Monday, it is...

It was a strangely busy-feeling weekend.

The center piece of the weekend was the Alice in Chains show on Saturday night, of course. Great show, truly kicked ass. Of course, as with any band of that nature that EVERYONE seemed to like at some point, the meathead brigade was out in force.

For example: Meathead in your Sox hat and carrying a cigarette and a 5th of Jim Beam around the floor. Security is not going to climb all the way out there to eject you for smoking. They just won't. I know it says "No Smoking" on just about every exposed surface of the Aragon, but you will get away with it. However, I know it's just there to make you look "cool," and the booze just to give to underage girls.

Second example: Dear Mr. over 60 and wearing a brand-spanking-new, hot off the rack, Metallica COVER BAND t-shirt. One, concert shirts are only cool once they're worn in a bit. Two, farting in a crowded space, especially the raunchy gas you were spreading, just makes me wonder if you have Depends on. Three, you blocked my wife's view for pretty much the entire show, which is fine, it's par for the course, but then offering to move so the two 16/17 year old girls could see just exposes you as a closet pederast.

This might make it sound like a crappy experience, not so.

The band was in top form, and the opener (who's name was something that involved the words "Middle Class") played a concise set, and gleefully antagonized the crowd. I was really impressed with the show itself. William DuVall ably took the forntman position, and frankly I love the chemistry he has with Jerry Cantrell and the rest of the band. They seemed to be really having fun playing together again, and, I can say, there's not a hint of opportunism in this reunion.

Yes, Layne Staley has passed away, and if this new line-up had come shortly after his passing, or if there was a sense of musical chairs in the rest of the group, I might have felt different. They waited a respectful amount of time, and they wanted to play together. Really, the truth is, Alice in Chains is Jerry Cantrell's band. He's the driving force, and the creative source. It's obvious on stage, and when you really think about how many of the lead vocals he's handled over the course of their career, as well as being the guitarist and songwriter.

The new album is quite amazing, and the show lived up to it. Honestly, I have rather heard a few more new tracks, and less of the classic numbers. Still watching the crowd go nuts when they whipped into "Man in the Box," or "Would?" was worth it.

The rest of the weekend...

Went to a birthday party for a short while on Friday (Happy Birthday, Ian!), and Saturday did the usual errands. New Belt that I like quite a bit. New Microwave I like even more. The old one had to be almost 30 years old. I cooked a couple of hot dogs in it, and damn near blew them up, because this just has so much more power.

Sunday laundry, as usual, then I broke the vacuum, and we had to run back to Target to replace it. Again, kinda blown away by how much better the new one worked.

I did manage to work on music. (Yep. Still working on that same track...) I felt pretty good about it last night, but on the train this AM, I started thinking about things to do differently, and...well, I think the guitar track will get re-worked again. I keep thinking, if I can just get this track right, then the project as a whole will start falling into place.

I really do wish I had a band to work off of, I really do.

(214 BILLIONTH time I've whined about that...)