Eddie Van Halen gave me one of my earliest WOW!! experiences as a musician. When I heard Eruption the first time I was absolutely floored. It sounded amazing! I'd never heard a guitar sound like that before. (And admittedly, I've never heard it sound quite like that again. Eddie is a master.)
So when I heard that Van Halen would be playing in my neighborhood just before Christmas I decided I needed to be part of that history and booked my ticket within an hour of sales opening to the public. Sweet!
As promised, here are some shots from the Mutemath show in LA. Thanks to Bryce for smuggling his camera in. Words still fail me so here are the pictures. In fact, the pictures on their own don't convey the whole story either. If you ever get the chance to see this band you must take it! Awesome!!!
We have been visiting the Petting Zoo at San Juan Capistrano once a week for the last month or so and Ali made a friend the other day! She was stroking this Emu on the neck like this until it actually sat down.
She must have really made an impression - the word has spread around the "big bird" community...
Phil Wickham's last album really got to me. I loved his unique, powerful and yet intimate vocals, great instrumentation and arrangements, and fresh meaningful lyrics. He always performs with honesty and passion too.
Well, he's done it again. But this time developed it all even further. Add to that the power of amazing production and you have one fantastic record here. Let me give you a snippet of the lyric from the title track Canons as evidence:
It’s falling from the clouds, A strange and lovely sound I hear it in the thunder and rain, It’s ringing in the skies Like cannons in the night, The music of the universe plays
Yes folks! After 16 years locked away in the closet, this little promo card lets you in on a little of my past. Rockett was a Top 40 cover band in Melbourne in the 90's. Did pretty well and became quite popular. The Manhattan was one of the larger venues in the greater Melbourne area and we had a residency there a couple of times. The band started with six friends sometime in 1990 or 91. We had some fun times but I left after two years having had enough by then.
I've had some of you on my back to post something about the Mutemath concert we went to last Thursday evening at the Avalon in Hollywood.
Alas, I have not the eloquence to express adequately the Mutemath experience! I've been waiting on photo's from Bryce as he was able to get his camera in and steal some pretty good shots. I'll post some of those when I get them. Pictures will certainly help, but my advice is to go and see them live if you possibly can. This show may just have pipped Newsboys as the best I've ever experienced (and if you've seen the Newsboys recently, that's saying something!).
The show was unbelievably good. Amazing venue - I mean, really, really great venue. You have a good view from virtually anywhere in the building. It's sort of like an indoor amphitheater. The production was impeccable. We were standing right behind the sound guy who was workin' it all night. He did an absolutely fantastic job (so I shook his hand afterwards and said so.) The lights and multimedia show added another level as well. The performance was out of this world. Very physical and passionate and yet totally disciplined and under control. Wonderful songs with memorable hooks. Great singing, energy, phrasing... Brilliant musicianship...
At the start of the first song you are hit with a full surround assault of the senses. Half way through the first song I realize that I'm standing there with my eyes wide and my mouth dropped open and I have to remember to breathe. I look around and see most people are in the same state. Euphoric!
...but still, words aren't enough!
Check out their first video Typical. These guys are crazy creative! (They learned all their parts backwards and then recorded the song in reverse!)
We saw this abandoned bridge while driving around somewhere in Orange County. I can't remember exactly where it is now. But the point was that it looked great and made for some interesting shots.Lines, textures, patterns and colors.The elements and time have brought out the colors and the lines and given character - just like on an old person's face.
You can't actually get onto the bridge unless you want to negotiate this!
