Projekt Revolution, Part I - MSI

My brother and I decided we only wanted to stick around to see Mindless Self Indulgence and HIM. Since HIM was the 3rd act on the main stage, they were the only reason why I paid $55 a ticket for Linkin Park's little music fest. I would have paid $76 a ticket for the good seats, so I could be that much closer to the stage to see HIM and to get closer shots of Ville, but apparently the second section of seats were the best seats available at the time of the pre-sale. Yeah, ri-ight. Bullshit! (Just once I would love to get really good seats in the first section!)

Because I had lost my tickets I had to go pick them up over at the will call window. After standing in the A - whatever-fucking-letter for quite a while, I was directed over to the customer assistance window. Then when I finally got to that window and went through my losing my ticket and calling them in spiel again with the guy at this window, he informs me that I should have stood in the A - whatever-fucking-letter window and told them my last name since that's where my tickets were. I explained to him that what I told the person over there was the same exact thing I just told him and they told me to come over to his freaking window. The guy was very nice though and got my tickets for me. He also happened to notice that they were actual seats, "These are hard to come by." I said, "Yeah. That is why I was freaked out about losing them. If they were lawn tickets I would have just bought a couple more." But I guess I should have been a little more thankful that I had actual seats, even though my view of the left side (my left that is) of the stage was obstructed by the stupid section sign posts for sections 103 & 102. Yeah. Uh huh. Very thankful.

My brother and I couldn't have timed getting to the show any better. By the time I finally got through the will call lines, got my tickets, and headed inside over to the second stage, MSI took the stage not 10 minutes later. Perfect timing.

Just like when we saw them at the Download Festival in 2005, they were fucking awesome. Little Jimmy Urine definitely knows how to play up to the crowd. Dance Dance Revolution, baby!

After looking at some of these photos though and seeing them up a lot closer, I didn't realize how old they were. I guess I just assumed that they were all in like their mid 20's or something just from how their crowd really seems to be the much younger set. (Well, much younger than me anyway)

I was looking at some of these pictures of Jimmy and was thinking "Damn! This guy looks like he's a total tweaker." He's got that whole thin, spun out of his mind for years that I look 50 instead of 23, tweaker look going on. So out of curiosity I looked them up further and looked to see when Jimmy was born. He was born just a year after me, in 1969. Well, hell. That explains a lot right there. Specially with all the references to the 80s pop culture, I thought they were a little young to be so into the 80s...I guess not. LOL Jimmy does look a little bit roughly worn though, and not just from age. I'm just saying is all. I'm sure the road is not kind to even those who abstain from putting any form of chemicals, so called pharmaceuticals, or liquids into their bodies.

Anyway, without much further ado, here are some shots I made of MSI.

Enjoy, Bitches.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of dust being stirred up during their set. Every time I tried to get shots of Steve, Right? a big dust cloud would then pop up and drift over towards where he was. This shot and another one below were the only two somewhat good shots that I was able to make of Steve. I would have liked to have gotten a really good dust clear shot of him, but it just wasn't meant to be. So if some of the pictures seem to be a little 'hazy' to you, you now know why.

It's a Revolution... and it's upon us!

Sunday the Projekt Revolution Tour is coming to the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View. Linkin Park's little music fest, which of course they are headlining. I'm not a big Linkin Park fan, I liked their first album, Hybrid Theory and was one of the millions who bought it. But when they came out with Reanimation, I dunno, as much as I love remixes, they kind of lost me with that one. And Meteora, to me, just sounded too much like Hybrid, really nothing new there to chew on. I might stick around to see them perform, but I dunno, we'll see.

So then why in the hell am I going to Projekt Revolution then if I'm not such a big Linkin Park fan?

Good question. Glad you asked!

Well, I'm not a big My Chemical Romance fan either. I've heard of Taking Black Sunday and Saosin but haven't heard any songs from them. Placebo? Yeah, never heard of them either. Nor have I heard of Julien-K (giving them a listen on MySpace now, I like Kick the Bass, not too sure about the other songs they got up here though.), The Bled, Styles of Beyond... Yup, never hear of any of them.

Mindless Self Indulgence I had actually caught at the Download Festival, never heard of them until that day. My brother and I were actually making fun of them while they were playing cause they were terrible...but terrible in a good way if that makes any sense. The lead singer actually has a great stage presence that just works. And yeah, my brother and I ended up liking Shut Me Up. I mean, how could you not. It's a great catchy tune and it sounded great that day. MSI is one of those bands that you would love to hire to play at college party. In the end, MSI ended up winning my brother and I over.

Okay, so that leaves just one band left...

Oh com'mon now. Like you really didn't see that coming! That one was a given. Why in the hell else would I be going to this concert!? Why in the hell HIM are touring with Linkin Park and the like, though, is beyond me. They really don't fit in the same genre of music. But I guess because Him, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, and Taking Back Sunday are all on Warner Bros. Music makes sense on that aspect of it all.

Last year HIM was supposed lined up to play on the No Sleep 'Til Halloween Tour with Papa Roach, Lostprophets, and Kill Hannah. Again, another line up that I didn't feel one way or the other about, but bought tickets nonetheless just to see HIM again for their Dark Light release. They later backed out of it in favor of getting back into the studio though, which I don't blame them for wanting to do. But I was a lot little bummed that I wouldn't be getting the chance to see them again until after they completed the new album.


Well, now the new album, Venus Doom, is scheduled to be released September 19th. AND... I've already got my copies pre-ordered with express shipping so I wouldn't have to wait and will actually receive them the day of the release. Copies? Yeah. They are release 3 versions of the album. There is the regular version, a special edition version that will have a bonus CD with a couple of the new songs remixed, in a special album package. Then there is the limited edition version that will come with "a 7" x 9" size antique-style "leather" wrapped journal with 60 pages of photos, illustrations, lyrics, etc. and includes the full length CD and bonus disc with 3 songs in parchment envelopes and 3 "polaroid" photos, contained in a sealed envelope in the back of the book." A little excessive you say? Yeah. But guess what? I don't care. So… [sticking tongue out at you]

So yeah, I'm a little extremely excited about Sunday. I'm finally getting to see them again and get to hear some of the new songs off the new album. I've already been listening to Passions Killing Floor, bought that one off of iTunes, since they contributed that song to the Transformers soundtrack. And I've been watching the new video for Kiss of Dawn (also on iTunes), which I really, really like. I'm having high hopes for Venus Doom, already it sounds a lot harder than the Dark Light album, which I knew was going to sound too much the way it did. [Why is that for American consumption that when a foreign band finally gets their recognition and gets officially released on a US label that the record companies end up pushing them for a more "poppy, more radio friendly" album? Fucking record companies! Yeah I know, it's all about getting their money back, then some, on their investments. But fuck-n-a already! Let the artist be themselves. After all, that is part of the reason they were signed in the first place.] Don't get me wrong, I liked the Dark Light, I just thought it could have been a lot better. But like I said earlier, I'm a lot more hopeful with Venus Doom, so far so good. I'm not so sure about the album cover [pictured], but I definitely can't wait to get it so I can hear the whole thing!

Wanna hear the most fucked up part about this whole Projekt Revolution concert that my brother and I are supposed to be going to?

I lost the fucking tickets! I can't find them ANYWHERE! I tore my freaking room apart looking for them fucking tickets over the weekend. It's not like they were lawn tickets either or I'd just say fuck it and buy two more. Since HIM is on the main stage I bought seats so I wouldn't have to be so far back, plus I bought the premier parking ticket too so I wouldn't have to park out in the dusty boondocks. I have no freaking idea where I put them since they obviously were not where I always put my concert tickets so that I WON'T lose them. Ha! I called Ticket Master and spent what felt like forever and a day holding until I finally got a CS Rep. My name is supposedly on the list for the premier parking and my two tickets are waiting for me to pick up at the will-call office. Supposedly. I don't know how smooth this is going to do since I've never lost concert tickets before.

I'll let you know how that goes.

I (heart) Justin Timberlake

Okay, so most of you probably have seen the censored version when it aired. I, however, don't watch TV, nor do I watch SNL. So, it's when things like this get posted to YouTube that I finally see them. I ran across this sketch last week and just about died. It's little stunts like this one that makes me just (heart) Justin Timberlake to death. I will even go so far as to admit that I even like "Sexyback". Yeah, I do. As a matter of fact I'm listening to it now and you know my ass is dancing my ass off in my chair. Yeah, whatever! You know you chair dance too, so don't even pretend you don't know what I'm talkin'bout.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah... BFD!

So BFD was this past Saturday.  I had bought two tickets with the hopes of finding someone to go with me.  With a week before the event I still didn’t have any hopes of finding anyone.  Then out of the blue I get a call from Zenn the day of the Zumiez Couch event.  So I figured what the hell, I’ll ask Zenn if he wants to go.  By Wednesday, 3 days left, I got a confirming yes from him.  However, by early Saturday afternoon I couldn’t get a hold of him on his cell phone.  Bugger!  I knew I was going to end up going to this fucking thing all by myself.  Oh well, shit happens!  And it usually always happens to me.  No worries though, I still planned on going, even if was all by my lonesome self.

I had already planned to not show up to the concert until about 6 o’clock.  Face it; I only bought tickets to the damned thing to see HIM and Echo & the Bunnymen.  Since they were on the main stage, I knew I had plenty of time to get there, which confirmed my plans when I got the event schedule off of Live 105’s website the day before.  Echo was scheduled to hit the stage at 6:35, then HIM at 7:35.  Sweet!  

I finally get into Mountain View just before 6.  Parking wasn’t too bad considering I knew that later arrivals would have to park way out in the boondocks.  Not too bad, I just had to walk across a field.  To get to the gates I had to walk past the whole second stage fenced area of the parking lot.  The entire second stage area was completely deserted, having moved into the main area of the Shoreline.

First stop after I got through the gate was to hit the t-shirt stand.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to get a HIM t-shirt and a BFD tour shirt, or just one of what would be available.  I ended up just getting the HIM tour shirt.  After that I headed off looking for the meet and greet queue.  HIM was scheduled for the meet ‘n greet at 6:00.  Figured I’d wait in line since I had some time to kill.  That line was fucking long!  I think I waited for all of 10 minutes before getting bored, and then took off.

So I wandered around a bit more.  Even sat down at one point and text Wenchy asking her to remind me why I went to that damned thing by myself.  Then I got up after smoking a butt and happened upon the Live 105 booth.  Saw a quite a bit of people milling around and could see that they were interviewing some band.  I joined the group of people, took a look to see which band and had absolutely no idea which band it was.  Figured I’d get out my digital camera anyway and take some picture.  Why the hell not?  I had a great view and figured I might as well get some shoots that were not all crap.  So out came my camera.  At this point some guy walked up to me and asked if he could get a light off my cigarette, which I happily obliged.  I asked which band was being interviewed and he told me it was Franz Ferdinand.  “Oh, no wonder I didn’t know who the hell they were!” I said to him.  Which he agreed with me on, then went on to talk about how fucked up one of the guys teeth were.  Comments of really bad English teeth ensued.  

While I had been waiting in the meet and greet line I had looked at the printed schedule booklet that LIVE 105 had printed up.  Looking at that the line up was way off from what I had printed off their website.  So I thought Echo wasn’t going to be taking the stage until later on in the evening.  Boy was I wrong!  As I was taking pictures of the Franz boys I hear Bring On The Dancing Horses.  WTF?!  Echo was on stage as per the websites schedule.  Bastards!  Off I went to go find my way to my seat.  And such great seats they were!  According to when I bought them, during the PRE SALE mind you, the best available seats given to me were section 201, row R, seats 21 and 22.  Yeah, best available seats my ass!  Fuckers!  I hate how they save the front row seats and the front row sections for ticket brokers and crap.  Bastards!

I finally make my way to my seats, well okay, seat.  But at least I had the option to sit in which ever one I wanted to since I knew the owner of the seat next to mine.  And let me tell you, they were both crap!  Holy shit I was far away from the stage.  And to top it all off, the section sign posts for the first row section was right our sections line of sight.  Thankfully those were taken down not too long after I finally made it my seat.  

Now it’s time to see just how far I am away from the stage in regards to trying to take some pictures.  Uh yeah, crappy!  I had to go into digital zoom mode.  Now I know these pictures are going to turn out like crap.  However, at least I’m getting any pictures at all.  

Now what the fuck?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!  Two to tree rows ahead of me is an older couple (well, they were older than me by at least 5-10 years!) who are standing up while Echo are on.  Now mind you, they are the ONLY ones standing in our section AT ALL!  Not long after I myself was mouthing off that they needed to sit their ass down (okay, not loud enough for them to actually hear me) I hear a few people behind me start yelling down to them to “sit their fucking asses down”.  After awhile the guy must have actually heard and sat down, then tried telling his wife, or whatever the fuck she was to him, to sit down too.  Which I was surprised that she did.  Only to stand back up again about 10 minutes later!  After that I then saw a girl walk over to her and ask her if she could please stay seated as there were a lot of people behind her that she was blocking the view of the stage from.  Again I was surprised to see that she obliged and even stayed seated for the rest of Echo’s set.  They took off after Echo finished up, never to see them again after that.  

Echo and the Bunnymen were awesome.  I didn’t know what to expect from this band live as I never got a chance to see them in the ‘80s in their hey days.  All the songs sounded great, especially The Killing Moon.  I was glad I didn’t miss the rest of their set.

HIM finally took the stage about the time they were scheduled to.  They only thing I was a bit put off by was from what Mige was wearing.  Mige is a big boy, no hiding that, least of all in a black mesh shirt.  Every time the camera man was on him you could see his big man boobies on the big jumbo screens.  Ugh, just put them away!  Gas on the other hand had on a Slayer t-shirt on.  Gas loves to rock the Slayer t-shirts.  Ville had on a Hedwig and the Angry Itch t-shirt on underneath his jacket.  Although, Ville always looks fucking good!  Burton and Linde looked pretty much the same as usual.  

Okay, so anyway, HIM’s set was pretty short, only 8 songs.  I’ve listed the set list of both Echo and HIM’s in the slide show below.  

After they finished up their set, it was my queue to leave.  As I was hiking back to my car I spotted a Scion xB in the VIP parking lot that had the license plate of EVILDAV.  I thought it was kind of ironic as Mr Love himself has a silver Scion xB.  Those who know me well will see where I see the irony.  This silver Scion was pretty decked out from his though.  This one I was has blue flames and an iron cross emblem on the back of the hatch.  I included a shot of it in the slide show below.  

As I passed the second stage area I stopped and took a picture of the desolate stage.  I just thought it looked neat with the setting of the sun.  Also included in the slide show I put together.

Then as I was walking across the field towards my car, I was looking towards my right and noticed the building that was on the other side of the trees.  The way the sun setting glared off the glass windows of the building just caught my attention.  So I started walking towards it.  As I broke through the trees though, what I had seen from the field was gone, but what I did see I liked even more.  So I ended up strolling around this building complex for probably a good hour taking all kinds of shots.  Little did I know, until I happened upon the reception area of the building and the ‘quad’ area, that I had been strolling around the complex of Google.com.  Hell, I didn’t even know Google was located in Mountain View.  The pictures that I spent taking there ended up being the best pictures of the night.  Then just before I was leaving, still taking pictures on the way out, I dropped my camera trying to light a cigarette.  I think I broke something in it.  I was still able to take quite a few more pictures after that, but as I turned it off and the lens was being pulled back into the body it made clicking noises.  So now when I turn the camera on and off, the lens makes a clicking/popping sound as the lens goes out and back in.  Great, smooth move on my part!  I’m just glad that it wasn’t my new digital camera that I just bought.  I just bought it a week ago, but it’s on back order.  I’m hoping to get it before the wedding that I am going to on the 1st of July.  

So that is my tale to tell of my lonesome BFD experience.  All in all, it was not a bad night.  Even with the dropping of the camera.  So, for your enjoyment below I have put together a slide show of ‘the best of the worst’ shots from the concert itself and my tour around the Google complex.  The concert pictures themselves I ended up converting to black & white and they still look like shit, but they look a whole lot better than they did in color.  I think they look actually pretty cool in black & white.  When I look a them they kind of give me an old newspaper feeling and even an old Ed Sullivan feeling when you see the old black & white shows from back in the day.  So I guess in a way I ended up giving an artistic feeling to them.  Well, so I see anyway.  I don’t know about you all.  The Google pictures I took in black & white as that was the look I was originally going for anyway, I just added a little bit of a blue filter to them.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

ATTACK OF THE 50 FT. COUCH

Sunday, June 4th kicked off the Zumiez Couch Tour in San Jose at Eastridge Mall. This is a place where skaters of all ages converge to watch their favorite skater do their thing and hopefully meet them, get a picture taken with them and get them to sign their boards, shoes, posters, or whatever. Then after the skate demo and signings there is a concert. All free of charge.

And of course all the sponsor tents selling their goods and giving away prizes through out the day. I never did make it over to the Jones Soda tent and where their bus was. I would have liked to have gotten a couple of shots of the bus. I did get a shot (film) of some kid getting ketchup and mustard all over his head though. I didn't pay much attention to which sponsors tent that was.

PARTICIPATING SKATE TEAMS
Flip - Geoff Rowley, Mark Appleyard, Rodrigo TX, Lance Mountain, Arto Saari, Eric Fletcher, Bob Burnquist, Shane Cross, David Gonzalez

Adio - Shaun White, Kenny Anderson, Ed Selego, Steve Nesser, Danny Montoya, Brian Sumner, Ernie Torres, Joey Brezinski, Nick Dompierre, Sean Eaton

Volcom - Geoff Rowley, Mark Appleyard, Dustin Dollin, Aaron Suski, Caswell Berry, Darrel Stanton, Ryan Sheckler

Element Skateboards - Bam Margera, Tosh Townend, Colt Cannon, Nyjah Huston, Jake Rupp, Mike Vallely, Brent Atchley

Vans - Dustin Dollin, Anthony Van Engelen, Christian Hosoi, Omar Hassan, Danny Wainwright, Raymond Molinar, Keegan Sauder, Angel Ramirez, Chima Fergusson

The skate team scheduled for San Jose was the Flip team. Unfortunately I missed the skate demo portion. I dropped in to visit with a friend in Fremont on my way down. But you can bet your sweet ass I would have been there for the demo if the Element team was there and watched Bam Margera and Mike Vallely do their thing. Knowing Bam, I'm sure he would have done some crazy ass shit. However, since it was the Flip team I kinda took my time getting down there. A shame though, I was hoping to get some skate shots. Oh well. I had a great time visiting with Miss Kimberly instead.

I did make it for the concert though. Mike Vallely's band Revolution Mother were the opening act with CKY closing. I ended up shooting 4 rolls of film and 100+ on my digital camera. I haven't gotten the rolls developed yet and knew that I'd take some time getting that done and figured I'd settle with whatever my digital would capture for the time being. A good majority of them came out pretty good considering. I'm not hopefully about many of the film shots to turn out too well. I did have my zoom lens with me, but I have a feeling that a good majority of those will come out blurry. I guess I'll find out once I get them bastards developed.

Revolution Mother weren't bad. CKY were great as usual. A few songs into the set Chad ended up feeding Cher Do You Believe In Love through the sound system. Then later on it was Whitney Houston I Will Always Love You. Trying to feel the love from the fans anyway they could. After they played their set Daren Miller, Jess Margera, and Mat Deis were over in the Adio tent signing autographs.

I had taken off to put all my equipment in my car and drove to a bank to get some money. I wanted to see if they were selling the Hellview City Limit Pop. 96 t-shirt that I've wanted for some time. Not even thinking about it, I went to the Adio tent to buy the shirt with out my digital camera. I could have gotten some great pictures of the guys signing my t-shirt. Dumb ass me not thinking!

While I was up front with them Jess had pulled off a big piece of skin off his hands from a blister and handed it to Daren. I thought it was pretty funny. All the guys were really cool, especially Matt. Matt... Mmmm... He looked cute up there on that stage. Lemme tell you, he looks even fucking cuter close up! Mmmm.... Yup... As I was saying before I got distracted, they are all a bunch of nice guys who definitely appreciate their fans. Just a bunch of guys that you'd hang out with at the bar and get shit faced with. Now that would be fun!

Anyway, here are the pictures that I took with the digital camera. After about 3 hours of sorting through them all and editing the ones that weren't too fucking blurry, this is what I ended up with.


Zumiez Couch Tour
Eastridge Mall, San Jose
Sunday, June 4th, 2006

Live @ The Fillmore, SF - May 23, 2006

Well, for now here is a little slide show of some of the pictures that I took at the show. My poor little digital camera is not made for taking concert shots in clubs. The lighting is just too low for its sensor and the shutter lags because of it. So, out of the 200+ pictures that I took, these were the ones that were, at best, salvageable. I will try and give a little commentary about the show itself later on tonight.

Empire Records

“Empire Records, open 'til midnight, this is Mark.
[pause] Midnight.”

I can't explain why I like this movie so much. This is one of those movies that I can let play over and over and over all day; which I have and am in the process of doing again. The soundtrack alone allows me to tolerate this repetitiveness and the fact that… Com’mon, you all know…

It’s Rex Manning day!

"Oh, Rexy, you're so sexy!"



The greatest scene:
Joe: [after Lucas enters] Lucas!
Lucas: Joe!
Joe: Where's the money?
Lucas: Joe, the money is gone.
Joe: Yeah, I know it's gone... but where's it gone to?
Lucas: Atlantic City.
Joe: Atlantic City?... Is it coming back from Atlantic City?
Lucas: [nervous laugh] Oh, I don't think so, Joe.
Joe: What's it doing in Atlantic City, Lucas?
Lucas: ...Recirculating.
Joe: Recirculating?
Lucas: Yeah.
[Joe knocks the donation cup that Lucas was carrying out of his hands and grabs his arm]
Joe: Lucas, listen to me. I told Mitchell Beck that you forgot to deposit the money. I told Mitchell that the money was still here.
Lucas: Joe, that's not true. It's in Atlantic City... I swear.
Joe: Shut up, sit down, and don't you move.
Lucas: [sitting down] It could be in other cities by now...
Joe: Oh, shut up! Under no circumstances do I want you to leave that couch... unless it's to get me $9000, and then you bring it here to me, okay?
Lucas: Okay. You know, I think things are gonna be all right now, Joe.
Joe: Oh? And what makes you think that.
Lucas: Who knows where thoughts come from? They just appear.
[nodding]
Lucas: Mmhmm!
Joe: ...What a moron.

Music:
The Dirt Clods – “Can’t Stop Losing Myself” & “Hey Joe”
The Cruel Sea – “The Honeymoon Is Over”
Noah Stone – “Dark and Brooding”
Quicksand – “Torn In My Side”
Sacrilicious – “I Don’t Know Why”
Real – “Real”
Ac/DC – “If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)
Throwing Muses – “Snakeface”
Fill Tilt Gonzo – “Candy”
The Cranberries – “Liar” & “Now”
Peg Boy – “Hardlight”
Daniel Johnston – “Rock n Roll/EGA”
Fig Dish – “Chew Toy”
Fitz of Depression – “Power Shack”
Loose Diamonds – “Backdown Blues”
Mouth Music – “Tomorrow” & “Infinity”
Billy White Trio – “Surround You”
The Adolescents – “L.A. Girl”
Dead Hot Workshop – “Vinyl Advice”
Queen Sarah Saturday – “Seems”
Suicidal Tendencies – “I Shot The Devil”
Poster Children – “She Walks”
Sybil Vane – “Sorry”
Please – “Here It Comes Again”
Evan Dando – “The Ballad of El Goodo
Cyote Shivers – “Sugarhigh”
The Buggles – “Video Killed The Radio Star”
Ass Pony – “Little Bastard”
Dishwalla – “Counting Blue Cars”
Dire Straits – “Romeo and Juliet”
Gwar – “Saddam-a-go-go”
Sponge – “Plowed”
The The – “This Is The Day”
Drill – “What You Are”
Cracker – “Whole Lotta Trouble”
Gin Blossoms – “Till I Hear From You”
The Meices – “Ready Steady Go”
Lustre – “Nice Overalls”
Ape Hangers – “I Don’t Want To Live Today”
Edwyn Collins – “A Girl Like You”
The Martinis – “Free”
Toad The Wet Sprocket – “Crazy Life”
The Innocence Mission – “Bright As Yellow”
Better Than Ezra – “Circle Of Friends”
Flying Lizards – “Money (That’s What I Want)”

The fact that I even took the time to write all this just shows you how bored I am. Not to mention that it’s too damn hot outside (as high as 92° today!) to do anything. I seriously need to get a life!

Which Empire Records Character Are You? Find out @ She's Crafty

Changes, Boredom, and I Don't Give A Fuck!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well I made a couple of changes to my blog. I got rid of the e-mail subscription from Bloglet.com. It just wasn’t working right. I forever had to go into the damn thing and check the connection. So I went and found a new one from FeedBlitz. It seems to be working like a champ, so far.

I had finally found out how to add a music player onto my blog with music from my own personal collection. It was working just fine for me when I first added it to my template but now it’s not loading up onto my page anymore. I even tried uploading all the songs onto a different web host but the damn thing is still not working. All I know is that I have now run out of patience with it, but I will figure it out! So until then I have made one through POQbum.com. You can even chose from 4 different styles of players. I can do without the extra addition to my list, but they have the right to advertise that the player was made through their website. Especially when people like me delete the link button to make your own player out of the html code. I just don’t like having all that unnecessary crap cluttering up my space.


When Boredom Happens

This is what happens when I am bored. I go surfing on the wide wonderful web looking for stuff I can play with. As you can see I found an animated gif program. This particular program that I found is GIF Movie Gear by Gamani. I’m liking it so far. I’ve got 30 days to play with the trial version of it before I have to pay $29.95 to be able to continue using it. So far I have made this little animation from a series of photos taken of Perttu during one particular concert. I have also made a couple of 50x50 avatars of Ville and Perttu that I can use on my deviantART account. I’ve got 29 more days left to play with the program to see what else I can do with it.


Yeah, I know I am too old, but I don’t give a FUCK!

The week after next, on the 23rd, Live is going to be at The Fillmore. The Bloody Munchkin will be going with me to this one. I’m not sure if she even really likes Live, but it is awesome of her to be going with me. I used to have a couple of concert buddies that would always be down to going to any concert, even if the band really weren’t a band they'd normally listen to. The one concert buddy moved all the way over to the East coast. She was always down to going to whatever, as long as it wasn’t too ‘heavy’ for her. (Gawd I miss ya Eri! You are always down for whatever, even trips into The City or where ever!) My other concert buddy is now married living up in Oregon (?, I think or Washington…one of the two anyway.). I think he only went to the concerts with me at the time because he was always trying to hook up with me. I had made it plain to him that he and I just weren’t cut out for that, that we were better off as friends. That way neither one of us would get hurt later on down the road and we’d still have our friendship. After I hooked up with Mr. Love the only concerts that I really went to anymore were up at Konocti in Clear Lake. Those concerts Wenchy and I went to. Mr. Love and I were all about the Ozzfest concerts. Ozzfest was more his type of music which was all right by me.

The Zumiez Couch Tour is coming to the South Bay with the FLIP SKATE TEAM: Geoff Rowley, Mark Appleyard, Rodrigo TX, Lance Mountain, Arto Saari, Bob Burnquist, Shane Cross, David Gonzalez with CKY and Revolution Mother featuring Mike V. And you bet your sweet ass I’m going to be there with my kid brother! This will be a great opportunity to get some skateboarding pictures. Plus some shots of CKY! I know this place is going to be fucking packed, but what a better place to get some cool pictures of the youth of today. A photographers Mecca!

Where:
Eastridge Mall – San Jose, CA: Sunday June 4

SCHEDULE
1:00pm Fun Begins
1:30-2:30 Flip Skate Team Demo
3:00-5:00 Flip Skate Team Autographs
3:30-4:00 Revolution Mother feat. Mike V
4:30 CKY
1:00-5:30pm Free Jones Soda, limited edition tour decks and tee shirts, custom tee shirts, prizes, music, and more!

Oh yeah, and it’s FREE!

"Break this bittersweet spell on me..."

Okay, this picture really scares the hell out of me by how much he looks dead on like my ex.

You have no idea how much! Haungtingly so...

Bittersweet

I’m giving up the ghost of love
in the shadows cast on devotion

She is the one that I adore
creed of my silent suffocation

Break this bittersweet spell on me
lost in the arms of destiny

Bittersweet
I won’t give up
I’m possessed by her

I'm bearing her cross
She's turned into my curse

Break this bittersweet spell on me
lost in the arms of destiny

Bittersweet
I want you
I’m only wanting you
And I need you
I’m only needing you

Break this bittersweet spell on me
lost in the arms of destiny
Break this bittersweet spell on me
lost in the arms of destiny

Bittersweet...

Apocalyptica

Perttu Kivilaakso.

I can't pronouce his name for the life of me. All I know is he is fucking georgeous! And he plays the cello... "FUCKING HOT!" This man makes playing the cello sexy. In all fairness, I really can't put into words how this man, to me, looks like a fucking God. Hauntingly striking. Watching him play is orgasmic. Just looking at him and watching him play takes my breath away. I know I am being completely shallow right now, and I don't care. I am totally drawn into guys that look like this. It is this 'dark' look that just speaks to me in volumes. I think the reason why I am so drawn to Perttu is that he really does remind me a lot of Mr. Love. The facial structure is almost to a T.

I've always loved the cello. To hear anyone play the cello is just amazing. The passion that flows through them while they play is unmistakable. There really is nothing quite like it. Although I have to say I'd never quite heard the cello played quite like Apocalytica plays them. Yeah sure, I've heard Metallica (which Apocalyptica has done a whole album in tribute to, and is equally as good) and the San Francisco Symphony play together. Metallica's S&M CD is one of my favorites. I love the blend of 'metal' music with the classical sounds of the Symphony. I think it is a great combination when it is arranged well. But I've not heard the likes of how Apocalyptica pulls it off.

"Imagine suddenly entering a dreamlike plane where the usual laws of information derived from perception seem not applicable. Your eyes are the quickest to adapt and yield the first impression: Sweat drips on four screaming cellos as their players, a quartet of concentrated young men, headbang in digital unison. As your senses are ripped open to absorb this primal and somewhat scary atmosphere, you hear the harsh sound of bows striking tortured strings. After penetrating your skull the decibel storm of raucous riffs and blistering glissandos starts rearranging the synapses in your brain. You have arrived on the territory of Tribe Apocalyptica."

Taken from off their Cult CD, I think that best describes the music of Apocalyptica.

I, for one, am mezmerized with every stroke of their bows.

HIM @ Download Festival

So yesterday I went to the Download Festival. I only caught a total of two bands, all on the second stage, Mindless Self Indulgence and, of course, HIM. MSI was the last band before HIM. They were, ummm, interesting… I guess they are considered punk, although I heard a little bit of a Beastie Boys influence in there. But then, maybe that was just me. This is a band that would be great to hire for a party. Their song Shut Me Up was kind of catchy. They are comprised of a girl drummer and a girl bassist (she was dressed like some Goth school girl, very cute), with a whacked out, very skinny guy singing and a guy on guitar. The lead singer guy had on some neon pink nylons with some sort of skirt thing that looked like they were a pair of long shorts with the inseams let out, I think he had a black shirt on underneath his black jacket that said, if I remember correctly CAN YOU SMELL MY BREATH on the back of it, along with a long neon pink tie, and his hair was all spiked out. When they were done with their set, everyone left the stage except the lead singer guy, he picks up this hella old 80’s style boombox and starts playing Betty Davis Eyes. I shit you not. He’s got the mike up to the speaker so we can all hear it, and you can see him singing along with it. Next thing you know he walks off the stage and into the crowd, walking all around the second stage area, the whole time carrying the boombox on top his shoulders that is still blaring Betty Davis Eyes, and people are following him around. Then he disappears through an opening at the back of the place that is restricted to everyone who doesn’t have the pass to get past that point. Like I said, an interesting band, with a few catchy tunes.

Then after all that, this marching band came out called the Extra Action Marching Band. All I gotta say, is you had to be there! This marching band took Goth to a whole new level. I wish I was able to get some good pictures of them, but they are not what you call your ‘normal’ marching band. Taken off their website:

“No one has ever seen Oakland/San Francisco's Extra Action Marching Band actually march…at least not in a straight line and in the same direction. Instead, the fifteen-to-thirty-five inebriated troubadours ooze, shuffle, loiter, charge, and crawl around embracing their environment and quite frequently their audience. Defying categorization, this mutant lovechild of traditional peripatetic music and ecstatic turmoil consists of a hypnotic drum corps, a heady horn section, and a provocative, uplifting flag squadron that dazzles crowds with their dizzying dances. An Extra Action performance is a bacchanalian, infectiously celebratory, inappropriate, transcendent, freaky spectacle that amuses, arouses, and intoxicates the audience. The flag team alone can stop traffic and often does.”

They were too all over the place to get a good picture. They were a sight to behold though, let me tell you! This is a marching band that you’d definitely see being a part of the Gay Pride Parade. They were outrageous!

After they left the second stage area and headed over into the main part of the amphitheater, the stage area cleared out quite a bit. So my brother and I took our chance to get as close to the stage as we could for HIM. This wasn’t as close as I’d have liked, but I could see Ville pretty damn good so that was good enough for me.

Ville was quite charming the whole time he was performing. He was flirting quite a bit with the girls. I can’t say that I was one of them damn it! One of the girls he was flirting with was over to our left and then another girl that was just in front of us a bit to the right. He is quite the charmer and such a flirt, smiling a lot at those lucky girls. Ville doesn’t just smile, he smiles with a look in his eyes that gives him a look of wickedness. (Oh yeah, I do love them guys that can give you that smile that looks like they would be nothing but trouble!) The girl that was to our left posted a few pictures on the HIM message forum, she was actually lucky enough to meet Ville and had a picture taken with Ville and with the whole band. All I gotta say…Lucky Bitch! Yeah, like I thought I’d ever get the chance to meet Ville. But hey, I can still dream! So, the pictures that you are seeing are of Ville and the guys. Linde is the one with the blonde dreads, Burton is on keyboards, Mige is on bass, and Gas is on drums. All the pictures that I got of Ville suck ass because the fucking sun was shinning on him. So his face has a lot of glare. I’ve tried to touch them up the best I could, but not good enough. So I stole one of the pictures from the chick that got to meet Ville, she had one that was pretty good.

I can’t remember the damned set list in order or remember all of the songs they played. I do remember that they opened the set with Vampire Heart and closed the set with Rip The Wings Of A Butterfly and also played my two favorite songs Under The Rose and Soul On Fire. What songs I do remember them playing too is: Buried Alive By Love, Your Sweet Six Six Six, Wicked Game, The Sacrament, Endless Dark, It’s All Tears, Right Here In My Arms, and it pisses me off that I can’t remember the rest of them! I hate having a block of Swiss cheese for a memory! Can I have some crackers to go with that?! Oh, and don't for get the wine!

Oh, and I can't forget the nice little souvenir I walked away with, beside both versions of their Fall Tour 2005 t-shirts... A nice fat headache by the time that I got home. And YES, it was worth it!


(Added 10.10.2005 - Found Set List...Like you really care!)
1. Vampire Heart
2. Right Here In My Arms
3. Buried Alive By Love
4. Join Me
5. Under The Rose
6. Funeral Of Hearts
7. Your Sweet 666
8. Killing Loneliness
9. Soul On Fire
10. Wicked Game
11. The Sacrament
12. It's All Tears
13. Rip The Wings Of A Butterfly

13 song set list...I love it! LUCKY 13!