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Blog « Previous Entries Next Entries »Music Television… playing Music?
Friday, April 29th, 2005So I’m going to try to get back to real posts, and not crappy updates on the state of the site.
First off, as I was flipping channels this morning, I was confused. Horribly, horribly confused. MTV was playing videos. Of music! And it wasn’t hip-hop or rap! I could scarcely believe my eyes as I saw not only one, but TWO videos back to back! 8 minutes of programming before the commercial onslaught again. And dare I say, decent videos? The new System of a Down track, “B.Y.O.B.”, and then the new Weezer track, “Beverley Hills”, which I have to admit is kinda catchy.
We have been instructed at work to use discretion when congratulating a customer on a Jackpot win. We actually had someone complain that they were congratulated, because this miserable woman “spent way more than this trying to win something”. Boo freakin hoo. Be gracious, say thank you, and go dump it all back in the machines.
People will complain about anything, and if they’re getting it for free, that’s no good either. Thursdays are free coffee and soft drink days, and you’d think people would be happy about that. But noooooo… they bitch and moan even more than they do when they have to pay! (I know, it should be comped anyway, but its not.) Oh, we’re giving away scratch-off lottery tickets? Complain that you didn’t win. Loudly. So as to embarrass yourself.
By the way, Congratulations!
The Impossibility of Ascendancy
Friday, April 22nd, 2005And so your hero went to the big metal show in Buffalo last night. Chimaira, Stemm, Trivium, and The Killing played at the Icon, and this is one of the most fun shows I’ve been to in quite awhile, beating the Soulfly show hands down. I’ll do the full review on the concert page later, but suffice to say that all the bands sounded great, and even though I wasn’t too keen on The Killing, the other bands shredded. Trivium was even nice enough to let Stemm play direct support in their hometown. RAWK!
What A Tool
Friday, April 15th, 2005We’re trying for more than one entry per week here. We just might make it.
I put my mp3 receiver into the new car last night. What should have taken 20 minutes took about an hour and a half (counting intermission). Here’s some highlights.
The trim piece surrounding the climate controls and the radio pulls right off of the dashboard (this is even easier than the 2001 was, no screws this time!), disconnect the wiring harnesses, and then its 4 screws to take the radio out. Easy as pie, right? I got three out… and the 4th one just did not want to go anywhere. After nearly destroying any and every phillips head screwdriver I had, and cursing a blue streak (or four or five), I called time-out and went shopping with Tiff.
Time out? Shopping? What the…? You WUSS! GET BACK IN THERE!
She had to pick some stuff up at Target, so I accompanied her, and then went to the only place that could help me, Chase Pitkin. One right angle screwdriver later…
This thing saved the day (and the neighbors ears).
…we were back, and by the glow of only the dome light, I took out the screw securing the bracket to the radio, and got the radio out. I then proceeded to wrench on the bracket until I got it free from the remaining screw (yay for slots!), and finally got the screw out.
Since the wiring harness didn’t change from 01 to 05, all my existing work was able to be used again. I didn’t even need the mounting kit from the old car either. The brackets screwed right to the radio, and in it went. Popped the trim piece back on, and we in bidness!
Death by Soulfly
Friday, March 4th, 2005I’ll have the review up shortly, but the Soulfly show last night was a good time, much better than the hed p.e. show last week. Max and the boys rocked the spot, God Forbid was pretty good, and Stemm (the local Niagara Falls boys) have come a long way since I saw them like 4 years ago. I guess getting in tight with Chimaira did them some good 🙂
The other opener however, Death By Stereo, suffered from what I like to call OLSTWTHTSTHHS. (Our Lead Singer Tries Way Too Hard To Show That He’s Hardcore Syndrome) It’s an affliction that a lot of bands have when their music isn’t that great, or in this case, passable but boring. Thank God for earplugs.
Looking forward to the weekend. Just because. 🙂
The MP3 Survey
Monday, February 28th, 2005have Itunes? have time to waste?
Well, not Itunes per se, but enough mp3s and enough time to waste… lets go!
How many songs total?
11,702 songs, 1179.66 hours, 62.6 GB
Sort by song name – first and last:
$300 – Soul Coughing (yay for symbols!)
Zumbi – Soulfly
Sort by Artist – first and last:
12 Stones
ZZ Top
Sort by Time – first and last:
0:04 – Vanilla Ice – Yo Vanilla!
17:02 – Iron Butterfly – Innagaddadavida
(I have a couple full concerts that I’m not counting)
Sort by Album – first and last:
1000 Yard Stare – Doubledrive
ZZ Top’s First Album – ZZ Top (yes, thats the title!)
I’m assuming these are in the titles:
Find “sex,” how many songs show up? 19
Find “death,” how many songs show up? 19
Find “love”, how many songs show up? 252
Find “peace”, how many songs show up? 266 (only 11 of which were not Our Lady Peace songs)
Find “rock”, how many songs show up? 131
NIN!!! (oh, and Music Scandal City!)
Sunday, February 27th, 2005Nine Inch Nails is playing the Kool Haus in Toronto on May 9th and 10th! Presales start March 1st! YAY!!!!
So there’s a couple more scandals now… Tripp Eisen from Static-X loves underage girls, although it didn’t seem like Static-X was doing much lately anyway, but at least someone was!
And then Fred Durst got his homemade porno stolen from his computer. I saw the video, and while I guess it meets the definition of “hardcore”, it aint that great. Fred needs some help with his camera work methinks.
Breaking up about Hed-ing to Lewis Black
Friday, February 25th, 2005The review of the hed pe show will be up shortly, suffice to say it wasn’t nearly as good as it’s been in the past.
I did just find out though that Lewis Black is coming to the Riviera Theater on Friday March 18th. And I’m certainly going to that, which means I have a ticket to get rid of for the Breaking Benjamin, Theory of a Deadman, Exies show at Infinity in Williamsville the same night. Anyone want it? I’ll get rid of it dirt cheap!
Squeezing the Shine out of the Theory
Monday, February 21st, 2005Last night was the trip to the ‘Cuse for the Shinedown / Theory of a Deadman show. I’ll have a review up shortly, but in the meantime I’ll give a quick synopsis:
The ride to Syracuse, good.
Standing in line in the freezing cold, bad.
Only being in line for 15 minutes, good.
Venue being small, good.
Venue having two levels, the smaller of which was closer to the stage, kinda bad.
Sight lines if not right up front, bad.
No Address, the opener, okay.
Theory of a Deadman, awesome.
Shinedown, huge disappointment.
The singer missed practically every high note in the 5 songs I stayed for. Either “let the crowd sing”, or took everything down the octave. The band sounded great, however, the singer burned whatever points that got them. They were much better last time. The crap vocals, combined with the snow, convinced me to leave early. The roads weren’t quite plowed yet, 690 to 90 was marginal through Waterloo, where it was fine all the way to Farmington, until it got crappy again, and stayed that way all the way home. I left at 10:30, didn’t get home till 12:30. It wasn’t that adventurous, just slow going.
A small part of this extended time was getting out of my parking spot. Everyone parked in and around an abandoned gas station, which was fine. I was under the canopy, which was even better. What sucked was trying to navigate around all the other parked cars. I had to squeeze out between two vehicles with about 2 inches on each side. No scratches!! A fine piece of driving if I do say so myself.
Amidst all this, Tiff handed in her final exam for class today, so she’s done for the quarter… yay for her!
Dates, and dates for these dates
Thursday, February 3rd, 2005So I have a couple of announcements…
First off, if anyone reading this is not doing anything for the SuperBowl, show up at our place about 5pm Sunday, we’ll be pre-gaming, and gaming, and eating, etc. Just bring something!
Second off, Saturday, February 12. Mark your calendar. Not only is it the date of the RIT / Elmira game, but Tiff and I are going to have a psuedo-birthday party for ourselves at our place afterwards. You’re invited. Just DON’T bring anything. 🙂
I also have a couple of concerts lined up for the next two months, perhaps you’ll see me there!
Sunday, Feb. 20 – Shinedown, Theory of a Deadman at Club Tundra in Syracuse
Wednesday, Feb. 23 – (hed)pe, Dry Kill Logic at Showplace in Buffalo
Thursday, March 3 – Soulfly, God Forbid, Stemm at The Icon in Buffalo
Tuesday, March 8 – Tesla at Club Infinity in Buffalo
Friday, March 18 – Breaking Benjamin, Theory of a Deadman, The Exies at Club Infinity in Buffalo
Check… mates on the road
Saturday, January 22nd, 2005The “road trip” to Binghamton went quite smoothly…
Enough snacks to feed an army… Check.
Mix CD… Check.
Speeder caught on I-90… Check.
Tractor-trailer _sideways_ off the road on I-90, with TWO tow-trucks trying to extracate it… Check.
Dude getting ARRESTED by two troopers on I-81… Check.
75mph the whole way… Check.
It was nothing if not entertaining!
We got there in plenty of time, so we ate at the wholly underwhelming Oakdale Mall, and then strolled into the venue. And what a nice venue. The Magic City Music Hall is a great place to see a show. There’s tables surrounding a spacious floor, and the stage is one of the widest I’ve ever seen! And it was clean! The people working the place were cool, no barrier, no crap. Oh yeah, and the band was good too! Sister Hazel put on a rockin show, the girls had a great time, and I enjoyed myself as well. I’ll have the review up shortly. The drive back was alright, we even made a pit stop in Cortland for gas and some Denny’s. So full. So so full. Ended up rolling back in town about 3:30am, and what time was I up this morning? Yeah, that’s right, 9am. Couldn’t sleep any more than that.
Not that it really matters! We went out earlier to grab some lunch and minor things before hunkering down for the “blizzard” that’s en route. It’s fluffy, it’s drifting, and its freakin C-O-L-D out. The apartment is toasty!
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