Light at the End of the Tunnel

"I haven't felt the way, I feel today, in so long, it's hard for me to specify..." Hearing Brandon Boyd sing those lyrics from "Nice to Know You" at the Incubus concert in South Carolina last Friday really hit me because it was my first concert since the pandemic started and also my first concert in about 4 years. It was also my first road trip for a concert since 2018 when I drove to Pennsylvania to see Johnny Depp play with Hollywood Vampires. 

So I did a bit of a whirlwind road trip just to see Incubus, approximately 7 hours down Friday and 7 hours back Saturday. And whirlwind is a pretty accurate description because it was quite windy, I could feel it blowing the vehicle as I was driving.

Oh by the way, since my last entry I actually got a new vehicle about a month after writing that blog. My old 2002 Chevy Cavalier died in the snow on the way to work one morning that February. That car lasted me almost 19 years! It took me on many road trips and adventures. But now I have a new steed, a 2021 Chevy Equinox, and I love it. I even drove it all the way to Florida and back last summer for a family vacation. Road trips are kind of liberating to me, especially when I can blast my music the whole time. And with my new Equinox and the technology differences adjusting from my 2002 car, I now use the Amazon Music Unlimited app on my phone to listen when I drive. I made an 8-hour Incubus playlist for my trip to SC so I wouldn't even have to touch it. 

Let me back track a little bit... I bought a ticket to this show in February because they only had a handful of dates scheduled for awhile and I kept eyeing that SC show, thinking how I had taken several road trips to SC in the past so it was familiar. And I worried that those summer tour dates that were canceled in 2020 would never come, so when I read a post in an Incubus fan group that basically spoke my thoughts, I commented and this other fan persuaded me to go for it. So I got a ticket and made a new friend from Ohio at the Incubus show in South Carolina. 

What's funny is, the Monday right before this show they announced a summer tour and in 2020 they were coming to Jiffy Lube Live, which is convenient to me. But I'm assuming that venue was booked already so they're coming to Merriweather Post Pavilion, where I saw them in 2001 with Moby's Area One Festival, AND After Hours, which is super close to me and kind of a smaller scale outdoor concert setup. I was super excited! So I got tickets to both and my tickets for Merriweather are pretty close, about the same as this SC show, but my tickets for After Hours are in the third row! I'm so happy about it! And I got the VIP package for that show since it's the closest to me and also a smaller venue so I thought that would make it even better. I got the same one I had back in 2020 that got canceled, so I'm supposed to see the pre-show jam and do the meet and greet. So it seems like the 2-year wait and disappointment of 2020 might end up working out for the better! 

Besides Incubus, then I also found out Duran Duran is playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion in August right around my 40^th birthday. Yep, already got tickets for that too. Those are not close seats but it’s hard and expensive to get close seats for Duran Duran. It will be like my 5^th or 6^th time seeing them and they are my favorite band EVER, so it is perfect for my bday. I also already started planning some fun to celebrate my 40^th… I’m going to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant in Baltimore, which I’ve been wanting to try ever since it opened, and then do a moonlight sailboat ride in the harbor with a few friends. So I’m looking forward to a lot of fun this summer.

Let’s see, what else did I do since my last post? I got to see the Van Gogh Immersive Experience in DC in December. That was very cool. I got a new crush on Adam Driver after developing a crush on Kylo Ren, after experiencing the Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at Disney World hahaha. I already liked the movies, but I don’t know, something about that animatronic Kylo Ren and then later a live actor in costume made me realize I kinda had a thing for the character. So then I got on an Adam Driver kick, which is what I usually do anytime I like an actor or musician. Then I watch or listen to everything they’ve ever done. The cool thing is, Adam Driver had 3 pretty big movies come out last year after theaters started opening back up. And I got hooked on “Annette” from the first trailer I saw and that came out on my 39^th birthday. It was the first movie I saw in the theater since the pandemic and I love it. It’s very unique and you should check it out on Amazon Prime. Then later I also went to the theater to see his movies, “The Last Duel” and “House of Gucci.” “Duel” is very good but also very sensitive so it’s not for the faint of heart. “Gucci” was good but honestly of these 3 films, it was the least impressive for me.

As for some of my other actor crushes, I am stoked about Ewan McGregor in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show coming on Disney Plus in May. “Phantom Menace” was the first thing I ever saw him in and I instantly fell for him and have been a fan ever since. Also, Cillian Murphy is back for the final season of “Peaky Blinders.” It’s already out on BBC but I’m eagerly awaiting it to be on Netflix after the long wait due to the pandemic delaying things.

Now let me circle back to music… In my last post, I mentioned Brandon Boyd writing a type of blog back in the day and emailing these entries to subscribers. Well he recently started doing this again! (Are you reading MY blog Brandon? Did I have some influence on this?) Or maybe it’s just things cycling back around as they do, just like I am with writing here as well. Whatever the reason, I’m enjoying it! I’ve also been following his project “Moonlight Arts Collective” and just purchased my first Brandon Boyd art! It’s also a collaboration with Sarah Hay, the lovely ballerina featured in the art, and Brian Bowen Smith, the photographer. I got “Tiny Dancer III” which is the one with blue and rainbow colors. I was debating between that and the gold one, but the colorful one fits me better. I don’t want to post a photo because I’m not sure about copyright and all that when it comes to art and I always try to be respectful of music and film rights as far as paying artists for their work, so I will share a link to the Moonlight Arts Collective where you can view and purchase the art. moonlightartscollective.com 

It was actually delivered on Friday when I was driving down to SC for the Incubus show so I was a little worried because sometimes I have delivery issues at my condo building. But luckily they used UPS, who is usually good to me. We’re not going to talk about Fedex… So I was happy to find my artwork safe and sound waiting at my door when I got home on Saturday. It is beautiful and my first piece of real authentic artwork too. I got number 46 of 100. I need to get a frame for it, right now it’s just safely stashed away so my cats don’t mess with it. Also, on the subject of art, I still need to get myself back into exploring my own painting creations. I have some of the supplies, but I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. But I WILL.

Brandon also released his solo album and I really love the video for “More Better.” That is also my favorite track on the album. Some others I like are “Dime in My Dryer,” “Ad Infinitum,” and “New Dark Age.” It is quite different so some people like it, some people don’t, but those are the songs that struck my attention so far. I bought the mp3 album from Amazon so I could listen in my app and I also decided to order the vinyl mainly just for a keepsake and because I like the album artwork. I don’t have a record player but I have a few records on vinyl of my favorite artists like Filter, U2 and Duran Duran.

Now back to the Incubus concert, if you are still reading after all my rambling… I took a few pics with my phone and they all came out blurry so I just put a few in here that were the most decent of them, which still weren’t good. However, I am very happy about the good sound quality I got in my videos. The visual isn’t great again, also because I don’t like to be obnoxious and hold my phone up high a long time and block other people’s view. So you’re basically seeing the concert from my perspective and height haha. I will post them here and you can also see them on my youtube channel. youtube.com/user/mewzak

I regretted not recording, “Nice to Know You” but I think at that point in the show I was still soaking it all in. Later I found someone else got a video of that song though so it’s cool I can still savor the moment. I got a clip of "Stellar" which is one of my faves. I was psyched that they played "Sick Sad Little World" and got the whole thing! It was my first time hearing that live in person, but I had seen performances on youtube before so I knew it was awesome live. I got the second half of "In the Company of Wolves" cuz I LOVE that groove. Then another amazing surprise was "Defiance!" That was a treat. And last but not least, I got the closer of the encore, "Warning" another fave. And I made sure to keep recording for the group bow at the end! Some other highlights on the setlist were “Karma Come Back” and “Glitterbomb.” Those both sounded great live and are a few of their newer tracks since the last time I saw them in 2012 at the DC101 Chili Cookoff. I also loved hearing "Quicksand" and "State of the Art." The new friend I made managed to get a setlist from the stage afterwards.

So that’s another thing, I had seen Incubus 4 times before but always at festivals. This was my first just Incubus show and I’m so glad I ended up going with them being the only band because I feel like I got to experience a longer set and some special treats that they may not play on the summer tour with Sublime with Rome and The Aquadolls. I need to check out the Aquadolls but of course I know Sublime, so I’m looking forward to seeing them on the summer tour as well. I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get to see 311 though, who was supposed to tour with them for the 2020 shows.

I feel like this blog has ADHD so forgive me if I’m skipping all over the place. I used to write these the day after the show back in the day but now I’m getting older and life distracts so I’ve been doing bits and pieces of this at different times and it’s already been a week since the show! But I’m also out of practice because I haven’t been going to concerts like I used to back then. So far this summer is looking very promising on that front though, so hopefully I will be posting several more blog entries in the coming months.

What else regarding this particular concert adventure? Well my road trip was fairly smooth so there’s not much to share about that, but my new friend from Ohio and I did have a little bit of traveling drama at the hotel. It took forever to get a room. They were very backed up. I mean I have never seen a hotel lobby full of people waiting for rooms. She had been there for a few hours already before I got there, so we waited about an hour at that point and then went to get dinner at Bonefish Grill, which was nice. Then by the time we got back they had rooms ready but we still had to wait in line. I think we had maybe 30 to 45 minutes to chill before we needed to start heading toward the concert. But I will say the guy working the front desk was a champ and he ended up giving us free breakfast which was very yummy the next morning. The cool thing was this hotel had a nice walking path to the venue. It was like a raised wood bridge over a swamp so it was like a little nature walk. I had brought a small flashlight with me as a precaution but they had it well lit. We did joke about alligators though. So I got plenty of walking in after my road trip, which was a good thing.

Speaking of the flashlight, another new thing for me was the clear bag policy for the concert. That’s something that has changed since all my previous concert adventures. I’m glad I found out about it beforehand so I ordered a clear purse from Amazon. I feel like I’m really promoting them in this blog… I’m cool with the bag policy though, it’s all in the interest of safety.

As far as the weather that night, they were calling for scattered thunderstorms. We got lucky on that too. It drizzled a little when we were outside but mostly we were good. A storm came through while we were eating dinner in the restaurant but cleared up when we were leaving to go back to the hotel. Then it stormed during the concert but cleared up when we were leaving afterwards. The only thing that disappointed me was there was a full moon that night and you couldn’t see it.

Incubus put on a great show. The band sounded awesome, the sound in the venue was perfect quality, and they also had nice lighting effects. The place seemed a little fancy for a rock concert but it was a nice venue. The crowd was sold out, which I found out afterwards, and it was just satisfying to be in that positive energy again. People were singing along and rocking out and it filled me with a sense of hope and anticipation for more concerts this year and life getting better after the last few years of disarray.

Here's to the future…

The 7-Year Itch

So it’s been about 7 years since I’ve posted a blog entry… What persuaded me to post now? Well, in a roundabout way Brandon Boyd of the band Incubus inspired me. I ordered his 3 books around my birthday in August and just recently got around to reading them all. I ordered them because at the beginning of 2020 I had bought a ticket and a meet and greet package for an Incubus concert that was supposed to happen in the summer and we all know those plans got canceled due to the pandemic. So the books were my treat to try to give me a little substitute for missing out on that experience.

Brandon's books which you can purchase at brandonboyd.me

Now I’ve been a fan of Incubus since 1999 and had the pleasure of seeing them in concert in 2001 at HFStival. Seeing them live made me love the band even more. I remember Brandon with his dreads at the time, not only singing, but playing a didgeridoo and rocking out on a djembe drum, and I instantly had a crush. Anyone who knows me knows I get crushes rather easily. But he was one of my fascinations from that point on.

He used to have an email list you could subscribe to and he would send out emails at the time, similar to what a blog is nowadays, with random journal entries he would write. I used to love reading those emails. He’s a very deep, enlightened human being with a great perspective on the world and he’s also quite amusing too. His thoughts make me think and also radiate a positive energy. If you’ve listened to any Incubus music, it’s also evident in his clever lyric writing.

I didn’t intend for this to be all about Incubus but I might as well tell the whole story since I started… I got to see Incubus again at Moby’s Area One Festival in 2001 as well I believe. He had cut off his dreads at that point. Then I saw them in 2003 at Lollapalooza and my last time was in 2012 at the DC101 Chili Cookoff. So I’ve never actually been to a full Incubus show, it’s been kind of an inside joke that if I went to a music festival, Incubus was there.

Something drew me back to them early last year. I think it was the release of their new song “Our Love” and I really liked the video for it too. Then I found that YouTube has a ton of live concerts and music content now, and with the help of my RokuTV I got hooked on watching music videos and live performances and even found a few years of music I had missed out on. They have continued to be a comfort for me during this pandemic.

So back to Brandon Boyd’s books… They are full of his art, journal entries and randomness. Yes, he also paints and makes art in addition to fronting a band. This is interesting to me now especially because after my divorce I found a love for painting. So going through his books made me realize something about myself… Since I was a kid I loved writing. I wrote stories during elementary and middle school age, then in high school I leaned more toward music so my words delved more into writing poetry or possible song lyrics. I also got into journalism from taking that class and working on the school newspaper during high school. So my writing transformed into journalistic styles as well.

In reading some of Brandon’s writing, he started out with art and then later got into writing and then music. For me I started with writing, then got into music, and much later found art. These connections are what inspired me to write this blog today. I realized I hadn’t written in a long, long time and it’s my most familiar form of creative self-expression. I don’t know if all creative types delve into all the forms of the arts, but maybe many of us do experiment with different forms. I still love music, but making music isn’t my strongest talent. I wish I was better at songwriting and performing music, but perhaps it’s not my deepest calling. Writing is the easiest or most natural thing for me so I really should get back to it more often. Even if it is just blogging, it’s something.

So to fill in the gap a little bit from my last blog entry about 7 years ago… What happened in 7 years? Well I got married and divorced, got a new job, got 2 new cats after my former 2 passed away, still live in my condo and still drive the same car. My 2002 Chevy was given a 1-2 year life expectancy last year though, so I’m trying to hold off another year or so before having to buy a new one, just so I can catch up on some debt first. Those are the boring life details haha. I didn’t go to many concerts during that time period… I did get to see Dead Sara, Kiss, Transiberian Orchestra and Hollywood Vampires. I think those were it besides my ex’s band. You can catch up on some videos from all of those on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/mewzak

Back to art and such… As I mentioned earlier, after my divorce I discovered painting. This actually started with the fad of these little painting and sipping wine places popping up. I decided to try one at Painting with a Twist and loved it. Unfortunately the location near me closed permanently during the pandemic, but I went there about once a month for about a year to make paintings and sip on a few glasses of wine. I started out with the instructor-led classes but then found I preferred the open studio classes where people are doing different paintings of their choice from the selections and given an example to reference and minimal instruction. I liked going at my own pace and figuring out how to do it on my own with a few tips more than going by the pace of an instructor and the whole class doing the same painting. This became a sort of creative therapy for me. It was a way for me to be expressive and create something I can keep hanging on my walls.

I also tried a paint pouring class once that a lady just did out of her own home. I really enjoyed that but I’ve been wanting to experiment more with it. Whereas regular painting focuses more on the details and usually trying to copy or mimic something, such as trees, the moon, water, and other landscape imagery I did at Painting with a Twist, paint pouring is almost the opposite. It’s more random or chaotic, a sense of letting go and letting it morph into its own thing, and I really liked that too. You can pick the colors or the framework so to speak, but the end result is mostly out of your control. It’s strangely releasing to find beauty in the chaos. I recently finally got most of my own supplies to try more of that on my own at home and also do some more regular painting on my own. I might share some pictures of my creations on here in the future.

Besides painting, I also got into wine. Perhaps Painting with a Twist started that little spark, and then the pandemic ignited it. Not in the way you would think necessarily… My former bass guitar teacher runs a winery and I saw posts on Facebook about struggles with the state of things, so I joined their wine club to help support a friend’s small business, and in return I’ve learned about different kinds of wine and found out which ones I like. Rogers Ford Farm Winery is also off a back road, secluded kind of in the country, in the woods and an old farmhouse tasting room. The setting was a welcome stress reliever over the past year as well.

My other best therapy during the pandemic was nature therapy. I have been walking in the woods at Alum Springs Park about once a month since this craziness began and it’s been my breath of fresh air to have some quiet moments amongst the trees and babbling springs and scampering squirrels and I even had a magical encounter with a deer one morning. I like going earlier in the mornings before more people show up. Sometimes I’ve been the only one there at the time and it’s very peaceful.

I think that’s all I have to say for tonight… Until next time.

My Rockin Boyfriend Ronnie Dixon: Digging up some of his bands from the past

I decided to do a blog post of some of the bands my boyfriend used to be in. I used to go to some of these shows. There's quite a bit for Method of Friction that you can find online, but the other one, Dirty Sanchez, is from about 10 years back and pretty rare. So check out Ronnie Dixon rockin out on guitar.

http://youtu.be/9i_JdwOnruo


http://youtu.be/yPt9DqPsEvc


http://youtu.be/rDMRIjd71Fk


http://youtu.be/XWLBm3l0ONs


http://youtu.be/4_seG8NYQWg


http://youtu.be/zVv0zt2SW2E


http://youtu.be/IQ5XbSArdyY


http://youtu.be/9_bSnmwSvrs

Fuel and Tantric in Fredericksburg

Hard Times Cafe in Fredericksburg, VA, my home town, has been getting some bigger acts in this year. I got to catch Fuel there in May and Tantric in June. It's been awhile since I posted a blog due to being busy with my personal life and a new job, so I haven't had the chance for any big concerts lately. But luckily a few decent ones came to me so I was able to go. Both bands were rocking and it was a good time. Here are some pics and videos from those shows. Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/nync8-3V708

http://youtu.be/k4h72sUdvyE

My favorite Fuel song. 

http://youtu.be/9sUbyFH8ldA

http://youtu.be/kaq_2VMNuRA

http://youtu.be/VtBT67_mZSQ

I loved the bottom of his mic stand.

http://youtu.be/1j8IMazpZpI

http://youtu.be/o8gHeF-Ec_8


http://youtu.be/mUx4JKXA-TE


http://youtu.be/Yw2WMwpKMc4

Farewell Filter/Thank You Dido

A lot has happened in my life the past few months, which is what delayed this blog posting. This will be my last blog entry regarding Filter. I will still keep my blog, because "mewzak" is MY blog. I just used it as one of many tools to help promote one of my favorite bands that I've been especially focused on the past few years. I will not get into personal details, except that the reason I will no longer be going to Filter shows or posting blogs about them, IS just that, personal.

The first week of June I went to 4 Filter shows and it was also the new album release week for "The Sun Comes Out Tonight." I love the album and wish the band success with it. Two of the shows were the closest the band has ever come to me, as part of the Summerland Tour. And I also won entry into an acoustic performance for 102.1 The X in Richmond. Musically, that was a highlight of all the Filter shows I've seen. It was very intimate and I'm glad I got to attend a rare acoustic performance.

Here are some videos and such from that week:

We also got to meet Everclear

I also have some more videos of Everclear and Live on my mewzak youtube channel.

Now, as I said, a lot has happened the past few months. Amid troubles, I got a Samsung Galaxy tablet as a gift for my birthday. And when I registered it online, I got some free credits to the Google Play store. So I got Dido's latest album, "Girl Who Got Away", which I didn't even know was out. I love her and as usual, the right music came to me at the perfect time. So here are some songs and lyrics from that album that fit my life the past few months. The music can say it all better than I can. So thank you Dido (which is kind of funny because one of her earlier well known songs was "Thank You" haha).

"End of Night"

Only now it's gone
I can see the year
See for what it was
And start another day
All the liberty you took
The love that you abused
The friends that you turned
Against me if you could
And youre twisting what I say
All that saying you were scared
It doesn't matter anymore
Cos Im not there
You were careless when the beat kicked in
And careless when it left
And careless all the way
I didn't see it till the end

I feel nothing
When you cry
I hear nothing
See no need to reply
I can smile now
And turn away
Come over here
So you can see me walk away
And celebrate
The end of night
The end of night

It only takes one lie
To bring this house down
Behind closed doors
No one tells the first time round
Pain is worse when you bring it on yourself
The sweetest bully building
A love that couldn't last
You were ugly when the beat kicked in
And ugly when it left
And ugly all the way, I didn't see it till the end

I feel nothing
When you cry
I hear nothing
See no need to reply
I can smile now
And turn away
Come over here
So you can see me walk away
And celebrate
The end of night
The end of night

After the fall comes love
I hate to hate and love to love

I feel nothing
When you cry
I hear nothing
See no need to reply
I can smile now
And turn away
Come over here
So you can see me walk away
And celebrate
The end of night
The end of night

"Love To Blame"

Helen of Troy was the kind of girl

Who really had it all

Not a care in the world but her head was turned

And forever changed

She said one love is lost but another is found

So just take the keys and let's just go, birds fly south

Nothing ventured

Nothing gained

It's all about love

So I'm not to blame

I'm not to blame

She said I've dotted my i's and I've crossed my t's

Had time for friends when they needed me

I try to make sense of senseless things

Try to live how I believe

And of course I leave things behind that I'll regret

But there's time enough for new things yet, for new things yet

When the dust covers the sun

And all you hope for is undone

Will you turn and say

Nothing ventured

Nothing gained

It was all for love so love is to blame

Love is to blame

When the dust covers the sun

And all you hope for is undone

Will you turn and say

Nothing ventured

Nothing gained

It was all for love so love is to blame

Love is to blame

"Go Dreaming"

Another summer coming to an end
And I'm still walking on without a care
And even if the birds have flown, the sun has gone
I'll still be here

Oh I want to walk with kings
Oh and take a chance on things
And though I may give way to those who could cause me pain
And step aside to threats and bullies
I still believe, I still believe

I'd rather go dreaming, believing in something, better than in me
I'd rather die loving, lost in the feeling of letting go
I'd rather die caring, working for something, seeing it as good
I can let it go, I can let it go

They're all flying flags and making noise
Bringing on their speeches drinks and boys
But when they're gone I'll be standing here
And picking up the mess they left
I still believe, I still believe

I'd rather go dreaming, believing in something, better than in me
I'd rather die loving, lost in the feeling of letting go
I'd rather die caring, working for something, seeing it as good
I can let it go, I can let it go

"Loveless Hearts"

I can find the good news in anything

But without you, that's all gone

No one could have told me how much I'd miss you

And how soon the world moves on

How can they not hear me

When I say

Oh, we're not safe anymore

Did loveless hearts build the world

Only to tear it apart

How did those gods tempt you to leave

Just when we needed you most

The sun will rise today as it did yesterday

And I'll keep on going too

But every hour that I get through it breaks my heart

That I am losing more of you

Did loveless hearts build the world

Only to tear it apart

How did those gods tempt you to leave

Just when we needed you most