Good evening, Firedogs, from my father and step-mom's cozy townhouse outside Washington, DC.  I arrived here this afternoon, dazed and exhausted from one of the best nights of my entire life.  And that's not hyperbole.  Where did we leave off, y'all?  Oh, yeah.  It was Friday night when the Maxwell-Mosher Band arrived in New Haven.  My cell phone rang as I was sitting in my hotel room in Meriden reading your comments on Friday's Late Nite post.

"TRex!" shouted Tommy Yum over what was clearly the din of a bar-room, "We're in New Haven and we've commenced to drink!  Where are you, my good man?"

"I'm on my way," I replied, and throwing on a heavy coat, I sped south on I-91 to New Haven.

Have you ever met someone and felt a nagging sense of familiarity, like you've known them forever and you're just re-meeting them so that you can resume your friendship from a past life or something?  That was how I felt when I met the entire Maxwell-Mosher Band (two of whom are former members of the now-defunct Squirrel Nut Zippers) and their friend Alyson.  They'd just rolled in from New York City and an interview followed by drinks with Rachel Maddow.  We assembled at Sullivan's, with only minutes to go before last call.  A round of beverages was ordered, and we fell to.

I crept back to my hotel room just as the Blue Horror of Dawn began to lighten one edge of the horizon.  I woke up during early afternoon with a pounding headache, socks on my teeth, and a sense that I may have done something I might regret the night before.  And I don't even drink!

So, naturally, I immediately ran back to New Haven to be with my New Best Friends again; Alyson, Tommy (guitar and vocals), Ken Mosher (vocals and multiple instruments), Daryl White (bass), and über-hottie Evans Nicholson (drums).  (I always fall for the drummer.  What's with that?)  We scarfed down some Mexican food and then it was off to load in and sound check in New Haven's Federal Plaza, the site of the Great Big Rally, the culmination of the Big Bad Bus Tour.

Here's Evans:

 evans

ROWR!! 

Hands off, ladies.  He's MINE!! 

The Plaza was BRUTALLY cold at sundown with the wind whipping down between the tall buildings that rose up around us like urban canyon walls.  It set our teeth chattering and knifed right through our clothes.  I don't know if Tommy Yum has ever sung with that much vibrato in his life before, ever.  But the band came off stage from sound-check with that special spark in their eyes.  I knew then that it was going to be an awesome set, even if they had to play and sing with icicles dangling off their faces.

Fortunately, once it was full-on dark, the wind died down and the cold was a lot more bearable.  At 6:00pm, people started pouring into the plaza with signs and placards.  A table was set up to dispense hot chocolate and the party got rolling.

 mmband

(L to R: Ken Mosher, Evans Nicholson, Tommy Yum, Daryl White) 

I don't know if you saw the video of the band earlier.  I would post it again here, but I don't know how to embed multiple videos into a post, so if you haven't seen the guys playing "Had Enough?" yet, go back to this thread and watch it and then meet me back here. 

The crowd got this awesome call-and-response thing going:

MM Band: Have you had enough?

Crowd: HELL, YEAH!!

MM Band: Have you had enough?

Crowd: HELL, YEAH!!

MM Band: If you've had enough, then throw Joe Lieberman out!

Crowd: YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHRRGGHHH!!!

There was a group of FDL'ers down front, me and Dab from CT, SharonW, and my dearest Selise, not to mention Scarecrow.  We shook our money-makers (a marvellous way to ward off the chill) until the end of the set, when Ned arrived as U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" throbbed and pounded from the speakers and echoed up into the night sky.  Connecticut's Next Senator gave the most passionate and affecting speech I've ever heard him give, and then a giant wave of confetti burst forth and came raining down in a blizzard of red, white, and blue.

 confetti

 confetti 2

And frankly, if you could have stood there in that plaza with all those happy, cheering people with the confetti swirling and the music pumping and the full moon shining down with the future wide open before us and not end up completely covered in goosebumps, well, frankly, you have no heart at all and I don't want to be your friend.  I got a lump in my throat and tears stung my eyes.

"We're gonna win this motherf*$&er," I said to myself, "I feel it in my gut.  Joe Lieberman is toast."

After the rally, we adjourned to Sullivan's again for the FDL meet and greet, which was a bit crowded, but otherwise absolutely delightful.  So good to see all my bloggy buddies from the primary and my awesome new friends all in one place, but oh, lord, Jane we missed you.  Sigh.

Here's a shot of me and Tommy at Sullivan's:

 tom and trex

Ohhhh, we are such sexy bitches. 

And then, just as I was beginning to think the night couldn't possibly get any better, we heard the sound of approaching bagpipes.  They kept getting closer and closer and closer and then, BANG!  The door of the bar flew open and in marched a troupe of about thirty bagpipers and drummers blasting the Marine Corps Hymn.  

I turned to Alyson and said, "In twenty years, I'm going to call you and say, 'Do you remember that awesome night in New Haven when the BAGPIPERS showed up?'"

It was, quite frankly, the cherry on the cake of the Best Day Ever.  Hooray!! 

Once more, I want to thank everyone who helped make this trip possible.  This is the best community on the web, bar none.  I never knew that saving the world could be so much freaking fun!!

Thank you all.

Love,
T. Rex, Esq.

XXXXX0000000 

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