firedancers | Introductory Post!

Current Mood: happy

Entry tags:

introductions

Introductory Post!

Here's the post for introducing yourselves to members of the community! If you follow comments to this post, you'll get a notification each time someone new to the community introduces him/herself.

I'm

hillarygayle, one of your Faithful Mods.

quiara is the other one. We don't plan on doing tons of modding other than to keep out spambots & get conversations rolling. I live in Arkansas and I've been a DMB fan since about 1996, when I first heard "Crash Into Me" on the radio. The guy I was dating at the time didn't like it (he was a bit conservative and felt the "hike up your skirt a little more" line was "vulgar"), but I loved it. Should've been my first clue it wasn't gonna work, yeah? Anyway, later in college one of my suitemates had BTCS, and I fell in love with the album after hearing her play it. I got it for myself and I've been hooked ever since. I admit I didn't really get into the live stuff until about 2005! Most bands don't sound great live, and I'd honestly never heard of one that did. I found "Live at Red Rocks '95" in the used bin at Hastings for $8, and I couldn't say no to cheap music. That's when I discovered that DMB isn't just "good" live...they're BETTER live. Since then I've done a lot of collecting live albums and downloading concerts. I've been to just 2 concerts: Dallas in Sept 2007 and Memphis in August 2008. It is a sore spot in my life that the Memphis concert hasn't had a bootleg released.

This summer, I'll be attending 2 concerts:

quiara and I will be heading to Dallas on May 2, and then we'll be hitting the Little Rock date on Sept 29 (gotta support the band coming to our little podunk state).

So that's me. Now it's your turn!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Okay, hi! I'm jorajo. I live in North Carolina and have been a fan since 1994 when UTTAD came out. I watched a lot of MTV back then (I was, after all, an annoying teen who was ~hip) and What Would You Say got pretty heavy rotation there and on VH1 (probably more there). I bought the album through BMG or Columbia House. I only remember that because the CD came in the mail on a day my dad had off from work and we put it on in the living room. It was the first time I remember buying an album, putting it on, and doing nothing but listening to it. And it was like a religious experience. By Nancies, I was full of jittery wonderful energy and when Jimi Thing came on, I just felt...GOOD. About life.

I kind of slacked off after Crash came out. I had a hard time getting into BTCS but once I did, it was all over. Any hesitation I had about naming DMB one of my favorite bands disappeared and they have been my obsession ever since. April 24 marks my 10th show (and I'm going with my bff cryfreedom, who I have seen every show with) and I am SO FREAKING EXCITED. DMB is a huge part of my life and a huge part of who I am. Going to their shows, listening to the pulls of shows, or even just listening to the studio albums helps set my mind at ease.

And all of this reminds me, I have a firedancer sticker I need to put on my car before Wednesday's show :D

^_^ Sorry, lolspeak got the better of me.

Seriously excited about May since this will be my first live show. Hillary makes sure I get pulls of shows all the time, 'cause she's awesome and knows I might not remember to do it.

I've been a fan since ~95 when I was introduced to the music/band by my friends, Adam and Adam. Adam O was certain I'd love it -- and I did. My first exposure was Halloween, which wasn't (at the time) my favorite -- good, but not my favorite. But I got BTCS not too long after and fell in love. Like Hillary, it's still my favorite because it has such amazing memories for me. Dreaming Tree will always be my favorite. But from an entirely different point in my life, Big Eyed Fish is equally important to me.

<3

Naturally, upon joining dreamwidth, the first thing I felt compelled to do was create a DMB community. I was quite tickled when I saw that there already was one. It almost feels like I've been a fan of the band all my life, that's how important they are to me. Music is my lifeblood, and they are like the heart that keeps my love for it going and going. (Gosh, that sounds so lame!) My brother first gave me a copy of UTTAD for my birthday, and listening to it nightly soon became my sleep ritual, with repeated listens of Lover Lay Down.

I subsequently bought every album, attended my first concert in 2000, and when I first heard Cry Freedom (my favorite song) live...well, it was amazing, and there may have been tears. Summers are always my favorite part of the year for tour time, and even though my friends don't really understand why I go back show after show, but no one concert is the same. They all vary from venue to time of year (love autumn shows!) to setlist to guests...there are so many things that can be a variable for an amazing show.

My first show of the year was MSG and to hear the new songs, to have Dave say, "This one is Roi's favorite"...it really tugged at my heart.

Randomly, can we add Tim to the interests? :D

(Gosh, that sounds so lame!)

No, it totally doesn't!

And YES, let's add Tim to the interests. Thank you for pointing that out!

HI! I'm late in getting back to this. I fail. It's nice to meet you! And honestly, when I listen to the MSG show and the crowd starts chanting "LE-ROI", I get a little weepy.

Hey! I'm cryfreedom! I'm a California native going to school (well, out of school now but IN school in general) in North Carolina. I'm a friend of hillarygayle, & quiara and roommate/bff to jorajo (do you use the same coding on DW as LJ to denote a user?)

I'm 29 years old, and I've been a fan of DMB since 1994. I wasn't allowed cable when I was young, but I did listen to the radio incessantly, and was already a fan of Blues Traveler. When John Popper guest starred on this new single, "What Would You Say" I was in love. That summer, after the album came out, I was visiting my family in Idaho and my great-aunt (long dead now) gave me something like $5 or $10 to take down to the little pharmacy/hallmark store, etc that was basically the only place to shop in that tiny town. My now "all I listen to is obscure rap/hip-hop" brother was about 12 at the time, and he used his money to buy Primus' album Seas of Cheese (IDK, it might have actually been summer '95 when this happened, so it might have been Tales from the Punchbowl. I saw a cassette of Under the Table and Dreaming and snagged it immediately. I HAD TO HEAR MORE THAN THE THREE SINGLES THEY PLAYED ON THE RADIO. I was not disappointed. I listened to that tape a million times in my Sony Sports Walkman. My family is HYSTERICALLY abusive and that was one of many almost deadly (literally) family trips for me (my brother and dad beat the shit out of me on an abandoned road in the middle of the Bitterroot mountains, among other wonderful things). That album seriously got me through. And every album since then has done the same thing. (This might be TMI for some people, but as a former youth leader I got very used to sharing horror stories about my life and don't really mind doing it to a crowd of strangers, let alone when there are people I know in that crowd).

I was poor, and so I could never afford to SEE the band live, or to join Warehouse - things I desperately wanted to do, so even though I'd been a fan since I was 14, it took me until 2003 to join Warehouse (I believe it was a Christmas gift from jorajo. We seem to go back and forth every year, buying each other memberships) and my first concert was (sans-Warehouse tickets) July 30th, 2003. I went with some non-fan friends, but still had the most amazing time of my life. I was 2 weeks from re-enrolling in school after taking a forced break (no money to go) for a few years, and had JUST been thrown out of the house I'd been living in. I had nowhere to go, didn't know if I'd be able to go to school, and my life was a mess. And then the band went into "Pig." At the line "Here are we/On this starry night staring into space/and I must say/I feel as small as dust lying down here" I felt like this huge weight had been lifted. I could get through it. I was surrounded by people who understood! And that was before I'd even had the AMAZING pleasure/experience of being seated with WAREHOUSE people - now THAT'S a crowd that gets it, amirite?

I've met amazing people and friends through the band. Every time my life feels like it's going down the toilet, I put on BTCS or UTTAD or a live show and something happens to make it better. Something happens that means I can FACE it. After all, I'm not alone. And here we can rest safely, you know? It's all going to be okay.

I can't even begin to list the amount of times that my illnesses have put me in a place that I can't begin to deal with the world, but in spite of those things, when I'm at a concert, I just..can't remember the horrible things in my life. I remember that we're all in this together. That there are thousands of us staring up at the same sky and experiencing these precious moments (*gag* I know, but that's just what this band brings up in me.) More than once I've thought of writing the band and telling them how they've kept me from killing myself, or just giving up. I know they must receive thousands of letters like that every year. They are literally my life-raft. And I can't even START talking about Roi - that's a subject for another long-winded comment.

So that's part of my DMB story. Friday will be my tenth show, and this year might see my first Gorge experience, as well! I'm just the most blessed girl to be alive while these guys are touring, and to have met so many people (including y'all) through them.

I'm almost tearing reading this because although I may not have been through your experiences, I know exactly what it means to have this band mean so much. I mean, we all here do. You hit the nail on the head. I like this little community. :)

I'm glad you guys like it. DMB has been seriously important in my life, too, thought I'm not as comfortable being as open as

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<user="cryfreedom">') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

I'm glad you guys like it. DMB has been seriously important in my life, too, thought I'm not as comfortable being as open as <user="cryfreedom" site="livejournal.com"> is yet.

BTW, <user="cryfreedom" site="livejournal.com">, you're seriously awesome and you and <user="jorajo" site="livejournal.com"> and <user="hillarygayle"> and I need to plan an epic DMB Super BFF Club Concert of WIN. It will be epic! ^_^

SOOOOOOOOO EPIC

I can't wait to hear your story, Q. I totally understand about not feeling comfortable sharing...I think all the years I spent as a youth group leader, having to talk kids through some bad situations, and just basically learning to be honest through that about what I've been through was a serious help to me. But everyone has their own comfort level and their own time in which they're comfortable sharing. If you ever do want to talk, you can always pm me at livejournal, or msg me here once I get an account (they say they're giving all of us who signed up before a certain date accounts next week), or email me at indiegoddess at gmail dot com, or screen a comment on my LJ. I am a safe person to talk to, and our DMs on twitter tell me we've been through some common experiences (I hope that wasn't saying too much that you didn't want shared - if it is, tell me and I'll delete this comment). Anyway, I am so glad to know you and I can't wait to meet you IRL - preferably at a DMB show, yes?

*huge DMB group hug*

Also, GREAT icon! <3

Thank you! I have NO idea where it comes from...

Thank you so much for your response! Seriously, I am always so long-winded no one I know would ever respond to me that I hit the nail on the head saying *anything*. I love this group, too. (((you)))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Introductory Post!

no subject

OMG YAY!

no subject

no subject

no subject

DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life

Re: DMB Has Saved My Life