Naughty Biceps

He may look innocent enough. But underneath that sweet exterior is a man fraught with all sorts of naughtiness. At a recent festival, Bicep’s naughtiness got the best of him.

And, Biceps got into trouble. Real trouble.

The show was at midday with all sorts of promise. The best thing about a midday show is the ability to photograph the band well lit.

Another bonus to a midday show is the ability to go to bed at a decent hour and not have slumber party stomach the entire next day.

But, I digress. I wanted to tell you about Biceps’ naughtiness. See the back of this lady’s head who is sitting side stage, far right in the picture?

All heck is about to break loose.

Biceps precariously climbed up onto these speakers for a dramatic emphasis during the set.
There’s a man in the back of the shot with wispy hair, and he is rather concerned and alerts side-stage lady .

Oblivious, Biceps rocks on.
Until the side stage lady weaves her way past the drummer-during the song-points her finger at Biceps and tells him to get down. Tisk, tisk!

Naughty Biceps…I don’t think he was very happy about being chastised by a mother figure during his cool guy rock and roll show.
But, we laugh about it now. Or at least I do.

ABOT’s, Bruder and Popcorn Balls

Bruder, Biceps’ and brother’s band, was nominated for two awards this year:
‘Best Indie Rock’ & ‘Best Newcomer of the Year’ at the ABOT’s.
(The ABOT’s are given to those considered the Absolute Best of Tulsa and are based on city folk voting for their fav thing.)

Biceps couldn’t attend, so I tagged along with brother & his wifey solo. Aren’t they the cutest couple?
Yes, that is a cage behind them for cage dancing. And yes, baby brother did get inside of it and strut his stuff for a moment. No, I won’t show you the photographic evidence that I have of said dance.

We had a limo ride that lasted .006 of a mile. But, it’s always fun to be escorted in a limo anywhere, no matter how short the ride…

This year, the ABOT’s were held in the historic Cain’s Ballroom in downtown Tulsa. I love Cain’s-it’s a venue where time has stood romantically still.
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys played here. The Sex Pistols played one of their very few American gigs here.
I held hands in public for the very first time with Biceps at Cain’s, while watching Weezer perform. I love Cain’s for oh so many reasons, but this one is the most important reason.

About halfway through the night, the announcer called out the nominees for ‘Best Indie Rock’. The winner was announced.
It wasn’t Bruder.…it was ‘Scales of Motion’.
The band is super talented and it was right that they won. We were neighbor’s with the guy on the far right-he and his wife are pretty stinkin’ cool.

While sitting somewhere in this general picture area, waiting for the second category Bruder was nominated for, I noticed that my ‘swag bag’ contained a cookie and a popcorn ball. The popcorn ball was gone in ten seconds flat. The cookie soon followed. After my gluttony subsided, they announced the nominees for the Best Newcomer of the Year. My heart stopped…

Bruder won! Baby Brother waltzed onto stage, accepting the award, sans his other band mates.

He thanked his fans and what-not, saying very cool and debonair things I am sure…I was just too excited to really listen.

He looked so much like the rock star that he is. My sweet baby brother is all grown up.
I needed chapstick after smiling from ear to ear for so long.

The only thing that could have made this evening any better was if Biceps was able to be there.
Wait…what is this?…

What in the world? I guess he was there….
Congratulations guys, I am so proud of you!

The Making of a Bear Costume

What do several yards of faux fur, margaritas and sewing machines all have in common?
They are all needed to make a bear costume.
I wasn’t surprised when Biceps had this unusual need for his band’s video. Nor was I surprised that my brother would be wearing tighty-whiteys and extracting a fish from the river with his teeth in said video.

This is all very normal in the Greiman household.
(I haven’t even delved into the numerous amount of sock puppets I made for their first video. Another day, my dears…another day.)

Baby brother made the head from chicken wire, plaster of paris and a hard hat. Yep, a hard hat.
We then covered it in a faux fur they found online. The fur really flew. Literally. It was all over my house.

Baby brother also made the nose and teeth from modeling clay, baking them in the oven.
He hand painted the nose a glossy black and yellowed the teeth to make them as realistic as possible.
Cowboy did not like this bear head one bit.

Sister-in-law and I cut up an old sheet to simulate the fur, padding Biceps’ body in the appropriate places to try and make him look more bear-like.
He was thrilled with this procedure, as you can tell. I think he was just trying to get into character.

The boys made margaritas while Sis and I began sewing. Have you ever tried shoving 2” thick fur through a sewing machine?
It’s fun.

Sis got really into being a bear, modeling the arms for all of us with many bear-type dance moves such as this one.
I believe this dance is called, ‘Showing your bear biceps to the other bears.’

Biceps is wearing one of the bear legs as a skirt. Boy, am I going to be in big trouble for this.

We used an old man onesy (jumpsuit) underneath the costume to attach the stuffing to. Biceps is inside the costume, sweating profusely, wearing the jumpsuit covered in stuffing and underneath the 2” thick fur.
No wonder bears are grouchy.

By the end of the night, no animals or humans were harmed in the making of this bear costume. We still needed to add eyes and claws…but we decided to end on a high note and go to bed.

If you would like to see the bear costume in action, here’s the final video:
Man Vs. Man Video, Bruder
Please don’t judge our weirdness….