Disturbed By A Text Message

“Point me out the happy man and I will point you out either egotism, selfishness, evil – or else an absolute ignorance.”~ Graham Greene

I was sitting there one evening in the passenger seat of someone’s vehicle, very frequently looking down at my cell phone and responding to text messages that were coming in faster than I could respond, based on the fact that an event was unfolding before me as I sat there in the darkness looking out at a back door of a club. My only goal was to “watch the car” as they had put it. The doors were all locked, the keys were in the ignition still and I was jamming out to music of my choice while I waited.

Very long moments had gone by before I was startled by a pounding on the window from the driver to let them back inside of the vehicle.

From that moment on until the end of the evening, I was chewed out that I “was not doing what I was told to do.” Instead my nose was uncharacteristically buried in my cell phone.

I explained I was getting frequent updates on a situation that they knew about. And that I kept looking up from time to time and saw nothing to be alarmed over. Nothing “bad” ever happened to the vehicle. I was able to “watch the car” without having to put eyeballs on it 100% of the time.

Then there’s this piece of nuggetry:

http://loudwire.com/disturbed-david-draiman-texting-audience-member-dallas/

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/disturbed-frontman-calls-out-fan-for-texting-during-concert-are-we-that-boring/

I’ll give you a minute.

Before I go on, I will say this: the law of averages is most likely on Draiman’s side. What he said was in fact true. It is rude. However, for those of us who weren’t there… those of us who aren’t this person that he so heroically called out, we honestly don’t know what exactly was going on. All we know is what we get from Draiman’s side of things that is muddled in frustration.

I’ve lost count how many times I’ve been in conversation with someone and at some point during that conversation, their attention went immediately and straight to their phone. And yes, that is rude.

But this woman, whomever she is that Draiman bawled out, was asked (more or less) what she was doing that was more important. The problem is, is that in these situations, audience members are NEVER allowed the chance to respond in order to defend themselves and/or their actions. By the time the obvious rhetorical question came out of his mouth, the entire audience reacted against her and therefore she was unable to answer or respond back.

This woman either had her own emergency happening at the exact time she was there to enjoy the show. Or perhaps she was giving directions for more fans to arrive. It could have been any number of things that was going on.

My mother and my grandmother both taught me when I was young that if someone is doing something that you don’t like – don’t look at them. Maybe Draiman should’ve heeded those words as there were certainly other people to concentrate upon rather than one woman who had her face buried into a cell phone.

One CAN enjoy music without using their eyes. However a concert is supposed to be both audibly and visually stimulating. At least in my experiences, they are.

Like I said, the averages are on Draiman’s side. This woman could have simply been rude as he proclaimed. But we don’t know that for sure. We don’t know what she was doing. And the sad thing is, is that we will never know! Not unless this woman comes out publicly to defend herself. And I have doubts that she will.

And these things (no matter how rude we find them) are going to happen.

So dear David Draiman,

Welcome to the age of the Internet!

Get used to it.

The Cell Phone Turns 40

“Well, if I called the wrong number, why did you answer the phone?”~ James Thurber

First things first. A very happy, happy, happy birthday to two of the most important people in my life. One yesterday, one today. I hope the both of you have had a wonderful birthday.

The cellular phone has a birthday today too. On this day in 1973, Martin “Marty” Cooper came out with the new invention in telecommunications.

It was a monstrosity to say in the least.

Compared to today’s technology, this mobile phone was difficult.

It used up 30 minutes of air time before it had to be re-charged for ten hours.

But because of his pioneering spirit and visionary work on coming up with a handheld mobile telephone, it changed the way we communicate 40 years later.

I honestly didn’t think that it was that far back. If I would guess, I would have believed that it was invented in the 1980’s. But I am wrong. It was the 3rd of April, 1973.

 

 

2 March 2013: Echo Temple at House Of Blues Houston

“Nobody went to jail. Nobody was murdered. Nobody got raped. All in all a good evening.”~ Dr. Froth

Ladies & gentleman. Followers & visitors. Upcoming subscribers. I present to you one amazing 26 hour period. 20 hours if you subtract the time spent traveling by bus.

Lone Star Metal put together a show featuring Wellborn Road and ECHO TEMPLE at The House Of Blues Houston.

You have already read while I was still in shock that I was going to be able to go. But for those of you who know this blog well, know that I must give the story of the entire trip from departure to arrival. And back again.

The previous blog has given you some of the minor details of the trip that took place.

Funky smokers. Inattentive lovers. Crabby cuties. But it doesn’t give the full scope of this short time period. And believe me…. even though it was short…. my exhaustion feels as if it was for even longer.

I was going to give this blog post the title of “Sandwich With Shit Bread” but I think that it would have confused you to read about all that happened in this experience and still believe me when I say to you that I had a wonderful, wonderful time.

In fact the bands did play The House Of Blues Houston. And yes I was there as well. Thanks to a lot of people coming together to put it together to make sure that I was able to arrive.

The first mention of my name by Mrs. Froth that came across the attention of ECHO TEMPLE started a flurry of busy little musical “elves” to make sure that I would in fact be there.

It was a tense and long wait for the day to arrive that I would make it there. A very long and intense 72 hours before I would arrive in Houston. Back to the same convenient hotel nearby the Shell Gas station where the bus arrives and departs.

From the moment that I got off of the bus in Houston, tragedy struck and struck brutally hard.

I stepped inside the Shell to use the restroom. From there at some point, I lost my cell phone. A cell phone that I only had since the previously mentioned Pancake Breakfast. So not even a full month.

It was gone! G-O-N-E … GONE!! I came out of that restroom, went to the hotel and checked in, and then on the way to entering my hotel room is when I noticed it missing. I went ahead and threw my luggage in the hotel room, shoved the hotel key into a pocket where I would feel it and it would not be lost and began to go backwards. I hadn’t been there 20 minutes and not gone far.

I went to the front desk of the hotel to inquire. It wasn’t there. I went all the way back to the Shell station and kept my eyes along the path that I knew I just was on and asked at the Shell if someone had turned a cell phone over to them. When I told them that the last time I knew that I had it was in the restroom, they assured me with a snide and stern voice that was gone forever because many people had gone into the restroom after I came out.

I went back to the hotel front desk and asked to use the phone so I could make some contacts. I bugged both a friend and my sister to get on to Facebook to reach Mrs. Froth to let her know that I had lost the cell phone and not to worry if she had noticed that I was not responding to any text messages or telephone calls she may have been sending.

At the time though she was driving, so those messages weren’t received right away. The only thing I could do was hope, pray, and wait. Eventually, Mrs. Froth found me and I connected with her. And off we went!

I  got to hang out at the House of Froth before going to the House of Blues. (Yeah I thought that was catchy too!)

We arrived a bit late to see Wellborn Road play. Tickets were at will call. But my ticket was somehow not there. It was taken care of by the band… but I had no idea which person. They were obviously inside the venue by that point getting ready. Nobody had any contact information to find out where any of them were to see under who’s name it was under that my ticket was being held under.

As slightly frustrating and irritating as that was, it couldn’t hold a candle to losing the cell phone just hours before. Eventually a ticket was purchased and it was on with the show!!!

Onward we went to the Peacock Room. Had our tickets scanned. Our wrists slathered in pink wrist bands so that we could drink if we chose. And we went inside.

The Peacock Room was unusually quiet I thought. Where the hell was Wellborn Road?? Did they honestly just have a very short set and were gone? And what about the keyboard that was set up on stage?? If Wellborn Road was finished, ECHO TEMPLE doesn’t have a keyboardist.

Dr. Froth noticed a flood of Pink Floyd t-shirts in the room. Then it clicked in our musically inclined minds: We are in the WRONG room.

So out we went. Scanned our tickets again and outward public grumbling ensued.

The show we were looking for was actually in a part of the venue called The Bronze Peacock Room. 

Okay House Of Blues: Why so many similarly named rooms? Where’s the “Silver” Peacock Room? And why ticket-checkers, are you slacking from your jobs from sending people to the correct venue??

We went from a large space with a stage, balcony seats, and tables TO one big-assed room. Something you don’t see in the brochure, I am sure!

As we entered inside, Wellborn Road was still on stage. They were covering “Man In The Box” by Alice In Chains. Not bad at all!! Quite entertaining.

The at the last of their set, the guitarist flipped his instrument behind his head and played The National Anthem. That was pretty sweet. I took a picture of it and I hope it comes out.

While waiting, I was greeted by many of the members of ECHO TEMPLE.

As I was very well aware that without them, I would not have been there … I made really sure that I thanked each and every one of them for their generosity for making sure that I was able to be there to watch them play at The House Of Blues.

I also met Sean Turcott’s wife, Claudia and John Wisser’s wife, Carrie for the first time.

I’m starting to gain one heck of a reputation with the ECHO TEMPLE family.

But I wondered what do ECHO TEMPLE fans call themselves?? But I will digress from that train of thought.

After a few more minutes of sharing and caring, it was time to enjoy the show.

We all crept up on the stage by request of Tom Calandra. And still, I found myself at “crotch level” of the band. Nothing more frightening than the threat of having a musician coming so close to the end of the stage that they could possibly tea bag me in the forehead.

ECHO TEMPLE just keeps getting better and better each and every time that I see them play. This was my third time. So awesome!! But as it has been with the band SIX MINUTE CENTURY, I am becoming more and more of friends with the members of the band, rather than someone who is just a serious fan. It would be safe to say that the friends circle from Houston just keeps expanding. And that’s what makes it so damn difficult to leave when I have to.

Watching them as they combine forces to make such powerful music is always a bonus. I kept wondering that because I was so close to them all if they could hear me singing. Who knows?? These guys just rock!!!

I cannot wait for their album to come out. I’m gonna be making a lot of noise when I hear the news that it has been released. Particularly attempting to earworm the band to death to save me a copy.

With ECHO TEMPLE on stage, and Dr. & Mrs. Froth nearby, all my cares in the world melted away. Its a wonderful feeling.

And as we were all on a natural music high, employees of The House Of Blues went and farted in all of our oatmeal.

As soon as the show was over they were telling people to get up and leave. Every person who didn’t have a “backstage pass” attached to their bodies somewhere were given the motion to get the hell out. Ironically though, nobody came up to me personally and asked me to leave. Even though they were asking other people that were nearby. I did not have a “backstage pass” on me, but they never bothered with me. Regardless, I went outside because I was told that there were plans to meet up with the band after the show. But in the whirlwind of people getting kicked out and others being told to get their gear and go, we never connected. We were on our own.

The parking garage was fun though. Going down ramps rather than going up them. I kept screaming “SLALOM!!!”  as I cruised down each ramp until we reached the vehicle. I could sense that Mrs. Froth was shaking her head while I screamed like a five year old. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gotta love downtown Houston!

After a quick bite to eat at Denny’s, gossiping about worthless crap, and talking about future shows we realized that the hour was not as late as they have been in the past. As a matter of fact I was back at the hotel it was not even 1:30 AM. Such a difference from January where I got back around 4:30 in the morning!

I woke up this morning around 7:00 AM. Needless to say that I could have cursed myself because I could not go back to bed. Being so paranoid that I would sleep too long that I would miss the bus to return home. The unnecessary early hour and the foolish paranoia just had me on the wrong foot to start the day I suppose.

I had a cup of coffee from the continental breakfast. I thought to kill time until 8:00 AM and I was going to finally get my chance to eat at the Harris County Smokehouse. Something I missed back in January.

Jayma Mays in “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”

Sadly, I was not impressed with it. It could have been my sour mood. It could have been the fact that I had been full from having an omelet at the Denny’s the night before and eating one there at the Smokehouse as well. Too much eggs, perhaps?? Who knows. I just know that I wasn’t thrilled.

After that, I returned to my hotel room to push it to the limits of the time of check-out. It was already paid for after all, I might as well enjoy it. I was able to find “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” on television.

I found myself enjoying it more the second time watching it than I had the first time. I realized that Jayma Mays just looks a lot better in HD than anything else.

Yep, such a beauty!

After that, I had about an hour left before I had to check out. I turned on one of the films from the Resident Evil series. I don’t remember which one. But then again, I wasn’t paying much attention to it as I was double checking that I had everything packed and ready to go in order to get back.

I went outside for one last moment of fresh air in Houston, and attempted to go back into the room. But the key suddenly wouldn’t work.

I went to the front desk and they asked me if I was going to check out soon. I still had 40 minutes before noon!!

Apparently, these room keys actually will TIME OUT on you and no longer work!! I didn’t know that!!!!!!! So I got a different key. I went back, grabbed my luggage, turned off the television and the lights and left.

I’m still filled so much with appreciation to ECHO TEMPLE and Dr. & Mrs. Froth for getting together and making this happen. I feel like I could thank them for a thousand days and nights. Words just cannot express just how much it meant to me knowing that I was only a few days from actually missing it.

I’m grateful that I had the experience of being at The House Of Blues. But I have doubts if anything will ever be booked there again that would interest me. I still am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to go.

Another show, another quick trip. Another set of memories to last a lifetime.

MY HUMBLEST THANKS TO DR. & MRS. FROTH AND THE PEOPLE OF ECHO TEMPLE!

I hope to see as many of them as I can at the next show that I am able to attend!! Eventually I shall succeed in yet another group photo, this time will be the members of ECHO TEMPLE and I. It will be just a matter of weeks.

Sad to know that WELL OF SOULS plays this coming weekend and I cannot just run back there for that one. But I’m at the point where I have to be picky.

Still, it was a great time. It turned the weekend from becoming a bore and sent me back into my simple oasis.

My Answer To Being Blackmailed

So here’s my answer to all of this garbage, as well as the story:  

I will not name names, but someone came by to visit me because they felt that I was stuck being inside of the house on this, being Independence Day with nothing to do. Well, they were right in thinking that. I’ve not gone anywhere. I had no plans. So this person comes by to visit with me so that I could melt away some time.

It was a very kind gesture at the start. But it ended up going south really fast. Or has it?

This person asked my permission to play some music. I allowed it. But the guy didn’t like the CD collection that I have. So then he asked me if I had any “country music”.

No, I do not!

He began to grumble. So in order to keep him from getting noisy about it, I went on to YouTube and played a few select videos that were country music. But he didn’t like those too much either.

Then as the sun was starting to go down and it was getting dark in my home (having the lights out because of the fireworks and gun fire which is going on in celebration), I played one more video. It was Metallica’s cover of Bob Seger’s song, “Turn The Page”.

I wasn’t paying attention. And he wasn’t digging Metallica either.

So then he said that he had plans to go watch some fireworks and he left a few minutes later.

Then, I get an e-mail from him, with an attachment.

Without looking at the message first, I looked at the attachment. And THEN I realized that he had taken his cell phone and recorded video of me doing some super major air drums to Metallica’s covered song.

The message stated that he was considering putting the video on YouTube. In an effort to get the best of me and essentially embarrass me to pieces.

Why? Because I don’t listen to country music.

There was an “LOL” at the end of the message, and that could have meant that he was only teasing. But there the video was. And now I have a copy of it as well.

Here’s where this evil blackmailing plan is probably going to fail:

#1- The video was shot from a cell phone. VERY poor quality. All you can see is a person’s shadow in a wheelchair moving his arms.

#2- You cannot see the person’s face in the video. So nobody can say that it is definitively me.

#3- This guy obviously has forgotten about how people have become rich and famous and ultra-popular with viral videos. In which if he does upload it to YouTube, it could be the year’s biggest viral sensation.

So I say to him quite clearly: BRING IT ON!!!

Nobody is going to notice me, nobody is going to see that it is me. Nobody is going to care.

We’ll see if this gets uploaded or not. I don’t think that he has the stones to do it.