Good week for music

This past Saturday I went to see Frogg Café for the 4th (?) time at the Old Franklin Schoolhouse in Metuchen.



It was a really good show, and I thought the band was even more "together" than they have ever been. It should be noted that this is quite a statement considering the fact that one of the focal members of the band, Nick Lieto, was absent (along with his brother John). I don't know exactly why he wasn't there, just that the water cooler talk is that he's "taking a break." One gossiper opined that he is trying to work out marriage problems. What that would have to do with brother John is anyone's guess.
It was interesting to see how they were going to manage without Nick's vocals and horns. As it turned out, Steve Uh handled the vocals very well, with Andrew Sussman and Bill Ayasse backing him up. As for the horns, most of the main parts were picked up by Bill Ayasse on violin, with some slack being picked up by the keyboards (I forget the guy's name filling in).
Anyway, as I said, it was a good show, and it was especially enjoyable because of the very intimate setting of the venue. It may as well have been someone's large living room. I sat in the front row, which meant that if the guitar player dropped his pick, I could have picked it up and handed it to him without either of us really moving from our respective spots.
Despite the fact that the show started over an hour late, and my disappointment that they were actually the opening band (for a band called 3rd Degree , whom I'd never heard of before), they actually played a nice set, including Abyss of Dissension, Frank Zappa's 'King Kong' (with a Big Swifty tease), and a killer cover of King Crimson's 'Red.'
I took a few pictures of each band, which can be viewed by clicking the pictures above.

Elsewhere in music this week, today marked the U.S. release of Porcupine Tree's 'Fear Of A Blank Planet.' Despite already hearing it in it's entirety last October in concert, as well as on several "unofficial" live recordings, I was able to enjoy this material as if it was brand new. This is an amazing album, and in my opinion is one of their most cohesive albums to date. That the entire album flows flawlessly from one song to the next, with no song being out of place, only helps the fact that this is a concept album.
From a lyrical content standpoint, it's a rather depressing album. It focuses on modern teen angst ("Don't try engaging me. The vaguest of shrugs, the prescription drugs. You'll never find a person inside."), offering no hope for resolution and no happy ending.
So, while I listened to this album 3 times today (4th as I type this), I thoroughly enjoyed the music, while at the same time being grateful I am not a parent of a teen, and feeling sympathy for the people I know who are.

I do highly recommend the album though. It is truly a work of art.
For a much more detailed review, click here.
It should be noted that I found this review AFTER I typed this blog post. I add this disclaimer because there is a line or two that is almost verbatim to what I said.

Two years, one week, three days, 17 hours smober
25924 cigarettes not smoked, saving $6,805.30
Life saved: 12 weeks, 6 days

A milestone

I started smoking when I was 19, and over the next 22 years, I had quit at least 2 or 3 times. However, I was never able to stay off the smokes for more than a year.

So, I'm proud to say that as of yesterday, I have been "smober" for 2 years! Hopefully this means it's permanent.

Two years, one day, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 22 seconds.
25603 cigarettes not smoked, saving $6,720.94.
Life saved: 12 weeks, 4 days, 21 hours, 35 minutes.

Gotta love technology (Pt 2)

I was looking on the Cingular site and noticed that I was eligible for an upgrade on my phone. I was contemplating getting a Blackberry or something similar, but decided that I did not want to spend an additional $40 (over and above my calling plan) for a data plan. So I decided to get the brand new RAZR V3xx. On this I can still access my GMail on the internet, and the phonebook stores all the same info as Outlook.







There are 3 things this phone does that my Nokia didn't do, 2 of which I think are really cool. First, it plays MP3s, which I doubt I will ever use it for.
The two things that I really like are 1) It plays streaming video, so that I can check out news updates, sports, movie trailers, etc., whenever I want. But what I like most is 2) The voice dialing capability. Now, I've had voice dialing in many phones before, but the difference here is that I don't have to program the name in each individual contact. I just press a button (either on the phone or my bluetooth headset), and it asks for a command, which could be name dial, number dial, camera, voicemail, redial, or recent calls. If I say name dial, it asks the name of the person, and then asks which number (home, mobile, etc). Or I could just say "number dial" and then I just say the number. And yes, I realize that this technology has been around a while, but it's the first phone that I've had that does it, so I'm diggin' it. :-)

In America, since when...

....does political correctness trump free speech?

When is someone going to have the fucking balls to ask Al Sharpton when he's going to apologize to the individuals whose careers he ruined during the Tawana Brawley (sp?) case? When will people realize that making sure a line is drawn between black and white is what he does? Or that black "victims" are what keep him in "business?" Blacks who are successful and are able to actually make something of themselves in society are his worst enemy. He seems to fight for civil rights...as long as your not an "Uncle Tom."
That's ok though...it would seem that even many blacks do not support this hypocrite:



As Bill Maher alluded to at the start of his show this past Friday, this country needs to take a dose of "Getoveritall".

Rather than continue on a tirade about this, I'll just say that I pretty much agree with this angry dummy:



The thing that many people do not seem to realize is that we do NOT have the right to not be offended. There is nothing in the constitution that protects you from getting your feelings hurt!
And it's only going to get worse. Look at the news nowadays. It's not even news, it's a fuckin' variety show! Heaven forbid that the news doesn't pacify the viewers from hard hitting reality.
And what about the way parents are raising their kids these days. Mommies bringing their kids a juicy box between innings?
Also, I hear that many little leagues don't keep score anymore, so that there are no winners or losers. What the fuck is up with that? This country is fast becoming a nation of spoiled pussies.
Whatever happened to building character? With all the doting parents and those people who cowtow to anyone with a big mouth, this country is so doomed! It sometimes makes me wish I was born 20 years earlier.

Gotta love technology (Pt 1)

The one thing about electronics that you can pretty much always count on is that they will always go down in price. So as long as you don't have to be the first on your block with something, patience will save you money. I finally got myself a Pioneer Inno, which is a combination XM radio/MP3 player. This thing is awesome! It plays live XM at home, in the car, or on the go, and for those times where you just can't get a good signal, you can use half of it's 1GB of memory for your own MP3s. The other half is reserved for XM content which you can record as you listen. Not only can you schedule a recording, but because it keeps a buffer, you can record a song that you like, even if the song is half over (provided you had the radio on that channel since the beginning of the song). Oh, and it also supports Audible.com content, so you can also listen to audiobooks or any other audible content like Opie & Anthony archives. With the help of Napster software, you can organize all your music, including making playlists of all your music. You can even make a playlist combining XM recorded content with your own MP3s.
You can also save your favorite artists/songs so that you are alerted if an artist/song is playing on another channel. And unlike previous XM hardware, with the Inno you don't have to wait until a favorite artist comes on to capture it as a favorite, you can type your favorites in yourself. And unlike previous XM2go units, it doesn't have to be docked in a cradle to record (only scheduled recordings require this). If you're out walking and want to record the song you're listening to, you just simply record it. Oh, and the full color display is pretty cool too.
Anyway, I started this by mentioning dropping prices on electronics. Well, when the Inno came out little more than a year ago, it was $400 (and it doesn't come with a car kit). I bought mine plus a car kit (about $60 itself) for $200. That was a couple of months ago. Now, you can get a refurbished Inno for $119 here. Or, better yet, you can get a brand new Samsung Helix for only $109.95 at Amazon.
The Helix is identical to the Inno except for the outer shell. For a while, Amazon was selling the Helix for $89.95 w/free shipping, but I guess people cleaned them out because I don't see it anymore. I bought 2 at that price (one for Valerie and one for her daughter Megan). The one they have now for $109 is sold by an outside vendor.
So, if you like your MP3 player, but also like to hear something different once in a while, I highly recommend picking one of these up. Like the ads say, it'll change the way you listen to music. :-)