INK AND IRON 2011

This years Ink and Iron was completely insane. We started the day off by have some pre party cocktails at Toni's apartment. Gabe and Michael Burns rode their scoots over to meet us at Toni's. After our drinks I jumped on the back of Gabe's lambretta and rode up with him and Michael and the rest of the group drove up in Dave's car. When we arrived we saw the most MASSIVE line to get in the place. It was all the way down by the Catalina Express ( which is pretty far) Since we were on the scooters we were parked up front. Lucky for us Gabe's brother Andy and his friend Rich were just arriving and Rich was on the VIP list. They called me and told me to come up front and the security guard was a little hesitant about letting me up front but I told him that Andy had my ticket and was able to go right up front. I could not get ahold of Burns or Gabe and was worried they were going to have to wait in the massive line but Andy was able to get them up front too. We waited 25 minutes only to get in. Unfortunately Toni and Scott and Thelma and Dave had to park the car and had to wait in the line..I think it took them 4 hours to get in!!!  Once inside we made a B line to the bar and checked around the car show and went inside the Queen Mary to check out the tattoo artists but as Gabe and I and Burns went to go look for the Piano bar inside the ship we went through a door (thinking maybe there was a staircase there) we took a wrong turn and ended up in the dark dwellings of the ship by ourselves. It was all dark and spooky and I recognized it being one of the mazes from their Halloween Haunt thing they do every year. When we were walking through the dark hallways and byways there was still scary Halloween music playing and dummies of drowned sea crew and zombies and crazy torture devices left over with big spray painted warning signs DO NOT ENTER GHOSTS ABOUT. We were tripping out that there was still music and ghostly sounds playing over the loud speaker in there. Since we been through that maze before we thought we would find our way out but I started to get panic stricken once 15 min passed and we were still lost in the middle of the ship with no one in sight.
Finally once we came to A very long hallway that was dimly lit i saw down another hall a door open and a employee walking out of it I called out to him saying Help us we are lost..we are trying to find the piano bar and he laughed and lead us to a nearby exit where he opened a door and there we stood in the hallway of the ship rooms where we saw ink and iron party goers hanging out in the hallways. Once we got outta there we rushed over to the bar and had a nice stiff drink and cracked jokes about our journey through the ship...we found out from the employee that where we were at (when we mentioned how the scary music was still playing and it must have been forgotten about) he told us that is where they do the haunted tours twice a day for the queen mary! Hence the dummies,scary signs and music.

 After our drinks in the lounge and a very nice buzz Gabe headed downstairs to slam dance in the pit for the adolescents while Burnsey and I headed for more drinks at the Observation bar. Gabe met up back with us and finally hours later Toni and Scott met up with us there.

 We went downstairs to see the Hexxers play..they were great

 We met up with Andy and Rich again and I caught up with Felicia.

 Gabe and Tony

 Toni and I on the Observation deck

 Thelma and I caught up with one of our old high school buddies..mellow..It was GREAT seeing him. I have not seen him for like 12 years. He was my EX fiance's best friend.

 It got later and later and there were so many more bands to see. We went on the ship and checked out some art. I love these skulls..my favorite piece and surprisingly one of the cheaper items to buy.

 Rat Fink-ish

 Kinda looks like a Zombie woman

 a little tiki feel to this one

The Insiders were playing we had front row seats

 The sonics were great too

 The end of the night before the Sonics played they had these rope dancer people doing tricks

 The Sonics!!

At the very end of the night Mellow text me to say he found Bubba!! Another one of our old high school buddies we had not seen in years. Too bad Thelma was already gone. My how they grown LOL.
By the time the Sonics were over I was spent! It was hot and crowded all day and I had not eaten anything only a small bag of peanuts and several cocktails. Gabe Burns and I headed back home on the scoots and just relaxed at the house with some Jack in the Box..oh and I forced them to watch some Sex and the City.
It was a fun event...that line to get in though and the hefty price tag for drinks needs improvement~