The Compact Reveiw Of Boredom

[Below, in it's entirety and unedited, is a comment posted on songfacts.com about Rush's "La Villa Strangiato. To see the original, you may follow the link HERE. -Ed.]

This not only discribes in detail what La Villa Strangiato is all about, but also what Neil Peart and the world is trying to tell you (no joke)! The best way for me to prove to you what I say is true is by trying to apply/relate all messages you don't generally understand to this concept(from Ray of light by madonna, to Imagine by John Lennon, to one by U2, to "In This Moment" (american idol finalist song, not to mention all the rest of the songs on the final), all the way to ancient stories from the Summarians. Hang with me now for just a sec. longer Ready? OK then... Rush 1978 Tour Set list (exact order) -OR- (more to the point) The History of ManKind by Neil Peart (think college thesis/genus/Neil Peart)

I. Anthem (First song/Intro/thesis statement literally)
A. Ann Rynd - Illuminati advocate. Girlfriend of the head of the Illuminati @ the time of publishing
B. Ann Rand advocated rational individualism which is considered a political and ideological philosophy. (think rationaly for yourself and do not believe religions of the world).
C. Its all inside of you already. The light (its called a photon and yes, its a real thing in your body)

II. Bankok
A. Open your mind for whats comming...Self explanitory

III. By-tor and the Snowdog
A. Think By-tor as a metaphor for the human races struggle with this duality on earth, and the snowdog represents the current illuminatti (those that have ruled our planet as the elites sinse the last turn of the Galagtic Equanox (which the last galactic equanox was from Fall to WINTER). Thus we're currently in a long cold winter (snowdog). But not for too long folks, if you can read this, you will probebly be here because, brace yoursef... Neil and I believe that 21 December 2012 (21.12.12) is the time when man will break his karmic duality and finnally become one with the light and universe as we go through the...wait for it....The Photon Belt! If it sounds heavy, it's because it is relly heavy my friend. Any jaws on the ground? It gets better....
B. By(as in Bi or 2)/ Tor (as in torn apart) 1. Bytor is a metaphor for mans duality which is split currently between Love and Reason (Hemespheres)(2).
C. By-tor is actually good throughout the whole story (people just get confused when he says By-tor is the Knight of darkness. If you notice (I seriously just checked for the first time right now),Knight is spelled with a "K" in the song, not night as in night time (theres the anwser to an ancient Rush mystery for most. Bytor has always been good! Bytor is thus a Knight w/in the darkness. Thats right folks, hell on earth and we're (humans) represented by Neil as By-tor, the light, a knight (good)...So, By-tor (Good) VS Snowdog - Winter equanox (Evil). GOOD VS EVIL, right here and right now. For real. Just look at all Rush Lyrics now, and for that matter the doors (children of the sun) Sabbath (children of grave), etc, etc, etc..... Next song...

IV. Xanadu
A. By-tor, being the last of the immortals (from the last spin through the Photon Belt), looks for his homeland after the great last earth change in the "caves of Ice" (think ancient technology, crystals, etc). By the way, hes praying for the light (to come back that is).

V. Something for nothing
A. neil is trying to say that the journey is long and hard, and that you can't get something for nothing, you have to activly look (and I did...)

VI. The Trees
A. Easy, its a metaphor for us vs them (Us and Them is also about the same thing by Pink Floyd) We are the maples (humans), but the Oaks are taking up our light ( a genus metaphor for the Illuminattis coviering of the secret to the masses, thus dening us the light (Photonic energy form the sun). (sun worship) Anyone seeing this???

VII Cygnus X1 (the god of balance in Hemespheres)
A. About going into the abyss/ether/eternal in a graphic Galactic way.
B. The message is that we will ecliplse this body through the great unknown. BTW Cygnus is a real Black hole discovered in the 70's, debated by Steven Hawkin that it wasent a black hole and he placed a bet on it thinking it was an object of some sort. He paid up in 1990. It was only then proven a black hole in the 90's. Neil knew in 77 when he wrote it. Wha? Ummmmm, yes. I dare you to look it up in Wickapedia. Then look up the date of Cynus X1...Any takers yet?

VII Hemespheres
A. Honestly by now it should be completley obvious the whole song. You just now have to make the jump to its really real. Investigate....
B. If you must know, basically man becomming 1 (a perfect sphere). Ya catchen this yet? Im giving you the key people to Leanardo, Picaso (sacred geometry), Jesus, Fraud, Pink Floyd, all religions, whats going to happen in 4 years...yes.

IX Closer to the heart
Everyone has thier place. We all must do our part. still laughing? As Neil says, we'll see whos laughing last. -Best I can, fly by night.

X A Farewell to Kings
A. The Illuminati are "beating down the mutitudes, scoffing at the wise" (me, neil, alot of people)
B. We need to get "closer to the heart"

XI La Villa Strangato
Finally made it to the song w/ no lyrics! It does have a clear meaning though. Look at the number in the Paper (oh ya, and set list). Oh crap! Its XI. come on....As in Cygnus X-1. OMG Yes. Remember Cygnus was explained clarly as shredding the body, and becommming one with the universe/Galaxy/Infinate. If you look at the progression up to this point in the paper/setlist, you'll notice that it is anwsering the question, what happens after we take care of the kings (bloody revolt against Bush), well, heres your anwser. And just to prove it, its liteerally maked XI (the 11th song in the setlist) (cygnus). Anyone shaking thier head in disbelief yet? If you get this, you should be pretty freaked @ this point.

XII 2112
Do I need to say anything? Tough! Not going to happen, all you have to do now is listen.
Note on the following song after 2112, "The Twilight Zone" (not in 78 set list). You have the key now, go unlock the door kid (Twilight Zone, 1st song 2nd side immediatlly proceeding 2112.) Common....He's saying welcome to our little secret we both now understand, and you're going down the biggest, craziest rabbit hole you have ever been down in any lifetime ever, PERIOD. Can anybody see any way this could not be as I say? You're crazier than I am then. So then you may ask, how can we achieve this task of evolution/ Revolution for real? XII Bastille Day A. Again, like everything, a real episode in history. The French Revolution. He's saying Revolt when the time is right, and don't stick you're head in the sand around...this very time and moment your reading this. If this is all new to you, I challenge you to think of anything remotely close that fits absolutly everything he writes...And hes presented it in thesis form in chronological order live to the masses - I love Rush. Period. I cried when I got all this. It hit me hard. I don't care if you laugh, its what alot of people believe including myself. So, how do we win the Revolution?

XIV. Working Man
A. Thats right, the everyday working class joe. (Tom Saywer, Digital man,etc...) Thats how we get it done, through good ole hard work (like what Im doing right now). So how can the everyday man achieve this?

XV In the Mood
A. Thats right, get in the right frame of mind, clear those chakras, quit smoking (I did emmediatly, no kidding, I feel great)and most importantly, find your soul mate. Or...Your other half. It will help in the transition according to basiicaly everyone that talkis about these things. Makes sense though, literally become 1. Also solves that little problem of duality (ever wonder what the mona lisa is? Leanardo as a man and woman, a perfect sphere of humanity) thats what its about and thats why hes laughing right at you! Who knows whats really going to happen when DNA mutates (look it up, its occuring to all sea life right this very second). mutations all over the globe.

XV Drum Solo (conclusion)
A. Its signifigant to note that there are no words (sybolic of the comming age). As far as I know, there has never been a drum solo to close a show other than this tour. Just pure rythem (and light), where were going. Its kick ass and powereful and perfect...Just like a Neil Peart drum solo. If you are still unable to see this, your just in denial. Seriously. If you do see it, you'll be suprised at everything that will now relate directly. All Art, Music, and Science point directly to this time and this classic struggle. Its just alot more real than people realize. If I have helped just one person see the light (Photon), this has been well worth it. Don't cover your eyes to the obvious people, like Neil says "ya got nothin to fear but fear itself". Wake up now....Its beautiful when you do, you will bloom like a rose my friend w/ no fear what-so-ever. I promise. Just the opposite of controlling religions. Freedom VS Control. Good VS Evil The Bigest event in all of human history. The Revolution will not be televised people.

Sincerly. Scott
Austin, MN

June 23 ~ Ed McMahon, 86 ~ No formal cause (attributed to numerous health problems)
June 25 ~ Farrah Fawcett, 62 ~ Anal cancer
June 25 ~ Michael Jackson, 50 ~ Cardiac arrest

# I've recently become a big fan of dot-gridded paper. All the convenience of both graph and lined at a fraction of the obtrusiveness! Hooray.

# The Squid House is dying come September and I have not the slightest fuck of an idea what I'm going to do. I have a couple a sort-of-options, but I kinda wanna try maybe living alone, just cause I've never done it before. That being said: if some affordable housing doesn't open up, I am seriously considering living with my mom (for a bit a least); which for some ungodly reason, doesn't actually sound all that bad. Does this mean I've given up? Maybe. Then again, not being tethered to a lease, I could travel? I have no clue. Right now I'm just focusing on Best Summer Ever: The Sequel!

# MEDIA: Caught up on Lost¹, watched Primer; McCabe & Mrs. Miller; Bad Company; TimeCrimes; Quigley Down Under² and Open Range. All entertaining (TimeCrimes was the weakest of the bunch). If you couldn't tell, I'm on a Time-Travel/Western kick. Did I mention how much I liked Appaloosa (which I saw some time ago)? There, I just did. "He is VIGGO!" ... Maybe next I'll watch Little Big Man with Demolition Man OR The Jack Bull with Freejack OR the Dollars Trilogy with the Back to the Future Trilogy OR...you get the idea.

Broken Flowers, which I found kinda unimpressive. Bill Murray-- and a lot of the cast for that matter-- seemed underutilized (Tilda Swinton for example). But worth a viewing if for nothing but the leisurely pace of the narrative (which I like about Jarmusch). Jeffrey Wright was good (I totally forgot he was Basquiat AND is in the new Bond movies). Probably best viewed with High Fidelity, preferably, after a fussy break-up.

Eagle vs. Shark, which constantly-- and unfairly imho-- gets compared to Napoleon Dynamite. Sure, both take place in (or at least some weird world stuck-in) the late-80s/early-90s, but Napoleon Dynamite is actually OVERTLY (that is to say self-aware/"on purpose") funny, and sets its protaganists in high school, so a lot of the immaturity makes sense/can be forgiven; whereas Eagle vs. Shark is more of a weird dramedy, were you get to watch a good-hearted-- albeit a bit naive-- women (played here by Loren Horsley; looking a bit like a x10 more timid version of Sebastian, an old partner of mine) fawn, then weep, then "fix" (though NOT REALLY), an obtuse man-child. At least 2/3 (maybe more?) of the movie is actually pretty depressing, as you just get to sit and watch everyone stagnate in their own juices for a while. Then *spoiler alert* the negligente, lying jerk gets the girl! Just for showing up at the bus stop with flowers! Whugga? ... That being said, I enjoyed it. Seemed like the Lily/Jarrod relationship had some similar comic cues as Bret/Jemaine (see Flight of the Conchords); and I don't mind those Kiwis' off brand of humor.

You Don't Mess With The Zohan. *sigh* I don't even wanna talk about it.

# Two growing trends I'm frustrated with: (1.) The return of dancing/working-out programs-- i.e. Core Rhythm; Turbo Jam (yes, it REALLY IS called "Turbo Jam"). Maybe they never left and I haven't been paying enough attention, but when your up at three in the morning and there's nothing good on PBS, you end up seeing a lot of weird shit³. (2.) Zombie survivalist (see: Zombie Squad, and anyone else heavily inspired by the writings of Max Brooks). Okay, this isn't really a recent trend, cause Z.S. has been growing steadily since '03, but let me just say: I'm so glad horror enthusiasts, sci-fi fans and gamers could jump on the gun-totting, governmental-collapse, civil-order-in-ruins, hard-right/libertarian survivalist bandwagon? While making it "more pretend"/to their liking. It's nice we can all be so cheeky and clever about the End of teh World! *blargh* Get a REAL militia you nighsayers. Your a cheap-cloak and feather-hat away from L.A.R.P.ing (but maybe that's the point?)! ... If you've spent anytime on some of these survivalist forums you'll realize that like everything else that is talked about in excess-- be it track bikes, muscle cars, moleskine notebooks or raw denim-- it all gets pretty ridiculous. And when some kid is posting pics of himself in riot gear holding a shotgun and a machete; going on about his Remington Model 870 and all the M.R.E.s and ammo he can stuff into his "bug-out bag"...well, now THAT'S ridiculous.

I suppose my main criticism lies in people doing too much strategic preparation rather than physiological preparation. Not to mention the focus on fire-power, it being a zombie enemy and all (now you must choose: ammunition OR food!? *hahahaha*). I mean, sure, it's all a metaphor for social collapse blablablah, but if/when that happens, WHO DO YOU THINK the "enemy" is going to be then? Do you know what kind of disaster your prepping for exactly? ... Let our saving graces be those latchkey kids who grew up playing way too many first-person shooters⁴ and who happen to own a copy of the SAS Survival Handbook? *yikes* ... That being said: I 'spose I can't really bad mouth disaster preparedness. And I have been thinking about making a trip out to the gun range. ... And I realize every generations deals with Apocolypse pangs in its own way, but man, we sure as hell love to see the world go to pieces don't we (as long as it doesn't ACTUALLY go to pieces)!? We're all just itching for SOMETHING to happen.

___________________________
FOOTNOTES
1.) I like how Jack's sole started reason for detonating the hydrogen bomb was cause he had a big ol' crush on Kate; and that nobody actually said the most logical thing, that: "Yeah we had some great times here and all, but remember if this never happened, all those people that died the last 6 seasons would actually, probably be alive (i.e. Boon, Shannon, Anna-Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Charlie, et al). So get over it love bunch!" But they've been doing a slow character assasination on him [Jack] since he got off The Island, we'll see if anyone actually even cares when they kill him off on the last episode (pure speculation people! But would actually makes sense considering he's the most lost person on that show *snap*)! Wow, I didn't realize I had so much to say about stupid Lost. Sorry.
2.) aka " Thomas Magnum vs. Hans Gruber"
3.) i.e. Straight to DVD movies like Con Express and-- what I at first thought was some sorta rip-off, but turned out to be an old Canadian crime-drama called-- Da Vinci's Inquest.
4.) Mind you, I am not making the video-games-kids-fantasy/reality-bad-for-you-blah-blah argument.

So about 15 years ago I used to stay up really late watching stolen cable on the hot-box my parents had; lots of HBO, Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV, USA Up-All-Night, et al. I had been looking on and off for this one short animation I had seen played between features on Bravo or IFC long long ago, having forgotten the director, and only remembering that it reminded me a bit of More (the Mark Osborne short) and involved shadow-puppets.

Well, while rearranging my room and going through piles of junk, I was looking through one of my big old notebooks of random facts, quotes, morbid newspaper stories, and miscellaneous media to check out-- things I wrote when I was about 15, like: "Delicatessen (weird foreign film)" ~ "1974 Dodge Sedan (Blues Bros.)" ~ "17% on high school graduates said they would punch themselves in the face really hard for $50" ~ "Blood Meridian (disturbing)" (though I didn't even read Cormac McCarthy till about a year ago)-- and I had written: "Chuck Gamble short film, cartoon shadow-puppets." And so, after some brief Interneting, I realized that (a.) I wasn't the only one curious for the last decade and a half, (b.) it was student produced animation presented at SigGraph '94 and (c.) it was on YouTube. I <3 Internet!


Yes yes, quite dated I realize (both in style and theme), but a least I found it *shrug*.

( Supplemental )

There is an interesting article in the June 2009 issue of The Atlantic about the Grant Study; a longitudinal study following 268 men who entered Harvard in the late 1930s.

“I mean, I can imagine some poor bastard who’s fulfilled all your criteria for successful adaptation to life, … upon retirement to some aged enclave near Tampa just staring out over the ocean waiting for the next attack of chest pain, and wondering what he’s missed all his life What’s the difference between a guy who at his final conscious moments before death has a nostalgic grin on his face as if to say, ‘Boy, I sure squeezed that lemon’ and the other man who fights for every last breath in an effort to turn back time to some nagging unfinished business?”

LINK

( +5 )

MOSCOW BALLET: "I would like to go to Russia, would you switch the 9? [...] I will call by the card." [Translation: Could you turn my phone on cause I wanna use my calling card to call home.]

The rest of the evening was quiet till I got a call about a fight on the third floor only to find two Russians play wrestling on the floor with a near empty bottle of whiskey rolling aimlessly between them. They spoke next-to-no English so through a series of simple gestures I got the point across that this wasn't okay and they have to go up to their rooms; which was actually two floors up (don't know why/how they ended up on three?).

I thought that was the last of it, but at about five thirty in the morning, one of the same dudes was sleeping in the hallway, on the second floor this time. He wasn't responding to my voice or my pokes or my shakes; the two responses I got were a mumbling "It's okay...it's okay", and him lazily flicking me off. I was tempted to call detox and be done with it; but I figured it might be a bit cruel: having the kid wake up, not know where he was, not knowing the language, and having no I.D. on him (he was in his pajamas). So I called one of the American escorts from his group to take care of it, which they did after about forty five minutes.

* * *
A FEW WEEKS AGO: Biking home from work, with wind chill, it was -17*F. The ride was surprisingly pleasant. The air was stiff [insert metaphor about, I don't know...rigor mortis...Old Man Winter...whatever]; but refreshing. Feeling little icicles forming in my scarf and scratching against my face and intermingling with the frost on my facial hair. Visibility diminished on account of my glasses fogging up every time I breathed. Nearly veered into a snow-plow adjusting my hat. Dodged the huge pot-holes in the road, packed with slush and going almost unnoticed. Got outta the way of some guy in a motorized wheelchair going against traffic. Passed a school bus with its hazards on. Didn't slow down for much, and was hitting all the greens. Went under the is-it-ever-going-to-be-finished-half-finished skyway connecting the Children's Hospital with its new parking ramp (I miss The Church). Had a poignant pause on 26th, wondering if anyone could still possibly be up and about in the house at this hour. Then I was inside, peeling the layers back, and pulling seemingly endless amounts of scarves from around my neck. Poured myself some wine, and got to catching up on stupid TV shows on the Internet.

That being said. The end of December was pretty miserably chilly; and I am very tired of being cold.

* * *
The Holidays went by without a hitch. I spent the night up in Fergus Falls, and had to come back to work Christmas day. My family never really knows what to get me, and I don't really want anything, so I got mostly cash. My mom did buy me a whole bunch of art supplies (more than I'll ever care to use). Floozy got me the Skulls book (from the Skull A Day people), which was quite thoughtful (and all I got her was booze-- blah). Also got: Knot tying kit, Phrenology card, and a palm reading poster. I bought myself a pair of new work boots; and I guess technically a new watch cause the one I had had for about four years finally died (cheap Vostok automatic bought off one of those venders that always lurk around Checkpoint Charlie). And... I think that's about it.

Expect a end/beginning of the year post in a few days (most likely to be slightly depressing). I'm just really behind...on everything...like, all the time. Keeping with the zeitgeist, expect number one on the list to be Obama! Doesn't matter which list it is-- new music, films, television, toothpastes-- Obama. *hehehe*

Hope your Old Year was swell, and your New Year goes well! TTFN.

"Do we get a free nights stay for taking gun-men off the street?"
"Uh...what? No, I don't believe that is part of our rewards plan."
"I just tackled a guy who shot a guy and killed a guy."
"Really? Where was that at, downtown?"
"Yeah."
"Shit. I'll have to read about that later."
"Well, give us a discount."
"Yeah, right. I'll see what I can do."

[Fig. 01 - The wisdom of Megadeth]
The cover band show went reasonably well. The crowd unfortunately started to exponentially diminished after Sabbath played, and the event itself seemed to sorta go on forever (I was at Mxxxxx for 7 hours...and in all, managed to finish a bottle of white zin., half a bottle of sake, and quite a few beers). When it finally got to be our time to play (around 3am), our spirits/enthusiasm was greatly diminished, and JV was really wasted. But once we started, our flights of metal fancy soared high above the crowd of 15-20. Queer punks flailed...the guitar was loud and brutal (in a good way)...MK took off his shirt...KK chanelled Bruce Dickinson (in all his feather pants glory)...and we didn't even screw up all that much. It was a good show. Thanks to everyone who came out, and extra thanks to those that stuck around (you know who you are)! What follows is a list of all the bands that played (mostly in the correct order), with my own snarky comments added. Sorry no photos (just the lyric sheet I stole from Megadeth), but I forgot my camera at home.

Roy Orbison - The long silver streamers backdroping the stage set a classy mood for the opening act. Everything sounded sloppily solid (which would be a theme for most of the night), more reverb would've helped (but isn't that my solution to everything?!). I did have a problem with the use of a lyrics sheet. You shouldn't need a lyric sheet to sing Roy Orbison, and if you have to read...you can't wear the sunglasses-- it was dark in there (then again, I didn't dress like Steve Harris, but I wasn't trying to either).
Robert Palmer - Mostly of a vehicle for semi-coordinated dancing with men and women wearing pink dresses.
Jon Nielsen Experience - Pretty much Chokecherry doing songs that sound like songs Chokecherry would cover...with a girl singer.
Velvet Underground - I was exited for this, but missed it (sorry DS). Let's just pretend that there was a person dressed like Andy Warhol dressed like a banana (I'm looking at you LL), shooting heroin and crowd surfing the whole time.
The Kinks - probably the most interesting band of the night, on account of their minimalistic performance (Motorhead did something similar, but with too much ironic gesturing). NV and LB knew their stuff, and were smart to be at a low enough volume, that you could hear the fans singing along ("Lola! La la la la Lola!"). The assist goes to GRD on the maraca.
Dead Moon - A few of the Chokecherry alumni took the stage again, and got the crowd a-moving! I had no idea so many people like Dead Moon?! The girl on back up seemed a bit unnecessary (sorry), and again with having to use a lyric cheat sheet?! But
definatly one of the top 3 performances of the night.
Black Sabbath - The Dead Moon uprising was only a taste of what was to come. As Black Sabbath took the stage...in pretty much total darkness actually. If there's anything drunk punks love-- and they haven't heard enough of it constantly being played at Hard Times-- its Black Sabbath! Beer cans were thrown, and crowds were surfed. I think it was during this band (or perhaps it was during the next one?) that some kid in a faded blue denim pants and jacket combo, and a tie-dyed shirt (yes, that is actually what he was wearing) picked up one of the recycle bins as he was being kicked out and threw it all over the floor; leaving a big pile of broken glass and crushed aluminum for us to clean up.
Suicidal Tendencies - two words: Circle pit.
Smashing Pumpkins - This had the potential to be the most hilarious band of the night; that potential was thwarted by the obscure song selection, and the general "rockness" of it all. I was hoping for "Disarm" or maybe "1979". This performance suffered from the people in the band perhaps taking the Smashing Pumpkins too seriously ; or at least, thinking they're funny in a different way. The singer did have a homemade ZERO shirt. And If I learned anything, its that "love is suicide". Who knew?

At some point around here, one of the bands seemed to take a long time to set up (not sure if it was the Op Ivy people though)...or at least it seemed like a long time. It was probably only like 10 minutes, but the place had 2 stages with all the necessary equipment, so it was a strictly plug-in-play show. Which can be kinda annoying-- as the tear down/set up time between bands is designed for chatting people up, duh. You can't do that when there's a group playing every 2 minutes. Thus, like others, I ended up missing some acts to go outside and socialize and smoke and what have you.

Anyway, there was a little impromptu dance party between acts once "Let's Dance" came on (natch). LL pulled me close to him and we slow danced at the chorus ("If you say run, I'll run with you. If you say hide, we'll hide. Because my love for you. Would break my heart in two. If you should fall. Into my arms. And tremble like a flower"); after which point he literally swept me off my feet (bride into the honeymoon suite style) and spun me around and around the dance-floor. I swear for a moment, time stopped, and it was just me and him and all of eternity--- splayed on the spit, like a stuck pig! Though it was probably a little cuter than that (in this metaphor: I'm the pig. LL is the spit. And the fire over which we burn is Eternity). Okay, I'm only half joking. I did feel a bit like the bell of the ball for a moment there though. We tots shared A Moment!

Operation Ivy - I remember being kinda of exited about Op Ivy (discovered via Green Day) for a few months 15 or so years ago. Yup. I'm pretty sure I missed most, if not all of their set *shrug*.
Babes in Toyland - Somehow BiT got bumped up on the bill even though they showed up late (which meant we played even later. So of course I didn't like them. Just kidding). I wasn't stellar, but it wasn't poor either...kinda blah. To be honest-- though they're local and indie-creed says I should care-- I'm not all that familiar with Babes song canon. I think I would have preferred Tribe 8, and maybe 7 Year Bitch.
Megadeth - Solid line-up: J donned an impressive Dave Mustaine outfit. The Joel played the roll of David Ellefson. And A was one of the 10 or so drummers Megadeth has had in the last 25 years. Though I would have liked a more "classic" set (i.e. "Symphony of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets"), the band delivered; and hearing some of Mustaine's solo work revamped for the viola was quite interesting.
Burning Witch - Fucking candles! Fucking cloaks! Two drummers! So much distorted bass! 'Nuff said.
Iron Maiden - I didn't see this band...I lived this band. *whoa*
Motorhead - Proving once again, that Hipsters like to ironically like metal. They dressed in leather. They played the song on an acoustic guitar. They even had a cute girl singing and playing a tiny xylophone. But sorry, I just could get in to it. Maybe it was cause it was 3:30am and I was drunk and tired; maybe it had something to do with seeing Scott Seekins bobbing his funny looking head up and down to "Ace of Spades" (his girlfriend was in the bad, he's required to do that). Whatever it was, I wasn't having it. I believe some peeps from Bah Bah Black Sheep were in this outfit.
The Stooges - Through some friendly prodding and quick wits, The Stooges found a singer (the kids working the door) and got to close the show. Like most of the other bands of the evening, it was a little sloppy, but a lotta fun (I wish I had had more energy, but it was getting to be pretty early/late). The singer didn't do much singing, and mostly just tangled himself up in the mic-cord and flailed around on the floor with his shirt half off; but hey, that's The Stooges for ya, right?

All in all, quite a successful night. After most everyone filed out and our crew was still deciding if and where the after-party was. I got to see the glorious damage done by the events of the evening. The floor, sticky and slippery at the same time from every assortment of booze known to man. An array of misplaced and lost items. The people that run the place were scrolling through some pictures on the digital camera they found on the floor, trying to figure out who's it was. I ended up going over to the ARM House after and watching the ever-so-shitty Van Helsing with some of the gang. Sipping lightly on what little sake I had left. Kyle left after sobering up a bit. LL and L slowly drifted into unconsciousness. Later, me and GRD had a nice talk (or I had a decent rant, depending on who you ask) outside whilst smoking cigarettes. Then I walked home feeling somber under the dim, wet sky; but reassured that everything is gonna be a right (eventually).

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: "Angie" - 7th | The K-Vos Sisters - 9th | "Bad" Jason - 10th. Stay born!

[Image c/o claylindo]

Towards the end of summer, when the dull sun's heat had lost its harshness, autumn began before it was autumn, with a mild and endlessly indefinite sadness, as if the sky didn't feel like smiling. Its blue was sometimes lighter, sometimes greener, from the lofty colour's own lack of substance. There was a kind of forgetfulness in the subdued purple tones of the clouds. It was no longer a torpor but a tedium that filled the lonely expanses where the clouds go by.
The real beginning of autumn was announced by the coldness in the air's non-coldness, by a subduing of the still unsubdued colours, by something of shadow and distance in the tint of the landscapes and the fuzzy countenance of things. Nothing was going to die yet, but everything-- as in a still unformed smile-- looked longingly back at life.
Finally the full autumn came. The air turned cold and windy; leaves rustled with a dry sound, even if they weren't dry; the ground took on the colour and impalpable shape of a shifting swamp. What had been a final smile faded as eyelids drooped and gestures flagged. And so everything that feels, or that we imagine feels, pressed its own farewell tight against its breast. A sound of whirling wind in a courtyard wafted through our consciousness of something else. Convalescence appealed as a way of at least truly feeling life.
But the first rains of winter, falling already in the now harsh autumn, washed away these halftones without respect. High winds howled against whatever was fixed, stirred up whatever was tied, swept along whatever was movable, and pronounced-- between the rain's loud outbursts-- absent words of anonymous protest, sad and almost angry sounds of glum despair.
And at last autumn coldly and greyly ceased. What came now was an autumn of winter, with the dust of everything becoming the mud of everything, but there was also a foretaste of the winter cold's good side: the harsh summer behind us, spring on its way, and autumn finally taking shape as winter. And in the lofty sky, whose dull tones no longer recalled heat or sadness, everything propitious to night and indefinite meditations.
That's how it was for me before I thought about it. If I write it down today, it's because I remembered it. The autumn I have is the one I lost.