This weekend in C-U, SJ, and a town near you

Hi everyone! For those who haven't already heard, there will be an awesome nationwide demonstration for equality this Saturday, November 15th. This is not just about Prop 8 in California; this is about joining together as a nation to voice that we will no longer sit back and tolerate discrimination.

If you live in Champaign-Urbana:

Virginia is involved with planning this one! Please join if you're interested & available.

Some info from Virginia:
Meet by the Alma Mater (Green and Wright) at 11:30am
We'll have posters, but feel free to bring your own as well.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=35885873716


If you live in the San Francisco bay area:

I plan to attend in San Jose (10:30am in front of City Hall, downtown SJ); let me know if you'd like to come with.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=35885873716

Or there is, of course, the one in San Francisco which i'm sure will be friggin huge ( http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=35885873716 ).

If you live elsewhere:

There are locations planned for every state, thus likely one in or near your area. Locations & details are listed out here:

http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/


Together, we can make a difference.

-Neilam

p.s. If you haven't seen Keith Olbermann's video already, it is very much worth watching:

YES WE CAN!!!

Wow. Just, wow. My head is a jumble of thoughts right now; i'm so excited and pleased. I've voted in three presidential elections (in 3 different states, actually - MI, IL, and now CA), but this is the first time i was able to cast a vote for a candidate whom i actually *wanted* to send to the White House. After so many years of anger, frustration, and disappointment, i don't even have the words for how wonderful it feels to watch President Elect Barack Obama speak from downtown Chicago. Some of my friends are actually *in* Grant Park right now - i'm so jealous of you guys!

It keeps hitting me. I can start watching press conferences again! The State of the Union Address! Forget about his skin tone - he's young and optimistic, and i think we really need that right now. He's delivering a message of hope, and i *believe* him.

I finally have a leader whom i can proudly call *my* president.

Need some advice

I'm trying to solve a problem.

Tonight i was invited to go out with a few friends; head up to San Francisco for the night. I agonized over whether to go or not. Seems like every time i go to the city with people, i end up having zero fun. I just don't enjoy the bar/club scene, at least not as a single guy. I invariably end up wishing i'd stayed home, saved my money, spared my eardrums, and gotten a decent night's sleep instead.

But on the flipside, every time i turn down an invite to go out, i sit home feeling lonely, hating the fact that i'm "that guy" who could have been out with people, chose not to go, and then proceeded to feel sad.

Is there not a third option?

Segue. I hate it when someone complains endlessly about something instead of doing something about it. I especially hate when the person complaining is me; thus i'm trying hard to not be that person. Identify the problem, then find a solution.

What am i prattling on about? Well...ok, i just deleted a paragraph about social life and related nonsense. Allow me to skip the boolstrology get to the root, which is this: I don't want to be alone anymore. I'm not cut out to be a single guy; i really hate it, and i've never been any good at it. I'm surrounded by people who seem to have had no trouble with finding their partner in crime; i ought to be able to as well. The ideas i've tried have failed, so i need new ideas.

So here's the deal: If anyone is reading this and has any suggestions, i would love to hear them. I know that in the past i've tended to be resistant, responding with "Oh, i don't know" or "No, that'll never work." So this time, open mind. I'll try anything you suggest (within reason) unless i've tried it already and it didn't work out.

Thoughts?

Please help us defeat Prop 8

Hi!

Most of you know that i hate politics and i hate soliciting. The only reason i'm spamming you now is because this particular issue scares the hell out of me. Please read; i'll keep it short.

Earlier this year, the California supreme court ruled that same-sex marriages are legal. Yay for progress! But now we have Proposition 8 on the ballot which, if passed, would ban same-sex marriage by putting discrimination directly into the CA constitution.

Unfortunately the proponents seem to be winning, thanks to a successful campaign of scare tactics and lies (i'm not exaggerating). A lot of people are falling for this. Even worse, they're contributing a LOT of money which is funding a barrage of misleading ads.

I am asking you to please help us fight back, even if you don't live in California.

- If you live in CA, please vote NO on Prop 8 on Nov 4th.

- If you do not live in CA, maybe you could help spread the word by talking to friends or family members who do live here.

- I *really* hate to ask for money, but that seems to be making all the difference. If you could spare even a few dollars, every little bit helps. Donations are accepted at http://www.NoOnProp8.com/ .

- Feel free to add a banner to your blog or email signature; lots of nice banners can be found at http://keepmarriagelegal.com/ .


Lots of great info can be found at http://www.NoOnProp8.com/ , or feel free to ping me with questions or comments.

Thank you,
-Neilam

Seduced By The Opening Act

Amorphis with Samael & Virgin Black
10/12/2008 - Slim's - San Francisco, CA



I love surprises.

The atmosphere inside of Slim's struck me as soon as i passed through the doors. Gone was usual sea of bodies packed in like sardines; the venue's population was much sparser this night. The back half of the floor was set up with tables (!), and the place actually felt like a low-key bar with a dark and mellow tone set by the music. Oh, the music!

Virgin Black were on the stage, bathed in warm red light, playing low and slow; rich melodies dripping with dark energy and emotion. Listening to the songs on their myspace page does NOT do justice to this amazing band. Their live show captivated me.




I'm not sure how to categorize these guys; doom metal, maybe, with elements of symphonic and black metal. Much of their music is dark and introspective; gothic landscapes painted with orchestration and choirs. But they also pick it up at times and rock hard. Rowan London performs lush vocals ranging from beautiful operatic singing to low shrieks and sustained growls, each style fitting the songs like a puzzle piece.




I was also intrigued by their guitarist, Samantha Escarbe; her face was covered by her hair for most of the set (even as she rocked out) adding a mysterious allure to her presence. (Also reminded me a little of Samara from The Ring). Solid guitarwork. I later found out that she and London are the founding members and primary songwriters of the band.


i think she's cute


I felt like i'd been transported to a faraway land. As their set ended and i faded back into reality, i knew i'd discovered another gem. I actually met London briefly after the set, but i was too rattled to say more than "Great set; i love your vocals!".



...

I don't have much to say about Samael, who took the stage next. Pretty good as an industrial metal act, but i had to dock points because of their faux drumming. Most of the percussion was programmed, but their synth guy had half of a drumkit (a snare, a few toms & cymbals) next to his keyboards which he'd peroidically wail on. LAME. I mean i'm down with electronica, but if you're going to have three guys playing guitars on stage, you should hire a touring drummer as well.




I was also annoyed because the afformentioned fight club started up under the guise of a mosh pit. News flash, assholes - if there are only 4 of you and everyone else is clearly pissed off at your assholery, then you need to take it outside. Moshing requires crowdsourcing; willing participants not only inside the pit, but also forming the circle wall and surrounding buffer. Since i wasn't really feeling the band anyway, i found a new perch at the bar and watched the rest of the set from there.

...

Amorphis rocked the house. Melodic death metal band from Finland, they're yet another act who manage to balance rich melodies and heavy riffing, with vocals split between singing and growling. Their vocalist, by the way, wears an impressive set of dreadlocks that hang almost to his knees. And he wields an old-shool, announcer-style microphone. Nice.




I only recognized a handful of their songs (the ones from "Silent Waters", their latest), but i really enjoyed the set, especially some of their older stuff. I actually picked up one of their EPs when i was in college (from the cheap-o bin at a cd shop in East Lansing); i did like it but didn't get into the band past that. Now, many years later, i end up picking up their latest album after randomly hearing a song on a sampler collection, liking it enough to want to see them play live, and being inspired by the show to go back and check out some of their stuff between then and now; funny how things play out sometimes.






...

Great night, all in all. Amorphis definitely fired me up the most, but i'm still haunted by Virgin Black. I listened to a lot of their music online today, and picked out a couple of albums to start with.

And thus ends the current leg of my 2008 concert marathon - 6 shows in 6 weeks. It's been a lot of fun, but rather exhausting, so i'm looking forward to having a few weeks off before my next show. Then again, Iced Earth is playing next week, and Apocalyptica the week after that; even though neither are tier1 bands (yet), both are rather tempting. Hmmm.

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...")

...

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


...

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).





...

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.

Metal Tuesday

First, i want to acknowledge that yes we're in a lot of trouble right now, but i don't have anything to say about the market/bailout/stupid-politics that hasn't already been said. So on to a topic which is heavy in a different way:

Today is METAL TUESDAY!! \m/ New releases from no less than THREE of my bands!

	Trivium - Shogun One of my white-tag bands; i've been eagerly awaiting this album for a *long* time!
	Amon Amarth - Twilight Of The Thunder Gods Viking death metal titans from Norway (i'm seeing them in concert this Friday!).
	Bleeding Through - Declaration The newest addition to my world, thanks to their awesome live show last week.

So i usually just order from Amazon or CM Distro, but since this is a special occasion (and we wants them now!) i decided to just hit a local Best Buy on my way to work.

I have to say, the Best Buy in Champaign is vastly superior. I've gone there on plenty of Tuesdays looking for a new album, and they'd always have a huge table covered with all of the new releases. Stacks of shiny new cds and dvds nicely lined up for easy browsing; you could march in, snag what you're looking for within 10 seconds, and be on your way.

The Best Buy here? Had no such table. Even worse, my cds were neither on the regular cd racks nor the "New Releases!" endcap (did i mention that Best Buy Champaign stocked both of those locations in addition to the big table?). I finally found a shelving cart tucked away in one of aisles and managed to dig through and eventually find what i wanted.

On the plus side, the cashier didn't ask for my phone number nor offer me 6 free issues of Sports Illustrated.

Cranked up the first few tracks of Trivium in the car and absorbed the rest at work...MAN it's a great album! Even better than "The Crusade", i think. I'm really digging the new Amon Amarth as well. I'm inclined to agree with the reviews i've read which mention that you're not likely to find any surprises on an Amon Amarth album, but they're so good at what they do that it doesn't matter. I think each album has sounded even richer and catchier than the previous one, and they've even started throwing in some nice guitar solos. Also for this album they invited guest musicians for several of the tracks, including Apocalyptica (heavy metal cello players).

I'm saving Bleeding Through for the drive home.

\m/