1/10/2010

Nearing the end of a very restful weekend at this point - Caroline and I are both sitting here working on our blogs, full on home cooked italian food, which is delicious every time we cook it. So far this weekend I have watched a couple of movies, one that I really liked Inglorious Basterds. We also watched Donnie Darko, but it was less enjoyable.

Looking ahead to the next show with my band, Aaron (lead singer) has texted that we should do the Eagles' classic "In the Long Run", which means I'll have to look into what all guitar parts I can learn, what backup harmonies there are, what ridiculous overproduced elements are on the song that we aren't able to recreate live, etc. I applaud the song choice, as I am all for doing more classic rock at this point.

After last Thursday night, life is even better than usual for this UA alum and football fan. Of course every retarded Auburn fan will point out to you at this point that the national championship trophy has been displayed in wal-marts around the state - only goes to show how jealous they are and how insignificant their pathetic excuse for a football program is in today's perspective. They will also talk about how Colt McCoy was injured on the 5th play of the game and how things would have gone differently otherwise. First of all, let me say that UA changed the gameplan after he exited the game, going to a much more conservative offense. Had he stayed in, there is no telling what kind of offensive plays we would have seen that are still in the bag for the Tide to use against Penn State in next season's opener. Secondly, let's not forget McCoy didn't come down with the flu the day of the game - it was a member of the very physical UA defense that knocked the Texas QB on his ass and out of the game. That is part of football, and when Mack Brown wants to design an entire season and gameplan around one guy and an offense that exposes that one guy to damage quite easily, and in a conference where they don't hit quite as hard as the boys in the SEC, well...everyone saw what happened. So AU, UT, and any other college football fans sipping haterade while they were pulling for Alabama to lose can suck it.

1/8/2010 - Unlabeled Usage plays Zydeco!

Tonight is Sunday, January 10, 2010. I had an especially good night Friday night, playing with my band at the best sounding venue we have played a little over a year since I have been with them. The rest of the weekend was even better, being completely lazy recuperating from that event and a full workweek with my wonderful girlfriend Caroline. A pharmacy fraternity hired my band, Unlabeled Usage, to play a party combining maybe 5-7 different colleges, which translated to a crowd of over 300 for us and a chance to play at Birmingham's famous Zydeco venue. I can recall going to see two bands at Zydeco, both that sounded very loud and powerful, and both that were already major acts when I went to see them - In This Moment and Five Finger Death Punch.

Zydeco had the best sounding PA I've ever played through. Standing out on the floor listening to our drummer Jonathan do his sound check, it became obvious quick exactly how loud we would be playing. With every quarter note bass drum hit, the sound guy was pushing the sliders increasingly forward, until I could feel the bass in my chest! It sounded as if we were going to sound like a real band tonight. I couldn't tell from when I did my soundcheck though, I offered up some generic guitar riffs and played through Ted Nugent's Stranglehold, but I did not have my 5150 amp pushing hard enough I guess, as was evidenced during the first set, when I struggled to hear myself onstage.

We had a blast playing the venue, and even had a rat's nest of a VIP room where we scarfed down some Taj Indian takeout that Caroline and I picked up an hour before we went on. No heat and the endless supply of dudes that hit on my girlfriend were the only complaints, but I guess that is to be expected. At least the 2 for 1 kamikaze shots and Red Stripe tallboys were flowing like a river, the music was louder than ever, and several drunken guys expressed how I could shred or whatever. Overall, it was a fun night despite the temperature in the teens.