I meant to post this yesterday, but I've been so busy getting my multimedia project together -- well, you've heard it before. Anyway, it looks like a federal judge has ruled in favor of two N.C. college students who are being sued by the RIAA.

Related story: Order protects N.C. students

As for my project, I finally got it done, and I will present it to my class today! It needs some serious tweaking, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I must thank my co-workers Joe Weiss and Valerie Aguirre, who answered many a dumb Flash question for me, and my boss, David Feld, who accomodated my schedule so I could take the class.

Here's the project: The Fallen

Finally, just one more day till The Mars Volta in Atlanta! And if that's not enough, Mr. D -- who is SO thrilled to be going -- has told me we may take in a drag race at Rockingham on the way back (one of his friends is racing)! D's actually kind of looking forward to going to the show now, though I have a feeling I'll have to make up for it by going to see King Diamond with him.

I'm increasingly loving what DJ Marco has been up to. Check out his newest bhangra mix:

Trillville vs. Sanj: "Some Das Ja"

 

The Fucking Champs, last night (Tuesday, April 19, at Kings)
I usually don't like the Fucking Champs -- I think I've written on here before that I think they need a bass player -- but last night they were awesome. Admittedly, that could have been because I was drunk. But anyway, here's a picture. Mr. D may be getting me a better camera. I'm debating whether to take it or plop down the cash to get a good, small one that I can sneak into The Mars Volta show in Atlanta next month.

And speaking of The Mars Volta, I finally got A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Vol. 1, the solo project by the band's guitarist, Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, which I like a whole lot more than I thought I would.

The RIAA begins going after those who share files illegally over Internet2.

Related story: Music Group to Sue Students Over Downloads

 

What a weekend! Despite having morning morning production duty for Saturday and Sunday (which means working at 5:30 a.m.), I still managed to see a couple of bands AND a Carolina Rollergirls bout. Seeing the Rollergirls made me want to get out there too, even though I haven't skated since I was about 11 years old. Jessica, who accompanied me all weekend, kept suggesting we get a gang together and go skating sometime. One drawback to that: The Skate Ranch doesn't serve alcohol, which is probably good because I'm sure being drunk wouldn't help my coordination much, but it might numb me to the point that falling down isn't so bad.

On Saturday night we went to Local 506 to see Horsethief, a Charlotte band featuring Jessica's friend Gus, who is one also one of my Myspace pals. They're heavy and loud -- two of my favorite qualities in just about any band -- but were actually a tad too plodding for my taste. Since Gus got us in on the guest list, I feel a little bad writing that. I did get a couple of photos, including a nice one of him, so maybe that will make up for it.

Due to my early work schedule, we left shortly after Horsethief's set, but not before spying a skinny emo boy with his pants literally hanging off his ass.
"Oh my God, you've got to get a pic of that," Jessica said. See the pics below for the result. After I took the photo, he turned around and began posing for us, so I told him exactly why I was taking his picture, which seemed to make him proud. A few minutes later he strutted on stage, and I realized he was the singer in the second band, Kudzu Wish (from Greensboro, I think), which was having its CD-release show. We stuck around for one song, which I remember being pretty good. He certainly had a manic stage presence.

Valient Thorr (pictured above) was playing later, but we had to miss them. Luckily they were playing the next day between Rollergirl bouts at the Skate Ranch. Jessica has been bugging me for a while to see them, and now I understand why. They're sweaty, hairy and loud, slightly reminiscent of Gluecifer in their early days, and with one of the most entertaining front men I've seen in a while. I was so impressed I bought their CD from their bass player, who informed me that they actually have a new CD coming out soon. Check them out here.

 
The Carolina Rollergirls in action

 
Horsethief

 
Emo ass

 
Hairy, sweaty and loud

MTV announces a Web channel called MTV Overdrive. Let's hope you can actually see some music videos on there, and that they'll give users a real choice about the videos they want to see.

Related story: MTV Site Revs Into Overdrive

 I saw Corey Parker again Friday for the first time in several months. He's got a new bass player -- local poetess Shirlette Ammons, who it turns out is a pretty fine funk bass player. Still it was hard to miss the old bass player who was a fucking phenomenon. Anyway, the undisputed highlight of the evening was when Corey's famous father Maceo Parker joined the band for a few songs. And, miracle or miracles, I actually managed to get a fairly decent camera phone photo to document the event.

Afterward, I ended up at The Office where Monty was hosting another d'n'b show with Dieselboy.

I haven't been writing much because I'm dealing with this Flash class, which is completely killing me. The frustrating thing is I feel like I'm getting it, but the tests are so complicated and intimidating that I end up panicking and screwing up completely. And they're open-book tests, so I have no real excuse for doing so badly. Right now I'm taking a break from working on my final project, which is going to be a Flash database showing all the military personnel from N.C. who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of my jobs at the paper is to maintain this list, which can be emotionally difficult, especially when you read about the children they left behind, their dreams for life after the military, the messages they wanted sent back to their loved ones as they dying. But the other day I had the first truly gut-wrenching moment when I found a photo of one young soldier on our list smiling as he held his infant daughter. He was very lucky. So many of the bios I have to compile mention children that the dead soldiers and Marines didn't get to meet before shipping off.

On a totally different note, Mr. D, who normally brings me roses every time he comes to visit, outdid himself this time by bringing me a copy of the new AC/DC DVD "Family Jewels." This DVD supposedly includes every video they ever made, including the infamous Australian TV clip with Bon Scott dressed up like a tarty schoolgirl.