Hey there, guys and gals. Short entry tonight as I'm going out. *chuckles* Amazing how that can happen, eh? Get a few bucks and the next thing ya know.......

Well...

Yer broke. *smirks*

Anyway... I'm planning on going out to Nick's tonight. It has been a place I hang out at quite often. Of course, my going there means that I'm going to be leaving my dog here. He will not like that.

Sometimes I think Joey is more human than dog. At least he's not the psycho 6-year-old-from-hell who beat me up. *chuckles* yeah, me, the 30 year old, 6'1" 400 lb Queen of the World gettin beat up by a frickin kid. *sighs*

Okay, so maybe I'm prone to exageration. He didn't beat me up. But he would have if he had the option.

Regardless... I'm chillin right now. Expecting my comp to die on me at any moment cause it's getting a tad warm in my room. And I do mean a tad. *chuckles softly* And, digression seems to be the way of it tonight.

See, I have this brain which works in strange and mysterious ways. For instance. When I want to converse on a specific topic, if I don't forcemyself to continue in a specific vein, I get sidetracked by the tangents.

It's like these intricate thoughts are running around, carrying tiny picket signs inside my head. Each time my train of thought sees a new sign, it jumps to a different track. *chuckles quietly* It can be a pain in the ass, but it's always an adventure.

Well, hel, I'm saying absolutely nothing of value, so i'm just gonna jet on out. I've actually got to get dressed and everything... not like I'm sitting here in the buff or anything. I'm not. I'm actually wearing my watch. *chuckles, waggling her brows*

Um, before I go, check out a few of these people...

Uncle Bob And, because they come in a pair *smirks* Anenigma == My Greatly Fulfilling Addiction == Mah Melly == Colorful Footwear == My stories/poetry diary (no longer password protected folks) == Tiger (my RP character) == Tiger's Daughter == Tiger's Son == The Stank Riffs Man == A trusted and loyal friend == Malk-a-licious == Wisdom and Experience breeds Gentleness == Clippy, Trippy, Schlippy == Manager of the Copa Cabanna == Tiger and Chance RP sessions == Words of wisdom == An anti-hero? == FireWyne's creator == Morgan's Reality == The Q-miester == The Forvalaka

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Well, I'm back. Thought I'd actually post this before I left to go out tonight, but it just didn't work out that way. *chuckles* So, I'm going to post this stuff here with the other...

I went to Nick's West tonight, here in Long Beach. *rolls her eyes* I haven't been in nearly a year. Possibly longer. And now I remember why.

Not only are the seats uncomfortable, but sometimes the band just really sucks.

Actually, the band didn't suck tonight. They're name is Yesterday's Child. Talent-wise, they're good. The lead guitar can cut some good riffs. And he plays Tom Petty quite well. The lead vocalist is a decent guitar player, but nothing to write home about. I think. Uh... the bassist absolutely kicks ass. Regardless as to the missed or missplayed notes. The drummer kicked ass, even tho he missed the beat a time or two.

The problem was this... They didn't have a single person with ears in the entire group. *rolls her eyes*

Now, I like a loud band just a much as the average bar-dweller. But, come on folks, when the music is so effin loud that it drowns out the vocals, that's too much. They obviously didn't know jack about sound, cause they never did get to fix the mix at all.

They needed to turn the master volume down a bit. Up the mics, especially for the back ground vocals. They needed to bump up the treble in the vocal mics. *rolls her eyes* All of them. It was like they had no sense of balance. It was all bass.

Now, this complaint may seem out of line for me... the person who loves to crank the bass... but come on... I don't ignore the treble. There was absolutely no mid-range at all. it was non-existant.

But, the thing that ticks me off most, is that after the first set, I told them about this. I wrote down everything that needed to be adjusted to make it possible to listen to these folks.... and they didn't do anything but UP the percussion mics. *rolls her eyes*

it was way, way, way too heavy with percussion to begin with.

For those of you who don't know... when you have a band set up their sound and all... they actually do mic the percussion. Just as they do with the guitars and vocals. But, it was like the percussion was on the main line and all the others were secondary.

I love a band that's bass and percussion driven... hell, I don't think there's any band out there that sounds good that doesn't have strong bass and percussion... AND, if you don't have a bassist and percussionist who work in syncopation, you're band is gonna be way too heavy with the lead guitar and you're gonna lose the beat.... your rhythm is gonna suck, major.

However, it is possible to have way too much percussion.

NOW, one of the really cool things is that the bassist wasn't playing a normal, four-string bass. I didn't get an accurate count, but there were at least seven tuning pegs and strings. This mo-fo was playin an effin seven-string bass. He kicked major ass.

And, as I said, Yesterday's Child (out of Portland, Oregon) had talent up the wazzu. Just not in the mixing/sound department.

If any of you who read this are from the Portland area, or know Yesterday's Child's members... Tell them they've got talent and they're a good band, but they're gonna lose gigs because they're main volume is way too loud to begin with. Ya just DON'T blast your volume when there are only 25 people in the bar.

Regardless... I have far fewer complaints/irritations with the band, Yesterday's Child, than I do with the waitress I had. Now, it's entirely possible that because I haven't been there in so long, I've been reduced to frickin "puker" status (explained below). But I deserve better than that. Hell, Mark was there, he should have known. *sighs*

=== Okay... this is a tourist town. "Pukers" are tourists. They got the name because so many people would come to town, get wasted, then go charter fishing the next day and spend the entire time on the boats, puking over the side... I haven't been considered a "puker" for nearly three and a half years. And for damn sure I haven't been a "puker" at Nick's before... Mark always saw to it that I was happy and safe ===

Regardless, I got there at ten after eight. The band wouldn't start til nearly 9:30. But, they were already collecting the cover. *rolls her eyes* That's a bitch and a half. I hate having to pay the cover. But, it's only two bucks, so no big deal.

However, it was about 20 after 9 before the effin waitress actually came up to my table. And she only did that because two chicks sat down at the table in front of mine. *sighs* This waitress was obviously in the biz for tips from horny, drunk men. She would flirt her way around the tables with men at them... probably figuring that they'd leave her big tips or something.

She was wearing a dungaree shirt. For those of you in the Navy or Coast Guard, maybe you can remind me what the rank was... the patch on the arm was a crow in flight (or similar bird) with two chevrons beneath it. It's been buggin me all damned night... I can't, for the life of me, remember what that damned rank is. Petty officer??? And what's the classification? Gah... I just can't remember. But hell, it's been six years since I've had to think about anything Navy. (the Ex was a Navy man)

Anyway... this waitress was tough as hell. During the nearly three hours I was there, she came by my table six times. Total. *shakes her head* That's really nasty. And there weren't enough people there to give her a legit excuse.

Personally, I think she was intimidated by my incredibly suave personality and my devistatingly awing good-looks. Whatcha think??

Anyway... I'm starting to get a little on the tired side, and I still have to read a bunch of diaries and post an entry on Tiger's diary.

I get to stay home tomorrow, wash my dog, put flea-kill-stuff on him and then CLEAN MY ROOM. Tomorrow night I go to Lamplighter in order to watch and possibly judge the karaoke contest.

Anyway...

I'm tired and my ears still haven't fully recovered from the barrage of Yesterday's Child.

Peace unto thy hearts, folks.