May
29
2010

Fucking Domo

With Friends Like These... CD Release

(Add / View Comments) (2)PhotosSaturday, May 29, 2010 - 11:49:01 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Tonight rocked.

Earlier in the day, Domo tweeted their first set for tonight's show. Every song on the list being prefixed with 'fucking'. And so as we were scrambling to get ready to get going, I announced that everything tonight should be prefixed with 'fucking'. [smile] And followed through during the night.

It'd been a long day, so the TV downtime made it hard to get to Yucca on time, especially given the unprecedented (kinda) 9pm start time. But it's Yucca, nothing ever starts on time, right? We got there by 9:30pm and Truckers were already playing, but we did get to see a good portion of their set. Given that we were late, it was a shame that they were playing first. Very enjoyable to catch most of them though.

After Truckers were done, we hit the merch booth that Domo had set up. Highly organized shit, "domo" in big letters, t-shirts and CD's, and as it turned out, a selection of Domo buttons. Talk about a great merch table - despite watching money, it was clear that we needed a t-shirt as well as the CD. Maybe two, a bit of a splurge, but I'd regret it in no time if we didn't. But when we realized that everything was $5 each, there was no question about it. Huge points for Domo for the bargain prices!

The second point of excitement was Sweet Creepy. I could write a novel documenting the efforts we've gone to to get our hands on a copy of this CD (including harassing Jason the last at the last two shows we've been to - unsuccessfully, but it did result in us getting an advance copy of With Friends Like These... three months before tonight). So a cheer went up between us at the fact that they had copies for sale. So, not only were things $5 dollars, but there was a $15 offer on "buy 3 CD's and a t-shirt for $15 dollars". Worked out perfect for us, because in addition to the Domo CD's, they had the Fifteen Minutes Fast CD, which we wanted. We were told it was their first CD, and while I am very well versed on their discography, I definitely wanted the CD if it was some earlier one I somehow didn't know about. When we got to the car, we discovered it to be the Fifteen Minute Fast CD, which I ironically constantly pick up at Zia's (not sure why I didn't recognize the cover), but always put back, not knowing how many songs are on it, and whether Zia's price is fair. Which I'm thankful for, since we effectively got it free tonight.

So, with that out of the way, it was a case of picking out t-shirts. For me, the choice was obvious - one of the few new ones is back, simply with "fucking domo" across the front. Refer above to prefixing everything tonight with "fucking". Despite a bit of question the fact that I might not be able to wear it as often as I might like, the decision was pretty easy. Arguably there was no question at all. [smile]

In additionally, Truckers were giving away their latest disc with purchases of the new Domo record. Ironically we picked this up a month ago at Teakwoods, so it was funny we could have picked it up free tonight. Anyways, once all was said done, we picked up 4 CD's and t-shirts for $20. Pretty sweet!

Second band on the bill were from out of town, from Georgia. Kinda weird, but a fine opener neither the less, and that doesn't always happen with bands you don't know. About halfway through the set, it appeared that the singer graduated from the Corey Gloden school of rock. While not quite as unpredictable or entertaining as Corey, but certainly there was some correlation there.

Photobox ImageDomo's set was kick ass, mostly made up of tunes off the new record, with one or two we didn't know, and one or two older ones. When we first got a copy of the CD, I questioned whether knowing the songs before the release party was going to be a good or bad thing/ On the one hand, knowing them all was going to facilitating rocking out with ease/ On the other hand, it was going to take the surprise out of everything. Of course, it's hardly like we could get a copy from Jason and NOT listen to it, so that won out. It was pretty immediately clear that knowing all the songs really well was definitely the best way to go, it definitely made the show a lot more enjoyable. Certainly a notable point was how good they sounded. While they have a nicely produced album by a relatively big local producer (Jamie Woolford, who was in attendance tonight), their live performance sounded as good as the album. It's amazing the wall of sound that some three pieces can put out. Domo is definitely one of them!

We pretty much chilled out during the Haymarket Squares. Katie was convinced that we've seen them before, but I'm not sure that we actually have. In anycase, tonight confirmed what I thought - not really my thing.

Photobox ImageDomo was up yet again to close out the night. Given their had already done one set, and left most of their gear set up, it didn't take long for them to take the stage again. And the rock continued. There were a lot in this set that we didn't know. I'd figured that some of the songs may have been from Sweet Creepy, but in hindsight, that doesn't seem like it was the case. Who knows what the songs were - they could have been new songs, given that Friends... has been finished for quite a while. In anycase, seeing two sets was awesome, I wish more bands did that. And we were happy that the second set contained Lawrence, Kansas. I'm still very surprised that that didn't make it onto the album (and isn't on any of the older ones). Hopefully it'll appear on the next one, because it's a fucking great song. It was a shame however that the sound wasn't great for this set - you could barely here Jason's vocals, which was pretty frustrating. I don't know who is running the sound at Yucca, or what he's deal is, but this is the second time recently that I've been less than impressed with the sound. I say kill the sound booth (which is annoyingly placed, put the board back up on the stage and have the bands (or Garvin [wink] ) do the sound. But, I digress...

So all in all it was a really fun night. I wouldn't have changed much, although we (and everyone else) could have probably done without the coke fiend that was trying to start at mosh pit. At Yucca? Fucking really? The last time I saw him, he did the same thing at a Strange Young Things show, resulting in a fight, which pissed off everyone, including the band. Though thankfully he disappeared at some point during the night, without any real incident this time!
Now Playing: Domo - With Friends Like These...We Need New Friends
May
28
2010

I Hate You preg_replace()!

(Add / View Comments) (0)Friday, May 28, 2010 - 07:56:43 pm
(Posted Under: Development, PHP)
Well, this is just a plain annoying PHP gotcha...

Last year I ported some Perl code to PHP. A quite literally port as it would seem. Since then I've had some problems with dollar amounts going haywire by the time they get to the browser.

Just tracked down the problem - when digits follow a $ in a replacement string fed to preg_replace(), they're treated as back references. How annoying (I don't think this was true in Perl - at least I never noticed a problem)!

Since I am doing a preg_match() before the replace anyway, I've swapped to str_replace() and everything is copacetic, Generally speaking, I feel like I use preg_replace() a lot, so this is a rather disturbing revelation.
Now Playing: Beat Angels - Grow Up
May
28
2010

With Friends Like These...We Need New Friends

(Add / View Comments) (0)Friday, May 28, 2010 - 03:58:42 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
The CD release is tomorrow, I'm looking forward to it, if you haven't gathered that from earlier blog entries.

It has been getting some good press this week, which I'm happy to see. The first mention was late last week in The Arizona Republic. We were kinda excited to see that, given that Katie's working there now. Local rockers Domo release new album. Around the same time, a new website went up: domorock.com. Simple, but a nice clean design, I like it a lot. This is our first look at the names of the tracks we've been listening to for months.

This week there have been mentions in the Phoenix New Times (Domo (CD release show), Truckers on Speed, Dagg Nabbit Stubbs, & The Haymarket Squares, Flier of the Week: Domo at Yucca Tap Room and Rockaroke, Suns Viewing Party, Domo, Deathface, and Other Memorial Day Weekend Thrills) and today a mention on So Much Silence: Saturday night: Domo CD release show.

Given how quiet things have been in regards to Dono for quite a while (we've only managed to catch them three times since we've moved here) I like the fanfare the album release is getting, at least in the local press.

The So Much Silence article was an interesting read, since I had no idea that Jason had left Source Victoria (ironically, I didn't even know he was in the band until about 6 months ago). I hope that means more time to devote to Domo. Music to my ears, if you ask me.

I was listening to the album on the way home from my job interview yesterday - god it's great album! Here's my middle finger, thanks for everything! [smile]

Oh, and this goes without saying, but I'm so glad that they titled "Oh Shit!" "Oh Shit!" Arguably the best song title of all time! As their domain name states - Domo rock!
Now Playing: Bowling For Soup - Get Happy
May
23
2010

Celebrity Apprentice Finale

(Add / View Comments) (0)Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 11:32:03 pm
(Posted Under: TV)
So few things go the way I want in the world. And I would have expected Bret Michaels being on Celebrity Apprentice seemed like it was going to be one of those things. Ya know, a rock star from my favorite band when I was growing up wasn't going to win! The best I could hope for is that he'd stay on the show for a decent time, after which point, I'd loose all interest. So, getting to the finals, I couldn't complain really. But, y'know, it's always the way, when someone who is kinda boring, like Holly, steals the show. So it was surprising and great that Bret actually one.

It was pretty impressive, for a two hour show, that he was announced the winner and it was barely 2 minutes before the show ended. Talking about stringing shit out and having little fan fare at the end. [smile]

So with that over, as too The Amazing Race, we're back to watching no reality TV again. [smile]
May
23
2010

Gardens And Graves

Guadalupe Cemetary

(Add / View Comments) (0)Sunday, May 23, 2010 - 07:59:48 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)
After doing a little bit of shopping this afternoon, we decided to go for a walk, settling on Guadalupe Cemetery as our destination. It was either that, or a walk towards Kwantis park, and when push came to shove, I don't think we quite had the energy to do that. So the cemetery really worked out good. Plus, that's what I really wanted to do, especially since we've been here so long and still haven't done that.

It was definitely impressive how close by it is, just a 4 minute walk. Although we've driven by there a few times, walking definitely illustrated how close it was. Definitely a beautiful cemetery. Rather than lush green grass and rows of perfectly aligned plots, it has lots of character. Since the sign said it actually closed at 4:30, we didn't spend a lot of time there, for fear of somehow getting stuck inside, but did have a decent walk around the south east corner of the cemetery. It being a reasonably windy day, and dirt and dust being kicked up added to the mystic and south western feel of the place. The wind also wind chimes decorating certain graves dancing noisily. I've never considered it before, but I like that idea a lot.

Previously, from the outside, I hadn't been able to picture certain people drinking out there, but pretty much immediately on entering, it took no little effort to imagine it.

Really beautiful cemetery, and it was really nice spending some time down there this afternoon.
May
22
2010

Strange Young Things @ Teakwoods

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosSaturday, May 22, 2010 - 11:53:14 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Such a good night.

We head over to Teakwoods from the ball park, got set up at a booth and had a great dinner there. At some point while eating I looked up at a TV on the far back wall and thought something about what was on was erriely familiar. Turned out to be an AFL game. Who would have thunk it? Anyways, both the nachos and chicken fingers were to die for. We'd love to have Teakwoods cook live with us. [wink]

Photobox ImageCorey was first up, acoustic, breaking out some covers and a bunch of new songs. The really cool part of his opening set was that throughout Adam and Patrick both got up and jammed on a couple of them.

Initially once the full band took the stage, it a bit of a different experience, and I wasn't entirely sure how it was going to go. Teakwoods is a lot more laid back than other places (which really works for me), but it was kinda weird to be seeing Strange Young Things and sitting down. But a couple songs in they got their groove, and we moved down to a free couch, which helped facilitate the rock. While we were still technically sitting down, once we moved we really felt like things were as they should be.

Photobox ImageMidway through the band launched into You've Tripped On My Words For The Last Time, which they'd promised they'd learn for us after a conversation I had with Adam about how I wished they'd do it. Apparently they first did it the other week at the Baers Den (which we didn't make it out too), and Corey announced it as "for Mark & Katie". It sounded fucking fantastic, and it was pretty obvious to both of us that that needs to be a regular set list item. There was much enjoyment both on stage, and on our couch.

A little while later, mid song, Rich dropped his drum sticks, jumped off stage, and went bolting out the back door. Anything can happen at a Strange Young Things show, you can't really be surprised by anything - BUT - it's usually (okay, well always) Corey with the unexpected antics. So to see Rich go bolting from the stage was very out of the ordinary! Once it was obvious that he was a man on a mission, I figured either someone was stealing gear, or doing something to his car. As it turned out, some crazy guy had started going nuts laying into the screen door to the patio! The band played on, not missing a beat, without Rich (ironically - get it? Not missing a beat - drummer being gone... [wink] ) while half of the Teakwoods stuff ran out to see what was going on. By the time I came back in from seeing what was happening, Adam had dropped the bass and jumped on the drum kit. When he eventually came back in, Rich went to pick up the bass, but the guys were right at the end of the song.

In addition to Tripped, we also got No Limits, No Law, which I've never heard them do before. Actually, the entire set list was certainly different from the usual, like not leading off with Bang The Dash - which this is probably the only show that I've seen where that hasn't been the case!

Photobox ImageThe accent point, and definitive touch that ensured that it was a Strange Young Things show was put on the night when they closed with Bring It On Home To Me, and Corey went wandering through Teakwoods with the microphone - managing to unplug it and have to run up to the stage and steal Pat's mic. And then wandering back to the stage at the end of the song, with the microphone stand draped over his back. Ahh, the night was finally complete. [smile]

Had a cool chat with the boys afterwards (where there was more Tripped congratulatory high fives [smile] ), and surprisingly learned that Bang The Dash is about not having a car stereo. Here I was thinking it was about fucking in the front seat of a car. [wink]

Photobox ImageWe headed off at about 1, it'd been a long day. It was definitely a "Belly Up" sort of situation though - it'd been such a fun night, y'know it was time to go, but you didn't really want it to be over. [smile] Good times! I really can't wait until the boys are booked to play Teaks again!
May
22
2010

Diamondbacks Game

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 05:00:00 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)
This afternoon we went out to Chase field for the Diamondbacks vs. Bluejays baseball game that we won tickets to a month or so ago.

We actually stopped at Ikea first to return the pots we got last weekend, so we were a little late. Which didn't seem like a big deal, until we realized that the first 15,000 people to the park got a Diamondbacks Travolocity gnome. Which became the joke of the afternoon - me snickering at all these families that had 2, 3 and 4 gnomes!

Watching the game was a lot of a fun. We both could care less about sports in general, but for free admission it's fun to do something a bit different.

The Dbacks won, and so at the end of the game we got to see Roger Clyne & The Peacemaker's Dbacks Swing. Despite being over the band these days, I enjoyed seeing Stevie J on the huge screen.

On leaving we kept an eye out in the hopes that someone had left their gnome behind. But, no such luck!
May
22
2010

Sign Of The Times

In A Peacemakers World

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, May 22, 2010 - 12:14:00 pm
(Posted Under: Music Music)
Sometimes I glance at what's going on with the Peacemakers. Very occasionally, and for nothing but comic relief. Which hardly ever fails these days. For today's enjoyment Circus Mexicus List Of Things To Do...

Firstly, surely you have to be pretty crazy to be going to Mexico, with all the violence at the moment. But I guess to give a shit about RCPM in 2010, the crazy requirement has already been fulfilled anyway.

What I particularly found amusing, and a sign of the times, is the 'Circus Mexicus pre party'. Apparently gone are the days of cool gigs happening at both Yucca and Last Exit on the Thursday night. Replaced with "drinks at Four Peaks Brewery" with "RCPM music played on the PA system". Wow, this sounds so fucking exciting! [wink] Don't get me wrong, I'm not in any way trashing Four Peaks, it's one of the coolest places in town to hang out, have a drink and chow down on some 8th Street chicken fingers for sure. But seriously, talk about the lamest Mexico pre-party concept I've ever heard!

The rest of the blog goes on about what a bloated wank fest it's become - a hot dog BBQ on Friday night, soccer match on Saturday, the actual show (shock), and then all the openers playing again on Sunday afternoon. I'm not really familiar with "Eddie Spagetti", "Random Karma" or musical "The Railbenders" and "Jason Boots", but I find it hard to believe that anyone would need to see them perform twice in two days!

With that said, I hope everyone enjoys Circus Gayness...err, I mean Mexicus! [wink]
May
21
2010

Finding All Changes In CVS By Date

(Add / View Comments) (0)Friday, May 21, 2010 - 12:19:50 pm
(Posted Under: Geek)
Yesterday I wrote a cool and helpful script that queries a CVS repository, and shows the changes in modules over time - per day. Funnily enough I wrote some C code yesterday to generate a list of sequential dates to work with, and looking into it further, discovered that it's not really required, as it can be achieved in a Linux shell with 'date': date=`date --date="$date next day" "+%Y-%m-%d"`

Go figure, Linux being awesome again. [smile]

Initially I just had it listing changes, and then added in displaying diffs, and logs for the changes over a period. Sweet.

Unfortunately I've discovered today that 'cvs rdiff' can't work with dates on a specific branch, which is quite frustrating, given how useful the script is (until you get to wanting to look at code on a branch). I love CVS, but the inability to compare revisions by date on a certain branch instead of the trunk is pretty brain dead if you ask me.

With that said, I've jimmied up a way to do it with 'cvs diff' instead, but still, I'm disappointed that I can't use 'cvs rdiff'.
May
18
2010

GPS Abuse

(Add / View Comments) (0)Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 09:20:33 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)
It dawned on me tonight the level to which I abuse the car GPS. I'm not suggesting that it is unwarranted at all, but I noticed that pretty much all I say when it is plugged in is "shut the fuck up bitch!". Seriously. If only we had a model that could interpret that. [smile]

In any case, we went out tonight and picked up some pots, a fan, and some network cables. 50 feet of Cat5 to be exact, which has done wonders for keeping the Tivo hooked up to the network 24/7, but without a cable running across the bedroom floor. Kudos to the Best Buy employee discount for making that super affordable!

The Phoenix summer is on it's way, and so it was time to get an upright fan. We didn't do quite as good as we did at Target in Oz during that mini heat wave last summer, but then again, the thought of putting a few more bucks towards a fan in Phoenix makes a lot of sense. There is no doubt that it'll get more use than the $15 one in Australia did. (Not that it didn't get a decent amount of us when we had it, certainly a decent investment, even if short lived).

The night also involved a trip out to Ikea, which we were just the other night mentioning how it feels like so long since we've been there, and how it felt like we were constantly there when we first moved. Kinda a reminder on how far we've come. Not surprisingly, the smell walking into Ikea took me back!

All in all a productive night, achieving everything and more we set out to do on Sunday afternoon after Rula Bula but had failed.
May
13
2010

Skype

(Add / View Comments) (0)Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 10:20:16 pm
(Posted Under: No Category)
The last time I had to call Oz to take care of some stuff, it cost me over $25 US - for a 12 minute call. Tonight, 21 cents for 7 minutes.

Dear Skype, my wallet loves you! [smile]
May
10
2010

Facebook

(Add / View Comments) (0)Monday, May 10, 2010 - 10:38:41 pm
(Posted Under: Rants)
Facebook groups that contain the phrase "If we get x number of fans..." have jumped the shark. Seriously fucking jumped the shark!

Just sayin'!
May
06
2010

Community Paintball

(Add / View Comments) (0)Thursday, May 6, 2010 - 06:51:24 pm
(Posted Under: TV)
Best episode ever? It just might have been. The best, most ridiculous half an hour of TV I've seen in a while.

I love Community!
May
03
2010

With Friends Like These...

(Add / View Comments) (0)Monday, May 3, 2010 - 03:41:51 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
I think this adequately sums up how I feel about Domo's forthcoming album...

[hitter:table user="ord" start="20100101" period_type="6month" table_type="albums" limit="5" /]

CD Release party is May 29th at the Yucca Tap. Be there if you love awesome power pop!

I'm looking forward to picking up a real copy and finding out the actual song names. "Track 01", "Track 02" ain't doing it for me. [wink]
Now Playing: Samantha 7 - I Wanna Be Famous
May
02
2010

What? Good Live Music On Mill Avenue?!?

A.K.A Shelbs + Zubs @ Rula Bula

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosSunday, May 2, 2010 - 08:33:24 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Photobox ImageWhat's this? Cool music on Mill Avenue? Spent this afternoon watching Shelby and Mark Zubia playing on that patio of Rula Bula. All weekend I've made the mistake of thinking it's shorts weather, when it actually isn't. It was windy as hell.

But all the same, it was a cool way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I thought they were just playing from 2 - 4. However, it was a fairly long set, playing from 2 - 6. And as such, the live music of this weekend just keeps on truckin...
Now Playing: Gin Blossoms - Found Out About You
May
01
2010

Rock For The Cure: Save The Boobs 4.0

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosSaturday, May 1, 2010 - 11:07:40 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Fun night of music tonight for Lance's Save The Boobs benefit show. Full band electric sets inside, acoustic sets outside. Things were definitely on a tight schedule, which made for literally running in and outset after sets.

Photobox ImageIn my mind, Strange Young Things stole the night. Rich was with them on drums, and everyone looked very at home on the 910 stage. Somethings were as usual. Like standing at the front of the stage equating to taking your life into your own hands. [smile] It was a disappointment that Glodie didn't make a spectacle of the stripper pole. But we all know that's only because his mic lead wouldn't have stretched that far. [smile]

Photobox ImageVelvet Elvis and Violet Wild put on some nice, short acoustic sets, despite the technical issues encountered. I'm not sure what the problem was with the outside PA, but it wasn't good. With that said, I think that dealing with it blowing out added something to Norman's performance.

Photobox ImageWe were a bit disappointed not to see Emmett, but all the same Andy and Scott did a nice set. Surprisingly with no technical issues (I think they were the only acoustic band not to be plagued with the PA from hell issues). And did fine on our Next Time request, although after making the request, it was apparent that Scott would have preferred us to have picked any other song. I lay blame on being put on the spot to come up with a Scott Howard song. [smile] All jokes aside, I don't really think of Tramps songs in terms of "Emmett songs" and "Scotty songs", so it made it tricky!

All in all it was a fun night. Pretty chilly for this time of year, so I'm glad I decided against shorts. And by the end, combined with all the standing last night, it was pretty nice to get home and off my aching feet!

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