Category: Music News

  • Voltaire At Renegade Arlington

    Voltaire At Renegade Arlington

    By Andrea Menzies

    Aurelio Voltaire played the Renegade Arlington club last night. He is a musician and book author that has done soundtracks for heroes and villains in many movies and cartoons for MTV, Adventure Quest 3D video game, and Cartoon Network. Despite pointing at his performing face many times my Google Pixel phone took incredibly detailed photos of the lady’s glasses in front of me, and completely blurred his face. Still it was a fun night at a good show.

    The two storied Renegade nightclub in Arlington, VA and is super fun inside the restaurant and nightclub. Huge TV screens near the stage show the dancing and music from many angles. The tasty gourmet food is great to eat next to the dancefloor lights and sound system. Unfortunately it is next to 3 huge Universities and Arlington National Cemetery. So it has all the parking problems of major Universities mixed with the tourist sections of DC parking. It has always amazed me how University areas claim to have the smartest people in the world, and yet NEVER calculate how much parking they will need! Unless you have a Star Trek teleporter hidden in your house getting there is very challenging! I had to park a mile away behind a Baptist Church playground. Most of my makeup dripped off my face in the record heat wave. I brought tennis shoes in my bag. I wished I brought my bike.

    I did bring a large bag with his latest book in it, and got it signed at the book signing after waiting in a super long line. I am glad I bought the tickets months in advance the show was almost sold out. The Halloween party guacamole recipes are my favorite part of his book. I have seen Voltaire play at the Elysium in Austin when I lived there. I have seen him play at The Goat in New Orleans where I used to live, and graduated from a University program in the area. I have even seen him play in Portland and Seattle near my aunt’s houses. I have seen him play virtual shows in the Adventure Quest 3D video game that is free to play on Steam on talk like a pirate day. This show will always be a sentimental favorite due to my living and working jobs in a new area when I really needed to see something fun and familiar. My review is the Aurelio Voltaire show was great and the new album is worth buying as I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

    The latest album promotion photo for Aurelio Voltaire.

    Sometimes you wanna go where many Red Bull cans are stacked next to Cheers mats where they serve drinks. After walking a mile in one million degree heat this area is important to know. My face is amused in this picture.
    A great picture of the lady in front of me having sunglasses. Blurry in the background is Voltaire.
    Amazing shots of the lady in front of me having sunglasses. I pointed at Voltaire 50 times and it didn’t focus.
    My face is spooky nightclub lights. Almost all my makeup was washed away by sweating at this point it was a record heat wave.

    The Renegade Arlington club has huge overhead TV screens showing their concert from many angles. It is showing the Renegade Arlington logo in this shot.

  • Never In Town

    Never In Town

    By Andrea Menzies

    I am never going out in the downtown areas of Richmond, VA. I had people ask me out to singles nights in Richmond recently, and NO will always be the answer. I am single with no boyfriend, and I hate it. In 2005 I had horrible experiences in Richmond and Petersburg, and I had to go to rape therapy for that for years after the nightmare at Fort Lee. I still like friends, music, and nightlife. I enjoyed socializing and dating in other towns. The Richmond and Petersburg toilet hole of singles nightlife is a disgusting mix of horrible music and people I never want to see again. People thought P. Diddy was a wonderful boyfriend before that was shown to be VERY wrong, and many happy looking situations have an ugly abusive dark side people rarely want to talk about normally. Yet people think it is a great idea to take me to singles nights locally lately, and it is wrong. It is no vague whimsy I feel that tells me never to go out in Richmond or Petersburg again. It has been over three years since I have gone out to a Richmond nightclub, and I plan NEVER to see the vicious, ugly, and abusive people in town there again. I still like music, friends, and dating. Unfortunately people I hate with all my soul are the ones I have met in the areas near Richmond, Virginia.

  • Rain Cycling

    Rain Cycling

    By Andrea Menzies

    Hot and rainy weather but not too rainy for the bicycle. Fourth long bike ride of the week. I met with video game groups in the park to discuss game battles today. People play basketball in the park, volleyball, and now bike to play video games as well.

    Map My Ride

    Garmin Cycling App

    Check out my road cycling activity on Garmin Connect. #beatyesterday https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19565292386?share_unique_id=9

    Map My Ride App

    https://www.mapmyride.com/workout/8622152024

    Me at the break bench.
  • Pee-wee’s Bicycle

    Pee-wee’s Bicycle

    By Andrea Menzies

    My urge to bike around for summer has hit Pee-wee Herman’s bike level. I now know why he had to go on a big adventure just to bike more. For years I could not understand why the bike shop girl kept wanting to go on a date at the drive-in with Pee-wee, but after I grew up and re-watched it I realized Pee-wee must be rich. His house is filled with toys and has no work tools, he turns down massive money for his custom bicycle, he is on a first name basis with a super rich kid living in his same area, Elvira is at the bar he stopped at, and he travels to Texas to find his bike at whimsie. Everything points to ultra wealthy in the story! She wants to be married to be joint on his epic bank account. As a kid I never noticed these details. I just re-watched it streaming on Max, and my review is the movie is perfect five stars.

  • Bike It Up

    Bike It Up

    By Andrea Menzies

    The good news is I was feeling well enough to bike 4 days this week 3 or more miles. I have been able to practice running errands with the e-bike. Yes the battery helps, but you still have to steer with your arms, balance on two wheels, and many roads are NOT fully made for bikes so you end up walking your bike on the sidewalks or lawns near roads with no bike space. Sunny fitness app even sent me a fitness award wrist band for bike fitness. The bad news is I was super sick a few weeks back so I am still weaker than normal. I was going to many June music concerts, but will have to wait until after this week to get back to going out on weekends. Since all downtown areas now charge a million dollars for close to venue parking spaces you now have to walk and bike to concerts from super far away. The theory is everyone can call Uber or Lyft so making downtown parking impossible is okay. Do they drive people for free, or do they charge nightmare fees? These services are super expensive, are dangerously slow to pick people up, and often lack quality drivers so they are horrible alternatives compared to normal parking. Buses only run a tiny bit of the day in limited areas. Many public parks near my area have pretty much become a pathetic copy of an outdoor nightclub with people dancing with boom boxes in the parking lot at night as downtown has officially become too expensive and con-artist dominated for average people to ever go there. It is not a happy time for art and music fans that happen to love live music unless you have gladiator legs for bike use. I am biking with all my soul to leave forever the nightmare toilet hole that is Virginia.

  • Bashing Call

    Bashing Call

    By Andrea Menzies

    Protesters hearing the call for justice are being bashed down this week. I joined several Feminist Alliance groups online to protest against Trump this week. Unfortunately I had to go to the hospital twice, and protesters were being bashed down super hard so I had to cancel going. Violation of the right of free speech is being tossed around like a frisbee this week in the USA. I got an e-bike because my family worked travel jobs when I was a kid, and I saw people riding bikes and folding e-bikes to clean well funded public transportation in other countries all the time. We have been completely fooled in the United States to think that well funded public transportation, schools, rights, and healthcare must be impossible dreams as poorer countries already have them daily. Meanwhile we have a president that thinks a 400 million dollar fossil fuel using airplane for daily personal use is an okay transport option. 

    Feminist Alliance Protest
    Anti Violence Rally DC
    Freedom Logo
    Deployed to Los Angeles.
    Eating Dogs.
    People have been using e-bikes to get to public transportation that allows bikes on board in Europe and Asia for decades already.
    Uber and Lyft are rip offs compared to real transportation solutions other countries have. Meanwhile our president thinks a 400 million sky airplane for personal use is normal.

    https://bsky.app/profile/petebuttigieg.bsky.social/post/3lrgpulzfls2t

  • Record Bike

    Record Bike

    By Andrea Menzies

    I was feeling so much better today I set a record for my longest bike ride on the Strava app. The new bike is working great! I am glad I finally have a working bike as the weather is good enough for it. I have a ton of night school research homework to do, and having transportation to the library for homework is a much needed school tool for productivity.

  • Single Ladies

    Single Ladies

    By Andrea Menzies

    I am one of the single ladies, and have not even had a cheek kiss in three years. This month marks the three year point, and this made me upgrade my dating profiles to premium. I have had many long term dating relationships before, and have been married and divorced. I can have long term relationships, but the jerks of Virginia THEY have been dumping ME. This is why I am only looking for dinners in the Maryland area, and I have fully given up on dating in the Virginia area. No I will not meet people alone at houses, and only crowded well lit areas with security are okay for dinner in modern day. I want friends and maybe more not wallet theft.

  • Back To Bike

    Back To Bike

    By Andrea Menzies

    At long last I can bike again, and biked a three mile ride. I am going to keep Pine Sol and hand sanitizer on me every second of the day this summer as I do NOT want to deal with that crap one more time. I had a flu shot at Walgreens just before summer, but that helped nothing at all. I labeled my first return ride the feeling better ride, and it is way better to not feel horribly sick. Now if I could just do something about not having a date, boyfriend, or even a kiss on the face in three years as of this month which I completely hate some real problems could get solved. I went to Planned Parenthood recently,  and all tests showed I was healthy and fine. I guess I have to go to towns with a real music scene to meet people which this state has none of at all.

  • Irony Bike

    By Andrea Menzies

    I finally got money for an ebike, and ordered the dream ebike! I ordered it, but cannot ride it due to being sick. I feel like the man in the Twilight Zone episode with broken glasses that cannot read in a library. I even bought new tail lights, and a bike Garmin and Sunny heart monitor for it. Not only do I want more fitness experience, but the ebike is useful as gas free transportation. Bikes do not cause joint damage like jogging, and studies show bike use prevents cancer and heart disease. I love camping, and it fits in an RV better than a big non-folding bike. Every entertainment district is making car parking costs what feels emotional like 1 million dollars, and a good ebike can cut down on parking and Uber fees so that I can go to music concerts more without using a car near downtown. I have had the picture of this bike on my wall for months. Buying it now helps me avoid nightmare tariffs and fees. At University in New Orleans I used to bus and bike everywhere to see concerts. The bike is so close but so far away!

    Garmin badge I earned testing the bicycle Garmin.
    Bicycle Garmin for tracking app fitness.

    Light for increased bicycle visibility.

    Sunny heart rate monitor to keep fitness from being overwhelming.