Gil's World

Rock The Bayou Summary

2010-03-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is my summary of the my whole experience at the first Rock The Bayou festival in Houston, TX.

Here are my pictures.

My detailed accounts of each day are below: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

I live in Houston, Texas which was in the direct path of Hurricane Ike. I live in the zone where we were told to shelter in place or "hunker down". Storm surge was not expected in my area, just wind and rain.
The place I work closed early at noon on Thursday. I left about 10:45. On the way home, I noticed that the new 84 Lumber had a makeshift sign that said "We have hurricane supplies". I had planned to try and find some plywood if possible even though I figured it would be nearly impossible. The 84 Lumber location was a new store that was not even open yet. I got 6 pieces of 4'x8' OSB (cheap plywood).
I drove home slowly and unloaded the plywood into the garage. The only saw that I had was a hand saw. It was gonna take forever to cut this plywood to fit the windows. I cut one piece by hand. It took forever. Just before dusk I asked one of my neighbors if I could use his saw or get him to cut mine for me. John, who lives across the street, happily agreed to cut it for me. I was ecstatic. I went to bed Thursday night early with a plan to get up early and put up my plywood during the day.
I got up about 6 am on Friday. I needed to go to Home Depot to try and find some screws and a circular saw in case I needed to cut anymore wood. It was open when I got there at 6:45. There was a line, but most of them were in line for plywood. I was able to get in right away. There were almost out of saws except for the most expensive ones. I just grabbed it and went to find some screws. They were out of the ones I wanted, but I found some I think that would work. I checked out and drove home.
I put the plywood over my front windows. I put several screws in each one, but I wasn't happy with how they were attached. It was too late to try and get more wood to make then fit better. I used the leftover pieces of plywood to cover the top half of each of the 3 windows on the back of my house. I used some different screws that I had on these pieces of plywood.
A friend of mine who lives in Pasadena, Chad, asked if he could ride out the storm in my house. His house normally floods and he knew that my house normally doesn't flood. He got at my house around 1 pm. He brought several things like his Xbox 360 and his computer. He also brought some frozen pizzas that we cooked before the power went out. We played Rock Band and Guitar Hero Aerosmith for several hours. We also watched the movie Total Recall until the power started going on and off. We watched all of the movie (except the last couple of minutes) when the power started flickering. It went off for good about 12:30 am. It came back on briefly (10 seconds) about 4 am.

The hurricane winds started coming soon after around 1 am or so. At some point I heard a weird noise. I got up and looked at the front of the house. One of my plywood panels had come off. No window damage however. The rest of the ones on the front came off at various points through out the night. They all just fell straight down into my bushes. The back half of the hurricane was MUCH stronger than the front side. The winds were a lot stronger and came from what appeared to be from the west.

Whenever the storm had passed and it was light out, we went out to survey the damage. I had several shingles off of the roof on the west side (front side) of the house. Also, when the back half of the storm came through and the wind was coming from the west, water was blowing in the under my front door. I put towels there to stop it but a lot of it had already gotten in and got the carpet wet. None of my windows were broken. Overall, I was very blessed to not receive much damage.

Some others in my neighborhood were not as lucky but overall, this area did OK. Several fences were blown down. A few carports were turned over, as well as a few people who lost windows.

I also was very blessed to have my power restored around 5 pm on Sunday. It is very nice to have A/C again. It was very hot and hard to sleep.

The place I work will be closed on Monday and most likely until the latter part of this week. So I will have some extra time on my hand. I will try to drive over there and see what I can see tomorrow.

Rock The Bayou Day 4

2008-09-08T14:04:00.001-07:00

First up for the last day of the Rock the Bayou festival was Broken Teeth from Austin, Texas. They played from 11:30 until 12:17. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Jason McMaster
Guitars: Jared Tuten
Guitars: David Beeson
Bass: Brett McCormick
Drums: Bruce Rivers

Next up was Bang Tango, who played from 12:33 until 1:18. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Joe Lesté
Guitars: Michael Thomas
Guitars: Ryan Seelbach
Bass: Lance Eric
Drums: Timmy Russell

Next up was Pretty Boy Floyd, who played from 1:34 until 2:18. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Steve Summers
Guitars: Kristy Majors
Bass: JK Famous
Drums: Kari Kane

Their set list included:

48 Hours
Electric Boyz
Only the Young
Toast of the Town
Rock n' Roll (Is Gonna Set the Night on Fire)

Next up was supposed to be Firehouse. They canceled several weeks back. Nobody filled this lineup spot on the main stage. Instead they had a Miss Rock the Bayou bikini contest.

Next up was Kix, from Baltimore, Maryland who played from 4:06 until 5:25. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Steve Whiteman
Guitars: Ronnie Younkins
Guitars: Brian Forsythe
Bass: Mark Schenker
Drums: Jimmy Chalfant

Their set list was in order:

Hot Wire
Girl Money
Red Lite, Green Lite, TNT
The Itch
Same Jane
Midnight Dynamite
Don't Close Your Eyes
She Dropped The Bomb
Cold Shower
Cold Blood
Sex
Blow My Fuse
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Next up was Jackyl who played from 5:57 until 6:54. The bane lineup was:

Vocals: Jesse James Dupre
Guitars: Jeff Worley
Bass: Roman Glick
Drums: Chris Worley

Their set list was in order:

Atomic Dog
Like A Negro
My Moonshine Kicks Your Cocaine's Ass
Push Comes To Shove
Just Like A Devil
Dumb Ass Country Boy
Mental Masturbation
Down On Me
I Stand Alone
When Will It Rain
Dirty Little Mind
She Loves My Cock
The Star-Spangled Banner
The Lumberjack

Twister Sister was next and played from 7:50 until 9:05. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Dee Snider
Guitars: Eddie Ojeda
Guitars: Jay Jay French
Bass: Mark Mendoza
Drums: A.J. Pero

Their setlist was in order:

You Can't Stop Rock N Roll
The Kids Are Back
Stay Hungry
Captain Howdy
Shoot Em Down
We're Not Gonna Take It
I Am (I'm Me)
Ride To Live, Live To Ride
Under The Blade
The Price
Burn In Hell
I Wanna Rock
S.M.F.

To close out the festival was Brett Michaels. He started at 9:42. I'm not sure when he finished because I left after a few songs.

Rock The Bayou Day 3

2008-09-08T14:03:00.002-07:00

The 3rd day of the Rock the Bayou festival went like this.

First up was Black 'N Blue. They played from 11:35 until 12:12. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Jaime St. James
Guitars: Jewf Warner
Guitars: Shawn Sonnenschein
Bass: Patrick Young
Drums: Pete Holmes

Their set list was in order:

Chains Around Heaven
Autoblast
Heat It Up, Burn It Out
Nasty, Nasty
Wicked Bitch
Miss Mystery
Live It Up
Hold On To 18

Next up was Lillian Axe. They played from 12:33 until 1:20. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Derrick LeFevre
Guitars: Steve Blaze
Guitars: Sam Poitevent
Bass: Eric Morris
Drums: Ken Koudelka

Their set list was in order:

Misery Loves Company
All's Fair in Love and War
Water's Rising
Deep Freeze
Ghost of Winter
True Believer
Star Spangled Banner
Crucified
Antarctica
Show a Little Love

Next up was Dangerous Toys out of Austin, Texas. They played from 1:39 until 2:26. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Jason McMaster
Guitars: Paul Lidel
Guitars: Scott Dalhover
Bass: Mike Watson
Drums: Mike Geary

Their set list was in order:

Outlaw
Sugar, Leather, & The Nail
Take Me Drunk
Ten Boots (Stompin')
Bones In The Gutter
Sport'n A Woody
Line 'Em Up
Queen Of The Nile
Pissed
Teas'n Pleas'n
Scared

Next up was the Traci Guns version of LA Guns. They played from 2:44 until 3:37. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Marty Casey
Guitars: Traci Guns
Guitars: Alec "Big Al" Bauer
Bass: Jeremy Guns
Drums: Chad Stewart

Their set list was in order:

No Mercy
Fire It Up
One More Reason
You Can’t Always Get (What You Want)
Ballad of Jayne
Shut the Fu** Up
Sex Action
Electric Gypsy
Trees
Never Enough
Rip and Tear

Next up was Slaughter. They played from 4:10 until 5:06. The band lineup was:

Vocals, Guitars: Mark Slaughter
Guitars: Jeff "Blando" Blando
Bass: Pete ??
Drums: Tim Diduro

Next up was the Swedish meatball, Yngwie Malmsteen. He played from 5:34 until 6:32. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Tim "Ripper" Owens
Guitars: Yngwie Malmsteen
Keyboards: Michael Troy ??
Bass: Bjorn Englen ??
Drums: Patrick Johansson ??

Next up was Warrant. They played from 7:04 until 8:11. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Jani Lane
Guitars: Joey Allen
Guitars: Erik Turner
Bass: Jerry Dixson
Drums: Steven Sweet

Their setlist included:

Uncle Tom’s Cabin
I Saw Red
Down Boys
Cherry Pie

Last up for tonight was Alice Cooper. He played from 9:05 until 10:45. The band lienup was:

Vocals: Alice Cooper
Guitars: Keri Kelli
Guitars: Jason Hook
Bass: Chuck Garric
Drums: Jimmy DeGrasso

The setlist was in order:

It's Hot Tonight
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Under My Wheels
I'm Eighteen
Is It My Body?
Woman Of Mass Distraction
Lost In America
Feed My Frankenstein
Be My Lover
(In Touch With Your) Feminine Side
Dirty Diamonds
Vengeance Is Mine
Halo Of Flies
Drum Solo
Welcome To My Nightmare
Cold Ethyl
Only Women Bleed
Dead Babies
Ballad Of Dwight Fry
Devils Food
Killer
I Love The Dead
School's Out
Billion Dollar Babies
Poison
Elected

Rock The Bayou Day 2

2008-09-08T14:03:00.001-07:00

Rock the Bayou for day 2 went down like this.

First up was the band, Little Caesar. They played from 11:30 until 12:10. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Ron Young
Guitars: Loren Molinare
Guitars: Apache
Bass: Fidel Paniagua
Drums: Tom Morris

Next up was Brity Fox. They played from 12:33 until 1:12. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Jamie Fletcher
Guitars: Greg Polcari
Bass: Billy Childs
Drums: Henry

Next up was Bullet Boys. They played from 1:36 until 2:21. The band lineup was:

Vocals, guitars: Mark Torien
Guitars: Danny Watts
Bass: Lonnie Vencent
Drums: Ryche Green ??

Next up was Enuff Z'nuff. They played from 2:51 until 3:38. The guitarist and drummer apparently are from the band the Black Mollys. They play with Enuff Z'nuff for live dates. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Donnie Vie
Bass: Chip Z'nuff
Drums: Randi Scott
Guitars: Tory Stoffregen

There setlist included:

High
Fly High Michelle
Baby Loves You

Next up was Great White. They played from 4:21 until 5:21. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Jack Russell
Guitars: Mark Kendall
Guitars, Keyboards: Michael Lardie
Bass: Scott Snyder
Drums: Audie Desbrow

Their setlist included:

On Your Knees
Rock Me
Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Face The Day

Next up was Dokken. They played from 5:48 until 6:43. Since Barry Sparks and Mick Brown had other touring commitments, they recruited the bassist and drummer from House of Lords. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Don Dokken
Guitars: Jon Levin
Bass: Chris McCarvill
Drums: BJ Zampa

Their setlist was in order:

Tooth and Nail
Into the Fire
Standing on the Outside ??
Dream Warriors
The Hunter
Kiss of Death
Just Got Lucky
Alone Again
Breakin' the Chains
In My Dreams
It's Not Love

Next up was Lita Ford. She played from 7:21 until 8:26. The band lineup was:

Vocals, Guitars: Lita Ford
Bass: Teddy Cook
Drums: Stet Howland
Keyboards: Michael T. Ross

Her setlist included:

Close My Eyes Forever
Kiss Me Deadly

Last for this night was Sammy Hagar. He played from 9:06 until 10:27. He had a video intro from 8:58 until 9:06. The band lineup was:

Vocals, Guitars: Sammy Hagar
Guitars: Vic Johnson
Bass: Mona Gnader
Drums: David Lauser

His setlist was in order:

I Can't Drive 55
One Way to Rock
I'll Fall In Love Again
Three Lock Box
Whole Lotta Love
Why Can't This Be Love?
Sam I Am
Rock Candy
Where Eagles Fly
Serious Juju
Right Now
Heavy Metal
Mas Tequila
(You Gotta Fight) For Your Right (To Party)

Rock The Bayou Day 1

2008-09-08T06:07:00.000-07:00

Jetboy was the first band on the bill for the main stage at Rock the Bayou. I didn't really know what to expect because I didn't have any familiarity with Jetboy. Out they come, and their lead singer look like a punk rocker. He has a mohawk with his hair sticking straight up. The other guys looked sort of normal for bands of this era/genre of music. Since I didn't know what their songs were I had to figure out the song titles. Some of them were introduced so all I had to do is write it down. I soon realized that I didn't want to keep track of the setlists for each band or this would end up being a major undertaking. I would only do that for bands that I really like. Unless I can find a bootleg recording of this show, I will be only listing abbreviated setlists. They did open with "Down to the Bricks". They played from 12:07-1:02. They started late and played longer than scheduled to play. The band lineup is:

Vocals: Mickey Finn
Guitars: Fernie Rod
Guitars: Billy Rowe
Bass: Michael Butler
Drums: Jeff Moscone

They played almost an hour and definitely did a good set for the small crowd of people who showed up on a workday at noon.

I was expecting Faster Pussycat next so I was surprised when Gilby came out. Actually I didn't recognize Gilby until he was introduced. I watched the Rockstar Supernova, so I figured I would recognize him. He looked a lot thinner and more like a hippie. I then wondered what happened to Faster Pussycat. Sometime during the set we were informed by Gilby Clarke that the previous band scheduled to perform, Faster Pussycat, had some flight trouble and didn't make their set time. They played several blues songs and a few GNR songs including "Its So Easy". "Tijuiana Jail" was a song near the end of their set. Gilby introduced his band but it was hard to hear the names. The band lineup is:

Vocals, Guitars: Gilby Clarke
Drums: Dennis Morehouse
Bass: "Muddy" Stardust

They started at 1:39 and finished at 2:37.

Lynch Mob was next up on the bill. They started at 3:06 and played until 4:25. This was about 20 minutes too long according to the schedule. George Lynch had a guitar pedal go out. Apparently a battery needed to be changed. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Oni Logan
Guitars: George Lynch
Bass: Marco Mendoza
Drums: Scott Coogan

They had a good set and played several classics such as Into The Fire, Mr Scary, and Wicked Sensation. While they were waiting on getting his pedal fixed, they kind of jammed on a new song. He told everyone to record it because it was the first time they had ever played it before.

Y&T was next up. They played from 4:51 until 5:54. They totally were awesome. Dave Meniketti was great. The band lineup was:

Guitars, Vocals: Dave Meniketti
Bass: Phil Kennemore
Guitars: John Nymann
Drums: Mike Vanderhule

I only knew a few songs such as Summertime Girls. At one point people were yelling out song titles for them to play. I think they played several of those. They talked among themselves and decided to play what was asked of them. I'm not sure if this made their set a little long, but it was 3 minutes over their stage time. When I got their on Friday I was one of the first ones there in the parking lot and the first one to come in the Kirby parking entrance. I parked in the far corner of the lot. The guy that came in behind me was a huge Y&T fan. He was basically there to see only him. He had a framed Y&T album to get signed by Dave Meniketti. He had a general admission pass, so I left him at the entrance to the VIP section. After the Jetboy set I looked over and saw him waiting by the backstage entrance. He was there the whole time until the Y&T set which must have been over 3 hours standing in the sun while holding his album to get signed. At the beginning of the Y&T set I saw him standing on the side of the stage still holding his album. I hope he was able to get it signed. He seemed like a realy nice guy that I talked to for about an hour or so before the begining of the show.

Skid Row was next up on the bill. They played from 6:29 until 7:35. They played Piece of Me and Sweet Little Sister as well as 18 and Life, I'll Remember You, Monkey Business, Youth Gone Wild, and Slave to the Grind. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Johnny Solinger
Guitars: Dave "The Snake" Sabo
Guitars: Scotti Hill
Bass: Rachel Bolan
Drums: Dave Gara

They had the crowd in the palm of their hand. It was very hot, but it was getting more comfortable during their set.

Ratt was next and played from 8:12 until 9:26. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Stephen Pearcy
Guitars: Warren DeMartini
Drums: Bobby Blotzer
Bass: Robbie Crane
Guitars: Carlos Cavazo

They at least played several of the classics such as Round and Round, Sweet Cheater, Lay It Down, Tell the World, Nobody Rides for Free, and You're In Love.

Queensryche was the headliner fo the opening day and played from 9:50 until 11:11. The band lineup was:

Vocals: Geoff Tate
Drums: Scott Rockenfield
Bass: Eddie Jackson
Guitars: Michael Wilton
Guitars: Mike Stone

They started with Best I Can. They also played Silent Lucidity, Take Hold of the Flame, Bridge, Jet City Woman, Another Rainy Night, The Hands, and I Don't Believe In Love.

Metal Masters 2008 Houston Texas

2008-08-26T14:19:00.001-07:00

I went to the Metal Masters concert tour stop in Houston, Texas on Saturday, August 23rd, 2008. The bands that were on the bill were (in order) Testament, Motörhead, Heaven & Hell, and Judas Priest.
I had purchased the Judas Priest Platinum experience. This allowed me several things: a platinum experience lanyard and pass, access to the pre-show food and drawing, a seat in the first several rows (I was front row), an exclusive tour t-shirt, and a chance to get my picture taken with Judas Priest, and get 1 thing signed by the band. More about the pictures later.
I had to arrive at the concert by 3:15. The gates didn't open until 4:30 I think. I had done some geocaching in the area before hand and arrived around 2:50 or so. They started letting us in about 3:10 or so. Then we had to wait for everyone to get in.
Sometime later they escorted us to the pre-show food location. They had open bar and catered food. The food was BBQ brisket, BBQ chicken, potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, and Texas toast. The food was good, and the Diet Pepsi was very cold and refreshing after being in the sun for a while. It was located in an air conditioned tent. They had some drawings for items like a local crew shirt and posters. One of the numbers was only 2 away from mine. At least I didn't win the poster and have to hold it for5 hours.
They kicked us out of there around 5:30 which was when the first band was supposed to start playing. I vacated the tent a little early to check out my seat and get ready for the music. My seat was front row on the right side of the pit area (stage left).
Testament came on stage promptly at 5:30. They played 6 songs and were done at 6:00 sharp. The songs they played in order were:

Over The Wall
The New Order
Practice What You Preach
More Than Meets The Eye
Henchman Ride
Formation of Damnation

Alex Skolnick, guitarist, was on the far side of the stage, and I couldn't see his solos. The sound was good, and I could hear all of the parts. The vocalist, Chuck Billy, had an interesting microphone. It was inserted into a shortened stand of maybe 2 feet where he could hold it and mime playing guitar when he was not singing. Since it was wireless, he would carry it everywhere with him. He had a lot more "growly" type vocals that I remember from the songs I recognized. I think he has changed his vocal style some. He did do a few high pitched "screamy" vocals in spots. They played 3 old songs and 3 from their new album. Testament's band lineup was:

Vocals: Chuck Billy
Guitars: Alex Skolnick
Guitarrs: Eric Peterson
Bass: Greg Christian
Drums: Paul Bostaph

Motörhead came one at 6:28 and played until 7:19. I know this because I was supposed to meet near the backstage area at 7:15 in order to go to the Judas Priest Meet N Greet. Let me start off by saying that I know very little about the songs by Motörhead. I know about Ace of Spades and maybe one other song. So needless to say I was not familiar with the songs beforehand. I had a subset of the setlist that I went by. The vocals were buried in the sound mix that I couldn't hear them at all. I could hear all of the other parts, but the vocals were buried. The first 4-5 songs sounded like instrumentals to me. I could start to hear the vocals here and there on the last songs. I could have some of the song titles wrong because of the vocal issue, but I think I got them correct. Here is the setlist in order:

Dr. Rock
Stay Clean
Be My Baby
Killers
Metropolis
Over The Top
In The Name Of Tragedy
Going To Brazil
Killed By Death
Ace Of Spades
Overkill

Even though I could not hear most of the vocals I thought Motörhead did a great set. I was pleasantly surprised. Before starting a lot of the songs Lemmy would tell the title, so I got lucky in that regard. Lemmy dedicated In The Name of Tragedy to "William F. Shakespeare or as he is known in the UK, William F***in Shakespeare". Motörhead's band lineup was:

Vocals, Bass: Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister
Guitars: Phil Campbell
Drums: Mikkey Dee

After Motörhead's set I made a bee line for the back stage meeting area. After waiting probably 10 minutes or so, they checked our platinum passes and escorted us backstage to the meet N greet area. We had to line up single file while waiting to get one item signed and our picture taken with Judas Priest. I got the CD cover to Painkiller signed by the band. I spent probably 30 seconds with Judas Priest getting it signed and my picture taken by Amanda, the chick running the platinum experience. I asked them if they would play "One Shot At Glory". They pretty much ignored me except Ian Hill who said, "I don't think we're playing that one." It never hurts to ask. Rob Halford also asked how I was doing and shook my hand. Nice guys. They posted my pictures on their website the next day.

While waiting for Judas Priest to sign my stuff, I heard what I thought was the crowd roar when Heaven & Hell started their set. Luckily I only missed 1 or two songs.

I ran back out from the backstage area after getting my stuff signed and headed back to my seat. Obviously there were people standing where my seat was. They were a little miffed at me, but hey that was my seat. Go back to your seat, dude!

Heaven & Hell as this band is known is really Black Sabbath. There were some issues with naming rights or some such mess, so they are touring as Heaven & Hell. This really is the Black Sabbath lineup that performed and recorded together from 1980-1982 and from 1991-1992. This band will be playing songs from the 1980 Heaven and Hell album, the 1981 Mob Rules album, the 1992 Dehumanizer album, and potentially some of the 3 new songs from the Black Sabbath: The Dio Years album. Bill Ward played on the Heaven and Hell album which prompted the name change.
I believe that they started around 7:30 and played until 9:01. Heaven & Hell played a great set. I am so lucky that I did not miss Sign Of The Southern Cross. That is one of my all time favorite Sabbath songs. Here is Heaven & Hell's setlist in order:

E5150
Mob Rules
Children Of The Sea
I
Sign Of The Southern Cross
Vinny Appice Drum Solo
Time Machine
Falling Off The Edge Of The World
Die Young
Heaven And Hell
Neon Nights

I was right in front of Tony Iommi. He came over and played in front of us several times. You could see the little tip of his finger that was attached to facilitate his playing. Apparently he doesn't throw out very many guitar picks throughout the show. I only saw him throw one. However, at the end he had a handfull that he threw out all at once. I was able to get one from the floor. Score! I got to slap hands with Dio a few times during the set. The Heaven & Hell band lineup was:

Vocals: Ronnie James Dio
Guitars: Tony Iommi
Bass: Geezer Butler
Drums: Vinny Appice

Judas Priest was next and came on stage at 9:32. They played until 10:57. Judas Priest were just awesome. They played 3 songs from Painkiller which is my favorite Priest album. They had a pretty elaborate stage setup with ramps and lifts, etc. Glenn Tipton and Ian Hill were right in front of me. KK Downing was on the far side of the stage. The guitarists didn't stray from their side of the stage very much. They were not using wireless transmitters for their guitars. So they were limited to where they could go on stage. The sound was great. I could hear all of the parts well. Rob Halford was wearing an outfit that a wrestler might wear. He did change his outer outfit several times. Some of them were pretty cool. He even drove out a Harley on stage during the 3 song encore. Tipton was wearing a red leather outfit. Their setlist was in order:

Dawn of Creation (pre-recorded)
Prophecy
Metal Gods
Eat Me Alive
Between The Hammer And The Anvil
Devil's Child
Breaking The Law
Hell Patrol
?? (I think it was from Nostradus since they put that backdrop up during the song)
Angel
The Hellion (pre-recorded)
Electric Eye
Rock Hard Ride Free
Painkiller
Hell Bent For Leather
The Green Manalishi
You've Got Another Thing Coming

Priest's band lineup was:

Vocals: Rob Halford
Guitars: Glen Tipton
Guitars: KK Downing
Bass: Ian Hill
Drums: Scott Travis

Waymarking

2007-10-11T09:46:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since my last post.

In late August and early September I took 2 weeks off from work and drove east from Houston to my parents house in Tennessee. I spent several days on the road driving there and back. Along the way I would stop to locate some waymarks that might or would be impossible to find back home. I have yet to enter all of my waymarks for this trip, but I am still working on completing this soon.

Also, in late September, I took a quick weekend trip (4 days) to Las Vegas and the surrounding area. I visited the Hoover Dam, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon National Park. I have a few waymarks to submit for this trip as well.

I will count up all of my new icons that I received for each trip and post them here. Stay tuned.

Happy birthday to me

2007-06-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I am 20 today, at least in hexadecimal.

Three weeks ago, I went to Galveston twice over the weekend to find Texas historical markers. I logged over 100 I belive as well as several more from other categories thrown in for good measure. Some of my favorites were Jean Lafitte, General Sydney Sherman, Bolivar Point, and Galveston Island.
Lately, on Sunday afternoon, I have been driving around and trying to finish up the waymarks in my unfinished queue. These are ones that I have entered, but never visited. So I went around and took the required pictures and coordinates.
I might do some geocaching soon. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week.

Caffeine Free Part Two

2007-05-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally have started getting off of caffeine. I used up all of my caffeinated Dr Pepper at home. All that I have now is Caffeine Free Diet Dr Pepper. When I go out to eat I have to drink Sprite or Sierra Mist. It has sugar in it, but no caffeine. I have been really good so far. I had a small brownie yesterday and a small piece of chocolate cake today. The cake had normal icing (not chocolate). So whatever small amount of caffeine is in a brownie or a baked cake is what I have had. I think I am doing good.

I want to make it at least a week like this before I even consider going back on my polyphasic sleep schedule.

I also have started drinking soy milk. The taste is still really funny to me. The first taste of it is always weird, but then I get used to it until I drink it the next time.

I went to Watters Road Church of Christ last Sunday morning to visit. I'm looking for a new place to go in order to meet new people. I think I will go back again next Sunday in order to go to the correct class. I was sent to the wrong one this week.

The 24 season finale was last night. It pretty much sucked. Just like the whole season. I watched it anyways and will probably watch next season unless they continue it in the same way.

Also, I think I am gonna go waymarking next weekend. It has been a few weeks. I need some more Texas Historical waymarks. Here are my stats for geocaching and waymarking.

Caffeine Free

2007-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't given up caffeine yet. I realized I have 2-3 more 2 liters of Diet Dr Pepper in my cabinet at home. I will need to drink those first. I wouldn't want them to go to waste! After that I can buy some caffeine free diet Dr Pepper. I think they have that version available at the store.

I guess I will have to give up or limit my chocolate intake as well. This stinks!

Tonight I have a volleyball match in my work volleyball league. Our team is at the very bottom of the standings. We are a new team that has never played together before this year. So our expectations of doing well was very low. We are having fun though. We won our 2nd game last week. Woo Hoo!

Update A Long Time Coming

2007-05-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

I need to write on here more. I was looking at my old posts and decided that I want to try my polyphasic experiment again. I believe that I need to get off of caffeine first. So that will be my first trial. Starting Thursday, May 10, 2007, I will attempt to ween myself from caffeine. I already weened myself a few months ago from non-diet sodas. I don't know what I will drink if they don't have Diet Sprite or caffeine free Diet Coke at the places I eat. I guess I will have to get water.

Regarding World of Warcraft, I got the expansion when it came out in January. My main character is level 70. My main alt just reached level 53 last night. Onwards and upwards.

Also, I've been working a lot of time on my new Scorpions News website. The new Scorps album comes out soon in Europe and it is still TBA over here in America.

Way Behind on my blog

2007-01-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

It has been WAY too long since I posted on here. I need to be more regular about this.

I will try to catch you up on what I have been up to lately. First off, I just got the new expanion pack to World of Warcraft that is called the Burning Crusade. It has a lot of new content that I will need / want to check out. My guild is planning an instance run tonight if we can all get there on time. It should be interesting to say the least.

Also, I am trying the new Blockbuster Total Access DVD rental service. I got a 4 week free trial and I am about 2 weeks into it. The good thing about it is, that you can return the online DVDs to the store for a free rental. They are supposed to ship the next movie in your queue the next business day. So far I have had bad results. I turned in my movies on a Wednesday night around 9 pm. So I expect them to ship the new ones the next day. They did not ship out until Saturday. What the heck. I turned in 2 more DVDs on Wednesday of this week. I think they might ship them today. At least they disappeared from my queue today. We shall see. I might try this 1 month longer than the free trial to see if this pattern continues. If so, I will be asking for a refund.

I also signed up for the eharmony online dating website. We shall see how that goes. I currently am conversing via email with a girl from Tyler. Outcome to be determined.

The Office and My Name is Earl were funny as always this week. I can't wait until Lost starts up again. Also, 24 just started this week. I can't belive that they killed Curtis. But I will have to say, that I did think something was up with him. Heroes starts again next week as well (at the same time as 24)! How could they do that. I guess I can watch 24 in real time and record Heroes. So many shows so little time!

Until later. Stay safe. Watch out for slick roads.

Geocaching is the bomb

2006-06-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been more than 3 months since my last blog post. I thought I would put an update on here. I have not been playing WoW hardly at all. I even decided to at least temporarily cancel my account. I can always reenable it later if I so desire.
Lately, as of about 2 months ago I started participating in the fastest growing outside sport, geocaching. It is where you use your handheld GPS device to search for hidden containers or caches. They will at the least contain a log book in order to document the find, but they also can contain small items, trinkets, or swag that can be swapped or traded. The joy is normally in the hunt and in discovering a new place that you never knew existed. My friend Jim got me started on this hobby when we went to the NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway a few months ago. I have been going almost non-stop ever since. I am now in a 'friendly' competition with Jim to overtake his find count. I even hid my first cache last weekend. Here are my stats so far.

I also am starting to take guitar lessons again next Thursday. I think this will be good for me to get back practicing on a more regular basis. It should be fun again.

Experiment Over For Now

2006-02-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I have decided to stop my sleep schedule experiment for now. I'm coming down with a cold, and I believe that this change in sleep is starting to make my cold worse. This week on the sleep schedule has been really tough. I would make it ok until I needed to wake up from my 4 AM or 8 AM nap. At that point I would most likely sleep too long. This happened almost every day this week. On Wednesday of this week I didn't take any naps to try and get back on track. It worked ok until 8 AM when I slept until 11 AM. I want to try this schedule again in a few weeks if I am feeling better and my schedule permits better. I got a lot of stuff done in the extra time. I think now I will try to just sleep a little less maybe (maybe 6-7 hours each night), and see if that will feel better and work better for me.
World of Warcraft update: My warrior is level 57. I want to try to get to level 58 by the end of Monday night, but that may not be feasible. I didn't play much last night because the server was very busy with everyone wacthing the AQ event.
This weekend I would like to get this done if possible:

Update MythRoku to the latest version.
Start watching American Choppers on my old MythTV Server.
Burn some DVD isos to disc.
Burn to DVD disc the Tournament of Roses Parade for Josh.
Play WoW: Battleground my warrior or grind towards level 58.
Wash 2-4 loads of clothes.
Finish organizing my guitar lessons stuff.
Continue extracting commericals from my HDTV recordings in order to archive them.
Go to Best Buy and use the 10% off coupon I have.

Getting easier I think!

2006-02-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

I believe that my sleep schedule is getting easier. I still ocassionally sleep too long, but I get back on track as soon as possible. I do like that I have more waking hours. My to do list is getting shorter quickly. I believe that at most I will stay on this schedule 2-3 weeks more. It will be one whole week tonight at midnight since I started this. It seems like a lot longer than that. The days all seem to run together in my mind.
Last night I checked out the new Wal-mart Supercenter that had recently opened in my neighborhood. I strolled in there at 5 am. Shopping is easy when there are not people to navigate around. The store did only have 2 registers open, so I had to wait a short time to get checked out.
I will definitely have to revisit this Wally world in the next several nights to come. I guess I will have to bring my DVD want list and go through the DVD bargin bin meticuously.
Tomorrow my to do list will be:

get my 4Runner inspected
update my channel lineups on mythtv.
finish organizing my guitar lesson stuff. Note: I will need to buy some notebooks for this.
continue watching my old mythbox videos
burn some DVD isos and clip commercials from my recorded television.
wash clothes: whites, jeans, and t-shirts at least.
Play WoW some.
mail Quicken rebate.
mail Warner 50th Anniversary rebate.
check my bills that are due on Monday.
continue to clean up den clutter.

Not sleeping is the bomb

2006-02-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

By today, I think my body is starting to adjust to this new schedule. I have still not totally followed it to the letter. However, each day I am getting closer and closer to following it religiously. Today I only overslept by 30 minutes. The day before was an hour. So I am making progress. As soon as two days ago I was seriously considering scrapping this schedule. I normally hit the wall somtime in the mid AM hours (3 AM - 7 AM). I will be so tired that I have to labor to stay awake. This morning I found the movie Predator on the Fox Movie Channel. I don't think I have ever seen this movie before. I watched it for about 30 minutes before it was time for my nap. I did get my taxes done the night before last, but I just remember something else I need to add to it. My itemized to do list for tonight:

Watch Lost
Buy a birthday card for Kaeley and Jennifer, and mail them.
Finalize income taxes.
Organize my guitar lesson material.
Finish going through my junk mail.
Clean out the cat litter box.
Take the trash can out to the street.
Play WoW for 2-4 hours.
Watch an episode of Mythbusters or The Office.

That sounds like a full plate; does it not. I hope I get all of that stuff done.

Polyphasic Sleep

2006-02-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the long delay between posts. I have been busy, and I am just now remembering that I need to post on here.

My local CBS station, KHOU, delayed an episode of Yes, Dear again. This is getting ridiculous. At least Yes, Dear is over for now, and they won't be able to to do this to me again.

WoW update: My tauren warrior, Rudolf, is now level 55. Only 5 more levels to go before I reach the maximum level of 60. My orc shaman, Rwen, is level 28, and my undead rogue, Rogerrogue, is level 18.

The real reason that I decided to post today is to start logging my daily data for my new sleep schedule. As of Friday at midnight, I am attempting to follow a polyphasic sleep schedule. What is that you ask? It is a schedule where you sleep only for short periods throughout a whole 24 hour period. For example, I am sleeping 30 minutes at 12 AM, 4 AM, 8 AM, 12 PM, 4 PM, and 8 PM. That adds up to a total of 3 hours a day. I should be able to get a lot of more stuff done if I can stick to this for at least several weeks. This has become a topic of conversation around the water cooler where I work. At least no one says that I am crazy for trying this to my face. I don't think I want to keep this schedule for a long period of time, just for several weeks to see if it is valid and works for me.

OK, to the results so far. I started at midnight on Friday after having a normal work day. I took my scheduled naps as planned until Saturday morning. At 8:30 AM when I should have woken up, I slept until noon. I got back on track right away. I stuck with the schedule again until Sunday morning when I slept from 8 AM until 9:30 AM. I stayed with the schedule again until Monday morning when I slept from 7:30 AM until 10 AM. I took my naps today at 12:30 PM and 4:30 PM. I was getting tired just before my 4:30 PM nap today, but I feel really good right now. Tomorrow morning I don't have the luxury of sleeping longer for my 8 AM nap. I have a meeting at 10 AM tomorrow morning. I am limiting my caffeine intake in order to help me adjust to this new schedule. I might have a caffeinated drink right after I wake up in order to adjust as well.

I have been able to get a lot of stuff done so far. I alphabetized my DVD collection. It really needed to be done because I was starting to not know what I had in my collection. Now it should be easier to determine what I have and don't have. I have several more things to do that need to get done. I want to organize all of my guitar lesson files. This should take a few hours at least. Most of them are in a stack of loose leaf paper. I will have to go through and categorize each one. I also need to do my taxes. I hopefully will be able to get these two things done tonight while I am awake. I also have to watch the new episode of 24. Don't miss it if you like this show.

Oh, I also bought a concert ticket to The Cult concert here in Houston on March 11, 2006 at Warehouse Live. I have never seen them before, and it is at a small venue. It should be a good show.

Wednesday night TV

2006-01-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to some of the television shows to air on Wednesday night.

First off I want to say that my local CBS station, KHOU, will not be showing one of my favorite progams at it's regular time. The episode entitled Christine The Spy of Yes, Dear is being delayed until 2:05 AM that same night. The delay is not that big of a deal as I can record it with my DVR and watch it later. The problem is that when they delay it, the show will be down-rezed to SD instead of in HD format. This is an outrage. It also would not bother me if this was a rerun. However, this is a first run episode. So that is the problem. I have emailed the station for a response. I will post it here if I get one.

I can't wait to see the new episode of Lost. It has been several weeks since a new episode aired. I don't get as fanatical as some people do about this show, but I do like it nonetheless.

I also want to see the new episodes of That 70's Show, Stacked, and Mythbusters. I think That 70's Show is on the downward spiral since Topher Grace and Ashton Kutcher left the show. It is still good, but I believe that this will be the last season. Stacked is pretty funny, that is if they can get past the sex jokes all of the time. Mythbusters is supposed to be about them making a paper crossbow. I have to see that.

My first post

2006-01-09T19:26:00.000-08:00

So, I have finally decided to start a blog. I have been considering one for a long time. I am not sure how often I will post on here. It might be very often. It might be several months between posts. You will have to wait and see.

I have been playing the game World of Warcraft for several months now. It is one of those new fangled online role playing games. I knew I would like it very much since I have played the previous games in the series. I tried to resist buying it for a long time. My downfall was that a coworker who shall only be named HM broke me down and convinced me to buy it. I play on the server Bonechewer. I have a level 46 Tauren warrior, a level 25 orc shaman, and a few weeks ago I started an undead rogue. It consumes a lot of my time. I do try to balance playing it with other things that I need to do, but I will have to admit that a lot of the time I will play it from the time I get home from work until past the time I need to go to sleep.

Well, how is that for the starting post of a new blog. It will have to do.