mr. blackandwhite

Social D: Burlington VT

This past Tuesday I drove up to Burlington VT to see Social Distortion at Higher Ground and had a truly awesometastic time.

I left work around 4 PM to start the trek across N.H. and VT, up I-93 then across I-89. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and although the drive was long, 3 1/2 hours, I didn't really mind it because the drive through the mountains was so scenic and beautiful. I had a couple episodes of No Agenda saved up on the iPod and an iced coffee at my side. The drive went by nice and easy and I got to the club at 7:30. Perfect timing.

I didn't see much of Burlington but the area the club is located in felt like pure suburbia. It felt a little weird because there's this rock club surrounded by Quiznos and Burger King and gas stations and, thankfully Dunkins. (I was grateful for the Dunkins.)

I can't say enough how nice Higher Ground is. It is extremely clean, the staff was super nice and they even had a big jug of water with a stack of cups next to it set out on the side of the bar so you could get as much water as you needed without having to bug the bartenders. What a concept! Having received more scowls and nasty looks than I care to remember for asking for water from bartenders, I really appreciated this. Every bar should do this. Kudos to Higher Ground.

The show opened with The Strangers who were a good straight-forward rock/punk band. The singer sounded like Johnny Rotten and the band sounded like The Clash. Nice mix. The second band was an all female band called Civet. They were more thrashy in the vein of The Misfits on Earth A.D, except all hotties.

All in all, the opening acts were good. I hung around the back of the club during their sets. When Civet finished I moved up to the front. This was the smallest venue that I have seen Social D play so it was a perfect chance to examine and observe the amps, mics, pedals and assorted gear that the band uses (I am a gear queer). I hung out near the front, wished I was taller and listened to the nice mix of country and rockabilly the sound-guy was playing as we waited. 

Usually Social D plays in larger clubs / theaters so it was really cool to see them in a small to mid-sized place like this. I had a good spot. Just to the left of center. I could see Brent, Atom and Mike perfectly. I had to stretch to see Jonny but what are you gonna do. Again, I wish I were taller.

Finally Social D came on and it was time to get squished. When you stand near the barricade, that's what you get. I didn't mind, for the most part. I usually stand there with my arms down, clasped in front of me and just kind of ride the wave. If somebody leaned on me a little too much I lifted my arms and stuck my elbows out. A pointy elbow in the back or ribs usually makes someone lean somewhere else..

Here's the set as I remember and not in exact order:

The Creeps
Another State Of Mind
Mommy's Lil Monster
Sick Boys
Don't Drag Me Down
Ring of Fire
That's Alright
Highway 101

- tech / guitar problem. Mike kills time telling his joke about the kid who catches his parents having sex. ha-

Nickels and Dimes
Can't Take It With You (new song)
Bakersfield (new song)
Reach For The Sky
Bad Luck
Sometimes I Do
Ball and Chain

-encore
Still Alive (new song)
Prison Bound
Alone and Forsaken (reworked Hank Williams cover)
Story of My Life

I can only describe the show as totally awesome. After the show, since I was still cooling down, and was not ready to just jump in the car and drive, I went over to Dunkins, conveniently located right next door, (thank you!) got a coffee and went over to the bus to see if anybody was around. Atom Willard was hanging out and saying hi to the fans so I said hello and I am glad to tell you he is an extremely nice guy. 

It was time to head home. Thank god for the coffee and my iPod. That four hours back was killer, but it was totally worth it. 

After 39 years, it seems I am learning a few things at last. I only had one drink that night, the rest of the time I drank water and I was so glad that jug was out there and I could get as much as I wanted. I wore hearing protection for the first time ever and was even more glad. I kept it in all during the opening acts. When Social D was playing I took the plugs out. When they stopped or took a break between songs and someone two inches away was screaming directly into my ear, I put them back in. I tell you what, I was so glad I did this. I hate when my ears ring for hours or worse a day later when I've gone to a show. No ringy-dingys this time. Awesome. 

Next up: October 15th. Usually Social Distortion comes around about every two years. This time I only have to wait a few months to see them again as they will be in N.H. at the Hampton Beach Casino. 

ROCK

I don't know what to say about anything

It's one of those posts, yup.

Red Sox opening day is tomorrow!! I am looking forward to the start of the 2009 baseball season and the lazy summer days that are ahead, hanging out in the back yard, watching the kids have fun and listening to a game on the radio. 

The B's are the #1 seed in the East. Awesome. But that does not make me any less nervous about the first round of the playoffs.. 

I don't watch a lot of TV. Ok, I don't watch any TV, at all, because I think it's an evil flickering box. But I do watch sports, and Rescue Me. And Rescue Me comes back on Tuesday. I am fully psyched. 

Last week 3/4 of my grrrage band did an open mic at a local bar which featured several firsts, the most notable being, people getting on the floor and actually dancing during our set, somebody yelling 'FREEBIRD!' and a stranger buying me a beer afterwards. That is pretty f-ing cool, and what a blast! Awesome.

Today we went to a mall to go see the Easter Bunny and get a picture. My Son has no desire to sit on the Easter Bunny because, as he puts it, 'The Easter Bunny is freaky'. Ok, well, he/she/it seems friendly enough, by my Son does not like him. He just likes the candy that he/she/it drops off on Easter morning..

Nearby where the Easter Bunny was setup, a car dealership had put some new cars out on display. One of the cars was a pretty cool convertible. I opened the door so my Son could sit in it and I took his picture. After he got out a security guard came over and told me we weren't really supposed to get in the cars. I told him I was sorry, I did not think it was a problem since the car was unlocked. No biggie. 

I thought that would be the end of the discussion, but the guard went on to inform me that, 'actually you're not supposed to take pictures in here at all, it's a federal law'.

'It's a federal law that I can't take pictures of my children?' I asked.

'No, it's a federal law that you can't take pictures inside of the mall, for security reasons. If the feds found out you were taking pictures, they'd come in and shut this place down.' 

He continued to try to impress upon me the seriousness of the security threat that my snap-shots posed, but I had put the bullshit filters on by that point so I politely thanked him for the information and headed back to the Easter Bunny.

Aside from the ridiculousness of his statement that 'the feds' would come in and shut the mall down if they found out some guy was taking pictures of his kid inside.. you can't take pictures inside of a mall. Yup.

Metallica: Boston

I went to see Metallica in Boston last night. Here is the set:

That Was Just Your Life
The End of the Line
Harvester of Sorrow
For Whom the Bell Tolls
One
Broken, Beat & Scarred
Cyanide
Sad But True
...And Justice for All
All Nightmare Long
The Day That Never Comes
Master Of Puppets
Battery
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman

Stone Cold Crazy
Hit The Lights
Seek and Destroy

A truly awesome time was had. It felt like a reunion with an old friend you had not seen in a long time. They played the full versions of all of their songs, no medleys, and not a single tune from the 'lost years' as we'll call them. James even played the white Explorer. Phenomenal.

Welcome back, Metallica. I missed you

Support quality rock. Pre-Order 'Get It Together'!

I don't know about you, but on the rare occasion that I turn on the radio these days, I'm usually pretty disappointed because most of what gets played on the radio nowadays is pre-paid, programmed in advance corporate suckage. 

Why not take matters into your own hands and support quality rock? Pre-order the Supersuckers new record 'Get It Together' and not only will you get a kick ass record and an entry into a contest that could win you an actual Les Paul Gold Top guitar, but you'll feel good about yourself because supporting quality rock makes you feel awesome. Not only that, the more CD's you buy, the cheaper it gets. I bought four myself, one for each member of my grrage band. Click on the picture and see for yourself!!

Rock.

Quick recap of the last few days from Friday up till now which is Wed.

Hey whats up everybody? Happy hump day.

Quick recap of the last few days:

The Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Driving home from Boston after the Supersuckers show with toothpicks holding my eyes open sometime prior to dawn on Saturday morning = Not awesome.

Not having to go to work after the Supersuckers show last Friday = Awesome.
Being pretty much total junk all day on Saturday due lack of sleep and seriously wondering if I'm getting too old to go to these rock shows = Not awesome.

The Patriots beating the Jets in Jersey on Sunday after football 'fans' in nyc celebrated Tom Brady's season ending knee injury and crowned themselves the presumptive AFC East Champs the week before = Awesome.

The Red Sox tying The Rayz for first place in the A.L. East on Monday = Awesome.
The Red Sox falling a game back again after The Rayz walk off win last night = Not awesome.

Finding lolinator.com earlier today = Awesome. (I like to end the post on an 'Awesome')

(H/T to the The DSC Drop for the lolinator link. Also, my drop.io is feeling lonely..)

HA!

Friday, Friday, Fri-Day... yay!

What's up you all? Happy Friday. Reward Friday, as we like to say around here.

I've got some good plans for this evening as I'll be heading into Boston (ok, technically Allston, but, close enough) to see The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World, The Supersuckers, at Harpers Ferry. Should be happy times.

The plan is to head into towne after work, grab a bite and some liquid refreshment at T's Pub and then.. well I don't know what I'll do, but it'll involve killing time till the show starts around 8:30 or 9 PM. I actually brought a book to read, but I don't know how much reading I'll be able to do in T's Pub on a Friday night... I'll probably wind up watching the Sox / Jays game.

When showtime comes around I'll walk down to Harpers Ferry and then participate in the rock and roll experience that will be taking place within. I've got my black t-shirt on today, so I'm prepped and good to go..

If you've got some bandwidth to spare and some extra cycles to kill, get some traction on and head over to check out today's edition of The Great Debates over at MVN's NFL Outsiders site. Today's burning question: Is 2008 a lost season for The Patriots?

The story features some different opinions on this topic from around Patriots Nation and in an amazing display of gutsy courage by the folks at MVN, I was asked to lend my opinion to the post as well. Amazing!

Have a good weekend. Rock. Stay out of trouble. GO PATS

In contempt of Jimmy Page

Hey what's up everybody! It's Friday. Yay. I don't really have anything big to post about but I'm trying to keep the site updated more often now so here's a few miscellaneous tidbits..

I have not mentioned this but over the last few weeks I have been working to drop some weight. I noticed that I had been steadily gaining weight, a pound here, a pound there.. no big deal, right? Then the next thing I know, I've put on 15 pounds! Ack! Not acceptable (note: I have somewhat of a personal weight obsession). So when Patriots training camp was getting started I decided to use the Patriots' preparation for the regular season as a kind of motivator to get myself in shape along with the team. I dubbed it The Training Camp Challenge and my goal was to lose as much as I could before the first regular season game, which is this weekend.

I lost approximately 6 pounds, which, honestly, is kind of disappointing, as I was hoping to do better, but my Wife pointed out that that is a pound a week, which really is not that bad.. So even though I'm not happy with where I am, I feel like I did ok.

I'm going to continue my challenge into the regular season. My new goal: 8 wins, 8 pounds. I want to drop a minimum of 8 pounds by the time the Pats get to 8 wins. I'm hoping The Pats make me work for it and go 8-0.

--

I recently found several old friends from college and high school that I have not heard from in many years on Facebook and MySpace. That is pretty cool. I was pretty tight with some of these folks back in the day but when school ended we just kind of fell out of touch. That's how it goes.

When I first signed up on Facebook / MySpace, I was kinda lost. I really had no idea how it worked or what the whole point of either site was but I have to say, it has been a great way to find people. I am psyched to have re-connected with some old friends.

I was thinking of adding this wacky site to my Facebook and MySpace pages so my friends could read it, but I'm still kinda paranoid about the whole 'someone from work accidentally stumbling across my blawg' thing.. So I don't know. I'm thinking about it.. Any thoughts?

--

Last night during garage band rehearsal we were horsing around on some song and I was informed by one of the band members that I was 'in contempt of Jimmy Page'. Genius. I found this comment to be hilarious and being the wise-ass that I am, immediately launched into a really bad and poorly played Led Zep medley (sans Stairway, of course).

I may have to try and wedge some Clutch into our repertoire because I've been listening to 'Walking In the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks' like, non f-ing stop. I can't stop myself.

--

At this point I have nothing else to add. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Birth: Check, School: Check..

My kids' first day of school was today. They are in first grade and have officially begun their indoctrination.. I can't believe they're in grade school now. I hope they kick the real world's ass. I have complete and total confidence in their abilities to do so.. :-)

Got my tix to the Supersuckers show in the mail yesterday. I am psyched. Looks like I may be going to see The Reverent Horton Heat in November as well. The bass player in the garage band is friends of somebody's friend and apparently we may be on the guest list. Sweet. I'm going to try and get out and see a few local bands in Worcester as well (Gold Star Campaign, The Howl..) over the next few weeks. I'm figuring I can rock my face off in a dim setting outside of the home about once a month this Fall.. should be happy times. Wa-we-wa-woo..

(Hey, don't forget about my drop.io. Drop me something, dammit!)

New Hank III video..

Check out the video for Hank III's new song, 'Long Hauls and Close Calls'. You can watch it here.

Personally I think the video's a little weird, but then, III's kinda out there himself.. and that's what I like about him! The new song kicks ass though. I am fully stoked for his new album, Damn Right Rebel Proud, to come out in October.

Other albums I'm looking forward to:

The Supersuckers: Get It Together - Supposedly coming out 'soon', whenever that is. They played some of the new songs the last time I saw them back in February and they were really good and a-rockin', as I would expect from the greatest rock and roll band in the world.

Social D / Mike Ness: They were originally supposed to come out with something in '08, now they're saying to look for something from Social D or Mike in '09, so I expect to see something by one or the other the end of 2010. Feels weird saying 2010. It's like living in the future, or something. Shouldn't we all be wearing shiny silver suits and exploring Jupiter around then?

Metallica: Death Magnetic - Yes. Ok, yes. I like Metallica, still, even though they suck without Cliff and Lars is a dick and Jaymz doesn't play the white explorer.. yadda yadda yadda..  I've heard it all, and I'm looking forward to the new one just the same. From what I've heard it's sounding pretty good.

Also, Sept 12th look to find me at the following location:

A Fire in the Ska-ye

Enjoy this kickass mashup and don't blow your fingers off this weekend!

drop.io (rules): simple private sharing

Have a great 4th of July!

See ya!

(h/t Adam @ The Daily Sourcecode)

Random observation while waiting for the clock to strike 'beer'...

Inspired by this post at Cullen's site:

Did you ever notice that rock stars can become actors / actresses but actors / actresses cannot become rock stars?

I can think of a bunch of rock stars and musicians who have become fairly successful in movies and T.V. but I can only think of one actor / actress that has successfully jumped into music: Jack Black (Tenacious D). The only other person I can think of is John Schneider from the Dukes of Hazzard.

It seems to me that most of the time when an actor attempts to get into music, they are generally derided (think: Keanu Reeves / Dogstar) but when a musician becomes an actor it is looked at as cool.

What do you think?

I'm not exactly Mr. Pop-Culture so I'm sure there must be a few other examples of actors / actresses who have succesfully turned into musicians. Try and name me a few if you can..

Black Flag factor helps cancel out Red Sox frustration factor.

I was jamming to some Black Flag as I watched the Red Sox implode against the Tampa Bay Rays last night.

Fucking Greg Ginn man.. - genius -

Fucking Red Sox bullpen... - not -

As far as the mixture of playing along with songs from Black Flag's 'First Four Years' and 'Damaged' while the Sox faltered away a perfectly winnable game and got swept by the Rays (the best team in baseball... what??): cathartic

Jason Varitek: I was sending the good vibes your way all night man. I'll keep em coming and it will click eventually.

There was a shot of Dustin Pedroia at the end of the game, staring out at the field and looking generally pissed off. After seeing his two doubles, a triple and a homer completely wasted, I can understand why.

The Red Sox are now 3.5 games back of the first place Rays (cue the Twilight Zone theme).. not the end of the world at this point in the season, but I'll just keep my Sox cap in the 'rally' position for the next few days anyway and hope things return to normal soon.

Hopefully the Sox regroup and take their frustrations out on the MFY this weekend.

Make it so.

Black Flag:
Nervous Breakdown
Jealous Again
Six Pack

(drop.io)

Car Songs

Semi-inspired by a recent post by Michele at A Big Victory, semi-inspired by the fact that it's the Summer Nationals this weekend in beautiful Worcester, MA and semi-inspired by the fact that I don't want to write about the Red Sox dropping another game to the A.L. East leading, Rays.. (They're still the Devil Rays to me.)

Mike Ness - I'm In Love With My Car
The Supersuckers - Hot Rod Rally
Reverend Horton Heat - Like A Rocket
Clutch - Passive Restraints
Fu Manchu - King of the Road

Bonus:
Dead Kennedys - Buzzbomb from Pasadena

Bake em up.

(drop.io)

Odds n' Ends...

Hey what's up everybody? Hope you're having a good week so far. Ok, it's only Tuesday, but I still hope it's been a good one.

Last week was pretty eventful around here; lots of firsts, lots of changes.

We removed the child gate from the bottom of the stairs. Our youngest is now able to get up and down well enough that we don't need it anymore. We now have free access to go up and down stairs. It is very freaky. That gate has been up for so long, I keep reaching for the handle to open it. It's like a big, wide open.. opening now and it feels very strange after having it barricaded with a gate for so long. 

There is still a gate at the top of the stairs, just to prevent any accidents, so we are not totally gate free yet, but losing the bottom one was a big step.

While I'm on the subject of gates, the youngest had the gate removed from her crib this past weekend. She is now in a 'big girl bed'. It's still a crib, it just does not have the gate on one side. She was climbing over the top to get out of her crib, so it was time for the gate to come down. It's taking a little bit of getting used to for her. She's used to having it there when she's asleep and now has to learn where the edge of her bed is. There's a big pillow beneath it in case she rolls out, but she seems to be getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

Other firsts.. last week my band played for the first time in front of people. It was at a local open mic night in a nearby bar. There were a lot of mistakes but it was fun. The bass player kicked out his own guitar cable at the start of one song, which prompted me to say, 'how about we try that again without kicking out the guitar cord this time?' Hey the same exact thing happened to Eddie Spaghetti and Jordan Shapiro when I saw them play a couple months ago. It happens to the pros so I'm not going to sweat that kind of stuff. It's all good. 

As for me, I got some lyrics mixed up and broke a string on the guitar, (thankfully on the last song and not the first). Nothing like getting every screwed up thing you can do out of the way during the first ever live performance. Now we don't have to worry about it happening again. (yeah right!)

I would rate our performance as a solid 'needs more work', but for the first time out, I was happy with how we did. I considered it a success just to get up there and play. If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do.

Speaking of playing, (amazing how all these topics blend so seamlessly into one another isn't it?) I tried to record another demo song last night but it was an exercise in total frustration. After about four hours of work I ended up with about 10 seconds that I actually wanted to keep. I'll try and fix it up tonight..

Speaking of tonight.. The Celtics and Lakers will play in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. For those of you living in a cave, The Celts are up in the series, 2-0. The C's are sooo close! Half-way there! We need to win a road game out in L.A. and keep the pressure on. 

It kills me that these games go till around midnight, but I'm gonna try and keep my eyeballs open for this one tonight.

Finally, the other night I had a dream that The Pats were in the Superbowl, a future Superbowl that is, and I was on the team. That was a good dream, especially since The Pats won. It's only mini-camp time in Patriots Nation, but obviously I am looking forward to a new Patriots season. (Ya think?) 

In just a few short weeks it will be training camp time. I'm hoping to head down to at least one session. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here.. there's still a lot of awesome Summer weather to enjoy between now and then. I love The Patriots and football season, but I don't mind stretching Summer out as much as possible between now and September! 

Ok that's it. Have a good one and GO CELTICS!

BEAT L.A!! BEAT L.A!!

(my drop.io)

Sponsored by:

Affordable Heath Insurance

Waiting for quiet-ness...

Ohh, I'm tired. Hey what's up everybody. It's about 9 PM. I'm home alone, my Wife is out at one of her Mom Meetings (or as I call it, excuse to have a margarita). Wait, what am I saying, you don't need an excuse to have a margarita!

I'm going to be heading down to try and work on some recording in a few minutes. Got the kids settled around 8:30 and I'm just waiting here to make sure all remains quiet before I strap on the headphones.

I made a recording last night and I think it came out ok, except for one of the guitar solos, which I am not happy with and I need to re-do, and also the vocals are too high, so I'm going to fix that. Unfortunately these recordings have no bass and only a loop for drums. It's just me and the guitar and a drum loop. Other than that they are pretty ok fine I think.

Since I was recording last night, I did not see John Lester's no-no. I did not even know it was happening till it was already over and my Sister-In-Law called to see if I was excited about it. I was like, 'excited about what?' 

Well, that's how it goes. I guess I am a bad Red Sox fan right now (bows head in shame), but I did make a recording, so that counts for something, in my book at least.

The Celts face the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tonight. Here's hoping the C's can win all their home AND road games in this series!!

19 Songs

Ok so I got tagged by Courtney a few days ago to do this music thing, which is actually pretty cool because I got some CDs out of it and I get to give out some CDs too, so that is fun.

So here are the rules:
1. Choose 19 of the songs you like best, regardless of artist or genre.
2. Put them all together in a CD.
3. Make 5 other copies.
4. Post your playlist on your blarg.
5. Choose 5 people and send them a copy of your CD each. Send the first copy you made to the one who tagged you.

Neato. I'm in.

I tried to include several favorites from some local Massachusetts bands because I thought that would be extra cool.

Here are my songs:

1 Reach for the Sky - Social D (Mike Ness: born in Stoneham MA)
2 I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash
3 Live Fast - Mess With The Bull (Cambridge MA)
4 Gone Gamblin - The Supersuckers
5 Wake Up - Dave Smith and the Country Rebels (Northampton MA)
6 Death or Glory - Social D cover (I figure most people have the original version by The Clash)
7 Urethane - Fu Manchu
8 7 Months, 39 Days - Hank III
9 I'm Drunk Again - Assjack
10 Ramblin Fever - Haggard
11 World Ablaze - Killswitch Engage (Westfield MA)
12 Emperor Concerto No 5. in E-flat -- Adagio in poco mosso - L.V. Beethoven
13 Once Upon A Time in the Projects - Ice Cube
14 Just Like Heaven - Dinosaur Jr. cover (Amherst MA) (I like the cover better than the orig, and most people probably have the original by The Cure)
15 Carried Away - George Strait
16 Do It 4 You - Clutch Grabwell (Quincy MA)
17 Tell Me - Galaxie 500 (Boston MA)
18 Deadly Rhythm - Refused
19 Wonder - Gold Star Campaign (Worcester MA)

Now I get to tag some people:
B, Angela, Kristen, Jess, Iain

E-mail me and I will send you some CDs!

(my drop.io)

ONETWOTHREEFOUR

I'm loving drop.io. Drop some more on me here.

The other night I was practicing the geetar while watching the Celts / Hawks game in the background. The game ended with a C's loss after holding 10+ point leads throughout the game.

As the game was winding down, the last couple songs I happened to play were 'Shot Down in Flames' (AC/DC) and 'Death or Glory' (The Clash).

Appropriate.

Note:
I turned off the Social D track after I realized it was loading every time somebody opened the page, which can be annoying to the reader. (See, I care.) You can still hear it on my drop page.

C's win, Sox win. How about getting the Hat Trick tonight Bruins?

Well it's been a few weeks and there's been some dates added to the list, but it looks like Mike Ness is not going to grace the Boston area with his presence during his solo tour this Spring. Crazy as it may seem, I actually considered making a road trip to one of the NY or NJ shows. In fact, I am seriously considering the Saturday May 17th show in Asbury Park, NJ as I write this, but soon reality will sink in. Dammit.

Oh well maybe Mike will come back around later this year..

In the meantime, The C's won in dominating fashion last night in their first game of the NBA playoffs vs The Hawks, The Sox won today against the Rangers, getting the series sweep I might add, and the Bruins will play in the winner take all, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup quarter-finals tonight vs Montreal.

Let's make it 3 out of 3, a Hat Trick if you will, shall we Bruins? Yes, I think that would be nice, because I need to see more of Cam 'Mungo' Neely as lunatic fan, obviously too pumped up to be able to sit down during the game (I know that feeling) and jumping around like, ah, well, like one of us does whenever the Bruins score a goal. I should try and see if there is a youtube video of Neely's excited antics somewhere because it is truly awesome to behold.

A win tonight for The Bruins would be an almost complete reversal of the B's previous playoff appearance in '04, when the then #2 seeded Bruins blew a commanding 3-1 series lead to the 7th seeded Habs. A win tonight erases that collapse from my mind, something I would very much appreciate. Plus The Bruins have not won a playoff series yet this century. So they need to do that. Tonight.

I will now direct you to this wonderfully written prayer to the Hockey Gods on the Bruins behalf by Hockey Chick Courtney.

LETS GO BRUINS!!

Update:
Well I dug around a little for video of Neely losing his mind in the press box after the B's scored a goal and this is the best I could find. This is pretty funny too.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Things I check, almost every day:

NHL Eastern Conference Standings: The Bruins are gonna take it right down to the wire it seems. With two games left they are in 7th place and tied with the 8th place Caps for points at 92. The Flyers are 1 point out.

Oh God, as if the idea of potentially missing the playoffs is not bad enough, getting bumped by f-ing Philly would make it ten times worse. Of course if the B's scrape their way into the Quest for the Cup, they'll be facing the Habs in round one. That's not encouraging, considering the B's did not win a single game vs. the g-d Habs all year.. Oh well, one step at a time. The Bruins need to win these last two games and then we'll go from there ok?

Netflix: Rescue Me Season 4 release date - I have mentioned that my Wife and I are totally hooked on this show. Looks like Season 4 should be coming out sometime in June. Yay! I expect we'll watch the whole season in about mmmmm.. 4 days.

Mike Ness' myspace: I check here almost every day to see if there's been a Boston show added to his Spring solo tour, though now that I think about it, I would probably get an e-mail first.. In any case, no dice, yet. Boston is not that far from New York, Mike! Come on man!!

The clock: To see if it's 5 o'clock yet.. Not yet? Ug. Tick-tock..

Happy Friday!

{mood: Alan Jackson - It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere}

Save your soul from the evil power of Rock and Roll

I got nothing today so I will point you to this highly entertaining, educational and yes, enlightening tune that I found via The Daily Cha Cha.

Queen vs. Satan (lobsterdust’s satanic reverses)

"Did you know that playing Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ backwards reveals satanic messages designed to corrupt and enslave the young minds who listen to it?"

Damn. And I have always liked Queen too. All these years, knowingly listening to satanic rock and roll and heavy metal... I am so goddamn screwed. I blame K-Mart for selling me those Iron Maiden records back in the day.

K-Mart: The Devil's Playground. I know it. You know it.

{mood: Hank III - Medley: Satan Is Real/Straight To Hell, Butthole Surfers - Sweat Loaf}

Um, 'scuse me, Mike? Boston??

Hey what's up? Hey I just got the e-mail from the Social D mailing list to let me know you're coming around to do some solo dates.

Sweet!!

Except for one problem, I don't see any Boston dates in the list of shows. I see Philly. I see NY. I see NJ. I don't see Boston.

I see a couple open dates in there though, so I really hope you can squeeze us in. Please come to Boston for the Springtime. Or Providence.. Hartford even. Though that would be a haul, I would do it.

Thanks Mike.

I can't say cause I don't know..

Last night I went out to The Dive Bar in Wormtown to see guitar player extraordinaire Troy Gonyea (of the band The Howl) and have some really thick, non-see-through beers.

The beers were good. The band was great.

Troy and his band, consisting of guitar/vocals, drums, keyboards and harmonica, were nestled in the back corner of this little bar and fully kicked all kinds of ass with some straight-forward, ear-pleasing blues-rock. I was extremely impressed and had a great time listening to these guys play. In between sets I went over to say hello and they were super nice guys to boot. Check out Troy's main band, The Howl, if you get a chance.

The Dive Bar specializes in serving micro-brews and imports, basically all the beers that you've never heard of before. Bud/Miller/Coors light are not available. (This is a good thing.)

I started with a Smuttynose I.P.A. Very tasty. I love good I.P.A. beer and Smuttynose does not dissapoint.

Next I decided to try a beer that I'd never heard of, or tried before, of which there were many. I went with a Weihenstephaner Dunkelweizen (I had to look that up on the Dive Bar's draught list to remember it).

Although I am fond of saying there is no such thing as bad beer, just some are better than others, I did not really care for this particular brew. It was not a 'bad' beer, it just was not my style. It had kind of a carmel-ish / chocolaty after-taste which I didn't care for. Purely a personal preference kinda thing.

After that I switched to a fine sippin' whiskey from Tennessee. A guy at the bar noted my choice, jokingly saying something about all the German beers I could be trying. I drew a smile when I told him that I'd rather have something made in Tennessee than something that comes from Germany any day of the week. Ha.

Great atmosphere, good brews and great music. Good times.

(mood: Hank Williams III: I Don't Know)

The Friday Song. Happy Reward Friday.

Today is finally Friday
I'm so glad that it's here
After work I'm gonna have some pizza
And a couple beers

There's no football on this weekend
The Pro-Bowl's really lame
I guess I'll read a book instead
Or watch a hockey game
hey!

(insert gee-tar mandolin or drum solo here)

Killin' those post-Superbowl woes with The Supersuckers.

As you know, or can imagine, I was feeling pretty glum yesterday following the Patriots loss in the Superbowl on Sunday, but thankfully, I did have something to look forward to. I had a ticket for The Supersuckers show at Harper's Ferry in Boston later that night.

The Supersuckers are one of my favorite bands and even though they are 'always on tour', they don't get over to the East side of the U.S. all that often. So when I saw they were coming around a few months ago, I immediately bought my ticket. Seeing that the show was going to be the day following the Superbowl, I figured it would either be a nice way to keep the good times a-rollin', or a good way to kick some Superbowl blues in the ass. Turns out it was the latter, but hey, I'll take it. The show was a great way to ruin a really bad mood and get me back on track.

Finding my way to Harper's Ferry was not hard at all, it's basically right off of the Mass Pike. The problem was finding a friggin place to park. I drove up and down the road looking for some kind of public parking garage or something. I even stopped at a gas station to ask the attendant if he knew where there was some public parking but all he did was shake his head at me and mumble something at me.

Eventually, after driving around for a while, I figured out that Harper's Ferry is not that far away from The Paradise Rock Club, which is right near Boston University, which has, yes, public parking. Five bucks to park and a short walk and I was all set.

I got to the club around 8PM and when I arrived the place was empty. I was there by myself and was kind of tired from work and from driving around looking for parking, and I was still feeling a little bit of the Superbowl pain too. To be honest, when I first arrived at the club, I really didn't want to be there at all. Maybe if I was with someone, (I had originally hoped my Wife could have come with me,) I would have felt different but standing against a pole by myself watching American Gladiators on one of the big screens over the bar, I just felt like, 'This sucks, why am I here? I don't feel like hanging around here for an hour waiting for the bands to start.' In short, I was in a pissy mood. I almost said fuck it and left but I called my Wife and chatted with her on the phone for a while about her day and about what was going on at the club. That made me feel better and I decided to stick around.

Eventually the place started to fill up. I noticed the guys from Mess With the Bull in the crowd as well as a few other familiar, though personally unknown, faces that I had seen at other shows.. Same crowd, different band I guess.

A little before 9PM the first band started to play. It was a band I was not familiar with called Kingdust. They are kind of a heavy, hard rock, borderline metal band. Their songs were pretty good. Even though I didn't know any of the tunes, I liked most of them and I'm planning on finding out more about this band a little later.

After Kingdust's set, Eddie Spaghetti (singer and bass player for the Supersuckers) came out and did an acoustic country set with his friend Jordan Shapiro helping him out. Eddie played the acoustic while Jordan switched between the electrified guitar and the steel guitar (a.k.a. the hillbilly piano).

This was my first time seeing Eddie do his solo acoustic thing and I really liked the country-fied set that he did. Even though I was taking it easy and nursing a Miller High Life, there's nothing like a bunch of good country style drinkin' songs to help put me in a good mood.

Here's what I remember of Eddie's set (as usual I'm probably missing a few and this is not even close to being in order):
Bottom Dollar
Gotta Get Drunk
Road Worn and Weary
Cocaine Blues
You're the Reason
Misery and Gin
Sleepy Vampire
Sea of Heartbreak
Little Ol Wine Drinker Me
Doublewide
Non-Addictive Marajuana

Eddie ended every song with the chant, 'Cha-Cha-CHA!' and explained that it was part of the by-laws that he did that. 'It's written somewhere in the contract that I must end every song with 'Cha-Cha-Cha' or you don't get paid' (If your are not familiar with Eddie Spaghetti, if it's not already obvious, he does not take himself very seriously and is a pretty funny guy..) Of course by the middle of his set, he had the crowd into it and everyone was doing the 'Cha-Cha-CHA' chant between songs.

During 'Cocaine Blues' Eddie appeared to forget some of the words to the song, saying 'Oh shit!' but he kept going. I kind of think that was a planned thing though because later in the song, after a solo from Jordan, he was doing a little bit where he was going through and rehashing the first part of the song trying to remember the next line and asking the crowd for some help.

Planned or not, it was still pretty funny, and in what was definitely an unplanned moment, at one point Jordan accidentally knocked out the cord for his guitar at the start of a song. 'Why don't we try that again without me knocking the cord out this time,' he joked. 'Sounds good,' Eddie replied without missing a beat, and they started over.

The acoustic set was awesome, totally awesome. I knew almost all of the songs, many of them were long time favorites of mine, and Eddie and Jordan played them great and made me laugh while they were at it. When Eddie and Jordan walked off stage, my mood had improved considerably.

Now it was time for The Supersuckers to come out and rock. By this time I had gotten off of my seat at the bar and meandered up close to the stage, not that that was a hard thing to do. Harper's Ferry is not that big of a place.

Here is what I remember of the Supersuckers set (again, forgetting a few and not in order.)
That is Rock and Roll
Rock and Roll Records (aint sellin this year)
Rock Your Ass
Paid
Hell City, Hell
Bad Bad Bad
Creepy Jackalope Eye
I Want the Drugs
The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll
Supersuckers Drive By Blues
Dirt Roads, Dead Ends and Dust
Luck
Fisticuffs
Mudhead
Pretty Fucked Up
Fake Encore
Born With a Tail

The band also did four brand new songs that are going to be on their next album. All of the songs were fully kick ass. All of them rocked (and of course I can't remember any of the titles). I am really looking forward to this new album coming out because it is gonna rock, hard.

A couple notable items during the show in the 'characters in the crowd' department included some lesbianic dancing going on, Jordan Shapiro hanging out in the crowd to watch the band, and at one point near the end, some guys tried to form a pit, but they were not very good at it. They basically knocked into themselves and the people around them and then fell on the floor. Nobody tried to help them up. (Ha.)

As far as The Supersuckers themselves, they kicked ass in every way possible. The songs rocked, the solos were killer, the antics were entertaining and the banter was funny. The devil's horns were continuous and there was of course the obligatory Fake Encore (At the end of the show The Supersuckers pretend to do an encore where they say 'Thank you and good night!', all the while never leaving the stage. They stop playing for about 15 seconds and then carry on with more songs.) and the Supersuckers Salute during 'Born With a Tail'. Eddie was not happy until he got it. 'Alright I want to see every single middle finger in the air, let's see em! Even you leaning against the wall in the back!' he jokingly demanded.

At one point Eddie thanked the crowd for coming out on a Monday Night. Calling the show 'The Church of Awesomeology', he pointed over to guitar player Ron Heathman and said that 'L. Ron. Heathman over there has even written a book about it. It's got a volcano on the cover with a big jackalope coming out the top.'

Eddie told the crowd, 'Just by walking in the door tonight, you guys automatically became awesome. Even though you've got to go to work tomorrow, you said 'Fuck it' and you're here. You know there's a good chance you'll be hung-over tomorrow, but you said, 'Fuck it' I'm gonna drown my Patriots sorrows with a rock and roll show.'

'Those are my two favorite words', he went on, 'Fuck it'. 'Don't let those Patriots woes get you down. Fuck it man, fuck it!'

Exactly.

A few minutes after the show ended, Eddie headed over to hang out at the merch table and meet the fans. I have to say that it is so cool that he does that.. It's not something that you see done very often. I got his sig on my ticket and told him thanks for coming back around to the East Coast and to come back again soon.

I didn't get home till around 2 AM this morning. It was a late night that really, almost didn't happen. Thank goodness I decided to stick around and didn't bail on the show. The Supersuckers definitely helped cure those Patriots Superbowl woes.

And since I was saving room in my t-shirt drawer for another Pats Superbowl Champs shirt that is not going to arrive, I decided to grab an Eddie Spaghetti / Jordan Shapiro shirt instead. Fuck it.

Tonic

The day did not start off the greatest. Before work I had to go to a Dr. appt and those are always such fun. For a Friday, things were definitely feeling pretty blah.

But then:

"Debaser"
"Tame"
"Wave of Mutilation"
"I Bleed"
"Here Comes Your Man"
"Dead"
"Monkey Gone to Heaven"
"Mr. Grieves"
"Crackity Jones"
"La La Love You"
"No. 13 Baby"
"There Goes My Gun"
"Hey"
"Silver"
"Gouge Away"

All better. Happy Friday.

(GO PATS)

Long weekend. Friday Night. Woo!

Finally, Friday night and a long weekend in front of me. It's been a long time coming and now it's here.

Wish I could say I had somebody to hang around with tonight but my Wife and Kids are visiting the in-laws. That leaves me and me and loud music and.. Jack.

So yea. Friday night. Alone.

Options:
Stay in, watch It's a Wonderful Life and wrap Christmas presents. Fuck that.

Stay in, play my guitar and drink multiple beers. Definitely not a bad option but, I'm gonna pass this time.

Go out to the Lucky Dog in Wormtown and see Dave Smith and the Country Rebels. Fuck yea.

Me myself and I. See ya.

The Supersuckers are coming to Boston in Feb. F-YEAH!!

I got the word this morning via e-mail that The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World, The Supersuckers, are embarking on a long over-due visit to the East Coast. After shouting, 'Oh FUCK YEAH!' to no one in particular, I checked the dates and immediately ordered my ticket, post-haste.

I'll be at the February 4 show at Harpers Ferry in Allston. Nothing like a Monday night spent with The Supersuckers. I'm sure it will be magical. Heck I might even be able to get my Wife to come along with me.. That would rule. She's never been to one of these small club general admission type shows so what better band to break her in with than The Supersuckers? We need to acquire a baby-sitter, NOW.

I was just thinking my countdown over there on the right was looking pretty bleak. Nothing to look forward to except the first day of spring. That's fixed.

F-YEAH!! (I am 100% fully psyched.)

Update:
I just remembered the show is the day after The Superbowl. !! Wow. Extra cool.

My new Christmas song.

Here is a delightful Christmas song I wrote, just in time for the holiday!

oh christmas is canceled this year
tell all the elves and all the reindeer,
that christmas is canceled this year

yes christmas is canceled this year
mrs claus is getting pizza
and santa's drinking beer
because christmas is canceled this year

sorry christmas is canceled this year
tell all the good kids, they're getting underweer
tell all the naughty kids there's no need to fear
because christmas is canceled this year

yeah christmas is cancelllllled thiis yeaaar.
yo ho ho! Hey!

[Don't worry, my kids know this song is a joke and that Christmas is not really canceled this year. DONT WORRY!! THE KIDS WILL BE OK!!!]

It was truly an honor.

I got to meet and briefly speak with Shelton Hank Williams at the merch table after his unbelievably amazing set last night.

Whew, hard day's rockin'...

Long day today. Spent all day getting the yard into 'Winter' mode. Put the snow-blower back together, got the yard mowed one last time, then took the lawnmower apart, changed the oil, filter and general maintenance, parked it in the shed and ran all the gas out of it. Doesn't sound like much but it took me all day. There were a few other things thrown in there, as well as a few obstacles, but, it's done.

Tomorrow I just need to get the shed squared away so all the summertime stuff is organized in the back and the winter stuff (I.E. the damn snow-blower and shovels) is easy to get at.

It shouldn't take me too long, but right now that's all gonna have to wait till tomorrow because I'm getting ready to head out to see Hank III tonight. Should be a good show. I have been looking forward to it. I wish I were a little less tired from working all day, but, I'll manage. 'I've got five dollars and it's Saturday night.'

Annihilate this week

Wednesday night. This week has dragged. Most likely due to the fact that I'm going to see a show that I've been looking forward to for months on Saturday, so of course that's going to make this week seem to take forever.

I'm going to see Hank III along with The Reverend Horton Heat and Nashville Pussy on Saturday. The Rev is the headliner and Hank III is actually the middle act. I hope that does not mean he will shorten his set too much though. I'm looking forward to seeing Reverend Horton Heat too, I like those guys a lot, but I'm mainly going to see Hank III, who I'm a huge fan of. This will be my first time seeing him so I am pretty psyched.. Nashville Pussy, eh. Those guys are ok. I would not go out of my way to see them if they were coming around by themselves. Maybe they are better live than they are on their records. We'll see.

I'm looking forward to next week too. Thanksgiving break is nice. Extra long weekends always are. After that, insanity kicks in with the Christmas run-around.

Is it Friday yet?

Oh, I was going to hit [publish] but then I remembered I wanted to say hi to all the people visiting from StumbleOn. Somebody submitted one of my posts and I've been getting mega-hits, well, mega-hits for me anyway.

What's up you-all Stumble Upon-ers? Hope you like my site and find it is not a total waste of time! (yeah, right.)

I got erection.. Turbonegro at The Paradise. (Part dos.)

Aright I've been dragging this out for weeks. The Turbonegro show at The Paradise in Boston. I feel obligated to get this up, even though I know that nobody besides me actually cares.

Here's the set-list from the show. It's not in exact order and I'm sure I'm missing a song or two, but here's what I remember:

- We're Gonna Drop the Atom Bomb
- Everybody Loves a Chubby Dude
- Back To Dungaree High
- Bad Mongo
- Blow Me (Like the Wind)
- Sailor Man
- Do You Do You Dig Destruction
- Welcome to the Garbage Dump
- Wasted Again
- Get It On
- Ride With Us
- Turbonegro must be Destroyed
- Prince of the Rodeo
- The Age of Pamparius
- Final Warning
- I Got Erection
- All My Friends Are Dead
- The Midnight Nambla

I've gotta say the show was pretty f-ing awesome. I had no idea what to expect from Turbonegro. I don't know all their tunes but the ones I do know, I like, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. And based on all the stories I had heard, Turbonegro was not to be missed. So when I saw they were coming over for a RARE jaunt across the U.S. to support their new album, 'Retox', I knew this was going to be something to see. And I was right. Every song rocked and rocked hard. Very hard, sailor-boy..

The lights went down the band came out. Mayhem ensued shortly thereafter. Lead singer Hank Von Helvete was twirling a cane with a skull at the top and wearing chaps and a vest that were made out of a U.S. flag. No shirt underneath and his hairy gut was on display in all it's glory.

If you've never heard of or seen Turbonegro, how do I describe this band? They're kind of like a distorted version of the Village People. They all wear make up and dress up in odd costumes. One guy's a sailor, one guys a biker, one guy's dressed up like he's on some British safari in Africa.. Unlike the Village People however, Turbonegro rocks your fucking socks off with an onslaught of straight-forward power-chord death-punk fury.

It's truly a sight to behold and I'm glad I didn't miss it.

The club was small. I'd say maybe 8 steps from front to back, and despite the NO MOSHING, NO STAGE-DIVING, NO CROWD-SURFING posters that were plastered every where in the club, all three were taking place, much to the chagrin of the Paradise Security team. There were several fights between the guys who were determined to try and start a pit and the security guys who were determined to prevent one. Guys would start shoving, people would shove back, and the next thing you know, there's three security guys diving in and a lot of kicking, screaming and beer spilling as people are dragged out of the place.

The void where the shoving was taking place was quickly filled as people rushed in to get one step closer to the stage. I was not one of those people. I just hung back and took it in. I was not being aloof, I was just f-ing tired. It was a Monday night after all and I did work all day. And, maybe I am getting old. Fuck.

Anyway. I recall one occasion after a bunch of people were hauled out, a woman yelled with glee as she ran towards the front to get that much closer to the stage. Only to get nailed with a full beer cup right in the head. Looking dejected, she came back, walking past me, heading towards the back of the club, dripping wet and wringing the beer out of her long blond hair.

Did I mention that full beer cups were flying everywhere? They were. At one point Turbo's bass player, Happy Tom, looked like he was going to remove his sailor cap, jump down into the crowd and personally kick somebody's ass if one more beer flew up in the vicinity of where he was standing on stage. (Who throws a full cup of beer anyway? Alcohol abuse.)

On the flip side, Hank, the lead singer, never seemed to run out of Heineken or funny quips between songs. In his Norwegian accent, he would ask the crowd stuff like, 'Are there any Kennedy's here?' and act befuddled when the answer came back 'NO!'

'How many of you go to Harvard? Nobody? Ok. How many of you go to Boston University then? None?? So, you are all losers like us then? How many people here hate the Red Sox? How many people here are Irish?' Hilarious.

At one point Hank started singing the theme from the old TV show 'Cheers' and by the second encore of the night, after an extended on-stage discussion with bass player Sailor-Boy on the best way to divide up the crowd to help sing, 'I Got Erection', he broke the club into half Irish, half not-Irish. 'OK! THIS SIDE I.R.A. THIS SIDE, U.K.!'

In a nutshell Hank fucking rules dude. Cool beyond words. And in a nutshell, despite being dog tired, this was one of the greatest things I have ever seen while having my socks rocked the fuck off.

One of my favorite parts of the show came when despite the whole 'no stage diving' thing all over the walls of the club (which, despite people continually getting thrown out of the club, was still taking place anyway, by members of the opening act Mondo Generator no less, even better), Turbonegro guitar player Euroboy literally stepped off the stage and was held up by the bottom of his feet and his ankles by the people in the crowd. As he was being supported by the crowd below, his head was conking on the lighting grid above as he lashed out a killer guitar solo. While this was going on on one side of the stage, Hank had momentarily put his mic down and was on the other side of the stage, wiggling his tongue side-to side at somebody in the crowd and asking them if they were single.

Have I gotten across to you at all the general kick-assness that was the Turbonegro show in Boston? I am so glad I was there to witness it. After the show was over the band hung around on stage well after the lights had come up to shake hands with anybody who wanted to.

Well that's the end. I'll take a moment here to say thanks to Turtle and Michele. Without them, I wouldn't even know who or what Turbonegro is. What a shame that would be.

(all images: Turbonegro.com)

I got erection.. Turbonegro at The Paradise. (Part uno.)

I went to see Turbonegro at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston a few weeks ago. A few days after the show I started writing this for the re-opening of Faster Than the World, but then, after imbibing an entire bottle of Old Grand-Dad and choking to death on it's own vomit while listening to AC/DC's 'Highway to Hell', FTTW never re-opened, so this thing has been sitting around half-written. Due to extreme laziness, I've decided to split the story into two parts so I can post what I've written so far. Part uno is the semi-well-written part. Check back for part dos, a.k.a. 'the thrown together part', in a couple days..

This past Monday Several Monday's ago, I went to see the band Turbonegro play at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. It was a Monday night show and I was tired after work, but I kicked my own ass, told myself I was getting old, and headed into the city.

The Paradise was pretty easy to get to. It is located in the same neighborhood as Boston University, right down the road from Fenway Park. The first thing to do once I found the club was to park the car. Once that was accomplished, number two on the list was refreshment. Luckily for me, T's Pub happens to be conveniently located right next door to the Paradise. Perfect.

I walked in, found a good seat at the bar where I could see the blabber-mouths on ESPN and ordered up a shot of Jack and a Harpoon. By the time the Harpoon arrived, the Jack was gone. I asked for a menu, ordered a buffalo chicken wrap with the works and sipped my beer while I watched the 'experts' on Monday Night Football, noting with some amusement how many of them were currently 0-2 with their picks. By the time my sandwich arrived the first Harpoon was gone. I ordered a second to go with my sammy. I was now sufficiently primed and nourished for the show. I hung out in the bar till around 8:30 then I headed over to the club.

The last time I had seen a show at The Paradise was at least 15 years ago, so as I walked down the dark, narrow hallway leading into the club, it might as well have been for the first time. The Paradise is a pretty small club. It's about 8 steps from the bar in the back to the stage in the front. I guess you could describe it as 'intimate'. I was thinking how cool it was going to be to see Turbonegro, a band that generally fills stadiums over in Europe, play in this little bar. As I walked in to the club, the band Mondo Generator was in the midst of their set and I quickly wished I had headed over to the club a little sooner. They put on a kick ass set, despite the fact that I knew none of their songs. Mark them down as another band I'll be checking out later.

After Mondo Generator finished it was time to wait around for Turbonegro. One thing that I could not help noticing were the signs that were plastered everywhere around the club that read:

NO STAGE DIVING
NO CROWD SURFING
NO MOSHING
HAVE A GOOD TIME AND KEEP YOUR FEET ON THE GROUND!!!

'Yeah, we'll see how that works out' I thought. I also thought about getting another beer, but I wasn't in the mood for Pabst Blue Ribbon, which seemed to be pretty much all they were serving, or at least, that was all that people seemed to be drinking. The stage guys were setting up for Turbo and the floor was already littered with empty PBR cans...

Even though it was a Monday night, the place was full to the gills and the crowd seemed to be pretty jacked up in anticipation for Turbonegro to come out. There were more than a few people who pointed to the 'No Moshing' signs and made some kind of derisive comment while asking, 'what the hell is that all about?' One could not help but wonder, but I've noticed that the 'no moshing' thing seems to be a growing trend.

I stood in the back of the club and waited. I was not in the mood and did not have the energy to try and push my way any closer to the stage. The distance between the back of the club and the front of the club was so small, what difference was a few feet backwards or forwards going to make? Zero.

(Part dos coming soon here!)

Just some quick stuff for a Monday..

Even though it's a Monday, so far this day has been pretty good. The Patriots won yesterday and that always makes Monday's a lot nicer. The Pats started out a little slowly against the Bills and there were some worries of a possible let-down after the big win last weekend vs. San Diego. The team was not running on all cylinders to start the game, commiting several costly penalties and even an uncharacteristic fumble by Tom Brady at the goal-line when it looked like the Pats were going in for a sure-fire touch-down on a quarterback sneak. It seemed to take The Pats a quarter or so to get things into gear, but once they did, boy, they were gone. Final score: 38-7, Patriots. The game was pretty much well in hand for The Patriots by the time the 4th quarter even started. It's nice when your team can basically play the backups for the 4th quarter and kill the clock till time expires.

Next up: Cincy on a Monday Night. Ug. I love that the Pats are featured during prime-time, because that means they're a successful team, but man I hate those late night games and being up till midnight to see the outcome.

The Toronto Blue Jays finally did us a favor and beat the Yankees today. That puts the Red Sox up by 2 games in the AL East and lowers the Magic Number to win the division to 5 games. Nice. Thank you Toronto!

I got a call from my Wife this afternoon telling me that the generator that I bought has been delivered. I had been saving up for that thing for a very long time, over a year, and it is good to finally have it. No more power outages at my house and one less thing to worry about.

One year we lost power in the winter for several days after a blizzard. My Wife had to take the kids to her Mom's house because our house got too cold, plus there was no running water, etc. I had to keep a fire in the fire-place non-stop to keep the temperature up in the house so nothing froze. It was not fun. That's when I decided I wanted a generator.

More recently, we had a very rainy Spring and the sump-pump started running due to the water table coming up. Thank goodness we have a sump-pump, because we learned the hard way that we needed one a few years back when all the snow melted in the Spring and the basement flooded. I found out first hand that bailing out your basement with a shop-vac really, really, REALLY sucks. So I am glad that the pump is there, but I absolutely HATE it when it is running. That means there is water under my foundation and the pump is keeping it at bay from rising into the basement. That means if for some reason the thing breaks or if the power goes out, disaster.

It puts me into a constant state of worry and anxiety whenever that thing comes on. This past spring I was a nervous wreck for weeks during the time that it was running. After busting my ass for over a year to turn my basement into a finished room (The Man Nook), the idea of it possibly flooding had me in a non-stop state of frayed nerves. My mind was running wild with imaginary situations that would cause a problem with the sump-pump and prevent it from working.

Now we have a generator, and I won't have to worry about the power going out and watching helplessly as water comes up into my house. Whew. Not to mention we'll now have heat, water and the refrigerator working as well should the power go out for an extended time. Double whew!

On a final note, I'm going to see a band called Turbonegro play a show in Boston tonight. It should be a lot of fun but it kind of sucks that the show is on a Monday night. I'm kind of tired as I write this right now and I'd rather just go home and check out the generator to be perfectly honest.

Hmm, does this mean my age is catching up to me?

Well the hell with that! I'm sure that I'll have fun. I just need to catch my second wind here. I'll grab a coffee on the way in to the city to help me get the energy back up for the show. I'm sure it will be interesting, that is for sure. Ok I think I've got myself sufficiently psyched up now. Turbonegro rocks and this will be my first time seeing them. It should be interesting to see the cast of characters that come out for this one. Look for a story about the show in a few days or so.

Finally Friday..

It's Friday.

I made myself an exceptionally good cup of coffee this morning.

I listened to The Ramones all the way to work.

Traffic was light.

The line at Dunkin's was short.

It's Football Season. (Even though it was irritating to wake up this morning and see that the Colts won last night, 41 - 10. When I stopped watching the game at halftime it was a tie game at 10 - 10. What the hell happened after that? Maybe Peyton used that super scary stare of his on the Saint's D all throughout the second half.. That does not account for the Saints offense tho.. ??? By the way, there was a Peyton Manning advertisement during every single commercial break in the first half. I kept track. Annoying. And in case you did not get it after last night, 'this is our country'. Ug. Can someone get John Mellencamp out of my head please? Thanks a lot Chevrolet. Mission accomplished and not appreciated at all thank you. By the way I used to own a Chevy S-10 and 'reliable' is not a word that I would ever associate with that vehicle.)

I thought NBC did a good job covering the game last night, once it finally started.. I was wondering if the game was ever going to start at one point. I liked NBC's graphics. They were informative but not intrusive. Nice job NBC. You've come a long way from refusing to show the score of the game in the corner of the screen way back in the day..

The Red Sox broke a 6-6 tie in the 9th and went on to win the game against the O's last night. (The O's paid tribute to the 75th anniversary of the Negro League Baltimore Black Sox' championship last night by wearing Black Sox uniforms. For no apparent reason I was hyper focused on the big 'B' in a circle logo that adorned The O's hats and helmets. All it needed was some spokes and it would have been the Bruins logo.)

I've finally saved enough money to purchase a generator for my house. (I've been saving my pennies for this for a long time.)

Hank III tix (for the Boston show) go on sale today.

I found out that Clutch is coming to Worcester! AWESOME. I have been wanting to see those guys for a while now but they always play someplace too far away, like Maine, or there is some schedule conflict that prevents me from going. In November they're going to be playing practically right down the street at The Palladium with some other band I've never heard of, Coheed and Cambria (I'll have to check them out). I guess Clutch is actually the middle band. That's ok. I fully intend to be there anyway.

It seems that Pats coach Bill Belichick has successfully found a new and creative way to manipulate The Patriots injury reports, to the annoyance of others I'm sure. Notably from Thursdays' amazingly and thoroughly vague report:

Limited Participation in Practice:
QB Brady, Tom Right Shoulder (It's practically a running joke at this point)
WR Moss, Randy Team Decision (Will he play? Will he not play? I guess the Jets will find out on Sunday. Have fun planning for him just in case. Ha! I love it.)

Awesome.

Happy Friday

GO PATS

"Long live rock'n'roll and long live fun"... on a Friday

This is awesome.

Link: SPIN.com: Riverboat Gamblers Seek Revenge.

I saw the Riverboat Gamblers open for X and Rollins a while back and more recently I saw Valient Thorr open up for Fu Manchu. Both bands are really fun to see live. The Gamblers have some great songs and they are all over the place on the stage. They're up, they're down, they're all around. Lots of fun. Valient Thorr is a very, ahem, 'unique' band, mainly because their lead singer is somewhat out of his mind.. And I mean that in a good way. Plus, they rock.

Unfortunately I missed seeing the both of them together the other night at Harpers Ferry, as I just found out the day of the show that they would be there. Dang, that would have been a good one to see. I like both of those bands. Oh well. Maybe they'll be back around..

Click on the Volcom Tour link to see the other hijinx that have been going on with those two bands. There's a little practical joke war going on with those guys and it's pretty funny. I wonder if any further practical joking happened at Harpers Ferry Wed night.. I guess I'll never know.

Thankfully I got in the know plenty early for this one:

Nov 17 (A Saturday! Woop!)

Boston MA

The Roxy

Rev Horton Heat, HANK III, Nashville Pussy

Can I get a hells yeah? Hells yeah.

I'll be there to see Hank III. The rest is just gravy, but it should be a nice, thick and chunky gravy.

I'm amazed...

I was driving my son somewhere today and put the radio onto a rock station, WBCN out of Boston. They were playing the new Social D song, 'Far Behind'. Social D on a mainstream radio station? Unheard of.

I'm amazed. I'm amazed...

The Pats play their first pre-season game THIS FRIDAY. The beginnings of football season are already here. I'm excited for The Patriots, but still I think, wow, I can't believe pre-season is here. As much as I love Patriots Football I can't help but be reminded that this is the harbinger of that rottenest of seasons, Winter. It's a very bitter-sweet feeling.

I'm amazed. I'm amazed...

The Red Sox keep letting the MFY creep closer and closer with each passing series. The lead is down to five measly games at this point. I don't like it. Nope. Not one bit. We need to increase that distance somehow. This is the last West Coast trip for the Sox then it's back to some East Coast action with games against The O's and Tampa Bay. Hopefully the Sox can put some space back between them and the MFY.

Avoiding a sweep tonight against the LAAoA would be nice.

I'd be amazed. Amazed.

Don't Think Twice, it's a'right. Social D ruled as usual.

I went to see Social Distortion at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom last night. When I first saw the date and the location I was initially unsure if I wanted to go to this one. I hadn't been to Hampton Beach in a very long time and the thought of driving up there to see a show had me thinking twice about it. Thankfully I only thought twice about it and I'm glad I decided correctly and got my ticket to what turned out to be a sold out event.

Social D was their usual awesome and it turns out the Hampton Beach Casino is a great place to see a show. It is very spacious inside with plenty of room to move around but still not so large that you can't see the stage. We were nice and plenty close to see everybody in the band without having to be so close as to get crushed against the barricade. Interestingly and somewhat disappointingly, as I still enjoy a giving and taking a good shove occasionally, there was no pit at this show.. which I found to be rather unusual for a Social Distortion show, but it was a really mixed crowd. There were a lot of people my age (30's) and older who probably did not want to tweak a knee or an ankle (like I always do, ha) as well as a lot of younger people too. I saw several people there with young kids who did not look to be older than ten years old, and last but not least, the security there seemed to be pretty zealous about keeping people from getting out of hand so maybe there was a sign somewhere that said no moshing or something.. There were a few people that attempted to crowd surf and they met with a hasty exit courtesy of security, who would go into the crowd to get people and bring them out if they saw someone surfing.

In any case, the lack of a pit did not detract from the show in any way for me. I still had a great time and I was more than happy to stand in my spot, bob my head, watch the band perform and sing along with the songs. For the first time in years I actually had a friend of mine come with me to a rock show, my pal Brent. This was his first time seeing Social D and he had a great time as well. In addition to these multiple first time events, last night's show marked both me and Brent's first time drinking legally at Hampton Beach.. ha.

The band started out with 'Road Zombie', which is a great tune that I hope will make it onto the next album. Mike Ness came out on stage bearing roses and throwing them out to the crowd. For some reason he had his face masked with a blue bandana which I thought was kind of goofy / funny. I'm not really sure why he was doing that but I'm thinking maybe it's because the cover of Social D's new greatest hits record has a guy with a bandana mask pictured on the cover.. Just a guess. I don't know.

At the end of 'Road Zombie' Mike took off the mask and they started in with 'Reach For The Sky'.

Here is the rest of the set. It's not in order but I'm pretty sure I haven't forgotten any of the songs:
Road Zombie
Reach For The Sky
Highway 101
Under My Thumb
Bad Luck
Ball and Chain
Sick Boys
Far Behind
Sometimes I Do
Lude Boy
Nickels and Dimes
Mommy's Little Monster
Gotta Know the Rules
Six More Miles
Prison Bound
Ring of Fire

The crowd knew the words and sang along with every song which was pretty cool.

Towards the end of the show, Mike Ness brought a couple up onto the stage that he had noticed in the crowd. Apparently this couple had been married earlier that day and the woman was wearing a white dress and a veil. This had caught Mike's eye and he had them ushered through the crowd up onto the stage with the band. The security guys seemed to need some convincing about this idea and Mike nodded his head 'YES' emphatically while waving with his hands for them to come forward, up over the barricade.

He asked them, 'You guys got married this morning and you're here at Social D tonight?' He seemed to be pretty impressed by that and I have to say I thought it was very cool myself. Ah, romance. At that point Social Distortion ended the night with the appropriate, 'Ring of Fire'.

Towards the end of the song some of the people around me decided they were going to start shoving people, which I thought was a little late in the show, seeing as how it was the encore set at this point. That lasted about 30 seconds before the person who had started all this decided she had had enough. Apparently she broke her flip-flops while getting pushed around.
[/Rolls eyes..]

I have seen Social D several times and they sounded great last night. The band seemed to be really into it and they played with a lot of energy. I think they appreciated that the crowd was so into every song as well. Mike Ness seemed to be in a great mood and was happy about the show being a full house. He was pretty funny talking to the crowd in between songs, commenting on the surf at Hampton Beach among other things. 'You guys didn't see me out there surfing those 4 footers earlier today? Nobody ever notices when I do the cool shit..' Ha.

Everybody... Sell your body to the night.

Turbonegro is coming to Boston in Sept.

YES.

I just ordered my ticket and I will be there.

Paradise Rock Club, get ready to get it on. Right. On.

Kick it Mr. Summers...

It's got a hold of me, the Evil Powers of Rock and Roll.

God F'in DAMN there is just nothing like a Les Paul hooked straight in with the gain on high and nothing but a cry-baby between you, Les, and the amp.

It fucking rules dude.

So yeah, you may be getting a hint why the posting here has been somewhat light recently. I've been extending my creative energy into more fulfilling areas, ya know?

BUT on the flip side I've been eyeballing that M-Box sitting in my closet and I'm thinking it might be high time to record some shit. Even if it turns out to be shit. It's my shit. So there you go.

Maybe look for something in that area at some point soon over the next few weeks.. I've been thinking up some riffs that would get me into trouble driving. Basically music to speed to.

Thinking up the riffs is easy. Learning how to lay them down, that's another story. We'll see what happens..

Never grow old, The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll...

So I bought my Social Distortion tix for the July show in Hampton N.H. tonight. So what if it's like a two hour drive or whatever.

AND I will have a special guest. Yes, for the first time in years, I will not be going to a show alone, unless you count the George Strait show I went to recently. My Wife came with me to that one... but there is usually not a pit at George Strait shows like there is at Social D.

So I will be there. With bells on, as we used to say. Fuck yea.

Update:
Check it out here is a you tube video of Social D's new song, Far Behind. Great tune. Can't wait to see these guys again!

Decisions, decisions...

So my favorite band, Social Distortion is coming back around on tour but it looks like the closest they will come to my area is Hampton Beach N.H.

That is a friggin HAUL from my house, not that Boston or Providence R.I. are exactly close though... Plus Hampton Beach is always jammed with people. I used to go there a lot back in the day, yo. We used to drink all night and then decide to drive up there. We'd usually get there just as the sun was coming up. We'd spend the day there at the beach and I would get burned to a crisp and spend about 20 bucks worth of quarters in the video game arcade. When roller blades first came out I got a pair. I thought they were extremely cool because unlike four-wheeled roller skates, roller blade wheels are in-line, so it was like skating in ice skates. I would bring them with me and spend hours skating up and down the strip at Hampton Beach. Blades were brand new then and people would be like, what the heck are those things! Ah youth.

One time I went up there with a buddy of mine, two girls and a bottle of Jack Daniels. By the time we got up to the beach the Jack was gone, the girls had had enough of us, and they threw us out of their car and left us standing on the side of the road. Obviously we were not getting laid that night. 'Ok. Now what do we do?' Start walking. Somebody will come by. Lo and behold, as we're walking down the road, who drives by but one of our friends from back home in his sky-high lifted Toyota pickup truck. Saved! It turned out some friends of mine had rented a beach house that weekend so we crashed with them.

The next day I woke up in the morning, semi-hungover, dry-mouthed and starving hungry. I asked my buddy who was renting the house, 'do you have anything to eat?'

'All there is is relish and hot-dog rolls.'

So I preceded to make a relish-dog which consisted of a hot-dog roll with pickle relish inside. And a beer. The beer was ok. The relish-dog was not. 'This is fucking gross!' I yelled and threw it against the front door where it hit with a loud, 'SPLAT'.

'YOU FUCKIN ASS'OLE!!' my friend shouted at me, 'What the hell is the matter with you! We're renting this place!' I just laughed at him, 'Ha ha ha! Got anything else?'

I was not a total dick. I cleaned up the mess, though, as I recall, for various other kegger related reasons we were all booted out of that house later that weekend. Don't look at me! It was not all my fault! And at least I got a ride home. Hmmm...

Wow I did not really mean for this to turn into a reminiscing post but there you go, a brief glimpse into the days of my youth. Those days are gone and now I'm feeling old as I try to decide if I want to drive up there to Hampton to see Social D.

By the way I finally got around to watching 'Another State of Mind' the other night. Very good flick. Even if you are not into Social D, Youth Brigade or Minor Threat, the story itself, which follows the adventures (and mis-adventures) of Youth Brigade and Social Distortion's first 'tour' across the U.S. and Canada in a beat up and eventually, broken down old school bus, is great. It's a very interesting behind the scenes look at those bands in their early days and seeing a young, tattoo free Mike Ness working on a 'new' song, 'Another State of Mind', throughout the movie, is cool to see. It's definitely worth an add to your Netflix queue. And be sure to watch the version with the commentaries too! You won't be sorry.

Update:
I guess all the bands want to hit vacation spots this summer. I was looking at Clutch's site to see if they are coming around the area and they are going to play a show up in Portland Maine in August. Portland Maine?? No way I am driving up there.

I'm still on the fence about the Social D show in N.H. But I am leaning towards going. Fuck it.

Run Support request...

The Wife and Kids are off visiting the in-laws and I am left alone at home to my own devices. It's Friday night baby. What does that mean? I don't know but it's Friday.

I'm spending the evening practicing my guitar and watching the Red Sox / Twins. I'm spending some quality time with my bro, Les. Les Paul. We're best buds, don'tcha know? Through thick and thin, I can always count on good ol' Les. He fully kicks ass and he's never let me down.

Meanwhile, can we please get some run support for our man Tim Wakefield? Please??

That would be nice. No. strike that. That would be awesome... So let's make it happen people.

I've got the correct Sox cap on tonight and I'm just putting it in rally mode right from the start. Let's go you guys, Tim deserves a win... Because Wake is the MAN. Yeah, you know it.

GO SOX

Honk if you Honky-Tonk: George Strait at Mohegan Sun...

Last week my Wife and I had a rare night out with just the two of us as we traveled to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT to see Ronnie Milsap and George Strait. This event also featured the equally rare occurrence of me attending a concert with someone other than myself.

After enjoying a quick, and, with no children present, oddly quiet and peaceful dinner, we headed South on I-395 to Uncasville, CT. The ride was about two hours though a stretch of Connecticut farm country.

Ronnie Milsap was the opener for George Strait. The show was scheduled to start at 8PM and we arrived shortly thereafter.

When we got into the arena, Ronnie had started his set and he was just beginning one of his great songs, ‘Houston Solution’. We found our seats and sat down to enjoy the rest of the show.

Ronnie Milsap still has a great voice after many years and the crowd was very appreciative of his work, giving him a loud round of applause as each tune came to an end. There is something about Ronnie’s voice and they way it carries, it has a strength to it and a purity that sticks with you. I’ve still got several of the songs he played that night stuck in my head a week after the show.

One of the nice things about this show was that the stage was setup 'in the round' in the middle of the arena, so that you could get a good view of Ronnie and his band as they moved around to different parts of the stage. Ronnie's piano's were set up on our side of the stage so we were able to get a good, direct view of him for most of the show as he played. They also had big screens set up overhead as well, but I try to focus on the stage, not the screens, otherwise I feel like I'm just watching a TV show in an arena.

Ronnie did a some songs off of his latest cd, ‘My Life,’ including the song, ‘You Don’t Know My Love’ and the title track itself, ‘My Life,’ as well as several old faves. He ended the night with one of his most memorable songs and one of my personal favorites, 'Smoky Mountain Rain'. When the song was over he and his band headed off the stage, but, after a big round of applause, he came back out for one more song, a cover of the Stones' 'Honky-Tonk Women'. At the end of Ronnie's set he exited the stage to loud cheers and he seemed to truly appreciate the response. Ronnie Milsap is a living country legend and I am pretty glad that I can now say I got to see him live.

As the stage-crew began setting up for George Strait, my Wife and I decided to walk around a little and check the arena out. This was our first time coming to Mohegan Sun and I have to say, it is a really nice place to see a concert. Unlike some venues, where the performers are so far away they look like ants on stage and you need a set of binoculars to see what's happening from the upper levels, the arena at Mohegan Sun is small enough that there is not a bad seat in the place. Even in our seats which, of course, were in the upper levels, we could see everything on stage with no problem and could see the expressions on the musicians faces as they played..

It did not take long for the stage crew to setup for George Strait and just as we got to our seats, the lights came down to the enthusiastic applause of the crowd.

This was my third time seeing George Strait live. The previous times I had seem him were awesome shows so I had high expectations. George did not let me down. He walked onto the stage in his usual Wrangler blue jeans, button down shirt and large white cowboy hat.

He got things going up-tempo right off the bat and started off the show with the song, 'Honk If You Honky-Tonk'. At each corner of the stage was a microphone and George worked his way around the stage between songs, so that each part of the arena could get a good view of him as he sang. He had a great, friendly demeanor with the crowd, stopping to shake hands with fans and let them take pictures.

George Strait has about 54 people in his band, 'The Ace In The Hole Band'. Ok, maybe not that many, but there are a lot of people on stage with him. There's bass, drums, fiddle, steel guitar, piano, keyboards, and multiple guitar players, who also do double duty with the fiddle and steel guitar as well, not to mention male and female backup vocals. For all those musicians, the band does not miss a beat. They were very tight and sounded great.

George did a great mix of new and old material, with songs such as, 'Check Yes or No', 'Amarillo By Morning', 'The Fireman', 'It Just Comes Natural', 'The Chair', 'I Can Still Make Cheyenne' and 'Unwound'. He played for a good two hours and sang close to 30 songs and his clear, clean vocals seemed to get stronger and richer as the night went on.

One of the things that makes George so great is that he does not need a lot of lights, props and stage effects to put on a great show. It's just him and his band performing, seemingly without effort, and his music is all that you need to enjoy the show.

There's a reason that I always refer to George as 'Pure Country' and it's not because that was the title of his movie back in the 90's (which was awesome by the way). Unlike so many of today's manufactured 'pop country music' singers, there are no gimmicks with George and his music. There is nothing fake about George Strait. He is the real thing, as real as it gets. A real-life signing cowboy who runs his own ranch and who not only hosts, but competes in the George Strait Team Roping Classic.

George ended the night with an extended version of 'The Cowboy Rides Away', as he made several rounds around the perimeter of the stage to shake hands and make contact with his fans. Even while the arena started to empty out, as many of the attendees were heading for the exits, the band continued playing and George was still going around and shaking hands with people. Awesome.

What a great night for my Wife and I. That show will be one that I will remember for a long time.

George Strait set list from last week's show...

My Wife and I went to see George Strait a week ago today. What a great show! What can you say about George Strait? He is the best. The absolute best. 'Pure Country'.

George did a ton of songs and there were only about three of them that I didn't know, which was great. It helps that I have almost all of his albums..

The day after the show I tried to write down all the songs that George sang before I forgot them. Here is the list below. It's not in order and I'm missing a few songs that I just could not remember, plus I started to get mixed up the harder I thought about it. I started thinking, 'was this song one of the ones we listened to on the way home from the show, or was that one that he actually sang during the show?' but, in any case, this is most of them...

George started the night with 'Honk If You Honky-Tonk' and ended the night with 'The Cowboy Rides Away'. I wrote a review of the show that I'll have up here and also at Faster Than The World on Friday.

In the meantime, here's the list of the songs as best as I could remember them...

Honk If You Honky-Tonk
Check Yes or No
I Just Want to Dance With You
Run
Amarillo By Morning
The Fireman
The Chair
How 'Bout Them Cowgirls
Somewhere Down in Texas
Wrapped
Give It Away
I Can Still Make Cheyenne
Take Me Back To Tulsa
Milk Cow Blues
I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore
The Seashores of Old Mexico
Texas
It Just Comes Natural
Cowboys Like Us
A Better Rain
I Hate Everything
Unwound
She'll Leave You With a Smile
Heartland
The Cowboy Rides Away

The only song he did not do that my Wife and I both missed was 'I Cross My Heart', which was our wedding song, but, we have seen him do that song before so no big deal. We had a great time.

I should mention that Ronnie Milsap opened for George and he was awesome. He still has a great voice and his songs are so good. I've had 'Houston Solution' and 'Smokey Mountain Rain' stuck in my head for a week now.

Check back for the review tomorrow!

Who I'm rooting for in the Stanley Cup Semi's, George Strait tonight!

I never posted my picks for the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs and now that the first round is over and the second round has started, I figure I better get my second round picks up quick before it's over too!

Note: These are the teams I am rooting for, not necessarily the teams I think will win.

EAST:
Buffalo Sabres vs NY Rangers: Rangers - For some reason I have always kind of liked the Rangers, even though they are a rival to the B's.

NJ Devils vs. Ottawa Senators: Sens - I hate the Devils and would root against them no matter who they were playing. It just so happens that I like the Senators, so hopefully this one works out for me.

West:
Detroit Red Wings vs San Jose Sharks: Sharks - I hate the Red Wings and would root against them no matter who they were playing. I like the Sharks because of the AHL connection with my home team, the Worcester Sharks, and also because I like Joe Thornton. And also because I would love to see the gnashing of teeth that would occur down on Causway St. if Joe is seen raising Lord Stanley's Cup over his head at the end. Yeah, I am vindictive like that sometimes...

Anaheim Ducks vs Vancouver Canucks: Ducks - To be honest I don't really care about this one but my friend Turtle is a Ducks fan, so I'm rooting for his team. And I really like the fun way that Ducks rhymes with Canucks.

So there you go, there's who I'm rooting for in the NHL Conference Semi-Finals.

In other news, I'm going to see George Strait tonight down at Mohegan Sun Casino. This is the concert I was supposed to take my Wife to back in March but it was post-poned because George had laryngitis. It was originally supposed to be on a Friday night which would have been cool. Unfortunately the rescheduled date is now a Thursday night, which is not quite so cool, since I have to work the next day, but it will still be fun and I am looking forward to it. George Strait has always been a big favorite of mine. I have most of his albums and this will be my 3rd time seeing him live. The first time I saw him, he was the opening act for Alabama. That was in the late 80's.. Sheesh. Way to make myself feel old. Anyway, it is always great to see George Strait play live and it will be nice to have a night out with my Wife.

(Image via NHL.com)

Saying goodbye to the vinyl...

Last week I sold my old vinyl record collection to a used record store. I did not get much money for them, 10 bucks cash and a DVD. I chose the movie, 'Bull Durham' (they did not have much of a selection to pick from..)

I had a bunch of good albums in my collection but unfortunately, a lot of the covers had been water damaged by a flood we had in the basement a few years ago. The damaged albums were basically worthless since it's the covers that make them valuable at this point.. Besides that, who wants to buy somebody's old vinyl records? Even I had not listened to them in years, even before they were damaged in the flood, and I've now replaced a lot of them with CDs or MP3s.

So even though I did feel a twinge of guilt for getting rid of my record collection, especially the ones with all the neat fold out covers, though most of them were now ruined, it was better than trying to sell them for 25 cents each at some yard sale or just plain chucking them in the trash. At least I got something for them and now there is one less pile of half-worthless stuff taking up space in the basement.

Fu Manchu, B's debacle, Sox new old closer...

I went to see Fu Manchu play at The Middle East in Cambridge last night and I was up waaaay past my bed time. I did not get home till around 2 AM this morning and now I am super, super sleepy. I am basically in a semi-caffeinated, trance like state right now. Very non-productive.

Fu Manchu was great and they did a bunch of songs off of 'The Action Is Go' album which is the one that I have, so that was nice. Even better they did the song, 'Saturn III', which is my favorite song on that album. They also did 'Grendel, Snowman', 'Evil Eye' and a couple others. I wanna say the did 'Anodizer' but my brain is failing me and I cannot confirm or deny whether that song was actually played. In any case, super cool all around. All of their songs rocked. The songs they played off their new album, 'We Must Obey', were very good. I'm going to have to put that one on my list of albums to buy. They ended the night, after the obligatory walk off the stage and come back out thing, with a cover of 'Godzilla'.

/Guitar nerd - I noted that Fu Manchu's lead guitar player was playing a Gibson SG. /Guitar nerd

I got to The Middle East extremely early. I was one of the first ten or so people in the club so that was interesting since a lot of the band guys were in there just hanging out. I did not talk to them. It was just interesting to see them in that environment, sitting around in an empty club, relaxing and getting ready for the show.

I thought the band that played before Fu Manchu, Valient Thorr, was ok. Their singer is a madman. He was all over the place. Getting up on the bar and walking around in the crowd on the floor. His antics were pretty entertaining to watch.

There were two other bands that played as well, but one of them I don't remember so obviously I was not that impressed with them. The first band of the night to play were actually pretty good. I think they were a local Boston band called 'Bull by the Horns' or something like that. I kind of missed getting their name...

{looks up band name online}

They are called Mess With the Bull. I liked those guys. I'll have to keep an eye out for them in the future. Also, I noted the singer / guitar player played a Gibson Firebird guitar. You don't see a lot of those these days. I am easily impressed.

Oh and the other band that played was called Seemless. I should say, they were not a bad band. They were ok but I did not find them to be exceptional. To be honest I  was not paying a lot of attention to them when they were on because at the time I was sitting at the bar watching the infuriating debacle that was last night's Bruins / Habs game.

Since I've meandered onto the subject of sports, when I was not hiding my face in my hands at the dismal-ness of the Bruins, I caught a between periods segment that featured Jonathan Papelbon commenting on his recent switch from the starting role back to being the Sox closer. It seems he truly wants to be the closer, and the change was something he asked for, so that is cool. I kind of assumed that he would prefer to be a starting rotation guy, but if Papelbon is really happier working as the closer, then even better!

I am getting excited for The Sox to start playing some real games.

Paps to closer role, Fu Manchu show tonight...

So it looks like The Sox now have their closer. Jonathan Papelbon is going to be moved out of the starting rotation and into the closer role.

Interestingly, I first read the news over at 38 Pitches, Curt Shilling's personal blog, as opposed to a 'normal' news outlet like ESPN or the Boston Herald. Even though I have not seen anything officially official out of The Sox, I'd say this information is pretty reliable and it's minty-fresh. Which is nice.

Admission time: While I am glad that The Sox now have the closer spot squared away, Papelbon is guaranteed nails, I have to admit I was looking forward to seeing Paps in the starting rotation. Based on my deep and unquestionable baseball fan knowledge, (HA!) I feel that Papelbon has what it takes to be a great starting pitcher so it is tough to see him not getting his chance to show what he can do as a starter.

However, the team has a need at closer and if you have a guy already on the team who you know you can count on to shut the door in the ninth, you have to do what is best for the team, so in that sense, this move makes perfect sense. Sense-wise... (Now I'm just being stupid.)

According to Curt Shilling's post, Papelbon is ok with moving to the closer spot and his health does not seem to be an issue (for now). So in the end, though there is some wondering of what might have been with Paps as a starter, moving him to the closer makes the Sox a better team in the long run and that is the bottom line.

And since I'm admitting things: I have not watched a single inning of Spring Training baseball. Not one. No Dice-Man, no Shilling, no none of it. Spring Training holds no interest for me. The things that happen on the mound and in the field and even at the plate are of no consequence. Everybody is just working on their stuff, different pitches, different batting stances, etc etc, so what you are watching in Spring Training is about as meaningless as it gets. Guys can look like crap during Spring Training and then start the season en fuego (have not pulled that phrase out in a while, must be getting close to baseball season). Guys can look awesome during Spring Training and then go right in the shitter once the season starts. So I don't pay a lot of attention to Spring Training, other than the fact that I am glad it is happening and that the games will be for real, real soon.

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In other non-related to anything news, I'm heading into Boston (ok, technically the People's Republic of Cambridge) to see Fu Manchu play at The Middle East tonight. It should be a good show and I am looking forward to it. I don't know a ton of Fu Manchu's stuff, I only have one of their albums, 'The Action Is Go', but that is a great album and thus, they are a great band. Plus I was told by a very reliable source that Fu Manchu is also great to see live, so for 12 bucks, I figure I can't go wrong!

In honor of going to the Fu Manchu show, I have decided to grow a Fu Manchu mustache. The only problem is, I am facially-hair challenged, so my Fu Manchu is pretty lame mustache-wise... Maybe in two months or so, it might start to look ok.

The Evil Powers of Rock and Roll...

Whenever I am practicing my guitar, my daughter always comes down to the basement and watches me play. She jumps around and sometimes picks up this total piece of junk guitar that we have lying around and pretends to play along. One day I put an old strap on it and showed her how to position her hand on the guitar neck and how to strum. Even though she is not really playing anything, she seems to want to. Basically, she seems really into it and appears to have a genuine interest in the guitar, even though she is quite young.

I am not sure how much of this is her imitating me and how much of it is a real interest. I think it's a combination of both, but I wanted to try and encourage her interest and see if she continues with it or if it fades out over time. The piece of junk guitar that I referenced above is not suitable for any kind of use other than make-believe, due to the fact that the neck has been snapped off of the body of the guitar, thanks to her brother's standing on it, and the only thing holding it together is the glue between the fretboard and the guitar body...

So, after talking it over with my Wife, we decided that my daughter was old enough and responsible enough to be able to take care of a real instrument, and I took her to a guitar shop and bought her this:

Yes. I am awesome.

When I first started thinking about buying my daughter a guitar, I had gone to a couple shops and looked at some kid's acoustic guitars. They were all pretty low quality. They would not stay in tune and were barely a step up from the broken guitar she already had. I decided if I was going to spend money on a guitar, I was going to get her a real instrument, not a toy. Let me tell you this Ibanez Mikro is a really nice little guitar. It is not a toy that is for sure. It is the real deal. My daughter seems to really love it, and is excited about using it, even though it is still a little bit too big for her.

I have been showing her how to hold the pick and strum, and how to place her hand on the neck of the guitar and press on the strings with her finger-tips. Right now that is as far as we have gotten as far as teaching her how to play and this is something that will progress at her own pace, depending on her interest level.

I am pretty enthusiastic about her interest in the guitar. We'll see where it goes from here.