http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPy9Tua6YLo

This is Dum Dum Boys by Iggy Pop(embedding's disabled for some reason). This video's a pretty cool tribute to Iggy and Jim Morrison. Ian Curtis(blue shirt) and Nick Cave(hell) are in it too. I love the guitar playing in this song. It's about the Stooges breaking up by the way.

One thing that's on my mind a lot is why there were so many great bands in the sixties and seventies, and more importantly, why there aren't very many now. I think personality is part of the equation. All the bands back then had their own personality. No one would ever confuse ZZ Top with another band. Same with Queen, or Hendrix, or any number of bands that came from that era. On the other hand, most bands today are practically interchangeable with any band. Same style, same sound, same everything. In fact, I'd go as far to say that, generally speaking, we only have three bands today.

The first is the modern rock bands, like Nickelback and Daughtry and all them. The ones that get radio play most of the time. Nice pretty guitars, nice pretty vocals. This is what rock n roll would sound like if it didn't have any balls.

The next is the punk pop bands. These are basically boy bands with guitars. Ultra whiny singers singing ultra whiny songs about "Mommy doesn't get me" or "My girlfriend left me a mean message on myspace." Again, the guitars sound nice and squeaky clean. None of them have any individual statements to make, just the same whiny singing and whiny guitars. To the punk pop bands, I have this to say. Green Day has already done everything you're doing, and they did it much much better.

On the opposite side of the exact same coin are the screamy metal bands. They come closest to getting it right. They're loud and fast, and they try to be rebellious. The problem is that they're not really interested in making good music, they just want to show off how anti-pop they are. "Listen to how uncommercial this sounds! You can't call me no sellout!" What they're singing about isn't important, because you can't understand what they're saying anyway. They're all slaves to their influences, and since they all have the same influences, it ends up being the same bullshit. They all sound the same. A little of Slayer, a little of Pantera, a hint of Metallica, and sure, put Cookie Monster on the microphone. Why not?

So where are all the real rock n roll bands? A very small handful like My Chemical Romance and the White Stripes actually get popular enough to get radio play(and MCR has to put up with the whole "emo" thing, so it's not like they're fully appreciated yet). The rest are in hiding, and even then, there's not very many of them. I guess the point of this rant is in order to be a good rock band, you've got to have character. You have to be able to rise above your influences and create your own sound, your own statement. Or at least sing with your own voice. I'm not saying you have to reinvent the wheel or anything, just have your own personality. Become your own genre.

It's been a while since I've ranted about music I'm listening to, so that's what I'm going to do today. I recently got Nirvana's new live DVD, Live at Reading. And man, it's really really good. I was pretty blown away. I've always loved Nirvana, but I didn't know they were such a great live band. They put a lot of energy in their performance, and Kurt's voice sounds as harsh and awesome as it does on record. Lol, they actually play a little of More than a Feeling before they go into Smells Like Teen Spirit, which I thought was funny(people always accused Teen Spirit of being a ripoff of More than a Feeling). It ends with them destroying their instruments naturally, and Kurt playing a deformed version of the Star Spangled Banner. I'd recommend it to any Nirvana fan. I actually think it ranks among the best live DVDs I have.

I've also been listening to Wolfmother's new album, Cosmic Egg. I don't know what the fuck a cosmic egg is, but this is a good album. I was kinda bummed when the original band broke up, but Andrew Stockdale was doing most of the songwriting apparently, so this has basically the same sound. It rocks pretty friggen hard. One thing that stood out to me was the lead playing. Andrew's really improved his soloing in the five years since the last one. I think their first album had better songs in general, but that's nitpicking. Especially since they're one of the only bands that still play this kind of music.

And I got AFI's new record, which I thought was pretty...mediocre. I mean, it's better than December Underground, it's got a little more a rock n roll vibe. But none of the songs are as good as Miss Murder. Medicate's a good song, and maybe there's a couple others. Really, if it weren't for Davey's lyrics, I don't think I'd find it very interesting at all. I feel like AFI's career is on the downslope at this point. The odds of them going back to their earlier punky style are pretty astronomical, and their last couple of albums haven't been that great. I have to wonder how many good songs they have left in them.

Hmmmmmmmmm that's all I feel like writing right now.

Lol, that is my new favorite phrase. I'm going to say that all the time now. Dude, my schedule at work sucks right now. They have me coming and going at different times everyday. I actually had to wake up at eight this morning. I finally get a day off tomorrow after a full week, and then I go back the next day. And I swear people's questions are getting stupider the closer we get to Thanksgiving. That is not very Batman.

Samurai 7 is an effing sweet anime. It's based on the old movie Seven Samurai, which I honestly don't remember much about. But it's got a great story, some interesting ideas, really awesome characters. Kyuzo is my favorite, he's uber badass. It's also got a cool atmosphere, kind of futuristic and primitive at the same time. Yeah, I'm still on this samurai kick. I must've been Japanese in a past life or something.

I recently read that Ozzy fired Zakk Wylde from his band because he was making everything "sound like Black Label Society". I'm not sure how I feel about that. I mean, Zakk's obviously one of the most Batman guitarists around today, and sounding like BLS isn't such a bad thing. Then again, Ozzy's always had a talent for finding kickass guitarists. It'd be cool if he could find somebody new and inject some new life in his own music. Anyway, Zakk's still got BLS, so I guess I'm not too concerned either way.

Everyone should read Guitar World's new interview with Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen. I read a lot of GW articles, but this one stood out to me. For one thing, it's Tony Iommi. Der. But they also talk about some interesting stuff, like how people love to complain about random bullshit and you can never please them no matter what you do.

"For some reason people love to complain about everything. The internet has made it easy for people to do that. Shut the fuck up and get a life, or show me how good you can do it." - Eddie Van Halen

It's true. You notice how all the best music today is being made by people in their fifties and sixties? That's cause people my age would rather bitch about new music than make it. It's like they've all accepted that all the best music was in the past and it'll never be that good again. Fuck that! Of course I love old-school rock as much as anyone. Of course the radio is 90 percent garbage. But I don't live in the seventies. I live right here, right now. I hope those old guys keep making music for as long as they got air in their lungs, but I also want something that speaks to my generation. And if other people won't make it, then I'll make it myself goddamn it.

Okay, games that I have to play.

BlazBlue: It's supposed to be the spiritual successor to the Guilty Gear games, which I love.

Brutal Legend: This game looks very Batman. Also very metal. Plus, Ozzy's in it apparently.

The Beatles Rock Band: It's the Beatles. Nuff said.

Final Fantasy Dissidia: It's a Final Fantasy fighting game. Two great things that should go great together.

Games I might wanna check out.

Dragon Age: It looks cool.

Uncharted 2: Ditto.

Assassin's Creed 2: Also ditto.

Wet: A hot chick that kicks ass. What more do I need?

Halo: I still haven't played any Halo games! I have to find out what the big deal is.

Long entry. This is what happens when I don't update for a while.

:D It's official. Tony Iommi plays it, Angus Young plays it, and now Jes plays it. I finally own a Gibson SG. I just got up early today, withdrew some money from my bank, drove up to Fayetteville, and bought the thing. And it's so awesome. I've always heard how light SGs are, but you don't appreciate it until you're playing one. Man, I've been wanting this guitar for years. It's beautiful.

I've been trying to get my dad to help pay for it, since it's so effing expensive, and he technically never got me anything for my birthday. But he's so slow about stuff like that. We were looking at the guitars yesterday, and he noticed there's a little scratch on it. Which I never would've noticed, and it's only visible if you hold it up to the light anyway. He tends to see everything through the eyes of a sports collector(a hobby that I'm convinced requires you to have OCD). He pays attention to details, and I'm more of a go-with-the-flow type of personality. So he was like, "Lets see if we can get them to order another one." Well, that would've taken two weeks, and I was like, "Screw that." I've waited too long to get this thing anyway, I wasn't going to wait another two weeks. I don't care if it has a scratch on it. If anything, the scratch gives it character.

Now that I've got my guitar and my Orange amplifier, I'm gonna sell my Crate GLX(I'm never using a solid-state amp again), make a couple more paychecks, and buy a Macbook. Then hopefully, I can get to work on recording my music and putting it on the internet. I've been wanting the Macbook for over six months now, it's ridiculous that I haven't already gotten it.

Also, with this new guitar, I'm renewing my commitment to learn everything I can about the instrument and make myself into the best rock n' roller I can be. No more being lazy or playing with the TV on. This guitar deserves my full attention.

This is a live performance of Boris playing one of my favorite songs, Naki Kyoku. Most of the intro is cut out because of youtube's ten minute rule, but it's still fucking awesome. Wata is a goddess. I also have to confess, anytime I see this band playing live, I can't help feeling jealous of Takeshi's hair(the singer/bass player). He makes me miss having long hair. I'm gonna shave his head and make a wig out of it.



This is Rainbow, which features Wata on vocals. Michio Kurihara plays a solo that kills the elderly and small children.

I've spent the last couple of weeks or so reading an 800 page John Lennon biography called John Lennon: The Life. I thought it was damn entertaining. I really enjoyed getting to know one of my heroes, seeing what made him what he was. It was pretty in-depth, the one thing that annoyed me is the book ends right when he dies. Which I think is kinda messed up. It didn't say anything about how his family and friends reacted or the legacy he left behind. They could've devoted a whole chapter just to that.

I think of all the rock star people I admire, John Lennon's the one I relate to the most on a personal basis. I don't think I'll snort a line of ants or roll around in broken glass any time soon, but I could see myself doing some of the things he did. As I was reading about how he reacted to certain things, I thought, "Yep, I probably would've said or done the same thing." And of course, I relate to his philosophical ideas. Peace, love, freedom, all that groovy stuff. For some reason, it bothers me that he never lived during my lifetime. I wish he was still with us. Imagine the things he might've done if he'd lived.

There's also one line in the book that really stood out to me. "You see, part of me is a monk and part of me is a performing flea." Which pretty well describes the biggest conflict in my own personality. On one hand, I'm extremely introverted. On the other, I'm a natural entertainer. Whenever I'm put in front of a group of people, I have to say or do something to grab their attention. Unfortunately, I haven't had that opportunity too much lately. Bah, ya know, I really want to start being creative again. I miss having an audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uxwdp7P0rQ

Goddamn, my last blog got like ten views in the first day. Lol, is that all I have to do to get people read this thing, is mention swine flu in the title?

I don't know why, but I really like this Beatles: Rock Band commercial. I generally don't like commercials as a rule, but this one appeals to me for some reason.



I really wanna get that game, but seeing as I have more than one retardedly expensive thing to buy in the near future, I guess it'll have to wait for now. Here's a random bit of trivia. John was obsessed with the number nine. He thought he was "haunted by nines", because the number kept showing up at odd points in his life. This game was released yesterday, 9-9-09. I have to wonder, did the developers know about that and do it on purpose, or is John still being haunted by the number nine? It's a little weird.

That is all!

Ugh dude, I'm so fricken sick. It feels like there's an angry troll inside my head trying punch its way out. I really should've taken off work this weekend, but ya know. It's Labor Day, and I need some Gibson SG money.

I watched Samurai Reincarnation this week, the movie that apparently inspired the Samurai Shodown games. First I have to say, this movie has to be watched with subtitles. The dubbing pretty much turns it into a comedy. But other than that, it was freaking great. It's got a cool plot, and it's always fun watching samurais beat each other up. Jubei(played by Sonny Chiba) always has this look on his face like he's about to cry, but still can't help looking extremely badass. Chuck Norris wishes he could be as badass as Sonny Chiba.

There's actually a scene in the movie where this legendary swordmaker makes Chiba's character a magick sword to kill demons with, and he says, "If you encounter God, God will be cut." In Kill Bill, Sonny Chiba plays a swordmaker and repeats the same line. I thought that was kinda cool.

I also got another Boris album, Rainbow. It's a collaboration with Japanese guitarist, Michio Kurihara. This one's not so much straight-ahead rocking out. It's more mellow, laid-back psychadelia. I wouldn't say like it as much as I do the other records I've listened to. They overdo it with the weirdness sometimes, and the guitar solos are noisy even by their standards(practically unlistenable in my truck, but my truck has crappy speakers). But it's still really good. It really shows off their more melodic tendencies. And the coolest thing is it has Wata singing the title song. I have to wonder why they don't have her sing more often. She's got a really cool singing voice, kinda sweet and dangerous at the same time.

Tired of hearing me talk about this band yet? Too bad. I seriously doubt it's the last time I'll mention them.

Oh man, this is going to be a really long entry. Anyway, the Paul McCartney concert was beyond awesome. He didn't have a front band, just came out and played for almost three hours, and the entire set was nearly all Beatles songs. It's cool that a guy that's 67 can go for that long, and his voice is as strong as it ever was. You could tell he was really having fun too, cracking jokes and playing around with the audience.

But here's the coolest thing. Our seats were about the twelfth row at the side of the stage where he enters and exits. As he was leaving the stage before his last encore(he did like three), I was holding up a peace sign and yelled, "Yeah, Paul!" really loud. And he turned around, looked directly at me, pointed at me, and gave me a peace sign back. How ridiculously cool is that? I was like, "Dude, Paul McCartney just made me the fifth Beatle!"

Along with his stuff, he also played Something while the screen behind him showed pictures of George Harrison, and he segued A Day in the Life into Give Peace a Chance. He also played a few songs from Band on the Run and Electric Arguments. Lol, he even played the main riff to Foxy Lady at one point. When he played Live and Let Die, there was this enormous explosion of pyro that went POP! and scared everyone in the crowd shitless. During the "Na na na" portion of Hey Jude, he got down from his piano and was directing the crowd in this huge sing along. Naturally, he ended the whole thing with The End, with him and his two guitarists rocking out and trading lead guitar licks, and finished it with a giant blast of confetti. It was such a good show. I would normally take this time to list everything he played, but damn, he just played so much, and I don't feel like typing all that. Suffice to say, he probably played your favorite Beatles song.

These last few days have been pretty cool even besides the concert. While we were in Tulsa, we went by the Rainbow, the hugest CD shop I know of, and I got three CDs. Zoot Allures-Frank Zappa, the Shut Up N' Play Yer Guitar series-Frank Zappa, and Rust Never Sleeps-Neil Young, all of which are awesome. We also went by this guitar center to see if they had any Gibson SGs. Well, not only did they have like ten, they had a couple that were as low as 700 dollars! I had no idea that Gibsons came that cheap. It was a total mindfuck. I sat down and played several of them, and the time just flew by. We spent like three hours in that place without even realizing it.

And now I know which specific model I want. The Gibson SG Classic with the P90 pickups for a thousand dollars. I'm conflicted though. Buying this would mean I have to put off getting the Macbook AGAIN. But like I said, I've never seen SGs that cheap, and I don't know if I ever will again. And plus, I've wanted an SG forever now. I better get that thing while I can. I'm tempted to just drive up there myself with some money in my pocket and grab it now. I want that fucking guitar, dude.

I also watched Woodstock while I was staying with my dad. Lots of really great music. I really feel like I should've grown up in the sixties. It seems like a beautiful time to me, and I think I might've actually fit in pretty well. Even though a lot of it was based on drugs, it seems like they were really fighting for something back then. I know a lot of bad stuff happened too, but hell, at least it was interesting.

Oh, and I also bought an Orange amplifier off of ebay, the Tiny Terror Combo model. I've been wanting an Orange amp cause that's what Wata from Boris uses. It's an awesome little amplifier dude, nice and loud. I've nicknamed it "Soda". I just got sick of that Crate GLX that I've been using for the past few years. It's too damn noisy. I tried everything I could to make that thing sound good, and I just couldn't do it. In fact, I may sell it and see if I can get some money off of it.

And finally, I mentioned to my dad that I was wanting to move closer to Tulsa while we were on our trip. Lol, typical of him, he's already got a plan to make it happen. He said we'll probably wait till spring to start looking for a place, which is perfectly okay with me. I don't expect to be living in Tulsa tomorrow or anything, it's enough for me to know I'm working towards that next stage in my life. Damn dude, looks like I'm finally starting to get my shit together. Fricken took me long enough.

I visited Michelle and the kids earlier this week. We played video games(naturally) and watched bits and parts of Twilight, mostly to make fun of it and Jasper's "I'm holding in a really big fart" expression. I finally got around to playing Rock Band 2, which is something I've been wanting to do for a long time now. I was on guitar of course, Destiny on bass, Ricky on drums, and Mercedes on the microphone. Later, Mercedes and Destiny switched instruments with hilarious results. Destiny can't take that stuff seriously. "Lalalala this song doesn't make any sense! I can't read that da da da!"

Then, me and Rick played Mortal Kombat vs DC. Big Rick. Have I ever made it clear that Rick and Ricky are two different people? I dunno, anyway, I totally annihilated his ass. It almost wasn't even funny. It was my Scorpion against his Sub Zero. He only beat me once out of God knows how many times. I was like, "Dude, how many times am I gonna set you on fire tonight?" It's so funny when he loses, cause he gets so emotional about this stuff. "Oh come on man, I blocked that! The game freaking cheats!" Hey, I call it sweet revenge, considering all the times he beat me at Mortal Kombat back in the day. I'm not so easy to whoop now that I'm not an eight year old. I'm glad I'm getting to see them more often. Things are never boring when they're around.

I'm slowly but surely becoming a Morrissey fan. I've been getting a lot of his CDs lately, and CDs from when he was with The Smiths(JK Rowling's favorite band). I read somewhere once that The Smiths were "music for when you are sad." That's true, but it's damn good music for when you are sad. Sure, Morrissey's pretty melodramatic, and I wouldn't want to listen to it everyday, but I don't think anyone conveys heartbreak and loneliness quite like he does. And he actually has a pretty good sense of humor. But of all the CDs of his that I've listened to, Years of Refusal is still my favorite. It's got more of a hard rock vibe, and I think it's more upbeat in general.

Ya know, I should count my CDs again. I've been saying it's 600, but I actually think it's well over that by now.

So reading that Bruce Lee book made me feel like reading the Tao Te Ching, which is sort of the Taoist Bible. So I did, and it was awesome. Not sure if I agree with all of it, but it did have a lot of really interesting insights. Also, I spotted a George Harrison song inside it. lol

Okay, this is something I've tried to avoid talking about, because it's become one of those things that EVERYONE is talking about. But I feel like I have to say something about it now. Two months ago, everyone in the country was saying Michael Jackson was a weirdo and a child molester(which was a media shit storm in its own right). And now that he's dead, everyone's saying he's the greatest artist that ever lived. Are you kidding me? I just don't get people sometimes. I mean yeah, it sucks when someone dies before his time like that, but wouldn't it be cool if we could say these nice things about a person while they're alive? I just think it's a little ridiculous how quick people's minds change just cause someone's dead.

Honoring a person's memory is one thing, but this has turned into media overload. It's like they're making his death into a circus or something. What makes it even weirder is that a lot of other famous people have died lately, but Jackson's grabbed almost all the attention, I guess cause he's been more in the spotlight in recent years. I dunno, the whole thing just seems really bizarre and hypocritical to me. It reminds me of something Lemmy said in his book. You should talk about people like they're alive, they don't become better just cause they're dead. Lol, I'm paraphrasing obviously, he puts it a little more bluntly.

Anyway, I'm done talking about that, and I hope I don't find anymore to say about it. I've got another band to suggest that no one's ever heard of. Ko and the Knockouts. This one's so obscure, they don't even have a wikipedia page, and it looks like they haven't signed onto their myspace in a few years. I'm not even sure if they're still together, but man, they rock really effing hard. They're another retro, garage rock-type band. They've got a girl singer with a really sweet, innocent sounding voice, and the guitar just screams rock n roll. Ya gotta check them out, they're awesome. http://www.myspace.com/koandtheknockouts

"He who overcomes others is strong. He who overcomes himself is mighty." - Lao Tzu

"I'll fuck you till you love me, faggot!" - Mike Tyson

Oh man. I was at work the other day, and some lady was looking at my weiners, and she blurted out, "The weiners are on the rise again." Haha, that's classic. Dude, it never ceases to amaze me, they never call them hotdogs, always weiners.

Okay, so last week or the week before or whenever this happened, I saw they were selling a vinyl copy of Funhouse autographed by Iggy Pop on ebay. It's for some charity thing I think. So naturally I was like, "One of my favorite records autographed by one of my favorite singers? I'll take it!" So I bid about 120 dollars on it, and I was in the lead for like a day or two, but like with the Boris CD, some other douche started bidding on it. I think I ended up bidding 160 dollars or something like that, and I was literally seconds away from winning it. Hell yes, right? Well, right at the last moment, other douche bid again and swiped it from me. Can you believe that? So lame. Blah, I guess that's what I get. I pulled the same trick to get the Boris CD. :P

Speaking of Iggy, I got his new Preliminaires CD the other day. It's pretty cool. It's jazzier and more laid back than most of his other stuff, kind of a New Orleans vibe. Not Lust for Life quality obviously, but it's an interesting sound for him, really makes use of his baritone voice. Plus, A Machine for Loving is some of his best work lyrically, and that's saying something. My only complaint is there's a couple of tracks or so that almost border on techno. Iggy Pop doing techno music? No spank you.

Also speaking of Iggy, he recently announced that The Stooges will be reuniting under the Raw Power lineup with James Williamson! This is awesome news, dude. Raw Power's been one of my favorite albums since the first time I listened to it, and Search and Destroy and Gimme Danger are two of my all-time favorite songs.

James Williamson's always been one of my favorite guitarists. I think he's severely underrated. He played with so much energy on that record, and I love those sharp, trebly notes that feel like they're cutting into your chest. He's a huge influence on my own guitar playing. Of course, I have to wonder if he can still play like that. I mean, he apparently hasn't played guitar in like thirty years. But this should still be awesome. I'm still really sad that I'll never get to see the Ron Asheton lineup of The Stooges, but I'm excited that James is finally crawling out from whatever rock he's been hiding under after all these years. I might still get to see The Stooges afterall.

Ugh, Ozzy's suing Tony Iommi. Cause Iommi owns the Black Sabbath trademark and Ozzy thinks all four original members should have a share of it. I actually agree with him on this issue, but I hope it doesn't create a rift between the band members and keep them from playing together. That would suck. I hope they can resolve this peacefully.

Anyway, Michelle and the kids came over earlier this week. They invited me to come over the next day, so I did, and it was awesome. We mostly just hung out and played games. I played Assasin's Creed, and that is a kickass games. It's really open-ended like the GTA games, but it's better cause you get to be an assasin and climb buildings and screw with palace guards and leap into bails of hay and stuff. Lol, once I was trying to kill this lady that was begging me for money(don't ask why), and accidently jumped on the wrong person and stabbed him. It's a fun game, I'm gonna have to get it some time.

After that, Mercedes put on the fourth Inuyasha movie, and we watched that for a while. Rick showed up about forty minutes into it, and plopped down on the couch beside me, and we talked about games and stuff for a little bit. He seemed really exhausted, I guess from work or whatever. Then, he disappeared into one of the back rooms, and I didn't see him again. Which is pretty unusual, he's always been the kinda person that really makes his presence known. I guess age is catching up with him. Anyway, I really couldn't pay attention to the movie at that point, so Mercedes just let me borrow it. I also let her borrow a couple of volumes of Battle Angel Alita, cause I figure she'd like that.

Then, me and Ricky played games some more. Lol, that kid's obsessed with video games, Michelle says he's just like I was at that age. He actually kicked my ass at Mortal Kombat vs DC. I beat him one time out of like six or seven. I'm gonna have to practice so I can have my revenge. Then he had me play Gears of War with him, but I couldn't really get into it. I'm just not that interested in shooting games. I left about that time, after hanging out for a few hours. I had really fun time overall.

Ya know what I thought of? Me and my nieces and nephews all have sorta corresponding interests. Mercedes is into anime and manga, Destiny likes music and gothy-looking stuff, Ricky likes games, and Faith...Faith is just weird. Lol, she told me I smell like Grandma's house. But ya know, she's nine years old now, and she's still so freaking tiny. And she still kinda acts like a toddler, too. I never really noticed before, cause she's the youngest, and I'm kinda used to her being the baby of the group. I mean, she had a friend over who's in the first grade, she's in the fourth, and they're both the same size. And they both act the same, too. It's weird, like she's not developing like she should or something.

While I was there, I noticed for the first time how much my mom and Michelle have in common, like facial expressions and stuff, and how they both kinda blurt out ditzy sounding stuff occasionally. Michelle always has this sad energy about her though. She's really sensitive, especially when it comes to me and my mom not seeing her more often. But really, I'd like to change that. It's stupid that I only see her like once or twice a year. I mean, they're family, and they used to be a huge part of my life, I'd like to have more of a connection with them. I think I'm going to start visiting them more often.

Well, I got great news. Loni got her results back from her biopsy thing, and she doesn't have cancer. That's a huge load off my mind. I was really worried, I didn't want her to be sick like that. But she's okay now, so everything's back to normal.

Eh, I would kinda prefer not to talk about this, but I guess I should. About this time last week, I was contacted by this AC/DC cover band called A Whole Lotta Rosie that was looking for a singer. So naturally, I was like, "Awesome." I know a cover band isn't what I'm looking for, but it'd be a start. I figured it would be a cool way to begin my musical career, and if things worked out, maybe I could convince them to start playing my songs. Good example of how my imagination can get carried away, right? I talked to their bass player on the phone, and we set up a time and a place. I spent the next couple of days working my ass off, practicing the songs and making sure I knew all the lyrics.

I drove over to the guitar shop where the audition was gonna be(apparently, one of them owns it) and met the members as they showed up one by one. We got all the equipment set up and got started. And well, as I implied, it didn't go that well. I had trouble getting in tune, and I really wasn't what they're looking for in a singer. They're looking for a Brian Johnson-clone basically, and I don't sing like that. My singing is more of an Ozzy-howling style. We only played for about thirty minutes, then they started unplugging their instruments, and I just left, barely saying bye in the process.

I felt really embarrassed by the whole thing, and I don't feel embarrassed easily. I know it shouldn't bother me, it's just a fucking cover band, not like I would've stayed there forever anyway. Still, I feel like this was the last straw in a sense. I have to get out of this town. Fort Smith has nothing left to offer me. I need to go somewhere where I can get serious about my music. I'm not totally sure when or how, but I need to escape this life. I'm sick of trying to live like a normal person.

Dude, I just got an email from Facebook telling me I hadn't signed on in a while. My question is, when did I even make a Facebook? I'm known for having an excellent memory, and for the life of me, I can't remember that moment in my life. How the hell did I get a Facebook?

I finally got Boris's Heavy Rocks CD in the mail earlier this week. This was a hard album to find, even with the internet. I searched and searched for it, and I finally lucked out and saw a guy selling it on ebay. I bid like 20 bucks on it, but then some other dick started bidding on it, so I kept bidding higher and higher. It's kinda funny looking back, I was like, "I'm not letting you have this CD you bastard!" In the end, I won it for like 60 dollars or something(as it turns out, I think I could've bought it on their website :P). It kinda made me think. If I somehow lost my Paranoid album, and the only way to get it back was to do something like this, is there any amount of money I wouldn't pay for it? Probably not.

So was it worth the retarded amount of money? Absolutely. This record totally lives up to its name, it rocks so fucking hard. The songs have so much energy, and Korosu itself is a masterpiece of a song. The more I listen to them, the more they're becoming one of my favorite bands. They have that perfect mix of off-the-wall experimenting with straight ahead rocking out. I wanna learn Japanese just so I can sing along with these guys, they're that awesome. If you haven't checked out this band yet, you don't know what you're missing out on. http://www.myspace.com/borisdronevil

And here's another awesome band to check out. King Khan and the Shrines. I got their What Is?! album, and they're pretty cool. They sound like an old-school garage rock band, but they're a little punk too, with just a hint of psychadelia thrown in. Plus, King Khan can fucking sing. Every time he opens his mouth, it's like a wild animal screaming at you. Great stuff. http://www.myspace.com/kingkhantheshrines

Yeah, I know these are kinda obscure bands I keep talking about. But to me, that's one of the problems with music right now. There's good bands out there, but they're fucking hard to find. When I think about it, a lot of the new bands I listen to, I discovered by accident. There needs to be a better way for people to find new bands, cause God knows the radio refuses to play anything good. Unless it's like My Chemical Romance or The White Stripes or something.

I also got Heaven and Hell's new CD, The Devil You Know(the Dio lineup of Black Sabbath). Like I said before, Black Sabbath with Dio is just kind of an average rock band in my opinion, and this is a pretty mediocre album. The songs just aren't that interesting. I still like Tony's solos, but to me, those are the only parts that sound like old school Sabbath. And some of the songs have kinda Sabbath-like riffing, but that's about it. And I have to ask again, why the hell would you have Dio write your lyrics if you had Geezer Butler in your band? Geezer's lyrics sounded legitimately evil, and they were relevant to something. Dio's just sound goofy in my opinion. Or maybe it's just the goofy way he sings them. Lol, he actually has line in one song that goes, "I sing, but I can't make a song." Couldn't agree more.

I dunno, I know it's probably not fair to compare Heaven and Hell to the real Black Sabbath, cause they're two different bands. But I can't help it, it's almost a subconscious thing. I wish they'd get together and record a new album with Ozzy. That's something I'd wanna hear. It's not like I expect them to remake Paranoid or anything, but hell, it'd have to be better than this Dio BS.

Oh man, I have a couple of crazy-ass stories to tell today. I guess I'll start with this one. The night before me and Loni went to the concert, my left ear started feeling weird and kinda achey. Really great timing for that, right? Well, during the trip, I was keeping it under control with some Advil, and it wasn't so bad. It still felt really odd, but it didn't hurt too much.

Well, after I got home and Loni left, I started running out of medicine, and it became a major problem. I got this massive earache, and dude, it was intense. This was seriously some of the worst pain I've ever felt in my life, I'm not even kidding. It felt like my brain was trying to escape through my ear. I woke up around 7:00 the next morning(Sunday), and I couldn't get back to sleep cause it just hurt so much. I called into work and told my supervisor I couldn't come in that day cause I was just in so much pain. Then, I immediately drove to the walk-in clinic in the mall to see a doctor. I got to see Dr. Russel, and he took a look in my ear to see what the problem was.

It was a big fucking ball of wax. Apparently, this was something that'd been building up in my ear for freaking years. So he got some tool and poked around in there a little, and was like, "That thing is hard as concrete." So this is what happened. He put some drops in my ear and let them set for a little while to soften it up. Then, he got this little squirt gun-looking thing and started shooting water in my ear to loosen it up. And we did that for like two hours. It eventually started breaking up, and there was some ridiculously big chunks coming out. We finally got the little demon out, and I immediately felt like a different person. The pain was just gone. I can even hear better now. It's crazy dude, I mean, I've always noticed that my ear would feel kinda stopped up every once in a while, but I never thought anything of it. I just thought it was water or something. It never occured to me that I had a whole layer of wax clogging up my ear. Geeze.

And now for another ridiculous story. Yesterday, I got a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal in the mail, and it freaking rules. It's even better than the Big Muff I talked about. It makes my guitar sound so awesome, dude. I like dialing up the tone and distortion settings all the way to the top. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever.

But here's the weird part. I was messing around, trying to get funny sounds to come out of my amp, like I always end up doing when I play guitar. And I was screwing around with the volume knob and ended up turning it all the way down at one point. And when the volume was down, I started hearing voices coming out of my guitar amp! I couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were definately there. I showed the rest of my family, and they heard them, too. Dominique thought one of them said, "What do you want?" which might've been a fast food place I guess.

That's just insane. In all my years playing guitar and obsessing over music, I've never heard of a guitar amp picking up signals like that. I was like, "Holy shit, I'm being contacted by dead rock stars!" Lol, maybe I can work that into my music. The magick, talking guitar.

My bathroom is done, and it was well worth the mild annoyances. It almost has a motel-feel to it now, it's freaking awesome. I love my new toilet. But dude, I don't know what the hell happened when that guy was working in there, but my tub is all scummy looking now. I'm not using that thing until it's washed, man.

I don't think I mentioned this, but I finally got those tickets like last week. Those things took nearly a month to get here. That was almost an emergency situation, dude. Ah well, they're here now. And it turns out Korn isn't gonna be the only band playing there. This is gonna be like some kinda festival thing. They're also gonna have Slipknot, The Used, All That Remains, and some other bands. I didn't even know. It's this Friday, and I can't wait. I think we're gonna have a lot of fun.

I watched The Wrestler last night, and it was really good. It had a lot of emotion in it, and it was pretty accurate as far as the wrestling stuff goes. I would like to think after a movie like this has had a certain cultural impact, people would stop caring that wrestling's "fake", but I know that's not gonna happen. People don't change their ideas that easy. Ya know, I don't like wrestling as much as I used to(i.e. I don't obsess over it anymore), but I do have a lot of respect for the sacrifices they make to do what they do. It takes a lot of passion. I know I could never live that kind of life.

I will say it was a little slow-paced at times, but that's the only problem I had with it. That, and it basically had no ending to speak of. That's one thing that really annoys me, when a story doesn't have a proper ending. It's like, I've spent all this time building a connection with these characters, let me know what happens to them after the adventure's over. I wouldn't think it would be that hard.

Dude, I'm pissed. My bathroom's being redone because the toilet was broken or something, so they had to yank the toilet out, yank the sink out, even yank the floor out. And now my bathroom's closed for like three days. So I have to walk across the whole trailer to take a piss. Freaking annoying.

Earlier this week, me and my dad went to Best Buy to look at those Macbooks I was talking about. We were lucky enough to talk to a Geek Squad dude that actually uses Garageband personally, and he was able to show me all the stuff it can do. And now I've decided I really need one of those, as much as I've ever needed anything. I'm pretty sure that it would solve all my technological problems, and I could finally get my music out there. But there's still the issue of how much it costs. The one I'm wanting would be about 1200 dollars. I'm hoping I can get my dad to pay for part of it and call it my birthday gift. But then, he's not exactly made of money right now either, so there's no telling when he'd be able to do that. And I'm tired of waiting to get started on this little project. I might just pay for it myself rather than wait till he's able to.

Okay, so I was talking to Elaina last night, and she was in kind of a bad mood. I asked her what was wrong, and she went on this rant about some dude in Iraq that she's apparently semi-involved with, and how he's got some older lady flirting with him on myspace and junk, and she doesn't feel like she can compete. I went ahead said what I said to make her feel better. But I don't want this to be a big head game, so I just asked her point blank where I stand in all this. And she said something like, "You're on good ground, cause I like you. I enjoy talking to you." Which is kind of a vague answer now that I think about it. But oh well, I'll see what happens. I like her, but I'm not gonna get all stupid over her like I've done with girls in the past. If nothing else, I think she'll be a good friend.

I got Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changing record last week, and it's pretty cool. I had to order it from Hastings, I don't know why, but that's the one Bob Dylan album that I never see in stores. I've been listening to a lot of Dylan lately. For some reason, I'm just noticing how much beauty and truth is in his lyrics, not to mention the sheer talent it took to write them. I think Bringin' it All Back Home is my favorite by him, cause it's got more of a rock n' roll vibe than some of his other early stuff. Maggie's Farm in particular strikes a chord with me right now. :P

Lol, and one thing that cracks me up is Dylan's making the same exact face on the Times They Are A-Changing cover that I'm making in my default picture on myspace. Total accident I swear.

I also got Sleep's Dopesmoker album in the mail the other day. The whole album is one hour and three minute long song. Makes In a Gadda Da Vida look like a simple pop song by comparison. They weren't cheating either. It's not like they edited a bunch of stuff together and called it one song, the whole thing really is one distinct song. I think that's genius. As far as how good it is, I'll have to listen to it more before I can say for sure. I have to admit, it's hard to listen to a band just jam for that long. Lol, I'm pretty sure it's meant to be listened to while high anyway.

I also got the Melvins' Houdini today. Like I said, I'm taking an interest in the "stoner metal" bands. To me, they sound like miniature versions of Sabbath. I know that sounds like kind of back-handed compliment, but for me, comparing something to Sabbath is one of the nicest things I can say about a band.

But I have to mention something about the Melvins as long as I'm talking about them. I like how different they are and their overall sound and everything, but their lyrics are gibberish. Some people say guys like Bob Dylan and Kurt Cobain don't make any sense, but they should try listening to Melvins. Have a look.

"Los ticka toe rest
Might like a sender doe ree
Your make a doll a ray day sender
Bright like a penalty
Exi-tease my ray day member
Half lost a beat away
Purst in like a one way sender
War give a heart like a fay"

Now how is it possible to get any kind of meaning out of that? And it's like that on every song, too. It's like they just opened a dictionary and threw a bunch of random words together.

Geeze, this entry is ranty even by my standards.