Westward ho!

Hey y'all! I'm coming to Arizona for a little visit! I'll be there this Thursday the 30th and will be staying until the 10th of July. Those of you in Flagstaff need to know that I and the rest of the Charles Mingus Tribute Band, otherwise known as Pithecanthropus Erectus, will be performing Friday, July 1st at Flag Brew and Sunday, July 3rd at Mogollon. Anyone who is anyone will be there! That is all.

Word up.

Skiddly doo skank da slap-happy shizzle,

Fetching dogs' frisbees da man doth fizzle,

Changa-langa woop hoop da funky chunk slizzle,

Hippity bippity snap get the word out, my nizzle.



Drop it, chop it, skid it out da way,

Peeps call me da DooDoo and I a-here to stay,

Fresh shit, fat shit, funky shit I play,

Keepin it real in da Tallahassay.


Word up, bitches!

Trapped inside this Octavarium.

Well, the new Dream Theater album has finally arrived! For those of you reading this who don't know me too well, you must know I am a HUGE fan of this band! This morning I took a small detour on my way to work in order to scoop it up on the first day of its release. It was 9 am and as I approached Best Buy I noticed the hours on the door: Mon-Fri Open-10 am. Bugger! Luckily Borders is next door and it opens at 9. Ok, good so far. When I look for the CD they haven't shelved it yet so I had one of the employees go in the back and get me a copy. Therefore I believe that I was the first person to buy a legal copy of Octavarium in Tallahassee! I say 'legal' because I have read that a first-master copy has been circling the net for days now.

As I am writing this post I am wrapping up my second listening straight through. I believe it to be a very good album. However, it just doesn't sound like a DT album, at least not for the time being. I really am enjoying the new melodic twists they have chosen to use, and when the album gets heavy I hear the DT-ness shining through. I guess my two major beefs with Octavarium are that there isn't a really strong presence from guitarist John Petrucci, at least not in the solo arena, and that it sounds like a different band's album. I am missing the clear guitar-melody-soloist-leader aspect of DT's music from before this album, and a few more time signature changes would have been nice. I know this album will continue to grow on me but I am unsure as to whether or not Octavarium will live up to the Dream Theater legacy in the long run. Similarly to their previous album Falling Into Infinity this album will probably prove to be a sidetrack in the usually straight-ahead road DT has chosen to travel.

If anyone wishes to respond to my assessment, feel free to do so, but please be kind and courteous as these are merely my opinions and are not to be interpreted as fact, written law, or otherwise set in stone.

Turnaround.

It has surely been a relaxing and satisfying weekend. The most satisfying part of it by far is that I got my Mustang back! Now that my car has received its organ transplants it runs and sounds like its brand spankin' new. It should be so good considering the cost involved with the repairs.

I had Saturday off from work for the second week in a row. Feels pretty sweet.

This weekend also signifies the beginning of my new diet program. I say diet because it is the only convenient term for what I am doing. Mostly my new diet involves virtually eliminating all fast food consumption. All of that really really great tasting stuff makes me feel like shit most of the time and fast food is widely known to be unhealthy. Plus, eating that crappiness conflicts with my exercise regimen. It's counterproductive to my new health goals. So, we'll see how long I can keep my new diet going. After just two days so far I really do feel better.

Now I am watching more DS9 on DVD. Hell yeah.

C***** **n**** *r ***p** ** *h* ****l.

I think it is funny how most of my entries have occurred after midnight. The result of this gives an appearance that I am blogging on a particular day, yet it is during this time of each day that is typically considered the least productive part of the day by the majority of people. At least, people I know, anyway.

It sure feels good to be making some money again. Now that school is out I have been working 40s at Visionworks. To most people in the career world what I pull in each paycheck might appear to be chump change, but for this poor college student I feel like I'm rich! I finally was able to buy the Indiana Jones box set tonight. Aww, yeah!!

Groove, thank you SOOOO much for telling me about Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper(sarcast-tastic-ness implied here). In my humble opinion opening a 12 oz. can of this stuff is akin to opening a grenade-sized dose of LIQUID CRACK!!! It's so very, very, very, very, very addictive that it should be put on the list of controlled substances deemed illegal and immoral for the whole of society.

June.

June
Came upon us much too soon
Then was gone
Gone
Like the mountains of the moon
At dawn

Then the sun came up on a sleepy day
And never went down at night
And the crowd kept on singin' Waste Away
But it just didn't feel right
And the prince and the drummer and the fire girls
Couldn't get our guitars in tune
And I knew it was over when the sound man said
"I wish we were still in June"

June
Telephones in private rooms
Hot bath
Bathe
In the smell of the buzz' perfume
Man, I want to go back

Then the sun came up on a sleepy day
And never went down at night
And the crowd kept on singin' Waste Away
But it just didn't feel right
And the prince and the drummer and the fire girls
Couldn't get our guitars in tune
And I knew it was over when the sound man said
"I wish we were still in June"

And I knew
It couldn't be true
It wasn't free
It wasn't for me

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah etc.

June
Came upon us much too soon
Then was gone

Then the sun came up on a sleepy day
And never went down at night
And the crowd kept on singin' Waste Away
But it just didn't feel right
And the prince and the drummer and the fire girls
Couldn't get our guitars in tune
And I knew it was over when the sound man said
"I wish we were still in June"

And we knew
It couldn't be true

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"June" - as included in the liner notes of the album, The Kindness of Strangers, from the prog rock outfit known as Spock's Beard