I am often asked, because I go to so many shows, if I play any instruments myself.  The answer is no.  Once in 4th / 5th / 6th grade I attempted to play the clarinet, but that didn’t go so well for me.  I sing, but usually only in the car or shower (or when I sing along at concerts).  However, if there was an instrument I’d like to try to learn – I’d have to choose the harmonica a.

It seems like it could be pretty easy to learn – but I am probably wrong about that (especially since I don’t seem to have the knack for reading sheet music).  It can work with a bunch of styles of music – Taylor Hanson plays one during If Only at their shows, of course you can play the blues with it – the possibilities are endless!

Harmonicas are also reasonably priced and easy to transport.  You can just stick it in your purse or pocket and you don’t have to drag a huge case around like you would for a guitar, or a little briefcase type case like I had to carry my clarinet in.

I should probably do a little bit more research into all the types and brands of harmonicas before I dive into anything, but I think I’ve got my next “big” project figured out – try and learn to play the harmonica!

I am often asked, because I go to so many shows, if I play any instruments myself.  The answer is no.  Once in 4th / 5th / 6th grade I attempted to play the clarinet, but that didn’t go so well for me.  I sing, but usually only in the car or shower (or when I sing along at concerts).  However, if there was an instrument I’d like to try to learn – I’d have to choose the harmonica a.

It seems like it could be pretty easy to learn – but I am probably wrong about that (especially since I don’t seem to have the knack for reading sheet music).  It can work with a bunch of styles of music – Taylor Hanson plays one during If Only at their shows, of course you can play the blues with it – the possibilities are endless!

Harmonicas are also reasonably priced and easy to transport.  You can just stick it in your purse or pocket and you don’t have to drag a huge case around like you would for a guitar, or a little briefcase type case like I had to carry my clarinet in.

I should probably do a little bit more research into all the types and brands of harmonicas before I dive into anything, but I think I’ve got my next “big” project figured out – try and learn to play the harmonica!

Who annoys you more, Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga?

Lady Gaga by a long shot.  Justin Bieber is at least tolerable (for me) – but I have major issue with Lady Gaga’s song “Born This Way” considering I am not sure what “way” she was born – yet she feels she can write an anthem for people who were born different (i.e., myself)

It’s been a while since I did one of these prompts…
Have you ever considered writing a book? If so what would it be about? Make a list of the ideas you want to cover, or the themes it might have.  If you’ve never considered writing a book, what other major work have you thought about (a movie? a symphony?). Write a paragraph or two about what you imagine it would be like.


I am actually writing a book right now that I intend to release as an e-book.  It will cover some of the questions I get a lot about concerts – how I win tickets, how I meet so many people, etc and will go over how I find contests to enter and all that.  I am hoping to have it available for sale by the end of the year, it just depends on how motivated I am to get everything written out and then to put it in some sort of organized order.  I do touch one some of these topics in past blog posts, but this will be much more in-depth and even step by step in cases!

What non-exercise activity do you wish would keep you fit?

I’m going to have to go with sitting at the computer and blogging!  That is what I seem to be doing most of the time so if it would actually exercise I’d probably be pretty fit haha

What was your favorite class in college?


My favorite class had to be The History of Rock N Roll.  I took it in the summer and it met twice a week in the morning.  I don’t think it was all that early in the morning, but I did often show up half asleep after going to concerts the night before and the professor thought that was awesome so he was never mad at me about it. Plus, at least I showed up! (Funnily enough, the one class I did end up missing – he missed too! Apparently he just never showed up so the class waited like 10 minutes and left. Talk about lucky!) I could have stayed home in bed.  And one week we were talking about Little Richard and Hanson had just started covering “Rip It Up” around that time so I asked him about it and he played it for the class and then asked me if Hanson changed any of the lyrics.  They didn’t.  He was impressed.

The class had nothing to do with my major or minor, but it counted towards the general electives that I needed to take.  I believe it was for History, which is a subject I am not that great with since it is basically all memorization of dates and names. (Although, the one actual History class I took was all essays and not multiple choice “what year did this happen?” and I did really well in it)  We even had to write out certain notes on our midterm and final which surprisingly I did pretty well with, though I don’t know if I actually retained any of that information.

If you could bring one fictional character to life for a day, who would you choose?

This one was EASY! Justin Russo from Wizards of Waverly Place.  He is everything I want in a boyfriend. He is nice, smart, funny and most importantly – he likes the Mets!  We would go on a date to a Mets game, of course. Although, now that I think of it, bringing him to life for only one day would be a major tease and a bummer so maybe I shouldn’t have picked him…

What’s the longest you’ve been without sleep?

I have to say, it can’t be much more than 24 hours, if that.  I love to sleep.  I remember 2 times when sleeping was difficult and I didn’t get much of it – but I now know I can sleep ANYWHERE if I am tired enough!

Time 1 – Camping out for Hanson in Alexandria, VA.  It was October and it was pretty cold out.  We had folding chairs and I was in mine for about 18 hours straight.  We got in line around midnight the night before and didn’t sleep much.  After the show we decided to get a hotel so we could be well rested before driving back to my friend’s place in Maryland.

Time 2 – IKEA was having a grand opening and the first I think 200 people in line would get a free chair.  My cousins were coming down from New Hampshire and I was going to wait with them, but instead my mom decided to go too.  Everyone else had a tent.  We had a collapsible chair that was 2 seats attached to each other.   I had said that I would just sleep on the ground.  But then there was a HUGE rain storm. One of our “neighbors” gave us some plastic that we had over us.  Everyone without tents, with the exception of us, ended up leaving. The news wanted to interview us the next morning but my mom refused because we looked like wet rats.  We went in, got our free chair and left.  We put one of the 2 together and then fell asleep on the couch!

Describe the best road trip you’ve ever taken.

I suppose I should touch on the road trip I mentioned during the Rock N Roll meme where I mentioned that my friend Erin and I spent a night in jail.

It all started when Hanson’s tour dates started to come out and they were going to be playing in Canada.  We decided that we would go to the Toronto and Ottawa shows and then whatever show ended up being before and after it.  It turned out that the show before it was in Connecticut, so that worked out really well.  I also won the role of “Hanson.net Reporter” so I got the chance to interview the guys before the show and take pictures from right up front for the first 3 songs of their set.

We had our route all planned out.  The morning after the CT show I would send in all my pictures and report to Hanson.net, and we would take off for Canada.   The first night we spent in Niagara Falls – we got to see the falls at night and walked around a bit before crashing at our motel.  The next morning we woke up and the water in the shower was YELLOW! But we made due and then explored Niagara some more before heading to Toronto.

Our hotel in Toronto was relatively average, although we did not spend much time in it.  We had thought that we would “sleep in” before heading the 5 hours to Ottawa, but Erin won a M&G; with Hanson so we had to get there a bit earlier than we had planned. (And I think I slept about 4 of the 5 hours while Erin drove!)

After the show, we headed to the Ottawa Jail Hostel which, in theory seemed AWESOME. It was an old jail converted into a hostel. (But most of all, it was cheap)  Except Erin somehow ended up getting a tour of the place really, really late at night and I don’t think either of us slept really well at all because we were freaked out haha.  We got the heck out of there REALLY early the next morning and went to Montreal.

From Montreal we went to my uncle’s house in New Hampshire and then to Maine for the last show of our run.  But it always gives people a bit of a surprise when we say “how about that time we spent the night in jail after the Hanson concert?”

A double dose of the Daily Post since I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday’s question.

What would you do with a million dollars, tax free?
I think this one is easy.
a) put it towards research for my time machine / teleporter
b) travel the country/world to see a bunch of concerts

When you’re feeling down, what music cheers you up?
Generally anything pop. John Mayer, Hanson, Boybands, stuff like that!