Nice opinions. We're having a discussion over at fadtastic on the very same thing:
http://www.aspiramedia.com/fadtastic/?p=50
I predict soild colour backgrounds coming back into the frame soon.
your page layout has left the font almost unreadable increase it's size amd give more room for spacing of wider lettered fonts because it looks crap.
Go with what works, I say (and I'm guilty as charged... I've been using these techniques in 90% of my designs all year.).
Anyway, I didn't chime in to write about me. I live in Houston and have noticed two billboard advertisments in particular that also use these styles. Shiner Bock [beer] has a couple of billboards that not only use paisley texture patters, but they are using thhat 'Wicked Worn Look' that Cameron keeps pushing. The other billboard, Ziegen Bock Fest (another local beer fest) is using the sunrays and texture patterns.
Both use these well and are worth looking at & mentioning. I haven't been to either of their websites to see if they carried this look over there. I hope they did. I also hope to find some online samples of these ads to use for more inspiration.