[Twenty Facts -
+ conceived the month Billy was born
+ shares a birth month with the twins
+ 3 years and 12 days younger than the twins
+ 2 years and 18 days younger than Paul
+ 10 months and 18 days younger than Chris
+ 9 months and 8 days younger than Billy
+ of Irish decent, like the twins
+ had an Uncle Billy
+ always wonders if Paul is related to her first grade teacher
+ knew of the band since 2000, but didn't pay attention until 2002
+ had never seen a guy with pink hair until Benji. Was very intrigued
+ saw them live for the first time May 14th, 2003, at the Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, AL.
+ Prefers Level 27 over MADE... but supports both. Because... yeah.
+ digs the star tats on Joel's shoulders
+ doesn't watch All Things Rock (gasp!)
+ has dreamed about the band three times... all were odd.
+ contacted by both Joel and his older brother Josh about the site. (hi guys if you're out there)
+ visited the bands home state Maryland before... nope not Waldorf... Baltimore! Woo!
+ Billy knows more about eye shadow than she does (sad...)
+ Can draw Benji, but not Joel (weird, huh?)

[Good Charlotte timeline as experienced by Kerri -
2000ish - Heard "Little Things" and then "Motivation Proclamation" on the radio, thought they kicked butt but then they sort of dissappeared from existence.
March 23, 2002 - My 20th birthday, the self-titled CD was given to me as a gift. Kaboom... realization hits and it's instant infatuation. CD never stops playing in my car. GC introduced me to the pop-punk genre where I found other bands like Mest, New Found Glory, Sugarcult, etc and have never looked back.
September 19, 2002 - This site was created.
October 1, 2002 - The Young And The Hopeless is released
November 2002 - Turning out to be the worst month of my life. My grandfather dies and the DC Sniper is still loose (my brother lives around where this lunatic was shooting)... when on...
the 10th - I receive a legit email from Joel complimenting me on GC GRITS
the 25th - Get a mysterious package in the mail from Fanscape that turns out to be an autographed Good Charlotte poster
the 26th - Josh Madden, older brother of Benji and Joel, signs GC GRITS guestbook. Also legit, I thanked him later.
May 14, 2003 - saw 'em in concert at Birmingham's Boutwell Auditorium

[Concert Experience -

May 14, 2003.
Woke up, showered, dressed in camo pants and my baby blue tank top underneath my long-sleeved white fishnet shirt and my blue Chucks bought specifically for that night, put on my face (haha...), and waited for my cousin Joe to show after he called and said he was on his way. And waited. Sat around at my mom's place of work for a little while because I was that bored. Then went to fill my car full of gas before getting back home and receiving another call from Joe saying he was really on his way this time. He got here and we met my mom at Burger King for lunch before hitting the road.

It started raining really bad in Montgomery, I was praying it wasn't going to be that bad in Birmingham and thankfully it wasn't. Getting to Birmingham was a breeze... got there and parked around 3:30pm-ish. Waited in line for an hour getting soaked before I made Joe go back to the car and get my blue hoodie and his jacket. Finally got into Boutwell around 5:15 and made a mad dash to the restroom where a bunch of little teenies were congregated putting red shit in their hair. Psh. How fake can you get?

On the floor Joe and I got right against the railing on the far left side of the stage right in front of a stack of speakers. Made small talk with some Billy groupies (okay not really, they were nice) before Stretch Arm Strong came on. They... bleh. I didn't like them very much. The fuckers made me lose half my hearing in my left ear. Yeah... yeah... I was right in front of the speakers but... damn... how can anyone call screaming singing? Really. They weren't that bad but just... not my style.

MxPx... hell yeah! Mike only came over like once or twice... but thats okay, got good views of Tom. They were fantastic... of course.

Good Charlotte... my main reason for going. I stood in "my spot" halfway through their set before getting agitated and making my way into the throng trying to get a better view of them. Didn't accomplish anything... I still couldn't see. And people were being asses when I was trying to get through. Got pissed off and had security pull me out so I could get some water... and air. Billy was the only one I ever really had a good view of the whole time... and Benji... once. During "Hold On" I called Mom, Ryan, and Nicole... holding the phone up so they could hear. I know Mom got the calls for sure.

Went to get more water and buy a shirt after they left the stage. I lost Joe somewhere in GC's set and found him again afterwards, we looked at shirts and just stood around with everyone else up front until I hear New Found Glory starting.

I rush back to the floor with Joe at my heels. He opted to continue staying out of the pit (poor guy... his bad knees) while I jumped right in. Secured myself a spot between left and center stage right up front (I'll put it this way, I was a body away from the railing) braving all the surfers (one of which landed on my neck ugh). And got amazingly spectacular views of Steve, Ian, Jordan, and Chad. I just wish I hadn't taken so may pictures of GC's set or else I'd have a TON of great NFG shots. I know everyone says this... but I swear to God I really did make eye contact with Ian and Steve at least a dozen times and Chad maybe once or twice. They were great... very energetic moving around a lot, interacted with the crowd, weren't scared to stand at the edge of the stage... they just made my night. I had a lot of fun during their set.

Hahaha... when we all started chanting "N! F! G! N! F! G!", they thought it was funny and told us to do it backwards. "G! F! N! G! F! N! Glory Found New! Glory Found New!" ;p. Dude and they even told us to shoot them birds for not coming to Alabama sooner... you gotta love a band with a good sense of humor.

Joe enjoyed MxPx and Good Charlotte more than New Found Glory and Stretch Arm Strong... he said he liked how Good Charlotte's songs sounded really sincere and he's right... they are. That and he can... connect... to a certain new song more than I can. I won't get into it because its personal but I really wanted him to hear the song and I'm glad I took him because it really helped him.

As for me... honestly I think Good Charlotte could have put forth more effort to act like they were having a good time. I got a vibe from them that they didn't want to be there. They disappointed me greatly... hardly ever moved around the stage and stayed away from the edge of the stage like the crowd had a disease or something. They all looked great though. And Joel brought up Alabama a lot... so it's all good, I think. I enjoyed New Found Glory more, they really brought out the energy in everyone. That and no one in the pit had sticks up their asses like they did during GC's set.

This was written in NFG's diary about the B'ham show:
Boutwell Auditorium - Birmingham, AL 5/14/03 8:57:10 AM
Sweet Home Alabama. The show venues are getting more club style. With a larger floor for kids to dance and crowd surf. There was like three different pits going on at the same time. Chad was into the show that he felt like going into the crowd with his guitar. The last few times we played Alabama it was Furnace Fest which is a huge hardcore festival and a few years back with this Florida band Discount at this Pizza shop. This show was clearly the most fun. We went to eat at Al’s restaurant and meet the locals. We don’t usually go to Birmingham but it is a definite must now.

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