Nothing like waiting until the last minute… With less than 10 hours to go I give you my Best / Worst list of 2009. Mind you none of these are in order/ranked, they are just the best / worst I have been pondering over all year long… Enjoy.
Best Albums:
The Avett Brothers – I & Love & You
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed
Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus
Converge – Axe To Fall
Those Darlins – Those Darlins
Gallows – Grey Britain
Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
P.O.S. – Never Better
BlakRoc – BlakRoc
The Sidekicks – Weight Of Air
Best Unreleased Album:
Dangermouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Song
Worst Albums:
Brokencyde – I’m Not A Fan But The Kids Like It
Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major
Sugar Ray – Music For Cougars
On The Fence About Albums:
Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
Drummer – Feel Good Together
Guilty Pleasure Albums:
Owl City –Ocean Eyes
Brokencyde – I’m Not A Fan But The Kids Like It
Best Box Set Released:
Coheed & Cambia – Neverender
Best Anthology Released:
Fat Wreck Chords – Wrecktrospective
Best Festival I Attended:
Bonnaroo – Bruce Springsteen, Merle Haggard, Public Enemy, NIN, Andrew Bird, Wilco, Beastie Boys, Al Green, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, Phoenix and many more.
Best Shows I Attended:
The Avett Brothers @ Akron Civic Center – Akron, OH
Dan Auerbach / Those Darlins @ Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
Converge / High On Fire @ The Grog Shop – Cleveland Hts., OH
Loudest Show I Attended (EVER):
Mastodon @ Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
Most Unsuspecting Show I Attended (with good reason):
Britney Spears / Pussycat Dolls @ The Value City Area – Columbus, OH
Worst Show I Attended:
Gin Blossoms @ Cain Park – Cleveland Hts., OH
Best Local Acts I Saw Live:
Nicholas Megalis
Unsparing Sea
Best Movies:
Zombieland
The Hangover
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Up
Star Trek
Worst Movies:
G.I. Joe
Transformers 2
Movie That You Should Not Watch When Your Heart Aches:
500 Days Of Summer
Best TV Show:
Community
The Awesome:
Bouncing Souls celebrating 20 years as a punk band and releasing a song a month all year.
Greg Ginn (of Black Flag) agreeing to play a couple of songs for free at Blue Arrow Records courtesy of myself and Addicted To Vinyl.
Going to Bonnaroo with two of my favorite people and then coming home and immediate going to see Rancid / Rise Against from backstage.
Seeing Those Darlins 4 times live.
Matt’s wonderful girlfriend scoring me an autographed personalized CD from Frank Turner as well as a hi-five.
Meeting the fine folk at Thirty Tiger Records followed by shopping at Grimey’s while pit-stopping in Nashville.
Having friends from all around come up to visit and see the magic that is called Cleveland.
The Suck:
November 5th, 2009
My laptop crashing
My external hard drive crashing
Changing for the better.
RIP (there were plenty more but these are ones that stuck with me):
Michael Jackson
James “The Rev” Sullivan
DJ-AM
Taylor Mitchell
Vic Chesnutt
Les Paul
Jay Bennett
Brittany Murphy
Captain Lou Albano
Patrick Swayze
Jim Carroll
John Hughes
Walter Cronkite
Billy Mays
David Carridine
Dom DeLuise
Bea Arthur
Jeremy Lusk
Heath Ledger
So with just a few hours left I would like to say goodbye to 2009. It was a fun and incredibly rough year for me. I see big things happening in 2010 for me.
Resolutions? A couple I suppose…
Portion Control – I can eat and now I need to watch how much of it I do
Personal Conquest – I have ideas and will follow through
Sugar – I am limiting my intake
Live – I plan on attending more shows this year than previous years
Blog On – I will continue making BHP bigger and better so that people actually will COMMENT on here…
Do you have a best of you wish to share or do you think I overlooked someone? Let me know. Email me at broken@brokenheadphones.com or comment below. I want to hear from you!
I’m sitting here right now next to my trusty electric radiator as I really need some heat now that the temperatures are dropping here in tropical Ohio. I just finished some hot tea, have the pups cuddled up next to me as I type this, and have the final football game of the evening playing in the background. It’s no surprise the Colts are kicking ass currently and I am still grinning slightly at the Browns’ first win, even if it was pathetic and ugly…
As of late my weekends have been amazing thanks to my gang of pals. It might help that I am putting myself out there finally after all that I had been going through. It would appear that I am moving on in the right direction. Beer helps too. I have been good, so do not worry. I am not in the mood to getting plastered. I have really been appreciating the finer beers in life such as Great Lakes and of course my elixir, Guinness.
My weekend started off a little early this week as some of my punk rock friends and I hit up the Grog Shop to see Strike Anywhere, Polar Bear Club, Crime In Stereo, and Ruiner play. There is nothing quite like a punk rock show on a rainy evening with good friends and huge cans of PBR.
Ruiner started the evening with a hardcore performance that set the level rather high for the night. The way they played without care reminded me that sometimes playing show is all about fun. At times their new drummer missed a couple of beats but the band was quick to laugh it off and start over.
Crime In Stereo was one of the bands I had not heard of before. Let’s just say I will be buying all of their CDs soon. They were freaking awesome with their high energy punk rock as well as emo shifts comparable to Brand New, but it was Polar Bear Club and of course Strike Anywhere that won the night over for me.
Having already heard Polar Bear Club’s recent album Chasing Hamburg I already knew I was going enjoy their show. They sounded amazing and the kids in the pit went nuts singing along and thrashing about. I stood in the back, I am too old for the jumping around and getting close with my fellow concert goers and I am ok with that. With my trusty PBR I was contempt with observing and rocking my head to the beat.
Strike Anywhere took the stage in full force and rocked out until their last song. The political heavy hardcore punk rockers were excited to be back in Cleveland and really put on a great show to all the fans who came out for the night. Dread-locked lead vocalist Thomas Barnett admitted that even though the band has been around for 10 years that they had not done one thing in Cleveland but were able to earlier in the day as they finally made it to the Rock Hall for a tour. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed their performance.
All of the bands are currently on Bridge Nine Records so there was plenty of merch to be sold at the show. Sadly the shirt I wanted was not in my size and I was strapped for cash so there was no indulging in vinyl goodness. Thankfully the internet will be my merch table when I have a few extra bucks to help support those bands. Here are all of the performing bands newest releases if you care so much to check them out:
After the show a couple of friends and I went to Steak N Shake for a late night stack. I felt like we were in a creepy movie with the 3rd shift staff looking a little sketchy but they were pleasant, the onion rings were good, and the milk shake was satisfying.
Friday night after my late shift I met up with my pals at a local bar for some beers. It was not the best choice of bars as I think we could have found something a little more entertaining but it was still nice to sit around at a table and just converse. My one friend had it in his head that he was going to find girls for us but it did not happen and honestly I was ok with that.
Getting home late night I rest my head on the pillow and before I knew it the sun was up and I was starting on what would turn into a crazy busy day.
I took some time in the morning to update my iPods and got ready for my visit with Matt from Addicted To Vinyl. Yes folks, Matt visited me. He drove all the way down to my place with no intention on sitting in my back seat as I escorted him to a festival of sorts. He was coming to hang out and I was excited like…I don’t know, I was just happy for the hang.
We had a early lunch at Mike’s Place in Kent where our waitress cracked us up with her table departing “You’re Welcome” that was clearly fake and practiced ever so hard. After eating mad amounts of tater tots and a delicious veggie reuben we made our way into the beautiful downtown area to visit Spin More Records.
Matt had never been to the shop so I was happy to take him there. We shopped, heckled at an autographed Tesla CD, and did a fair amount of BS’n in the store. Good times. Upon leaving the store Matt handed me a 45 of a promo only copy of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts‘ “Roadrunner (Cleveland)”. Matt explained a lot to me about the song and honestly I value the 45 even more now. As soon as we got back to my house I dropped the needle on it and we listened to it at high levels. Matt pointed out the Cleveland references throughout. Good jam.
Matt had to get going to I slammed the door in his face and did not pay him for The Avett Brother’sI & Love & YouLP he so kindly fetched for me from Music Saves (honestly is anyone else as shocked as I am that he is being so nice to me as of late???).
My best buds came over a couple of hours later and we headed to my one friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s housewarming party…phew!
The house was in Akron in a beautiful neighborhood and honestly I was jealous of it. It was a great looking house with a creepy ass third floor that could very well supply the scenes for future horror movies. A lot of cool people showed up and everyone mingled while drinking an array of beers. I stuck with Great Lakes…yum.
After a taco eating contest (I did not take place in it), managing to piss off one of my pal’s sister’s friends, house to garage jumping, a cornhole win, and a chair mysteriously finding it’s way to the garage roof, I found myself sitting around a fire pit with my good friends. It was the perfect way to end the night. There is nothing quite like sitting around a fire bringing up past stories and burning old lead paint coated cabinet doors.
We headed home earlier than we all anticipated but honestly we were all beat from day long activities. Once I got home I just hung out for a bit with the pups and headed to sleepy land.
I woke up and as soon as I got motivated headed to Solon to meet up with my friend and his folks for breakfast. I had a feeling the jerk was not going to wake up in time and even tried calling him to confirm the meal was still on but received his voicemail. I completely forgot that his phone was dead but still tried to call my other friend who did not answer as well.
Right before I got off the freeway my friend called stating he had no left yet and just woke up. I took the opportunity to head to the Borders Books & Music I used to work at to see who was working. I lucked out as one of my longest known friends was working.
After catching up with him I poked around the store and grabbed this:
Laugh all you want…I’ll be prepared for when it happens. What’s your zombie escape plan?
Once my friend finally called me telling me they were almost there I departed the book store and stuffed my face with breakfast. I love me some breakfast, especially when my friend’s dad insists on paying for it.
We all headed back to the parent’s house for a quick digestion/relaxation and I said my goodbyes as one of my friends had to head back home to Cincinnati. See ya next time pal…
I headed to my brother’s to watch the ugly Cleveland Browns game and upon the end of the game left slightly satisfied with their first win.
By the time I got home I wanted nothing more to do than throw a blanket over my body and fall in and out of sleep during the rest of the football games. Instead I played with the boys for a bit, jammed out to some music, and got some work done.
It was a great weekend. I keep mentioning how great my weekends are and I will continue to do so when they are because it’s times like these that I cherish the most. Being with friends and family.
Next weekend I am heading to see the Northeast Ohio Rock ‘N’ Roller Girls do their thing at the the Summit Country Fairgrounds. This will be their last bout of the season so if you have nothing going on head on out and help cheer them on for a win!
Look for an interview with members of the team shortly! I had the privilege to chat with a couple of them and plan on sharing the outcome with you all soon. Until then, be well.
I am finally going to drop this bomb here for you all to read.
Many of you are aware that I have been going through a lot over the last few months. Sometimes I would drop hints here on my posts about things being tough but I never really was comfortable on making my personal life public.
I am now.
I am just about through the final stages of getting a divorce after being married for just over two years.
I am not going to sit here and type out complete details as I do respect the privacy of the other party also known as the ex. We remain friendly at this time and I hope to build on that friendship for years to come. She is a special person to me and always will be.
We got married thinking it was a good idea obviously. After all we were madly in love with one another and it just made sense. We were happy in the beginning of the legal courtship but as time passed it was apparent that it just was not working. It killed both of us emotionally because we love each other very much to this day. The truth is no matter how much we loved one another we were not meant to be husband and wife.
I came to terms with this before summer but held off on getting legal action done until the leaves changed color because we wanted to see if maybe we separated for a period of time we could make things work but it only became harder for the both of us. It became clear on what needed to be done.
After many conversations we decided to find a lawyer and get this taken care of so we could both go on with our lives. It still is tough to this day and will be hard on us for quite possibly the rest of our lives.
For anyone who knew us we were best friends and complimented one another so well. That of course was prior to the wedding.
As time moved on we started drifting apart from one another and it was just getting to be stressful. Neither of us were happy about the current situation. We wanted to make it work and we tried to make it work but it was something that would never work and neither of us wanted to come to terms with the truth.
I have no regrets from being married. I learned more about myself and the opposite sex from this experience that without a doubt will assist me in paving future paths in life. I will always love her and cherish the good memories we made together.
This divorce is unique in that neither of us hate each other. It was something that had to be done to help each other live our own happy lives. If we would have stayed together we would have just become more miserable everyday and a time bomb may very well have gone off.
I don’t want pity from anyone. I for the most part am happy as is she. We have been going on with our lives since summertime and we both are both contempt with the change even if not completely. Sure we are bummed that it could not work and wish things were different but the fact of the matter is that things happen for a reason.
While going through the hardship I relied on some of my best friends in the world to help me though the pain I felt. I owe a huge thank you for all of the love and support my friends and family provided at the difficult time. I could not ask for better people in my life.
I am sorry if I did not tell some of you out there including family, but I was not ready to tell the world about this. I never wanted a divorce. I wanted to make this work but it was something that needed to be done to ensure a better life for both involved.
I don’t want comments here, or on Facebook, or anywhere saying you are sorry to hear what happened. I want everyone to know that this is what has been going on in my personal life. My life is essentially a public life because of this site as well as whatever else I decide to throw in the internet. I am ok now with everyone knowing about what happened.
Really, I am ok. Respect me and be happy for me and her. There are no fingers to be pointed and no one to be held at fault.
Sometimes I absolutely hate social networking websites.
I can care less about the constant status posting of some people on Facebook. I do not need to know how many steps it took for you to get your mail this morning or how tired you are and wish you could sleep in some more. Truth is some of these posts are just TMI, too much information.
I also love social networking websites too.
These days it is so much easier to reconnect with friends of the past without driving all over the city to find them. There is no awkwardness in finding old friends on social networking websites. All you have to do it request to be their friend and suddenly you have reconnected instantly.
In the case of this post I have reconnected with a old friend, rather friends and I owe it to the social networking site Facebook.
When I was just a young punk kid I had the pleasure of hanging around a high school band foursome called Witch’s Veil. I remember going to a certain house I am sure a lot of my high school friends remember having good times at and would watch them play in the backyard garage.
Years later after high school and a break up, the band re-grouped with a most of the original members and called themselves The Veil. By this time I had become pretty good friends with the band and hung out with them on many occasions.
At my young naive age I wanted nothing more than to be in their band but alas there was no room for me. Jacob, Norm, Jamie, and Bryan were all great friends to me but they had control of the direction of the band and honestly they knew I could not play an instrument had my life depended on it let alone needed an extra person to their band. I could sing some, but they already had two great singers that took control of the songs. I knew it was not happening but I never stopped thinking of how fun it would have been to partake in band practice.
I understood and never really bugged them about my short lived dream. Still, I was fascinated with being around them so I hung out at their practice space and watched them do their thing. I loved the process of a jam turning into a 4 minute rock bash complete with guitar solos and drum solos.
Still I wanted to be in that damn band so badly. I remember one night I grabbed a tambourine and started keeping with the beat. They guys got a kick of it and before I knew it I was labeled “Tambourine Man”. From then on I would grab a tambourine and a beer at every practice and play along to all of the songs. I became an unofficial member of sorts…
Soon they invited me on a world tour and I would supply the hardest tambourine solos everyone had ever seen….no…that did not happen.
Hell, I did not even play live with them it was just a practice thing for kicks and giggles. The truth is they did not need a live tambourine man, and I knew it. They did however need a friend and a fan to support them. I was pretty good at doing that.
They would invite me to their shows and I as well as a good group of friends would attend as many as we could. I hung out with them before the shows, and drank with them after. I was almost a roadie of sorts but never helped them move their equipment but did drink their beer.
The band later broke up because of indifferences but still remained friends throughout the years. After all the foursome knew each other since high school. They still remained friends but just did their own thing musically with some staying in bands and others starting families.
I did my best to keep in touch with them all but sometimes you just can’t help what happens over time.
When you grow old your life changes and everyone know that. You meet new people, move in different directions, and sadly lose touch with good friends. I lost touch with the members of The Veil but not completely. Once in a blue moon I would run into them and they were just as happy to see me as back in the day. The term friend for life comes to mind when I think of them.
In 2007 the world lost an amazing person as Bryan Collyard lost his life in an accident. I can honestly say he was one of the more friendly people I will ever have had the pleasure to have in my life. He and hung out a lot throughout the years before, during, and after The Veil. He was a good man and everyone who knew him would say the same thing.
I heard rumors of the rest of the band getting together after Brian’s passing and jamming out. A couple of weeks ago Jacob messaged me on Facebook letting me know that the band regrouped and were going to be playing a show. Someone who I have not kept in touch with for years found me online and informed me of plans with the rest of the band.
Jacob informed me that he, Norm, Jamie, and friends created Way Of Life after jamming out a bunch of times after Brian’s passing. The remaining members of the band knew that Brian wanted them to go on and after two years of intense jam sessions they decided to start playing out live.
This Thursday Way Of Life will be playing at the Beachland Ballroom at around 8:30pm. I will be in attendee and would not miss this for the world. Tickets are only $5.00.
To get a small taste of their music head over to their MySpace page.
Band Bio:
Way of Life is a “Straight up Rock n’Roll” band in the vein of the Stones, G n’R, and Social D. Norm, Jacob, and Jamie originally played in the popular Cleveland 90’s band The Veil, regularly selling out venues such as the Odeon and Peabody’s and opening for national acts such as Creed and Days of the New. James Genero has also been a long time Cleveland musician.
In the original band, Jacob played drums, Scott played bass, Jamie sang, and Bryan Collyard played guitar. After the passing of their loved long time friend and guitarist Bryan in January of 2007, the three, without really much effort at all, started getting together and ‘jamming’ some of the old tunes they use to play together. Being a group of friends that enjoy getting together by a good camp fire and breaking out the acoustic guitars and hand drums and having jam sessions, they in this case also did so, getting together at the houses, the three all playing acoustic guitars and singing the old songs. After getting together a dozen or so times, they realized it felt good and somehow was just right- they liked the positions they assumed instrumentally, thus deciding to keep those roles and seek out a drummer and bass player. They have found the perfect bass player and drummer.
After two years in the making, Way of Life is ready to come out. Way of Life stands for exactly what the Cleveland music scene is; a Way of Life…………
I have been so damn busy as of late I have not had a chance to tell you all what I have been up to in my own personal life, music and entertainment wise that is of course.
On Aug. 8th I joined my pal Mr. Addicted To Vinyl on one of the best adventures I have had all summer in Cleveland this year. You see Matt is and has been in the radio business for years now and I am sure you know that if you have read his blog and if you have not then you are missing out.
For unknown reasons other than I am amazing Matt extended an invite to me to meet up with some of his radio / music friends at a bar at Whiskey Island for a gathering and then to see 90’s Cleveland alt-rockers The Waynes play a reunion gig at the Happy Dog.
At first I hesitated seeing how I was not sure how this day was going to pan out. I would know one or two people tops who would be going to the show that evening and know only Matt during the day gathering. After some quick thought I decided what the hell and told him I was game.
I picked up Matt and we headed to a bar at Whiskey island called the Sunset Grille. I laughed as soon as we arrived to the bar because I remember being there over 10 years ago on a couple of occasions and have fond memories of drinking way too many Long Island iced teas while underage, making out with random women, and at one time sleeping in my car because I was too drunk to function.
I also recalled the time that I went there with some high school friends to join a frat party of some of my friend’s older brothers. Let’s just say during the evening hours I caught a boat to the flats, partied like a rock star, got a couple of girl’s numbers, made the driver of the boat angry, almost missed my ride back to Whiskey Island via boat as the sweet jocks I was with tried to ditch me, and eventually made it back to the marina after convincing another jock it was a bad idea to go swimming in Lake Erie as well as a bad idea to take the boat to Canada.
Phew!
So yes I had some great drunken memories of this place and was actually a little excited to be there. The only problem was that it was gloomy out and just down right cold for an August afternoon. When I say cold I mean I actually put a hoodie on cold. It was crazy.
The Gang
Matt’s friends were all in the music business one way or another and all super cool. I can honestly say I met some of the coolest people I have met in a long time that day. They were all very friendly and had a ton of stories to share. I of course supplied them with some of my stories as well. it was a blast and even the sun warmed things up a little making for the afternoon just the perfect Saturday to hang outdoors with good people.
Around 8pm we headed to the Happy Dog to get a place to sit and get ready for a fun night that would include a reunion show of The Waynes, a 90’s local rock act who had not played a show in years. The bar was already full of old school fans so we grabbed some bar stools and planted it there for the night.
Chris Allen opened the show with some great guitar playing, singing, and a little harmonica playing. I had recently just seen him and Don Dixon play at the very same bar a few weeks back so I actually recognized some of his songs.
The Waynes on the other hand I was not familiar with. I wish I was though because they were one of those bands in the 90’s I now wish I was aware of. They were amazing.
The Happy Dog should have been called the Happy Inferno that night because I swear it was over 90 degrees in the bar. With two full sets by The Waynes I tried my hardest to watch them perform their songs but eventually had to step outside for some fresh air.
While watching and listening to them I could not help myself but to observe Matt and his friends all with huge smiles on their faces as well as a bunch of other folk who showed up as well. They were all singing along having a great time. Yes, alcohol helped in the fun for many but the overall the gathering of good friends while listening to a band they all adored at a younger ago made it that much better.
Last Thursday evening I headed out to the wonderful Music Saves on Waterloo before venturing to see some bands play at a free show at Blue Arrow Records. I told Melanie at Music Saves that I would bring her some cheese previously in the week as a joke but she got so excited about the offer I decided I should stick to my offer and brought her an afternoon snack. After hanging out there for a moment and meeting up with Matt we then took off to Blue Arrow where my friend Adam’s (Rad-am) current band the Prisoners were playing a free show with The Lawton Brothers.
It was pretty warm in the store but nothing too crazy plus fans were brought in to make the show a little more comfortable. A lot of cool folk showed up for the event and shopped for good vinyl while listening to both bands play throughout the evening.
Hanging outside on the sidewalk in between acts on Waterloo brought me back some memories of the days when I was a kid hanging out on Coventry, a hip street full of music and specialty shops in Cleveland Hts. The Waterloo District as I have heard some folk call it recently is really a great attraction for all to check out. With two of the best music stores and other amazing specialty shops it is worth the trip no matter how far away you live. It takes me almost an hour to get there and I aim for one to two visits a month if that tells you anything…
Saturday night was all about The Foot at the Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame. Matt asked me if I wanted to join him to see Chickenfoot (Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Chad Smith, and Michael Anthony ). i could not pass up the opportunity to see a line up like that of the silly named band so of course I said yes.
Before the show Matt and I headed around Lakewood to kill some time and eventually decided food was something that was needed. Matt suggested The Diner On Clifton and I am glad he did.
Before I even continue this babble of a story I need to tell you all about the purple coleslaw. Matt ordered fish n’ chips and where I am from fish n’ chips comes with a side of coleslaw too. Our adorable waitress dropped off our orders and Matt stops in mid-sentence and says:
“Jesus Christ, what the hell is that?”
He of course was alerted to a certain little cup of coleslaw that was purple in color from the red cabbage that was used to make it. The waitress asked if everything was ok and Matt kindly asked her to remove it from the table but being the ass that I am I asked her to give it to me so I could eat it slowly in front of him. When she took the little cup of goodness away from his plate a little of the purple stuff dropped on the table.
Matt’s face was priceless.
Matt was so terrified of the coleslaw and that little amount that was dropped on the table by him when the cup was moved from one side of the table to the other was seen as toxic waste in his eyes. I don’t think I have laughed that hard in a long time and to make things even more fun for me I took it upon myself to make sure he was looking at me each time I took a bite of the delicious slaw. I was torturing him and it was hilarious.
After dinner we headed downtown to the Rock Hall to partake in the free event. We chose to park in the parking deck just across the highway from the Rock Hall for a mere $10.00. The tenant who took my money was nice but not nice enough to inform me that the steps near E. 9th were closed. Matt and I found out the hard way as we parked the car and walked to the steps only to see caution tape. We then took the elevator to the 1st level thinking that was where we first entered. Nope. We were in the basement and it was gloomy as hell. All Matt and I could think of was the DXism (D.X. Ferris) reference to parking garage vampires.
I seriously thought we were never going to make it to an exit. Luckily we were not the only morons running around the deck like a mouse trying to find the cheese in some failed science experiment.
Finally getting out of that damn garage and making way to the show a guy approached me and asked if I wanted to buy tickets to the event. I am not sure if this scalper knew it or not but the show was free. Tickets were given out for free before the date of the show and I found out later that people were just handing out extras to people who did not come with a ticket…for free. I hope to hell the scalper sold nothing to anyone and cried himself home.
I admit I was excited to see Chickenfoot. After never seeing any era of Van Halen or Joe Satriani I told myself this may very well be the only chance to see these two rock superstars live. I did not know any of the songs but it did not matter as they were entertaining as hell and put on a great show for all who gathered that night in front of the Rock Hall.
I can tell you this. Chickenfoot sounded great. I still have yet to listen to their album that dropped earlier this year but the combination of all of the amazing musicians made for a great rock show. I am still shocked to have learned that Sammy Hagar is 61 years old.
The front patio of the Rock Hall was crowded and everyone was having a great time. The weather held out perfectly for the free show and I am glad I went.
I pulled a [insert Matt’s last name here] by leaving the show early but not because I needed to go home and crawl into bed like someone I know, but because I had another show in Cleveland I needed to get to. I said bye to Matt left the rock show so that I could go to a punk show.
My good friends The Facials had a CD release party at Rockstar and were set to go on stage around 11:15pm so I got there in time and was greeted by my pals with about 7 free tickets. I love my friends…jerks.
I was told by my pals that I missed some great openers but I could see a little gleam of jealousy when I told them were I was at before arriving. Rockstar (located on the upper level of Peabody’s) was just as hot as the Happy Dog the week before was and I swear I thought I was going to melt there.
The Facials were the last band to take the stage and even though I was given a CD to listen to by my friends I opted to not check it out until I saw them play some of the songs.
I have to say I was impressed.
I’m not going to go review their performance or CD but if you like Cleveland punk rock you should check out my boys The Facials. This is their second release and they put a lot of work into it plus they are good guys. Fans of Pennywise and enemies of pop-punk should dig.
So yeah, that was the last few days/weeks for me. It has taken me forever to even post this because I have been so busy with work and the office zombie routine.
This week is ending quick and tonight I am going to try and make it to Visible Voice Books in the essentric neighborhood of Termont to see author Jessica Hopper talk about her book Girl’s Guide To Rocking followed by a show at the Happy Dog (I will be bringing portable AC with me). The fun starts at 7:30pm. I am still not 100% sure I am going to make it but if you are in the area it is going to be fun. Don’t miss it.
Friday Matt, who may be kissing up to me as rumors have been pointing that I want to beat him up, offered his extra ticket to see Tonic at the mini-Blossom of sorts, Cain Park. I am super pumped to make that show. I almost feel bad for taunting him with the purple coleslaw…no, wait… I do not.
Luckily I have decided that I am skipping the Virgin Mobile Free Fest so that should ease some of my busy life down a notch. I was unable to get tickets (even though it was free they have to have some sort of control) to it but that is ok. I do not have the money to make the drive out there plus I feel I have enough going right now to justify my choice to skip my tradition of going to Baltimore every Summer since 2006.
So yeah, that is my well overdue post. If you made it this far down the line then go to the kitchen and find yourself a cookie.
