ow ow OW. my fingers burn i've been practicing guitar so much. forget calluses, i think i'm headed towards full out blisters on a few of them.

but anyway. i feel like i should write about the events of a year ago today, since i did that whole scpiel the other day, and since i'm trying to keep my mind off other things.

wow. i just choked on my own spit. how talented i am.

i just put on howie 2.5.02...so let the memories begin.

when mel and i left tacoma that day, we had no clue where we were going really. we knew the concert was going to be somewhere on campus in pullman. no venue information, no nothing. we drove the 5 hours, and parked at the visitor center, hoping they'd be able to help us. no one had heard of the event. drove to the middle of campus, and got out and started stopping at random places to ask people if they knew anything - no one did. while mel started going inside buildings to ask, i got on the phone with nate and asked him to post a few messages on a few different boards and mailing lists asking if anyone had any info. about 5 minutes later, he called back with a phone number for the guy who had planned the event.

so we called this guy, rob, and he kicked all kinds of ass. told us exactly where and when, so we went to grab a few drinks before showtime.

once we got to the venue, there were like 4 people waiting outside, and we could hear howie inside soundchecking. we somehow weasled our way in(mel's real good with the "oh, i have to find a place to set up my gear) after getting our "special" badges(mine is hanging on my wall right now, actually, with my poster from that first show i saw him).

this venue was incredible. there wasn't really a stage...just a little platform set up with about 7 rows of seats in front and on 2 sides. i just stood there watching him soundcheck while mel went and set up his gear. it was awesome just to see the technical aspects - them figuring out lighting, and then someone asking howie what kind of house music he wanted(he just laughed and said "i dunno...something dark and moody?")

we wanted to claim some seats while we were in there, before the crowd came in, so we chose some about 5 rows back, so we weren't entirely greedy.

went back out into the lobby, yadda yadda, met rob who was this incredibly friendly student, blah blah.

the show...was absolutley incredible. the most respectful crowd i've ever been a part of. it was about 100 people, most of whom were just there because a few people on campus had spread the word that howie was really good, so they had no clue what to expect. they were silent during the songs, and very hesitant in between. howie kept trying to kind of break the ice, but it was just ment with muffled giggles. it was a setting in which he was completely allowed to just do his thing and play his music completely without distraction or interuption. he told us he felt like he was on storytellers or something and tried to tell stories and "extract communication" and was just beyond cute. i got lost so many times, just sitting in my seat. the lighting made it so all you could see in the room was him, and i got absolutley painful shivers. for a full two hours, we watched him play to his heart's content. towards the end, the audience became a little more responsive to his banter and jokes. but i'll always remember when it was over...the way everyone walked out of the venue, still completely silent.

once we went back out into the lobby, people had started talking, and all of the conversations spoke of complete awe and shock that they'd never heard him before.

we just kinda hung out for a while while howie did the typical meet and greet thing. finally, he came over to us and thanked us for coming "because i invited you." it was a bit awkward, but it was nice to be able to tell him just how incredible the show had been. he asked us what we were doing(we had no plans...didn't even know if we were gonna drive back to seattle or not), and then said he'd be right back because he had to go to an interview for the student newspaper.

so then rob came back up, and we started talking with him and matt, howie's merch manager, and a few others. they said they were thinking about having a party at their house. so we gave rob mel's cell number and went to go get a few drinks.

i remember walking to the bar. it was freezing. there was more snow than i'd ever seen before everywhere, and everything was so quiet and untouched, and all i could do was giggle. it had been an absolutley amazing night. it was a high unlike any other. i can sense it right now, if i close my eyes and think about it...just this wonderment and sense of satisfaction. man, i'm attached to my music.

i'm so resistant to this type of thinking
oh, now it's shining through
i was alone for the last time
before my night's vacation with you
alive from the first
now i'm denied by the ghost of you

so we get to this bar, have a few beers, and try and talk about the show. suddenly, i saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and i look over and howie is standing outside, making faces at us through a window. rob comes in and tells us that since matt isn't 21, they can't come in, but they're getting a keg and going to his house. gives us directions, and they leave. we're like...uh....ok! so we finish our beers and head over.

the next...8 or 9 or 10 or however many hours it was are really just..jampacked with events. some of which i won't recount. some of which are too fun to miss.

the group of people gathered at this party were an absolute riot. like out of a movie or something. complete charicatures of "dazed and confused" characters or something.

i remember...
in the first few minutes, someone putting david gray "live at the pointe" on, and howie sitting next to me on the couch singing "sail away." god help me.
playing kings, and learning about everyone's sex lives.
going outside with mel, rob and howie to smoke a joint and making howie compliment my kick ass coconut paper joints. he took it to the extreme. brownie points.
a guy walking around with a frosty metal milk pitcher full of beer, filling up people's cups.
the boys playing pool and mel giving howie shit just like he does everyone else in the world. i told howie to just dish it right back.
someone put on listener supported, and i was standing by the pool table, with my eyes closed, singing along to jimi thing, when someone grabbed my arm. opened my eyes, and it was howie, and we started dancing and then he started doing air-carter. it was at this point that i realized he IS a big dmb fan. he listens to them like we do! with his entire body. yum.

i'm not so sure what i was dreaming
about but i'm sure it was better
than this and i'll hope you suppose
that i'm alright i'm sending you flowers

then there was the sing along of all sing alongs. 3 guitars, being played by howie, rob and some other guy. and all of us gathered around singing. pearl jam, brown-eyed girl, counting crows, u2, and many many others that are escaping me right now(but you can be sure whenever i hear them, i thikn of this.) i remember very vividly looking at rob's face as he played guitar facing one of his favorite musicians WITH one of his favorite musicians, and seeing this huge smile on his face as he sang his heart out...it was a powerful moment to see someone who i'd very quickly come to regard as Good People display everything he was feeling on his face. mel and i just kept looking at eachother, while singing, shaking our heads and laughing.

at one point, i was sitting across from howie and we were harmonizing and it was great...and then one of 2 girls who were there, who clearly had some...uh...motives...came and sat in between us so i couldn't see him anymore. at which point i just laughed and got up.

but anyway.

it was pure debauchery. around 1 or 2 i decided to stop drinking because i could tell mel wasn't going to, and one of us was going to have to drive our asses back in the morning so he could be at work by 3. the cops came at some point...probably 5am or so...and howie took off running down the street. shortly after, i passed out on the couch, though i remembere vaguely matt and one of rob's roommates trying to feed me corn dogs.

woke up around 8 and tried to get mel up but he wouldnt' budge. finally around 9 we made it out of the house, hurting quite a bit, to face the 5 hour drive. i was only gonna drive to the mountains, but mel was sleeping so i kept going. into a blizzard. i'd never driven in snow before, and i was white knuckled and freaked out when mel woke up and said "uh, why are you doing the winter storm driving?" got off at a not really that plowed exit and drove into a snow bank to stop the car so we could switch.

got home and went to bed for a good 12 hours.

it was so much fucking fun. the trip, the show, the hanging out..not just with howie, who i pleasantly discovered is just like any of the boys i hang out with, but with all these other people who cracked me the hell up.


every night is disco night
with you i'm living every moment for you
seeing things in a different way
oh my god i'm thankful that you're leaving


and the look on his face when we showed up at a show in gettysburg was absolutley priceless.

anyway. i'm sure my recounting of the event is over there in my archives, but i had to write it up again. because i don't think i really went into it back then...andi'm still censoring it a bit, but it's still a fun story. :)

just the beginning of many many many howie encounters...god. i've even been on the same fucking plane as the guy. luckily, he still talks to me, despite the stalker-ish behavior.

ah! just hit the part of the pullman show where mel yells out "lick my lips!"(name of a song) and you can hear several people in the audience go "what???"