June 2009 Events

Here's a couple of things that might interest you, which recently came to my attention:

First-off, Bare Infinity, an amazing Greek Metal band, which has passed through much turmoil since its formation, in 2003, will be playing at 8Ball in Salonika on the 12th and at Sfendona (22, Alexandras Ave.) in Athens, on the 19th. What makes this band so amazing (to me), is that they sound like a healthy mix of Nightwish, Within Temptation, Epica and Sirenia, all of which are very dear to my heart. Of course, one would argue that you could always listen to those other bands, but the fact is, simply, Bare Infinity are good, really, really good!

When I first stumbled upon them, I started listening to their first album (Always Forever) medley on MySpace and I thought they were probably Finnish or Norwegian; lo and behold, looking at the profile details, they were Greek! I was amazed that a Greek Metal band could put out such incredible quality, both in sound and vocals (I find very annoying the fact that many Greek bands who sing English lyrics, have blatant accents - not so here, not by a longshot). Needless to say, the lyrics are nothing short of great.

On a personal trivia note, I thought their drummer, George, looked oddly familiar and indeed, I had met him years ago, during my Live-Action Role-Playing days. I will be attending their Athens Live with a 99% probablility and I believe that anyone who holds Melodic & Symphonic Metal close to their hearts, should as well.

As a secondary note, [room302] of ex-Ordre de Ciel and ex-Le Ciel, is organizing a Video Game Music Party at Texas Necropolis (corner of Themistokleous & Gamvetta) on the 5th of June, with a new team (?) called Save Point. The event will feature Video Game Music (and you can bet that there will be a lot of Silent Hill, if the past is any indication), as well as a Video Game RolePlay Contest, where people are invited to dress as their favorite game characters and win prizes.

That's all for now - c' ya,

Speedgrapher

"Bloody Carnival" on Radio

My second detective story, "Bloody Carnival", will air as a radio dramatization on the greek station 902 FM, narrated by Dimitris Poulikakos and directed by Adelle Mermiga, as part of the station's detective story series, "Cops and Robbers".

The show is broadcasted every Monday at 21:00, with a repeat play every Sunday, at the same time. This story will again feature Prometheus Hermeticus, as did the story for the Ecocrimes collection, "Double Substitution Crime" and will be bradcasted this Monday, on the 25th.

Hope you can listen to it and give me your feedback!

Cheers!

Speedgrapher

Flight of the Stormcrow

I have been meaning to write this post for quite some time now; more specifically, the pictures were taken on the 9th of May 2009, at a Starbucks near the Athens Metropolitan Church. A company of friends gathered to say goodbye and wish a safe journey to Raven Sweetwater, a.k.a. Nozomi Sugihara, who would be leaving on the following day for the U.S.

Reasonably, one might wonder why we would gather with such urgency,, with such a feel of necessity, given that she is supposed to be gone for 20 days - until the end of May. Well, for one, it's a Greek thing and in her case, those of us who know how and why she has suffered for the past months, needed to see her off safely, so to speak. It is almost ritualistic, as if our gathering for a (temporarily) last outing, like we used to, will be a good luck charm for her to bear on her journey (not to mention that she needed all the encouragement she could get - she is friggin' terrified of planes).

Among the people gathered
were, of course, Kyoshiro and Flexxy...

...who took it upon himself to film the whole outing
(as if photos were not enough!)...

...the mighty KrizD -sensei...

...Chiroto (else known as
Master Betty), who brought disaster
the moment he stepped in there,
spilling 330 ml of whatever it was
Ploutonas was drinking, on the
ground...

...Ayami-chan...

...Didi...

...and the aforementioned Ploutonas,
among others (are you flashing us or
is it my idea? Dude...).

For my part, however, there was a thought lodged in the back of my head - involuntarily, as it often is and refusing to budge one inch: "she might not be coming back". Really, for all the company and friendship, for all the good days she might have had, her time here gave her a lot of grief and too much to deal with, too fast, too coldly, in the one place supposed to be a safe haven: home. In fact, I am not very sure she even considered having a home here, after a while.

Then, I started getting news from her, what she is doing in the U.S., how she spends her time. Then she started blogging again, started posting pictures of people and places and not one of them has been about Sugizo, her seeming obsession with whom has become sort of a frequent, well-humored, inside joke. Those last two posts were about herself, her own life, her own thoughts and contrary to what had become the norm, she seemed alive, happy, vibrant, not struggling against depression and madness, with her life coming apart and crashing down all around her ears.

One of many funny moments: Didi - yes, Didi! -
is on a diet (fer chrissake), so...

...the moment Ploutonas went to talk to Kyoshiro...

...she started oggling Ayami-s cheesecake dangerously!

Given the choice, what would you do? What would I have done? I have no idea, but that thought at the back of my head asserts its existence: she might not be coming back and I cannot really say as I blame her...

"Group photo, group photo!".
[KrizD has left
and here you can also see Sokail (top left),
myself next to him and Xander (top right).]

Safe travels Stormcrow, wherever they may lead you...

Speedgrapher