Concert Pics

The videos didn't work very well.  The audio was horrible.  Not going to post anything with audio because of it. 

Here's a link to some pics.  They were all taken with my phone so...

You Know I Make You Wanna Scream

I haven't been to a real concert in ages. I have seen some live performances, some very good ones, but I haven't actually gone to a serious ear-bleeding concert in more years than I can count. This was a choice I made consciously, a supposed informed decision.

As of this moment, I cannot remember what logic I used to arrive at that decision.

Last night (Monday), I went to a concert in Columbus, GA. (I know, right?) For just over forty dollars, I was privy to Papa Roach, BuckCherry and Avenged Sevenfold, along with newcomers Burn Halo. Now, I know that A7X was the headliner with BuckCherry but I was most looking forward to Papa Roach. Either way, for forty bucks, I couldn't miss.

If it wasn't bad enough that I was the old guy at a concert definitely not targeted to my specific demographic, but I had to go alone. {collective awww} (I know, right?) My buddy had to back out because of some work entanglements. I almost didn't go myself because I wasn't sure I wanted to go alone but I decided at the eleventh hour to go ahead.

Now, many of you might not understand this very concise review I'm about to give and if you read on, I'll go into some detail. For those of you who are keeping up...

OMFG!!!

To translate for the too old, too young or too out of it, this was an awesome event, unparalleled in its energy and excitement. It was raucus and wild and a little tawdry at times. Everything you'd want in a concert.

First up was Burn Halo. These guys did a pretty good job but since no one knew them, the response was a bit tepid. No one was there to see them but it got the ball rolling.

Next up was Papa Roach. These guys are great. I love their music, They really played to the crowd and livened things up quite a bit. I suppose if the concert had ended there, it would have been a pretty good concert.

But....

Up next was BuckCherry. These guys are definitely not kid friendly but they were good. Their songs are funny in a juvenile, whispered dirty joke, kind of way. Not that there was anything quiet about them, or anything that night. I admit, as good as they were, I still liked Papa Roach better.

Then came Avenged Sevenfold. These guys came to rock. They came to party. They came to bring down the house. They succeeded in all three. It was a fantastic show and I am forever more a fan. Before tonight, I knew a couple of A7x songs from the radio but if you'd ask me to name or sing one, I'd be in trouble.

I was originally going to buy a t-shirt because you have to have a t-shirt if you go to a concert. I decided against BuckCherry because the main ones I liked were not work friendly (Crazy Bitch or Too Drunk to ****). Since I like Papa Roach most, I figured that was the smart choice but their shirts just didn't impress me. I finally decided not to shell out the $25-30 for a t-shirt but after about 20-30 minutes of A7x, I decided I needed a shirt and it needed to be an A7x shirt. Too bad by then they were out of the 'Scream' t-shirts. I would have pushed the limits at work for that one.

I have pics and video but it was all taken with my little phone and so I have to go through and see what worked and what didn't. Once I cull through and determine what is halfway recognizable, I'll post some and link it here.

'Til next time...

A Star Is Born

Let me say, without any bias at all, that my niece is a budding actress and a damn fine one at that.

All of my sister's children have participated at one time or another in plays and skits and such. Spenser, at 14, has decided he prefers behind the scenes work now, usually with lighting and or sound. Reed, 10, won an outstanding student award this summer, after attending a camp sponsored by the Springer Opera House, an honor for sure. Sydney, 7, and Macy, who just turned 6 last week have each had small roles in several productions at Family Theatre. My sister and her husband Jason, have acted, directed, written and everything else you can name from snacks to photos.

Last night, (Saturday) I saw Macy in her first lead role; it was the title character in Heidi. Now, I'm no actor, nor am I a critic. I consider anyone who can get onstage in front of a bunch of people without wetting themselves darn talented and darn lucky. However, Saturday night, in a show of about 14 characters played by 11 people, (Macy plus eight adults and two teens), Macy not only held her own, she owned the role, the show and the night. She knew her lines ( a lot of lines for a six year old). She knew her cues. Her timing was good, and her performance was spectacular. Her facial expressions, her body language, every nuance of the role was right on.

On top of all that, there were a lot of kids in the audience. There was a lot of noise and distractions. I was distracted a few times, yet I never saw Macy lose focus at all. I, myself, not only lack the skills and patience for all that would be required to be the lead in an hour and a half long play, I would never have the courage or confidence, not now at 40 and certainly not at 6.

I may be the proud uncle and this may sound biased but that kid was amazing.

Could I have your autograph, please?

Wii would like a medic...

A friend invited me over on the pretense of returning a borrowed book. I say pretense because, I am convinced the ulterior motive was good, old-fashioned torture. When I arrived, it was already in motion. Seemingly innocuous, it stood off to the side like a wallflower, like the middle school student who came to the dance without a date.

"Would you like to play a game?"

I'm reminded of an old movie with Matthew Broderick and Dabney Coleman.

"No, I have to get home."

It was true; Grey's Anatomy was not a repeat and besides, I'm a proud couch potato.

"Just one game... it's awesome!"

Finally, I relented to try baseball, because "all you have to do is hit a home run". Yeah, like point and shoot with an M1 Abrams Tank. No problem. Thirty balls later and I'm breathing like a pervert with a burn phone.

"Let's try bowling."

Bowling sounds good... no real athleticism involved. My kind of game.

Turns out, I haven't bowled in about 15 years and this appears to be the equivalent of 20 deep lunges per game. Four games later and I am begging for a wheelchair and a morphine drip. I don't remember bowling being this strenuous.

This is all from a regular Wii, not Wii Fit.

Baseball worked out my arms... bowling worked out my thighs... I wonder if Wii has something for the midsection?

Better yet, do they make a Wii crossword?

The Face(s) of Success

I am not naive. I know how the real world works; I just never lowered myself to that standard. I guess I have come, once again, to that crossroad, the time to make a decision about myself, my work and my ethics. 

This is not hard for me. I am forty years old and never once have I wavered on certain things. I do not go to work to be popular, and ambition is a younger man's game. I try to stay within the guidelines of the company I work for - which can be hard when they are ever-changing. I do not brown-nose or suck up. I speak my mind no matter who it offends. I do not say anything privately that I would not say publicly and most importantly. I say what I mean and I mean what I say.

One of the lowest forms of life has two faces. It is the most vile and disgusting creature that slithers across the planet. It is not very smart but it is cunning. It has long been my belief that these filthy critters were ephemeral, flitting in and out of the periphery of life and finally dying slow and lonely deaths. I was wrong.

I have found an environment where this duplicitous beast not only lives, but thrives. It feeds on the souls of hard-working and honest people. It literally sucks the life out of them. I have survived, only barely, for almost five years by moving around a lot and trying to keep my head down. No more. I am done. The carnage is disturbing. The stench is overwhelming. 

I have watched as many have fallen prey to it and even seen a few escape. I have seen the pack circling a victim, waiting for the mistake that will bring it down. I have felt the cold eyes of the pack on me once or twice. It is an eerie feeling. I learned when and where I could go and I knew the most vicious three by site, friendly looking creatures with a dark side and fangs like razors. 

As I mentioned, I am forty and very little surprises me, but today, I learned of the worst of these creatures, the sneakiest. Today, the Alpha Bitch (female of the species) revealed herself. She is the most dangerous and the most cunning. She seems the friendliest and most unassuming, like a dumb as bricks hound dog. Not so. In this jungle, there is no king. The lion doesn't stand a chance. This jungle is ruled by one queen, two princesses and several ladies-in-waiting.

I know when I am beaten. I know when to say when. I may not go quietly but I know when to go. If you listen closely you can hear the fat lady singing.

Resistance is Futile

I guess it truly is inevitable. One day, we all wake up, look in the mirror and see our parents...

I grew up in a single parent home and while I was certainly aware of the difference (back then, most of my friends had two parents living at home), I never felt as if I were missing anything important. I never felt deprived or underprivileged, neglected or abused. I knew that we didn't have everything that we wanted and that my mother struggled constantly to make ends meet but we had everything we needed. There was never a time when we were hungry or cold or naked. 

My father's contribution, beyond the initial biological donation, was mostly empty promises. I suppose, on some level, as a child, I hoped for more occasionally; but by the time I was a teenager and working, and as I became more aware of the tenuous balancing act that my mother had been performing for my whole life -- as I began to understand the sacrifices she had made over and over again to keep from having to always say no, hope became resentment tinged with anger. 

I am not angry anymore, truly. I rarely give him a thought. Why would I? Still, once in a while, someone (usually someone who doesn't know me well), will remark how much I look like him, or worse, I will catch myself doing or saying something and realize that despite my best efforts, he has still emerged. In those instances, I feel that familiar resentment and anger. He doesn't deserve the legacy, even if I am the end of the line. More importantly, I promised myself thirty years ago that I would never be like him. I vowed that when I married, it would be forever. OK, so I was a bit naive. I was a kid. Love and forever still seemed like real concepts. Of course, so did Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. 

As it turns out, I was divorced before I turned twenty-one. Luckily, I was smart enough never to have kids of my own. I'll give a little bit of the credit for that to the guy who shares my last name. I did raise two great kids, though I had little to do with it. In the end, I was just as absent as my own father, even though I lived in the same house. At least, he could claim the 'out of state, 700 miles away defense'. I just worked a hundred hours a week.

I don't hate him or wish him ill, but I do find it almost inconceivable and rather disturbing that despite the minuscule amount of time that I spent with my father, the resemblance is still obvious, even to the very few who know both of us. --  

 It is much easier to become a father than to be one.

 ~ Kent Nerburn, Letters to My Son: Reflections on Becoming a Man, 1994

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A child arrived just the other day,
He came to the world in the usual way.
But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay.
He learned to walk while I was away. 
And he was talking 'fore I knew it, and as he grew,
He'd say, "I'm gonna be like you, dad.
You know I'm gonna be like you."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then."

My son turned ten just the other day.
He said, "Thanks for the ball, dad, come on let's play.
Can you teach me to throw?" I said, "Not today,
I got a lot to do." He said, "That's OK."
And he walked away, but his smile never dimmed,
Said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah.
You know I'm gonna be like him."

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon. 
"When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then.
You know we'll have a good time then." 

Well, he came from college just the other day,
So much like a man I just had to say,
"Son, I'm proud of you. Can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head, and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like, dad, is to borrow the car keys.
See you later. Can I have them please?"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

I've long since retired and my son's moved away.
I called him up just the other day.
I said, "I'd like to see you if you don't mind."
He said, "I'd love to, dad, if I could find the time.
You see, my new job's a hassle, and the kid's got the flu,
But it's sure nice talking to you, dad.
It's been sure nice talking to you."
And as I hung up the phone, it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me.
My boy was just like me.

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
"When you coming home, son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, dad.
You know we'll have a good time then."

- - - - -  

• Song Lyrics: "Cats In The Cradle"
  
• Recorded by: "Harry Chapin"
  
• Written by: (Sandy Chapin, Harry Chapin)
  
• Album: "Verities & Balderdash" - 1974
  

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Michael and Elizabeth, I apologize -- for everything and I love you.