Norfolk 10/23/2011

So law school just about murdered me when I got back from Musical Ride 2011, and its about to murder me again over the next few weeks as I have Finals. But for now, I am going to try to get at least some of these shows blogged about so I'm not insanely behind (even though I just realized exactly a month ago today I was rocking out at the Charlotte show...sigh).

Norfolk was the beginning of the journey, and arguably was the most eventful. My 21st birthday was on October 21st, so the festivities began early. After a night out in Greensboro, Lorin and I woke up early to make the drive to Norva, and even though we got there early the day before, we pulled up to see that nobody was there. This never happens to us, so of course we went looking around for a group of people, but we soon realized we were the first two to arrive. Believe it or not, the fact that I abstained from too much alcohol the night before was 100% worth it when this realization hit. We took our seats on the sidewalk, propped up our sign, and it felt like we were in for a lazy and uneventful day.

We couldn't have been any more wrong.

A number of different venue workers made their way outside and eventually chatted us up, and they thought that we were just super early for the concert that night. Of course when we corrected them and said we were waiting for Hanson, they didn't believe us. Hanson hadn't played the venue, so they weren't used to crazy people getting there so early to wait for a band. Eventually the venue people went in and told the manager about us, and he came out and chatted us up for a while too. It was the typical fascination with us that came next, and for the rest of the day the guys would come out on their breaks and hang out. Not to ruin anyone's hardcore exterior reputation here, but they were the absolute nicest venue people we have met to date.

It didn't take long for Norfolk to show us some interesting people, though. Out of absolutely nowhere, we heard chanting. It was getting louder. I looked to my left and my eyes widened as I was suddenly fearful of getting trampled over - Norfolk's chapter of the Occupy movement was headed straight towards us. People were banging on tins and carrying signs, playing guitars and causing a ruckus. Some stopped to talk to us and tried to convince us to join them, and I just shook my head and commented that we wanted front row a whole lot more than democracy. Some of them weren't pleased with that answer (ha), but eventually they kept coming back to check on us as the day/night wore on, brought us brand new pillows and some extra food just for the heck of it.

Not even ten minutes later, a homeless man came up to us and asked us if we had cigarettes. Lorin pulled one out and handed it to him, and before we knew it he was singing 'Amazing Grace' at the top of his lungs and doing a victory dance up and down the sidewalk in her honor. He went away, and just as we thought everything was about to return to normal, there was a crackhead on a bicycle across the street in the park that attacked a pedestrian. He went flying back into the air, his glasses falling by the wayside, and it was literally surreal to witness it. At about this time I decided to pull the pepper spray out of my purse and have it more readily accessible, but obviously our entire morning was extremely eventful and there was no sign of it slowing down anytime soon.

I was super excited to go across the street for some lunch when the insanity died down a little bit to get a fabulous CPK pizza on honey wheat crust. I walked in the door, which was the back entrance of the mall, and I froze. I was standing and staring at an entrance to Nordstrom. It took every ounce of will for me to direct myself into the CPK and sit still when I was waiting for my order, knowing Lorin was across the street holding down our spots. I was good and behaved, going back to enjoy my pizza and wait to see who else was going to arrive for the night.

I gotta say...there was a point in time that Lorin and I were convinced this was the first show in history that nobody (except us) was going to camp out. The people after us didn't show up until 7-8pm or so, and we knew we were not alone when they drove by blasting 'Where's The Love'. The venue guys were getting worried about it too, that we were the ONLY insane people, even though we assured them that this was normal for a Hanson show. The line for the NOFX show was forming on the other side of the venue, and of course people got a kick out of the fact that we were waiting for Hanson. It was utterly entertaining to be on the outside of this concert, as people were getting thrown out every other minute, others were crowdsurfing, most were drunk, and it was an insanely interesting group of people.

By the end of the show more people had shown up, and a bunch of the NOFX people kept stopping to ask us questions. One of our brilliant friends brought up the idea that we should start charging people for questions, which we did so shamelessly (and actually made a decent amount of money doing so!). Eventually the venue died down and it was time to sleep, which of course I did very little of as I was the one with the list that was woken up each time someone else came (one of my friends described this as the 'call of duty' associated with #1, ha, and I totally agree).

We had the first reservations in the morning for the restaurant, so we ate some food and got in line. It was a decently long day and of course we met some more crazy people. We also saw the same pedestrian that had gotten beaten up the day before by the crackhead on the bicycle, and we asked him if he was okay and got his side of the story in addition to what we had seen. Apparently he had made ugly remarks to the girl he was with and it was in defense of her honor? It was kind of confusing. At any rate, the rest of the day was spent huddling on the sidewalk, climbing on light posts (well, just me), making new friends, bonding with old friends, dealing with the typical line drama, and dreaming about that moment you finally grab onto a barricade and everything suddenly becomes worth it.

According to twitter, these were the highlights of my Norfolk concert experience: "Front row center HELL YES!"..."Some m&g girl comes to me and says I stole her spot. LOL don't leave then, dumbass. I came here 10am yesterday, NO SYMPATHY!"..."Taylor made MMMBop a bit sexy tonight hahaha love it. Speechless!"..."Taylor grabbed and pulled my hand. I froze."...oh, and then there was that time where we went so insane jumping during 'If Only' that we took out the barricade and it lurched forward, just enough so that Taylor noticed and gave us that grin of his like he was proud. Haha. The set list was fantastic, and there were a few songs I had never heard live before that I got to experience which was absolutely amazing.

When the show was over, I made my way to the back of the venue as people were making their way around. I saw our manager/owner friend and went over to talk to him when he spotted me (he started referring to me as 'Crazy #1' and Lorin as 'Crazy #2'...we also knew he was legit when he came out and promised us that we would get front row). He still didn't fully understand when I told him it was all worth it with this giant grin on my face, and just as we were heading out, we said goodbye and high fived our venue friends that had stuck around. Made our way out to the bus, got a picture with Zac and he signed my Hanson TOMS. Soon we were in the Hansonmobile with our friend Nicole in the back headed back south. Definitely could not have asked for a better start to Musical Ride 2011, though the rest of the shows had a lot to live up to in terms of beating out the great experience we had in Norfolk.

Tulsa, OK City, & The Middle of Snow-where!

I do believe it is time for me to recap the December 2010 Tulsa road trip on here that I took with Miss Lorin Hayes (who also came up with the title of this post, it was just too good not to use!). I want to do it sooner rather than later, and definitely before I bombard this blog with posts from Musical Ride tour. So here we go.

First of all, the day we were going to leave I still had to go to one class that morning, which really sucked. It was Senior Seminar, and the entire past semester had absolutely drained me of life because I had been doing double time on my Senior Thesis AND the LSAT/law school applications. So I was pretty much (absolutely) drained...I had pulled an all nighter to finalize said thesis. But I showed up for my last class that morning and soon went home to pack and get ready to see Lorin Hayes! Neither of us had absolutely ANY clue what this trip was going to hold - this was our first truck out to Oklahoma and it was almost maddening not really knowing what to expect.

As per what would become tradition, we take two days to drive out to Okie, stopping in Nashville. It was freezing cold (December, duh) and all of the mountains around the roads up in Western NC/Eastern TN were frozen over even though the roads were fine. It was beautiful. Nothing too terribly exciting until we hit Nashville, besides seeing random things along the way we did stop at Love's for our first time ever (as told to do by Lacie). Once we were in Nashville, we put our stuff up in our room and went downstairs to ask the desk about good places for dinner. One of the bellhops suggested Demos, and I instantly fell in love with their brown butter sauce. Every time we go to Nashville now, it's a requirement we stop in at Demos. Even though it was only a few blocks away from our hotel, I can't tell you how many times Lorin and I almost bust our asses because the roads and sidewalks were iced over. The city was beautiful though, even though our sights were set somewhat higher expecting to break into the Tulsa city limits the following day.

The entire next day in the car was completely drab in terms of weather. It was overcast, it rained at certain points, and I think it finally donned on me just HOW far out the two of us were adventuring for this little band called Hanson. One of the funniest things that happened was that it was around lunchtime,  and we were trying to find a place to eat. We try to stop in bigger cities for that kind of thing, so I looked at where we were going and thought Little Rock sounded like it could be big, because it is one of the better known cities in Arkansas. So we approached the Little Rock exits, blinked, and then soon realized that even what is the biggest city in Arkansas was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Cue a few more hours of starving and trying to find a place to eat. It was terrible and hilarious at the same time, and when we stopped for gas we used the GPS to find someplace, ended up going to two different restaurants but not eating there at all because they closed after lunch and didn't open again until dinner. We randomly found our way off the beaten path into Conway, Arkansas at this place called Pasta House. We were the only people in there and it was kind of awkward, but I gotta say for randomly stumbling upon the place the food was fantastic (who knew?). Soon we were back on the road, the rain had gone away, and before we even knew what to do with ourselves we hit the Oklahoma border and the sun broke through all the clouds. We took it as to mean we were in the right place.

We were headed to OK City first, but before that we decided to make our first trip to Pops, and I'm so glad we did! We were amazed that after driving 5-10 miles off of the highway onto Route 66 into the middle of nowhere that out of that nowhere we saw a gigantic lit up soda bottle and a little piece of heaven waiting around the corner. This is where I fell in love with pumpkin pie soda. Our waitress was wearing TOMS shoes and Lorin asked her if she knew who Hanson was, she shrugged and laughed and said "Uh, -everyone- around here knows who Hanson is." Silly us. We stayed there until they almost closed up, reluctantly making our way back to OK City to find our hotel. We had the plan to show up early in the morning in order to get our place in the number nazi war, but for now we needed decent sleep.

After a few GPS mishaps, we found the Diamond Ballroom and pulled up decently early (probably around 8/9am local time) and we were utterly...speechless. We looked around and saw a few cars, but there was absolutely no mob of people like we were so used to seeing at every other Hanson concert...ever. We sat for a bit before I got out of the car to go talk to the girls parked adjacent to us, and little did I know they were awesome people that I would end up befriending. Then the impossible happened. I asked them for numbers and somehow, by the grace of Hanson gods, we got single digit numbers. I was #8 and Lorin was #9. I couldn't possibly tell you how thrilling that was to hear...its impossible to get numbers that low and it was the perfect welcome into Oklahoma. I went back to the car, looked over to the girl in the car next to us and remember saying "Oh look, her name is Heidi and she works at Wal Mart." Hahahaha. Heidi had her nametag hanging from her rearview mirror, and little did we know at that moment that we were going to become such good friends with her too! So we waited outside of the Diamond Ballroom all day long, it was freezing to the point we took turns going to defrost in the car, we grinned like only crazy obsessed Hanson fans could grin when we saw the boys pull up in their Land Rovers (VERY IMPORTANT FACT FOR LATER), and after all of the waiting and freezing and getting molested by the security guards, "bitches and hoes we got front row!".

Sure, I had gotten front row at Asheville the summer before, but that was off to the side and was completely different from being almost dead center and closer to them than you ever have been before. It was hilarious, because one of the opening bands was on IDJ Records, so the radio hosts announced "We have so and so coming at ya from IDJ Records....!" and the entire crowd just erupted into a fit of booing and screaming. I was just laughing...all we kept thinking was damn, I really hope someone went and told them we were all booing his record label and NOT him...ha. And of course, when Taylor came out on the side and went to the bar, -nobody- was paying attention to anything that was happening on that stage. FINALLY they graced us with their presence, and a little something different they did was play Christmas songs, which not a ton of people have gotten to hear live. It was such a fantastic concert, especially being front row and getting to rock out after a few long days prior.

We went out to the busses Land Rovers after the show, and Zac took off because coincidently, this concert was the day Junia was born so he obviously wanted to get back for that. However, Taylor and Ike both came out and I got pictures with both of them! I had never gotten a picture with Taylor before, so it was a big accomplishment. I had also caught one of Ike's guitar pics in my bra at some point of the concert, so this was an overall WIN night...and it was only about to get better.

Okay, so, a little disclaimer before I get into the car chase story. If you, a crazy Hanson fan, are in Oklahoma City about to go to Tulsa for a concert the next night, and you could help it, would you not totally choose to try and keep up with Hanson's Land Rovers if you could? The second they got in the car we sprinted back to the Hansonmobile (Lorin's car that we so affectionately named) and gunned the gas, trailing them 'discreetly' out of the venue. In our defense, our GPS (later affectionately named Jordan Taylor Hanson II because usually it has problems shutting up) was messing up, and in that moment nothing sounded better than being able to drive on the same road Hanson was driving on as we followed back to the motherland. It was soon obvious that they knew what we were doing, and all of a sudden they gunned it, so we gunned it too. We didn't know the way back to Tulsa, and obviously they did, so what was the harm, right? I realize that a lot of creepy stalkerish people have probably tried this stunt in the past so they have reason to be apprehensive about it, but we weren't expecting anything to come of it.

But oh Hanson, they decided to have some fun with us. Suddenly they threw on the breaks and we went soaring past them, and after that happened they were soon following -us-. We stopped speeding momentarily, and once we did they gunned it again past us and tried to trick us into taking an exit, which we didn't fall for. By this time, the GPS was finally getting a signal, and it turns out that the exit they were trying to trick us to get off on was the right exit. But we started following our GPS which took us on this super long, deserted, and awkward detour in order to get back to the exit we missed...and who ends up right behind us after they followed us through the entire detour? Yes. Right behind us was Taylor/Ike's Land Rover staring at this Nissan Xterra from South Carolina (we had talked to them and mentioned where we were from) with Lorin's gigantic 'HANSON' sticker on the back of the car. It was a stop sign in the middle of nowhere, so we sat there frozen for a while as we waited for the light to turn green to get back on the highway. I couldn't even look back to see what they were doing. My hand was over my mouth, I was crouched down in the seat...and on top of everything it was just hilarious.

Eventually we got back on the highway, with Hanson following us now, and they did actually follow us almost the entire way back to Tulsa. This is where our jokes about going to Kickapoo with Hanson come into play. If you haven't driven in Oklahoma, every few minutes you usually pass into a new Indian tribe's territory, and the one we remember the most from that night was crossing through Kickapoo country, where Hanson just so happened to be with us at the time. So, we went to Kickapoo with Hanson. When we got closer they let off some just in case we were crazy people trying to follow them back to their house or something (which, I will say upfront and honestly, I would never do anything like that. That really is pushing the envelope) and before we knew it, we were in mecca! Got to the hotel, went to sleep, and we were super excited to explore Tulsa the next day.

We stayed at the Hilton right across the street from the Mabee Center (where the Tulsa concert was), and later we found out that all of the other artists performing at Mabee were staying there too (Natasha Benningfield, Far East Movement, etc. We did all of our Tulsa tourist things that day (too many to list! and they're all listed in the other Tulsa trip post, ha.) and ended up going to Wal Mart to buy Santa hats which Lorin puff painted 'I love Hanson' on them. The concert was chill, it was seated so it wasn't fighting to get up front or anything.

The next morning we went to Blue Dome for breakfast, and out to the River Parks to go in search of the Go bridge which we didn't find, but we found it this past Tulsa trip so woot woot. This is also when the cop pulled us over because she was mean and not paying attention, and eventually we hopped in the car and made our way back to Nashville. On the way, we stopped in Memphis to visit Kappa Delta's HQ (Lorin's sorority) and to eat some Olive Garden. We stayed at Hotel Indigo which was pretty sweet, and we were Charlotte bound the next morning to go home.

So there it is. This was the trip that I could officially say "Well I've never been to heaven, but I've been to Oklahoma"! and I totally understand that song now. It's almost surreal that we're not going to Tulsa for the Musical Ride tour this month! But I know I'll be back sometime soon.

Nash & Tulsa MOE 2011

Let me just start off this post by saying that this day started better than most - I got my package in from HNET! I bought the new Musical Ride Tour Hoodie (didn't want them to not have my size next month) and I also got the new set of bumper stickers they came out with. It's definitely tour season, as I have friends that have gone to most shows so far and its been that time again to start coordinating camping out/hotels/driving/flights/etc. Besides the actual shows themselves, this is as good as it gets - all the anticipation that builds up to that escape, coupled with remembering all of those priceless memories of past shows.

I guess that is why I finally had the strong urge to sit down and go back through everything from Tulsa MOE 2011 to remember it. I was talking to Lorin the other night about it and between all of our back in forth I don't think I stopped laughing for a good three hours! This will, of course, probably prompt me to go back through the rest of them (at least the December Tulsa trip, November in Charlotte, and last summer's concerts) which I've been meaning to do since like July...ha.

First of all, the album with all these pictures is called "That Time Hanson Screwed In The Lightbulb". Thanks to Lorin, this trip had two non-Hanson theme songs - The Wop (J Dash) and Holiday (Dizzee Rascal). We heard these in EVERY state we went into - South Carolina (Lorin), North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and finally Oklahoma. We would have taken our usual route to Oklahoma via Arkansas, but there was flooding and we didn't miss "The Natural State" ALL that much (read: not at ALL). We met up with Lacie and Lindsey in Nashville for a smaller show at the Ryman Auditorium. It was seated, and a lot shorter than usual because it was a charity thing, but I have to say out of all the Hanson shows I've ever been to - never in my life did I think I would ever get to see them live with people being so chill and calm and not jumping up and down going insane (totally guilty, but still). There were three random girls behind us that looked like they were 15 that got up and danced along and sang their little hearts out, but they were greeted with confused stares from the rest of the auditorium. I also got to see some of my other favorites (Summer!) at this concert and it was like a pre-gaming concert before the huge reunion in Tulsa. Oh...and we established that undercover grannies are hot.

Lacie came back to the hotel with us that night and I'm pretty sure that's when we went to get the alcohol, and while I don't remember anything too specific I didn't stop laughing all night. We spent the next day in Nashville as well, visited the Parthenon, did some shopping (bought a HUGE sunhat), went out to Margaritaville for dinner. One thing I remember happening when we were getting ready for dinner (and Lorin was watching Party of Five) is when the window washers randomly descended upon our hotel room....

....then Lacie grabbed my sunhat, a hotel towel, a Hanson tour flier, and a paper Lindsey and I wrote the wrong hotel number on and decided to street team for the band.

The next day we were finally Okie bound. We went around Arkansas and actually hit a detour on our detour and it was a big mess. But knowing we were going to see Hanson? Definitely made it all worth it.  I had my first Fazolli'sBecause I'm apparently weird and like it, I did most of the driving that day and it really challenged me directionally. Lorin took over somewhere in Missouri, and it was all worth it when we hit the Okie state line.

At this point, we were all over twitter (even though I think the car engaged in a 4 hour twitter Simon Says game) and facebook and text trying to find out where people were. The best part of being a Hanson fan? You make all the absolute best friends in the world and these events are huge family reunions. We got Lorin to wop at over 100mph and at that point, we were all in the mindset to put the long day of driving behind us and live it up. Once the excitement picked up the car and we all had our windows down and were hollering and this and that,  we got to our hotel and within five minutes, we were back in the car to go to Joe Momma's for dinner! No better italian food in the world. Simply love. Also, this is where Lorin created our friend Jared, and he came along with us for the rest of the ride (Jared is a drawing). After dinner, we hopped over to the Archer and First to go back to the Center of the Universe! Which I'm obsessed with.

This picture pretty much sums up the amazingness of that night.

We also rolled up to 3CG, fully not expecting anyone to be there, but we soon realized all the lights were on and there were our three favorite Tulsa men sitting around working. Because we're amazing Hanson "stalkers", we pretty much just stayed there for a while and of course got some obligatory jumping pictures. Met some new friends that night and chilled, just simply happy to be back in T-Town.

The next day was our 'tourist day'. Went to our usual spots - Dwelling Spaces, Ida Red, Cain's Ballroom,  Utica Square, Tulsa Driller Man, another trip to 3CG, etc - and went to a few new places - Blue Rose Cafe (I was officially the first person to order the Hanson sandwich!), Glacier, TBS Video Site, and we were running around downtown all day long taking pictures with Tulsa and on poles. For a while, I couldn't figure out how everyone else was gripping onto the poles to get higher on them...I was hesitant to climb anything because of my spinal injury from February, but after trying a few poles and a lot of failed attempts, I made it!

I realize it was pathetic hahaha. But all of the memories trying to get to that point? Priceless. Also, of course, we had to run into traffic to get pictures where they did the TBS dance...

We ended the day with some bowling, with the anticipation building more than ever for MOE the next day. All I remember was getting up early that morning, being the first ones there, and sitting out in the freeeeezing cold for hours as we waited for our session time to start. Eventually more people started to get there, and Lorin was officially dubbed "girl in green blanket" for the rest of her life, and I got to see people I hadn't seen in FOREVER! It was such a great reunion of sorts. Most of us had blankets and whatnot because it was so cold, some of us even went to the car and found the socks we had bought to go bowling in the night before. Totally. Worth. It.

Then we all got to go inside and it was just....amazing. I can't even describe it more than that. We got front row which was fantastic, and being like a foot away from them while playing on the same level as us and not up on a stage was...exhilarating. We danced along, had a blast, and it was one of the best Hanson events I have been to. Ever. 

After MOE, our car died and we waited on Triple A to come and jump it. We then headed back over to Ida Red for a Hansonopoly tournament, which Lacie won!

The next day we took off to OK City, and of course what that meant was the highlight of the day - Pops! I am not a huge soda drinker by any means, but I am in love with this place. We bought ridiculous amounts of soda (and, even though it was May, they had some stock of their pumpkin pie soda left! I bought it all out...). We also went mini golfing, stopped to get a picture with the Kickapoo nation sign (cause Lorin and I are the only ones to go to Kickapoo with Hanson! and proud of it. that's a story for our December Tulsa trip post!) stopped by the MOE House really late at night, then decided to come back in the morning because it was dark and creepy.

So we did just that - we went back to the MOE house in the morning. We did breakfast at Blue Dome first and also hit up the Center of the Universe again, and also went in search of the Go bridge.

After that, we got back in the car and took off from Oklahoma to Nashville. We said goodbye to Lacie and Lindsey, and Lorin and I had an...interesting...evening back at the Nashville hotel bar with some Arkansas cowboys. (Oh, and we actually did drive back through Arkansas this time - and Lorin recorded me getting really into the moves of "Where's The Love". Thanks.) That was basically the quick and dirty of the trip. But I also went back through twitter the other day and grabbed all of our quotes/random happenings from this insane week....most will not make sense to anyone else, but this post would be incomplete without them!

1) "My eyes is Black, my Lambo's blue..." -Lorin
2) That time Lorin didn't believe me that the toothpaste would SUPER FOAM UP.
3) ...."Would you like some rocks?!" - Lacie
4) That time Lorin and I drove through the Starbucks drive thru, gathered the workers, and taught them our hand motions for 'Sunny Day'.
5) That time Lorin recorded me driving and singing along to Hanson
6) "I thought it was just a button you hit and it was cool because you were cruisin..." -Ally, re: cruise control
7) Apparently (Ally) trips over things and the first thing that goes through her mind is French! -Lacie
8) That time we got Hanson to wop!
9) "People probably don't think I have a college degree" - Lorin. "Lorin, last night I didn't think you could change your own underwear..." - Lacie.
10) "Look it's the infant of Prague national shrine!" - Ally. "Oh, I thought it said 'pregooo'" - Lorin.
11) Things I have learned in Oklahoma: pay the damn toll and pay the right one!
12) "Drink, swim, doodle...do it again" - Lorin.
13) "Who threatens a lesbian sex act when she can't find her phone?!" -Lindsey, re: Lorin.
14) "I feel as if I should inform you..." -Ally.
15) Smash Party! "Before you hung up on me.." click...dialtone... -Ally & Lorin.
16) "Do you like fireworks?" -Lorin.
17) *Mass chaos outside of Tulsa Starbucks* "....where's Hanson?" -Ally
18) That time we met someone named Zachary Taylor at the hotel bar but he wasn't cool cause he was from Arkansas.
19) That time we named Lorin's GPS 'Jordan Taylor Hanson II because it never shuts up.
20) Bitches and hoes and Hell's Angels too! We took a picture in Kickapoo!
21) That time we saw a motorcycle with a wheelchair hooked to the back of it in Arkansas, where they also have nudist babies...
22) When people can't do anything because they live on a straw...

....and now I want to go back to Tulsa. Hmph. Much love.

Fall 2011 Lineup

So, it's almost September here and I've started law school. Already I can tell this is going to be a lot different than undergrad, as I know I could get away with taking off a few weeks to follow Hanson around on tour and that is definitely not the case anymore. However, thanks to a load of patience from my favorite Hanson travel buddy, I was able to manage to work out four shows in October to go to, which considering the circumstances is pretty awesome. For those who are interested, we will be going to Norfolk (October 23rd), Charlotte (October 25th), Tampa (October 28th), and Ft. Lauderdale (October 29th). I am praying that we will be so fortunate as to get four different albums on this tour, and so far it looks as if there is a possibility of that. My 21st birthday is on October 21st, so I can already tell you this is going to be a week of alcohol and no sleep whatsoever, especially because I will be going to school during that week. It will probably suck but at the same time, we tend to make memories on these trips that are completely worth it. Plus, there is something so liberating about escaping into my own little Hanson world that I just can't describe.

I realize I still need to get myself back here and do a quick and dirty of the shows I've already been to, and I'll do that soon. I am glad, however, that I have this blog to update that week so I won't forget a thing. Seriously, it couldn't come any faster at this point...I'm so ready for it.

Song Meanings.

So, for those people who are not Hanson fans (or 'fansons', whichever term you like to coin), I often get a lot of questions about why the hell I have gone to all these concerts, why they're so important to me, why I have dragged myself out to Tulsa twice for Hanson and once to visit a law school, etc., and there is no easy answer to that question. It is as simple as if you're not a fan, you just couldn't possibly understand. I was listening to In A Way earlier today, and all of a sudden I was met with the very strong mental image of being back in Oklahoma, driving down the interstate on the way to Pops (a Tulsa road trip staple) with the Kickapoo Casino (inside joke) sign in the distance. The sun was shining, the windows were rolled down, and it was just a very content and happy place to be. It got me thinking that there are a number of Hanson songs that have these strong memories attached to them, and I wanted to write them down. So, this is probably going to be a pretty long post, but I did just that. I probably skipped some, but these are the ones that hold the strongest memories for me. At least, for now.

Thinking Bout Somethin' - Camping Out in November 2010 and trying to learn the dance to flash mob it the next day. Papa John's Pizza, dropping Lorin's cake on her laptop, Cop friend, drug bust behind the bushes.

Voice In The Chorus, And I Waited, Carry You There, Make It Out Alive - These songs were on repeat all throughout Summer 2010. They remind me of going to summer classes at HPU on a daily basis, Clif protein bars, and chick-fil-a unsweet tea with lemon. Random, but it works.

Waiting for This - Summer 2010 tour, and it makes me feel all bubbly because this is usually how they kicked off their sets! It was that feeling of "OMG I HAVE BEEN CAMPING AND WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG AND IT'S STARTING!". No greater feeling in the world.

Give a Little - Asheville 2010. Camping out with Alexis and sharing Holly's tent, and of course Holly's dance on stage. The epicness of life. One of my favorite shows.

Been There Before - I don't know why, but this always makes me think of seeing the pictures of the guys in downtown Tulsa stopping during one of their walks in front of Dilly Deli…the time when I thought Tulsa was a million miles away and I'd be crazy to drive all the way out there just for one event…that didn't last long.

Blue Sky - This reminds me of senior year of high school. Every month I'd wake up at 3/4am and leave to drive to Raleigh for NC Youth Legislative Assembly, and this song always managed to play when the sun was rising.

Georgia - This song reminds me of high school, being in the Mazatlan parking lot for some reason? IDK about that one. But this also reminds me of Atlanta on so many levels…both trips down there (One to the Four Seasons and Emory, the other to the Four Seasons and Mercer…because the Four Seasons is divine) and this song played when we entered Georgia. Magic.

Go - First concert with Alexis, when she was so excited seeing Zac hold up a "one" during this song haha. Of course, I always think about the music video and MOE 2011 when we went to visit the Go bridge after walking about two miles.

Running Man - two words - Michael and Brooke. Only Alexis will ever understand that. OH. But not so much anymore, because Lacie gave me reason to sing it "I'm feelin' saucy".

Something Going Round - This is the song I used to wake myself up in the mornings on those long YLA drives during senior year. Always will remember Alexis freaking out over Taylor's "But you neeeeeeeeeeeeed it!", and of course the 'Asleep At The Wheel' star in front of Cain's Ballroom.

Tearing It Down - HAHAHA ZOMG CHERRY MIDTOWN. Where to begin with the memories of this one? Of course the story behind Cherry Midtown…Alexis: "WTF is Cherry Midtown?" and our months of bickering over it after that. My need for every person that entered the car to listen to the song and tell me how it sounded to them. And of course our little Cherry Midtown crew with shirts.

Watch Over Me - Just reminds me of Ike. Sexy Ike. And duh, the 2008 Charlotte concert when he sang this while looking straight at me. I think that was the night I converted from a Taylor girl to an Ike girl.

Penny & Me - When Taylor messed up the lyrics…on multiple occasions.

Hey - HPU Summer Experience 2008. I had this song on repeat. The parties, the alcohol, the unfortunate situations…and of course this was playing when they announced their tour coming in the Fall as I jumped out of bed and my roommate though I was having a heart attack.

Dying to Be Alive - This was the theme song of senior year of college. Seriously. It puts me right back in senior seminar with all of the drama going on, and it got me through it all. Of course, this was the absolute best thing in the world when they just happened to play it at the November 2010 Charlotte show, so lots of memories of camping out with Lorin are inserted here.

Broken Angel - This reminds me of my second year of college and all of the drama that was going on during that time. It was one of those 'go-to' songs when things got tough and unbearably dramatic.

This Time Around - Automatically evokes the memory of driving home well past midnight from the Raleigh Nordstrom and screaming these lyrics out the window while fist pumping the entire way home. Of course the music video, which I loooove. Generally, anytime anyone is pissing me off this song helps. BECAUSE I WON'T GO DOWN, BEETCHES.

Runaway Run - Sitting in Casey's living room watching their concert on DVD and singing every single word to this with such passion, 100% scaring our friends/her roommates.

Hand In Hand - Ike rocking the 'say goodbye, say goodbye' bit on multiple occasions. Reminds me in general of the early 2000's when M2M was barely relevant.

Love Song - This doesn't generally remind me of anything in particular, but it's one of those songs that just has so much emotion attached to it and it gets me all sentimental.

In The City/If Only - two of the most supercharged songs live and each time I hear them I feel like I'm jumping up and down in Amos' again.

Where's The Love - That time I was trying to keep spirits high in the car on the way back home from MOE 2011, in the middle of Arkansas I got really into it and did the hand motions and clapped at the end and because I have fantastic friends, it was recorded.

Speechless - My absolute utter amazement with the performance in November 2010. I was actually stunned. HAH. I WAS SPEECHLESS, GUYS. GET IT?

MMMBOP - This makes me think of living in California when I used to listen to this song all the time. In more relevant times, its impossible to remember anything because its EVERYWHERE in Hanson land.

Never Been To Spain - listening to this on the drive up to Asheville in 2008. And, of course, all trips taken to Oklahoma for obvious reasons.

Coming Back For More - MOE 2011. All insanely amazing memories inserted here.

Dirrty (cover) - I CAN'T TELL YOU WHAT IT MAKES ME THINK OF. SRY NOT SRY.

She's Got Time - now makes me think of all the Island Def Jam shit the guys went through. And Summer 2010 driving Asheville to Raleigh. I don't know why it reminds me of being on the road.

In A Way - leaving a sunny albeit deserted Oklahoma City, on the way to Pops and Kickapoo. The minute the song starts playing, I just think of the Kickapoo Casino sign, windows rolled down, sunglasses perched, and an absolutely indescribable trip.

Letters In The Mailbox - On the road in Oklahoma going back to Tulsa, and all of those feelings associated with Hanson road trips that I can't even put into words.

Yearbook - driving through the Tennessee mountains on our way back home from the December 2010 Tulsa road trip. This song managed to play in the same spot both ways, which was really weird/memorable.

Run Rudolph Run - December 2010 Tulsa Roadtrip! Lorin and I dancing our asses off at the Mabee Center and having all of these still people stare at us, and security tapping us to go back to our seats.

Get Out of My Heart - Tulsa road trip May 2011. Mine and Lorin's INSANE hand motions, everyone in the car laughing at nothing. And of course, in Lacie's words: "Ally you don't want to be in Taylor's bed anyways…he's kicking you out because you should be in Ike's bed." Hahaha. It went from a terrible song to my favorite just like that, in the middle of the mini golf course.

Sonny Get Your Gun - I remember watching them write this song specifically. Also another in the series of songs we did with hand motions.

Sunny Day - Pulling up with Lorin in the Starbucks Drive Thru, gathering the workers, and teaching them our hand motions of the song after Lorin told them we were Kickapoo Indians. Then going back to the hotel and hanging out downstairs with this ridiculous Arkansas cowboy. "Is that legit or just for show?" "Girl, I didn't win this buckle on my superior looks and charm."

Time Baby Take It - Driving to Nashville from Memphis. Ball on your cha-chain chaaaaain, Lorin. Haha. Oh, and cramping my neck after banging my head one too many times doing our hand motions.

Something as little as a song can evoke all the feelings and emotions of the time it was associated with, and I'm glad that I've had all of the experiences I have had.

First Post :-)

Hello all :-) I have been inspired to start a blog in commemoration of my tenth Hanson concert this past May. I thought that ten shows in three years while being an overtime student to graduate a year ahead of schedule seemed like something big (even though I have tons of friends who are way far ahead of me as far as number of Hanson concerts attended), and with all of the adventures I have had throughout this amazing journey, I haven’t written about it anywhere! I was inspired by a fellow Hanson fan’s tour blog (http://jasminesprinkles.blogspot.com) because lets face it, if I have learned anything the past few years, its that this fandom and these friends are what amazing stories are made of.

I think the first thing to do is go back in time and recap what I can remember from my ten shows, as I know I have some hidden posts on a LiveJournal account that can be of help. Then after that, I'll be updating after every show I attend and there will probably be some random posts thrown in there, Hanson related or not. I don't know, so we shall see! Though my life is soon going to be Hanson and law school, so I probably won't have anything else to talk about outside of those areas.