Yeah, they sold out immediately. And are now going on Ebay for over $200 a ticket. Anyone want to donate $400 to my must-see-nine-inch-nails fund? Probably not.

Nine Inch Nails tickets are proving impossible to get. There was a presale on Tuesday. Sold out before I could get any. There was a presale this morning at 8 am. By the time I had reloaded the page to check if it had started, it was sold out. The general sale is this evening at 5, but I’m not really holding my breath. The tickets are going for $100-$200 each on Ebay. Originally they are $32. I can’t afford scalper prices. I guess this is what happens when you only tour about every five years and only go to like 10 cities when you finally do. Bleh.

Ben and I occasionally get into discussions about what makes music good, since we don’t always agree.

From what I understand, he doesn’t think lyrics to a song are important, whereas I do. He says that this is a female thing. He thinks that most women focus too much on the lyrics of a song and don’t care about the actual music behind it. I argue that the lyrics are what give the song meaning.

My favorite songs are all songs that I can relate to in some way, but that also appeal to me musically. I agree that a song has to actually sound good in order to be a good song, that the lyrics aren’t the whole song (otherwise I might like country or something, hehe). What I consider my favorite songs are all pieces that make me lose myself. I can close my eyes and just get transported to another world when I listen to them. I can’t describe what it is about the song, musically, that I really like. It just connects with me. However, in order to get that connection, I usually have to connect with the lyrics also.

For example, my favorite song is “Lateralus” by Tool. Ben agrees that it is a great song and probably Tool’s best. I can’t explain at all what I love about it, except that it gives me that transported feeling more than any other song. To me, the lyrics are really spiritual as well, and I just feel at peace whenever I hear it.

One of my favorite Jewel songs, “Life Uncommon”, gives me the same spiritual, at peace feeling, to a much lesser degree. But Ben claims Jewel is “not good.” I don’t really understand what he doesn’t like, but I think it is something about her voice.

I’m really interested in hearing other opinions about this topic. So, I pose the following questions:
- What makes music good to you?
- What do you look for in a good song?
- What is your favorite song and why?
- Are lyrics important?
- Are you male or female?

February went by quick. Tomorrow is March 1, which means…Sims 2 University (which I pre-ordered)! And the new Mars Volta album (which I didn’t).

Apparently NIN tickets go on sale this week, though being on the mailing list failed to come through for me. I got emailed the European dates and pre-sale links, but not the ones that matter. They are going to be in Atlanta on May 21 and 22. However, Sabrina’s wedding (in which I’m maid of honor) in the 21st, so I suppose I’m limited to going to the one on the 22nd. Assuming I can even possibly get tickets considering they’ve all sold out in like five minutes for the ones that have already been on sale.

This weekend was okay. We’ve pretty much beaten Tales of Symphonia. Actually we did beat it, but we went back and loaded up an older save so we could get some other stuff done before the actual end of the game. Friday, we went and hung out with some friends in the Old City and then went to wish Becka a happy 21st birthday. Saturday, we went to Philip’s birthday party, and there’s pictures in the gallery of that.

I’m thinking of adding a new section to the site called “Stuff I Don’t Own” or something to that effect, so people can write reviews and make recommendations on stuff I don’t have.

School is going okay. Work is going okay. Life, in general, is going okay.

The release date for the new NIN album “With Teeth” was announced. It’s coming out May 3. Sims 2 University, the first expansion, is coming out March 1. The 9th season of Friends is coming out on dvd sometime in March as well. A new Mars Volta album, “Frances the Mute” is due out March 1. Audioslave is putting out a new album in June. And who knows when the new Tool album will be out?

Wired’s Nextfest is at the end of June, in Chicago this year, instead of San Francisco. While SF would be cooler to visit, Chicago is closer and maybe cheaper to get to.

Music Midtown and Bonnaroo are on the same dates this year. Mars Volta is going to be at Bonnaroo. Music Midtown hasn’t listed their artist lineup yet. Hmm.

Having a video game party for a change on Friday.

Otherwise I’d update more often than I have been.

Classes start tomorrow, but I prefer not to think about that a whole lot.

I’ve got some things I need to do for Sabrina’s wedding. Like get my measurements done and pay for my dress before the end of the month, make her programs, write a toast, plan a bachelorette party, etc.

I have plans to redo some stuff on this site whenever I can find some time. Okay, time really isn’t the issue. I’m just lazy.

And the biggest news I have right now….Trent just finished the newest Nine Inch Nails album, the band is rehearsing, and tour dates are going to be announced “in the near future” according to the website. Yay! Now if only Tool would hurry up and finish their new one…

I can’t believe it’s so soon. I’ve got all my shopping done (for the most part). I’m heading to Clarksville on Thursday night and staying till Sunday. Sabrina, the other girls, and I are going bridesmaid dress shopping for her wedding on Sunday too, so that’ll be interesting.

Ben and I went to the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas concert last Friday night. They were really good. My favorite piece was probably “Fantasia on Greensleeves.”

Mittens is a neat word. Mittens.

Stabbing Westward, “Angel”

I believed that love was sacred
As I dove blindly into her sea
You see, that warm embrace felt more like drowning
As endless waves crashed over me
She was an insatiable black hole
Feeding off my mind and off my soul
I find love humilating
A sick and desperate need that drives me
God I hope I never feel again

But I’ve never been loved by an angel
I’ve never felt anything so pure
I’ve never been loved by an angel
Until tonight, when your heaven filled my world

She showed me love could lift me higher
With a kiss she repaired these broken wings
She revived my fading spirit
Restored my faith in everything
I have never felt I had a home
Even in a crowd I felt alone
I’d almost given up on life
I believed it’s all a lie
And never thought I’d ever feel again

But I’ve never been loved by an angel
I’ve never felt anything so pure
I’ve never been loved by an angel
Until tonight, when your heaven filled my world

I believed in nothing
But you believed in me
I thought that life was worthless
But you told me I’m a star

But I’ve never been loved by an angel
I’ve never felt anything so pure
I’ve never been loved by an angel
Until tonight, when your heaven filled my world
Until tonight, when your heaven filled my world

Okay, I want to compile all my favorite techno and trance songs onto one cd for the sake of convenience. Except I’m having trouble thinking of enough songs to fill it up, so please recommend some. I’ve probably overlooked some I really like, so suggest anything. Here’s what I’ve got so far, so you can get an idea of what I like and stuff:

The Crystal Method: “Trip Like I Do”
The Cynic Project: “Structure,” “Trance Experience,” “Sidewinder,” and “Grid ]|[”
Darude: “Sandstorm”
Infected Mushroom: “Nothing Comes Easy,” “Ratio Schmatio,” “Bust A Move”

I have like three Infected Mushroom albums that I have only listened to like once, so I may find some good stuff on them. Also I know there are some Orbital songs I really like, but I can’t think of the names of any of them, heh. But all suggestions are welcome!

And now for a song:

Pearls and swine bereft of me
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel

I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky

Friends and liars don’t wait for me
I’ll get on all by myself
I put millions of miles
Under my heels
And still too close to you I feel

I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night

Audioslave, “I am the Highway”

I was at Hastings today, and I saw a Tool CD case. Had to get it, of course. So, I moved all of my CDs that I listen to regularly into that case (since it only holds 24) and keeping my other CDs that I don’t listen to as often in my 96-CD case. I have far too many CDs.

Tonight I am trying to catch up on my CD burning, since I haven’t done it in awhile. I’m making another copy of my Audioslave CD, since I gave Ben my other one. Also burning: Deftones - White Pony, Yellowcard - Ocean Avenue, Live - Throwing Copper, The Strokes - Is This It, QOTSA - Songs for the Deaf, KMFDM - Retro, Prozzak - Hot Show, Orbital - Blue Album, Porcupine Tree - Up the Downstair, Sublime - 40 Oz. to Freedom, Infected Mushroom - Classical Mushroom, and Infected Mushroom - IM the Supervisor. Whee. Lots of new things to listen to in my car now.

Knoxville is celebrating Boomsday today, so I’m not venturing out of my apartment tonight. I can’t take the traffic.

Last night I went and saw Requiem for a Dream at the UC on campus. I dragged Ernie along with me, since he’d never seen it. And he said it was an excellent movie, but he never wanted to see it again. I vaguely remember saying that exact same thing the first time I saw it. They are showing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas next Wednesday and Shrek 2 on Friday.

I’ve decided I want to redo the look of my bedroom. It’s had this yellow and white look to it for three or four years now, and I just want something new. Maybe posters. Hmm.

I changed mine again this afternoon. This is the sixth regular ringtone since I got my phone last December. This doesn’t count personal ringtones, of course. It started off as something generic that came on the phone. Then I changed it to “I Feel Fine” by the Riddlin’ Kids, and it stayed that way for a really long time. It was “Sex Type Thing” by the Stone Temple Pilots for a week or two. Then it was “The Reason” by Hoobastank for about another week. Then I changed it to “Busy Child” by the Crystal Method for a month or so, and today I changed it to “Perfect Drug” by NIN.

On top of that, I have personal ringtones. Like when Sabrina calls me it plays “Ænema” by Tool and when Ben calls it plays “Weak and Powerless” by A Perfect Circle. Or, in short, I never really know when my phone is ringing since it rings differently every time.

It was really weird when I changed it from “I Feel Fine.” I didn’t use personal ringtones then (basically cause that was the only ringtone I had besides the crap ones that came on the phone), so it was really confusing to hear something else. Now everytime I hear a phone ring, I have to wonder if it’s mine, since I have so many different ones.

I don’t really know what the point of this post is. Just wondering how often everyone else changes their ringtone I guess.

That was a great trip. We left early Wednesday morning and sped towards Atlanta. We arrived around 11:30 or so, got turned around a few times, and eventually ended up at our hotel. Since it was still early, we couldn’t check in, so we freshened up in the bathroom and were soon on our way to the Marta station.

It was blazing hot outside. We had packed a ton of water, even though you are only supposed to have one bottle per person. But the security really wasn’t that tight. After walking around aimlessly for awhile, we finally found the schedule board. Jason and Becka decided to go off to find the Maurice stage while Ben and I opted for the Brian stage where the Vandals were about to start. The Brian stage was out in the parking lot in the hot blazing sun, while the Maurice stage was in the cooler ampitheatre. So we ended up going back and forth, trying to cool off. Because of this, we ended up seeing some very sucky bands on the Maurice stage and a couple cool ones. Bands we saw included: the Vandals, the Casualties, New Found Glory, Yellowcard, NOFX, Avenged Sevenfold, and Bad Religion. Very cool stuff.

When we got back to the Marta station, we couldn’t remember which station to get off on. So we tried one. Wasn’t it. Tried the next one. Wasn’t it. Tried the next. Nope. We did this five or six times before we finally found the right one. We were all pretty exhausted by this point.

The next day we slept in till about 11:30 before getting up and going to Six Flags. The first thing we went on was the Free Fall, which was pretty awesome, although I’m sure Acrophobia if it had been open would have been more awesome. Then we went on the Georgia Cyclone, which was an old wooden coaster. That pretty much sucked. Very shaky. And painful. Ow.

After that, we took a break for lunch. We left the park (due to insane prices) and went to Wendy’s, where I found out that you can pay $3 for a miniscule amount of chicken strips. Then it was back to the park.

It was starting to get really hot again at this point, so we went over to Splashwater Falls to stand on the bridge and get soaked. But that didn’t happen. There wasn’t a whole lot of splash that hit the bridge. We didn’t want to wait in line for that, so we continued on our way.

The next ride we hit was the Ninja, which is a coaster. It was pretty cool, but was nothing compared to what was coming up: Superman. Oh. My. God. Greatest coaster ever ever ever ever ever. We were in the front. It really felt like you were flying. Can’t even describe it. If you’ve never been on it, GO NOW. I mean it. Stop reading this and GO.

We were getting hot again after that (the wait for Superman was over an hour), so we decided to hit a water ride. We found Thunder River, which is one of those water rides with the big tubes that hold a ton of people. I got moderately wet on that and it cooled me down a bit.

It was beginning to get late at this point, so we headed over to Batman the Ride. That was pretty awesome too, in a different sort of way than Superman. It’s a hanging coaster, very reminscent of the Hangman at Opryland (RIP). We went on the Mindbender after that, which was the world’s first triple loop coaster, and it has no over-the-shoulder restraints, even though it has loops, so you can put your hands up even upside-down which is pretty cool. We went on Batman two more times after that, since we were right there and the park was about to close.

After all that, we drove home. It was a very fun trip, and we hope to go back to Six Flags in a couple months when it’s cooler and less crowded. I’ve put up some pictures in the gallery if you want to check them out.

All their employees listen to crappy music.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/20/musical_preference_survey/

Where do I begin?

Ben and I left Knoxville around 2:00 on Saturday and drove to Atlanta with no problems. We had a little difficulty locating the hotel once we arrived, but found it quickly enough. We headed over to Gwinnett Arena around 7:00. The show was scheduled to begin at 8. I didn’t bother taking the stealth cam with me this time around. We went inside and went down to the floor. Hardly anyone was there yet, so we sat down against the wall towards the front.

Burning Brides came on at 8:00. They were good, much better than I was expecting. The lead singer told he had a surprise for us, and Josh came out and played drums on one song. Then James came out and played guitar on the next one. That was pretty cool. Anyway, I was fairly impressed by them, and I think a lot of other people were too.

A Perfect Circle came on at 9:30. I had an excellent view this time. We were standing on the left side of the stage, pretty close to Jeordie, and like the second “row” of people. I had a great view of Jeordie, James, and Maynard the entire time.

They opened with “Vanishing,” of course, with Maynard behind the screen. When the screen came down as they went into “Pet,” Maynard had a cardboard cutout of Arnold Schwarzenegger placed in front of him. He also had a sign that read “Maynard Dr.” on his microphone stand. Hehe.

I was very, very happy with the setlist for this show. Basically, every song that I didn’t get to hear in Indianapolis, they played in Atlanta. I actually think this show was possibly better than the one in Indy. Maynard was really getting into it. It was just awesome.

Here’s the setlist:
Vanishing
Pet
The Hollow
Magdalena
Weak and Powerless
Orestes
Blue
Thinking of You
Brena
A Stranger
The Package
3 Libras
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Gravity
A song that James sang
The Outsider
The Noose
Judith

Very awesome show.

Afterwards, I couldn’t remember where I parked, so we wandered around the parking lot for awhile. We finally found it, and then it took forever to get out.

Ben before the concert.	Ben after the concert.
Me after the concert.	Dinner!

The next day, we decided to go to the Mall of Georgia, which is like the largest mall in the south. We checked out of the hotel and went to get in the car. It wouldn’t start. We determined that it was the battery and got someone to jump us.

We got to the mall and walked around for a bit. Personally, I think I like Opry Mills better. Although the Mall of Georgia does have an Armani Exchange store (*drool*). It had a neat little outside area with a fountain that kids could play in and some other stuff.

When we got ready to leave (I actually didn’t spend any money), the car wouldn’t start again. Wonderful. The battery is officially dead. We start trying to figure out what to do. We go back into the mall and find a mall security guy and he gets someone to jump it for us.

We start driving down the road looking for an Autozone or Wal-Mart or something. We happen upon a Sam’s Club and decide to stop there. It was already getting kind of late and we were ready to get back on the road to Knoxville. We go into Sam’s, locate the kind of battery we need, and go to pay for it. Well, guess what? My Sam’s Club card had expired. Bleh. So, we get someone there to jump us off and continue our search.

We found a Wal-Mart down the road. We go in, buy a battery, come back out, determine we need a wrench, go back in, buy a wrench, come back out, and finally finally finally get the battery replaced. Finally. Ugh.

So then we get on I-85 to begin our journey back to Knoxville. And get stuck in traffic. For an hour and a half. I’m not lying. We went 14 miles in 1.5 hours. Oh, and did I mention it was raining through all of this?

We finally got back to Knoxville. And now I’m completely broke once again.

http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/139092-1008-063.html

I just got back from Indianapolis.

I’m really at a loss for words. There is nothing I can say that can adequately describe last night.

Well, first of all, we got to Indianapolis in plenty of time. We were supposed to be at the fairgrounds at 6:00 to meet a guy that was selling us an extra ticket. But we ended up driving around Indy for like an hour and a half looking for a hotel relatively close to the coliseum. Apparently there aren’t any.

We finally found a hotel a little bit further away, and then got dressed and headed off to the fairgrounds. We got there at about 6:45. The doors had opened at 6:30. We met the guy, got the ticket, and then I realized that I had left the other two tickets in the car. Duh.

Finally, after we had all three tickets in our possession, we headed inside. They had to search us, and they were searching the guys and girls separately. I did manage to get the stealth cam in by strategically placing it in my shirt.

After we were in, we headed down to the floor and sat down to wait. It was 7:00 at this point, and the concert was scheduled to start at 8:00. I went and got a wristband so I could drink, but after paying over $4 for a tiny cup of Smirnoff Ice, I decided it wasn’t worth it.

At 8:00, The Mars Volta came on stage. They opened with “Roulette Dares,” which made me extremely happy. They continued to jam for the next hour playing an extremely extended version of “Cicatriz ESP”. I really don’t think the majority of the crowd knew who they were, cause they all kind of stood there and stared.

A Perfect Circle came on stage at 9:45, opening with “Vanishing,” as usual. The crowd started to get a little pushy during the first few songs, but they calmed down (at least in the part where I was standing), and I stopped worrying that I was going to die.

I had a decent view of Billy and James for most of the show. I had the tallest person in the world standing right in front of me for a few songs, though. I was probably about the same distance from the stage as I was for the Jewel concert.

It was Maynard’s birthday, of course, so we all sang to him. He’s forty years old now. Getting up there. He asked us to perform various experiments in censorship, and he did a magic trick for us (which I couldn’t really see because I had the tallest person in the world standing directly in front of me at the time). But he said he was going to drop a water bottle and then it was going to levitate. We had to say the magic words. He had to do it twice cause the first time it didn’t work, but apparently he dropped the bottle, it bounced, and he caught it. And as usual, he told us to “think for yourself, question authority” and that we had the power to change authority in November. The usual spiel.

I recorded “A Stranger,” but, of course, it doesn’t sound that great. At all. So I’m not posting it here. I will have to look around and see if I can find some better recordings of the show. I would have recorded some other songs, but at some point, I ended up with a guy behind me who was singing really loudly and off-key, and I could hear him better than Maynard, so I figured recording that wouldn’t be that great.

I can’t decide what the highlight of the night was. Possibly “A Stranger,” since it’s not usually a part of their set. I can’t even begin to describe how awesome they are live. Maynard had been sick lately, and had to cancel and postpone some shows earlier this month, but he sounded fully recovered and absolutely wonderful.

The set list was as follows:
Vanishing
Pet
The Hollow
Magdalena
Weak and Powerless
Rose
Blue
Thinking of You
A Stranger
The Package
3 Libras
The Nurse Who Loved Me (alt.)
Thomas
Fred’s Got Slacks
The Outsider
The Noose
Judith

I realized after we got back to the hotel that I forgot to buy a t-shirt, so I suppose I will have to find one on Ebay. Or I could just wait till Atlanta next month. Yay! I can’t wait to see them again!!

Okay, here is the official set list from the Jewel concert, taken from her website:

Near You Always, Passing Time, Everything Breaks, 1000 Miles Away, Sometimes It Be That Way, Little Sister, Down So Long, Everybody Needs Someone Sometime (1st time acoustic), Life Uncommon, Hands, Stephenville TX, hitchiking story->Race Car Driver, Cold Song, What’s Simple Is True, 2 Become 1, Stand, Intuition, Morning Song, Foolish Games, You Were Meant for Me, long intro->Who Will Save Your Soul Encores: Per la Gloria d’adorarvi, Where You Are, Q&A with audience, Chime Bells

Seems I forgot Sometimes It Be That Way and Hands. I knew I was forgetting one or two.

A Perfect Circle in Indy tomorrow!! Woohoo!! I need to get to bed early tonight. I’ve got a long drive ahead of me tomorrow. I do, however, have my outfit all ready.

I love this weather. And I love my one tan arm. And I seriously dislike men.

Okay, first of all, the pictures did not come out as well as I hoped. Basically, you can see a glowing human figure, and that’s about it. Blah. I will post a couple anyway, as well as one of myself that Ernie took right before I left for the concert. Anyway, don’t know what I’m going to do about the APC concert now.

I did get several audio clips, which came out fairly well.

I was sitting in the tenth row, dead center, so I had an excellent view. For all of the opening act and the first few songs of Jewel’s set, no one was sitting in front of me.

Okay, first of all, Jewel’s opening act was amazing. His name was Ryan Cabrera (blurrily pictured in the center, above). He was just awesome. He has a website at www.ryancabrera.com where you can download full versions of several of his songs. His album comes out in June. He was really great, and funny, and kind of cute. I was really impressed by him.

Jewel came on at 8:30. She was wearing a hot pink skirt, a white tank top, and tennis shoes. She recently got her hair cut and has bangs now, and I thought she looked great. She opened with “Near You Always,” singing a cappella. And, of course, I can’t remember all the songs, or the exact order that she sang them, so here is a general list:

Near You Always, 1000 Miles Away, Passing Time, Everything Breaks Sometimes, Little Sister, Life Uncommon, Stephenville, Stand, Down So Long, Morning Song, Race Car Driver, Cold Song, Everybody Needs Someone Sometimes, 2 Become 1, Intuition, Foolish Games, You Were Meant for Me, Who Will Save Your Soul, Per la Gloria, a new song that she played the dulcimer on, and Chime Bells.

Whew. I am probably missing one or two.

The last three songs were her encore. The new song, which she didn’t mention its name, was awesome. She said that it was only the second time she had played it, the first time being the night before. I would have recorded it, but was out of space by this time.

In between it and Chime Bells, she did a kind of question and answer session. I couldn’t think of anything good to ask, and most of what was asked, I already knew. But basically, she told us she has a dog named George and she lives in Stephenville, Texas, with her boyfriend Ty. She said her next album would probably be six live tracks and six in the studio, one of which would be the dulcimer song. She plans on it coming out at the beginning of next year, but she’s not entirely sure since Atlantic was sold and fired everyone that worked for her. Someone asked if Ty asked her to marry him, would she, and she said yes.

Okay, as for audio, I have:
The beginning of 1000 Miles Away - I only recorded the beginning because it was one of the first songs she sang and I wasn’t sure how much space it would take up.
The story behind Race Car Driver - This is the same story that I was trying to explain last September when I saw her, but, like I said, Jewel tells it much better, so here it is.
Stand - Full version
Per la Gloria - I missed the very beginning of it because I was fumbling around with the cam, but I got most of it.

It’s been a busy (but fun) last few days, and it seems that trend will continue throughout the week.

I’m going to mail Tera off after I get off work today. Frustrating, but necessary since she won’t even turn on anymore.

I saw Eternal Sunshine again last Friday. May be going to see it again soon. Such a great movie!

Jewel concert is on Wednesday! Yay! I will be taking my stealth cam to practice for the APC concert. I will be in the tenth row at this concert, so hopefully I can get some decent shots.

Going to Clarksville for the weekend.

Brina is coming to visit the weekend of the 23rd. Going to have another board game party, hopefully.

I’ve got a paper and a java program due on the 22nd. I need to find some time to work on those.