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The Crystal Crypt, kickstarter

3/17/2013

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     I know, this campaign has less than three hours to go, but here's to hoping someone out there will see this and think about pledging for this project. And then make a pledge! Check it out and you decide! But you should probably back this. Yes. :-D 
Oh, and be safe out there for tonight the Irish come out of everyone! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Green bottles tonight and green salsa burritos :-D
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XIBALBA, show 

11/26/2012

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     So Xibalba will be playing this Friday and Saturday. Both shows have excellent local talent playing, but the Saturday show is all ages. This should be a fun one. And I think the band should do a house show while they're down here too. Or play right on the beach. xXbeachmoshXx
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     If two people start wrestling during this song, the finish move should be a pedigree. I've never seen one done live. But play safe :-D 
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This didn't suck. The fest.

7/30/2012

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     I made it to the last half of the second night of No Suck Fest 2012. My first one. I was hoping to catch Mistermeaner's set, but turns out, parking is damn hard to find. But I guess if only you don't know where to look. I've never been to Anna's before. So I didn't know where to look. I must have circled the block about ten times before deciding to park in one of the residential streets on front of someone's house. I don't like parking on front of people's houses. I know I don't like it. I live in Kalihi (not the valley) and the farther uphill you travel, parking becomes scarce. And not everyone has a garage. Anyway, I find parking and about 9:40. I cruise until heading in at about 9:52. 
     Witch Baby (check out their Facebook HERE) begin their set shortly afterwards. Some sweet 90's alternative with a nice pop-rock flare and a bit of attitude in the vocals on a couple select tunes. Nice jams which I could easily get into. I'd like to see them play again sometime.  
     Pimpbot played next. Always a good time when those guys play. They kept it groovy and energetic throughout their set. They played a new song too (two?). It seemed all too quick though. I wish they played Meet You at the Bar. But they did play Roll with the Punches. I absolutely love that song. And I also need to hear CK live again soon. Pimpbot ended their set with Ragga Muffin. 
     The night got even better when The Quintessentials played next. It was the first time I've ever seen them play considering how long I've been listening to The Catalogs and Crawling Chaos. They played songs from their newest album, Realm of the Great Old Ones, including The Devils Henchmen. Good album too. Quite a bit of songs from Viva Los Muertos (The Catalogs). I need to hear Specimen 32 live. I think they have a show coming up this week too. 
     I didn't stay long after that. I stuck around for Toys that Kill's first song and dug out. I was planning on coming out for the third day at...I think it was at Manifest this time. Never been there either. I wanted to check out Night Birds too and pick up the new TTK LP. But couldn't make it to that one either. Oh well. I was just bummed I missed Mistermeaner. Good time though. Enjoyed the $6 tallboy PBR. Here's to next year! 
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Cosmopolitan

11/11/2011

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     I finally walked around the Cosmopolitan a few weeks ago. It's very retro and artsy in a lot of ways. I remember reading about it once in a magazine and I think it mentioned something about how people tend to touch the art there. It's frowned upon for the most part (I think...). When I saw the big shoe in the hall way, I stopped myself from putting my foot in it and taking a picture. Very cool place though. 
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I think at one point they were facing outward
     I visited some family who were staying at the hotel. They had a room up on the 58th floor! A key was required in the elevator for access to that floor. I was a bit nervous on the patio. I'm not afraid of heights or anything, it's more like, I don't want to drop my shit from that up high. Pretty awesome view though. 
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58 floors up!
     We had dinner at the Wicked Spoon. Never heard of that place until that night. I'm no food critic or anything, but damn, the food was dope. I noticed a lot of it was served in small portions. And not only that, small portions that came with its own plate. I thought I could go through several of those small portion servings, but no. I got full after about two servings. Desert was delicious too. 
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Just a small selection
     After dinner we made our way to Caesars Palace. We went through The Chandelier. I heard this bar was like one giant chandelier and it pretty much is. The other thing about the Cosmopolitan too is that there is a bar everywhere in this place (and security). One in the lobby, a few in the gaming area, and the Chandelier. I'm sure there's lots more, I haven't explored the whole hotel. Oh and there are dancers too, in like these little rooms, along the walls. The dancers are facing the passer-by's outside, or I guess they could face indoors too. I don't know. After Caesars, we stopped by the Chandelier for a drink. It was interesting to see that the place was busy on a Monday night. That's good though. And the people were nice there too. 
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People were sitting in the front of it
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I think this is from the second floor
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Drink for the night
     Didn't get a chance to check out a band at the Book & Stage yet though. Soon! Happy 11/11/11!
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Neon Reverb 2011

9/16/2011

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     Once again, the Neon Reverb Festival took place along the streets of Las Vegas. This six day festival consisted of  75 bands and 12 venues, featuring music, film and the arts. I first heard about Neon Reverb after reading about it in City Life. I read that Asobi Seksu played. The Citrus album rocks my face off. This festival might be fun to check out one year. But it seems the real challenge here is to try to attend all these different shows that are happening simultaneously in different venues, with so many awesome bands playing. I guess attending something like, the Fest (the festival that happens in Gainesville, Florida), would be a real challenge as well. I told myself then that I was going to make it out to the next Neon Reverb. I did, sort of. 
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Neon Reverb 2011!
     On the third day of the festival (the first for music), I attend the show happening at The Royal Resort. Admission was free for this one and the show featured a pretty cool line-up. The bands that played that night were (in order of appearance), The Akaschic Record, Candy Warpop, Pet Tigers, and Acton Town. I've heard of these bands beforehand, and some of their music, but it was actually going to be my first time watching them play. It also happened to be the night I tried Boddingtons for the first time. I enjoyed both, immensely. 
     I arrived at the Resort sometime after 10 pm. The Akaschic Record were setting up, and people are roaming around freely. I take a seat at the bar and begin my night with a PBR, as I always do. I couldn't help but wonder which one of these people were here on assignment to cover the event for so-and-so magazine/paper. That might have been cool.   
     The Akaschic Record began their set at around 10:25 pm. It was a pretty tight set, very energetic. The first couple songs had a lot of reggae-vibes mixed with some of that indie-rock flavor. It was definitely an interesting mix and they made it work. The most memorable part of their set was the last song they performed. Don't remember how long the song was, but it seemed pretty epic. Sometime into the song, every one in the band, with the exception of the drummer, put down their instruments and picked up something else. It was a few minutes of a percussive jam, with the members rocking out with bongos, congas and shakers . They went back into their previous jam soon after. Nice way to start the night.     
     For my next drink, I continued on with a Blue Moon. The bartender asked, “What kind would you like?” I didn't know other flavors existed. I went with  Summer Honey Wheat. Drinking Blue Moon means that it tastes awesome by default. Sure enough, it was awesome. 
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Summer Honey Wheat!
     The next band, Candy Warpop, began their set at around 11:20 pm. Candy Warpop played a very lively set with lots of energy and rock. All the members were having tons of fun and it showed in their performance. The crowd seemed to enjoy it just as much too. Most of Candy Warpop's songs were ambient-heavy in the guitars and some low fuzzy grooves from the bass end. If every show is like this for Candy Warpop, I'd definitely go see them again. 
     During the break, I thought I'd try something new from the menu. That's when I saw Boddingtons on their list of imports. I've never tried it and I only recognized the name because of an episode of Friends (The One with all the Kissing). I ordered one and the bartender gave me a glass along with my drink. Boddingtons is a really smooth beer,  but unfortunately I couldn't finish the thing. I was feeling good about half way into it, and that was good enough for me. 
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Boddingtons! Boddingtons!
     Pet Tigers played next. I was looking forward to this spectacular trio as I had been listening to their tunes for sometime now. Although I've only heard two songs (See Me Now, You're the Last One), they're pretty dope tracks and listen to them quite often. They began their set with See Me Now, an awesome opener. The rest of the set (I think their last song was, You're the Last One) were straight up neon pop-rock with some loud furious drumming and thick bass lines. The set seemed somewhat short, with theirs ending around 12:40 am. But the band kept it energetic and fun till the end. 
     People came and went through the night, but it seemed almost empty towards the end. I wonder how many writers, if any were in attendance, stuck around till the end. At 12:50 am, Acton Town began their set (and the last band for the night at the Resort). I've heard a few tunes from this three-piece not too long ago,  and to be honest wasn't expecting much. It turns out actually that their songs sound better live. I'm glad I stayed for it. They played a handful of songs, switching it up to an acoustic one in the middle, but pretty upbeat the whole time. I wouldn't mind seeing these guys again. Hopefully next time I'll be having a drink during their show. Acton Town ended their set around 1:30 am.
     Not bad for the first night (my first) of Neon Reverb. Seems like an awesome event with lots of local support. But I missed out on some other awesome shows. I wish I had made it to The Quitters, Robot Nixon, The People's Whiskey, Ian Down, and Audacity show for night two at the Bunkhouse. Been wanting to see Quitters and People's Whiskey, and Robot Nixon sounds pretty cool too. Holding onto Sound also played a set on the third night. I hope to at least make it to one of their shows by the year's end. And of course, the set by Atari Teenage Riot at the Resort. I'm guessing it was a ridiculous show. And I mean that in a good way. But for next year's Neon Reverb, here's hoping to attending more shows and nights, at the very least, two. 
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Taking the Lead Media is a music podcast about my record collection.