The fence installers left me two pickets from the back fence that they removed in the corner and replaced with new, plus 8 new pickets. This gave me an idea to build a small section of fence behind the compost bin. I discussed with neighbor Jane first and asked if I could zip-tie the section to her fence and she was real nice about it. So, this morning I went and got 2 more fence pickets and 3 cedar 1x3's and this afternoon I put it together and installed it with my wife's help.
If you look close in the picture below you can see a hammock a couple yards over, and it's by a fire pit. They often have fires when I do and is within sight, so a small section of fence will block that view from our firepit.
And every other direction is our house and the sides of 3 garages with just one open space that by chance had that neighbor standing there when I took the picture below.
I'm satisfied. This is about as private as we want right now. In an hour or so I'm going to go out and have the first fire of the year. Then about an hour after that I'm going to watch a live Megadeth concert from Buenos Aires, Argentina, as I sit by the fire. It's been a beautiful day out and should be a nice evening. Cheers, everyone.
Since the foot of snow we had earlier this month we spent the following week in a deep freeze. Temperatures at and below 0ºF after all that snow and with little or no sun contributed to snow-packed to ice roadways and dangerous conditions all-around. That was followed by significantly warmer temperatures that hovered at or above the freezing mark, day and night, for another week, which has allowed salt to work and aid in making the roadways better, finally. Last Tuesday we had all 4 types of precipitation in one day; rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow. Along with those temperatures we had many days of dense fog and rain on a few days which has helped melt a lot of snow, yet there is still plenty of it everywhere you look. This next week looks to be more familiar with daytime highs above freezing and the lows below, and no real chance of snow.
That's enough of a weather report, I think. Wisconsin can have more extremes in weather than many other areas, many times seemingly without rhyme or reason, so can be interesting to note.
Also, last Sunday I started to feel like I was fighting a cold so I stayed in, started taking my supplements and just relaxed. Didn't matter one bit. Monday and Tuesday I felt like I was hit by a truck with head and body aches and lethargy, staying home from work and sleeping a whole lot. (I tested for Covid and it was negative.) While I got a little more energy back on Tuesday it was only temporary as the virus had settled deeply into my sinuses where it still resides now. And no matter what cold medicine I've tried it barely helps, but that always seems to be the case for me. I want to say I feel slightly better today, but really this whole week has been just absolutely miserable for me. Today will be more of the same - rest and relaxation and hoping this virus clears soon.
At least today I will have some entertainment. At the end of November I signed up for a yearly pass on Veeps, a popular livestreaming site. I paid $60 (a half-price Black Friday deal), which is about what I spent on livestreams on that site last year but now I'll have access to all of their shows so will be more likely to watch shows that I was hesitant to spend money on before.
At almost 2 this afternoon on Veeps is Bad Omens with opening act Poppy, airing live from Germany (7 hours ahead of us) on their current European tour. I'm a big Poppy fan and while I don't know much about Bad Omens I do like the song they did together, V.A.N., released just a couple days ago. Interestingly, it was written entirely by the singer of Bad Omens but it is not a duet with Poppy handling all of the vocals. A good song and fits right in with Poppy's catalog, though. I'm sure they'll share the stage at some point to perform the song together.
I can't remember the last time I bought a ticket and saw a band play live, but it may have been Alice Cooper in July 2019. That's over 3 years ago. Now, I've not gone out to see bands as much the last several years (as I've been getting older), then the pandemic kept me away even when shows still happened during the last few years, until now. ZZ Top has been around since 1969 so time is running out, for them and many of the great bands that have been the soundtrack to our lives.
I was almost late as I was thinking it started at 9 p.m. but it actually started at 8, so the first band was playing when I got there. I jumped in line right away to get a t-shirt, and by the time I got to my seat the opening band was pretty much done. That's okay, I couldn't tell you the name of the band now without looking it up. The show, at the Sylvee here in Madison, was not sold out, but was a decent size crowd even with much of the standing room upstairs pretty empty. And the demographics were similar to Alice Cooper, fans from 8 to 80 (or so). The changeover between bands was pretty quick as ZZ Top has a pretty simple stage setup, and they started playing right about 9 o'clock.
Their set was pretty efficient, and the same 16 songs they've been playing for at least the last few shows. A lot of catchy tunes from the first album through their 80's heyday hits and more. (My video for Sharp Dressed Man & Legs is here.)
It was an expensive evening, for sure, but I'm still glad I went to see another band that I haven't seen yet and may not get another chance. They played for about 80 minutes, whereas I would expect a bit more from a headliner normally, but again, they've been around for quite some time. The show was tight, efficient, and pretty much no-frills as I would expect from ZZ Top. I left halfway through their last song, La Grange, so I didn't get to see the confetti (or what ever was in the tubes behind the speakers) go off for the finale. I had to park on the top floor of the ramp and wanted to beat the rush rather than wait in line to leave. Also, I did have to work early in the morning, after all. But overall, a good night and I'm glad I went. Hopefully more shows will come through town soon that I'll want to see.
I can't remember exactly where or when I first learned of The Warning, but it was about 2 or 3 months ago and probably while in some Youtube rabbit hole. They are the Villarreal sisters from Monterrey, Mexico. Yes, sisters - Daniela, Paulina and Alejandra - and surprisingly young when you see some of their earlier videos as kids, but even then you could see the talent.
I found they first got some popularity from an early cover of Metallica's song Enter Sandman back in 2014, and they actually collaborated on that song for Metallica's Blacklist album that came out last year. They've been writing their own music now for a while and have a couple releases out there, and a new song coming out next Friday called Money. And they do seem to have lots of fans already, with several Youtube channels posting all sorts of videos with and about them, even livestreams of their shows.
There's a 5 minute documentary video they released a few days ago and shows their charm and growth, musical and otherwise, including talking with the parents. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't look like they allow embedding so you can see it here, I recommend it.
What seemed to catch me first was the voice. I like a strong, female rock voice (think Lzzy Hale or Liv Sin). Then to see her play guitar and sing live was impressive, while the younger sisters were no slouches, either. Plus, I must admit, I was intrigued by the novelty of what were young kids playing good songs well. They've grown up a bit now and play tight and loud and have some very good songs out. I think the best is their most recent EP, Mayday, but that's to be expected as its the first I heard. I have one earlier album from 2018, Queen of the Murder Scene, that is also very good and a little more diverse.
If they continue their current trajectory I think we'll all be hearing more of them in the future. They're just about there, and I think one 'hit' song just might break it wide open for them. Maybe I shouldn't have predicted that, I just know what I like and find interesting to listen to and lately this has been at the top of my list. It's always fun when I find my next latest-greatest!
It was -15ºF when I got up this morning, and -5ºF when I took this video at 10:00 a.m. of the view out the window from my desk. (That's -26 and -21 in Celsius, my friends.)
With what I've been going through with my health recently and work frustrations bubbling up again I've been pretty down and maybe even ornery lately. As I sat out by the fire last night I thought it would be good to think of things I am actually thankful for, so I gave it some serious thought and started a list. Let's see if I can expand on that this morning and maybe get to 10 good and meaningful things for which I am truly grateful.
My wife. It's hasn't always been easy but I just can't imagine my life without her. I don't know anyone stronger who could deal with me and everything else she's had to deal with the last several years and more. I've been guilty of being self-centered, taking things for granted and not listening as I should, and improving myself will only help her, so I am determined to become a better person.
My health. I've taken this for granted, too, for far too long and it seems to be catching up to me. I need to eat better, drink less, exercise more and lose some weight. Very much easier said than done, but increasing health issues is a good motivator.
Family. My mother and sister, specifically. I don't like my father and my brother has been pretty distant. When my mother's husband passed and then the pandemic hit I started to get closer to my Mom and my sister is always there with a smile and encouraging words if I need her. I love them both greatly.
Friends. I don't have many left these days, more acquaintances than friends. I want to continue to work on those relationships and in some cases not let the distance between us cause that friendship to wane. It seems harder to make friends the older I get, but much of that may be me so I should work on that more.
Blogger friends. Delcatto and Blue Witch have been friendly towards me for a long time now and I'm grateful they keep coming back. I like to read their blogs about them and their lives, and have learned much along the way. Knowing they are there has helped me try to write better and more interesting things here. I've not reached out to other bloggers much in a long time now, but Nic has been a relatively recent breath of fresh air and as a bonus he creates music pretty consistently so I always look forward to his next song.
Our house. When this blog started in 2009 we started looking, and originally didn't think we could afford a house right in Madison. But the market was in our favor and we found a nice house with a nice yard close to whatever we could need or want, right here in the near east side of Madison. Yes, it is very small, seemingly too small for us at times, but overall I think we found a good one and have improved it in many ways over the years.
Madison. Related to the last one, we live in a good area and city with a majority of like-minded people as us. That changes rather quickly and surprisingly when you get outside the county. When we traveled to pick up our last quarter cow it was shocking the amount of pro-Trump flags and signs in the rural areas. I don't remember such divisiveness before he came along and thankfully don't have to worry about that too much here in Madison.
Music. Music continues to be a joy and an escape for me even as I get older. I don't go to live shows as much as I used to and am pretty unwilling to travel longer distances for it anymore, but I still enjoy discovering new music and I'm always looking for my next 'latest-greatest,' even if at a lower volume these days.
Well, 10 was an arbitrary number anyway and I don't want to add something lesser just to get to 10. I may remember something good that I missed later, but I think I have 8 very good things to be thankful for here and it was good for me to consider and reflect upon these. Now it's time for me to do some cleanup for Kate's family coming over to celebrate the holiday. It's currently snowing big white flakes outside, and my wife has been busy cooking up the cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and other goodies while the turkey is already in the oven.
Happy Thanksgiving and a great long weekend to all!
The last couple months I've only had one fire, due mostly to the heat or sometimes rain. Saturday was overcast and cool, a good day for a fire, and for all the in-laws.
Yes, we had my wife's side of the family over to celebrate her sister's birthday. About a dozen of us, overall, so not too crowded. We grilled burgers and I ran out of gas halfway through, so my wife had to finish them off inside. But other than that things went about as well as expected and I think everyone had a good time, especially my 5 year old nephew. He was so excited, and his dad said he's been talking about it for days. I had a lot of fun playing with him, mostly the bean bag toss game as well as a 5 year old can, and did more than I should have as I've been paying for it ever since. Not the smartest of me, but I don't often get to play with kids and we had fun.
I was feeling guilty for not going on a walk before company on Saturday, but I needn't have worried as I ended up with over 14 thousand steps. I'm sure it was all the setup of the garage and yard, then the reverse after everyone had left. Not to mention playing with a 5 year old a bit too much. I've not walked now since Thursday, and I won't again until maybe tomorrow. And that's okay with me, right now.
Last night I was tempted to go to my first larger show since the pandemic. Tickets were still available, proof of vaccination (or negative test within the last 72 hours) was required, and masks highly encouraged. It would have been different, but fun, I'm sure, but I was also still sore and out of 4 bands there was one I really would have liked to see and the others take or leave. A ticket was only 25 bucks, but add in the fees, parking, and a beer would double that, and almost double that again if I got a tee shirt. Tetrarch was to be the second band to play, so maybe a 40 minute set, maximum, I would guess. I like them but not enough to go through with all that, but I'm sure there will be a show soon that I won't be able to pass up.
Happy Labor Day, everyone. I'm celebrating by being extremely lazy today. Aside from the shot on Wednesday I'm hoping for a very quiet week, then there will be more fun to come next weekend.
Shortly after finding and really liking their music I wrote an LLP Bonus post about them. At the time, they only had 7 songs out and I felt they needed to do more to merit a full LLP post. That was in February, and now, after several months of their music being at the top of my mental playlist, I just can't deny how much I've been enjoying their music ever since - and they have two new songs out since then, so they have been active. Ladies and gentlemen, number 38, Wargasm UK!
There's not a whole lot more I can say about them than what I did before. But live shows have started up again, so they're getting their chops by playing out more, at least one festival from what I've seen with more dates scheduled soon. And this make me happy because more live shows means more live concert videos to watch. Always my preference.
Watching this live video reminds me how content I am these days to watch from afar, but they sure bring the energy and the crowd gives it right back. I may be too old to be right down front anymore, but I still enjoy it lots. Keep it coming, Sam and Milkie!
I have a few things on my mind, and it's too small to hold them for long, so it must be time to get them out. Nothing very major, just some updates, thoughts, and an announcement to my email readers, so it's time once again to just start typing and see what happens.
Blog emails are going away in July, they will no longer be supported. I've been looking for another widget or service to do this, but I'm not going to pay for it so it may not happen. I have over a dozen friends and family currently signed up and I'm afraid I will lose those readers when this convenience goes away. If you are one, click the link to the site at the bottom of your email and save it as a favorite now! I'll provide more updates when I have them.
Remember when I wrote about my site being probed? Well, it's happened each month since. 739 hits on March 24 and 760 hits on April 26. I have no idea why, who or what it is, but it doesn't appear to be doing any real harm, either. We'll see how many hits I get for May in a couple weeks, I guess.
The extra dirt and old grill are gone. My wife put the dirt on the neighborhood farcebook page and in a day one neighbor picked up a couple big buckets and a day or two later another took almost all the rest. The little that remained I found places for in the yard and gardens. Also, the rotting wood that was the old gardens I cut up and took to the dump last weekend, so now I have my garage back. And that old grill I put out to the curb a day early and it didn't take long for it to disappear, no sticker required. Maybe someone will try to clean it up and get another year or two out of it, but more likely it will be sold as scrap metal. But now I have a 35 dollar sticker that I don't need. Maybe I'll pay it forward and have my wife put it on farcebook and give it away to someone with an appliance they need to get rid of.
I mowed the lawn for the first time this year on Wednesday. The front needed it more and the back just in places, typical for the first mow. Thus begins a (mostly) weekly ritual that will last until late fall. Thankfully, it's a small lawn. It's also showing wear in areas that I'll need to get grass to grow again. This is likely due to me spraying the weeds instead of getting down and digging them out. Trouble is, my back is no longer built for all that low work. The good news is last summer I got a tool that I can get the weeds out while standing up, but it does leave a divot. I'll just call that aerating the lawn.
Remember the drawer that I built downstairs for the cat's litter box? I still look at it and think of how nifty it is. After using it now for quite some time, I really like how it contains the mess a whole lot better than when the litter box was on the floor. Oh, litter still gets dragged out, but mostly only onto the walkway and a bit on the stairs, and I just sweep it into the drawer. If anyone figures out how to get a cat to wipe their paws, please let me know.
BW left a comment over at Nic's recently that got me thinking. It's about getting used to music that's not on CDs or records. To a certain extent, I have the same issue. I do have many releases on digital only by now, but I also have YouTube Music as a premium member, so have been trying to use that more. The issue I'm finding is it's geared more towards individual songs, not whole albums, and I am very album-oriented. Are all music streaming services like that?
I have my spring vacation in a couple weeks, and I expect it will be better than last year's. I don't have any big projects in mind, but I'm sure I'll think of something. Or maybe I'll just sleep until noon every day and have a fire every night. It will be different because my wife will be here working from home all week, but I'll hit two weeks after being fully vaccinated so I do plan on going out and about. We also want to start inviting friends over for firepits and outside socializing soon. I know vaccination is no guarantee, but I feel the benefits will outweigh the risk, at this point.
Well, that was fun. The weather has been seasonable and we're still getting overnight frost now and again, at least for this next week, it appears. Might be a good night for a fire, tonight. Have a great weekend, everyone.
I started this blog 12 years ago today, shortly before we bought our house. It's kind of funny how I use this site to refer back to when we want to know when something happened. Usually, if it's worth writing about, then I wrote about it here. Of course, I've written a whole lot of nonsense, too! Speaking of nonsense, time to type again and see what happens.
I'm ready for spring, now. I shaved for the first time since last October and got a haircut for the first time also since October - but 2019! It was just time to shave off the winter face coat, and of course it was cool for a few days so my face got a bit cold, but I'm used to it now. I'll probably grow my little chin beard again like I usually do. And I remember starting to think about a haircut in March last year, but then everything got locked down. Once I shaved, I knew I had to finally get that haircut. It's as short as it's been in a very, very long time now, but it'll grow out.
We got some rain last night and today, and there's some more in the forecast, so hopefully they will lift the local burn ban and I can have a fire this weekend. As long as it's not raining. That might also throw a wrench in proceeding with the gardens this weekend.
I've been enjoying the concert livestreams since all this started. No, it's not the same as going to a show, but for live music lovers it's at least something. I've lost count of how many I've seen now; a few from Code Orange, Xordia, Richie Scarlet, Stephen Pearcy, Pain, Diamante a couple times, Steel Panther, Wednesday 13, and many others I'm forgetting now, both ticketed and free shows. There's a couple more on my radar soon, Bruce Kulick on the 16th and Poppy on the 24th. Rock on!
Aside from the new car, we made another big financial decision recently and refinanced the house. We've been paying off extra for some time now, but now we knocked off a third of the years left on the mortgage and have a much lower interest rate, which feels pretty damn good. It was a good time to buy the house back when we did, and now it just keeps going up in value. So again, good for us!
I get my first shot two weeks from today, the Pfizer vaccine. I'm very much looking forward to it, actually. Fully vaccinated, I will have much more confidence going out and about and getting some semblance of 'normal' back. Live music, dining out, gathering with friends and family, shopping and even just stopping off for a drink somewhere has been missed greatly, but I'm hoping it all gets better as we go this summer.
Well, I thought I might have more but that's all I can think of at the moment. The cat's have been well, and have been loving the few times we've been able to open the windows so far. Here's a recent video of them and, if you couldn't tell by the coloring, they sure act like brothers here!
Less than two weeks ago I came across the young duo Wargasm UK on Youtube. I'm constantly looking out for new shows, concerts and livestreams, so it was probably in my recommendations. They had a short set on video, filmed during lockdown for the Download Festival channel. I found the video to be heavy and fun and new and, well, I found it interesting enough to dive head first down that rabbit hole immediately after enjoying the show.
They are Sam Matlock and Milkie Way, from London, and while they call themselves Wargasm I see them referred to as Wargasm UK in several places. I'm pretty sure that's because there's already been a band named Wargasm for a few decades now, but they're kids so I'm sure they didn't know. If you're into genres they call themselves Nu-Metal, but call it what you will, I only know that I like what I like and that's as it should be. While I've not been able to get their music out of my head recently, they need to do a bit more over longer to justify me writing a full LLP post, I think. Wargasm UK has no albums and only 7 singles released since they started a couple years ago. That's all I found of them, aside from remixes, and I bought them all digitally the only place I could find them - Amazon. I thought it was well worth it to encourage their behavior and I hope I hear much more of them, and sooner than later. (I also hope it's even better!)
I'm not sure I have a favorite song they do, but this one is real good. And while they have some good live videos out there, here's the official video for their song Spit. Enjoy!
I was going to save this for a later time to space out the music posts, but I just don't have much to say currently. All is well; eat, sleep, work - you know how it goes.
There are two other acts that have caught my attention this year, Eskimo Callboy and Skynd. I haven't heard enough of them or know enough about them for them to be worthy of a full LLP post, but I am intrigued and like what I see so far. Both these artists are very different, but I enjoy lots of different music.
Eskimo Callboy is a German band that has been around for about a decade or so, and I do remember hearing the name before but it was on a local radio station so I probably dismissed it as I really don't pay a whole lot of attention to radio to find my music. They've been described as a mix of metal, comedy, hardcore and electronic. I don't care what you call it, this song is very catchy and the video is hilarious in an eighties workout video kind of way.
Skynd is a little different, to say the least. Her music is dark and eerie, yet I find it catchy and interesting. She doesn't have a whole lot of songs out, 7 or 8 from what I can tell, and they all have a serial killer kind of theme. Literally, her songs are about serial killers and the songs are named after the serial killer she is singing about. The latest song, though, is a little different as it's just called Columbine. If you forget, it's the high school in Colorado that two kids shot up back in 1999.
This year has been terrible for the music industry. Live shows and tours have been postponed, rescheduled, and now are starting to be postponed yet again. And with digital music being consumed practically for free, live shows are how most musical artists survive. Yet time moves ever forward so albums still get released, videos still get made, and many artists have turned to the internet to put food on the table. Code Orange is one such band, having released their latest album, Underneath, early this year in March, just in time for the rest of their plans for the year to get cancelled.
But this band has moved forward as best they can, and have put some good livestream shows together over the course of the year. First, in March, they played their first livestream show, Last Ones Left: In Fear of the End, and it was very good. Later, at the end of July, they had another, but this time it was set up like an old MTV Unplugged show. Under the Skin got rave reviews from fans and critics alike as their music translated to acoustic better than one would have thought. Then on Halloween they did it again, back to a full heavy concert feel with Back Inside the Glass (a paid livestream, no link available). A truly enjoyable show and happily a very different setlist.
I was lucky enough to see all those shows, and I look forward to more. But enough of the acoustic, here is the title song from the album Underneath. A tune I find very catchy, indeed.
Now, I didn't know a whole lot about Code Orange (formerly Code Orange Kids) before this year, but I've been learning. What I find really interesting is how this young band has evolved over time. One guitarist used to be the bass player. The keyboards and electronics guy used to be on guitar. And the frontman used to be the drummer, might still be for the studio as they list the current drummer as a session musician.
The band does have what I find to be quite a different style and sound, yet I like it and find it refreshing and a bit unpredictable as sometimes it seems hard to catch the rhythm but it always turns up in an interesting way. Vocals are shared by the female guitarist, frontman and keyboardist, a mix of clean singing and growls. I never find my next favorite band when I'm looking for it, it just shows up when it wants. I'm happy Code Orange showed up, and continues to be active in these times. I also look forward to what this band does next and will be there to support them, whatever that may be.
Not normally what I listen to, but there hasn't really seemed to be a 'normal' for me in quite some time. And that's really pretty good, actually. Poppy's made the music news the last few months, which initially got my attention, and now I'm really liking her new album, I Disagree. This is her third album, and while the first two are, well, pop-py, this album has a distinct heavier edge that still fits nicely with her character.
Yes, Poppy is a character, her real name is Moriah Pereira. As I understand it, she started making videos for YouTube and it just grew from there. She makes very interesting and somewhat eccentric or odd videos, which is part of the appeal for me. Her character is just off the wall cutesy, soft and odd. The "Kids React" channel on YouTube has featured her several times and the kid's reactions to her are just priceless. There's a playlist of those episodes here.
There's also been a lot of talk of her and her creative partner separating before this album. That sounds like a messed up relationship, with him having a history of controlling and abusive behavior. I won't go into it here, you can look it up if you like. But it may explain a few things...
And though her music videos can be elaborate I've watched a few concerts of hers from earlier this year before everything was cancelled and enjoyed the live show as well. Enough so that if she did play in town here sometime I would definitely make an effort to be at that show.
Happy Leap Day, if you celebrate such things. Today, while sunny, has only just reached the freezing point. There has been some snow and some melting since I last posted two weeks ago. You can just see the upper row of blocks of the firepit in the back yard now. Spring should be so close, yet is still so far away. I won't go into it again because I did that in my last post. Since then, I've felt I should write something yet there really hasn't seemed to be much to share, so you know what that means - time to start typing and see what comes out!
We ordered new phones from Amazon the other night. I don't want to say much yet because it's a new brand to us, and my wife will get hers in about a week while I have to wait about a month. If we don't like it then things might change. What was shocking, was the same phone was $170 cheaper in a less attractive color. My wife got the cheaper color, and I feel like I should have, too, but I spent the money for the vanity black one. This will only be my third cell phone ever, and I had to spend the last several years with a white phone, so I spent the money for black even though I will have it in a case. There may be more to come on this, or else no news is probably good news.
Last Saturday afternoon I was sorely tempted to trudge a path to the firepit, empty the snow, melt what was left inside with the garden torch, trudge a short path to the wood rack and then start a fire. The temperature was about 40ºF, the wood was dry and I just miss being outside. But I didn't, and I can blame laziness and sanity equally.
I'm almost afraid to mention it, but we've only had mandatory overtime once (a week ago) in the last several weeks now. If you've been reading for a while, I'd been on mandatory overtime (as much as union rules allow my employer to mandate) for over a year and a half. It is such a relief to only work 40 hours, only 8 hours a day. I want a regular schedule again. I want to sleep later again. I want to not be tired all the time or just not have time again. You know, I just want normal life back, but I'm still not at ease yet.
I'm very aware that I've not had a Latest Listening Pleasure post since Alice Cooper last summer. I've not attended any shows nor have I heard anything that really, really grabbed me in quite a while. Oh, there's been good albums and good videos that I've heard and seen and enjoyed since then, just nothing that I really dug enough to overflow my musical joy and spill over to share here. I came close once, but while I enjoyed them there were things that annoyed me as well. Highlight right of the arrow, if you want to know the band's name. > New Years Day
There are two 1' by 2' boxes full of albums in my closet. I do have a record player in the closet, too, but no place to set it up even if I thought I would actually play the records. These are mostly the albums I grew up with, either bought new, traded with friends, or sought out and collected. Most are from the 1980's, and I've not even seen them in years now. I should sell them, but first I need to go through them. I may not be able to part with them all, but I really should part with what I can. It's just one of those things I know I should do but keep putting off.
That's enough brain spillage for one sitting. I've not really taken a lot of nice pictures lately, but I took a look and here's some views from here at the desk from past pictures. To everyone out there, it's just that time of year - I've not been very outgoing, social, or even healthy and happy yet, but Spring is coming, and it won't be a moment too soon!
Last weekend was Atwoodfest, the largest of Madison's near east side festivals. My wife and I spent about 4 hours wandering the streets, watching bands, eating foods and perusing the merchant's wares (and I got my 2019 Atwoodfest shirt!). We got there relatively early in the afternoon, about 2 pm, and watched as the place soon became more crowded. The weather forecast during the week called for Saturday to be in the mid-90's with scattered thunderstorms, thankfully that had changed by Saturday to partly cloudy and mid 80's. Still plenty warm but not as hot as past years, though a cooling shower would have been welcomed a few times.
Believe it or not, I didn't take a whole ton of pictures like last year when I took way too many. But I did get many interesting sights at the festival and along the way. The bike path was repaved earlier this year, Goodman Community Center's newly refurbished Brassworks building is completed, Goodman's cow (by the Ironworks building - both locally historic) has been re-painted with an interesting design (my wife laughed at where the raccoons are), there were beautiful wildflowers and community gardens along the path, and that bike display that was new last year in someones front yard was still there, now with a basket of flowers and night lights.
Follow along with the pictures after the break as we walk to the festival and back. It happens on the last weekend in July every year - make your travel plans now!
It's hard to say why I've not seen Alice Cooper live before now. He does tour a lot, so perhaps I always thought there would be a next time. In fact, there almost wasn't a this time. Alice Cooper played Wednesday night at The Sylvee here in Madison, but I had tickets for a show I especially wanted to see on Friday, two days later. That show was cancelled a few weeks ago so I decided this was the time to see Alice Cooper. After all, he is 71 years old now, how many more tours can there be?
Not wanting to stand and jockey for a good view I bought one of the seats that surrounds the balcony, giving me an unhindered view of the night's show. More expensive, but at my age I can afford these comforts when available. I wound up on stage right, front row, second from the end farthest from the stage. I still had a bit of taller rail in front of me since I was by the end and the stairs, but the rail that separates the seats from a forty foot fall seemed so low, and there is nothing but a short cable tray that runs below it to stop anyone from falling. Me, being tall and clumsy, definitely made a note of that for future.
There was no opening band and the show started a little after 8, so I knew it wasn't going to be a terribly late night but I still took off the next day from work. The stage was impressive with a castle-like structure that was used to its utmost. The songs were mostly all classics with 14 of the 20 songs being from the 1970's, many of the hits. The band, featuring three guitarists including the acclaimed Nita Strauss, was tight and entertaining. And the special effects were limited to lights and fog, but there were several fun props used during the show including a giant Frankenstein, a giant baby and, of course, the guillotine. He does a dramatic show with these little playlets that make things lighthearted and fun to go with the music, as you will see in the video below.
I'm disappointed that my original plans this week were cancelled, but I am very glad I went to see Alice Cooper. Now to see what's next!
In keeping with my resolve since I turned 50 to get out and see more live music from touring acts that I would enjoy, I went out Tuesday night to the Majestic Theater to see Buckethead perform. Buckethead is a very respected guitar player who has made several lists such as top ten shredders and top 25 weirdest guitarists, among others. He has performed with many other acts but is probably best known as being a guitar player in Guns and Roses from 2000 to 2004, and his work was also on their 2008 album, Chinese Democracy. He is also famous for wearing a white mask on his face and a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head.
He performed with no opening act and no backing band, but played to a track most of the two hour show utilizing lots of effects most of the time, but did play pretty clean guitar at times as well. I have some of his releases, but I don't listen to them enough to recognize any of his all-instrumental songs. And he is a very prolific guitarist, having released 307 albums overall. I had decided to go to this show due to the lack of other shows coming that I wanted to see. I do enjoy his style of play and I am glad I went, but I also came down with a miserable cold starting Friday that I probably got from someone in that crowd.
Overall it was a good show, though. Aside from his guitar playing he also does a mean 'robot' and even performed with nunchucks at one point before handing out what looked like dollar-store gifts to the fans in front. Always handing them out carefully, never tossing or throwing into the crowd. (That video is here, and a there's a couple more on my YouTube channel.) Even as he left the stage before and after the encore it was with just a little wave as he was led off by his roadie. His odd behavior reminded me of autism, but I've not read a word about him being autistic so I gather it's just another part of his act.
I'll be back at the 600-person capacity Majestic in July for a show that I'm really looking forward to - Diamante is coming as opener for the band New Years Day. (There's a third band playing first that I'll have to look into later.) I like both, but I'm a much bigger fan of Diamante. Enough so that I even bought an opera box for the show. Now I could just use a friend who likes the same kind of music to go to shows with!
*This post was flagged today, 3/27/2023, for violating Blogger's Malware and Viruses policy. I'm not sure why, but I removed all links to sites other than my own and my youtube and will be requesting review to keep this post on my site. If you see this, I was successful.
It snowed most of the day on Sunday, but had slowed by the evening with only an inch or two having fallen. No. this is not another weather update post, I actually have something else to write about for a change. The fact that we are presently getting another 8-plus inches and having to stay home for another snow day is totally beside the point except that it gives me the time to write this post sooner rather than later.
Now, back to Sunday, Sunday evening actually, when Marty Friedman came to town to play for a few hundred people at the High Noon Saloon here in Madison. A friend and I arrived a bit late hoping to miss the first band, a local act, only to find they pushed the start time back some because Marty and his opening band had not yet arrived - probably due to the snow. As if on cue, as that set ended crew started bringing in gear as the bus and trailer had arrived.
The opening band, Immortal Guardian, was pretty good, but something was bugging me about them. They play with a prerecorded tape and, as far as I could tell, the only reason was because the guitarist liked to play keyboards with his right hand as he finger-tapped on his guitar with the left. Yes, it can look impressive, but he is the only guitar player in the band and there was obviously chords being strummed. Check out my video of them here and make up your own mind.
Marty Friedman became well known as a guitarist in the band Megadeth from 1990 until 2000. He then left America and has been living in Japan for over 15 years, still putting out solo albums and touring all over. This month he is touring to support his latest release, One Bad M.F. Live. He said during the show that this was his first time in Madison, but in 10 years of Megadeth he may have been here with them, or maybe he just meant as a solo artist. I saw Megadeth on the Peace Sells tour in the late eighties here in Madison, but that was before he joined them.
He has a good backing band and put on an enjoyable, instrumental show. There was one microphone that was only brought out only for him to speak in between songs and the bassist (Kyoshi) and other guitarist (Jordan Ziff) did minimal singing on two songs. The 600-person capacity High Noon Saloon was probably half or more full, just about my perfect size and density. I'd like to see all bands in the same atmosphere, but I don't get to call those shots. My friend got a good spot leaning on the end of the bar near the stage and that's where we camped for the show. I took a lot of pictures that hardly any turned out unfortunately, and I got a lot of good video that I've been re-watching the last couple days. You can see all my videos on my YouTube channel here, also listed in the right column.
Marty Friedman - Ashes / Forbidden / Tornado
I took more videos than usual this show - 6, plus one of the opening band - for a few reasons. First of all, I like to watch them. Simple as that. Also, there was no one behind me but bartenders and the camera was dimly lit and in front of my face - I watched the show over the camera but still able to control the camera (except for the shaking - I was still rocking out, after all!). But mostly, I'm just not terribly familiar with all of his music and an accurate, recent setlist was not found online for me to know when to look out for the parts I wanted to get on video. Still, even with 6 songs recorded I spent much more time with the phone in my pocket enjoying the show.
Here's one that I'm sure was added to the set due to the popularity of Queen recently:
Marty Friedman (w/Jordan Ziff) - Bohemian Rhapsody
That's my latest live music fix, now to look for the next. I've not seen any upcoming shows that are to my taste yet, but I'll always keep looking!
I'm over 50, married and child-free. My wife and I have a home not far from downtown Madison, Wisconsin, since 2009. I like music, taking pictures and good humor - plus writing about it all here. I am still not on farcebook or other social media, only Blogger and YouTube. Email me at scoakatsblog@gmail.com. I check it every so often.
