Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Ticket Gain = Dream Loss
I've been dreaming about Peter Gabriel since I was 16 (and now I'm, uh, older than 16.) Over the years, Dream Peter has turned into a unique and unpredictable character He also gave me some valuable tips on lucid dreaming. One tip is that when I relaize I'm dreaming, I'm to say my name aloud and then ask where Peter is. The other characters in the dream can usually point me towards him.
But now he seems to have a streak of jealousy. Now that I'm going to see the real Peter in Berlin and New York, Dream Peter is refusing to appear in my dreams.
Typical. He may not live in the physical realm but still retains all of the male's powers to be annoying.
Anyway, I now have a new gig as the Philadelphia Tea Examiner on Examiner.com. I'm still trying to figure out how I can work Peter Gabriel into that blog without getting fired.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Peter Gabirel Now on Twitter
Although there are about 1500 people claiming to be Peter Gabriel on Twitter, one is from the real guy, or at least, from Real World Studios. Granted, it may not be PG himself that does the typing, but his pubicists are the next best thing. The funny thing is that Peter Gabriel could not use that as his user name on Twitter, becasue it had already been taken. So, now Itspetergabriel.
As a freelance writer, I've been urged several times by my clients and from other freelance writers to get a Twitter account. I've held off (holy cow -- isn't a blog enough in this word anymore?) but now that Peter's gone and gotten one, I have, too at Renasherwood. (All of the good user names, like Peter Gabriel, had already been taken.) Unlike MySpace of Facebook, Twitter doesn't crash my 10 year old computer.
The avatar I've chosen is "Killer Chihuahua" taken by David Shankbone and is up at Wikimedia Commons. Trust me - this dog is much better looking than myself. Off to discover the joy of micro-blogging.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Peter Gabriel North American New Blood Tour 2010
Just my luck. In the last post, I talked abut spluriging for a trip to Berlin in order to see Peter Gabriel perfrom with semi-full chamber orchestra. A day after buy my non-refundable airplane tickets, Peter announces a tour of North America. Boy, is my family laughing. So far, there's only four dates, but note the big date gaps. PG tours have added shows less than a month before the show date in the past, so I wouldn't put it past him to do it again.
The tour so far:
* April 28 Montreal Bell Centre
* May 2 New York Radio City Music Hall
* May 3 New York Radio City Music Hall
* May 7 Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl
As far as I know, tickets are not officially on sale yet. Hmmm... I've never been to New York City ... Anyway, here's a taste -- Peter's cover of David Bowie's "Heroes". I'd never been able to understand the lyrics before Peter sang it.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Peter Gabriel "New Blood" 24 March Berlin O2
I know I previously mentioned Peter's mini-European "New Blood" tour, but I'm repeating myself here for a reason.
I'm going.
I saw that a second show for the Berlin O2 Arena had been added. Peter's studio, Real World, was offering bundle tickets which included:
! A ticket to the show
! A ticket to the soundcheck (two concerts in one day)
! An "event access laminate" (which I think is a fancy way of saying "backstage pass")
! A T-shirt
! A copy of Peter's new CD, "Scratch My Back"
I thought, "Hmmm, wouldn't it be great if I could go?" Then I smacked myself in the head when I realized:
1) I'm 40 years old and don't need anyone's permission to go to Berlin
2) I'm self-employed
3) I have the money
4) I have an up to date passport
5) I need a new T-shirt
Now, there still could be problems that prevent me from going. Germany could invade Poland. I could drop dead. The tickets could spontaneously combust. But I have to blog about this or my head will explode. There. Now I can get back to work writing about Toshiba laptops, treatments for clinical depression and chronic kidney failure in dogs.
The really fun thing is that after years of taking German classes in High School and college, all my knowledge of this language has boiled down to one sentence:
"Der Bleistift ist gelb."
(The pencil is yellow.)
Oh, that will come in handy.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Took the Veg Pledge
Mom and I went grocery shopping today and we stopped by the poultry department. We stared at the corpses and at each other. She asked me what was wrong. I told her I suddenly saw the necks of the chickens come up and begin to scream. We came home and I took the 30 day Veg Pledge (although I intend to be vegetarian for the rest of my life now, unles I become homeless again.)
I'd already stopped eating beef because it was getting me sick. I don't mean that in the colloquial sense -- I mean it was making me throw up and get the runs. I stopped eating pork for the same reason. (Although for some unknown reason, UK pork did not get me sick. What do they do in the UK that the US doesn't?)
When I was homeless, I didn't have the choice about whether to be a vegetarian or not. You ate whatever you could get a hold of, usually from dumpster diving. But now I make enough money that I do have a choice and I can't logically say I love animals and yet still eat them. I can't logically want to stop climate change and support livestock farming, which is responsible for producing more greenhouse gas than all of the vehicles on Earth combined.
Granted, not a very funny post today. I'll try to get back on form later. I'm now off to my old post Let's Stop Horse Racing Now and deal with some of the jokers who responded.
Happy New Year.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Getting Crowded in Hell: Oral Roberts (1918 - 2009)
Thank God Oral Roberts is dead. However, God was about 90 years too late in removing this number one crackpot. Oral Roberts is the asshole who started the whole televangelist/faith healing freak show. He also started Oral Roberts University, featuring a sculpture of a pair of praying hands. (See how humble he was? Wouldn't Jesus be proud? Certainly Jesus would want to raise millions of dollars and then not have to pay taxes on it because it's for religion. Heaven forbid any of that money actually go to programs like welfare, food banks, animal shelters or anything like that.)
By not paying taxes and by having these obscene megachurches and so-called "Christian education", televangelists and their ilk steal money from all of us in order to laugh all the way to the bank. They have no other purpose in life.
If God was really all-powerful, why is He always short of cash? Why does He need megachurches? If He was all-loving, he would never have allowed televangelists to get on TV and he never would allowed Oral's parent to name him Oral. Maybe that's why he became a preacher -- to get back at God for letting his parents give him a name that probably got him beat up daily in school.
In case anyone is appalled that I hope Oral Roberts is burning in Hell, take a deep breath. I don't believe in Hell. I'm not petty enough for that. I'm also not stupid enough to beleive in an all-powerful, all-loving God, but that's another post.
Let's end with words from the dearly departed, shall we?
By not paying taxes and by having these obscene megachurches and so-called "Christian education", televangelists and their ilk steal money from all of us in order to laugh all the way to the bank. They have no other purpose in life.
If God was really all-powerful, why is He always short of cash? Why does He need megachurches? If He was all-loving, he would never have allowed televangelists to get on TV and he never would allowed Oral's parent to name him Oral. Maybe that's why he became a preacher -- to get back at God for letting his parents give him a name that probably got him beat up daily in school.
In case anyone is appalled that I hope Oral Roberts is burning in Hell, take a deep breath. I don't believe in Hell. I'm not petty enough for that. I'm also not stupid enough to beleive in an all-powerful, all-loving God, but that's another post.
Let's end with words from the dearly departed, shall we?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Christmas Really Sucks
It's that time of year again where we all act completely opposite to what Christmas was originally about -- taking the place of the midwinter Pagan festivals. This time of year was originally about the Sun and not the Son.
But anyway...
If I hear "Holly Jolly Christmas" one more time, I think I'm going to have to puncture my eardrums with a sharpened candy cane.
If you really want to get cynical about Christmas, I highly recommend the following:
* Working in retail for over 10 years
* Becoming homeless at this time of year (which is actually less painful than working retail during the holiday season. Sadly, I speak from experience.)
Or, you could do what my body did and come down with a sinus and ear infection. Ah, nothing could get you more in the holiday spirit than hearing your doctor say, "I see mucus in your ears." I guess that's proof I'm allergic to Christmas muzac.
I recommend this song as the new "Holly Jolly Christmas" by Jay Brannan.
But anyway...
If I hear "Holly Jolly Christmas" one more time, I think I'm going to have to puncture my eardrums with a sharpened candy cane.
If you really want to get cynical about Christmas, I highly recommend the following:
* Working in retail for over 10 years
* Becoming homeless at this time of year (which is actually less painful than working retail during the holiday season. Sadly, I speak from experience.)
Or, you could do what my body did and come down with a sinus and ear infection. Ah, nothing could get you more in the holiday spirit than hearing your doctor say, "I see mucus in your ears." I guess that's proof I'm allergic to Christmas muzac.
I recommend this song as the new "Holly Jolly Christmas" by Jay Brannan.
