Last night was the Saliva/Drowning Pool show at the Varsity. It was a sold out show, and I'm still feeling the effects of that loud, late night as I type this, so please forgive me if I ramble. I thought it was another good show. I've seen both bands MANY times and they always have a lot of energy...I'd put it up there near the top of the times I've seen Saliva's performance. They even mixed in a medley of classic rock cover tunes including Tears for Fear "Shout" and Pink Floyd "Another Brick in the Wall part two." Every time I see them, Josey Scott is in a different mood,and last night he was meditating before he took stage. Whatever he did, it worked because he was in good spirits throughout the show. I'm looking forward to Sick Puppies on March 31.
We've been all over the map lately. Last Friday I MC'ed a battle of the bands at Denham Springs High School. It's always strange returning to my roots, but it was fun. There were 14 bands a gym full of screaming high school students. The old people there seemed a little confused when the bands would scream. That's rock'n'roll, baby! Then Wednesday, Dan and I went to HIS alma matter, Redemptorist, and spoke at career day. It was cool to see overpacked classes of eager students ready to hear our speech, but they didn't have a lot of questions. I'm used to answering a lot of oddball questions, but I guess they just liked our speech. It was cool.
At some point last week, I downloaded the new Nine Inch Nails CD "Ghosts I-IV". I really like the way Trent Reznor released this - no fanfare, no hype, just a link that appeared at nin.com with various payment options. You can download nine tracks for free, the entire thing (36 songs, two hours) for $5, download the thing immediately and get them on CD in a few weeks for $10, or if you have a lot of money to burn there were limited edition options. I like having physical CDs so I went with the $10 option. I will say that I disappointed in the $6.99 shipping and handling fee. Does it really cost that much to send a CD? I dunno. But I did like the immediacy of being able to listen to the track right away. Well, sort of. There were so many people trying to get them that it blew up the web site for a little while. I did eventually get mine....The music itself is along the lines of the instrumental stuff from NIN's THE FRAGILE... It's not something I'm going to throw on and rock out in my car, but it's something I can put on while I'm reading or doing something else. Unless you are a NIN fanatic, I'd recommend checking out the free tracks before buying it...but I do like the way Trent went about this. Kudos if you are reading, Trent!
I'm going to be taking a rare few days off this weekend to make a road trip to Atlanta. I take about three days a year off, and I figured this would be a good time before we get 100% wrapped up in X-fest mania mode, which we'll be in April. I've been to the ATL before, but never really had a chance to explore the city, so it should be a good time.
