Bree!

Today was a good day. I have many pictures and videos to upload before I tell you why.

But I did get to walk up to David Kennedy and say, "Hey remember that time you accused me of being wet during an interview?" It was hilar.

Also:

Ryan Key: *whispers, points* Someone should tell that guy his collar is popped
Me: You. You go.
Ryan: Will you back me up if he wants to fight me?
Me: No, but I'll take pictures. *holds up camera*

WAIT TIL YOU SEE THE ELEPHANT NOSE PICTURES.

Okay. I finally have a calm moment to get my blogging on. Warped Tour.

Amazing bands, getting to travel across the U.S., making new friends, getting to hang out with rock stars and the like... cool, right? Well, yes, absolutely.

• I lurked Paramore on their week stint, and got to film the Farro brothers interviewing eachother.
• A couple mornings I slept late and woke up to the sound of The Academy Is... playing the main stage. "About a Girl" is totally my summer '08 song.
• I got to spend time with The Audition on their ever-breaking bus (they don't have the best luck, but they collectively have an amazing sense of humor)
• I ended up at an impromptu dance party on the Cobra Starship bus. Details are fuzzy, but I think Gabe Saporta insulted me. Regardless, it was fun.
• A craaaaazy storm started during Gym Class Heroes' set while we were in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Rain! Thunder! Lightening! Hail!
• I shot Jack's Mannequin, Paramore, The Action Design, From First to Last, Between the Trees, The Audition, Oreskaband, The Academy Is..., Broadway Calls, Beat Union, Tat, The Higher, August Burns Red, Jeffree Star and Cobra Starship.
• I try to watch Against Me play "Borne on the Waves of the FM Heart" every day.
• Warped Tour catering is freaking amazing.

But on the real? I spend a LOT of time on this tour looking for and/or waiting in line for a shower. I spend a lot of tome trying to keep myself clean. Wet wipes, hand sanitizer, shaving with antibacterial soap in a bus bathroom... I will do what it takes.

It's a dirty, hot, sweaty, humid, smelly tour. As much as it's hella cool to have an all access laminate with my name and face on it, it takes a LOT of adjusting to go from living alone in your pleasantly air conditioned apartment to getting on a bus with 11 other people. Every day you wake up in a different place, and you have to orient yourself all over again.  On a good day, this is refreshing and challenging and after you've hydrated and brushed your teeth, you wanna go around high-fiving everyone. On a bad day it's exhausting, there are no "real" bathrooms, the buses are parked a mile away from the venue, you've got blisters and bruises and walking for 5 minutes produces enough sweat to convince anyone you've just ran 5 miles.

It's a really cool experience ... but I really miss you guys, too! I mean it.

Atlanta Warped Tour tomorrow... stay tuned :)

I am in Mississippi. It's a Warped Tour off day. I am uploading pictures and videos like crazy. I have much to tell you.

I vow to blog for you a little later today.

Honest to blog,
-breesays

Sorry for the lack of journal updates from the road, but you best be following my Warped Tour video blogs and of course getting your full dosage of Warped Tour info here. I am going to try and break down my Warped experience for you more often, but here is what I am giving you for now ...

Because we love Warped Tour AND because we love making ridiculous lists together, Christine and I have collaborated to bring you a Warped A-Z. With some bonuses thrown in there (*), because we're indecisive. And because we amuse ourselves.More.

The first episode of Pete Wentz hosted F'N MTV aired last friday night, and there was mixed reactions amongst these parts of Buzznet. Wanna hear it? Here it goes ...

Midway through the '08 Honda Civic Tour, we did a little recappin' as to not let the sweet, sweet memories of Panic at the Disco, Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound and Phantom Planet slip by. The tour came to a close on Saturday in Anaheim, California, so it's 'BOUT TIME to do another roundup! Yes, let's DO IT!

Oh Warped Tour, how I love thee. Every year I go, I sweat, I sing, I buy sh-- and I have a great time. This year I'm going to be ON the tour for a little over a MONTH! Hell yes. But before this year's trek kicks off, let's reflect on the awesomeness that was last year. Get Warped, baby.

On Wednesday night, Buzznet attended the first taping of the brand-new Pete Wentz-hosted "F'N MTV"! The idea? MTV is playing music again! Ha. What went down was ...

The Warped Tour is seriously right around the corner now, and guess what?! I'll be on some of the tour!!! I'm kind of totally excited. Do it!

Twenty-nine years ago on the 5th of June, bassist/lyricist/entrepeneur/papa-to-be – really, this could go on for a while  – Pete Wentz was born. So dammit, we're celebrating! Dance, dance.

Attention Buzznet Community! Tomorrow (June 5th) we will be celebrating the birth of Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III. As such, I have a very specific mission for all of you to complete! Accept, accept, ACCEPT!!!

Don't know Paper Rival yet? Then you're not on the ball — the Nashville quartet spent most of March on tour with The Hush Sound and Charlotte Sometimes, then played both Bamboozle Left and Bamboozle proper after that. We caught up with the band last week. Get to know Paper Rival.

The stars came out Sunday to mingle with the ashes of the Hollywood fire – wait. What I meant to say was that there is much to celebrate about what went down at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, most notably that Norm Spantz and his brilliant "Juno: Teen Pregnancy Redux" clip won the MTV Movie Awards Spoof Contest by a landslide! Did you hear that? One of our own! Watch the video of him receiving it here. *Squeeeee*

Yesterday the newlywed Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson finally confirmed that she is indeed with child. There are many squeees, many awwws, and many "I knew it!"s ... but let's dive into some details of the community reactions, shall we? Yes, let's.

There had been buzz about Paramore and Jack's Mannequin gettin' together on the road this summer, but now it's been confirmed and there are tour dates! Paramore will also be toting along Phantom Planet and Nashville buddies Paper Route for part of the tour. Hurrah! Mark your calendars.

The Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen family are TIGHT. This year they're ruling three-fourths of the Honda Civic Tour, they constantly make cameos on each others' albums, and a group of them even appeared together on MTV's "TRL" earlier this month.

So how does the rock version of Def Jam make it work? Does recently hitched Decaydance patriarch Pete Wentz send them away to summer camp and make them do trust falls? Nah, he just sends them on tour together and the bonding experiences bloom themselves. Greta Salpeter of The Hush Sound chatted with us about it when she called Buzznet on Friday.


"We play a lot of Hacky Sack — at least on this tour," she said. "Panic at the Disco started it — they started with this big circle and all of us we're kinda like, 'Oh, who are these hippies?' And then we started playing, and we bought our own. Phantom Planet is playing now, too."

As far advice given to her band by "family relatives," Greta said, "When Patrick [Stump] produced our record, we became better friends with him and he kind of gave us a clue into how to make this all work — how to have fun and still stay true to what you want to do."

Just like Panic rubbed off on The Hush Sound while on tour, the latter group might have some influence on its own underlings of sorts — whether either band likes it or not. This summer, The Hush Sound will tour with Decaydance newcomers The Cab, and although the Hushies are three albums and several tours their senior, Greta doesn't see her band in a position to be mentoring anyone just yet, "other than just to relax, have fun, and write music that you want to write."

While that attitude might be shared by many bands on the Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen roster, what sets The Hush Sound slightly apart from their label-mates is that the group's front-person has yet to emerge. They consciously try to keep it equal, since writing songs is a joint effort. "If one of us wrote all the songs, then that person would become the frontman, without really trying," Salpeter said.

Speaking of writing, although Goodbye Blues is still fresh in fans' heads, the band is writing while on tour as well. It's just have a little less to work with in this situation —"I was just jokingly thinking earlier that none of my songs on the next record are going to have piano on them, because the only thing I can write on when we're on tour is a guitar," Salpeter said.

It's not just The Hush Sound who are doing the impressing, though — fans are certainly doing their part to make the bands' jaws drop: "We've met a lot of kids on this tour who have tattoos. One girl came and had us write, 'Don't wake me up, I'm still dreaming,' in all of our handwriting — and then she's getting OUR handwriting tattooed on her, which is pretty insane."

Read more about The Hush Sound's next video and Greta's collaboration plans in the interview we posted Friday!

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