The easy way to keep pace with us as we try to conquer as much of America as we can ... keep checking back to see what kind of exciting nonsense comes up next!
Our friend, Heinz, is on tour with his fellow band mates - Cliff Jackson, Bernd Kolbe and Achim Poret...they rocked the area, playing an incredible gig, 11 November.
We were really excited about this show. Michael, Ossie and Vater worked really hard putting it all together at a venue, almost literally in our back yard (a village 7 minutes from the house). We got Annika to babysit...we hooked up with our gang of friends...arranged taxi rides and other details and we were ready to rock!
We got their a bit early, so the beers started to flow fairly freely. We sat around, chatted and waited in anxious anticipation. And soon enough, the band started to play.
We rocked, and danced and sang...and drank. Soon the ladies were buying rounds of shots, Terry and Rob chatted away...Heinz played his ass off....Bernie was the man! Cliff, amazing! and Achim really kept things going - these guys were unbelievable!!!
Soon enough, Laura was ready to pass out and she and Rob took off. Actually, we were all rocking out and at one moment or another, realized they weren't around anymore. We got the details the next day...Laura just didn't pace herself very well. What a shame...they really missed a fantastic gig.
I slipped a note up to Heinz letting him know Terry's birthday was in a couple days time and would they sing something for him....Terry was SO embarrassed. Then Terry and I rocked out - we're having a good time - we are SO THERE with the band.
If you remember the story from when we saw the Who, Terry and I were really in the moment and he asked me for my bra to chuck up there for Roger...I obliged. Once again...we were there, in the moment..."can i have your bra?" "suuuuuure!" and with a couple of twists and tugs and pulls, Terry went near the stage and chucked it up there....ha ha ha ha haaaaa!
Boy did the guys get a kick out of that...twirling it around...showing it off to the crowd...placing it up on one of the amps! Unlike the Who, Terry was able to get it back and after the show, got all the guys to sign it! Very cool! And, once again...another one of my favorites, a lacy purple number, but hey! It's autographed now....never to be worn again. (But each morning, I see it in my drawer, see the signatures, smile, chuckle and start my day. Now that is cool.)
So - all in all - my second Epitaph concert was exceptional...a wonderful, fantastic, super rockin' time. I hope it won't take another couple of years to see them again.
I wish them all the world of success with their new album, "Remember The Daze" - be sure to check it out. It's really, really good stuff.
Incredibly, this was the first year the whole Garbo Gang were together for Halloween. As this is my FAVORITE holiday, I was very excited to work on all of our costumes and decorations.
As usual, Terry and I kept mum about our costumes this year. As Trevor is a bit bigger, we seemed to have endless choices for our theme. It went from superheroes, to cartoon characters to rock legends...but the good ole Disney classic, Pinocchio, won out in the end.
I found the Gepetto costume easy enough...but no Pinocchio in Trevor's size. If this was going to be it, I had to hand craft it on my own. Easy enough, I thought. Silly girl! As for me, I was excited about being the Blue Fairy...again, only to realize that my creativity was being challenged. No costumes for that either.
But...I managed to pull it all together. I made the Pinocchio costume without the aid of any patterns or sewing machine. It took me a week or so, but I think the end results aren't so bad for totally winging it. The Fairy costume wasn't so bad either, just a bit scary as I had to do my first clothing dye job ever. Since I used a German brand of dye, I wasn't sure what it was going to do to the dress or wings...but again...I pulled it off and the end results...not so bad.
Cheyenne's costume was a piece of cake...we had gotten her a Hannah Montana outfit for Christmas and so...for Halloween, she got an early Xmas present. I managed to find her a wig the day before the festivities...throw in Terry's guitar and she was ready to rock and roll.
But Kelley...my precious Kelley...chose none other than my favorite character of all time...Jack Skellington from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. We needed a jacket with tails...we needed a bow tie with a bat...we needed pin striped pants and all the makeup. Could I make this happen with only 2 days to go???
OF COURSE I COULD! I rooted through all my old clothes -- can you believe I had a box marked "black clothes"????? In there I found an old sheath dress we used to create the "tails", found an old turtleneck we used for the shirt, an old pair of pants we chalked up with pinstripes and good old cardboard for the bowtie...between the pair of us, we made an impressive costume... at least Kelley and I think so!! She did an amazing job with her makeup and scared the crap out of Trevor for a while...but so did Terry for all that matters....all that makeup and fake hair really threw Trevor for a loop.
We were dressed, laughing, ready to haunt all of our friends. We hooked up at Bunny's house so the kids could do some trick or treating in their neighborhood. From there we were to go to see Reiner & Henny, poke our heads in at Doug & Tiff's, stop by to show off at Carmen's and then to finish up at Claudia's.
But that wasn't meant to be...once we all returned to the house after collecting goodies, Trevor was a bit cranky...then puked all over Terry...then me! The costumes were covered, I had puke in my wig...the night quickly came to a close. We had to make some phone calls to explain our absence, but everyone understood.
I'm kinda upset at myself for dwadling around as much as we did - I really wish we had made it to see all of our friends - and I wish I had taken more photos when I could have....but everything works out for a reason and so it goes...
It wasn't as thrilling as I had hoped for, but it wasn't boring at all. The fun factor was there...the projects were a blast to do and we all had a good time. And what a story...it's one Trevor will never hear the end of. Now that makes for a Happy Halloween!
ps - thanks christine for this wicked cool site...as soon as I saw your blog, I knew I had to steal the idea........very very cool!
