So, what the hell have I been up to? Well, for one thing, I need to post on here more. It's tough getting online at home( I am at Cup-O-Joe coffee house), the house is in a total state of disarray with multiple home improvement projects, there is no place to set up to type. I can sit on the couch, but that is comfortable for only so long, the printer isn't near by, my lap gets tired, and my bum falls asleep ...blah...blah...blah...boo...hooo. Anyway it feels good to be online away from the chaos that is home improvement...as well as the ability to have supreme coffee on hand. This post may be long it's a run down of random things, but thanks in advance if you venture in and read.

In the past two weeks we've gone out and seen two shows. The first was on Oct. 28th and that show was Shiny Toy Guns w/ Jonzetta and Delta Fiasco. What an amazing show that was. It was held in a venue called The Basement, it was tiny crowded, hot, and damn loud...we loved every minute of it. First up was Delta Fiasco, never heard of 'em, so I had no expectations, but they came out and blew me away. High energy, electro-rock that just crushed the audience. I checked them out after we got home and their show was a bit more electro live, but they kick ass either way, and I'll have their music in my collection soon. Next up was Jonezetta and all I knew of them was one song they play on the local alternative radio station. More rock than DF, but still amazing live. the lead singer had more than enough charisma and you couldn't help but...well...get down. Wow, two good openers, how rare is that. Next up was Shiny Toy Guns supporting their newest release Season Of Poison. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I'll say the volume wasn't all that loud on the first two bands, because when they came out and started, the sound level easily doubled...right on. They were simply amazing to see live. They were sporting a new female singer, and their music blew the crowd away, the energy coming off of the stage could have easily been converted to and alternative energy source...for real. They played songs from We Are Pilots and of course, Season Of Poison. Though the crowed was excited when they played their hit "You Are The One", in my opinion, the two best songs of the night had to be "Ricochet" from SOP, and their cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped". If you dig any of these bands and they come to a venue near you...see them.
The second show was a local band called Black Phantom Thousands. My wife works with one half of the duo and he invited us to come check out their show. I peeped out their MySpace ( http://www.myspace.com/blackphantomthousands ) page to see what they were about, and was immediately intrigued. The songs on their page were older and they were going to debut new songs at the show.
So, on a Saturday night in the C-Bus we headed down to campus to hit Bernie's bar for the show. When we walked in BPT were on stage setting up, and Tyler (my wife's co-worker) was pleasantly surprised to see us. He didn't think we would show up, because whenever he asks people to come, they never do, but we're good like that. They went on at about 10:30 and I was happy that we decided to come. Here were a couple of young guys (early twenties) who were doing something different, they aren't following a well beaten path, mildly traveled, but cutting their own swath. The music was a melding of rythmic, but abstract drumming (live drums and programmed beats), guitar (filters and tweaking), and various electric elements, beautifully tweaked on the fly. There were no cookie cutter vocals, or typical verse-chorus-verse, it was equal parts screaming, vocal noise, and singing, and I love every bit of it. This is one of the reasons I listen to some of the music I do, and why I got into music in the first place. I dig abstract noise and experimentation. I even designed a t-shirt for them, which my wife will wear to work on Monday to see Tyler's reaction, mostly because he doesn't know...it's a bootleg kind of thing LOL. It was one of the best things to happen to me in a long time, because it stirred something I thought I had lost, but it was always there. Thanks to Tyler and Anthony for triggering the creative spirit in me again.

My wife has been addicted to the Twilight series of books and has read 2 & 3 in two days. She just bought the fourth and is reading it as I type here at the coffee house. She's so cute..hooked like junkie on young vampire love.

I have also been working on finishing the basement area, so it can become our new living space, which will be super nice to have a "living" space to chill in and work on the computer. I put up about 80% of the drywall yesterday, and need about 2 more sheets to finish. We can then fill all the holes and seams, paint, install the ceiling and move into our new living'/dining room. WooHoo.

That's about it for now...rambling ended.

Thanks for reading!

Peace, Patrick