Vains of Jenna at The Viper Room

Vains of Jenna has quickly become one of my favorite bands to see live.  As lead singer Lizzy DeVine yelled to the crowd at the end of the set, they prove that Rock n Roll is alive and well.  They are just straight-up, balls-out rock, almost a throw back to the 80's without being anachronistic.  The music is great and they have just the right stage presence that's not too little but not so much as to be pretentious or comical.

The only thing I was disappointed about were the opening acts.  None were bad, per se, but the first two just didn't feel fully baked - didn't seem to have a consistent look or sound going on.  The third band was pretty good, but I didn't get to catch their name because some guy was yapping at me the whole time.  So, unfortunately, I didn't find a new band to start seeing, but VoJ totally made up for it.

Here Comes The Rain

This is my first real rainy season here - I moved just after "winter" finished last year and I can count on one hand the number of days it rained between then and this week.  And, boy, have I gotten used to it!

The rain isn't quite as discombobulating for me as it seems to be for everyone else around here, but I do still find myself walking right out the door without an umbrella because I'm used to not even looking at the weather and assuming it's pretty much the same as it was yesterday.  I have also completely forgotten the fact that rain + my hair = wavy curls.  I wasted a good chunk of time straightening my hair this morning, only to find it all wavy tousled when I got to work (yeah, that's it, I was going for that sexy bed head look).

Liquor, liquor everywhere

I realize that Massachusetts has some crazy liquor laws - you can't buy alcohol outside designated "package stores" and,  until the Pats' second Super Bowl win, you could buy any kind of alcohol on a Sunday.

So the fact that grocery stores have a better selection than most liquor stores around here is a bit of a change.  It's especially disconcerting to see Wild Turkey across the aisle from Advil in the CVS.

It disturbs me, but I like it. Not only because NyQuil is no longer the only thing that gets me drunk at CVS, but also as more evidence that I live in a much less stupidly puritanical place.  I think the apex of this rational approach to the hooch is the wine & liquor 6 pack.  In pretty much any retail outlet,  they provide these handy cardboard carrying cases that holds 6 bottles of wine or liquor and you get 10% off if you buy 6 at once.  Goooo binge drinking!

The Martians are Me

I pretty frequently use a Ray Bradbury story as a metaphor for my move to LA.  In this story, a team of Earth astronauts land on Mars on a mission to find out what happened to the first mission, who all just disappeared.  They meet some lovely Martians and settle in and really don't find anything untoward.. or any explanation, for that matter.  And the big reveal is that the lovely aliens ARE the previous mission.  Somehow from eating the food, breathing the air and drinking the water, the humans are transformed into aliens.  But it happens so gradually that they don't realize it and then, once they are more Martian than Earthling, they just completely forget about having been human in the first place. 

So, I tasked some of my friends with monitoring me for sudden desire to spray tan or not eat anything but horse asthma pills.

However, I've started to slip already in other ways.  I actually caught myself thinking "I should go buy some of those skinny, tapered-leg jeans so I can tuck them INTO my boots." *shudder*  I mean, my boots are hot, but that's one step closer to Uggs and a miniskirt.

More damningly, I've just started a screenwriting class.  That was one of my big complaints about my previous visits here - everyone is a screenwriter.  Literally everywhere I went, I'd overhear the guy at the next table - or even the next gas pump - droning on about his little project.  And now, I am one of them.  Fortunately, I have a day job, so I haven't gotten to the point of sitting in Starbucks at 2 pm with my laptop.  That's my small comfort.

Sadly, I didn't get a chance to support The Strip this week, in part because of the screenwriting class and more due to my early morning bootcamp.  Gonna try to make it out next week, but i may have to dial that resolution back to once per month.

Ducati All Stars and Vains of Jenna @ The Roxy

The first show in my new effort to Support The Strip was pretty awesome.  The Ducati All Stars = (Camp Freddy + corporate sponsorship - the sheer number of special guests that usually pop in) and pretty much I would go see Camp Freddy every day if I could.  I think on Saturday it was Donovan, Billy, Steve Stevens, Steve Jones, Jason Bonham, Franky Perez and Mark McGrath.