Archive for Dailys
My Fun Fun Fest
This past weekend was Fun Fun Fun Fest, which is a local music event put together by an old friend, Graham Williams of Transmission Entertainment. My experience was fun fun. Not quite fun fun fun, but at least it wasn’t just fun. That is in no way because of the event itself, just the sub par performances of a few bands that perhaps I had my hopes a bit too high for. My lil brother and his friend came down for the even which made it more than fun. This is Austin’s best event that supports local acts and businesses as well as providing stellar national acts.
Saturday Pris and I arrived to catch about half a set of Mammoth Grinder, which I had never hear. It was the good classic metal hardcore that I like. Later we saw Municipal Waste which reminded me of a more punk and thrash version of Metalocolypse, due to the guitarist’s rediculous guitar design, obviously custom made. Next I was able to see the last feedback session from Trail of the Dead, followed by Rival Schools, which I never got into their very few releases back in the day, but the singer guitarist was in Quicksand, which I have always been a big fan of. It was very cool to hear his voice live again after 13 or 14 years. My highlight of the whole event was next. INTEGRITY. The band that every song starts in drop D. I got to do a little shuffling on the back edge of the pit with my fractured leg. I felt like was back in 1994 again as a 19 year old and angry at the world. After that I caught some stand up by one my local bartendars, Ruby Collins. She’s dirty, raunchy, and hillarious. Next was ALL. Reminents of one of my all time favorite bands, Descendents. This encarnation of ALL was with singer, Scott Reynolds, who I guess lives in Austin now, as he repeatedly told the crowd. This performance was kind of dissappointing to me. For one the sound was bad. The sound guy put way too much reverb and delay on his voice and the vocal level overall was just too loud and overpowered the rest of the band. The setlist did include some classes ALL and Descendents songs, but was dominated by their more awkward and quirky songs that they released in the early 90s that not too many people cared for. Right after ALL was The Dead Milkmen and they played an excellent set. Full of energy, I could tell that they had a great time. As they were leaving the stage Rodney told the crowd, “I don’t know why we ever stopped doing this.” It was a great ending to the Saturday.
Sunday was a new day and we got there and sat down and watched The Cynics, whom I didn’t care for. Then was Trash Talk, a hardcore band from California. After that I went over to stage2 where the comedy and small acoustic sets were going on. I caught a bit of Kevin Seconds, then some of The Revival Tour Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Tim Barry of Avail and Ben Nichols of Lucero. That was fun to watch. It’s interesting to see our old favorite punk musicians go from punk to country. In a way it makes a lot of sense and makes today’s radio country look like a bad cartoon. Next it was over to stage4 for Kool Keith, aka Dr. Octogon, aka Dr. Doom. I only saw two songs of some of his old school jams, but before that was Franki Chan which was a great performance of dance techno beats and rythms. Then back over to stage3 for CroMags. “Hard times coming your way!” was nothing but good times. I had never seen them, but have listened to them since the early 90s. Instead of watching the Bouncing Souls next, I went back over to stage2 and caught some comedy from a guy I used to skate with at House Park Skatepark years ago, Chris Fairbanks. I had never seen his stand up before and it was good. It was very obvious he was a little nervous which in a way added to his comedy. Matt Bearden’s mustache was next. That guy is hillarious. I’m sorry but his acid story had me laughing so much I was coughing up all the dust I had swallowed over the weekend. The nights finale was Bad Brains. Opening with Attitude……with no attitude at all, HR was just not even there. His quiet vocals seemed to be mocking the band, punk, hardcore, and everything he wasn’t there for, which could be argued as even more punk rock? But who keeps score anymore. After the first 4-5 songs done in that manner, I ventured up the hill and sat in my folding chair and just observed the rest of the show from a nice distance. The music was great and the rest of the band was into it, but HR is just an odd individual. Look up Bad Brains on Wikipedia and see the irony about them playing this fest. Oh and my brother got kicked out during Bad Brains during the last song for *almost beating the crap out of some little punk rock kid that got a shot in my brother’s mouth. A great ending to the night.
It was a fun fun fest and I thank Graham for putting it on and Jared from Red 7 for making all of the greatest shows in Austin happen. It is a true testiment that it only takes a few individuals to make or break a scene in a city and with some dedication and passion, you can make it happen. Without people like them, the Austin punk, hardcore, metal scene would not be what it is today.
GTA IV Release Today
Grand Theft Auto IV is released today. This is supposedly one of the biggest and most anticipated game release in history. I haven’t written anything on this yet because I have been trying to stay away from spoilers and not learn too much about it. It was supposed to be released back in November and then was delayed until today. That really upset me, although with the release of Halo3 and Call of Duty 4, I ended up not minding too much. And I’m glad they did wait to make sure all the glitches were taken care of. The last two release I was excited about I did not pre order and regretted that decision. I had to wait almost a week for Halo 3 and a day and some calling and driving for Call of Duty 4. This time I was smart and paid the $5 pre order price and I’m set and don’t have to worry about not getting it today. So during lunch I will go pick up my copy and play tonight….all night? A mandatory meeting will get me to work on Wednesday but I’ll be taking a personal day on Thursday to get GTA IV out of my system …..and maybe a recovery day from this week’s S&B Night too. ;D
Multiplayers!!! I’ll see you in L.C.
The time for killing, wrecking, and beating is here!
update: it’s in my hands now. What’s up with the huge map poster. Can’t I get a pocket book map?
Austin Aztex
It looks like Austin is going to have a new professional soccer team….again. With the horrible and disappointing last year with the people running the Austin Lightning, that team pretty much dissolved and disappeared. I am happy and yet still concerned about the future professional soccer in Austin. At least now, we’ve got some British blood owning and running the new Austin Aztex team. The team isn’t put together yet as try outs haven’t even happened yet, so it’s still very early. Hopefully with owner, Phil Rawlins, and his experience he’ll be able to turn Austin pro soccer upside down and get it shaking. I really want a home team to root for, though I just realized the team initials is AA. I’m not really down with that.
I’m published… I guess.
Schmap.com found a few of my Hollywood photos on my Flickr page and asked me if they could submit a few for consideration in their publication. After a week or two, my pictures are in and credited. Kind of cool.
http://www.schmap.com/losangeles/sights_hollywood/p=344293/i=344293_1.jpg
http://www.schmap.com/losangeles/sights_hollywood/p=344293/i=344293_2.jpg
If you don’t see them just click on the Hollywood Wax Museum and watch the image slideshow at that top right.
Gearing Up for Getting Down
With XBox Live being so flakey right now and new years resolutions to deal with, there wasn’t much game playing this weekend. Operation reorganized room is at about 53% completion. Oil is changed. Registration sticker stuck. Headlight bulb replaced. I got more done this weekend than I thought I would despite the fact that I got my foot stomped and ankle twisted in one of the Hooligans soccer games on Friday. Saw some shows. Went to some friend gatherings. Only had about one or two drinks when I went out. Played Catch Phrase: Music Edition. Seems I might be coming down with a cold right now though.
I’ve added the SXSW Interactive link to the sidebar. SXSW will be here before we know it! I’m already getting excited. Two months away. That’s nothing. If you’re going, look me up and lets hit some panels.
I finally feel motivated to get some things done that I’ve been putting off and that’s a very good thing for me.
Happy New Year
Happy New Years to everyone! I celebrated a little too early on Sunday and had a bad Monday, but I did recover enough to go out to Red Eye Fly for the Stummies show. Brady from Heymaker3 played a nice acoustic set to open the night followed by Say Hello To The Angels and New Disaster. I left a little early to go to a party and didn’t make it to the second party, but it was a fun night. Seems like it’s a new tradition for me to only have one or two beers on New Years, which is working out well. No more New Years oopsies (I’ve made more than one mistake on New Years Eves).
Last year I also ommited from having any new years resolutions. This year I think I may have a few. The trick is, as it always is, is to keep them going throughout the year. I need to make a list and put it on the wall or something. So maybe here I’ll post a few I have so that will help get me started and keep it going. Yes, most of them are generic and overused, but that’s what America is all about these days, right?
Eat better – No more fast food. Cook at home. Small snack type dinners. Bring food to work. No more soda (again). Drink more water (like last year)
Drink a little less alcohol/beer – I’ve been drinking less this year than I have in the past 4 years, but I’ve also had some crazy drinking nights this year. Let’s not do those nights if we can help it.
Must write new songs – Seeing my friends go on and do their solo projects and new bands encourages me to get it done, but when I’m home, I never can get it together to put something that I think is worthy down or even try at times. It’s that ‘little hater” that Ill Doctrine blogged about. This is a big one I really need to get done and I blame a lot of it on not having the balls to reach down at the things I need to get out. It’s messy down there.
Run more – I need to start running again. I felt great when I was doing it this summer and in the spring. Somehow I fell off that one too. Let’s work on three times a week not including soccer games.
I have some more, but those are the main ones that I’d like to target on. That little hater that Ill Doctrine talks about loves hanging around lately with just about everything I do. Maybe once I get my car paid off I can hire a personal assistant to remind me to do things I need to do…one that can kick my ass if I don’t and kick that little haters ass too.
It’s seems too late to do a wrap up of 2007, but in brief, it wasn’t too eventful. The Bitter Pad was launched has been on hiatus for half the year, Steak and Boobies Night was a great thing, we lost Ink Bar and Guitar Hero nights there, 7 shots of Starry Nights along with lots of beers is not good, becoming less of an asshole as been good for me but not as fun, restoring hope and faith is someone that I had given up on, finally made that trip to LA, broke down and got a dog for the boy and I, and there were a few surprises here and there.
I hope everyone else had a good 2007 and have a better 2008.
CROM!!!
Crom is the god of storms, death, and eternity granting worshipers a strong sword arm and fire in their hearts…..He’s also our new dog. With much consideration I finally decided to get a puppy. Coby is seven and is the perfect age to have a dog. The only small dog I could stand to have is a Miniature Pinscher and as luck would have it, some friends had just had a litter that was 10 weeks old and ready to get forever homes. I picked up the black male on Sunday and Coby came over to meet him. I’ve never seen my kid happier. He was speechless. Crom Razor Smith is his name and he really is extremely cute. So we start puppy training classes next week even though he is pretty much already house trained. He just has trouble holding it all day while I’m at work. He’s got lots of energy but when you’re done playing, he’s done too and will snuggle up in your lap. Thanks to Spike and Priscilla he’s got his first article of clothing being a Social Distortion sweatshirt. Now I’m on the hunt for a really tough looking spiked collar. Pictures are up on my Flickr.
NaNoWriMo
It’s that time again (NaNoWriMo)and maybe this time I will do better than the last few times I’ve tried to complete the goal. Goal: Write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November. Maybe the new MacBookPro will motivate me to use it. So once again I’m looking for fellow NaNoWriMo-ers for support and fellowship as we embark on this great literary task. I’ll be in Los Angeles for 7 of those days and that means writing on vacation. That could be good, but it could be bad too. Hell, I may write about that.
Fall is finally here
It’s been a while and there is so much going on.
1. I’m 33 now. Happy birthday to me, belated. Thanks to those who celebrated with me on Friday and Saturday.
2. Halo3 has been released and I finished the campaign the first day i had it and now I’m playing online multiplayer as much as I can. Look me up and let’s play.
3. Before Halo3 released, I got hooked onto the EA release of SKATE. This game is excellent. It blows the Tony Hawk franchise away. Open city to skate in. You can skate a bench for hour if you want or you can hit downhills or backyard pools. The online multiplayer game is fun too.
4. I purchased an iPhone right after the price drop. I was already with ATT and my Razr had pieces falling off of it. So far I am enjoying quite a bit. I’ve got my flickr account setup on it so I can moblog easier now, so be sure to check out my flickr site.
5. My last post was about the Apple switch I was going to undertake. Well it hasn’t officially happened yet. I’m waiting for the Leopard OS to be released later this week. So I will be ordering Friday and hopefully it will come shipped with Leopard preinstalled.
6. Get ready for Invidkllr’s L.A. Tour 2007! I will be spending 7 days in sunny LA in north Hollywood in November. A few things I’ll be hitting: skateparks, NBC studios, Universal Studios, and I will try my hardest to see what I can do about getting a view of Attack of the Show‘s Olivia Munn. Hell it’d be cool to meet Kevin too. But I plan on blogging, twittering and flickr’ing pics of my trip as it happens and when I get back. It should be a really good time. Do you have any other suggestions of what I should do in LA?
7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare looks incredible. It should be released November 6th and I can’t wait. CoD 2 on PC was the last one I played, and I can’t wait to get back into the series again.
8. Hooligans F.C. have moved up a division in the Austin Indoor Soccer Center mens and coed leagues. We’ve been playing both games back to back for 2 seasons now, but it still feels good to play.
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is being release next week. Have you seen the set list? 73 songs confirmed. One word: SLAYER.
So in summary, I’ve been busy, busy, busy and I need more time to do things (play games). In Austin, today has been the first day that’s it’s been cold in Texas terms and it feels great.
