The fabulous life of sweetseryn....

So today was a pretty shitty day!  I kinda feel like I've been run over by a freight train.

This morning started off super crappy, because I was just so incredibly tired and didn't feel like getting out of bed. 

On my way to a job this morning where I run up on a kitten that has just been ran over.  It's poor body was flailing around because it's brain hadn't told it that it was dead yet!  So my heart sank and my stomach rose, luckily I hadn't eaten anything or I would've probably spent the rest of the day cleaning chunks outta my truck.

That really put a damper on my day, and then I get to the job and have to start fighting with contractors and other city employees that seem even more clueless about their job than I am!  I managed to get through it though and moved on.

To make everything absolutely perfect I was busy paying for the original sin!  All I wanted to do was go home and go to bed.  Now I'm at home, and I'm just happy it's the weekend.  I have no plans, no expectations, I'm just going to relax and hold the futon down! 

The radio station in town is having another Edgefest in October I found out yesterday, if the lineup is what I think it is going to be, it is going to be absolutely killer.  BUT it is going to be at the same time as Voodoo Fest in New Orleans and I really really wanted to go to that.  I have been to NOLA in awhile and wanted to go back and that would've been the perfect reason.  But I think since this other how looks like it's going to happen then, I might go to that and save my time off and money for maybe a road trip for Mardi Gras! 

I watched part of the RNC last night, just wanted to see if there was going to be anything earth shattering!  There wasn't.  McCains video montage thing was pretty boring, BUT I did catch a glimpse of him as a younger man and he was one HAWT MOFO! 

Well I hope you all have wonderful weekends

CK

...I've been listening to this song most of the day.  It probably has to be my favorite Linkin Park song I've ever heard.  They sang the first part of the song at Projekt Revolution but segued into another song and I was a little dissapointed.  I really wanted them to do that whole song!  Here are the lyrics, if you haven't heard it yet, you should probably go listen to it :)

Hands Held High

Turn my mic up louder, I got to say something
Lightweights steppin' aside when we come in
Feel it in your chest, the syllables get pumping
People on the street then panic and start running
Words on loose leaf sheet, complete coming
I jump in my mind, I summon the rhyme I'm dumping
Healing the blind, I promise to let the sun in
Sick of the dark ways we march to the drumming
Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
Fuck that, I wanna see some fists pumping
Risk something, take back what's yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for
'Cause I'm sick of being treated like I had before
Like it's stupid standing for what I'm standing for
Like this war's really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn't cater to rich and abandon poor
Like they understand you, in the back of their jet
When you can't put gas in your tank, these fuckers
Are laughing their way to the bank, and cashing their check
Asking you to have compassion and have some respect
For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In the living room, laughing like, "What did he say?"

Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen

In my living room watching it, I am not laughing
'Cause when it gets tense, I know what might happen
The world is cold, the bold men take action
Have to react to get blown into fractions
At 10 years old, it's something to see
Another kid my age drugged under a Jeep
Taken and bound and found later under a tree
I wonder if he had thought 'the next one could be me'
Do you see the soldiers that are out today?
They brush the dust from bulletproof vests away
It's ironic, at times like this you'd pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
There's bombs on the buses, bikes, roads
Inside your market, your shops, and your clothes
My dad, he's got a lot of fear, I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine on the back
He hand-wrote a quote inside,
"When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die"
Meanwhile, the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
The rest of the world watching at the end of the day
Both scared and angry, like "What did he say?"

Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen
Amen

With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you
With hands held high into a sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you

This past Saturday Projekt Revolution made it's stop in Dallas at the Superpages.com Center.  It was my first Projekt Revolution and  the first time that I got to see Linkin Park.

I met Rachel around 1:30'ish.  We went to the venue and checked out like the only booth that they had there.  It was Music For Relief, and thing that Linkin Park set up after the tsunami devastated South Africa in 2005.  I bought a bracelet ad sticker.  Here's the website you can visit:  www.musicforrelief.org

After that we made our way to the second stage, and got spots right up on the barricade for Armor for Sleep.  Eventually they came on and started off the day.  It was a great start for sure!!!  Rachel knows more about them than I do, all I know is I enjoyed their set....OH!  And I caught a drumstick.  The only thing I've ever caught was a cold, so I was pretty stoked, I thought about giving the drumstick to Rachel, but she said don't worry about it cuz she already had a bunch of their schtuff.  So I kept it :)

Right after Armor For Sleep was Hawthorne Heights.  Not a big fan of this band, they got about one song that I've ever heard, it's a good one, but I just never got into them.  So no opinions on them...moving on.

Next was 10 Years.  I was really interested in seeing this band.  They've got some good stuff out there.  I was very happy with thier set.  I'm not a hardcore fan of theirs, to be honest and the only stuff of theirs that I've heard have been on the radio, but I've really liked what I heard.  They only songs that I'm absolutely sure they played were of course "Beautiful" and "Wasteland" (I love the last song)  Other than that, I just enjoyed the rest of the music. 

Next was ATREYU!!!!  This is the third time I seen these guys, and I've always been happy with them.  They put on a great show, tons of energy.  This was one of the bands I was really looking forward to seeing and they didn't dissapoint.  They sang "Becoming the Bull", "Bleeding Macara", "Ex's and Ohs", "Falling Down", "Doomsday" and I can't remember what else.  Right before their last song Atreyu said that they were doing a signing at a tent blah blah blah, so I went and grabbed Rachel and we ran and found where they were doing the signing, and got in line. 

So we stood in line for a bit and then a lady was passing out posters that the band was sign (Can I get a hell yeah for the free shit :D)  The line going through their tent went pretty fast, I was bummed because the security bastards said "NO PICTURES" :(  So no pics of me and my baby daddy LOL!!!  Got up to the tent, Dan was the first at the table, so I got up there and handed him my poster and I was waiting for him to sign it and I was focusing on the pic and the signing and he wasn't doing anything and I looked up and he smiled really big at me...it was super cute!  I never really noticed him before, just always looked at his guitar (Weird?), but he has a really cool guitar, so whatever.  Anyway, yeah so I smiled back and he signed the poster, went through the rest of the guys and Alex was the last one, so I gave him my poster and said hi, told him I thought they were awesome blah blah blah.  I tried to keep the words to a minimum so I wouldn't act certifiable!  I think I did a good job :)

So after that me and Rachel walked toward the mainstage, squeeling with delight the entire time.  While standing in line, for Atreyu, we missed Street Drum Corps on the mainstage (It's okay though they made several appearances later on).  Rachel had lawn tix, so I went and chilled with her during Ashes Divide.  Once again, they are a band I've heard a song or two on the radio, but that is all I really knew of them.  I had a good time listening to them.

At this point the clouds started to move in!  It is worth noting that the whole day up until Ashes Divide took the stage was HOT!  It was so HOT!  Everything was HOT HOT HOT!!!  I had sweat so incredibly much, but as soon as we got to the mainstage the clouds came and everything cooled down considerably.

The next band up was the Bravery.  I seen these guys earlier in the year, and knew I was in for an energy packed performance, once again, these guys didn't dissapoint!  I love The Bravery.  I like their songs.  I like to watch them on stage.  They sang "Believe", "An Honest Mistake", "Time Won't Let Me Go", "Every Word From Your Mouth is a Knife in My Ear", "Fist Full of Sand", and more, but I can't remember!  It was great!!!

Next was the Soundgarden/Temple of the Dog/Audioslave/Chris Cornell show.  I REALLY wasn't sure how this would go down.  I seen Audioslave once in 05 and I had such a great time at that concert, but this was just going to be Chris Cornell, the solo act.  Well he started off his seat in the best possible way an instrumental (pre-recorded) version of Black Hole Sun, it sounded like a lot of string instruments!  It was fantastic.  I don't remember the order of the songs, I just know that everytime he sang ALOT of Soundgarden and Audioslave. 

During the set the members of Street Drum Corps came out and played spoons during...Spoonman!  (Get it?)  He played "Outshined", "Show Me How To Live", "I Am The Highway".  He played an acoustic version of "Like A Stone" which was beautiful.  They started playing "Hunger Strike" and the whole place erupted, and then it managed to get even louder when Chester came out and started singing!  It was a pretty cool.  I think that moment and the moment that they started playing "Rusty Cage" was probably the most memorable of that set!  "Rusty Cage" started and at first I recognized the song, but I couldn't think of what song it was, it just seemed familiar, and as soon as I realized what it was I litterally started flipping out.  Bouncing all over the place. :)  Chris sang some of his new stuff, it wasn't bad, it was just a little hip-hop-y, and I'm not so much into that stuff, but I would be willing to give it a chance!

Last but not least was Linkin Park!  Like I said earlier I was really excited to see them.  I have never been a huge fan of them, I always liked the stuff I heard on the radio well enough, just never put much thought into them.  But then I heard "Bleed It Out" and it was pretty much game over!  I got Minutes to Midnight and fell in love with the band.

Their set was amazing.  It really was.  There was so much energy, it was fantastic!!!  Once again, I couldn't tell you what songs they sang and in what order, but I'll try :)  I think the first song they sang was "One Step Closer" I was trying to enjoy that song and dance around while trying to avoid the flying elbows of the guy that was standing right next to me enjoying the song much more than I was :) They also sang "Numb", "In The End", "Breaking The Habit", "Lying From You".  Chris Cornell and Street Drum Corps made appearances during their set.

They also sang "What I've Done", "Shadow of the Day" (So good, it almost made me cry), "Given Up", and "Leave Out All The Rest"

My favorite part of their set was after they were done with their set, before the encore I went and joined Rachel on the lawn, waiting for Linkin Park to come back out, I realized that they hadn't sang "Bleed It Out" yet, so I knew they were going to play it, it wouldn't have made since if they hadn't.  So we were there waiting and they sang like two songs, I think I can't remember for the life of me what thy were and then the stage went dark, almost like they were done, but the house lights didn't come on.  People started leaving.  Me and Rachel kept saying, there is no way they are done blah blah blah so we waited and sure enough they came back and sand "Bleed it Out"!!!  I was already sore and burnt and exhausted from the day, but I managed to muster up enough energy to shake my ass and sing real loud!  I was in heaven :)  I was literally out of breath by the end of that song!!! :)

Overall I was really happy about the whole day.  I had a great time :)

Trent Reznor quotes (I just thought some of them were really funny :D):

"I used to hate being alone. I always used tohave roommates, or somebody near me, because i couldn't stand being bymyself. I remember one time, it was about 10 years ago, I was in a dilemmabecause I wanted to see this film but I didn't have anyone to go with.So I agonized over it - Everyone was going to know I didn't have a date,and it was a Friday night too. So I purposely crept in after the film started,and I didn't enjoy it because.... I don't know."

"When I went to college, the year that I went,I went there with this grandiose idea of... Well, I felt like I'd fuckedup in high school because I was the guy in the art class not doing anything... I decided I was going to fit in, in college: 'I am going to fit in.' Onesemester later, I'm in the art room with all the other guys that don'tfit in."

"One night I was in a 7-11 before the show andI saw this big thing of chocolate syrup and I got this idea. During a certain point in the show, I always molest the guitar player in some fashion. Isaid to him "Rich, tonight I've got a surprise for you, don't worry it'llbe cool." He's like: "What is it? What is it!? You're going to make melook like an idiot and my brother's going to be there." The point in theshow is when things lighten up a bit, there's a break from the violentintensity. I pulled out two things of chocolate syrup and start pouringthem over his head. It looked cooler than I could have possibly imagined- it was just amazing. It totally dripped all over his guitar, everywhere."

"I could write an album about riding in a bus and puking after a show somewhere, but that's what Bon Jovi's for."

"I was curious about L.A. It seemed like a farming ground for silicone breasts."

"I sound like a fruitcake sitting here saying all this shit."

"A lot of times we sit around here and talk and comment, and rarely it is, 'Wow! I can't believe how good that is!' It's usually like, 'Oh my God! What's happened to the world?' I can sit here and bitch about how bad music is, or I can go make it better."

"I cut my hair now, and nobody recognizes me. It's that whole thing I was bitching about earlier - 'I can't go anywhere without someone pointing' - And now it's like, 'Hey, it's me man!' I'm standing in the N section with my laminate on and covered in mud. (laughs) I just can't get a response anymore."

"....There are things I'd like to research when the pressure of saving all of music isn't on my head. (laughs)"

"Oh, I wouldn't say I'm a rock star, though we're always the last to leave a party. Does that count? Jesus, what a loser!"

"Alanis Morissette. I remember exactly the first time I heard that 'You Oughta Know' song. I was finishing Smells Like Children with Manson. I didn't have my studio yet, so we were about an hour and a half north. It was dawn, we'd been up all night, we'd just finished the last mix. There's a 30-mile bridge that goes across the lake right above us. Everyone's in the van, I'm in the front seat. I'm almost asleep, sun's up, seven in the morning, driving across this bridge. And that song comes on and it woke me up because I couldn't believe how bad the lyrics were. Like, 'Did she just say, 'I'll go down on you in a theatre?' (laughs) And everyone woke up and was like, "Oh my God, this is the worst f--kin' thing I've ever heard!" And in the back of my mind I'm going, "This is gonna be the biggest f--kin' single of the summer."

"People go, 'I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot.' Well, uh, we remember where we were when we first heard 'You Oughta Know!' (laughing) Oh! Here's the chick that got dumped! She's bitchin' at you, 'I'm not gonna just leave!'"

"Like, 'Mom, I want the new Marilyn Manson CD for Christmas.' Just one look at the cover and Mom is like, 'What the f--k?'"

"People are always saying, 'You're really nice, I thought you were going to be a complete asshole.' I'm getting pretty fed up with it. I just want to say to them, 'Well I could always piss on your head.'"

"I worked in a music shop, which was hellish. The last thing you feel like doing is coming home and playing an instrument. And I cleaned toilets in a rehearsal studio. I wiped many a musician's pubic hair off the toilet seat. It sucked."

"The tour bus grinds to a halt, and there's a party for YOU! Every night, a party for ME! "

"Well, it's weird when you play a show somewhere and there's a disproportionate number of people backstage talking about how they're witches. And that there's a cool place to go - 'Hey, you guys want to go out tonight after the show?' 'Yeah, where?' ' Well, there's a great place. There's this old abandoned church that these satanic cults hang out at.' It's not, 'Let's go down to the bar.' It's like, 'Let's go out and slaughter a cow.' What the fuck? It's the last thing you're expecting. And they assume that you must be into that. I've got someone coming up to me saying, 'The promoter is telling everyone you're a warlock.' I think a lot of spare time breeds incredible weirdness. They're looking for some way to rebel. I don't know."

"I didn't want to come across as an industrial, snarling, Satan-singing entity"

"To a large extent, my music is about me coming to terms with who I am, and addressing that in a potentially ugly manner. Sometimes that's a shocking thing because when you peel back the skin, sometimes you find that what you see is not always the person you originally hoped or thought you were."

"I do actually believe in love. I can't say that I'm 100 percent successful in that department, but I think it's one of the few worthwhile human experiences. It's cooler than anything I can think of right now."

"I knew I wasn't going to get laid studying piano with a nun."

"Tour guide parties walk past my house and Anne Rice's house every day. It's like, 'that's where the woman who wrote Interview With The Vampire lives, and that's where the Satan-worshipping rock star lives'!"

"NIN is gonna be The Rolling Stones! I'll be 60, with a f**king colostomy bag. No one might be there at the shows, apart from the Vietnam vet reunion in Pennsylvania or somewhere. The advert would be 'Featuring No Original Members!'. Actually, I can't say that - I already don't have any original members!"

"Lots of people can have girlfriends. But I can throw around guitars onstage! That'll be my epitaph: 'He never had a girlfriend, but you should've seen him smash a Les Paul!'"

"I was raised by my grandparents, the greatest people in the world. I try to tell them, 'You're not going to hear my music on the radio. I'm not going to be on soap operas singing this.' I can imagine what my grandfather tells people: 'It's called Nine Inch Nails-here's the video. And here he is lying dead at the end of it.' I warned my grandfather that the church might be after him."

(In response to somebody scanning a red laser beam over his body during a concert) "Can someone do me a favor and beat the shit out of the asshole with the red light before I kill the asshole?" (Later) "I'm just waiting to have my arm blown off. It's that feeling when it's zipping across your face and you're wondering when the JFK moment is going to come."

"An integral part of any relationship is knowing that you could be killed in your sleep at any time."

(When asked about memorable kisses) "From my dog, Maise, licking me in the mouth, after I had passed out drinking. I was sleeping with my mouth open and Maise never does that normally.... (I gave her) A little kiss back. I prefer to kiss her on the side of the mouth rather than getting right in. It's kind of incestuous, you understand, because she's part of the family."

"Christ, I'm ugly. What kind of hats are out now?"

(About the rumor that Courtney Love was pregnant with his child) "It would be the second Immaculate Conception."

"Why do I not jump in the crowd? Because my shirt gets ripped off and someone sticks their finger in my butt."

"I'm not afraid to think about certain things you're not supposed to think about. I mean, I do wonder what it would be like to kill somebody, though I'm not going to do it. But I can see why people idolize serial killers."

"You just realize you're not on Happy Days. It's the real world; You need to ignore what you are programmed by sitcoms to think your life should be."

"I didn't want to accept the fact that my destiny was to pump gas down the street."

OMG! OMG! OMG!  I went and seen NIN last night and screamed like a little fangirl!  It was the single most perfect concert experience I've ever had. 

Here is my official concert review:

Nine Inch F***ING Nail were F***ING awesome, they rawked my F***ING socks off, OMG!  I can't believe I was in the same building as Trent F***ING Reznor.  They were so F***ING amazing that half the time I was F***ING singing and dancing around like a F***ING moron and the other half of the time I just stood there with a stupid F***ING look on my face, in a trance, just trying to soak up every last F***ING detail!!!

I decided to censor my review and tone it down a bit for the kiddies out there.  Don't want any phone calls from parents :D

But seriously.  Me and Rachel got to the AAC at about 7:00 got our tix (Even the actual ticket was awesome)  I was fortunate enough to get in on the presale for the event and had checked out our seats beforehand and was pretty sure that I had pretty good seats.  On our way in we did a once over of the merch (SERIOUSLY, there was a hoodie there for $85!!!  I'm not going to lie if I had the money I would've TOTALLY blown it on that hoodie :D) and basically went straight to check out the seats.  When we got there we just kinda sat there in total shock and amazement, we had like the PERFECT seats.  We were close enough that the peeps on stage didn't look like the little army guys and we weren't in the pit so we had a perfect view during the whole show. 

A Place To Bury Strangers was the band that opened for NIN.  I thought they were good.  Their drummer was amazing.  He beat that drum like a red headed step child, it was pretty amazing to watch.  The guitars were loud, and there was quite a bit of squealing in between songs.  I don't think that there was a quiet moment on stage while they were up there, they would play a song and then immediately segue into the next.  THE ONLY complaint that I had was during the very last song the strobes were going full force through the whole damn song and I literally got physically ill, my eyes were hurting, my head started to hurt and my stomach started getting upset.  But really other than that I did enjoy them quite a bit.  Just need to listen to more of their stuff.

After what seemed like an eternity Nine Inch Nails took the stage.  I think it must be said that the whole time between bands Rachel and I were sitting there TRYING so hard to keep it together we were extremely excited, so when the house lights went down it was pretty much game over.  OMG!  There are really no words to describe how excited I was.  Trent Reznor came on and all I could do was squeal and scream :D

NIN played a nice long set, it was a good mixture off new stuff and old stuff.  Trents vocals were dead on all night.  There were several places were they just did some instrumentals with Trent on different things, at one point he was up there playing the tamborine, that part of the show was great, you could see that he obviously enjoyed playing the music.  The actual physical set was just amazing, the light show that acompanied the songs were spetacular, it was bright, colorful, innovative, creative, all those kinds of words.  I tried to take pics to capture the set, but they didn't turn out how I wanted, and unfortunately I can't conjure up enough words to describe it.  I really enjoyed watching the guys rocking hard on the stage. 

Closer was phenomenal, Head Like a Hole was loud, The Hand That Feeds was great to sing along to. The song that I really was just dying to hear and was so scared they wouldn't sing was Hurt, but they didn't dissapoint!  It's great to be a live concert with lots of noise and music, I love it, but it is equally nice to have it quiet down for a song every now and then, and when Trent sang "I hurt myself today" I just wanted to die!!!  OMG!  I love that song with my whole heart, and it was a dream come true to hear it live!!! 

I don't really know what else to say, it was just a great experience I'm so glad I was lucky enough to go :D 

As many of you know, assuming you're fans of the band, the Toadies broke up in 2001 and have just recently reunited and played a handful of shows.  I just read an article on their "Long Road Back" and thought I would share for peeps that don't have access to the Fort Worth Weekly (Which I'm assuming that most of you don't :D)  It's a pretty decent article that talks about the history, the success, the breakup.  Go read it if you got some time.  It will make you appreaciate them a little more.

I'm so happy that they are back and making music, this article almost made me cry!!!  I heard thier new single No Deliverance on the radio the other day and it was great!!!!  Can I just say that I have a serious crush on Clark Vogeler?  Okay back to serious music schtuff :D

Go check out the article:  http://www.fwweekly.com/content.asp?article=7101

I was at the show at The Ridglea that the article talks about at the beginning, and I would just like to say that calling that show "Epic" would be an understatement!!!  It was great wrapped up in awesome with a side order of ass kicking!!!  I'm also going to the show at Possum Kingdom, I'm so incredibly stoked for that show, it should be epicly epic as well :)

CK

I was just watching the news and they were talking about a dude opened up a store,  I think it was in Canada, for left handed people. (Didn't Ned Flanders do that?) ANYWHOOOOO, they mentioned that both presidential candidates are left handed!  I thought that was fan-freakin-tastic!  LEFT HANDED PEOPLE OF THE WORLD UNITE!!!!  (I'm left handed)

So just out of curiosity, I checked out to see what other famous peeps were lefthanded, here area  few:

Billy Corgan, Jimi Hendrix, Michaelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, Napoleon, Babe Ruth, Mark Twain, David Letterman (I LOVE that man :D) and a whole bunch of others!!!

I'm so glad my mom wasn't one of those psycho parents that try to make their kids write right handed :)

CK

P.S. I would like to send a shout out to that Michael Phelps dude, apparently he's won some medals or something :)  (I don't know if he's left handed)

GO TEAM USA!!!

So on Saturday I packed up the car with me, my dad, and my daugther and we headed to Ozzfest, we were like the Clampets except more metal :)  Got to Pizza Hut park around 11 ish, missed the first two bands which were the winner and runner up of the Garage to Ozz contest, and I can't for the life of me find out who it was that won....anywhoooo....

The first band that we checked out was The Destro, they were playing on The Texas (Third) Stage.  We, being my dad and I, both decided that they were pretty good!  Had a great time listening to them, DEF would be interested in hearing more. 

The next band that we checked out was Witchcraft...it wasn't that they were bad, they just kind of seemed out of place for an Ozzfest type event.  I felt bad for them, because basically as soon as they started playing people just left in droves.  We stayed for most of their set, but at one point my dad had left to go find us some water, I don't know if you heard but apparently Texas is hot as hell during August, my dad came running back to wear me and my daugther were standing to tell me that In This Moment had already started on the mainstage.  So we made like trees and leaved :D

I LOVE In This Moment!!! I first heard of them last year at Ozzfest and have had two more opportunities, not including this Ozzfest to see them!  They are great and I hope that they get huge at some point in their careers.  This particular day probably wasn't thier best, the had sound problems, but I still really enjoyed.  They sang mostly stuff off their first album but threw in at least one new song that I could tell from a CD that they are getting ready to come out with!  Good good stuff!!!

Next came probably one of the biggest highlights of my day, Apocalyptica!  I SERIOUSLY enjoyed these guys.  I like to see people do something different and the way these guys wailed on fucking cellos was INSANE!!!  I had heard of these guys before, but never really paid much attention, they DEF have my attention now though.  The only songs that I can absolutely say for sure that they played (I was running around trying to find the illusive FYE tent to get Maria Brinks autograph, while simultaneousy watching these guys K? :D) were "I'm Not Jesus" (I did some checking and Corey Taylor didn't sing, he was probably in Detroit with the rest of Mayhem) and they did a cover of Metallica's "Seek and Destroy" which was friggin amazing!!!

Next was Shadows Fall, we were settling in after travelling around the stadium trying to find that damn tent, when these guys came on.  We were sweating our asses off, it was almost unbearable the heat that day, but were still having fun.  I was enjoying Shadows Fall's set quite a bit, when I realized that Drowning Pool was getting ready to come on, on the Texas Stage.  That was one of the deals, I got to see In This Moment and he wanted to see Drowning Pool.  So we headed over.  They were awesome!  Sang all the good stuff: Bodies, Step Up, 37 Stitches, Soldier, and Tear Away, among others, not in that order.  You KNOW that they killed it since they are from Dallas, and we were in Dallas (OK actually Frisco, but close enough).  It was a pretty good set.

UNFORTUNATELY!  By the time that Drowning Pool was over and we could head over to the mainstage Cavalera Conspiracy was well into their set.  I was SERIOUSLY dissapointed as they were one of the top bands that I wanted to check out.  But I did enjoy the show they put on.  Just wish I could've seen more.

Next came, probably, the BIGGEST mistake that we made for Ozzfest.  For some reaons, unbeknownst to me at this time, after some discussion, my father and I both decided that we would stay and watch Jonathan Davis's set instead of bothering to go over to the second stage to see Sevendust.  We are both STILL kicking ourselves for that.  It isn't that Jonathan Davis was "bad" but his solo stuff would be more suited for a small venue until he can kind of refine his act.  I also don't really think that it was "Ozzfest" type music he was playing.  The other thing that bothered me was that every song that he sang seemed to come off the Queen Of The Damned soundtrack....NOT that there is anything wrong with that, but I was like... DUDE!  You got anything original you would like to share with us?!?!?!  I've read a bunch of hateful reviews about his set, and I just have to say that I don't agree with all of that.  He was still entertaining to watch, he was still Jonathan Davis.  I think that most of those people that were hating on him probably don't care much for Korn either, and I do.  So that might be the difference.

Hell Yeah was next.  Now all the other reviews that I have read kind of blasted this set too.  I'm inclined to go with the majority on this one.  It wasn't a "horrible" set, but not great.  The only songs of theirs that I recognized would be "Alcohaulin' Ass", "Hell Yeah", and "Waging War".  Other than that not much more to talk about.

ON TO THE DIMEBAG TRIBUTE!!!  I was really excited to be apart of this!  Ever since they mentioned that this would be apart of the show, I thought "This is going to be awesome"...Well...It was good...I wouldn't go so far as to say it was "Awesome" though.  The tribute consisted of a shit load of noteables taking the stage and some Pantera songs while clips of Dime Bag played on the two big screens.  The songs they played were "Mouth For War", "New Level" and another song I'm not familiar with.  There is nothing wrong with the songs that they chose to play, they are good songs, I'm just suprised that they chose those particular ones.  The acoustic version that they did of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" was kinda bad actually, I hate to say that, Pearl Aday was up on stage, with Scott Ian, Mike Inez, Jerry Cantrell and Lars Ulrich (I think that was it), and her harmony was a little off and she overpowered the melody, it left me with one of those uncomfortable "I'm embarrassd for you" kinda feelings.  But despite that, it was pretty moving, because the song is a good one, along with the video clips of Dime Bag, it almost made up for that girl trying to ruin it!

Next was Serj, THIS is where me and my dad's opinion starts to differ a little bit.  My dad did not enjoy his set at all.  I on the other hand got pretty much exactly what I was expecting.  Serj's songs were sang in his quirky manner with his uber political undercurrent.  It was Serj to the bone.  My dad did say that he wasn't real familiar with SOAD's stuff so maybe that is why he wasn't digging on it so much?  I don't know.  I do have to say that along with Jonathan Davis, I don't think this particular event was a good place for him to get any kind of love.  Some assholes behind me kept screaming "METALLICA" during his set, it was pretty irritating.  That is when I discovered that fan girls and metal heads, more on that to come!

After Serj was the moment that most of the people in the venue where waiting for!  The prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne!  At 59, this man still makes grown men go insane!  It is awesome to watch.  He took the stage and the place went wild.  The first song that he sang was "I Don't Wanna Stop".  Other songs that he sang were Iron Man (Can I getta I AM IRON MAN!!! :D), No More Tears, Road To Nowhere (GOD I LOVE THAT SONG), Crazy Train, Mr. Crowley, Bark At The Moon, Moma, I'm Coming Home, War Pigs and thats all that I can remember.  During the middle of his set Mr. Wylde did the sickest solo ever, he did the same thing last year when I went to Ozzfest so I was kind of expecting it this year, with him ending on the National Anthem (Not Jimi Hendrix good, but good enough to give me some damn goosebumps!!!) ALOT of people were bitching about the length of the solo, I don't see what the big deal was!  It was good, it was entertaining, and it OBVIOUSLY serves a purpose, TO GIVE OZZY A BREAK!!!  The man is old, and has done a lot of drugs K?  (He's not actually that old, but he's done A TON OF DRUGS!!!) and I'm sure his stamina is pretty much nonexistant at this point.  So if Zakk Wylde wants to show us his goods so Ozzy can take a breather that's FINE BY ME!!!....And scene

So Ozzy kept cracking me up because towards the end of his set he would say, "OK!!!  This is the last song" then he would play the song and after the song he would be like "If you guys go REALLY FUCKING CRAZY, we'll do another song!!!"  Of course the crowd would cheer and then he would be like "OK!!!  This is the last song!"  and this process repeated itself like 1304 times.  I looked at my dad and said "He's doing like NINE ENCORES!!!"  LOL!!!  IT was funny though.  After Ozzy was done and they started preparing the set or Metallica there were FIREWORKS!!!  No kidding!!!  They didn't last for a super long time, but it was a nice way to keep the crowd entertained for a bit.

Last but not least Metallica took the stage!  I need to be completely honest here, I was interested in seeing Metallica but I would, by no means, consider myself a fan of the band.  There are several of their songs that I actually LOVE LOVE LOVE, but the whole Napster thing left a band taste in my mouth and I just automatically think "Crybabies" when I hear their name.  BUT I was still interested in seeing what kind of show they put on!

I'm pleased to say that if I "hated" them before seeing them, I don't "hate" them nearly as much now.  Those guys put on a helluva show.  They blew me outta the water, that's pretty much all I can say.  They played every song that I wanted them to play with the exception of two.  The version they did of "One" about made me cry it was so friggin beautiful.  "Enter Sandman" was great, and DAMN that song brings back so many memories.  The other songs that I can remember them singing were Seek and Destroy, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Battery, Sanitarium, And Justice For All, And Nothing Else Matters, Sad But True, Unforgiven, that's all that I can remember, they played for like 2 hours or something!  But it was a good set.  They broke out a new song off their new album it was called "Cyanide" I have no official opinion of that song, I would need to hear it again.  By the time Metallica came out I was burnt, sweating and tired, so I wasn't trying to hard to pay attention to that song.

The one part of their set that I didn't care for was the encore, they played "12 Minutes of Satan" and they had this guy come out, King Diamond, I have NO IDEA who he was, and I don't care, he creeped me out and added absolutely nothing to the show and that is when we left. 

The part of their set that I loved was their actual set, they had this huge screen and cameras were on every member of the band and the one that was on Lars was awesome because it would vibrate with him drumming LOL!!!  I just liked it, but the huge screens made it possible for all us suckers in the cheap seats to have a good view of what was going on on the stage. 

So that is pretty much it for my Ozzfest experience, sorry it's so long, a lot of stuff was going on :)  The only other thing that I was going to talk about was how there have been nothing but scathing reviews of alot of the shit that went on on Saturday.  I was flabbergasted, I had such a great time and there are all these people just blasting it.  When I say that some metal heads are just like some fan girls I mean it.  They are so opinionated, one sided and irrational, that nothing will change their mind, they will be unhappy with the line up no matter what, and they won't give people like Jonathan Davis a chance because "He's not metal enough" Just make me want to cut someone!  Okay I'm done!!!

That Bernie Mac died?  Is that just too weird?  He was the same age as my mom for the love of God!!!  I guess he died from complicates due to pneumonia.

I wasn't a huge huge fan of his.  Every once in awhile I would catch his show, and I enjoyed it.  But it just wasn't something that caught on with me.  I've enjoyed seeing him in various movies like Friday and Pride.  I've caught parts of his stand up routine and enjoyed that too.

My prayers def go out to his family!

CK

As some of you know my dad has come to stay with me for a week.  The main reason behind the visit is Ozzfest!  One of the few things that my father and I have in common is our love for music, most important metal!  So Ozzfest is a great way to bond!  Not many of you know that me and my father are still struggling to bond.

My father was put in prison when I was four years old.  I don't remember much about him before that time.  A few scattered memories.  But I do remember the day that the police knocked on the trailer door, my mom answered, asking where my dad was at.  I remember walking up behind her and seeing the police and her opening the door for them. 

The next memory that I have is my mother coming home from court, my brother and I were at my moms best friend house, crying uncontrollably because me dad had been sentenced to 45 years in prison.  The reason for him being in prison...well that's really none of anyone's business.  The only thing that matters is that my dad was taken away from the family that he was partially responsible for taking care of. 

Other than those memories and a few other ones, the only ones that I had of my dad consisted of visiting him in this prison or that.  For instance I remember visiting one time around Christmas and some volunteers had gotten together to get presents, sort of an Angel Tree type thing, and I remember him taking me and my brother to the front of the visiting room to pick out presents, I picked out a stuffed toy that was a blue witch....don't ask LOL!!! The point is that all my memories that I had of seeing my dad involved being patted down by security guard and going through metal detectors, and going through gate after gate.  It isn't a painful memory, per se, it is just how things were.

At the age of 25 my dad was paroled, after 21 years of being in prison, in that time, I had graduated from high school and college and had had a child, my brother had also had a child.  At first it was VERY difficult to deal with him being out, being that I was used to the idea of him being in prison....after all the whole time I was growing up, that's where he was!

So here I am right now, my dad snoring on the futon next to me.  At 28 years of age it is still hard to reconcile that fact that that man is my family.  I'm still so used to the idea that my mom and my brother are my family and I have a hard time thinking of him as family as well.

I think it must be said that any bitter feelings toward him and his lack of being there during my formative years were taken care of the first visit that I had with him after he had gotten out.  I went to see him about 2 years ago, and we had what you might say an explosive visit, but it was good for us, the air was cleared.  I genuinely don't have any hard feelings toward him.  We got all that shit worked out, he let me say what I felt needed to be said and he sat there and took it, because he knew it was stuff that I needed to say to him. 

I realize that he is my father!  And we have been working and a real relationship since he's been out.  It is just all still so weird!  He says he loves me and my brother and my daughter and my nephew, and I believe him.  I say I love him and I do.  But it's just all so weird.  I just try, every time I think about it, just take it for what it is....a work in progress.

CK

I just read on Yahoo.com that Morgan Freeman is in serious condition following a car wreck!!!  GOSH!!!  I hope that he pulls through!  You have no idea how much I love and respect this man.  I've been a fan of his since watching him with Kevin Costner in Robbin Hood: Prince of Thieves!  If something bad happened it would break my heart!

I'm sending all kinds of good vibes his way, and praying for a speedy recovery!!!

Get well soon Mr. Freeman!!!

CK

I went and seen it last night!!!!  I went to the midnight showing even though I have to be at work fairly early in the morning.  I'm exhausted, dirty, and barely made it to work fully clothed, but it was TOTALLY worth it!

I'm not going to give anything away for those of you who haven't seen it yet.  But it was by far the best Batman movie yet!!!  Christian Bale is, IMHO, the best Batman EVER, feel free to argue with me if you don't agree :D  Aaron Eckhart was good as district attorney Harvey Dent.  Maggie Gyllenhall didn't have a huge part, and her "chemistry" with Batman was somewhat lacking, but I still enjoyed watching her, just thought that that part of the movie didn't really do anything for me.  Morgan Freeman was even in this movie, I didn't realize that before hand, and as far as I'm concerned that man can do no wrong!  Michael Caine made a great Alfred, his dry humor complemented Christian Bales struggle during the movie. 

As for Heath Ledger...obviously his untimely death has kind of overshadowed any project he was involved in before he died, but he was FUCKING FANTASTIC!!!!  Basically with all the makeup that he had, and looking so damn skeezy throughout the movie, you forgot that he was Heath Ledger.  He was intense, he was hilarious, he totally sold the Joker.  It was a solid performance and I enjoyed it immensely!  It was, however, bittersweet to watch it.

Going into the movie, I didn't realize that Two Face was going to be part of the movie, I don't want to ruin it for anyone who was in the dark like me, but once the "birth" of Two Face happens, some of the things that happen in the movie kind of come together.

At 2.5 hours long, the movie did a good job at keeping it going.  The action scenes were good!  There was explosions, which is always a win with me :D  I really dug Batmans motorcycle that he drives throughout the latter part of the movie.  There is just so much. 

I just read there was 6 sequences shot with IMAX cameras, so I'm seriously considering finding an IMAX theater just to see those sequences in its IMAX glory!  

I would go into the movie some more, but I don't want to give anything away,  it was a good movie, if you get a chance go.  If you don't normally go to theaters, I think this movie would be a good one to make an exception for.  It was entertaining, there was some parts that made you go "Eeeeek!", there was several funny parts too, that the whole theater was laughing!  As far as I'm concerned if the crowd claps at the end of a movie, you know it's a good one and they did last night at the showing I was at!  So much more I would like to say.  If you see the movie holler back at me I would LOVE to discuss it with someone else!  Okay I have to go back to work now :D

CK

Since it is the first day of summer (or was that yesterday....who cares) I found this beautiful summer poem and thought it might help make your day.
It certainly made mine, and it's very well written so enjoy.

"Summer"
A poem by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre





 

SHIT!

It's Hot !

This is about the adventures of Candace and Rachel to the Rancid concert in Dallas this past Saturday (YAY!!!  RANCID!!! YAY!!!)

I was super excited about this concert (Really I get excited about every concert, but this one a little more than usual).  I had been listening to Rancid and watching video's on Youtube, basically ignoring my job and all the stuff that goes with it for the past week or so, in anticipation of this concert!  I mean it's Rancid for the love of everything holy!!!

Then, FINALLY, Saturday made its way around!  I met Rachel early, cuz I wanted to go check out a CD store before the show.  So we made our way to Greenville Ave.  Went to the store, looked around (It was cool, but not much unlike any other used CD store), and still had some time on our hands.  At CD World we found out Rancid was "Sold Out".  Secretly I was relieved that I had bought my ticket already and then paranoid that maybe they lost my info and I wouldn't be able to get in (I'm weird like that).  So after the CD store we had an hour to burn and I was hungry so we went to eat.

After I gorged myself on onion rings, friend mushrooms and beer (Don't ask...really you don't want to know) we made our way to The Granada.  The doors were open and THANK GOD!  They had my ticket info! (Phew!  You have to understand, that would've SERIOUSLY depressed me if I hadn't been able to get in for some stupid reason)  So YAY!!!  We were in!  Then the wait began!

Before heading into the actual theater we checked out the merch booths!  Then we made our way inside.  First up was Damage Case.  They are a Dallas area punk band and they were actually pretty damn good.  I really enjoyed their set.  (After they were done the lead singer came out and stood right in front of us for the rest of the show, so got to shake his hand and tell him "Good job", he was pretty cool about it too :D)  I had never heard of them before and they didn't have any booth set up, but I wouldn't have minded snagging some of their music...oh well, maybe next time.

Next up was Austin's very own Lower Class Brats!  Yet another band that I hadn't heard before.  They did have more of a following than the first band though.  Throughout the whole set there were a couple of girls right behind us that seemed to know every word to every song....I didn't LOL!!!  After the show I googled their asses and found out that they claim that "Clockwork Orange" was a big influence on the band...that movie is FUCKED UP!  So, of course, they win more cool points with me.  Their actual set was REALLY good!  I was super impressed.  During the time on the stage they mentioned that the lead guitar guy, Marty Volume, had spent the night in an Austin jail AND STILL managed to make the show! I thought that was pretty impressive!!! LOL!!!  So I can't tell you any of the songs these guys sang either, just know that they are worth checking out if you are into the whole "punk" thing!  K?

So FINALLY it was Rancid's turn to take the stage!  If you don't mind I want to back up a bit.  When we first entered the theater the AC was going full blast, I remember thinking "THANK YOU JESUS!!!", cuz we all know how hot shows can be.  Well by the time that Lower Class Brats left and Rancid was ready to take the stage, the place was packed, and the heat was on!  All those bodies crammed into one place, dancing around and breathing and shit!  It was pretty crazy!

Also, I had the song "Journey to the End of the East Bay" in my head all night.  I kept singing it in my head over and over and every once in awhile would break out!  Rachel would join me too, it was fun!  (I kept singing the wrong words...ooops LOL!!!)  At one point Rachel was like "I hope they sing that song cuz it would suck if they didn't", I was like "Word" (Paraphrasing people, thats not how the actual convo went)

Back to Rancid!  THEY FINALLY TAKE THE STAGE!!!  The whole crowd went wild, of course.  Everyone was excited and ready to go!  Rachel remembers most of the songs that they sang, the only ones that I can remember was "Lock, Step & Gone" (YAY!!!), "Maxwell Murder", "Olympia, Wa", "Old Friend", and of course "Journey to the End of the East Bay" (YAY!!!!), they sang a lot off the ...And Out Come The Wolves album, they also broke out some older stuff, like "Salvation"!  There was so much more that they sang, just can't remember it all right now!

Everyone in the band looked fantastic, and looked like they really were having a good time!  By the end of their set the already hot threatre felt like it was ON FIRE!!!  I was sweating in places that I didn't think could produce sweat.  But it was great and I didn't mind!  The crowd was pretty good too, there were a couple of assholes that showed up, but really that happens at every concerts, so whatever!

For the encore Rancid came back out and sand Time Bomb (I just love that song) and Ruby Soho!!!  These are the only songs that the radio station that I listened to in high school ever played.  Being that the radio station was in Tulsa, OK, I think that says alot.  They don't do much punk there K?  So I was really happy that they ended the show that way!

One highlight of my evening was right after they were done with the encore, Tim took up the set lists and was getting ready to give them away.  He came over to our side of the stage and I zero'ed in on the list like a dog does when it comes to a bone or something.  I BOLTED! The floor that was right in front of the stage was soaked from the bouncers spraying water everywhere trying to cool the crowd off, so OF COURSE I fell straight on my ass and took to girls out in the process!!!  It was pretty funny really, one girl got REALLY mad at me until I stood up and told her I was sorry and I didn't mean to knock her ass down!  I just explained that I really wanted a setlist!!!  LOL!!!  I didn't end up with one though :(  LOL!!!  It was pretty funny.  A TRUE "Candace" moment!!!!  What made it worse was that the bouncer that me and Rachel had been talking to for part of the night, and we were making googly eyes at, was the one that watched me fall and helped me up!!!  EEeeeekkkkk!!!! 

Well after the show we ended up at a bar knocked back a few more, and met some incredibly interesting people!  I would go into more detail but that is a whole other journal. LOL!!!  On the way home me and Rachel rocked out to some Tiger Army!   It was the perfect way to end an absolutely amazing night!!! 

CK

Did you hear that tomatoes will kill you?  This makes me SERIOUSLY sad!  Tomatoes are my favorite vegetable (I know they are "technically" a fruit, but I think of fruit as something that taste good in jelly form, and have you ever had tomato jelly?  I have and it AIN'T GOOD!!!)  I have had a love afair with tomatoes since I was a little girl and my grandpa had a garden full of tomato plants and he would throw on some Paul Harvey "And thats the rest of the story" and we would go out to his garden and pick tomatoes and water the plants.  We would take the ripe ones inside and every once in a while he would throw me one and I would cut it in half and eat it that way!  I mean it when I say I REALLY love tomatoes!

I can't wait until the little "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" is over!  Life will be back to normal, I won't have to give pico the evil eye anymore.  I will be TOTALLY secure in shoving my face full of tomato brushcetta (sp?, I have no idea how it is spelt I just know that it tastes good on slices of baguettes) 

So as I was sitting at The Macaroni Grill today, doing the whole "Create Your Own Pasta" thing I sadly had to pass over anything that had any semi-raw to raw tomatoes in it and go for the garlic alfredo sauce with quartered artichoke hearts.  I'm okay with that, I just really never ate artichokes before, and it wasn't all that bad.

*Says a prayer for the speedy recovery of tomatoes*

Love, Peace and Non-Deadly Tomatoes

CK

*I think that I may have misspelled "tomatoes" throughout this whole journal, I sincerely apologize, I'm to heartbroken right now to go look it up and make sure I have the correct spelling*

So how self centered of me right?  It's my birthday pay attention to me!!!!  J/K!  I'm gonna have a good one, as soon as I get off work. 

Now to the main point of this journal (other the IT'S MY BIRTHDAY :D)

Today is also the day that the fine piece of ass also known as Johnny Depp was born!  He makes 45 look so damn good!

Happy Birthday to you Mr. Depp.  If I was where you were I would sing the song Marilyn Monroe style :)

Last night the Green Day's alter ego band, Foxboro Hot Tubs, made an appearance at The Loft in Dallas, Texas!

I was very excited when I heard about this show, excited and nervous!  After hearing about the show I went and looked it up and the tix were only on sale at the door.  AGH!  I had never been to The Loft before so I started REALLY sweating it, I didn't know how big the place would be and how many people would show up.  I started to get really nervous!!!  I had been talking to Rachel about it and we decided that we were going to get there early and stand in line to make damn sure that we got in!

So yesterday  I showed up at the Loft at about 4:30, I wasn't too thrilled about standing in line until 8:00 but I was willing to do whatever it took to get in the show.  Rachel got there a little bit after I did, so we proceeded to wait in line!  It actually went pretty fast.  We met some people in line, talked to them, it made time go fast.  It was also a HUGE plus that there were plenty of clouds out and a breeze so we didn't melt out on the concrete LOL!!! :)

A little after 5 we were still sitting there when the tour bus arrived, everyone in line got excited.  Shortly after, the band exited the bus and went in, they were just like RIGHT THERE!  It was awesome.  The band then apparently went right up the stairs and not too long afterwards we heard drums...then guitars...then singing!  Where me and Rachel were sitting was right below where the stage was (figured that part out later) and so we had front row seats to the warm up!!!  We stood there listening really hard, trying to ignore the traffic driving by, listening to every possible note we could!  I started to get SERIOUSLY EXCITED at that point!

Later on, we were still outside and then members of the band started slowly trickling out to go to the tour bus.  First was Mike Dirnt, then came Tre Cool and then FINALLY Billie Joe Armstrong!  Everytime one of them would come out everyone in line would scream...of course!  At that point the anticipation became almost unbearable! 

Something that I kinda liked was a merch guy walked up and down the line selling CD's, vinyls, hats and giving away buttons!  I was able to do my shopping before the show even started!  The thing that I DIDN'T dig was the security guy walking around telling us to loose the camera's!  I wanted SSSOOO bad to be able to take pics of last night, once I made it inside I got depressed because it would've been the PERFECT place to take pics!  ARGH!

Eventually 8:00pm rolled around and the line started moving, me and Rachel were starting to get even more excited then we already were.  So we got our tix and went upstairs.  It was really weird because they were selling the tix at the door and then you had to go right in, you weren't allowed to stand outside and wait for someone or whatever.  It was kinda strange.  But anyway, we made it in.  YAY!!!! 

The first band didn't come one until like 9:30 so we sat there for quite awhile, in the mean time, me and Rachel discovered Long Island Ice Teas, and now I'm officially in love with them, they are GR8!!!!  We sat on these couches while we were waiting too, and talked to a very nice lady that goes with her daughter to a bunch of concerts, she was REALLY cool.

Soooo, the first band finally took the stage, I wasn't sure if there was going to be an opening act, I couldn't find any info on it, but there was, and they were FABULOUS!  I still don't know the name of the band though, I've been looking around on this damn internet all day trying to figure out who these guys were, and NOTHING!  I can't find any info on this band!  UGH!  They were really good though, I enjoyed them SSSOOO much!  So KUDOS to you opening band dudes!  I have no idea who you are, but you RAWK!!!

It was strange, during "The awesome band before Foxboro Hot Tubs" me and Rachel were standing there and this girl like collapsed right in front of me!  It was kinda scary, she was standing and then she wasn't, so I got on the floor with her and was talking to her, she said that she does that all the time...WTF?!?!?!  I think I would go to a DR and get that shit checked out, she hit her head pretty hard.  But she got up and I saw her after the show walking around just fine, so I hope she was still able to enjoy the rest of the show!

Then the last leg of "The Wait" begins!  Waiting for Foxboro Hot Tubs to come out.  The whole time I was sitting outside waiting to just get in the building seemd to go faster than waiting for these guys to take the stage!  It was CRAZY!  While we were waiting me and Rachel made our way up front to be as close as we could.  We were standing there and started talking to a guy and his girl.  He had two beers, one in each hand.  I kept telling him he better drink those because once the music started he was going to loose everything in those cups.  He started bragging about "This is beer #11 and #12!!!" It was all "I am man hear me roar" type shit.  So he starts chugging them, showing off or whatever, and I remember thinking, "He's drinking those WAY to fast" and sure as shit he started puking right there!  UGH!!!  I swear, "The Pukinator" has to make an appearance at every concert I go to LOL!!!

But then before I knew it they were there!  Right there in front of me, rocking out, making the place go insane, drinking beer on stage (LOL!!!) it was like a dream!  I've been a Greenday fan since Dookie came out, me and my brother used to sit in my room and just listen to that tape over and over again!  We LOVED the "All By Myself" hidden track, we used to sing it over and over and drive my mom INSANE!!! LOL!!! :)  So too see the guys that I've admired for years and years up on the stage within arms reach was overwhelming. 

They started playing all the stuff off their CD (Which I got and will be loading onto the ole MP3 player in a matter of minutes).  I hadn't heard any of thier music before the show, but it didn't matter much.  I had SUCH a great time.  I was dancing around, slamming into people, screaming!!!  It was Heaven on Earth!  I really enjoyed the music, it is a punk rawkers paradise! 

The actual show was very energetic, Billy Joe was dancing around on stage having a good time.  At one point the crowd pulled him off the stage for a bit!  That was CRAZY! I went for him and got to touch him.  I squeeled like a fan girl!  I kept telling Rachel "I touched his hair! I touched his hair" I realize now that that sounds kinda wierd.  But I'm still smiling thinking about it!  Eventually the crowd let him back up on the stage.  At another point during the show he jumped on some speakers really close to wear me and Rachel were standing and I grabbed him then too!!!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!! LOL!!!

Well I'm sure there are more things that happened that I can't remember!  I just know that I had a great time!  My body is still sore, but it is the good kind of sore that comes from a very satisfying concert experience.  I wanted desperately to get the bands autographs but they went straight to the bus after the show, at least I think they did, they disappeared and I couldn't see where they went.  Oh well....

I really do tend to ramble in these journal!  Sorry bout that :)

Yesterday was the day that I have been waiting for for what seems like YEARS!  While I actually got my tix back in February, I haven't ever had a chance to see this band and so really I guess I have been waiting for years.  The night went a little something like this...

We got there EARLY!  I wasn't sure if Radiohead was going to have an opening act, I couldn't seem to find that info beforehand, and I told my friend that was going with me that if she made me even a second late for Radiohead, I would single-handedly turn her kids intoophans!  So we got there about an hour before the show started :D

I actually managed to get decent seats for this show.  They weren't GREAT, but they were under the pavalion, so I was pretty happy about that.  After we got sat down a guy from Arkansas sat down, and he started talking our legs off ( I think he might have been three sheets to the wind), but it was fun talking to him. They were selling the most awesome concert tees there (I'm kicking myself cuz I didn't get one and I can't find them on any websites...YET!) and I asked him how much they cost, and he told me $200,000!  I told him I thought that was pretty excessive and he said "No worries, I put it on a credit card!" So then I said "Oh, you are going to pay for it $15/month for the rest of your life?" and he said "Yes!" I realize that has nothing to do with Radiohead, I just thought it was funny :)

So turns out Radiohead DID have an opening act...don't remember their name, so from this day on they will be referred to as "The Band That Played Before Radiohead" Their music was alright, but after every song they finished I couldn't help but think "YAY!!!  ONE SONG CLOSER TO RADIOHEAD!!!"  Eventually they left the stage and then things started to get exciting :D

While the band peeps were setting up for Radiohead (I'm trying to see how many times I can say "Radiohead" during one journal) the "$200,000 Shirt Guy" had left and came back.  APPARENTLY he had some friend that had somewhat BETTER seats than me and my friend and they wanted to trade us seats so they could all sit together...Me and Julie sort of ripped the tix out of their hand before they had a chance to change their mind and ran off LOL!!!  "$200,00 Shirt Guy" thought we were mad or something cuz he followed us and asked if we were pissed, and we were like "NO!", then he insisted on giving us hugs, I don't think his woman was happy about that...thats kinda why I think he was drunk :)

That brings me to "THE MOMENT"!  It was beautiful.  Picture this, it was May 18, 2008 in Dallas, Texas at the Superpages Ampitheater (Formerly The Smirnoff), the weather was in the high 70's but there was a breeze to die for blowing through the place.  The place was PACKED ( a little over 20,000 people can fit in there), there was DEF a sense of excitement and anticipation in the atmosphere, everyone just looked so happy to be there....

...Then it happened!  The heavens opened up, God smiled, angels started to sing, amazing they all sounded like Thom Yorke, and then the house lights went out!  The whole place went wild and then Radiohead took the stage!  OMG!  It was so exciting.  Just thinking about it makes my heart beat a little faster!  A band that I've admired since "Back in the Day" was right in front of me, getting ready to play! 

They opened with "All I Need" off "In Rainbows" SERIOUSLY!  If you haven't heard this song, put down what you are doing RIGHT NOW and go check it out!  It has got to be my fave off this album!!!  If you disagree with me, I WILL CUT YOU!  Ok just kidding about the last part, but I REALLY do like that song alot, so I was really happy about hearing it.  There are other good songs off that album but that one is my fave.

Before I go any further, I would just like to comment on the righteous set up they had on the stage!  I don't really know how to describe it in words, (I think I got a couple of pics of it) but basically there were all these (I think they were fiberglass) tubes hanging from the ceiling over they stage, which would light up in different patterns or just different colors, depending on the song.  Behind the tube things, or whatever they were, were five large screen.  Each screen was focused on a different band member at different angles.  It was cool, you could see them on the stage and then all these different perspectives of the band members.  I was TOTALLY digging their stage.  I'm gonna say it was THE BEST stage I've ever seen!

They basically played about half "In Rainbows" and about half "Other Stuff".  The other song that I went crazy for was "Fake Plastic Trees".  That is basically the very first song that I remember hearing from them.  I had bought the soundtrack to the movie "Clueless" like when I was a junior in high school or something and that song was on it and I would listen to it over and over.  I had gone to the concert basically praying that they would AT LEAST play "Creep", "Karma Police" and "Fake Plastic Trees" so when they broke out that song, I got really excited and started jumping around like an idiot, and to listen to him sing it live seriously almost brought me to tears, it was so beautiful!!!

I remember at one point towards the end of the show, Thom sat down and started playing the piano, his back was kinda towards the audience.  There was a camera focused on him sitting at the piano kinda pointing down at him, and he sung the whole song looking into the camera...It sounds really kinda corny, but it wasn't, I thought it was GREAT, and also kinda funny.  Me and Julie just kept looking at each other and laugh! 

They played for like about 1.5 hours, maybe 2, but it just seemed to fly by so fast! :( The whole concert was great, Thom's voice absolutely hauntingly beautiful, and he plays just as good, of not better, live as he does on the albums.  He was just on all night!  I just kept telling my friend "I can't believe I'm here!!!"

The only dissappointment of the night would be they didn't play "Creep"....CAN I GET A "WTF?!?!??!" Yeah, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

So the night not only lived up to my expectations and then managed to exceed them.  It was such a great experience and I feel really lucky to have gone, the only way the night could have been better if  I would've been able to stand front and center and made googly eyes at Thom....and if they would've played "Creep" :D

CK

I went to see Mindless Self Indulgence last night...it won't be an experience I will soon forget!

So last nights show consisted of first Combichrist, then Birthday Massacre and, last but not least, Mindless Self Indulgence.  Other than MSI I hadn't heard the other two bands.  I had read Vanessa's (Vgirl123) journal about the show she went to in Florida and was REALLY curious to check them out.

I took a wrong turn on the way to the Palladium and spent some quality time in the ghetto before making my appearance.  I arrived about halfway through Combichrists set.  I'm kinda like Vanessa as far as, this isn't normally the type of music that I listen too, but I DEF keep an open mind.  Combichrist would best be described as "Industrial".  I was really digging the sound though.  They were a perfect choice as an opener for the night, they had a good stage presence and set the tone for the night.  The music was loud, the atmosphere was electric, so much energy flowing.  I REALLY got into it.  One of the cool things about the band, I thought, was the keyboardist.  The keyboard stand must have been special made, or on some kind of flexible stand, because during the set the keyboardist was moving/dancing to the music while playing and moving the keyboard around.  It was pretty cool.  Like I said before, not normally the music that I would listen too, but I would seriously consider getting a CD. 

Next up was Birthday Massacre.  I had heard a couple of their cuts before, but overall, wasn't really familiar with them.  These guys obviously have a dedicated fanbase!  The crowd went pretty wild when they came out to play.  I was walking around during part of their set trying to get a good spot and noticed all kinds of people just dancing around and loosing themselves in the music.  I thought it was pretty cool.  The music was really pretty good.  The lead singer chic, Chibi, sang and danced and was generally all over the stage!  She kept holding up her hands and making the heart shape to the crowd and it was pretty cool to see everyone doing it back to her.  Lots of love :)

Finally Mindless Self Indulgence came on.  It seemed like it took forever for them to set up, and everytime the music they were playing in between sets would come to a stop people would start cheering, thinking the band was coming on, and then another song would start.  It was pretty funny!  First of all, I liked MSI's stage, they had a huge banner that just had the name of the band, but on the stage there was two screens set up, one was a pic that looked like a pic of a purple My Little Pony unicorn that I thought was pretty cute, and the other one I think was just a purple skull. 

As far as the actual music they played....well I have a copy of "If" (Their most recent album) and had been listening to it pretty religiously.  They played pretty much every song off it, and some of their other stuff.  I was pretty excited!  The whole crowd was SSSOOO into the music.  Their music is vulgar-ly delicious and DEF not for the easily offended.  Luckily I'm not one of those "easily offended" PLUS I don't really ever take anything seriously, so I was TOTALLY in my element!!! LOL!!!

Before I go any further, Jimmy Urine has to be THE most hilarious person I've ever seen on stage.  In between each song he would go into a dialog and have the whole place roaring!  In between one song Jimmy said something to the fact "We are FAMOUS!!!  Therefore we have the right to be ASSHOLES!!!"  It was hilarious!  After another song he goes "WE ARE HANNAH MONTANA!!!  I apologize for the half nude pics in Vanity Fair!!!  I promise that next time the pics will be FULLY NUDE!!!"  (I'm paraphrasing cuz I can't remember exactly how he said it)  The other thing that I thought was hilarious was at one point, after a song, he called for them to turn on the house lights, so the lights came on.  Then he yelled for everyone to hold up their cameras, it went a little something like this "Everyone hold up your cameras...HOLD THEM UP!!!  I know you all are a bunch of bootleggin motherfuckers, let me see your camera's.  I know there will be video of this show on youspace and mytube tomorow, let me see your cameras.." at this point everyone held up their camera's, he goes on "...Record this shit, I'm going to send myself a message in the future!..." then he goes on "...*Pointing at "the camera"  I'M COMING FOR YOU!!!!..."  It was hilarious, he went on about how he was going to beat himself up or whatever!  It was pretty funny.  Everyone laughed so hard.  I wish I could remember more of what he was saying, something about "Now that you are a Top 40 artist.." and "you ruined LFO" and shit!  OMG!  It was great!  He also blamed the crowd for his "drinking and drug problem" (I'm not aware if he actually has a problem, that is just what he was saying last night)  At one point he decided he didn't like his clothes and started taking off most of what he had on, then he started calling for people to give him their clothes, he ended up with a cheerleading outfit top, and one of those frilly slips that go under skirts to fluff them up plus a couple of bras!  LOL!!!

As for Lyn-Z, she is the reason I was interested in the band in the first place, I'm not going to lie.  Well I was DEF impressed by her, and DEF can see why Mr. Way loves her!  She's FRIGGIN AWESOME!  She did do one backbend, but I couldn't see it well, because I was in the back.  I think that is crazy how she can do that! LOL!!!  I would end up flat on my ass!!!

Towards the end of the show (Second to last song) Jimmy crowd surfed to the back of the venue.  It was hilarious because he got out in the crowd and was like "TAKE ME TO THE BACK" and then you could see him moving and then you would hear him say "I want to go over there *pointing*, now over there *pointing again*'"  So for the second to last song he sang it from the back of the venue!  I think he made some guy hold him LOL!!!  The last song was REALLY WEIRD!  Instead of the band singing they played a CD, or whatever, it was the song "There's No Business Like Show Business" and he was in the back of the venue being held up, and dancing!  It was GREAT!  He was dancing around...then that was it!  Show over!  I was a little confused.  Before he crowd surfed to the back, he ranted about how encores were lame and he wasn't doing one.  But I don't think the crowd was dissapointed at all.  We DEF got our money's worth, and had a great experience!

After the show I stuck around, Vanessa said that when she went to see them in FL they immediately came out and signed autographs and I wanted to see if they would.  Well Jimmy is the only one that stuck around Steve Righ? came out but didn't really sign anything and then dissapeared.  I stuck around for about fifteen minutes trying to get him to sign my ticket, but there was a ton of people pushing and shoving so I got out of there.  But I'm just happy I got to see them, and had a good time.

Sooooo.....I got tix yesterday...then today I decided that I wanted to download their new album.   I don't know what to do with it now.  It is in a compressed folder (zipped) and I don't know how to unzip it and get that shit out!  Any suggestions?

Thanks so much,

CK