Hannah Rae's Blog, page 34

Ever heard of the Suitcase Junket?

I have fond memories of this impromptu concert I ended up attending in the basement coffee-shop-and-art-studio that is Waldo's. Had I ever heard of the Suitcase Junket before? Nope... but it was First Friday in Gettysburg and Jody, Pip, and I were out and about. We hit up Lark first, because it's pretty much my favorite store in town, and discovered some ridiculous coasters. See the photograph below:

From there, we ventured downstairs to Waldo's and learned that the Suitcase Junket would be performing momentarily. So we stayed and I think that's when Pip took this picture of the three of us (but it might've been taken when we were still upstairs in Lark; I'm not 100% sure):

None of us knew what to expect regarding the Suitcase Junket because I was not alone in never having heard of him. But do you know what? He was an experience! His real name is Matt Lorenz and he's essentially a one-man band who carries all of his instruments (or most of them, at least) in a single suitcase. He put on a really great show and we stayed for most of it. He mostly performs his own stuff, I think, but I feel like this video gives an accurate idea of what he's like to see in concert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T57mhKWHOY

I learned just recently that Matt Lorenz's sister passed away not too long ago. I have no details regarding her loss, but I read that it was unexpected and I can only imagine how much he and his family are hurting. Losing a sibling is such a loss; not only are you losing someone you've spent your whole life loving, but you're also losing a shared history. I used to be able to call up Pip and ask him questions (regarding timelines of events or concerts that we'd seen together or absurd comments we witnessed our parents making), but I can't do that anymore.

What I can do is remember him, though. And I remember that after catching the Suitcase Junket at Waldo's, he and Jody and I walked over to One Lincoln and had dinner. And it was a fun night. A really fun night. But damn... I wish he and I had the opportunity to have more fun nights together and make more wonderful memories.

The Ups and Downs of a Day

I've been debating what I wanted to post today. I've got some fun student-related stories that I could share, but I've also got a tale about the first time I saw The Lumineers (who are on The Way Back's playlist). Rather than post about either of these things, however, I've opted to reflect on today's highs and lows.

The day started out on a high... which is possibly because yesterday ended on a high. What happened is this: About a year ago, I read a book by Lisa Smith called Girl Walks Out of a Bar. It's a memoir about a high-functioning alcoholic and her struggle to achieve sobriety. I loved it; her story really resonated with me.

Those of you who know me know what I do with books I love. I paint their spines on my fence!

I painted the spine of Girl Walks Out of a Bar on my fence two summers ago, but it was only a week or so ago that I thought to share this with the author. You see, after finishing her book, I sent Lisa Smith an email and told her about losing my brother to alcoholism. She responded within a week and said some of the kindest things.

She responded within a week this time too! She was very flattered and asked if she might be able to repost the picture, along with my website, on her social media pages. Now it was my turn to be flattered! And last night, she tagged me in her story on Instagram:

Needless to say, I went to bed feeling pretty good.

When I woke up this morning, I checked my email before getting out of bed and saw that I had a new subscriber. This always brings me such joy -- you don't even know -- but in addition to a new subscriber, I also had an email from the subscriber! Her name is Alyssa, she heard about my website via someone who shared it, and she likes my writing so she signed up to receive notifications for new blog posts. And she's from BILLINGS, MONTANA! Isn't that exciting?! Billings is the eleventh city on my list of places I'm trying to gain readers! Alyssa for the win!!

The morning was fine until I was driving to work. For reasons that I cannot begin to understand, I became very sad. Maybe this is because I was listening to Dispatch. Their song "One by One" always makes me think of Pip. Even though it's an upbeat song, the lyrics really make me miss him.

Even more than Dispatch, I'm sure my moodswing was largely to do with the time of the year. Monday, October tenth, is the anniversary of Pip's death and the days leading up to that day are always... emotionally confusing.

I blinked my tears away once I got to school and had a great morning, though! My homeroom students are the nicest group of kids a teacher could ask to have for four years in a row. We're having breakfast together on Friday and everyone's bringing something. I'm in charge of hot chocolate.

In first period, I had the absolute BEST conversation I've ever had about Something Wicked This Way Comes. I've taught this novel for years, but this particular group of kids went to town when it came to making predictions about what fuels the carnival and who's going to ride the carousel. Remember Mr. Personality from a previous post? He cracks me up. Today, while slouched in his seat, he raised his hand and said, "Yo, Miss! I was thinkin' 'bout Charles Halloway yesterday and how he thinks he's so old" (we've been discussing motif and are focused on age at the moment) "and I thought, 'Dang... when I'm old, Imma look back on my life and think I should've done more when I was young.' But I'm young now and I don't wanna do nothin'."

I was like, "That's actually a really profound statement, Mr. Personality."

The Intuitive One and Old Newspapers, two of my other students, also had some impressive thoughts. The Intuitive One thinks that the carnival feeds off of a person's energy and steals it in order to stay alive; Old Newspapers agreed and made some comparison to a movie or something that I had never seen. They were so animated about their discussion and got really into it! Scooby Impersonator chimed in with some great stuff too, and all the while The Wordsmith listened. The Wordsmith usually pipes up with insightful observations, but he was surprisingly quiet today... until the end of class when he said, "I've got so many ideas bouncing around in my head right now, but I need to think about them for a day before I share anything."

It was just such a cool experience! It was one of those classes where you wish PBS was filming it for a documentary on education or something. It was great!

For the most part, the rest of my school day was fine, but I'd just experience little moments of sadness along the way, you know? I'd think about Pip and miss him... so then I'd distract myself with grading. I got so much grading done today!

After school, I was hanging out with a friend who knows nearly all of my friends and she gave me one of the nicest compliments I've ever received. She told me that I'm essentially a friend magnet and that all of the people in my world are so colorful and strong -- like characters in a book! But they're not in a book. They're in Gettysburg, of all places, and I've managed to surround myself with all of them! As an author who becomes very emotionally attached to fictional characters (especially my own), this was such an amazing thing to hear! It's sort of like I'm living a work of fiction... but I'm not!

At the moment, I am feeling very upbeat, but I know that the days leading up to Monday will be up and down, like a pogo stick or a jump rope or some such other piece of sporting equipment that makes one bounce.

I also know that I will survive them because of my nonfictional friends.

Setting a Christmas Goal

A couple weeks ago, my fourth-period student Mr. Read Aloud suggested I set a Christmas goal regarding the acquisition of blue dots on my website. Yesterday, we talked about it in class.

The number of dots has increased -- especially in New England -- but my goal is to have the blue dots multiply by people recommending that their friends and family read my blogs and online novella... so even though True Crime Lover, Mr. Read Aloud, Say "Yes" to Dalmatians, and Serious Gamer all initially suggested that I attempt to secure a reader in each of the fifty states, The Smile and Poseidon, Jr., were like, "No, Ms. Meeson. That's not a realistic goal. Aim for two or three readers in ten different cities." And so that is what we're doing.

The cities are:

Austin, TX Nashville, TN Asheville, NC Chicago, IL Burlington, VT Los Angeles, CA Denver, CO Las Vegas, NV Seattle, WA Columbus, OH Billings, MT

I added an eleventh possibility (Billings) just because I've always loved Montana and wrote an excellent report on it when I was in the fourth grade. So... Billings has rather randomly been added to the list.

If you know anyone in these locations, please encourage them to check out my website, sign up for blog notifications, and read my weekly chapters. And just as importantly, if they like what they read, tell them to inform a friend!

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate all you've done and continue to do regarding my love of writing. Without you, it would be pointless to put my thoughts down on paper (or post them online), so it obviously means the world to me that you're willing to read my creations!

32 Chapters To Go!

The plot is really starting to pick up in The Way Back. If you're behind, you're gonna wanna catch up because this is how I'm going to release things during the month of October:

As usual, there will be two chapters (sometimes bonus chapters!) released each week: Mondays and Thursdays.

The paperback ($8.95) and hardback ($14.95) versions will be made available for purchase via Amazon at some point on October 14th. This means that if you buy the book straight away, you should have it by the time the ebook is released. (I'm factoring in shipping speeds, you see.)

The ebook ($2.95) will be released on October 20th. It is currently available for preorder at this link: Preorder !

The Goodreads contest ends on October 20th, too, so if you win... no need to buy the ebook! If you don't win, however, you can buy the ebook and get the ending right away.

Originally, I was going to stop releasing chapters and have folks buy the book to learn the ending, but after talking to a couple friends (Bre and Nicole), I've discovered just how much some people enjoy having the novel chunked for them. Bre told me that she's someone who is intimidated by a book sitting on her nightstand and really likes just being able to load a chapter on her phone and read what's available. Nicole admitted that she so looks forward to each new chapter and views its appearance as an episode of a favorite TV show.

Well, Bre and Nicole... I heard you!

I'm going to continue releasing chapters until I run out of chapters to release. There are fifty-two chapters in total and I'm going to be releasing chapters 30 through 52 between October 21st and October 31st. Two chapters per day: one at 5AM and one at 5PM... and two at 5PM on Halloween.

At that point in time, the novel will remain posted in its entirety until November 3rd.

Then I'm going to take it down and you'll have no choice but to buy it.

You've been warned!

Dr. Bones

This seemed like a good title to follow up yesterday's post about Dr. Skins. However, this post isn't about a freak dream I had; it's about my love of the show Bones. As my mother experiences Friday Night Lights for the first time, I've been rewatching Bones and remembering how much I love it. Is it cheesy? I mean... yeah. But the character development is great!

I'm pretty sure I've already seen every single episode of Bones, but it's been really fun to start back at season one and remind myself of the storylines. I'd forgotten about Temperance Brennan's criminal upbringing, and the fact that Booth and Bones needed to see a psychologist because of their persistent bickering. And oh my gosh! Gormogon! I'm in the midst of the Gormogon drama right now! It's a fitting plot for October; very, very creepy.

Some time ago, I had a student named Julian who loved Bones as much as I do. I always referred to Julian as "The British Phone Booth." I still do, in fact; he's in my cell phone under this name. Anyway... the reasoning behind the nickname was partly because he was a sucker for Agent Seeley Booth and aspired to be like him. The other part of the reasoning had to do with a British-esque shirt The British Phone Booth was wearing one day. Julian wanted me to call him "Booth." I opted for "The British Phone Booth" instead. The latter version stuck.

The British Phone Booth, like Seeley Booth, had a love of fun socks. I wonder if he still does. I should probably text him and find out. I adore that guy and have been thinking about him a lot lately because, not surprisingly, I associate The British Phone Booth with Bones.

Alright. Time to make some dinner and binge a few episodes of season three on this rainy evening.

New chapter tomorrow, gang! If you're not currently caught up on The Way Back, take your phone/laptop to bed with you tonight and read through Chapter Nineteen. We're in October now -- in just a few weeks, the whole book will be made available!

With a name like Dr. Skins...

Have you ever had a dream in which you wake up in the middle, then go back to bed and pick up where you left off? This happens to me sometimes. It happened on Wednesday night, in fact, and I'd like to share that particular dream with you because it was both insanely freaky and totally awesome.

Although I was my current age (41) and teaching high school students in the dream, my classroom was in my old elementary school and all of my teenager-sized students had child-sized desks. It was funny. Anyway... my coworkers Annie and Mary were also teaching high schoolers in the elementary school and we were all meant to be in our homerooms with our students. When I looked into the hallway, however, I saw Annie and Mary booking it toward the exit.

"Where are you going?" I called after them.

The morning was an exceptionally dreary one: cold, dark, and rainy.

"We've got kids in the woods," Annie called over her shoulder. "We need to get them."

"You can't just leave your classrooms unattended and go to the woods," I pointed out. "Have admin track down the kids."

"We told admin about it last time this happened," Annie said. "They didn't do anything. Admin never does anything." (In real life, this is a thing Annie would never say because her husband is an administrator and he does a lot. So do the administrators in my school. I have the utmost respect for principals and APs; they so often get the shaft when they don't deserve it... just like they did in this dream!)

I decided that I, too, should leave my class unattended and therefore followed my coworkers outside. It was pouring and we didn't have any umbrellas. We ducked our heads against the sheets of rain and started down this deserted street on which all the streetlamps were out. As we walked toward the woods, I realized that we were being accompanied by a bunch of shadowy teenagers. They moved like zombies: eyes fixed, hoods hiding their faces, steps focused and methodical. Somehow, I realized that they had been hypnotized and were taking orders from a creature known as Dr. Skins.

Dr. Skins never showed his face, but his presence was creepy. He, like the teens, was always robed in shadow. He didn't really speak, but rather thought in a way that invaded their brains.

There were obstacles along the way and the teenagers handled all of them. So did Annie, Mary, and I. We climbed over boulders, wiggled through rotting fences, and navigated narrow stairwells that led from the town to the woods. Once in the trees, we wove our way through them and ended up at the swamp.

Around this time, I realized that many of the teenagers were female. Not all of them, but many of them. And quite a few of these females were pregnant. Turns out, Dr. Skins was recruiting pregnant teens so he could have them reproduce and thereby create a cult following simply by raising the infants in a way that would brainwash them. Disturbing, right? I know! Annie, Mary, and I were alarmed, to say the least, and hustled to join the kids.

They waded into the swamp, standing with the algae-infested water around their shoulders and staring at the shore. This is where Dr. Skins was positioned. He stood there, cloaked in darkness, preaching to the masses and persuading them to do what he wished. And that is when he saw the teachers!

We knew we were in danger.

He told the kids to go after us.

And that's when I woke up for good. I desperately wanted to go back to sleep, but the latest I ever get up for work is 6:08 (June 8 was my first Airedale Baxter's birthday and I like to wake at 6:08 and think of him), but I actually didn't get out of bed until 6:15 on Thursday morning. I was sooo into the dream! It's probably good that I didn't finish it, though, since there's that belief that if you die in your dream, you die in real life. I have books and blogs to write so I can't die quite yet.

I did share this bizarre dream with several of my students and then later in the day I passed Rei (another teacher) in the stairwell and he said, "Oh, hey. I heard about your dream." That made me laugh; the kids were really into it! They want me to turn it into a short story -- which is exactly what Annie and Mary said when I told them about it.

Mary actually brought it up at trivia last night, wondering how I thought the story would end if I did write it. "We'd die," was my answer.

Mary didn't think we would. She thinks we're resourceful enough to get out of that particular situation, but I pointed out that it was three teachers against Dr. Skins and about forty or fifty followers. I really don't think we'd stand a chance. Plus, horror isn't my genre. I like magical realism... but Mary loves dystopian stuff. Therefore, I have suggested that she turn my dream into a short story and I will share it on my website so you can read it. She's a good writer and you should encourage her to do this because I need to see how she figures out a way to get herself, Annie, and me out of that swamp!

Trivia Recap: 9/29

The Players: Hannah (English teacher), Kristin (English teacher), Mary (English teacher), Ben (social studies teacher), Darren (math professor), Victoria (veterinarian)

Opening Category: Hocus Pocus (not the magical phrase Jody says whenever she places the plaid hat atop Jeff, the mannequin's, head in Today's Special... anyone remember that show???)

Hint of the Day: A hand with mini hands sprouting from each finger. This one really weirded out Kristin!

Round One:

The only thing we missed was Hocus Pocus; the flame of the candle burns black, not blue. But we got Animals in Advertising (I even knew a car-related thing!), Comic Book Heroes (Kristin came up with the name of Kate Mara and it was the name we needed), and Time for Dessert (I make a mean tiramisu from scratch, folks, so I got the answer of "lady fingers" straight away). US National Parks was all Ben, and unfortunately he didn't even need to draw a map. Utah and Zion for the win!

Round Two:

The musical round (also our bonus category) was all about TV Crime Dramas... and if there's something I watch, it's TV Crime Dramas. This was easy. Victoria came up with "death and taxes" for Potent Quotables, which was correct, and then Kristin came up with "Nolan Ryan" and "the Mets" for Baseball Hall of Famers. This was a "Billy Ocean Moment" because she legitimately watched a 30-minute documentary/YouTube thing about Nolan Ryan right before she came to trivia... and then Nolan Ryan was the answer! How funny is that?! The category of Cover Me (cover songs) was nailed by Darren and Ben; the answer was "I Shot the Sheriff," but before we knew the content of the category and only had the name, I predicted the answer would be "down comforter." I was wrong. And then the final category was Animated Films, which Kristin yet again knew: South Park and Sausage Party. Both R-rated films were top-earning animated films created by the US.

Halftime Sheet:

Victoria basically stole this and filled in the top without anyone's help. The girl knows her herbs! It wasn't until all but two were identified that we even realized there was a word bank! The bottom of the sheet had to do with sports and films. Basically, we just had to identify which sport went with each film title. Not overly difficult. We earned 20 points and Adam drew a heart around our score. We love Adam!

Side note: Adam's microphone blew at the start of trivia and he had to shout all the questions to us. Fourscore was loud tonight, too! There were a lot of people! I spoke to him at the end of the night and his voice was cracking in a way very reminiscent of puberty. In regards to his voice, he said to me, "You know what it feels like? It feels like I just gave a blow job to a cactus." I mean... that's a pretty stellar simile, is it not? The man has a way with words.

Round Three:

Things fell apart a little bit in this round. We did alright with Pop Star Crossword and YA Fiction, but Secret of Acronym and The Night Sky were tricky. Ben did earn us some points in Pardon My Japanese, however, when he came up with a Japanese liquor that tastes like melon. Midori.

It was around this point in time that Kristin confided she'd drooled while reading a text message and said she had worried she wouldn't be much help tonight. She was massive amounts of help, though! Without her, we wouldn't have gotten Sausage Party or Nolan Ryan!

6 - 4 - 2:

Cincinnati company. Longest tenure in the Dow Jones. For six points, I said, "Procter and Gamble." My team was not on board. But I'm sure you've seen the memes about what people read in the bathroom before cell phones came into existence. The answer? The backs of containers. Literally everything is produced by Procter and Gamble and that company is out of Cincinnati. But... we waited until the 4-point clue before we trusted my gut and then we got it right.

Round Four:

Ben got us our United States Vice Presidents, Darren predicted the answer to Streaming Film Sequels would be Hocus Pocus... and he was right (he almost wagered 7 points instead of 9, though, because he forgot that we went low in the last category), the Charmin bears saved us with the answer of "squeeze" for 3 Clues, 1 Word, and Kristin predicted the city of Bath before we even had our clue for British Cities. The last category, Name That Sitcom, was gotten by Darren right away (Will and Grace) and then Adam was like, "For a two-point bonus... there is no two-point bonus." We all laughed. Adam was a champ tonight. No microphone, no free drinks, no free pickles! The man doesn't ask for much, you know?

Going into the Final Round, we had 153 points and were in the lead. My math was wrong, of course. It often is. I've never claimed to be good with numbers, but I'm in charge of keeping score. Darren, the math guru, frequently has to check my work. Addition is just not my strength. So anyway... we had 153 points and were in first place and then we got the final category.

Final Round:

Religious Demographics was the category and we needed to name three countries who have the most Catholics or something like that. I have the wording not quite right and Mary was very particular about it because she knows things about Catholicism, I guess. We got it wrong. We guessed Brazil and Mexico, which were right, but we did not guess Philippines and we needed to. This put us in second place, which is fine, and next week's opening category is birds of prey, which might also be fine since Mary and I just taught Daphne du Maurier's "The Birds" and therefore studied up on some birds of prey.

These are my notes. Aren't they thorough?! And notice the color coding. I always sort through all of Adam's pens in search of two gel pens: one for Ben and one for me. Sometimes there are no gel pens to be found, but this time there were two. I gave the red one to Ben and he rejected it. He doesn't like red. So I offered him the blue one. He said he'd rather use a regular ballpoint pen because they're better for writing on napkins. I rolled my eyes.

Shoutout to Gettysburg Eateries & Drinkeries

In today's chapter, Jonny ventures to a new bar in town. It's called, quite simply, The Bar. Why, you ask? Well, because it's a venue frequented by lawyers. "Attorneys [sip] bourbon at The Bar while law students [down] espresso and [study] for the Bar." But the delicious dressing served alongside the southwest salad Jonny orders at The Bar (tangerine-chipotle) is actually available for consumption at Gettysburg's very own Fourscore Beer Co. If you've never given it a try, you really should!

Speaking of salad dressings... My very favorite salad dressing of all time, whisky-walnut, was referenced in the chapter where Piper took Jane to The Library for her first encounter with Max. If you remember correctly, she ordered Campanelle with a Chance of Meatballs and a side salad. On the side salad was whisky-walnut dressing, which is a magical concoction served by the Garryowen. If you've never been to Gettysburg's finest Irish establishment, that needs to change.

If you've read Like A Flip Turn or Just Whistle, you're familiar with Bottomless Joe's. The coffee shop was originally run by identical twins named Joe and Chet Abbott. Joe went to college in Gettysburg, which isn't too far from Lake Caywood, and after working at the Ragged Edge for years and years, he relocated to another town and opened his own shop: Bottomless Joe's. Somewhere along the line, Chet moved east to help him out and the brothers managed the shop together. I no longer remember if this is actually in a book somewhere (if it is, the book is Kick It One More Time and only a handful of people have had the opportunity to read that novel), but it is the history of Bottomless Joe's.

I can't take credit for the name Bottomless Joe's either. While working at the Book Warehouse at the outlet mall, my coworker Sean told me he was going to be opening a coffee shop with his friend Jake. They were torn between two named: Bottomless Joe's (Sean's vote) and the Ragged Edge (Jake's preference). The latter option won and so I took the unused name (because I think it's so clever!) and plopped it into a novel. Bottomless Joe's is the Ragged Edge and the coffee Joe serves there is every bit as tasty as the coffee Jake's staff creates.

Oregon is known for its coffee, though, and I wanted the brothers to eventually own a sister shop on the west coast. It only makes sense that their sister Lara own and operate it, right? Hence, the birth of Cup o' Mud Buzz. Although the interior is different than Eighty-Two (soon to be Bantam Roasting Co.) in Gettysburg, the friendliness of the staff and the artsiness of the locale are inspired by Alex and Chad's establishment. The staff at Eighty-Two makes me feel like a VIP every time I'm in there, and I think that's how the folks at Cup o' Mud Buzz make their customers feel too!

Of all the books I've written, Bottomless Joe's is probably the spot that's referenced the most... but the Tavern is a close second. It is, admittedly, based on The Pub. While this is no longer an establishment I frequent very often, I sure did love it there in my early twenties! Philip Hiram Delaney (aka "Doc") had a very different sense of design, but the layout of the restaurant is the same: narrow bar on the left, restaurant on the right. Doc hires great bartenders, too: Bas, Bert, Petey... All of those guys are every bit as charming as the boys who used to tend bar when I was ordering pitchers of Yuengling the summer after my college graduation: Nick, Brian, and Ben.

I know I already gave Fourscore Beer Co. a shoutout, but it's getting a second one. Even though The Bar sells Fourscore's tangerine-chipotle dressing, it's the Terrible Terrier Brewing Co. that's loosely based off of my favorite trivia venue. Fourscore doesn't allow pets, and the Terrible Terrier is open to dogs of all kinds (especially Black Russian Terriers!), but the layout and the menu are quite similar. If you'd like to pretend you're in Oregon this weekend, maybe sidle up to the bar, order yourself an Ohhhh Jeeee IPA, and read the latest installment of The Way Back if you haven't already.

The Way Back Playlist: Garbage Band? I Disagree.

My intent was to post stories about the bands on The Way Back’s playlist in the order they appear on the playlist, but then I started going to shows and things became disorganized and so today I’m writing about Reel Big Fish because I feel like writing about Reel Big Fish. Originally, I was saving the best for last, but plans have changed!

I believe readers should be aware of Trivia Ben by this point. He’s a crucial member of The Educated Friends and I see him most Thursday evenings at Fourscore. However, what some of you may not know is that Ben once said something that I will never forget and that he will never live down. Much like my concert husband Phil and Brock didn’t staand for Caamp, you know?

This is what Ben said:

“Everyone has a favorite garbage band, Hannah. It’s just that your favorite garbage band is also your favorite band.”

He has since denied saying this, and apologized for saying this, and insisted that he meant it as a joke (which I know he did). Nevertheless, I’ve committed it to memory and remind him of it often.

The thing is, Ben’s point (not his wording, but his point) makes sense. Reel Big Fish isn’t lighting the world on fire with their lyrics. The numbers they perform are generally fast and danceable; the f-bomb is prevalent in many songs and they love to sing about not being popular. People form mosh and skank pits at their shows. Sometimes Aaron Barrett dresses as Superman when he’s onstage, though more often than not he wears a Hawaiian shirt. And everything about this? I love.

I discovered Reel Big Fish in 1996. “Sell Out,” their big radio single, was all over the airwaves. I was fifteen years old, working as a substitute lifeguard at the Lake Heritage Swimming Pool and writing a book in my free time. That book was Kick It One More Time. Since I didn’t need to be at work until noon, I’d get up each morning, situate myself at the family computer, and start typing away in a Microsoft Word document. I did this for years.

In fact, I was still attempting to get Kick It down on paper in 1999. At that point in time, Sebastian Porter (the main character) was a troubled teen who lived in California, dyed his hair blue, and spent his days waterskiing. He has changed so much over the decades. Pretty much the only similarity between my fifteen-year-old version of Bas and the real Bas is the fact that he was in a band… although as a teen living in Southern Cali, he was obviously in a ska band, and now Flannel Lobster is more of a folksy-jam band.

Anyway.

I got to page forty of my manuscript (single-spaced, mind you) before it dawned on me that I didn’t really know anything about being in a band. It seemed like a smart idea to send some fan mail to bands I liked at the time, so that’s what I did. A few of them wrote back, too! Everything of “Hooch” fame responded to a few of my queries, as did John Feldman from Goldfinger and Tavis Werts, who was playing trumpet for Reel Big Fish at the time. The thing is, when I say these fellows responded to “a few of my queries,” I mean that they disregarded the majority of my questions.

I asked FIFTY-THREE questions… and many of them contained two or three parts to them.

I kept waiting for Aaron Barrett to write back. He is and always will be my favorite rockstar. I love his voice. I seriously think that Aaron Barrett has the nicest singing voice of anyone on the planet. There’s just something pleasant about it. I love love love him.

Aaron Barrett did not write back. Not via snail mail, anyway. So I got online and did some digging, which resulted in the discovery of an email address: BigRockusa@aol.com. I sent him a short message and asked if he’d received my letter with its fifty-three questions. He responded relatively quickly to say that he hadn’t, but told me I should email them to him.

I did as he suggested.

Then I waited.

Months passed.

Like, a lot of months. Five or six, I believe. And then on December 23, 1996, I received a response from Aaron Barrett. “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!” it begins. “i’m finaly done!!sorry it took so gosh darn long!!!! ok here goes!”

Although his grammar wasn’t the best, Aaron answered EVERY SINGLE ONE of my fifty-three questions, and when I printed the single-spaced email, it came out to be ten pages long.

I have referenced the information provided by Aaron so many times over the years. He has a wealth of knowledge and he didn’t have to answer any of my questions, let alone all of them. Needless to say, when I finally finished the first draft of Kick It, I saved it on a CD, took it with me to a Reel Big Fish concert that was conveniently being held at Gettysburg College, and stayed after so I could give him the disc. Who knows if he ever looked at it? I kind of hope he didn’t… That particular version was way too wordy; it’s much better now.

The current version of Kick It, which admittedly still needs some editing, actually features Aaron Barrett among its pages. He has a brief scene in the novel – I even give him a few speaking lines! But don’t worry, folks: Aaron approved the dialogue. I sent the pages to his manager Vince Pileggi, who forwarded them to Aaron, who approved them very quickly. I adore that guy.

Here’s another fun Reel Big Fish story:

While attending Kutztown University during my freshman year of college, I had the opportunity to attend a free concert at Penn State (main campus) with my roommates Aimee and Elena. Elena’s brother Harry was in a frat and we were staying with him, but the reason we went was because Reel Big Fish was playing at University Park on Pollack Field with Letters to Cleo and Goldfinger. This is one of the times Aaron dressed as Superman on stage… but before all that, Aimee, Elena, and I were standing on the outskirts of a sea a people (we’re talking thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people) and this guy walked by and I said very casually, “That’s Aaron Barrett.” Because it was.

Aaron Barrett heard me and turned around.

I said, “You maybe don’t remember this, but I once sent you an email asking fifty-three questions about life in a band and you responded to all of them.”

He said, “Ohhhh, I remember that!”

Then he signed my shirt and we got our picture taken with him.

Another time, as a junior at Millersville University, I drove down to Baltimore with my friend Lindsay, met up with my friends Susan and Kerry Ann, and caught Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger at Bohager’s (RIP). This was the Crouching Fish, Hidden Finger Tour and while the show was of course excellent, the most memorable part of the evening is probably being invited onto the band’s tour bus. So that happened too.

I would also like to add that of all the bands I’ve ever communicated with – even the ones who aren’t especially well known and haven’t traveled the world or played in arenas – Reel Big Fish is the only band that has ever given me a shoutout on social media. I once posted a picture on Twitter of a cut- and torn-paper trumpet that my friend Greyson had commissioned. For some reason – I think because Reel Big Fish has such a phenomenal horn section – I tagged my favorite band in the post and they saw it. Not only did they “heart” the post… they retweeted it and gave me mad compliments!

I have more stories I could share about this band. I’ve seen them so many times and met Aaron on so many occasions and I still have so very many positive things to say about them… but this is meant to be a blog post and not a book about the kindest, bestest, funnest musicians around. Garbage band, schmarbage band. I absolutely love Reel Big Fish!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58cc22_40558fd50ddc458a86a0177081fd985f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Garbage Band? I Disagree.

My intent was to post stories about the bands on The Way Back’s playlist in the order they appear on the playlist, but then I started going to shows and things became disorganized and so today I’m writing about Reel Big Fish because I feel like writing about Reel Big Fish. Originally, I was saving the best for last, but plans have changed!

I believe readers should be aware of Trivia Ben by this point. He’s a crucial member of The Educated Friends and I see him most Thursday evenings at Fourscore. However, what some of you may not know is that Ben once said something that I will never forget and that he will never live down. Much like my concert husband Phil and Brock didn’t staand for Caamp, you know?

This is what Ben said:

“Everyone has a favorite garbage band, Hannah. It’s just that your favorite garbage band is also your favorite band.”

He has since denied saying this, and apologized for saying this, and insisted that he meant it as a joke (which I know he did). Nevertheless, I’ve committed it to memory and remind him of it often.

The thing is, Ben’s point (not his wording, but his point) makes sense. Reel Big Fish isn’t lighting the world on fire with their lyrics. The numbers they perform are generally fast and danceable; the f-bomb is prevalent in many songs and they love to sing about not being popular. People form mosh and skank pits at their shows. Sometimes Aaron Barrett dresses as Superman when he’s onstage, though more often than not he wears a Hawaiian shirt. And everything about this? I love.

I discovered Reel Big Fish in 1996. “Sell Out,” their big radio single, was all over the airwaves. I was fifteen years old, working as a substitute lifeguard at the Lake Heritage Swimming Pool and writing a book in my free time. That book was Kick It One More Time. Since I didn’t need to be at work until noon, I’d get up each morning, situate myself at the family computer, and start typing away in a Microsoft Word document. I did this for years.

In fact, I was still attempting to get Kick It down on paper in 1999. At that point in time, Sebastian Porter (the main character) was a troubled teen who lived in California, dyed his hair blue, and spent his days waterskiing. He has changed so much over the decades. Pretty much the only similarity between my fifteen-year-old version of Bas and the real Bas is the fact that he was in a band… although as a teen living in Southern Cali, he was obviously in a ska band, and now Flannel Lobster is more of a folksy-jam band.

Anyway.

I got to page forty of my manuscript (single-spaced, mind you) before it dawned on me that I didn’t really know anything about being in a band. It seemed like a smart idea to send some fan mail to bands I liked at the time, so that’s what I did. A few of them wrote back, too! Everything of “Hooch” fame responded to a few of my queries, as did John Feldman from Goldfinger and Tavis Werts, who was playing trumpet for Reel Big Fish at the time. The thing is, when I say these fellows responded to “a few of my queries,” I mean that they disregarded the majority of my questions.

I asked FIFTY-THREE questions… and many of them contained two or three parts to them.

I kept waiting for Aaron Barrett to write back. He is and always will be my favorite rockstar. I love his voice. I seriously think that Aaron Barrett has the nicest singing voice of anyone on the planet. There’s just something pleasant about it. I love love love him.

Aaron Barrett did not write back. Not via snail mail, anyway. So I got online and did some digging, which resulted in the discovery of an email address: BigRockusa@aol.com. I sent him a short message and asked if he’d received my letter with its fifty-three questions. He responded relatively quickly to say that he hadn’t, but told me I should email them to him.

I did as he suggested.

Then I waited.

Months passed.

Like, a lot of months. Five or six, I believe. And then on December 23, 1996, I received a response from Aaron Barrett. “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!” it begins. “i’m finaly done!!sorry it took so gosh darn long!!!! ok here goes!”

Although his grammar wasn’t the best, Aaron answered EVERY SINGLE ONE of my fifty-three questions, and when I printed the single-spaced email, it came out to be ten pages long.

I have referenced the information provided by Aaron so many times over the years. He has a wealth of knowledge and he didn’t have to answer any of my questions, let alone all of them. Needless to say, when I finally finished the first draft of Kick It, I saved it on a CD, took it with me to a Reel Big Fish concert that was conveniently being held at Gettysburg College, and stayed after so I could give him the disc. Who knows if he ever looked at it? I kind of hope he didn’t… That particular version was way too wordy; it’s much better now.

The current version of Kick It, which admittedly still needs some editing, actually features Aaron Barrett among its pages. He has a brief scene in the novel – I even give him a few speaking lines! But don’t worry, folks: Aaron approved the dialogue. I sent the pages to his manager Vince Pileggi, who forwarded them to Aaron, who approved them very quickly. I adore that guy.

Here’s another fun Reel Big Fish story:

While attending Kutztown University during my freshman year of college, I had the opportunity to attend a free concert at Penn State (main campus) with my roommates Aimee and Elena. Elena’s brother Harry was in a frat and we were staying with him, but the reason we went was because Reel Big Fish was playing at University Park on Pollack Field with Letters to Cleo and Goldfinger. This is one of the times Aaron dressed as Superman on stage… but before all that, Aimee, Elena, and I were standing on the outskirts of a sea a people (we’re talking thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people) and this guy walked by and I said very casually, “That’s Aaron Barrett.” Because it was.

Aaron Barrett heard me and turned around.

I said, “You maybe don’t remember this, but I once sent you an email asking fifty-three questions about life in a band and you responded to all of them.”

He said, “Ohhhh, I remember that!”

Then he signed my shirt and we got our picture taken with him.

Another time, as a junior at Millersville University, I drove down to Baltimore with my friend Lindsay, met up with my friends Susan and Kerry Ann, and caught Reel Big Fish and Goldfinger at Bohager’s (RIP). This was the Crouching Fish, Hidden Finger Tour and while the show was of course excellent, the most memorable part of the evening is probably being invited onto the band’s tour bus. So that happened too.

I would also like to add that of all the bands I’ve ever communicated with – even the ones who aren’t especially well known and haven’t traveled the world or played in arenas – Reel Big Fish is the only band that has ever given me a shoutout on social media. I once posted a picture on Twitter of a cut- and torn-paper trumpet that my friend Greyson had commissioned. For some reason – I think because Reel Big Fish has such a phenomenal horn section – I tagged my favorite band in the post and they saw it. Not only did they “heart” the post… they retweeted it and gave me mad compliments!

I have more stories I could share about this band. I’ve seen them so many times and met Aaron on so many occasions and I still have so very many positive things to say about them… but this is meant to be a blog post and not a book about the kindest, bestest, funnest musicians around. Garbage band, schmarbage band. I absolutely love Reel Big Fish!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/58cc22_40558fd50ddc458a86a0177081fd985f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4