Sorry for the Delay

Wow. It's been a really long time Gentle Viewers! Sorry about that, life has been busy and transitory. So I'll be brief and for the most part let the pictures do the talking, cuz y'know, pictures are worth lots of words and all that rot.

So, it feels like so long ago already, but yes, I left Seattle. After my job ended I enjoyed my last few days in Seattle, because the weather was nice and there was plenty to do. The best was the day I spent at the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum. All in all Seattle had its low points, but it was all around a beneficial experience. It helped me to grow as a person and experience different lifestyles and environments. Plus, I became a coffee snob while I was there. Oh well, what can you do. Truth be told, I do miss the city a little. I hope to return to you someday Seattle.


So then I returned to Angleton for a seemingly extended stay, but first thing when I arrived my parents and I set off on a cruise around the Caribbean! I'll mostly just let the pictures do the talking.

Jamaica

Sunset Beach Resort, all-inclusive resort we spent the day at

The swim-up bar

Visited by "liquid sunshine"

Montego Bay: Harassment a-plenty!

Grand Cayman Island

Me and the peg-legged turtle ^_^

Near the shore

Tasty, with free internet!

Cock of the Bakery

Yo ho, and a bottle of rum

Blinded by the Light

Grand Cayman Snorkeling

View from the boat

Our snorkel boat, water view

A multi-colored reef, some fishies too

Lots o' little fishies, payin' me no mind

I love this little blue guy

Follow me to Sting Ray City

We're surrounded!

Many a tourist visited the lively rays


Give it a kiss for luck!

Cozumel

Monster of a cruise ship in Cozumel harbor

Entrance to the horse riding ranch/Mayan ruins

Bilingual info for all at the ranch

Bonita y Tranquilo

Surveying our steeds


Our guide and some posteriors

Ruinas Mayas

Gun boats under the banner

Just reflections of the sky

Around The Ship

Galveston Harbor from the ship. Hi Elissa!

Crazy multi-floored inside of the boat

Singing some Ryan Adams @ karaoke

P.I.M.P.

So after the cruise I hung out at my parents' house and spent plenty of time with my grandma. But after that I had to go to my job training...

Chicago

Downtown from an orb's perspective

The orb's looking at me!

Modern spitty arty

So then after that I journeyed to Austin to begin my camp summer, which is now over. 8 weeks. 8 weeks of non-stop tech camp, teach some good kids, some spoiled brats that I basically babysat. 8 weeks of poor living conditions in the dorm, and food so terrible in the cafeteria that I on so many occasions that I lost count I felt ill and bloated. Glad to be rid of that.

Hangin' around

On the positive, I did have some really good times, and make some great new friends, like Jake from Ohio, Weston from Colorado, and Hemanth from Corpus (but originally India!). We had some great times during the job, and some even better times going downtown, smoking, drinking, etc. Oh, and now that the summer is over, I can reveal that when we were making plans for drinking and kids were around we would call it Mario Kart. Such as, "I can't wait, as soon as I leave tonight, I'm going to Mario Kart until I pass out!" So it was funny to us, maybe not so much to you, but it made it fun feeling like we had a secret code.

Leading the chillens in "shout-outs!"

Omar the badass web dude/musician and one of my more "interesting" students

So now the summer camp is over, and now is a time to relax a little, catch up on my sleep, and my video gaming. But more importantly than that, it's time to find a job, and with that, a place to live. Big ups to my sis and Mark for helping me out this summer with a place to stay, and I don't want to stay too much longer and wear out my welcome. I want to get a place for myself. Right now Jake, Fabian, and I are wanting to get a place together, but they don't want to make the big move Austin without finding a job first. But they better hurry, because I don't want to be a couch bum for much longer! May the Gods of employment shine down upon them and help them achieve their goal of finding a job and being able to stay in Austin. You know me, I'll be around...

Whew! That's it! After a whole summer, months, and working on the one blog posting on and off for like 2 weeks, it's finally done. I promise it will be a lot less time until the next one.

Expectations Go Out The Window

4/24/07 @ Neumo's

Remember the experience of going to your first concerts? The ones where everybody smashed together up front to get close to the band, slam danced like a crazy sweating mess, and pumped your fist at every opportunity? Well this is the vibe Electric Six evoked with their show tonight.

There were two opening bands tonight, and I thought if I left later than usual, I might be so lucky as to dodge that bullet. However, things were running late I guess, and when I got there the first opening band, Nights Kills The Day was still playing. It has been a long time since I've disliked and scoffed at a band so much. Pumping out middle of the road Breaking Benjamin, Nickelback type stuff with a vocalist with the mid-range warbling of Axl Rose in the intonation of Peter Murphy of Bauhaus, but completely lacking in any range (and looking like a lame Dave Mustaine), they ripped through a set only they enjoyed, with such stereotypical song titles as "Blindfolded." Oh, and the guitarist who was pulling wanker solo after another looked like Hunter Thompson. Yikes.

One word: LAME

The next band was anywhere near as bad. They are called Test Your Reflex, and apparently they even had a few people in attendance that were actually there for them. They made bouncy indie-alterna-rock with butt rock anthem-like choruses. Which is band as far as opening bands go. It's not painful for the ears, and is a good way to pass the time before the band you paid for arrives on stage.

Kind of blurry, but there's Test Your Reflex

After what felt like forever, Electric Six entered the stage with "Mr. Woman," and didn't let the party let up until his extremely tongue-in-cheek diatribe about how great Bush is and how we should all be so lucky as to somehow get pregnant and birth the next Bush for the presidency. It was similar to the speech I saw him give only a few months ago last time they came through, but different enough that I didn't feel like it was the exact same show.

Dick showing Bush some love. Ha.

When I arrived the crowd was incredibly small, smaller than I've seen it at any show of recent memory, which made me sad/nervous for E6: where they losing their crowd? But by the time they went on the crowd had beefed up quite a bit, about 2/3 full.

Speaking of beef, if I had a quarter for every sweaty fat shirtless or so soaked in sweat that it didn't matter guy that slammed into me, I'd be able to do laundry for a couple of weeks, I'll tell you that. Yuck. Pretty much every show I've been to here in Seattle, people have remained relatively calm, trying to look cool while admiring the show, which was absurd at Man Man. But here, every guy with the heart of a frat guy was out in full force, jumping around, shouting, spraying beer on people and sweating profusely. It's not that I'm not used to it, it's just that it's been so long since I've been to a show where that was the population of the crowd that it was strange.

So here are my two complaints about the show, because few shows are perfect: first was how i kept getting grossly sweaty people slamming into me when I wasn't paying attention, disrupting me from the show, and the second complaint is that while the rest of the band looks wacky enough, they never speak or have moments to shine, so they just seem like Dick Valentine's puppets. I know it's his baby, but I like when the band at least attempts to show themselves off too.

You play a mean guitar, but who are you?

Dick Valentine did seem to be in a great mood, and even seemed like he was trying much harder than last time to hit all the notes and falsetto moments, putting on a spirited performance. Highlights included "Dance Epidemic," "The Future Is In The Future," "I Buy The Drugs," and "Germans In Mexico." And of course it's always great to see "Danger! High Voltage," the song that introduced the world and myself to the wonderfully energetic band with a tongue planted so firmly in cheek they risk biting it off.

In reviewing my almost 3-day stint of concert going, it seemed like there was a logical digression, in terms of mission and "high brow" art and entertainment. Blonde Redhead was moody and very much a personal experience for each audience member, plus they are Indie Rock media darlings. Peeping Tom still had an element of "cool" because it was Mike Patton, but it was all about the fun and stage show that night. Everybody's just having a good time, but with very creative, diverse styles of music. Tonight was a good ole rock-n-roll show, plain and simple. No frills, no back up singers, guest spots, DJs, or anything. Just men, their instruments, and pseudo sex/love anthems with a penchant for dancing and jumping around.

Just like my first few concerts.


p.s. here's a great new song from their latest album Switzerland, the nocturnal love anthem "Night Vision"

How U Feelin' ?

Peeping Tom

4/23/07 @ The Showbox

My mind is still buzzing like a drunken wasp in jar, reeling from the genre-defying musical onslaught that is Peeping Tom.

Mike Patton's latest project is his most poppy and accessible since Mr. Bungle's album California, and that certainly isn't a bad thing. Afterall, it's still Mike Patton, so you know it's a strange take on whatever type of music he's tackling at the moment. The album is fantastic and easily one of my most played of 2006. However, I did have some apprehension how all of this would play out live. There were so many guests on the record, how do you take a beast like that out on the road?

The answer lies in crack team of mostly unknowns from the LA area: a young female beatboxing champion, a poofy haired woman who sings great backing vocals and provides electric violin in unexpected yet appropriate times, a super geeky keyboard player, a drummer that looks like he belongs in the Beastie Boys "Sabotage" video, and legendary DJ/Programmer badass Dan The Automator (!!!!). The last one was a surprise to be sure, but a very welcome one. Everything this man touches is gold.

King Midas workin' at the wheels

But allow me to back up the train for a minute and talk about the opener, Pigeon John. I had never heard of him and his name is fairly goofy, but as far as opening acts go, he was perfect. Blending Reggae and Hip Hop into a very upbeat, pleasant style, he warmed up the crowd, got them to shout plenty of "heys!" and "hos!" and all the other crowd interaction one gets at a hip hop show. Hell, by the end I was even dancing around to it, and some girl walking by took notice and danced with me for minute. That was a strange, funny interaction. But after a minute or two she casually walked away towards the bar. My friend Eric looked and me, I shrugged and laughed. All part of the concert-going experience I suppose. So, all that added up to a fun and pleasant way to begin the evening. I don't think I'll be running out and picking up his albums, but he was a cool opener.

The only man to rhyme "pigeon" & "smidgen"

Patton entered the stage wearing his by now infamous stocking cap/hairnet and sport the sleaze stache as always. He was in a fun, pleasant mood, and really enjoyed playing with crowd, getting them to shout irregular utterances like "arriba! aiiii!" encouraging everyone to give him the finger, and even getting the whole crowd to laugh at the band because according to him, "there's too much positive reinforcement going on! Laugh at us!"

Setlist songs included opening song "It's A Desperate Situation" by Marvin Gaye and every song from the album except "Celebrity Deathmatch." Kool Keith's part was done by Pigeon John making up his own verses, which was ok, but still...it's no Kool Keith! "Five Seconds" was particularly energetic and really had the crowd bouncing, as did "Mojo." I could spend paragraph after paragraph talking about all the cool moments in each song, because each song did have memorable moments. The surprise in the set came when they played the song "Get Up Punk!" from the album General Patton Vs. The X-Ecutioners. That made me really happy and jump around like mad.

The only disappointment in the whole show was that Dan the Automator did not get his own set to show off his skillz. The beatboxing chick, and even the band Dub Trio (who's featured on the album cut "We're Not Alone") had their own mini-set in the middle of Peeping Tom's set, yet no Automator set. So that was a drag, but the show itself was flawless.

In a very un-Patton move, they even came back and did an encore, which was the song "Across 110th Street," which was completely unknown to me. If somebody knows who it's by, please let me in on it, I'm curious.

This night was a beautiful contrast and counterpoint to Saturday's Blonde Redhead performance. While that one was all about building a mood for the viewer to take a journey, this was more of a rock show, with tons of crowd interaction, jumping up and down, and screaming; singing along to every song as loud as I could; getting a thrill just watching a master of his craft work his mojo.

His mojo was certainly working, and I advise all my Gentle Viewers to catch this show if Peeping Tom is in your hood. It will be a night of raucous fun and hairnets.

Here's the Peeping Tom song "Your Neighborhood Spaceman" for your enjoyment.

I'll let Mike Patton himself end this blog: