metal show

I took saturday night off, which I almost never do, and went to the Brady Theatre downtown. The one they say is haunted. I got there at 6, which is when they say the doors open. There was a long line that went around the block but it was moving. The lobby was packed with people either buying beer or buying merchandise from one of the four booths or tables for each of the bands playing tonight.

I went in and got a wristband for the pit: a piece of paper printed with barbed wire. High on Fire was the first band. They weren't bad. Their name appeared on the video wall behind them. After they left the stage I went out, bought a $3 pepsi and joined the merch line in front of the Dethklok booth. After a lengthy wait, I was finally able to buy a grey t-shirt with black sleeves and a simple, uncluttered band logo on the front. $30.

I decided I didn't want to drink any beer tonight. Maybe that's why I didn't enjoy the second band that much. I didn't even know their name until I saw the poster the next day. Converge. I guess it was a picture of their album cover on the video wall behind them. I just remember that the lead singer was very expressive with the microphone, swinging it all over the place and throwing it up with one hand and then snatching it out of the air with the other hand. I was getting tired of standing and there was no place to sit in the pit.

Mastodon came out, finally! They played a trippy movie on the video wall with lots of psychedelic imagery. Their music was awesome too. I think the only Mastodon song I'd heard before was the one they did for the ATHF movie. They didn't play that one at the concert or if they did, I didn't recognize it. But everything they played was better than that and better than the bands before them. Then there was Dethklok.

They started with a funny commercial. I'd seen it on Adult Swim once. It was an ad for that Jack Black video game. The band came out and they looked a lot different than the cartoon version and there was only four of them instead of five. Every song had it's own cartoon with clips from the show as well as stuff never aired on the show. They showed the council plotting to release toxic gas in the theatre to turn us all into mutants, which later backfired. Facebones made a couple of announcements and there was a couple of band skits with some bathroom break humor in which it's revealed that William Murderface pees sitting down. All the characters were voiced by the lead singer Brendan Small at the end of the show. It was pretty cool to hear Pickles and Skwisgaar and Nathan Explosion talking about Tulsa. Never gonna see that on Adult Swim.

So that was fun. 2 best concerts of the year in less than 2 weeks: mc chris and Dethklok. Wanted to see Gwar, couldn't. Had to go for the good money at the PAC, loading in Little House that night. But I've only seen Gwar 4 times, so...

mc chris 4

I got to the Marquee about 6:45 or so. Paid admission and went straight to the merch table. This time I had plenty of money, so I cherry picked the 4 best stickers, got a hat and the 2 latest mc chris albums. Then I bought a beer and waited for the show to start.
The first band was called I Fight Dragons. There was 6 people, all wearing comic book hero t-shirts: guitar/lead singer(Superman), bass(Batman), guitar(Green Lantern), drums(Flash), keyboard(Thundercats) and a hot redhead chick with a power glove(Wonder Woman). They all played Nintendo game controlers as well as a floor pad thingy. Their music was kinda electronic and pop rock sounding. I mainly just liked looking at the chick, but the music wasn't bad.
Then Whole Wheat Bread came on. They kicked ass, just like the last time I saw them. No uniforms this time. I shook the bassist's hand and told him they kicked ass after they came off the stage.
Then mc chris came on and the crowd went wild. By then I'd had about 4 beers. I found a wall to hold up and tried not to have a headache. I knew all the songs he did and he talked about having a girlfriend, a new Adult Swim show he's gonna be in and a movie they're going to make about him and he joked about Oklahoma and crystal meth. It was cool. The Marquee was the main reason I enjoyed the show more than the last one. The Conservatory is a lot smaller and the lights and bathrooms suck. People were smoking joints in the crowd and not getting thrown out like in OKC. Also I didn't have to drive a hundred miles to go home afterwards.
I got his autograph again, this time on the cover of his latest CD and this girl I know took my picture with him. She works at Starbucks, so I'll see her tomorrow and give her my e-mail so she can send it to me. Hopefully it won't be so blurry and dark like the last 2 times. I'll post it when I get it, as well as any videos that turn up on YouTube over the next couple of weeks.

dinner with dad

My dad was in town this week. He bought me a new laptop as a late birthday gift and we had dinner tonight at Garlic Rose. I once applied for a job there and in my interview they asked me to name the five mother sauces. I could only remember 3 off the top of my head, so I didn't get hired.

This was the first time I ever ate there. It has a very nice atmosphere, but the menu was pretty pricy. The soup du jour was good. But then I ordered the Chicken Pietro. It was a little dry and the sauce was a lot sweeter than I would have liked. My dad had the pork tenderloin and let me try some. It tasted a little bit better than what I had. I'll reserve final judgement until I can get back there to try it again and have something else off their menu, but for a place that places such high value on the cooking knowledge of it's applicants, I was really not at all impressed.

Then we saw Zombieland. 3 words: Funny as Hell.

4.5 stars.

snarking out

It's all about these little ragdolls that accidently resurrect the war machine that destroyed humanity. Zippers and burlap with eyes and robot hands, running around in the post apocalypse. Cool animation and an empty theatre all to myself on a rainy wednesday night.

3.5 stars.

Dethklok is coming!

It seems like it wasn't that long ago that I had trouble finding their first album at any of the stores that sell music in Tulsa. Suddenly it seems like big concerts are popping up everywhere since the BOK Center opened last summer. The biggest one(to me) is going to be at the Old Lady On Brady, the Brady Theatre a month from now. Dethklok and co-headliner Mastodon will be playing there and I got my ticket just the other day. It wasn't cheap either, nearly $50! But it'll be worth it because I'm gonna get to see Nathan Explosion, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Toki Wartooth, William Murderface and Pickles the Drummer, live!!!

Friday Night

Scene: BOK Center, Dave Matthews Band concert.
The concert ends, house lights go up and the audience slowly begins moving towards the exits. A group of stagehands gathers near the back of the stage and begins to stuff black backdrops into hampers as the support truss descends. A couple of Dave Matthews Band fans make their way through the seats to this area and begin yelling down over the railing at the stagehands, who are busy working.
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "Nah, they already gave all that stuff out at the end of the show."
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "No."
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "What part of no don't you understand?"
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "How 'bout a chicken wing?""
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "Why don't you pick your nose and stick it straight up your ass?"
DMB Fan:"Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "If I had a drumstick right now, I'd break it in half and stab you in the eyes with the splintered ends."
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Satgehand: "How about a cup of coffee?" (Eyeing an abandoned cup of cold coffee and cigarette butts and thinking about throwing it)
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "Fuckin' hippy."
DMB Fan: "Hey dude, can I get a guitar pick or a drumstick?"
Stagehand: "Can I get security over here?"
Other Stagehands: "YES!"
DMB Fans finally decide to leave.

birthday boy

survivor

I went to work today and found out that all you can eat sushi has been discontinued. Finally. After nine months, I no longer have to dread 5-7 pm every night. It has kind of seemed that all you can eat has been less and less popular lately. There have been slow nights during the week. I've seen people eat two or three rounds and order another, only to take one bite and leave, full. That happens a lot. It's a huge waste of food. I see so many rolls go straight into the garbage, it's no wonder I find the idea of eating sushi less than appetizing.
I believe that focusing for so long on producing quantity has, in the long run, hurt the overall quality of our sushi. I think we even lost a few regulars, who didn't like the crowds that all you can eat attracted. Hopefully they'll start to come back. I didn't like some of the types that came in for the special. Groups of non-tipping teenage boys who all want to sit at the sushi bar, making dumb comments and ordering directly from the sushi chefs while we're slammed. Rednecks who don't want anything raw and don't think I'm Japanese enough to do their California rolls.
It's a season of change. We're losing one of our veteran chefs, our least experienced vet, and breaking in another new guy. With all you can eat out of the way, we'll soon be able to add new rolls to the Brookside menu. I'm considering resurrecting a couple of Tsunami rolls. The Baja, Cajun, JFJO, and Thunderbird maybe. I'll fix the ingredients and probably rename them so they don't sound so lame. Here's a list of possible names I might consider: The Dick Cheney, WMD, Bam Bam, Recession Roll, Freebird, FIFO, Hella, SBD, Victory, 911, iRoll, Tsux, Negativity, Hippy Krusher, Hanson Puncher, Pill Popper, etc.

end summer

Summer 09's almost over. It seemed to go pretty fast. I did fourteen shows in a row at the BOK Center this summer. That place is making me so much money. I'll bet In the Raw wishes they could say that. Some of the celebrities I saw in person backstage this summer: Dane Cook, Lynrd Skynrd and Paul McCartney. LS was at the Spirit Bank Event Center BTW. That's way out in Bixby. I don't like working out there so much. Long drive, no wifi, no snack machine, only one truck level dock, etc.

The sushi bar's business is stronger than ever, thanks to all you can eat. I believe it really saved the business and I don't think it's going away, ever. Thankfully, I recently got a second day off from there during the week. Maybe now I can start going out more aften and socializing. Lately I've just been coming home after work, tired and hungry. I usually go across the street to the grocery store and buy a ribeye steak and cook it up on my Foreman grill, eat and crash.

I haven't been on my desktop computer as much as before because I got a new laptop about a month ago. It is so much faster than my desktop, but mostly all I use it for is playing Sims. I got it set up next to the old computer, so I can play and surf at the same time. It's quite a distraction if there's something good on TV. I like to do all three.

So now it's time to talk about football. I won't bore anyone this year with lists of who I think is going to be good or not this year. I only like one team, and everyone knows who that is. It's a college team with 7 national championships from atown called Norman. I used to live there when I was really young. I think they'll win the national championship this year, like I do every year. If Sam Bradford throws anywhere near 50 TDs again this year, he'll win another Heisman. Those are my predictions. Maybe I'll do an end of year top 5, maybe not. I will declare a different NC than the BCS if it's someone other than OU.

And in weather, August wasn't as hot as I expected this year. I only swam once this summer, but I bought a new mountain bike and have been riding it downtown even on hot days to go work out at TCC. Today isn't hot at all, it's pleasantly cool and feels like autumn is almost here. I can't wait to see the leaves start changing color.

14 trucks

The dreaded day has finally arrived. I did this load in at the PAC almost a month ago and it took two and a half days. Tonight is the load out. It starts at 10:30pm and ends at 7:30am. Every year it seems there is a big production that takes a whole night to move out like this. Last year it was Phantom of the Opera. Before that it was Lion King , before that it was that Billy Joel musical Moving Out. I'm regretting not getting up there and seeing Wicked. I read the book a few years ago which I liked, and the sequel, not so much. Oh well, maybe next time, if there is a next time.

Inside of You

I finally watched this movie after saying I would for the last couple of weeks because one of the other sushi chefs at the sushi bar keeps singing the Inside of You song and they keep asking me if I've seen it yet and I kept saying I had it and would watch it once I got a day off, and today was my first day off since the 4th of July.

So I saw it, not bad.

3 and a half stars.

America...

Fuck YEAH!

USA

happy 4

chuck

3.5

City of Human Underground Dwellers

City of Ember

4 stars

RIP3

World's greatest sidekick, Ed McMahon.

RIP2

I'll always remember her like this.

I wonder if Elton John's going to do another rendition of Candle in the Wind for her?

RIP

idiocracy

Sci-fi comedy by Mike Judge.

Hilarious, almost as good as Office Space.

4.5 stars.

Trekkie

I bought a new bike today. It's a black Trek all terrain 4300 18 speed. Got it at Lee's just down the street and rode it home. This summer, I'm going to start riding it downtown to the gym. I'm hoping to sweat away 15-20 pounds by September. My other old bike project is shelved indefinitely.
I know i haven't blogged here much lately because a lot of things are happening, like my girlfriend stopped calling me about a month ago, I don't know why, so it looks like I'm single again. 2 of my best friends have moved back to town recently but i haven't had time to hang out with them as much as I used to because of work.
I bought Sims 3 for the iPod Touch. It's fun but not as addictive or fun as Sims 2 on the PC. I'd like to try the PC version of Sims 3, but i know it won't work on my computer because my DVD rom has identity issues. It doesn't know it's a DVD rom. It only plays CD roms. I've tried playing DVD movies on it and it doesn't recognize the format. I've bought Sims 2 Aprtment Life and it refused to install it because it is a DVD rom. So that sucks. I could buy a new computer but I refuse to do so until I've paid off my iPod. My dad says he's going to send me an Apple notebook as soon as he can get it refurbished at the Apple store. Hopefully it'll have a lot of memory and a working DVD rom so I can play these games. Sims 2 goes kinda slow on my PC. If it runs better on a Mac, I'll probably switch to Apple next time I buy a new desktop.

resistance is futile

Memorial Day movie!

I liked it. The Tulsa World only gave it a star and a half. I have to disagree, the action was good, and the plot made sense. I liked the really big terminators and the motorcycles. The little black girl was cute and the appearance of the Schwartzenegger terminator was a happy surprise in the middle of things. The ending was kinda unbelievable as far as Connor surviving that kind of heart damage for so long and then living through a transplant in the middle of the desert, but I'm glad they left it open to another sequel 'cuz I'll probably go see that one too. 4 stars.

Day 'n' Night

voyager

Next month is my 2 year anniversary at the sushi bar. It's kind of a big deal to me. I've never worked at any restaurant for more than 2 years. The closest I came to that milestone was at Tucci's. I have been a stagehand for over five years, but that's not a regularly scheduled, day in, day out, full time job. Sometimes I wish it was, mainly because it pays so much more.
So of course I feel restless. I'm used to shaking things up by now. I'll usually have quit or gotten fired by now, but no. The tips are part of the reason I can't leave. They're so much better than at Tsunami or even ITR. Plus I get that quarterly check for the rolls I created for the Brookside menu. Living 2 blocks away is the other reason that leaving is not an option.
I do think I'd be interested in a second restaurant. A part time job during the week, during the day, prepping in the back of some kitchen somewhere maybe. And less hours doing all you can eat sushi for so many clueless assholes. I once considered doing catering, but last time I asked Seth if he needed any help he said no. I wasn't really that interested anyway.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Summer is getting ready to start and I want to do some different things. I haven't blogged here much lately because I started writing on my blog novel again. It's over 25,000 words now. 50,000 is the goal, so I'm halfway there.
I could join the stagehand union. My dad said he's willing to pay the initiation fees, and I'd get an automatic $2 raise once I join, plus lots more calls. I should do that. What I'd really like to do is get a job down the street at the local fitness club, so I can work out for free. I could work behind the desk, checking membership cards and handing out towels. Clean equipment and rack weights, whatever. All I know is working six nights a week is getting pretty old and I'm getting ready to do something about it.

Weapon X

Guess what movie I just saw.

3 and a half stars.

Star Trek Episode 1

The Romulan Menace.

My favorite parts were the green chick Kirk was making out with, Kirk's hands swelling up while McCoy follows him around injecting him with stuff, Uhura really likes Spock, and old Spock doing an Obi Wan on Hoth instead of Tattooine. Best of all: Simon Pegg as Scotty! Most awesome Star Trek movie ever.

5 stars.