Last night I got to step out for a few after work and go see my best friend Kenny from Atlanta do an acoustic set at Smiley’s Acoustic Cafe in Downtown Greenville for open mic night.  I was amazed at how many acts signed up for open mic that night!  What I wasn’t pleased with was the fact that several acts ignored the 3 song/15 minute time limit per set.  Three straight acts were a group of friends that kept interchanging members so there were several musicians who individually got significantly more than their fair share of 15 minutes of ‘fame’.

Needless to say, Kenny had to go on fairly late but did four amazing songs: three originals and a stripped-down version of QUEEN’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” which still gives me goosebumps because he sings it so incredibly well!  How do I get such amazingly talented friends yet none of it rubs off on me?

Tessa and I went to go see Priest after work on Tuesday night and it was pretty much what I had expected.  I wasn’t bent on going to see it but Tessa really wanted to see it so I took her.  If you’re fan of the Matrix and Underworld films, you should enjoy this one.

Priest  \m/  \m/  \m

Now back to this Doomsday nonsense, let me be clear: the Bible (Jesus Himself) says that no man will know the day or the hour regarding the Second Coming of Christ (Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:32).  So, rest assured, if someone claims an exact date, they are full of crap.  Period.

After the Rock ‘N’ Bowl, we went to try out the restaurant Dex recommended to me, Red Bowl on S Pleasantburg.  The food, especially the sushi, was fantastic and reasonably priced!  I think Tess and I have a new fave!

The next morning I had an appearance at Borderlands Comics on Laurens Rd for National Free Comic Book Day.  The crowd turnout was incredible as was the interesting ‘characters’ that showed up – not the least of which was the Doc Ock incarnation from Spider-Man 2!

I would have loved to have stayed longer at the event but, when my time was up, I had to head to Charlotte for the first ever Carolina Rebellion.  The lineup was stellar however I can’t say that I was too pleased with much of the execution.  By the time Tessa and I got to Charlotte, it was already 3:30 (four hours after the first band performed) and there was STILL a line of cars trying to exit the interstate.  We passed the exit and took the next one and managed to arrive at the Metrolina Expo around 4:10 – I remember because BLACK STONE CHERRY was just taking the Jagermeister Stage.

When we pulled up, we were shocked to learn that they were charging $30 for parking.  Nevertheless, we paid it and managed to park close to the front gate so we could hurry and make it to the media tent to give Dex a hand with his numerous interviews.

By the time we actually found the media tent, Dex had already finished most of the interviews but Tessa did manage to shoot some video for Dex’s interviews with GODSMACK and HINDER.

When we left the tent, THEORY OF A DEADMAN was playing on the Rebellion Stage followed by SEETHER on the Carolina Stage.  As the sun was going down, STONE SOUR took the Rebellion Stage as we did a little shopping at the I Love Vagina tent where we both got silicone wristbands that proclaim “I LOVE VAGINA!”

We made our way back to the car as THREE DAYS GRACE was taking the Carolina Stage as we had decided we could take no more.  GODSMACK and AVENGED SEVENFOLD would have to wait for another day!  We refused to pay $7 for a hot dog let alone $9 for a beer!  I mean I know concessions at events like that are always overpriced but how far can you gouge it?!  So we made our way into Pineville and stopped at a Steak ‘n Shake and grabbed food.

Again, the lineup was spectacular but changes need to be made if this event is going to be an annual occurrence.  I just don’t think concertgoers should be taken advantage of to such a degree.  Personally, since I work in radio, it doesn’t affect me because my tickets were free but for those who paid their hard-earned money, they should be cut some slack for crying out loud!

Sunday morning Tessa and I went to my mom’s church, Word of Life Ministries in Simpsonville as a Mother’s Day request.  The pastor (or ‘bishop’ as he called himself) was a bit of a showman that didn’t strike me as completely genuine but it is not my place to judge so I will not add to my observation and make it such. 

After church, we hit up the New China Buffet in Simpsonville and then stopped by to visit my ’second mom’, Aunt Pat.  We then had to head up to Spartanburg to meet with Tessa’s mom at the Regal Spartan Stadium 16 to take her to see Thor and then out to eat at Red Lobster.  Yeah, we ate out a LOT this weekend!  Good thing we didn’t eat at the Rebellion or we wouldn’t have had enough money considering we’re both flat busted!

I also hope that this isn’t some sort of government conspiracy since there is no body because bin Laden was allegedly buried at sea.  I’m not big on conspiracy theories but it does raise the question and rightfully so.  I’m also not one of the many haters of President Barack Obama.  Personally I kinda like the guy and I am relieved we don’t have just another rich white dude in office.  Do I think he’s a great president?  Certainly not, but when is the last time we had a truly great president?  I’d say twenty years at the very least….

Anyways, I know that Obama is NOT a popular president by any stretch of the imagination and I just pray that Osama is indeed eradicated and no longer a resident of the planet Earth and NOT something cooked up by the Obama Administration.  By no means is this any sort of accusation as such because, as I said, I like our president and it would certainly abolish any and all admiration I have for our president.

I am, admittedly, a Doubting Thomas as I, too, am a skeptic wanting to see the evidence for myself just as Thomas the Apostle did.  Not saying that I don’t have faith because the Lord has blessed me with my belief in spite of my disbelief.  Although I will say as many have said before, you can’t believe everything you see or hear so skepticism does indeed have its place.

One thing that is certain, the news of Osama bin Laden’s demise is the greatest news this country (or this world, for that matter) has heard in years.  So I will silence my voice of doubt and have faith that an evil man has been conquered by the forces of righteousness and revel in the joys of a well deserved victory in the ongoing war on terror.

When we got there, we had to sign a piece of paper which I think was intended to be a waiver of some sort.  When we got in, Tessa was called by name to lead the group and choose the door of our fates.  Along the way we encountered a demented cheerleader in a room of mirrors that terrified poor Tessa….as I shoved her out front as she approached!  Bwahahaha!

Before heading home we also hit Nightmare Dungeon which had some good thrills too including a runaway train at the end.

Saturday we slept in then hit Best Buy to grab some movies including John Carpenter’s The Thing on Blu-ray which Tessa had never seen.

We then went to PetSmart and Tessa found an albino looking cat that she fell in love with and adopted.  His name is Bones but you can call him Bonesy….

We just watched movies and spent time with our newly adopted feline for the rest of the day and lit our jack-o-lanterns at night.

Incidentally, we actually went to church on Halloween then went to go see the new Saw film.  I am glad to see the franchise finally come to an end because they were running out of tricks to keep the series afloat.  Plus I thought it ended well bringing the films full circle in its conclusion.

Saw 3D  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

After the movie, we hit the mall then WalMart where we ended up buying more horror movies!

Now that Halloween is over, it’s time to look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas but with one little speed bump in the road this year: Election Day!  Man, I am sick as crap of all the political ads chock full of muckraking and smear campaigns!

I, myself, have always leaned Republican because of my rather conservative views.  However, since the election of Obama and the rise of these dangerous extremists known as the ‘Tea Party’ (not to mention my dissatisfaction of Mr. W Bush), I have questioned my own political standing….if I ever truly had one that is!

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in being unflinching in your morals and codes of ethics, but the lack of cooperation and bipartisanship in our government is quite alarming.  Instead there is only bickering and no one is willing to back down or meet halfway.  Like I said, I believe in standing for what you believe in, but no one group can run the entire country.  Even if it did, people would still disagree.  It’s in our nature, it is what we do.  No one is going to see eye to eye but common ground must be found somewhere somehow.  We are all human and, most importantly, we are all Americans.

Last week, I had it out with a certain coworker here at the station.  The situation got so bad that we met with Mark concerning the matter.  After the smoke cleared all seems well but only on the surface.  Let’s face it, I don’t see eye to eye with this individual nor many other people who work in radio because I do not work in radio for the love of radio as an entity.  I work in radio for the love of various genres of rock music and radio, at the time, is my only outlet to work in music.

I am not saying I hate radio although there is a love/hate relationship there simply because radio is corporate and I am rather anti-corporate and rebellious by nature.  Now, keep in mind, rebellion is not necessarily a bad thing.  Jesus Christ Himself was a rebel against religious legalism and hypocrisy.  I love working in radio but I don’t agree with everything concerning the ‘rules’ of radio.  I get the whole FCC thing but radio is mostly a numbers game to which I play along to a degree by don’t necessarily live by.

Plus I don’t live, eat and breathe radio.  I live, eat and breathe music.  For example, the person referred to earlier once asked me if DETHRO TULL took off would I leave the station.  Without blinking I emphatically said yes.  This individual looked shocked!  Hell who wouldn’t?!  I guess not the person who asked the question!

The bottom line is that I am someone who wants to work in rock music one way or another!  Radio honestly was a back-up plan because I knew I had it within me to make a career for myself in radio in the very likely case being a ‘rockstar’ doesn’t work out.  And it’s not a bad gig by any means!  I consider myself very fortunate to be where I am yet I also know that I fought very hard to get here so it was a perfect combination of determination and blessing from the Lord that got me here.  But, at the same time, it is a job whereas playing music for a living would be a real dream come true.  I couldn’t imagine viewing that as a job although I am fully aware I would most likely have to play corporate ball once again to get our music out to the masses and to make playing music my full time meal ticket.

That’s all I got!  Just needed something to bitch – I mean BLOG about!

Well, we made plans to meet on Friday and go out or just chill but then she contacts me on facebook on Thursday telling me her car has broken down in Anderson so I agree to ‘rescue the damsel in distress’ when i got off work later that evening.  So I go and pick her up and we go hang out at my place.  Now, over the years I’ve learned to pick up on certain signs from women and, when she sat down on my couch, she sat in a spot that left just enough room for me to sit right next to her so our legs were touching.  So I got cozy with her as we watched Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story with Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.  As we watched the movie (which we both have seen), she confided in me that she has trust issues with men.  Respecting that I didn’t try too many smooth moves so not to set her off.  I did, however, ask if I could kiss her once the movie was over and she said I could.  So we started making out for a few seconds then she started freaking out.  I pulled back but she continued on a tirade so I took her home giving her my two cents worth on the way.

When we pulled up at her place, we sat in the car and talked for an hour or so and somewhat cleared the air.  I then walked her to the door and managed another quick kiss as we said goodnight.

The next day came and I texted her to see if she still wanted to go for round two despite the rocky night before and she said she did and told me to pick her up at 8:30.  Still skeptic from the first round, I dragged ass leaving to pick her ass up and arrived around 8:45 or so.  The night started out ok as we ran by Blockbuster to see Reverend Jim and rented The Hangover and Zombieland on Blu-ray and then ran by the grocery store and Wendy’s to grab some snacks and some grub.

We started with Zombieland since Spam hadn’t seen it yet and I wanted to see it a second time.  I gotta say I enjoyed just a bit more than the first time back in the theater, but the deleted scenes sucked so they were deleted for a good reason!

Zombieland  \m/  \m/  \m/  \n

Next we watched The Hangover which I hadn’t seen and she wanted to watch again (so it worked out overall).  I was skeptical about the movie because, honestly, the previews were NOT funny.  However, I have to admit the movie was pretty funny but still didn’t meet the hype.

The Hangover  \m/  \m/  \m/  \

During the movies, we got a little cozy on the couch, but as soon as the last movie was over she wanted to go home very abruptly.  Granted it was already after two but she had expressed no desire to be home at a certain time all night and was rather rudely insistent on going home so, instead of fighting with her, I hopped up and got ready to leave with as much urgency as her to go – only mockingly as I was obviously perturbed.

On the way back to her place, I remained fairly silent as she went on and on about random crap I honestly no longer cared about.  Finally sensing my agitation, she started on this lecture about how she’s too busy for relationships with her upcoming schoolwork and that I obviously was too because she knew I had just put in a 55 hour work week.  Refusing to let her try and pull a fast one on me I asked her what she was trying to say and pointed out what she undoubtedly already knew: I didn’t care!  Irked by the fact she was trying to get the upper hand on me, I told her it would probably be better if she never called me again and let her know how rude I thought she was to accept my courtesy and then so quickly throw such an icy shoulder.  She agreed that she was rude but showed little or no true remorse and, as she got out of the car she unconvincingly said she was sorry to which I replied, “No you’re not!  F#%k off!” and sped off.  Outside off sending a few pissy text messages later that night, I haven’t heard from her since.  Good riddance to bad rubbish!

On Saturday I met up with Daniele and her friend Brittany again only this time at the Barnes & Noble up in Spartanburg and then we hit the IHOP close by.  I took a wrong turn on my way home and ended up passing Raisin’ Cains where Matt and Nine were hosting the finale of Big “O” Contest.  So I stopped by and got in just in time to catch all the ladies show off their moves and then some!

Afterwards, I followed Matt, Nine and One-Legged Batman back to Nine’s house which was…..interesting!  LOL!

Sunday morning I actually got up early and went to visit Mauldin First Baptist since I met their worship pastor Pruette Plemens at the Mauldin High Battle of the Bands the week before as he was another one of the judges along with myself and the LIONZ OF ZION.

The people there were really nice and I even had a few people recognize me so I didn’t feel so out of place.

Afterwards, I went to go visit my aunt and that was pretty much it since I had a few different date plans fall through.  I’m not gonna lie, I flirt with numerous women at once simply beacause most women I encounter are extremely flaky!  And, despite having several plans and back-up plans, I ended up alone on Valentine’s Day.  Screw it, I enjoyed the free time!

Yesterday I had part of the day off as the office was closed so I went down to see Eddie “The Monster” Lamb at Monster Ink to get a new tat.  Being I had just ordered a new Traben Phoenix to go along with my Traben Chaos Obsession, I figured I’d get the Traben Bass Company logo on my left forearm.  Since it’s just a big ‘T’, it doubles for Todd and triples for Twisted!

When I got off the air I ran down to Blockbuster to see ‘Reverend’ Jim who always updates me on all good games and movies to check out.  He was playing the demo for the new game God of War III which looked amazing!  Since I don’t like to spend $60 on a brand new game, he recommended getting the God of War Collection which has both God of War and God of War II re-issued and remastered for PS3 and is only $30.  So I went down to Best Buy to pick up a copy and I am hooked!

This morning while I was getting ready for work there was a knock at my door.  I was rather alarmed – and naked since I’d just got out of the shower!  I waited a moment and when they knocked again I yelled for them to wait a minute as I grabbed up the closest pair of fig leaves I had lying aroud and went to the door.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was the FedEx guy with my new bass and case!  It was like Christmas morning – which made up for this past Christmas sucking!  Now I can’t wait to get home and play with my new toy!

Inglourious Basterds  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

I managed to watch the entire film and a few special features that night before going to bed.  I fully intended to watch the rest of the special features when I got home Wednesday night however, upon arriving, I first noticed my doormat was pushed all the way up to the doorway (I always pull it back an inch or so when I leave) and then I noticed that the front casing of my deadbolt had been chiseled off.  Needless to say that the lock was already opened when I slid my key in and, lo and behold, I found someone had jacked my apartment.  My 40″ LCD TV was gone as well as my PS3 and numerous PS3 games and DVD and Blu-ray movies – including Inglourious Basterds!

After the initial shock wore off and a few minutes of kicking and screaming, I called 911 and filed a police report.  An officer soon arrived followed a bit later by a forensics officer who dusted my apartment for fingerprints as one of my maintenance guys replaced the locks.

The next day I had my checks cancelled to be on the safe side and filed a report with my insurance company.  Keep in mind I still have an applicable $500 deductible and my rates may still go up in June even though this was not my fault in the slightest.

Friday night we had both the Rise Guys Big Ass P1 Christmas Party and the Entercom Company Christmas Party both of which I attended considering it’s no fun being a hermit cooped up in my apartment without my TV and PS3.  The Rise Guys Big Ass P1 Christmas Party was being held in my hometown of Simpsonville at the Zone Sports Bar and Grille and the place was packed!  I had fun hanging with the Original P1 Lauren and P1 Big Counsy and had a paper tube fight with Fat Boy which I unanimously won and earned some much needed stress relief.

During the course of the evening, our transmitter, which sits atop of a big ass mountain in North Carolina, went out due to the perilous winter weather in the area.  The conditions were so severe that our engineering team couldn’t even reach the transmitter until Sunday morning managing to keep us off the air for a whopping 41 hours!

The weather was bad enough locally that a tree fell on Roper Mountain Road and knocked out the power up and down the street….which I live on.  So I ran home after the Rise Guys Big Ass P1 Christmas Party to change into something a little nicer and more business casual for the Entercom Company Christmas Party and did so in the dark.  The power was restored by the time I got home later that night but went off for a while longer during the early morning hours.

I had a great time at the company Christmas party hanging with Intern Tyler, Diesel and some of our lovely promotions staff….and the free food and booze helped a lot too!  We basically shut the place down that night and still tried to find a place in downtown to continue the festivities.  When we found nothing else to do, those of us left parted ways and went home.  Some of us had to sober up just a bit first….

Saturday I ventured out to the deadly malls and other stores of holiday frenzy to do what little shopping my broke and burglarized ass could afford.  I also managed to take in a movie in an attemt to boost my own morale and revive any amount of Christmas Spirit I could muster.  I went and saw The Blind Side, the football biopic with Sandra Bullock.  The film was very heartwarming and inspirational which I definitely needed to lift my spirits.

The Blind Side  \m/  \m/  \m/  \m/

Sunday I went to church for the first time in forever (maybe to try and win favor with the Lord – LOL!) and then went to borrow a small TV/DVD combo from my best friend’s parents who’ve been like a second family to me.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get my digital antenna to work on the set so I didn’t get to watch football but at least got to watch some movies and relax a bit.

I got my renters insurance forms in the mail Monday and filled them out first thing yesterday morning and faxed them to my claim representative.  Now I just gotta wait for the check and try to get as much replaced as possible since I will be receiving $500 less than what my stuff was worth because of the deductible.  Sucks.

Today I wrapped up the 12 Days of Axemas from noon until 2 at First Cash Pawn on Rutherford St in Greenville.  The turnout was great but I had to rush back to the station to be on the air at 2!

Right now I’m trying to wrap up all my work and take the day off tomorrow for Christmas Eve and then come back and do my shift on Christmas Day.

Even though this year has been a rough one for me having had some legal woes, totaling a car, having my new one keyed and then my apartment broken into, I am remaining optimistic that 2010 will be a much better year kicking off a brand new decade.

I want to take a minute to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Happy New Year in 2010!