Posts Tagged shows

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  sore

I’m sure you are aware that Morrissey was supposed to play Oakland last night, but cancelled the day of.  The official story was that he was sick, which is certainly possible.  But given his history, rumors of low ticket sales, the events the day before at Coachella, and the fact that he was sighted at the DNA Lounge, I call shenanigans!

So yesterday morning, we’re all bummed (some of us had pit tickets!), and Sus (who by the way caught Moz’s entire shirt at Coachella… I’m serious) and Orlando start hatching plans to play a free show for the many stranded Moz fans who travelled to the Bay Area and now had nothing to do.  Now, none of us were really ready to play a show… having not played together in the last month, and having other plans already in the works (such as Booze, Broads, and Hotrods).  But with Orlie’s blitz to find a venue to host us on literally just a few hour’s notice, and Sus’ stand at the Paramount to redirect traffic to us, we were able to get the Bat Signal out and pull off a last-minute show at the Blackthorn.

It was a lot of fun, and there was no time to stress in the rushing around to get things ready.  We had some of our old friends in attendance, but also many Moz fans from far and wide who were looking for a place to drown their sorrows.  Hopefully they found it with us.  One of Moz’s security crew was in attendance.  It wasn’t Morrissey, but we did our best to be second best.  Hope you all had as much fun as we did.  Many of us ended up at Sparky’s afterwards including some of our new friends.  And holy shit am I sore from last night.  But anyway, so that’s the story.

By the way, check out Sus at about 4:14!

On to other topics… I hate to say this, but it may finally be time to join that other social networking site.  My impressions so far are that Facebook attracts older people, whether that means your coworkers, or your grad school friends, or even your mom.  Also, it seems to be more stalker-friendly.  I think it’s lame, and I’d be happy to never sign up.  But what it comes down to though is that some of my friends are on there now either exclusively or at least they maintain their profiles better there.  I’ve been resisting a long time, but just to be able to keep in touch with these friends and have sad digital substitutes for human contact with them, I at least want a presence on there.  I don’t have the time or the energy to maintain profiles on both sites.  MySpace is my home, and Facebook will be merely a placeholder for me to maintain a connection to my non-MySpace friends.  (Side note: what a weird time we live in.)

Friday night, I caught Wanda Jackson for the first (and possibly last) time.  She’s getting up there, but she seemed super sweet, and she could still get her voice to do what it was doing 50 years ago, so no complaints here!  There are a couple pics up (from Mari) in my tagged photos, in case you want to see how I look standing next to fun-sized rockabilly royalty.  Today, it was almost 90 degrees in some parts of the city.  Where did all this come from?  The only positive was that intense heat in the Mission and beyond usually means cool and thick fog in my neighborhood, and today was no exception.  Ocean Beach was packed, causing *GASP* actual traffic on the Great Highway.  Had a picante dinner with Jamie.  I was finally forced into going digital with my cable today… which apparently everyone else in the nation has already done.  I’m not thrilled about having to turn on more than one device at a time, but this real time guide is neat.  I’m sure I’ll get used to it in time.

Remember last week I was talking about Highway 1?  Well check this out.  Talk about several drives that give me a heart attack just thinking about them.  But you know, as with playing that unplanned show last night, that spur-of-the-moment choice to take a road home that I never take really was valuable.  These are little things, but they are steps in the right direction.  That spontaneity is important.  Being open to those opportunities not only make me a more well-rounded person, but also fit right into my recent thoughts about not wasting life doing the same thing twice.  These unexpected events are life-enriching.  Even if these things had been disasters, the stories I took from them and the experience I gained would have still made them more valuable than had I taken the same old predictable path.  And the fact that they turned out great, well, all the better!

“A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner.”

— English Proverb

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  full

Uh oh, two Fight Club quotes in the last three blog titles.  Either Chuck Palahniuk has the meaning of life all sewn up, or I’m in trouble.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, kiddies.  Work’s been kicking my ass, and I’ve been busy even on nights when I stay home.  Certain people I know turned 30.  What else?  I did make it out to a few good shows lately, too many to remember maybe, but a few that come to mind are local bands The Tunnel (finally!), Jesse Morris and the Man Cougars (again… fuckin’ great!), and a psychobilly night.  Speaking of shows, there are a ton of good ones coming up.  This weekend is Wanda Jackson and Morrissey.  Then further out, I see the ridiculous Red Elvises (whom I’ve seen once before), the New York Dolls, and then… A Camp!  That’s right, the Cardigans’ frontwoman’s side project from 2001 has a second album coming out (finally), and they’re touring the U.S. for the first time ever.  June at the Independent.  Should be excellent!  I’ve been listening enjoying that new album, as well as getting back into Radiohead a little.  (I have Lala to thank for first forcing me to get into them many years ago, and in hindsight, it really was for the best.)

For Easter, I went to see the family… which also meant I had to / got to chase my nieces all over the house.  Kids are fun, but a couple hours of that wore my ass out.  Due to accidents, I hit awful traffic on the way there and would have on the way back too had I not made the executive decision to take Highway 1 back up to SF.  Yes, it was a bit longer, but what a stunning reminder of how much I do not make the most out of living in the beautiful Bay Area.  Miles and miles of amazing views, and more than a few small and secluded beaches, made all the more romantic by the sun going down as I sped past.  Can you imagine a sunset on what is for all intents and purposes your own private beach… ladies?  Hmmm?  Ladies?

Speaking of “ladies,” Sus is back from her Moz tour, with lots of stories, pictures, and all the latest swag.  Shel is back from her triathlon in Hawaii, a trip which was — it seems — tailored to make me feel like I’m wasting my life.  Benjamin, what did you do this weekend?  Eh, I sat on my ass and straightened my apartment up a little bit.  How about you?  Oh, I competed in a triathlon.  In Hawaii.  Betch.  Thanks a lot, Shel!  😛

In my straightening up of my place, I started getting rid of a lot of stuff.  I carried a lot of shit with me when I left home, and I’m really ready to leave that packrat lifestyle behind.  All that junk just weighs you down, and you’ll be dead long before you need any of it.  So here I was, shredding all these notes, documents, and work I’ve done over the years.  Throwing out reference sheets and training manuals for old jobs.  It feels weird to be getting rid of stuff.  Some part of me all these years has said (and still says) keep it, but what have I learned this last year?  I will never need it, life is too short, there’s no time to look back.  If I ever need a training manual for the software I worked on for a living in 2002, I can buy it again.  And more to the point, if I ever find myself needing it again to begin with, that should tell me I’m going the wrong direction in my life.  I never want to do that stuff again.  I’d rather change industries completely, move to another state (or country!) just because hell!  I only have one life to live.  Why spend so much of it doing the same thing in the same place?  On my death bed, don’t I want to be able to look back and say that I tried a little of everything?  I don’t want to spend a whole decade of my precious lifespan beating my head against the same wall.  Go drive a cab in Florida.  Go tend a bar in Mexico.  Go sell books in Ireland.  I don’t know.  Anything.  Anything, however unlikely and unconventional, just for the sake of really truly exploring all the directions your life could take if you didn’t just settle for what’s obvious and easiest like we all fucking do.  And before you know it, *poof* you’re old and what have you got to show for it?  Nothing but years of doing the same thing in the same city, state, whatever.

Sorry to get all heavy there.  But this is important.  One of the things I came across (and kept) was a card from my mother dated 1994… literally half my life ago.  I would have been 15.  It’s a long card describing all the possibilities she saw for me, for the life that at age 15 was still just beginning, with all the things that as a mother she hoped for me, her only son.  The most sacred bond between mother and child.  It ends with “I hope it’s a good life.”

When I read that again after 15 years, the weight of that statement is crushing.  It sounds like what her last words to me would be if she knew she only had one sentence left.  I think about all that’s happened since then, where I am in life, and I feel an awesome responsibility to seek out my own happiness and not waste the opportunity I’ve been given at life.  A responsibility to myself, but also to her and to the people that have sacrificed over decades to put me where I am at this moment.  A responsibility to all the people that care about me.  A responsibility to see that hope realized.  Yes, it’s been a good life, but I’ve been lazy and taken it for granted, and it could be much, much better.  And no one is bound nor able to see to that but me.

“I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.  The proper function of a man is to live, not to exist.”

— Jack London

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  selective

So I went to this place called Bender’s on Friday night.  I’d never been, but it turns out to be this punk / bike messenger bar, similar to Zeitgeist, but without the Mission hipsters.  The kind of place where (I assume) real punks hang out.  I’m only going by the ripped clothes and the B.O. here, but that’s my guess.  Anyway, my main reason for going was that I had wanted to check out this guy Jesse Morris who was going to be playing.  I’ve seen him busking a few times at the Montgomery BART station, and the guy sounds more like Johnny Cash than any tribute band I’ve heard, and that’s a fact.  I admit that, not being much into punk, I was aesthetically skeptical.  But I wanted to hear his original stuff, and I wanted to hear the full band, “Jesse Morris and the Man Cougars.”  I have to say, I had a hell of a time.  The guy and his music were awesome… charismatic, energetic, funny.  There’s something unsettling about hearing what could be Johnny Cash’s ghost singing dirty songs in old country style, all while inciting a mosh pit.  But needless to say, I was impressed and will definitely try to catch them again.

The headliner that night was an added bonus… a band I’d been meaning to see for years: Cookie Mongoloid.  One of those SF Bay Area phenomena that you owe it to yourself to experience once, I guess.  This is a speed metal Sesame Street cover band.  The band looks like your standard metal group, including a lead guitar player in vest (no shirt) that would be right at home in Dethklok.  The singer comes out in a leather jacket and a full mascot-style Cookie Monster mask.  He sang in the Cookie Monster voice, and even talked in that voice between songs… you know, “me like cookies” and all that.  Not surprisingly, every song was about cookies, including classics like “C Is For Cookie” and some originals(?) like “I Lost Me Cookie In The Mosh Pit.”  He had a homemade double-barrelled pneumatic cookie gun that launched cookies into the crowd and against the ceiling.  They had about a dozen “Cookie Girls” up on stage with them, which was something like Rock Of Love contestants with a furry blue letter “C” on their chests.  During the first couple songs, they came out with buckets full of crushed cookies and relentlessly pelted the crowd with handfuls of crumbs.  Even in the back where I was, I was hit all over and ended up covered in cookie crumbs by the time I got out of there.  In short, I’d hate to be on clean-up duty that night.  Fucking bizarre, but worth seeing once for sure.  Before I move on, best cupcake idea ever:

The rest of the weekend was busy too.  I finally got a new couch, which involved a lot of hassle, twine, and bargaining with my demon-possessed elevator to get it from Palo Alto to my living room.  In addition to getting a ton of help from Dad, I got to eat with the folks and my niece before and after the ordeal.  In the end, I got a cheap (discontinued?) IKEA couch, which also happened to be the most comfortable of all the ones I tried.  It only came in this dark chocolate brown, but I dressed it up with a couple of black and white Victorian floral throw pillows and… well, I’ll stop there.  It looks classy though.  I’m pleased.  And I should mention too that at IKEA, I ran into an old East Bay friend (Kelli) that I hadn’t seen in something like seven years.  Sus is in the Midwest molesting Morrissey.  Shel is back from Hawaii.  I’m sitting right here wasting my life away documenting the sort of details of my life that no one could possibly care about.

Horror of horrors, Boudin has discontinued its butternut squash soup, which has been my only reason for getting out of bed on Wednesdays.  I’m hoping it’s a seasonal thing.  And then I heard that Snapple’s blueberry tea is off the market too.  Seriously folks, what the fuck?  This is not the first time I’ve mentioned this kind of shit.  I’m not that fussy about food, but it seems like the things I particularly like are always disappearing.  Do I just notice it more than most, or am I actually cursed?  On the topic of nostalgia, I could surf Branded In The 80s for hours, if I had hours.  So many stickers and useless garbage I remember from my youth.

OK, before I call it a night, I wanted to mention quickly that I’ve made some progress towards simplifying my life.  I sold a guitar!  Sort of.  I actually talked Dad into just having one.  But same thing.  It feels good to be rid of it.  I did update my MySpace layout in its honor.  Strange, you know selling these guitars would have been unthinkable just weeks ago.  But I’m trying to reject that collector impulse.  I see guys with bigger collections and I feel some envy.  And I don’t like that.  You can’t buy self worth, your possessions don’t define you.  I’ve got some guitars that would be hard or even impossible to replace if I ever changed my mind.  And in that context, it really is hard to let them go.  But they’re just things.  And the things we want in life change over time, right?  It’s hard to imagine me pining for “the one that got away” for the rest of my life.  Oh, if only I hadn’t sold such-and-such a guitar.  I don’t see me doing that.  *sigh*  This is what I mean about it feeling like a burden.  The things you own end up owning you.  Material things are supposed to help facilitate happy times in life, not become the focus of them.  I should be spending more time practicing and learning, and less time dealing with the finding/buying/selling of guitars.  It’s ridiculous, and it completely misses the point.  The loosely-related quote of the week comes from… oh, well you know:

“Genius lasts longer than beauty.”

— Oscar Wilde

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  tired

Finally a break in the rain… hallelujah!  My umbrella(-ella-ella) has been working overtime, but at least my car’s clean now.

Hope you all had a nice Valentine’s (a.k.a. “Singles Awareness Day”).  The Reverend show was great… he played a few new songs that I guess will be on the next album.  Some stuff with a slide, with kind of a “Sleepwalk” vibe.  We ran into some friends there, and ended up in a tiki bar down the street with them afterwards.  I have to mention too that the John Cameron Mitchell event on Sunday was amazing.  I knew basically zero about him outside of the Hedwig movie, but it turns out he’s really funny.  And hearing some live acoustic renditions of some of the Hedwig songs was really moving.

The big news of the week, however, is that the new Moz album “Years Of Refusal” was released.  If I can nerd out for a moment, the album’s got some impressive credits.  Guest guitar by Jeff Beck on “Black Cloud.”  Guest vocals by Kristeen Young and Chrissie Hynde (on one of the b-sides, but still).  Mastering by Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch, basically the godfathers of digital remastering, having done a ton of such work for Rhino Records.  Five songs by Alain, four by Boz, three by Jesse.  On paper, everything looks good.  So how’s the finished product?

I must say that I’m on the fence.  As a big fan, that’s an uncomfortable thing to be.  The stand-out tracks are all great.  My far-and-away favorite is “Something Is Squeezing My Skull,” and he’s crazy if he doesn’t release that as the next single.  After my first couple listens, I was concerned.  The band is at 10 the whole time, and the drums are at 11.  Lots of plain power chords and the sounds of somebody beating the hell out of their drum kit.  There’s some pastiche, and some questionable moments to be sure, but after having listened to it for the better part of this evening, I’m pleased to report that it’s growing on me.  Some of the vocal melodies took some time to appreciate, but I’m getting there.  I had much more to say about it earlier… my less-than-stellar first impressions of many of the songs… but after sitting with it a while, I think I ought keep my mouth shut until I’ve really had a chance to let it sink in.

On a side note, I swear that a few weeks back, I was reading a Moz interview from a few years back, and the unusual phrase “… after years of refusal…” appeared.  I instantly thought this must be where he got the album title from.  Now I can’t find the interview to save my life.  Oh well.  Moz was on BBC One recently, and thus so were Sus and I!  Look at the blue faces in the top left corner at about 1:51 – 1:53.

OK, it’s late.  From nerding out, to oinking out, I’ll leave you with some news on snack moratoriums.  Do you guys know/like Kettle Chips?  They had a flavor once upon a time called “Cheddar Beer” which tasted exactly like it sounds, and it was fucking delicious.  I guess it wasn’t that popular, because they did away with it last year.  Kettle is still the brand as far as I’m concerned, but another in a long line of foods I loved that have gone the way of the dinosaur.  But I told you that story to set the stage for this one… are you sitting down?  Kellogg’s has purchased the bankrupt Mother’s Cookie brand and all its recipes!  And they expect to be back in stores by June of this year!  And with the backing of the same folks responsible for Keebler, I think we’re in good hands.  Hallelujah, indeed!

“Something is squeezing my skull!
Something I can barely describe.
There is no hope in modern life.”

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  full

It’s been miserably cold and rainy here in the city.  My nemesis (lotion) has been a necessity due to the dry air of this cold snap.  But it didn’t stop me from making it out to Louder Than Bombs last night.  I can’t say I like going all the way out to the FiDi the same way I liked it in the Mish, but a night of Smiths is a night of Smiths, and LTB is like the Bat-signal in that it brings together disparate friends from all over the area that I rarely see otherwise.  I saw the usual suspects and all, but I ran into Jonee of all people, who I haven’t seen in a couple of years!  The magic of LTB I guess.  And then tomorrow night is that John Cameron Mitchell event.  A screening of Hedwig, some Q&A, and apparently some live singing.  Should be a hoot!

But then what about tonight?  It is Valentine’s Day after all.  Each year, it seems more and more like a big nothing.  Is that happening in general, or is that just me getting older?  I remember perforated cardstock Valentines with this or that cartoon character… making “mailboxes” in class and giving Valentines to all your little classmates.  And I remember buying gifts and going out to nice dinners in my teens.  But every year I get the impression a little more that most people don’t even like this holiday.  That even when you do something romantic for your partner, it’s viewed as expected and cliché… or it could be that I’m just a bitter and jaded old man.

Now, if only I had game like Jesus…

As of 2023, the video I had embedded here has been blocked globally. It was an episode of a short comedy web series called “Modern Day Jesus.” This episode was called “Makin’ Out” on YouTube and “The Date” on FunnyOrDie.com. It featured Jesus trying to pressure his date (played by Dexter’s Jamie Silberhartz) into inviting him inside at the end of an evening together. I believe it was directed by Oren Kaplan. Oddly, this series seems to have been largely erased from the internet, which obviously isn’t easy to do. Maybe it was problematic? Too bad. I did manage to find one screenshot, which I’m putting here in lieu of the actual video.

OK, so what am I doing tonight, you ask?  Well, the Reverend Horton Heat is in town, and that’s where I’ll be.  Maybe I’ll see some of you there?  Gossip’s going on later too… if I’m not totally wiped.

Cheers, my dears…

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  blah

Well, I was unable to rally for New Wave City this weekend.  Seems like everyone was sick or otherwise not into it.  Ended up being a pretty quiet weekend, all things considered.  I did catch the Eagles Of Death Metal at the Fillmore last week though.  Sold out!  The place was as packed as I’ve ever seen it; in fact, I was barely able to squeeze into the main hall!  People were singing along!  Somewhere along the way, these guys got huge I guess.  I still remember the first time I saw them years ago (opening for The Cramps, actually).  I think I was the only one in my party that liked them.  How times have changed…

That reminds me of something else.  I think the EODM did some work with the Bikini Bandits once upon a time.  Back before YouTube, I remember the Atom Films website was the place to go for all sorts of independent film and animation shorts.  Back in those years, the Bikini Bandits were huge, and that shit was hilarious.  Since then, I don’t know what direction that franchise has gone in, but if you’ve never seen them, go check out the site.  (I recommend the Magic Lamp episode.)  I think I even got introduced to a few bands through them… including the now-defunct clown band Greasepaint.  OK, enough reminiscing.

The new Moz album is out soon, and I’m looking forward to it (duh!).  I’ve so far resisted the urge to listen to the leaked album, as I’d rather savor the moments of buying the disc, unwrapping it, and hearing those tracks for the first time in full CD-quality sound.  Now paradoxically, this won’t be news to anyone who’ll care… but Moz was on Jimmy Kimmel the other night.  Some friends (including Booty Lou) were there to see the taping live, including some songs that didn’t air on the show.  Among those was a version of “This Charming Man!”  This would be, I believe, the first time his solo band has ever attempted it.  I wondered if they would ever take that one on… not because I don’t think they could do it but because it’s one of those few Smiths songs that seems so quintessentially Johnny that it would almost be in poor taste for them to cover it.  Does that sound ridiculous?  I mean shit, Moz wrote the words to that song, he ought to be able to play it whenever he wants.  And the irony that I myself play that song live all the time does not escape me.  I don’t know… I’m trying to imagine Johnny playing that tune in particular with anyone other than the Smiths and it just seems like… well, he wouldn’t right?  Oh well, don’t listen to me.  I’m sure it was great, though I hear they put a very different kind of punk rock spin on it.  Hopefully we’ll get to hear it soon.  If you did watch Kimmel the other night, you would have heard Moz give a quick shout out to The Cramps’ Lux Interior, who sadly passed away this week.

Speaking of me playing This Charming Man, don’t forget it’s just a few short weeks until our 25th anniversary weekend when we’ll be playing the whole first Smiths album live in Sacramental and FresYES.  And with a certain other tribute band having followed our lead in Fresno and tried their hand there, it seems like the locals smell a rivalry.  I’ve seen mentions now here, here, and here.  Ridiculous!

I’m about to get tickets to this… anyone else planning on going to see Blue Öyster Cult at Slim’s next month?  They hold a special place in my heart, and they were actually the first band I ever saw at Slim’s.  I’ll happily go alone, but I’d be interested to know who else this interests.

“All I’m selling is these sacks o’ sand.  And this magic lamp.  Up in this mutha…”

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  sore

Well actually it’s Obama’s United States of Whatever now.  It’s hard to believe that the last eight years are finally over.  I think it’ll take some time to sink in, but wow… it’s a whole different feeling when you’re proud of your government.  I had forgotten what that feels like.

You’ll have to forgive me that I’m not doing cartwheels, however.  As I type this, I’m achy and suspecting that I’m getting sick again.  WTF?  I just got over a cold.  Now what is it?  This whole day has been weird though.  I fell asleep way early last night, then woke this morning from one of the most horrible nightmares I can ever remember having (which we will not be discussing), and then rolled out of bed and directly onto the phone with a guitar shop in the U.K.  I don’t know how many of you have woken up to an Englishman speaking into your ear, but… well, it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

The weekend was pretty lax, aside from a packed house at the Cash’d Out show at the Blank.  They were pretty good, but it’s never fun to be in a club crowd that dense.  People were putting their hands on me left and right, squeezing by to and from the bar.  Not generally my idea of fun.  But Nick and Charlene were there though, along with some of their fairer friends.  Never a dull moment, and well worth the trip out to SJ.

And now, for no reason whatsoever…

This last weekend was also the winter NAMM show in Anaheim, which I believe is the largest tradeshow of instrument makers in the U.S., maybe the world?  It’s basically the time when Gibson, Gretsch, Boss, Fender, and all my other favorite companies unveil their latest products and some of their plans for the upcoming year.  Booths set up with all the latest and greatest, on display for the first time.  Usually this means I see a bunch of new toys to drool over, but this year nothing really rocked my socks.  This is based on what I’m seeing online of course.  I wasn’t there.  It’s not open to the public (and even if it were… it’s in Anaheim).  However a certain girl I know was able to get in.  And she owes me pictures!  As it always does, the start of the year means price hikes for all the big manufacturers, which puts a fire under me to make an irresponsible purchase.  But the last thing I need is another guitar, right?  (Right???)  The economy’s in the shitter, and I might need that money this year to, you know, eat and stuff.

Anyway, it’s time to down some NyQuil and hit the hay.  The quote of the week comes from this shirt:

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself… and spiders.”

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:  sick

OK, we both know that’s not true.  But I am sick, and even as I type this, I am recovering from a nasty cold.  It kept me home sick yesterday, but I’m on the mend.  Lots of rest, fluids, et cetera.  Do they even make vegetarian chicken soup?

It’s been an awfully busy few weeks.  The holiday season was as hectic as I expected.  Despite all the running around and stress, there were plenty of good things.  Jared was in town, and I got to see him a handful of times.  It’s unfortunate our visits our just about once a year, but it’s nice that we can pick up again right where we left off.  Part of our visit took place at Nicole’s wedding which went off without a hitch.  The ceremony was at this amazing old chapel in Vallejo, and the reception was in San Ramon where Jeff (The Horseman) got hitched several years ago.  And actually, Jared was the surprise guest at Maya’s going-away party.  It was great to catch up with her a bit before she left the state, as well as see a few of her old friends I hadn’t seen in years.  So, yeah, it was a flashback couple of weeks for me.

As for the holidays themselves, they were tame.  I think I mentioned before that I spent NYE home relaxing.  Christmas Eve was a little more exciting (I watched Hedwig and ate Tofurky with Starla and her housemates), and Christmas day I made it out to Santa Cruz to visit my Grama and my aunt.  All of these holidays were so opposite of how things usually are, but it seemed right for this year.  Trying new things after all, right?

I’m sure you heard that sadly (and somewhat ironically), Eartha Kitt passed away on Christmas day.

There are some great shows coming up in the next few months, including The Reverend Horton Heat, The Eagles Of Death Metal, and Blue Öyster Cult!  Did I mention before that I caught the Dead Souls show at the Blank last month?  They were good before, but now with the addition of Orlando on guitar, the final piece is in place I guess.  That show was fucking amazing, and they brought in a huge crowd, helped by Reptile House (a new Sisters Of Mercy tribute).  Maybe it was just my mood, but I had an awesome time.

Speaking of awesome shows though, TCB sold out Café Du Nord for the third straight time!  It was a packed house, complete with good friends, Choir Boys, and even Moz Krew.  It was a long night, and a lot of it is just a blur of stage invasions and flowers flying.  But I had a good time once things got going, and I think the crowd did too.  My apologies to those of you who were turned away at the door.  Not that I could have done much to stop it, but I didn’t even hear about it until after the show.  Sorry guys!  🙁

I must say, Threadless gets my vote for best Cure-related shirt, maybe ever:

Friday, I’m In Love!  Get it?  That place is awesome.  I hesitated and missed out on this awesome bear shirt, but there’s still time for this one… “Girl Afraid?” Note from 2023, where the latter is a dead link: these were “Call Of The Wild” by Laser Bread and “Stupid Cupid” by Budi Satria Kwan.

The quote of the week was culled from some horoscope or other.  I’m not normally one to pass around generic, feel-good, positive statements, but this one struck me this week, particularly in light of New Year’s resolutions and reflections.  So please forgive my temporary foray into this equivalent of those “hang in there” kitty posters:

“Making an attempt at something new, even if you fail at it miserably, is very important.  Trying is what teaches you the most — far more than success would teach, actually.  So don’t get caught up in looking good.  The sooner you get comfortable making a fool of yourself, the more you will learn throughout your life.  So if your daily routine is all about winning recognition, then you need to make some adjustments.  You won’t grow if you never let yourself take a risk.”

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood:

CONVERSION NOTICE: This is one of 250+ blogs that originally appeared on MySpace. I’ve done my best to represent it with as much historical accuracy as possible, but there are limitations. Read about it in the FAQ.

Current Mood: