A San Francisco reunion with Rev Peyton and his Big Damn Band
It’s kind of funny how as life goes on and as you get exposed to more and more exciting things your tolerance for this excitement seems to go up just the same way that your tolerance for cheep beer goes up in college. If you have been following this blog for it’s seemingly short-lived life, Steph and I have done some things that have just blown us both away. Things that afterwards we say to ourselves, “Damn, this might be hard to top…”. Well, somehow, someway we always seem to top whatever it was and end up with some amazing footage/pics/stories to prove it.
But, getting back to what I was first saying, even though we keep on trumping one amazing experience after another, the bar of awesomeness that is required to get us both super excited about doing something keeps on rising even higher and higher. So, it has been our mission to keep on finding these things that seem to always give us those little butterflies that pop up in your stomach when you are about to do something that you are truly excited for.
Lucky for us, the butterflies are basically built into the adventure that we’re taking on tonight. I mean, we’re going to see the Rev in San Francisco, California and when I say the Rev, I mean The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band. The same Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band that is from our home of Indianapolis, IN. The same Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band that makes people go insane(and sometimes naked) at their shows. The same Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band that has been traveling all over the freakin’ place in a van spreading some Big Damn Love. The same Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band that features Breezy, a crazed, washboard-shredding, facial-expression-rocking woman(who also happens to be the Rev’s lovely wife). Oh and yes, the same Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band that is led by the one and only Rev Peyton, whose guitar playing and screaming is second only to his brother, Jayme, who keeps the Rev on beat with a barrage of some ridiculously fast-paced drumming.
Did I mention how excited that Steph and I are for this show?
Anyways, here are the details on the show, if you happen to read this blog before the show tonight shoot me an email at ryan.hupfer@gmail.com and we’ll get crazy at the show together.
Where: 12 Galaxies in south San Francisco
When: Doors open at 8pm with Ha-Ha Tonka opening up at 9pm and the Rev following, probably around 10pm
How Much: Tickets are $10 online, but we’ll probably buy ours the old fashioned way - at the door when we get there.
One more thing - here is a video that I wanted to dig out of the archives for everyone to see. It’s when the Rev and crew were selling all of their stuff so that they could hit the road for good. Man, I can’t wait to see these guys.
Back Home Again in Indiana!
Yep, we took a little vacay to spend some time at home with our friends and family. My awesome roommate from college, Holly, is getting married this coming Saturday and Ryan’s 10 year High School reunion just happened to fall a week before, so we figured we had a pretty good excuse to come back to good ol’ Indy for a bit. I can’t tell you how weird it felt to fly into the Indianapolis airport and think to myself, “I’m on vacation… in Indiana” haha. What a vacation it has been though; it’s only Tuesday and we’ve had enough fun to last us for the whole week already!
Shortly after arriving we headed up to P-Town for Ryan’s high school reunion. Wow.. really is all I can say. I didn’t know that Donnie’s( a little photo for your pleasure) could hold that many crazy Pendleton Arabians at one time! You know it’s a good reunion when you didn’t even go to the high school that the reunion was celebrating and you still had the time of your life. That’s all I have to say about that 
Last night we attended our first Mojo Monday Night at the Spot since we left for CA two months ago. It was an awesome night, and we stayed out on the deck for most of it just soaking up the fabulous Indiana summer night. It’s comforting to come home and be with your old friends again. It really makes you step back and reminisce a little about the fun times of the past, and know that you always have an incredible support group of friends at home. It’s funny how I don’t really feel homesick at all when we’re actually in California, but coming home kind of brings some of those feelings to the surface a little when you re-live your previous way of life for a bit. It’s true that you have to move away to truly come to an appreciation of your home where you grew up. I know that I’ve viewed Indiana a little differently this time around. It’s our home and it will always be here, we’ll always love it, but there’s so much left to experience and explore.
Now it’s time to go and live up the rest of our week here! More to come on our crazy Hoosier adventures
Saying goodbye to my home-away-from-home
I have been saying goodbye to many, many people the past few days (when I’ve had the time) and I’m sure that more than a few people are still going to have no idea that I’ve left. With so much to do in such a little amount of time, it’s been hard to communicate the message to everyone so it’s basically inevitable that some people will fall through the cracks.
But, thanks to my habit of heading there at least once a day, one group of people who I have not left in the dark on me jetting out of Indiana are my Subway ladies. Considering that I see them more than my family, I thought that getting some video of the goodbye was only appropriate so that everyone can see the bonds that I’m made with my favorite sandwich artists. Check out the video below or watch it over here on YouTube.
I Hate to say Goodbye…But I LOVE to say Hello!!
Yep… the only part about this trip that I have been dreading is finally upon us. The goodbyes. I know that nobody really likes to say goodbye to someone but I’ll argue that I might dread it just a little more than most people. Now I obviously understand that leaving does not by any means mean that we will never see all of our friends and family again…geez, but there’s still of course that aching feeling in the pit of my stomach for all of these pecial people that I won’t be seeing on a daily basis like I have for such a long time.
The friends that we have are indescribable. We’ll be saying goodbye to the most amazing group of people that I have ever had the privilege of meeting in just 3 short days… 
I can only hope that flights are being booked as I write this to come and visit us ASAP out in our new and glorious home of Palo Alto, CA. I can’t wait to start playing tour guide when we have visitors… just give me a minute to find my way around first and then we can hit up all of sweet places!!
This whole experience is SO bittersweet. There’s no question that I’ll think of and miss our sweet friends every single day while we start our new life out in Cali, an entire NATION away from everyone… but hope of meeting new people and finding awesome opportunities will definitely keep us preoccupied Indiana has been a crazy ride for some time now… I think we’ve lived up the past year as much as is possible in this great state. Now it’s time to head off into the sunset for our next grand adventure!!!!!!
Goodbye Indiana……….. HELLO Palo Alto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Radio Radio, WITT and smacking your friends in the face with culture
In just a few short weeks you can all probably begin to see that Stephanie and I are all about getting plugged into different types of things all over this great city of ours. As many of our friends continue to do the Tour de’ Broad Ripple every time they go out in search of cheap drink specials and Top 40 playing DJs, Stephanie and I have totally gone the other direction and have tried to experience things that aren’t so, ummm how do you say it, mainstream?
Since I can remember I have always done my best to bounce from one of these worlds to the other, which has not only given me a great & unique perspective of what all Indianapolis has to offer, but it has also allowed me to meet some amazing individuals along the way. Now I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with doing the same ‘ol same ‘ol sometimes, but I am just simply stating that it can be fun, exciting and enjoyably uncomfortable to sometime step out of the norm and to go check out something that’s fresh and exciting.
All of this thought has stemmed from Stephanie and I volunteering to emcee the fund raiser kick-off party for a soon-to-be-awesome public radio station here in Indy, WITT 91.9FM. As we were chatting with the organizers, bands and those who came out to support the cause that night we began to wonder why more of our other friends don’t get into events like the one we were having so much damn fun at. It blew our minds, really, but I must say that it doesn’t surprise me much. I mean, the cover was $7(all went to WITT), the drinks were more than $1.50 and the bar(Radio Radio in Fountain Square) isn’t on Meridian Street downtown or on the strip in Broad Ripple. I can’t be too disappointed though, it’s just how some people are I guess. But, from here on out I’m going to make even more of an effort to smack my friends in the face with some other great events like this one. There’s aways next time, right?
Also, here are a few pics from the WITT event on IndyMojo to check out when you have a few.
Polar Plunge 2008: A full day of freezin’ and fun
Stephanie and I finally decided to stay in for a night for once in our lives so that we could attempt to get a little bit of cleaning and work done. Well, Amazingly we actually accomplished both - I finished up two awesome videos that we’ve both been anxious to get put together and Stephanie graciously cleaned some dishes that were basically piled to the ceiling and making my condo smell like….ummm, well like something that you wouldn’t want a condo to smell like. This was an exceptionally kind gesture by Stephanie due to the fact that none of the dishes were actually mine(I eat Subway every day and never cook) - they were all my roommate’s doing. What an amazing woman, eh? I guess that he owes her one.
I must admit, after emceeing an event together all Friday night for the new upcoming public radio station 91.9 WITT(video coming soon) Stephanie and I were completely content with just hanging in the condo for a night. Oh, and yes, we even got some videos done for all of you to check out. Here is one that covers the entire day of the Polar Plunge that we participated for with our Team Brrrr from IndyMojo.com.
Check out the video over here on YouTube if you can’t see it below.
Also, you can check out our full interview that we rocked out before the Polar Plunge on WISH-TV Channel 8 over here in this previous post.
Rubbing elbows with Oscar
With all of the media hype that is always generated around this time of year, I am sure that you are all aware that it is one of the biggest times of the year for the entertainment industry. Well, believe it or not, I have been doing some research and all of this hype can be traced back to one name…one single name that can bring tears to people’s eyes, a huge smile upon their face and an official stamp of legitimacy for all who are graced with with it’s presence. This simple name is Oscar. No, not this Oscar, but this one.
Ok, enough about the Oscars - you’re probably starting to wonder what this has to do with Steph and I, right? Well, I’m not sure if you were aware of this, but the Academy(yes, THAT Academy) grants one official Academy Awards event per state each year that can occur during the actual Academy Awards on TV. IMAX and the United Way have hosted this event the past couple of years as a way to give the people of Indianapolis a cool way to watch the awards, all while raising some money for the United Way. The event is called Lights, Caring, Action and they wanted Steph and I to be the dinner emcees as well as the red carpet interviewers before the show started. Sounded fun so of course we told them that we were in.
As usual we had a blast and we met some new friends along the way - Miss Indiana USA, Brittany Mason and the always crazy Dave Smiley from The Smiley Morning Show on Z99.5. When I get a little bit of time I’m going to put together a video from the night, but until then you can check out some more pics from the event over here on IndyMojo.com.
We’re made for television
I can’t seem to find the video of us getting interviewed by Dick Wolfsie early yesterday morning(like 6:00am!) before the Polar Plunge, but luckily I never leave anywhere without my camera and I made a sweet, full-length bootlegged version instead for everyone to check out. Like Stephanie said in her post about Polar Plunge we had a lot of fun and we even raised a solid amount of cash for our friends at the Indiana Special Olympics.
Check out the video below or check it out over here on YouTube.
Hup and Steph + Freezing Lake = Polar Plunge
Walking out to your car in February is cold. Waiting in line to get into your favorite bar in February is cold. Deciding to go for a run outside in February is cold.
Jumping into a frozen lake while wearing nothing more than a tank top, short-shorts and a couple headbands is just plain nuts.
Since Stephanie and I are coaches for a Special Olympics basketball team, we try to stay in the loop as far as ways that we can get involved to help out the program and we felt that the Indianapolis Polar Plunge was as good of a way to support the cause as any. And yes, it’s about as simple as it sounds and looks - people get donations that are put towards a goal of $75 per person, per plunge. Basically you can shell out some cash so that your friend, family member, co-worker, mortal enemy, etc. jumps into freezing cold water in the middle of an Indiana February. Brilliant, isn’t it?
Of course unlike the other members of IndyMojo’s Team Brrrrr, I have waited until the last minute to get my donations for me and one of our basketball players Mark, who is jumping as well. As of the writing of this blog(T-16 hours or so) I only have $20 towards my goal of $150, which means that I should probably bring my checkbook along with the rest of my things. Oh well, it’s for a great cause so why not. If anyone reads this before Saturday morning, feel free to throw me a few bucks if you can - if not I’ll still like you, I promise.
::HUP EDIT:: Oh, and how could I forget to mention that me and Steph are going to be rocking out a LIVE interview on WISH-TV Channel 8 bright and early at 7:00am. Be sure to check us out!
You can check out Mark and the rest of our team in this video that’s posted below.