Rest In Peace. 6 years already?

"I think we're going to have to forget about the radio and just go back to word of mouth."

A couple of quick notes.

The 6th Annual Best of Times New Year's Bash will be held @ Cave 9's original location on Friday, Jan 2nd. I hope to see all of you there. I leave for the cruise the next morning.

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2009 ALABAMA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Location
September 5 vs. Virginia Tech Atlanta (Georgia Dome)
September 12 Florida International Tuscaloosa
September 19 North Texas Tuscaloosa
September 26 Arkansas Tuscaloosa
October 3 at Kentucky Lexington
October 10 at Ole Miss Oxford
October 17 South Carolina Tuscaloosa
October 24 Tennessee Tuscaloosa
October 31 —Open Week—
November 7 LSU Tuscaloosa
November 14 at Mississippi State Starkville
November 21 Tennessee-Chattanooga Tuscaloosa
November 28 at Auburn Auburn
December 5 SEC Championship Game Atlanta

I'm hoping to make it to the opener at The Dome, most of the home games, go back to Oxford, and go to Lexington and the Iron Bowl in Auburn for the first time....but who knows what will change in terms of jobs and living situations in a year?

Gotta Find A Way.

First things first: Alabama's loss in the SEC Championship Game was nothing short of heartbreaking. That being said, I am still very proud of my team for a great season. The standouts for me were watching them dismantle Clemson and Auburn in person, and watching the Georgia and LSU games with great friends. My annual New Year's Bash show is unfortunately the same night as the Sugar Bowl, so I won't be able to watch it, but I am confident that the Tide will finish with 13 wins under their collective belts.

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I'm taking my 3 vacation days for the year tomorrow, Monday & Tuesday. As of right now I have a few ideas on what to do with the time, but nothing is set in stone yet. Tonight I'm going to stay up until 4am and go eat breakfast at City Cafe, something I haven't done since the early days of my stint in college. It's possible that I might end up in Tennessee for a couple of days, and I'm also toying with the idea of touring the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. We'll see what happens.

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I've been listening to lots of Nirvana this week, and also revisited some of their televised live performances that had such an impact on me at a young age. Here are some clips that might bring back some memories:

Lithium Live @ MTV VMA's 1992:


Serve The Servants, Rape Me from MTV's "Live And Loud" Special:


Territorial Pissings from SNL 1992:


Promo with Charles Barkley from SNL, I believe this was '94:


I can't seem to find the footage from Headbanger's Ball with Kurt in drag. Oh well. Feel free to comment with more clips. I am trying to get all of the ones I can remember saved to my Youtube favorites.

36-0

Iron Bowl Weekend 2008.

No matter what happens in Atlanta against the Gators, I'll still be able to look back on this season with a huge smile on my face. There are already so many great memories surrounding Alabama's regular season games that I couldn't even touch them all in one post. The weather might have looked dismal on the 29th of November, but if you asked anybody wearing Crimson they'd have told you that it was the most beautiful day in Tuscaloosa in a long time.

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer.

Cold and Rainy.

Alabama played Mississippi State last weekend. It was one of the coldest football games I have attended since my childhood. A little bit of rain came down as well. The weather could have been better, but I still had a great time. The first half was lackluster. Here's a great photo from the blocked punt for a safety early in the game from Roll Bama Roll:


The Iron Bowl is only a few days away, and I can't wait.
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I honestly wish I had more to report. The few shows I have done lately have been let downs in one way or another. On weeknights, I'm either hanging out with friends or by myself watching TV shows on DVD. It's possible that I am just in a rut, but it seems like I've felt that way for a long time. Hopefully when Football season comes to an end I can use more time on the weekends to be productive. It also seems like the cruise and time away from this office will never get here. I am glad for the friends I have and the atmosphere and excitement of the town I live in on the weekends. Those things keep me going.

A Close One

Talk about ups and downs. The 'Bama-LSU game certainly increased my already high stress level on Saturday afternoon. I assume that most people reading this either watched the game or heard a lot about it, so I won't bother with a recap. The way that our team stepped up their performance in overtime was great. Once the pictured interception was made, I knew we were going to stay undefeated. I will be using my lunch break today to purchase a ticket for this weekend's game against Mississippi State. I'll repeat myself again: We cannot let up after such a big win, especially now.
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I haven't been feeling inspired to write at all lately. It has been over a month since I last picked up a pen and put it to paper. There's really no explanation other than the fact that I try to make my weekdays go by as fast as possible to make it to the weekend, which always exacts revenge and fades away before I can blink. I think I need yet another change in routine after the cruise I'm going on in January. There has to be something out there that is more fulfilling than the life I currently lead.
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Bane played Cave 9 Sunday night. I can still count the ways....

Quick One

Alabama Vs. Ole Miss 2008

Deep Sleep @ Cave 9, 10/31/08


Cloak/Dagger @ Cave 9, 10/31/08

FC Five @ Cave 9, 10/31/08


Highway, 11/1/08

Interstate, 11/1/08

Cade's 1st Birthday Party, 11/1/08

Gulf Shores, 11/2/08

Gulf Shores, 11/2/08

Playlist:
Bon Iver - "For Emma, Forever Ago"
Fleetwood Mac - "Rumors"
Van Morrison - "Astral Weeks"
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - "I See A Darkness" and "Lie Down In The Light"
Alabama Crimson Tide 35, Arkansas State 0

This Is The Only Age That I Know How To Be.

Kali Yuga

I wanted to ride trains around the country next year.
It is looking more and more like that will not be able to happen.
Have I held myself back while trying to help others progress?

Get Out Another Blanket

It is getting colder, and I don't like it one bit.

Last Saturday there was a great show at Cave Nine featuring Have Heart, Blacklisted, Ceremony, Let Down, Swamp Thing, Serotonin Gone, and Delusional. The show sold out and was consistently wild. I can tell that working all the time is having an effect on how much I enjoy shows. I certainly hadn't slept enough before this one and it showed. Kids were rushing the door to get in at one point, and I most definitely snapped at them and yelled...not something I normally do. I always thought that patience would get easier as I got older but it looks like that is not the case. There were also quite a few kids who attempted to sneak in by just walking past me or by drawing bogus marks on their hands. What a fucking bummer. I can understand being bummed about having to miss the bands you love, but putting an all ages venue at risk over it? If any of you are reading this, which I doubt, you should take advice from the Beastie Boys and check your head. Scamming your way into a hardcore show is just as bad as stealing from the club and the bands. Why would that even cross your mind? I straight up can't believe that I had to get on the mic and say something about it for the SECOND time in my history as a promoter. Bands from all over the country rave about Cave 9 and the support that our scene gives them while they are on tour. Why fuck with that? I was only able to watch Blacklisted and Have Heart from the side of the stage, and they both killed it. It may have been the best set I have seen BL play...seems like I say that every time I see them, though. Those sets lifted my spirits.

The Alabama Crimson Tide was busy pounding Tennessee's Volunteers as the show went on. The final score was 29-9. Thanks to everybody who sent me texts and kept me updated. That highlight reel might not have been a thing of beauty to the mainstream sports media, but it was exactly the kind of football we need to keep playing. I'll be skipping out on the homecoming festivities for a trip to Foley to see some of my best friends and wish their son a happy 1st birthday. I am looking forward to catching up, seeing the ocean, and eating seafood. All talk in Bama Nation seems to be centered on the LSU game next week, which is a huge mistake. I've been avoiding talk radio the past few days because of this. Obviously, fan talk does not truly matter, I am just always concerned with how much of that our players hear and if it is a factor in how they prepare for the game. Here's hoping that they realize that the team they are playing on Saturday, Arkansas State, has shown that they can put up points and compete.

Recent playlist:
Jenny Lewis - "Acid Tongue"
Beach House - "Self Titled"
Morrissey - Various
Blacklisted - "Heavier Than Heaven..."
Murder City Devils - "In Name And Blood"

Like The Twilight

Ryan Adams and The Cardinals played in Tuscaloosa last Thursday. Outside of the annual UA Homecoming concerts, this was one of the bigger events to hit the town in quite some time. The show was great. Adams and the band were in great spirits, and played two full sets. In my opinion, this completely made up for the lackluster set last year in Birmingham. Here are a few of the better photos I snapped:

You can listen to and/or download the set here.

Alabama plays Tennessee in Knoxville this weekend. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 6:45pm, at which time I will be at Cave 9 for the Blacklisted/Have Heart/Ceremony/Let Down/Swamp Thing/Serotonin Gone rock and roll extravaganza. Expect to see me walking back and forth between the venue and Aerochild to keep up with the score. We have to step it up in the second half. You can throw out every statistic in the book when it comes to a true rivalry game. Roll Tide. Here are the fliers for my next two shows:

Bane will also be returning to Cave 9 on Sunday, November 9th. I am excited about that.

The story of my first tattoo.

I was sitting around at the Downtown Pub on Friday night with Eric, Jason, Crys, Todd, and Jessica. While discussing the trip we had planned to see a DaVinci exhibit at the Birmingham Museum of Art the next day, we somehow got on the subject of tattoos. I'm not sure how, but within 15 minutes of it coming up, it was decided that Eric, Crys and I would get the same image Jason has...an outline of the state of Alabama with a small heart over Tuscaloosa. Fitting, right? I had recently had at least two other conversations with people about how I doubted that I'd ever get tattooed. We dubbed the weekend "Spontaneous Decisions '08."

Not even 12 hours later, we were on our way to Birmingham. Jess joined us at the museum when we arrived and we proceeded to browse the Da Vinci exhibit, the gift shop, and some other random parts of the building for an hour and a half or so. This was essentially my first trip to a real art museum. Getting to see original Da Vinci stuff was undeniably cool, but I was constantly distracted by the large amount of people browsing the drawings at the same time we were. I believe it was "Kids' Weekend" or something to that effect. I should go back to the museum sometime and give it a fair shot, but I mostly felt out of place, and I had food on my mind. We left and headed over to Pete's Famous Hot Dog's, a fine establishment that serves great hot dogs with an original meat based "special sauce."

After consuming a few dogs in front of Aerochild Tattoos, we headed in to see Aaron and get ready. We were joined by Mat, Haley, and Rachel. He had one appointment to take care of, so we waited about a half hour, and then it was go time. I was first up, and slightly nervous. Shots have never bothered me, but IVs and blood sampling have always caused me to get a bit lightheaded. Here are some photos:

(Taking a deep breath.)

(Looking like I was asleep.)

The feeling was different than anything I'd heard anyone describe it as. Kind of a constant burning. It was uncomfortable, but I'd say I handled it well. Everyone said I just made faces, and I remember laughing as it was going on a few times. Then it was Eric's turn. As you can see, he remained pretty much expressionless throughout the process:

After Eric got done, it was Crys's turn. She got her tattoo on her side. I don't have any photos of the process as they were taken on another camera, but I do have a shot of a little extra art Aaron threw together at the last minute:

Here are some random shots:


(Jason)

(Crys and Mat)

(Jess in full on serious business mode.)

After the tattoos, we did a bit of shopping at India Shoppe, ate at New China Town with Mat and Jess, and headed back home to watch the end of the LSU/Florida game and catch up on the day's College Football highlights. It was a great day.

The end results:

I'll certainly never forget this weekend. I'm proud to share this with great friends, and am glad I waited for the right time in my life to make this kind of decision, even if it was on a whim.
No Regrets. Roll Tide.