SWEET COOKIES! IT'S STACEY!

Listening to "I Love You" by: Under The Influence Of Giants
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OK. So last night my roommates, Wynnde, Andrea & I drove 10 hours to Pennville, LA to surprise some friends of ours. We drove 8 hours to a hotel in Monroe, LA and then the other 2 hours the next morning. This in itself is something you should be proud of me for! Cause I HATE to drive and I drive the entire 10 hours!!! GO! ME!

Caleb, Matt & Jonathan knew that we were going to be there but we wanted to make sure it was a surprise for the rest of our friends. So kudos to them for keeping the secret. YOU GUYS ROCK!

The night was pretty interesting. We rolled up at about 11:30am to the venue and then Eleventyseven showed up about 5 minutes later. Wynnde and I went out to meet up with them and to get the merch table set up... not very story worthy... just the three of us joking around with Matt a lot. Then Neverthless arrived and after a bit AJ was the first to make his way to the merch tables. I was helping Matt hang a sign and had my sunglasses on. AJ saw me and said he thought that I looked familiar but it took a few seconds AFTER I said "You better not walk past me" for him to realize exactly who I was.

AJ & I went backstage to say hey to the rest of the band and he had the idea of my not telling them who I was. He told me to tell them that I was their merch volunteer and that my name was Amanda.... yeah I walked up to Pearson and said "Hi I'm your merch girl, Stacey." I'm a dork what can I say. But it took him a second to realize it was me. So mission accomplished there. Wann & Rowe... it didn't take long for them to know it was me. Brad on the other hand... sadly Brad and I don't talk much so I basically had to go over to him and tell him it was me.

Then Jonathan told me he had a confession to make. Now Jonathan is NEVER as serious as he was right then so I sat down next to him and listened to his confession... now because I love Jonathan to death I'm not about to tell what he said. But just know... it's nothing bad. He just had a case of "mistaken identity" if you will along with Caleb. But hey it was a compliment to the person they thought was someone else.

Wynnde and I were supposed to run the merch table for Eleventyseven. She went to go watch some friends perform since she had a lot of friends there while I watched the table and then when she was around I took off to hang with Nevertheless. Surprise Surprise. I tried to split my friendship time up equally... but it's hard when you've known Nevertheless for as long as I have and Eleventyseven is backstage. But I tried.

The food was gross according to Pearson. So I was a little iffy to try it. It didn't look to appetizing. So Jonathan & Caleb took my car to Wal-Mart and then Wann, Pearson & AJ called and asked them to bring back something to eat... which of course is the greatest meal for a band of 5 20-something year old guys... lunchables. HAHAHA

I went to go watch Nevertheless' set. They of course did amazing. Only problem was the PA system sucked and you could hardly hear the vocals. Wann said he was sick on top of it but you couldn't tell while he was on stage. So kudos to Kung Fu Wann!

When dinner rolled around I figured I should check it out since we were in Louisiana and they had Gumbo, Jumbalia, & Crawfish... yeah you try being in the middle of Louisiana and not attempt to at least TRY them! Well I tried... Pearson ended up eating it since I didn't even touch it. AJ of course couldn't eat the Crawfish since it was a like a fettuchini Alfredo dealie. So I went to McDonald's to get he and I some REAL food. But not before AJ pulled me up on stage with he, Wann, Flatfoot56, Eleventyseven (who was performing) and a bunch of other bands that I didn't know for the last performance.

Personally... I didn't belong up there. I'm not in a band. I'm just a friend of some of the guys who are. So I stayed to the side of the stage and let everyone else have their fun. But AJ wanted me to stage dive with everyone else. YEAH RIGHT! HAS HE SEEN ME? I WOULD GET KILLED! But then again... look at him... and he wanted to! hahaha

Matt asked for the "choir" to come off the wings of the stage to have a sing along and Wann & AJ told me to join them. Umm thanks guys. But I'm cool on the side of the stage thanks. I guess my fear of the spotlight kicked in right about then. Plus... I didn't want the fans to think that because I was up there that they all could be too. That would have been even more chaos than it was.

Well that's not even the best part! There were guys that stole Jonathan's overhead mics and were screaming into them along with Caleb. When Caleb threw himself on the ground to spin one of the Flatfoot56 guys started spinning him by the foot like the Wheel of Fortune... Wheel... yeah. And then at the end of the song the "choir" as Matt called us started running off with Jonathan's drum kit. The great part is that Jonathan never missed a beat. He followed symbol until it was gone and then got up off of his stool and ran off after his snare STILL playing it! It was a hoot!

After the show NTL had to head back to Tennessee (10 hours remember) and Eleventyseven had to make a 14 hour trip to North Carolina. So we said good-bye after good-bye and then parted ways. :( But then Andrea, Wynnde and I met up with the guys from Decemberadio & Day Of Fire (minus a Josh Brown) at IHOP for some arm wrestling and some REALLY tired spilling of EVERYTHING Stacey had on her mind! Oh yeah.. and we had food too.

Well.. I'm back in Nashville now. Safe and sound... sort of. I'm exhausted. But it was well worth the trip. I wouldn't have traded that trip for... almost... anything.

More from the Music City soon.
- Stacey -