Memorial Day weekend antics

Wow, busy past few days... Did some record shopping, went to a show and saw X-Men 3 this weekend. Plus this week at work, I have like 15 DVD covers due. If I haven't mentioned before on here that I design DVD covers for a living (though it's not much of a living).

I got to see Tragedy, Warhead, Forward, Violation, and Drawing Dead at the First Unitarian Church in Philly this weekend. I like the church, it's pretty big for large crowds like this. A lot of people complain about the heat and the smell, but it doesn't really bother me. Drawing Dead and Violation are both new bands from Philly, and were good but seemed a little rough around the edges and better suited for a basement show. Forward played next, which was kind of a surprise since I expected Warhead to play next according to all the flyers and internet postings. My first encounter with Forward was 2 years ago when my old band, SNAKEBiTE played with them. I had loved their Burn Down the Corrupted Justice CD, and also got their Fucked Up LP. Unfortunately they only played 5 songs, which were all on Burn Down the Corrupted Justice. I guess there was a rush since it was a matinee show that had to end by 6. They were really awesome though, and the singer started out by saying "WE ARE FORWARD, WE ARE FORWARD, FROM JAPAN, FROM JAPAN, FUCK GEORGE BUSH," then proceeded to play "Fuck Bush" off their latest album. Warhead I knew nothing about other than they were from Japan. They sounded pretty similar to Forward, maybe a little faster and also played a relatively short set. I liked them a lot, and I'll have to track down some vinyl. The singer puked while they were playing, it was pretty nasty. Tragedy played last; I consider Tragedy the best current band. They may not be my favorite, but certainly the best. The raw energy and ferocity when they play is undeniable, and when I went to give them stickers after they played since I took some rad pictures they were super nice. They played a ton of great songs off their older records and 2 from the brand new one which totally rules. They even played "the Point of No Return" as an encore. I'll be seeing them again in NJ on Friday, and I can't wait!

X-Men 3 was pretty much a disappointment. There was a new director which could account for it, but the writing seemed all over the place. It seemed to have the storyline of Jean returning from the dead as the Phoenix, Magneto gathering an army to destroy humans, and the government inventing a weapon that will take away a mutant's abilities. Being a big X-Nerd, there were many inconsistencies in these stories compared to the comic. I would have preferred a new take on the Phoenix storyline rather than just have Jean turn red and float around with a bunch of power. The most disappointing scene in the movie is where the Juggernaut actually say "I'm the Juggernaut, Bitch." This is taken from a little movie clip that had been circulating the internet, I won't post a link because it's too stupid. I'd think with all the money the writers got that they could avoid referencing the internet video in a major motion picture big budget film. I mean if you liked the first 2, see it eventually. If you didn't see the others then don't bother at all. I'd still say that X-men 2 was the best one, but by no means is it a flawless trilogy.

*I'll make another posts about the new records once I get to listen to them all*