No Sun in the Shadow of the Wizard

Ronnie James Dio has died.

I was a total metalhead as a kid, and although my tastes have expanded and matured quite a bit since fifth grade, I never really stopped liking it. And Dio was an amazing singer; a tiny little man with a gigantic, operatic voice.

I first became aware of RJD during his first stint in Black Sabbath. Heaven and Hell is a fucking awesome album, and I really dig Mob Rules. Oddly enough, I never cared for his eponymous band, although I did like the Holy Diver record.

Dio got back together with the Mob Rules-era Sabbath lineup as "Heaven and Hell," since they couldn't call themselves "Black Sabbath." The put out a live DVD, which is awesome, and a CD of new material, which is OK (read my mixed review here).

But if you really want to hear him belt his ass off (and hey, who doesn't?) check out Rainbow's "Stargazer." This cut is Eurometal at its finest. The late great Cozy Powell beats the shit out of his drums, Ritchie Blackmore contributes a typically over-the-top guitar solo, and, but of course, backing from the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. Of course, what gives the track that extra little push over the cliff is Dio's powerful singing, especially in the fade-out. EPIC.

So when the news broke that Dio had passed away today, I went straight for "Stargazer." And when it gets near the end, and Dio is singing about "going home" and "take me back, take me back" (and of course, "My eyes are bleeding"), I got goosebumps.

Farewell, RJD. You were a total badass.

O My Soul

Alex Chilton died.

My first job was at a Hardee's. I was 17. I was listening to Husker Du and the Replacements and R.E.M. One of the managers had similar tastes in music and we traded tapes. I asked him if he had any Big Star, because their name kept popping up in all the books and magazines I was reading at the time, but I could never find any of their records (turns out I wasn't looking hard enough, but that's a different story).

(Big Star's other singer/guitarist, Chris Bell, was just as talented as Alex. Bell is also dead, but that's another story.)

Anyway, Hardee's Manager loaned me a cassette with #1 Record on one side and Radio City on the other. And they lived up to their reputation. Exceeded it, even.

You can get both those albums on one CD. Worth every penny.

Pilgrims v. Indians

Holiday. Food. Travel. Family. Friends. Babies. Bourbon. Manger's.

Patton Oswalt on iTunes.

Girlfriend in the bathtub.

Fun? Fun.

One down, three to go.

Department of Corrections

Actually, mein papa died before I ever started this thing. Just felt the need to clear that up.

Time Marches On

A lot can happen in a year. Think about what can happen in TWO.

Life can be craptacular, but it's the only thing worth living.

I've been through a lot of changes. Biggest one was a divorce. After that, moving into a new place. Third biggest was probably the new job. After that, I'll say the crash that totaled my faithful Altima, which deserved a much more dignified end.

My dad died, too. Can't remember if I blogged about that. He deserved a much more dignified end, too. But his death was much easier to manage because I had several years and a few close calls to prepare for it.

Delightful

Hello. Is there anybody in there?

The Ice Storm

The forecasters predicted a Class-A Winter Killstorm and it seems to have been accurate. Fortunately for me, I work in an industry that doesn't shut down or cancel work in these circumstances. In fact, I usually have to work harder than normal. Such is life.

So this morning as I left for work at 3:30 a.m., I found myself wondering about many, many life decisions and how I ended up in this predicament. I remembered that my neighbor Joe, the same one who left a polite note on my car (addressed to "Jeff") complaining about the noise from a mini-rave that got out of hand a few weeks ago, had asked me if I would help him shovel the driveway. "Sure," I told him, not out of any sense neighborly duty but more to get him off my back. That was before I knew I'd be going in to work during the wee small hours. So I left a note on HIS car this morning, explaining my situation. I hope he understands but I don't really care if he doesn't.

Back to me: Life is full of peaks and valleys. A few recent peaks have turned into valleys. I'm handling them much better than I would have thought I could. Yay me. But I'm still indescribably bummed. Such is life. The shitty weather plays a role, but I can't blame it all on Old Man Winter.

I left work mid-afternoon. I needed to go home and pick up some clothes because I'm staying in a hotel on the company's dime and I have to be at work at 4 a.m. tomorrow. No point in risking life and limb for a job that I like but don't love.

I wonder about all the missed connections, what might have been, what ought to have been, what should have been. I wonder how I ended up like this.

I did the dishes, in the sink. I have a dishwasher but it's wasteful to run it unless it's full. I admire all the plates and cutlery and cookware I didn't used to have. Then I remember why I didn't have them. Somebody called it laziness but it was always convenience. And now I'm inconvenienced.

What to pack? Who cares? It's going to be a boring night, but I know I will be unable to sleep. And then I will be exhausted at work. Also, they're saying the ice could snap power lines, which means I could be without electricity. The hits keep coming.

I need to make something happen.

Happy New Year.

Dearth of Posts

Yeah, I've been lighting this thing up in 2008, huh? I apologize. Real life fucked Vitamin J right up the old poop chute for much of this year. Things did turn around for me sometime around Labor Day and they got even better a few weeks after that.

I hate to be all vague and whatnot, but some heavy shit is going down and Death May Be Your Santa Claus just isn't the proper venue.

Happy holidays.

Brought to You by the Letter "B"

Local H, the greatest fucking live band in the world and don't you ever goddam forget it, played in Covington, Ky. on Nov. 28. As they are the greatest fucking live band in the world, they rocked. Oh, how they rocked.

What makes this an even more special event was the fact that they were OPENING for another band (Electric Six, whom I kind of like, but still).

Therefore, Local H only played for about 45 minutes, give or take. Seeing as how this is the only time I saw them in 2008, I'll take what I can get.

Setlist:

Jesus Christ, Did You See the SIZE of That Sperm Whale?

Bag of Hammers

Blur

BMW Man

White Belt Boys

Hands on the Bible

Buffalo Trace

Toxic

Bound for the Floor

Back in the Day

About two songs in, Scott Lucas announced, "This show is brought to you by the letter 'B.'" I was like, "Whatever, dude." But then, as I was dutifully jotting down the setlist, I noticed that, save for the first tune, each song did in fact feature the letter "B" in its title. Hunh. Even "Toxic," which is a cover of a Britney Spears song. Oh, how clever! Why, the drummer's name is Brian St. Clair and Lucas was even sporting a Beatles t-shirt.

Except where did set-opener "...Sperm Whale" fit in the mix?

When I Am King You Will Be First Against the Wall

Saw Radiohead in Indianapolis Sunday night. They were pretty goddammed fantastic. Although the show was at Deer Cree.. oops, I mean, Verizon Wireless Music Center, which is your standard American outdoor concert venue, which means you have to get there six hours before showtime and stake your turf (either that, or pay the extra $25 for actual seats). Being adults, we got there about an hour before opening act Grizzly Bear took the stage (they're good, but nobody came to see them) and we were about as far back as you could get, but the sound was awesome and Radiohead's light show provided plenty of visual interest.

Amusingly enough, the last time I saw Radiohead was at Deer Creek when they opened for R.E.M. on their Monster tour. That was in September of 1995. Time flies.

I was going to call this post "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box," but there was enough elbow room, all things considerd [sic].

Highlights: "Everything In Its Right Place," "Pyramid Song," "Bangers and Mash," "Karma Police" and "Street Spirit." Also, they played every song from In Rainbows, their latest album, which I think is pretty cool. There are many bands who play two or three token tracks from their latest effort and then play what amounts to the same set they always play.

Setlist:
15 Step
Bodysnatchers
There There
All I Need
Pyramid Song
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
Climbing Up the Walls
Faust Arp
Videotape
Morning Bell
Idioteque
Reckoner
Everything In Its Right Place
Just
How to Disappear Completely
- - - - -
You and Whose Army?
Bangers and Mash
Exit Music (For a Film)
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Karma Police
- - - - -
House of Cards
National Anthem
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

I Can Easily Pass for 37

The big four oh. Forty years old. Hello, middle age.

Sigh.

Captain Bligh

Saw Filter last night. A surprising number of my friends think Filter sucks, lumping them in with other also-rans from the '90s altrock boom (e.g., Lit, Seven Mary Three, Better Than Ezra), but for whatever reason, I love the band. Check out their second album, Title of Record.

And they were pretty good, but like it or not, Filter's commercial heyday is long gone, and playing in a two-thirds empty Coyote's was undoubtedly a humbling experience for Filter frontman Richard Patrick. The fact that the crowd was pretty lame didn't help. You could see the energy level onstage decrease with each passing tune. In fact, after playing "Hey Man, Nice Shot," Patrick blithely told us, "We usually walk offstage and let you guys clap for a few minutes, but we won't fuck around with that tonight (paraphrased)." In other words, "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible."

Set list:

Welcome to the Fold

American Cliche

Soldiers of Misfortune

Dose

The Take

Where Do We Go from Here?

(Can't You) Trip Like I Do

It's Gonna Kill Me

Jurassitol

Hey Man, Nice Shot

Take a Picture

Skinny

Blog? What blog?

Updates have been nonexistant, I know. Time constraints and personal issues. I plan on describing some things, like getting hit by a car while riding my bike, my Altima getting totalled last October, my new job, my stupid band, the lawsuit I nearly got involved with at my old job, stuff about Groop Dogdrill... Lots of potential topics. Please feel free to make suggestions, what the hell. I do this for myself, but mostly for the practice and to vent.

Talking animals = GOLD

Like most red-blooded Americans, I hate TV commercials. But thanks to Consumerist, I saw some that made me laugh. For real! You will, too -- if you don't, you don't have a soul.





I like this'n too.





Ming blue?

El Conquistador

Hello. It's been a while. I have started numerous posts but I never seem to have enough time to make them DMBYSC-worthy. Anyway, I know it's bad blogger form to blog about how you've been ignoring your blog, so here's a baby ocelot from the Louisville Zoo:


Best part? They named him "El Conquistador."

A Special Night for Everyone

I went to Nashville last Friday and caught Local H live. I have waxed rhapsodic about the magnificence of seeing Local H perform live, so I'll spare you the purple prose, but as always, the band delivered and I was glad I went.

Highlights:
1) No equipment malfunctions, thus no Scott Lucas hissy fits\
2) Three new songs were played; all three are really fucking good (I've heard two of them on the band's MySpace page) and I can't wait until they put out a new album
3) "Buffalo Trace" was played
4) Lucas called out some drunken asshole who passed out on the stage:

Set list:
Them's Fighting Words
Bound for the Floor
Fine and Good
BMW Man
Eddie Vedder
California Songs
Michelle
Hands on the Bible
Buffalo Trace
User
Hey, Rita
All Right (Oh Yeah)
Fritz's Corner
High-Fiving MF
- - - - -
I Like Little Boys
Wolf Like Me (TV on the Radio)
Toxic (Britney Spears)
That's What They All Say/Star-Spangled Banner/Good Night (Cheap Trick)

Ouch

OMG, The Secret Invasion has begun

Big Rock Weekend

Friday, August 3: Road trip to Covington for a show by Interpol. Even though I think their new album has a few dead dead spots, I thought it was a fine show in an interesting venue. And it has to be said: A pleasantly high number of hot hipster chicks were in attendance. It it also has to be said: Carlos D's new frontier dandy look is not half as striking as his Hitler Youth look, mainly because that little douchebag Brandon Flowers beat him to it.

The venue, the Madison Theater, was pretty cool. It was sort of like Louisville's Palace without seats. My pal Shay and I were parked near the sound board. Some guy standing behind me saw me writing down the song titles as best I could and about seven or eight songs into the show asked me if any selections from Interpol's first album had been played. I replied, "Not yet." To which some oaf in a Killers t-shirt (hmmm) turned around and said, "You don't have to stand here if you don't want." Which made absolutely no sense to me or the guy who asked me the question, so we just gave Mr. Killers a who-asked-you-asshole look and he turned around.

But wait, it gets better. The sound techs had several small fans aimed in their direction. Mr. Killers couldn't help touching them and changing them, and he got thrown out, which was, all things considered, pretty fucking hilarious. But at least he didn't have to hear anything from the first Interpol album.

Set list:
Pioneer to the Falls
C'mere
Narc
Slow Hands
Rest My Chemistry
Mammoth
Public Pervert
Pace is the Trick
The Heinrich Maneuver
Evil
Not Even Jail
PDA
- - - - -
NYC
Obstacle 1
Stella Was a Diver
(thanks to Shay for filling in the gaps)

Sunday, August 5: Road trip to downtown Louisville for Queens of the Stone Age at Coyote's, which I had always asumed was a cowboy/biker bar. And it is, but they've been booking rock shows of late (Modest Mouse are scheduled later this month). I was supposed to interview one of the Queens for an article in LEO, but I couldn't make things line up with my schedule (I work a day job), so in the interest of not blowing a deadline, I backed out of the assignment. Which kind of sucked because it meant that comp tickets were not coming anymore, and the admission was $25, which seems a little steep for QOTSA, but whatever -- we got in to Interpol free, so I guess it all evens out. Once agin, Shay was along for the ride, as was our pal Chris. We met at Chris's house in beautiful Jeffersonville, Indiana and had a few adult beverages before we crossed the river for a night of heavy rock.

Now, I dig QOTSA, but I must admit that two of their last three albums have kind of left me underwhelmed. I was especially disappointed by their somewhat patchy third album, Songs for the Deaf, because it came after their start-to-finish brilliant second effort, Rated R. Happily, their newest effort, Era Vulgaris, grew on me after repeated listens, particluarly "I'm Designer," "Make It Wit Chu," "Turnin' on the Screw" and "3's & 7's."

So anyway, I was pretty psyched to see them play live -- especially material from Rated R. I figured "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" and "Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" were both guaranteed, but I was hoping maybe they'd throw in "Auto Pilot" or "Monsters in the Parasol" as well.

The joke was on me: QOTSA completely ignored Rated R. Assholes. It's like Josh Homme read my mind and said, "Let's fuck with this jackass and skip Rated R tonight, boys."

Whatever. It was still a decent show -- they played a lot of stuff from the new disc -- but still a letdown.

This never wopuld have happened if Nick Oliveri was still in the band.

Set list:
Regular John
Do It Again
First It Giveth
Tangled Up in Plaid
3's & 7's
Avon
Into the Hollow
Misfit Love
Suture Up Your Future
Burn the Witch
Turnin' on the Screw
The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died
Little Sister
Sick, Sick, Sick
Go with the Flow
- - - - -
No One Knows
Song for the Dead

Don't Stand So Close to Me, Or: Packed Like Lemmings into Churchill Downs

The Police performed in Louisville last night. I went. Fantastic weather, fantastic venue (Churchill Downs), fantastic sound, fantastic show.

Set list:
Message in a Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking on the Moon
Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Driven to Tears
Truth Hits Everybody
The Bed's Too Big Without You
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking in Your Foootsteps
Can't Stand Losing You/Regatta de Blanc/Can't Stand Losing You
Roxanne
- - - - -
King of Pain
So Lonely
- - - - -
Every Breath You Take
- - - - -
Next to You