This Week From The Vortex Special: Spring Break!! (pt.1)
MAD: Christ, where do I begin? I suppose first things first. The Vortex spring season got off to a start with beginnings of a very personal nature. That being said, everyone remember to congratulate Jake on the arrival of his brand new baby sister born March 14, 2005 weighing in at a healthy 7 lbs. 4 oz.
The hours following baby sis' birth found me and MAD Girl Kacie K in attendence of the ministrations of the one and only......Billy Idol!!! Let me proudly assure all of you out there in The Vortex that Mr. Idol is alive, well, and rocking like a friggin' hurricane. For me the Billy Idol show was essentially Rock Star 101, and believe me when I say I was taking notes. The crowd was this weird mix of new-school rockers and soccer moms, so needless to say we got into a little trouble, but nothing Kacie's left hook couldn't handle. What can we say? Grandma can't hang. Here's a little message for anyone over the age of 45 who can't remember having any kind of active life before 30: if you go to a Billy Idol show, don't bitch and complain if you get ruffed up, or bumped into a little when you're near the stage....that sort of thing happens at concerts in case you have forgotten. Starting fights, especially with MAD girls named Kacie, over getting bumped into will only lead to getting punched in the face...real hard. Billy Idol is not George Strait people.
I'm not trying to rag on people older than me, but every now and then, some -SOME mind you - of,the older folks get so set in their ways that they can neither remember nor tolerate the energies and forces which drive the pre-35 generation. To me, that caliber of pretentiousness deserves whatever wake-up comes along. Billy Idol is knocking on 50 and still rocks because the guy understands that good rock'n'roll should transcend such generation gaps with righteous fucking ego-stroking passion, and that's why he's one of my all-time rockstar heroes. God bless him, and his show rocked. Special thanks to Dez for paying for my ticket as an early birthday present!
So soccer moms beware.....and behave yourselves for chrissakes.
.....to be continued.....
Now on to this week's practice logs!
Becoming Vortex All-Stars Jam Session: Wed 3\16\2005
Duration: 3:30pm - 6:00pm
Attendence: Jake, Kenny, Harley, Bob, Sabrina, Jeff, Zeus, Tina, me
Material Practiced: vgZero - Children in Fire
vgZero - Methadone
vgZero Jam Session
Misfits - Scream
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Type O Negative - Black No. 1
Bx Dx - Superman
Bx Dx - End of the Line
Bx Dx Jass Mix
Comments: We were minus Jon today due to prior engagements, so we rounded the All - Stars together to rock out in his absence. We taught Harley the rudimentary bass lines for each song on the fly, put him on bass for our practice, and put Jake on drums when Kenny had to leave to facilitate Becoming Dead (Richard had to be at work today). Today was mostly jamming as there was a limit to what we could accomplish writing-wise with half of both our respective bands MIA. Everyone's sounding great, and with the variety of sound our two bands can produce, it's going to be hella interesting to see what we could do at a show. Special thanks to Sabrina and Jeff for stopping by, and a Happy 21st Birthday to Richard. -mad
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled Practice: Thurs 3\17\2005
Duration: 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Attendence: Full + Jeff
Material Practiced: vgZero - Methadone
vgZero - Children in Fire
vgZero Jam Session
Misfits - Scream
Comments: We got off to a late start today and weren't able to get too much done. Our most progressive work was in locking down the ending to Children. Not only did we get off to a late start, but we also had to finish early. This did not prevent us from rocking out however, and we spent our hour and a half focusing solely on trimming the last of the fat off of our originals. I think we can finally call a wrap on those songs. Though I'm certain we'll always have a idea or two floating around on how to tweak them, we've got the formulas for them down solid. -mad
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scheduled Practice: Fri 3\18\2005
Duration: 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Attendence: Full + Marco
Material Practiced: vgZero Jam Session
vgZero - Methadone
vgZero - Children in Fire
Misfits - Scream
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Lynyrd Skynard - Simple Man
Green Day - Basket Case
Comments: I don't think we've ever sounded as good as we did today. We pulled off this jewel of a practice after one hella fucking grinder of a St. Patties Day...not to mention one hella grinder of a week!! Not only did we manifest yet ANOTHER song idea during the jam session, we did it in about 10 minutes from the beginning of the practice. Me and Jake were hungover, and I still had vomit burn in my throat from St. Patties, but sweet friggin' lord did we sound heavenly. My old friend Marco stopped in to check us out and got to hear the completed versions of Children' and Meth'. I cannot express just how well we sounded. Every beat, every friggin' note was right on the money. I've never been prouder of the band. -mad
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. By the way,as I was typing this I got word through the grapevine that our friend Billy was in a horrible car accident and has suffered multiple bruising of his lung tissues. On the brighter side, he's awake, ambulatory, and breathing on his own - though in considerable pain as you can imagine - They've already let him out of the hospital and he's doing alright. Wish him well everyone, lates!! -mad