JJ on a 100 Monkeys Mission!

Huge thanks to Jenie for sharing her account of the 100 Monkeys shows she attended in Texas!

Its a long review but VERY AWESOME!

Holy cow! what an amazing trip!!! 5 days, 5 cities, 6 shows all with my monkeys!!

The trip started on Tuesday 1/5 in Dallas at The Loft. Deja and I got there early and got great spots for the show! amazing rocking out happened. Jackson personally took the LPS monkey I brought for him (offered by my 8yr old daughter from her personal collection)!!

The crowd was smaller than I expected, but good. They were awesome, we were all happy. Hung out for a bit after the show, but got kicked out with everyone else after talking to Marty for a bit (Marty is the banana…he will be talked about again. Marty rocks, love the banana, respect the banana!!!)

we got out to the parking lot and were so pumped! we had to see them…meet them, get a picture. then, like a beam of light from heaven, there is was: their tour van (cue angles singing)
we moved the car closer to it and not 2 min later, out comes Jared and Marty to load up. we waited for a bit (not wanting to inturpt their work) then finally got out and went over. We talked to each of the guys and both got a great pic with Jackson.  We were chatting, hanging out and my LPS monkey came up.  I told Jackson how it was my daughters idea, but that they’d get one for the next 4 shows, as I was following them around the great state of Texas. They all thought that was awesome and thanked me for being such a dedicated fan. (LOL stalker!!)

Then Jackson asked if i had gotten a keychain and when I said no he said “would you like this one” and held one out to me. I said “i’d LOVE that one” and so he gave it to me. we left for home on a high!!

A quick stop at the store to make sure I had enought LPS monkeys and then home to sweet dreams…

I got up and got headed to Houston at 11:30am on Wednesday. I arrived at my girls Ginnys and we hung out and finished getting ready, then onto Cactus Records for a quickie (lol) acoustic show and signing. They guys played like 4 songs and talked with the crowd, then lines up for an sutograph signing.

Ginny, Larissa, Crystal and I left and headed to meet Yara and kathryn at Warehouse Live for the real show. we got there early and the line was not that long yet. We got in and got great spots. this is where I met a whole slew of TMs that i had not yet met as well as some awesome 100Monkeys fans just as crazy as me! Jennifer S and her hubby Gene and Jen Jones became road buddies later on in San Antonio!

The show started with 2 opening bands, the second of which had a similar sound to 100M. it was a great show once the guys took the stage. They played for nearly 2 hours and then after all the under ages got kicked out of the club, they came back and jammed with the 2nd opening act for another hour totes improptu style!! I met Martys BFF from back in the DC area, Chris. what a nice guy! we hung out and chatted about DC (where i grew up) until the guys came out to break down and load up) we sat around talking to them forever!! Got some great pix and talked about my LPS monkeys LOL.  No naming names, but for some of us it was past time to go, so we pulled away and left on a high!

Thursday morning, I got up and got ready to head to Candice’s for the Austin Waterloo show. the cold front had hit big time and it was freezing!! I got to Candices just before 3 and by 345 we were headed sowntown. we had planned to get there an hour or so before doors, but b/c of the cold, that didnt matter as they were already letting people in.

We ran into the guys just getting there and I offered help with unloading.  I was told (J.Rad) he’d get in trouble for making us work !. I talked breifly to Uncle Larry then headed inside to the warmth. Being a record store sho, it was small,but we could still see enough. I was not close enough to personally hand any of them the LPS Monkey #3, but they were doing a signing after.
they played 6-7 songs (plugged in) and talked with the crowd a bit before starting the line for the “meet and greet”.  Candice, Nancy, Amy, Maranda and I were at the front of the line. I have a ton of sigs from them, but needed to give them the monkey, plus Deja asked if there was anyway I could get her a CD signed, so thru the line I went. As these things go, you dont get just a whole lot of time to chat, but I took up a lot of time by comparison LOL.

Ben J snagged the LPS monkey (with the scarf) and said “this ones mine!” . They thought it was so awesome I kept bringing them! I tld them 5 guys…5 cities, 5 monkeys…they would all get one in the end

I asked Ben G if they planned to play “LDF” at any of he shows, then told him to answer yes…so he did! He asked when and where so I said the next day in McAllen. He asked Jackson “hey man, is that cool?” and J looked at me and said “anythig for you, darlin” OMJ!! i could die. After we got thru the line, Candice bought the guys a Leslie magnetic set and asked me to give it to them…but i made her do it LOL. I told her I would tell them (after) to put it on the trailer LOL at the SA show, I saw a Leslie on the side of the van…

The show was early so over early,so rather than stay the night, I went ahead and headed on to Harlingen to the old house for the McAllen show friday night…

So i just kinda puttered around for the morning, freezing my butt off.  I left for McAllen early to get there early to get in line. its The Valley and i didnt expect many to be there (thinking they would not know who 100Monkeys was) but boy was I wrong!!!

Got there an hour and a half before doors and there was already a long line! It was so cold, the shuttled us into the alcove of the joint to wait. First they let in all the ppl with tix, then the ppl with will call and finally the ppl who needed to buy tix…that was me

In true JJ fashion, I made some crowd friends and still got a spot I was happy with .  I got plugged by the ppl around me on how to meet them, what were they like, how were the other shoes, etc…I was happy to share my knowledge.

There were two opening bands (again) and the crowd was rareing to go…mostly “Jasper” or Twilight fans, the pushing, shoving and surgeing started durning the first band…by far this was the largest crowd and the largest venue. Holding prolly 600+ it was packed wall to wall! when the guys finally came on…OMJ you can not imagine the chaos!! Poor guys were half blind from all the flashes! The show was great. I felt like I was 1 of 10 singing along, but hey, whatever gets the guys out there to listening ears…im all for it! bc if you have ever seen them live, you know how infectious they are!! I was able to squeeze up enough to hand off the LPS Monkey to Jared and it took its usualy spot on the keyboard  then my moment came (lol).

Jackson announces that they had had a request for an “older song” in austin the day before…”this song is called LDF and its for JJ, our biggest Texas fan” *swoon* looked right at me saying it…I could have died happy right then and there!

The song was fantastic live (first time to get to see it live) and i was in heaven!! They played several more song, including an “improv” song of Happy birthday to a gal named Monica who was right behind me.  As they were heading off stage, Jared reached over and handed me the set list with LDF on it

They came back for an encore and played another 3 or 4 songs including “KeepAwake” (a personal fav).  After the show, a rush of the crowd tried to get backstage, so the guys said they’d come out to do a signing for a bit.  I hung around talking to some ppl and (lol) helping out a bouncer. Then Ben J, Uncle Larry and Jackson came out to start taking down and packing up. Ben J came over to me and started talking…he said he felt bad that until Jackson said my name he didnt know what it was and that was so bad of him since I was such a dedicated fan.  So he extended his hand and said “hello, I’m Ben. Its so nice to officially meet you, JJ” and held onto my hand forever! we talked about how they chose the opening bands and how many would be opening the next night at the SA show.  We talked about their travles and how Jared was starting to not feel well

We just chatted about a lot of stuff. Then i sadi i needed to go so they could work and get on the road and get some rest. Got a quick shot with the 3 of them in which Jackson put his chinon my head and after the pic, ne nuzzled his nose in my hair and said it smelled so good.  So i picked up a lock of his and put it to my face/nose and said so did his LOL

off to Harlingen to sleep and dream….

Took off for San Antonio at about 10:30am the next day. We got there 45min from doors and the line was long and it was cold! They opened doors late and we had to be broken up b.c jenn d and I had will call but Ginny and Monique needed to buy tix still. I found Jennifer, Gene, and Jenn J at the front of the line (of course!) and made sure they knew to save 4 spots

Openeing guy was great (SHAWN!!!) and the 2nd band was rockin! the vibe in the place was electric and the place was packed (minus all the pushing, thank god!) it was my fav show! (ok, its a tie with Houston…ill be honest) they really worked the crowd, Ben J took my LPS monkey (per his request when we talked in McAllen…he said he felt left out i hadnt personally given him one LOL) and Jackson ‘personally” thanked me during the Thank You song lol

we hung out for a bit after the show, but they werent coming out would have been nice to say my so-longs as this was my last show, but i was so lucky in all the times i got to hang out and chat with them all so I wasnt gonna be greedy!

Finally home on Sunday and going through withdrawls.  I really did have the time of my life! I was so fortunate to be able to go to so many shows and do and see all I was able to. I love all the friends I went with, all the new friends I made and all the experiences along the way!!