Flashback Blog Time!!  This is an uber excited e-mail I sent to a bunch of my friends after my first in person interview experience at a Lucky Boys Confusion concert. Oddly enough, I still keep in touch with the lead singer.  I was eighteen when I wrote this and away from home for the first time, so I learned to be more careful very quickly after this night.

Hope you enjoy reading my little journalism entries:) I’m excited to share them all with you!

October 20, 2002
Albany, New York
First In Person Interview

Well, so here’s the whole story…I cannot believe it…well I can, but I felt like I was in “Almost Famous” or something lol! So anyway, there were these flyers posted all around campus that Lucky Boys Confusion were performing at this club called Valentine’s along with these two other bands…so Jeane convinced me that I wouldn’t like it and it was all hardcore scary stuff…so I’m like oh…yeah, I guess it’s not for me…but I still kinda wanted to go.

Well, I go to work last night and this kid Jared sitting next to me puts on a CD. So I’m like wow this band is cool and I ask him who it is and he says, “Lucky Boys Confusion” so I’m like “No way!” He tells me he’s going to Valentine’s and it should be cool…so I’m like I am so there!

I emailed their manager asking to set up an interview…I got a call while I was out shopping from him saying that it was really last minute and just show up and see what happens. I get dressed and head out by myself since my friends here suck…but I was like ‘hey this is my job’!

I get there and it’s this dinky little bar. They didn’t even proof me but I was broke anyway so I didn’t drink.  I sit at the bar and ask the bartender when the show starts while this cute short punk kid with tattoos and piercings sits down next to me…so I ask “Are you a fan?” and he’s like “No, I’m a road manager tonight.” I’m like “Oh” and I tell him what I’m all about and he says he has his own band so I tell him a little about StarShine…His name is Dave by the way, and he gave me his band’s press kit, so I’m like COOL!

Afterwards I walk over to this blonde chick and ask her for a quote. She gives me one and we start chatting music and hang out a little. Then we walk outside and the tour bus is out there. I start interviewing a bunch of fans waiting to get in the downstairs section where the guys were playing. Then I see one of the guys from my other job. He’s a cute little guy named Lari, who’s an important person at the SA (Student Association).

I’m like “Hi, Lari what are you doing here?” and he’s like “I put this thing together.  What are you doing here?”  He saw my notepad and freaked! “You’re here from the ASP (Albany Student Press)??? Great!! I was going to kick myself for not getting someone to write about it.” I told him I just took it upon myself to come down and try to get the scoop, lol! I didn’t say it like that, though. Lari asks, “Do you want an interview?” and I’m like “Uh yeah!” so he pulls me inside, talks to some people and sends me in this little lounging area in the back.

The people I’m with back there are River City High. Now mind you I am TOTALLY unprepared for this interview! I know NOTHING about this band and I have not 1 question written down…on top of that I was nervous as hell!!! This was my first in person interview! So they introduce themselves. I start asking lame questions and I completely forget their names throughout the whole interview.  Most of the guys were pretty cool about it, but I felt like a dummy!

After that interview, Lari says he’s going to try to get the other 2 bands out…oh by the way, James from River City High is adorable:) Anyway, I start talking to that guy Dave again. His band is called “Count The Stars”. Then I see that kid Jared from work and he’s flattered that I came cause he feels like it was his doing lol!

Lari taps me and says the other band is ready, so I walk over to the little bar area and two of the guys from the Riddlin’ Kids are standing there. I jotted down some questions while I was waiting…I still knew nothing about them though. The two guys standing there were Mark (soooo HOTTTT) and Dave. We’re making small talk and they’re nice then the other two guys come over and introduce themselves…one is Clint and I called him Clinton and he was like “Ahh, would you call Clint Eastwood Clinton?” lol. They’re from Texas and the other one is Dustin. We go to the back room area again and River City High is in there chillin’. We start the interview and Lari takes a pic of me interviewing them. This interview went a lot smoother! They are so cool! And they noticed I was left-handed and so were Mark and Dave so we were like “Yeah left handed people rock!” lol. Then they started making fun of River City High and Mark (from River City High\) said “hey she’s bad with names!” and I was like “Only with you guys!” lol…After the interview, Mark (from Riddlin’ Kids) said I did great

Lari told me that I wouldn’t get to interview LBC until after the show.  I was cool with that. So first the Riddlin’ Kids come out and play and they so kick ass!! Mark smiled at me a couple of times and so did Clint…it was cool. I’m gonna download their songs later. Next up came River City High and they rocked too! Mark kept smiling at me and he tried to throw his guitar pick to me but it fell straight down lol!

Before LBC came on that blonde chick comes back over to me and says she talked to them and told them to look for her. I’m like awesome. Finally Lucky Boys Confusion comes out and everyone is like whoo hoo! The whole time the blonde chick is freaking out! During my fave song “Bossman”, she jumps on stage in her bra! Security pulled her down and I felt like it was all so cliché.  I literally was JUST talking to her and there she was on stage toples…Crazy lol.

LBC were really awesome though!! Afterwards they kept passing me as the crowd was clearing out…oh and I talked to Dave, ya know cute little guy? And he asked me to come see his band play tomorrow night…so I said I’ll be there and he said to come early if I want an interview…and while I was talking to him Bob from River City High comes over and puts his arm around me and was a lot sweeter to me than when I interviewed him…lol.

I didn’t think I’d get to interview LBC cause they were all scattering but their manager got the bass player, Jason to come over. He’s kinda cute and so nice! He was really easy to talk to. After the interview, I was ready to leave, but I had to get a cab. I was standing outside in front of the tour bus and I saw LBC’s manager so I thanked him and asked where should I send a copy of the article? So he calls Joey, the guitar player, over and asks him to give me their email so now I have their manager’s and Stubhy’s screenname (the lead singer).

I wind up talking to Joey for like 10 mins.  Stubhy comes over to me and we basically just get into a conversation. He tried to make up a rap with my name and his but he realized they don’t rhyme lol!

I finally go call a cab. (Author’s Note: This was right before I decided to get a cell phone!  You’ll know why I felt I needed one by the end of this story) I come back over to the front of Valentine’s. The door to the bus was opened and I see the blonde bra chick on it and she gets off followed by Adam, another guitar player. How doubly cliché!

Adam starts talking to me, and asks the blonde chick if she knows me and she’s like “yeah, this is Sandy.  She has my number!” She was so drunk. They all were pretty much except for Stubhy. Adam and blonde chick go into the bar and I’m still waiting for this cab. I’m talking to these girls and Ryan, the drummer. This guy comes up to me and makes this whole story up how he needs to go to the gas station because his car is out and his family is stranded down the road. He asks if I can lend him some money. All I had was a ten and I’m like my cab should be coming but he promised he’d bring me back the change. So like a naive and gullible freshman I say okay. The guy never comes back!

This bum on the street then says to me “You just gave your money to a crackhead!” Now, I wind up talking to the bum, the drummer and a bunch of groupies. One of the groupies took a picture of us all together, bum and all! Lol. It was just plain weird lol!

After all this, my cab still hasn’t come! Not that I can even afford to pay the driver! At this point, I’m kinda freaking out since I’m broke, stranded and my feet are ready to break off! I go into the pizzeria next door to Valentine’s to see if I can use their phone since I have no money to use the payphone.

Stubhy’s in the pizzeria and I whine to him for a little and he told me to hail a cab up the block but I didn’t wanna walk cause me feet hurt so bad. I ask the guy behind the counter to use the phone to call the cab. Just then, Stubhy walks out of the pizzeria and now I’m alone in there with just the one worker. He lets me behind the counter to use the phone and gets touchy feely with me! Alfredo was his name, I think…no, Alberto? Ah who cares what his name was! He’s trying to hug me and putting his arm around me. I was scared so after I called the cab, I pushed away from him and got the hell out of there!

I said goodbye to everyone and finally got into the cab. I explained my night to the driver and thankfully, he was nice enough to take me back to campus. I am so tired now! But I had an amazingly crazy night!