SYMPHONY X

Riordo and I scored some VIP tickets for Symphony X, and Powerglove at the Best Buy Theater. An awesome show, made all the better thanks to the vip tix. I Haven't wrote on the blog in a while, and since the show was back on April 22nd, some details might be cloudy. Any-who

We got to get in early and had a meet and greet with the band, I brought a symphony X mask which I made many many years ago (2002) and got all the members to sign it. They all thought it was pretty bad ass. After some photographs and a quick chat we were allowed to hit up the merch table early and get our loot.

Powerglove was great, really hilarious but extremely talented video game power metal. They threw fun plastic swords and hammers into the crowd for people to play with.

Symphony X put on a hell of a show. The Odyssey was a highlight for me.
1. Of Sins and Shadows
2. Domination
3. Serpents Kiss
4. End of Innocence
5. Paradise Lost
6. Smoke and Mirrors
7. Eve of Seduction
8. Dehumanized
9. Set the World on Fire
Encore
10. The Odyssey

5k

Ran the annual 5k run for the wild life at the Bronx Zoo with Nick and my sister. Felt great to run, and to do it for a good cause.

Besito

Me and Natalie ate at Besito this weekend, a pretty schmancy Spanish joint in Roslyn. Nat had a pretty banging margarita for starters while I ordered a cosmojito. Turned out to be not so good, I always get stuck with the bitch drinks. Anyways the food here was delicious and fresh. When I say fresh I mean make the guacamole at your table. Which was pretty neat to watch. The guy comes up grinds up some spices and onions cuts open the avocados and goes to town. For my meal I got the Salmon Manchamanteles. Salmon roasted with pineapple pico de gallo, a crispy and a soft banana, and the mole which had a very sweet taste to it. Churros came free on the house! Let me tell you these churros were the best Ive ever had.
Not that great of quality on the pictures but you get the point.

5 years,

It was me and Natalie's 5 year anniversary this weekend. We had reservations in the city for 6 so we decided to head in early and sight see a little. I figured if we had time to kill we would head up to the natural museum of history, which we did. Kinda neat but you can only see it so many times, so we ended up only staying for about an hour. At this point we've about 4 hours to kill before out dinner plans so we went to Mcsorleys ale house. First time there and glad I finally made it. This bar is a real piece of history. Built in 1854 it was the first bar in NYC and everything is original. The only types of beer are light and dark, sawdust covers the floor, and women werent allowed inside till 1970! amen! We were one block over from St. Marks St so we took a quick stroll. I noticed this place called TKettle with a sign for bubble tea in the window. Ive read about bubble tea on the internet before but have never partook. Bubble tea is tea with these little balls of chewy tapioca kind of balls all in the bottom of the cup. You drink the tea with an over sized straw and they shoot up into you're mouth, a real weird but interesting experience. Natalie and I decided to go to Les Halles, which was Anthony Bourdains home restaurant before the traveling gig. We started with a bottle of the house red and a appetizer of cold meats (ham, pork confit, salami, and a few others). For our meals Nat got the steak frites salade deal, which she enjoyed very much so. The frites are known to be awesome and they were. I got a pork dish, it was bacon, ham, sausage, and frankfuter all slow cooked together in sauerkraut and beer. For desert we got Bananes Flambee. The waitress rolled the cart up to the table and started to caramelize sugar in front of us. She then threw in a few bananas and poured in some rum, which led to her lighting it all up briefly. Overall we had a very good time and not overpriced at all. I would definitely go back.

Busy

Ive been pretty busy lately with work going crazy and me heading back to school. I haven't updated in a while so here's a quickie. French toast bagel with butter and syrup and wings and things in one day, hell yes.

We went LOKO

Got Loked up with some buds,

deep frying some chicken wrapped in bacon, ya know

Mmm spent some time with the deep fryer. Chicken wrapped in bacon. Home made french fries. Need I say more?

Jade

A new addition to the family, Jade!

My sister's new puppy, We went to the north shore animal shelter in port washington and picked up this cutie. Shes a retriever lab mix I guess. There are so many good dogs and cats there its sad to leave, I would love to be able to give them all a home. I can not fathom animal cruelty and it should be treated just as severe as a human to human crime.
Anyways on a brighter note, I ate brisket that night! A day with brisket is a good day indeed. The family went to eldorado, which was nice for us all to go out. We all had corn poppers as a app which was pretty good. Then I had a brisket/rib combo and a nice large toasted lager.


After dinner we stopped at the liquor store to pick up an after dinner treat. Some carolans irish cream and coffee to fight the chill in the air.

Blind Guardian NYC part |||

Ah so anyone that knows me knows I do not need to make a post about the Blind Guardian show to tell you how amazing it was. Epic, Legendary, Fantastic, And too fucking short! They played just shy of two hours and this show friggin flew by. Anyways, got a awesome spot stage right, right up on the railing in front of Marcus. First band was nothing to right home about, The second band Holy Grail was pretty sick though. Thrash with a lot of power metal themes, entertaining. Blind Guardian opened up with Sacred Worlds, which was awesome and went into the classic Welcome to Dying. The energy that these guys put off mixed with the crowds worshipping like state makes for a great show every single time. Blind Guardian has been myfavorite band since I first acquired a taste for music, Over 10 years of BG loving. Saw them in 2002, and 2006. The setlist was perfect, could not ask for more. They played a good mix off the new album and a good mix of all there classics. Of course I could have stood there andwatched the whole discography but I understand there isn't the time for that.

1. Sacred Worlds

2. Welcome to Dying

3. Born in a Mourning Hall

4. Nightfall

5. Fly

6. Time Stands Still

7. Time What is Time

8. This Will Never End

9. Lord of the Rings

10. Tanelorn

11. Imaginations From the Other Side

Encore

12. Wheel of Time

13. The Bards Song- In the Forest

14. Valhalla

15. Mirror Mirror

Being there with good friends and die hard fans singing along to these songs really puts a smile on your face. Il be sitting here waiting another 4 years for their return.

Kate Nash Terminal 5

Saw Kate Nash this past Friday at Terminal 5. Ive been listening to Made of Bricks for a while now and love the album. My Best Friend is you I got about a week before the show and it was in constant rotation with BG AtEoT, anyways really enjoying this album to. I think I might like it better then the first, a lot more punkish. The show had its ups and downs. The ups being she played about everyone song I could have wanted to here, with enthusiasm, and Kate's voice sounding good. Unfortunatly, The band was pretty terrible live, aside from whatever Kate was doing. These guys rushed through the songs, and were a all around bummer. Best song of the night IMO was Seagulls. Overall the set was pretty good. Got a setlist which is always nice :)
Picture of the setlist is mine, the rest were found on the interwebs from my show.