41 more days until closing!! :)

I had a nice Valentine's Day. Hope everyone else did too. I bought myself a cute Sponge Bob jewelry box. heh Couldn't pass it up. I also got some DELICIOUS chocolates which I probably didn't need, really, and a cute stuffed animal kitty (Looney Toons Pussyfoot), and some more chocolates. I also received a bunch of Valentine's from our L.A. Guns' message board exchange.

Nothing super new going on. Just launched the new beautifulcreatures.net website last week. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Feel free to stop by and check it out.

I think I'm going to see Mike Tramp's White Lion on March 21st. I think it's the 21st anyway. Either way, it's a Sunday. Not thrilled about that, but at least the show is close... it's in Schaumburg. Less than an hour from here.

Other than that, just preparing for the big move. Have a good one.

Cherie

Wow… I seriously have no idea where times goes. I asked for more hours in a day for Christmas and even my birthday, but turned up empty handed. *sigh* My birthday and Christmas were awesome by the way… can't beat much needed time with family and friends!

2004 wasn't a bad year for me. It was a year of change… for the better I would like to believe. Even if it was the slowest road trip year I've had in many years. I don't mind so much though. I've been feeling rather burnt out lately and needed the break. I'm hoping to be able to see some shows this summer, though funds will certainly be limited since…

I just bought my own house! :) *happy dance* My very first house. I always said I wanted one by the time I was 30. I just turned 31 in December. So I'm a little behind schedule, no big deal. It's a 3bdrm 1.5 bath expanded ranch. Expanded meaning the attached garage was turned into a family room and den, and a 2.5 car garage was built behind the house. Gives me a little extra room. :) Here's a pic:

I don't officially close until March 31 st , so the countdown has begun. :) I'm so excited. I've been paying out the ying-yang in rent for this townhouse I'm in right now. It'll be nice to actually put my money toward something I own for a change.

So that's probably the biggest event going on right now.

Music-wise, I really haven't been doing much. Just keeping up with the RATT and LAG sites. Designing a little something new for BC. I'd like to revamp this site soon, but I just haven't found the motivation yet. Motivation has been hard to come by lately… for instance, I have absolutely no desire to spend ridiculous amounts of money to go see the Red, White & Crue tour. Crazy ain't it? I mean, I still love Motley Crue and everyone knows how I feel about Nikki (LOL) but I just can't bring myself to go. I think I've grown just grown accustomed to the smaller scale tours where it's a close setting and you're not stuck out in the middle of a crowd in the middle of nowhere barely able to see the stage. *shrugs* I'll hold out for the Rock Never Stops tour this summer. I haven't seen RATT or Cinderella in ages and I miss those guys. Hopefully I can squeak in a road trip or two. Or three. We'll see. Hey, that rhymed.

Nothing else really going on. It's February and Valentine's Day is just around the corner… will you be my valentine? ;) I haven't decided what I'll buy myself yet. *grin*

*P*E*A*C*E*

Cherie

Summer has definitely arrived. It's HOT in here! I just don't feel like putting the AC on right now. Maybe later...

Anywho, things are great!  Tomorrow, at work, our new claims analyst starts. Our department needed help desperately! I'm so glad that we found someone. Having him on our board will definitely make my life at work a bit easier. :)

Life is grand. I've been pretty busy. Brandon has been out of school since June 11th. He joined a non-competitive baseball league. Check it out:

I've been to two of his games already and he's had some really good hits and catches so far. I'm so proud. :)

On the concert front, I saw L.A. Guns thrice last week.  Flynn and I drove out to Schaumburg, IL on Sunday, June 20th. They played a sports bar called Chicago City Limits. Not a bad venue for a gig. The crowd wasn't too shabby either. Met up with some friends there before the show and hung out. Afterwards we lounged around on the bus with the guys. Helped them find a hotel. I can't remember what time we headed home. All I know is that I wasn't driving! heh Here's some pix from that gig:

This is their new geetar player, Stacey Blades

Everyone knows Adam already... :)~

And of course, Phil.

Wait, here's one of Steve. :)

So that was the Schaumburg show. After talking with the band awhile, we decided to come out for the Milwaukee show on Tuesday (6/22). Worked all day and then headed up to Milwaukee around 6pm. I brought Brandon with, at Phil's request, even though this gig was in another bar. He said we'd get him in, and if not, he could sit on the bus at watch TV for an hour. HEH We got there really early and sat around on the bus before the show watching Nickelodeon and talking. And waiting for the band's mexican food to arrive, which apparently took at least 2 hours. About an hour before they went on, we went into the bar. Their tour manager and sound guy talked to the guys at the door and they agreed to let Brandon inside. We hung out by the sound board while the band on stage finished, but as soon as they were done, Brandon wanted to be right up front against the stage. So we moved. The show was great, as usual of course. Phil made a boo-boo during their set after someone said "liven it up a bit" and he said "what, should I pinch my nipple?" and then he looked over at me and Brandon all embarassed and apologized. LOL Um, it's a rock concert, I know my kid is going to hear some inappropriate things. HEH Being a weeknight and having to work the next day, we didn't hang out afterwards and were home before 2am. I just slept an extra hour in the morning and then left for work. ;)

The next show was on Saturday, June 26th at the Chicago House of Blues. They had a really good crowd and everyone was into the show. Johnny Monaco (Enuff Z'Nuff) joined them on stage for Over The Edge. It's cool when he does that. I dunno why, but I was kind of cranky that night. Maybe just because I was tired. We hung around for a little while, but it didn't seem like any of the guys were going to come out, so we left during Dokken's set. Dokken Schmokken anyway. :)~ I think we got home around 1:30am. I tried to stay awake for the drive home, but it didn't work out so well. Here's the set list from the first two gigs:

no mercy
sex action
never enough
i wanna be your man
marsailles
long time dead
over the edge
hellraiser's ball
nothing better to do (sung by Stacey Blades)
moby dick/drum solo/whole lotta love
one more reason
electric gypsy
ballad of jayne
rip and tear

And here's the set list from the House of Blues:

no mercy
sex action
never enough
i wanna be your man
rock and roll outlaw
long time dead (with johnny monaco)
nothing better to do
revolution
moby dick
whole lotta love
electric gypsy
the ballad of jayne
dont look at me that way

I think they have a GREAT set list going for them. I wonder who put it together. Anywho, if you haven't yet, they have a new album out called Rips the Covers Off, or in some cases it is titled Rips Off the Covers. It's a cover album obviously. If you want to see the track listing, it's posted at www.laguns.net, and probably every other CD store site out there on the net.

In other news, we are the proud new owners of a pet rat. I think it was Sunday or Monday, Flynn told me that his neighbor had found a rat in his driveway. The neighbor said it was really friendly. Flynn determined it must have been someone's pet. So he kept it in a cage for a few days and then I went over and saw it yesterday. SO CUTE. I had to bring him home.

I have just learned that it is next to impossible to take a picture of a rat! Good grief. He moves alot. So anyway, he's quite big. I'd estimate about 8 inches, not including his tail. He really likes to be scratched behind his ears. And every time you walk up to his cage, he greets you and wants attention. His name is RATT. Go figure, eh? I was going to buy him one of those nifty critter balls for him to roll around in, but Petland wanted 25 bucks for the damn thing! All the cheaper ones were too small for RATT to fit in.

My cats, remember these guys...

Whitey and Mr. P? They could give a rat's ass about RATT. Mr. P sniffed him a little when we brought him home, but other than that, the cats really don't care that there is a rat in the house. Which I guess is a good thing, right? They are much more interested in sleeping on my bed.

Welp, that's about it for now. And I don't think there's any shows coming up either. DAMN. That's okay, I need to learn how to save money anyway. heh  For those of you trying to reach me at webraven@comcast.net, um, I kinda messed up that email address and it is no more. Just add an "ms" to the beginning of that... mswebraven@comcast.net. Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend. :)

*P*E*A*C*E*

Cherie

On May 14th, we drove up to Detroit, MI to see Brides of Destruction play at the Majestic Theatre. The drive up there was pure hell. We left at nearly 11am, took 2 1/2 hours to drive through Chicago and didn't get to Detroit until 7pm! It has NEVER taken me that long to get to Detroit before in my life. UGH. Anywho, at least we weren't late for the show and still had time to stop at a hotel and get ready.

This venue allowed cameras! So I took some PICTURES. Got alot of great shots. Despite being a huge Nikki Sixx fan, I planted myself on Tracii's side of the stage. Nikki came over there plenty anyway, so it all worked out. :) The set list was:

Shut the Fuck Up
Natural Born Killers
Brace Yourself
2X Dead
I Got a Gun
Life
Revolution
I Don't Care
One More Reason
Never Enough
Rip and Tear
Looks That Kill
Live Wire
Shout at the Devil

I think I heard that the band came out after the show by the bus, but it was late, I was intoxicated and completely exhausted. So we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday morning on our way home, we stopped for lunch at KFC. This proved to be the single worst mistake of my life. Evil Coleslaw. I thought I was going to die on the drive home. We got back home in the late afternoon... nearly 5pm. The show in Chicago was supposed to start at 7pm. There was just no way in hell I was going to make it. :( So close to home too. And I missed it. Worse yet, I had promised my son he could go to this one since it's all ages. DOH.

Luckily I was nearly 100% by Monday night and they were playing the Rave in Milwaukee, which also turned out to be an all ages show. Even though it was a school/work night, I took my son to the show and we had a great time. No cameras allowed, except for those with a photo pass. So no pictures from this show. The crowd was a bit crazy, I had to brace myself against the railing to protect my kid. He really enjoyed the show though. Tracii tried to hand him a guitar pick, but every time he reached towards us, like 10 people threw themselves over our heads to grab for it, so Tracii just kept it. We stayed up front for the whole show, except the encore. My arms had enough. LOL

It was really late by the time the show was over, it was starting to rain, we were hungry and tired. So we didn't stick around to meet the band. I wanted my son to get a chance to meet Nikki, but it was just too late and he had school in the morning. I hear the band finally came out and my friend got to meet them at 3am. I was sound asleep by then. HEHE

I wish I could have gotten to more shows. Who knows if BOD will tour the US again. Time will tell I guess.

RATT road trip to Detroit on June 11th.  There's a couple L.A. Guns shows coming up in June as well.  Summer must be near. :)

Live and learn. That's the lesson for the week. LOL There comes a time when things become very clear, even if what made you realize that is still baffling. I'd just like to say "WHATEVER" and leave it at that.   =X

Ya ever feel like you've watched enough TV to melt your brain? I think I've had my fill for this lifetime and the next. Less than a week until Angel is back on the WB. It's a shame they're cancelling that show on me. First Buffy, now Angel. What's this world coming to?

Anywho, I really don't have a whole lot of anything planned right now. There's a couple Brides of Destruction shows that I want to attend, but hell, they aren't until May. Still, something to definitely look forward to. It's a shame those two Adler's shows were canned. Those were something I was definitely looking forward to.

I need a major vacation. I had a trip all planned out, but, well that kinda fell through. *heh* So, anyone up for a road trip? I guess we need some concert announcements for the summer first, eh? I haven't really heard squat. Rumors and such, but nothing solid. What is going on this year?!? It's been a wacky year, hasn't it? If I hear anything on RATT or LAG, I'll be back to post it here.

Maybe I'll go read a book...

*ack* no updates since before New Years? I know, I'm lame. :)~

NYE was fairly uneventful. Hung out at my bestest friend's house. Ate too much food, played games, took a nap. You know, the usual for me. It was the Mudslide that did me in. Too... much... chocolate. *thud*

Really nothing too exciting in January. I finally saw those two Lord of the Rings movies (I know, took me long enough) and they were pretty good. No shows or anything. January is actually kind of a blur. I had at that time decided to move into my own place with my son, so there was a lot of planning, etc. going on. I didn't sign the lease and actually move until the middle of February and we've now been here for a little over a month. Now that we're all settled in, it's kind of cozy. :) Way too much excitement for ya right? Well it's been a slow start to the year concert-wise, what can I say.

Here's something mildly amusing... I brought my two cats with me, Mr. P and Whitey. Shortly after the move, Mr. P took to mating with various things in my house, Whitey included. Both male cats mind you. Everything from the fluffy duckie on my bed to my foot in the middle of the night. LMFAO I put fluffy duckie away and then took the fleece blankie off the end of my bed too. That seems to have put a stop to that nonsense. I mean really. He never acted like that before. I've read he was just showing his dominance. WHATEVER. Stupid cat.

Well, now that March is here, and nearly half way over (and it's still snowing outside!)... Adler's Appetite will be doing two shows at Joes on Weed St. at the end of this month. I haven't seen them since my bday in December, so this should be fun. :) And on that topic, though a day early, Happy Birthday Jizzy! *grin*

What else, what else... oh right, I picked up (or rather Teresa picked it up for me) the new Brides of Destruction CD. The LONG anticipated Brides of Destruction CD! I'm digging it. I have to be honest with ya. I really like it. And no not just because of Nikki and Tracii. It's good! You need to listen to it too if you haven't already (chances are, if you read my site regularly, you probably had yours on pre-order eons before it was released)

No major changes to any websites to report. I haven't heard any solid tour news for the summer yet. It'd be nice to get some info so I at least know there will be something to do this summer. Maybe I need to start bugging people. ;) I'll try to post some new pictures in the near future. I have yet to give my new digital camera a real workout.

You know where I'm at... mswebraven@aol.com.

Cherie