And goddamn the new single from Dir en grey is awesome. I actually have trouble listening to it because it's the most emotional I've gotten from one of their songs. Kyo's vocal delivery(tickles my brain) and that fucking pounding acoustic layer present behind the dueling guitars attack my senses.
Their remake of an oldie was in typical new fashion for the band. It felt like a middle finger to the doctors telling Kyo to take it easy on the voice. Nice.
------------------------------- "Love burns its casualties"
He kept rambling about New Jersey and being a Guido and something about somethingsomething-con '11. I lost him after registration. :(
First time I heard about this convention was way back in '07 from a co-worker who said it was being held at some hotel out by the airport. He went and reported to me later the good times he had.
Flash forward some years and locations.....and this thing has fucking grown something crazy! The Blob style.
They started adding imported music acts last year, I think, and this year they brought in Blood Stain Child to bring down Exhibit Hall A. When I heard that news, I was in.
Of course Maria always wanted to hit up the Dealer's Room for the off chance of there being a Sailor Moon treasure trove to be discovered.
[Chibi Sailor Moon]
Couldn't make it 5 feet down this massive hall without stopping and posing for photos. Maria ate it up. :)
I couldn't make sense of where things were. The place was badly labeled. From my knowledge there was only the registration area, the dealer's room, and the hall for the concert. Where was the other shit happening at?
Anyways, once inside the BUY BUY BUY room I noticed the Pocky and knew there had to be melon soda as well. I <3 the melon soda. Saw some and scored a couple of bottles. I was done shopping. Snaked around the room booth by booth picking up small and unnecessary shit here and there. I actually admired the "artist alley" part better than everyone else's typical shit. There's heart in that.
So at the "no-shit" last motherfucking booth I see a lot of Sailor-Moon-obviously-Japanese-vintage-merch. I swear I could hear my wallet start to wimper. Maria immediately goes to work. At one point she actually lifts up her Sailor Moon head and tells the lady at the booth, "This is getting serious."
Highlights
[Face-plate to some arcade game machine]
[Sweet ass rug]
EXIT
Take shit to the car and change gear in preparation for the conocert
While waiting for the event to start I notice this weird shit out the corner of my eye.
[Wait....that can't be what I think it is.]
[Holy shit balls, it's Tuxedo Boo!!]
This guy blew away everything there that night.
Blood Stain Child
Stage had a walkway that screamed rock n roll. Turns out their keyboardist had something come up and wasn't going to be there. So a touch-pad replaced him that night operated by Ryu, the every Japanese band's slightly feminine member. Good times. Lots of back and forth with the audience. Especially when G.S.R somehow knocked over his guitar amp head and they needed to kill some time while that problem was dealt with.
I thought they'd just play the shit out of their last album but the actually played some older shit. I don't know if I really dig this new singer though. Long live death vocals.
Once it ended it was time to line up for an autograph. Some of Sophia's fake ass hair dye dripped on my poster. She must have a 9-5 job back home. ;)
EXIT
Wendy's
fin
=================================
exist trace USA Tour 2012
I don't think I've had so many things planned then cancelled in my life before.
Back in December I heard exist trace would be at Tekkoshocon in March part of a 4 city tour. I was on board that train. At least the convention part.
Then it was soon after the glow from AGE QUOD AGIS started disappearing, word come that Dir en grey were going to part of some English metalcore American tour. Sorry, exist trace. Texas looked pretty fucking good. It had like 5 cities or more alone.
Then came more word of a solo appearance in Florida. Sorry, Rick Perry.
This was actually coming together beautifully. Show, Disney World, Show, the exist trace show at the anime convention made it back on my list of things to see. No hard feelings, right ladies?
Then shit hit the fan when I got refunded for the concert in Florida.
Kinda funny and sad to see the speculation on Dir en grey facebook's page. People actually thought the band has all butthurt after some comment an Asking Alexandria member made in an interview. Who do these fucking people think Dir en grey are?
So then my original plan became the final plan. Come hell or high water.
Down goes Zappos!
People fucking around again via the interwebs. This is why we can't have anything good, people.
...and we ring in MLK day with not a single or double, but a triple homicide.
Pisses me off that I brought out my trash only to remember later there's no trash service today and the bag is now riddled with holes thanks to the squirrels.
BUT HEY....
.....it's gorgeous outside.
-----------------------------------------------
So enough time has passed since the shows I saw in December. Enough time that the memories are starting to run into each other and I'm beginning to forget things. Better do this now or never.
TEXAS
Started off by getting to the car rental place at KCI 15 minutes before "fuck I forgot" opened so we could get our car. I always used Dollar in the past but decided to go the route of "fuck I forgot" because they were like 30 bucks cheaper than Dollar. I think they were new to the car rental scene. So anyways, the counter dude walks in shocked to see us there. "You guys must have had an early flight". Then he goes into the usual prying question. "Where you guys going?" Texas. "Uh, our cars don't go to Texas."
OH SHIT!
It was like a scene out of Office Space
Yeah, these cars are primarily for business folks and only registered to be in a four state area. Didn't you get the memo?
OUTTA THERE
Then we headed to trusty ass Dollar and used our net book to register a car for 6:15AM.
It was funny how the lady was pushing us to get the step-up from the economy because economy didn't offer cruise control. No thanks lady, I'd like the Aveo please. The car had the buttons for cruise control that I ignored for three hours driving because I thought they were disabled. Turns out they weren't. *Insert evil laugh here*
Lesson learned. Never use "fuck I forgot" unless you only plan on driving in MO, KS, NE or IA.
RAIN
RAIN
RAIN
There were maybe like two or three fifteen minute windows where it wasn't one form or another of the wet stuff coming down. I think I passed by 3-4 wrecks due to the shit.
HOUSTON
Finally made it to the same place we stayed at two years prior. Still had the same creepy ass elevator. Remember trying to find somewhere to eat at 10 at night. Only close option was the ghettofied McD's that had cops with two yutes in handcuffs across the street. Classy.
The next day we had time to kill before we needed to be at the venue. So we took are happy asses to the Houston Zoo.
Cat Scat Fever
The forecast for that day was cloudy with rain moving in by midday....and yeah, it certainly did. As soon as we entered the primate exhibit the sky opened up and it starting POURING down. The one umbrella between the two of us was no match for that torrential downpour. It was the longest exhibit in the world and by the time we stumbled out we were drenched head to toe.
We needed to change our clothes and what better place to go shopping than your local Goodwill store. Maria found one close by so we headed there and bought some shit and for some damn reason they didn't sell socks but they did have this sexy thing.
Next we found a Walgreens that only had these XMAS themed socks. Whatever, that shit's comfy.
Then stopped by a FIVE GUYS and fattened ourselves.
OFF TO THE SHOW
Found some cheap parking garage and walked two blocks to the HOB. Escalator ride to the third floor. Pretty awesome to have some protection from the rain. Some guy pulled me aside who recognized my exist trace shirt and gave me mad props and asked if I had seen them in Seattle. No :-/
Then the fellow opens his button up shirt to reveal that he is wearing the same f'ing shirt and tells me he was there. haha,
SMALL WORLD
VIP CLUSTER
Everyone's an expert.
AWKWARD / VIP
I think this was the one where some lady was wearing a red harlot's outfit that was all about the sideboob. I just remember the band members making comments amongst themselves and chuckling with each other when they saw her come up for her photo.
SHOWTIME
Typical issue of sound not being potted correctly at the start of a show, but man when they hit Lotus that's when it sounded amazing. The two-punch from Marrow was a pleasant surprise. Damn it was good. Funny moment happened when I caught myself saying OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD out loud when the recognition of Decadence was going to be played hit me.
I was wondering how the new songs would make the crowd react and I think for most of the middle of their set it made many NOT react. I can't blame them on TSUMI TO BATSU though. It's more of a performance piece. Speaking of performance, Kyo stole those shows both dates and what I hear from a Denver source he did the same there. This was the only show ever I've seen that they did not play The Final. Thank god because they played Kodou in the spot I believe would have been reserved for The Final.
Maria was next to this bad ass dude who was singing along the whole show which made the show one of the coolest yet. It was so much better than the lame ass whoops and hollers I do at their concerts.
Love that pouty foot stomp during his "last song" announcement.
Show ended and we stumbled into the direction of the car. The ground was nice and wet. When we were within a block of the garage me and Maria noticed that rare sight of money on the sidewalk. As we got closer I could make out the denomination of the bills...and they weren't $1's. They were $20's...and a lot of them.
BRING ON THE BAD KARMA
DALLAS
The drive to Dallas was short and sweet and we made it there around 3 or 4:30 in the morning.
The clerk had our reservation but said that we didn't have credit towards the room. WTH?! Here we go with the Karma.
The next morning I spent 45 minutes on hold before a Travelocity representative picked up. After another thirty minutes of back and forth between me and her and her with the hotel it turned out the hotel declined Travelocity's credit card. How the fuck?! Why wasn't this handled months prior when I paid for the damn thing. Craziest shit ever.
Anyways there was a shooting at the Amtrak that day. Another reason the government will trump up to install TSA at the rails.
Met up with Oregon's wild child Alex at her hotel and got to sit down and talk about her two week excursion to Japan after the earthquake. Her stories/pics/memorabilia were awesome.
We went to some Italian place she had been to the night before that apparently had an awesome menu but when we went there they only had five meals you could choose from. We learned they convert to that style of operation during the day. Weird.
VENUE
We get down to Trees late and play IMDB's iphone app to pass the time. Turns out I am horrible with movie knowledge.
VIP CLUSTER
?Blur?
I just remember seeing someone in a hospital bed in front of the stage.
ಠ_à²
SHOWTIME
Mic issues again. Kyo slams his mic down at the end of Hageshisa to...Then he comes back out for Obscure and beats his chest like an animal with the microphone. What a performer! Plays a little hide-and-seek with his jacket at the end of Rotting Root then rips that shit off for REPETITION. Ladies 'gasms commence. BEELZEBUB performance was mind blowing.
Standard good shit continues. HYDRA 666 was on fire. The phony ass trees in the place with the fog and Kyo's mask made the moment magical.
Love the intensity of the guitars in this song. Glad they played it.
POOF! OVER
Only thing I wish to hell they played was Decayed Crow.
Maybe on this upcoming metalcore tour.
We picked up some grub then dropped off Alex. Back at the hotel we realized we ganked her poster by accident.
THANKS
I decided to take the I-35 way back home. Forget that 71 highway nonsense.
Me trying to save some cash once again chose Frontier over Southwest to get to Denver. Of course some shit would come up. The gate next to ours was a flight to Vegas that boarded a half an hour before ours. We get on ours soon enough and the minute past our departure time I knew something was afoul. Apparently something was fucked on the Vegas' plane and the "higher ups" at Southwest were giving them our plane and we had to deboard and wait for the Vegas plane to be repaired. So we then find out our "new" plane had frozen water lines. Whatever that means and there's a chance we won't be flying at all that day. They then come back a half an hour later saying they can jerry-rig it somehow by using the laboratory's water supply but we wouldn't have access to the johns.
FUCK
but they gave us free TV for the 90 minute flight.
We land and then I make the dumbest mistake ever and go out the wrong side of the train at the end of the lime. At took like 4 trains later before I could correct the mistake. I've only flown to Denver like 10 times before. Jackass.
PARTY
I like catching her at her happiest. :D
PROUD MOMENTS
Pretty awesome how the graduation was on a Sunday during a home Broncos game aaaaand the convention center is down the block from the stadium. So driving for me was fun. I still beat Alicia's boyfriend getting there so I felt like a thug.
Shit was inspiring. But there was this family behind ours that wouldn't stop blabbing about the damn game. Sneaking out to find a TV somewhere and relay the score to others. Ended up God was taking that day off.
Quenched our thirsts later at this fine establishment.
END
Kinda shitty that the very next day was the Denver Dir en grey date.
I have been in a non-reading funk lately but recently I splurged at B&N and then at Half Price Books when Alicia was in town on some light reading material.
When you enter B&N on the Plaza the first thing you are assaulted with is some counter gal trying to sell you on their whimsical new paperback-killing device, the Nook. Now I've played around on Alicia's Kindle a few times but it's not the same as having a dirty secondhand paperback in your fingers. Plus it wont stop me from reading when the batteries fail. Another thing is that new paper smell...
Great part in this comic that I feel relates to me very, very well. -----------------
Anyways, Koontz's works can hardly be put down after starting them. Nothing changed with this one but I felt a little cheated on the length of this piece. See Book Four of the Frankenstein series was suppose to be the start of a new trilogy but according the cover of Book Five: The Dead Town, it is FINAL Chapter.
What the....
I went back and looked at the first two books in the series and according to them these last two books in this saga(PART 3&4) are falling a little over a hundred pages short each. I know I'm whining but come on.....I read this shit in two days and the story spanned what, less than three days as well. Enough setup time just to keep me with bated breath till I can pick up The Dead Town.
Maybe I'm just antsy for word on a new Odd Thomas novel.
------------------------------------
DIFFERENT SENSE [thanks for the hot linking Image Credit: natsuwat.tumblr.com]
Never before have I wanted so much to witness a song live.
Held back on growls, more whispers and they mixed a beautiful piano melody with swirling distortion & clean guitar. Multiple voice-overs left me in a trance. Drumming was light but thick, in essence, a fat bottom girl. The only thing I have against it is it's abrupt ending.
That kinda made me sad....get a grip Joseph.
The addition seconds were breathtaking/taking a breath.
OBSCURE
What the hell is going on here? Did not care for. I mean the first fifteen seconds I was like, Ah yeah...shit's going to be TOUGH!...then it hit the voice echo. Felt like there were gaps in the music...I don't know? Maybe live?
REIKETSU NARISEBA [LIVE]
The redemption track!
Tight and loud, you know this is where the band shines.
Friday was pretty busy. Had to stop at work to handle some issue that had risen during my absence. Found out some co-workers and friends had taken ill. Not good. Went to the bank, washed some undies and whatnot. Uh, I think that's it.
Being Friday, the place wasn't banging. Well, it never really is. Saw this guy and his wife that was sitting in front of us in the lobby move, to get away from my line of sight, and drop his keys. He didn't notice. I immediately picked them up and returned his keys to him. What a fucking nightmare it would be to lose your keys at the airport, especially if you were returning home.
The flight was pretty entertaining. We were in the back with this group of about eight dudes on their way to some bachelor party getaway. When we landed, the groom was suppose to crawl all the way to the front in order to get his "wings". I didn't stay around for that. The stewardess's were even getting on the intercom announcing all this shit and just having a blast with them. Out of all the airlines I've flown on, Southwest seems to the most laid back.
Now this airport was banging. Wish I got in touch with A. before I left so I could have gone to the Starbucks she worked at and if someone there gave her shit, give them shit or a thumbs up. Fuck coffee.
So we stopped traffic and got in Alicia's caddy and made our way to Parker. Every time I visit, the town seems to be getting bigger. Buffalo Meat on the Street
She's moved since the last time I've seen her. Haha, when I would talk to her on the phone I would laugh at her because she always sounded like she was dying walking to her apartment from the parking lot. Oh man, my out of shape ass about passed out huffing and puffing my way to her third floor. Sorry Alicia, I now understand. ;-)
Meet up with the man of the house, Big Matt, then headed out to a late dinner.
Wow. I don't think I've been here since I was 16. Very surreal when the waiters would jump on tables then start dancing and singing. Alicia said I should tell them it was birthday. Fuck that, I had had enough.
Had a bunch of samples and one humongous funnel cake. I was a mess.
==========================================
We dropped Matt off and made our way downtown. The Taste was messing up the traffic flow, luckily Cha knew the route ;-)
Found a comfy spot to park and made our way to the will call line. Ho smoke. It was a big turn out. Got our tickets and gave Cha and Mark the VIP passes. I wanted to share the experience.
Crazy, they were taking the VIP's in right when I got the passes. Close. Made my way to the end of the line.
Ah man, I'm waaaay back....wait!? Is that a Blockbuster? lol.
I think I ended up in front of the chick who drove all the way from Canada. The internet is unforgiving. I KNOW THINGS I SHOULDN'T
Do you remember the first thing you looked for when you got internet access??
I know it's all getting away and it comes to me as no surprise
I know what's coming to me is never going to arrive
Fresh blood through tired skin New sweat to drown me in
Dress up this rotten carcass just to make it look alive
====================================
VIP
Eh, heard it was good(the same).
--------------------------
Finally made it inside and found my way to the rail.....balcony rail!!
I had a secure spot with Alicia and Mark had himself a comfy spot in front of Die's rig. Cha got us water. Only $2!! HOB, with their $4 water. Wankers!
Sitting down on a barstool felt extremely weird and lame.
Evaline
I had been hyping up Evaline to both Mark and Alicia the whole time. "Oh they'll blow you mind with their energy." Don't think I ever found out what they thought of them. Well, I think Alicia was sick of the catcalls the drummer got after he took off his shirt. I'll admit, that was a nice looking chest and stomach.
Pretty much the same. Short and sweet.
Dir en grey
I had to get my ass off that stool. It was very difficult for me to concentrate on the onslaught that was going on onstage at first. Crowd was very distracting but in a good way. Finally got to spy on the shit happening in the back of the crowd. Some good shit.
Started off with Hageshisa to...
I thought, yeah this shit's going in a slightly different direction tonight.
A little later we got ROTTING ROOT. O_o
and closed that shit with Saku. Eat your heart out, city that got INCONVENIENT IDEAL.
lol....so anyways, Die seemed to be having some trouble that night. Really don't think they'll be using that roadie ever again.
THE GOODS
|ROTTING ROOT| GROWL!
|WATCHING THE SLAMMING| GODLIKE
|DIE WATER SLASH| AGAIN, QUENCHING
|STARING AT SHINYA WORK HIS SKILLS| A FIRST
|FINALLY TAKING ALICIA TO A DIR EN GREY CONCERT| Priceless and cheesy ;)
Soon as I took this photo it hit me, my ride was over.
=========================================
Apocalyptica
How does my sister know some of these songs. I'm out of the mainstream. The show was better then I remembered in Chicago. Stayed upstairs for about half, then made my way to buy some merch. Met up with Mark who said he had to get away from Paavo for some strange reason. He had managed to catch a Die pick.
At the booth some Mexican dude who was a little wasted was trying to speak Spanish to me. Que vas? That's all your getting out of me. Anyways headed back to the crowd. Man, shit's electric watching people enjoy a show. Loved it.
