I survived the Black Parade, and it was fucking amazing. I was definitely crying by the end of it, but so was Ray Toro, so I don't feel all that bad.

We're currently in Erin's hotel room, and I'll post a full report tomorrow or something, but just a few highlights for now.

The show tonight was... god. Amazing. The last MyChem show for a long, long time, as Gerard said. We didn't get there until after doors, at about 6:30, and we definitely expected to be really far back. But the weather was horrible, which drove a lot of fans away, and the pit was seriously TINY... maybe 300 people? God, it was without a doubt the best pit I've ever been in. Everyone was really nice, there was no moshing and no horrible crushing. And I was close enough at one point to to touch the barriar. On Frank's side, which was also Mikey's side, so double win!

Taking Back Sunday's set was awesome. I don't care how big of a douche Adam Lazzara is, the guy totally knows how to give a good performance.

And My Chemical Romance... just... there aren't any words. So many amazing moments, a million things that I want to remember. Gerard telling about the Smashing Pumpkins show he and Mikey went to 15 years ago, and then picking Mikey up and swinging him around. Brian Schecter being about 10 feet from us most of the show, looking totally sexy in a black dress shirt, tie, slacks, and a total punk-rock studded belt. Gerard dedicating a song to Lyn-Z. Bob drumming like a fucking maniac, just giving it every ounce of everything that he has. Gerard making the entire stadium do the wave, and Ray getting us all to give the devil horns as he took a picture of the entire crowd. Helena, ending the show.

So yeah, I cried. It was such an amazign experience, worth every ounce of pain and suffering I went through to get there today, worth the money and the time and the 12 hour train rides. It was worth everything and more.


Okay, time to pass Erin's laptop off to someone else, cause I'm being a internet hog.


♥

Hey guys! This is Brianne from bpal.org and I just put up some rare LE decants on Ebay. These are all from my loved and well cared for bottles. Auctions are up for 7 days and all have 99 cent starting bids. I will ship worldwide.

Imps include such scents as Pumpkin Cheesecake, Sugar Slathered Candied Apple, Tp'd Tree, Spiked Punch, Pumpkin Smash, White Light, I Married a Vampire from Planet X, Diary of a Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal, Egg'd Mailbox and MORE!

EBAY AUCTIONS HERE!

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/index.php?articleID=10965

Harry Potter apparel and product retailer Whimsic Alley has updated their website to announce an upcoming video interview call for fans of the novels aged 8 to 14 taking place in Santa Monica, California. On May 18th, Whimsic Alley will...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/washington/10shield.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/washington/10shield.html

Conservative voices offered perhaps the broadest defense of reporters’ rights during oral arguments in a case involving the refusal of a reporter to disclose sources.

http://mashable.com/2008/05/09/amazon-texas-taxes/

http://mashable.com/?p=26031

The Associated Press and the Dallas Morning News are reporting that online retailer Amazon may have ‘forgotten’ to pay some taxes owed us here in the Lone Star State.  The word comes from the Texas State Comptroller’s office that Amazon has a secret shipping facility (or at least a secret from the Texas government) located in regional technology center Irving, Texas (the Dallas suburb also known for housing the Dallas Cowboy and Texas Stadium).

All this goes back to a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided that state were allowed to collect sales taxes from out-of-state retailers, so long as there was a “physical presence” in their state.

According to the AP, Robin Corrigan, a sales tax policy bureaucrat in the comptroller’s office, reported that Amazon company officials “told me that they don’t have a distribution center in Texas,” but promised to investigate the claim.

I wasn’t able to reach any of my friends out in Dallas before they left for work - most of them drive down the 114 to get back hom - to snap a picture of the distribution center.  Someone has made a nice little link to the alleged distribution center, in a custom layer named FedEx Ground. The satellite view definitely shows a large warehouse like structure there - but the street view doesn’t come close enough with high enough resolution to determine anything for certain. There’s another address in question, too, mentioned by the Dallas morning news.  I snooped around both addresses with street view and didn’t find any incriminating signage - perhaps you’ll have better luck.

The AP also observed that Texas might not be the only state where product shipments aren’t being taxed properly.  Sure, we have a big state, and it might be easy to miss one or two multi-billion dollar companies, but after this story propogates out there, you can be sure Rhode Island, Hawaii and other states either small in geography or big in taxation will be searching their phonebooks for a distributorship near them.

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