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May 14, 2006 13:01

It began at about 2 am on Sunday night (Monday morning, if you want to get technical); I had just pulled out of McDonalds for some late night snackage and anticipatory caffiene for the trip ahead when I recieved a phone call from Mr. Trent; they were waiting at my house.

Got back, loaded up my duffle bag, my Guitar Hero game (they had brought the controller from the house), my browncoat and my food, and we were off!

Merry we were, full of laughter and excitement as we plunged into the dark depths of the Westbound Interstate 80 (a perilous course frought with peril!).

I'm gonna mellow out now.

About an hour into the journey, we passed a car that had it's brights on; this annoyed (and partially blinded) us to no small degree, so John (teh driverzor for the the duration of the trip) faded back and flashed his brights.

No effect.

He flashes them again, and again.

Nothing.

Oncoming traffic, obviously similarly blinded by the glaring floodlights of this infernal car, flashed their lights as well.

No avail.

Thus, the vehicle's driver was affectionately called "Bright Lights Bitch" by John and Trent, and we proceeded to harass her (at least, we think it was a her) for another hour or two.  She sped up to 100 miles an hour just to get away from us at the end.

We laughed.

The soundtrack for the trip consisted entirely of Dragonforce and Darkmoor, two of the best speed metal bands EVER (also, I realized something; the singer for Darkmoor sounds an awful lot like Pippin (Peregrin Took, son of Paladin) from the LOTR movies; perhaps I'm alone in this).  This kept us awake, along with copious quantities of imbibed caffinated beverage (mostly Mountain Dew and Amp, with a smattering of Red Bull for Trent and John).

We stopped in Sidney for fuel and supplies, and after a lengthy (and somewhat confusing/pointless) conversation with the kindly gentleman behind the counter, we were off once again!

At about this time, I started nodding off for a few seconds at a time, leaning against the window.  This led to much amusement for John and Trent, as they first rolled down the back window (thus waking me up with a blast of cold air to the face), and then settling for yelling out my name.  An example:

"BILL!"
"AAAAAH!... GOD DAMMIT, GUYS!"
*howls of laughter*

Looking back, it WAS rather hilarious... hee.

Once the sun rose, we stopped in Cheyenne for some breakfast (and, for Trent and John, a spot of "fresh air") at IHOP, which was lackluster, but filling.

And then we returned to the road!

An uneventful remainder of the trip found us at Goo's new suburban villa in Windsor, CO.  HOLY CRAP, that's a nice house.  It was good to see Abby (a weiner dog) and Elvis (a rather psychotic terrier... what is he, Goo, a Yorkshire?) again, and to meet...  Daisy?...  the sheepdog.   Our encounter was brief, as our priorities lay with nappage and sleepzor.

After Goo got back early from work (due to rain?) we played some Guitar Hero (Trent, John and I weren't at our best, due to sleep deprivation) and then some Kengo (my skills have not eroded with time and disuse, for I held my own fairly well against Goo).  Then a bit of Dynasty Warriors, a quick shower for Trent, and we were off to the Cervantes concert venue in Denver!

For the record, Goo's Firebird kicks ass.  Completely.  I loves that car, and not just because of the ten speakers taking up space in his trunk.

Though they do influence my opinion.

Anyhoo, more Darkmoor and Dragonforce for our tunage, and after a bit of confusion with roads and such, we found the Cervantes.

The Cervantes turned out to be a rather hole-in-the-wall kind of place on the outside; rundown and shabby-looking, with a marquee that had as many burnt-out bulbs as functional ones, and several missing at that.  Due to a mixup with the tickets, we were forced to stand in line for a while, but we were still some of the first folk to get in.

It's worth noting (it always is) that there were fellow Browncoats (at least one!) standing next to us in line.  The conversation I overheard went thus:

".... I dunno, Galactica has its merits, but it still doesn't compare to Firefly."
"Did you hear ..... got his DVDs finally?"
"Yeah, we should do a marathon or something."

Trent saw my ears perk up at the mention of Firefly, and he simply said, "no, Bill".

"Aw come on, man..."

"No, Bill."

"Aw..."  *kicks pebble*

For the record, I do realize my Browncoat rhetoric has gotten a little stale after the dozenth recitation, but STILL, it's cool meeting new Browncoats.  Reaffirmation of ultimate awesomeness in a geek-type way, etc.

Moving on...

From the inside, the Cervantes is VERY cool; a full bar along the wall closest to the street, with enough room between it and the stage to comfortably fit, oh, about 350-400 people or so.  I'm bad at that kind of estimation, though, so don't hold me to that.

Come to think of it, the venue wasn't that far removed from one of the venues in Guitar Hero; there was a vague sense of familiarity about the place.

Anyways, a gigantic disco ball and a stellar light set featuring black lighting rounded out the awesomeness of the place.

And now, a band review:

Dartanian - the first band to open the show, we were leery of them as they were dressed up in full white-collar business suit attire.  They weren't half-bad, though, even if their drummer wasn't stellar and their vocals were too high/loud.  They did a good job of warming up the crowd though, got a few heads banging and a few more bobbing.  No moshage yet, though.

Sanctity - These guys, sadly, wound up being considered "just another metal band".  Goo labeled them "Generic Metal Band #1".  The lead singer had anger management issues, as he kept yelling at the crowd to do something, when they really didn't feel like it at all.  All their music sounded the same, and it was hard to take the lead singer seriously when his past-shoulder-length red hair kept continously obscuring his face, making him look eerily like Cousin It.

Protest the Hero - Austin, you and I need to have a serious talk about musical taste when I next see you.  Yes, they sounded okay on their CD, but live?  These guys SUCKED!  It was all flailing around and wierd antics and craziness and odd lyrics sung in a register generally reserved for DOG WHISTLES.  As for the moshers...  That wasn't moshing.  That was controlled seisuring in rough accordance to a beat.  Aimless flailing about with no regard for others; several times guys lifted eachother up to kick other people in the head, or spin eachother around and around until they build up so much momentum that they careen out of control and slam into the crowd encircling them.  It was the exact kind of set that makes me remenisce about high school garage bands... which is NOT anywhere CLOSE to high praise from me.

And now:

DRAGONFORCE -  Everything that speed metal should be.  Not angry or angsty, but epic and uplifting.  The ballad wasn't bad (which IS high praise from me, as I'm not overly fond of rock ballads), and the guitarists were INSANE.  My God, how Herman managed to not break a string is beyond me.  Words cannot do these six gentlemen justice.  Suffice it to say that they kept a mosh pit going from Song 1 to the third song of their stage callback - which was 2 HOURS after the set had begun!  These guys were amazing; the crowd was NUTZ.  Towards the end, there were so many people crowd surfing up to the stage that the security guys could barely get them off in a timely manner; one lucky little kid (couldn't have been older than 15) managed to give the lead singer a HUG (incidentally enough, I wound up running into him at a vending machine across the street after the concert; it was cool to give him a high five.  He was a cool kid).

A wall of death, a circle pit, and crowd surfing out the ying-yang...  It was cool to be a part of that crowd.

I also came away with some phat lewt: two Dragonforce t-shirts (one for me, one for Austin, who WILL COME WITH US NEXT TIME), as well as an abandoned guitar strap from one of the members of Dartanian.  As he was walking along, it fell; I picked it up, he never came back for it, so it's MINE.  I just wish I hadn't left it in the car.

I got separated from John and Goo almost from the very beginning of the first Dragonforce song; the crowd was pressed up against the stage so tightly that the moshers just began to push other people around, creating a heaving mass of bodies that ebbed and flowed not unlike a stormy ocean sea.  I was spat out towards the back of the mess, where Trent joined me shortly thereafter; as I had nearly lost my glasses TWICE in the rolling mosh currents, I stayed out of it for the most part; Trent did as well, as he was somewhat winded.  He went back in for more a couple times, then joined me by the merch table.

Goo found his way over to us shortle before Dragonforce left the stage the first time, but we didn't find John until the very end, after he managed to shake the lead singer's hand.  He was COMPLETELY SOAKED.  Most of it was water from the water bottles the band kept tossing on the crowd, but more than a little was sweat; he was on the front lines from the very beginning of the concert, God bless him.  Goo was with him for most of it, too, and apparently, they were "sharing" a girl via moshage; I dunno, go pester them for the story.  Not my place to tell it, ha.

After we returned triumphantly to the Firebird, we sailed around downtown Denver for a while, searching for sustenance; after we realized it was past midnight, we headed for a Village Inn on the outskirts of town.  I had to lend John my newly acquired shirt, as his was completely soaked and it was rather cold.  Also, no shirt, no shoes, no service, etc.

A lengthy awesome discussion was had as tales of the mosh pit were had and debates over each band's particular merits were held.  Delicious burger, too...  Mmm...  onion rings and bacon...

Anyhoo, we got back to Goo's house without incident and collapsed for a few more hours of sleep.

Upon waking up, showers were taken (it had been 46 hours since my last one, for the record) and I packed my stuff up; wound up leaving my precious sharktooth necklace in Goo's bathroom, which I'm STILL kicking myself about...

Got everything packed up in the car, and got back to GI with stops in Cheyenne (at Mickey D's this time) and Sidney for fuel/supplies.  The Mountain Dew tasted EXTRA delicious on this leg of the trip for some reason (likely due to dehydration).  Trent and John dropped me off at Bosselman's, as John had to get ready for work at 5 and it was 3 when we hit the GI city limits; it was all good, since Kilee came by to pick me up.  She drove me home as I briefly recounted the trip and she filled me in on what had been going on in Kilee-land in my absence.  When we got back to my house, I thought to show her the guitar strap, when I then realized that I had either left it in the car or back in Denver.

I'm forgetful when I'm sleepy.

That about sums up the trip...  And I do believe that this is quite likely the longest entry I've ever posted to date.

Goodness, if you read all of that...  You deserve a MEDAL.

Peace, live long and prosper, bretheren.
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