Musical Moments #13

Date: September 8, 2013
Venue: The Zoo Amphitheater, OKC
Lineup: We As Human
              In This Moment
              Papa Roach
              Skillet
              Shinedown

Fire Away

I had a thought, earlier, which is always dangerous.
But it's a thing I'd like to discuss.

September 1st, 2013

Nobody reads these things.
In this case I prefer it. I don't like the spectacle.
I don't like the platitudes and the quotations and the half-baked sentiments.
Maybe that makes me a cynic. I've just never found it comforting, grieving like that.

Something I said earlier on Facebook. I don't often like things that I say, but I think this one bears repetition. Plus the blog makes it way easier to keep track.

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I get a certain feeling when I look at work by Van Gogh or listen to work by Beethoven or Chopin. It's difficult to describe, because it isn't something we often see anymore.
Hell, it's not something we often see historically either. It's why they hold such value.

Anyone can take beauty and make something beautiful. Anyone can take misery and create something tragic, sometimes even tragically beautiful. It takes something far and away beyond that to take raw suffering and darkness and force from it something unimaginably breathtaking.

It's often overlooked, but it takes a belief - a faith, even - that what you are creating is more important than you are. I say that because such an act will consume you to the very core...that's the nature of the beast, isn't it?
But the result is a thing unique, a thing that by itself makes the world brighter for anyone equipped to perceive it.

The word, which falls short, is triumph. In that moment of perception you share simultaneously the knowledge of whichever creator's darkness and the reality of their victory over it.
And in that moment your own darkness becomes lesser for having been exposed to the truth of that perception.

I don't care if you get the same feeling from Beethoven and Van Gogh or from Lady Gaga and Andy Warhol or if you are driven to create your own work to feel it. While I'd argue that certain elements make it easier to find, the medium is irrelevant. Find your truth and cling to it and don't ever, ever let anyone take it from you.

Musical Moments #12

Suppose I ought to dust this thing off a bit, maybe.

I'm going to preface this by giving a shout out to Rock 100.5 The KATT - without their ticket contest, I wouldn't have made it to this show at all. Winning sure does feel good, for a change.

Moving on...

The Date: April 4, 2013
The Venue: The Diamond Ballroom

The Line-up:
Candlelight Red
Lacuna Coil
Coal Chamber
Sevendust

Candlelight Red wasn't bad for an opener. I didn't find any of their music super compelling, but that's not to say it isn't good. I wasn't familiar with them going in, and I don't find myself aching to learn more after coming out. But I'm not you, so don't take my word for it.
As for stage presence, I got the "new band" vibe from them pretty strongly...too much attempting to amp up the crowd without quite enough energy to back it up.

That said, the mosh pit and crowd surfing had started by the time Lacuna Coil took the stage.


I'm not going to pretend that these little excerpts are actually unbiased - I have a penchant for girls who can rock any form of musical instrument (that includes the voice, for those keeping tabs.)
Thus you might imagine that I would do dirty, dirty thing with Cristina Scabbia, given the opportunity. You would not be wrong.

I've seen Lacuna Coil before, and I confess to preferring them at smaller venues. I don't really know why...something about their stage presence just seriously shines when you can see them clearly, I guess.
This set drew pretty heavily from Dark Adrenaline, and I was perfectly happy with that. If you haven't given Lacuna Coil a listen in awhile, you're missing out. Their sound has done nothing but evolve and improve as time has passed, as far as I'm concerned.


Coal Chamber coming out of retirement...
You know, I'm not sure if time had softened my memory of them or what, but I was -not- ready for the level of energy they brought to the venue. In a phrase? Holy. Shit.
I was near the front for their set, and I've got the bruises to prove it. I seriously did not remember Coal Chamber being that -aggressively- metal. But they have certainly not lost their touch.

Coal Chamber says to the nonbelievers? "Don't Fuck With Me."
(If you don't know the reference, go listen to some damn Coal Chamber.)


Sevendust.
I've seen them before, at Edgefest in Little Rock. They surprised me then - having not seen them before, I wasn't prepared to headbang so damn hard.
Well, this time I was prepared. They introduced their new album during this show - Black Out the Sun - and it kicks some serious ass. That basically sums up their set - kicked some serious ass. I was pleased to see the Ballroom as crowded as it was by that point, especially for a metal show.

Closing thoughts: go listen to some good headbanging music. If you can't think of any, try Coal Chamber or Sevendust. If you love female-fronted metal/rock groups, dig in to some Lacuna Coil.

And don't forget to support live music, whether it's your cup of tea or not.

More to this later

I find myself in one of those odd moods where anything I say feels like talking too much.
Partly because truth is too much to say, sometimes.
Partly because the lyrics could ruin the melody.

It makes me wish you could hear things the way I do.
Then there'd be no need for the lyrics. You could see the words the melody is already saying.
There'd be just truth, simple and raw and exposed.

But that would be too easy, wouldn't it?

The Curse (Save Me)

Curse of what? Being a nice guy?
Couldn't tell you.

I'm undecided as to whether I'd even call myself that anymore.
I think too often people use "nice guy" to mean "not a jackass."
That isn't fair. Some people put a lot of work (and twice as much restraint) into being kind.
There's also plenty of value to it. Nice guys don't always finish last, contrary to the idiom.