The Used, The Abused, and the Howling

I finally scouted the first show I'm gonna go to this year. It's gonna have to wait until February, but it's gonna be an amazing show. I'm lookin at the Taste of Chaos Tour which will be hitting LA next month on the 22nd. We got Senses Fail, 30 Seconds, and a couple others, and it's being headlined by theUsed.

Some people think that The Used are no good live, but the last time I saw these guys it really was a great show, and I'm really eager to get back to see them again. Ever since these guys came on the scene years ago I've been a really big fan, and this is one of the only bands that had a new style when they came out with their last CD that I actually liked the new style as much as the old. It's fixin to be a good time.


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I'm barely making it through the day today. I feel like death....or sleeping. Sleeping sounds good right now. I did a good job last week of not getting plastered on a daily basis. I was actually quite impressed with myself, but I ruined that all on Saturday. It was expected though.

I went downtown to hang out with a few buddies from work to watch the Philly game. I was getting a bunch of props from the SoCal Eagles fans as I walked in sporting my McNabb jersey, and I jokingly got denied by two different Giants bartenders. One of the guys we were meeting is a huge Saints fan, so we knew it would be a blast. And what a blast it was, right Reggie?



First play of the game, and you can guarantee that the entire population of State Street felt that one. The entire Brew Co. exploded as the Philly fans were cheering and the Saints fans were fucking shocked. That's the biggest hit Bush has had to take in his career playing football. Welcome to the NFL.

Of course Philly dropped the game by three points so I have nothing to say. It was actually a pretty good game, and like I said before, the Eagles were gonna have to play better than they did against New York to win this one. The defense definitely stepped it up, but except for a couple big plays, the offense just wasn't playing with enough intensity to get the job done. They completed on a fourth and ten when trailing by three with five minutes left, but a false start flag negated that and the game was practically over.

I actually saved a bunch of money on the game though, and no it wasn't by switching to Geico. My usual bet maker couldn't get my bet for the game, which ended up being good. They were giving Philly +5, so I would've won if I took the points, but I thought the Eagles were gonna step it up so I was gonna take them straight up. But I missed the bet and I ended up saving money. So I ended up spending $120 on food and drink for our crew. All in all it was a good game and a good time.

After that I went home and was feeling a little down, so what did I do? I did what any sensible, drunk, depressed sports fan would do. I did a little slumpbusting. If you don't know what slumpbusting is, don't ask. That's the end of the Saturday story.

On Sunday I was on to go down to the valley and hit up Howl at the Moon with my cousin and bunch of her sorority friends. On the way there, I stopped by Dell to have Casey build me a laptop. I'm excited to get this friggin thing, partially because my CPU is busted and I'm too lazy to fix it, and partially because I want a laptop for no other reason than the fact that I enjoy buying shit that I don't necessarily need. But what does "need" mean really?

I'll be getting a pretty decent Inspiron 1505 for a pretty decent price, so I'm stoked and I'll enjoy the hell out of this thing. The last gnarly thing I bought was pillows, and that just doesn't satisfy my spending urges. Ok I bought a car too, but whatever. I'm a guy who likes to shop, sue me!

So after I had a little talk with Case, I took off to Simi to meet up with Tasha and Mike. We headed out, and I didn't really know what to expect. I'd heard of this place, but had never been there. Howl at the Moon is a dueling piano bar, and it's pretty sweet. There's two piano players that run the main of the show, and for a little bit they fill out with a drummer and guitars. There's a rotating group of musicians that take turns playing everything and singing, and they're all fuckin amazing.

These guys were playing everything. You tip for requests, and no matter what it is, they can play it. They played everything from Elton John to Rage Against the Machine. If one of the guys didn't know it, he'd take a second to listen to the other guy, and then jump right in. They put on a really good show altogether, and they're all crowd oriented which makes for a great time when you're there with a group. Being there with a bunch of perky 20-somethings would have been fine at any bar, but it was definitely fun to be there.

And to top off the night, at about midnight I looked over, and who do I see walk in? Wayne from CFF. Swear to god. Made my night. And again, if you don't know what CFF is don't ask.

Anyways, time to go back to work. Until next time.