Distant Early Limelight

Radiohead, live at Lancashire County Cricket Ground, Manchester, June 29th

 

My first RH gig, and I can't wait

One of my all time favourite bands

 

Love their later stuff more-so than the early releases, but it's all good! And even coming from a long-time fan; I think Annette's vocals are far more suited to NW than Tarja's. Yes, her operatic style fitted the early more power metal-esque tracks, but the more bombastic, orchestral recordings of late have Annette written all over them

I've just started re-listening to this band after giving them a rest for a few months.

 

Absolutely mind blowing stuff, truly.

 

In Absentia is a perfect album, and the subsequent releases are near enough perfect also (that's not forgetting the awesome pre-IA releases!)

 

Fantastic band

Thank you for all the kind words

 

Here's the next installment (so far, all I've got)...

 

Chapter One // Still Life

 

I had that dream again. The blinding white halls, the tension, the regret and the heartbreak. For three years, nearly every night, that dream has haunted my sleep – taking me from the safety of my present and thrusting me right back into the turmoil and suffering of my past; a past I hoped never to relive under any circumstances. I lay there awake in my bed, soaked in a cold sweat that seemed to burn through my skin, staring up at my ceiling – trying to regain my logical train of thought; push my thoughts from fantasy back into reality.

 

Rubbing my sleep-ridden eyes, I sat up. My body recoiling slightly at the feel of the cold wooden floor on my feet, I look at the clock. Four-Thirty. Jesus. I’ve forgotten the last time my sleep has seen past Five AM. I got to my feet, bones cracking as I stretch.

 

I walked into the kitchen and hit the light switch, and was momentarily blinded by the light.

 

That blinding white light…

…Those blinding white halls.

 

Slowly my vision slid back into focus, adjusting to the sudden shift in light. The unearthly blurred shapes that surrounded me morphed from demons into household appliances. I laughed… You would have thought I would be used to that dream after all this time. Surprisingly not. I suppose losing your wife can have that effect on you, however, especially considering the circumstances we were in when I lost Kathryn.

 

I made myself a coffee and sat at the table, milling over my thoughts and the dream. It’s funny, how one moment can stick in your mind above all else. Tiny little impulses in your brain taking you back to the moment where everything comes crashing down on top of you… Goodbye, cruel world – don’t forget to write.

 

Which, I guess, is when I did start to write more. I’ve always been an avid reader and writer, but that one, singular, moments prompted me to scribe all of my feelings into words. Emotions become metaphors of fantastical proportion to the point of where it’s hard to distinguish where the fantasy ends and the real feelings begin. Though there is always that sense of loss and longing. And regret. Always the regret. I sometimes fear that I feel nothing more than guilt – no loss, no longing. Guilt… And it sometimes makes me wish I died along with her.

 

I sighed and lurched forward; one of those sighs that snaps you back to reality as your thoughts wander. My thoughts ‘wandering’ is a bit of an understatement. I took a sip of my coffee and cringed at the bitter coldness of it… It seems my thoughts went wandering for a lot longer than I thought. I looked at the clock – five thirty-five. Time slipping away in endless decaying thoughts seems to be a recurring theme in my life… A still life framed by fractured demons.

Hey,

 

For my media course at college, we are currently looking at fictional writing, and are required to write an extract from a novel of our own creation as part of the module.

 

I'm rather proud of mine, and would like to share it with those who are interested

 

So far I only have the prologue and the beginning chapter of the story finished... I will probably write more as I am enjoying the story I have come up with.

 

I'll post in installments, starting with the synopsis and the prologue...

 

Memoirs of the Mind

 

Synopsis

The story tells of a man who loses his wife to a terminal illness, who – after a number of years – receives a letter from his thought-deceased spouse. This prompts him to go looking for her; questioning both his and her friends and family, embarking on somewhat of a soul-search, before eventually questioning himself and how he treated his wife… Was he as loving a husband as he thought, or does a dark secret plague him? Is his wife really alive, is someone playing a hoax, or is it something deeper…darker?

 

Prologue

The air was cold and still. A sterile atmosphere hovered in the ominous, seemingly never-ending, white corridors – an atmosphere that descended upon those that entered it and slowly winds around their necks – a choking air of tragedy, misfortune and sadness in every breath. No one wished to be there, and none could wait to leave; to escape the turmoil.

 

I was no different.

 

Pacing up and down the icy cold, blank passageways of the hospital, my mind was running on overdrive. Endless pessimistic thought processes running through my head - leaving nothing but a feeling of regret, loss and, ultimately, loneliness, in their wake. The downward spiral of events that had befallen me was a monster tearing away at my very existence. Now I was in the belly of the beast, and it was bleeding to death. Every second that was ticking away seemed to last an eternity – a lifetime until revelations came to light. There was nothing more I wanted to do than walk out of that God-forsaken place at that very moment, but I knew I would not - could not. This was my wife after all; I would be expected to stay.

 

I sat down on a nearby chair, hoping my pacing thoughts would stop with my pacing legs. I was, however, not surprised when the lingering sense of dread only grew with no other task to focus on. My heart was racing almost as fast as my thoughts, and I could feel myself slowly receding further into the bleak darkness of regret and sorrow.

 

The door at the end of the corridor opened, and a doctor slowly walked out of the dimly lit room. He kept his head down as he traversed the passage towards me. I stood, smoothing off my jacket and trousers – doing everything to try and keep my mind off the coming news; prolonging the time until I was told the inevitable. My time was up.

‘I’m sorry…’ the doctor started.

Looking into his eyes, those sorrow-ridden eyes, I gave him a knowing nod. I knew the outcome; I had lost my wife. Kathryn Payne, my wife of eight years, was dead. She was gone now, and nothing could bring her, or those years of happiness, back. Tears welled up in my eyes; the ordeal was beginning to finally register within my mind. With one large breath, I broke down in the chair that only a matter of moments ago seemed to be some form of refuge, and cried. I felt reality come crashing down around me, swallowed up by my own personal hell. Sinking further, I continued to cry.

 

Little did I realise that this was only the beginning.

 

 

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Read, enjoy (or not), and please comment

 

Any criticism is welcome!

Presenting Pull Me Under (2007 Remix) from the upcoming GreateSt HITs album...

 

Enjoy

 

EDIT: Well... It was on there... Anyone have any luck getting it? Whenever I try and open up the page its gone from the headlines and sidebar listing now...

Been honing my Porcupine Tree guitar skills over the past few days; perfected the entirety of Open Car.

 

And also JUST (as in just put guitar down) learnt the opening 30 seconds of Dream Theater's In the Presence of Enemies - very fun to play. Plan to learn more tomorrow.

Well people, we're 50 minutes into National Solo Album Month!

 

How are our thought processes?

 

I started grafting as soon as the clock hit midnight... Already have one or two ideas bouncing around.

So, I've only JUST heard about this - but it fascinated me.

 

November is National Solo Album Month!

 

Basically it entails you to go to the site, sign up - and then come November 1st, begin writing and recording an entire album's worth of material... See if you can get it finished in 30 days!

 

I've signed up (Ben Rudland a.k.a: Static Veins, on the artists page), so anyone else here willing to give it a go? You don't win anything for it; and you don't even have to send off your album - it's just a sort of personal test to see if you can in fact create an album in such a short period of time.

 

To make things more interesting, if we get multiple people signed up from here, we could see who can in fact finish their album first, or something to that effect.

When upon downloading a bootleg of a Tool gig... You keep replaying the introductory 10 seconds of the gig (because Adam Jones plays the main riff of Bangkok) WAY more than any other part of the concert...

I'm currently juggling between a couple books...

 

Stephen King's The Waste Lands (Dark Tower Vol. III)

Inside Out: The Story of Pink Floyd by Nick Mason

 

and then for my English lit/lang course at college I have to read Anita Shreve's Eden Close.

So, inspired by the classic music-shuffle game, I though I'd adapt this to fit Rush...

 

If your life was a movie, what songs would comprise the soundtrack?

 

Rules

1) Open up the media player of your choice

2) Create a playlist with ALL the Rush STUDIO tracks you have (NO LIVE ALBUMS OR COMPILATIONS!)

3) Set to shuffle

4) Play

5) Type the name of the first song that plays under the first heading

6) Repeat until all 'scenes' are filled

 

Here we go...

 

Opening Credits:

Freeze

 

Waking Up:

Witch Hunt

 

First Day At School:

The Weapon

 

Falling In Love:

Dog Years

 

Fight Song:

Seven and Seven Is

 

Breaking Up:

The Seeker

 

Prom:

Red Lenses

 

Life:

Time and Motion

 

Mental Breakdown:

Armor and Sword

 

Driving:

Prime Mover

 

Flashback:

The Color of Right

 

Getting Back Together:

Mission

 

Wedding:

Anthem

 

Birth of Child:

The Camera Eye

 

Final Battle:

2112 (wow...long final battle! )

 

Death Scene:

Ghost of a Chance

 

Funeral Song:

Time Stands Still

 

End Credits:

Far Cry

Stephen King's The Dark Tower, Vol. II: The Drawing of the Three.

 

Practically finished and ready to move onto Vol. III.

I have one... Have had it set up since I first began brainstorming ideas for a solo project of mine.

 

No recordings yet - have planned to have a few up by now, but college work and social life is severely getting in the way of things. Though, i hope to have some stuff up in the near future.

 

Add me if you wish:

 

www.myspace.com/staticveins

On the one-hundred and twenty-fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

 

124 Circumstances

 

123 Gleaming Alloy Air Cars

 

122 Astonished Apollos

 

121 Necromancers

 

120 Vital Signs

 

119 Bowls of Soup

 

118 Passages To Bangkok

 

117 Rocinantes

 

116 Red Tama's

 

115 Favorite Headaches

 

114 Mini-moogs

 

113 concerts the Camera Eye HASN'T been played in

 

112 OB-X's

 

111 Strange Devices

 

110 Rickenbackers

 

109 Quantum Leaps Forward

 

108 sweet miracles

 

107 contents under pressure

 

106 liquid graces

 

105 peices of cake

 

104 chicken rotisseries

 

103 open secrets

 

102 boys alone

 

101 ways the wind blows

 

100 Suits of Armor

 

99 Things

 

98 Monkeys that do business

 

97 Stones to carve away

 

96 ways to find my way back home

 

95 Tama Artstars

 

94 Fender Jazzes

 

93 Solo's on a PRS Guitar

 

92 New Rush Albums

 

91 Epic Drum Solos

 

90 Larger Bowls

 

89 Angels a Workin'

 

88 bowls of soup

 

87 Malignant Narcissists

 

86 Fancy Dancers

 

85 Didacts and Narpets

 

84 fire hydrants

 

83 Airplanes made of Beef

 

82 Snakes and arrows

 

81 Signals

 

80 pieces of classic literature to use for lyrics

 

79 Cries from Afar =DD

 

78 Hemispheres

 

77 parts of "fear"

 

76 Spirits of the Radio

 

75 more Rush references for this thread

 

74 Temples of Syrinx

 

73 Working men

 

72 Tobes of Hades

 

71 Digital Men

 

70 Certain nights

 

69 Alien shores

 

68 brief eclipses

 

67 Locks and keys

 

66 Halves of the World

 

65 Tai Shan mountains

 

64 English Rains

 

63 hopeful bridges

 

62 Valleys flooded in light

 

61 High school halls

 

60 Pages a' Turnin'

 

59 camera eyes

 

58 Friends to Take

 

57 Stars that Stopped in the Sky

 

56 gods of Balance

 

55 Signals

 

54 Trails of Vapor

 

53 Retrospectives

 

52 Subdivisions

 

51 Methods of Rhythm

 

50 Shipwrecked mariners

 

49 Anthems of the heart and mind

 

48 Mystic Rhythms

 

47 Things to Leave Alone

 

46 Honeydew melons

 

45 Fawn-eyed girls

 

44 Mad Immortal Men

 

43 Dreamlines

 

42 Bones a'rolling

 

41 Kneeling Kings

 

40 one less teacher

 

38 fisheye lenses

 

39Turbine Frieghts

 

37 minutes to Drum to Moving Pictures

 

36 vibrating wires

 

35 Tests for echo

 

34 Pieces of (Lemony) Cake

 

33 Power Windows

 

32 eggs in vises

 

31 oracles from a better time

 

30 pemanent waves

 

29 Vital Signs

 

28 Gates of the Year

 

27 Shrimp Cots

 

26 Snow Dogs

 

25 Jacob's ladders

 

24 secret country places

 

23 Different Stages

 

22 Planets of the solar federation

 

21 smokes on the pier

 

20 tossing derby hats

 

19 flighty nights

 

18 Tide Pools

 

17 Dog Years

 

16 Totems

 

15 unpressured graces

 

14 Ghosts of a Chance

 

13 Steels caressing

 

12 Neil Pearts Drumming

 

11 Red Barchettas

 

10 Little Victories

 

9 magic rabbits

 

8 Spotted dalmatians

 

7 Magic Digits (1-0-0-1-0-0-1)

 

6 Priests of Syrinx

 

A Fiiiiivve Pointed Star!

 

4 Pictures that move

 

3 Puppet Kings

 

2 Magic Prism Eyes

 

And a Blue Owl in a Lofty Oak Tree

QUOTE (Deadwing @ Sep 30 2007, 01:06 PM)

HAHAHA!! This is one of the most insane threads I've ever seen on a forum. Hillarious!