Speak the Word...

REVOLUTION
...The Word is All of Us.

Archive from MySpace blog
Category: Music

So here it is, the first big show of the Fall... OK, last of the Summer if you want to get technical, yesterday was actually the first day of Fall. But this one... well this one's been planned for so long... I heard about it at the end of a show at the Webster last year, and knew I was going.

And so it was, that Jim and I were taking a trip to New York. I love New York -- yeah, I know that sounds trite -- I just can't think of another city with that much energy. And I think you bring that energy with you when you go to New York to do something, especially to a show. And so, this is how we find ourselves on the 4:52 out of New Haven.

I left work a bit early, just so I could catch the right train. Changed clothes in the parking garage; what a sight that must have been if anyone was looking. Run to track 14; Jim had already bought my train ticket for me. The train ride was uneventful -- crowded, but average -- highlighted in the first 3 stops by Jim trying in vain to see if his brother had caught the same train in Milford.

Somewhere down the line, Fairfield County, "You're gonna have to get on or off the train." "You have to clear the doors; ON or OFF." The on-board loudspeaker, to some teenager in Greens Farms; he and his friends couldn't figure out which car they were getting on. Our, it seemed, was the answer, and 3 girls and a guy, armed with large bags, proceeded to walk up and down the aisle of the train, bumping into as many people as possible on the way. "Sorry." "Oops, sorry." Where is... who's the Mayor of Green's Farms, anyway?

On to New York. Jim's brother Joe caught a later train. He'll meet us at the theater. Smoke break at Grand Central, then back underground, we're on an S train, Times Square bound. It's a small, tightly packed subway train, one stop. OK, so it's only a 5 block walk... but when in Rome, ya know?

Times Square is truly and amazing place. I've been there a few times, and to New York many more... but Time Square always impresses me: A giant Mecca to industry and popular culture. At 2 in the morning, it still looks like broad daylight. So there we are, looking up -- everything is up in Times Square -- asking "where is the Nokia Theatre?" I suggested in jest that if the Cingular building is beside us, the Verizon building to our right, LG straight ahead, Nokia must be up and to the left. Who'd have thought I'd be correct? Times Square may indeed be laid out by market share.

No Joe yet, and no phone to call Ang, Dre, or Pete, so... break for dinner. When the plan is to meet 5 or 6 people in New York when we're all taking different transportation, it's unfortunately a bad time for your phone to run out of juice. But, food in our bellies, we returned to the Nokia, undaunted.

Fantastic venue. At least that's my opinion. I think it's shared by those I've spoken to. Small, intimate, very few bad views... and excellently set-up hall. Even at the security end, the venue is well designed, and very efficient. Once you're pasted the front doors, you don't need your tickets, you don't interact with the security. They're there, but very unobtrusive. A variety of bars along the way to the main hall keep the crowds down. All in all, one of the best venues I've ever been to.

But at 8:05 the lights dropped. Joe's not yet to be found, nor have I spied anyone else. It no longer matters. From this point on it's about Geoff Tate, Mike Stone, Michael Wilton, Eddie Jackson, and Scott Rockenfield. Last year we saw Operation: Mindcrime live. At the end of the show we saw a trailer for the very long-waited sequel. Now it was here. Not only was Mindcrime II finally a reality, but it was in fact presented in the best way possible, both shows, full rock opera format, back to back with only a show intermission. In short: Queensrÿche, Operation: Mindcrime I & II. And it was awesome.

Remember Now, Anarchy-X, Revolution Calling; the audience singing along. The stage show getting harder to see over the assembled crowd. Operation: Mindcrime, Speak; by now the room is packed, ever giant word flashed on the screen echoing through the crowd. Spreading The Disease, The Mission, Suite Sister Mary.

"Don't ever trust..." By The Needle Lies the crowd is in a fervor. Everyone is completely into the show. There is the guy next to us -- awesome guy -- he must be 70, in an AC/DC t-shirt, with his sweet, grandmotherly wife, headbanging and completely rocking out. I want to be that guy when I'm his age... I really do.

Electric Requiem, Breaking the Silence, I Don't believe in Love; at this point we take our exit. No we didn't leave for good... quite the opposite. But we've seen Mindcrime before. We listen to Waiting For 22, My Empty Room, and Eyes Of A Stranger from outside the main hall so we can grab a smoke. We're heading back to the hall right as everyone's leaving, right in time to spot Joe, and perfectly to snipe 3 prime seats, just left of center, in the front row of the seated tier. Still no sight of the rest, but Jim, Joe and I are in perfect position to see every moment of what we came there to see: Operation: Mindcrime II.

Freiheit Overture began, and the energy was incredible. Convict began, and Geoff Tate comes out on stage in an orange jumpsuit.I'm American; throwing funny money into the audience. One Foot in Hell, Hostage, Hands, Speed of Light; everything with the clarity you can't just get by listening to the album. Signs Say Go, Re-Arrange You, Chase; Ronnie James Dio up on the screen, while his canned -- yet wonderfully produced -- vocals meshed perfectly with the live instrumentation. The opera itself was less intense; less characters and lacking the style of Tate singing and interacting with Nikki, but still captivating, still strong. Murderer?, Circles, If I Could Change It All, An Intentional Confrontation, Junkie's Blues; a strong finish.

The house music came up, but the lights did not. There's still a treat in store. Jim asked another fan -- one he'd gathered had been to last night's show as well -- and discovered that indeed there was an encore. Three songs, including Jet City Woman, and... thankfully... no Silently Lucidity. The audience got into the encore possibly even more strongly than the show itself. Not out of dislike for the performance, but during the Mindcrimes you had to watch and listen, during the encore... just sing along... just Speak the Word.

Currently listening :
Operation: Mindcrime
By Queensrÿche
Release date: 06 May, 2003

In Bloom

Archived MySpace blog
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities

I may complain about it, but my job does have its unique perks. One of which is that nothing goes on in this city without the cops knowing, and everything they know gets passed on to me.

So this month's interesting new haven news is that filmmaker Vadim Perelman has decided to film his latest work on the streets of the fair Elm City. Based on the prop ambulance, the upper Chapel Street area around Yale is actually supposed to represent the Big Apple for this film, but nonetheless, principal photography is occurring a couple blocks from my office.

So today we get the word, that they're filming a principal scene out in front of the Union League Café. So off we go. It's lunch time, why not watch the making of a film. Why not see if we can meet Uma Thurman.

So, it's 1:05, and we're walking up to the corner of Chapel and Temple, and bullshitting with a couple cops, when a trailer door opens, and out walks the statuesque Uma Thurman -- much prettier than I'd formerly believed when viewed in person, and she proceeds to walk by the 25 or so of us on the corner, pause and say hello, and stroll up to the set on the next block.

Not close enough, or enough time for autographs, but close enough for a very nice, very friendly, brush with stardom.

So 25 feet up the road, dollied steadi-cam, 1000 candlepower floods, a big lighting reflector on a crane, a tent full of directors of photography, light and sound guys, Ms. Thurman's stunt double (all dressed), and somewhere Vadim Perelman -- if I knew what he looked like I might have seen him.

The assembled group of cranky production assistants are trying to keep the 100 or so people congregated out of the way of filming, while my boss, looking like over-dress paparazzi, is snapping pictures with his telephoto lens. All this while a 6 second shot commences 5 times in a row: Diana (Thurman) walks diagonally across Chapel, turns, and looks into the camera with horror. The next scene will be Uma's double being run over by a car, but lunch wasn't long enough to stay for them to set up that shoot.

Sorry, I hope I didn't spoil the movie with that tidbit of info there, but by 2007 when In Bloom opens, you'll likely have forgotten this little blog.

Hopefully in a couple days, I can update with some of the pictures my boss took. The previews looked really good.

5 Years Later and Where are We Now?

Archived MySpace Blog
Current mood: pondering
Category: pondering Blogging

So, yeah, this is a September 11th blog. 5 years ago today... we all know what happened... or do we? I'm not going to debate that. A lot of opinions to be had. I'm not endorsing any opinions here, just making some observations.

So, 5 years later...

Osama Bin Laden... still somewhere... still out there... maybe. Maybe he died of the renal failure already. Maybe his videotaped messages were recorded 3 years ago. Do we know? Will we ever?
Saddam Husein... captured... deloused... standing trial before a jury of his peers? Who are his peers anyway? Well, there's one less Jerry Garcia look-alike in power in the Middle East. That's a good thing, right?

And that brings us to Iraq... still there. I think we just found a WMD... no that was just a Pepsi can from the last time we were over there. The Right still argues that we need to be there... The Cradle of Civilization is the Cradle of Terror. The Left still argues against... Bush knew there was no connection... where are the WMDs? I don't know... if this war is really about oil, why am I paying 3.07 a gallon?

Positive effect: Sales of American flags at their highest point since World War II.

Negative effect: I haven't seen an American flag flying at the top of its pole in 5 years.

And of flying... oh let's please talk about air travel. I so love flying barefoot and parched. My sandwich was confiscated as I might have used Enriched Uranium peanut butter and explosive jelly. I wanted to wash it down with a Gatorade. Sorry. My luggage is still being sent to the wrong coast, but now when I get of the plane I have to have long fingernails, unmanageable hair, and bad breath. But I feel so much safer after being harassed and having my $200 suitcase destroyed by the highly trained members of the TSA.

TSA, DHS, NSA, ICE. Yes ICE. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Formerly 2 different organizations: INS and Customs. One about Immigrants, legal and otherwise, and one about taxation. Now we've combined the both into one super-agency... all under the control of Homeland Security. Both simultaneously checked and balanced, right?

Homeland Security took over FEMA too. So glad. September 11th proved that all disasters are caused by terrorists, right? And because terrorists caused Hurricane Katrina, the new Homeland Security run FEMA was incredibly prepared to handle the situation. See, the system works.

The Patriot Act works, too. So many terrorists have been caught because they borrowed "Al Quaeda's Guide to Terrorism" from their local libraries.

I'm beginning to feel that my right to Patriotism no longer exists. The original patriots of this nation spoke out against the things that didn't like in the existing government. If I do that, I'm called unpatriotic. Hmmm... My head is getting sore from scratching it. Sometimes I think the Constitution has been tossed out the window. But we did elect Mr. W; he represents the opinions of the majority. Right? I think so. In 2 more years we get to elect another monarch... sorry, President. Anyone but Cheney, 2008. The mantra of the politically disaffected. Voting in the negative. Kerry because he's not Bush, even if he looks like lurch from the Addams Family. I could end up voting for Steve-O from Jackass just because he's not Dick Cheney. I'm sorry, but I don't think the 2 party system adequately represents the political consciousness of my generation. Know what? I'm voting Whig!

5 years later... still not sure if it was a plane or a missile that hit the Pentagon.

5 years later... not sure if the whole event was foretold by the proper folding of a $20 bill.

5 years later... Toby Keith still wants put a boot up my ass.

5 years later... half my friends list is inundating me with video bulletins about how George Bush is a Nazi in league with the Pope and Emperor Palpatine, while the other half is sending me pictures of the Statue of Liberty flipping off terrorists.

5 years later... where are we? Afghanistan? Iraq? Lebanon? Korea? The most powerful nation in the world or the largest terrorist nation in the world? Maybe we're just as the movie put it... Team America: World Police.

I don't know, and I don't think I care anymore. I don't think it matters. If Al Gore is right, we'll all be under water in 10 years anyway.