Bury me in the comment section

The concert journal that I created is now available to purchase! Details on that are below. Please check it out and maybe pick up a couple to give out as gifts as well. 😉 

Earlier this week, I realized that Labor Day weekend is coming up. I jumped on all my favorite travel and vacation rental sites to try and book something for the weekend so I could have a little “writer’s retreat.” Unfortunately with the holiday surge pricing, anything I could find fell beyond my budget. I would really love the chance to get out of my own apartment for a few days for some solitude and change of scenery to get a jumpstart on writing my manuscript, but it seems like I need to be a little more creative on how I go about it.

I’m not one to write in public - people in coffeeshops and libraries tend to distract me. Anyone have suggestions for a DIY writing kick-off?

Next week’s issue will have another show recap and likely a book review as well. See you then!

Missed last week’s newsletter? Read it here

🖤 Elisa

IT’S NOT A PHASE

Things found on the interwebz this week:

• Meet Me @ The Altar covered “Take Me Away” from Freaky Friday and it is SO GOOD → YouTube

• Hawthorne Heights announced a new EP that will be out next month → AltPress 

• The new Boys Like Girls song “The Outside” is my entire high school experience summed up in 4 minutes. → Spotify

FROM THE PIT

L.S. Dunes is a band tailor-made to appeal to me. With members from Thursday, Coheed & Cambria, Circa Survive, and My Chemical Romance - this group of musicians are each at the top of their game. I’ve waxed poetic here before about how Anthony Green’s songwriting has molded a lot of my world view in the last twenty years. And there’s plenty of stand out lyrics in the Dunes album that feel so fucking good to scream back in his face in the heat of a show.

The Fonda is one of the few venues left that uses a curtain to intro a band like a theater performance. Seeing that curtain raise on Tucker Rule as he kicked off the drum beat and the rest of the band walked on stage was effective place setting to set the tone for the night.

I opted to watch the show from the balcony, some nights this 32 year old just doesn’t want to deal with crowd surfers, circle pits, and cell phones blocking the view of the band - and I’m so glad I did. I had a perfect view and still plenty of space to dance and head bang without feeling cramped at the front.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I think Dunes has been guilty of over-touring this album. After next week’s show in Garden Grove, I’ll have seen them play SEVEN shows in SoCal within the last year. As much as I fucking love a solid live show, I do hope that new album comes out before their next tour.

NOSTALGIA BLAST

Another album celebrating a 20th anniversary this year is Cursive’s “The Ugly Organ.” The loose concept for this album - an artist dealing with insecurity and self-deprecation - has only grown more profound over time.

This is an album I revisit when I feel that deep-seeded doubt in myself as a creative person. “I can’t stop the monster I created” is one of those lines that rattles in my head when I feel like a fraud.

DIARY ENTRY

I made a prompt-based journal to track all your concert memories! You’ll be able to write down your “bucket list” and then track a little over 60 individual shows including the date, location, artist, and setlist for each one.

This was a fun way to set up my Kindle Direct Publishing account and figure out how the page and cover formatting works. I’m hoping to sell a couple of these, and I’ll funnel all the profits (about $2.50 per copy sold) into helping cover costs for my future works. I want to be able to pay fair market rates for editors, proof readers, and a cover artist - and all of these things add up!

So I’d greatly appreciate it if you pick up a journal and leave a review to help it rank up the good ‘ole algorithm.

CHEER UP EMO KID

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