NIN Pittsburgh 09

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my last nin show. no seriously it really really is. the last nin show in the US is tomorrow in NC and there’s no way I can make that.

adr2 bliss and i left for pittsburgh around 10:30, stopped at a mall in erie to get bliss some boots cuz she forgot hers (we all forgot a ton of stuff it seemed haha), and made it to bliss’s house to get her sister. adr2 and i stopped at a whole foods to get something to eat quick, back to get the girls, and off to the venue. we had lawn tickets and were paranoid about it raining (it was forecast to storm all day). while i was walking the line looking for sarah and jory, i ended up at the front not finding them (nin presale was already inside) and i asked a guard what the difference was between the 3 lines that were formed, and he said nothing, you can start another one right here. so i got the girls, and went back and started a brand new line. we got dirty looks, and it’s like, woah chill we have freaking LAWN tickets idiots. and you too could have started a new line…oddly, no one else followed us into this new line.

when doors finally opened, and we were one of the first in, i noticed a table set up next to a merch booth that was offering ticket upgrades (first come first serve). i went over and asked, for $10 each you could upgrade from lawn to a seating section, and they had various ones to choose from. we said, hell yes, and got 4 tickets together in section 6 row h, which turned out to be the equivalent of the front of the 200 section at most ampitheatres. we ended up behind the “box” seats, pretty much half way between the stage and the lawn where we would have been, and almost center. sweet!! quite an upgrade.

i counted this time, and street sweeper social club said their name, or that they were not a band but a social club, 21 times. TWENTY ONE, and they played a half hour. ridiculous.

the crowd filled in once nin came on, and opened with “home”…sort of a weird opener, but it was good. i’m glad i went, purely because we got to hear “somewhat damaged” one more time 🙂 sweet. that song is so powerful live. a few changes from the toronto set, but the middle set “rare” stuff was mostly the same. sadly we didn’t get “last” or “physical” because they did a single song (hurt) encore again. suck. as the instrumental, we got “the downward spiral” which was surprisingly kickass. the loud part was totally loud, and it just hit you with this wall of sound, it was pretty awesome. it was unexpected, because i really don’t think much about that song. when he introduced “the fragile” trent said, “pretend it’s dark out, this song works better in the dark”. and he paused and said he needed to get his head together. it was cute, and sad (to me, because of my relationship with that song). i said i wouldn’t cry again, and i didn’t, but that almost got me before the song even started lol.

Home
Somewhat Damaged
Terrible Lie
Discipline
March Of The Pigs
The Frail
Metal
I’m Afraid of Americans
The Becoming
Burn
Gave Up
The Fragile
I Do Not Want This
The Downward Spiral
Wish
Survivalism
Echoplex
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt

jane’s was boring to me again. i sat through it, and the seat next to me was filled by this hippy kid. he bought me a beer for holding his seat for him…i told him i didn’t want it but he bought it anyway, and those things were expensive so i felt forced to drink some of it lol. later on he asked me why i wasn’t rockin out, and i said i didn’t like jane’s, he replied with oh you were here for nine inch nails, they’re like, heavy maaaaaan. LOL then some other guy who wasn’t sitting near us, asked me if i worked at children’s hospital…um no i live in buffalo, and he just stared at me and was like, oh you look like someone i know who works at children’s hospital. really? i’d never have guessed that.

and thank god we upgraded our tickets, because it pooooured during jane’s, and we would have been soaked and miserable.

now i didn’t get all emotional like some people *wink* that this was the last show, and it was all ending. but it did hit me during “Terrible Lie” that i was really really going to miss it. when i start having bad angsty shit happen in life, i’ll really really really miss it and be depressed. let’s just hope my life continues drama free. trent won’t be gone forever. i guess he recently said there will be new nin records in the next few years, just no tours. i am happy with nin records. we used to wait 5 years between albums/tours. i don’t expect him to stay “retired” more than 5 years. whether he comes out as nin or as himself or as something else, it is still trent reznor, and in the end, that’s why we were all here.

Posted in: Concerts, Nine Inch Nails \ Tagged: ,

NIN Toronto 09

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nin toronto, my last pit show, possibly ever (silly trent “retiring”)

drove up to molson ampitheatre with sarah, and with adr2 and bliss on our heels on the highway. the nin.com line wasn’t very long and we picked our seat along the water just like last time. the only notable happening of the queue were the geese/ducks/birds…a friendly little girl duck decided to play homeless person and go up and down the line begging for food. i happened to be eating a muffin so i threw a few crumbs. it wasn’t afraid of people because it stood there right in front of me waiting for more. then it decided to just take more itself and ended up pulling the whole muffin right out of my hand hahaha. duck stole my muffin!!

once inside, one back from rail slightly left of center. now that there are only 4 members in nin the stage set up is a bit different and “trent’s junk” ended up being right in front of us. not bad! i didn’t really want to be up front because i had a headache and didn’t want to deal with it but sure glad adr2 and bliss talked me into it. killer setlist. the surprises were ruined for me once again thanks to the photo blog, but no matter. they had been changing the sets enough that you still couldn’t tell what you’d get. there were really 2 songs that i wanted, and if i didn’t get, i’d be mad. and it turned out pretty good…”metal”, “i’m afraid of americans”, “the becoming”, “i do not want this” and really my ultimate, “the fragile”…the song that basically started it all 10 years ago, fitting that i finally see it at my last pit show. and i am lame and i started to cry. the one song i wanted and didn’t get was “physical”. they had been doing it in the encore, but for some reason instead of a 3 song encore it was just one, and of course, it was “hurt”…just my luck! 😛 and oh yeah, trent tripped and fell on the stage carpeting during survivalism (pretty sure), but kept singing, and then was SUPER PISSED OFF and screamed at his tech (wasn’t his fault trent was clumsy haha) anger carried into mr self destruct and he knocked all his shit over haha.

i will find the full setlist once the cable comes back on (it has gone out once again, jerks)

Now I’m Nothing
Terrible Lie
1,000,000
Heresy
March of the Pigs
Metal
The Becoming
I’m Afraid of Americans
Burn
Gave Up
I Do Not Want This
The Fragile
The Way Out Is Through
Wish
Survivalism
Mr. Self-Destruct
Hand That Feeds
Head Like a Hole
Hurt

and oh yeah, street sweeper social club, aka tom morello’s new band. i didn’t think it was bad, it just sounded like rage and audioslave, because that’s the sound of tom morello. i’d say they were better than alot of other nin openers, but i wouldn’t seek them out ever. then after nin was jane’s addiction. and holy wow it was not at all what i expected. i left the front and hung out in the very back of the pit. i had no idea that they were a chill mellow stoner band. i really thought it was all going to be up beat and rocking like “been caught stealing” (one of three JA songs i know ha). sadly i was really bored, and actually glad they were “headlining” because if i had to sit through that in order to get to nin, that would have been tough.

so i keep saying “last pit show” instead of just last show, cuz as i posted right before this, i am going to pittsburgh afterall. i need to hear “physical” and if they don’t play it there i’m gonna punch someone. i’d like to hear “last” one more time as well. i don’t really have any more requests though. i think pittsburgh will make it 48 shows including fragility, and i’ve pretty much heard all i could want to hear by now.

it’s been a great 5 years.

*edit* i forgot to mention the girl who showed up to talk to the skivy security guard holding a bunch of plush monkey backpacks, with scary “trent” faces on them. they had to have been trent faces, but they were horrible hideous and frightening. security called someone who came and gave her and her friends wristbands. wtf. i so expected a photo of them to show up on the photoblog if they ended up getting into the nin camp, but no luck.

Posted in: Concerts, Nine Inch Nails \ Tagged: ,

ok, one more nin show

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just bought a lawn ticket for pittsburgh…ticket promotion, the price is 7.66….with $6 for parking and $6 in fees LOL or there is no service fee wednesday offer for lawn tickets…so the ticket would be $19 plus 6 for parking…who wouldn’t get the special lawn ticket?!? and i’m kinda irritated you have to pay for parking with your ticket, when i am not driving and would not need to park. just another lovely live nation rip off.

Posted in: Personal \ Tagged:

West Virginia

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So tuesday brought following david and his gf up to weston wv to trans allegany lunatic asylum, a kirkbride that is open daily for tours. yay for legal access. it was my first aslyum and first kirkbride i’ve ever been in. we took the 4 floor tour, and got to see a lot of the building (but not any of the out buildings like the TB and general hospitals). it was interesting, and pretty, but in way better shape than i was expecting. and i don’t really know why i expected it to be more ruined, since i saw it on ghosthunters last summer. i departed from them after the tour and headed to moundsville/wheeling to go to WV state penn. only problem is that google maps lies. they sent me the “quickest” way, which was directly across all the mountains instead of going all highway. while the road was fun (dad would love it) and it was pretty (though raining), no way was it quicker than if i had gone all highway. so i didn’t make it into town in time for the last penn tour boo. drove up to wheeling and found the wheeling island casino. i was going to get a room there, but turns out they were sold out. what? on a tuesday? eh that’s ok, they were expensive anyway. i did run into an ex coworker, which was a complete surprise because last anyone at work had known he was down in the carolinas attempting to flip houses. well that didn’t work out for him hahah, bad economic timing. left there and got a room in downtown wheeling for the night.

thursday it was back to wv state penn just missing the 11am tour, but that was ok because it was a big middle school field trip. no thanks. lady at the counter says the noon tour was a field trip too, so i had to wait til 1 cuz no way was i going along with a bunch of kids. i had passed a sign for the Marx Toy Museum so i headed there to kill some time. marx toys went out of business in 1980 so i didn’t have any, but they were the company who made rock em sock em robots, and invented the big wheel. neat stuff to look at, and nice lady took me through the whole place (not sure if that is normal or not, i was the only one there). back to the prison again, and there were only 3 of us on the tour. nice. older man who was our guide ends up being the husband of the lady at the toy museum lol. tour was about an hour long, through a few cell blocks, the yard, cafeteria etc. again, much better shape than i was expecting but then again it was only closed since the mid 90s. i think i was expecting more like Eastern State.

headed out after the tour for home. took a long way so i could go to sonic again hahahahah. got home just before 8. wicked headache that won’t go away tho.

and i have to say, yay for legal access to buildings, but i think i prefer self tours…both weston and the prison would have been better if i could wander on my own like you can at Eastern State. spend however much time you want looking at whatever you want and taking as many pics as you could. in the end i don’t think i took very many photos at either site because the guide wanted you to move along with the group (even tho both groups were small). both trips to eastern state were way more relaxed and i could spend hours there. i’ve been thinking about this a lot in regards to the terminal too. i think we may be getting to the point where we’ll want to have some basic open hours but not necessarily with a tour guide…i don’t see why we couldn’t offer both (open a few days a week, a real tour once a month as we do now). maybe the open hours is just the concourse, and the tour goes other extra areas. i don’t know. but the open hours would allow for photographers and others to have the time they need, and the tours for people who want more in depth discussion of the building’s history.

Posted in: US Vacations, Vacations \ Tagged: ,

Vacation!

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vacation week.

started with 5 days in a row at the terminal, as my last hurrah of sorts. wed night to meet a caterer. thurs night board meeting, then the TAPS ghost hunt on Fri and Sat, and finally our own ghost hunt Sunday. the weekend was pretty fun, and we made some money. they started with a meet and greet for the people who bought tickets, and then went into a lecture by John Zaffa, a demonologist, which was…interesting. a bunch of stuff about exorcisms etc. jason and grant followed that with their own presentation/lecture, and some video from some of their shows and other non tv investigations. once it got dark, about 9pm they broke into groups and the rest of the night was the actual hunt. friday night i got a psychic reading done on para-x radio haha. interesting and mostly bull, of course. saturday night was much the same, only i didn’t stay the whole time cuz i was tired and bored. sunday was without celebs, and 200$ cheaper hahaha. we had about 40 people and WNY Ghost Hunters brought in some people to speak, and then at dark again, broke into much much smaller groups to investigate the floors. i don’t really think the terminal is haunted, but they’ve been finding some interesting things. someone on the hunt got a pretty impressive EVP in fedele’s apartment.

anyway. it was a good weekend for us, and technically my last one for a long while. i don’t want to see that place again for months haha

so today i left for a real vacation for the last 4 days i have off. i ended up deciding on braddock pa, trans allegany asylum and west virginia penn in WV. turns out david was going to be in wv with his gf at the same time, and decided to meet me in braddock.

well…braddock was not what i was expecting 1. it is way close to pittsburgh and i pictured it farther out, sorta middle of nowhere mountains. 2. it is bigger than i thought it would be. i was expecting a main street and then houses spread out over several other streets. instead it was crowded with buildings (yes mostly empty, especially main street) 3. since it was crowded with buildings, and most of them were houses, there wasn’t anything to really photograph. 4. they still have a US Steel mill?!!? i don’t quite understand what this city’s problem is. i thought they were ruined and the population had left because industry had left, but they have a big steel plant and a large hospital and it is very close to pittsburgh. i don’t get it. it’s also right next to rankine, which i didn’t realize til i was driving and suddenly realized i had been there before, with dan 2 years ago haha. so i met up with david in braddock and we drove around a bit, but then left to some places he knew of in nearby mckeesport. visited an old hotel, steel fabricator (i think) factory and a church. so it ended up being successful. i then followed him down into WV and am now spending the night in morganstown.

tomorrow is weston and trans allegany lunatic asylum. woo. i’m excited tho i hear the tour goes way too fast for good photo taking, but i suppose i can always take the tour twice 🙂

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

Aud photo contest

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good news, I asked the harbor people about what size they want the photos in for the contest and made a comment about wishing we could submit more than one. they said to have family and friends submit them for me LOL so now i can pick more than one and have mom send one in and dad and depending on how many i really want to send in, some of you guys too 🙂 but i still win the orange seats 🙂

Posted in: Personal

wtf kitty!

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i was woken up at 6 am (granted an hr after i went to bed) by the most horrific noise i’ve ever heard come from a cat. kitty was not in my room, and i seriously thought something had killed him. my first thought was, someone is in the house, kitty was trying to warn me and got himself killed and i’m going to stupidly go out of my room to look and get killed myself (yes this is how i think). i turned the light on and called really loudly for kitty (because of course that would scare the crazy rapist serial killer away) and kitty made this horrible screech again. turned on hall light, go into kitchen and kitty is not dead and no one is there, but he is freaking out at the window with a low guttural growl and hissing. so maybe the serial killer is on the back porch, crap, he’ll see me now. i looked out to try to see what was out there, and finally i see this really pretty golden cat on the steps. i knocked on the glass door to scare him away but he wasn’t scared (he must be someone’s cat), and tried to pull kitty away from the door but he wouldn’t go just kept growling and hissing. finally the other cat started to leave so i went back to bed.

seriously, this was THE WORST noise i’ve ever heard. it really must be what a cat sounds like when dying. it scared the crap out of me, so after all this i go back to bed with adrenaline flowing and my heart beating like nuts. i’ve heard a lot of cat fights too from the Murphy days, but this was unreal. and i don’t know why he did it…the other cat must have been around before, there were paw prints in the snow in the winter on the porch…maybe he tried to come through the glass and freaked kitty out…hopefully that’s the last time.

Posted in: Personal \ Tagged:

crap

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why oh why is everything happening on june 27th?!?!

carolyn’s wedding
80th anniversary
meeting with houghton college re: terminal concert
and now combichrist w/ julien k and others at town ballroom

and most likely i’ll only be doing terminal things cuz i won’t be able to get off of work fri night so i can go to the wedding (it’s early morning sat) and sat night so i could go to the show. ug ug ug

Posted in: Personal

U2 wishlist

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been listening to live u2 (even the awful boston show with the worst setlist ever) and thinking of what i want in september…

new songs i’d like to hear for sure:
magnificent
breathe
get on your boots

new songs i wouldn’t mind hearing but wouldn’t mind if they don’t play them
no line on the horizon
white as snow
cedars of lebanon
stand up comedy

songs i have not heard before but really really want to (which means i’ll hear none of them)
hold me thrill me kiss me kill me
discotheque
mofo
do you feel loved?
last night on earth
please
love is blindness
acrobat
so cruel
dirty day

songs i’ve seen but are still an absolute MUST
bullet the blue sky
until the end of the world
running to stand still
sunday bloody sunday
city of blinding lights
gone
where the streets have no name (really only in this category cuz ppl would yell at me if i didn’t)

songs i’ve seen but wouldn’t mind seeing again
mysterious ways
who’s gonna ride you’re wild horses
even better than the real thing
stay (faraway so close)
walk on
beautiful day
staring at the sun
desire
out of control (cuz i have to pick at least one old song)
love and peace or else

old songs i can do without
pride (for sure, please, just stop playing it)
i still haven’t found what i’m looking for
one
elevation
vertigo
new year’s day

songs i absolutely DO NOT want to hear (which means they’ll play all of them)
moment of surrender
i’ll go crazy if i don’t go crazy tonight
yahweh
miracle drug
all because of you
sometimes you can’t make it on your own (really, anything from how to dismantle an atomic bomb)
grace
miami
miss sarajevo
peace on earth

and i think that is it. cuz really, only cassie will read this.

Posted in: Music \ Tagged:

music stuffs

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i’m watching duran duran live at wembly arena 2004 on vh1 classic and am thoroughly enjoying it. it’s only an hour long sadly, so it’s really just the big hits and seemingly 2 “new” songs (aka ones i didn’t know). simon le bon sounds really good, way better than some other live things i’ve heard of theirs. wish i could have seen them at the casino on that tour.

in other music news…

lacuna coil released a new album, “shallow life”…produced by a guy who also worked with linkin park and avril lavigne…so i wasn’t really expecting much, and good thing. it is so completely mainsteam modern rock radio friendly. it is completely devoid of the “goth” creepiness factor that made them interesting when i discovered them 6 years ago (that long already!). “shallow life” lost most of the nu-metal, fieldy-on-bass sound of “karmacode” but it is just so so soooooo modern rock. it’s good for what it is, but it’s disappointing for what i want from lacuna coil. i’ve only listened once, will give it more time, but it’s nothing like “unleashed memories” and “comalies”…

i tried to buy julien-k’s album but have not been able to find it at hot topic (where they begged you to buy it in their newsletter…) downloaded it and i actually like it more than i thought i would. i had downloaded the ep last year and didn’t really care for it much. again, i need to listen more, but first impression is that it’s decent and listenable. the “kick the bass” video, which last time i checked was still on youtube, is basically porn. weird.

and i might have already mentioned it…new depeche mode “sounds of the universe”. it’s sorta chill and mellow. there are a few upbeat songs like “wrong” (which still sounds like marilyn manson and not u2 :P) but alot of slower things. i don’t know if i’ll end up listening to it much, instead i’ll stick with the singles discs and ultra. we shall see. i still want to see them in toronto tho.

books…

i finished the first 5 ender books, and need to get the newest one. until then i borrowed The Stand from adr2 and bliss, and um…this other one by poppy z brite but i can’t remember the name. and i’m still reading atlas shrugged. i just keep taking time off to read other things haha.

and my laptop is back in service after the power cord finally bit the dust – after being bitten by kitty. and just in time, i didn’t know what i was going to do with myself while watching my shows tonight hahaha.

Posted in: Music \ Tagged: , , ,