12 of 12 (really 11 of 12) (AND: New Things #140-143)

So yesterday (actually today, since I haven't gone to bed yet, but it's almost three a.m. so I'll just go ahead and say yesterday since no one's going to read this until the morning anyway) was Chad Darnell's 12 of 12 day, and I spent the morning prepping for a pitch and then Jessica and I drove over to West LA and we had the pitch and then we drove back down to Orange County and honestly, I totally forgot about 12 of 12 because I was busy with all the prepping and driving and pitching. BUT THEN, later on in the evening, I totally remembered about 12 of 12 and I ended up taking 12 pictures (or, at least I thought I took 12, but apparently I only took 11) in the span of, like, an hour.

So instead of representing my whole day, this month's 12 of 12 really only tells the story of one moment. One obsessive little moment.

Basically, I was, like, a stalker for an hour, and I'm just gonna go ahead and use the 's' word because after you look at all of my photos you're going to agree with me anyway, so I might as well say it before you do.

So here's what happened. I was at Virgin Megastore. I thought that today was the day that the new Scissor Sisters album was coming out and I wanted to buy it because I'm going to see them in two weeks and I want to know their new stuff well enough to be able to sing along because concerts are always better when you know the songs well enough to sing along. But the new Scissor Sisters album doesn't "drop" until the 26th, so I was s.o.l.

I left Virgin Megastore, dejected. I got some food. And then I had to walk back through Virgin to get to my car and that's when I stumbled across Virgin's in-store concert of the evening, Stefy. Now, Stefy has two songs on the John Tucker Must Die soundtrack, so I know their work (I cannot believe I just typed that sentence) (actually I can) (the best thing about JTMD was the soundtrack) (the movie itself was just feh) but I didn't know their name, or anything else about the band for that matter, so when I saw that this random band was playing inside the store I didn't really think of it.

Until I saw the keyboard player.

I totally fell in love (or in crush, or whatever you want to call it), like, instantly. Pretty much all of Stefy's fanbase appears to be youngish and Goth and as soon as I set eyes on this keyboard player I totally wished I was 19-years-old and wearing eyeliner so I could fit into this group and become, like, a Stefy groupie, and just watch this keyboard dude play the keyboard all the freaking time.

Basically, he was really cute and he gets so into the music that he kind of jumps around while he's playing. And I was standing there watching Stefy (or, really just watching the keyboard player) when I noticed several people taking photos with their cameraphones and then I realized that I'd forgotten all about 12 of 12 and I started snapping photos. Which I'll post below.

But first I just want to say that after I started snapping photos, I just totally embraced the moment and reveled in being a *fan* and I stood in line after the show and got all of the band members' autographs. In truth, I really only wanted the keyboard player's autograph, but I got everyone else's John Hancocks out of respect for the music. And I got to shake my new crush's hand, and I told him he had a "really great energy while he was playing" and then I walked out of the store and jumped around like a 12-year-old girl. And then I came home and googled him and found him on MySpace and found out that he's married, so he's not going to be a future boyfriend and now I'm officially done stalking him, but it was fun to have a crush for an hour. It's been awhile since I've had a crush.

Here are the photos: (I apologize for the fact that some of them are small, I don't know why my camera makes some photos small and some photos normal sized) (maybe it's because it's not really a camera, it's a fucking phone) (oh, and these photos are totally out of order, but I like that--it feels more fan-ish--like: my hour of stalkerdom tonight felt really frenzied and the photos represent the whole feel of that hour better when they're out of order)

You can't really tell how cute the keyboardist was from these pictures. And I don't really think he looks that cute in the band's promotional materials. But in real life he was really cute.

In summary:

New Thing #140: I watched an in-store concert at Virgin Megastore.

New Thing #141: I stalked a keyboardist.

New Thing #142: I waited in a line filled with 19-year-old Goth kids just so I could get a hot keyboard player to sign the free poster I got with the purchase of his cd.

New Thing #143: Before I found out that said keyboardist was married, when I was still stalking him, I found his band's MySpace page and recognized at least two of the band's friends from the Virgin Megastore concert, and I was like: "that's so weird, I was totally just standing behind them in line for Gavi's autograph (Gavi's the keyboarder, or it's his nickname, I've gathered, from his MySpace page) (and oh my god, I'm so not really a stalker, if you ever google yourself and find yourself reading this, but I am glad I bought your cd and I'll enjoy shaking my rump to it every now and then) and nothing I've said in this particular "new thing" really merits "new thing" status, but the year's almost over and I'm desperate here and sometimes I wish I was a Goth.