At 0100, I started to type a rambling which would cover this. Four paragraphs in, I realized I was way to tired to undertake such an endeavor. I left it, and decided to finish in the morning. Looking now at what I had, I see that it was quite pathetic. Similar to the articulation level displayed a week before Friday, when I returned home dead tired and attempted to convey the events of the evening. So, I think I'll just start over.

First, a little meta info though. I am now typing this in vim. A departure from use of cgi forms in netscape to do this shit. I've decided I have matured quite a lot since the days when db driven ramblings began. Back then, a cgi form was like giving myself baby food. Even less shit to worry about that one would with notepad (theoretically, before I learned about netscape's extreme memory leakiness in handling such things). Well, and besides that, I was totally gaga over anything CGI or web based in those days. Ok, maybe I still am. :)

But after the rambling I made at 5am this morning using the mighty text editor (what it was, or why will not be covered right now), I've decided it's time to realize sense when it hits me. I'll be making some wrapper scripting which will do the same auto time recording, database handling, and everything the cgi now does, except it'll just call vim to get the body text. I've got some other plans/ideas for the Bitscape's Lounge future (whatever the version will be called), but I'll go into those later today, after I've done some coding. :)

Now, on to the topic at hand! :)

I'll jump in yesterday, circa 1600. Just before 1600, actually. I decided -- after lazing around the house all day -- to take a hike. Literally. In the mountains. It had been ages since my last venture into this great natural resource. Since I was now transportation-enabled, getting there wouldn't be a problem. :)

Since it was relatively late in the day, something close by seemed the most prudent choice. I had been sitting around being a total winner, doing absolutely nothing of any value, for way too long. Had thought about starting out earlier, but hadn't gotten to it. Anyway...

Getting to the the Mesa Trail entry point at NCAR, through my-car ;) was a quick and easy bit of business. And I was off, walking up the hillside.

I noted that on some of the steeper downslopes, my legs were feeling shakey. You know... the kind of slope you sort of run down in a semi-controlled fall, hitting the ground with your feet sideways, back and forth. Kind of like skiing, except without the snow, or the skis. Yeah, fun stuff. :) My brain was handling it just fine, but the physical end wasn't as graceful about the whole operation I had remembered it being. Legs were feeling slightly shakey, like they might crumble of too much of this were to occur.

Then it was up the hill, and I found myself getting winded much more quickly than I knew was normal. Not good. A strong reminder that I have not been taking care of myself in the least when it comes to physical fitness at all lately.

Of course, I was already aware that I haven't been getting much exercise. But it's just too easy to forget the effects when all you do is sit around and write code, type ramblings, read, watch tv, and (now that I can), drive everywhere you need to go. That's just the immediate effects. The long-term effects, which I don't even want to think about, are even easier to ignore.

So anyway, I took a rest on top of a nice big rock, and just enjoyed being there for a few minutes. The best of weather. The sun was getting lower in the sky, so the temperature was perfect. Trees, crickets, plant life, fresh air. I just savored it for a few minutes while catching my breath. So much for fitting the geeky stereotype. :)

I continued on my way, up bear canyon, and a funny thing happen. I was heading up the hill at a pace at least as fast as I had been going before, but just kept going, and didn't get tired. Ok, eventually I did, but not until after traversing quite a bit of ground. It was like my body finally realized (or remembered) what it was doing, and something just kicked in. It was a blast.

I threw some water from the stream onto my head, and continued upward for a few more minutes. Eventually, I decided I had gone far enough, and headed back down. An idea for a possible future Saturday(s): Sleep in a bit, get up slightly late. Cause ya gotta indulge a little. :) Go to the library in the morning. Spend a few hours there reading anything. Get a late lunch on or around Pearl Street. Then, head to the mountains, and explore/hike/drive around up there for a few hours. Return to town, spend the evening watching a movie. (boycotts precluded from this discussion.)

Yes, I think that would be an excellent way to spend a Saturday. Perhaps next week, I shall try it. (Slight tangent: I was going to make an antimovielog entry for Gladiator. In fact, I did. Then, I did a little fact checking, and decided to delete it, at least for the moment. See, I did a little checking, and it's made by Dreamworks. According to the boycott page, Dreamworks is not a member of the MPAA. Seems a little hard to believe to me that such a major studio / distributor wouldn't be, but if they aren't, let's not presume everyone guilty. So I might still see it.)

When I returned to the car, it was after 1800. Two hours hike. Not bad. The BPI Birthday Bash was just getting underway. (I will make no claims about the quality of their web site, which I haven't visited for a long time, after having a rather lousy experience there a while back, but it is a good radio station, as commercial radio stations go.) Willy was broadcasting live from the event. Tickets still available at the door. Red Rocks. Oh damn. I succumbed to temptation. :)

This marks the first concert I have been to in which I was not a huge fan of any of the acts. Sure, I like the music of Bush, Nixons, Godsmack, but would I say I'm really into any of them? Not especially. I own the Bush album "Sixteen Stone", from ages ago. Good music on that. The Nixons song, "Sister", I absolutely love, but that's the only one. Just one excellent song does not a huge fan make me. (So much for normal sentence phrase ordering.)

This was a "Dang, that sounds like a good way to spend the evening!" decision. Plus, having a car now, and just being able to make a spur of the moment decision like that, without having to clear it with anyone else, or even needing to bother telling anyone, or having to plan my schedule around RTD routes... And then going and doing it, alost as a way to prove to myself that I can... The feeling just rocks! :)

One minor obstacle: Having not been to Red Rocks for nearly three years, I wasn't certain I could remember exactly how to get there. I had a vague idea, but the specifics on which road to turn off on where... Clueless. I decided to rely on my intuition on such things. If the fates were truly against me making it to the show, I would certainly get lost along the way, and end up either not making it, or getting there too late to be worth my while.

As it was, the music gods must have smiled on me. I "felt" my way directly to the site, albiet with the help of one very vaguely worded sign, which said "Red Rocks Park". It had an arrow to a road, but whoever made the sign didn't bother to tell anyone which direction to go on that road, or where to go from there. Well, I figured it out, and got there.

Tickets were indeed still available. I forked over the cash, procured mine, and was directed through multiple winding roads all the way around the auditorium to an area where parking was still available. The problem with choosing activities based on what you just heard Willy announce on the radio is that ten thousand other people might just get the same idea at the same time, which tends to causing a glut of traffic and a generally concertrated mess of mindless human drones. (I mean, really, what kind of idiots just go and do something just cause some guy on the radio happened to be talking about it? Only a fool... Doh! :) ) But getting in really wasn't too bad.

(If my paragraphs seem longer than normal, it probably has something to do with the fact that I'm working with a wider margin than before, which gives my brain the illusion that it needs to finish filling a certain amount of vertical space before moving on to the next thought. If this doesn't make sense, then simply file it under the category of "Yes, Bitscape is an oddball.")

When I entered, the stage was in the process of being setup for the opening act. Well, actually, one of the opening acts -- a local band -- had already played before I arrived. The first sensation that hit immediately upon entering, was the dense concentration of cigarette smoke (plus the sprinkled odor of some other, slightly less legal varieties). Yes, even outdoors, it was quite heavy. I couldn't imagine what it would be like in an indoor facility where such activities were permitted.

Something else, a change from on my previous visit in 97: The ban on alcohol had obviously been lifted. Was I away in Lincoln, or just not paying attention when this Red Rocks policy was changed? I briefly considered buying a beer for myself, but decided against it.

The front general admission seating section was pretty much full. Getting a seat there wasn't going to happen. But based on previous concert experience, one usually doesn't spend much time sitting down anyway, so I knew it would be no great loss if I spent the whole evening without ever entering the designated seating area.

I found a spot standing in one of the "flat" areas on the edge. You know (if you've been there), right outside the isle, where the trees are? Yeah. I had entered from the south, so I was on the right (audience perspective) of the stage.

After a few minutes, and the stagehands had nearly finished getting things ready for the band that was about to play, Willy made an appearance on stage. He was his usual exhuberant self, hyping up the crowd as only a master DJ could, and leading everyone in a chant: "Dallas sucks! Dallas sucks! Dallas sucks!" Yes, odd as it may seem to some of us, it would appear that hockey fever has truly taken the town by storm.

After a little fanfare, Willy introduced the first act: Crazytown. Let's just say I was less than impressed with this band. One of these rap/heavy metal bands. If done right, the rap/heavy metal thing can be good. If done by a bunch of idiots who apparently don't know just how awful they sound, it can suck. It sucked. Like a really lousy Beastie Boys knockoff.

Coupled with that, I was quickly getting a very nasty headache. It wasn't from the sound, although it almost might have been. My airway felt like it was slowly collapsing. My throat was starting to ache like hell. I became conscious of why, and a quick look around confirmed. The woman next to me, who looked like she must've been around 50 years old, was smokin it hard and heavy. A little ambient cigarette smoke isn't too bad. A mild irritation. When it's right in my face... ugggh!

Why anyone would voluntarily inhale such a substance is beyond me. I mean, I could see it with something like campfire smoke. I've sometimes breathed that in, because it does smell good, even if it does still have the cancinogenic properties. But cigarettes.... Beyond the obvious health reasons... why? Some things will be an eternal mystery to me.

Since the current happenings on stage weren't much to see anyway, I took my leave of the area, and headed way, way up the stairs to the very back, where there was lots of empty open space. Ahhhh, fresh air! I stood on one of the flat areas next to the isle for a while, and after a bit, a couple of cops (who I had seen on my way in a few minutes before) walked up and stood on the "ledge" (for lack of a better word) below mine.

If these two were there to try to fight the war on drugs, good luck! lol. Nah, they were probably just there to make sure nobody would kill each other. At least, I never saw them trying to arrest any pot smokers.

As a side note, I heard at least two of the acts, along with Willy, make what nearly amounted to an endorsement of illicit drug use at various points during the evening. On the one hand, I'm thinking "Good for them." Maybe if enough people get a clue, we can pressure the government to discontinue its tyrannical policies. On the other hand, I personally am not into chemical addictions. But then, for some things, such as certain hallucinogens, there can be occassional use, without physical addiction or permanent damage. I guess I'm just glad to see that maybe they've dropped the politically correct pretense.

(Am I the only one who remembers that incredibly stunt BPI a few years ago, where they had the "drug free weekend". No artists who had ever been known drug users were played during those two days. No Hole. No Stone Temple Pilots. No Nirvana. The list went on. Yeah, but then on Monday, it was right back to the usual drug-heavy playlist. lol. I remember the DJs had tried so hard (unconvincingly) to sound serious about how this was all about BPI's great committment to preventing drug abuse. I guess (and would hope) that whatever PHB thought that one up was fired long ago. I mean, how hypocritical and pretentious can you get? Anyway, moving on...)

As Crazytown played, and I kept hoping their annoying act would end soon, I took a seat in the sparsely populated area near the top of the amphitheater, and proceeded to observe the surrounding parties. The people passing up and down the isles. The ones who were sitting nearby. It was then that I formulated a line of thought which would turn into the rambling I typed in the wee hours this morning. Some of it not so pleasant. Since I already said plenty about it there, I'll leave it alone here. Let's just say I was beginning to wonder if coming to this thing had been a really good idea.

Eventually, the band of annoying adolescents with no apparent musical talent did leave the stage. Not a moment too soon for me. (Gawd, I'm starting to sound like an old fart, aren't I? "Why these kids today, they don't know what music is. I remember back when music was MUSIC. These are just a bunch of fools makin' a lot of racket! This generation that's comin up now are just lost, I tell ya. Lost." No, that wouldn't be me. Never.)

I decided that there might actually be something worth seeing soon, and made my way back down to the now much more crowded area closer to the stage. Yes, the crowd had grown much denser. I managed to sort of secure a perch on the edge of the isle, with a decent view of the stage.

While they were setting up for The Nixons, I observed the crowd some more. In some ways, the audience was quite a contrast to the Queensrych show I attended at the same venue three years minus two months ago. The ages of people was much more varied. At the Queensryche show, I would estimate that at least 95% of the audience were in their 20s. At this birthday bash, there was pretty much every age, from 5 to 50. Well, I guess the retired or about to retire demographic didn't show up.

Other than that, it was pretty much everything. Several children, which was more than I would have expected. (What kind of parents bring their little tots along to a rock concert? I don't know. Strange ones, perhaps.) Teenagers: Quite a number. 20 somethings: Also, quite a bunch. And also, the older crowd. Yep. Definitely more a more varied audience than with Queensryche.

The Nixons took the stage first, just before the sun went down. Some good music from them. Of course, Sister was by far their best song. I guess the rest of the audience thought so too. Lots of cheering for that one.

During one of their songs, a woman passed out not two meters away from me. That caused a bit of commotion, as her boyfriend tried desparately to revive her, and yellow shirted event staff rushed to the scene. He did manage to get her on her feet for a bit, but I still wouldn't call it conscious. She was leaning so heavily for support, with eyes barely open, and then fell down again. Flat, on the ground. Of course, with the music, I couldn't hear the exchange that was taking place, but I thought I saw the boyfriend mouthing the words "She's dry, not drunk at all." to the event staff. Uh huh. Right. I went back to watching the music. The next time I looked, they were gone.

After the Nixons finished their set, Willy came back out again, with another heavy dose of crowd hyping, "Go Avalanche" sentiment, and the usual batch of Willy-isms. It's kind of a bizarre experience to actually see the the real live version of the person whose disembodied voice you've heard for so many years. He's one wacky dude, though.

A bunch of the other DJ's came onto the stage, but Willy did virtually all the talking. He introduced the mysterious "Lou" character who has become the newest regular on the WB show lately. She certainly seemed more mike shy when confronted with 10,000 screaming people than she is in the studio. Heehee.

There were also several Avalanche players, who came onto the stage for a few seconds. That got a lot of cheers. And another round of "Dallas sucks." I refused to join into a chant which for me would have no meaning. It did find it a curious phenomenon, however.

After the daylight was completely gone, Bush took the stage. Now THAT was some music. Unlike prior concert experiences, where I would join the crowd in screaming at the top of my lungs, this time, I just stood and listened. Absorbed. The sound, the light, the frenzy. Let the sound just wash over me, vibrate my innards. I felt the bitter thoughts (which I would later reconjure as part of some insane web publication scheme) wash away in the tidal wave of music.

Yes, this band sounds at least as good live as their studio recordings. While I've never personally found anything particularly profound about the lyrics of Bush, they do have a sound that works. Gavin's voice over the gushing guitars just works for me. He could be singing in Chinese, and I think I'd still enjoy it. Just that visceral pump. They really did a good job performing.

Interestingly, Bush stuck almost exclusively to tracks which have received lots of radio play over the years. Well, I guess it worked for them, because they had enough to last the entire whatever length of time it was they played. Lotsa good sound. I enjoyed it immensely.

Gavin also did his share of stage antics, including a little crowd surfing, disappearing during a guitar solo, only to appear in the middle of the crowd, and surf some more up there while singing more of the song. At the end of Chemicals Between Us, he knocked over one of the monitor speakers and started humping it, and then got up and sang very passionate rendition of This Cloud. Invited the audience to join, which they did (me included). That rocked.

Everyone really got into Everything Zen. Ya gotta love the old stuff. They finished with Little Things. Again, just really good music. I dig it.

After Bush, another break, more Willy B, including a few more rounds of "Dallas sucks." I dunno. I might have to try watching a whole hockey game through -- force myself to pay attention -- just to see what all this fuss is about.

The concept of getting into that kind of sports fever is not entirely alien to me. Long, long ago, I was into the Broncos. Long, long ago. Back when they made it to the superbowl two years in a row, and lost both times. I was watching every game, every Sunday afternoon. I knew the players. I knew their numbers. All the current rules were etched into the back of my head.

When they did win the AFC championship against the Cleveland Browns, I went so far as to color my school homework assignments orange and blue, and was marked off for it. It was exciting.

Over the years, I just lost interest. Decided it was a waste of time. When the Broncos changed their logo and uniforms, that was the final seal. I didn't want any more to do with it. Who are these players we're cheering for anyway? Next year, they'll probably be traded to another city, and playing for a different team. As Jerry Seinfeld once said, " Booo! Boo! Wrong shirt this year! We don't like you because you wore a different color shirt. Booo!"

Well, anyway, that's enough of this edition of Skeletons from Bitscape's Closet.Back to the concert.

Godsmack's props were brought out, which included gargoyles with glowing red eyes, and several pentagrams in the backdrop. "Oooooh. Evil, Satanic stuff. God shall now curse you all! And smack ye into the wrath of the fierey hell. Ye shall be smitted by the Almighty, as in smacked. As in Godsmacked. Hahaha!" Oh, forget it.

Well, their stuff was loud, juicy, and wild. Lots of good old fashioned anger music.

And I wonder day to day I don't like you anyway
I don't need your shit today
You're pathetic in your own way
I feel for you
Better fucking go away
I will behave
I'm doing the best I ever did
I'm doing the best that I can
I'm doing the best I ever did
now go away

Yeah, good stuff. They did a good job of brining the audience into quite a frenzy. Gotta let it all out. They played several songs, most of which I wasn't familiar with. Just the stuff that gets radio play.

The performance of Voodoo was really good. Last song of the "main" part of the show, before the encore. During it, the pentagrams started to glow. I wasn't sure if they were shining some sort of ultraviolet light which the material refracted, or just plain, simple backlighting. Probably backlighting. It did look really eerie though.

I'm not the one who's so far away
when I feel the snake bite enter my vains
never did I wanna be here again
and I don't remember why I came

That was just a powerful performance. When he first started the song, he sang the chorus a capella. The audience joined in, and he stopped (I'm admit I don't even know the vocalist's name, or I'd use it). The people continued to sing. The cheering died down, and there was just singing. Here's the amazing thing: It was really on key. No instrumentation. No accompanyment. No lead. Just ten thousand unamplified voices. Music.

Godsmack went on to do an extended rendition of Voodoo. Good stuff, man.

They left the stage. But everybody knows the show ain't really over. Some did leave, apparently not the biggest Godsmack fans in the world trying to beat the traffic. That thinned the crowd out. A few minutes passed. The pentagrams continued to glow. Chants began. "Godsmack! Godsmack! Godsmack!" Of course, they did eventually return to perform Keep Away.

Again, really good sound. Midway through the song, one of the speakers (the really big ones designed to blast the audience, not the monitors) spontaniously started to combust. Flames, increasing in size, started to emerge from the grilling. I really don't think this was any kind of planned stunt. Probably an electrical fire. Or maybe they were just rockin so loud and so hard, the material decided it just couldn't take it anymore. Heehee. :)

Anyway, someone did finally come out with an extenguisher, pointed it up at the little blaze, and put it to rest. The band just kept playing all the way through, unphased. lol.

When the show ended, since I was already near the exit, I hopped right out, went right to the car, and didn't have any problems with traffic at all. On the way home, I listened to the concert's namesake. Funny how that is. Does the concert exist to promote the radio station, or does the radio station exist to promote the concert? Such questions can befuddle the mind and send it into an infinate paradoxical loop. Hence, asking them should be avoided. ;)

I was going to get some food at the McDonald's drivethru, but they ignored me. Maybe they were closed. Idiots. Went to Taco Bell, and got some burritos to eat while I drove. Mmmmm.

Arrived home a few minutes after midnight (the show had ended at about 2330, or 11:30pm for those on qwerty time). Discovered that bouncing has been doing some major improvements to his web site. Impressive. We exchanged a few words, and I retired.

Started to type a rambling, but gave up. I was just too tired. Went to bed. Experienced the sensation immediately as soon as I laid down: The persistent, high pitched tone, often referred to as ringing. It kept me awake for a few minutes, but sleep did come.

When I woke up again, at nearly 5 am, the ringing was gone. But some other thoughts had returned to haunt me. I rambled about them for a couple hours, and went back to bed, feeling like a certain catharsis had just taken place. Slept peacefully for over three more hours. Typed this for nearly the last five hours, taking a brief break to eat in between.

Now I suppose I'll need to figure a way to get it directly into the db, or do a temporary kludge and copy/paste all this text into the browser. This is definitely a better way to type ramblings. Hours upon hours -- over 26k of text -- and not a single worry about memory leaks to crash my editor or make the session unusable. Definitely the way to go. I'll have to conjure up some script so that this can become a more permanent arrangement. And maybe, just maybe, Version 2.0. But let's not go there now.