Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Before I Sucked - Classic #1

I wrote this on myspace before I had an actual blog.  Links and pictures added for your convenience.


Thursday, November 01, 2007

So Vegas...
Current mood: tired
Category: Life


So I flew out to Vegas for the SEMA show on Monday. 3 days, 6 hours of sleep...pretty much the best business trip ever.

The trip started off a little crappy as I had to leave for the airport at 5am Monday morning (and I just got to bed a couple (maybe) hours before). Flight was normal...although I still say screw you people with peanut allergies! You ruined a good thing....pretzels? Come on. Pretzels are gross...maybe I need to develop a pretzel allergy so we can get some good snacks again.

Once in Vegas I ended up waiting in line for a rental car for over an hour and missed 80% of the meeting that I flew in so early for. Dang! :-) But hey, I showed up just in time for lunch...and Vegas deli catering is not your Hy-Vee catering that's for sure.

Nothing was going on Monday night (at least that I knew of) so I headed over to the Pinball Hall of Fame and spent many hours there (and more money than I spent on gambling!). I'm sure that sounds boring but to a geek like me, it was fun. After PHoF, I get bored and just start walking the strip collecting Hooker Trading Cards (I think I got some rookies and they'll be worth a lot in a couple years). Anyhow, just walking and meeting people and checking out the sites along the strip and all of a sudden I have gone from Mandalay Bay all the way up past the Wynn. It was quite a long ways to walk and it was 1am, so I just changed sides of the street and walk back. Lots of exercise, it felt good. I finally get back to my room in the Luxor and end up going to bed around 4:30am...so I had been up over 24 hours at this point.

Tuesday, meet the group for the SEMA show and work from 8-5pm...well stand around and answer questions. After work, I head to the House of Blues to catch Danzig! Opening band was Gorgeous Frankenstein (even though I couldn't understand what they were announced as at the time)...and my first thought was "Wow the bassist sure is a Misfits' copycat...wait a minute...is that really...Jerry Only?" It was. He came back on for the Danzig encore and they played 3 or 4 Misfits songs...yay Astro Zombies! It was cool and unexpected. Also opening were the Horror Pops. Very entertaining...loved the dancers in the skeleton dresses. I am not sure why but it was sexy as hell. Danzig himself still puts on a pretty good show even though with a recent shoulder injury and an arm in a sling, he wasn't quite up to the evil intensity that he has been before (also the bald spot didn't help, but I still say he is awesome). Pretty good mix of songs although no Am I Demon (sadness) or Devils Plaything (which I figured was a long long shot). Scared me by not playing She Rides until the encore. After that I hang out in the bar and talk to a few people and try a little gambling (I hate it, it's dumb) and all of a sudden it is like 4am again.

Crappy MM picture taken with my phone
Another day at the show but this one I am helping Jenny our booth girl run our promotion thing...so it wasn't too strenuous :-) but the day did take forever because I could not wait for Marilyn Manson that night. Marilyn put on a pretty good show. He mixed a lot of stuff around and completely changed the show and it was a lot more stripped down than his past concerts. Still awesome, just more straight forward rock without all the set changes (although there were still a few...I would have been pissed if he got rid of the pulpit completely, but it made a brief appearance). I was sad not to hear some songs like Dope Hat, Get Your Gun, or Angel with the Scabbed Wings, and many more...but I suppose he can't play all the old ones anymore. Heart-Shaped Glasses (the new single) was pretty darn good live. Oh and ended with This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas which was cool to see live.

After the concert we went to the Playboy Club and I drank...yes I drank two alcoholic beverages. 33 year streak of not drinking down the drain. It has been growing on my mind for a while and I just decided that I might as well do it now when I am happy and feeling good, instead of ending up drinking some day when I am feeling really depressed. OK people...alcohol tastes like shit! Seriously. I guess I didn't really care for it too much, so don't see myself doing it again any time soon. By the way, I had a Captain & Coke and a Cranberry, Vodka, Red Bull (on recommendation)...yep alcohol is just gross, no matter what you put in it, it still tastes like alcohol. But I lived...probably because it took me nearly 4 hours to choke down the two drinks (did I mention that I don't like the taste of alcohol?).  Didn't feel buzzed, didn't feel any different...maybe very very slightly more relaxed but that is even doubtful.  I ended up dancing with Jenny for a while. Okay, she was dancing and I was more flailing around like a spaz....but it was a good time none the less (hopefully she wasn't too embarrassed by my dorkiness). So back to the hotel, pack, and again 4:30am...oh well. Get a couple hours and catch a plane...pretty good Vegas trip (and definitely a great business trip).

Me, Jenny, & Jason - I look completely retarded & I hadn't even drank yet.
We were all doing our stripper show our cleavage moves, 
unfortunately the camera caught me in mid chortle.

4 comments:

kelly said...

Ha, funny coincidence. That HorrorPops video you linked was shot at White Rabbit, that place in San Antonio that I randomly went to on my first business trip for Principal back in '98. I heard a commercial for them on the rock channel I found driving to the hotel so decided to check it out as it was too late for my #1 destination, Taco Land.

So I get there, and it's not substantially bigger than Hairy Mary's and I thought it was going to be some local bands as there was no signage or any lines or anything when I got there. Turns out it was Drain STH and then unknown American Head Charge. Good show for $5 cover. Looks like they've had plenty of great shows through the years.

I heard that PHoF moved. Still on Tropicana but in a much less skeezy location.

If you wanna try a good drink, you should try one of Holly's concoctions. They don't taste of alcohol but I guarantee you will know you drank it after just one. Highly recommended.

Michael said...

You'll understand when you go on down to Taco Land!

Hairy Mary's/Safari had a lot of good bands in the day. My favorite example was Incubus with System of a Down opening...20 - 25 people there tops. Actually that might have been when you were in San Antonio now that I think about it. (June/July 98 I think)

Yep, PHoF moved and is in a much nicer location (from what I have read). About half as far from the strip and over twice as big location. Moved in Nov 09.

kelly said...

I am still bitter about 1998. Missing that deadfront New Year's show where they did Erase Me with Alexis really chafes. Which leads me to my bitterness about the loss of OaPH. Painful. Sad when you have to say that your favorite band is no more. Hello old age.

I mean, who else was there for the big East Side Maid-Rite show in C.R? Answer: No One. Besides all the tools that were there for weak RatM covers. I also could have done without that implosion show at Big Dogs when Jim got the SK call, though. Hmmm, wonder what the deal is with that town. Best show, in Saigon Kick ever, worst MM show, ever. History. Dichotomy.

Michael said...

You done fucked up in '98.

Remember the drummer for that crappy CR band at the East-Side Maid-Rite (I think they were called Mary's Window)? He had 1 electric drum pad and spent like 45 minutes setting it up and then programmed it with a single sound which sounded very much like a regular drum on his kit. What was the point of that?

Although the implosion show wasn't the best, it was still 100% better than the Post-Jim/Matt Sepanic era when they had a DJ scratch over all of Jim's solos and cool riffs. I wish I could get those couple shows out of my head. When will people learn that 99% of the time adding a DJ is not a good idea.