so. as most know, tally hall is one of my favorite bands. to understand more about tally hall and our history, check out my last review of their concerts. it's long...i know...but highly entertaining. promise. this one will be long (and entertaining) too. i'll do my best and add all the detail i can, because i know some of you wanted to go and weren't able to make it, and some were really meant to be there (jeff & cheryl) but due to circumstances beyond their control, couldn't. this one's for you. i'll even split it up into separate posts to break up the monotony of one gargantuan post. in reality, i wrote these december 21, 2009. yup, it's taken this long to get the pictures uploaded.
like jeff, i'll sum these next 5 posts up for those of you who just won't read them. had lunch with tally hall, went to two tally hall concerts in the same day, one was for a bunch of elementary school kids, awesome pictures after the second. true story.
you might not go to all these links, but
reading this would help understand how awesome it is that tally hall (on tour with rooney right now)
performed twice in utah on friday, december 4th, 2009. that's right...twice. and the first performance was at an
elementary school. no, really. an. elementary. school.
if you don't read that link
(+20 'awesome' points if you read both links...if you comment that you did, maybe i'll draw you a picture!) the bottom line is that our friend cheryl is an elementary school teacher and made her room tally hall-themed this year. as jeff wrote a while ago,
"a week or so ago, the (world's coolest) principal emailed them, saying that they hadn't been able to raise the funds, but that if the band was coming by again next year, to let him know, and maybe the school would have gathered some more by then (so cool). the planning people wrote back, saying that the boys loved the idea so much that they were willing to do it for what the school had."
{{lunch with the band}}
and cheryl invited me to have
lunch with the
band before the performance. i cannot explain how excited i was. not even because they're getting "famous" or whatever (that's cool too) but because i've met them three times (again, the homework is in that first link!) i was just excited to hang out with them because they're just such cool guys. honestly. that's one of the reasons they're my favorite band. they are so super chill and fun that i figure i'd probably hang out with them if we ended up in the same town or at the same university.
i got off work early and raced straight to the elementary school. upon asking directions of where i should go in the front office, i was asked if i was
"with the band" by the secretary. she didn't quite understand who i was or why i was there
(apparently she didn't read my blog post either) i looked around. "um...yes." then i grinned, half guilty, to myself. "well, i'm friends with cheryl and with the band." she told me i could just go on back then. i went past the cafeteria, where i saw a glimpse of the band warming up
[pretty sure it made me randomly skip for a few steps] then i headed to cheryl's classroom. i
felt like a celebrity upon entering, because all the kids recognized me as i'm in most the band photos that cheryl has up on her wall. rad. the kids were all
taking math tests, and
listening to tally hall. i couldn't have found a happier classroom test environment.
skip ahead. it was time for the lunch. the lunch consisted of
costa vida (mmmm) and all the stuff shown below:
and the people included cheryl, her awesome boyfriend blake, the speech pathologist of the school (another fan), the principle, and me. oh, yeah, and the band. : )
(included in "the band": rob cantor, andrew horowitz, zubin sedghi, ross federman and joe hawley, plus awesome michael schoonmaker who is their tour manager and mr. sound dude sam, who is awesome as well)anyway, we were all just waiting expectantly for them, and finally they came! rob was first, and he introduced himself to me. as i shook his hand, i mumbled something like,
"yeah...we've met before. three times. and took pictures." i don't know if he remembered me right away, but i think he might have after i said that. or later. or whatever. anyway, everyone introduced themselves. lunch was great. the seating around the nice faculty table went like this: blake, cheryl, mike, sound dude, amanda, me, rob, zubin, ross, world's coolest principle, joe, and andrew. some
highlights of the conversation--
- where everyone was from (blake started and it went something like, "california", "provo", "new york", "california", "salt lake-- then provo", "provo", then quickly "provo", "provo" and "provo". those last three were rob, zubin, and ross following me. rob explained that he was just going along with everyone else and zubin said he wanted to fit in. =D) after the principle said where he was from, the last two boys muttered something about apparently being from provo as well. :)
- fun at football games: we explained that at byu it's always fun doing the wave because the section with the older folks in it is always fun to watch with the few who stand slowly and proudly with their hands in the air at the right time. apparently at michigan state (where the boys met), they had awesome crowds and when the games got boring, they had the wave all figured out. they would do a few normal rounds, then one sped-up round, then one slowed-down round, then they'd reverse it, then they'd do the wave simultaneously in both directions. sheer brilliance.
- animation: i explained my major to them and apparently they got to tour pixar animation studios! i am so jealous. they said everything was very aesthetically pleasing and they let their workers kind of work on whatever they needed to, to enhance the creativity. so. awesome. no wonder it's the goal of any aspiring animation student to end up there....i also recommended to them the book how to be like walt. yesss.
- i asked what their favorite tour was, and of course they first responded guster (where we first saw and met them)-- but then they said that really, though, when they toured with guster they were surprised at the response they got in salt lake. rob said he thought maybe it's because they look like missionaries. i think he might be right.
stay tuned to hear about cheryl's classroom....
note that all the signs are lyrics from their songs. so brilliant.
above:: sam, the sound guy (cleverrr)
ironically, after we left the room rob asked if he could get copies of those photos since they didn't have cameras on hand (besides ross' iphone). ka-dang it. i totally should have taken awesome epic ones. oh well, i said i'd get them to him. we then chilled in the hall for a bit (i had fun watching kids take one glance at them wherever they went and squeal or get really excited and run away).
it was adorable; the kids had all been feverishly working on 'tally hall' signs for the guys and covered them up as soon as they came in. it was fun to see the kids interact with the band.
the kids were all whispering frantically to each other to hide their posters from the band to surprise them in the concert, and zubin imitated exactly what one kid did---excitedly held up the sign for all to see. classic.
and the band clapped for the kids (because the guys felt they deserved a round of applause, too, after their deafening welcome from the students)
after a good lil' conversation with the class, the band bid farewell with hi-fives.
i was privileged; i got to see the signs after the band left the room to get ready. :]
