Eric Barrios (dot) Com

Last night, I had the incomparable joy of seeing my favorite band perform once again.  Rush made the stop in Irvine for their Time Machine Tour and treated us to an amazing set of music.  I attended the show with my friends Jeff, Cookie, Christine, and my step-dad Rich.  I did not know what to expect other than the news that Rush would be performing their classic album Moving Pictures in its entirety.  What I ended up witnessing was more than I could have hoped for.

Rush has been opening with very fun short videos for years now.  This time, they had a very entertaining video in which the band members acted in very comical parts basically making fun of themselves.  One has to love a band that can still crack jokes about themselves even after achieving such amazing success.  The video led into their opening song, The Spirit of Radio.  The song choice after this was very unusual.  Rush played about five songs that they normally don’t play.  They played some from the Counterparts album, Snakes and Arrows, and even a new song that will probably be on their forthcoming album.  In the mix, they played Freewill and ended with Subdivisions before taking a break.  I knew they were going to come out and play the Moving Pictures album  next, and I found myself being a little disappointed.  I assumed that after Moving Pictures they would be done.  They really didn’t play that many songs in the first part compared to some of their other shows.

Another short video introduced the Moving Pictures segment, and they blasted into Tom Sawyer.  They played the entire album perfectly, with slight variations here and there for the sake of the show.  Geddy Lee nailed the high notes, Neil Peart was on perfect time on the drums, and Alex Lifeson shredded like I’ve never seen before.  It was great to hear them play Red Barchetta, The Camera Eye,  and Vital Signs, which is one of Jeff’s favorites.  During Vital Signs, I noticed a lot of people walking around, so I assumed it was going to be the last song of the show.  However, when the song ended, Geddy stated, “Wow! That was like an entire album.  Was that enough songs for tonight?”  Everyone shouted “NO!”  Then Geddy replied, “I agree with you guys.”  Rush then went into another entire set.  They played songs including another brand new one from their next album, 2112, Neil’s drum solo, and Closer To The Heart.  After this long set, they said goodnight and walked off stage.  About 30 seconds later, they came back on stage and played my favorite, La Villa Strangiato, Working Man, and Far Cry.  Then an exit video played.  This video starred Paul Rudd and Jason Segel from the film I Love You, Man, which featured Rush in it.  It was a hilarious video that included Paul Rudd informing Geddy Lee that he also likes to “Slappa tha bass”.

The show was longer and better than I had imagined possible.  Rush is still so talented, and they play with the precision and skill that their listeners have come to rely on.  Hopefully we will get to see them for at least one more tour before they have to hang up their gear and start growing old.  It is such a blessing to see a band that has been around for such a long time playing incredible music.

This last Sunday evening I experienced a great event of American culture.  The Orange County Fair proudly hosted an RV demolition derby, and my friends Jeff, Cookie, and I attended it.  For those of you who are uneducated in the recreational activities of rednecks, a demolition derby is simply a bunch of people driving automobiles into each other, and the last auto still driving is the winner.  Usually, this competition is performed in old cars.  However, on Sunday night, RVs were the automobile of choice.  There are few things in this world as mesmerizing as a bunch of RVs running into each other.  Wood paneling was flying everywhere, toilets were rolling around, and the crowd ate it up like a pack of starving hyenas.  Leave it to Americans to destroy a bunch of mobile homes during a recession.  Why does destruction draw us in?  Where does this strange and sometimes sick joy come from?  Fortunately, thinking and philosophizing are not allowed at the demolition derby.

This is a photo my friend Jeff Phillips took of me doing a noseslide down a now unskateable hubba ledge.  This was probably taken around my senior year of high school, if not a little earlier.  The photo is a little scratched and dirty, but it is still one of my favorites (and not just because it’s of me).  In high school, Jeff, Tom, and I used to go skating at night a lot.  We would sneak around with our lights and camera equipment, looking for spots to skate and security guards to avoid.  These were some of the funnest days of my life, and probably will remain so even as I grow older and accumulate more experiences.

Shortly after Jeff took this photo, Tom attempted to noseslide this ledge in his underwear.  He rolled his ankle in the process and was lying on the cold asphalt in his underwear holding his foot.  It was one of the funniest injuries I have ever seen.  We could always count on Tom to do something ridiculous in his tighty-whiteys.

Another interesting thing about this photo is the black sweater I am wearing.  I loved that sweater, and shortly after this I remember losing it.  It might even have been this night.  I was so upset.  It was such a comfortable sweater.

This last weekend, Jeff, Brady, Cookie and I embarked on an adventure that took us from LA to Tombstone, Arizona.  The Rental Car Rally is a yearly car rally scavenger hunt.  Jeff heard about it on one of his racing forums, and we quickly signed up.  The rally (because it would be illegal to call it a race) consisted of finding specific checkpoints along the drive from start to finish.  These checkpoints were often backwoods spots that none of us would ever have checked out on our own.  There were 10 checkpoints in total: the dinosaurs off the 10, an Indian faced rock up in Idyllwild, a casino off the 10, Bombay Beach at the Salton Sea (which is a creepy ghost town), the bridge to nowhere in Yuma, the military proving ground in Yuma, an abandoned military landing strip in Dateland, the Domes, a recycling factory with millions of tires out in the middle of nowhere (which was a waste of a checkpoint), and the airplane graveyard in Tuscon.  The race ended in Tombstone, Arizona.

Another aspect of the rally was that everyone had to be in team costumes.  There were a variety of teams including Reno 911, WWF, Back to the Future, Big Lebowski, Arkham Asylum, two Dumb and Dumber teams, Ghostbusters, Tron, and Scooby Doo.  There were 60 teams total this year.  However, 60 teams did not finish the rally.  One team was arrested for impersonating a police officer (Team Polise), and Team Fear and Loathing was arrested for actually having drugs on them (sweet irony).  Many teams got speeding tickets and some dropped out a little into the trip.  Our team, The Matzha Gobblers (or Team Jew) was driving well over 100 mph for most of the trip.  Somehow, we managed to avoid any run-ins with the law.  Brady almost pooped his pants due to Jeff’s rally driving and drifting down the Idyllwild mountain road, and Jeff almost pooped his pants due to Brady pushing 130 mph on the highway.  We had a rental car, and that thing was beat up by the time the rally was done.  I think Cookie was the only one of us who drove at a reasonable speed (around 90-100 mph).  Our team also developed a bit of a reputation for hiding checkpoints and locking access gates.  We heard a number of the teams in Tombstone saying “Oh the Jews did that!”  Needless to say, we were proud.

The rally was a great experience and I encourage anyone to join next year.  I believe next year’s race is from New York to Raleigh, North Carolina.  That should be interesting.

This is the final beard update.  This photo was taken right at four months of growing.  I have a couple more weeks until Geoff and Tanya’s wedding, and from here on out there will only be photos of interesting facial hair.

I’m a little late with this update but this photo was taken at the three month mark.  Only a couple more months to go.

This is about two months into the beard.  I have about three more to go.

As many of you know, this weekend was a time for most to celebrate love with a special someone.  However, for a few of us, this weekend celebrated another year of shooting guns and blowing crap up.  For something like seven years now, a few of us have been going to the desert every valentine’s day weekend to enjoy the fake holiday in our own way.  Yes, most of us don’t have girlfriends, but that’s not the point.  This year, a number of people dropped out because they preferred to spend the weekend with a lady or working, but a few of us kept the tradition alive.  Props go to Geoff Wachli who made it out despite the fact that he has a fiance.

We were excited to welcome my old friend Jeff Phillips to join us this year as well.  He brought his new Springfield M1A to shoot for the first time.  It was worth every penny he spent on it.  The gun list for this year consisted of the M1A, Ar-15, Colt 1911, two 12-Gauge shotguns, Mauser, SKS, and a Glock 9mm.  Besides shooting guns, we also had a good fireworks war (throwing a handful of bottle rockets into the fire while everyone is sitting around it is my personal favorite move), took some slow exposure photos of the stars, and blew up a propane tank.  Luckily there were no casualties this year, though pain was felt by a few of us.  Brady and I both took a bottle rocket to the leg at close range, which feels like someone kicking you as hard as they can.  Jeff was almost blinded when a bottle rocket shot past his face, missing it by inches, and Brady was thrown backwards when an M90 blew up in his hands.  Our ears will probably be ringing for the next few months.  Overall, it was a very successful weekend.

For those of you who do not know, my friends Geoff and Tania are getting married this May.  Geoff has asked me to be one of his groomsmen, but Tania has requested that I grow a serious mustache for the wedding.  Therefore, I am not shaving until the end of May when the wedding will take place.  I was clean shaven on January 5, so this photo is a couple weeks into it.  I have grown beards before, but this one will probably be my masterpiece.  Rather than keep this experience all to myself, I am going to share it with everyone through photographic updates on how the beard is coming along.  You’re welcome.

The night of January 12, 2010 is a night that will live in infamy in the history of the world.  This night was the opening of Pee Wee Herman’s comeback to the world of stage performance.  Ryan, Brady, and I attended this opening night, and it was delightful.  Many people will recall the magical television show that was called Pee Wee’s Playhouse; well, the performance of last night was a wonderful, nostalgic reminder of how great that show was.  Something beautiful happened when Paul Reubens walked out onto the stage in his original Pee Wee Herman suit.  That guy has not aged a minute since the old show.  All of the original characters were there, from Cowboy Curtis to Miss Yvonne to Chairy to Pterry.  Jambi made predictions and granted wishes, Conky the Robot stuttered around, and the King of Cartoons brought a cartoon to watch.  For anyone who has ever enjoyed the insanity and fun of Pee Wee Herman, I highly recommend seeing his show performed on the stage.