The New Year's Eve Let Down

I think it's a common happening that New Year's Eve is a severe let down. There's high hopes that it's going to be a spectacular night, an insane celebration of the year passed and the year to come. But plans always seem to fall through or expectations are never met. It ends in wasted money, lame parties or like my normal New Year's Eve night, sitting at home for a forgettable night of struggling to stay awake long enough to see the ball drop in Times Square.

I know it's a little early to be thinking about New Year's Eve, it's only the day before Thanksgiving, but I can't help but be excited for this year's festivities. For the first time in my adult life, I actually have plans to do something that barring an unseen catastrophe are going to blow away every other New Year and no doubt make 2010 actually memorable. (Especially compared to last year when I "celebrated" my first Central Time Zone New Year, super lame.)

This year I snagged tickets to see a show headlined by Rev Theory (who I got to catch acoustic-like back in August in my Music Weekend To Remember.) in Kansas City. They will be joined by Cavo and a local band Red Line Chemistry. The local radio station that's putting the show on is talking up the show pretty hardcore and I didn't want to take a chance of missing out so I ordered the tickets today, the second I got home from work.

I'm literally ending this year with a bang. I promised myself that I would start going to more shows and there hasn't been a shortage in the last 3 months. I caught Sick Puppies in September, Our Lady Peace in October, Chevelle and Halestorm in November, and in December Breaking Benjamin, Sick Puppies and Papa Roach as well as the Rev Theory show. This crazy goal of mine definitely isn't cheap but what's the point of working to make money if there's no time to use that money for some play. Work hard, play harder. My motto.

When it comes to the New Year 2010 I've had enough with trying to be cool, drinking my lemonade and vodka, playing Wii and falling asleep at 11:45. Here's to a memorable New Year rocking out, even if it is a bit of a wait.

More Halestorm, I Can't Help It

I can't help but share the other song that Halestorm performed acoustically on The Johnny Dare Morning Show here in Kansas City. Lizzy is just too bad ass not to share her with the world. Some singers will dumb it down when they rock out acoustic style, which is cool sometimes, it's nice to hear the song differently, but Lizzy just totally kicks the crap out of these songs!

The video below is the band performing their first big single, I Get Off. Rock on!

Halestorm and My Ongoing Obession

I've mentioned before about how I can't help but dig women lead singers of rock bands. Bands like Flyleaf, Guano Apes, Paramore, and more recently Halestorm have been lighting up my iTunes playlists and blasting out of my car stereo. There's just something about those upbeat, raspy, intense, vocals that sends my music craving mind mad.

I had a chance to feed my obesession live and in person last night at the Uptown Theater in KCMO. (Kansas City, Missouri for those of you not up on the midwestern lingo.) Chevelle headlined a show featuring Halestorm, which as I mentioned, has one rockin' chick as the lead singer slash rhythm guitarist. Sporting the full body, striped, spandex body suit and flexing those amazing (amazingly hot, that is) golden pipes, Lizzy Hale truly rocked my world and was definitely the highlight of the show for me. And not only do I dig her slamming rock vocals because she's a woman, but I am just truly jealous of the power that those vocal chords blasted out at us. Me want some of those.

I can't come close to explaining how amazing her voice is so I included the video below of the band performing acoustically on the Johnny Dare Morning Show live on the radio here in Kansas City. I've had the song, It's Not You, stuck in my head since they opened their show with it last night. It so happens it's their new single so it's obviously doing it's job as catchy radio tune.

Definitely check out the video and keep rockin'!

Slutterfly, Slumblebee, Slirate, and Our Lady Peace

I have to be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. Sure, I love candy (and roasted pumpkin seeds, oh so good), but the stress of finding a costume and the idea of dressing up to begin with hasn't been my thing for a while. That and I never feel like I'm even close to creative as the other guy. I'm always one upped, or totally skanked out, which brings me to this Halloween.

Since I'm not much for Halloween, I never really get out and do anything. I'm the kind to chill and watch a couple of scary movies. A little boring, I know, but that's how I roll. This year was a little different as my favorite band, Our Lady Peace, was playing a free show in downtown Kansas City. They played a covered outdoor stage at a place called the Power & Light District. I'd heard some mixed reviews about the venue but overall it was pretty sweet with it's restaurants, clubs, giant courtyard, heat lamps mounted to the ceiling, and the jumbo big screen television tuned to a college football game.

Being the kind of boring guy I am I showed up sans costume which I can't say about a good chunk of the people there. Even the opening band, Company of Thieves, was dressed in full Wizard of Oz gear. There were some pretty inventive costumes (Jesus hanging out with the Pope and the Devil to name a few.) There were also quite a few of unoriginal costumes that made me feel good about not wearing one. (Come on guys, you're only supposed to find Waldo once, not 6 times.) But the ones that are always stand outs are the young ladies who find Halloween as an occasion to skank-it-up. These are the ladies that I will never be able to compete with. I can't say I can complain, if they want to dress like that who am I to stop them (wink, wink), but it does baffle me a little thinking what some people will wear in public. The whole thing is a game for me, coming up with names for these wonderfully skanky costumes that seem to get racier every year.

Example #1: slutty + butterfly = slutterfly

There were a quite a few of those this year.

Example #2: slutty + bumblebee = slumblebee

I think I spotted a handful of those. Now, I think you get the point, see if you can figure out slirate.

Overall, the show was great. It was a cool atmosphere, especially with everyone dressed up. This was the third time I'd seen Our Lady Peace and it definitely won't be the last. I'm anxious for the next show I'm attending in December, a show I just spent a little too much money to be able to attend. But what's the point of having money if you don't spend it every once and a while and what's the point of being young if you don't get out, stay up late, and take advantage of it? There is none. So let's rock on!