Delirious version 4?

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I made my first personal website in 1996, I think. Using AOL Press and geocities (remember that?!?). I tried to update it with my profound 16 year old thoughts (as still can be seen here), but it didn’t really happen. Enter blogging, and using blogger to create Delirious in 2001. It changed everything. I started thinking in blogs, what I was going to blog about later, what I was going to say about X thing that I was doing. I redesigned the site every few months. It was full of crap, but I loved it. Eventually I moved from blogger to movable type, and finally to live journal. I think my record was something like 23 posts in one day (all about NIN’s “and all that could have been” dvd haha).

Somewhere along the line, the blogging fell off. I think there are 2 reasons.

  1. I’m old. I’m 35 now. I’ve been blogging for 14 years. The things I would blog about in college just aren’t part of my life anymore. At some point you lose the angst, and the vague emo posts, and then I thought there was nothing really to say. Day to day life is boring. So the blog became posts about big events like concerts and vacations, and a dream diary. And then even that fell away, not even bothering to blog about small vacations or lesser known bands.
  2. Facebook. One line posts about something that happened, something funny, some observation became Status Updates instead of blog posts. Pictures I might have once posted, or “re-blogged” just became Facebook posts. My blog had few readers back in college, and I certainly have none now, but Facebook shares my *very important* thoughts with my 400 friends who are captive audiences! What was the point of blogging now?

But I still do quite a lot. My interests have changed, but I’ve done more in the 3 years I’ve been with J than I have ever (he makes me be social, damn him!) I garden, I (try to) cook, I read a lot. And I quite like going back and being able to see what I’ve done.

So I’m going to try to start this up again. This is for me, and if someone else happens to read it, that’s ok.

I’ve converted to WordPress and imported all my livejournal and blogger posts are being imported slowly. I’m missing about 4 months in the middle of 2005 (which I’m really mad about, because it included some very important concert reviews) because I switched hosting companies when they jacked up the price on me, and apparently I had no back ups (they’ve gotta be somewhere!) I’ve gone through and categorized everything, and tagged it all, and had to give things titles, which I *hate*. I used to blog an awful lot, and an awful lot of crap, so I combined multiple entries under one date, and edited a lot of junk out. And it’s all for me, because I know no one else cares haha. I’m not very good with WordPress, as I only ever faked my way through html and coding to begin with, so I’m not entirely happy with the look but maybe one day I’ll find a theme I like or be able to edit them myself (not likely!) But here it is. For better or worse.

Posted in: Personal

IAMX Toronto 10-23-15

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The end of vacation brought heading to Toronto to see IAMX with Adr2 and Bliss. I don’t think we’d seen each other since NIN in Cleveland 2 years ago, since Adr2 has been sick so it was nice to hang out and see a show together again.

I found IAMX about 3 years ago on Spotify and thought they were pretty good. A combination of dark and mellow and electronic. I missed their show in Toronto a few years ago, and honestly would have probably skipped this one too if Adr2 hadn’t asked if I wanted to go. I’m getting old, my desire to drive 2 hours to see bands by myself has waned haha.

The show was pretty much what I was expecting. Pretty, skinny people on stage haha. They sounded great, even the songs I didn’t know, since I’ve slacked on listening to their 4th and 5th records. It was super hot inside Lee’s Palace but the crowd was good, seemed into it, not annoying (mostly). Glad I went. I’m going to have to check out those other 2 records now.

I Come With Knives
The Alternative
Happiness
Mercy
No Maker Made Me
Tear Garden
Oh Cruel Darkness Embrace Me
Spit It Out
Bernadette
Surrender
After Every Party I Die
Aphrodisiac
Your Joy Is My Low

Encore
Bring Me Back a Dog
Kiss + Swallow
I Am Terrified

 

(Oh yeah, the opener was Mr Kitty…!!!…ok they weren’t really any good, but I had to buy a shirt!)

Mr Kitty be like, "Yeah, there's a band named after me."

Mr Kitty be like, “Yeah, there’s a band named after me.”

Posted in: Concerts, Other bands \ Tagged: ,

Arizona October 2015

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J and I headed west to Arizona for vacation in Phoenix and Tucson. The main reason was the Arizona Taco Fest in Scottsdale, which I was supposed to go to a few years ago with LeighAnne but we had to cancel. We were also going to go to Tucson for the Titan Missile Silo tour, so we added that onto this trip too.

We headed out on Wednesday, flying to Phoenix and then driving to Tucson for 2 nights. We stopped at Wild Horse Pass casino for dinner at their Asian place, and got to our rental around 7:30. Settled in and then walked over to the 4th street area which had restaurants/bars and shops etc. We went to a brewery that had a 12 beer flight! Holy moly lol. The beer was ok, it had a weird mouth feel to it. Stopped into a bar that was having Geeks Who Drink trivia, helped out some strangers on a few questions before moving on to a “goth” place, Surly Wench (I think) and Che’s Lounge, who advertised a bloody mary on their sign, so I had to try it (not bad!).

Thursday was our free day in Tucson so we drove out to Biosphere2. I thought it would be pretty neat to see, and a place not many other people I know will ever go to. I honestly don’t know much about it, I just remember it being in the news ages ago. It was cool, J thought it was creepy. It is being used now by University of Arizona for climate experiments, no more locking humans in for years haha. We finished there and still had time and daylight, so we drove to the Desert Museum. We only had an hour to spend there before they closed, so we didn’t get to take full advantage of everything there was to see but that was ok. The museum is all outdoors in the desert, and has animal exhibits and info on the plants and environment. It was really really nice, good views of the area, etc. Drove back into Tucson stopping at a roadside pull off to take some photos during sunset, got dinner at the oldest Mexican restaurant in the country, and hit a few bars again before bed.

Friday was the Titan Missile Museum tour. We elected for the 4 hour “Top to Bottom” tour, which took you to all 8 levels of the silo, control room, living quarters, etc. There were 5 of us on the tour with 2 retired Air Force tour guides. I have been trying not to use the words “amazing” or “awesome” in daily life so much anymore, unless something is truly amazing and awesome, because they are so over used, but the missile silo tour was amazing and awesome. The tour was really fantastic, the guides were really knowledgeable and the tour was super thorough, explaining every piece of machinery used to operate the missile and silo, what it was like to work there, how things were created etc. It was great. You get to “launch the missile” and everything! haha. The missile that is in the silo isn’t the original, which was dismantled and removed, but a training missile that everyone learned on years ago. So of course, there is no warhead, and no danger. There were no engines at the bottom anymore either. The thing is massive and it’s amazing to think of what the military accomplished with 1960s technology. It’s really hard to believe at times. Now I feel like with all the technology we have the system would be so over complicated and fraught with problems, where the old tech that was a lot of manual or mechanical parts would be replaced with computer systems that’d have issues. It was super cool, so glad we paid the money for the longer tour. Highly recommend it.

Pictures from Tucson

After the tour we drove back to Phoenix for the rest of the trip. We were going to stop at this ostrich farm where you could feed them, and that had something called a “goat penthouse” !!! as recommended by Rebecca who I met on a NIN tour, but it had started to storm pretty badly. Because every vacation we take, it rains. There was a ton of dust being blown around, plus rain and lightning, so we had to pass. We also had to pass on the domes of Casa Grande, these weird abandoned dome structures Rebecca also mentioned. We got to our place in Scottsdale, but it was still storming, so we couldn’t really walk anywhere. Turned out to be ok, because we weren’t quite within walking distance of what I’d call “downtown” Old Town Scottsdale. We tried some beer at another brewery before dinner and walking around Old Town a bit.

Saturday we got up early again to take the behind the scenes tour of Taliesin West – Frank Lloyd Wright’s western “camp” complex and school. J had been there before, but he still enjoyed it. It was another several hour tour that got to see more of the complex than the other regular tours. The complex is pretty incredible and very beautiful. It’s the first FLW building I’ve toured, even though we have Darwin Martin House right here in Buffalo. Even though his intent was the “compress and release” feeling of being closed in before walking into a big space, it feels a bit too claustrophobic to me. It was a great tour, and they even give you some snacks and beverages while one of FLW’s original Taliesin students talked to the group.

The weather was pretty nice in the morning, but once we left and headed to brunch it got crap and poured and poured. Cuz as I said, vacation = rain. After brunch we went out to another Rebecca recommended sites, Goldfield mining town. It’s not a true abandoned mining town, though it really was a mine, but it was all rebuilt and is a tourist trappy little place. General stores, a brothel, a saloon, a train…that kind of stuff. We did go on the little mine tour, which was meh, and the mystery house that is always fun even if you know the story isn’t real. It’s so disorienting! Rebecca told us to go because the saloon’s porch has a great view of the Superstition mountains, so we stopped there for a bit and had some drinks, took some photos as the sun set and watched another storm roll into the desert.

After Goldfield we went back to Phoenix to The Duce, this crazy bar that had a boxing ring, and corn hole, and shuffle board, and a soda counter, and trailer serving food, and insanely overpriced clothing, and ping pong, and…yeah. Tons of stuff. It was on a list of things to do in Phoenix I found, but turns out it was also on Diners Drive-ins and Dives. It was neat and fun, kicked J’s ass at corn hole, but it was so expensive. Around the corner was Alice Cooperstown so we stopped in there to check it out before heading back to Scottsdale.

Sunday was Taco Fest!! We did VIP which got us 10 tacos and 5 drinks in the VIP tent, private bathrooms, etc. It was a pretty big festival, lots of restaurants participating in a big area, so it didn’t feel super cramped like Soup Fest in the convention center here. We picked Sunday because there was a chihuahua beauty contest LOL. It was cute, 18 dogs dressed up in costumes. The 3 legged dog won, even though the one dressed like a pinata was cuter. We sat in on a tequila seminar, and a bartender flare contest, which was good because it started to rain…of course. After that, a lot of places were closing up, and a bad storm was coming in so we stuffed ourselves with our last few tacos before heading back to our place. The tacos were all pretty good, a few better than the rest. In general all the mexican food we had was fairly mild. The only hot stuff was the salsas on offer, J trying a habenero one that was ridiculous. It was a good delicious time!

Monday was another free day, so we ended up going to Papago Park to climb the Hole in the Rock outcropping and to visit the zoo. The zoo was way bigger than Buffalo, we seriously walked so much. Lots of different animals to see, and I even got to see lizards in the wild haha. It was one of my goals of the trip. Pretty nice zoo I’d say. Good times.

Headed home Tuesday. It was raining. haha. Lots of fun, saw lots of stuff, ate lots of tacos.

Pictures from Phoenix

Posted in: US Vacations, Vacations \ Tagged: , ,

The Tea Party plays more than the same 12 songs…

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A few days late with this one. Been busy. Tea Party played Hamilton on the 16th, apparently my 18th time seeing them, so I headed up with Mary and J for this special special show. Why was it special? They were playing the entire Edges of Twilight album for it’s 20th anniversary. So many songs I’ve never seen them play!! It was a can’t miss.

The show was at Hamilton Place Theatre, which is where their philharmonic plays, and is so stuck in the 70s it was pretty awesome inside. Since it was an actual concert hall I was expecting some really good sound, and wow, it didn’t disappoint. This was the clearest concert I’ve ever heard. Each of the 3 aspects of the performance were clear as day, with Jeff Martin’s vocals almost too pronounced (though it was pretty cool to hear him breathe, or rather, get ready to hit some of the big notes). I’ve never really been able to distinguish individual drum sounds in a live show before this one, it was ridic. The show almost sounded quiet, because there was no hum or hiss between songs, no overwhelming crowd noise even though people were excited and yelling all the same. It was crazy how good it sounded in there.

So for the first time in a long time of seeing the Tea Party, the setlist wasn’t a surprise but it was different! (I recently got into an exchange with whichever band member runs their facebook – I suspect jeff burrows – about their lack of different setlists in Buffalo.) We knew they were playing Edges in full, and that’s what we got.

Fire in the Head
The Bazaar
Correspondences
The Badger
Silence
Winter Solstice / Sister Awake / Paint It Black / Sister Awake
Turn the Lamp Down Low
Shadows on the Mountainside
Drawing Down the Moon
Inanna
Coming Home
Walk With Me

2nd set:
Writing’s on the Wall
The Ocean At The End
Save Me / Kashmir / Save Me
Heaven Coming Down

Encore:
Temptation

Correspondences was fantastic. The only other time I saw it, in Toronto 4 years ago, Jeff was losing his voice and I think it was cut short, or he didn’t sing part of it, so this was really really great. Silence I think lacked a bit of something, or didn’t translate well. I had a hard time figuring out what song it was when they began, and I don’t think it really cleared up for me as I went on, though of course I knew what it was. After that I forgot a lot of what was on the album so it was like hearing it for the first time haha. Then we got to the one I’d been waiting for, Drawing Down the Moon. That song, gah. Sexiest guitar ever.

The entire album sounded fantastic live, and it didn’t sound like they had to re-learn the songs, or were hesitant on them despite the fact that some of them have probably never been played live, or were last played 20 years ago. It was like they’d been playing them all along and knew them inside and out.

They finished Edges, and took an intermission before coming back for a small 2nd set of non Edges songs. Mary and I both said that it was an incredible let down after hearing Edges, to hear the same songs we always hear. It was completely expected yet still, not an exciting finish to a great 1st set. But a great show none the less. So happy to have heard new things from them. Hopefully some of them get put into the regular rotation. I haven’t decided if I’m going to skip work on New Years Eve to go to their show, since I’m scared of getting the “typical Buffalo setlist” that they claim doesn’t exist (I have proof!). If they announce it as an Edges show, I’m in.

Posted in: Concerts, The Tea Party \ Tagged: ,

The Tea Party @ Artpark July 16 with Big Wreck

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Big Wreck
—-
Inhale
That Song
Wolves
I Digress
Hey Mama
Albatross
Ghosts
Ladylike
Blown Wide Open
The Oaf

Tea Party
—
The River
Baazar (Cypher intro)
Lullaby
Psychopomp
Fire in the Head
Ocean at the End
Winter Solstice (tease)
Water’s on Fire (Release outro)
Writings on the Wall
Heaven Coming Down
Save Me (Kashmir insert)
Temptation

Encore:
Sister Awake (Paint It Black insert)

Posted in: Concerts, The Tea Party \ Tagged: ,

u2 toronto

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U2 on tour again, yay. J ditched me for the show to go see some other show back in Buffalo so I recruited Mary to come with me. She hadn’t seen them before and figured they won’t be touring forever so…We were warned that traffic had been really bad because of the PanAm games, but it was the typical 2 hours and slow traffic on the highway. We were early enough to catch dinner first, and got in line right when doors were opening. (we are officially too old to queue).

No opener!

Bono came out from the zamboni entrance opposite from the stage, which made everyone go nutso. Bono sounds so good, it’s amazing. So many bands from the 90s that we all used to like, none of them can sing anymore. And Bono had been sounding rough for a while, but on 360 tour and this one, it’s incredible. Bravo to his coach and whatever routine that he has now, that he can do back to back nights with no problem.

U2 is such a joyful show. Even when it’s heavy, like this setlist is, it’s still like…a happy show. NIN shows aren’t happy. They’re awesome, but joyful is not a word to use there. But Bono walks on stage and you just feel joy. Even when he’s being annoying and talking too much, joy. It’s such a different feeling.

The band sounded great of course. I always have an issue with their set structures because they always tend to group all the new stuff together. They need to spread it out more. I understand that this tour they are really trying to tell a story, and maybe things need to be grouped, but…even as a giant fan, they start to lose me sometimes.

I don’t mind the new album, tho it’s not super exciting to me, and the new songs sounded much better live. Raised by Wolves, which is one I like, was really good. Until the End of the World was nice to hear, as always, though there was no “bull fight” and we were in prime position for it to happen right in front of us. Super glad they brought back Bullet the Blue Sky, I’d go to more shows just to hear that song.

The stage went the entire length of the ice, with a giant screen running the whole length. I think they must go to NIN shows to get stage ideas, because the screens had a walkway in between that the band went in, and performed behind the screens just like NIN. And the visuals on the screens would part so you could see them, just like NIN. And flourescent stage lights/art just like NIN. hahah.

They performed Mysterious Ways on the small stage, and a girl had a sign that said Me + Guitar etc, so Bono brought her up on stage. Except he couldn’t actually see the sign and thought she was a belly dancer, so she got to spin around with Bono when he realized she wasn’t actually a dancer, and after the song he told her he had glaucoma and couldn’t read LOL They kept her up there and gave her a guitar, and she got to play Angel of Harlem and All I Want Is You with them. And she could actually play, unlike the Hamilton show way back in 2001. It was cool. After that Edge had technical problems with the guitar he needed, and he was mad so they brought out the piano and sent Larry and Adam away and did a different song.

And Bono did the Shine like Stars ending to With or Without You!! I almost cried. So great.

Besides having to suffer through a video break of Johnny Cash singing The Wanderer it was a great show. The new stuff sounded good, the old stuff was great of course (though I can still go without ever seeing Pride ever again), and there were only 2 songs I wasn’t familiar with. It was a good time, kinda wish I got to see the previous night. Hoping they do another leg next year.

The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)
The Electric Co. / Send In The Clowns (snippet)
Vertigo
I Will Follow
Iris (Hold Me Close)
Cedarwood Road
Song For Someone
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Raised By Wolves
Until The End Of The World
(Intermission)
Invisible
Even Better Than The Real Thing
Mysterious Ways
Angel Of Harlem
All I Want Is You
Every Breaking Wave
Bullet The Blue Sky
Pride (In The Name Of Love)
Beautiful Day
With Or Without You / Shine Like Stars (snippet)

encore(s):
City Of Blinding Lights
Mother And Child Reunion (snippet)
Where The Streets Have No Name
One

Posted in: Concerts, U2 \ Tagged: ,

the tea party @ town ball room

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In an almost last minute fashion, I was able to find Mary a ticket to the sold out Tea Party show at Town Ballroom, making this feel like college. Eric, Mary and I attending a Tea Party show in Buffalo again! Roxy had an extra, so Mary snatched it up, and we were really only missing Danielle and Adrienne to make it really seem like we were young again haha.

Forgetting that we were old and that the Tea Party always has crappy openers and goes on too late, we got there far too early, but made the most of it. We hung out at one of the inside bars until Roxy took us to her secret in front section right before they came on. Score for not waiting at the barrier for 2 and a half hours but still being right in front, albeit on the far left side, in front of the speaker stacks, in front of Stuart. It was a different perspective than we were used to after all these years (this was my 16th Tea show, somehow I surpassed Eric, it was his 15th).

I was going to look at the setlists for this little Canadian and 1 US show tour (score one for Buffalo! The only sold out show, and sold out for a month and a half! They could, and should, play 2 dates here), but I kept forgetting, maybe intentionally because I didn’t want to see that it was the same old setlist with new songs added. And in the end, that’s what it was. But again, like I keep saying…we bitch about this standard set list, and when it’s done, they put on such a great show, and always sound so good, that we forgive them. The new songs sounded pretty good, even if they didn’t necessarily play the ones I really wanted to hear, like Submission. The Black Sea was rocking, The Ocean at the End which is pretty long and epic translated well live. What we did get that was sorta new was a whole 30 seconds of Transmission inserted into Temptation, and a whole 30 seconds of Pulse inserted into…Sister Awake. And that’s about all we’ll ever see of those songs at the rate this band is going lol. They took out Halcyon Days to fit in new songs, which makes me a bit sad, but we also only had to suffer through one verse of The Messenger inserted into Save Me, so that’s a bonus. Psychopomp, highlight as always.

This is the setlist from Montreal but it looks accurate. Jeff Martin did a bit of Little Drummer Boy in Save Me…and a few lines of something else Christmasy in another, before something in the encore.

The LoC
The Bazaar
The Black Sea
Psychopomp
Fire in the Head
The 11th Hour (with Halcyon Days intro)
Lullaby
Water’s On Fire/Release/Water’s On Fire
Save Me/The Messenger/Kashmir/Save Me
The Ocean at the End
Temptation/Transmission/Temptation
Encore:
Heaven’s Coming Down/All Along the Watchtower/Heaven’s Coming Down
Encore 2:
Winter Solstice
Sister Awake/Pulse/Sister Awake

It looks like a short setlist, but they played for 2 hours. We tried to think of what else from the “standard set list” got cut to make way for the new songs, and I could only think of “Sun Going Down” and full versions of “Release”, “Halcyon Days” and “the Messenger”. Maybe that’s it. I’m happy we didn’t get “The Maker” lol. “The 11th Hour” had only been done a few times, so perhaps if they do a summer tour we’ll get a few more new songs. (Oh they took out “Writing’s on the Wall” too which is A-ok with me.)

Posted in: Concerts, The Tea Party \ Tagged: ,

head

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i really wish i was a normal healthy human. so treatment for my head continues. the nerve block failed, which turns out to be a good thing because my high deductible insurance plan means that it cost $300, a bill which i did not receive until after i would have received the 2nd shot, and thus a 2nd $300 bill. so thank god for small favors. dr put me on topamax, another anti epilepsy drug to try. i’m now on the full dose of 4 pills, with little response. the goal is less than 9 headache days a month. i am still at less than 9 headache free days a month. topamax came with a list of side effects including nice ones like less sweating and weight loss, and not nice ones like depression, tingling of the hands feet and face, exhaustion. so of course i get the not nice ones, and none of the nice ones. so when it does seem to work, and i have a headache free day, i still don’t feel good. i’m tired as hell, i am depressed, don’t want to do anything and don’t want to leave the house. if not for having to go to dice class and work, i wouldn’t leave the house, for real. so awesome. i go for a follow up in a few weeks. given that my insurance won’t cover pretty much anything, botox treatment is going to be unaffordable and thus out of the question. that leaves my only treatment options as further playing with medication. the dr mentioned adding in small doses of elavil again, which i was sort of against because stopping the elavil last time was hell, but she says the combination of elavil and topamax can really help. plus elavil being an antidepressant, maybe it would counteract being depressed from the topamax. who knows, but…i don’t know what is worse…at least when i have a headache and am not depressed i can force myself out of the house to do things. feeling headache free but without the motivation to do anything kinda sucks.

Posted in: Personal \ Tagged:

new music!

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I always said I wasn’t going to be one of those “old” people who wasn’t in touch with new music, but, here I am, and I’m that person. I realized the other day I haven’t bought or even really listened to music from a band that’s come out in the last decade. Sure I’ve listened to new music, but from old bands. Ugh. And I hate to say new bands suck, but…nothing that I *have* heard on the occasions that I’ve listened to the radio has caught my fancy. So I’ll just put in my decades old music (god, how is it possible that I can even say that!?!), or new music from decades old bands, and enjoy.

Which brings me to this week. New music from one of my fav bands, The Tea Party. Their first in a decade! I was excited and scared all at the same time, as their last album Seven Circles was mediocre, and their live release from last year, or the year before was pretty freaking terrible (the mixing not the performance). But holy crap this record is pretty good. I borrowed it from the internet last week, but crossed over to Canada the other day to pick it up from HMV since American amazon wasn’t offering it. Of course like any record, a few songs I could leave, like yet another Daniel Lanois cover (The Maker), a throw away hidden instrumental at the end, and one I’m not sure of (Black Roses) but over all, the songs go back to their roots, covering all the different sounds they’ve had over the years – zepplin-esque, eastern influenced rock. Thankfully they lost the Tom Morello guitar tone from Seven Circles and went back to the style Jeff Martin is best at. I wasn’t impressed with the initial single, Water’s On Fire, because it’s a ballad, and I thought a poor choice for a first single in a decade, but it’s grown on me and it’s not that bad. Brazil has great rock guitar in it, that we expect from them, Submission sounds like a Gary Numan cover (specifically Cars, and I guess it was intentional) and thus is cool, and the “required” long song The Ocean At The End is reminiscent of Correspondences, and really very nice. I’m very happy with it and excited to see them live again – AS LONG AS THEY PLAY A DIFFERENT DAMNED SETLIST! In looking through my blog archives in search for a date for one of their shows from 05, I discovered Eric and I bitching about them playing the same setlist ALL THE WAY BACK THEN!

And then came the surprise. U2 released their album with no fanfare or build up on itunes as part of Apple’s iphone 6 press conference, for free. Called “Songs of Innocence” it’s been 5 years in the making and is rumored to be only one of several releases coming up. Dave Fanning, friend of U2 and radio guy (?) suspects it’s one of 3 coming releases chronicling U2 decade by decade as this one is all about the 1970s and the band themselves have claimed to have more material ready to be released. My first impression is…we’ve heard this all before. It’s the same sound, same style, same…thing. Even though Eno and Lanois had nothing to do with it, it’s just….U2 I guess. I hate to say it, I’ve been denying it for years, but I don’t want U2 to sound like U2. I like 90s U2 when they did something different and ground breaking, and didn’t just repeat themselves ad nauseum. I was excited when they were working with new people on new music, but in the end, it’s just them. Still. There is nothing exciting on this record, nothing catchy, nothing fun. I hesitate to say it’s depressing, it’s just not exciting. The first song The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) held potential that very quickly went away, devolving into the usual, what I like to call “Miracle Drug”ing of the album. It has the same vibe as How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and Electrical Storm. It is rather minimal, with no weird random out of place Eno-esque organs or horns, which is fine by me, but there isn’t anything else there either. (I just looked at a review of the album when looking for the track titles and it said that the album sounds like U2 ripping off all the bands that rip off U2 which reminded me that I had the thought that the album sounded like Coldplay LOL)

So that was my first impression. After listening a few times, I will say the 2nd half of the album is much better than the first because it sounds different! There is some “weirdness”, or well weird for U2. There is strong bass lines that remind you Adam exists, there are female vocals from someone, there is interesting guitar work from Edge, and slow synthy stuff. While there aren’t any lyrics that stand out as cringe worthy, like “people get squashed crossing the tracks” from Bomb, the lyrics aren’t good either. Bono used to be a poet, wtf happened to him? And while there aren’t any songs I out right despise like Moment of Surrender or Yahweh to name a few, there aren’t any at this point that I can say I like either. And that’s sad. I could easily never listen to this again and not miss it. Susan had listened to it before me, since she has itunes, and had said it was edgier than their last one. I’m not sure what she was listening to LOL.

But I will keep listening until I know every word, as I have a history of not liking U2 albums at first listen – yes even Achtung Baby, the greatest album ever made, I didn’t appreciate at first. I’m sure it will grow on me some, but a classic or brilliant album it is definitely not.
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In other news. I’ve been struggling with my head big time. Since July my headaches have become intolerable. I finally went to see neurologists again, and they gave me a nerve block in my head which was a failure. So now I’ve been put on another preventative rx, topamax. Starting week 2, I’m not sure of it’s efficacy yet. I can up the dosage 2 more times, so we’ll see. I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle the side effects if they get worse with the increased dosage though, as it makes my hands and face tingle, a bit of dizziness and stupidness lol. I’ve started taking dice class, finally after 11 years, so tingling hands and stupidness isn’t really good for that hah. Failing that, I already qualify for botox treatments, as I have a 30 year history of failed treatments, but that also takes time to start working so it’s best to have them under control before starting botox to bridge the gap. I just know I need something to work, and soon, cuz I can’t handle it anymore.

Posted in: Music \ Tagged: , , ,

dream

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I was at a bar with cassie and trent reznor showed up, apparently he worked there. he was behind the bar walking around, and his wife showed up to talk to me. we were like, barf, eye roll, and everyone else is like, she’s so hot. but they were talking and he clearly was so happy it made him look so super hot. so i was like fine, i’ll accept her and let her stick around if it’s going to make him that happy and that hot looking. so she left, and trent started talking, cuz it wasn’t work, it was some kind of fan gathering. and he was talking about his kids and how he never thought he’d like to have kids but how great they were, and again, he was clearly happy. then it wasn’t just a bar but also a kitchen, and he grabbed some food to start cooking. and we were like holy shit, trent is going to cook for us. cuz apparently trent was previously trained as a chef, not a pianist. everyone realized something crazy was happening and started taking photos etc with their phones, but we weren’t because we knew it would piss him off and we didn’t want to do anything to get in trouble and miss out. i did post on facebook though that trent was about to cook for us. we got steered to this other area to find seats for dinner. it was going to be a random selection of people who got to eat what trent made, cuz there were too many people for him to cook for everyone. the rest of the people got to eat what his team of chefs were making. people were still on their phones. so security came in and picked cassie and 3 others to leave and i was like oh no! i didn’t know what she or the rest of them did wrong that they got asked to leave. but then i thought maybe it wasn’t for bad things, but maybe for good, like they knew she was a foodie. then security picked me out and used me as an example to the rest, and told me to empty my pockets and surrender my phone, cuz they didn’t want anyone taking pictures of the food. so i did, but didn’t see the point in emptying the rest of my pockets, cuz i had money and chapstick and ibuprofens, but they said no i had to empty everything. people still didn’t want to surrender their phones, but if you didn’t, you didn’t get dinner. trent came out and said what he made and what the other chefs made but even in the dream i couldn’t remember what he said, so when they started serving, i didn’t know if i ended up with trent’s food or not.

Posted in: Dreams \ Tagged: