The decision not to renew Bruce Arena’s contract rekindled speculation that the federation would pursue Jürgen Klinsmann, who recently resigned as Germany’s coach.

compete at the international level. Arena's decisions about substitutions and starting 11 has been a debate for me and my friends, often wondering why he would leave a player like Donovan in and take out players making runs to the area.

This marks a step up for US Soccer, an indication that we are starting to take this sport seriously!

So my buddy Mike was lucky enough to go to Sensation Black in Amsterdam this year. He said it was amazing, but the night was marred by a very odd incident.

Taken from a post on metalrage.com

I was there. Rob Gee and Slipknot members started their performance just before the awaited megamix. The result was absolute shit, and after a few minutes, all the people started to booh. Some of them even throw glasses on the stage. People were no longer dancing in the room and everyone started to go angry as the performance continued. It was worse and worse. Then someone got up on the stage to stop the massacre. The fight begin and the videos are quite accurate of what happened. After the fight, the guy who stepped on the stage was applauded by the audience. Then the performance was interrupted and the megamix started.

Some intrepid folks with camera phones got vids of the incident up here:

Here

Here

As much as I am sure it sucks for Rob Gee and crew, I kinda have to hand it to the audience for not just taking what they were given. Should someone have gone up and started a fight? That's a big NO from me. However, Mike told me that the crowd was sitting down in protest during their set. Someone told him, "I paid 80 euro to hear hardstyle, not metal!". I can understand wanting to hear what you paid for and having to sit though something that reportedly sounded pretty bad (ie. unintelligible) and didn't seem to fit with the "theme" of the night.

Worse still is the self fellating press release by Rob and Co.:

PRESS RELEASE - AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS ENTERTAINMENT DESK

DATELINE: July 9, 2006 Amsterdam

Rob GEE
Sensation Black

Press Release

Rob GEE and Band attacked by “Fan” who rushed the stage at Sensation Black. FLASHBACKS (for the Band) of the MURDER of “Dimebag” Darrell Abbot (Damageplan and Pantera) in Columbus, Ohio in 2004. GEE and the Band respond accordingly.

Rob GEE and the Band were finishing the last song of their set (at Sensation Black) when a “Fan” climbed up the 20 foot wall of speakers and taunted Rob GEE. GEE and the Band professionally, continued their groundbreaking performance of his unique, cutting edge music (a hybrid mix of many styles of dance and metal combined in a very unique way that is amazingly GEE - inovative and once again just a little bit ahead of it’s time).

Rob said to reporters gathered after his arrest - “THAT’S EXACTLY WHERE WE WANT TO BE, JUST AHEAD OF THE CURVE, SETTING TRENDS, NOT FOLLOWING THEM …THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN JUST “BOOM BOOM BOOM”. SURE, WE HAD SOME OF THAT, YET, WE”VE CREATED MUCH MUCH MORE THAT THE EAR OF THE FREE-MINDED WILL COME TO APPRECIATE” – Rob GEE -

“ID&T and I share the mission of moving the music forward, that’s what makes our choices of music and line ups so exciting. We both take the risks to keep it fresh CAUSE THAT’S WHAT WE DO!!!!!!”

GEE and the Band acted accordingly to protect themselves and everyone on stage. It was just all too recent and fresh a memory for most “Metal” bands and fans, that on December 8, 2004, "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and 3 others were murdered when a gunman, took to the stage and began shooting during the band's show in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Rob GEE and The Band “WEREN’T GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN”

The crowd received this new sound with mixed feelings, as historically it is when revolutionary new art and sound have been created.

I agree, one person's revolution is another's annoyance and perhaps this is just a case of "wrong place, wrong time". I am sure that there are audiences that would love the metal/techno hybrid (Hell I like it; Ministry, Atari Teenage Riot, Doormouse, etc), but perhaps the single largest Hard Dance event in the world isn't the most receptive audience.

technorati tags:sensation, black, rob_gee, fight, 2006

So this past weekend was Cybertron by Next Level at 131. It was fun, but not a lot of people showed up. In any case I got to run through a couple of the songs for Blackout and they went over really well, so I am not nearly as worried as I was a week or so ago.

I have all the music written at this point, with 3 songs needing a little extra polishing before the 21st. I still need to hit up Mike in the UK to record some intro vocals for me, but that shouldn't be too hard. The plan is to run through a little over 50 minutes of new Hard Trance, then close things out with a surprise, a new mix of "Give me a Reason" that I've been keeping under my hat for a little while. Not too much different about it, just better kicks and basses, cleaner synths and a better mixdown.

Yesterday I had a bit of a scare, I was working on some music when my computer suddenly started freezing up, and I got the "There is a serious problem with CubaseSX3" message. So I closed up shop, rebooted and boom, no F:/ drive! After a few moments of totally freaking out I got the cover off the computer, checked the cables, unplugged and plugged back in the drive, restarted, still nothing. Shut off the ocmputer and let it rest ofr about 15 minutes, turned it back on, and "Hey! Look at that there it is!". So yeah, the solution...turn off computer, walk away, turn back on. Oh the joys! After a quick backup of my essential files things seem to be running smooth, knock on wood.

So there you have it, 2 weeks to go until Blackout, one computer freakout, two test runs of new tracks, and warm weather for the next few days. Things are looking good.

Friday night was incredible! Brisk played an amazing set of upfront hardcore that got everyone jumping! I'll post a bit more later but here are some photos.