I like road trips and meeting new people

Tonight I got to see the ever-fabulous Eisley at the Metro in Chicago. I left at 2PM (shortly after waking up, heh) and drove the 3 hours up there. I made good time, considering the construction going on up there. So I got there about an hour before the doors opened. I got in touch with boyd (the sixth member of Eisley) and he got me in, just in time to hear the soundcheck, which was cool. Note: from the look of it, I almost could have gotten in without boyd.. they weren't watching the door very diligently.

I talked with boyd for a bit, then hung out with the band in their tiny dressing room. It's kind of funny, I know boyd better than the band, but that's because I talk to boyd more often.. geeky stuff about the forum and whatnot. But it was nice to hang out and talk to the band for a bit. Then a guy comes knocking on their door and asks for Eisley. The guy introduces himself as Brian McSweeney and explained how he works right next door, happened to see 'Eisley' on the marquee, and decided to come say hello since he was somewhat familiar with them. What's funny is that he told us that he walked in the door and straight back to the dressing rooms without anyone stopping him (like I said, I probably could have gotten in on my own, haha). Apparently Brian was the lead singer of the band Seven Day Jesus [RIP (the band, not Brian, obviously)] and now he's in Chicago and part of a new band called Matthew. Years ago, when Eisley was 'The Toeheads', I guess they had played a show together in Texas, so they were familiar with Brian. Small world.

I met up with shauna (s-lo), her brother andrew, her sister michelle, and her friend kelly - the latter two probably have xanga too, I just don't know what they are. We had fun talking about kidnapers, the cool factor of scarves, cornerstone showers, tent stealing, and the woman that groped andrew's butt, better known as shauna's future sister-in-law. You had to be there, it was all rather humorous and fun. Oh, and of course we rocked out to Eisley.

Also some Eisley Forum people were there, so it was fun to meet them and hang out for a bit. There was supposed to be about a dozen, but I only ran into two of them, luke and david. It was particularly interesting to meet Luke as I've “known” him a lot longer, he's been on the forum for quite some time. He didn't look like I might have expected, but certainly acted like I expected. That might sound bad, but it's not; he's a cool guy. After the show, Luke, his roommate, and I hung out at a nearby McDonalds, where we also lured boyd and the band to hang out for a bit, too. At midnight it was time to go; I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me.

I feel bad now, as I think about this, I totally forgot to get back with Scott to see if he was able to come to this concert, and I should have asked Brandon; I know he would have loved to see boyd and the band again.