Tool has cowbell. Vicarious and Rosetta Stone are proof. I heard it.

IDR, you need more cowbell on your kit. And none of that synth shit either. A REAL COWBELL. Penners and Unamed Girl will appreciate it.

Trust Uncle R&R on this one, I know what I am talking about.

Since my purchase of my Shiny Black Symbol of Trendy-Ness I have been listening to my music more often and actually putting effort into playlists.

Recently I put together a CD for my car with an eclectic combination of music to say the least. Everyhting from Outkast, to Johnny Cash, to Weird Al, to the Pixies and Godsmack. My favorite part is in the middle; the playlist goes as follows:

Johnny Cash – Hurt
Kirstin Hersch & Michael Stipe – Your Ghost
Pixies – Where is My Mind
Soul Coughing – $300

It is an area of slow melodies and haunting voices. A section where the songs are about the frailty of the human being and the mind.

It really is a moving, if not strange, session.

In other music news, my copy of the Protomen’s album came in yesterday and it rocks just like I heard.

Gonna listen to that until I wear it out probably. IDR and RP, I really think you’d both enjoy it. If you want, I’ll make some copies (since the site admin no likey when I try to put mp3’s up for download! 😉 )

Correction: The Shiny Black symbol of Trendy-Ness was a Christmas gift from my wonderful fiance Theresa. I apologize for the miscommunication

Apparently, I know how to play the guitar.

If this is news to you, you’ll be surprised to know it is news to me as well!

Put down your chainsaw and listen to me
It’s time for us to join in the fight
It’s time to let your babies grow up to be cowboys
It’s time to let the bedbugs bite

You better put all your eggs in one basket
You better count your chickens before they hatch
You better sell some wine before it’s/its time
You better find yourself an itch to scratch

You better squeeze all the charmin you can while mr. wimpole’s not around
Stick your head in the microwave and get yourself a tan

Talk with your mouth full
Bite the hand that feeds you
Bite on more than you chew
What can you do
Dare to be stupid

Take some wooden nickles
Look for mr. goodbar
Get your mojo working now
I’ll show you how
You can dare to be stupid

You can turn the other cheek
You can just give up the ship
You can eat a bunch of sushi and forget to leave a tip

Dare to be stupid
Come on and dare to be stupid
It’s so easy to do
Dare to be stupid
We’re all waiting for you
Let’s go

It’s time to make a mountain out of a molehill
So can I have a volunteer
There’s no more time for crying over spilled milk
Now it’s time for crying in your beer

Settle down, raise a family, join the pta
Buy some sensible shoes and a chevyrolet
And party ’till you’re broke and they drive you away
It’s ok, you can dare to be stupid

It’s like spitting on a fish
It’s like barking up a tree
It’s like I said you gotta buy one if you wanna get one free

Dare to be stupid (yes)
Why don’t you dare to be stupid
It’s so easy to do
Dare to be stupid
We’re all waiting for you
Dare to be stupid

Burn your candle at both ends
Look a gift horse in the mouth
Mashed potatoes can be your friends

You can be a coffee achiever
You can sit around the house and watch leave it to beaver
The future’s up to you
So what you gonna do

Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
What did I say
Dare to be stupid
Tell me, what did I say
Dare to be stupid
It’s alright
Dare to be stupid
We can be stupid all night
Dare to be stupid
Come on, join the crowd
Dare to be stupid
Shout it out loud
Dare to be stupid
I can’t hear you
Dare to be stupid
Ok, I can hear you now
Dare to be stupid
Let’s go, dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid
Dare to be stupid

So the other day I was checking out Kotaku for current gaming news and I cam across this post. That led me to this post on the site Radio Free Internet.

Now this is the coolest thing…not only did I get to here tracks from a rock opera about Mega Man (which in of itself is awesome) but I was introduced to a site that promotes music that is not very mainstream AND really good. It’s exactly the kind of place that I needed to find.

Since the destruction of Napster by the RIAA (with the initial help by Lars) and the utter coporatization of the music and radio industry *cough*Clear Channel*cough* I have been disgusted with music and performers. I have only purchased a few CDs since Napster went down. In fact I used to buy MORE CDs when Napster was working…..but that is neither here nor there.

Anyway, Radio Free Internet just might be the place that re-affirms my hope for music.

I hope.

I got my head, but my head is unraveling
Can’t keep control, can’t keep track of where it’s traveling
I got my heart but my heart is no good
And you’re the only one that’s understood
I come along but I don’t know where you’re taking me
I shouldn’t go but you’re reaching back and shaking me
Turn off the sun, pull the stars from the sky
The more I give to you, the more I die

And I want you
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you

You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug

You make me hard, when I’m all soft inside
I see the truth, when I’m all stupid eyed
The arrow goes straight through my heart
Without you everything just falls apart

My blood wants to say hello to you
My feelings want to get inside of you
My soul is so afraid to realize
Every little word is a lack of me

And I want you
And I want you
And I want you
And I want you

You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug

You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug, the perfect drug
You are the perfect drug, the drug, the perfect drug

Take me, with you
Take me, with you
Take me, with you

Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, it’s not as much fun to pick up the pieces
Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, it’s not as much fun to pick up the pieces
It’s not as much fun to pick up the pieces
It’s not as much fun to pick up the pieces
Without you, without you everything falls apart
Without you, it’s not as much fun to pick up the pieces

RP has posted the set list and promo poster from the concert the other night. I say go see…and what I say GOES!

He said he would post a review later, but he’s a damn hippie and I think he’s lying!! :-p

Just Kidding!

Last night I went to see NIN at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas with RP, Il Diavoletto Rosso, and IDR’s significant other. I liked it being that it was my first time seeing NIN live. Like many, I really got into them around the time of The Downward Spiral and if anyone wants to say I ‘jumped on the band wagon’ well, yes…I’m the guy with the cowbell at the front of the wagon!

Anyway, I would say that they rocked pretty damn hard. Playing songs from the new album, With Teeth, as well as many from past albums like Pretty Hate Machine, The Fragile, and The Downward Spiral.

Being as I have slept a few hours since the concert (re: 4) I do not remember the opening song (although I think it was from the new album) but they opened with a sheer white curtain covering the stage. They had the stage lighting flashing out into the crowd in such a way that it looked really cool. After that they raised the curtain and and did a bunch of songs. At about the halfway point, the curtain went back down and they did 2 songs (from The Fragile I believe) with a projector showing all types of footage (mostly of war, pestilence, famine and death…you know them) with some footage of single cell organisms doing their thing and some cool footage of animals and humans as if looking through an X-Ray machine. I mentioned to Diavoletto during the single cell scenes that I would be slightly disappointed if the obligatory ‘sperm through a microscope’ wasn’t shown…and unfortunately it wasn’t.

All in all I would say it was a good show. And staying with the impression that I have always had of Trent there wasn’t much audience interaction besides saying ‘Thank You’, ‘It’s great to be back in Texas’ and letting the crowd do the chorus from Head Like a Hole.

I had a good time and I’m glad I had the opportunity to go….now I just hope I don’t pass out into my keyboard from not getting much sleep. But I think the coffee will keep me zombified enough.