Day: September 23, 2007

A Fan? How Many Years?

- Roshan

I was talking with a colleague at work about the different bands that we like and I was thinking aloud about which were the bands that I have been into the longest. That took some thinking and I was mentally going through my list of songs & albums and decided that it deserved a post. So here it is, in descending order, the bands that I have been a fan of (I’m not including bands that have disbanded but artists who have died are included, provided that they have a considerable amount of recorded material) :

Band / Artist No. of Years Year which I first heard them

  1. Bon Jovi – 21 – 1986
  2. Europe – 21 – 1986
  3. Scorpions – 20 – 1987
  4. Van Halen – 20 – 1987
  5. Deep Purple – 20 -1987
  6. Bryan Adams – 19 – 1988
  7. Def Leppard – 19 – 1988
  8. Neil Young – 19 – 1988
  9. Eric Clapton – 19 – 1988
  10. AC / DC – 19 – 1988
  11. Aerosmith – 19 – 1988
  12. Metallica – 18 – 1989
  13. Alice Cooper – 1989
  14. Warrant – 18 – 1989
  15. Poison – 17 – 1990
  16. Iron Maiden – 17 – 1990
  17. Jeff Healey – 17 – 1990
  18. Queensryche – 16 – 1991
  19. Megadeth – 16 – 1991
  20. Rush – 15 – 1992
  21. Pearl Jam – 15 – 1992
  22. Joe Satriani – 15 -1992
  23. Yngwie Malmsteen – 15 – 1992
  24. Steve Vai – 14 – 1993
  25. Alice In Chains – 14 – 1993
  26. Crash Test Dummies – 14 – 1993

These are the longest that I can think of. Among my current favourites, the Barenaked Ladies are 9 (1998). There are other bands that I like, but I either own just a few songs (like Ozzy, Judas Priest) and or never bought any of their albums (Led Zepplin). And oh, I took off Guns n’Roses cause they haven’t put out stuff since 1993! That is too long!

Arsenal 5 Derby 0

- Roshan

I kinda feel sorry for the fans of Derby County. They must have felt that without Theirry Henry there would a chance against Arsenal. But…Emmanuel Adebayor scored a hat-trick as Arsenal turned up the heat on their Premier League title rivals with a 5-0 thrashing of Derby at The Emirates stadium on Saturday. Cesc Fabregas and Abou Diaby as the Gunners made it six wins out of six in all competitons and extended their unbeaten start to the season to nine matches.

download kid for two farthings a dvd

Among other matches, Liverpool were booed by their own crowd in a 0-0 draw against Birmingham, Manchester City drew 3-3 & in the match I just saw sometime back, Manchester United beat Chelsea 1-0 in which the Blues were playing with 10 men from the 32nd minutes as Mikel was sent out. Newcastle United beat West Ham 3-1 while Aston Villa beat Everton 2-0.

Correction : It ended Manchester United 2, Chelsea 0. There was that dubious penalty given towards the end which Louis Saha converted! My sincere apologies

@ CCD

- Roshan

I spent an hour or so at Cafe Coffee Day today for some good cold coffee & relaxation. I haven’t been there in a few weeks, which really is odd. I normally go there once a week but I guess I have been going out on weekdays after work and staying in on Sundays a lot more. Plus I was sick last weekend! I do miss my coffee. Anyways, once I was feeling awake enough to take a bath & dress, I took my iPod, my phone and a copy of John Grisham’s A Time To Kill (which I somehow can’t seem to finish) and took an auto to the ATM before stepping into CCD.

Surprise, surprise! They had changed their furniture and it looked a whole lot different. Infact too different that I actually took a step back and checked if I actually was in CCD! It was quite tasty looking, the tables, sofas & chairs were the colour of coffee & chocolate, making it the perfect setting for having a cup of your favourite beverage, hot or cold. However, they weren’t as comfortable as the earlier ones. Is that on purpose? Maybe they don’t want people to sit there for hours at a stretch, sipping miserly out of a solitary cup and not buying anything else!

Which brings me to my next observation – CCD has become a lover’s hangout. Couples of various castes, financial status & ages have decided that CCD is where they will hold hands and coo at each other and take up space for hours. Don’t get me wrong – I used to do that at a cozy ice cream parlour ages ago, when I was 19, 20 with an ex. I haven’t turned sour against all other lovers just because I am single! Not in the least.

It’s the posers and stupid idiots that seem to be all over town these days. They are so pathetic that it’s obvious that they want people to see that they are together. The guys show off their girls (see me, I got this big boobed bimbo wrapped around me), while the girl pouts and tosses her mane while the whiff of her reeking perfume assaults the noses of poor unsuspecting people. There were two such couples over there today. And I was so happy when one of them left.

Well the staff at CCD can’t control that but I also have a grudge over CCD’s poor choice of music. That they can control! It used to be dumb techno & hip hop non-sense or the latest Hindi film trash or Tamil film rubbish! But today they went one step ahead – some lame Indian band doing weak covers of rock classic! Oh man, you don’t want to torture yourself by inflicting pain to your ears like that. Luckily I had my earphones to block out the waves of mediocrity.

Of Cats & Dogs

- Roshan

There is something to be said about sitting late at night online on my computer in my room, with the windows open and a gentle rain bearing down on the streets. I love the cool wind that blows in and caresses my skin. It’s 2:30 am and tonight, sleep will come instantly as I lay my head down on the pillow. I feel as if I am surrounded by a huge bed of flowers.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my late dog Shawny and my sister’s dog Shawny Jr. (who lived in my house for a year). I miss having a dog around. There is something about owning a dog that is so human! Ironic I know, but it’s true. I think every home should have a dog & a cat or more than one of each. I like cats too. Sometimes I think about the two cats I had, although it’s been 15 years since they died.

I’m beginning to fade away. My eyes are getting drowsy as I type this. The last couple of sentences had many mistakes when I typed them up and I corrected them on the spot.

So, let me go to sleep. And dream of a large meadow, filled with flowers and butterflies for my dogs and cats & me to chase lazily as a cool wind blows in our faces. That fills me with peace and joy so much. I just want to be with my pets. Go on a long walk in the meadow and chase the butterflies and watch the water flow on the river.