Fates Warning Concert, A Waste of Money

I like Jim Matheos for his great work in OSI with Kevin Moore. Both of them are ex-Dream TheaterBlack musicians which by default is a great credit for them. Mike Portnoy, the drummer is still playing in Dream Theatre though (he left OSI after recoding their second album "Free"). The music of OSI is mostly based on Jim and Kevin Moore’s creativity. Some say OSI is the hard rock/heavy metal version of Kevin’s own solo band Chroma Key because of his dominant programming in all OSI songs over all the instruments.

Jim Matheos plays great in OSI. Beautiful minimalist music with great riffs. OSI has worked with many good musicians like Steven Wilson (No-Man/Porcupine Tree), Gavin Harrison (King Crimson/Porcupine Tree), Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Sean Malone (Cynic) and Tim Bowness (No-Man) but the main members are still Jim and Kevin. Unfortunately, OSI like Chroma key doesn’t look like a real band but more of an experimental project. It seems like both members are so involved in their own work that don’t bother promoting their albums seriously or put some shows here and there.

When I heard Jim Matheos’ band Fates Warning was going to play at Avalon, Hollywood, I thought I gave it a shot. At least I could see Jim Matheos work.

Less than half of the theatre was empty. Mostly lousy bands played for about two hours before they came up. It was a total boredom. The singer, Ray Alder tried to give some energy to the crowd. Poor guy tried his best but it seemed like the rest of the band were trying to work against him. All of them were standing right in their positions not moving at all. Jim Matheos only played three solos in the whole show. He looked like he just woke up from a deep sleep and was dragged into the show. After a while even those enthusiastic fans in front of the stage stopped cheering. In the end, people applauded like they were forced to have them come up again and play a couple of more songs. What a shame. This time, they tried to give some energy to the crowd like they knew they bored everyone and wanted to make up for it!

Four people standing on stage playing with their least interest is not called a show. If you can’t or not willing to be responsive to the people who came to see you, you better don’t put any shows at all. Both Avalon's sound system and their sound engineer were awful too.

I’m going to see Cold next week. Let’s see what those guys do.

My name is "Advantage"

It was sometime around 1AM. He was deeply asleep. The cell phone rang suddenly and woke him up . He was so sleepy that he couldn't remember where he was for a few seconds. “Who’s this?” he answered. A man’s voice said “This is advantage.” “Who?“he asked. “Advantage” the voice answered louder. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Advantage? What the fuck? It’s early in the morning and someone calls with a strange name with an unusual Indian accent with a strange name?” he said to himself. He got scared a little. He repeated “Who?” pretending he didn’t hear the name and hoping to hear a usual one this time. The voice stop for a couple of seconds like it knew what was going on. It answered”mmm… This is Oliver”

“OK. How can I help you?” he answered with more confidence now.

“I’m calling about the plan?” the voice said.

“What plan?”

“The plan” the voice answered louder.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He hung up and looked back at the window. There was a red light flashing probably from across the street. It looked like one of those Neon lights of convenience stores but there wasn’t any store around his place. The closes one was one block down the street. As the red light was becoming stronger sleep overcame his thoughts.

Norooz and Death

Lots of death of my dearest ones have happened around Nowrooz. It’s like the angel (!) of death has this long list due by the end of the year! This is so fucked up. I really hate to say I am scared of Norooz now. Call me superstitious. My grandma, my uncle, my cousin and now one of my best friends father all died in the end of the year or during Nowrooz.

God bless him.

I always think people who die of sudden causes like heart strokes or accidents are very lucky. They don't suffer much pain like a person with cancer or any mortal disease that eats you up gradually. I hope I become one of these people but I don't want to die in Norooz.

I'm Sweet

It's 1AM. I really feel like writing something. I want to note this date as another damn anniversary beside April 5th. I'm overwhelmed but I can't write.
Let it be. Life is too short. Take it easy and all those crap to calm you down!
May be I read some Khayyam or something!

Flow of Life

There are not a lot of decisions we can make to change the flow of our lives. There are some pre-existing factors that define this flow. While we are riding on it, there are few chances of really changing direction. Otherwise, life goes; faster and faster.

How many success or failures stories do you hear about people that turned their lives around? Not a lot. Maybe there is something behind the scene. I don't know. I'm not saying there is a written destiny for each of us, but there are not a lot of things under our controls either.

People give up when they come to know their stories. That's when they say this is who I am and it is my life. This is as far as I can go.

When the clock goes off at 6AM everyday, I open my eyes and ask myself what I am doing. Is it really what I wanted to be? Am I happy or sad? and I can't find the answer.