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.

Two Minutes Hate

Myspace Only

I hate it when bands or businesses only have a Myspace page instead of having a web page of their own. I understand if you are just getting started or in the twilight of your career...then a website of your own might not make sense. But anyone who is stable or growing should have their own website.

• Myspace can't be accessed through many places (like work or school) which makes sense, some webpages may end up getting blocked too. However, more than 9 times out of 10 a band's/business' webpage will not be blocked. This allows me to look up concert dates, business hours, menus, among other things.
• Myspace just seems like a childish way of doing business. It definitely doesn't come across as professional. Yes, I know this is my own bias. I just don't like always having to log into myspace to check what is going on with my favorite place. Logging into myspace leads to people wanting to chat and a rash of spam messages and friend requests...every time. I don't want that if I just want to check out when you open.
• For people who don't like logging into myspace often (me). I miss out on all your bulletins and news. Plus if I do log in, it gets mixed in with the rest of the clutter and again could be overlooked. I prefer signing up for your email list. That is sent right to me (and my phone), I can access on any computer, I can keep if there is something that I want to follow up on, I can forward to friends, etc...
• Myspace pages always have much less information than a personal site...and with the exception of the built in music player, less user friendly.

I think myspace can be a great addition to your normal business practices as a band/business. Low cost, friends, messaging, etc... I just don't think it should be your only web presence.

End Hate

Two Minutes Hate Tuesday

Myspace / Facebook

Yes, I have accounts on both (a necessary evil)...but that doesn't mean I can't hate them. I do. I think it is a great concept but I don't think it is executed properly and the whole experience just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. I don't really go to either much any more because I like blogging here so much better.

A lot of it has to do with the "friend" concept on these sites. It seems that for many people it is just to get as many virtual friends as possible. I want to keep it to a close bunch of friends, acquaintances, and people I find interesting...but others don't understand this. Just because I've met you for 5 minutes in real life does not mean we are friends, so why should be be friends on Myspace? I really don't care about you, any of your updates, or want to contact you. This is especially true for people I work with...seriously don't I see you enough?

Even worse than that are the random people that send you friend invites (I'm not even talking about the spam erotic site friend requests) and don't include a message or even worse have their profile set to private so that I can't read it to see if we have anything in common. They could be a murderer, terrorist, or white supremacist. I wouldn't want to be their friend in that case as I am not friends with those people in real life. I will often send a message asking who they are, why they want to be friends and if they have ever killed someone, hijacked anything, or believe in a master race. I usually don't get a reply...I guess you really wanted to be friends, huh? If I do get a response it is often like "I just wanted to be friends, sorry to piss you off. I thought that is what people did on myspace." It is...but I know nothing about you except for a 1" x 1.5" picture and that you have some stupid band quote in your profile (and by the way, I hate that band and I do not think you are an intellectual for using that quote).

I also hate the people that have songs start playing as soon as you load their page. That is so annoying. Not only do you have bad taste in music but you are trying to force it down my throat. I usually already have music playing when I am at my computer so I really don't want to be interrupted by your favorite little death metal band that no one else has heard of. I do give exception to this rule for pages that are maintained by bands themselves. In this case, I am going there expressly to check them out so I don't mind.

Everyone also wants to do their own layout and have their own backgrounds to express their individuality...which is fine (I guess) unless you have no taste (neon green lettering on a bright orange background) or if you are just going to download it from a site that makes page templates (that does not make you original, in fact the opposite). Not to mention, most people have no design skill and their page ends up more confusing than anything. Oh and black on black doesn't make you cool, tough, mysterious, or evil. It just makes your page hard to read.

Admittedly Facebook is better than Myspace in many of these regards but it does still has many of the same annoyances. Plus - I really don't have time to check out that virtual muppet you sent me (and I love muppets see previous post - send me that muppet in real life!), don't care about the virtual plant you sent me for my virtual garden (and how does that help the environment), don't want to join your mob war, don't want to join your fan club, don't want your virtual jewelry or cookies. I know you put a little time and effort into this and that was nice...but next time just send me a message telling me how you are doing. It will be more meaningful.

Don't get me wrong, I think both have a lot they can offer people. I do like how I can get updates about my actual friends but the whole package is just not for me...and yes, I have tried (I've even gone on a couple dates with people I met through myspace = horrible). I just can't stand these services for more than a couple minutes at a time and don't understand how people can spends hours and hours on them. I do find Mydeathspace interesting though.

End Two Minutes Hate