hellziggy

On Thursday last week Mike posted that Sunspot was going to be playing at Kathy's Pub in Rochester on Friday. Super short notice because they had just been asked to play the day before. Well, Rochester is less than 2 hours from the Cities, so there was really only one appropriate response: Roadtrip!
I put the call out on LJ & Facebook, and I texted the usual suspects who I knew already loved Sunspot.
By Friday we had 7 of us who wanted to go down and a minivan that conveniently also seated 7.

We reached Rochester at about 8:30 and while looking for somewhere to eat we saw a restaurant called The Canadian Honker. How can you resist that? They had good food, and really good onion rings.

Tom & Rick's high school buddy Pete and his wife Paula came down to the restaurant to visit with us for a little while before they had to get home to the babysitter.

Sufficiently fueled up we headed further into town to find Kathy's Pub. We got there as the first band was finishing up loading out and Sunspot was setting up. After much greeting and hugging we settled in at the front tables while the band got ready to rock.

The music was as awesome as ever. They were alternating original songs and covers for most of the night. I think the bar had asked them to do covers as well as original stuff. Towards the end of the night though they started asking for requests and so they did more of their own stuff. Most of my favorites got played: Neanderthal, Tunguska, Heidegger Paradox, Mr. Foff. They'd mentioned on Facebook that they'd be doing a couple sets and would take requests so I made sure to mention that Wendy should bring her violin so I could request Pretend. We got an accoustic version of that right at the beginning of the third set. Yay! None of the folks who came down with me had heard that one before because they usually don't play it during short sets.

They probably played at least 3 hours worth of music and it was a great time. We got to spend some time talking to Mike, Wendy & Ben between the sets and after the show. They are always just so much fun and super awesome people.

We need to get our scientists to work inventing transporters so I can make it to more of the shows since they're always on the other side of Wisconsin!

I also had a Canon 5D Mark II with me to shoot with, but I honestly have not even had a chance to look at all the pictures yet. Hope I got some good ones!

Home from a good weekend.

Went to Eau Claire yesterday to see Sunspot. They rocked, as usual.
Came home today and headed up to Jen & Paul's to celebrate dad's 75th birthday.

Very tired now.

Current Mood: tired

I have convinced

hellbob that we need to road trip into the lovely state of Wisconsin on August 29th.

The super awesome fantastic band Sunspot will be playing at the House of Rock (422 Water St, Eau Claire, WI, 54703) at 9pm on Saturday, August 29th. w00t!

This Eau Claire show is currently the closest one to the Cities they've got scheduled right now, although they are trying to get one lined up here in town on Friday the 28th.

Since we don't know anyone in Eau Claire to crash with we are planning on just getting a cheap motel room. And I do mean CHEAP. I'm not planning to stay anyplace that costs more than $50/night. :)

Do any of you wanna come with us? It is a GUARANTEED fun time!

Current Music: Tunguska - Sunspot

I've got ~~one~~ two of the songs I taped at Friday's show up now.

JoCo singing Billy Joel's Pressure:

JoCo singing They Might Be Giants' Birdhouse in my Soul with some help from Paul & Storm:

I have been such crap about updating lately. Sorry. :(

Ok, my life lately...

School. Lots of school. This semester started on January 12th, and I have class 3 days a week. My FINAL THREE CLASSES!!! are Career Planning & Professional Practices, Portfolio Prep/Exhibit, and Graphic Design Problems 2. So this semester will consist of mostly getting my portfolio ready for the portfolio show that we will be putting on in May, and doing my part in putting the portfolio show together. Only 3 months. Eeep! And we are the largest graduating class the program has ever had.

What else have I been up to? Well, in the middle of January, Minneapolis was blessed with a visit from our Future Dark Overlord, Scott Sigler. He's a podcaster who got a book deal after releasing his novels as free podcasts, and hit the NYT bestseller list with his newest release, Contagious. He is not, however, the Scott Sigler who writes about adult incontinence. At least he claims he's not...

johnboze picked up

hellbob and I for the book reading, and afterwards we walked a couple blocks to Old Chicago for beer with Scott. A good time was had by all. :)

On Friday the 23rd we had our holiday party for work. Free dinner at Lord Fletcher's. Yummy!!! And, as always, my co-workers were fun to hang out with!

Saturday of that weekend was the annual holiday party/white elephant gift exchange with the geek friends. Too much yummy food!

hellbob and I took off from there to go to see some bands at O'Gara's Garage.

ninja_tech &

floppycorpse met us there. (Yeah, you all were wondering about the subject of the post, weren't you? Sorry. I just couldn't resist!). We had all missed the 1st & 2nd bands, and got there just as Mass Drastic *MySpace Link. Music will play* was setting up. They played a great set, and I still want them to put out a CD! After their set we listened to a little bit of the next band, but we were all just too tired to feel up to staying. What can I say? We're old! We did chat a little bit with MD's drummer Jim and his family. Hi Jim! Hi Jim's mom!

This last Wednesday I got to MonkeySit

technomonkey_m &

gigglemonkey_b for a while because

genevra had a meeting at her house. I took them to McDonalds so they could run wild in the playland after eating. I do still have the CUTEST niece & nephew in the ENTIRE WORLD! Even if

gigglemonkey_b did tell me she doesn't like my scarf. :)

This weekend was mostly lazy. We went to lunch at Jun-Bo for Dim Sum with LJless Jeanine & LJless Curt today, and then to see The Wrestler. Good movie. I really need to get out there to see some more of the Oscar nominated stuff though.

So that's what I've been up to lately. Also, I ♥ my iPhone! And since I've got the iPhone I'm on Twitter a lot more now. So if you are on Twitter too go ahead and follow me. If you can't figure out my username there you really haven't been paying attention, have you?

Hey

ninja_tech! Sunspot's coming back to Mpls this weekend!

They don't know yet what time they will be playing, so I'll be getting there as close to 7pm as we can. (Rick & I already have dinner plans first)

More info here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=44790587015

Current Mood: excited

Stolen from

dakegra &

chebutykin.

Concerts I remember going to:

KISS - The Crazy Nights tour (with no makeup.) This was the first concert I ever went to.

Stryper

White Lion - twice. Not because I was a big White Lion fan, but because they were the opening band at two shows I went to.

Poison

Billy Joel

The Moody Blues

Garth Brooks - twice

Gear Daddies - more times than I can count

Martin Zellar and the Hardways

The Honeydogs

Kid Johnny Lang and the Big Bang - Now he just goes by Johhny Lang. He was only 13 when I saw him.

They Might Be Giants

Sisters of Mercy

The Blue Up?

Dredg

Toby Keith

The Warren Brothers

Alabama

Montgomery Gentry

Tim McGraw

Faith Hill

Dixie Chicks

Kenny Chesney

Tricia Yearwood

Gretchen Wilson

Alan Jackson

Martina McBride

Hank Williams Jr.

Filthy Divine - several times.

hellbob used to work with one of the guys in the band.

Uncle Kracker - only two times. I'd love to see him again.

Mason Jennings - We were in the 2nd row for one of his concerts, and it was taped for a DVD. There's a scene that's filmed from backstage of him leaving the stage and you can see me,

hellbob & LJ-less Jeanine.

Savage Aural Hotbed

Vicious Aloysius - The band of a guy I worked with

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Peter Gabriel

The Police - Just once.

hellbob saw them 3 times.

Prince

Duran Duran - 4th row, baby!!!!

Paul & Storm

Jonathan Coulton - When he does Minneapolis shows I sell his merchandise for him. Also, when I stalk him to Las Vegas I help with sales there.

Richard Cheese - fun music, but he's a bit of a pompous ass

Natalie Gelman

Chance and the Choir

Mass Drastic - They played before Sunspot last time I saw them and they were good so I went to their last show too.

Sunspot - Totally AWESOME band from Madison Wisconsin that doesn't come to Minneapolis nearly often enough! I've only gotten to see them 3 times. :(

and one that I would have totally forgotten if

chebutykin hadn't mentioned it:
Dogstar - Yes, Keanu Reeves' band. And yes, his band is just as good as his acting... We went not expecting a good show, just to see the spectacle of Keanu pretending he was a musician.

And last, but most certainly not least, James Marsters! I've seen him sing three times, once in Toronto and twice in Los Angeles (two shows on the same weekend)

I'm sure I've forgotten some... If I think of them I'll come back and add them. Or, if you were at a show with me and I haven't listed it just remind me. :)

*edit*

Yup, forgot some.

Rick Springfield

Joe Walsh

I gave

kalfoley a call last nite before heading out to the Terminal Bar and she was up for going to see a band she'd never heard of so we made our plans to meet up there. Then when we walked in I saw

ninja_tech! She'd decided last minute to come meet up with me and check out Sunspot too! Yay! I went from going to the concert by myself to having 2 friends to hang out with. :)

kalfoley & I had completely missed the first band, Skittish.

ninja_tech said they were good, and I'd liked what I'd heard of them online. Oh well, that wasn't who I was there to see.

As we made our way up to find a spot near the stage I saw SunspotWendy who gave me a hug. I introduced her to the "Sunspot virgins" I'd brought with me. We got settled into a table right near the stage and chatted until the next band started.

This was a band that I'd also never heard of, Mass Drastic. They were really good! We all liked them and really liked the lead singer's voice. Unfortunately they don't have a CD yet, so I couldn't buy one. :( Since they are local I plan on going to see them play again sometime soon.

Mass Drastic:

After some more time getting to chat with

kalfoley &

ninja_tech, it was time for Sunspot to take the stage!!!

They had it cranked to eleven! They started the set with Prozac Girl. Not even halfway through the song Ninja leaned over to me and said, "Yeah, I'm gonna like these guys." Yay! KalFoley also liked them right off the bat. Yay!

To the best of my recollection, these are the songs they played:
(but not necessarily in this order)
Prozac Girl
Summer Day
Neanderthal
More Than My Degree
Sweet Relief
My Own Worst Enemy
Scott Bakula

It seems like there should be more than that but I just can't think of them right now.

Ben & Mike:

Wendy:

You can find a few more pictures in my gallery

After Sunspot was done we decided we should hang out and check out the last band. While Ninja & KalFoley were out smoking, one of the band members had told them to expect a "vocal orgasm." Well... They started playing and while the music wasn't bad, the lead singer just wasn't that good. I don't know if it was because he wasn't entirely sober, or if he's always not that good. Also, they had a guy on stage in a penguin suit. Not singing or playing an instrument or anything. Just up there jumping around. Weird!
(Yes, I know, I didn't name the band. I wasn't there to see them, so there's no point in totally trashing a band I'd never even heard of.)

So we moved to the back of the bar where the music wasn't so loud so we could talk. *edit* OMG! Ninja reminded me in the comments of their oh so awesome song lyrics. "Fucking Deanna in her vagina." Yes people, it was totally as awesome as it sounds. It was at this point where I made a comment about the vocal orgasm that Ninja insisted that I remember to post online:

They promised a vocal orgasm. This is more like when you fake it to get them to finish and roll off of you.

When they finally were done, we were hanging out chatting w/SunspotMike. He'd set his iPhone on the stage and couldn't find it, so I gave him my cell to call it with as he walked around listening for the ring. He found it! Also, I promised to stalk him now that I have his phone number. :P Anyhow, when he came back with his phone I was telling how EXTREMELY JEALOUS I was that he'd gotten to see Patrick Stewart & David Tennant do Hamlet when he was in England. This led to us Doctor Who geeking and he showed of the pictures he had on his phone from the Doctor Who Exhibit in Cardiff. So cool! Moose has been there too. I want to go.

When SunspotBen dragged him off to help with hauling their equipment, KalFoley bought a Sunspot CD and we got ready to go. After we got everyone to sign it for her we headed out the back door. SunspotMike was out there and so we started talking some more. He's soooo "one of us!" Our geeky conversation ran the gamut from D&D to Star Trek to GenCon to CONvergence to Alan Moore to Neil Gaiman to Doctor Who/Torchwood to sci-fi porn (Flesh Gordon). (Although not necessarily in that order.) We were talking for a good half hour at least. SunspotWendy was also out there by the time we left so we said goodbye to her again, and then all headed to my car. Since I was parked the closest I dropped the other two girls off at their cars and headed on home. Got home a little after 3:00 and curled up next to a nice warm

hellbob.
All in all, it was a really great nite!

Current Mood: chipper

If you are, you should come out with me to see Sunspot at the Terminal Bar!!!

There are 4 bands, and I'm pretty sure Sunspot is playing 3rd or 4th. The first band starts at 9.

hellbob did offer to go if I really want him to, but I don't want to force him if I don't have to.
I've gone by myself to see Sunspot before, but I'd rather have company if anyone is interested. I can even introduce you to the band if you fall in love with their music. Here's their YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/sunspotmike

Does anyone want to go see Sunspot with me?

They will be playing at The Terminal Bar in Mpls on Saturday nite. 9:00. Cover is $5, and there will be 4 bands: Skittish, Handsome Deville, Mass Drastic, and Sunspot.

If you haven't listened to their music yet, well, shame on you! I told you to go listen months ago! So go, now. You can get their free single every month HERE. You can also hear some of their other songs HERE.

I'm definitely going to be there. Are any of you?

Current Music: More Than My Degree - Sunspot

Super-cool musicians Sunspot are releasing a single per month for free on their website. The first one was 2012, and this month's is Sweet Relief.
Note to Farpoint podcast peeps: This is the band that sings the Scott Bakula song.

So go, download some music for free. And if you like it, throw a buck or two in the tip jar!

Current Music: Sweet Relief - Sunspot

I'm signed up at this cool new site called amiestreet.com.

They have music with no DRM that you can buy. The really cool part is the price. Everything starts FREE when it goes on there. Then they rise in price up to 98¢, based on their popularity.
Also, the artists get 70% of the sales!
So basically the songs don't quite hit the iTunes price, there's no DRM, and the artists get a heck of a lot more money per song than iTunes would give them!

It's a great way to find new artists for free. They're not all unknowns either.

And if you want to sign up give me an email and I'll send you a referral email. That way we both get free money to spend on songs. :)

And then go buy Sunspot's stuff if you don't have it yet! Their songs are all still at 15¢ & 17¢ so you can get all 4 albums for about $7 which is less than I paid for just one of them!

A meme stolen from the lovely

verav:
Put your iTunes or whatever on random and find photos of the first 25 artists that come up.
Post them and have your flist guess who they are.
But I ran out of steam at about 15 instead of 25. Anyhow, here are the pictures. Have fun!

( Picture goodness under the cut! )

Current Music: Can't tell you, it would give away the answers!

A link wot I stole from

minervacat.
This site will tell you if an artist's album was released on a label that is a member of the Recording Industry Ass. of America (RIAA) or not: RIAA Radar

yay! I got my copy of James Marsters' new album in the mail today!

Hey

hellbob, since

lucky13charm is riding with us to OmegaCon guess what we'll be listening to on the way up... hee hee!

Look what I gots!

coulton

So here are all the details I have so far on the Jonathan Coulton concert:

December 6, 2007
Varsity Theater
1308 4th St SE (Dinkytown)
Doors open at 7pm
Show at 8pm

Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 at the door if you get them at the venue.
They are $23.50 if you get them from TicketBastard (more if you choose to print them yourself or choose non-standard delivery).

If you're here in town you can pick them up any time at The Loring Pasta Bar.

[Poll #1080278]

Current Mood: excited

Tiny bit more info about Jonathan Coulton's Minneapolis show. There will be another group opening for him: Paul & Storm. I know nothing about these two.
Also, the show has a time listed now: 8:00 pm.
Remember, December 6th at the Varsity Theater in Mpls!
Oh, and Minneapolis is now in 5th place on the demands! yay! It was tied for 8th when I first posted.

Current Mood: excited

Jonathan Coulton is coming to Minneapolis!!!! Yay!

Mark December 6th on your calendars! (It's a Thursday nite)

If you don't know who JoCo is, check out his music here: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads
Several of his songs are there to download for free. They are also Creative Commons by-nc (except the ones he doesn't own like covers & such) so you can do what you want with them.

Even the songs that aren't linked for free downloads, you can listen to a sample. And if there is one you want to hear more of let me know. I most likely either have it to email to you, or can point you to somewhere to download it. Just be sure to give the man a dollar if you like it once you hear the whole thing.

JoCo told me that he'd most likely be in Mpls in December but it's nice to see it all official-like! And any of you Minneapolis geeks that I haven't met yet, make sure you introduce yourselves to me. I'll probably be working the merch table so I'll be pretty easy to find! :)

Current Mood: excited

The Coulton Eventful Demand was at 116 when I posted about it, now it's at 125! Minneapolis has also moved up to the 6th most demanded place. :)

If you've never actually heard Jonathan Coulton's music he's got several songs you can download for free here:
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads

Now for the really good news: I got an email from JC today and he said "Minneapolis is in the works, possibly for early December. I should know more in a couple weeks"

So yay! We should be getting us some Coulton in a couple months! Woo hoo!

Current Mood: pleased

I snuck up on

some_day_soling when she wasn't looking and stole this:

List five songs you are into right now, no matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions on your LiveJournal along with your five songs. Then tag five other people to see what they're listening to.

1. Saving Grace ~ Everlast ~ This is the theme song for the Holly Hunter tv show Saving Grace and I just really dig the dudes voice.

2. La Isla Bonita ~ Dolapdere Big Gang ~ also their covers of Billie Jean and Englishman in New York. This is a Turkish band covering American songs. They sing in English but use Turkish instruments.

3. San Berdoo Sunburn ~ Eagles of Death Metal ~ I just think they are a fun band.

4. Leaving On A Jet Plane ~ Me First & the Gimme Gimmes ~ What? You're surprised to see another cover on here? MF&tGG do such great punk covers!

5. Sisyphus' Rock ~ Sunspot ~ I really wish these guys would play Minneapolis more often. The concert was great fun (even though I was by myself) and the band was totally cool.

Tag 5 people, eh? OK. How bout you lot over there. *points* Yeah, you.

And with that I'll stop spamming y'all and go to bed.

Last Friday was awesome!

yawn

ROAD TRIP!!!!!

You know I Iove me a cover song!

So, a ninja and a corpse walk into a bar...

Sunspot in the Cities!

Musical lemming

I was promised a vocal orgasm...

Are you sitting at home bored on this Saturday nite?

What are y'all doing on Saturday nite?

Free music!

Free & Cheap music!

mememememe

Want to buy music that's not part of the RIAA?

I can haz James!

All I want to do is eat your brains...

More Code Monkey news

Fuck yeah!!!!

Such good minions I have!

mememememe

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