Ending The Year With A Bang...Not So Much

The fact that I'm just now writing this post about my New Year's Eve says quite a bit. This new year was supposed to be different, not the same 'ol hum-drum, sitting in front of the tv to watch the ball drop and pretending that I enjoy drinking a few. (Which I really don't.)

I mentioned in my post, "The New Year's Eve Let Down", back in November how ringing in the New Year is never what it's cracked up to be. Though the transition from '09 to 0-Ten (definitely doesn't sound right when you say it out loud) wasn't the same kind of let down, I'm thinking I hyped up this year's celebration a little too much in my head.

KJ and I headed to downtown Kansas City to catch a rock show put on by 98.9 The Rock featuring local band Red Line Chemistry, Cavo, and Rev Theory. Overall, the show was decent, Rev Theory was definitely the highlight, with Cavo almost putting me to sleep and Red Line Chemistry being pretty impressive. No offense to Cavo, they have some great tunes, but they followed the local opener who came out ripping as a 5-piece group (2 guitars, bass, drums and lead vocal), as a 4-piece (only 1 guitar) which was a major step down the intensity meter.

Compounded with a long, short week at work, it being way past my normal bed time (I'm usually in bed by 10:00 at the latest), many more drunk people in comparison to other shows, and the countdown being a little bit of a dud (you need to work on that for next year 98.9) I was most definitely ready to hit the door once Rev Theory finished their set.

So as for ringing in 2010, the new decade, this show was a major step up from most other countdown nights of my adult life, but I feel that it could have been a little better, even with my insane expectations.

What's the moral here kiddies? I enjoyed myself and that's all that really mattered. I have to quit with all the hype and enjoy things for what they are from now on, I think that will make all the difference. Rock on to 2010!

Oh, and the hell with resolutions! Let's just write some tunes and leave it at that.

Let me know how your New Year's Eve went!

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.

New Year, New Goals, New Tunes?

So, somehow it became December 31st, 2008. The last day of the year and as of the writing of this post only 9 hours until 2009. (Central Standard Time, of course.) I'm always of the mind set that the new year is a time to start fresh, to take inventory of what the whole year was about.

So what happened in my world in the year 2008....let's see, I started some online collaborations, I waited for the feet of snow to melt, quit my job of 3 years, moved 1500 miles from home, struggled to find a job, suffered a long bout of writer's block, started working online, started this blog, flew home twice, celebrated my first Christmas in Kansas....eh, doesn't seem like much. I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of stuff as well.

But when I look back, what did I really accomplish for myself over the last 12 months? Quite a lot actually, but in retrospect not even close to what I wanted to accomplish. That's the way it always is I guess. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Honestly, out of all the things that I've done or not done, I only regret one thing. And that's not putting the energy toward my music that it really deserves. Creating and playing music has been my release and the creative outlet that I really feel like I can be proud of.

What am I going to do about it? I'm going to make a commitment to work, work, and work on my music. I probably made that same "resolution" last year, so what makes this different? It's different because I'm posting it right here and right now, in front of all my readers that I will honor that commitment. This blog has finally gotten my creative juices flowing and as I sit here typing, cranking the new Shinedown album (Very good by the way), I want to write more than ever and create music that I'm proud of and that people want to listen to.

This new year stuff makes me all sappy. You'd think I was all emo or something. But listen for yourself what I'm striving to create more of in the player on the top right. As 2009 rolls along that list of tunes will only be getting longer.