphia has been delivering on both of my two requirements and its been awesome. Come hang out in Philly and enjoy all the cool events that have been happening lately!

Here's What I'm Listening To:

The Mother We Share - CHVRCHES

&

Gun - CHVRCHES

No Habla Espanol

I'm sure everyone remembers what it was like to have your parents nag you the minute the school bell rang for summer break to get a job. Thanks to child labor laws I was spared the nagging until at least middle school, where my parents promptly decided that a 13 year old should be allowed to join the workforce. Although I'm sure that it is still illegal for a child of that age to be employed, my parents disregarded it and were shoving me out the door to apply for any and every job at the shore resort town where we spent our summers. When all the employers scowled at me when I asked for an application, I was extremely thankful for the laws of our country and was spared another year to bask under the summer sun without having to worry about slaving myself for minimum wage. 

Don't fret because the next summer it was the same agenda again and I was out searching high and low for any job that would hire a barely legal worker. Unfortunately the sketchiest Mexican restaurant on the island determined I was acceptable enough for their summer crowds. The owner promised me under the table payments and off the books so I didn't have to worry about getting taxed, but also he didn't have to worry about paying me anything close to minimum wage. My parents were excited to get me out of the house and actually accomplishing something, so of course they were supportive on my new, highly illegal, position. 

My first day I was shown the "ropes" of the restaurant business and basically instructed to do everything. I was to bus tables, clean the tables promptly after the customers were finished, clean the restaurant before and after close, bring all of the outdoor seating in and out before and after closing, answer the phones, and the best of all, take the orders…. in Spanish. Of course they had to be written in Spanish, the only language I had managed to spend absolutely zero of my brain cells on learning in school and failed. They had to be written in Spanish because the illegal immigrants cooking the damn food couldn't understand what the customers were ordering. For those of you who think I might just be a racist asshole, no, really, they were really illegal. Most often people ordered an item on the menu but got some variety of what the actual order was… "Oh okay chicken burrito with no lettuce or cheese?" Okay… fuck. "pollo burrito no lettuce no queso" The workers in the back would come to me and speak some form of Spanglish to try to ask me what lettuce was and I would just have to point. Maybe the customer ordered a beef chimichanga? Honestly, 9 times out of 10 they probably got chicken because I still to this day have no clue what beef is in Spanish. I wish I could feel a slight bit of remorse for the restaurant but the prices were outrageous, the food was mediocre, and I was basically slave laboring myself out for barely $5 an hour.

I proceeded to work there almost every day for two months. Of course I barely made any money, spent all of my time there, fucked up every order, and was exhausted at the end of everyday for busting my ass.  That quickly came to a close after I received one of the sketchiest phone calls in my life, telling me to "not come in for awhile" because "the state is inspecting the restaurant and because you're not officially on the books it would just not be a good idea…" I decided that maybe the best idea would be to just never to go back. Adios motherfuckers. I received a phone call a few weeks later from the owner telling me the "coast was clear" but I ignored that call from my Tommy Bahama beach chair faster than I ignore my self-esteem at a Taco Bell drive-thru. 

Summertime Sadness

It's about that time of year again when the cold just gets to be too much and I begin to get way too nostalgic for summer...

(Stupid at Slightly Stoopid)

I'm seriously going through some outdoor concert withdraw right now. Tailgating in the hot summer sun from two to seven in the afternoon is one of the best parts of the summer. Getting to drink outdoors with all of your best friends and random strangers is definitely a top favorite activity of mine. Actually, really anything that involves getting intoxicated in the summer outside is a favorite activity of mine.

(Dizzy-bat enthusiast)

It's exciting knowing that you're going to see some of your favorite music be performed live especially with  some of your favorite people next to you AND while you're wasted?! Awesome. Sometimes just attending the tailgate is good enough for me - any darty (day-party) is a good darty to me. Often I'll find myself at some random event in Camden, NJ in the Campbell's Soup parking lot in the middle of the day in July. Come find me, I'll be shitfaced by 2:30.

(**Note the Campbell's sign**)

(Obviously sober at Jack Johnson)