rusty_halo

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* Neil Gaiman continues to be awesome. See Why Defend Freedom of Icky Speech?

* I’m lurking at theemptywriter and quite enjoying it. Nice to see that not everyone is caught up in the Moffat hype! And, man, he just continues to annoy the hell out of me. Here he is in 1996 calling the Doctor’s female companions “bimbos”; what, did I need another reason to loathe him?

* This list of top movie characters is currently making the news rounds. Only one woman in the top 25? Are you fucking kidding me? I mean, what about that “huge lack of respect for anything male” that tragically inflicts our society? (Could it be that Steven Moffat is … full of shit? :P) And… and… Yoda is a better character than Princess Leia???

* Scott Weiland has a new album. How come nobody told me this? His last solo album was actually really good! Hopefully this’ll make up for the entertaining-but-soulless artificiality of his work with Velvet Revolver.

I’m still getting used to this whole thing of enjoying someone’s music but not having any particular interest or respect for them as a person. I think I’m too old and cynical to worship all-perfect musical idols, and this way it’s less disappointing when they inevitably fall. I’ll just try to enjoy them when they’re good and move on to something else when they start to suck. No need to feel all heartbroken and/or betrayed by the whole thing. (I’m even starting to get over Courtney Love’s Hollywood sell-out; none of her later bullshit can take away from the pure awesome of Live Through This.)

* I’m still listening nonstop to David Bowie. The song “Velvet Goldmine” is really, really good. (Now I’m extra disappointed that the movie was so bad.) Wikipedia says the song is about Bowie making out with another man, but I’m listening to the lyrics, and… that sounds like a lot more than making out…?

Also, if you’re ever looking for motivation to weep for the state of humanity, just go to songmeanings.net and look up your favorite song. If the inanity of the interpretations doesn’t make you want to kill yourself, I don’t know what will.

* This ad is currently plastered all over the NYC subway system. Every time I walk by I kind of have to resist the urge to stop and, I don’t know, lick it maybe? Which, eww, NYC subway. But, damn. David Bowie was reeeeeally pretty once.

( pretty pretty subway ad )

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Um, wow. Last night was amazing.

I was in the front row of the pit, holding on to the barrier, right in front of Jerry Cantrell. I was, of course, singing along with every word of every song, and during "Down in a Hole" Jerry looked straight at me, saw me singing, grinned, kept eye contact, and sang a line of the song to me.

Yeah, I can totally die happy now. It was like the perfect moment, because "Down in a Hole" is one of the most beautiful songs ever, and I wasn't trying to get his attention, I was just watching him sing, and he just happened to look at me and was pleased that I was singing along.

And it was an *amazing* show. It was better than the previous two; the crowd was way more into it, possibly because there was a mosh pit. Have I mentioned I hate shows with no pit? I hate seating in general; no one should be sitting during a rock show unless they are physically incapable of standing.

AIC was just so obviously having fun, grinning at each other, and Jerry and William have great chemistry, the way that they sing together and seem to really enjoy each other's stage presence. At one moment Jerry was playing guitar out on this extended platform, and he was supposed to step back to the mic to sing an upcoming part, but instead William walked out on the platform with him and they shared the mic. Stuff like that happened all night--the members of AIC just look they're having so much fun, and are so happy to be onstage together. Their performance feels so real and organic, unlike Velvet Revolver's which is all staged.

They've been playing the same set at every show, but changing the order of the middle songs, and having one song that changes. Last night it was "Dirt"; previously it was "Love Hate Love" and "Dam That River." (I really wish they'd swap their opener, "Again," for "It Ain't Like That." The show doesn't really get going until the second song, "Grind," and then starts completely KILLING with the next, "We Die Young," which is why I think "It Ain't Like That" would make a stronger opener--who can NOT rock out to that one? I just unfortunately don't really think "Again" is a particularly strong song--they have so many better to choose from.)

Jerry made eye contact with me again one more time, as I was rocking out to something-or-other. The crowd seemed to be a mix of AIC and VR fans; several of the people in the front row seemed to just be tolerating AIC. Which, y'know, offends me on so many levels, but I won't go into it. But a LOT of people were into AIC--after their set finished the crowd was screaming for an encore. And a couple of times the crowd started up a chant of "Jerry! Jerry!" I heard plenty of people grumbling that they should have split the bill. Yeah, I liked this crowd! (It also started up a chant of "Fuck Axl!" which I found very amusing.)

Velvet Revolver played a much better show last night compared to the previous two shows. Scott was far more chatty with the audience (and most of what he said made sense!) and his voice sounded better than Saturday, although still a bit strained. Slash was amazing--ooh, I got a Slash guitar pick! He threw it to the crowd right after finishing an awesome rendition of "It's So Easy." The girl next to me also got a guitar pick, and the guy next to me caught Weiland's Gatorade that he tossed to the crowd.

I was thinking of leaving early to get back to the train station (the last train back to New York was at 12:15 and the band played until 11:30) but it was so good that I couldn't leave. I had to see the encore of "Wish You Were Here" (so beautiful the way the whole crowd sings along) and "Slither."

(Incidentally, I was in the front row mainly because this nice fellow scooted aside to squeeze me in. [I left work at 3:45 and arrived at the venue around 6:45, thanks to a slow Amtrak train, rush hour traffic, and a very slow ferry. Oh and lots of rain.] We ended up talking for most of the show [I mean when the bands weren't playing]--he's a guitar tech who has his own band. You meet the coolest people at shows, seriously. And it's like since you're all sharing this love of music, people go out of their way to be cool even to strangers. [I mean aside from the drunk assholes and crowd surfers who kick you in the face, but there weren't too many drunks and I've gotten very good at ducking crowd surfers--of which there were MANY during "Rooster" and the whole VR set.])

I was very lucky to make it back to New York--I was going to take the ferry over the river to Philadelphia and then take a cab to the train station, but I got lost trying to find the ferry and found a cab on the Camden side instead. Actually me and two other people were racing for it, and then when we got there we realized that we were all going to the same place, so we shared it. How awesome--and random--is that? This was probably a lot faster--I made it to the train station at midnight, and then found out the train was delayed by a half hour anyway. SO glad that I didn't leave the show early.

I slept on the train and got back to New York around 2:30am--can you tell I'm totally exhausted today? But JERRY CANTRELL SANG TO ME DURING "DOWN IN A HOLE" so really, nothing can bring me down today.

[Cross-posted to my InsaneJournal]

I'm listening to the new Velvet Revolver album.

(It reminds me disturbingly of Law and Order.)

I always wished I'd been around during the 80s metal heyday. Clearly this is my second chance.

There is something appealing about music that is just dumb and fun and sincere in its simplicity. Scott Weiland's never going to win awards for the quality of his lyrics, but the emotion is there. Take "The Last Fight": not intellectually stimulating, but a great song in its rock epic way. There are plenty of good, satisfying songs on this album.

*is so excited about the upcoming VR/AIC tour*

I couldn't listen to this kind of music all the time, but for a big summer rock tour, it's perfect.

(I mean, it's still grotesquely offensive that Alice in Chains is opening for them, but whatever, I'm going to enjoy myself.)

I really want to write a scathing rant about how dangerous the corporatization of the internet is to free speech, but I keep getting distracted by YouTube videos with Scott Weiland in them.

( When did Scott Weiland get so hot? )

I hate men. HATE THEM HATE THEM HATE THEM.

*ahem*

*breathes*

See, I paid an obscene amount of money to get a ticket on eBay for a sold out Velvet Revolver show. And it was totally worth it, because they are awesome, and put on an amazing show.

Except I couldn't really enjoy it, because this guy behind me would not stop grabbing me, groping me, rubbing against me, drooling on me, slapping me...

So I had to decide, should I give up this awesome spot, this perfect view that I stood through an unendurably shitty opening band and 40 minutes of setup time for? Why should I have to move just because this guy is being a dick? So I stayed, but I should've just left, because it was impossible to have any fun. Every time I got into it and started jumping around, this asshole just took it as an invitation to grab me more. I ended up watching the show with my hands behind my back so that I could slap him every time he tried something. He was drunk, so he kept apologizing and then doing it again.

I AM NOT A DOLL. I AM NOT A TOY, I AM NOT A PLAYTHING, I DO NOT EXIST FOR ANYONE ELSE'S AMUSEMENT.

God, I fucking hate men.

So instead of enjoying the show, I was fantasizing about having a gigantic, superstrong, slightly psychopathic bodyguard, so that next time I go to a show, the bodyguard will protect me. And the next guy to try to molest me will get his fucking balls cut off. (That's why the bodyguard has to be slightly psychopathic.)

I KNOW how moshpits work. I've been in a million of them, and I can put up with a lot of bullshit. But there is a clear line between normal pushing/shoving and borderline sexual assault.


Anyway, um, aside from that, the show was good. It still blows my mind that Scott Weiland is playing with the remnants of Guns 'N' Roses. Never in all my childhood imaginings would I have come up with that potential supergroup, and if you told me about it, I'd have laughed my ass off. Yet it works, brilliantly. The charisma is amazing and the musical styles work together very well.

It was really cool to see Slash up close--he was right in front of me, since I was on the right side. He's such an icon, and still supercool. And to see Scott Weiland up close--he's looking really good. And healthy. And his voice is awesome. Yay.

It's funny, I never considered myself a huge Stone Temple Pilots fan, but that was my era, and that was my music, and hearing it again makes me so ridiculously happy. It's like a reminder that even though the world has moved on, the things that mattered to me still exist in some form.

So the highlight for me was, by far, "Vasoline," the STP song that they played. ("Sex Type Thing," which they played the first time I saw them, was even better, but I'm not going to argue.) I remember listening to that song as a kid--I even remember seeing them play it on the David Letterman show, taping it and watching it several times--and now it's so many years later and I get to see it live and it's wonderful. I never would've imagined. And it makes me so happy.

Except for the fucking men who have to go and ruin it.


(And YEAH I know that not all men are evil, blah blah blah, stop interrupting my rant.)