even MO summa - the Block PAR-TAY

~ BLOCK PARTY TIME! ~

(this is a VERY long post with TONS of photos so don't say you weren't warned)

We'd been talking about it on and off forevrrrrr, and since the date of the boys' departure was looming, we wanted to have it before they were gone! We were sadly missing a few who were out of town, but we still had a WONDERFUL time! Our little end of the culsdesac is small but mighty! Some of the very best people on the face of this earth! The attendees were as follows:

* the Fellbaum Family! (affectionately known as the F-baums)

* the Berndt Family!

* the Alunni Family!

* the Walker Family! (well that's obvious)

* our friends (and part of John's band) Darryl and Evan Mardirossian!

* our friends the Sanchez Family!

* our friends John, Taylor, Whitney, Liam, and Henry!

 Everyone took turns at the grills including Matty who did all the hot dogs

 Katie, Whitney, Claire, Tom, and Bree

Sanchez fam on the right - thanks for coming!

 Davy's band started off the entertainment (with John Sanchez and Henry Webster)

 this was actually the last time they ever performed together (sniff)

John Sanchez

 I know Liam..... we all have to deal with it :/

There we go - much better :)

 Whitney and Matty giving Luna treats :)

 Dan and Claire Fellbaum

 Bree and Tom

 Next came John's band (with Darryl and Evan Mardirossian)

They played for a long time and it was great entertainment

The best baby on the block and anywhere for that matter! Sweet Ava :)

Ava was the band's biggest fan by far :)

 As always, the ping pong table was popular

Davy, Taylor, Liam, and Daniel

 We gave everyone a little Walker harmony too (see? Ava loves music!)

 It's always so awesome to me, to sing with my boys :)

Especially when Davy will do it without getting mad, hehe :)

 Aw, I love this pic! Cammy holding Ava :)

Lunie!!!

 the Mouse treated us to some awesome entertainment as well

His own rendition of "Blackbird" is especially terrific!

And THAT, my friends, is how a block party is done :)

~

SPECIAL THANKS TO EVERYONE! WE LOVE YOU!

favorite people stuff

Let me just say, life is a whirlwind. Here are some of the peeps I love, and what we've been up to. 

And just let me tell you, we've been up to a lot. Like..... a LOT.

First off, I've been taking lots of pics of my fave things, like the flowers above.

 Ahhh, my girl Tori and the chocolate vegan rosettes she made. I love this girl :)

 Awww..... the cutest girls in the world (well ALMOST all of them!) before prom. I love you girls!

 YESSS! Getting to see one of my bestest friends Joan, and her adorable daughter Whitney!

Are they just too cute with their matching jammies or WHAT!

We had such a great time, and I *loved* having Whitney here to stay for several weeks!

My oldest boy Daniel - world traveler extraordinaire - packing for the summer in Laos :(

(and Davy's naughty kitty trying not to be noticed)

We ate a LOT of my girl Hayley's amazing - no, seriously, AMAZING - homemade bread!!!

Listening to Davy's anti-social band practice many, many, many (you get the idea) times 

in our super messy garage when it was 100 degrees out there and yes, this is a run-on sentence.

 The gang before attending a 1920's party - SO FREAKING CUTE!

John, Ernie, Taylor, Davy & Whitney

The Mouse brought a tiny little furry baby home from work late one night!

He knew she couldn't make it on her own without her mama :(

This adventure actually deserves it's own post, so yeah, hang tight.

We went out to Westlake Village and spied on my old house across the water on Westlake Island.

It brought back some great memories - I will always love Westlake :)

~

Stay tuned - yup, I've been up to a lot more. Like, a LOT more!

a rendezvous with the Rendezvous

It's been a while since I've posted anything about my son Davy's band, A Basement Rendezvous.

They've been performing often lately, so I wanted to catch up on a few performances.

 First I had to throw this one in of them practicing at our house beforehand though,

because you get an *oh-so-rare glimpse* of Davy actually smiling, hehehe :)

 This first performance is at the Guitar Merchant in Woodland Hills, CA. 

It's a great place to perform and the band put on a terrific show that night!

And yes, that's the Mouse (Matthew) on banjo, far right :)

 I love it when Davy plays the mandolin

Mouse sang a song as well, and did a fine job :)

A Basement Rendezvous is:

Davy Walker, John Sanchez, Henry Webster, and Jimmy Melnarik

~

 This next performance was amazing :)

A Basement Rendezvous recently performed locally at "A Brave New World". 

It was for singles night and it was a great crowd - loud, but awesome!

I think they had at least 4 encores + Mouse went onstage to sing a number too!

It was truly a fun night - they even ended up in the paper - photos & all, hehe!

The *funny* thing about this performance was,

between the band's energy and the bright lighting, most of my pics make them look ghostly!

At first I was so disappointed, but then I was like, wait - this is SO COOL!

See for yourself.....

 Here we have John only partially there, and Davy with NO HEAD.

 Now Davy is back, but John's head is missing!

 This is a fave..... right in front of the "Haunted Love" comic poster,

John appears as though he's a ghost himself. AWESOME!

 Here we go, losing Davy again!

And we've almost completely lost the Mouse! Yikes!

Well, we all had fun, that's for sure :)

Below is one of their BEST songs - I don't think I've ever posted it here before: "Plainview".

ENJOY!

YAYYY!

And don't forget - you can always look up their EP on iTunes, CD Baby, and Facebook :)

big news... like, really BIG news

YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!! We have been anxiously awaiting this moment for a long time! And it is HERE! It quietly arrived in an inconspicuous small brown box. Davy's band, A Basement Rendezvous, has just released their very first EP! As in 5 amazing original songs - plus a bonus track - on a real music CD!

 They opened it together one evening (we missed you Henry!) and it was just the best night ever. Better than kids on Christmas. Watching them hold it in their hands and marvel over it... the compilation and culmination of so much talent and hard work... I'll never forget the look on their faces - it was a moment in time I will always love.  

And it sounds freaking awesome! I don't get emotional too easily, but I admit that I got a big 'ol lump in my throat and a few happy tears trickled down my big, fat Mrs. Puff face. We all sat around listening to it with huge, goofy smiles. I wanted to freeze that moment. 

~ our dear friend Liam Moore, the artist that created all the genius artwork 

and typography for the EP while he was at art school in London ~

One of their most popular songs - "Crigog Ross" - includes the Mouse on banjo. 

The look on his face when he heard himself on the cd was priceless :D

Many of you have heard their songs before, whether I've posted their live performances here, or you're friends with A Basement Rendezvous on Facebook, or you're a local fan. So you know their sound is a bit hard to nail down since they don't exactly fit into a mainstream category... but "indie folk" probably comes closest. 

Jimmy finally arrives and gets his first look at the CD.....

..... and his first listen (and we get a rare smile from him, hehe)

The CD is titled "The Negro Spiritual EP" 

(ironic, because their actual negro spiritual/tribute to blues is not on this EP, heh) 

The EP is available for purchase from several different sources:

CD Baby (hard copies and MP3 download) $4.99 each

iTunes (download) $5.94

A Basement Rendezvous Facebook Page (hard copies) $5 + $1.50 shipping

Rock Candy Music in Saugus - local (hard copies)

Available for purchase wherever the band is performing $5

AND OF COURSE... HERE ON MY BLOG!!! (hard copies) $5 + $1.50 shipping

IS THAT SO DOGGONE EXCITING OR WHAT!!! ZAHHHHH!!!!!!!!

AND.....

their EP launch performance is THIS Saturday, June 25th 

at Rock Candy Music in Saugus!!! It's gonna be an electric evening!!!

All local friends & fans please come squeeze in for this special night!

I'm so proud of you guys :)