Rebellion Revisited

First off, just by reading my last post it's been a LONG time since I've blogged. Most things are the same, so I'll just jump back in head first.

Carolina Rebellion was AMAZING! Every band brought their "A" game and rocked it out on those HUGE stages. While everyone was rocking out, I was busy learning a very important lesson about staying hydrated.

We spent most of the day in the "Media Tent" where we could post pics and whatnot on Facebook and interview some of the bands. Well during all the chaos I apparently didn't stay up on my water intake and got dehydrated... bad. Luckily I caught it before it got to the point of needing assistance but I spent most of the afternoon with a pounding headache and achy muscles. Lots of water, some food, a bit of vomit, and a lot of resting later and I was able to rock out to the last handful of bands.

Learn from my mistakes and drink LOTS of water at big, all day shows like Carolina Rebellion. And if you're drinking beer alternate them with water. Trust me, dehydration SUCKS!

Back to Blogging

OK, so I have been realizing lately that I had a lot of crap on my mind and no real way to get it out so I'm bringing back the blog. Just so my ramblings make sense, I'll take this blog to catch everyone up on what's new in my world.

The biggest thing would be my girlfriend. As my last blog kinda goes into, my last relationship was a effort in futility on my part. Long story short I spent 9 months trying to please someone who was never happy with herself. Anywho, I met Amanda at the Alice in Chains show at the House of Blues in February. When we met, I thought they guy she was with was her boyfriend so I kept my distance. I later found out they were just friends so I turned on the charm.

The only thing that keeps her from being absolutely perfect is that she lives 5 hours away! I was hesitant at first because when I first moved away from Greenville the relationship I was in ended up falling apart and that was only a 45 minute drive!

The system we've fallen into seeems to be working pretty well thus far. We text or talk online most of the day and try to call each other at least once every day or two just to talk. Scheduling is always an issue with my job being so random sometimes but we have been going to visit one another about once a month at least. She is really amazing and I'm very happy I took the risk of distance.

Other than that, life is pretty much the same as always. Busy with work, trying to find time to see my friends when I can, and sleeping when it works into my schedule. There are some really kickass shows coming up this summer though so expect some thoughts on those to find their way in here as well as whatever else the world sends my way.

Movin' On Up

October has definitely been a wild month so far! It started off on a big down note with the passing of friend and coworker, Jerry Wayne. The last post was devoted to this so I'll move on to the rest of the month.

The month kicked off with an amazing show at Unk's with Eulogy (a Tool tribute band). The guys were really cool and put on an amazing show! The night did have a strange undertone to it though.

I don't know if I ever went into detail in an older post but my most recent breakup was back in March and came after several months misery and fighting. Needless to say I had no plans on us being "buddies" afterwards. Well, she apparently thought otherwise and being the nice guy that I am I usually reply to her random texts with very short and emotionless responces. Not being a dick, just not being all excited or any of that crap. Well, long story short, her and the "new guy" spent 30 minutes hanging out 10 feet away from me at the last ECU game and didn't speak. Fine by me, but then she texts me later that week to see if I was going to a different show that night. I almost wanted to show up and be a drunken asshole but that's just not me.

Moving on, the next weekend was my first weekend off in months so I took full advantage of that. I spent 2 days sitting on my ass watching TV, playing Warcraft, and being totally useless. I did manage to get off my ass and go see Zombieland. The movie was fucking amazing and I got to hang out with a bunch of my friends (some of which I haven't seen in months) and had a great time catching up with everyone. A much needed quiet weekend.

This past weekend was the exact opposite! We did a Thursday midnight premiere of "Paranormal Activity" in Greenville. The movie was TERRIFYING!!! But awesome! Ended up getting home after 3am and had to be at work at 8! That night I passed on judging a bikini contest (which killed me inside) to get some sleep. Saturday was ECU Homecoming so we were out there all day tailgating, watching the game, celebrating after, and drinking the night away! I woke up around 2pm Sunday, ate some Hibachi buffet, and watched football all afternoon (attempting to drink the hangover away). Hectic but damn fun!

This week started off pretty normal... until yesterday. I generally meet with my big boss every Tuesday before my conference call. Well this time we walked in and it was just me and him and he shut the door. Shut door means really good or really bad news. It was great! I got a promotion to Assistant Program Director (which is what I applied for when I was named Music Director)! Needless to say I am honored and super excited.

And now we're here. Less than 2 weeks away from Halloween with no clue what I'm going to go as this year. Looking forward to the party we're throwing though. 7 different bars in Greenville that we'll be bouncing around between means a long night is coming!

One more month almost in the books, let's see if we can end it with a bang...

R.I.P. Jerry Wayne

Yesterday was a rough day for a lot of people. Jerry Wayne (co-host of WNCT's "Breakfast Club" morning show, PD of WXNR) passed away due to complications from liver cancer. He was only 38 years old.

I first met Jerry about 5 years ago when I started interning here at The X. He worked out of our Greenville office, so at first I only knew him in passing. In January of 2007, he was promoted to Director of Programming and took over as Program Director of X (making him my direct boss).

Now I won't lie and say things were perfect. He had never worked in a new rock format and (having done oldies for 15 years) had a very different way of doing things than we were used to. We butted heads, disagreed on ideas, typical things coworkers do. But there was a lot of mutual respect. I knew he had years of experience in radio beyond what I knew and he understood that I knew the music and the format better than he ever could.

On a personal level though, he was a great guy. Always fun to bullshit with. Always had a wisecrack for every situation. Always very upbeat and positive.

He was a good boss, a great friend, and a respected and adored radio personality. He will be dearly missed by all of us here at WXNR, Beasley Broadcasting, Eastern North Carolina, and beyond.

Keep rockin my friend. We'll see you on the other side...

2 Crazy Weekends

Ok, so the past 2 weekends have been quite eventful. I meant to post something about the 1st but haven't till now so I'll just combine. Here goes:

Weekend before last started out in Morehead City. We were hanging out on the waterfront promoting the boat race they were having and it hit me... I really miss the beach. I used to spend most of my summers at the beach but the past few years I haven't had the time or energy to get over there much. It was so relaxing to just spend some time watching the waves.

The next day, I got my newest piercing (an industrial in my right ear) from Forbidden Tattoo in Jacksonville. Thanks Andrew!! After that I headed up to Unk's in Greenville to see my buddies, Nevermind, who were down from Chicago. After the show, we ended up hanging out with the boys from Irvine (Tripp and Lucas), Nevermind (Sam, Alex, and Jay), Naked Guy (not totally naked but great nickname), Brown (who had red hair), and a cute chick named Kyle. After getting yelled at for being loud by some hot lesbians we went back to the hotel and crashed around 6AM.

That was the first weekend, then this past weekend was crazy as well:

It all started Friday night at Hooligan's. We were hosting the Afroman show and I was exhausted from the week. I planned to get out early and get some sleep. Well, 5th Generation, BOB, and Afroman put on such a good show I ended up sticking around. Not to mention I met 2 of my new favorite people on the planet (Stephanie and Nick) and ended up goofing off with them most of the show. The next morning we headed up to ECU and tailgated our asses off. Matthew McConnaughey even stopped by!!! Inside joke. HAHA. Then we watched ECU beat UCF and headed off to BW's. Had a blast out there. Met some crazy people in the game. All around great times!

OK, so they weren't the type of weekend that Batman has but for me it was pretty wild and tons of fun. This weekend is shaping up to be kinda quiet... which I think is a good thing!

Baby Steps

Since my last post I've been doing pretty well as far as getting off my ass and back in the world is concerned. Hell, I've been battling a cold for about 2 weeks and have still been to Cruefest, Unk's for Irvine, Lucky's for Assembly Required, Catch 22 for 3 bands, and a ton of other places. Now admittedly, most of them were work related but I was sick. Give me a break!

Moving on, what's new in the world? Football is back! Being a pirate myself, I always look forward to ECU football. This year we have a sweet tailgating spot near the stadium and a bunch of cool stuff going on pre and post game this year. Plus I get to see The Pirates kick some booty (cheezy pun, had to). Not just that but NFL preseason is already underway which means not long for the regular season to start. I'm a huge Cowboys fan but I will watch any NFL game if it's on.

Summer is well over the halfway mark and I feel like I've missed it again. I've only been to the beach once and I never even got to the sand. Sad, I know. I keep meaning to take a day and just go over there for a few hours but everytime I have a day where I can I'm so exhausted I just want to sleep all day. I guess I'm just gonna have to suck it up and do it! Dammit!

I was trying to think of some things too expect next post but I have no freakin clue. No Xfest this year (our annual rock concert/festival) due to the economy. No big trips planned. I honestly have no clue what's coming my way, and to be honest... I think it might be a good thing!

State of the Blando Address

OK. So I said when I started this blog that I was going to start posting regularly again but I haven't. I would like to say that I haven't done anything worth talking about but that's not true. I've been very introspective for a while and it's time to get back out in the world. So to catch you up on things...


Since the breakup in the last post I've been single. Very single. Like not even going out and being social single. Something I'm trying to change. It's not easy because now I'm in the habit of being lazy which is not an easy one to break but I'm gonna try. I'm not so much looking to not be single anymore, just tired of not having a life. Time to reconnect with my friends I've been neglecting and get out there and make some new ones yet again!

Work has been pretty on par. Summer time is always busy in radio. Lots of live appearances, concerts, etc. One nice thing that has come out of being so antisocial is that I've pretty much devoted my full attention to work. I've really been busting my ass to learn things, better myself at things like audio production, and trying to be as involved in anything going on involving the station that I can. It did net me Employee of the Month in June (for the 3rd year running).

Other than work I really don't have much to talk about. Haven't been to any shows except Kid Rock at Walnut Creek. The show was freakin amazing and the seats were awesome! Other than that I've been spending way too much time sitting on my ass watching TV and playing video games.

Time to dust off the old Blando and see if this thing still runs...