Thursday, February 28, 2013

Throwback Thursday

As I am but a homeless squatter in Lexington, I came home to Tompkinsville mostly so I could sleep in a real bed all week. (How much more adult can I get, really? My life...)

While I'm home I love to cook dinner for my family. Cooking, for me, is a sport that requires a soundtrack. I must have music playing in the background as I marinate, chop, stir and bake up some random healthy dinner and dessert for the parentals. As I was preparing some tasty delicious stir fry the other night, this song came on my iTunes and I realized how much I'd missed it. Is it a classical piece if musical history? Hell no. Is it still a really good song that is worth another listen? Oh heck yes. Enjoy singing every word on your little trip back to the '90s.

Vertical Horizon--Everything You Want




Also, I'd like to point out that it is very hard to blog with a 150ish pound chocolate lab who must have your undivided attention laying in your lap. But he's just so cute!



Sunday, February 24, 2013

I'm in The Incubator!

Really exciting news: Burning Bright is hitting the radio! I had the honor of appearing on tonight's episode of The Incubator on 1053 The Point. Hosted by my amigo, Justin Myatt, The Incubator brings you an hour of songs that you might be missing out on otherwise.

Tonight we argue about country music, talk about my blog and my time on the road with the band, and Justin shares his deep seeded hatred for Shooter Jennings. Plus, he plays a ton of great music in between insulting anyone and everyone that comes to his mind.

You can hear it at 10pm (central time) on 105.3 or online at www.1053thepoint.com or using the TuneIn radio app.

****Update!!! Here is the link to the podcast. (And no, my name is not spelled "Kelly" like a boy. It's "Kelli" like a girl.) Enjoy! http://incubatorradio.jellycast.com/podcast/feed/2 ******



Host Justin Myatt


Bratcher!


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ramble On-- February 21

New Music Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

I've been trying to more actively seek out music on my own these days, as part of a growth/self preservation kinda thing (which likely makes no sense to you, I apologize). Every Tuesday, or nearest day thereafter that I get around to it, I've been scouring the list of newly released albums and listening to every.single.album. Well, at least a song from each. I've found some great stuff this way (The Lone Bellow, for example). This week, I found some pretty great stuff. A lot of these songs don't have YouTube videos yet, so I made a Spotify playlist that you can use instead to listen. The songs are as random and unrelated as could possibly be, but how else would you describe my musical taste these days?

 My Top Picks:












Puscifer-- Dear Brother

I love A Perfect Circle and Tool, but never really came around to Maynard James Keenan's other band, Puscifer, until this latest release. Donkey Punch the Night (oh yes, that is the real album name) is still a little too much for me, but there is one gem I found- and no, it isn't their cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody",  though it is worth checking out.   "Dear Brother" is a little techno, little industrial, I don't even know the way to describe this type of music. The only thing I know is that I like it. Crazy old Maynard has made me a Puscifer fan after all.

Bladzun -- Heavy Flowers

It's like it mesmerozies me into a happy, sleepy place. Do these instruments even fit together? Are there angels singing to me? Or some band of sirens trying to lead me to some untimely death? I don't know but I cant. stop. listening.

Rival Sons -- Run from the Revelation

I can say pretty easily that this is my favorite new band that I discovered this week. A little bit of blues, a little bit of Zeppelin, a whole lot of awesome.


Other Mentionables 

Great Divide -- Meet Her in the Morning

Coheed and Cambria -- The Hard Sell
 
Country Mice -- What You've Done

Bobby Long -- My Parade   

Atlas Genius -- "All These Girls" 

Local Natives -- "You and I"

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

tour blog 11


February 12
The 503
Iowa Falls, Iowa

 The last week of the tour started in Iowa Falls at one of my favorite bars I've been to with the band, The 503. They are some of the friendliest people I have ever met and they LOVE Fifth on the Floor.

The trip to Iowa Falls was long and hard, all the way from the middle Colorado, across the entire length of Nebraska, and then half of Iowa.








Biodome?

Windmills. They still terrify me

Tonight at the merch table, speacial guest Jason Aldean! (I knew this would be trouble from the beginning)
I am 25 years old and incapable of braiding my own hair. And it must be braided cause lord knows it aint been washed.

Braid accomplished. Bright red lips attempted. Ok, Iowa Falls. Lets move some merch.



Mardi gras!



Fifth on the Floor at the 503


Fifth on the Floor fans. They love me.

Thirsty?

Love it :)





Sideways smile. Why I thought this was such a good look for me that night, I do not know.

February 13
Sandy Hook Tavern
Hazel Green, Wisconsin

The next night we traveled back to The Sandy Hook Tavern, the venue that we had played on Halloween. On the way, though, we had to make a pit stop at the site where Field of Dreams was filmed. Anddddd I've never even seen Field of Dreams so the allure of this was lost on me.








The Field of Dreams from the Movie Field of Dreams. Very fieldy. Not so much dreamy. (I've been in this van for way too long...)



My merch table was around the corner from the stage under a projector screen...
It looks like Justin and Parsons are standing on mama kelli's merch table.






CD release promo video, hashtag Papow.


Graffiting the ceiling
And this is the moment where Mama Kelli let things go awry....

Burning toothpicks in the band's foreheads. A real tour manager wouldn't have allowed this, would they?
 A real tour manager sure as heck would not have allowed this next series of events, let alone participated...


 




Also, fyi, I made all these videos using Vine, which is a really cool app. It's like Instagram but for videos. Very, very cool. 

February 14
Reggie's Music Joint
Chicago, Illinois


Chicago tonight for the last stop of the tour. I'm ready to sleep in my bed, but not quite ready to get back to real life 


The frozen Mississippi



Happy vday to me. In the back of the van, with a cookie and a diet coke from my true love (aka myself). I'm such a lucky girl

"I wonder what billy gibbons' beard smells like..." #tourlife #thingsihearinthevan


Seriously. How did I not invent this website?!




If the kid in this opening band isn't Lance Bass, then he must be his brother. I'm gonna sing some nsync and see if he responds #byebyebye



Awesome reggae show in the club next door!



February 15
Home!
Three weeks and 5000 miles later, I'm happy to be back in my old Kentucky home

February 16
Buster's
Lexington, Kentucky
Ashes & Angels CD Release Party

 This show was a long time coming, and I was so happy to get to work with the guys and see how all their hard work paid off. I've never worked so hard as a merch lady and never has my hard work paid off as much. Who would have thought that I would be working the merch table at one of the places that I really developed my dream of wanting to be a merch girl?! So, so cool. Such a great night in a million ways.


 All of my past 6 months of touring in one room. Not sure if that's good or bad


An absolutely packed house at Busters. I couldn't be a prouder mama kelli merch lady :)

I'm a hoarder.

Fifth, Shooter, Rachel, and all the musicians from the album
 So after the show there wasn't enough room for me to stand behind the merch table while the band signed autographs, so I just took a rest in the merch tubs.

My view from the merch. So cool!


Sometimes I sell the merch, sometimes I sit in the merch. #plasticpants #merchgirlprobs 

So it's one thing to have your name in your boyfriend's local band's cd, but to have it in a nationally released album is another thing completely.
New album cover! So badass.

Love it!!


 I'm so proud of Fifth on the Floor! It's been an honor to work with them and I am so thankful that they have given me the chance of a lifetime. If you don't have it yet, be sure to pick up your copy of Ashes and Angels, produced by Shooter Jennings. Pre-orders available now with the album being released nationally on March 12.

tour blog 10- Outlaw Snowdown

In my brief little stint as a merch girl, I've got to do a lot of really cool things. Traveling all over, meeting really interesting new people, just living my dreams in general. I can say without a doubt, though, that the weekend of the Outlaw Snowdown Festival in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, was the absolute best thing I have ever done so far. I'll be honest, it ranks pretty high up on my list of best weekends of my life.






February 8
Outlaw Snowdown
Pagosa Springs, Colorado 

We drove through the night from Kansas to Colorado so that we could get there in time for an 11am load in/sound check. I slept for a lot of the drive, but I can't even tell you how amazing it was to wake up to the Rocky Mountains just appearing in the distance. I'm about to post a lot of pictures, but it was just too beautiful and too breathtaking not to share!



Watching the sun come up over the Rocky Mountains #blessed




In typical Fifth fashion, our housing situation was a bit of a fiasco. But if things were easy, how bored would we be?

This is the view from the first cabin four cabins I got to stay in while in Pagosa. It was beautiful and my bed was sooooo comfy (two very important things when I rate my sleep situation these days, one good thing being that it was an actual bed and not a sleeping bed pallet on a hotel floor, and two being the clean/comfy factor).

  


All the cabins had this amazing pieces of art (because you can not just call them mounted antlers). This is from the first cabin.

So this is where I take a major turn to major fan-girl status. I admit from the beginning, I was not a Shooter Jennings fan until this weekend. And that's not because I had listened to him and didn't like him. Because I hadn't. I just assumed I wouldn't like his music and never took the time to explore it. Of course I knew who he was, I mean, who really doesn't. My mama even knew who he was when I told her about potentially meeting him. So when I did actually meet him, I had a moment-- a moment that could pretty much be described as shock. Let me explain:

I'm just going about my business, all alone in the first cabin, washing some clothes (because I'd been on the road almost two weeks and times were getting tough). I had hung out at the cabin while the guys loaded in and sound checked, so I had just gotten to take an amazing hot, long shower with no rush of the next person waiting for me to get out and not run out all the warm water (one of the biggest luxuries on the road- like you seriously have no idea) and then, to add to the luxury, after my shower, I was still alone, so I got to take my time fixing my hair and makeup using the real bathroom mirror! I know, this probably sounds ridiculous, but I give up a lot of my girly-ness traveling with four guys. I don't care that much, I'm not a really high maintenance girl anyway, but I definitely don't take it for granted when I'm on the road and I have no rush, no sacrifice, just me, my hair and makeup stuff and my music turned up.

So, back to the story. I was feeling all clean and pretty after washing off two weeks of the road. I was really excited, too, because I had just confirmed that I would be selling merch that night not only for Fifth on the Floor, but also for Shooter. This was a big deal for me, because it meant more money and more experience, selling for a real-life, legitimate artist, - the festival's headlining artist that night. So I'm just strutting around in my leather leggings, watching someone Unplugged on Paladia, when the door of the cabin opens. I assume it's one of the guys, so I walk to the door, and to my great surprise, someone I do not know is standing there. Well, I actually know exactly who is is. It's freakin Shooter Jennings. And so I just kinda stare, deer in the headlights look on my face. He has a second of the same reaction before apologizing and backing out the door. I say, in my eloquent way, "It's fine! They're across the road," completely assuming that he knows exactly who "they" are. He apologizes a few more times, I try (and fail) to act cool, like I hang out in cabins with famous people all the time, and he backs out the door. This whole interaction lasts less than a minute. But in that minute, I had met Shooter Jennings.

So I recovered from my shock, packed up my stuff and moved my home down the hill (to the cabin where "they" were, actually). Fifth on the Floor was playing that night as Shooter's backing band, so I got to tag along and get some of the perks of being the "star" of the show. One of these perks was a super awesome meal at a great restaurant. The band plus Shooter and his tour manger (oh, and me too!) all loaded up and went to the Alley House Grill. I can't say that I've ever been sitting at the table waiting for my food, pretending not to be ridiculously nervous and uncomfortable because I am so out of my element, listening to crazy stories, as the waiter brings us all a special amuse-bouche of sashimi tuna on a fried wonton with some tasty sauce that I can't quite remember by name but do remember that it was so delicious. (Also, I've never used the words amuse-bouche before, and I would just like to note that I feel quite fancy. It sounds so much better than appetizer or even hors d'Å“uvre. Ok, done pretending to be fancy now.)
    

This. This life is what I must have. Well, aside from the crazy stalker fans.
 Just one more night that confirms that "real life" is not for me. — at Pagosa Springs, Colorado.


After dinner, we all went to cabin number 3 and hung out for a while before the show. And y'all, I was playing it all off like I was super cool and like this was normal life for me, but on the inside I was in absolute fan girl mode to the extreme. Hell, I'm getting so excited just talking about it now. And it is completely senseless. But I cannot help it. How many people can say that they just hung out with famous musicians, just chilling in their cabin, them offering you a beer, no big deal. Ok, a lot of people. A lot of people can say this exact thing about a lot of people much more famous. But I don't know them. And this is my one moment, and I want to remember it forever. I am such a super gay fangirl. Fail at life. Proof of this fail: the picture below. Really, Kelli? Everyone walks out of the room and you're taking selfies? Loser times a million.   


Super excited stupid fan girl face. Yall- tonight is unreal. Normal life is boring and I hate it. I must have this. I must.


Did I take and instagram this picture solely because shooter did first and I wondered if people who followed us both would notice and think I'm cool? Absolutaf*ckinglutely. Which proves I am in fact not cool. I accept this.  

Selling merch for Shooter Jennings and Fifth on the Floor tonight at the Outlaw Snowdown!
Tons of people under the tent

Whitey Morgan and the 78's

Shooter Jennings & Fifth on the Floor


I'm one proud mama Kelli merch girl tonight--Fifth on the Floor and Shooter Jennings at Outlaw Snowdown



After the show, we all went to a cool bar in Pagosa where we were treated like rockstars, simply through association. I didn't hate it. 

Free, free, free, free.




Responsible bass player drinking. Responsible as in not being wasteful. 

Put this in your purse. Um..ok?
  "I ain't drunk, I've just been drinking" - whitey morgan and the 78's

I had to do it. Had to be that fangirl who asked for a pic. But hell, I was sitting in the backseat beside him on the way back to the cabin, and I just couldn't resist.
 I guess I was a little bit of a crazy fan girl, though I tried to hide it as much as possible. I realized that being that way was really silly, though, because he was just a really nice, really cool normal guy.

The first night of Snowdown was a great experience that I am so, so thankful for.



February 9
Outlaw Snowdown
Pagosa Springs, Colorado


If nothing else, we have a lot of fun :)



Just doing rockstar sh*t with the band in Colorado 
http://vine.co/v/bvmZAPuZErD


 The second day in Pagosa, Fifth of the Floor played their own set at Outlaw Snowdown. 




It was so cold standing by the edge of the tent where my merch table was the second night. Like I think I'm going to freeze to death cold. Life is much easier and much more comfortable at the top ;) 

I think I have frost bite on my toes. I just know when I take my shoes off they're gonna be all black and mr deeds like.




A drunk man just spilled my bourbon. And then knocked down my merch stands. That's grounds for killing, hoss.



 Outlaw Snowdown day 2 set up 


Lydia Loveless
 
Micky and the Motorcars



Oh yes. My favorite three letters.
 We had a great time out the second night after Snowdown, and I got to meet the Micky and the Motorcars guys, who were all really great (bus party! bus party! bus party!). Fun times for sure.

February 10
Pagosa Springs 

We had intended to leave Pagosa on Sunday (the 10th) but the weather had other plans. We literally could not drive through the snow to get out of the mountains. So, I was forced to eat Mexican food, drink a bottle of cheap wine, and spend another night (in cabin number 4) in Pagosa. This did not suck, one tiny bit.   

There could be much worse places to be snowed in #stuckincolorado



Office space with my homies, snowed in and stuck in Pagosa Springs, Colorado #meandmyband #papow #outlaw #wine
http://vine.co/v/bvneqBTa1eM



 More touristy shots of the Pagosa Area as we tried (and failed) to leave. Isn't it the most beautiful place you've ever seen?


Everyone is Colorado is stoned. But so friendly!

Attempt at leaving Pagosa, round 2. The city loves us so much it won't let us leave.




I love snow! And Pagosa Springs, CO. I will be back here again



So sad to be leaving here
 


Pagosa is said to be the world's largest natural hot springs. And guess who forgot her swimsuit.



Cute little cabin number 4

Pagosa Bar, where we hung out both nights after Snowdown


So I'm terrified of driving in snow, and after the first attempt at leaving, I was extremely scared about leaving. I was a little scared that this might be my last meal 

We chained up the tires and finally left on Monday, canceling our show in Des Moines and driving all that day and most of the next to get to Iowa Falls on time for the Tuesday night show.