95 followers!

This is pretty amazing! Thank you all! But there's been a change in plans...

Instead of 120 Tumblr followers, I'm only going to ask for 100! That's right! I will donate $10 to The Mercury Phoenix Trust if I get 100 followers by March 1st!

A request

As I write this, I have 87 followers on Tumblr (hi, folks!). I'd like to increase that number without putting forth a lot of effort, so I'm going to make it interesting.

If I get at least 120 followers on Tumblr by 12AM EST on March 1st (the date John Deacon joined Queen in 1971), I will donate $10 to the Mercury Phoenix Trust. I wish I could give more, but I'm too poor to put in any more than that. But if YOU are able to put in where I can't, they have a page telling you how to donate.

Also, you can send me a friend request on Facebook, but that doesn't have anything to do with the above. I'm just trying to promote myself while I'm at it.

And shake the foundations from the sky

Omg.

You guys.

Seriously.

THIS IS SO FUCKING AMAZING!!!!!!

I started with the DVD because I was most looking forward to the documentary. I was hoping it would go into detail with every track, but this was sadly not the case. It was pretty much the same footage from The Great Pretender. And it's not that it was bad footage, I was just hoping that it was merely scratching the surface and giving us fans something to really visually look forward to with Barcelona.

The CDs failed to disappoint, though! I put both the proper album and the instrumental version on my iTunes and played them through my headphones. Obviously I adore the original version to the moon and back, but I can't pretend all the genuine orchestral instruments don't blow my mind. Jim Beach said all the arrangements done for 2012 were faithful, and I had some reservations, but the man speaks the truth. There are even some added touches, like a koto in La Japonaise and a wave/church organ in The Golden Boy. Rufus Taylor (Roger's son) replaced all the machines with actual drumming, and John Deacon's bass is left in in How Can I Go On.

I think my favorite thing so far is that the orchestra also tinkered with Exercises In Free Love so that it sounds a bit more separate from Ensueno. I heard the original some years back and was impressed with it, but in its new incarnation it's so gorgeous and moving that I come close to crying every time I hear it. Not that I'm "too manly" to cry, but it doesn't come very easily to me.

Also! You guys! The orchestra actually performs Overture Piccante!!! You have no idea how badly I'd love to see this entire album performed live (obviously with Freddie appearing via video)! JIM BEACH, MAKE THAT SHIT HAPPEN!

SO glad I was able to make this purchase! Here's a really cute picture of Freddie and Montserrat!

New year

Hey, folks! My typing indicates that I'm back!

My December holidays were fantastic. Thanks to my wonderful grandmother's generosity via Amazon giftcard, I'll soon FINALLY own the 4-disc set of Barcelona! It should arrive sometime in the next week or so.

At the end of December, I went to see the ever-awesome Gunpowder Gelatine at Johnny D's. You guys, they played I want It All and they ROCKED IT! I mean, they rock everything, but that was probably the tightest I've seen them perform in general. Obi Fernandez got on stage before them, followed by a Van Halen cover band called Van Railin'. Try as I might, I'm not too into Van Halen, but I could appreciate Van Railin's' dedication and talent. I didn't stick around to see Power Of Love, but I'm sure they were excellent. Maybe next time!

Also, Allison dresses like John Deacon and that makes me ridiculously happy :-)

My New Year's Eve was also exciting since I got to spend it with my girlfriend. She was in London, UK last year having fun and getting me a Sixpence like Brian used to use as a guitar pick. This year, we listened to A Night At The Opera and played Cards Against Humanity while drinking hard cider. I typically don't drink, but yum. There were also cupcakes with pink frosting. And glitter. Glitter cupcakes. Damn delightful!

That Guy's cat

Because my cat is awesome.

I hope you all enjoy your respected December holidays! Thank you for helping make mine more awesome :-)

21 years

RIP, Freddie.

Thankful

It's Thanksgiving/National Day Of Mourning here in the US, and I wanted to take a minute to say that I'm thankful to have you reading and following my blog. I'm also thankful for Queen's music - but that should go without saying. I know these days a lot of Queen fans piss me off, and that makes me appreciate the ones that don't that much more!

Here's a video of Jimmy Fallon and The Roots performing (read: miming) We Will Rock You at the Macy's Day Parade this year.