Nope

Received the email below about a festival in Lenox, MA, in July 2020. There's zero chance of me attempting to work out going to MA to see this show. It's an interesting poster - Breaking Benjamin is a "bigger" band than Quiet Riot, but it's Quiet Riot's graphic that dominates. That said, if this was being held in Des Moines or Moline or even Waterloo, I would consider going to it.

Since I'm curious, I dug around a bit and found this site - Riot & Rebels with Quiet Riot, Molly Hatchet and BLACKFOOT - which does not list Breaking Benjamin as a band on the bill. Who is wrong?

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Sonic Octane - Live! Riot and Rebels Fest

Riot & Rebels Tour One Night Only Saturday, July 25th Sonic Octane will be performing with Quiet Riot, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot Saving Abel, Breaking Benjamin Saliva, Tantric and more! Eastover Estate Lenox, Massachusetts

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Something Not Quite Right

I receive email from Gabe's Oasis, a music venue in downtown Iowa City, on a fairly regular basis and I've seen this issue before, but don't recall writing about it. I've been receiving email from Gabe's Oasis for quite a while - it was how I found out about Flotsam & Jetsam playing there because, for whatever reason, bands that play at Gabes or at The Blue Moose Tap (like Saving Abel does tonight) don't get a lot of promotion in the newspaper or on radio.

Back to the email, there seems to be something automated in the content of the email and, in this case, there seems to be duplicate records for the upcoming "Crazy Town" concert on February 22nd as it is listed twice.

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In the first record, it states that "Metro Concerts Live Presents" but not in the second record. In the first record, the band "Davey Suicide" is in blue text whereas in the second record, it looks the same as "Crazy Town". In the first record, bands called "TV Cop" and "To the Surface" are listed, but they are not listed in the second record. In the first record, it says "5:00 PM" whereas in the second record, it says "Doors: 5:00 PM / Show: 6:00 PM".

I really don't have any skin in this game - I just use the email to review the bands that are scheduled for bands I would want to see. I am happy to see that "Black Hilt" is one of the bands that is opening for "Crazy Town" as I enjoyed their set when I watched them open for Flotsam & Jetsam not too long ago.

Upcoming Incorrect

Bryan Adams is coming to Cedar Rapids, IA, for a concert at the US Cellular Center. I've never felt compelled to write about Bryan Adams on this blog, but I've always liked his tunes. I used to listen to "Cuts Like a Knife" on cassette repeatedly, though, there's been too many miles between then and now to cite a track on that release other than the title cut. I also liked the release "Reckless" but not because of the hit single "Summer of '69." I really liked the tune "Somebody." There was something magical about the guitar riff and even the guitar solo that speaks to me. I am humming the tune now (silently).

Set aside all of the above and look at the announcement I received through an email:

 

It's really close, but there's a problem with the date. As you can see below, September 18, 2016, is not a Monday - it's a Sunday. That makes a big difference as far as whether I'd be able to swing going to the show as far as scheduling and such.

As I sit here on a Wednesday in September, attending this show is unlikely to happen. I would rather see one or both of these shows instead:

I've never seen Korn, Motionless in White (Alex told me last night he likes their music), or REO Speedwagon in concert which means, yes, I've seen BB, Silver Snakes (they opened for Bring Me the Horizon in Clive when Alex and I went to see them last month), Def Leppard, and Tesla. When I saw Tesla, they were the HEADLINER and had Great White and Badlands open for them. Now they get the (crappy) opening slot on a 3 band bill. Meanwhile, yes, over in Moline, IL, there are at least three concerts I'd like to see:

"Make America Rock Again" is a multi-band concert with the following bands:

1. DROWNING POOL
2. TRAPT
3. SALIVA
4. SAVING ABEL
5. ALIEN ANT FARM
6. CRAZYTOWN
7. 12 STONES
8. TANTRIC
9. More!

I would very much want to see it!

Buck Cherry

When I went to see BuckCherry previously, it was because they were opening for Avenge Sevenfold and I had secured passes through their label. Av7 ended up cancelling their appearance and that moved BuckCherry to the headlining spot, which was nice because it moved Shinedown to a longer set. The third band was Saving Abel and they had a short set. Now, on their current tour, Saving Abel is direct support for BuckCherry @ the iWireless Center in September. Red is the band in their former spot.

Fine. Schedule a concert in Iowa on a date I am unavailable

If Sunday, 05/31/09, were not two days prior to leaving on a family vacation, I would be @ this show.
Saliva
Korn
Buckcherry
Saving Abel
Rev Theory
Duff McKagan's Loaded

Actually, I would be content to stay until Buckcherry finished their set, then leave. Neither Korn nor Saliva really trip my musical trigger.

I have no idea what Duff McKagan's Loaded sounds like but if it's anything remotely close to Velvet Revolver or G-n-R, I would probably tolerate it for an opening gig. Neither of those two bands are in my top 10 or even top 20 of favorite bands but they're okay.
I liked Rev Theory's Truth is Currency release but I haven't heard any of their follow-up material.
I liked Saving Abel when they were on the bill with Buck Cherry & Shine Down.
I liked Buckcherry more than I thought I would.

So really, if Buckcherry finished @ 9, I'd be home by 11 and in bed by 12. I guess it depends upon what time the show starts.

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So, I expand the search of concerts in the Des Moines area and who do I find? Every Avenue! They are a band I reviewed - you can read the review here - and I will miss both of their gigs:
Sat 04/25/09 Ames, IA Iowa State University
Appearing at "The Bamboozle Festival" <== this is the day of my nephew's first communion in Cedar Falls.
==> Fri 05/15/09 Des Moines, IA People's <== We are probably getting our camper out of storage

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Which led me to ask, "What is the Bamboozle Festival?" That led me to http://www.thebamboozle.com/ where I learned it is a multi-day concert - $116 gets you in the door for each of the days - on May 2nd and May 3rd in New Jersey. Not happening.

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More goodies @ work to keep me busy. Some UI work found its way to my desk and quickly took on a life of its own as I discovered two fields on the screen that have never been in our documentation. So I worked on adding them in, which led me to task A, which led to B, to C, and before I knew it, I was leaving for the day.

One big piece of good news is that when I went to the dentist this AM, I had no cavities. Considering the amount of Pepsi & Mountain Dew I consume on a daily basis, I am happy.

It is 11 PM. I am getting up @ 4 to help Karen get ready for work. We are leaving for Balltown tomorrow after work and will be there until Sunday. My in-laws have dial-up and it is an exercise in frustration to use their PC. So I won't. I'll be back on Sunday or Monday, depending upon if I have anything to say on Easter Sunday.

M in M Setlist & other news

This is the concert I missed Saturday night in Moline, IL:
DISC ONE
That Was Just Your Life
The End of the Line
Harvester Of Sorrow
For Whom The Bell Tolls
Kirk Solo #1
One
Broken, Beat & Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
Wherever I May Roam
The Four Horsemen
Kirk Solo #2
DISC TWO
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Blackened
Kirk Solo #3
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Last Caress
Breadfan
Seek and Destroy

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In other news, I have a solution for my MOTW issue that I wrote about last week. The issue is that I am attempting to access a PDF from a HTML file on the local PC. The HTML file is coded with the MOTW code but the PDF doesn't have that coding. Therefore, when the HTML file tries to go to the PDF, IE 7 says, "Nope, you don't have MOTW. You're not safe," thus making the PDF not open. The solution is to create HTML files that embed the PDF. I have to create a HTML file for each PDF. I worked on this project on Saturday morning. I go through the As and the Bs in my list of PDFs that I have to change. This gets a bit complicated, but I also have to change the names of 55 PDFs.
The reason for that change is that the HTML file is already reserved by an .exe file. For example, I have an app called "apples.exe." This app, by default, uses apples.htm as its help file and the PDF version of this documentation is called apples.pdf. If I create a new apples.htm that will embed apples.pdf, the existing content in apples.htm is replaced, which is not good. Since the coding is looking for apples.htm, I have to create apples_eu.htm and rename apples.doc to apples_eu.pdf so that generating the PDF creates apples_eu.pdf.

I then have to change my DOS batch file to copy apples_eu.pdf from the network drive and also have to change, if any exist, any link to apples.pdf. So far, my design to only actually open a PDF from the topic I call "Print Documentation" has paid off as there is only one link to change from "PDF/apples.pdf" to "apples_eu.htm." It's the details - updating a tracking doc I maintain, updating the DOS batch file, renaming apples.doc to apples_eu.doc, and then, finally, creating the apples_eu.pdf that is copied by the DOS batch file. I estimate I have 184 more links to change. I hope to breeze through these changes by the end of the day Tue so I can return to my actual writing.

Additionally, the Iowa men's basketball team won their exhibition game against Wayne State yesterday @ Carver. The Iowa women's basketball team also won their exhibition game. So both teams start out 1-0. Good start.

Finally, this week is going to be busy.
Mon - tutor & piano
Tue - clubs after school plus Alex has a test on Wed
Wed - dentist appts, Alex has basketball @ 5:30 and Megan has piano @ 5:30 - no petting Max
Thu - Survivor, Grey's, & ER
Fri - NOTHING
Sat - Saving Abel, ShineDown, Avenge Sevenfold, & BuckCherry in Waterloo
Sun - basketball practice from 4-5 @ Regina

Then it starts all over again.

Optimistically, it seems my cold is wearing away so I may feel like sitting @ the PC @ night and writing reviews. I got a new Who DVD yesterday and I also have a Genesis DVD to review, plus a bunch of other stuff I have neglected. Need to get back in gear.

Back in the Groove

1. What a week. I got hit with a cold around Tuesday and avoided this PC at night. I am still not healed - my chest is tight and I still cough - but I do feel better. I have not had to take my DayQuil to feel okay so I guess that's good - I kind of like not having to be drugged up to be functional.
2. The week at work was crazy. I took 4 hours of vacation yesterday and, judging by the e-mails that flowed to my Inbox, I wouldn't have been bored yesterday afternoon. We are getting ready to send out the next Mass Release and because of some changes we made, there are a lot of loose ends to clean up to make sure we make the release seamless for the clients.
3. I did have a thought about my increasing CD collection. The way my collection is now, when I add a CD by a band that starts with "A," I have to shift the CDs in my collection down one to make room for it. At work, we order CD-Rs in 100 packs for distribution of our releases to our clients. We use white envelopes - instead of jewel cases - and end up with empty 100 pack spindles. My (cool) manager has said that I could use those spindles if I had a use for them. Right now, there are 4 spindles. I could take 400 CDs from my rack and put them on the spindles. Then I would have more room. The only things to consider are that
   
   • I need someplace to put the cases and inlays for the CDs I put on the spindle
   • I need some way to not forget what CD is on what spindle
   I can fix issue 2 with an up-to-date CD list. I don't know how I can store the inlays and CD booklets where I can know where they are. In essence, I already have this type of scenario with the existing CD-Rs I already have on spindles. The only difference to overcome is what to do with the booklets, etc. I can find a plastic Rubbermaid to put that stuff in, I guess, and use some sort of filing system to keep things organized.
   
4. On to music news. I am not going to Moline, IL, tonight to see Metallica. I am going to purchase the show on http://www.livemetallica.com, like I would have anyways, but, as a side note, I don't really have to purchase *that* show. Someone I was talking to said that I could just pick any show and I apologize, I don't remember if it was Dave, Phil, or Kevin that made that comment to me. So, yeah, I'm going to purchase a show and call it done. In hindsight, I kind of want to know if I would have had better luck seeing them in Des Moines, IA, and talking to Lars Ulrich than in Moline. I never considered going to Des Moines on a Sunday night. It wouldn't have been easy to work into my schedule but I suppose for a free Metallica ticket, I could have found a way.
5. In the meantime, I'm looking ahead to a week from today. Tentatively, I'm going to Waterloo to see Saving Abel, Shinedown, Buck Cherry, and Avenge Sevenfold with my friend JR. I have to put the finishing touches on that 'deal' before I call it sealed.
   

A Brief Pause

This week has been crazy and next week will be even crazier, both at home and at work.

At work, I am attending training for a product called JWalk. It starts tomorrow and goes until the 12th. Then, on 9/15, my co-worker and I will start developing changes with JWalk for release on 9/25. I don't think I will be able to work on documentation until 10/1.

Outside of work, some key dates:
9/11 - Megan starts her volleyball league
9/14 - Alex's basketball practice starts up again and I am the assistant head coach. The head coach, Tim, won't be there on that date so I get to run practice.
9/16 - I'm going to Moline, IL, to see Avenge Sevenfold / Buck Cherry / Shine Down / Saving Abel for *free* as Warner Brothers is sending me "hard tix" for that show.
9/17 - school pictures
9/18 - back to school night & Megan's volleyball league
9/19 - we're taking the camper to storage in Zwhingle and spending the weekend in Balltown.
9/21 - Alex's basketball practice

Somewhere in there, I will write a concert review of Avenge Sevenfold / Buck Cherry / Shine Down / Saving Abel. To say I have a backlog of reviews to write is an understatement.

I am still working on my TWing contract and I want to get that put to bed today so I'm signing off.