Pixie Playland (END OF THE CHALLENGE!)

Day 24 - A picture of you when you were younger.

My dad and I, circa... sometime in the late 80s or early 90s I'm sure.

Day 25 - A picture of your all time favorite band

I discovered them in my 7th grade music class. In that particular class, I don't remember doing much of anything, but a lot of people would bring in their own music to listen to. One of the "popular" boys had asked to put in his new cd, Candyass by Orgy, and from that point on I was sold. I ran out as soon as I could to buy a copy of my own, and to this day I have probably listened to it about a million and a half times. It was the only thing playing in my cd player during my entire field trip to Washington DC (a year later... DC happened for me in 8th grade), and I think by high school I became full blown obsessed with them.

They were the first band I had gone out of my way to research the hell out of. I know a completely ridiculous amount of useless Orgy information (facts I used to torture my friend with all... the... time), things like allergies, birthdays, spouses names and occupations, where they were from, where they were living, etc. I even went as far as making a fan site, and from that fan site I met a handful of online "friends" who shared my love of the band. I would make fan pictures, I downloaded their fonts, I owned every cd, counted down the days to the next one, and I knew every word to every single song... I have yet to love a band the way that I loved them.

Their music, while not completely mind blowing, always spoke to me. And of course I was absolutely in love with their style. I loved that they were weird, futuristic, make up wearing men. Loved it. I tried to style my own wardrobe and hair after them. And let me tell you how stoked I was when I discovered that a few of the members had started their own clothing line, Replicant.

Unfortunately, I was only able to see them as Orgy once. I was in the 9th grade and the show was at the Worcester Palladium. My dad took my friend and I to see them. I had done my research on what the best way to meet them was, and just in case I succeeded I drew them a beautiful picture of themselves (oh yes, I was THAT fan) because I knew they kept things fans made them (specifically Ryan, the guitarist, he had a box full of fan made stuff). And again, to this day I have NEVER been so excited to see a band. They sounded awful, but that didn't matter to me. All that mattered was that I was there in the same room as 5 guys I idolized so very much. And after the show my friend and I waited for at least an hour in the snow, and just as we were starting to leave, Ryan Shuck walked out the door. I was too far away for him to actually speak to me, but I was able to leave him with the picture I had made.

They stopped making music as Orgy around my senior year, and I missed the last show they played in this area. But a few years later I learned Ryan (the guitarist) and Amir (the other guitarist) had made a separate band called Julien-K. Now, I'm not really into the new band, but because I love them so much I try to go see them any chance I can. And the last time I saw them, in 2007, I was able to actually meet Ryan and Amir (and the rest of the band).

I was too nervous to say exactly what I wanted to say to them... How I had been so in love with them in my teen years, and how they both inspired me to start playing guitar/making my own music. But I did get to meet and talk to them... which is absolutely amazing. It's not every day you get to meet members from your favorite band ever. Now... if only I could find the rest of them...