Charlotte Richardson Andrews: YELLOW HAIR, FAR AWAY STARE: an interview with ind...

Charlotte Richardson Andrews: YELLOW HAIR, FAR AWAY STARE: an interview with ind...: In the early Noughties, when I was a wide-eyed babydyke and falling in love with every girl I met, I discovered Jamie Babbit’s 1999 cult ...

This is just so wonderfully done. It also reminds me of a conversation I had last night with my bandmate/lifemate. We found out that one of our newest acquaintances was only 17. We were attending a decent sized music festival in the older part of town called the Fulton Mall. It was a huge success and there were a lot of people there to watch some of Fresno's more famous bands. The conversation was about how he felt we are just getting way to old for this. He continued to explain that he didn't want to be a thirty something "dude" trying to act young by playing in bands that no one cares about. I'll be honest, it kind of stung. Are we really too old for this? I asked "What are we SUPPOSED to do?? Settle down with children? (OUT OF THE QUESTION!) Buy a house? With what money?? Work mundane low paying jobs until we die!?!" So when I happened upon this interview with the wonderful Rose Melberg, I couldn't help but feel relieved. She's currently CURRENTLY in 7 bands. Seven bands!! She is my hero and I love her and will continue to admire her forever and ever. I CAN keep doing this and fuck anyone who talks shit. I'm going to keep making music and if my partner wants to quit, that's just fine, but I'm going to carry on doing what I love to do. Now if I can only get over my severe laziness....

Oh brother.

Well well well. Looks like I've found my way back to this lonely little blog of mine. I'm not even sorry this time around. I just don't have the will to keep this going sometimes. I'm busy! Kind of. Look, I MUST spend an hour (or sometimes more) on Tumblr and other social media sites. That's just what I do with my spare time. I'm not even thinking about ways to update here. I suppose I should just delete this blog all together, but I kind of like knowing that it's around. So around it will stay and rarely it will be updated. So here's an update.

The Mr. and I found a nice little apartment. It's a quad-plex and we live in the very back above the garage. It's been 3 months now and I'm really happy with it. I do however miss his family. We lived with them for many years and I really got used to a loud household. I also got used to cooking large quantities. So our meals have been weird. I miss our little nephew terribly. He's lived with us since he was two years old. He just turned nine last month and I completely forgot to call him for his birthday. I felt wretched and called him a few days later. I kind of wish I hadn't because he couldn't understand why we weren't living with him anymore. I asked him to give the phone to grandma because I was about to lose my shit and go into ugly cry. Other than the separation pains, everything else has been pretty cool. The dryer from the laundromat we used in the neighborhood melted my underwear. It was awful, but an excuse to go out right away and buy new ones! I really love where we live and it's so much closer to the places we find ourselves a lot these days. Work still sucks, but I've got to keep working if I want nice things. I'm still working two jobs.

It really started to wear me out. Working two jobs and playing in a band was getting hard. So we decided we're not going to be playing very often anymore. Few and far between is the way we're doing it these days. Our last show was a real bust and we all went home feeling extremely shitty. The sad truth is nobody wants to see us anymore and we've over stayed our welcome here. We're going to work on recording and booking shows outside of Fresno. Not so much touring, but taking our shit on the road. So much has happened since we started and we've met so many wonderful people. Said people started some brilliant bands and some have already broken up or are moving to another state soon. It's only been a few months! We just need a little break from "the scene" or whatever it is. We're going to go out and support. Support the venues, promoters and bands. We've even entertained the idea of moving to Portland or northern California. I think we belong up north. No, I KNOW we belong up north. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I wish I had the time/patience to sit here and write about all the crazy shit that's happened these last few months. Fuck that, I wish I could remember half of it! I'm going to make an effort to maybe write it all down in a diary of some sort. Then I can type it up on here or something. Because there has definitely been some craziness that's gone down. Yes, that's just what I'll do. I have a lot of free time when I'm using the public transportation system. I'll get myself a little notebook and write as I wait for the bus. Sounds like a plan! Next time there will be photos too. I've taken a lot of photos. I will however end this with a video of our dear friend Taylor aka Control Noodle doing a cover of one of my favorite Hunx & His Punx songs. Taylor is one of the many talented friends/musicians that has moved out of Fresno and you should really check his stuff out. We were all very sad when he left, but we are all so very happy for him and we will miss him dearly.

"It's just crew shit"

So yeah, this is totally happening tonight and I'm losing my mind with happiness. If you aren't familiar with 924 Gilman Street in Berkley, CA, it's basically the place where bands like Green Day, AFI, Operation Ivy and countless other rad bands have played. It's legendary! And we're gonna play there with our south valley soul mates Tyrannosaurus Zebra. It's insane and I just can't help but feel overwhelmed by the love we've received from our friends in the local music community. The fact that said friends are traveling to catch this is incredible. I'm not even really sure what else to type. Words escape me and all I can do is feel. I feel good, good about everything.

Meh.

Too depressed/lazy to update. Lot's of stupid stuff happening. Whatevs. February needs to stop acting like a dick and be over already. That is all. If March is just a pinch better than February, I will be pleased.

It's Monday.

And this is happening on Friday!

Yay! I'm really excited about this one. Actually, I'm excited about all of our shows. Even the ones that we don't belong on, and I by that I mean the ones that seem like really hardcore punk lineups and then us. They are interesting but fun in the end.

I'm also really excited about the new button designs by Missy Kulik! We finally ran out and I requested another batch. They are mega rad. I can't wait to show pictures of them. Ralee from Tyrannosaurus Zebra asked about a demo or something and we realized we had nothing to hand out. So, we decided to take the In The Garage tracks from our bandcamp and just put them on a cd already. It was fun making the covers with my handy dandy markers. I've already printed out about 20 more sleeves. They should be ready for this coming Fridays show. I found it shocking how fast they disappeared out of my hands. I didn't really think anyone would want them.

Also in the works: Possible pro recordings, a trip up north with Tyrannosaurus Zebra!, and new songs.

Personal life? Got demoted at my job and losing hours at my second job. I suppose it's been kind of depressing, but I can't seem to dwell on it. There is just too much to be worried about to be dwelling on that alone. Still have yet to find a new apartment. That's going to be fun... NOT! So I guess there is good stuff going on, but there is also bad stuff. Oh well. I suppose that's all for now. If I feel the need to update yet again, I suppose I will.

Hellooooo 2012

I was hoping to make an entry before 2011 ended, but alas, laziness won. It's alright, because it's not like I had loads to write about anyway. I enjoy reading other peoples year in review thingys, not writing them myself. But wasn't 2011 pretty rad? I thought it was. I don't care what the naysayers say (?). I was able to accomplish so much, especially for such a lazy girl like myself. I'm just glad the band thing is really working out. I get the feeling that this year is going to be amazing, because we are going to make it so. Honestly, it's just another year and it is not a big deal. It's just another year.

Last night we watched wrestling and played wii bowling. It was fun and there were margaritas a plenty. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. The menudo wasn't very good, luckily there were some frozen pizzas to make up for it. I honestly don't know what more I can type right about now. So, I shall end this with a couple of pictures and maybe a video.

Found this little guy at the C.A.F.E. Infoshop show. Reminds me of Wash from Firefly.

Loki crashed out on the table.

Cabin Fire at the Bel-Tower. They happen to be super nice dudes.

Our nephew Armando helping with the Christmas tree decorating. That was a lot of fun.

Our Christmas cookies looking oh so pretty AND delicious.

Loki and Little Magic. Aren't they precious?

This is Cabin Fire. Definitely harder than my little pop heart is used to, but they were so nice and I'm glad to have me them. We'll be playing another show together soon. Also, video was taken from behind the band as you can see. I was affraid of getting stomped on by the dudes who wanted to pit.

Let's make 2012 mega rad. Okay? Later!

A bit discombobulated and long overdue.

Well well. It's been a crazy few weeks. November was the most exciting month I've had all year. We've had so many shows and I am having the hardest time trying to remember it all. It seems the only posts I've had lately are band related. All my pictures are from shows! It's also starting to look like December is going to be pretty rad as well.

Thanksgiving was lovely and I found myself quite bored with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I used to LOVE watching it, but it's just gotten so lame. I worked Black Friday and it wasn't bad at all.

I think Loki had a good Thanksgiving too.

We have another show tomorrow. I'm not expecting a very big turn out as it is a Monday and it's cold out. However, I may be wrong on this. For you see, we will be playing with Fatty Cakes again and she can bring a crowd. I can understand why too, she's adorable and seems like a blast to be around. Restaurnaut and The P.I.T.T.S. will also be there. The headliner is Heavy Flow from Santa Barbara with members from bands like Watercolor Paintings (I'm so excited!!!) and Backpack. We weren't sure if we belonged on this bill, but it's just so fun to play. How could we resist another visit to the Bel-Tower? We're going to be there again later this week for a show on Friday. I hope they aren't sick of us. We also got booked for a show on Thursday at Audi's Olympic. I've invited all the people who are afraid to go to the punk venues to this one.

Other than all this band stuff, life hasn't really changed. Still have two jobs. My sewing skills have improved and I have managed to make two new dresses. One is a classic shirt dress with a gathered skirt in black muslin. It's so comfy and I wish I could wear it everyday. The other is a navy blue sailor dress also with a gathered skirt (I love gathered skirts, they minimize my hips). I wore it to work and everyone kept calling me Sailor Emelia. I didn't mind it one bit! I can't wait until I have enough money to buy really nice fabric. My wish list this year mostly consists of fabric, buttons and other notions.

Also, it's been decided that we'll be moving sometime in the next few months. Which is great, because I was not looking forward to packing or apartment searching. It's just so exhausting, and we also manage to lose something in the move.

I'll end this with a couple of videos from the last show we did. Teenage Sweater (Oakland) and All Your Sisterz (recently re-located to Oakland) were two super nice guys. Both of their sets were electro based, but they were both very good. I bought a kick ass shirt from All Your Sisterz. During his set, a random guy came in and joined in on the music. Though it was hilarious, he didn't really ruin the set. It was a pretty memorable night. Al Bundy (sincerely like these guys and their drummer is beastly!) also played and had a guest singer with a Pearl Jam request (also hilarious) and of course, our dear friend Maximo played as well. So here's some vidz.

Al Bundy

Maximo Garcia (real name Garth)

All Your Sisterz

Teenage Sweater

Two Currents also played, but I think Mas forgot to upload it onto Youtube. Wish I had some video of us, but alas. There is none. Ah well. Here are some links to the bands!

Teenage Sweater
All Your Sisterz
Two Currents
Al Bundy
I'd link Maximo, but he only has his personal Fb page. :/

Later gators!