so we all got to be rock stars this weekend. rozi was a rock star. michael was a rock star. matty was a rock star. i was a rock star. well sort of. rozi and michael played for all the drunken freaks of houston; matty and i played for a large number of hyper high-schoolers hopped up on mountain dew. i played pretty well; i sang okay, considering i was running on nearly 24 hours with no sleep. and i realized this weekend how much my original stuff is really NOT geared toward this age group, or at the very least the type of function that we were playing for. i've found that my stuff generally appeals most to the artsy/songwriting crowd; the people like me who think of everything in terms of song lyrics. most high school kids don't think like this, i've noticed. and i hate to make generalizations about age groups because i've only been out of high school for a year and a half, but really these kids seemed sooo much younger than me. i guess the transition to college fosters a large gap between college and high school students. i dunno. i guess it's just that i was there, singing and playing about life experiences that i seriously doubt many of these kids have encountered. and yeah i appreciate the fact that they liked my sound, even though it pretty much ended up being just me on acoustic and it was super mellow. but i think more than i would like for people to like my sound i would prefer that they just get what i'm about. because i'd rather discuss life with people than music most of the time.

but matty and dave made me feel like a rock star. and see i really don't get why it is because matty is one amazing songwriter/guitarist, and dave is a phenomenal guitarist and bassist as well, and when they play i just sit and think to myself, "daaaaaang. these guys are fantastic." i mean really. they are both creative wellsprings. it's so great. and yet i, a mediocre guitarist and half-way decent songwriter at best, debuted this new song i wrote a couple weeks ago for them, and they both i guess were floored by it. and i don't get it. because they are so much cooler than i am. but maybe that's what makes all of us such good friends; i think they are freaking amazing, they think i am amazing. it works out well. and they laugh at my jokes. which, if you read the blog a couple months ago, you would know that laughing at my jokes is a prerequisite to being my friend. laugh, dammit.

so the show was in wisconsin. let me tell you a couple things about wisconsin. mars cheese castle. cheese for sale. come get your cheese! all signs off the side of the road beckoning the interstate driver to come and enjoy fresh wisconsin cheese. maybe fresh cheese is an oxy moron. anyway, i was trying to get back to chicago in the shortest amount of time possible so i didn't make a stop at any of these landmarks, but now i regret that i didn't. especially mars cheese castle. is this an actual castle made of cheese? or just a castle that boasts every sort of cheese known to man? i must say that i am an avid supporter of cheese. if my "school" had a cheese committee, i would be on it. i protest lactose intolerance. this is not to say that i dislike those who have "no tolerance for lactose or any of his bastard child friends." rather, i am starting a foundation for those unfortunate individuals so that science might find a cure for severe lactose intolerance, that they might enjoy cheese in all of its splendor once again. MWANC it shall be called. Mexicans Who Are Needing Cheese. crazy mexicans. i read in some magazine awhile back that 1 out of every 3 hispanic persons is or will become lactose intolerant in his/her lifetime. freaking racist stomach enzymes.

another thing about wisconsin. wisconsin drivers on the interstate suck. there are signs nearly every mile that say SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP TO THE RIGHT. yet i encountered many drivers on my way to eau claire who would stay in the left lane when there was plenty of space to move in to the right lane and they KNEW they were being passed. this drives me nuts. i know sometimes people forget. but this was nearly EVERY OTHER CAR. very irritating. coming home, however, it wasn't bad. in fact, going home, everyone is pretty much driving into chicago so they feel the need to drive like chicagoians-- at least 20 mph over the speed limit. speed limit is 65. there were times i was going 85 because that was the norm, yet people were STILL passing me. i like that. it tooke me almost 6 hours to get there on friday; less than 4.5 today. tee hee hee. WHEEEEEE.

so yeah. the weekend was great. hung out with friends that i've only known for a year, but it feels like we've been friends for a decade. we talked life, love, and politics. and ate pizza. with cheese.