May 2000

May 30, 2000

My bathroom is being redone. Now I have to go downstairs to take a shower and everything. Son of a coyote.

May 29, 2000

A full day of the X-files? Who can ask for anything more! Even better with the beers I had all day...

May 28, 2000

I hate driving. But it shall not pull down my roadtrip. As much as I am disliking the driving part, I still want to be visiting everyone. Can't wait to be back in OK. (Am I going even more insane? I think not...)

May 26, 2000

I now know why people with kids stop listening to loud music. Baby's are rather loud, and it was bugging my ears more than my music usually does! I think I might need to get my hearing checked out sometime soon, and I definitly need to start wearing earplugs at concerts. I will go the cheap way on this, and just use toilet paper.

May 25, 2000

Well, Kelly didn't send out directions for me to get to her place in Fulton. Maybe I will leave tommorrow...I have no idea though. I need to try and at least get a phone number, cause I can figure out how to get to Fulton, MO. Once there, she can come meet me somewhere, and I can follow her back to her place. But until Sunday or Kelly gets me the info, I guess I will still be in Tulsa. I'm not complaining, but this is going to be one hell of a crazy house for the next week, with the two kids here...

May 24, 2000

All I have to say is that it was a good day. Started out good, and finished off fairly well. And I am for sure out of that last little depression funk. That is a good sign.

May 23, 2000

Unfortunantly, my stay in the Tulsa area is starting to come to an end. I only have a couple more days left here, and then I head up to Fulton and Kelly. I wonder what else there is to do in this area. I will have to make the best I can out of the rest of my stay.

May 22, 2000

I'm sitting here in Andrea's car on the way over to Ashley's house. Andrea is just a slight bit jealous of my laptop, so I think I might let her add something to my site later. We shall see I guess. Well, she didn't add anything. Maybe tommorrow. I think I might add a submissions page to my site. Anything I think is worthy, I will put up on my site. That way, y'all can possibly have your rants posted on my site if I like em. What do y'all think? Crap, I haven't looked at my forum in a while. I should probably do that...

May 21, 2000

Oops. Haven't had all that much time since I left Farmington. So I will be updating my travel page today. Don't y'all worry, 'cause I will be putting in the days I have missed. Now I just have to figure out which days those are...ah well. We shall see. What day should I be on?

May 17, 2000

Another very lazy day. I've barely gotten out of bed at all. But I leave for Socorro tommorrow, so I can't sleep all day again. And I get to drink again tommorrow :) And probably most every night after that til I get home. Come to think of it, I need to get directions from Kelly. Uh oh...

May 16, 2000

So my cousin is pregnent. I am very happy for her, and hope that all goes well with it. I will have to come up here when she has the kid. I would try to get her to name it after me if it is a boy, but the fathers name is Billy. So I guess that one is out, eh? Oh well.

May 15, 2000

Lolly Lolly Lolly, get your adverbs here. I miss those...Just kinda sitting here listening to the pkids set I put together after the concert, cause I actually had all but one song I think. And if I have that song, I have no clue what CD it was on. Unless of course Matt mistyped it on his report of the concert...

May 14, 2000-Mother's Day

Well, it is another mother's day. I think I have missed the last few at home. But my poor mother. She is cooking herself a steak tonight, and inside for that matter. I guess it is too cold and windy. She will be home all day by herself, cause I'm still here in NM, my brother is in FL, and my dad is up in MN for the opening of fishing season. At least I am getting rested up here in Farmington. Been a rather lazy day out here. Finally went out for "brunch" at around 2 or so.

May 13, 2000

Possible insanity? I seem not to enjoy things I used to love to do. I think I am more burnt out than I originally thought. I just feel like being alone. I just want to wander off into the great unknown, and visit friends that I don't see often. The next couple of weeks shall be rather interesting I believe. Finally going to meet Andrea, get to see Christy again, and Kelly as well. For some reason, I just feel more comfortable around my good friends than anyone else right now. Should make for an interesting summer...

May 12, 2000

What a long day this has been. Here starts the journey. Time to start a travel page, so this is going to be a short post. Not sure how to format this, though...I don't really feel like dating it. And hopefully it won't be a pain in the arse to get my page updated, either...

May 8, 2000

The start of finals. I am actually up and awake for it. That is at least a good start. The review that was posted for the 6th was written by Matt, as noted at the bottom. What a great concert that was. Too bad I was the only one that could go inside, but they let me go in and out as I pleased, so I could hang out back with everyone, and still drink. There will probably be more to come later, and I should probably work on getting that review posted elsewhere. Maybe my ramblings page?

Well, it is basically a given now. I will be in structural again next year. Crap. That final was basically a two and a half hour waste of my time, especially since I spent half of the time waiting for two samples. Probably better not to think of it anymore this year, cause i can't change what happened. Time to start drinking or work on my paper. I should work on the paper, but i would much rather be drinking...

May 6, 2000 (kinda)

The Poster Children - DDD Tour Venue: The Launchpad - Albuquerque, New Mexico Opening Bands: Somersault and Fever Hot 6.5.2000

Prologue, Preface or something-or-other: I was going to see the Poster children tonight, at the Launchpad in Albuquerque. I was going to see them the right way - in the middle of a crowd of people, right in front of the stage! I was all set - hey, I saw them in Albany last year and they rocked. I've been waiting for more for slightly over a year. When I heard that they had decided to come through Albuquerque (after an email from Rose, their bassist suggested they wouldn't) I was ecstatic. I had been warned about the management at the club they were playing, the Launchpad, but I figured I'd have to get some people together and try anyway. It turns out the Launchpad is just like Valentine's, my favorite Albany club... just more anal. We found out on the short notice that it was to be a 21+ show. After some email-based conversation with Rose, we had (myself and the people I convinced to go) decided to show up anyway. Maybe Rose could get us in, still. So after waiting around for hours (not knowing when the Pkids would be showing) we sighed a deep sigh of relief as the big white van with the Illinois 5RTFM plates rolled around the corner to the back alley. Rose did her best... but it wasn't enough to turn the minds of the management [1]. That's why I'm here, in the back alley that runs parallel to Central Avenue, waiting for the Pkids set - when the oh-so-generous bouncer will open the backdoor and let us hear the Pkids, full blast. As I sit here in the back alley, I notice that one of the opening bands has New York plates! I still haven't figured out if they're "Fever Hot" or the other opening band. I think they're fever hot. I haven't heard of them before, but the dealership plate frames are from the New York City area. Well, anyway, the following is a narrative of sorts that covers the evening and my review of the Pkids show (even though I'm already biased).

A Little Later (The First Band): It's 10:30 and the first band is on now, and they're really not that bad. Definitely in the Indie-Pop stratum of the rock spectrum. They're Somersault - not too distinctive, but certainly a decent opener. The set was full of soft pleading melodies and some moog action (from what I could tell, I couldn't see them, of course). They certainly make sitting on a loading pallet in a back alley enjoyable. In the meantime, we're sharing the alley with band members waiting for their turn at one of the three clubs that are right next to each other. At this particular moment, a couple are being particularly obnoxious and toking up. Oh well. There is some relief to be found in the fact that, as we wait, if this band gets sucky, we can re-lauch the Mp3 player and build our "dream pkids set" while we wait. Yeah. Geeky. ...Well, the first band is coming out of the back now and the switch over for the second set has begun. AND THEY'RE PLAYING THE PIXIES for in between set sounds.

The Second Set (Fever Hot): The initial impression: well, they're not a hippie band (which is what they looked like) and they're not wanna-be ska (which was Nick's first impression when I told him about the line-up). But, they' re also not so great, you know? To be honest, they're also not horrible. I've certainly heard worse. But they haven't got anything special and they don't fit into anything I already enjoy. If it was something totally new I think I could enjoy it more. Maybe it's time to launch SoundJam and listen to some of my ripped Pkids CDs. ...Yeah, I think it is... I'm hearing riffs that are blatant steals from some 80s pop metal. From the less enthusiastic cheers (or so it seems from back here), I think a portion of the audience agrees with me. It's now halfway into their set and they have already resorted to filler, once, and played a cover song. I'm sorry... You're the opener. You're not even that good. And you're playing a cover? Just shoot yourself in the foot, why don't you! The Mac OS graphing calculator demo is more entertaining at the moment. No joke. Bill, the only one of this geeky gaggle who is "of- age", has returned for the moment with a pile of CDs. He now owns every Poster Children CD, 'cept the one they didn't really release. Plus the Flower Power tape. Plus a nifty DDD t shirt. I want one. I'm going to be borrowing some cash from Bill. I'm writing in very terse and dumb sentences. That is ok.

In Between The Last Sets: Rose is the Bomb!!! She took her audience shot already - before the set - of us, sitting on the pallets I stacked in the alley. Bill is hoping that he'll be the only person inside up in front of the stage. Then, if Rose takes the "real" audience shot, there will be quite a contrast which might stand as an editorial on the business sense of club owners. "I feel like I have to wash my hands after I touch it..." -- Rose of The Poster Children, regarding her Sony Vaio. (She had to buy it so she could afford a G4.)

The Poster children: The Pkids were the fastest to set up and had the shortest mike check. Within minutes of springing into action (or something) they began for real, and so I am now perched on the Pkids van bumper (closer to the door) listening to "This town needs a fire!" The sound, even buffered by the back door (the guard forgot his promise), is nearly as good as the recording. Which just proves how good raw rock is, and reinforces that it shouldn't be polished so much in the studio. Once again, The Poster Children prove themselves the epitome of indie rock by not falling into a rut. They may be trying to sell a new release, but their play list has reflected their recent history (with a good chunk of the most recent). The sparse audience, after seemingly been put to sleep by the previous band, has woken up now. The 'children are blasting out their tunes in their usual fervent style and eliciting cat calls and cheers - mid song - from the crowd. The crowd that probably never even heard of them until browsing this week's Albuquerque Alibi. And now it's time for what I think should be the indie rock anthem (unless, of course, it wouldn't be indie to have an anthem): Zero Stars. "We don't have a future, we don't have a past... we're zero stars! We don't have a paycheck, we don't have a boss." And, (Hehe) Rose messed up the sucky band's name. Ok, that was mean. I'm sorry - but I liked it.

Set List:

* Strange Attractors

* This Town Needs a Fire

* ??? (Broken arms and broken wrists...) Persimmon?

* 6x6

* He's My Star

* The Old School and The New

* ???"He's in the water... He's everywhere"

* Zero Stars

* Rock and Roll

* 0for1

* The Music Of America

* Sick of it All

* "awake - awake - never mind..." (???) Wide Awake (???)

* Revolution Year Zero

* No Encore... weak crowd.

In the end... it was an enjoyable experience. I do feel sorry for dragging my friends out to sit in an alley for 4 or 5 hours on a saturday night, but not that sorry. Afterwards, Bill, Mike and I talked to Rose for a short bit. It was good to hear that this tour, over all, has been better than all the previous ones. I got myself a t shirt and some music, ripped one of the promo posters off the club door and then Bill, Mike and I went to The Frontier - the UNM hangout further up central avenue (and reported pkids after-show stop - no sign of them while we were there). We were back in Socorro by 4am. [1] - I certainly understand they were doing their job and there are liquor laws to follow, but the rest of their week was booked full of "all ages" shows. So they do have other plans. And, as of this writing, the club is barely full... and at least 6 other people besides my group of four (including me) have been turned away. They'd be making more money by scratching the alcohol from the menu.

May 3, 2000

I'm finally getting this month started. Took long enough. Finally have time now that my first final is out of the way. I failed the lab for that class, though. Oh well. I think it gets figured into the overall grade, so we shall see what happens...I don't really feel like saying anything right now, so I will just change around stuff on my site for a bit. Namely, remove the link to the rocky horror pictures on schlake's page, cause he removed the pictures due to some controversy. And put the April journals in my archive...