Friday, December 17, 2010

Sharing is Caring.

Here's something neato I found:  http://letsswap.it/!  A place where artists can swap art.  Finding places like this is inspiring me to make some new artwork of my own.

And THIS!  http://killhouettes.com/



How cool???  Yes.  I am fascinated and inspired by some morbid stuff.  Sue me.  Anyway, they are SO cheap!!  I may get the whole set.

Speaking of inspiration, I plan on getting some use out of my really super nice camera AC gave me two xmases ago.  :)  After looking through my iphone photos, I notice that I actually do have a bit of an eye for composition, and certainly a passion for photography, so long as my subjects interest me (which of course they do because I'm not being forced to take pictures anymore), so why did I let that get lost?  No longer!

Speaking of letting things go or get lost-- before it gets any later, I need to mention my amazing last weekend.  Specifically 12/11/10.  Wow.

First off, I must say that the older we get, the more fun we have together--  My older sister and I always have a blast and it sucks that we're farther apart, now, and can't do it more often, but this past weekend was one for the books.  She informed me a few months ago that a German band we used to see frequently when we were younger that stopped touring in the U.S. 10 years ago was coming to do ONE SHOW here-- RAMMS+EIN, Madison Square Gardens, NYC, 12/11/10.  She of course made sure we had tickets and we were set.  We spent the months leading up to the show reminiscing about the past shows we had been to and meeting different members of the band, waking up the lead singer being loud outside of their tourbus, or the keyboardist autographing a pack of cigarettes, "Flake Lights".  We couldn't have been happier imagining how this night was going to go...  or so we thought...

My sister found out that her (I think it's safe to say) favorite musician of all time, Sir Paul McCartney, would be playing SNL that very night.  We would be in the same city on the same night as Paul!!!  Well, I thought the coincidence was too uncanny, so told her she should talk to her friend, Scott, that works for SNL (yeah, she has the hookups), and see if we could maybe get into the after party that night.  What an after party it would be!  She decided to ask, and he came back with way more than we ever could have hoped for...

So the night played out like this--

I arrive in NYC at Grand Central Station and follow a group of drunken "Santas" talking about how they're all going to attempt to get blow jobs that night, in the direction of my hotel that was only a few blocks away.



I wait fireside for Leanne in the lobby of our swanky NYC hotel.


We kill some time in the hotel making each other laugh.  I started in frame one taking a candid pic without her knowledge.  She quickly caught on.  By the end, I was crying, I was laughing so hard (click to enlarge)...


THEN, we had a quaint little dinner after walking around for what seemed to be forever, then headed to RAMMS+EIN!



The boys let us sing most of "Du Hast".



And some fire breathing...

It was an amazing show, as always.  They boys hadn't aged in 10 years and sounded AMAZING.  It was truly a pleasure to see them again.  I really hope they decide to tour the US again.  We will certainly be there if they do.



Before we knew it, the boys said goodnight and it was time to RUN (literally) out of the venue, buy some merch and hop in a cab to SNL!

Scott OUTDID himself with the SNL hookup.  We spent the entire show backstage.  First in the main writer's room (where Elizabeth Banks stopped by -- she's FAR more stunning in person, if you can believe THAT), and then in the Weekend Update writing room.  I snapped one photo of the line-up in the weekend update room.  They post up all their ideas and then many of them (as you can see) are cut.  The line up here is what aired that night.  :-)


Not only did we stay backstage the entire show, but also Scott made sure we got down on the floor to watch Sir Paul play for every song.  He even took us through the maze of backstage where the dressing rooms, make up and sets are (where we ran into a few amazing cast members that I wish I had more time to chat with!) to get even closer on the floor to Paul.  The stars sure came out to see him, too.  

Paul played 3 songs during the show and one to close the show out as the credits rolled.  When everyone at home saw the show end, Paul continued to play for the cast, crew and audience.  We stood/danced next to the SNL cast, Paul Rudd, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Aniston, Joe Lo Truglio, and Scott Adsit (Pete Hornberger on 30 Rock) to name a few.  It didn't matter.  We were all completely dumbfounded being that close to a BEATLE.  Getting a private show from someone who is more famous than maybe anyone else on the planet at this point.  It was ridiculous...  I could have never dreamed up such a night.  

The best part of the night, by far, was watching Leanne's face throughout the evening.  Her favorite current band, her all-time favorite musician, almost running straight into Paul McCartney in the hallway on our way back upstairs...  I've never seen an adult glow and grin ear to ear like my sister did that night.  It was truly an honor to witness seeing her that happy.  And to be honest, I probably wasn't that far off...

Thanks again, Scott.  You're the bee's knees.

xo,
Rachael



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