June 9th, 2002

the Rave with Sketchy and White Knuckle Trip

Well being that this was almost a year ago, I am going to try my best to remember everything that happened....

Kat and I left at our usually time right around 4:00pm and rode up to the Rave. Once we got there, we sprinted towards the door. We were so excited to be seeing them again, especially such a long time passed since the last show. Just as we were getting to the door Kevin came outside and Kat and I gave him HUGE hugs! We chatted with him for a while, and then Bill joined us. We quickly asked Bill if he had recieved our email about bringin a video camera, and of course he did. He then told us that he would take care of getting us in with it. That was a project and a half! Sometimes those security guards can be real jackasses. We had to talk to nearly everyone of them and tell them that we had permission to have it. Finally, Bill got us some photo passes and the security finally stopped harrasing us. As we ran into each of the members, we told them that we had brought them a little suprise that they could get from us after the show. We spent most of our time with Kevin talking about this and that...anything that popped into our heads really. However, we did get to spend a bit of time with all of them.

When Factory 81 took the stage, Kat and I went backstage with cameras and started snapping shots and filming the show. The quality of the tape isn't great, but it is still definately worth watching. We didn't even get the whole show because our batteries died, but we did catch Nate dropping Kevin onstage after he was crowd surfing...the whole episode was pretty funny, I felt bad for Kevin though.

After the show was out, Kat and I waited patiently as they guys visited with there other fans, after the majority of the people had left, the guys walked over with us to Kat's dad's car. We then took out some cookies and handed them each a plate. They were sugar cookies that were decorated with blue and white forsting nd sprinkles...and I mean these cookies were bad ass. They had the chaos symbols on them, the single star logo, flames....you name it. We urged them all to try one. Andy unwrapped the packaging and started eating them one after another. Bill questioned, "Are you sure these are safe? You didn't poison them did you?" Kevin and Nate just popped one in their mouth. They all liked them, and were very thankful for the snack to eat on their return to Detroit. After Kevin finished his first cookie, he asked us if he could have another one. Kat and I both kinda giggled and reassured him that he had full posession of his cookies...so he ate another one.

We stood around a little longer gabbing and then took a group picture. After we took two pictures, Andy shouted, "Group hug!" So we all gathered around and hugged...several of us awwing at the corny sweetness of it all. I had a great time, and was once again blown away by factory 81's musical talent and kindness.

-Chelsea