Stay Classy San Diego

This past weekend I got to make my first voyage to the left coast and it was AMAZING!

I was invited to a music conference called Sunset Sessions Rock! which is an event where radio people, record labels, music producers, artists, and basically anybody who has anything to do with music in some form is invited to come take part in discussion panels and watch performances by up and coming new bands.

This was the first year of the event and it was held in San Diego. I've never been further west than Minneapolis so it was a whole adventure for me. Travel was surprisingly easy and even the traffic in San Diego was not nearly as bad as I expected. There were almost 30 bands there but some of the ones that really jumped out at me were Redlight King (who you can hear on The X), Dead Sara (Flyleaf-esque but not a carbon copy), Drive A (pre-Dookie Green Day style punk), Sons of the Lawless (solid rock featuring Jake Busey on drums), Kopek (Irish rock trio), AWOLNATION (trippy prog-alternative), and One Less Reason (Saliva style adrenaline rock). There wasn't a single band who was "bad" but some that I wasn't a fan of the style for varying reasons. Another band that really caught my eye was GIVERS from Louisiana. They had a very energetic live show and a female ukulele/xylophone/drums/tamborine player who also sings (and yes, she played all of those in EACH song!).

It was also my first chance to meet up with our very own Full Metal Jackie and Mic Czech and Malcolm from Skratch 'n Sniff (who are all 3 from southern Cali). They all mentioned the emails and social network love from the Xaholics so keep that coming!

All in all, it was one of the most fun weekends I've ever had. I learned things, met lots of great people, made some great business contacts, some awesome friends, and finally got to see the Pacific Ocean with my own eyes. Can't wait for Sunset Sessions Rock 2012!

Movies That Rock Pt. 1

Since this will be a recurring theme in my blog posts, I figured I'd give my movie reviews a title of sorts. I'm not sold on "Movies That Rock" so if you have suggestions, email me! Three movies to get through this time so let's jump in.

First up is Scream 4. I am a big fan of the Scream series but, like any avid movie watcher, I'll admit 2 and 3 were nowhere near as good as the original. 4, on the other hand, takes the franchise back to glory. In true Scream fashion, it starts out by making fun of how cheesy movie intros are lately BY DOING THE SAME THINGS! The premise of Scream 4 is that Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is trying to put her bloody history behind her with the help of her first book about surviving the Ghostface Killer and the celebrity status that she gained from it. All the favorites are back (SHERIFF Dewey Riley (David Arquette), Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox)) plus plenty of new faces like Alison Brie as Sidney's younger cousin, Rebecca, and Hayden Panettiere, as her friend Kirby. It's all the campy horror you expect from a Scream movie with a solid story and more twists than the first 3 combined!

Next on the list is The Collector. The movie centers around Arkin. They don't go into much detail but at some point he served time and is a master safe cracker. At the beginning of the movie he is working as a locksmith working on the new home of a rich family. In need of money, he decides to steal a large diamond from the house while the family is on vacation only to discover something sinister. The family is being held hostage by a masked psychopath. Arkin has to decide whether to take the money and run or save the family from certain doom. Excellent camera work, building suspense, and plenty of SAW-esque gore make this a must see for any horror fan.

And last on this edition, THOR! Finally got around to seeing this one last night and it was great! Thor is the Norse god of thunder. On the day he was to be named king, enemies invade the castle and due to Thor's overreaction his father is forced to strip him of his power and banish him from Asgard to Midgard (the realm of man, or Earth). We then find the attack was no coincidence and Thor must find his human side before he can regain his power and save both his world and our own. Not a ton of fighting but plenty of awesome visuals and a very solid story. I saw the movie in 3D but I feel like 2D would have been fine. (Geek Info: This is another piece of the Avengers saga that began with Hulk and Iron Man and will continue with Captain America).

So there you go, a slasher, a psycho thriller, and a Marvel hero flick. All three great in their own ways.

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!