This Has Been a Good Week

I know I just wrote a personal post yesterday, but I’ve received some good news since then.

Y’all… I was really brave and took a chance and now I have three more interviews heading your way! So if you’re reading this, you should definitely check out Awesome Ray Ray , Call of Sirens, and Empire Springs (who I actually just encouraged you to follow in my last “3 Bands/Artists You Should Be Following”).

Also, please make sure to read my interview with Wes of Ancient Sins!

And send positive thoughts my way: I’m working on Black Friday. Ughhh.

I hope all of you are doing well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope all of you are enjoying your day, whatever it is you have chosen to do to celebrate. I myself am having lunch at my grandmother’s. I’m pretty sure we’re having barbecue instead of turkey or ham, but that’s okay: I got my fill of turkey and ham at work last week.

I guess I should do a things-I’m-thankful-for list, right? Hmm…

I’m thankful for family, both blood and otherwise, and my wonderful friends. I’m thankful for my amazing coworkers (even if I sometimes hate the job itself). I’m thankful that my brother and his wife are going to be able to visit in February; it’s been really hard since they moved to Colorado. I’m thankful for music and concerts and the fact that I get to see my favorites – Alter Bridge – for the ninth time in January.

I’m sure I could go on, but those are the things that top my list. If you’re reading this, tell me something you’re thankful for!!!!

It’s Already November?! Well, Here’s How October Went…

Where has the time gone? 2023 is a little under two months away… That’s crazy.

The last few weeks I’ve been slacking. My posts have mainly been song of the day posts, or new music alerts. I haven’t had the energy to do much else. Between working and being sick – sick, on my favorite holiday! the outrage! – it’s all I can do to post every day. However, I think that will change soon. I’m feeling better, a ton of tour announcements have hit social media, and I have a few movies, shows, and books to write about. Keep your eyes open for some variation in my content!

Now I’m going to finish “The Watcher” on Netflix. But let me leave y’all with a few pictures from Halloween, the Brother Cane concert, and the Gunshine/Seven Year Witch/Magnolia Bayou show! My October in a nutshell.

Motivation Monday – Asking Alexandria: “Alone in a Room”

It’s been a minute since I shared one of these posts, but I’ve been needing a pick-me-up and I figured I could share another song that’s helped me over the past few years.

I really love the message behind “Alone in a Room,” because it focuses more on coming to terms with yourself, your flaws and mistakes and all of the things we don’t exactly want to face. Sometimes, we only have ourselves to blame, and that’s a hard pill to swallow.

Back in my darkest days, when I was convinced I’d never shake my overwhelming sense of unhappiness, I heard this song for the first time. And it woke me up to a few things I had to work on, things no one else could fix for me. I played it on repeat, along with the other tracks I’ve written about, and it granted me a light at the end of the tunnel.

Check out the acoustic version here.

“Alone in a Room”

I’ve been away a little while
Sometimes I just can’t help myself
When my mind’s running wild
I seem to lose grip on reality
And I try to disregard
The crazy things the voices tell me to do
But it’s no use
I tried to own it, write songs about it
Believe me, I’ve tried; in the end, I needed to breathe
Find inspiration, some kind of purpose
To take a second to face the shit that makes me, me

All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To sit alone in a room and say it all out loud
Every moment, every second, every trespass
Every awful thing, every broken dream
A couple years back and forth with myself in a cage
Banging my head against the wall, tryna put words on a page
All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To be alone in a room, alone in a room

I saw the world a couple times
Tried to cure the ache with absence
But that hole was still a hole
And my mind kept playing tricks on me
Feeling older every day
Took everything I had to not crash and burn
But I’m starting to learn
Sometimes I’ll fall down, sometimes I’ll lose hope
But those days will be few if I keep my feet on the ground
I might be lonely, but I ain’t alone here
So I keep pushing the limits of what makes me me

All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To sit alone in a room and say it all out loud
Every moment, every second, every trespass
Every awful thing, every broken dream
A couple years back and forth with myself in a cage
Banging my head ‘gainst the wall, tryna put words on a page
All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To be alone in a room, alone in a room

I can be better than I was
I can be better than I am
All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To sit alone in a room

All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To sit alone in a room and say it all out loud
Every moment, every second, every trespass
Every awful thing, every broken dream
A couple years back and forth with myself in a cage
Banging my head ‘gainst the wall, tryna put words on a page
All I needed was the last thing I wanted
To be alone in a room, alone in a room

Positive Vibes!

The last two weeks have been really good.

Five days after seeing Shinedown in Knoxville, I went to the Spiritbox, Mastodon, and Ghost show in Huntsville. Ghost had been on my bucket list for a while, and they did not disappoint! It was fun and a little cheesy and I loved every minute of it (especially The Nameless Ghouls wrapping up their guitar duel with the instantly recognizable riff to “Sweet Home Alabama”).

And now, the days are shortening, the temperature is dropping, horror movies are starting to come on…fall is returning. Last Saturday, the college football season kicked off (ha!) and my favorite team – the Crimson Tide, of course – annihilated Utah State. We play Texas this weekend. I hope we stomp them into the ground!

Mom and I ventured out on our first quest for Halloween things on Monday. We already have our The Nightmare Before Christmas pajamas from Wal-Mart. (We buy a set every year.) I found some cute sweats that say “HalloQueen” and socks with Jack Skellington and Zero on them. Oh, and my parents got me some Hocus Pocus sleep pants for my birthday. Now I just need the Spirit of Halloween near here to open. Actually, on second thought, maybe not. Lol. I always spend too much money in there.

I’ll update y’all on my reading challenge soon, and I’m aiming to post a “3 Bands/Artists You Should Be Following” next week. I don’t have any big plans, so I should have time to sit down and put it all together.

I hope this blog finds all of you well, and Roll Tide!

Shinedown in Knoxville (Photos)

Last weekend was exhausting, but totally worth it. Saturday, my friend Chris and I drove up to Knoxville. We had dinner at a Mexican place on Market Square and walked around for a while – all the way to the river, actually – before heading to our hotel. After a couple of movies, we went to bed, only to get back up at 7 a.m. on Sunday.

We drove around the campus of the university, explored Ijams Nature Center, visited both the Knoxville National Cemetery and the Old Gray Cemetery, then we had lunch at a BBQ place. Finally, we headed over to Thompson-Boling Arena to begin the wait for Shinedown.

It was miserably hot, we got rained on, and we were on the turf of one of my favorite college football team’s rivals, but I can’t complain. We were front row, on guitarist Zach Myers’ side of the stage, which was perfectly fine with me 😉

I’m not going to wax poetic about how amazing the show was. Just believe me when I say that Shinedown puts on one of the best performances in live music right now. They are so energetic, the band is tight, and front man Brent Smith’s vocals are… Well, you’ve heard him sing, right? Plus, openers Diamante and Dorothy both killed it as well.

It was a hometown show for Brent, and it was magical. The energy was electric. And to top it all off, the mayor of Knox County – who happens to be WWE Hall of Famer Kane, aka Glenn Jacobs – made an appearance. He presented Brent with the key to the city, stating that Knoxville is proud of all that Shinedown has accomplished and really appreciates the band’s inspirational and positive message.

Despite the fact that I was deliriously tired and we had to drive home following the concert, I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. So here are some pictures (and a link to a video I took), just to give y’all a glimpse into the experience. If you have the chance to see Shinedown, DO IT!

First and foremost: “Second Chance” (full song, live) At the beginning, Zach is messing with his lip, then he abruptly starts singing and it is so cute.

Didn’t Want To Lose My Streak

So I’m not doing my usual concert announcement and/or song of the day because I am in Knoxville, anxiously awaiting the Shinedown show tonight, but I will be back tomorrow!

It’s Friday, I’m in…a Funk

Not the best blog title, but it matches my mood.

A little over two weeks ago, I went to Atlanta for the Freaks on Parade Tour. The show was my early birthday gift from one of my best friends, and it was everything I could have hoped for. I had waited 20 years to see Powerman 5000, Static-X, and Mudvayne – and though Rob Zombie wasn’t who I was there for, his set was fun. (John 5 stole the show, in my opinion, but I’m biased: I’ve loved him since he was with Manson.)

I even have an entire sob story about my past attempt to see Mudvayne. I won tickets to the Summer Sanitarium Tour that featured them, Deftones, Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, and, of course, Metallica. Well, we arrived late and missed all of Mudvayne’s set. Then they broke up and I never thought I’d see them live. But I got to see them on their first tour back together!

After the show, I took a chance and messaged one of the guitarists from Powerman 5000 on Facebook. I just made the simple statement that I would have liked to have met him, but maybe next time. He replied “Have you left yet?” and after a short exchange, he made his way to the entrance of the Live Nation Lounge to say hi. I was over the moon. Yeah, he’s not an original member of the band, but who cares? I still met a member of PM5K 🙂

I put a filter on him and he said he didn’t even care that it made him “girl pretty.” Lol.

But since then… I dunno. I’ve been depressed. I’m not super happy at work, my love life is non-existent, my best friend of 20 (almost 21) years is all the way in Kentucky, my brother is in Colorado. And maybe some of it has to do with my birthday being this week. I didn’t bat an eyelash when I turned 30, but for some reason, 35 is bothering me more than it should.

So I’m posting this blog in the hopes that writing it all out will help, or perhaps one of my readers will have some sage advice on how to deal with getting older. Just don’t say “you’re still young!” I’ve heard that a lot recently and it doesn’t make me feel any better.

I hope everyone else is having a fantastic August! The next thing I have to look forward to is jury duty. Woohoo…

Unproductive Week

I feel like I didn’t achieve much this week. I worked a lot, and attempted to discuss some issues with my superiors but got absolutely nowhere. I did laundry – even folded it and put it away within 24 hours! Lol.

My biggest achievement was probably getting my dad’s birthday gift taken care of. See, whenever possible, I like to take my parents to concerts for things such as birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s/Father’s Day, etc. Well, Brother Cane is coming to town two days before my dad’s birthday, and Dad has been a big fan of them for years. He and my brother have seen Damon Johnson, but Dad has never had the chance to see the full band. I’m not sure how many original members remain; however, now that they’ve reunited and decided to tour, I couldn’t let the opportunity pass. So Mom and I are taking him to the show.

On a personal high note: my employees gave me an award this week for “building strong relationships” and “always putting my employees first.” Normally the awards come from upper management, but two of my employees asked if they could personally present me with one. It’s the most meaningful thing I have received since I started working there a little over two years ago ❤️

I hope this post finds all of you well, and that your weeks are going better than mine. Surely next week will be an improvement. After all, I am going to stay with a friend in Georgia and we’re going to see Powerman 5000, Static-X, Mudvayne, and Rob Zombie!

My Kentucky Vacation (June 2022)

I spent four days in Kentucky with my best friends this week. They moved up there just over a year ago, and it’s been really hard. I miss them like crazy!

It was nice to get away, if only for a short while. We went out and explored some areas of interest, including the historical community of West Point and a pet cemetery that was on the way to Shepherdsville. But our big adventure was a trip to Bernheim Forest.

If you don’t know about this forest, it is located in Clermont and covers more than 16,000 acres. It is a wildlife sanctuary, an arboretum, a campsite. There are miles and miles of trails to hike and things to see. What Bernheim Forest has become known for, though, is the giants.

Created by Thomas Dambo, the trio of giants are made from local recycled wood and are positioned throughout the area. It was an absolute delight discovering each one, though the map we were given at the entrance left something to be desired – it took us much longer to find the last two giants than it should have. Still, there was plenty to do along the way.

If you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend a visit to Bernheim Forest. We had a lot of fun, and my friends’ kids loved the giants!