Yes, that's a new record. And no, I'm not proud of it. But yes, it really couldn't be any different.
Not only have I just finished an 8 day working streak, I've also been doing a lot of other things next to my work, which have generally reduced my time behind a computer.
What all happened in the last two weeks, I don't know anymore. Not all of it anyway. I lost track of time, but not of events in general. So here's a little update on what's been happening with over the weeks.
Pierre left for Paris for a week, to enjoy his vacation. During his absence, there was a Christmas Gala in the hotel, for all employees. As everyone else wanted to go or had other family obligations, Tina and I worked that night. A lot of pretty people were around, all dressed up as the code said, and still plenty of people came to see us in Le Marche that night. During the event they also handed out a few awards. Pierre became Manager of the Year in the hotel. By far the one who deserved it most, not to go break down any other people's achievements, but that guy is starting to become a legend in the hotel, and to me. I can not count the amount of times where random people came in, just asking for Pierre. Or leaving cards and presents for him.
Now, apparently, from the back I look slightly like him (same length, somewhat, same colour of hair from underneath the cap as well) so I've had people thanking me as well, until I turned around and they seemed to be looking for Pierre. Not quite sure if he is or isn't leaving in February, with all the visa stuff.
During that week off, it's been Tina, Blake and me running Le Marche operations. Pierre had tried to order everything we needed in advance, and everything went great. Had a streak of good days, in terms of sales, so everyone was working towards a goal those days. Was good to see that the operation is running reasonably alright.
Also, we've had company in the house here. First, Robin came by. One of Bart's friends, who is doing his internship in St. Louis. He had gotten a few consecutive days off and decided to book a flight and stay with us. In the 5 days he has seen Miami (as anyone is supposed to) and had a good time around here, as Bart was off for 4 of the 5 days. We played Guitar Hero with the three of us, and even had a day of vocals in the game. Singing along to Michael Jackson, 30 Seconds To Mars and Bart's favorites "Eye Of The Tiger" from Survivor, and Guns'N'Roses' "Welcome To The Jungle".
Georgi's parents have also been here for a while now. They're leaving today, which means I get my own bed back, in my own room, instead of being on an inflatable Queensize bed in Yatha's room. They've mostly been here, around the house, and Georgi took them to Key West and the Bahamas. They've seen Miami too.
Third visitor the last few days was Maarten. One of Yatha's friends from long ago. They've been friends for a while. Maarten was studying in Oklahoma for half a year, and planned this little stay before he had to go back to Holland in general. Stayed here for 5 days as well. Played soccer with us on Thursday, went to Miami, as well. Went shopping in Sawgrass, and saw a lot of clubs and bars.
Now I've also been to Sawgrass Mills last week, with Tina and Charlotte. The afternoon after we did Secret Santa in Le Marche where I miraculously got two presents instead of one. An iTunes gift card (perfect for me), and a miniature version of Guitar Hero (so amazing!). That afternoon we drove to Sunrise to visit the huge outlet mall. Shopping with two girls can go either way, and this was fairly the way I'm used to with my sister. Lot of stores, long searches, lot of deciding. I walked with them through a store, went to the Hugo Boss store next door, and was done well before they even started to stand in line to pay for something. And then Tina changed her mind after all, and went for just one of the two items she was holding. Exactly!
Anyway, it's been a lot of fun there. Seen a lot of pretty things around. Bought a few (three shirts, bracelet, sunglasses, in addition to the pants and blouse I bought at Macy's the other day already) as well. I drove us home, and got Tina's car to lend for the next morning to get to work again.
Last night, after Tina and I worked again (Christmas Day, all other American people wanted to celebrate something, somewhere) and after hanging at the bar for a while, where Yatha got us a drink and chef Craig gave us something to eat, I drove her home again, and she told me to take the car on my day off. I'm not quite sure where I'm going, if at all. Maybe I'll wait for Bart to get home later and look for some snowboard gear after all. I need to watch all the money with the expenses of the last weeks. Rent, phone, electricity and internet are also due soon.
Also, we've had Robin cooking here, with Bart. Like old times. And we owe another Asian meal prepared by Tina and Charlotte soon. Also went out with Marten, Maarten, Yatha, Bart, Tina, Charlotte and Mehdi, to my favorite P.F. Chang's for a change. Hadn't been there in a while.
I guess that sums it up nicely, the last few weeks. A lot of people around, a lot of things to do after work, and a lot of work to be done.
Got a concert tomorrow (5 bands, 10 dollars, among them There For Tomorrow and Go Audio), and I saw that Senses Fail is playing here in a few months. So here's a little video for their 7th single.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Sound of Madness
See, a new quick post again! But only because had one of the best days so far, going to West Palm Beach for the Buzz Bake Sale 2008. One day full of great music, and some fine Florida weather!
As you can see in the photo album of Buzz Bake, I took an early train to WPB (these things only go every two hours, during weekends, I remember why I loved train transport in Holland so much). This Tri-Rail had a little delay, leaving around 8:50 instead of 8:40 as it was intended to, and we didn't quite get there with just 10 minutes delay either. But hey, it was comfortable, and only 4 dollars. Try that for gasoline, anywhere. Even with these prices (well under 2 dollars for a gallon - which is about 3.8 liters).
The cab fare was a bit more off, as it costed me little over 30 bucks to get from the train station to the Cruzan Amphitheatre. Well over 9 miles as Google Maps mentioned. That's quite far from a train station still. But hey, everyone has a car here, so who needs anything close to a station, right?
The morning started out with Sponge [7,5/10], playing at 11:00. With a nice sun on the crowd, they played a few nice songs, keeping everybody happy. I was reasonably up front as my favorite band of that day would be playing afterwards.
Favorite band, they were, but the title for Band of the Day definately does not go to Anberlin [8/10]. What can I say? They played the songs I expected, they entertained the crowd a lot (judging the amount of crowdsurfers around, there was enough energy. Or maybe they just wanted to release some hormones in general) but there was something off with the guitars. There seemed to be too much noise on them, almost drowning out their own solo in one of the songs during the set. The vocals were amazing, as good as I know Stephen can deliver, and KNate did an awesome job drumming through the day, but the set-up of guitars just made all a bit less perfect than it should have been.
Went to the Pick The Band stage, where small bands played, and saw two songs from Transmit Now from afar. Didn't really caught my attention, and honestly I wasn't involved enough to rate them. Might be unfair. Back to the second stage to see my favorite pianist. The man I adore for ever leading (and writing for) Something Corporate. His new outfit Jack's Mannequin [8/10], put up a solid performance. There was nothing much exciting about it though, and the music in general never touched the greatness of the music portrayed on the Something Corporate DVD I have back at home. One of the better things about Andrew, next to his energetic piano playing and movements, was that he told people to "in case you missed the message, take your aggression elsewhere as we're not that type of band".
After that, off to the main stage, where I had a seat, rather than a place on the big grass field behind everything else. Sat down and enjoyed music from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus [9/10]. These guys played a great show. A really proper display of their diverse qualities. Great high-pitched vocals changed with good grunts (all from the same man), and an amazing cover of Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot". Heard two of their main songs, Don't You Fake It and Face Down during the setlist too. Stage activity could have been better, or maybe it's been because of the half-filled seating area that it just wasn't all that impressive in the end, but they have nothing to complain about, music wise.
Up next was Saving Abel [5/10], a hard rock outfit complete missing their chance to make me a fan. Their song "Addicted" is nice to hear, but having a show consisting of songs that all sound alike, with little interaction and a guitarist that looked like he could get an orgasm on stage due to his own guitar playing... Just not that good, really.
Back to the Second Stage to catch a bit of Skindred [6,5/10]. Maybe I have a biased opinion on this one, but from where I stood, the music (except for guitars) wasn't that amazing, and the band tried to play the audience, more than they tried to play their music. Went away after 3 songs to catch some more Main Stage action.
By the time I got there, Flobots [6,5/10] had taken the stage. They played a combination of music I've loved before. Guitars, drums and rap. They even added in a violin, I've also seen that work on stage. However, nothing about the show, except for the violin play, really got to me. Hardly anything good to say about the sounds coming out of the other instruments too. I stuck around because there was not much else to see, and now I can admit I've seen them live and form an opinion, but I wasn't that impressed here.
After that, I got some company on the seats as my neighbours for the night, entered to watch a few bands before their main band Avenged Sevenfold would play. They witnessed Hawthorne Heights [7,5/10] put up a good show. I think I remember seeing them with 3 guitarists about two years ago, on Lowlands, and honestly, I thought they sucked at the time. This second chance, however, was one during which they changed my mind about them. With only two guitarists and a nice display of music (though the vocals, for some reason, just can't appeal) they earned their score. The guitarist (and screamer) missing this time, died of drug overdose a little over a year ago.
Next up was a band I know through their vocalist contributing on a song for a Spider Man movie, where he sings the theme together with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. Josey Scott, lead singer of the band Saliva [6,5/10] apparently gained more weight since then, and came up on stage, dressed in black and slight obesity. One of their guitarists seemed completely wasted/fucked up, as he poured a bottle of wine/champagne all over him at the start of the concert, making moves that might have worked for Ozzy Osbourne someday. The clean vocals weren't always up to standard and other than that I also didn't really like the music overall. Their ending song, Your Disease, is the song I knew before their show, and even that one failed to really impress.
Up next, one of the bands I really anticipated seeing. Atreyu [9/10]. I think they owe their score to their music more than their vocals or presence today, or maybe even the fact that I know all songs. The music was good, the vocals were as they should be (though the clean vocals from screamer Alex are not something he should focus on) and the crowd loved it too.
My band of the day was Shinedown [10/10]. With a vocalist/frontman that earned himself a spot in my Top 3 of Stage Presence Musicians (alongside Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and 30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto), everything looked and sounded great, and the interaction between songs were nothing short of great entertainment. The sea of lighters and cell phones that he commanded looked really, really amazing, and the song "45" they played during this event, was really good. I've been listening to their last album "The Sound of Madness" the entire day now. If anyone can catch these guys playing their city/state/country, they should definately do so. Amazing band.
As amazing as they were, as amazing the act of Avenged Sevenfold [10/10] was. The man responsible for lifting the score from [9,5/10] to [10/10] was lead guitarist Synyster Gates (Brian Haner Jr.), who single-handedly amazed me. Up until the time where he took the entire stage alone, to mess with his guitar, play an amazing solo, and then play the introduction to the next song before the rest of the band came up again, the band had been performing perfectly. The music was amazing, the vocals nothing short of extraordinary (both screams as well as clean) and the band was enjoying a marvellous lightshow aiding their conquest of fans all over the place. In addition, I think I've never seen that many people with band merchandising in one single show. Let alone on a full concert day. Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X) can't get much bigger than they are right now.
Next concert for me, seems to be December 27. There For Tomorrow, Go Radio! and three other bands. I'll report back at the time.
Here is the first single taken of Shinedown's 2008 album, The Sound of Madness.
This one is called "Devour", and they opened with this song.
As you can see in the photo album of Buzz Bake, I took an early train to WPB (these things only go every two hours, during weekends, I remember why I loved train transport in Holland so much). This Tri-Rail had a little delay, leaving around 8:50 instead of 8:40 as it was intended to, and we didn't quite get there with just 10 minutes delay either. But hey, it was comfortable, and only 4 dollars. Try that for gasoline, anywhere. Even with these prices (well under 2 dollars for a gallon - which is about 3.8 liters).
The cab fare was a bit more off, as it costed me little over 30 bucks to get from the train station to the Cruzan Amphitheatre. Well over 9 miles as Google Maps mentioned. That's quite far from a train station still. But hey, everyone has a car here, so who needs anything close to a station, right?
The morning started out with Sponge [7,5/10], playing at 11:00. With a nice sun on the crowd, they played a few nice songs, keeping everybody happy. I was reasonably up front as my favorite band of that day would be playing afterwards.
Favorite band, they were, but the title for Band of the Day definately does not go to Anberlin [8/10]. What can I say? They played the songs I expected, they entertained the crowd a lot (judging the amount of crowdsurfers around, there was enough energy. Or maybe they just wanted to release some hormones in general) but there was something off with the guitars. There seemed to be too much noise on them, almost drowning out their own solo in one of the songs during the set. The vocals were amazing, as good as I know Stephen can deliver, and KNate did an awesome job drumming through the day, but the set-up of guitars just made all a bit less perfect than it should have been.
Went to the Pick The Band stage, where small bands played, and saw two songs from Transmit Now from afar. Didn't really caught my attention, and honestly I wasn't involved enough to rate them. Might be unfair. Back to the second stage to see my favorite pianist. The man I adore for ever leading (and writing for) Something Corporate. His new outfit Jack's Mannequin [8/10], put up a solid performance. There was nothing much exciting about it though, and the music in general never touched the greatness of the music portrayed on the Something Corporate DVD I have back at home. One of the better things about Andrew, next to his energetic piano playing and movements, was that he told people to "in case you missed the message, take your aggression elsewhere as we're not that type of band".
After that, off to the main stage, where I had a seat, rather than a place on the big grass field behind everything else. Sat down and enjoyed music from The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus [9/10]. These guys played a great show. A really proper display of their diverse qualities. Great high-pitched vocals changed with good grunts (all from the same man), and an amazing cover of Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot". Heard two of their main songs, Don't You Fake It and Face Down during the setlist too. Stage activity could have been better, or maybe it's been because of the half-filled seating area that it just wasn't all that impressive in the end, but they have nothing to complain about, music wise.
Up next was Saving Abel [5/10], a hard rock outfit complete missing their chance to make me a fan. Their song "Addicted" is nice to hear, but having a show consisting of songs that all sound alike, with little interaction and a guitarist that looked like he could get an orgasm on stage due to his own guitar playing... Just not that good, really.
Back to the Second Stage to catch a bit of Skindred [6,5/10]. Maybe I have a biased opinion on this one, but from where I stood, the music (except for guitars) wasn't that amazing, and the band tried to play the audience, more than they tried to play their music. Went away after 3 songs to catch some more Main Stage action.
By the time I got there, Flobots [6,5/10] had taken the stage. They played a combination of music I've loved before. Guitars, drums and rap. They even added in a violin, I've also seen that work on stage. However, nothing about the show, except for the violin play, really got to me. Hardly anything good to say about the sounds coming out of the other instruments too. I stuck around because there was not much else to see, and now I can admit I've seen them live and form an opinion, but I wasn't that impressed here.
After that, I got some company on the seats as my neighbours for the night, entered to watch a few bands before their main band Avenged Sevenfold would play. They witnessed Hawthorne Heights [7,5/10] put up a good show. I think I remember seeing them with 3 guitarists about two years ago, on Lowlands, and honestly, I thought they sucked at the time. This second chance, however, was one during which they changed my mind about them. With only two guitarists and a nice display of music (though the vocals, for some reason, just can't appeal) they earned their score. The guitarist (and screamer) missing this time, died of drug overdose a little over a year ago.
Next up was a band I know through their vocalist contributing on a song for a Spider Man movie, where he sings the theme together with Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger. Josey Scott, lead singer of the band Saliva [6,5/10] apparently gained more weight since then, and came up on stage, dressed in black and slight obesity. One of their guitarists seemed completely wasted/fucked up, as he poured a bottle of wine/champagne all over him at the start of the concert, making moves that might have worked for Ozzy Osbourne someday. The clean vocals weren't always up to standard and other than that I also didn't really like the music overall. Their ending song, Your Disease, is the song I knew before their show, and even that one failed to really impress.
Up next, one of the bands I really anticipated seeing. Atreyu [9/10]. I think they owe their score to their music more than their vocals or presence today, or maybe even the fact that I know all songs. The music was good, the vocals were as they should be (though the clean vocals from screamer Alex are not something he should focus on) and the crowd loved it too.
My band of the day was Shinedown [10/10]. With a vocalist/frontman that earned himself a spot in my Top 3 of Stage Presence Musicians (alongside Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and 30 Seconds To Mars' Jared Leto), everything looked and sounded great, and the interaction between songs were nothing short of great entertainment. The sea of lighters and cell phones that he commanded looked really, really amazing, and the song "45" they played during this event, was really good. I've been listening to their last album "The Sound of Madness" the entire day now. If anyone can catch these guys playing their city/state/country, they should definately do so. Amazing band.
As amazing as they were, as amazing the act of Avenged Sevenfold [10/10] was. The man responsible for lifting the score from [9,5/10] to [10/10] was lead guitarist Synyster Gates (Brian Haner Jr.), who single-handedly amazed me. Up until the time where he took the entire stage alone, to mess with his guitar, play an amazing solo, and then play the introduction to the next song before the rest of the band came up again, the band had been performing perfectly. The music was amazing, the vocals nothing short of extraordinary (both screams as well as clean) and the band was enjoying a marvellous lightshow aiding their conquest of fans all over the place. In addition, I think I've never seen that many people with band merchandising in one single show. Let alone on a full concert day. Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X) can't get much bigger than they are right now.
Next concert for me, seems to be December 27. There For Tomorrow, Go Radio! and three other bands. I'll report back at the time.
Here is the first single taken of Shinedown's 2008 album, The Sound of Madness.
This one is called "Devour", and they opened with this song.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Brand New Day
Okay, I think I seriously need to adjust the goals for my every-3-days-posting-schedule. There are a few things about it. First of all, I mainly just work a lot, and in between working days I'm usually watching movies with the guys at home, sleeping, or being around town, doing groceries, shopping for other things, or just doing nothing behind my computer. Every now and then, there's a nice little change in that pattern. Every now and then, something worth mentioning happens, and when that does, I'll describe it nicely.
Last week, I had been working for on all days except for wednesday and saturday. I was supposed to be off on sunday, but Pierre wanted to switch, and as I had nothing else standing in the way, I accepted. Even though that meant I was about to start working morning shifts. That wasn't actually the worst thing, since last monday and tuesday (yesterday) I was scheduled for morning shifts as well. And doing a closing shift (getting home after midnight) followed by a morning shift (waking up at 6) isn't really the best thing ever. I never really have trouble waking up, there's a certain discipline to that. But after I drove my bike to work and changed, there is a little something in my body that does start to notice the lack of sleep. I mean, I am used to my evening shifts, meaning I get to sleep at 2AM or so, and I'll be waking up between 9 and 10 in the morning, usually. Try to get from that rhythm and start going to bed at 11PM, while trying to get up at 6. I didn't take it too well (but I'm still here). Usually things get better after 9AM though, when I've been around for a bit, had my chance to drink some tea and have had some proper time to use my brain during talks with colleagues and customers, as well as doing some chores. For today, I'm back to my evening shifts, and I talked to Pierre about it. They want him to work more morning shifts (as most of the managers are there during that time, so they can discuss things and help eachother out etc.) and he didn't see a big problem in letting me keep my evening shifts overall. But since mornings and evenings are so different he wants to make sure I don't lose touch with what's going on during the early hours. Can't blame him for that. Today I'll even start at 4PM by the way.
Which brings me to the following. I can now spend my time on my newly acquired PS3. Last Friday was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving (during which I worked, I only ate a small piece of turkey and didn't notice anything else of the day, in case anyone wondered). During this Friday, a lot of things have special discounts (sometimes related to the time of day; more discounts during morning hours etc). I've had people in stores, helping me, who had been working since 3AM. That's how it is, apparently.
I got myself that PS3 with Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour. With the drum kit and microphone. Total of 2 guitars, a drumkit and a microphone. Four people living in this house. You do the math!
Bart and I have been playing songs together for quite a bit now. It's a lot of fun. Yatha still needs some practice, and Georgi hasn't attempted anything yet.
Next to the games (I also bought Need For Speed ProStreet for 18 bucks last week), I love the network feature. I installed the PS3 on the network, and I can now watch the series that I have on my laptop, over the network, through the PS3, on the big TV in the living room. Wonderful stuff!
In other news, they also granted my request for days off, which means I will be going snowboarding in Colorado from January 15 to 20. Also, I purchased my tickets for this saturday's mini-festival in West Palm Beach. I'll be seeing Anberlin, Jack's Mannequin, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shinedown and 7 other bands that day. I'll be on a chair for the entire day, in an amphitheatre setting. No idea how that's going to be, but we'll find out! I'll bring two memory cards for my camera so I'll be sure to catch some songs on video.
It might be ten days again, who knows. Keep checking back, as I definately won't give up on this completely.
Here's The Drama Club with Brand New Day (just a still, no video, but it's for the music).
Last week, I had been working for on all days except for wednesday and saturday. I was supposed to be off on sunday, but Pierre wanted to switch, and as I had nothing else standing in the way, I accepted. Even though that meant I was about to start working morning shifts. That wasn't actually the worst thing, since last monday and tuesday (yesterday) I was scheduled for morning shifts as well. And doing a closing shift (getting home after midnight) followed by a morning shift (waking up at 6) isn't really the best thing ever. I never really have trouble waking up, there's a certain discipline to that. But after I drove my bike to work and changed, there is a little something in my body that does start to notice the lack of sleep. I mean, I am used to my evening shifts, meaning I get to sleep at 2AM or so, and I'll be waking up between 9 and 10 in the morning, usually. Try to get from that rhythm and start going to bed at 11PM, while trying to get up at 6. I didn't take it too well (but I'm still here). Usually things get better after 9AM though, when I've been around for a bit, had my chance to drink some tea and have had some proper time to use my brain during talks with colleagues and customers, as well as doing some chores. For today, I'm back to my evening shifts, and I talked to Pierre about it. They want him to work more morning shifts (as most of the managers are there during that time, so they can discuss things and help eachother out etc.) and he didn't see a big problem in letting me keep my evening shifts overall. But since mornings and evenings are so different he wants to make sure I don't lose touch with what's going on during the early hours. Can't blame him for that. Today I'll even start at 4PM by the way.
Which brings me to the following. I can now spend my time on my newly acquired PS3. Last Friday was Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving (during which I worked, I only ate a small piece of turkey and didn't notice anything else of the day, in case anyone wondered). During this Friday, a lot of things have special discounts (sometimes related to the time of day; more discounts during morning hours etc). I've had people in stores, helping me, who had been working since 3AM. That's how it is, apparently.
I got myself that PS3 with Guitar Hero 3 and Guitar Hero World Tour. With the drum kit and microphone. Total of 2 guitars, a drumkit and a microphone. Four people living in this house. You do the math!
Bart and I have been playing songs together for quite a bit now. It's a lot of fun. Yatha still needs some practice, and Georgi hasn't attempted anything yet.
Next to the games (I also bought Need For Speed ProStreet for 18 bucks last week), I love the network feature. I installed the PS3 on the network, and I can now watch the series that I have on my laptop, over the network, through the PS3, on the big TV in the living room. Wonderful stuff!
In other news, they also granted my request for days off, which means I will be going snowboarding in Colorado from January 15 to 20. Also, I purchased my tickets for this saturday's mini-festival in West Palm Beach. I'll be seeing Anberlin, Jack's Mannequin, Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Shinedown and 7 other bands that day. I'll be on a chair for the entire day, in an amphitheatre setting. No idea how that's going to be, but we'll find out! I'll bring two memory cards for my camera so I'll be sure to catch some songs on video.
It might be ten days again, who knows. Keep checking back, as I definately won't give up on this completely.
Here's The Drama Club with Brand New Day (just a still, no video, but it's for the music).
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