Author: briancollapsing

vagrant concert II last night was sort of sad for me. don’t worry, hey mercedes was outstanding. man, are those guys talented and fun. so much better than the bands that they had to open for, in fact. how is it that these really skilled musicians had to open for no motiv? i swear those guys are a fluke. how they became well known in any form has to just be a joke. but hey mercedes, for those 30 minutes, blew me away with impressive guitar playing, kickass drumming, and sweet sweet singing, and it was a blast. then we stood around for the next two and a half bands waiting to see if there’d be another surprise guest worth seeing, but if there was we didn’t see them because we left during saves the day this time. it’s too bad we had to collectively (two of us) pay 42 dollars for the pair of tickets and another ten for parking, two nights in a row, for only about 3.5 sets of music that we wanted to see very much. but i couldn’t have missed either show because the one band i went for was amazing both nights. so it goes.

oh: this page may or may not be down for a while. if loyal fans (all 4 of them) read this post and come back another time and find nothing, my apologies. hopefully i’ll be back soon. if they dont’ read this post but come to find the page not here, even further apologies, but i guess they’ll never hear them. if the page never goes down, well, so much the better for all (five) of us.

now i have to go buy some school supplies so i’ll be on my way.

hells bells, i just spent 440 dollars on school books. that’s some dent in your wallet there, brian. did you get hit by a truck?

no, but i did get a copy of “sources of indian tradition”, thankfully. and the worst part is, i may not even be done buying yet. i haven’t bought anything for my computer class and i’m pretty sure they’ll want me to have some manual or another i’ll only refer to once or twice for the semester.

but no matter. put that book charge on my fee bill and let the incoming student loans handle it. i’ve got to get myself ready to roll to the vagrant extravaganza part II. been listening to hey mercedes all afternoon and i am certainly thrilled to get to see them in a couple hours. excellent. just gonna grab some eats and maybe read a bit until then, but don’t you worry. i can do all that while remaining “pumped”, as they say. i’ll let you know how it wall goes and how me and the singer from saves the day get in a fight after i say he looks like he’s only fifteen, and i beat him down with my chain wallet and a signed dashboard confessional poster for my friend charlie. heh heh heh.

the imagination is a powerful tool, use with caution.

so…i slept in late today because i don’t work on fridays, and i rocked too hard last night to possibly get up before 10:30am. although the concert was not what i expected. the website listed “reggie and the full effect, saves the day, dashboard confessional, ultimate fakebook”. and when you see concert listings, they usually go in reverse listed order, right? well we walk in, and two minutes later the curtain opens with an enormous black-metal-looking reggie banner hanging in back. thank god we didn’t miss any of that because they opened with slayer’s “raining blood” cover which was amazing. man, what a show they put on. worth the ticket price alone. for “something i’m not”, a guy in a bear costume came on stage and sang the metal vocal part, then did the highest, most laid-out stagedive i’ve ever seen live. it was intense. the bear costume guy later came back to the pit just for fun during some other songs. so i was in a pit with a bear costume guy. huh. it wasn’t a full bear costume though, more like footsy pajamas with a hood with bear ears on it, and a cute little nose thing on a rubber band that went around the back of his head. whoa.

and the reggie singer guy wore a viking helmet and had a huge plastic sword for when he sang dwarf invasion. it was pretty fun.

but apparently we missed ultimate fakebook altogether (damn early start times… we got there at 7:05!), and the lineup afterward was dashboard (eh…), then face to face out of nowhere who are okay but whom i was never that into, and finally saves the day (another eh…). but it was fun anyway. i was in dire need of a concert because it’s been over a month i think. not counting jimmy last week, that is. i’m still making up for july. seeing hey mercedes tonight should do the trick nicely. oooooh, i can’t wait. so tonight i’m all about getting there at 5:30 just to make sure we don’t miss anything, and leaving early unless there’s talk of another big surprise band that i’m actually into.

oh, and of course there was the post-show trip to carney’s. if you don’t know what that is, you really should. they have probably the best . . .(dot dot dot!) hamburgers and hot dogs in the world. or at least that’s what the sign says. and you get to eat inside a restaurant that used to be a train car. tee hee!

i’m off to buy textbooks for school in about a week. now that’s rock and roll right there — buying “fundamentals of corporate finance” and “principles of marketing” and “source book of chinese philosophy”. whew. no one can touch me for being the rockin’-est business major around.

ps–maybe i’ll see this guy at the show tonight. i totally forgot to look last night. so it goes… (vonnegut).

okay it’s getting close to go time finally, which means hours away from concert time. thank goodness. i think i’ll be able to survive the next 45 minutes okay. and if not, it was nice blogging for you.

i’ve written a lot already today and don’t have much more to say, so i’ll save my energy for a big concert review tomorrow. or late tonight, depending how things go. either way, kiss goodbye to this week for me because my weekend starts in less than an hour, and i’m out the door with a vengence.

well a farewell lunch for the other intern made my hungry go away (excellent word choice), but i’m still jonesin’ for the rock. i need to get out of here and be in a room with deafening music as soon as possible! i’m flipping out today. knowing that it’s the last day of the second to the last week of my job is not doing good things for my ability to sit still.

5 hours still? i’m flipping out!

a little afternoonish and i’m (a) hungry and (b) ready to rock. sadly though we don’t seem to be getting lunch yet, and i still have to work for about five hours (i should amend that to “be at work”, not work), so i can’t get too ready to rock when i have to sit at this desk. i’m getting very restless today. and the other intern said today is her last day. she goes to my school, she doesn’t have class next week either. why isn’t she coming in at all? why am coming in? i should have told them today was my last day too! then i could be done!

of course i’d have to come back sometime next week anyway to get my paycheck. maybe instead i should just hold up a convenient store. but they’re too heavy and i don’t think that would solve any of my problems (drumdrumcymbal).

can’t guess just what i do… just know this song is more from me to you… — 6.5 hours or so to go.

as soon as i got to work today i had to download this pinehurst kids’ song “the onceler”. i got it last night at home and listened to it a dozen times at least (and watched the video online). it’s really good, so now i have to download it at work so i can listen to it here too. but those pinehurst kids aren’t fooling me — not everyone may know that the title of the song is taken from a dr. seuss book that’s metaphorically about deforestation. but i do. that’s right, i’m onto you, you wily indie rockers. don’t think you can slide anything by me.

in other news, my friend josh (the pal of pals that just HAD to go study in australia for this semester), decided to start a weblog of his own, inspired by yours truly. i keep doing this to people, unintentionally. i start doing some nerdy dumb thing, and through me they start doing it too because i seem to like it so much. earlier this summer i subliminally convinced josh to read the sandman series of “graphic novels” (comic books). they’re my favorite books out of anything, but it’s pretty geeky all the same. my girlfriend started playing this insanely nerdy majestic game once she caught me playing it. now weblogs (which are really cool, for sure, but still you have to admit they’re pretty geeky too) are spreading. but it could be worse. at least i haven’t given anyone my syphilis yet.

wait, i don’t have syphilis. but josh does have a weblog which you can read right here. or on the link of all links on the side bar. i will at least spell the words right even if he can’t.

thursday means weekend after today! 7 hours until weekend! 8 until vagrant tour part I, featuring ultimate fakebook and reggie! rock up, rock down, rock all around.

downloaded some dianogah and pinehurst kids tonight from the always satisfying audiogalaxy. man, i love the feeling of finding new music that i really love, that i’ve never even heard of before. that’s why digital music exchange is great. it’s bad if you don’t still support artists financially in any way. but i’m a responsible downloader.

and i just sent for the north by northwest e.p. also, which proves i practice what i preach. support independent music; buy good cds. that is all.

now i’ve got some milk and cookies to attend to, so if you’ll excuse me…

in the course of doing some work today, i was required to visit mtv.com (no link for you). and i noticed that on that page, you can download the song “bleed american“. i don’t know how to feel about that, so i’m going to decide to feel good about it. maybe they’ll finally get a larger fan base in the vital 10-16 age group. but all cynicism aside, i’m proud of them for getting some exposure.

you know what i’d like to see though? the lucky denver mint video. that was a good video, with them playing hardcore frisbee. i checked to see if it was on their website but it wasn’t, sadly (although there was a good acoustic version of no sensitivity on video). does anyone else know where i could see it? those silly rockstars, they’re just so much fun to watch.

at exactly 4 o’ clock this morning my phone rang and i was afraid to answer it. it’s majestic’s fault. but since my phone and answering machine is right next to my bed, i could hear the message being recorded too. and that scared me also because at 4 in the morning in the dark, things are scary when you just woke up. and the call was from majestic, that’s mostly why i was scared. what a crazy game that calls me at four in the morning (which is 6am in chicago, where the guy was calling from, which makes it more understandable, i guess. but why am i rationalizing it? it’s all made up and computerized! whoa). so i’ll admit it, i was afraid to go back to sleep, and kept looking toward the door making sure no one was coming to get me.

what a fun game.

on an unfortunate note, payday today (which i’ve been looking forward to for a week) just turned into payday monday. but i need money to buy tee shirts at the vagrant shows tomorrow and friday! oh yeah, and food too. guess i’ll have to borrow a little bit out of that huge savings account i’ve built up over the course of the summer . . . (uneasy grin).

it’s okay. money or no money, you can’t stop the rock. reggie and the full effect tomorrow! and hey mercedes (and special, unnamed guest) friday! rock rock rock! (insert right hand forming metal sign here with a special nod to josh in australia who doesn’t get to come sadly).

but now i rock rock rock while i work work work.