Ok, I’m a little late on this, but…
By Eric | June 12, 2003 9:31 pm
Metallica’s St. Anger (the song) really sucks! I finally heard it in its entirety tonight, and wow… the list just goes on:
1. It’s too long – They repeat the same portion of the song like 3 or 4 times, and its boring…
2. The first part of the song sounds like Metallica tries Nu-Metal… and they failed. Miserably.
3. Hetfield sings the same couple notes the whole song, he sounds even more monotone than normal.
4. The middle of the song switches tempo so abruptly, it sounds like I accidently taped over the song with something else.
5. Also in said middle part, it sounds like there was supposed to be a guitar solo there, but alas, because Kirk Hammett was either lazy or incompetent, there isn’t one.
I read an interview with him that said that when it came time to overdub the solos in, they thought it sounded great without it, and that anything they did sounded “pasted in”. Therefore, there’s nary a solo on the ENTIRE ALBUM, let alone this song! Metallica my ass. They haven’t sold out, they did that with the Napster fiasco, now they just plain suck. I even busted out Load again the other day (prompted by a discussion with Scott), and I got bored 3 songs into it… I’m listening to it, and thinking, this is probably a good album, but as a Metallica album, this really isn’t that good. So because of this, and a bunch of other reasons, I’m still convinced that Metallica’s best days are way behind them, and while the Black album and back are fine, anything after that is just crap.
Like you all cared, but after hearing it, I just HAD to complain 🙂
Topics: Blog | 3 Comments »
Tags: NT
Rochester NY on just pennies a day
By Eric | June 6, 2003 11:28 am
I have made it down to Newfield in one piece! (Although the muffler is only barely in one piece… definately need to get a new one once I’m back in NT). But anyway, yesterday was a fun day indeed. I got to Karl’s house about noon, and we met Matt at Empire for lunch. It was great to see the guys and hang out, even though its only been two weeks… gives us all someone else to bitch about being unemployed to (and BTW, Congrats to Chip on getting a full-time job at Improv!!) After Empire we hit the Archive, I got my ticket for the Doubledrive show later that evening, and then me and Karl headed to the House of Guitars, where I hadn’t visted since last school year. Didn’t really matter, nothing’s changed! hehe… I did pick up a DoubleDrive album flat though, just in case. Back to Karl’s house to visit with his parents for an hour or so, then I dropped by 156 to say hi to Joe.
Got to the show (which was at Steel Music Hall, formerly Tremors) about 5:45 for 6:00 doors. I’ll post a show review shortly, but suffice to say that I got to see dD do their soundcheck (and do a song they didn’t do in the set!), I met them before and after the set, and had a rockin good time while they were playing! I think I was the only one there to see them (they were the first band on of four, the headliners being 12 Stones) and I think they appreciated it.
I jetted after their set, and made the drive down to Ithaca… made a slight detour to Kelley’s place first, as her and Tiff were hanging out. Chip was in town, so he came over and joined us as well… RIT in Ithaca I tell you! We watched Catch Me If You Can (Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks), twas ok, *shrug* I dunno…
Today Tiff’s taking me to Buttermilk Falls State Park, gonna do some walking around, a little picnic action, and just enjoy the day, since its supposed to be 70-ish today
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Tags: cat, house, music, Nate, NT, rochester, tiff
06/05/2003 doubleDrive (Rochester, NY @ Steel Music Hall)
By Eric | June 5, 2003 11:59 pm
Finally got to see these guys after like a 4 year wait! The show was actually behind the venue in the sand volleyball court, and was actually headlined by 12 Stones, but I wasn’t exactly gonna stay for them… had to get to Ithaca! Anyway, I got there at about 5:45 (doors were at 6), and dD were just starting to soundcheck. They got their levels set, and then ran through Belief System (which they ended up NOT playing during the set!). I could see perfectly over the fence, so I got to see what they looked like. They let us in at 6, and a couple of the dD guys hit the bar, so armed with a sharpie and CD covers, I approached Mike and Troy, and chatted with them for a few minutes, Josh came over, and finally Donnie did as well. All of them were really nice guys, and seemed excited that someone recognized them (and had the first CD!). So they pretty much went from talking to me to being right up on stage! There werent too many people there yet, so I parked myself dead center, and they came out with Donnie just singing the beginning of Freighttrain by himself… then they kicked into 1000 Yard Stare! After that, (my order gets fuzzy!) they did 11:59, Hell, Inside Out, a full-on version of Freighttrain, Fed Up, Imprint, and then closed it up with Tattooed Bruise. They sounded awesome, and for hardly anyone else being into them or knowing who they were, they looked like they were having a hell of a time up on stage too… Needless to say I think I was the only one rockin out, but hey, I’ve waited forever to see them, I wasn’t exactly caring! I had picked up a Blue in the Face flat earlier in the day from the HOG with Karl, so I ran to the car, and briefly talked to the guys to get it signed after the show as well. Even though it was only 8 songs, it was still an awesome set, and I can’t wait till they come through the area again.
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Tags: 2003, doubleDrive, rochester, Steel Music Hall
Edgefest
By Eric | May 31, 2003 10:55 am
Tiff arrived about 2, and then we were off to the show…
Edgefest was a pretty good time yesterday / last night. The full review will be up shortly, but here’s a quick rundown of what me and Tiff saw yesterday. We got there at 3 and missed the first couple local bands on…
Klear – The local boys were decent, but the singer always sounds like he’s hoarse.
Smile Empty Soul – good riffs, the singer needs to go back to screaming school
Trapt – After the initial technical problems, they were pretty good, but nothing spectacular
Seether – Sounded just as good as at the Penny Arcade, coulda done without the Nirvana cover though
Finch – Worst band we saw all day, the screaming was blah, wannabe Deftones type band
(hed)pe – Had high hopes, they werent as good as I’ve seen them in the past
Powerman 5000 – They were okay, but also not spectacular
Cold – Sounded great, Scoot is still figuring out the new stuff, and the guitar tech played bass!
The Juliana Theory – blaaaaaaaaah. Tried to rock hard, didnt quite get there.
Staind – They still have it! A good mix of songs, and Aaron can still sing! 🙂
We were in at 3 and out of there by 9:30, hit Chili’s for a late dinner, and then chilled at home before packing it in for the night. The rain kinda threw a wrench in our plans for today, so we’re not quite sure what were up to for today…
Tiff brought a CD with graduation pictures, so those will be up shortly as well!
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Tags: NT, tiff
05/30/2003 Edgefest 10: Staind, The Juliana Theory, Cold, Powerman 5000, (hed)pe, Finch, Seether, Trapt, Smile Empty Soul, Klear (Buffalo, NY @ Dunn Tire Park)
By Eric | May 30, 2003 11:59 pm
Tiff and I rolled in about 3:00, as she had to come in from Newfield, and missing the locals opening up the show wasn’t going to break our hearts. We had seats, so we weren’t going to be fighting for position on the floor or anything, so we found a nice spot in plain view of the two side-by-side stages. Klear was just starting when we walked in, they were pretty good, but the singer continually sounds like he’s hoarse. It gets a little annoying after awhile, but like I said, the music was good. As soon as they were done, Smile Empty Soul was set up on the stage right next door. The zero-turnaround time approach worked very well, there was no waiting at all between sets 🙂 SES was ok, the riffs were pretty cool, but the “singer” couldn’t scream well to save his life. Too bad, because his singing was decent. After them was Trapt, and I had heard good things about them. They had some technical problems to start out the set, but got them worked out and put on an entertaining set. The singer clearly liked the F-word though when talking to the crowd! Time for Seether on the other stage, and they rocked it just as hard as at the Penny Arcade. They did 6 songs, opening with Gasoline, then 69 Tea, Needles, Burrito, Fine Again, and the Nirvana cover of You Know You’re Right, which I could have done without, but Seether put on a good show. Finch was next, and was easily the worst of the bunch. They were going for a Deftones kinda vibe, but the band was eh, and the singer sounded like a wounded cat. Don’t believe the hype on these guys. (hed)pe was next, and I have to say they were better the last couple times I’ve seen them. Despite this, they still put on a show, with Jahred inciting the crowd to mosh like no one else did during the afternoon. They opened with Suck It Up, then into Dangerous, Waiting to Die, Ken 2012, Killing Time, and closed with Blackout. Powerman 5000 was after them on the other stage, and they were ok, but nothing terribly exciting. All the songs sounded the same, and until When Worlds Collide at the end, no one was really moving for them. After them it was Cold time! Jeremy busted his arm wrestling a day prior, so their guitar tech, Larry, filled in on bass. Did a pretty good job too! They opened with Remedy, then they played No One, Suffocate, Send In The Clowns, Rain Song, Stupid Girl, and closed with Just Got Wicked. Scoot sounded pretty good, but you could tell he was still feeling out the new material. In any event, they still sounded very good, and the new stuff will get better with time. The Juliana Theory was up next, and they were boring. They had loud guitars, but the singer was kinda whiny, and it just was not interesting (a.k.a., we went for food!). They finished, and it was Staind’s night from then on out. They opened with Intro, which ironically is the last song on the new album, and took that right into Price to Play. Then they switched to the old stuff and played Crawl, and my order gets fuzzy after this, but they did Yesterday, Layne, Suffocate, Fade, Spleen, toned it down in the middle with So Far Away, Epiphany and Outside, then Open Your Eyes, Pressure, Mudshovel, For You, and closed with It’s Been Awhile. Aaron and the boys have not lost a step, Aaron was hitting everything, and the music was right on as well. An excellent set, and even though I drifted for a bit, I remember why I started to love this band in the first place. A great capper to the night, and sent me home happy 🙂
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Tags: (hed) pe, 2003, Buffalo, Cold, Dunn Tire Park, Edgefest, Finch, Klear, Powerman 5000, Seether, Smile Empty Soul, Staind, The Juliana Theory, Trapt
Wacky Wild Wings
By Eric | May 30, 2003 2:14 am
The night was interesting to say the least… it was Adrienne’s birthday, so we were gonna go out… nowhere special… just Wild Wings. I pick up Sara and head to Adr’s house… we get cake 🙂 Turns out Danielle is working at a townie bar on River Road, so we head there at 9 to say hi, just as shes getting off work. Follow her to her house to dump the car, then to Adr’s again to get her present for Danielle. Off to Wild Wings, only Adr forgot her ID! Back to her house, and finally to Wild Wings. Watched the Ducks lose again 🙁 They had karaoke… had to do Black again hehe (Eddie Vedder voice!) Then it was off to Denny’s, just for old times sake… we hadn’t all been together since Christmas! Dropped everyone off, and now its time to hit the sack… big day tomorrow… and as Sara just pointed out to me on pimprock, seems Jeremy from Cold had a little accident:
Cold bassist Jeremy Marshall broke his arm in a “general touring accident” prior to the bands scheduled performance in Pittsburgh, PA on Monday, May 26th. As a result the show was canceled. Despite the injury however, the band plan to resume touring tomorrow, May 30th in Buffalo, NY with Marshall playing in a cast.
Hey, they’re playing… All is well 🙂 hehe.
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Tags: Buffalo, house, NT, Work
Packing it in…
By Eric | May 20, 2003 4:57 pm
The last exam went well this morning… afterwards I caught Carlo and two of his friends for lunch, we went to Big Dogs and got a plate… mmm mmm good! Then I came back home, poked around a bit, then back out to procure myself the new Staind and Deftones albums…
[aside]
I love how everyone is putting extra stuff into the package… first the Cold album came with a DVD, the Staind one did as well (40 mins long!), and the Deftones album has an extensive multimedia section… gotta love flash!!
[/aside]
Ran to Wegmans to order stuff for saturday, and then called Cornell to check on my interview status…. apparently they’re down to two candidates, and I’m one of them… *crosses fingers*… I’m hoping! End of the week I should know…
In any event, short of picking up my cap and gown and walking… my school obligations are done!!! I’ll have much more to say on the subject once I find the time, I’m too busy getting around doing nothing right now 🙂 hehe
Topics: Blog | 1 Comment »
Tags: friends, NT, wegmans
Winding it up
By Eric | May 14, 2003 8:21 am
The judicial paper is all done and going to get handed in today, the wines final is done… I got my take-home History final passed out yesterday… and as Scott alluded to in his comment, the dart board is no more… I patched the holes in the wall (there were far less huge ones than we thought!), and redid the gouges from our fallen coat rack (RIP).
As Shakespeare said it… It’s usually Much Ado About Nothing. 🙂
Picked up Year of the Spider yesterday… not like I didn’t have it before anyway, but to have the real one is nice… it came with a temporary tattoo, the secret song is Gone Away, and a DVD! The DVD has some good stuff on it, but everytime they talk to the fans, I cringe. I feel ashamed sometimes to be lumped in with “fans” of the bands that I listen to, because once on camera, they sound as far away from intellegent as one could possibly get. Would it kill someone to speak in a coherent sentence? Say something about the music other than “Man… these guys rule, I built my whole life around this band…” No, no you didn’t. And if you did, seek help. While I get into my music pretty deeply, I can take it at face value, and I’d like to think I’m intellegent enough to know when a band is just that, a band. [/ENDRANT]
Anyone care to explain why I had to pull the equivalent of a full head of hair out of my tub drain this morning, so much so that it wouldn’t drain?? And that’s BEFORE I took my shower… mmmhmm… I’m not running a barber shop out of my bathroom last I checked.
Topics: Blog | 4 Comments »
Tags: music, NT, wine
05/02/2003 Pearl Jam (Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena)
By Eric | May 2, 2003 11:59 pm
Finally! Ever since I got smart about my music (which I’d say was around 1994), I’ve had an affinity for Pearl Jam. Alas, I’d never seen them… until now! Me and Tiff got there during the set change, so we didn’t have to see Sparta (blech). So we’re sitting tight at center ice, about 15 rows up, and then the boys come out! They opened with Love Boat Captain, and proceeded to play for roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes!! 3 encores!! Not gonna go song by song, but I can say that highlights for me were definitely Elderly Woman (just a great song), Evenflow (Mike’s solo was incredible), Deep (totally was not expecting that one!), Black (just a great emotional take on it), Betterman (the crowd singalong was amazing to hear), Crazy Mary (the extended jam in the middle was awesome), Smile (another surprise!), Soon Forget (Eddie came out with his ukulele and sang to a dummy that was supposed to be Bill Gates), and the closer Yellow Ledbetter. There were a myriad of covers along the way, including The Police’s Driven To Tears, CCR’s Fortunate Son, Patti Smith’s People Have the Power, and The Who’s Baba O’Riley. The crowd was on their feet the entire time (in the seats also!), everyone sang along to practically everything, and the band just plain sounded great! Despite the fact that we had a drunk puking girl behind us, and a couple next to us that were yelling at each other every other song, nothing was going to take away from Pearl Jam, and after listening to the bootleg a couple times since the show, I’m still convinced this is one of the best shows I’ve been to in a looong time! The complete setlist was as follows: LOVE BOAT CAPTAIN, BRAIN OF J, HAIL HAIL, SAVE YOU, CORDUROY, SMALL TOWN, I GOT ID, EVEN FLOW, FAITHFUL, DEEP, GIVEN TO FLY, SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE, WISHLIST, GREEN DISEASE, INSIGNIFICANCE, BLACK, GO, ENCORE BREAK 1, FREE JAZZ, DRIVEN TO TEARS, BETTERMAN, CRAZY MARY, DO THE EVOLUTION, ALIVE, ENCORE BREAK 2, SOON FORGET, SMILE, FORTUNATE SON, SONIC REDUCER, PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER, ENCORE BREAK 3, BABA O’RILEY, YELLOW LEDBETTER.
Wishlist
Green Disease
Insignificance
Black
Go
Driven To Tears
Betterman
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Tags: 2003, Buffalo, HSBC Arena, Pearl Jam
A “Full” Day
By Eric | April 26, 2003 1:08 pm
Full was definately the word, I got a plate from Henrietta Hots for lunch (late lunch), and then me and Tiff went to Dino for dinner early, to beat the rush. Yeah, I was full 🙂 Anyway, I did a CD run friday morning, finally got Steal This Album and a NFG cd for Tiff, and then after dinner, we did some shopping, and went to Fantastic, where unbeknownst to me, used CD’s were buy one get one… so I picked up the first Ultraspank and the Adema EP… plus the real copy of Primer55, and since I got a free cheap-o one too… I went the goofy route… Warrant’s Cherry Pie! hehe… How lame…
Speaking of lame, as if the NIN song “La Mer” wasn’t ripe enough for lame jokes, in Pittsford we saw two buses full of these peoples, and the bus even said so!
I guess this is a real bus company… thanks to google we now can see these self-professed lamers in their own transportation 🙂 And the website is even better: GoLamers.com… Like theyre a team or something… Go LAMERS!! YEAH!
At 10 we headed to the Distilery to meet the Math Stat crew, and after finally getting seated, we had ourselves a pretty good time! They split us over two tables, since we had about 15 people, but nonetheless, we had a great time 🙂 We got some doubles of pictures from a previous Wild Wings excursion, so those will be making their way onto the picture page sooner or later.
This morning I actually cleaned the bathroom… miracle of all miracles 🙂 It’s inhabitable now 🙂 Probably gonna tackle some homework, watch Game 2 of the Lightning – Devils, and then tonight is the Knighthawks-Bandits playoff game, thanks to Karl’s brilliant idea 🙂
Topics: Blog | 2 Comments »
Tags: Nate, NT, shopping, tiff, Work