My Obsession with Jared Leto continues...

I got my first ink on Monday morning. It was time. For some reason I switched on my phone two hours before my alarm was scheduled to go off. It was as if my psyche was telling me to do so. I didnt get up though, I just lay there and groaned as my neck ached. Five minutes later, my phone rang and I croakely answered. It was the tattoo parlour asking me to come earlier as they wanted to close up shop at 13:00, since it was a public holiday. I looked at my watch, that gave me two hours to crawl out of bed, so I muttered a "ok" and hung up. Everything went in slow motion as I dragged my sore body to Cresta.

My hands were shaking, not so much for being nervous but due to the fact that I was hungover and hadnt eaten much in the last 3 days. I handed over my design and waited patiently while they prepared everything. Five minutes later I was called in and so began my moment of torture.

Only, it wasnt anything like torture. I barely felt any pain as the needle went into my skin, filling it with the black ink. I suppose having been poked and probed by needles of my life, this was a piece of cake. All I felt was a tingling sensation. 10 minutes and it was all over. I looked at my wrist and saw with pride my very first tattoo.

So what did I get? The 30 Seconds to Mars glyphics, thats what! Heheheh. I cant get enough of this band. But not only that, the symbols look really awesome, and fit my wrist perfectly. I love it. I checked several sites to get the exact meaning of them, and while there is no sure translation, there are two possible meanings:

The first being "30 Seconds to Mars", of course.

The second, one which I prefer more, are the four terrestrial planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

Another meaning, which I came up with in jest, is "I love Jared Leto", bwhahahaha.

Could this be the start of a meaningful relationship with ink and needles? I hope not. I know that it becomes very addictive and I dont want to end up looking like a walking, breathing painting. But I definitely wouldn't mind a few more "obscure" tattoos here and there. Only time will tell.

Seasons Wither 2!!!!

Painkillers, I NEED painkillers! Those were my first thoughts when I got rudely awakened this morning by the sounds of the vaccuum cleaner sucking up the mess downstairs. My ears were ringing badly enough as it was and no matter what, I couldnt go back to sleep. But Im not really complaining, all the aches and pains, the bruises, the loud ringing, it was all worth it. Seasons Wither 2 was even better than its predecessor! If only the day hadn't flown!

After much partying this weekend, I felt that nothing could get me down in anticipation of this event. And it didnt. We got to the Dome just after 12, and having quickly inspected the inside of Partyhouse and Rock Domination, transformed into the most amazing setting for a rock concert of note, with 3 stages, we quickly raced to McDonalds to line our stomachs. Well, I raced, the fat boys seemed to be in no hurry.

Having to adjust to light and dark as we exited and entered Partyhouse proved to be quite difficult, especially for someone like me that hates the bright daylight in my eyes (spoken like a true vamp). Once inside, you sorta forgot that it was actually daytime outside. Berny and I got our treasured Seasons Wither 2 tshirts, kicked off with a shot of tequila and parked by the Main Stage which looked amazing with 3 screens featuring the SW2 logo in a blast of fire.

First band was Elysium and I had a good giggle when Ferdi told me that the screamo vocalist was his boss' son. Not bad for a bunch of teenagers, but they totally destroyed Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit. Next up was one of my favourite bands, my boys from Fragmented Children. We all were looking forward to hearing their new vocalist, a chick this time, who was performing her final audition at SW2. Wooohooo! She seemed a bit nervous, which is understandable and unfortunately we couldnt hear her properly, but from what we COULD hear, she sounded hardcore and could belt out those screams without much effort. She definitely got my vote, especially since we got a killer mosh pit going and even I dared to join - thats quite an achievement! So boys, I hope you she's here to stay, she's definitely a keeper! YOU ROCK! And Ray, shot for the drum stick!!!!

We took a bit of a break after that, walking around for stuff to do, of which there was plenty, and meeting tons of friends here and there. Berny took a shot at the mechanical bull and last about 10 seconds while making funny sounds. I got the video clip - hilarious! Hee hee. We entered the Guitar Hero comp as well, but despite getting assistance from Julia, we both sucked heheh. Guess I can kiss my dreams of becoming the next Slash goodbye!

Several Smirnoff Storms later, we returned to the Main Stage to catch the last bits of Unlisted. I regretted not staying to watch Facing the Gallows and missing most of Agro, but I really wanted to watch New Found Disorder, a band I have been wanting to see for ages, at the Rock Domination stage. Before that we caught the last bits of Reach, another band I have been wanting to see and then headbanged till our heads almost rolled, to New Found Disorder. Smokin'!!!!!

Our plans kind of faltered after that (I wanted to watch Only Forever and missed them :( Oh well)as we got lured by Louis from Knave on stage for some Metal Karaoke. It didnt take much arm twisting to get me to sing, since I have always loved the attention heheh. Dreams of being a rock star almost came true as I kicked off the competition by being the first on stage and giving the audience my rendition of Guns n Roses' Sweet Child of Mine. I have always loved to imitate Axl Rose's voice but instead, I sounded more like a girly Sheryl Crow. Berny swears I sounded good but after having watched a short video clip of me singing, Im not so sure. Still, it was fun and was amazed at how comfortable I felt on stage. Stage fright, me? NEVER! I was born to perform. Makes me wish I had auditioned for Fragmented Children! Hee hee. Never mind, just you wait, one day I will start a band baby! Start a band!

Needless to say, I didnt win and in retrospect I wish I had sung another more hardcore song, but as always, it was the guys that outperformed the chicks (there were two of us, a girl sang Nirvana's Smells like Teen Spirit after me, though we couldnt really hear her). Zack impressed me by singing an AC/DC song (cant remember which one) and the guy that followed, was absolutely kickass with Metallica's Enter Sandman. Last guy totally killed Evanescence's Bring Me to Life, doing a metal version. Ugh. Berny and I helped out in the end when Louis shoved another mic in front of us, hahhahahahahaha.

We then raced back to the main stage to catch the Torment boys in action. I secured myself a prime spot in front by the stage steps. We went totally apeshit as Wez and the boys rocked our socks off. What a performance! I attempted to enter the mosh pit as Wez went down and joined the crowd but ran out as soon as I entered, having clashed with Wez and biting my lip open. Bleeding lips - heheheh, Berny! I sucked the blood clean and carried on partying.

We stayed put as next were Chromium. Cant believe its been so long since I last saw these guys. It was cool that they changed the order of their songs around as I was getting too used to their routine. More headbanging, more screaming, more fists in the air. Hell Yeah, I was rockin' baby! I even got Jared's sweaty armband as sweet Llewellyn caught it and handed it to me. Shot, dude!

I could feel weary after all that, the long day was catching up with me so I mellowed out a bit and sat by the bar as Knave came on. 16 Stitch I watched from afar and returned back to front as soon as Pestroy came on - I hadnt seen them in over a year, methinks. It was difficult trying to avoid the mosh pit, I would have gladly joined it but I was too buggered and bruised so I pushed aside anyone that got near me.

I really wanted to stay to watch Underbelly after that, but clearly we were all worn out by the day's kick ass performances by quality, hardcore SA bands. Bed was calling us all, and so we slowly dragged our feet to the parking lot; I dozed off as we journeyed home.

So who needs international bands when we have all this amazing (how many times have I used this word today? But honestly, I was totally amazed!) talent right here on our soil? I take my hat off to Bo and the rest of the organisers who put together such an outstanding event. You are a ROCK QUEEN, Bo! Cant wait to see what else you have in store for us! THANK YOU!

(see facebook for more pics)

And finally - PART THREE

(sorry for the delays, Im so lazy. Also, sorry for the poor quality of the pics, need a new camera!!!)

After Kaiser Chiefs, I lost half my crowd as more people crammed into the Golden Circle to see Good Charlotte. I hadn’t realised just how identical Joel and Benji Madden were, as I have never really paid any attention to their music videos or seen any pics of them together. Miss Paris (b*tch, slut, hoe) Hilton was seen sitting on the side of the stage, filming and waving to her “adoring fans” (little did she know that they were actually shouting obscenities at her). Pity she wasn’t within throwing distance…

What really annoyed me was that she practically stole the limelight – if you had to look at newspaper reviews the next day, it was all about her, nothing about the bands!!!! Even on MTV-Base, the presenter spent all day looking for Paris. Surprisingly, she never found her. Please, next time, stay at home Paris!
I must admit that GC put on a good show, they really got the crowd going and everyone knew most of their songs – what can you expect from a typical SA crowd that mostly loves teeny bubblegum music? Don’t get me wrong, I like their music too, especially their latest stuff, but I’m not their biggest fan. When “Dancefloor Anthem”, my favourite song of theirs (the words mean so much to me) came on, I looked around for Mich and Berny so we could go mad together but they were nowhere to be seen. Luckily Caressa was with me so we went crazy together. Though I had to carefully control my movements as I hadn’t been to the loo since Wonderboom! Heheh.

It seems that fatherhood has made Joel Madden really soft as he sang The Cure’s “Love Song” which he dedicated to his newborn daughter, Harlow (Nicole Richie being the mommy, who had to stay behind and look after the brat, while Paris is off touring with the band). Can everyone go “AWWWWWW”? The crowd did. I almost gagged. He ended off with a big speech before his last song “Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous”, about how, despite their success, how much this song still means to them, bla bla bla. Paris was nowhere in sight, lol. A dig at her, perhaps?

As soon as they were done, I pushed past everyone and ran to the loos. I was quite impressed at how clean they still were being kept, however there wasn’t much to wash my hands with. Earlier, on my first trip to the loo, there was no water at all, so desperately I paid a girl standing nearby me, R10 for her half full water bottle! She thought I was crazy but hey, I need clean hands! Lol.

It was already quite dark, and as I made my way back to the Golden Circle I managed to track down most of my crew on the phone. We all parked right by the Circle entrance and sat down to watch Chris Cornell. None of us were really amped to see him and after the long day, we just chilled and watched from afar. I was a bit disappointed as I looked at my friends and saw the sad, tired, little looks on their faces. I hoped that this would soon change once Korn came on, cause the best was yet to come!

I think I only got up once when Chris Cornell sang one of his old songs from his Soundgarden days “Black Hole Sun”, still one of my favourite songs (yes, I have many favourites). I got out my bubbles bottle and blew a few while Mich and Tanya raced around to catch them. Ok, they didn’t race, they just stood there and caught them, LOL.

We moved a little bit closer to see Muse but we were still quite far from the stage. I think most people were there to see Muse, though for us, the big act of the evening was sure to be Korn. I love Muse’s songs, but I rarely made any effort to move around as I was saving my energy for later. They opened with the mighty “Knights of Cydonia”, however their stage presence was a bit disappointing, Matthew Bellamy barely spoke to the crowd, he just went from one song to the other.

When they finished, I saw that a lot of people made their way out of the Golden Circle, which made it much easier for Berny and me to move right to the front. Our spot wasn’t ideal, as we were on the far right of the stage, but we still had a good view. I felt the people from behind pushing towards the front, as more headbangers got closer and packed us like sardines. I was worried that we would get sucked in to a moshpit as soon as Korn came on, and I would have gladly joined in had my back not threatened to snap open. Funny enough, none of those people ended up moshing in the end – very disappointing, especially for the likes of Ferdi.


The wait for Korn seemed to take forever, Berny was getting restless and I was worried that she was going to turn around and join the rest at the back. But luckily she stuck around with me. Finally, the music started and Jonathan came on stage, wearing a camo kilt followed by thousands of loud screams from adoring fans. I badly wanted to see what was under that kilt but there was no way I could get a good look, lol.

The crowd went crazy as he played some of the old greats, with his psychedelic mic, like “A.D.I.D.A.S.”, “Falling Away from Me”, “Coming Undone”, “Faggot”, “Got the Life” etc.

The genius of a legend called Jonathan Davis didn’t fail to impress us when he came on stage with his bag pipes. We were all hoping he would. What a talented man. I am so glad I have a video clip of that.

Their performance seemed way too short to me (I later heard their set was cut by approx 5-6 songs due to time constraints) but they came back for an encore and did two more songs. They got an awesome standing ovation in the end (duh, we were all already standing, hahahahha!) and each member went to every side of the stage to salute the crowd. The drummer threw his drum sticks and Munky several picks, but we failed to catch anything, even though one of the picks was thrown our way, it was too damn dark to see where it went.

Berny and I raced back to the cars in fear we would be left behind but we soon learnt that it was in vain to have hurried there. We got lost on the way as we couldn’t remember where we had parked and after trying to get hold of Weasel and Ferdi, Basti was the only one who answered his phone and directed us to the cars.

Immediately we saw that there was no way we were leaving the racecourse anytime soon as there was a huge traffic jam. Everyone was in a hurry to leave and there was only one way out. So instead we took off our muddy shoes and sat in the car waiting and waiting. Even though Berny and I were each sitting in our brothers’ cars which were parked next to each other, we logged onto mxit and chatted to each other, recounting the days events. We decided that Im going to hire 30 Seconds to Mars for Cazzfest, once Weasel makes his first million. Loooool.

I think we must have left there eventually around 2 am. We were home just before 3am and I got to bed at 4, since I had to degrease in the bath first and quench my incredible thirst – I hadnt drunk much since my drunken moshpit during 30 Secs and that was around 16:00pm!

All in all, I think this was an incredible day that would be hard to top. I had my aches and pains, but I had some of the best memories I could ever ask for, no blackouts, an absolute awesome day! Let’s hope 2009 will be of the same calibre!

Cokefest or Cockfest? PART TWO

After 3 quick beers I was on top form, and danced and sang to Prime Circle anyway. Once they were done, I was getting quite loud and shouted “JARED!” every 5 minutes or so, till I almost lost my voice. The wait was long and to keep us entertained, I made friends with my neighbours and unashamedly flashed everyone while Berny and Tanya wrote a very rude message for Jared on my chest and stomach. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t as I’m in no shape or form to be showing such parts of my anatomy – luckily Jared never got to see that as we were deep in mud and horseshit and couldn’t be lifted up by anyone. Phew!

The clock was ticking, and Jared and co still kept us waiting. So it was time to get out my infamous poster, with the very rude request for Jared:

Immediately cameras were pointed my way, people nearby turned to me and had a good laugh. I was sure that this would get Jared’s attention. Finally 5fm DJ Fresh came on stage, who made some funny comment about my poster (I wasn’t paying attention, I was waiting for Jared) and announced the next band: 30 SECONDS TO MARS! Thousands of screaming girls went berserk and swooned when Mr Leto finally came on stage, kicking a big red ball into the crowd. He was much shorter than I thought, and so damn skinny! But hotter than ever, even with the dark eyeshadow and guyliner. Whoever says he is gay, is just jealous, heheh.

Out of all the bands, he had the best stage presence and interacted well with the crowd, despite his continuous use of the F-word – not so attractive, Mr Leto. Having written 4 of the songs featured in the “Beautiful Lie” record in South Africa, he is quite fond of our country and reminded us every chance he got. He sang all the favourites, like “From Yesterday”, “A Beautiful Lie” and “The Kill”, with just about everyone singing along.

After lifting my rude poster several times, he finally noticed it, looked straight at me, and said something that went on like this (I barely remember, I was busy screaming my lungs out along with all the girls next to me): “We have a pervert here that wants my sperm. Ok, its kinda dirty, not something I’d usually do….etc etc etc my mind went blank after this. Someone told me that at the end he said “though…that could be FUN!” AAAAHHHHH!!!!
I was put on the big screen for all 35 000 people to see, including my poor brothers, lol. He had called me a pervert! I became famous! I fell in love!

Loser of the day: ESKOM! (though I don’t think they had anything to do with this here). Before Jared finished one of his last songs, the power went kaboom and all was silent. A frustrated Jared almost went off stage, but not before the crowd started to chant “F*CK ESKOM” and before we knew it, there was sound again. Very embarrassing.

However, he finished with a big bang, climbing right to the top of the scaffolding as the girls silently prayed that he wouldn’t fall to his death (I would have jumped and caught him) and the guys prayed that he would! Apparently he does this at every concert, but so what? He sure can climb fast! He came down just as fast, while a bunch of South African drummers joined him on stage to finish off the final song. What a finish! Before they went off, Jared promised that they would be signing autographs outside. I immediately said to Berny that we are running there and will stand to get his signature, even if we miss the rest of the bands!
She agreed and so we ran out as soon as Jared and co went off stage. At the backstage gate, we were told by security that they were signing on the other side of the stage. I dodged people here and there and eventually lost Berny as she couldn’t catch up with me. They were nowhere in sight and I was beginning to think that we were being lied to. After running twice around the whole racecourse, asking the Info people and getting stopped by several of my new-found “fans”, I slowly made my way back to the Golden Circle, sulking and cursing.

Kaiser Chiefs were already on, and I missed a few of their songs. I walked over several people before I found my crowd and caught the last of one of my fave songs “Everything is Average Nowadays”. I was happy to see that Amy, Lyndal, Tarryn, Dylan, Craig and Johan had joined us as well! Berny eventually caught up with me and we jammed to the songs. While I was blowing bubble into Martin’s face and the back of Johan’s head, I told Martin how I like to blow….bubbles. That’s when he asked me to turn around and introduced me to a guy called Bubbles. Hahaha, I had such a good laugh.

I then heard that Ferdi and Shadley had a bit of an accident at the beer tent as the two buggers tried to start a mosh pit there. Why, I don’t know. Ferdi tackled Shadley and both went flying on top of the wall tent; Ferdi landed on Shadley (those who know them both will now immediately go ouch! Poor Shadley – as Shadley is 5 times skinnier than Ferdi), who hit his head on a concrete slab. He was taken to the medic tent where he suffered a mild concussion. It was nothing serious, but they spent a great deal of time there, though Shadley swears to me that they still had a great time and I had nothing to worry about. So I believed him.

The lead singer from Kaiser Chiefs climbed the scaffolding too, but not as high as Jared, and just seemed rather lame in comparison, he even dropped his microphone. Still, a great performance from those boys, their tunes are really catchy.

It was then, after Kaizer Chiefs went off stage, that 5fm DJ, Elana Afrika, came on to read a apologetic statement from the organisers, that due to security issues, 30 Seconds to Mars would not be able to sign autographs – understandable, as me and 1000s of other girls would have probably mauled, raped and taken Mr Leto home to meet mommy and daddy. (and you can imagine my disappointment and envy when I heard that the damn Capetonians got to meet the band! Its just not fair!

Cokefest or Cockfest? PART ONE

(this will be done in several parts - I have a lot to say!)

I have taken my time writing my next blog, mainly because other things have been occupying my mind, and over the past few weeks (I cant believe its already two weeks!) since the Cokefest 2008, I have been trying to get the general feel of everyone’s opinions on this event. The post-mortem has been one of mixed feelings, many complaining till they are blue in the face (something South Africans are well known for) but many, many more, like me, had the times of their lives. I have repeated this many times and Im going to say it again: “If you can’t rough it, then DON’T bother!” Don’t expect 5-start treatment at these events just because you think you are worth it (because you are not). It’s something that you don’t even get overseas. At the end of the day, it’s all about the music.

So here are my thoughts.

Ever since somewhere around the middle of last year, when I heard Korn was coming to South Africa, I had been eagerly waiting in anticipation for the MyCokeFest annual concert. When ticket lines opened in September, I was one of the first people to purchase those tickets, for myself and friends. We just couldn’t wait. R600 seemed worth it for Korn as well as Muse, Good Charlotte, Kaiser Chiefs and Chris Cornell. Quality bands, in my opinion. And I was quite beside myself when I heard later on during the year that 30 Seconds to Mars had been added to the line-up!!!! Oh, Jared Leto! Pure BLISS!

A week prior to the event, we counted down the days, the hours, the minutes, till 21 March 2008 finally arrived. I hadn’t slept much that whole week, especially on Thursday night as I sat on the floor in my room, listening to 30 Seconds to Mars on my Ipod and drawing the poster that would make me famous. But I was on such a high that I felt nothing could get me down. Nothing. The moment was almost upon us.

I woke up early on Friday morning, got my prized ticket ready and met everyone at McDonalds for breakfast – that turned out to be my biggest meal of the day as food became less and less important as the day progressed. This year we were quite a big group, 12 people (and met up with more at the Newmarket Racecourse where the Cokefest was being held): Ferdi, Weasel, Berny, Martin, Brydon, Michelle, Shadley, Tanya, Shawn, Basti, Berny’s friend Mark, and myself. After rushing everyone and waiting for the “born on African-time” (lol) Shawn, we got in 3 cars and went in convoy to Alberton.

Parking wasn’t really a problem as I had pre-booked it online (but it was a HUGE problem when we had to leave!). By 11am we made it to our destination; the racecourse was already packed with hoards of fans waiting to see their favourite bands. The number of people that attended varies from site to site and review to review, so I have taken the average – there were approximately 35 000 people there, surely much more than last year!

The whole place was covered with mud pits mixed with fragrant horseshit, but that didn’t get me down. In any case, I was well prepared with my ultra cool skull gumboots, perfect for treading in deep mud (shit). Drinks were first in order, which didn’t take too long to get, and then I managed to find a very short queue (thanks to a kind guy that pointed it out to me) to get my 2 very expensive but much coveted 30 Seconds to Mars (Jared on my chest, hee hee) and Cokefest t-shirts. I got a coke as well, since I wasn’t planning on getting hammered, but I was quite disappointed that I had to empty my bottle into a plastic cup before I entered the Golden Circle. I don’t get the point of that, since the plastic beer cups could be just as bad a weapon as a coke bottle. But who am I to judge?

Once settled inside the Golden Circle (or the VIP section as Jared Leto later called it), I expertly changed into my 30 Seconds t-shirt without flashing anyone – quite pointless as I later flashed almost half the crowd…(more on that later).

Before I knew it, the first of the SA bands, Lonehill Estate, came on stage, and having never heard them sing before, I was quite surprised at how catchy their tunes were and moved my hips and butt along to the beat. Caressa joined us, and I finally got to meet her. We ended up jolling together almost till the end.

After Lonehill Estate, Berny and I went on a quick run to get a round of drinks. We ended up missing Crash Car Burn as the queues were quite long by then. I didn’t mind at all, but Berny was disappointed that she missed out on them once again. Armed with a tray full of beers, Berny balanced it out of the tent, very expertly, while I guided her through the crowds, about to give birth to two coke bottles that were wedged inside my skirt, haha. Yes, I managed to sneak them in to the Golden Circle, unnoticed. Suck on that! On the way we met up with other friends, poor souls that had bought general admission tickets, but nevertheless they were having the time of their lives. ROCK ON!

Wonderboom was soon on stage, a band that I have always loved and stalked during my younger days, hahahaha, ok, I sound old now, don’t I? Knowing Cito well when he performs and standing there with the sun glaring in our faces, I knew what was coming and shouted far from Cito’s earshot “TAKE IT OFF!”. Eventually he listened and the shirt came off. What a bod! They finished off rocking to our all-time favourite, “Charlie” and had me jumping up and down, singing at the top of my voice. Ok, it was more like shouting, not really singing!

Last band was Prime Circle, a band I have grown tired of lately, but decided to move right to the front with Caressa, Berny and Tanya as I definitely wanted to be in front for the next band….!! DING DING DING!!!