After Matt put us on the guest list to see his band play at Great Adventure, we didn't think he'd be able to top himself!
But, sho'nuff, ten months after our trip to Great Adventure, Matt called us up and told us that the last date on their tour was going to be at the House of Blues in Atlantic City and that we were all invited down to see the show and crash in the huge-ass suite the venue had put him up in! So a bunch of us decided to rent a car head down to AC so we could wish Matt a happy "end of tour" (and to give him a ride back to NYC!).
Saturday, April 7th

We met up on Saturday afternoon at a car rental place in the Village. Here's Jenny and Eva excited about roadtrippin.
tags:
eva
jenny penny

And we're off!
tags:
jenny penny
meredith
rental car
sunglasses

We'd just left NYC and were heading south on a NJ highway when suddenly...
tags:
eva
jenny penny
me
rental car

...our rental car's hood started lifting up! Scary! I the hood wasn't latched down and as we picked up speed going down the highway, the wind started trying to flip it up!
tags:
me
highway

Thankfully, there was a place to pull over and I managed to get off the road and latch it down without incident.
tags:
me
highway

Eva and Jenny brought along a bunch of the 90s CDs and we spent the drive down signing...
tags:
me
driving

...while Meredith spent the drive gluing on the package of Lee Press-On Nails that she'd just bought! Hahaha.
tags:
meredith
nails

Ooooh-la-la!
tags:
meredith
nails

A little before 6pm, we hit the Atlantic City Expressway...
tags:
atlantic city
driving

...and then a couple of miles later, we'd arrived!
tags:
atlantic city
driving

We drove past Caesar's and Trump's...
tags:
atlantic city
driving

...and Jenny was so excited that she nearly lost her mind in the backseat. Haha.
tags:
jenny penny
excited

Centurion on the roof of Caesar's Palace.
tags:
atlantic city
driving
rome

Atlantic City is like the 90% discount-version of Vegas. All the casinos are lumped together right next to one another with hundreds of pawn shops interspersed between them.
tags:
atlantic city
driving

Matt's band was playing at the House of Blues which is part of the Showboat Hotel.
tags:
atlantic city
driving

We parked the rental and hit the hotel which was plastered with...

...fliers promoting the show.
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flyer
taking back sunday

We took the elevator up to one of the fancy floors and located Matt in his totally free fancy room! The place had arbitrarily-placed flatsreen TVs on pretty much every surface.
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matt
hotel

Check out this one on the wall in the bathroom. I can almost hear the conversation between the two guys installing it. Guy number 1: "Hey, it almost fits here between these two mirrors." Guy number 2: "Works for me. Get the screw gun."
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hotel
mirror
tv

There were even all sorts of special "rock star" amenities. Like the raised "fuck me" stage that the bed was on!
tags:
eva
jenny penny
matt
meredith
piper
hotel

At the foot of the bed there was even a convenient body-sized box. (Just in case any sluts end up partying themselves to death in your room, you can use this box to temporarily hide their bodes until you're able to slip out of town on your tour bus!)
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meredith
box

Of course everyone needed to take turns making sexy poses on the big swanky bed. Here's Eva.
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eva
bed

And here's Matt!
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matt
bed

Rowr, tiger! (PS - is that a mohair jacket you're wearing? WTF?)
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matt
bed
best

Jenny and Piper both did their sexy tiger poses too! (Look how Piper's putting her little tiger paw in the air! Hahaha)
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jenny penny
piper
bed

And then Meredith threw her keyster into the mix!
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jenny penny
meredith
piper
bed

Nom! Nom! Dog ear!
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meredith
piper
bite

According to the itinerary, Matt's band didn't go on until 9:30. We hung out in the room until around 8:30...

...and then decided to head down to the venue. Here's Jenny and Meredith posing with the exquisite, electric-blue, metallic Buddha near our elevator. Classy!
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jenny penny
meredith
buddha

Downstairs we met up with Bev Chase (Roxbury High School "Class Wit" 1995!) and her boyfriend, Adrian! She'd mentioned that they were thinking about coming down to AC for the weekend, so Matt put them on the guest list and hooked them up with passes!
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adrian
bev
meredith

The crowd from backstage right before the band came out.
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backstage
taking back sunday

The band came out and the place went nizzuts.
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backstage
crowd
taking back sunday

Mer and me (and Quinn peeking out in the back!)
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me
meredith
quinn
backstage
us

Quinn, Jenny and Eva. Haha.
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eva
jenny penny
quinn
backstage

Bev and Adrian (making quite the sassy face!).
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adrian
bev
backstage

The show was great. And it's really interesting to watch the show from the wings of the stage and get the same vantage point of the crowd that the band has. I can't even imagine what it feels like to have a crowd cheer you on when you're doing your job. Haha.
tags:
backstage
taking back sunday

Sean congratulating Matt after the show.
tags:
matt
sean m
backstage

Piper wasn't very happy about the placement of her backstage pass...
tags:
ellen hart
piper
backstage
dogs

...until Ellen turned it into a little VIP hat!
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piper
backstage
dogs

As we were navigating the maze of hallways behind the auditorium, Eva was keen enough to spot this!
tags:
eva
sluts

The "Sluts Training Room!" Hahahaha.
tags:
eva
best
sluts

After getting lost in the backstage labyrinth of hallways (shit was like Spinal Tap, no joke!), we finally emerged back into the hotel and made a beeline for the elevator.
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hotel

We all piled into the elevator and headed back up to Matt's suite...
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best
elevator

...for a "Congrats on the end of your tour" champagne toast!
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hotel
party

Meredith and Matt putting some tunes on the stereo.
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matt
meredith

Me acting like a jackass and playing air guitar (I love how Eva is totally giving me the "You're a jackass" look).
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eva
me
air guitar

Quinn and Ellen
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ellen hart
quinn

Eva and Jenny.
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eva
jenny penny

Around 2am, Ellen, Matt and I headed down to the casino to play.
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atm

I love how they put these posters on the side of the ATM all the way near the back so that you'd never see it if you were actually using the machine to withdrawal money. You stay classy, Harrahs!
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atm
sign

Two hundy was my limit and it lasted me all of fifteen minutes at one of the higher-limit blackjack tables. (It's poker-only for me from now on!).
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money

Meredith wasn't feeling well and had gone to bed early. I woke her up a little past four when I got back to the room to give her a delicious pizza snack!
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meredith
bed
pizza
Sunday, April 8th

The view from the suite the next morning. Scenic!
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atlantic city

There's Matt's tour bus over there on the right!
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bus

A little after 1pm, we decided to pack up and head back to NYC (it was Easter Sunday and we were worried about getting stuck in traffic if we waited until later).
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meredith
hotel

Ellen and Piper.
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ellen hart
piper

Goodbye, Casino! Spend my $200 wisely!
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casino

We loaded up our rental car...
tags:
eva
jenny penny
rental car

...threw all of Matt's tour-luggage in the back, and hit the road!
tags:
matt
meredith
rental car

Before leaving town, we decided to stop off and get ourselves a huge brunch at some chain restaurant (TGIF? Chili's? Ruby Tuesday? Applebee's? Anyone remember?). Here's Eva and Jenny totally excited about brunch while Matt works on waking up / recovering from almost a year on the road.
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eva
jenny penny
matt

Officer Silverman.
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meredith
sunglasses

After eating way too much food for brunch, we decided to continue our overindulgence and double-down with some desserts! Here's Quinn's apple pie with EXTRA ice cream! Hahaha.
tags:
quinn
excited
food

After stuffing our faces, we hopped in the rental car and headed north on the parkway! We got back to NYC a little before 7pm! Thanks so much for inviting us out, Matt!
tags:
driving
nyc
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