Happy Halloween with some pointers..

1) On your ride home from work SLOW THE F' down. I know your commute sucks but hitting me, or a little kid is really gonna put a damper on your day.

2) This is a "kids" holiday which means.
-fat people carrying a 6 month old in a pea pod costume does not count. If you are giving a kid this small candy to begin with get off my freaking porch. You are fooling NOBODY buy your own damn candy.

-if you drive door to door you get nothing. I am fine with pulling up to a dead end street and "walking one end
to the next" just don't do the slow roll behind your kids.

- if you are older than 14 what are you doing out on a school night? Seriously. Get a job and buy a candy bar.

3) These older kids scare me too..cuz if I don't "pull through" with the A game candy (like Peanut Butter cups) my house will get egged or t'pee'd or what have you. I hate being afraid of what you'll do to my material items.


4) When coming to the door don't ask me "what do you have" and then roll your nose. I'd say "there is the door and you can leave" but they haven't come in.

5) Parents teach your kids to ring the door bell and STEP BACK a little so I can open the door and not push them off my front steps. Granted its pure comedy when "Aiden" busts his light saber falling off my steps..but do it somewhere else.

6) What is one of the big rules you learn..if the light is out don't go to the house. That holds true for when I shut the outside light off. We are closed and I am on my 20th PBCup that I have hoarded go away.

7) Candy buyers...we hate toothbrushes, pennies, popcornballs. Give us the A game stuff.



8) If you wanna smash the pumpkins please wait until 11/1. You will be doing me a big favor of having to throw it out "proper" and you run the risk of a mean kick in the shins from my 7 year old if you smash it that night.



9) Don't litter. I know its hard to have a pillowcase 1/2 full of candy and not eat something..just put yer wrapper back in your bag and throw it out when you get home.

have fun..be safe.

Cheetah Girls in Concert..little march and I rock out.

Well the day finally arrived (Sunday). Little March and I went to see
The Cheetah Girls in concert. A few months back you may recall that I bought the cd and it had a presale password for tickets and I ended up getting 2nd row!

Now, some might be saying "Why are you even admitting you went to this?". Well, its the things that we/you will do for your kids.

Furthermore, I use Statcounter to keep track of the (massive) amount of traffic to this blog. Those of you that use it know you can do a "keyword" search which is basically the words folks use that end up landing on your page. I had a fair # of "cheetah girls presale password" hits so I decided I'd do "Cheetahs Girls Concert Review" to further help.

If you don't want "spoilers" you may want to stop reading..but before that..if you read no further..parents..bring your wallets.

on to the show.

Little March was up early and we made some hand made posters to wave at the artists. The day is slow to get to the time to leave. Finally we leave about 3.
Little March and I arrive about 3:30. The show was set to kick off at 4pm so we make way to our seats. We are in section 2 row B (floor dead center). I tell LM that if she wants food or a t-shirt we should go after the first singer comes on. Reason 1 is that the merch booths were PACKED. Fevered parents snatching up everything.

4pm arrives the lights go down and Jordan Pruitt comes out on stage. There is not a single "band" member anywhere. She plays three songs..you read that right..three. Fans of anything Disney Channel may have recognized her song from the the Disney Channel original Movie "Read it and weep". She did the song was "Outside Looking In" (if you really want to see what she looks like the video for the song is on youtube). Its everything you'd expect reading the description..just total bubble gum. That didn't matter to the sold out crowd..they freaking screamed their heads off.

She ends her set and LM and I run up the stairs to get some snacks and look at the merch. After dropping a fair amount of dough (shirt, keychain and a cheetah girls glo-stick..that alone was $5.00) at the merch tent we went to grab some fried dough. No sooner do we start to sprinkle the sugar on the dough then the lights go down and Vanessa Anne Hudgens takes the stage. She became a household name (well if you have kids 5-12 in your house) when she played "Gabriella" in the massively huge hit High School Musical. I know what you might be saying "I've never heard of her/it" etc but the soundtrack was the #1 selling album for a few weeks and there was a time earlier this year where you could not turn on the channel and not see something HSM (Thats High School Musical for you not in the know). Vanessa is touring for her first album and flanked with 4 dancers she hammered through a 5-6 song "set". She didn't touch anything from HSM which was a surprise honestly. Again it was total bubble gum and the kids went wild. She asked who might have seen HSM and got a beatlemania style scream. The highlight from her set for LM was when Vanessa saw her hand made sign and waved to LM. I spun over to look at LM and the smile on her face..man I've paid $1,000.00 to see that all over again.

We decided to sit tight so we would not miss the Cheetah Girls come on the stage.

After just a few moments the lights go down and the screams become increasingly loud. As a long time concert attendee I always ALWAYS wear ear plugs so it was not too bad for me but a dad behind me was struggling BIG time with the screams. The girls come on to the stage flanked w/smoke and dancers and launch in to "Get this Party Started". 6,000 $5.00 glowsticks wave in the dark and its far and away the loudest freaking show (audience wise) I have ever been to. The kids danced near their seats and sang along. Like all the other performers there was no band on stage. Everything was sampled but that was fine. The Cheetahs had a song on the Chicken Little soundtrack "Shake a Tail Feather". Now as a dad I knew the vast majority if the songs played and I caught myself singing or shaking my head (I stayed seated the whole time due to the little kids behind me).

The Cheetahs are pretty good for the little kids (mostly girls). The idea of the show was to find the three things that make up "Growl Power". The girls convey a positive message of friendship as well as compassion. I never felt the girls were dressed "trashy" or danced inappropriately. There were a few costume changes and during that time the dancers would fill the short void. One song they sped around the stage on "heelies" or did some breakdance moves.

Again we waved our home made Cheetahs signs and each of the three girls gave us a wave and smile. LM was beyond giddy..it was so worth it.

As the show was wrapping up (the Cheetahs played close to 1hr) they ended with a rain of confetti from the rafters accentuated with some confetti cannons. LM lost her mind..she LOVED IT. All the kids were picking up the confetti after the show just clamoring to get something so close to their singing idols.

Inside of 2hrs we were headed out of the Dunkin Donut Center and into the windy fall evening. LM grasped my hand as we crossed the street..after a few steps I get...

"Daddy...that was AWESOME thanks for taking me!"

nuff said.

Bass from the back of my car feels soothin...

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. Stop over, put your feet up and have a cruller.

I am so childish...

I swear this happened..

Yesterday I sat in a new hire presentation over in another of our companies buildings. It was a seminar on how to deal with Difficult Customers.

One of the first exercises they did was they took 2 males and 2 females up to the stage and told them to "sell the other person" after a 2 minute interview. "tell the class about how "that person" is/was excellent at customer service in the past".

So a guy proceeds to tell the story of how his partner he was paired with used to work at a deli.

He goes on how this woman was so good at what she did that people would come in and ask "Where is _____ and when will she be back?"

So the instructor says "why do you think people wanted to know when she was there?

The dude thinks and responds - Umm it must have been when she worked the good meat was behind the counter.

It was not meant to be derogatory..but holy cow it was a golden moment.

I know I am not bright....

but can someone help me out on this?:

Early today (Thursday) I went down to my television that has the DVR attached and I wanted to set up to record my Thursday night programs.

Everything is in a re-run. Well, everything I care about that is.

Now I am fine on some levels w/re-runs but from what I gather the reason these shows are in re-runs is because of the World Series.

Last I read this was a pretty low rated series.

But..BUT my question is..when did other shows put their tails between the legs? So baseball is on Fox. CBS and ABC run 2 of the highest rated shows (Greys Anatomy and CSI) for any week. Why do networks not prove how "huge" their shows are. If you were an exec at CBS wouldn't your goal be to be #1? Why not have "We beat game 5-6 of the world series for viewers?"

It HAS to be money. I am sure..but I just don't get it.

I am an addict...

Today the The Flaming Lipswere due to re-release their latest cd At War with the Mystics in a deluxe "limited" edition. The cd would come with the "regular" version then cd 2 would be a DVD Audio with 5.1 mix of the album and videos etc.

The last 2 records from the lips got this stunning 5.1 transfer and it really makes the home system shine showing what it can do.

The really good record store is just not close anymore so I had to hit a local "chain" that has overpriced stuff.

I called to make sure they'd actually have it and they did. So I had to run to the post office at lunch and I stopped in.

If you follow music news at all this is the same chain that a member of the Scissor Sisters called out saying their prices were too high. He said he walked in and the latest cd from The Raconteurs was $18.99. In saying this he got his bands cd "banned" from being sold in their stores.

Anyhow I way over paid for the Lips set and HAD to see for myself how much the Raconteurs cd was...it was not 18.99..but it had 3 "sale stickers" on it ranging from 13.99 to 16.99.

I wish I could say "never again" but I am an addict and anyway to feed the beast....nobody to blame but myself.

oh..the 5.1 you ask? I only "scanned" it when I got home...DE-FREAKING-LISH-OUS.

Wow...

One of my daily haunts is the web page for Icelandic band Sigur Ros. They have posted some images from their July and August tour of 2006. Dunno about most of you..but I am ready to move. What an amazing looking country. Check em out here

*for some reason said link brings you to the main page, just click the story then there is a link to the images and you can make em all big and stuff...

Reading. It can cause you to learn something.

Something as trivial as this.



The characters voices are done by Steve Carrell and Steven Colbert.

My lyrical form is clouds on your brainstorm

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. I hope you'll stop on over.

For the first time ever I think I had one, if not two requests to write up this one..lets see if those folks show up, read, and comment.

Today is slap a co-worker day.

Today is the official Slap Your Irritating Co-workers Holiday: Do you have a co-worker who talks nonstop about nothing, working your last nerve with tedious and boring details that you don't give a damn about? Do you have a co-worker who ALWAYS screws up stuff creating MORE work for you? Do you have a co-worker who kisses so much booty, you can look in their mouth and see what your boss had for lunch? Do you have a co-worker who is SOOO obnoxious, when he/she enters a room, everyone else clears it? Well, on behalf of Ike Turner, I am so very very glad to officially announce tomorrow as SLAP YOUR IRRITATING CO-WORKER DAY! There are rules you must follow:

* You can only slap one person per hour - no more.
* You can slap the same person again if they irritate you again in the same day.
* You are allowed to hold someone down as other co-workers take their turns slapping the irritant.
* No weapons are allowed...other than going upside somebody's head with a stapler or a hole-puncher.
* CURSING IS MANDATORY! After you have slapped the recipient, your "assault" must be followed with something like "cause I'm sick of your stupid-a$$ always messing up stuff!"

* If questioned by a supervisor or police, if the supervisor is the irritant, you are allowed to LIE, LIE, LIE! Now, study the rules, break out your list of folks that you want to slap the living daylights out of and get to slapping.....and have a great day!

An ear opening (and eye opening) time.

The other night I finally sat down and watched the film The Devil and Daniel Johnston. I may come across as some sort of know it all when it comes to music but there are times I am very humbled. Daniel Johnston was a name I had heard batted around some here and there but never heard much about him or his music other than it was "great/mindblowing" etc.

I read about this documentary a few months back and it is out now on DVD so when it finally came out I moved it right up in my netflix queue and as noted, finally sat down to watch.

First, i LOVE music documentaries. Even better is when a documentary makes me want to rush out and buy everything possible by the artist. The documentary had massive support (it appears) from Daniels family. The home movies, the audio tapes of Daniel's musings on life and love are all through this film. Over the course of 90 plus minutes you watch Daniel go from a "normal kid" to middle aged schizophrenic. Both of Daniels parents are still alive and offered many stories on when they felt things started to turn for the worse, or how "smart" he was growing up. The film goes from his early days as an underground singer song writer to his humble present day existence living with his elderly parents.

If he had any mainstream success at all this would make the most amazing "Behind the Music" ever. Trust me. Daniel battled drug problems, family turmoil as well as "underground" super stardom. As a quick example, Daniel who had left Austin Texas for a few years came back to perform in front of 3,000 people. He played his "normal" set of 2-3 songs and left right away with his father. His dad, who was a private airline pilot was flying home with Daniel, when Daniel took the wheel of the plane and drove it straight up, then straight back down towards the ground. The father, who was very experienced did regain control of the plane to have it crash into some trees. Both walked away.

It is unsettling at times to hear of his battles with mental disease. He would often "freak out" about how the Devil was going to take everyone over. He'd disappear for days and was really quite unable to hold down any sort of a job.

As Daniel's name grew in the underground musically his art work was also gaining notice. He'd often have art shows and sell 90 of 100 hand drawn images before a showing would even take place. Kurt Cobain became a fan and was often seen wearing a shirt bearing both Daniels name as well as the image of his first album. While Daniel was in a hospital a man he'd never meet would begin to make him more widely known.

Now you might be asking, how is the music? How are the songs? Honestly, I'd say 90% of the people I know would hate it. I am not sure I "get it" either but I do appreciate what he has done. He sings out of tune, off key and his guitar playing is less than perfect. If you can get past that and listen to what he is singing about you will be stunned. For most, just getting to that part would prove difficult.

I am by no means an expert on him, but if you have the time its well worth your time to check out this film. Even if you view it as the "diary of a mad genius" you will be glued to your seat with this story.

here is the trailer if that is your thing:



If anyone has a suggestion of "what to start with first" file your comments below. Hotwire digs so it HAS to be at least "okay" right?

A quick list...

10 Jobs I wish I had....

Sportscenter anchor
Play by Play announcer for a pro hockey team
A+R Rep
Music critic for any "printed" medium
Drive Time DJ for a major market radio station
Voice over specialist (you know the guy that does movie trailers or like the dude from Behind the Music)
Voice work for an animated film
Nature show host
Stand up comic
Travel show host

Fluids...

That has to be the WORST word. Think about it.

When you are sick your doctor says "take in more fluids"
Your car goes to shit..oh you are low on fluids.
CSI always finds "fluids".

I am surrounded by fluids today.

Littlest March has been battling a fever all weekend...today he finally threw up. The best news is a bowl was handy and it all made it there..no place else.

I went to the basement and the door to the cellar was closed. This is ALWAYS a problem because the litter box for the cat is in there..and the door was closed for who knows how long. So I go in, grab what I need from the laundry area and some paper towels and carpet cleaner....

Sure enough..cat shit on the floor. Mind you the rug in our finished basement is just about 11 months old..and a light tan color. So I clean up the shit and I have no idea why I look at one of 2 "faux suede" chairs we have...but there is cat piss ALL over the seat of it. There is cat piss on the side of the chair and yes..dripped down on to the rug.

Did I mention this was all before 730am? The woman next door to us has a dumpster can't wait to toss the chair in that dumpster. Piss me off. I know the cat is an animal and the door should have been open etc...if the cat did this "all the time" it would have been gone LONG ago. Its hard to fault the stupid freaking shit/piss machine it was in my basement today..

SERENITY NOW

How's your day going...good..good..glad to hear it.

First to Fall Over when the Atmosphere is less than perfect

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. I hope you'll stop on over.

I goofed around w/some new text template thingy..its gonna be hit or miss...

A milestone today..

Ten years ago today Mrs March made an honest man outta me. Its been a great 10 years and here is to at least 10 more.

Figured since i have never shown my picture before today was a good day to start.
From our special day.

Blog Rolling and links...edit

I did blogroller a few months ago and it has been okay. When it works it is great in telling me a blog has new content to read.

Well its down and I have no links. I'll give it a few days but I think I might go back to the "old fashioned" way.

I am sure I can track you all down again via other comments on a few blogs (or links off people that never did blogroller).

It will be cleaned up and i'll be linking back to you all soon. In the mean time if you want to, play it safe and leave a comment (no text if you want) so I have a link back to your blog(s).

-march

EDIT - looks like we are back up and workin...

Album Art Wars...

This is very very cool...

Stuff

Seems like the post that Jenni did for Forgotten Disc Friday was a big hit. I hope you have checked it out and I hope she'll write again for the blog cuz man oh man..she writes far better than I.

We had a long weekend here in MA. Took the fun bunch up to Storyland in New Hampshire. The park is smart in they have a deal where if you arrive after 2pm you can pay the full price, but come back the next day (or anytime during the season) and go for a full day. Right as we were about to walk in a woman asked us if we wanted some free passes (she had 2) because she was a season ticket holder and they were done for the year (the park closed monday for the season). That saved us $44.00 so that woman, if you are reading, thank you again.

Traffic was crazy and the lines for restaurants was nuts, but I tried really hard to not let stuff bug me. I woke up Saturday morning with the stiffest shoulder/neck. It was the worst. I still need to turn my body to look to the right. I have no idea what I did but man it hurts.

In Storyland I found the job I want. At the highest point of the park is a version of Heidi's grandfathers cabin in the mountains. The idea is based off the book
Heidi. Anyhow, this grand dad sits outside the house in his rocking chair and just says hi. He nodded off once if not twice while the two marches ransacked his cabin. What a gig though!

Bruins are off to a 50/50 start. Got hammered in game one and one the second. Thank goodness we just started (or is that a bad thing?!)

Thanks for all my links updating their blogs..I had a ton to read today.

New Writer to Forgotten Disc Friday

A new Forgotten Disc Friday segment is up. I hope you'll stop on over.

This week Jenni was kind enough to write on one of her favorites. I know of at least 3 people that will LOVE this selection.

After reading be sure to check out her blog.

-march

Isis w/Versoma : The Living Room, Providence RI

Isis
The Living Room, Providence Rhode Island
Wednesday October 4, 2006
Support - Versoma

Another week night must mean another show. Its hard to pass up on shows that are within 30 minutes of your house, have ample free parking and are smoke free.

Isis who are currently the opening band for Tool have been playing a few "one off" shows on days off during the Tool tour. Isis have been at it for a few years and it seems that folks that know about them love them. That is what made it all the more surprising that when the band headlined a club show for $14.00 the room was hardly 1/4 full.

All the better for the folks that do come. There was plenty of space to walk around and find the best sight line.

Shortly before 11 the band (who had set up all their own gear and not soundchecked before starting up) walked out to the stage. The lights dimmed, singer guitarist Aaron Turner did a quick "hand wave" and the band fired off.

For the next 60 or so minutes the band blended some old with the new. The new cd is due out on Halloween and some of the new stuff is just so great. There was one point when the band was just so in the zone they extended their already epic songs to an even greater length. Jeff Caxide has a terrific bass sound, its always very punchy but holds a high ring/chime sound. It is a crisp bass sound.

The stage was full of gear and body shaking goodness. The band left the stage and was called back for an encore.

Once done the band just waved and seemed gracious of those in attendance. Back to the Tool tour with sadly, not enough people paying attention.

I took these not so great pictures at the end of the show. I was no further than 10-12 feet back but my digital camera doesn't like low light at all (as you can tell with these). I wanted to get some "action shots" but this will have to do.







I ran my DAT as well and can't wait to check it out.
-march

Oh..if you are a coffee lover (liker)

A medium coffee today at Dunkin will set you back $0.49.

Its time....

One of the few "good" things about cold weather.



The season starts tonight. Bruins don't start until Friday night. Always hopeful...always hopeful.

Willie Nelson...

a buddy sent this along to me today..trying to see if its true..even if its not..its funny and you can actually belive he said it:

Willie Nelson's public statement regarding being caught with a bag of Marijuana earlier this week:

"It's a good thing I had a bag of Marijuana instead of a bag of spinach. I'd be dead by now."

hahahahahah

KP added: "he could have put some of those mushrooms in with the spinach and had a salad"

Tool w/Isis : Tweeter Center, Mansfield MA 9/29/06

Tool
Tweeter Center, Mansfield,MA
Friday September 29, 2006
Opener - Isis

For the second time this year I caught Tool in concert. This time it was at the far larger Tweeter Center here in MA. Back in the spring the band played the Orpheum Theater to the 2,800 ravenouns fans, this time it was close to 20K.

I hit the parking lot and then walked up to check out the patdowns. I was tempted to tape but Tool is so anti-taping they step up the security. I checked stuff out and decided I just didn't want to run tape. I met up w/my buddy Steve just about 7 and since we both came from work and had no beer to tailgate with we headed in.

Settled in to our seats in Section 6. It was straight back off the stage and about 5 rows back of the mixing board..unreal taper seats mind you. Steve and I chatted for a bit then finally at 8pm Isis came out. The venue was pretty empty but Isis did their best to get everyone's attention. 30(yes you read that right 30!) minutes later Isis walked off the stage. Off to the mens room before the show...

Best line heard near the Mens' room (which had a large line..shokcer).
-dude 1 - Man..there are more guys waiting to get in to the bathroom that the ladies.
-dude 2 - Yeah thats odd since they take longer.
-dude 3 - DUDE...WE ARE AT TOOL! I can count the women here on one hand.


9:15 the lights went down and Tool rolled out. Singer Maynard James Keenan is the the "anti" front man. He was up on a riser to the right of drummer Danny Carey and the stage was as wide as I had ever seen. It appeared that the band was using all the real estate they could. Way over to one side was guitarist Adam Jones and way over to the other was bassist Justin Chancellor. They were so spread out and the amps didn't take up that much space.

Maynard came out in a hunters orange sweatshirt and his only words were "holy shit its fucking cold!". From there the band ripped in to "stinkfist".

I will refrain from a blow by blow account mostly due to part of me felt the show was so very run of the mill. Adam Jones hardly moves, Justin and Danny can replicate every single sound they created in the studio, there is no denying at least to me that they are the total cornerstone of this band.

Maynard shed his sweatshirt a little later but put it back on. His voice seemed fine but there were points when the sound was so brickwalled (basically you feel your shirt flap in the waves created in sound).

The band dug out some laser lights later in the set and that seemed to satisfy the largely male and largely wasted audience. I'll admit it was cool, but for some reason "screaming/applauding for the lights" is something I never got..ever.

Call me lame call me what you want but I bailed right before the encore. The band, rather than leaving the stage, they sit and "soak in the applause". There were only three songs left and the parking at the venue is the WORST. If you don't leave at the encore or RUN at the end of the show you will move a foot an hour..i kid you not.

The full set list if that is your bag:
Stinkfist
The Pot
Forty Six & 2
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Wings For Marie
10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious
Ænema

Rumors have it the band may be "done" so I was glad to have seen them again, but leaving early was also a plus.

As a sidebar Isis is playing a headlining gig Wednesday in Providence.