asimplechord

( What? It is a perfectly valid life-choice to spend my vacation days following a bunch of pretty boys who sing pretty songs. )

ETA: photo album is here

Here’s the (tl;dr) thing: I’ve never been a great singer, and I’ll never be a great singer. I was just a kid who loved music and had to figure it out. I wasn’t lucky to be born with talent and great pipes. But I was lucky to be born with something that I value more than natural ability: I’ve got heart, willpower, and an intuition that if I put my mind to something, I can accomplish anything. And guess what? I did. (source)

Because we are too often told not to do something because we're not good enough, not talented enough, not pretty enough. But he did it anyway.




Also? TWO DAYS.

I'm already going to see them at Bonnaroo, so I shouldn't even be thinking about it, right?

It's probably a good thing that I don't have $1000 to spare, even for a good cause.



Speaking of Bonnaroo... Who planned the schedule and put Elvis Costello, The Decemberists, and The Mars Volta on at the same time? NOT. COOL. Must be the same person who has MGMT and Ben Harper performing at the same time as NIN. Poor bastards. I know where I will be from 1-3am on the 14th, and it will not be That Tent or The Other Tent, it will be Which Stage.

1. Dallas. Wretched weather on the drive up with vic_ramsey and playfullips, but it cleared up once we were there. We met up with eckerlilas, fiddleyoumust, and shutyourface and others whose LJ and/or real names I cannot remember. Because I'm just that forgetful. wendy and phaballa dropped why_me_why_not when they were done seeing the Hannah Montana movie. (I think that's what they saw, anyway.)

- The venue and tour management made the early entry/meet&greet entry a total clusterfuck. Dear Charlie, please come back and tour manage, because Beaver Productions are failing hard-core.

- Better yet, could Zack Hall please come work his magic for Fall Out Boy? Panic's m&g/ee work with military precision in comparison.

- I forget how tiny the Fall Out Boys all are. I knew it as a fact, but then they stood there next to me, and they were shorter than me as a reality, and I was like, "Really?"

- Personal bubble issues: I realize it's a m&g photo op, but I really was not expecting Pete Wentz to put his arm around me. (And to have to reach up to touch my shoulder, HAhahahahahaha!)

- Mosh pit dudes: please mosh the other direction. Every time I inched away, you expanded toward me. You broke my shoes and my big toenail is cracked all the way down to the base. If I wanted to mosh, I'd join you. Please don't follow me. Especially to Saturday, okay? THAT IS NOT A SONG TO WHICH MOSHING SHOULD BE DONE.

2. Houston's cancellation: sad, but understandable. I think that the organizing for entry at that venue would have been just as bad or worse than Dallas if the show hadn't been canceled, because the person at the gate was fucking CLUELESS, and there didn't appear to be much communication between her and venue management and/or tour management.

3. New Orleans. Totally made up for Houston's fail.

- The drive from Houston? Longest, boringest drive ever. And I've driven through Kansas, Nebraska, north Texas, the Utah desert, and other empty stretches of the US. Plus: terrible road, unbelievably wretched stink, and NO SOURCES OF COFFEE until we actually hit NOLA.

- I realize it's not the venue, it's the tour management, but still. Having a security dude tell us that there was no m&g or early entry when we asked for details? Not cool. The situation ended up being messy, but not the cluster that Dallas was.

- Hey, hi, center of the barrier. I like you, I'd like to have you as my spot for all FOB shows for the rest of my life.

- FOB can be as political as they like, as far as I'm concerned. In the grand scheme of political punk (heh, isn't that sort of redundant?), they barely even register a blip. But because they are popular and have a relatively young fan base, i guess any political message earns criticism. Whatever. I didn't take the spiel as being aimed at govt; it was aimed at individual and societal greed. JMO.

A'right, photos. These are generally chronological. I am not a particularly good photographer, and I don't have a particularly good camera, by way of warning.

( Believers Never Die Part Deux, Dallas, 17April09 )


( Believers Never Die Part Deux, New Orleans, 19April09 )

+ Whatever, Amazon. I can believe your coders are overworked and rushed, but it is not a "glitch" when you remove sales rankings from books like Heather Has Two Mommies under your new "adult" materials policy but leave Playboy and explicitly heterosexual materials alone.

+ FIVE DAYS, YOU GUYS. I don't know if I can handle them covering Midtown. Even if that's not one of my favorite Midtown songs, it's one I never thought I'd hear performed live.

+ I've watched the Live In Chicago DVD how many times, and it was only tonight that I realized that Spencer sings the refrain at the end of Northern Downpour, too? Seriously, when I saw them live, I couldn't see him - both times I was on Jon Walker's side of the stage and he was blocked from my view. How did I not notice this before?

+ There was a distinct lack of hockey hair on the San Antonio Rampage bench this afternoon. This is not a complaint. In fact, the entire team ranks as the prettiest set of hockey players I've ever seen.

First. Chris Cornell on Sunday night? Amaaaaazing (even if I wasn't at barrier b/c MrIris doesn't like to do that - one crowd surfer gets dropped on his head and he refuses to be up front!). I was not particularly impressed by the band that opened for him, Outernational. They had a sort of funk sound, really driven by the bass-line. I'm not sure if that was deliberate, originally, or if it was because the lead guitarist wasn't that good.

Chris Cornell started his set with Part of Me, which is my least favorite song from Scream. But that meant it could all go uphill from there, right? And it did.

You guys know I'm a CC fangirl, right? Yeah. His voice. Seriously. And he sang for nearly three hours. IDEK how he does it.

He did a good mix of Soundgarden, Audioslave, his older solo stuff, and new stuff. And he covered Billie Jean and some Marley and some Zeppelin. And a medley of All Along The Watchtower, Sunday, Bloody Sunday, and... another song. The crowd was definitely more into the Soundgarden stuff, though. Even You Know My Name didn't get much response from them.

I... have to admit, I am not the world's biggest fan of his new album. It's not because it's more pop than rock, I think. Not a genre issue. I mean, I love his bluesy version of Billie Jean, and I listen to his version of Ave Maria all the time. HIS VOICE, OKAY?

He and Timbaland did a decent job writing music that suited his voice and would broaden his audience. But I think the lyrics are repetitive and simplistic than I'm used to from him. Some of it'll go into my "music to sweat to" playlist, but none of them will outstrip the Live In Sweden bootlegs for most-often-played.

So. Went home, slept three hours, stumbled to work to feed and split cells, then back home to shower, then I picked up vic_ramsey and headed to Austin.

vic_ramsey, playfullips, and arielchan have already recapped the Snakes and Suits gig, so I won't go into a ton of detail, but

a) Sean Van Vleet - Before yesterday, I'd have said he had an awesome voice and I loved his songs, but didn't find him attractive. And he's still not in the "I'd totally bang him" category, but he's got a presence, and he's personable, and yeah, I'll have another sip of that Kool-Aid.

b) I got the set list that was by Max's feet. I am inordinately amused that the last song reads "Haley", which is not the title's spelling on the album.

c) Yay for fangirling Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder with SVV approximately sixty seconds before William Beckett started his cover of Jeremy.

d) Thumbs down for the "Sexas Posse". Seriously? There are so many inappropriate jokes I could make about a bunch of high school kids using Gabe Saporta's term of... I guess you could call it affection... personally. And unironically. I am restraining myself.

e) I like Bill Beckett and his boy haircut and his little black glasses and suspenders, but twenty songs of mostly just him (including Damien Rice and Death Cab covers)? Eh. I prefer the entire band, tbqh.

f) LOL at Tom Conrad wearing bedroom slippers. Actually, during SVV's rendition of Hayley, he sat back in the corner with his head down, eyes closed - SLEEPY BOYS! - and I wanted SO MUCH to take a picture of him like that, but I felt like a creeper. So. No pic.

g) I'm still squeaking happily when I think about the fact that they have enough stuff written and plan to go back to the studio soon. And Max will be producing again. :D

( Speaking of pics... )

I took one crappy picture of the This Providence guys, and I talked to them when they were at the bar because they were just STANDING THERE expectantly, and NO ONE was approaching them. But I remain unimpressed.

And finally. I filled out the comment fic that went along with The Perfect Gifts Are Little And Lacy the other day, but I didn't have a chance to edit or post it, so I'm gonna do that tonight, hopefully.

THEN I'M GOING TO WATCH LENO, OKAY? :DDD

And then I've got a hot date with my pillow, with which I have not spent nearly enough quality time lately.

I left an agarose gel of a DNA digest running overnight... at the current I'd use if I wanted to visualize it in an hour. *facepalm*

Also, I shouldn't sign up for bandombigbang, right? Even if I could write the Matt Cortez gen Panic fic. Or Gabe-isn't-nearly-as-smooth-and-easy-as-people-think-he-is fic. That's 20k words due, in rough draft form, by 30April. Is that a deadline I could meet?

Aaand, OMG, still giggling over the woman wearing the "apple bottoms" jacket on the light rail this morning.

AND. JFC, LOOK WHAT JUST APPEARED IN MY INBOX:

BELIEVERS NEVER DIE PART DEUX TOUR

Gabe Saporta and Patrick Stump on stage together, Y/MFY?

ETA: Also... any of you Houston ppl going to see Scott Weiland this weekend? Dunno, I sorta wanted to, but I've heard that he's not doing any STP. Like, when the crowd yells requests, he ignores them completely. And I don't like his new stuff well enough that I'd want to hear 90 minutes of it.

Hoobastank, how so raw and edgy live and so utterly bland and boring on your albums? HOW? Also, how is it that you debuted more songs from your upcoming album than Blue October, the headliners, did? (Having said that... if you never performed The Reason again, I wouldn't mourn the loss.)


Nrgh, Ryan D., I see you back in the corner, playing the keyboards with the mandolin on your back and the violin against your chin.

I was just looking through the work/home calendars to figure out the events of the next couple of weeks, and realized that we totally missed The Secret Order at the Alley on Sunday. I thought it was next Sunday. *facepalm*

( the list )

( these are luring me to Dallas )

ETA: Hahahaha, Buzz DJs. YOU WILL NEVER GET PEOPLE TO AGREE OVER WHICH GUITARIST IS BETTER IF YOU FORCE THEM TO CHOOSE BETWEEN JIMMY PAGE AND ERIC CLAPTON.

libgirl did the 10 favorite songs meme, and she tagged me back with the Indigo Girls. It's really hard for me to pick just ten songs. But these are some of my favorites:

( click for the list )

zip of the songs

Oh, hey, did you see that Amy Ray is touring to support her new solo album? She is not appearing anywhere in TX, dammit.


( Re: last night's show... )


Also, hey, hi, meet and greet with Cobra Starship? What's the weirdest thing y'all can think of to give them or get signed?


And finally, so much love for Rise Against and Appeal To Reason right now, especially Hero of War, which is a sad comment on military recruiting and its results.