“That duck is NOT a puppet!”~ Dr. Froth
It was time again for another episode of “Dambreaker Goes to See SIX MINUTE CENTURY.” and it just seemed like it had been so friggin’ long since the last time I went. I mean, I was there in Houston in May but not for SIX MINUTE CENTURY but I was there to go into the recording studios for the new project by Dr. Froth and Robert Lowe (of Candlemass and Solitute Aeturnus fame.)
This however, was a SIX MINUTE CENTURY journey. And it would be one of the very best times I’ve had while in Houston in a very long time. There was very little to no disappointment in this journey and I was thankful for that.
However I still will take this opportunity to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dr. Froth & Mikey Lewis of SIX MINUTE CENTURY. When your birthdays arrive, I hope that they are wonderful times for you. Thank you for allowing me to share in the celebrations with you.
I must say that I will be looking for some kind of change. The fact that I am taking the bus back and forth is something that I cannot avoid and therefore I am going to need to change and do something different in order to keep myself from going insane from boredom for 2-3 hours each way. I still do not know how these bus drivers can be so behind schedule when departing and then end up way ahead of schedule when arriving. I can come up with no other theory than they are going way beyond the posted speed limits on the highways.
Nonetheless, I was supposed to arrive in Houston at 10:45 AM, but got there around 10:30 AM instead. After being up since 5:00 AM and not used to that, I was so tired and all I wanted to do was crash in the hotel room and just veg for the rest of the morning and afternoon until it was time to go to the show. But my arrival at the hotel next door was not prepared. The staff knew who I was but they did not have anything ready and they were going to have to make a special request to housekeeping to get them to clean a specific room so that I could check-in and be done with that and then I could rest and go back to sleep.
Sadly, all of that crap took an hour or more to get completed. The person at the front desk said that she specifically placed me into a room that had a mini-fridge and a microwave because she knew that my reservation was for two nights and if I wanted to go out to eat and bring back left overs that I would have that opportunity to store it and then heat it up when I wanted to eat again. Totally considerate I’d say.
After a few hours of sleep, I woke up with really bad back pain.
The bed was lumpy.
After a suggestion by Mrs. Froth, I went back to the front desk to complain about the bed being uncomfortable and I noted that I’ve been going to their hotel every time I come on my own to Houston, which is 3-4 or even 5 times a year for the past three years. They understood and did change my room. But then again, that was another hour of waiting.
I wasn’t able to sleep after that. My back was just out of whack. So I sat there awaiting word from either Dr. or Mrs. Froth about what time they were stopping by the hotel to pick me up. After that information received, I sat back and relaxed watching HDTV and cable. Something that I do NOT have at home.
After sooooo many times of watching the same commercial ads time and time again, I just was wishing that there was something else to do that was outside of the hotel room. But I’m not going back to the Harris County Smokehouse. That place sucks. I’ve complained about the establishment in previous posts. Its a shame too because it smells good from the outside every time I am there. 
As I was saying, so many commercials for Shark Week and a new television show called “4th And Loud” which is about an arena football team in Los Angeles that was bought by the rock band, KISS.
As stated before, I don’t have cable, so it appeared to me to be yet another one of those reality programs that will either sink or swim. Who knows what will become of it. I don’t know. The only thing that I really remember was watching some football player in the locker room exclaiming “I piss awesome.”
Ummm, really?!?
You know, if I tried to say that in public I would be an immediate outcast.
How do you PISS awesome actually??
Then finally I was able to find something that I could relate to and enjoy watching until it was time to leave.
I have always been a fan of the show Pawn Stars. Mainly because I think its interesting to see what things have enormous value and what things have little to no value at all. 
Some of the customers though are just clueless though.
Yeah, I realize that they are in there because they want money. And they probably have some kind of amount in mind that they want. But if there’s someone appraising your item for big bucks, and you are inside of a pawn shop, you have GOT to realize that whatever that appraiser says the value is… that is NOT the amount you are going to get for it. Ever!
I could go on forever about pawn shop customers. Hell, I’ve been one a time or two or a thousand.
But it was time to go to the show.
The moment that I saw Dr. & Mrs. Froth show up as I met them outside the front lobby of the hotel I was immediately reminded about how much these two individuals meant to me in my life… in all aspects of it. All of that came to mind and I hadn’t even gotten inside of the vehicle yet.
But we arrived and it was time to make with the party and whats nots.
Vicious Cycle was a band that I’ve seen before. Both at home and in Houston. However I had never heard of Masqued.
Strangely enough I realized that I was standing not that far away from Steffany, the lead singer when I looked up. I took some photographs with her and thanked her. 
And then the surprise of the evening was when the succubus came straight up to me and greeted me. She hugged me and pressed her cheek against mine. Asked how long I had been in town and what not. Then smiled and walked away saying that it was good to see me again.
I nodded. And I proved that I can still keep my cool with a situation that I honestly let go of a while back mentally. There’s nothing in the rules that state she has to even acknowledge me. But she did.
Then it was on with the show!
Masqued was first up on stage. Without knowing anything about them, I didn’t know what to expect so I was watching with anticipation and a bit of blindness.
They weren’t bad at all. Then I understood that this was their very first show. And I was very confused as to whether they meant the first show at BFE Rock Club or if it was their first show EVER as a band live. I still am confused!
Either way, it wasn’t bad.
SIX MINUTE CENTURY then came up on stage and took a little more than an hour and fifteen minutes of awesomeness. I will say that when they performed “Baptized In Flames” it was the VERY BEST sounding performance of that song since they debuted it back at Acadia Sports Bar & Grill in November 2012. To which I will mention was recorded and posted on YouTube if you want to check it out. The back of my head is visible at points during that video. Good luck and enjoy!!
Still it was the best that they’ve ever played it. Hell, they even went back and played my absolute, ultimate, supreme, most favorite song “Zero Hour” from the first album. It had been a very long time since I have heard them play it live. Guitarist Don LaFon told me in 2012 that “Zero Hour” was now MY song. I couldn’t believe it. But they now have a new album out called “Wasted Time” which came out in October 2013, so the old stuff was shelved and now they focus on the new material.
My point is that I got to hear it again. Its just too bad that the sound technician is deaf or blind or just plain dumb because the sound levels during Masqued were just fine, people said. But once SIX MINUTE CENTURY got on stage, the guy screwed with the volume and it pissed off a lot of the fans and other customers of the bar.
I didn’t even get my “Zero Hour Hug” from Mrs. Froth after they finished performing “Zero Hour” …. it was THAT loud that it pushed certain family/friends/fans away from the front of the stage. And it was still too damned loud. Every time that SIX MINUTE CENTURY would play that song, I would get a hug from Mrs. Froth… because she knows that it was her MySpace profile with that song posted on it that got me started into the fanaticism for the band. Thus the reason for posting every time I go to see them live.
But after a lengthy set on stage… it was one of the better shows performed by the band in a long, long time.
I even had the waitress who was trying to hustle Jell-O shots to sit on my lap for about two minutes and even take a photo with me during the set. Mainly because I kept buying at least one each time she walked by. Jell-O shots for $1… ehh, cannot go wrong I guess. it’s better than paying $14 for one drink in which one person unfortunately had the displeasure of doing. Eventually though, the waitress wasn’t just walking by any more. She was coming right for me after a few rounds of successfully getting me to buy a shot. She tried about three times with me as I said no before I crumbled and finally said yes. I’m not quite sure how much I spent on them alone. I just know that someone else there was buying twice as many Jell-O shots as I was. So I think she did good by the end of the night.
So when SIX MINUTE CENTURY was finished, I found everyone hanging outside in the patio area in the back of the club. The sound had driven every last one of them out there and still the volumes were so loud. Even in between bands when they were just playing the radio or a CD or jukebox or whatever it was. Insane amounts of unnecessary volume.
Vicious Cycle rounded up the end of the night. Members of ECHO TEMPLE were there to support them. And I always think its cool to have bands support other bands. Plus I got to see ECHO TEMPLE and socialize with them a bit.
After a few more Jell-O shots and some other horror stories that were shared by patrons and friends about the sound… it was time to go. I connected with the waitress and started a nice friendship.
As we waited for the decision to leave, I began to take photographs with certain people. Don LaFon’s company was very insisting that she and I take a photograph together all night long. So this was her chance. But she kept getting awkward with bending and kneeling and squatting and hovering until I finally yelled at her to sit down. Insinuating down on my lap.
So she did, but she got totally nervous about it… assuming that she was going to get “in trouble” for it.
Umm… its only a photo.
My camera however had plans of its own. At the time I did not know what was going on. But the camera would not work. I kept thinking that the person who was asked to take the photograph was inept as it took many failed attempts to take just one photograph.
Suddenly out of nowhere the succubus jumped in to the left side of me, inserting herself into the shot.
I already had one person on my lap and now she’s jumping into the shot, I pulled her closer towards me with my arm around her and my hand consequently on her ass.
But the person operating the camera could not get it to work. And it frustrated me because here was the chance to get that photograph that I had wanted so long ago. Just one photograph but I guess she lost patience with the situation and she walked away.
The photograph was taken, but by someone else’s cell phone. And it had to be e-mailed to me. But by then the succubus was long gone.
At the very end of the night, I realized that I needed to change batteries.
I love that LISAFAYECHARDONNAY gave me this camera as a gift. But damn, it sucks up a lot of battery juice fast and the batteries inside get super hot too if you leave the shutter open, and that also messes with the performance of the camera, making it assume that the batteries are dying when the fact is that they are just too hot.
The succubus came back and again hugged and pressed against my cheek and wished me a safe journey back home. I mentioned that I figured out what the problem was with the camera and she said in response, “Oh, that’s too bad.”
I asked her if she wanted to re-take it. She said NO. I asked a few more times and she kept shaking her head. I finally just waved at her and she walked out of the bar. Lots of people that either saw it happen or heard about it have had their opinions. None of which are positive. Oh well. She behaved with the affectionate greetings that I just was not expecting.
After all that non-excitement, we took off for the IHOP that is directly across the highway from the hotel that I always stay in. There was five of us there in total. Small, but just cozy enough. 
Behind us was a much larger party of eight or more. I didn’t honestly take time to count. They were quite noisy and loud. And you knew exactly what they were doing there and where they had been before.
One of them was stretching out by leaning his chair back. It proved to be a mistake as he ended up tipping backwards and landing on the floor. And he just sat there in his chair staring at the ceiling. I leaned back too far and then WHOOOOOOPS!!!! Down he went.
It was at this time I wondered how much better we would have done had we gone to Denny’s instead. But IHOP is fine. Geographically speaking, its perfect.
Christina Applegate (left) & Milla Jovovich (right)
Then finally I was back at the hotel after 3:00 AM, closer to 4:00 AM.
I would then find the old re-runs of “Married With Children” on television. But why so late/early??
I found this episode which starred a VERY VERY YOUNG Milla Jovovich.. who would become famous many years later for her role in the Resident Evil film series.
And when I say young, I mean only about fourteen years old. Christina Applegate who plays Kelly Bundy at this time the episode was made was about 17 or 18 years old at the time.
Jovovich played the part of a foreign exchange student from Paris, France and the Bundy family readily welcomed her into their home so that she could study in the United States. But when Jovovich became too popular too quick and started to take the attention off of Kelly Bundy, Kelly then struck back to get the attention back on her by sabotaging her.
I went to sleep in peace knowing that I had a great time with SIX MINUTE CENTURY and knowing that I was not going to have to rush to get out of the hotel and over to get on a bus so early in the morning. The last time that happened, I only had a few hours and I could not afford to go to sleep. And still dozed off a few times, I was damned lucky I made the bus. But I won’t be doing that any more.
The next day I was free to do whatever I wanted. I could sleep as long as I wanted. And I would end up going to the House of Froth and just hanging out with everyone, including their baby son Merlin who is getting so big. He’s crawling everywhere and grabbing a hold of things to stand up. But then he falls down and usually backwards and bumps his little head.
Dr. Froth had other ideas for that day. That afternoon he cooked some fabulous food. He said he loves to cook but doesn’t get a lot of leisure time to do so. If you EVER have a chance to eat any of Dr. Froth’s cooking, you will NOT be disappointed!!!
Then he sat down with me and began to record video with me by his side. Then we went outside and he kind of interviewed me about the project that he is working on that I got to be in the recording studio for this last May.
And that was on purpose.
Many of you people seem to think I’m just messing around. That its not happening or that I wasn’t ever in the recording studio. His update on the project, which was his fifth…. showcases me as proof and evidence that I HAVE been participating in this project. And for those of you who have been so negative about it? Go look it up… and then when you find it and realize that I have been telling the truth all this time, I’ll accept your apologies right before I let you kiss my ass.
“Gathered In Darkness” has the great potential of being picked up by a super major recording label, mainly because the name of Robert Lowe is attached to this project. And since I did a little voice over work on it, I can honestly be telling the truth if I wanted to say that I am on a major record label. That’s if this project does get picked up by one. And it is possible to happen but we’ll just wait and see.
So I did all of that and got to hang out with the rest of the family until it started to get dark.
I sat back at the hotel and watched the ending of a film called “Blue Caprice” in which I am guessing was about the D.C. Sniper. Dr. Froth and I had just talked about the fictional situation of a pregnant woman being killed in relations to other things. But apparently that was part of this film. It was unnerving.
After that I went to bed at a decent hour before having to wake up early again to return home. With what I thought was sufficient rest, I returned home Monday morning… but then soon crashed.
Like I said at the beginning, it was a visit that had no problems to deal with. I was glad it was problem-free.
The next possible time I will be back is for the TENTH anniversary of SIX MINUTE CENTURY which will be in October.
I’m just glad that I had a great time with no problem and made new friends. Special thanks go out to Dr. & Mrs. Froth as well as Jose “Angel” Martinez to make this trip possible.
Dambreaker 