Stacy's Place on Earth
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009:
concerts & books & blogs
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I can't believe the weekend is already over. Hope you all enjoyed the mild weather that's been going on. On Saturday, Nickelback rocked the house! The concert started at 7pm with Saving Able kicking it off, and they were pretty good. Next up was Seether, and though lead singer Shaun Morgan wasn't much of a talker, I thought they were awesome. I just love his voice, and they even performed "Broken", and it was amazing. But my absolute new favorite song by Seether is "Fuck Me Like You Hate Me". I can't get it out of my head, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm not complaining yet.
But of course the icing on the cake was the over 2-hour performance by Nickelback. From the first seconds of "Something In Your Mouth" to the last blast of fireworks after the encore, the show was incredible. Chad Kroger is a performer through and through, loves to talk to the crowd and is a total guy with his juvenile sense of humor and extreme fondness for beer. One cool thing is having seen them 2 years ago, they didn't do the same routine - that would have been lame. Instead the guys put on a show that was worth the price of admission a few times over, even without the other bands. I'm already anxious to see them again, and they will be back in the Chicago area in August. Hmmm....
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Read my first ever J.A. Konrath book over the weekend. I've been meaning to read "Whiskey Sour" for awhile, ever since I saw the author at a booksigning at a nearby bookstore and was curious to find out who he is. Plus he seems like he'd be really funny. His book wasn't so amusing, being about a gruesome serial killer and all, yet I was intrigued by the idea of him writing about a female protagonist. And there were many Chicago and surrounding area references, and that's always a treat. I definitely plan on picking up the next one, "Bloody Mary". Fun times.
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I also finished Sara Reinke's "Dark Thirst", which told the story of virgin hero Brandon Noble, whom I was made aware of during RNTV's "Virgin Hero" week. I enjoyed the story very much, though Brandon didn't come across as much as a alpha hero, despite his violent heritage. Still I liked the story enough to want to continue with the 2nd book, "Dark Hunger". I liked that all of Brandon's problems weren't solved in the first book and appear to continue at least into the second story. It has me hooked.
I've been feeling a strong case of reviewer's block lately, and this is not good for someone who does reviews for another, and truly wonderful, website other than my own. But with the support of the lovely ladies who run that site, I feel much better about it. I was putting too much pressure on myself to crank out reviews, and it was becoming a bit tedious and stressful, so now I'm just going to take a breather and get back into just reading for a little while. The problem was I was beginning to repeat myself way too much in reviews, and each one sounded too similar. That's when I knew I was in trouble. It's all cyclical, sure to infect me again in the future, and that's when I know I need to step back and not try so hard. As Marisa said, reviewing should be fun. I was making it harder than it had to be. My complete bad.
So, hopefully you'll all stop by RNTV for this week's "Duke of Slut" celebration. Andrea kicked it off with "London's Perfect Scoundrel", and she did a fabulous job. I'm chomping at the bit to read this one, but it's book #2, so I know I'll have to read "The Rake" first, even though Andrea said it wasn't completely necessary. Stay tuned for more Dukes of Slut, found in books by Lisa Kleypas, JD Robb and Nora Roberts, to name a few. I myself will be talking about my very own DoS: the one and only Sam Starrett, from Suzanne Brockmann's Troubleshooter series. Look for my take on this bad boy on Wednesday afternoon. I know I won't do him justice, but I sure the heck had fun trying ;)
What's been keeping you busy these days?

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Sunday, March 04, 2007:
Nickelback rocks the house!

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(Go here for a sample of Nickelback's latest album)

I hadn't been to a concert in ages; in fact looking back, it had to have at least been over 5 years ago, but when my friend Becky asked if I wanted to go see Nickelback here in Chicago on March 2nd, I didn't hesitate to say "hell yes!"
The main concern was making sure her sister got here from Wisconsin since she had the tickets. It's about a 4-hour drive, but the weather conditions left snowdrifts as high as the window of her car, so good thing she left home early, and didn't forget the tickets.
Parking for a concert is always a nightmare because you always have to pay too much money and it takes forever to get out of the parking lot. But Becky had a friend that lived not too far away from the Allstate Arena, so we parked in their yard and walked to the concert. It wasn't that bad, though it was snowing and really windy, but thoughts of the concert kept us energized.
We found our seats right away - damn, is it just me or are the seats getting smaller and smaller? I swear I barely fit in them, and while I've got a bootie, it's not the biggest on the planet. But the seats in front of us were empty, so we put our coats across them and got ready for a hell of a time. (Note: groupies are some of the scariest-looking people in the world. I saw lots of women who looked so injected with plastic and collagen they made Frankenstein look normal).
First up was Breaking Benjamin. I've heard of a few of their songs, but didn't really know the words. That was okay cuz they still sounded great. That's one of the risks about new bands - a lot of times they sound horrible when they play live, but these guys put on a decent show. They played about 7 songs, then gave it up to the second act.
I was much more family with Three Days Grace. Again, these guys sounded great, and amped up the energy level a bit more than BB. The lead singer definitely had charisma and I can see these guys going places.
About halfway through their set, the people who had the seats in front of us showed up. There were about 8-10 of them, all couples in their late 20's, late 30's who looked as excited to be there as a Stepford community. I kept wanting to tell them that they made a wrong turn on the way to their church social. No offense to people who go to church, but this group looked like they were they were there under duress.
But who cared about them when finally, FINALLY, with a loud explosion, shooting sparks and fire, Nickelback was rockin' the house!
OMG, did they put on such a fabulous show! Starting out with the contagious rock song "Animals", they had the whole place (minus the church group) up on their feet and having a blast. I loved every minute of it - the heat, the energy of the crowd, the efforts the band made to provide the audience with beer *g*. My throat hurt from screaming my head off in approval. And I didn't have one drop of alcohol - just running on adrenaline and awesome music. I highly, highly recommend you go if you get the chance. These guys were awesome, and I really want to go see them again, like now.
Are you a groupie?
Do you have a favorite band?
What's the best concert you've ever been to?

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Tuesday, February 27, 2007:
'nother drive-by post
Hey all, just popping in for a quick moment-o to observe:

  • Being sick is not fun. Shocker isn't it? I went home early yesterday - I NEVER go home sick. Guess I'm human after all. Bummer *g*
  • Having an unrequited crush sucks. Nothing more to say - it just does. And even in your 30's, you can still get 'em. Disgusting.
  • I'm going to go see Nickelback on Friday!!!! Woo hoo baby! Along with Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace. Haven't been to a concert in ages. CANNOT WAIT.
  • Bath & Body Work's night-blooming jasmine body lotion rocks. I LOVE it. Can't get enough.
  • Hershey's Cacao Reserve milk chocolate is like heaven. Smooth, creamy chocolate. I bet the dark chocolate is pretty dang good, too.

That's about it. Enjoy the rest of your week :)

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