The life of mike

RHCP Trocked

2006-09-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

So as many of you know, I went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers (and The Mars Volta) concert. I should be able to gank some pics soon and put them up, but first here's what I thought:

So we got there early and lined up, there was only a couple guys in front of us. Security came out around 6:30 to start patting people down before we could go in, and somehow missed me... He walked right past and patted everyone else down, even the guy I was there with. It made me wish I had brought something I wasnt supposed to, just cause I could have got it in. So we got in, went over to the merch booth cause our friend wanted some pins, but they were $17 for 4 small ones, so we said screw that and went to find food. We found a Triple O's and got some food... a $10 combo that didnt come with a drink....ouch. I checked drink prices there, and $8 a beer at the Triple O's...wow....

Anyways, we go in and sit down and eat our food, my first bite and I ketchup myself

After a while, TMV takes the stage in a huge blast of incomprehensable noise. My friend and I crack up laughing at the pure jumble of every instrument playing a game of "who can be loudest."

Their intro song went on forever, and for the life of me I couldnt tell you what it was....I couldnt make anything of it, at all. I was really disapointed, I was looking forward to a couple TMV songs live, since I had grown fond of some of their recorded songs. After that mash of sound there was the obligitory 10 minute outro of experimentalism that just made me wonder if they played their entire set without breaks between songs, and how tired the drummer must get. Nope, they stopped between songs, and started a crappy version of Televators, which I was stoked to hear, until it too turned to crap. They started out decent, I was nodding along, happy there was some actual music now...then BAM all the instruments fight for the spotlight again.

Basically, thats how the entire TMV set went. The highlight of their performance was when the guitarist almost fell over through the drums, but caught himself at the last second

after their set was done, I went for a pee and then returned to my seat to see all the setup for RHCP. A guy and a girl walk out on stage with a microphone and explain to us that all the lighting stuff we see on the stage (and roof) was the first time that it had been seen in north america. No other concert had used this equipment yet, and it was way more awesome than I could have predicted.
And in true Vancouver style, the guy on stage made an official PSA:
"If anyone in the crowd is smoking marijuana cigarettes.....please...share with your neighbour, not everyone brought some"
*crowd cheers, gets high*

So after some more waiting, Chad, John and Flea come out and start jamming for a bit. The jam ends with HUGE applause, and they start right in to "Can't Stop" and Anthony comes out. The lighting, was...insane.

The back of the stage was all panel light things, which extended out on the roof above the crowd, had more lights that could lower from above the stage, and 4 giant "floating" screens that could move around the back of the stage.

I was awestruck when all the lights kicked in, it was just crazy how sweet it was. The screens were cool, they had cameramen on/ around the stage, so you could see the guys up close on the screens. On occasion all the screens would line up side by side and it would be like a super widescreen thing, so could see the entire guitar stretched acrosss all the screens, while the huge lights in the background pumped out cool visualizations...then they switched. I didnt know they could even do that with those lights, but yep, the screens start showing the random lights, and then the HUGE display which filled the whole back of the stage starts showing the camera view. Cool effects, etc overall, and amazing music. Anthony sounded really good, and they were clear/ understandable. The crowd was pumped and could see them getting into it/ singing along for the whole thing. Surprisingly they played Blood Sugar Sex Magic, and it was awesome to hear Give It Away and Californication live.

After they were done, there was the craziest, hugest roar ever, that just didnt die down. After several minutes, they came back for their encore, which ended in a 20 minute long jam, which Omar(?) from TMV joined them on. It was mindblowing to hear them play off each other so well. Not a note was missed, everything came together perfectly.

After it was all over we slowly filed out of the stadium where the massive crowd outside would spontaniously start cheering, which would just get louder and louder as more and more people joined in.

Overall, amazing show, fully worth it. Great music, great energy, great show.

Ok, so I just got off the phone with my lady friend, and this is how she got backstage:

She was trying to buy a ticket from a scalper, but it kept falling through, so she went home and was REALLY bummed about it, so she said to heck with it and called her friend and asked "hey, want to do something crazy tonight?"
Friend said yeah, and got her (Angela) to go over to her place. She gets there and tells her "I want to break into the chili peppers show"
Her friend is up for it but doubts it will work, they make a bet with their roommate that it will work, since he had friends trying to sneak in at the same time who couldnt do it.

So they go down, and start wandering around, and find a door thats padlocked shut, but unguarded, so they try to pick the lock with no luck. A security guard spots them and comes towards them, so they run away. Some dude tells them that it'll be easier for them to break in on the bottom level, so they head there and see a big garage door thing there, but theres huge barbed wire fences up around the area. They figure out they're going to use her jacket to cover the wire and climb over....then the show ends and tons of people start coming out. They're all pissed cause they missed the show, so her friend says "Well, lets just go home"
Angela decides "no way, I'm not leaving till I meet them!" so they run towards the doors people are coming out from. Of course, security stops them, so they make up a story about how they're trying to find their friend who had too much to drink, etc, so security gets them an escort to floor level. They meet up with another security guard, give them a fake name of the "sick friend" so the guard goes to look in first aid for her. As soon as she leaves, tehy take off again. Another person sees them and stops them, and asks why they're there. So they tell him that they're there to work, so he asks who for. They guess "mike" and "sound tech"...turns out yep, theres a mike working sound, so he says "hold on, I'll go get him for you"
Again, they get the heck out of the way again, and ANOTHER dude spots them. They give the same story, but this guy hooks them up with hardhats so they can work safely... so pretty much from then on they had free range of the stadium, since everyone assumed they were working.
After some poking around, Angela looked in a door and saw John Frusciante walk by, so was like "holy hell!"
Someone started walking towards them again, so they....no joke... jumped into some boxes and hid. They didnt see them, and used their passes to open the door. Before the door closed, they jumped out and grabbed the doors and walked in.

The security for RHCP saw them and asked him why they were there. They said they were looking for their boss, so they let them in. So they wandered around a bit more, and she looked in another window, and saw Anthony sitting there, so she walked in and introduced herself. They chatted for a bit, told him about the Yukon and said he should come up for a show sometime. He told her he didnt know about doing a show, but he wants to go visit sometime, and he'd get her to show her around. I told her she has to get me in on that for sure. Flea walked in after a while, so Anthony introduced them to him too and kept chatting.
Anyways, they told him about how they missed the show etc, and why (broke student, etc) So Anthony told them to come to their show in Calgary, and he'll put them on the guest list, so they dont have to pay/ can sit anywhere they want, then go hang out backstage/ eat with them, etc. Then the manager came in and they met him, and he gave them his cell phone #, so if theres any trouble they can call him and he'll get them in, etc.
As they were walking out, Anthony called after and said "Hey wait, you guys have to meet John" so they got John in there and talked some more, then left. After handing back the hardhats, they stood outside stunned wondering "wow...what just happened...."

crazy stuff

Legality

2006-07-16T03:53:00.000-07:00

I'm 19 bitches, yeah!

TROCK

2006-04-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

2006-04-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the new music :P

Vinyl?

2006-02-14T02:40:00.000-08:00

So I got some records, and I'm experimenting with stencils on them. Heres #2:
http://i1.tinypic.com/nq9x55.jpg

Crunken madness

2006-01-22T17:30:00.000-08:00

The adventures of last night:

more to come?

Late Night Rasterbation

2006-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

So, I was up late last night and drained the rest of my colour ink on a cool rasterbation

The _______ Of Mike

2006-01-20T00:18:00.000-08:00

Well, stickers rock:

Hooray for Head(ers)

2006-01-19T04:18:00.000-08:00

So, I made a nifty new banner for the top of my blog, but I dropped the ball on the formatting... it is 4:00 am-ishm so I dont really care. Not up for any real reason, but either way I'll probably try to get EJ to fix my shat code. I may not be able to do the site, but I kicked some ass in programming today. Finished first, and the bonus question too. Hooray for multiple squares drawn with a "turtle" in python.... piece of crap.

Speaking of stupid classes, my Tech classes are total jokes. It's like grade 10 and 11 alllll overrrr aggaiiiinnnn. Evaluating job ads and shit, the evaluating other peoples evaluations...fuck that.

Oh, and thanks to x-site I missed my online conference for my IAT class, so I have no idea what our project might be, and I missed my chance to stop the fucking retarded chick on my team from putting forward yet another stupid idea, full of holes that'l fail us...

Ugh, oh well. Saturday should be cool, thanks to the fam for telling me/ inviting me for this one. Hmm, allright, well, I suppose that will be all, I'm gonna head to bed and listen to some standup comedy or some crap.

Whoo

2006-01-18T19:46:00.000-08:00

So I drank syrup

2006-01-11T00:12:00.000-08:00

Read above, enjoy.

Farewell

2005-12-12T17:38:00.000-08:00

GOODBYE MR. KANGAROO!!

I'll Door Fork You!

2005-11-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

So, this is my doorstop now...

Piece of Mind from the Procrastinator

2005-11-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ugh, I'm so unmotivated to get this stupid essay done. Thankfully we got an extension until Thursday, but I know I wont put in a serious effort for a long time. I'm screwed, especially since lates wont be taken kindly. I have to discuss the legality of downloading music and such in Canada. My review of my topic said something about intellectual rights, to make it more relevant, but I lost the paper... man I hope I dont botch this.
Shittyness aside, went and bought more shit today: pear halves, zoodles, cereal, a surge protector, milk, etc... My friend wants me to buy a webcam, but if I cant find one for like, $5, eff that. Well, I suppose this is enough of an update, so.... bye?

HA HA, NOSES ON DOWELS!

B and E

2005-10-26T00:54:00.000-07:00

Well, sitting here DJing and such, and I get a knock from the rest of our gang, so I throw on some jeans, a hoodie and the gang colours and off we go. The usual hand holding commences and we steal some more bricks.

We found this really sketchy building at the far far far far end of the campus that is always locked, blinds closed, etc. They've seen the blinds open once, and inside the part you can see is 2 chairs, a camera, and a one way mirror. On the other side of the mirror, there's a conference room, with another interogation room on the other side, just like the first.

The first night we went by, it was locked up tight, but tonight, a window was cracked open a millimetre. We popped the window open and two of the members climbed through and let us in the front door. We cautiously tried a couple doors in the immediate area, but everything was locked down, till I climbed the stairs. At the top, a door was locked, but not closed properly, so we went in.

We tiptoed around the hall, noticing the bizare names of each room and what they were for, energy engineering something. Odd stuff. Anyway, we find a bike parked in one of the halls and keep walking. We see a light on through the crack under one of the doors so everyone quickly retreats out an emergency exit but me and this other dude.

We hang out around the corner for a bit and sneak towards the door, hanging a right again, doubling back where we were. As we walk past a window we can see our friends outside motioning for us to get the heck out, so I go and buy some hot chocolate from their vending machine and take the elevator out.

When we catch up to the rest of the gang quickly getting away from the super sketchy building, one of them notices my cup and declares:

"you got coffee?..."
yeah
"you're drinking their coffee?"
yeah
"you're my god"
sweet

And it was. It was delicious. Anyway, after a brief detour back to one of the appartments of a member, we decide on our next destination. Pat had told us of this really shift swingset in the middle of the woods, where last year really, really, really weird stuff happened to the group he was with, who vowed to never go back. We were intrigued, and decided to go check it out. After finally persuading everyone to go, we were off.

I've never seen such a creepy looking trail entrance in my life. Everyone stopped and tied our shoes up tight for a quick getaway, and we started our walk.

At first, not so bad, but as you got further in there, you saw stuff. We had to pass a really narrow bridge, which was sort of the point of no return, cause the trail sucks after that, etc. Right after the bridge, there was a pitch black overhang, behind which, looked like face of some sort. After some hesitation, we slowly crept forward. We all determined there was no face, but it deffinitly looked as if someone was lying down beside us, like, 3 feet away, so we kept moving really quickly. We reached the end of the trail, and after hearing some snapping in the woods, we decided to not crawl through the woods to find the swing set. Everyone promptly sprinted back, as pat and I opted to stay behind and screw with them. We tip-toe-ran out of the woods and hid off the trail, but by the time we found an alternate way out, everyone had already taken off for higher ground.

We called them on the cell saying we found something lying in a creek and that we had to show them. After a few calls, they claimed it as a prank and said they were waiting in the AQ.

We snuck back to the AQ, where I walked along a ledge, and stuck my head down in front of them from a place people shouldnt be able to access. As pat and I made our way down, everyone else ran and hid in a bathroom, so pat and I took off and doubled back behind them again. We managed to follow the group all the way back, being roughly 50 feet behind them at all times, or above them, and they never noticed.

We ended up waiting in the bushes until they opened the front door, leaving us to quickly sprint up the stairs and meet them at the top, ending the adventure.

Sorry it's so long, but it was so amazing sketchy...

I think we're going back on halloween.

Creepy Kids Club

2005-10-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

Fog You!

2005-09-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we're heavily blanketed in heavy fog now after all that rain. Captain Jelley and I went out on a photo taking expedition with excellent results. Enjoy:

Roof Walkin'

2005-09-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

High atop shrum

Life is a beach

2005-09-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

Well, Saturday was

And From random other occasions

2005-09-25T01:26:00.000-07:00

Well, another good day here :D

The ride up

2005-09-23T01:52:00.000-07:00

Well, it's much delayed, but Everett and Pat's blogs sort of made me think I should create my own, so I guess I conformed, and here some are:

The ride up:

And so I'm here, with many more photos to come