Nov
27
2010

Fantasy Of Lights Parade

Happy Holidays...And Show Me Your Papers

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, November 27, 2010 - 08:13:23 pm
(Posted Under: This Desert Life This Desert Life)
Went downtown for the Festival Of Lights tonight, which we missed last year. Pretty cool, and was better than we were expecting.

Photobox ImageThe highlight it however, was seeing Sherrif Joe Arpio in a sheriff tank covered in lights. No, seriously! Following dance clubs, primary school kid floats and girl scouts came that. What the fuck? It was absolutely the most bizarre thing I've witnessed, and absolutely the last thing I expected to see in a Christmas parade in downtown Tempe.

If I didn't have photographic evidence that it happened, I would have sworn that I dreamed it. Hell, even with it it's still hard to believe.

File this under "what the fuck?!". I'd really like to say "only in America", but it's probably a case of "only in Arizona". Bizarre!
Now Playing: J. Longo - Puncher's Chance
Nov
26
2010

I'll 'Ave That!

The Black Friday Miracle

(Add / View Comments) (0)Friday, November 26, 2010 - 06:19:45 am
(Posted Under: No Category)
It was off to Target this morning in hopes of snagging a 2TB Western Digital external drive. Black Friday has been somewhat dismal with that being the only smoking hot deal we've found. Especially since it's 500GB larger than the My Book we brought at Best Buy last week (which we'll be returning) and $10 cheaper. And without the backup software that you can't delete.

We got there around 4:10am, only 10 minutes after the doors opened. It all seemed slightly more stressful than when we camped out at Best Buy last year. Once we made our way to the electronics, we found they were in a bin, behind handed out by staff. But there were plenty by the looks of things, and not that many people huddled around the guy handing them out. And then we saw the actual line these people huddled around him had come from! No, they weren't like us and had just waltzed up - there was a fucking line!

Disappointing, as this was such a good buy, but not enough to deal with that sort of shit at 4:30 in the morning. We were on a walk in, walk out mission. Plus, I did have a new 1.5TB drive, that would do I guess. We started walking towards the front of the store, deciding to not bother with anything else, discussing that we'd try to buy it online when we got home, when I stopped dead, where facing me on the a shelf I was about to turn past was a white box with colored squares down the site. A Western Digital Elements box, just sitting on the shelf in front of me. Honestly, it was like a scene out of the movies. A fucking Black Friday miracle. All it needed was some glowing rays of light and an aria chorus. I was convinced that it was going to be one of the 1TB models, but on closer inspection, saw it was indeed a 2TB one. I looked over at Katie (who hadn't noticed it at all), looked around to see whether there was any customer it was attached to, and in my best Ross Nobel voice proclaimed "I'll 'ave that!".

I'm still somewhat in disbelief. The whole thing was like it was scripted for a movie. Just at the moment I concede that I probably won't be getting one (because surely they've have to be sold out online always), there is one looking me in the face on out of place on a shelf with Barbie dolls or something such. Someone had abandoned it, for me to pick up without having to wait in that godforsaken line! Absolutely amazing!

Needless to say, we were pretty happy with out Black Friday Target experience, picked up the other items we'd looked at (but would have abandoned without the drive), checked out and we home back in bed an hour after we left the house.
Nov
24
2010

Thanksgiving Eve @ Teakwoods

Hell Freezes Over

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosWednesday, November 24, 2010 - 11:58:34 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
Awesome night at Teakwoods tonight, which was certainly the place to be. Great thing about music on Wednesday at Teakwoods, it's Baja Wednesday, and I absolutely took the opportunity to down a lot more Corona's than I normally would!

Got there early to catch Longo's happy hour set, which was pushed back to 7pm this week, to sit right against the music at 9. Very nice. Not long after we got there he switched the solo acoustic for his band (Grippe, Pate and McLaughenbur). Very cool. In short, their version of Lead Thoughts was pretty amazing and different. Y'know, when Jason sings it I pick up so many words that I've never been able to understand when Babb sings it. Which is definitely part of the charm of Brent, but neither the less I had quite a few "oh that's what that word is!" moments. There was also a cool, and again very different version of Famous in the set. Jason was plugging Friday night's CD release (and well the CD), and I've got to say, when they did the Bianco co-written Punter's Choice it was immediately obvious that that alone is reason to buy the record. According to KT, I've heard Jason do the song before (which I believe, but have no recollection of) and was totally blown away by it tonight.

Both Dead Hot and Ghetto ripped through the most energetic sets I've possibly seen them do, there was definitely electricity in the air. Amazing that neither band did Push Luck Shove though.

Photobox ImageIt seemed like everyone who was anyone was at Teaks tonight. Included in that were both Lawrence and Scott Andrews. And hence came out delima. We actually had plans to leave at some point during Los Guys to see Strange Young Things. Two issues then presented themselves. Los Guys started much later than we expected, and we were going to practically miss their entire set if we left for Strange Young Things, rather than just the end as we'd previously expected. The second issue was the possibility that hell was going to freeze over at some point, and we'd miss it. Both of those issues, combined with the vibe happening at Teakwoods and the promise of $2 Corona's, it wasn't really a hard decision to make (for once). Sorry to the Strange Young Things boys, but in this instance the idea of leaving Teakwoods early was loco talk.

Photobox ImageSure enough, we made the right choice - as if there was any doubt. A few songs in, Mark got Lawrence up for Hotel Defeated and Sara Says. Following that, hell completely froze over as PC and Freddy gave their instruments to Thomas and Scott, completing the Pistoleros lineup, for the first time in I don't even know how long, for two more Pistoleros songs. It's not often that you see a local band get a standing ovation at Teakwoods. But we saw it tonight. [smile] It didn't seem like there was anyone in the room that wasn't extremely excited to see this happen!

Much like the Breast Cancer Benefit a few months ago (which actually had a similar lineup) it was another incredible night at Teaks.
Nov
13
2010

Vinyl .45 @ George & Dragon Pub

Glass Heroes 19th Anniversary

(Add / View Comments) (0)PhotosSaturday, November 13, 2010 - 11:40:35 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music, Live Shows)
I've been wanting to check out Vinyl .45 for I'd say about 6 months, since they first started playing out, though it just hasn't happened.

So the fact that they were playing a free gig tonight was welcomed news. I'd just heard of it in terms of Vinyl .45, but looking into it, discovered it was the Glass Heroes 19th Anniversary gig. Pretty sweet, since it made it even more worthwhile going.

Photobox ImageReally enjoyed Vinyl .45. Unfortunately the vocal mix was all but non existent, which was unfortunate, and an annoyance to their singer as well as myself. Though, admittedly the reason I was there to check out McCaleb's guitar chops I've heard about for years, and there was no problem in achieving that end. With that said, I would definitely like to see them again with a better mix, where you can actually hear the vocals. 'Cause lyrically, I don't think I knew any more about them than I did before tonight. [wink]

First time at George & Dragon, which was kinda cool, however I must say the stage placement was very weird. I don't know if it's a permanent thing, or that area is usually used for restaurant seating. But if not, it'd be really worthwhile ripping out the wall between the stage and main room.

Chilled on the patio for the following band, who were from LA. I like punk rock, but I definitely have a beats per minute threshold, over which it becomes lost on me. Just like the way thrash metal is completely lost on me. Rogue Anthem definitely went over this threshold almost immediately, and so the patio was a fine place to be.

For the Glass Heroes, we pulled up at a booth, in preference of trying to find a spot in the small space in front of the stage. Which is fine with me, the amount of the Glass Heroes catalog that I know is sparse, though I dig what I do know. Ironically, they only played one song (Kick Down The Doors) out of that small subset. Would have been good if the sound was better, the vocals were maxing out, but still worthwhile sticking around for.
Now Playing: Fifteen Minutes Fast - Change You, Change Me
Nov
13
2010

Cold Dead Eyes

(Add / View Comments) (0)Saturday, November 13, 2010 - 05:32:40 pm
(Posted Under: Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
With all the recent framing endeavors of late, we recently discussed how we need to expand our "promo photo" wall.

Well, getting home today, the August '92 Blossoms promo photo had arrived. It's kinda weird that between us, neither of us have/had any New Miserable Experience era promo photos.

I've read the article which references the photo countless times, but it's the first time I've seen an actual print of the photo, as opposed to digital copies. And as such, I now fully understand the reference to the cold dead eyes.

Switch Styles

About Style Switching.

!Weblog Index

Oct November 2010 Dec
SU MO TU WE TH FR SA
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

Categories

RSS FeedRSS Feed