Weekend notes

This weekend: Great music, terrible food.

I posit that the quality of a Little Caesar's Pizza is proportional to its proximity to the Illich family (aka Detroit). In Michigan? Friggin awesome pizza. Champaign? Also good. Here in Cali? Fucking terrible. I will never go to the LC in San Jose again.

What's worse, i was craving Jimmy John's all weekend, but the only one in Cali that i know of is in Fresno - 3 hours away. That is, 3 of the dullest, most mind-numbing hours of your life. The cornfields on the drive up I-57 are downright exciting by comparison.

But enough of that, on to the music. Fired up Rock Band 2 on Saturday night. Last weekend was rough because it was my first time playing the sequal, so i had 40 new songs to learn to sing, about half of which i'd never heard before. But i spent time "rehersing" during the week (yay for youtube and metrolyrics), so this time was much better. Well, it felt a lot better at least; hopefully my voice *sounded* better as well.

On top of that, my moment of triumph came towards the end of the night when fatigue claimed two of our players, leaving us with only three in the rotation. Before calling it a night, i wanted to attempt a power trio lineup with myself covering vocals and fake guitar. I daresey i held my own. I enjoyed the challenge of coordinating the two instruments, as well as the resulting praise from my friends. I did, of course, choose songs that i knew well enough to sing from memory so i could focus on the guitarwork:

The "Neilam Is An Attention Whore" setlist:
- Today (Smashing Pumpkins)
- Everlong (Foo Fighters)
- Don't Fear The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult) (sadly, not enough cowbell)
- Wonderwall (Oasis)
- Creep (Radiohead)
- Livin' On A Prayer (Bon Jovi)

("I like to play...")

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My recent buying spree has yielded a ton of new music to listen to, including Paramore's album "Riot!". I enjoyed the two songs of theirs i've played on Rock Band, and i figured it wouldn't hurt to have some more fun upbeat tunes in my collection for when i'm feeling punky & upbeat myself (hey, it happens once in a while). Hayley (their singer) reminds me a little of Avril Lavigne (and i mean that as a compliment - i like Avril).

So i had the album on in the car today and was totally blindsided by the song "Miracle". It's a simple enough tune, but the warm melodies just pull you in, and the lyrics kindof spoke to me:

"Now i've gone for too long
Living like i'm not alive
So i'm going to start over tonight
Beginning with you, and
I don't want to run from anything uncomfortable
I just want, no
I just *need* this pain to end right here"

Paramore - Miracle


I listened to the song at least a dozen times straight. I also love "That's What You Get" (embedded below), but i think "Miracle" may well have become "my" song.

Paramore - That's What You Get


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And last (first?) but not least was Amon Amarth on Friday night - superior Viking death metal band from Sweden. They rocked hard; i really enjoyed their set, as well as Ensiferum's (their main support). However their second support act, Belphagor...i had a hard time taking them seriously. Which is pretty bad given that i can enjoy & appreciate a wide range of cheese metal that many people write off as a joke (e.g. Manowar). Great show overall, though. My photos didn't come out as well as my set from Bullet, but i got a few decent shots along with a couple of video clips (the sound quality on my digicam is surprisingly good).





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Man, i've been trying to make these posts shorter, but right now i'm too sleepy to edit any more.

I so don't want to go to work tomorrow.