Goddamn I love it here. I visited for a few days about a month ago and I’ve now been here for the second time since Wednesday and I sincerely want to move out here as soon as I can. Everything from the people you meet to all of the fun things there are to do is just top notch. The very atmosphere exudes such a warm friendliness that having a bad day around here feels nearly impossible. The only exception from pure awesome about Wilmington would have to be the heat and humidity—which I’ve actually already become acclimated to, at least to some extent. Maybe that’s part of it even. Everyone is generally having such a good time but we’re all in the same sweat-filled boat of torturous heat so everyone shares that common link right off the bat. Anyway, I absolutely love it here and even though I don’t leave until tomorrow night, I can’t wait to come back already.
Last night I saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals play at The Soapbox, with Blues and Lasers as an opening band. It was one of the sickest shows I’ve been to in a really long time. I actually had never heard of them before last night (although I think I recognized one of their songs that’s probably in a commercial or something like that) and that just made the whole show even better. It’s rare that I go into seeing a band play not knowing anything about them and end up having great time. That show was just amazing and I’m already in love with Grace Potter’s voice and her rocking band. The opening band Blues and Lasers is actually comprised of The Nocturnals and some of their roadies whom decided to get together and make awesome music together. They sound like Zeppelin in that they are the sickest actual rock band I’ve heard since Zeppelin. It was just such a phenomenally fun show. Great music and energy and people the whole time—with the single exception of the creepy dude who may or may not have tried to date rape Sophia Bush. He was like hovering over her the whole time and kept acting really weird every time any of us made eye contact with him and then later on offered her some shots. She had to work early this morning so she declined and in a fit he threw the shots on the ground—getting them all over us—and then immediately proceeded to go buy more. It could be paranoia but why would he go get more and waste those ones unless he did something to him. SO shady. Oh yeah so Sophia Bush was there, as well as other One Tree Hill cast members—none of which I recognized. It was cool to meet her but it wasn’t really as much of a trip as meeting celebrities is hyped up to be; that’s mostly because I’ve never really seen that show or anything else she’s been in so even though I know she’s a well known actress that some people would flip their shit over meeting, it was almost as if I kind of had to just take everyone’s word for it. Anyway she is really funny and an absolute sweetheart—and gorgeous of course—so all in all it was a pleasure to meet her—and eat her food because I was too broke to buy my own. But wait, this is Wilmington, North Carolina…East Hollywood…one of the coolest places in the country and quite possibly taking Vegas’ place as my favorite city to visit, so of course meeting one celebrity isn’t nearly enough. Grace Potter herself joined us as well. Now keep in mind I didn’t know anything about her the day previous to this, but over the course of this one show I fell absolutely head-over-heels in love with her singing and was quickly converted into a huge fan. So not only meeting her, but meeting her so quickly after discovering her music was just plain insane. It was comparable to converting to Christianity wholeheartedly when not a moment later Jesus himself walks in with a twenty-pack of Aquafina and is like “Hey wanna hang out and drink some wine?” There’s really nothing else that compares.
At this point I’m ready to just die, I don’t see how my life could get more fulfilling—unless actually, I moved down here. So maybe dying is a bit drastic but I’m definitely going to have a really difficult time trying to top last night for the rest of the summer. I doubt even the collective whole of my remaining summer could be more amazing of an experience than that one night was. Such a goddamn blast.
I’m here for one more night and it’s hot as balls out so who knows what we’ll end up doing tonight. Based on the heat and what little money is in my wallet it probably won’t be anything too crazy although having a good time is certainly guaranteed. I may or may not make another update about Wilmington before leaving but I’ll be sure to make one after I get home and recover either way.
Also if you’re not listening to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and Blues and Lasers by now you really should be.
You can check out their music and find out about their upcoming shows by clicking their respective names above and you really really should. They were absolutely unreal live and if you never see them play you are doing yourself a shameful disservice.
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are actually playing in North Conway, NH in August and then Burlington, VT soon after that. I’m definitely going to one of those shows and possibly both if I can afford. They’re that good.
Stay cool, I’ll definitely be trying to and I’ll start right now with a tasty popsicle.
-Ben
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