Summer Concerts, Gas Water Heaters, and Short Hair

It’s been a while since I blogged, and seeing how I am extremely bored right now…

Summer Concerts: Usually, the best concerts are during the summer months. And so far, there have been 3 of them that I have enjoyed immensly – Gigantour (with Dream Theater, Megadeth, Symphony X, Fear Factory, etc), Ra (with Breaking Point), and of course, Phoenix Down.

It was a real treat to see Dream Theater finally grace the stage of Cricket Pavillion – the biggest concert venue in Phoenix. The entire day was pretty fun, in fact. It started at 4:30pm and went until after 11PM with bands alternating between the small stage on the side, and the main one. Symphony X, on the small stage, kicked ass. Fear Factory got to play the main stage while the big storm rolled through the area and eventually knocked out all of the power to the entire place (right in the middle of one of their songs; once the power came back on, they finished their set). Megadeth was loud; they had pyrotechnics too. We actually left after Symphony of Destruction because it was getting late and Randall had to work at 5am (not to mention we were kind of bored with Megadeth). Dream Theater put on an excellent show – mostly very heavy songs. They played Honor Thy Father, a song that we had not gotten to hear live before. Extremely killer stuff. Exciting and fun night overall.

I was a little suprised by the venue choice for Ra. Martini Ranch has always been a trendy Scottsdale nightspot. Never a concert venue (although they did have a little stage set up in the corner for cover bands that played there regularly). Not any more – the stage takes up the entire south wall of the building and the sound was excellent. Ra never dissapoints. I have seen them 3 of the 4 times that they have been in town, and every time they perform amazingly. This time was no exception. I was pleasantly suprised by the mixture of songs chosen for their set – mostly stuff from their first CD, and 4 or 5 songs from the new one (but they were the best songs off of Duality).

Somebody managed to meet us right as we entered the venue – with the sole purpose of fucking with our heads. She came up to Randall and I, and said “Hey – how are you doing?” with a big shit-eating grin on her face. Randall gave her a mock “Great – how are you doing?” and then we turned around and got a beer. She left (without getting a drink or anything) and went back to where she was standing – in one of the far corners of the place. We happily settled on standing about 10 feet from the stage. And damnit if it wasn’t awesome.

Phoenix Down, as you all know by now, is defunct. In fact, the only reason I bring it up is because it was a great summer show. And I posted MP3s of the entire show on the Phoenix Down website.

Gas Water Heaters: Why would you build a house that required gas for a water heater and not put a gas range in as well? I’m not sure of the answer. I am sure, however, that it sucked last week when John and I found out the hard way that we had a gas water heater and not an electric one. Our landlord did not notify us of the need for natural gas, so when they turned off the gas after 3 months of living in the place, we got 5 days of cold showers. Monday through Thursday of last week took the most motivation I have ever needed to get out of bed and get ready for work. Thankfully, we have hot water goodness once again.

Short Hair: I had been contemplating the removal of 90-100% of the hair on my head for the last month or so. I decided to do it on Saturday. I chopped my hair length down to about a “2” (about 1/2 centimeter long). I kind of like the cut. It’s certainly easy to manage (1. Take Shower; 2. Dry; 3. Get dressed; 4. Look at hair in the mirror; 5. done). I haven’t quite sold myself on the idea, but I may eventually bic it. And get a pirate earing.

Arrgh!