Aside from having to work here and there, I had a mighty good Memorial Day Weekend.  Friday night Rebecca and I went over to Robbie and Vanessa’s place to play some Nintendo Gamecube.  On the way, I was desperately looking for a fourth controller so we could all simultaneously play Mario Kart and Mario Tennis.  I searched all over the place before finally realizing we were close to Darkside Games being in the Powdersville area.  We rode by only to find they had apparently just closed.

Not to be deterred, I rode back by first thing the next morning and, lo and behold, I nabbed a used controller for a mere 12 bucks!  So, after working my shift on Saturday, I rounded the gang up and had another Gamecube blowout at Ray and Erin’s!

Sunday I took it easy aside from getting some work done for the Planet’s premiere local rock show Upstate Unsigned so it was ready to overtake the Planet at 11!  Nice shameless plug, eh?

Monday morning Becca and I went and caught the new Narnia flick which was pretty good.  Granted it wasn’t as good as its predecessor, but a good sequel nonetheless.  I really can’t critique it much because it was simply what I expected: a continuation of the Narnia saga.

The Chronicles of Narnia:  Prince Caspian   \m/ \m/ \m/

Later that evening, I once again rounded up the gang for, you guessed it, ANOTHER Gamecube blowout!  Just between us, I am pretty burnt out on Mario Kart and will probably be so for a while!  Maybe now I can get everyone on board for some Mario Golf competition!

Man, I never thought a nostalgia and cheese sandwich could taste so good!  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m referring to last night’s screening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  I know the film has already received numerous negative reviews and others at the screening were equally unimpressed.  I, on the other hand, didn’t go into the screening with high expectations so I got what I was looking for which was an expedition into an adventure franchise that hasn’t been visited in nearly 20 years.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film and will probably repurchase the entire series when this one hits DVD.  By no means was this one my favorite in the Indiana Jones Saga, which would be a close run between Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, but certainly better than Temple of Doom!  If you’re an avid moviegoer like myself, certainly do not miss this one!  If you’re not and you’ll probably only see one movie this spring, GO SEE IRON MAN!!!  STAY THROUGH THE CREDITS!!!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull  \m/ \m/ \m/ \n

Iron Man  \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/ \m/

That’s 3 1/2 rockers for Indy and 5 rockers for Iron Man!

Lemme know what your thoughts are: post a comment below!

Man, lemme tell you about the luck I have!  For those of you who know about the whole headphone incident, I had the phones under warranty so Rebecca sent them in for a replacement pair.  It took a while, but they finally came in on Thursday and the delivery guy, being the total genius he must be, dropped the box inside her fence where her dogs were on a rainy day.  Needless to say, when Rebecca got home, the soaking wet box had been torn to shreds along with its contents!  So, apparently I need to get yet another replacement pair - this time at a certain anonymous company’s expense!

Well, thankfully after a long, hard and frustrating week, Rebecca had managed to swindle tickets to see Jeff Dunham at the Bi-Lo Center Friday night which was AWESOME!!!

Opening the show was his counterpart, Guitar Guy who did a great job warming up the crowd with his storytelling laced with some impressive guitar shredding.  At the end of his story, he brought us to present day talking about one of his sons who now plays lead guitar in a band you MAY have heard of:  AVENGED SEVENFOLD!!!  I guess I see where Sinister Gates (or would it be Zacky Vengeance?!) gets his mad skills!

Jeff Dunham hits the stage for a brief solo intro before bringing out Walter, Achmed, Peanut, Jose and then encoring with some old school Bubba J to which the audience echoed with familiarity.

A large portion of the show were actually a bunch of new Christmas jokes Jeff is working on for a Christmas dvd which begins filming in June.  And you thought Christmas in July was absurd!  LOL!!!

Yesterday was a fun-filled day with the day-long Insain Metalfest at the Cellar.  The show started at noon with TEN GRAND LEG taking the stage.  I got there a bit late but just in time to catch the second band WELLS OF ELIM finish their set.  MIND CRISIS took the stage next followed by RESTLESS OBLIVION from Charlotte.  RELENTLESS played next then handed the spotlight to SILVER JUDAS from Wilmington, NC.  TASTING VERENA (who you can hear in the studio tonight on Upstate Unsigned) gave their performance and made way for GHOST IN THE MACHINE.  Wrapping up the night was my friend and fellow bandmate, Robbie making his first live appearance with his other band, STRINGBONE and then I gave out and headed home before INSIDIOUS DEMISE concluded the festivities!  Sorry guys, it was almost one in the morning and I’m getting old!  LOL!!!

So, now that I’ve shared my Twisted Thoughts with you, I’m not doing a damn thing for the rest of the day!  You’ll hear from me at two tomorrow!

Man! Last night’s DROWNING POOL show was b’dass!!! The DP guys were really cool to hang out with before the show while CJ was giving his guitar lessons for our Get Schooled series with Guitar Center. I was talking geek with Stevie being a fellow bassist! And, of course, I brought my DP autographed soldier helmet and took a pic with the band boasting it proudly upon my twisted head!  Check out the pic below!

Oh, let’s not forget the incredible opening acts including locals 7TH DAY STRANGER from Clemson and UNCROWNED from ATL! And, surprisingly, EGYPT CENTRAL was also on the bill so I got to catch them perform their song “You Make Me Sick” - and if ya missed it, their doing it again tonight at the Handlebar with HIGHER GROUND, the RHCP tribute band!

Of course, topping the night off was the mighty DROWNING POOL themselves playing all their killer jams from all three albums: “Sinner”, “Tear Away”, “Step Up”, “Soldiers”, “Enemy” and, the grand finale, “Bodies”! They also did their version of BILLY IDOL’s “Rebel Yell” not to mention a provocative portion of VAN HALEN’s “Panama”!

I can say no more except that I love my job!!!

For those who have heard my poor, pathetic hoarse voice on the air this week, here’s why I sound so horrible:

Let’s begin by saying this was an incredibly fun-filled weekend starting with the Rock ‘N’ Bowl Friday night ushering in our month-long celebration of manhood, Test Fest. And let me proudly say that I am a TERRIBLE bowler! As a matter of fact, I didn’t hit a spare or strike the entire night! But it was fun as I made the usual fool out of myself!

Saturday was awesome as Upstate Unsigned invaded this year’s Spring Fling in downtown Spartanburg! Our stage was booked solid with seven killer local bands including PANACEA, AMPLIFYED, STATE OF KONFUSION, WHISKEY MOUNTAIN MACHINE, HEADSNAP, GHOST IN THE MACHINE and A VACANT SOUL! So, needless to say, I was screaming all day both on and off-stage! And, even though the sun rarely made an appearance, I managed to receive a good baking!

Sunday, I slept in having already had a great deal of excitement. Then I headed up to Charlotte to catch SKILLET, THOUSAND FOOT KRUTCH and DECYPHER DOWN at Cricket Arena and do a lot more screaming! Ali from Atlantic Records was there so she let me and Rebecca go backstage to hang and talk geek talk with SKILLET.

So, there you have it! My vocal cords are shot and I’m all out of vacation time and I don’t call in sick unless I’m like bleeding out of my eyes or something!