Jul 11, 2008 | Music
I *wish* I was a musician – I’d be a drummer =)
I have TONS of stuff in my iTunes library (yes, I still buy CD’s) and sometimes it’s difficult to choose what to listen to. These are the albums that top my list at the moment, stuff I’m loving right now.
- NIN – The Slip. This one is a totally free download! (Thanks to Kat for blogging about this.)
- One Republic – Dreaming Out Loud
- Linkin Park – Minutes to Midnight
- Breaking Benjamin – Phobia. If ONLY they’d come and play in South Africa, but Benjamin Burnley has a phobia about flying. No, really!
- Muse – Everything!! Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry, Hullabaloo, Absolution, Black Holes & Revelations, H.A.A.R.P.
- Jeff Buckley – Grace. Mmk, this one will ALWAYS be at the top of my list. I think I listen to him every day =)
What about you?
What’s topping your charts right now?
Jun 16, 2008 | Music, Out and About
Thanks to Sir G, I actually got to see Seether live in concert at Cape Town’s Grand West Arena last night! Wow … what an evening!
We left home at 6.30pm, me suitably attired in a black, rock-chick outfit and Sir G wearing his brand new “iPod” Tshirt from Springleap.com =) It was nice to see such a mix of people there – the normal throng of screeching teenies, yes, but also a lot of older people along with (and I thought this was so sweet) quite a few dads there with their offspring.
We arrived at the venue as Love Jones was playing, I’ve never really been a fan of theirs, but I think their music is starting to grow on me a bit (if I close my eyes and avoid looking at their lead singer.) I saw them last year in Joburg where they supported Fall Out Boy and was less than impressed. But last night’s session was actually pretty good. Although that lead singer (can’t remember her name), she seriously needs to be nominated for that “How Do I Look?” makeover show! Bright green leggings, red takkies, a sloppy, mud-coloured, falling-off-the-shoulder Tshirt and probably the scariest hairstyle ever, do not add up to anything REMOTELY resembling attractiveness … urgh!
Anyway, moving on. The next band up was 12th Avenue. Have you heard them before? I haven’t. They are from Cape Town and apparently they get quite a bit of airtime on 5fm, but I don’t listen to the radio much. They were great! I think I’m a fan already =) Their lead singer has an engaging on-stage presence and a really good voice. The music was not too shabby and the whole band was really vibing! They put on an excellent show and I really enjoyed them.
Then there was another band, but I have no idea who they were. They were just OK. Unfortunately their singer’s voice was completely drowned out so you couldn’t hear what the hell he was singing. I got bored, so I dashed out for a quick smoke break and another beer.
And then … drum roll … the main act: SEETHER.
Awesomeness =)
They were so good, actually much better than the last time I saw them 3 years ago at My Coke Fest in Green Point Stadium. They have worked hard on their live act and it shows! They’ve been touring with Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin in the States and have really polished up their show in that time. Of course, they now also have a whole bunch more tunes to deliver and their set was a nice mixture of their new stuff together with some older songs from the Saron Gas days. Time just flew by as I lapped up their performance and it ended all too soon for me!
Sorry – I didn’t take any photos of the concert – I didn’t want to risk having my phone confiscated. They are very strict about all types of recording and when we went to the Mary J Blige concert last year, I saw quite a few people losing their phones.
And then we decided to be rather impulsive and try our hand at the slots … we WERE at a casino afterall!
10 Minutes later and I was R1200 richer!!!! Hehehe =) I’ve never won so much in my life! Stoked! I hurriedly cashed in and left before I was tempted to carry on and see if I could win more …
A really great night =)
Jun 2, 2008 | Music
I am LOVING their new album!
The self titled 4th album by 3 Doors Down is a winner in my opinion. I’ve been a fan of theirs for a few years now and seeing them live at My Coke Fest last year was a huge treat for me. I have most of their stuff and I listen to it a lot so I was really excited to hear their latest album, which was released last month.
I wasn’t disappointed =) The opening track, “Train” is rocking! The final track “She Don’t Want The World” is hauntingly beautiful. As usual, Brad Arnold’s vocals are stunning.
The album is not exactly ground-breaking in any way, actually it’s quite “safe”, but it’s polished and easy to listen to. I enjoy their tempo, their powerful, brooding lyrics and their distinctive, rich Southern-rock sound.
“I guess I just got lost
being someone else.
I tried to kill the pain,
but nothing ever helped.
I left myself behind,
somewhere along the way
hoping to come back around
to find myself someday”
The album has received mixed reviews (not that I ever worry about anybody else’s opinion when it comes to music) but it has already reached #1 on the Billboard200 chart and will probably go platinum. To some fans of post-grunge alternative rock, this one may be a bit too mainstream – it does have a heavy pop influence (definitely “radio friendly”) and I don’t think it’ll attract many new fans – but to existing followers of the band, 3 Doors Down is a solid production and worth the long wait.
3 Doors Down Track Listing
- Train
- Citizen / Soldier
- It’s Not My Time
- Let Me Be Myself
- Pages
- It’s The Only One
- Give It To Me
- These Days
- Your Arms Feel
- Runaway
- When It’s Over
- She Don’t Want The World
Jun 1, 2008 | Life at Home, Music
It’s been a pretty chilled weekend so far.
Yesterday was a bit of a write-off for me. After spending the whole day doing the couch potato thing, trying to keep warm and recover from a vicious tummy bug, I’m happy to say that I’m feeling 100% better today. Must have just been a 24hour thing, thank goodness … So, I’m tip top and ready to dive into some domestic chores and a bit of paperwork that I need to take care of. I haven’t done the Dreaded Weekly Grocery Shop yet – I reckon there’s enough for us to make do with for another few days, so it can wait.
I have a (rare) couple of hours to myself before the Motley Crue arrives back from spending the weekend with their dad, so I’m enjoying the peace and quiet until then.
I’m busy downloading the latest Nine Inch Nails album, The Slip, at the moment. If you’re interested, they have made it available for free on their website and you can grab it here. And I finally got around to ripping a few CD’s that I bought ages ago but haven’t listened to yet, so I’m having a bit of a musical afternoon catching up on all my new tunes.
Next week is another hectic week on the work front – I have no idea why we are so busy at this time of the year, it’s a bit unusual – so I also need to get psyched for all of that … make sure I’m on top of exactly what needs to be done, when and how. That means LISTS – I’m big on lists. I have such a shockingly bad memory; I have to write EVERYTHING down! I’d be completely lost without my lists.
I also need to think about setting up my new machine this week, that’s going to be a HUMUNGOUS job and I ain’t looking forward to how much time it’s going to take. First of all, I have to figure out how to get it hooked up on the LAN, then I have so many apps to install, so many usernames and passwords to source for FTP, email accounts and various other apps, it’s going to take ages before I can get it all sorted and finally ditch this old laptop.
The iMac runs Windows as well which is a really good thing – although I started off in DTP and web design on a Mac (back in the day when Photoshop didn’t even have layers!), it’s been about 8 years since I last used one and I’d probably be hopelessly lost. It’ll be fun to poke around on the Mac side, and useful to check websites on another platform but I think that’s just about all I will use it for. All the other machines are PC’s and we’d land up having major compatibility issues of I went the Mac route now. It’s rather a sexy looking machine, don’t you think?
Other than that, not much on the agenda … reply to some personal emails, catch up on my blog feeds, potter around in Facebook … not very exciting =)
May 28, 2008 | Finances, Music, Websites
Last week I headed off to Cavendish Square to buy a birthday pressie for Miss Boats and I decided to take a chance and pop in to Computicket to buy tickets for the Seether concert next month. I say “take a chance” because that particular branch of Computicket is NEVER online. Perhaps it’s just my bad luck but honestly, every time I go in there to buy tickets there’s a problem with their internet connection and I have to leave ticketless. Anyway, I walk in and tell them what I want to buy and, true as Bob, the guy can’t connect to their online system, AGAIN! So, I spot the manageress there, tell her AGAIN how disappointed I am, how ridiculous it is that they don’t have a decent internet connection to run an online system, yadda, yadda, yadda. And, once AGAIN, I leave there dejected and ticketless. Bummed.
So I try their public site, which I absolutely detest using – it’s the most piss poor excuse for a website I’ve seen in a long time – and wouldn’t you know it, I’m half way through the purchasing process and the bloody thing breaks on me! Grrrrr.
Well, perhaps everything DOES happen for reason … I’ve just had a peak at my credit card statement. YIKES!! Oh dear, not a pretty sight at all. Damn, I’ve gone a bit overboard of late and I’m going to have to tighten things up a bit (ok, a lot) on the money front. That sadly means no concert tickets for yours truly. It’s a pity – I was looking forward to seeing Seether live and giving the boys a surprise treat.
Oh well, I’ll live …
May 19, 2008 | Music
I’m really excited that Seether is coming to SA next month! They’ll be playing in Cape Town at the Grand West Arena on June 15, so I must go and sort out some tickets soon.
I’m looking forward to seeing their live show. They’ve been touring in the States with Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace, 2 of my FAVOURITE bands. We saw Sean Morgan play an acoustic set at Kirstenbosch Gardens in January this year and it was fantastic – rain and all! And I’m a big fan of their latest album, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, despite the common sentiment that it’s just a boring, “cookie-cutter” post-grunge product. Actually, the more I listen to it, the more I like it, so I don’t really care about the bum reviews. Music is highly subjective anyway …
Last year, I splashed out and took Sir G and the boys up to Joburg to see Fall Out Boy, which was a lot of fun (apart from the fact that I was as sick as a dog and didn’t really enjoy all the little teeny boppers). This year, I’m relieved to be spared the great cost of flights and accommodation to go and watch a good concert. Apart from My Coke Fest, we don’t really get many internationally-renowned bands down here in the Cape and I’ve not heard much local music that appeals to me, so I only get to go to 2 or 3 concerts a year and I love every minute of them =)
Seether is going to rock! Can’t wait …
