Doom 3 has been consistently scaring the bejeezus out of me for the last few nights. I didn't really know what a bejeezus looked like until one popped out around 11pm the other night when I had the lights out and the headphones on, stalking the hallways of this Mars space station that I am wandering around. A little too realistic...

A swim, day outside, sushi, White Linen night, and the the Ours show. Ingredients for a perfect day. Hopefully the trend will continue for the rest of this weekend. I will be on the West Coast for all of next week, so my first real vacation time in almost two years is about to begin. If anyone in San Francisco wants to go out to eat or go to a show, or pretend we're hippies, yuppies, or panhandlers, give me a call.

By the way, the Ours show was superb. It was in the Parish Room, which is one of my favorite places to see a show (minus the high drink prices), and we managed to secure these cool sofas that the club had set up about midway back from the stage. The first half of the show was the slower, more ethereal songs. The audience was reverently silent, relishing the spooky clarity of Gnecco's voice. The band was backlit by these blue lights that shone through the audience, giving the venue a very otherworldly appearence. I sat with my head tilted back, absorbing it all, visioning the band playing just for me in this chapel-like venue. Kind of like a goth Rufus Wainright or Jeff Buckley.

Just as I came out of my trance, they jumped into Fallen Souls. It was a perfect live sound, with the singer's impressive vocals and acoustic guitar mixed high, and the double floor toms pounding in my chest. From here to the end, they rocked their louder, epic songs. Whenever Jimmy went into one of his "howl from beyond" moments, I my eyeballs started shaking, as though he was hitting a resonant frequency in my optic nerve, with the requisite shivers.

Not that I haven't seen some incredible shows in the last few years, but I don't think I've been "transported" like that since I saw Tori Amos at the Orpheum in 2001, and Melissa got jealous because I was gazing at the stage, transfixed so intently and awe-struck by the beauty of it all.