Kay Hanley

Sometimes I forget that Twitter and Facebook  give all of us a false sense of intimacy with one another. Sometimes I forget that I should watch what i say, but don’t we all these days? 

I Tweeted tonight about  blowing up the Moon thanks to a current news story that oddly mimicked one of my favorite Mr. Show skits.  A lot of people thought I was an asshole for wanting to blow up the Moon. 

I am kind of an asshole, but it has little to do with my opinions about space + shit.  

Me + the boys are hitting the road next week to indulge in beer drinkin’, pool shootin’ and most importantly, rocking your ass.  If you live in New Orleans, Houston, Austin or Dallas we’d love to see you.

May 20, 2009 
Lafayette Square Park, New Orleans, LA
500 block of St. Charles Avenue
Tickets: Free 
All ages
5:00 pm

May 21, 2009 
House Of Blues Bronze Peacock, Houston, TX
1204 Caroline Steet
Tickets: $15.50 in advance, $18.00 at the door 
All ages
9:00 pm
Also performing: Cruiserweight

May 22, 2009 
The Parish, Austin, TX
214 East 6th Street
Tickets: $16.00 in advance, $18.00 at the door 
All ages
9:00 pm
Also performing: Cruiserweight

May 23, 2009 
The Loft, Dallas, TX
1135 South Lamar
Tickets: $12.00 in advance, $17.00 at the door 

All ages 

 Thanks everyone for your fabulous ideas.  I will be picking the winner(s) today and blogging the results tomorrow.  Y’all are the bee’s knees.

-xok 

Who do you think you are?  It’s not my responsibility to be all “Look at me!  Look at me!!”  all the time.  Yes, I get it.  I am a fascinating person and you want to be updated every single time I do the totally interesting things that I do every moment of the ever loving day.  But you know what?  Your petty, voyeuristic needs are crushing my spirit and thus my interestingness.  That’s right.  I am officially boring.  I have nothing to say for myself.  Thanks a lot, assholes.

I’m sorry I said that just now.  I actually love you a great deal.  And because of that, I would like to leave you with this. My last blog post of 2008.  I think.  But I just borrowed my friend’s charger to power up my old camera (thus i have one now. aw, yes…) and Santa brought us Rock Band for our Wii so heaven knows I just may have to pummel you with an assload of info over the next few days.  Or not.  We’ll see.  Whatever.  

The point is:  Aren’t we all Kevin Bacon in Footloose at one time or another?  

xok 

Once upon a time, I was a young, naive traveler.  With little or no loyalty, I would whore out my travel dollars to the lowest bidder or fly on the chosen airline of whomever was flying me to and fro.  I didn’t care what name was slapped on the plane’s fuselage.  All I wanted was a bloody mary and safe passage.

All that changed with the advent of Jet Blue.  At first I was seduced by the clean, modern look of their advertising and insanely well priced flights. 

The seduction turned into a true love affair when I actually flew on my first Jet Blue flight.  New jets, friendly staff, great website and super efficient electronic check in.  And the televisions.  I admit now that my lust was (perhaps) taken to an irrationally euphoric place because of the TV situation.

So, how did we go so wrong?  I realize now that, although I thought that I was dealing with a lover who loved me back, I was deluding myself.  Jet Blue never loved me.  Jet Blue is a heroin dealer by way of a greedy, selfish boyfriend.

It started with the prices creeping up slowly, but I didn’t see anything nefarious about that, really. I only began realizing the bleak nature of our relationship over the course of the last 3 months or so.  Things have deteriorated rapidly, to put it mildly, including a flight from Boston to LA that I bought 3 seats on for my Mom and 2 kids.  The flight was the one of the most expensive that I found but I didn’t care. It was worth the price for the TV sets alone, knowing that my Mom would have her hands full and the entertainment would help a LOT.  2 of the 3 TVs in their row were broken.

All of a sudden the Jet Blue website has been retarded.  I have been unable to book a seat assignment, even though I have a frequent flyer account.  The prices of flights have suddenly become non-competitive to say the least.  

As I write this, I am sitting in a middle seat for my SEVENTH FLIGHT IN A ROW.   Admittedly, these recent flights have been booked within 2 weeks of my departures, but why is it that I can no longer even look at a seating chart to find out where I’m sitting?  Is it possible that %100 of Jet Blue flyers are so savvy that every single seat is accounted for more than 2 weeks before the flight?  Even if this were so, I would then have to accept that I bought the very last ticket available.

As I wrap up my rant, I would simply like to mention that my TV is broken, as is that of the passenger next to me.  Fuck you, Jet Blue.

As it so often is with me, if I don’t take pictures or write it down, it might as well not have happened.  Blogging has been a revelation to me in this regard.  Over the course of my life I have lost so many of what should be my awesome-est memories because my brain is a sieve, but now I can document the stuff that happens not only in detail, but in order!  

One of the highlights of our way too brief vacation was our day trip to Edgartown on the Vineyard courtesy of David & Patricia’s boat.  There aren’t many things I enjoy more than hanging out with my sister Trishie and seeing the Z & Hank have a blast with their cousins.  It was a top quality hang.  

 les enfants terribles.

 eastside 4 life

rockers i have met while yachting. 

 patricia, dave & usa

One of our favorite families from our ‘hood in Los Angeles, The Smalls, also take their vacation in Falmouth every year, but somehow we always miss each other.  This year, we were there at exactly the same time. 

nick, liam & z

the sox crush the twins for our viewing pleasure.

 kim, zozo & new sox fan, bella.

Elizabeth’s boyfriend, Grande, took the most amazing pictures and was super brillz to load them into my iPhoto. Here are some highlights.

papa, brendan and hank plot their next lego project 

is there anything else?

 chucks on the beach

 erin & elizabeth

And then, there was the annual townie throwdown featuring the usual cast of hooligans as well as some newbies.  I love my Boston homeys, I really do.

whuudya want from me?

i BROUGHT the fucking miller high life, fer crissakes

there is no “i” in team

and there is no “h” in wiffle.   

usa, mr. quigley, donna & dr. rickles 

And now I am back in LA.  Actually, I’ve been back for a week but I’ve been ripping my hair out with work related busyness, including a 24 hour trip to NY that involved a 5:30am wake-up call and booty shaking with Ms. Cyrus on national television.  I don’t understand how it is that I have the funnest career of any person on this earth, yet I am practically blind with stress half the time.  I think it has something to do with my time management.  Or lack thereof.  

Having a birthday shindig for Michelle tonight, so I should get crackalackin’.  

• plan menu
• sing care bears demo
• finish lyrics first, maybe 
• buy food
• cook it
• feed guests
• drink too much
• sing happy birthday
• have another glass of wine
• clean up
• pre-emptive advil, glass of water
• nightcap
• bed

xok 

I just got home from the Knitting Factory where Michelle and I went to see a band called Haim that we are absolutely in love with. They are 3 sisters in their teens from the Val (holla!), write weird, amazing pop songs and can play their asses off. Mish and I left with a new sense of hope that the next generation of bands might not be lost to the cult of posing and selling out after all. 

After the show, Mish and I stood out on Hollywood Blvd. in front of the club talking shop for about 20 minutes before we finally realized that our kids were asleep for the night and that we could actually stay out if we wanted to. With great vigor and vim, we skipped across the street to the Roosevelt for a drink and somehow managed to avoid the papparazzi who sneakily pretended to not notice us. Hint: if you ever find yourself in that part of Hollywood, don’t be afraid of the Roosevelt. Even though you have every reason in the world to loathe the vapid, disgusting, cultural and moral bottom feeding that the owners have chosen as their “re-branding” mission, you will be pleasantly surprised as long as you avoid the mucky muck. Go directly through the front doors and find Dakota, which is the steakhouse there. It’s really comfortable and chill and the staff happily sidesteps the douchebaggery usually associated with the Roosevelt.    

We started rehearsals today for the Hannah/Miley gig at the Houston Rodeo, which takes place this weekend. Highlight from today’s rehearsal? Singing backup vox on Achy Breaky Heart and I Want My Mullet Back with Billy Ray Cyrus.

My favorite verbal exchange??

candice: “i cant wait! i haven’t been to a rodeo in sooo long!!”

me: “…….” 

I’ll post new pictures and stories as soon as possible, but right now I must sleep.  I will leave you with a picture of me and Angie C (now shaw) whom you Boston people may know from the ‘FNX days. Angie and her sweet little family just moved to LA (redondo beach, actually) but we haven’t been able to coordinate and hang out. That is, until the MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSsTONES SHOW LAST WEEKEND!!!!! We had a blast. I really wanted to see The Streetdogs, but sadly, I missed them. The Bosstones made me and Angie feel like we were at the Rat in 1991 again. Thanks Joe the Kid for the list action and also for being a sweetie.    

last hurrah uh-huh, do it again!!

 xok

Well, I guess that’s it. I’ll leave you with our final soundcheck from Miami…

{vidavee id=”4825″ w=”320″ }

Thank you for reading - I’ll see you back in LA!

xok

We played a show in Lafayette, LA. tonight but I woke up with the flu this morning so the charm of this bustling metropolis was a bit lost on me. Previous to this bummer, we got to spend a few minutes in Austin.

I love Austin, Texas. The food, the music scene, the bazillion bats that fly out from under the Congress St. Bridge. I have had some good times in Austin, not the least of which was Cleo’s triumphant SXSW appearance in 1994 which led to our record deal and subsequent worldwide underachiever-ness. I wouldn’t trade a moment. Except for a couple of moments but mostly I wouldn’t trade a second.

I have a bunches of rad friends in Austin so I crammed as much action packed pal time as I possibly could. First up: Tex-Mex and karaoke with the kids from Cruiserweight! Stella, Ernie, Dave, Yogi and his fiancee Nicole took Stacy & me to a place called Trudy’s and it was pretty awesome, as Tex-Mex usually is. Especially when served with a Mexican martini. Yum.

muy bueno

dave showed up!

stella covers cleo.

i got chills!! they’re multiplyin’….

The next day, I was able to wrastle up a last minute lunch date with my sexy friend, Lynette. She and I met 20 years ago when our respective bands used to play together and later when we performed in Boston Rock Opera. Lynette is going through a yucky divorce, yet she is still one of the funniest, most upbeat people I know.

some things never change.

We rolled into New Orleans last night and I couldn’t go out because I seriously have the flu. I spent my night wracked with chills, not sure if I was going to be able to get up. I want my mommy.

xok

Jamie and I were having a quick lunch in the hotel restaurant here in Duluth when I heard a bunch of people laughing. When I peeked around the corner (i’m nosy) I saw a pack of older women raising the roof around a private dining room table. I felt an urgent need to investigate.

Meet the Sassy Red Hatters of the Red Hat Society - Lillburn, Georgia chapter!

“The Red Hat Society began as a result of a few women deciding to greet middle age with verve, humor and elan. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life, and since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together. Underneath the frivolity, we share a bond of affection, forged by common life experiences and a genuine enthusiasm for wherever life takes us next.”

- Sue Ellen Cooper, Queen Mother

Dude, I am SO signing up. I am quite fond of both verve and humor but elan? Come on, now. SOLD.

xok