Homeless......they're people too
If you live in a city of any real size you will probably see homeless people. Most of us just ignore them.
I'll admit that I have been in some cities and had some scary people approach me on the street. I know it's wrong, they are people too but sometimes you just don't want to deal with them for whatever reason.
I have also had some interesting conversations with homeless people. They have some stories that movies could be made from. Some of them entertaining and many of them sad.
I recently came across a blog written by
Kevin Barbieux who is currently homeless. Yes, he has a laptop and posts pretty much daily. It's an good read and I think you will see the homeless in a bit of a new light.
My blog has been reviewed.......ah....thank you?...
There is a blog titled
"I talk too much". [we're rude - deal with it] They read your blog and give their opinion. I was reviewed and it wasn't great but not a complete slam.
I have mentioned some metal bands in a few of my recent posts. It was pointed out that I need to "check into todayland". Hum...sounds like a new MTV reality show.
It's funny the bands I mentioned have been around for 20 years and STILL are recording new music and selling out shows. Fine, this music is not everyones taste.
Besides I have worked for other types of groups. Hip Hop, rock, pop and even country. Now generally when I'm touring I discuss the happenings of that group. Well, if you haven't figured out I'm currently off the road.
If you have ever been to a Smokin Grooves show in the past. I lit it and I don't mean with a lighter.
You can usually find me on the road with Five for Fighting. .
Alright enough of the resume. The list is too long anyway.
A couple people mentioned they didn't realize a "roadies" life was so boring. I never said it was it exciting. Don't get me wrong it is a great way to make a living. Money is usually pretty good. However, working 15 hours a day, sleeping 4-5 hours on a bus while travelling at night is not exciting. It's a hard life and most people burn out of the business after a few years. You have to have a certain mentality and drive to do it for a living.
The road is not just about sex, drugs and rock & roll.
There were a couple of suggestions for the blog which I will take into consideration.
Oh....BTW...thanks to
"I talk too much". for all the traffic.
Revolution.......and Mary
I was always a fan of music, especially hard rock and metal, long before I became a professional roadie. I grew up in the 70's listening to Deep Purple, Sabbath, Rush, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Zepplin and more.
Later it was Priest, Maiden, UFO and such. There was a band called
Queensryche that I heard about around 1982 or 83. I actually have their original EP in my collection somewhere. First time I saw them was in 1984 in a small club and they were supporting Y&T. Then again several times always as a support act.
Now the reason for this whole story is I was watching VH1 classic and they aired the Operation Mindcrime DVD. This of course was the entire album done live. Now it was actually filmed during the bands Empire tour in 1991 several years after it's original release.
I had the pleasure of being a guest at one of the shows on that tour. A friend of mine was the monitor engineer on that tour working for the "ryche". Another friend was working for the opener
Suicidal Tendencies.
Several groups over the years have been so far ahead as far as a live show. Rush and Pink Floyd musicially and visually were two of these groups. I remember the first time I saw Rush around 1979 and they had the video screens behind them, the lighting it was so ahead of it's time.
Queensryche took that and carried into the 90's will most bands were wearing flannel and stripping down to three or four chords.
Queensryche were and are very talented musicians. That tour in 1991 had a lot of visuals behind them. The two screens showed the story that the band was playing. Operation Mindcrime was a concept album. They had to play to a "click" and it was important that the set was near perfect musically.
It was a show that most bands could not pull off, let alone even try.
Now in 2006 they have released
Operation Mindcrime IIThey plan to play both albums in their entirety on the upcoming tour. The thing is now most of the big tours are using video, LED walls and other effects in their shows.
I guess Queensryche will have to rely on that musicianship.
This weeks renter.....
Please take a moment to visit this weeks renter
Haunted House Dressing.
I'm older......as far as wiser....that's debatable
Today is my birthday. The first one I have spent off the road in a long time. No big plans though.
How NOT to steal a SideKick II....or is this just a Paris Hilton screw up
I can't tell you how many times over the years that people have lost a cell phone while on tour. Especially musicians who seem to lose things all the time. Most of the time they get them back but on occasion...well..
It happens to everyone. There is a person in New York City who's friend accidently left a Sidekick in a cab. If you don't know what this is. It's the phone that Paris Hilton had stolen a few years ago. It takes pictures, does email all that high tech stuff. Hey, who says Paris isn't smart? Wait never mind.
So this person in NYC finds out that someone has the phone and will not return it. What is so great about the story is that the person who it belongs to has been able to track down who they are and where they live because they are using the phone. T-Mobile who is the carrier has everything on a server. When the stolen phone was used it sent the info to the original owner who had to purchase a new one. I know kind of confusing.
You can read about the whole thing here.
How NOT to steal a SideKick II.
This story has gotten some serious news time too and it only happened a week ago.
The power of the internet.
32 and your flipping burgers.... or is that the bandit
I love movies. Especially weird, stupid or unusual, the less mainstream the better. I really like indy films. About ten years ago I heard about this little film shot in black and white about a guy who worked in a convenience store. I heard nothing but how funny it was. The film was CLERKS. The writer/director was an unknown named Kevin Smith. I rented the tape and was hooked. I have seen and now own most of his movies. Well except for Jersey Girl which I didn't care for. I still like
Mallrats the best though. Jason Lee is great in this, very funny which is not to bad for an ex pro skateboarder.
Kevin no longer does indy films. Now he does big budget films but they still have that humor. Now comes the sequel to that original film
Clerks 2. Just check out the on line trailer. Jason makes an appearence complete with his
My Name is Earl mustache.
The Bandit would be proud.
Diamond Dave......or is that A Mighty Wind
Back in 1978 I was in high school. Around this time a new band called Van Halen came out with their first LP. At the time I was a big Deep Purple fan and thought Richie Blackmore was king. Well, I knew things were going a new direction as far as metal and hard rock. Eddie was new, original and the songs were so cool.
I got to see them in concert a few times in their early days. These guys were "arena rock".
I will admit I was disappointed when Dave left the band. He did put on some great solo shows with Steve and Billy in his band. Especially when he played those deep VH cuts.
Anyway, I was up channel surfing last night and happened to notice DLR was going to be on Leno. I never watch Leno unless he has a guest on that I really want to see. Hell, I've even worked with bands that have played the Tonight Show. I just don't care for Jay's humor.
I wasn't sure what DLR was going to do. I didn't even know he had a new CD coming out. He just recently was asked to leave his morning radio gig. So I watched and man was I surprised. His new disc is blue grass style. He did the song "jump". Yep you heard me right Jump done blue grass style. Here is the video in case you missed it,
YouTube - David Lee Roth on Jay Leno performing "Jump" Bluegrass styleI wonder what Eddie thought.....
Did you hear that noise..........?.....
It was the sound of the religious zealots sighing. Today of course is 6/6/2006...yep 666. The day the world was to end. Armageddon. Well looks like they were wrong again.
Ok I'm not big on religion. Not that I'm against it, I just think it causes more problems than it helps, much of the time.
So I was driving around earlier this evening, you know running errands. I decided to dig out some
+++SLAYER+++. I turned it up really loud just to see if I got any reaction. You have to understand I live in an area where a lot of people drive around listening to rap and hip hop REALLLLLLLYYYYY LOUD!!!!!
I had a couple people give me a weird look at a stop light. I should have given them the horns \m/
I miss the heavy metal days.
Who is that living under the stairs.....this weeks renter
I want to welcome this week's
blog space renter. Scooter's site has everything on entertainment. Please visit....NO..I DEMAND THAT YOU VISIT...GO THERE NOW!!!
Sorry for shouting....make sure you come back when you are done.
Trading music legally
It's turned cool and rainy so I'm just hanging around the house on a Saturday surfing the web. I came across an article about a couple of new web sites.
One of these is called
Swaptree and is currently in beta form. The site is designed so that you can trade CD's, DVD's, books and video games. You just create a list of items you are willing to trade and you will see a list of items that you can trade for. All you have to do is pay the postage to ship.
There is also another site called
LaLa which is similar but they will charge a small fee.
Neither site is actually in full operation but they go live in about a month. You can go to them and sign up now if you like.
New look
Ahh.....a new layout for the blog, I will be adding a few things to it. Now if I had something useful to post.
