Music Sunday: 2009 Concerts I Attended

The Sounds/Paramore/No Doubt
June 5, Atlanta

On our way to the concert
The Sounds and their awesome performance

Paramore (fun fact: heard "Ignorance" before it was released and thought "I really like this song")

With the lead singer of The Sounds, missing the beginning of No Doubt but it was worth it...

Because I asked her to sign the ticket like that (that's what she kept saying on stage) and she laughed and actually did it

No Doubt doing their thing

And this is apparently me rocking out to No Doubt doing their thing

Not to overstate, but they were amazing

And when we got home, we could NOT stop laughing about this:




Envy On The Coast/Anberlin/Taking Back Sunday
June 17, Atlanta

Envy On The Coast opening up (and doing a damn good job of it)

Anberlin getting us to the main event

The band we all came to see

And the man we all came to see (Adam Lazarra)

The following is a video I didn't take, just found it on youtube. I was probably in the back trying to catch my breath:




Warped Tour 2009
July 28, Atlanta

Warped Tour is always so much fun

Underoath

Me w/ Saosin

Bayside

Senses Fail

The Devil Wears Prada

A Day To Remember and their insanely huge crowd for not being on a main stage

w/ the lead singer of Senses Fail

Chiodos closing out the day

The following is the craziness of seeing Underoath live:

Incubus
August 14, Atlanta

I only got two good pics, which is a shame really

because that concert was absolutely amazing

And the following is one of the sickest intros to a concert I have ever seen:

Carolina Liar/Taking Back Sunday
September 18, Tuscaloosa

Now this one hurt, because I had to attend my rival school's campus in order to watch this show. And when we were there, the coliseum was not even half full so that was disappointing. But what wasn't disappointing was their performance. However, there was one more thing that was disappointing: no pictures. But I did a quick youtube search and found the following video from that concert that displays just why I love this band so much:

The Swellers/Paper Route/Paramore
October 27, Atlanta

The Swellers

A cool collage my friend made of Paper Route and their 27 instruments

Paramore owning the place

And Hayley owning my heart

These pics were taken from a friend's camera, and I had to search youtube once again for a video from that show. Everybody's (and my) favorite song from the new album seems to be Misguided Ghosts, and this their performance, complete with the crowd (that would include myself) joining in



Minus the Bear
November 10, Birmingham

A show we bought tickets for at the last minute, I also did not have a camera for this one and relied on the tube to bring the greatness to this blog post. It turned out to be our last show of the year after failing to see Anberlin/All American Rejects/Taking Back Sunday at the end of November and Saosin at the beginning of December (I also missed Blink-182 in September and still kick myself for it). But if this is a band you haven't heard of, you need to know. Show was epic.



So ends the look back at 2009. I already have Muse in February and Warped Tour (possibly in Chicago -- WHAT) to look forward to, but here's hoping that some of my favorite bands hit the road and here's really hoping I have my own camera this time.

Little Lover's So Polite

So it's late on a Friday night/Saturday morning and I figured I would take the time to FINALLY update on my life, both for anyone paying attention or myself when I go back and read these one day. I am currently listening to the Silversun Pickups and getting pumped for their concert with MUSE, though I guess I shouldn't get excited until I actually get the tickets. Well, here is my life in no particular order.

*Saw Avatar tonight. I read a review before going in that it would "change the way you look at movies." Whoever said that was right. The story was nothing new (I heard someone say it was the same story as Dances With Wolves while Frisco and I had flashbacks of The Last Samurai) but it was still interesting and easy to follow. But the visuals, oh man the visuals. That movie looked absolutely amazing. So add a pretty good story plus stuff that I didn't mind looking at for two and a half hours THEN add in the fact that the 3D aspect of it was mind blowing at times and you had a five star movie that was well worth the price of admission.

*We were late, but I did happen to catch the new trailer for Alice in Wonderland. In 3D. And if you guys weren't excited already, start now. The 3D is going to be nuts and they explained what was already reported that it was Alice returning after being gone, so it's a new story. I can't friggin wait.

*School is over and now it is time to rest. That time officially starts Sunday when I get on a plane to go to South Dakota (thanks everybody for the insight when I have mentioned the trip before). I can't wait to see my family and have two weeks of no school, no work, no drama.

*My birthday was Tuesday and I turned the big ol 23. Had a pretty good day that consisted of buying and watching The Hangover and going out to eat with friends. It was also a day of celebration as any of you that have been following my blog for a while will remember, I gave up pizza, doughnuts and soda back in early September and said I could eat them again on my birthday. I think it actually worked sort of because a) I feel like it helped my body (inside and out) and when I went to eat the pizza our work had for lunch I could only eat two slices before I was done.

*I'm slowly but surely getting into Twitter. If you are as well, follow me here

*One more bit of entertainment news. Next to The Office, Scrubs is my favorite TV show. However, last season (minus the first and last episode) left a bad taste in my mouth. To be more honest, it kinda sucked. So when I heard this season that they were basically changing the whole thing around, I became REALLY apprehensive. But boy am I glad I gave it a shot. Only four episodes in, and I have that good feeling Scrubs used to give me. And then of course I randomly read online somewhere that Scrubs has gotten low ratings and will be done by January. Way to ruin a good thing ABC.

*Before I end this, I just want to say I probably won't post much from my vacation except for the Music Sundays, which I have something I am working on for the entire year of 2010. I don't imagine many of you will be posting either, but part of my new year's resolution is to overhaul this whole blogging thing. Getting rid of the blogs I don't read or haven't connected with so they don't clutter up my space and I get back to regular commenting, start reading in Google Reader instead of the dashboard so I can have a number on what I haven't read and trying to get some new followers in the realms of music are goals of mine in 2010.

*Now I am ending this with the topic of my best friend's wedding. I was going to go into a little more story, but I will save that for an entire post. For now, I would like to share a few more pics with you

Bride w/ bridesmaids... and me? (Don't really know how to refer to myself)

Chillin with Frisco waiting for everything to start

Yea, this is a fun picture with the tinsel, but I'm not gonna lie... I like it because I feel my facial hair is lookin good

Just before we were all getting ready to walk out

Hanging out that night, getting denied for a pic with my bfff

Random lyric of the day:

so much for the showdown
keeping up while keeping off
choking on the cold feet
rolling up the plastic sleeves
can't control the slow ride
little lover's so polite
turning off the low light
tell me did the bones collide

Music Sunday: The Wedding Song

Well, I call it the wedding song, because from now on, when I hear "Better Together" by Jack Johnson I am going to think of my best friend's wedding as it was playing as the ceremony ended and everybody was walking out. So please, enjoy it with me.



And expect a post with stories and plenty of pics from this weekend, but for now, one of my friends posted this on the book of faces and for some reason it is my favorite



Great job capturing those little moments. Now it looks like I have some blog catching up to do...

So I Know It's Not Sunday, but Whatever...

STOP... Music time


1) Seems like bands are having the worst luck lately. Last month a bunch of bands (including Anberlin and Mae) had their vans broken into and now, within the past WEEK or so, Every Time I Die, Weezer and Underoath have all been in accidents. What the f is going on?

2) On a happier note, I saw that Muse has released US dates for next year with the supporting act being SILVERSUN PICKUPS! Where will they be on February 27th? If you guessed Atlanta, you would be correct :)

3) Lastly, this song is quickly becoming one of my favorites of all time. Take 7-8 minutes of your life and please check it out here

I'm caught
Somewhere in between
Alive
And living a dream.
No peace
Just clicking machines
In the quiet of compazine.
The walls caved in on me.

And she sings
My bird dressed in white.
And she stings
My arm in the night.
I lay still
Still I'm ready to fight.
Have my lungs
But you can't take my sight.
The walls caved in
Tonight.

And out here
I watch the sun circle the earth
The marrows collide in rebirth
In God's glory praise
The spirit calls out from the caves.
The walls fell and there I lay
Saved.

The walls are caving in
As far as I can see
The walls are caving in
The doors got locked for sure
There's no one here but me

Beat my body like a rag doll
you stuck the needles in my hip
Said 'we're not gonna lie
Son, you just might die
Get you on that morphine drip, drip'

The walls are caving in
As far as I can see
The walls are caving in
The doors got locked for sure
There's no one here but me

I fought a war to walk a gang plank
Into a life I left behind
Windows leading to the past
Think it's time I broke some glass
Get this history off my mind

And what if we were married forever?
Like the past never happened
And time did not exist for us at all
I still think we'd still be traveling together
Through all kinds of weather
Everything's a piece of everyone

As far as I can see
Walls are caving in
Doors got locked for sure
But I see these doors have keys

Walls are caving in
As far as I can see
The walls are caving in
Doors got locked for sure
There's no one here but me
There's no one here but me
No one here but me, yeah.
There's no one here but me
No one here but me.

Music Sunday: Acoustic

So I kind of had a tough time figuring out where to go with my choice this Sunday. I got a (what I think is a) brilliant idea for a Music Sunday -- that will last the entire 2010. More on that later.

But after Alabama's win last night, I have been in a somber mood. Just kidding, but not really. So I will bring you some of my favorite music -- acoustic songs.

I love acoustic songs. There is something about stripping a song down to the bare essentials that is really pleasing. My favorite kinds are when they take really fast songs and slow them down. But songs that show up on albums as just acoustics by themselves are nice too.

I realize that there are MILLIONS of acoustic songs out there. That's why I am only going with five. Enjoy.

Bayside - "Blame It On Bad Luck"



Saosin - "Seven Years"



Incubus - "I Miss You"



Something Corporate - "I Want To Save You"



30 Seconds to Mars - "The Kill"



Now, I will leave you with something much more fun. This picture:

It was after jme gave me an early present for being in her wedding. The vinyl of Taking Back Sunday's latest album. Needless to say, I was pumped (even if this was the third picture we took)

I'm Caught Somewhere In Between Alive And living A Dream

So yesterday had some terrible/great weather. Terrible for the same reason it was great -- the rain was pouring down and it was the kind that when it hits your window, it just makes you want to stay asleep. Unfortunately, I did and missed the first class of the day, but it's the end of the year so oh well. But I made it to my second class only to be chewed out (not me specifically, but the entire class) by my teacher, and it felt awful. You know how when you are little, at times the guilt trip lectures from your parents sucked more than if they actually did something? That's what yesterday felt like. He was basically getting onto us for still making the same mistakes and not learning from them. This was a Reporting class, the major for 98% of us in there, and he flat out said that he has told people that have asked that he would not recommend some of the people in the class. That we would be a waste of time. Of course he makes you think to yourself "surely he isn't talking about me" and not to be big headed, but I don't think he was. However, I have some made some mistakes, so I still took the speech to heart. I really wish we had more time in there to turn the whole thing around...

Saw my sister and brother in law for the last time before they officially make the trip to South Dakota. If the situation was different, I would be a friggin mess right now, probably ballin my eyes out (don't judge me) at the thought of not seeing them again for a while. But the situation is different -- I will be flying out there in roughly two weeks. However, check in with me when I fly back. That's when you might see a (at that time) 23 year old male cry like a 14 year old girl if she ever found at that sparkling vampires don't exist.

We had dinner, just the three of us, and it was great. Everything we usually do: Gossip, crack jokes, eat, laugh, get serious if we need to. At one point I confessed to them that I would be joining Twitter soon and that made for great conversation (it was the three of us that had bashed the site calling it "stupid" among other things). It's always fun to eat your words. At the end of the meal, they took my bill and put it with thiers. Now, this may happen a lot, but not usually with us. It was just kind of a cool moment. I think we are all getting caught up in emotions and usually my pride would get in the way, but I just let it happen this time. She called me a few hours later and said she said goodbye to our neice and nephew and she broke down. So I guess I better watch out for her when I leave as well...

And how about a random story to end on? So we are getting specific shoes for jme's wedding and the site I ordered them from said (after I placed the order) that they didn't have any in the size I requested. I freaked out and googled some other sites and came across Zappos.com and snatched up some from them. I had tried to get expedited shipping, but went too fast. I noticed that they had a 24/7 helpline so at 8:30 at night I called them and asked to get the faster shipping. She said since I called, she put me as VIP and it automatically upgraded me to one day shipping, so I expected the shoes to get here on Friday (three days later). Imagine my surprise when I woke up the next morning to Frisco handing me a box that the mailman had just dropped off. It contained my shoes. Did I mention it was 8 in the morning, making it a 12 hour shipment?

Hope you guys have a good weekend. I will be watching the SEC championship, hopefully seeing Florida crush Bama for the second week in a row.

Random lyric of the day:

You gotta swim
For nights that wont end
Swim for your families
Your lovers your sisters
And brothers your friends

Recaps and What's to Come

Let's do this PPF style...

Past:

Last week was crazy. Monday before Thanksgiving I became pretty sick. Kinda sucked. I had a different symptom each day too haha. On Monday though it was a complete body ache. That sucked the worst. The next day or two I got the sniffles and sore throat, but at least the body ache went away. Through sickness and other people in the house at different places, Wednesday was a pretty chill day for me. Then, the next day was the chaos. I left for my hometown in the morning and made it to one of my family's house around noon. I was kinda curious as to how it would feel with this being the first time I was around all of them after the divorce, but it didn't feel different at all. Kinda cliche seeing as what day it was, but I am pretty thankful for that. A little bit of drama (wouldn't be complete without it) but its not worth the details. After family time, saw some friends including some I haven't seen in a while (Kelly, Ivan, the Baisas) and some I mention here quite a bit (jme) then got in the car and drove home and passed out knowing what was ahead of me the next day. From reading people's blogs, it seems that Black Friday is a pretty regular thing for you guys, and I got sucked in as well. My dad always sends me to find random stuff but this year I actually lucked out when they had some cheap prices on blu rays. After the shopping, I got in a little sleep and woke up just in time for the Iron Bowl. We lost. I sobbed. End of story. That night, Frisco went to a show in Atlanta so I was chillin by myself and watched the blu ray editions of Blades of Glory and The Patriot. The Patriot was an experience. I have seen it before, but it had been a while. I thought I would fall asleep fast, but I ended up watching all 2 hours and 47 minutes. Such a great movie, still gets me emotional at certain scenes and it looks GREAT in 1080p. The next day was sort of a recovery day, but Frisco was a dj at a party and that was so much fun. He had rappers that were freestyling over his stuff and it was just a really cool experience. Considering he didn't start until 1 in the morning, I pretty much slept all day Sunday.

Present:

My world is currently revolving around school, because it is coming to a close. But this has to be the greatest ending to a semester I have had the whole time I've been in a school. I'm done with my bowling class; after a quick paper, I will done with my visual communication class; i just did my final interview for my reporting class; which leaves me with only worrying about ONE final. That is such a stress relief (my apologies to those of you are stressing much more than this). That final is in psychology of addictive behaviors and could be pretty hard, but now that I only have to put all my time into one final, it should be good.

Future:

A lot of things are coming up. My birthday is in two weeks and I am such a media junkie I am getting excited because The Hangover, Inglorious Basterds and a re-release of Anberlin's cd all come out on my birthday. There are plenty of other birthdays in December, from cousins to best friends to grandmothers to fiances of best friends to sisters -- this month is stacked. But overshadowing birthdays is jme's wedding, which is getting here faster than what seems possible. After watching her say "I do" we will all hopefully hang out, then the very next weekend I will be traveling to South Dakota to spend Christmas/New Year's with my sister. We will be sending 2009 out with smiles on our faces.

Random thoughts:

*It is colder in my room that in the living room. Like, dramatically different temperatures.

*My mom is on facebook now. My aunts and stuff I am cool with. But for some reason, my mom being on there is kind of... annoying.

*Is anyone else interested in seeing Sherlock Holmes?

*I am thinking about crossing over to the dark side. Ya know, the one with the blue birds.

Random lyric of the day:

If we live our life in fear I'll wait a thousand years
Just to see you smile again
Quell your prayers for love and peace
You'll wake the thought police
We can hide the truth inside