Monday, May 21, 2007

I had a visitor today...




So I took her picture. Boo for lo-res images online.


N.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Within Temptation

In 2001, a good friend of mine came back from a trip to Holland proclaiming he had heard this great band I was absolutely going to love. He brought me their cd which I popped in on the way home from picking him up. Heavy guitars? Check. Melodramatic Strings/Orchestra? Check. Catchy Loops? Check. Badass chick singer? Double Check.

The band in question was Within Temptation and I have been waiting since the day I put that cd in my player to have the opportunity to see them live. Until the past few weeks they had never toured the US and I missed them by a few weeks when I went to Denmark. However, Lacuna Coil managed to get them over here, and of all the places in the SE they could play, they ended up in COLUMBIA!!!!

The show was unbelievable. I had wondered how well they would translate to small clubs after regularly playing large venues and stadiums in europe...they didnt miss anything. Hands down one of the tightest shows I have seen, but sequences tend to help that.

Afterwards, I went into fullblown dork mode and sought out the band members in order to get my 2 discs signed. They were a bit taken back since they have had no US released cd's, but gladly signed my euro release discs and spoke with myself, my 2 brothers and Jen. It was my brother Joe's second concert ever (lucky kid, I had to wait til I was 17...he gets to go at 13 since I take him) and he was blown away, particularly after getting to meet them.

Jen even mentioned we had tried to get tickets for the sold out Virginia show and the drummer took my email address so he could let us know if they had a guestlist up there. They did, he put us on it and emailed us, but the email didnt get here til 6pm day of show. No way we could make it in time, even if we had the gas money to drive to Va. and back. I was a little sad, but no regrets since I got to see and meet them 2 days prior. I find it unbelievable that he actually emailed me. This is a band that sells out 100k plus stadiums in europe.

They are releasing their new disc, The Heart of Everything, July 24th in the US. It will be the first cd of theirs released in the states and according to the band will contain some tracks from The Silent Force. Highly recommended, particularly if you like Evanescence or bands in that genre. (FYI, WT pre-dates Evanescence) Please buy it so I get to see them in the states again!

Before you point it out to me Mr. BD, yes, I am a dork. But if ever I cant be a dorky fan someone needs to shoot me.

N.

PS - Those are some of the shots I took from the show.



Saturday, May 5, 2007

...addendum...

Tom Waits on Conan. Holy Fuck. Go youtoob it. Now.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Good things...

New Type O Negative album = Great stuff (if you like Type O). I guess Peters stint in jail, rehab, and the psych ward did his songwriting some good. Apparently he is also back to being a good catholic boy as well, who'da thunk it. Better than the schlock that was on the past 2 albums.

My pumpkins are in the ground! After waiting for the tiller to come back from the repair shop, I finally got my patch turned over and have 14 pumpkin hills (as long as all survive transplant). 7 orange and 7 white (got to have the perfect pumpkin to do my annual Jack with). I'm also container growing 4 Jack Be Little's. If all goes well, I may actually get to have my "Great Pumpkin" patch this year. Scary part is I dont like anything cooked with pumpkins. I'm just growing them for Jack O Lanterns.

I also got my okra started and re-arranged the rest of our stuff. Count at present is 4 okra plants, 9 tomato plants, 8 bell pepper, 8 squash, 3 cucumber, 2 rows of bush green beans, and several useless flowers lol. If all goes well I should be up to my ears in fresh veggies this summer. I've never done this before so its been a good distraction.

I figure if I blog whenever something pleases me, maybe I can come here and see that the balance isnt as negative as I percieve it to be.

N.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Who knows..

I may reach the end of this entry and not even submit it. Maybe I will type this and get it all out and move on...at least I can hope for that.

So I left you guys with my first Denmark post a while ago. I'll fill in the rest of that before I launch into the clusterfuck of late.

My trip was good. Am I a world traveler who just didnt know it? Nah. Dont get me wrong, seeing my friends was great, but that was the reason I went and the reason I enjoyed the trip. Even with the neat stuff I did see and photograph, I could have gone my life without those experiences and I wouldnt be lacking anything.

I did not have any cigarettes in Denmark, and I have not had any since I have been back. I've now been smoke free since March 9th, so thats....ermmmm....almost 2 months. It seems much longer than that.

My gf also quit, however, it seems as if the cigarettes were the glue that was holding her together. Upon arriving home, a bout of fairly bad depression hit her for whatever reason, but she signed up for the prozac nation plan and all seems to be well now. I guess I am an asshole for feeling like the drugs have made my generation weak in comparison to previous ones. Maybe its just technology period causing the weakening. Who knows, shes better now, while I walk on eggshells afraid to set anything off. I should probably get with the times and join the brave new world myself.

SO, amidst not smoking and walking on eggshells, theres an ongoing shutout between myself and a certain alcoholic I am related to. Classic case of "you're wrong..." "no, you're wrong..." but its just one of those situations where I feel like I cant give in, otherwise I just continue the cycle that has existed for a very long time. But, if I break the cycle, can the relationship survive? If I continue the cycle, how long before I get emotionally abused again? At least when I did my stint as a professional drunk I was happy about it. This has gone on for the past week...did I mention the conversation that started all of this occurred on the night before my first final for this semester?

Finals have gone fairly well, one more on saturday and I'll be done. I may actually make the presidents list this semester. Yeah yeah, so I should have been doing that a long time ago. It all hinges on me making a good grade on my Jazz/Pop history final. Should be able to pull that one off.

Before this entry gets you too down, let me say 8 hours on the river with your little brother does a soul much good. It's even better when those 8 hours are interrupted by several catfish, from a 35# flathead to a couple of blues in the 10# range like it was tuesday night.

I really really wish I could make some pointless happy post or tell you about the wonderful things I am doing, but it just doesnt work that way. No matter how much I try to "change my outlook on things" or "look at the world from another perspective" the bottom line still sucks. I'm a 30 year old washed up musician who has "(gone) back to school to learn how to lie to you better" (bonus cool points for anyone who gets that reference). Even the band I am in now doesnt serve any enjoyable purpose for me most of the time - it's almost like I am doing it just because it's what I have done for so long. Please dont think this is some outcry for attention or ego building...for fucks sake alot of people in this world have it worse than me...I just need to remember that.

In the absence of hitting the lottery without even playing it, or some wonderful person handing me a million dollars so I can just say fuck it and disappear for a while, I'll do as Mr Band Director Guy mentions, and "Put on my big boy pants and deal with it."

So on that note I'm gonna go and repeat that phrase like my new mantra.

N.