Posts Tagged ‘Rock Band’

Things seem to be getting easier. While I’m still mildly hungry most of the time, Friday went a lot better than Thursday, at least as far as the detox went. It probably helped that I spent $35 at Go Raw Cafe on lunch for a few days, snacks and a smoothie. Seriously, their food is awesome, all raw, all vegan, all natural and creatively arranged in ways you would never expect to taste so amazing, but it is. Even if you think the idea of a raw “pizza” or “pasta” made only with veggies, fruits, nuts and seeds sounds gross, TRY IT. You’d be surprised what you can do with a little soaked almonds or rolled oats.

However, what did suck yesterday was my left eye, which has been kind of tender all week, but Friday morning I woke up with that eyelid a bit swollen. Thankfully, my eye doctor’s office got me in within an hour of calling. Turns out I had the beginning of a sty, caused by a blockage in any one of the 50 glands in our eyelids that produce the eye’s self-cleaning fluid. The doctor relived some of the pressure with a needle — and if you’ve never had a needle poked at your eye, I don’t recommend trying it — and sent me off with instructions to do a warm compress for 10-15 minutes each day. I did that last night, and the left eye seems to be better today, though I’m eschewing wearing my contacts for a while until it’s 100 percent. So, as my friend Mark pointed out at band practice today, I will continue looking like a ’60s college professor for a while longer.

Last night’s 10-year reunion of The Three Wise Guys (Geoff Carter, Gregory Crosby and Dayvid Figler) at the Griffin went pretty well. A huge crowd turned out to fill the bar’s back room, where Geoff read from his forthcoming novel, Gregory reminded us why his words are inscribed on the Poetry Bridge downtown, and Dayvid told a funny, touching and heartbreaking tale of his father’s final day on Christmas last year. It was great to see so many people who I hadn’t seen all together in almost 15 years in one room — and shockingly, we all seem to be relatively healthy and possibly better-looking than we were then. It was an honor to serve as the emcee for the event, even if I forgot to make proper announcements and my shtick was a little weak.

Today, Mark and I jammed with a potential new bass player for As Yet Unbroken. Our singer not being available, I had to “sing” while playing drums to set the timing of the songs. It was pretty disastrous. But the bassist is solid, has great gear, and seems like a swell guy, so hopefully we didn’t scare him off.

That’s all to report thus far. I have some comic business to take care of around here, and maybe a nap before heading to my pal Scott’s house to play Rock Band — sober. We’ll see how that goes.

Here’s yesterday’s menu, to the best of my memory:

• Breakfast: 1 small caro-bana smoothie from Go Raw (banana, carob, dates, tahini)
• Lunch: 1 half-order veggie wraps from Go Raw (pesto, almond “cheese”, tomato, sprouts, onions, cucumbers and carrots wrapped in collard greens) with their house slaw
• Afternoon snack: 1 piece raw “fudge” (I think these are mostly rolled oats, honey and carob — and they are the most awesome things ever)
• Dinner: 1 bowl homemade vegetable stew
• Evening snack: 1 piece raw “fudge” (couldn’t help myself), 1 gala apple, 1 cup “Dynamo” juice blend
• Beverages: Aside from the aforementioned stuff, just water, except for a few ounces of Naked “Super Food” juice blend

A preview from this week's "The Utopian"

Harrah’s Rock Band competitions and As Yet Unbroken shows aside, I’ve been somewhat of a recluse lately, as between the regular freelance journalism gigs, I’ve been spending just about every waking minute working on writing of a different kind: Comic books. In addition to wrapping up a series pitch about which I’ve only mentioned in hushed tones publicly, you should be vaguely aware of the weekly digital comic series I launched last week at the all-new Pop! Goes the Icon, The Utopian. The newest installment is live and ready for your enjoyment (or disappointment).

In addition, I penned a blog post over at PGTI pulling back the curtain to reveal the process that goes into the making of even the seemingly simplest webcomic. Because, you know, why not?

Allegedly, I have a review in the current issue of What’s On Las Vegas, though I haven’t seen it yet. The magazine, I mean.

What’s my point? Oh. Yeah, so I’ve been busy doing all this other nonsense, and in the meantime, I have about a half-dozen saved drafts of blog posts with titles such as “L.A. Story” and “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood” sitting on the back end of this site, just waiting for my completion, as well as a spreadsheet full of upcoming art-related events needing attention for my Las Vegas Fine Arts Examiner gig.

I’m flying off to the Midwest for five days, which means none of these things will get much attention, because I could really use a mental break. But I will have a notebook and sketchbook with me, so hopefully all that time either cooped up in airplanes or surrounded by lakes and trees will shake out some junk trapped up in this noggin of mine. When I return, well, I’ll be hard at work but that’ll just give you kids something more to look at. So there.

Hey, remember I wrote that I’d be singing with my fake band, SP7.3, at the Harrah’s Total Rock, Total Rewards “Rock Band” competition on Tuesday?

Yeah, that’s done.

Scott, Cindi, Josh and I brought the thunder and tore up the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.” While at least three other “bands” chose Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Give it Away” in order to rack up millions of points to like, win or something, we decided to put more emphasis on performance and not worry about silly things like scoring or whatever. And … hell, we got a better reception that my REAL band usually does! (Ha, just kidding Tim, Mark and Rick! Really! Don’t fire me!)

I’ll eschew the boring details and go right into the video and photos, because, well, that’s why you’re here, right?

In case there are any doubts of my ability to rock, LOOK AT THAT FACE.

You’d think it would be enough for me to play in a real rock band (As Yet Unbroken, for those not paying attention). But no, because of my insatiable appetite for filling my days with more stuff to do than time allots, I’ve signed on with my friends Scott and Cynthia and my brother Joshua to compete in a Harrah’s Entertainment-sponsored Rock Band competition. Our group, called SP7.3, will be performing Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” as well as whatever mystery track the judges choose for us on Tuesday, April 14, sometime around 9:30 p.m. at the Carnaval Court just outside the Harrah’s Las Vegas hotel & casino.

Why is the group called SP7.3? Well, Scott and I, along with Brian Henry, formed a group called Side Project Seven (SP7) a few years ago. After Brian dropped out, my former bandmate Ryan Couevas (guitarist in Rahne and keyboardist in Morgana Athena) temporarily joined, entering the genesis of SP7.2. So, logically, our latest endeavor — which is not really an endeavor at all — is verson 3.

Also, I haven’t owned or used a video game system since the late 1980s, when my family had a Sega Genesis. So I’m pretty out of touch with gaming in general. But Scott’s house (where I used to dwell as well) is something like a distraction wonderland, with multiple gaming systems, giant TV, pinball machines and plenty of liquor, so inevitably, if you’re hanging at Scott’s house, you’re playing games (and probably drinking). Thus my entry into the world of virtual music groups.

I’m not great on Rock Band guitar or bass (I have too short an attention span for matching colored dots), but adequate on drums (you know, like I am in AYU) and ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL on vocals. I will be ready for either. So come cheer us on, buy us drinks and sing along if you’re in Las Vegas next Tuesday. Or just laugh at our expense. It’s sure to be good times either way.