life+running » metal

Sweet Tunes Thursday: Power. Songs.

chimes — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

~~I’m taking a break from Blend Recapping (don’t worry. there’s more. if you’re sick of it, come back next week when I leave for Austin).~~

EDIT: I wasn’t going to recap today (I have tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday for that!), but Janetha posted her Friday night recap last night and I was so excited to see that I was featured on her blog. As you know, I’m kind of a fangirl of hers and pretty much do every workout she posts. You’ve seen her right? There’s a reason I’m a lemming.

Anyway, she was kind enough to post this very … special … photo of me enjoying the cupcakes from Street Fare at Friday night’s dinner.

I love how Ashley and Laura are all cute and Christine might have noticed my posing for photo … or was just as enthused about getting a photo of us eating as I was. I’m pretty sure somebody said “Can I get a picture of you ladies eating your cupcakes?” And that she did.

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Now instead of another recap, I have so much music for you this week! I compiled ~~all~~ 10 11 of my favorite workout songs into this post.

Those of you who use Nike+ know that they have this thing called a “powersong”. You push a button, and the song that you picked that gets your heart pumping will play. Pretty cool, eh? I think so. I’ve definitely had some runs in which I’ve punched the button and listened to one of these songs on repeat for several miles.

Also, if you’re new to my blog, note that I have pretty schizophrenic music taste. So hopefully there is something for everybody here.

And if you’re not a fan of watching YouTube videos, here’s the playlist on Spotify instead. In case you didn’t know, Metallica is lame and doesn’t have any of their songs on Spotify. So if you really want to hear Master of Puppets, you’ll have to watch the video (I suggest a listen — you might recognize it from the classic — yes it’s old enough that I’m calling it that — Will Ferrell movie Old School.)

Jimmy Eat World / A Praise Chorus

Amon Amarth / Pursuit of the Vikings

Michael Jackson / Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (Not my favorite version of this song — but I watched this concert SO many times when I was a little kid. Gold. Bodysuits.)

Ke$ha / Blow — Cirkut Remix (just so you know, it pains me to actually use the $ for an S and it made me shudder typing “cirkut”)

Iron Maiden / The Trooper

The Faint / Paranoiattack (Note: These guys are stellar live. the light show? they spend most of their $ on that, from what I hear)

Daft Punk / Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (giving you this video because it cracks me up)

Metallica / Master of Puppets

Andrew W.K. / She is Beautiful

3 Inches of Blood / Deadly Sinners

Okay — I’m a fan of turning things up to 11. So here’s one more.

Children of Bodom / Are You Dead Yet?

Those guys also have a pretty hilarious cover of Oops I Did it Again. In case you were wondering

This song was singlehandedly the reason I came back from an injury and shaved 2+ minutes of my mile time. It also helped that I have a slight crush on their lead singer / guitarist (<===== oddly enough, that is the post that continues to bring the most traffic to my site). Yeah. I have weird taste in guys. Don’t judge. Tattoos, beards, guitars, long hair? If you have one or more of those, I’m in (Mark is obviously bearded and he plays guitar. And banjo. I was responsible for him continuing to grow his hair out in college, though we weren’t dating — oops.)

[ source ]

What songs pump you up? Do you have a go-to powersong? And how do you feel about facial hair or tattoos? Discuss.

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Flashback Friday: I’m with the band (2005)

chimes — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000

First of all, I have to tell you that last night’s Doomtree show was awesome! And awesomely loud. I brought ear plugs for once. Loudest show I’ve been to. And you know what kind of music I listen to … \m/

The show was SOLD OUT. Which still made for an intimate event at this venue (love it!) … but so many white kids rapping, and putting their hands in the air (which was strange to me — putting my hands in the air with no devil horns??)

… and I met Mike Mictlan and Dessa after the show. My friend Seth picked up one of all of their albums. I’m definitely FINALLY picking up the rest of Dessa’s albums on emusic this week. I have Badly Broken Code, but need to grab the rest.

Also, can we say kickass drum machine? LAZERBEAK rocked it.

Which is a nice segue into this post about being in “the band” … because for a while, the band had a drum machine named Rebekkah Von Stroff (yes, there was a blow up mannequin that manned it).

^I felt so badass holding that flying v. What a dork.

So in April of 2005, I got a wild hair to be a rockstar. And conveniently, there was a band looking for a lead singer. So I tried out.

The band was called “Assault Company”. And yes, I realized they were kind of metal. “Kind of” being the key phrase. I wanted something super badass.

I had a tryout and I made it into the band. The height of my career came a month later when we were accepted into the battle of the bands at the “Springfest” event (ISU didn’t have VEISHEA that year … um, the year before was a riot). And we played a set at Harambee, which was a cultural festival, that same day.

I mostly spent time with the band designing cool alter-egos and a nifty website. I had swag up on CafePress before I memorized the words to all the songs.

This was our band. And I apparently thought that hot pink frills were über-metal. As were photoshop filters.

^My alter-ego. Note the super boobs.

Also, I think this might have been another one of my alters. Which is hilarious, because I’m pretty sure that the face paint and hair match my costume from Super Prom. Again, SUPER BOOBS. I took great care with this illustration to make sure the guy was doing the devil horns when he was being smacked upside the head with a flying v.

Unfortunately there is no evidence of my aural assault. I was a screamer/growler, and it was not pretty. I threw out my voice, but it was so much fun that it was totally worth it. It was like Kittie lite, which is so not badass now that I know about black metal. I remember having band practices and dicking around to no end — the main riff from Dammit by Blink 182 was busted out at least once a practice. And there was definitely a trash can dedicated to spitting between the lead guitar and myself on more than one occasion (hey, all the growling makes your throat all gross).

This photo was in the paper. I love how my friend Mark, the guitarist in this photo, never wore a shirt. Ever. And he kind of looks like Dave Mustaine here.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. I met MY Mark this day. Yep. Him and our friend Drew lived down the hall from the bassist and drummer, so they came to watch. And yelled “Slayer!” the whole time, while my friend Eric yelled “Freebird!”.

Love this photo. We were so badass here. Kasey, the bassist in this photo, busted his hand open halfway through the show (<=== the lost footage. It’s bad. I didn’t know this song well and it was one of the ones in which I sang instead of growled). Also, the two of us broke up the band a few months later in order to form The Duct Tape Pirates, which was a fail from the start, and basically resulted in my irresponsible purchase of a cool bass guitar, and learning the riff to Megadeth’s Trust … as well as making for a badass Courtney Love Halloween costume. Yup. My mom’s suggestion, though she doesn’t play bass usually … it still looked cool. And no, that wasn’t a wig. That was my hair. Unwashed and ratted up.

Also, I kind of want to get a t-shirt with one of my alters on it. I might re-tool the 2nd one (and clean it up … designed during my 2nd semester of graphic design) and get some cool swag.

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TOTALLY unrelated side note — IT’S DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME THIS WEEKEND. Spring forward. And groan, because we’re losing an hour this weekend. BOO!

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Sweet Tunes Thursday: Children of Bodom

chimes — Thu, 26 May 2011 11:00:00 +0000

So my friend @MRJWAR on twitter informed me that COB has a new album out — on Monday, during my furious purchasing of music since my emusic subscription renewed and Gaga’s new album was $.99 on amazon. @MRJWAR reminded me that I like metal. So I got Children of Bodom’s new album, Relentless, Reckless Forever. And it’s awesome. Here’s the title track.

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Sweet Tunes Thursday: 3 Inches of Blood

chimes — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:00:00 +0000

I am beyond excited to see this band next week when they trek through Des Moines. They’re a bit of thrash, some Iron Maiden-esque meets death metal vocals with some southern rock infusion. They’re at the Vaudeville Mews next Wednesday, March 2 at 5:30 PM Enjoy!

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Sweet Tunes Thursday: Children of Bodom

chimes — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:49:26 +0000

I’m going to a Children of Bodom concert tomorrow and I am SOOO excited. Wellll … as long as I don’t forget to pick UP the ticket. Whoops.

In case you didn’t know, these guys are one of my favorite metal bands. They have fabulous guitar, driving rhythms and they are apparently HUGE fans of The Big Lebowski. They released a cover album last year about this time that included a bunch of songs from the Lebowski soundtrack.

Anyway … I am sharing with you two songs. One that I enjoy and one that I think most of my audience can at least appreciate.

The first song is “Are You Dead Yet?”. This song is near and dear to me because it got me through some really tough training when I started running after rehabilitating a leg injury. I was upset that I couldn’t run the high mileage that I used to run. Instead of 5 or more miles a day I was stuck at 1-3 and I couldn’t even run two days in a row. This song reminded me that no matter how far or how fast I run, put my all into it because I’m not dead yet. Not to mention, that album reset my slow tempo to a 2-minute per mile faster pace. So, thanks guys.

Aaand I’m sharing with you the cheesetastic Britney Spears cover these guys did. Oops! I did it again … It’s interesting. And funny. Love a band with a sense of humor!

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Weiner Free Weekend: Killing Road in Minnesota

chimes — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:46:20 +0000

It’s another weiner-free weeeeeeeeeekend. I shouldn’t be this excited, but my lil dog is kind of like having a misbehaving 3-year-old. If you’re reading this, that means I’m in Minnesota and Barnabus is at Steph‘s place for the weekend.

Why, do you ask? Because I’m going to see SLAYER. MEGADETH. AND TESTAMENT.

Yes. Almost the big 4, but not quite. Good enough for me — good riddance to Metallica anyway. Dave Mustaine is where it’s at, as you can tell by my fabulous kitchen decor.

(a super old pic … but seriously. this guy is badass).

Anyway, I so can’t wait to see Megadeth and Slayer again … and I’m excited about Testament. I’m kind of disappointed that we’ve got nose-bleeds because last time I saw Megadeth I was close enough to touch Dave. On the railing. Man, you MN peeps are wimps. I got more beat up at the Jimmy Eat World show in Iowa than I did at Gigantour that year!

Wow. I’m rambling. Sorry — I get excited about these things then go into douchey metal dude speak.

Anyway, I’m going to have a great time and maybe get some decent photos. Regardless, I’m so going to H&M when I’m in Minnesota … seriously.

Gotta love how I’m going to a thrash show and all I can think about is shopping …

I’m going to leave you with one of my favorite Megadeth songs. I say one of them because they’re all pretty much amazing. Enjoy!

Not to mention — this one is a gem from ’91 — Dave Ellefson on bass … drool (not because I think he’s hot, but because he’s amazing!) … it’s almost a shame I don’t have the same hair as these guys anymore.

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I interrupt my normal cutesy blog to bring you this very important announcement

chimes — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:50:35 +0000

CHILDREN OF BODOM

coming

Des MOINES!

October 1 — they’re supporting Black Label Society, who, I’m cool with seeing again, but more importantly:

ALEXI LAIHO is coming to Des Moines. AND it’s a small venue. Which means. I could be. Within. His. Reach.

Oh man.

By the way … for those of you who don’t know me, did I mention that I’m a huge metalhead? I think that needs to probably be in my sidebar bio somewhere.

It’s soooo cheesy, but Children of Bodom are my end-all-do-all favorite metal band (aside from the ‘deth of course, who I’m scheduled to see again in August). They really came into play when I had my leg injury from running the 2008 Des Moines Marathon … I started listening to their album, Are You Dead Yet? and the lyrics from the title track became my mantra: “Should I regret, or ask myself, are you dead yet?” I even did a metal craft swap last summer and received a very cool cross stitch with those lyrics. It was their driving speed that turned me from a jog-paced distance runner into a competitive shorter distance runner (I killed the last half marathon I ran!).

And in case you forgot, I may or may not have a minor crush on their lead vocalist and guitarist … Alexi. Laiho.

Anyway, I’m sure noone that reads this is even close to half as excited as I am about this, but I’m about ready to pee my pants over here waiting for them to announce ticket sales at the 7 Flags Center here!

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craft swap with my coworker

chimes — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:12:09 +0000

I so don’t have time to blog about this in its entirety, but for now — I’ve got to post pix at least! SOOOOO cool. I’ll share more about what this is about later, but I swapped crafts with my way cool crafty co-worker (who loves metal/punk/cool stuff) and here’s my bounty! I’ll separate it out later, but here’s a gallery in the interest of the short amount of time I have on my lunch.

I’m missing TWO things which I need to photog and post yet.. I will explain all of this later!

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Relish the Hellish show details

chimes — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:13:35 +0000

I’m participating in another craft show on the 29th of this month (yes, that’s 2 in one day!). This one is completely different than anything I’ve done before and it seems to be MY kind of people!

Here’s the details taken from Satanimals’ website:

Once again, here comes another art show where the weird are most welcome. Quickly gaining an awesome customer base, these art shows reflect the talent of folks who you wouldn’t ordinarily see in a Gallery around town.

Butch Von Dreaux is making another trek all the way from Louisiana to be here and Spookshow Pinups has been added to the list of amazing artists as well!

D. Ryan Allen will be there again showing all of his amazing work from zombie sketches to kid’s coloring books for the macabre.

In addition to the fine arts folks, we will also have all kinds of goodies like hand-made leather wallets, re-structured clothing, creepy dolls, hand-bags, pillows and everything else in between.

SATANIMALS will also be unveiling a new line of horror inspired pillows.. the first being an amazing SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA pillow!

This is not just your average art show. Pretentious art snobs are discouraged from coming. Although, it is fun to see them stick their nose in the air and turn on their heels when they see Gregg Bensink’s table of amazing goodies.

Attendees can enter the raffle to win numerous prizes including: original artwork from each of the artists, gift certificates for tattoos up to $100 as well as gift certificates to some local businesses including: Best Place Ever, ZZZ Records, Cup O’ Kryptonite and The Beauty Parlor!

The Raffle is at 9PM and you MUST be present to win!!

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In case you were wondering, I’m on the poster — credited as “toDIYfor” since I’m going to be selling my rock/punk/dark stuff.

I’m super excited for this show! I’ll finally get to meet Sew Zinski and it sounds like there’s free beer all around. Sounds like a great craft show to me!

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another “hardcore” quilt top

chimes — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:26:08 +0000

A while back I made a “hardcore” quilt top out of a bunch of band t-shirts I had lying around. It was sort of practice for piecing since it was one of the first things I pieced.

Anywho, I only used half of the 50 blocks I’d created for it and shoved the rest of them in my closet to be used at a later date. Well, today was that later date.

This quilt top isn’t as cool as the other one, however; I did find one of the blocks I’d started embroidering back when I was all “ooh I should embellish these all with embroidery!” Not so much. Would have been cool, but too time-consuming for the likes of me.

Here’s a closeup of the embroidery.

what I love about these two quilt tops is that any-which-way is up.

Yay!

Now I’m off to Hancock Fabrics to get some batting, some backing (I think I’ll use the backing to bind in this case), some contrasting thread, a walking foot, some artist’s tape and a bunch of safety pins. You guessed it. I’m going to use this guy as my practice quilt to actually QUILT.

Wish me luck!!

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