2-4-01

I cannot believe it is February already. Believe it or not, I did actually START a page for January... Now it seems pointless to finish it, but of course, I will. Just for the principal of it all. Since I do intend to finish that page, I will not talk about January events here. Lucky for all of you, I do have things to talk about in February already.

I actually spent the first weekend in February at home, in Seattle. Why? Well, let's see how well you all know me. What would be the ONE thing that I would fly home for, regardless of the economics of the travel, etc. I'll give you a hint, it's a type of event.

Give up?

Hopefully, you all guessed a concert. Any other answer would have been wrong. I am a concert junkie, I admit it freely and with pride, actually. There are not many hard rock/heavy metal acts that I have not seen live. Through seeing so many concerts, I have also seen lots of obscure bands (opening acts), some of which later went on to be bigger than the band they were opening for. My greatest story of that nature involves a very new Alice In Chains playing as the crowd was coming into the Paramount before a Warrant concert. (Yes, I have seen the Buttrock bands too... If it rocks, I'll go...) At the time I had no idea that years later, I would be a huge fan, owning all of their albums.

But I digress. Before I came to this lovely area called Pullman, I was averaging about two major shows a month. Just last summer I saw Metallica (duh), Red Hot Chili Peppers (twice), Foo Fighters, Methods of Mayhem, Kid Rock, Poison, Cinderella, Dokken, Slaughter, and (of all things) Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg. Before you all die of heart attacks over the last artists, let me explain that they were part of the EMP grand opening show - I did NOT go to the Up In Smoke tour voluntarily! They were on the same bill as Metallica - do the math!!!

I had not seen a show since the EMP Grand Opening concert, but I had missed PLENTY. The major one I missed was one of my new favorite bands, A Perfect Circle. This is a band that features Maynard James Keenan of Tool on lead vocals, and Tool's guitar tech, Billy Howerdel on lead guitar. They have a very melodic, delicate sound and their album, Mer de Noms, has been my favorite CD since getting it right before I left to come here. As I was saying, APC played in the fall when I was here and because the show was in the middle of the week, I couldn't go. Boy, was I upset about that one. As it turned out, the show was incredible and had I gone, probably would have moved into my top 5 best concerts of all time.

I cannot emphasize enough how irritating that is to me.

So, last December, when I was foolishly teasing myself by checking out their website, I caught wind of a Winter 2001 Tour and sure enough, they were stopping in Seattle, only this time, it was on a weekend! Immediately the wheels started spinning in my head and I thought "I MUST ATTEND THIS SHOW!" Well, at the time, I was broke, so I didn't get tickets. During winter break, I pondered it more, trying to justify spending the money to come over for the show, etc. Just two weeks before the concert was going to happen, I couldn't stand it anymore, and I decided to go. Lucky for me, when I told a certain someone I was coming home for the concert regardless of who else was or was not going, this not-so-anonymous donor donated a plane ticket and two concert tickets to my oh-so-worthy cause. :-) Needless to say I was extremely pleased over the whole deal.... and THANKFUL.

And now, as a public service to my few friends who want to know....Here is my official review of

A Perfect Circle

Yesterday was the concert. Since seeing a band live is the ultimate test to whether or not they are worth the money you spent on their CD, I have to start out by saying that APC passed the test with flying colors. Not only did they sound incredible live, but the energy was equally impressive. Granted, in a place like Mercer Arena, you cannot achieve the intimacy that a place like the Paramount or Moore Theatre can, and that was unfortunate. However, despite that slight drawback, they memorized the crowd with their talent and passion. We got there early (gee, what a shocker...) so we could get a good spot to sit. We ended up in the front row of seating, just along the floor. This turned out to be a perfect spot because we could see everything on stage without anyone getting in our way. Of course, nothing beats being in the front row, but I wasn't about to go into the most pit area. Reviews from previous shows said that the pits could get ugly, so I begrudgingly opted to stay out of them this time.

From the opening notes from Paz's violin, I knew the show was going to be good. I was right. Had I been any closer to the stage, I would have gotten drunk off of the power of the performance. The entire band as a whole, performed excellently. There is no question that there is a wealth of talent in this band. I was particularly impressed with the vocal harmonies that they pulled off during the show. During many songs, Billy, Paz, Troy and Maynard were singing together, and the result was magical. Rarely do bands pull off the harmonics in such an enchanting way - it moved me.

Maynard James Keenan, A Perfect Circle/TOOL

The only negative I can speak of was that the show was too short, at least for me. With only having one album out and not wanting to spoil new material, that is what tends to happen, unfortunately. :-( What we did get to see was incredible though. They played nearly all of Mer de Noms, and even through in a few extra "special treats" as Maynard called them. The first song was one that was apparently written by Danny Lohner (a member of Nine Inch Nails) and it was called Vacant. (The song was written for a Trent Reznor project called The Tapeworm, which Maynard sings some vocals on...thanx to J.B. for this additional info... :-) )The very end of the song sounded a lot like Tool, or at least Maynard's vocal styling did. It was a good tune, regardless. The other song they did, which they almost didn't do no thanks to the jerk DJs at "THE END" (don't even get me started.... THEY SUCK!!!!!!), was Ashes to Ashes, a David Bowie song. All in all, it was a solid, enthralling performance and I would HIGHLY recommend seeing them the next time they roll through town. I will not miss them again.

Well kids, I think I have spent enough time on the website for one day. I really should get to my homework. I will write more soon.... until then.... bon soir.

Love,

Jennifer

2-7-01

This will be a short entry. Quit laughing! I'm serious! I felt compelled to write to apologize for the title of this page. No, I'm not apologizing because it is cheezy or artsy-fartsy, I'm apologizing because I think I have misrepresented what you might be expecting to see or read about on this page. Why? Well, simply because I am going to be stuck here in Pullman, with no visitors to speak of, for the rest of this supposed month of "love". Now before anyone gets up in arms and starts freaking out, let me explain: Basically, school and work do not respect the needs of the hopeless romantic, or even the not-so-hopeless romantic for that matter. School and work do not care that I am going to be subjected to viewing unusually large amounts of flowers, balloons and sappy lovey-dovey stuff being exchanged on campus for a month. As a fan of romance and romantic things, I do like the concept of Valentine's Day. The problem is that I am usually JUST the witness to the spirit of the holiday, not a participant. This has made me loathe Valentine's Day most of the time. Needless to say, it is QUITE IRONIC that when I actually have a reason to sort of welcome the day flower shops love the most, I am still not going to get to reap the benefits simply because WORK and SCHOOL do not get along! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Okay, now that I've spewed that lovely dissertation on the evils of February 14th, I think I feel a little bit better. :-) Maybe I'll actually put some samples of the love poetry I've been reading for my "Love in the Arts" class up on the site this weekend....

Maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead and go to bed. I'm thinking that's a pretty good idea right now...

With roses and balloons,

Jennifer

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2-24-01

Ahhh.... another lovely February evening at the confuser...er, computer. In the background is VH1's "Behind The Music" on Journey, listening to the compelling story of how Steve Perry and Neal Schon made Journey a band to be reckoned with. Steve Perry's voice is one of the BEST in rock music, ever. His vocal range is outstanding, and the tone and richness of his voice is captivating. I wish that I could have seen Journey live in its prime, but, alas, now they have royally SCREWED up and kicked Steve Perry out of the band, so the prime will never be again. Their new singer, another singer named Steve, ironically, sounds a lot like Perry, but I'm sorry, it's just not the same. Watching him perform makes me feel like I'm cheating on one of my favorite bands. Ugh.

I would go on, but I'm sure you didn't venture here to read about my opinions on Journey's lead singer situation. There is a point to this little tale though. As many of you may know, I love to do Karaoke. I love to sing, so naturally, karaoke is the perfect outlet for me since I'm not in a band. Journey happens to be one of my favorite bands to sing... particularly the track, "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'." The lack of karaoke opportunities here in Pullman has been a serious drawback to being here... until now. Yes, karaoke is getting big in the Palouse, and the latest kickass bar to add karaoke to its list of attributes is the one and only Shermer's. From 9-close on Saturday nights, you can go to Shermer's Bar and sing to your heart's content.

Goodie-goodie.... >:-> (Yes, I have seen Hannibal... more on that another day...)

Needless to say, I am thrilled about this news. I really like Shermer's anyway, so this just seals the deal. Besides, they have a drunk bus so you can get a ride home just in case you needed a lot of "liquid courage" to get up and sing. (This is not the case for me, but for others...ya never know....)

But the news gets better...

There is ANOTHER bar that features karaoke during the week now, bringing the total number of karaoke- friendly clubs up to a whopping three. Valhalla has Tuesdays, Pete's just added Wednesdays, and as mentioned previously, Shermer's has Saturdays. Oh blissful days! :-) Obviously, my new goal will be to check out one or all of these places, maybe before Spring Break, but probably after, and give my reviews of each venue after my visit. If possible, I will try to have pix available so you can see how much fun, or not, I was having while "testing" the karaoke facilities. :-)

*Methinks I see a "Girl's Night Out in Pullman" coming in the future near...*

I suppose I ought to give a brief update on what I've been up to besides learning about new singing opportunities. I think I can sum it up in a few words: Shakespeare, Love Poetry, more Shakespeare, and more Love Poetry. Yes, all of my literature classes are starting to wear on me. I do have two other classes, Sociology 373 and Com 295, but those haven't been quite as big of a drain on my brain lately. In a nutshell, I do a ton of reading, and then usually have to write quite a bit on what I am reading, thus why my poor mind feels like it is melting on a daily basis. Combine this with being really busy at the CSLC getting ready for the Campus to Community service learning event on March 31st (click here for more info), and well, I'm exhausted by the time I get home every day. I've decided that I've become nocturnal due to this hectic schedule, so I'm not getting as much sleep as I'd like to, but until I can get ahead on my homework, I'm sort of stuck in this endless rut of super late nights and long days.

Thank goodness Spring Break is coming soon and that the semester will end in May. WHEW!!!

Well, speaking of my bad sleeping habits, I should probably sign off for the evening. Hopefully, I'll get to post one more time before the end of the month, but if not, have a great one, and thanks again for visiting.

Roses and Balloons,

Jennifer

:-)

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2-27-01

I am remiss in not posting this earlier. It appears that my writing skills have struck again... check out this email I sent home a week or so ago:

Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 7:37 PM

Subject: I've been published!

HEY! I just went to one of my professor's websites and he posted a couple
of my papers as EXCELLENT examples on how to write a paper!

Here's the link:
http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare.samples.html

Click on Writing Sample 3: Two Excellent Homework Essays. The Frederic
person is me - count the letters, they will add up to my name: Jennifer
Richards. (Ahhh... I am finally in the same category as Jim Morrison, aka
Mr. Mojo Risin'....ha ha!)

Anyhoo, now you can see what sort of literary mischief I am up to on a
weekly basis. :-)

Enjoy!

Jen
GO COUGS!

The last sentence is a bit muddled: I did not mean that my work will be updated on a weekly basis. That is just a sampling of what I do on a weekly basis. (Yeah, and I'm supposed to be good at English and all... yeah...)

Anyhoo, I think that the above pretty much speaks for itself. :-)

Roses and Balloons,

Jennifer

:-)

And just when you thought I was all done for the month of February...

2/28/01 - The Day Seattle Shook All Night Long... sort of...

What can I say? I walk into the CSLC office (work) and they are all freaking out over the earthquake we just had in Seattle. In WHERE? Naturally, I wanted to panic and freak out too, even though I had not felt the aftershocks that the others had. Thankfully, reports from CNN.com and other news sites revealed that damage was low, so a sigh of relief was breathed. After talking to my family and friends later in the afternoon/evening, I learned that all was well, just a little shook up. (Sorry... had to make the bad pun joke somewhere!) Anyhoo, I posted a little blurb for our family out of state to let everyone know that all the Washington family members were okay. Here's my report:

Hi all-I talked to my sister and my parents and all is well in Tukwila. Pictures didn't even try to fly off the walls. The dogs (Daisy & Keanu), those lazy bums, didn't bark, whine or do any sort of warning that the state was going to shake, rattle and roll, so I have officially labeled them worthless as guard dogs. Not surprisingly, my parents concurred, admitting that the pooches pretty much mooch off them relentlessly without doing much to deserve it. Oh well... at least they sang (howled) when the ambulances and fire trucks went by... OUCH. (Poor Sarah and Aaron...Daisy doesn't know how to sing on key...)

Anyway, just thought I'd post so everyone knew what was going on. I just emailed the address to this site to Mom & Dad so they can bookmark it (and not lose it again!). Hopefully, they will visit and post themselves. Dad has some good stories from being in the middle of the downtown melee. He sent me some pix, which I will post on my website soon. www.geocities.com/jetcityrayne. Check them out...

Take care everyone!

Jennifer

As described in my little message, I have added quake pix, courtesy of my brave Dad, one of many who had to stand outside most of the afternoon. :-) Click here to go to the Quake Page!

Well, I still need to read some Shakespeare before I go to bed tonight, so I am going to sign off for the evening, and the month. (I swear!!!)

Roses and Balloons, (and pillows, to break the fall of the very nice glass thingy that's falling off the shelf...)

Jennifer

:-)