Comings and Goings and Other Happenings
Last night, I went with a friend of mine to see this band that she is good friends with (it's that bloody Othello connection, I guess). The first two bands playing just plain sucked. And I do mean sucked. The first guys were just these high-school punk-asses spouting off about the love of Jesus, as if this was somehow able to compensate for the fact that they sounded like a parking lot full of dying whales. The audience just stood there staring in shock that people could suck this much. Granted, I am no musical virtuoso myself, but it doesn't take a good musician to recognize a bad one. The next act was this ridiculously overwrought group trying to preach to the crowd the whole time. They sucked as well, though not as bad as their predecessors, though that's not saying much. They basically took all these stereotypical band archetypes and combine them for studied mediocrity. They had the incoherent front-man, the stoned lead guitarist, the fat drummer, and the token barely-there bassist. All in all, it was god-aweful. These two bands sucked so much that they didn't even bother to give their names. Given their performances, though, that may have been a good thing for them. The third band, Amber Avenue, ROCKED a LOT! They played for their dinner last night, and it was well worth it. Screaming vocals, complex guitar riffs and harmonies, and skilled drumming made it all worth it. They played a long set, and whipped the crowd into a good frenzy. The final band I saw, War by the Day, was really awesome as well. These guys are friends of my friend, so I suppose I might be a bit biased here. The only drawback from their set was the fact that the vocals were totally incomprehensible (the sound equipment was sorely lacking). They managed to inject speed, skill, and noise into an effective set that went off like a powder-keg in the little club we were at. The drumming was top-notch, the guy practically flying all over the drums. I left with my ears ringing and my nose running, and a smile on my face.

In contrast, today has pretty much been boring. I have had no social interaction with anybody outside of my room-mate, and have done nothing but watch Family Guy episodes in the room. I guess that's about all there is to say.

Oh, as my friend Matt Hecht informed me, the Eagles are coming to Seattle. That's pretty cool! It's the Eagles!