Queen w/Paul Rogers

AMAZING!!!
I have not felt that good in a long time as I did during this show. Did that make sense? Brian May even said on his weblog (brianmay.com) that the Chicago audience even blew them away. Well, with regards to performing, you get what you give.

The band could not have been more grateful to us. They thanked us over and over for coming. I have never seen a more gracious rock band. There was no arrogance to be found in the Allstate Arena, where Queen and Paul Rogers were concerned, only phenomenal music, phenomenal vocals, and an energetic performance by Free and Bad Company's Paul Rogers and original Queen members, guitar player Brian May and drummer, Roger Taylor. The extended family of new bass player, keyboard player, and guitar player were golden.

It was easy to see that all of the band members were having a great time. Paul had a grin on his face the entire show. His voice only gets better with age. My ears are still thanking me for allowing them to hear Paul Rogers sing live. Brian May's guitar tone is still one of the most effective, yet pleasant sounding tones in the history of rock-n-roll. It was such a pleasure to see and hear him play the infamous Red Special, live. Oh yeah, his voice is wonderful, too. He came out and played "Love of My Life" for us. He said, "This is a song written by Freddie for Freddie, and I believe he is here, with us tonight."

"Love of My Life" is a beautiful ballad, and the entire audience used to always sing the song along with Freddie, so naturally, Brian let the audience sing the song. We all did sound good together.

Roger Taylor did a drum solo. It's fun to watch him play, because like a lot of drummers I know, he keeps time with his jaw, and I swear I caught him mouthing, "Bucket of fish," to himself during a drum fill. Roger came out from behind the kit and sang, "Days of Our Lives," to a drum sequencer and then started, "Radio Ga Ga." Brian May wrote in his weblog that when Roger sang that song that night, he was thinking to himself, "These really are the days of our lives." FYI, Roger still has an incredible voice, as well!

The cool thing about this show, besides the fact that I was watching and listening to some of the greatest musicians of all time, was that they did not gush over Freddie Mercury. They did show some great video and pictures of the band when they were just starting out, while they performed "Days of Our Lives." I've read review headlines from pathetic, jaded, music journalists claiming that the show was an advertisement for AIDS awareness, claiming that Paul Rogers is out of shape, and other silly things. Nothing the critics say is ever true. It seems that these silly critics were not even at any of the shows. Brian has been kind enough to share good and bad reviews with fans, via his website, and I have come to this conclusion--music journalists are miserable people, some of whom are jaded performers who never made it anywhere. These poor souls never made it anywhere, most likely because they know nothing about music and they never had an ounce of talent to begin with, so how would they be able to recognize a good or bad show when they see one?

Thank you, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Paul Rogers and the new boys in the band for making us feel so good that night. You have nothing to prove, yet you proved anyway that Queen is still one of the best rock bands of all time.

Love,

Jeni

Oh yeah, the set list, courtesy of brianmay.com:

CHICAGO - Thu. 23/03/06.OFFICIAL SET LIST
INTRO – BEAUTIFUL DAY
REACHING OUT
TIE YOUR MOTHER DOWN
FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS
CAN’T GET ENOUGH
TAKE LOVE
CRAZY LITTLE THING
LOVE OF MY LIFE
HAMMER TO FALL
FEEL LIKE MAKIN’ LOVE
DRUM SOLO
I’M IN LOVE WITH MY CAR
GUITAR SOLO
LAST HORIZON
BAD COMPANY
ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST
DAYS OF OUR LIVES
RADIO GA GA
DRAGON ATTACK
UNDER PRESSURE
SHOW MUST GO ON
BO RAP
---
ROCK YOU
ALL RIGHT NOW
CHAMPIONS

Epic

Every woman should have a back-up plan and a roadside emergency kit.
I am about to purchase the roadside emergency kit.

I think a weekend by myself in Chicago will be a lot of fun. I won't really be alone, after all. Thursday night, I will be with thousands of Queen fans. Friday and Saturday I plan on staying in the city and taking in all the wonderful offerings of the city. I will not be alone, once again, the streets of Chicago are always buzzing with people and sights. This is all a back-up plan, though. Doug has not made up his mind whether or not he still wants to go. I kind of need to know soon, though, because I will either auction off one or both seats for half off the selling price and try to get a closer seat for just me, or auction off one seat and pray that no ax murderer sits next to me. I could e-mail Brian May and see if he would be so kind as to post my plea on his website for a date for Thursday night.

So, I have figured out the source of my insanity and self-destructiveness.
I have been taking Effexor XR for almost three years, now. Lately, meaning the past six months or so, I have been this Jeckyl and Hyde person, and I haven't been able to figure out why. The other day, I read a warning about Effexor. It said that those who take Effexor may experience anxiety, depression, irritability, and increased thoughts of suicide to name a few adverse reactions to the medication. Hmm...Sounds like me. Anyway, I decided that I have been on this crap for too long, not to mention it is about to cost me someone who I love very much, so I am going to see my doctor on Monday and see about coming off of this crap. I am also going to get myself to a psychologist. I realize now that it is not a sign of weakness to ask for help and I finally realize that I have a lot of issues that I have to address, mostly of the sexual assault nature, before I can ever really move on with my life.

Anyway, I hope Doug comes to Chicago with me, but if not, the journey should inspire some songs.

Je ne sais quois

What To Do, What To Do?

It is that time again; that time in the twelve-week cluster when I get really x 10 stressed out and my boyfriend thinks I don't care about him, my folks think I am abusing illegal substances and the cat won't give me the time of day, because I won't take time out to bat the ball back and forth with him. Yes, it is that time--research paper time.

It's not so much that I am a procrastinator. I am really good at managing my time, between the stupid day job, the gigs, my boyfriend, my cat, and maintaining good grades in school. Doug thinks I hate him, though, because I won't be able to see him this weekend. I won't be able to see him, because this Sunday and Monday ( I am taking a day off of work) are the only days I have to throw all of the my research together and try and make sense of it. I only have to try to turn it into ten sensible-sounding pages, but it can get hard by page eight and a half. Then, I have to present and sound like I know what I am talking about. I don't think he understands how hard this can be and how much time it takes. I cannot b s my way through a quarter project, because I know what I am capable of writing. I cannot give anything I do any less than my absolute best. He had his chance in college and his folks paid for it. I am working my ass of to pay for my school and I can and will earn straight A's, because that is what I am capable of. I cannot afford to repeat a class all on account of a man. We may not even be together by the time I graduate in a year or so. I have goals in life and nothing or no one will stand in my way. I cannot foresee working a dead-end job the rest of my life and being miserable, like my mom is. I'd be the first one in my immediate family to earn a college degree. I'd love to get a PhD, but I am going to take things one step at a time.

I gig tonight and tomorrow. Tomorrow should be fun, since it is the St. Patrick's Day parade and we're playing outside along the parade route. I wonder if the band can drink Syberg's out of Guinness again? I am going to try to make it downtown early to get some parade pics and Irish food. I'm about a quarter Irish, eh? I think every American is at least a quarter Irish.

Jeni

PS One more thing... How cool of a girlfriend am I to take Doug and me to see one of our favorite bands, Queen, in Chicago and spring for premium seats?
Yeah, that's what I thought.

"We"

Hooray! We the two-headed albino rat snake will get to continue to live the good life at The City Museum in Saint Louis, MO. I met We a few weeks ago at the Science Writers convention and she is very cool. This is one lucky snake, because she never stood a chance in nature. Now, she will be treated like a queen and be on display for millions to continue to enjoy for years to come. How can you put a price on something this beautiful?

http://rds.yahoo.com/S=96062883/K=st+louis+two+headed+snake/v=2/SID=w/l=IVI/;_ylt=A0Je5xaWjRBETmIBoGajzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=11vmnm39b/EXP=1142021910/*-http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/1_4h.jpg


http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dst%2520louis%2520two%2520headed%2520snake%26sm%3DYahoo%21%2BSearch%26fr%3DFP-tab-web-t%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3D%26ei%3DUTF-8&w=450&h=338&imgurl=www.seacoastonline.com%2Fnews%2F1_4h.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.seacoastonline.com%2Fnews%2F01042006%2Fnews%2F81137.htm&size=43.6kB&name=1_4h.jpg&p=st+louis+two+headed+snake&type=jpeg&no=2&tt=5&ei=UTF-8&src=p

Prayer Blog

Everyone out there please say a prayer for my friend Maggie.

Her mom was diagnosed with cancer last Thanksgiving. Maggie came out to the gig last night and I asked her how things were going. She said that her mom was ninety percent clear of cancer. Then, her mom woke up the other morning and could not walk, talk, or see. The cancer spread to her brain, so she is back in the hospital, but she is still in good spirits.

I believe in the power of prayer and that miracles can happen, so please include Maggie and her mother in your prayers tonight.

I don't know what I'd do without my mom!

Love,

Jeni

Cool Dream

So, like, I had one of those really cool dreams that seemed so real and I felt so cool when I woke up from it this morning.

I am totally stoked about the Queen concert in Chicago on March 23. The band kicks off its US leg of the tour tomorrow in Miami. I think I have been reading guitarist Brian May's blog too much (www.brianmay.com, Brian's Soapbox), but it is really interesting. It is nice to know that not all rock gods are idiots, that one can be educated, be a good businessman, be a good family man, be compassionate as well as informed, and make the guitar sing and the women swoon. Besides, I like to know what is really going on inside the heads of other musicians, not to mention all of the crazy goings on behind the scenes. Brian's blog is the next best thing to meeting the guy. He even answers some of the comments he gets on his posts, which is really cool. Okay, it is cool if you are a Brian May fan. I know I am a geek and a fanatic and I am okay with that. Oh yeah, my dream:

I dreamt that I was allowed to go to Queen's sound-check. I was watching the techs do their thing and I was able to see all of the guitars off to the side of the stage. I noticed that one of them in the lot was the famous Red Special--special, because it is truly one of a kind. You see, Brian and his dad made that guitar out of spare parts, including a fire place mantle. Brian has played that guitar all throughout his career and the tone that comes out of it is amazing (I told you I am a geek).

Anyhow, the guitar tech noticed me gawking at "Red" and asked me if I would like to pick it up and play it. I was like, "Oh no. I couldn't. I shouldn't." Some guitarists are real picky about other people touching their axes. The tech egged me on. "C'mon. It's cool," he said. "Just hold it, " and with that, he forced it into my grubby little hands. I remember looking down at it in my dream, all wide-eyed and I could clearly see every detail on the fret board and the body, including the usual wear and tear over time. I remember thinking to myself, "I feel so cool right now. Do you know how much this guitar has seen throughout the years? How many songs have been composed on it?" The feeling was so incredible, I wanted to cry.

I think I woke up with my hands still holding on to that guitar!