Deep heavy sigh. Yesterday should have been stellar and instead it was most crappy. Cute new hairdo for the Placebo gig, then 30 miles outside town on I80, my tire blows. Bigtime blows - like pieces of it left al over the road. Fortunately a super friendly state patrol dude helped me get the spare put on so I could limp intoYork and spend money I shouldn't spend on a whole new tire.

So that had to be the One Bad Thing that happens right? Wrong. Arrive Omaha. Meet Placebo Street Teamer who informs us the show is postponed. Brian's ill and in hospital with the flu or something. Bad for him, bad for us and I just felt crushing disappointment followed by guilt for being selfish.

Placebo hardly every cancel gigs if they can help it. They're very good to the fans but damnit, why'd it have to be MY show? I think because of the problems we had getting TO the show just made it worse really. I was already grumpy about having to buy the tire knowing payday's over a week away, and I was having a good hair day and everything.

So we drove back to LIncoln and stopped at Jo's because we wanted to at least say hello since she and Tom were nice enough to offer a place to crash after the show and I felt bad because all I wanted to do was go home and be grumpy. But we had a nice visit, helped with Jo's new iPod a little and had some delicious soup. Gunter, I just adore your mom and dad :)

So today I'm enjoying a lovely migraine to go with my churlishness. Pennance I suppose. Bright side of things is at least we'll still get to see Placebo, just don't know when yet. They're going to reschedule. Anyway, hope Brian feels better and when they do come back it better be a hell of a show.

You know, as much as I don't really mess with MySpace, if it wasn't for this site, I'd never have known my band's coming to frikkin' Omaha next month. Hurray!!! Yes, I am going to see Placebo.. AGAIN :) And this time I don't have to drive for hours and hours to do it. I can't believe they're coming to Omaha of all places.

Colour me chuffed.

After such a long wait, the Big Night has come and gone and I'm suffering from post-concert letdown which was exacerbated by the 6 hour drive home.



But man, what a show. What a freaking awesome show. It was so good, so... surreal to be mere feet away from this band I love. I had forgotten what it's like to see a favourite band in a small, intimate place. It's been... well several years. And the whole evening was one giant flashback to my days of going to alternative clubs with the children decked in black lipstick and liner, lace and the ever present Docs and leather. Some things don't seem to change I guess.

It was fun to share this with my daughter as well :) It was her first experience in such an atmosphere herself and I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it. What killed me was how she quickly saw through a lot of the bullshit people talk when they're out and about. She has a quick wit and cutting cynicism. She does me proud :)

So beginning with a longass drive to Denver we arrived at our hotel, The Embassy Suites (Or NBC Suites according a Shan when she was ickle :) in Centennial. We explored our lovely rooms, she hit the pool and fitness room for a bit while I showered and got ready. By the time we were ready to go, it was still early but this turned out to be a good thing because of course, I got lost on the way to the Gothic.

Eventually we arrived and found ourselves in a long line of goths, emos, normals, halloween costumes, and the usual assortment of pretentious twits you find out shows like this (I say that out of love because I used to be a pretentious twit when I was at a show with all my friends. We were loud, we said outrageous things for shock value and generally acted like morons. These days I find it rather endearing.)


When they (finally) let us in (after I had to prove I was Shan's mother - she was under the 16+ age limit) we made our way to the floor in front of the stage. It was crowded but not too much and we had the not-so-brilliant idea of hanging back until the opening act was done and then shoving our way up to the front between bands.

But we realized this was not going to be the best plan, so during the opening DJ guy, we began inching our way up front instead. Shannon made me proud again by being fearless when it came to scrambling towards any hole that opened in front of us, dragging me along behind her. By the time the main opening band, She Wants Revenge, was done we were just about at the barrier :) It was a hard battle and some very short girl with a mohawk was pissed I wouldn't let her in front of me. I couldn't because I couldn't take a chance of Shan getting separated from me. And frankly, if she wanted to see the band, knowing she was very short, she could have gone to the balcony level and had a perfect view. I am not nice at concerts. I'd forgotten that :) I'm quite a bitch in fact.

This show more than others. I wanted to be as close as possible. I'd come a long way and waited a long time to see them. I could quite possibly never get another chance so sorry mohawkgirl. It's every fan for herself.

Another thing I found amusing was the tiny girls at the barrier who kept getting pissed off because people were *gasp* touching them! They would suddenly shove themself backwards in anger trying to get people to back off. I had to laugh. I mean really, if you going to position yourself at the very front of a crowd, all of whom are huge fans of the band, how can you not expect to pretty much get squished. I couldn't put my arms down the whole show but did I bitch? No. I had dancy-boy to my left who decided to bounce off me every other downbeat. Did I bitch? No. He was just having a good time. As long as I can see the boys in the band, you can pour beer down my back and stomp on my feet.

Anyway, the show... She Wants Revenge was pretty good. Justin Warfield (last heard by me doing a rap on a Placebo song called "Spite & Malice") fronts this band and instead of rapping, it turned out to be a sort of Bauhaus/Post Bauhaus Peter Murphy vibe with a dance twist.  The song that caught my attention the most was... I think it might be called, "Black Liner" maybe? not sure. Anyway I liked it a lot. Shannon prefered one they did called, "Out of COntrol."

Anyway, they were great. Good band to listen to before Placebo.

And after about a half an hour set tear-down and rebuild, it was time for my boys to hit the stage. First Steve snuck his way to his drumkit amid the shrieks and applause. Then Stef casually wandered onstage looking like pure sex. Man oh man this guy knows every rock and roll pose in the book. It was very hard to take my eyes off of him. We were on his side of the stage as well. It was a small stage though so when I could tear my eyes off Stef, they were riveted on Brian. He walked on stage like he owned it, slung a guitar strap over his shoulder, and they went right into, "Infra-red" from their new album.



I cannot describe how it felt to be there. To see them live after all this time. It was surreal. It was extraordinary. It was satisfying. I don't have any idea of the setlist. I was too busy screaming, dancing, snapping pix, fending off mohawk girl, grinning like an idiot and generally having a total blast. Stef vamped all over the stage, striking pose after pose while Brian sang his little heart out and looked just as delectable.

The only slight disappointment was that they didn't come back for encores :( I don't know why but I got a glimpse of the setlist and it didn't show any planned. I don't know if the notate encore songs on the setlists, but these didn't have anything listed after the final song. Looking back, the show did feel sort of rushed. But that could just me. Who knows. I'll look around the net and see what other Denver-ites who were there thought.

But that minor disappointment wasn't enough to ruin the experience. I'm still so very glad we got to go see them. I'm flat broke, but it was so worth it. It just felt good to go, you know?

Anyway here are some of the songs I remember:

Infra-red
Meds
Drag
Because I want You
Song to Say Goodbye
Taste in Men
Bitter End
Every you Every me
Running Up That hill (Kate Bush cover)
Twenty Years
Special K

That's all I can remember. There may have been one or two more.

I've uploaded my digicam pix to Spotted at the Paper. Cell pix to come :) So glad cameras were allowed :)

FINALLY less than a week until the Big Gig :) I'm SO looking forward to this. I've loved this band for years but have never seen them live. 4 years ago I would have given my left arm to see them live. now, just $40 but I'm still loving them, still can't wait to see them.

It better be freaking good :)

Let me tell you about the feckin week Ive had so far:

• I take the car in for a oil/lube/tire check, should be $35, they discover the fuel filter is the factory one that came with the car and its rusted so bad it took three guys to prise it off. Final bill for replacing it: $101. On the bright side, they said I should get awesome gas mileage now which is probably a pretty good thing considering the 2,000 mile roadtrip were about to go on J
• Were washing clothes and sheets etc at the Laundromat. I pull out the yummy-smelling sheets and comforter my aunt will be using only to find that my stupid ass left a lipstick in a pocket and there are shiny bronze blotches all over them. Ruined a good lipstick too.
• Tonight after the kid had a bath she was having problems getting the cold water to shut off to the usual trickle. Its more a steady, noisy stream. So I grab a wrench to help tighten the faucet thingies and something slips on the hot water faucet. Now the hot water wont turn on and the handle just spins on the spindle L I have no idea how to fix it and it means all I have left is cold showers. Not that I mind. It's so hot that cold showers are pretty refreshing. not so sure my aunt will enjoy that at 6am Wednesday morning.

*sigh*

I finally made my list. I was worried last week about my upcoming trip to Montana because I hadn't made an endless parade of lists to get ready for it. Today when I stopped at the Holiday station to pick up my yogurt and lemonade I was overcome by that "road trip" feeling.

I love that feeling. The excitement and hurried atmosphere in the house as you rush around to get ready to go sit in a car for 12 hours. Last-minute packing, lugging suitcases, laughing, brain buzzing on caffeine, that special feeling you get when you know you don't have to go to work for 2 weeks :)

Ahhhhh. I can't wait. I've made my first list. A day-to-day breakdown of what the kid and I need to do each day to get ready. It mainly consists of cleaning the house *sigh* but it needs to be done.

Anyway, really looking forward to the drive, the sightseeing, the time with my new family. It's gonna rawk.

I'll be blogging, mostly photos at spotted.theindependent.com while I'm there. I can send cellphone pix directly to it and when I can suss out an internet connex I'll upload better ones. So feel free to watch that space for the next few weeks :)

My daughter's bike has been stolen.

She's not as upset as I thought she'd be actually but she always internalizes everything. She seemed pretty gutted when we discovered it was missing. She had it Friday for sure because she rode it home from her friend's house. Today we get back from the pool and notice it's gone. We have no idea when it could have been taken because we're so used to seeing it locked up in it's usual spot that we may have taken it for granted it was there.

I used to make her lug it up to the apartment when she was through riding but I sort of let her keep it on the bike rack in the courtyard because it is so very heavy with the foam-filled tires and we live up three flights of stairs.

I should have made her do it anyway, poor thing :( Now she faces a whole summer of no transportation and she lives too far away from all her friends to walk. Fucking thieves. It's not like it was an expensive bike. I think I paid around $80 for it at Walmart. It was a gift for her a couple of years ago when money was tighter than it is now. It was a big deal. The rancid little losers who took it probably couldn't get more than $20 or $30 for it in a pawn shop.

Her bday is coming up. I'm sure I will be getting her another bike but it sucks that I should have to do that.

I have become the apartment bitch. The one neighbour you dread when you move in. I like it quiet. I need my sleep. My kid needs her sleep. I hate noisy neighbours. I'm not afraid to call the police and/or landlord on you either so shape up, fuckers. Now - I can tolerate it up to a point. Really I can. Like perhaps it's midafternoon on the weekend and you are perhaps blasting tunes while you clean the house. I can hang with that. No big. but 2am? On a Tuesday? Um, no.

I want my own house :(

I'm 35 now (shudder) I shouldn't be dealing with college kids belowstairs blasting their thumping (c)rap music - it's not even decent rap. It's top 40 shit. Know how I know? Because I can sing along with it, it's so loud.

Now before you college-age kids start berating me for being an old cow, let me say this: even if I happened to be guilty of the same thing when I was your age, I always felt bad if a neighbour complained and I'd immediately turn it down. I know sometimes you just don't realize how thin the walls really are (yeah I can hear you shagging like rabbits too) but seriously people, after about 3 visits from the cops and numerous warnings from the landlord not to mention my own pleas, don't you think you should cop on to the fact that other people live in the building too, and perhaps they would not enjoy listening to your music while they're trying to sleep/watch TV/other stuff etc.?

Seriously, get a fucking clue morons.

/rant.

My dreams are becoming disturbing. I never had as many nightmares as I have of late. All I remember about the one this mornign was a maqn on a couch, slowly expanding, like Violet Beauregard, turning red at first, then a sort of purply blue until fat and blood vessels began oozing out through his pores. And I looked on in horror as this man suddenly inflated in an instant and then exploded. Guts and goo flew everywhere,landed everywhere - in my hair, on the walls.

Then I woke up.

I have no idea what it means.

So Günt says I should blog here for a change :) Okiedokie then. I guess I don't blog here because 1. I've got blogs all over the place and I'm partial to Blogger and 2. I'm not so much a fan of MySpace really. I think it's because I'm old and unhip.

I'm currently watching TNG with a young Wil Wheaton. I heart his blog. He makes me laugh when he's not writing about poker. Other than that, I'm not having an exciting evening. This day - no, this week has had a plethora of emotional content. Fear, pressure, elation, giddiness, sadness all rolled up in a ball and it's sitting somewhere in my chest rolling around playing silly buggers with my body.

I won't bore with the details. Well, yes I will. Just a little of the good stuff anyway because it makes me Squee :) My 24 blog got noticed by FOX. Apparently they read it whenever I post my recaps. I got an email from them asking if I'd like to start posting teaser clips and content they'll send me each week. I was gobsmacked when I asked if they read the blog and they said 'Of course we do.'

Heehee one or two degrees of separation from Kiefer. Squee!

Anyway - today I listened to a cool chick called Ember sing while my cool cuz Günter accompanied her on guitar and mandolin. Enjoyed it quite a lot! Shared it with my coworker who also thought it sounded great. Can't wait til next weekend when we get to hang out with the Voelkers and Gooey :)