Smashing Pumpkins

Finally got to see Smashing Pumpkins on Thursday night. Show was good but not great. Instead of an opener Billy Corgan came out by himself and played 4 songs on the acoustic guitar. He did, "The Rose March", "That's The Way (My Love Is)", "Disarm", and "God & Country."

Apparently the first time on tour that he did "That's The Way (My Love Is)" acoustic. Disarm was awesome. I was hoping they would have done "Landslide" but they didn't.

Acoustically the sound was great. Once the band came out the reverb was so loud that you almost couldn't hear the actually notes. This was especially annoying during guitar solos.

The stage show was great. The had like 10 or so triangles (a few on the stage a few above it) that changed all different kinds of color. It really really added to the music.

At one point Billy tried to get everyone to sing the chorus to "I Love Rock and Roll" and the crowd did as told. Of course he didn't think we were loud enough. He saw a kid singing and asked for him to be brought up on stage. Then he called for all the kids to come on stage. There must have been 10 kids up there. One small baby was put on stage and went right over to Billy. Billy picked him up and held him.

After a few minutes he finally said "get off our stage" and all the kids left except for the one he was holding. "Who's baby is this?" He then said. This prompted a good laugh from the crowd.

The set list:

The Rose March (acoustic)
That's the Way (My Love Is) (acoustic)
Disarm (acoustic)
For God and Country (acoustic)
United States
Bullet with Butterfly Wings
Drown
Bring the Light
Tonight, Tonight
Tarantula
Glass + The Ghost Children
Hummer
Pomp and Circumstances
Set the Ray to Jerry
Today
Superchrist
Heavy Metal Machine
Iron Man
I Love Rock N' Roll
Encore 1:
1979 (acoustic)
Perfect (acoustic)
Encore 2:
Cherub Rock

Weekend in NYC

Last weekend the family went up to New York City to visit with my family. We flew in on Saturday and flew out on Monday. The main reason for the trip was for my father, brother, and I to go to the Giants/Cowboys game.

Highlights from the trip:

• Shannon got her first doll an loves it. As soon as it was out of the box she was changing clothes and brushing her hair.
  


• We stayed at a really nice hotel called The Benjamin. The actually have a pillow menu. You can actually pick the style of pillow you'd like for the bed. We were lazy and just went with the ones on the bed.
  


• Got to meet up with Charley, Ezra, Pam, and a few others for a few beers after the family went to bed.


• Met Troy Aikman on an elevator at the hotel. I was on already and he walked on and was actually really nice. No autograph or picture. I didn't want to be one of those people. Plus he had just gotten back from a work out so he was all sweaty.
  


• A few hours later Erin and Shannon got on the elevator and who was on with them but no other than Troy Aikman. So she got to meet him as well. I think he just rides the elevators all day looking for people to talk to.
  


• Watched the Giants game from the 45 yard line about 25 rows up. Awesome seats. Giants didn't win but it was so cool being there. Only the 2nd time I've seen the Giants play at Giants Stadium.

Check out: http://community.webshots.com/album/561629709pMCVOG

For more pictures from the Giants game.

Gravity

Right now I'm not a very big fan of gravity.

I was putting some canned goods away in my pantry the other day. As I was staking the cans, one slipped and fell into some boxes. An avalanche of side dishes began falling my way and I did my best to catch/juggle them. As the boxes crashed to the floor the can of carrots rolled off the shelf and fell right onto my bare foot.

The lip of the can, not the flat slide, landed directly on my 2nd toe on my right foot. The nail got crunched and pushed back into my skin and blood was everywhere.

Went to the podiatrist the next day and the outlook is sunny. He said that x rays were negative and the nail bed was still in tack.

Now I have to wear this geriatric looking black sandal that is flat at the top. Basically an open toed brace so my lil toe has some room to heal.

The can of carrots was sentenced to death as its contents were removed and eaten for dinner and the can itself was banished to the recycle bin till its death sentence can be carried out by the garbage man.

Pumpkins Update

The Smashing Pumpkins announced the make up dates for their shows in Atlanta. Of course the make up date for my show (Friday) is the same day my family is coming into town to see The Police. The Police show is on Saturday.

So I tried to swap my tickets for their Thursday make up so at work and on Craigslist. Nothing solid came up so we had to go to plan C. Enough tickets were returned for the Thursday show that the sold out show was back on sale. So I bought a pair of tickets for the Thursday show and found someone at work to buy my Friday show.

So in the end everything worked out and we even moved up a few rows.

The show better be worth it.