Category Archives: Personal Entry

Personal Entry

Dazed, Confused, Amused.

1 Comment

July is history.  Gone.  Vamoose.  Out.

It’s been a tough couple months with this guy right here holding the supposed broken headphones. With all the personal crap going on I try to keep a positive head on my shoulders and keep to myself and very close friends.

I’m not going to go into details with my personal life. The only reason I am even mentioning myself having tough times is because some days are harder than others and the last thing I really want to do is post something on this site.

This site however is a huge accomplishment to myself and I can not believe it is almost one year old. I remember just one year ago sitting in a lobby with Matt in Baltimore listening to him talk about how much fun he was having with his site Addicted To Vinyl. I decided that once I got back from that trip, let me rephrase that, once I drove Matt and Rad-am back from that trip as I always do when we venture to festivals, I would research about making my own blogging site.

For a couple of weeks I was pondering what I should name the site.  I wanted it to be more musical than personal so I wanted to incorporate music into the title.  I sat long and hard and finally Broken Headphones came into my head.  I saw that someone else out there had the same name but it was a Word Press account that was no longer active so I figured it was my turn.

Just in case you were wondering I did have another title I almost used: Pronounce The Bark.  I actually have been wanting to use that for a long time.  When I was younger I had dreams of being an artist of sorts that toyed with punk rock and hip-hop.  My stage name was going to be dikHed and my first album title was going to be Pronounce The Bark.

I never got there but I will always remember the days when I wrote down pages and pages of lyrics / poems aspiring to be a musician.  Three of my poems can actually be found on Poetry.com.  They are nothing special and never won poetry awards but they are words I jotted down on paper and I am pretty damn happy about that.

As of late I have not been going out much due to lack of $$$.  I am focusing on getting those bills paid down and making sure there is a roof over my head.  I miss going to multiple shows a week and seeing friends old and new while doing so.  Sometimes I have to play the role of responsible adult and fight that urge to spend money.

I sadly declined an invite Friday from Matt to join him at Musica in Akron to see some bands.  Honestly I wanted to go but just don’t have that extra coin to spend on admission.  I know we would have had a blast and it was the first time in a while he has ventured into my neck of the woods.  I bet I could have even gotten him to drive.

Instead I went to dinner with my pal Kolb and his father, sis, niece at Rocknie’s near my house.  I was invited earlier in the week and did not want to miss the chance at seeing Mr. Kolb.  Fatty and his brother Bill also joined us for a nice meal full of mostly insults.  It was great.  Kolb’s father loves Nickelback and is damn proud of it.  I on the otherhand am not and tried to convince him that there is real music outside that adult contemporary crap.  It was good fun.

After that I just wanted to go home and be alone.  I was in a funk and really did not want to be around people.

I had plans of staying and and blogging, reviewing, catching up on email, and whatnot.  I wanted to be internet hermit and I would have been happy with that.  My friends Kolb and Fatty had other ideas and begged me to go with them to the “Valley” in Akron, a gathering of bars surrounded by apartment complexes filled with college kids.

I figured it could not hurt to go out just for a bit and hang wth my friends.  Plus Kolb’s father joined us too and I never get to see that classy man much.

The moment I walked down the concrete steps to the bars I wanted to turn around and go home.  I don’t drink, I hate mainstream top 40 music, and most college kids annoy the hell out of me.  What was I thinking?

Matt kept texting me on how good of a time he is having as I am standing at a table where just about everyone around me is sucking down drinks and smoking like chimneys all while bad music is blasting.  At one time some drunk moron fell on me and almost burned me with his lit cancer stick. I could only imagine what would have happened if he burnt me or my Ol’ Dirty Bastard shirt I was proudly wearing…

I was not enjoying the atmosphere but I was enjoying the company around me.  It was nice to kick it with my pals and meet some of their cool friends too.  There might have also been some eye candy too…

I finally left the “Valley” after the douchebag to non-douchebag ratio was 20:1 and came home to my pups who are always happy to see me.  Rather than pass out I opted to stay up and play Wii Sports Resort.  Before I knew it the sun was about to come up.  Sheesh!

It was nice to get out but I really wish I could have gone to Musica instead.  Next time Matt, I promise.

Life is tough sometimes and the personal problems and battles sometimes become too much ever for a tough guy like me.  Things will work out for the best whatever they may be.  I should be out of this funk soon and I will return to my regularly scheduled blogging nonsence, I just hope most of you will stick around for it!

Cleveland, Experimental, Good Times, Indie, Live Shows, Music, Music Video, Personal Entry, Photography, Rock, WTF

Jumping Around Cleveland On A Tuesday & Thursday

Leave a comment

On Tuesday I ventured the hip streets of Waterloo before checking out Those Darlins at the Beachland Tavern.  Any time I ever see a show at the Beachland I make sure I stop at two of my favorite shops in Cleveland.  Both shops are independently owned music stores by awesome folk.

First up is Blue Arrow Records.

The floors of this store are amazing. Yes, those are record sleeves.
The floors of this store are amazing. Yes, those are all record covers.

Every time I go in this store I page through the bins of vinyl hoping to score something good to take home and throw a needle on.  I have found some great finds there including some old Rollins Band records as well as a Propellerheads vinyl.  I love the randomness that I can find there and the constant music playing on the speakers is enjoyable as well.

Focusing on mostly rock the store offers all sorts of genres of wax.  Store owner Pete Gulyas not only knows his stuff but loves to share it with others.  The guy also has one hell of a personal Clash collection on display at his store right now.

Blue Arrow Records is one of those stores for any seasoned music fan as well as novice collector to go crazy about.  Recently Pete told me that he is going to be the east side distributor of Derek Hess prints.  The store got even cooler once he told me that.

About a block down the street is the other shop I always make sure I stop in at when in the area.  The store is Music Saves and recently the store celebrated their 5 year Store-A-Versary.  More on that in a bit.

The coolest Dunny sits on the Music Saves counter.
The coolest Dunny sits on the Music Saves counter.

Music Saves is the other mecca of a music store on Waterloo I try and frequent a lot.  The store is full of new and used vinyl as well as carries CDs most of which are indie bands but there is also punk, hip hop, and rock too.  If you can’t find what you are looking for, the good folk at Music Saves will even attempt to special order you something.  The owners are pretty damn cool too and so is their black cat appropriately named Vinyl Kitty.

While visiting on Tuesday I was informed that Music Saves was celebrating their 5 year Store-A-Versary on Thursday at the Grog Shop featuring some great music and guaranteed good times.  I was invited to stop by and hang out so I made plans to do so.  Sadly I knew Vinyl Kitty was not going to be there but I still planned on attending.

On Thursday before I headed to Coventry I made a stop with my friend to stop at the St. Greg’s carnival in S. Euclid as a handful of old friends were hanging out there and grabbing a bite to eat.  There is a memory from my past that always comes to mind when someone says St. Greg’s carnival.

Story time…  (Mom you might not want to read this, haha)

I met this group of friends while taking classes at Tri-C.  There were five of us yet we called ourselves “The Four Horsemen”.  These were the guys I bowled with and partied with while in my early twenties.  I even got a place with one of them for a year but that is another story in itself.  “The Four Horsemen” slowly drifted apart mainly because I moved to Akron and a couple of them started families but we made a pact to start hanging out a little more frequently.

Anyways I am sure you are wondering about this St. Greg story.

These friends of mine all grew up in S. Euclid, all went to school together, and have all been friends since childhood.  They took me in and treated me like I was one of their childhood friends and before long they were taking me to a summer ritual of theirs, the St. Greg carnival.

The church ran carnival featured some of the best Italian food as well as legal church gambling, games, and of course beer.  One particular year we attended I was broke and joked with my friends as we walked past the fishbowl game that if they won a fish I would eat it but they would have to buy me a beer.

I did not think they were going to do it to be honest, but they did and the guys started pulling out $20’s and bought endless amounts of ping pong balls to try and throw in the fish tanks to win a fish prize.  Shaking my head as they keep trying to win the fish I asked myself what the hell I got myself into.  After five minutes of throwing ping pong balls there were seven goldfish in bags being held by my friends with huge grins on their faces.

Not being one to ever back down I took the first goldfish, popped it in my mouth and had a nice little sushi snack.

People started gathering around me as I downed the second and third fish.  The carnie behind the fishbowl game booth was cheering me on as were most of the crowd.  There were of course a few people yelling at me for doing such a terrible think but they did not understand I was getting beers out of it.  My friends of course were going nuts.

Seven fish later we were off to the beer stand for my reward.  Was it worth it?  Yes.

Oh memories.

So it was to be expected when I saw my friends at St. Greg’s this year they offered to win more of fish.  Instead I was treated to some fired dough, ciabatta bread, and other delicious Italian foods.  We sat around for a few and chatted but just before 9pm I had to get going so I could make the show.

While driving down to Coventry I decided to make a couple of shortcuts so that I could just get to the parking deck without driving down Coventry and boy am I glad I did.  As soon as I got in the area I noticed that there was an abundance of cars parked on the streets and soon started seeing streets closed off.  I managed to get my car to the parking deck and snagged a great spot.  When I went to put some quarters in the meter I saw this:

Honestly I had never seen anything like it before.  The entire strip of Coventry was closed from Euclid Hts. to Mayfield road.  It was crowded as hell too…

Slowly making way to the courtyard in front of the Grog Shop my concert going pal and I made it before the show started.  My friend Ryan who is the drummer for Upsparing Sea spotted me and we chatted for a bit before they took stage.  I’ll be honest with you all and confess that even though Ryan is a pretty good friend of mine, I had no idea what his band sounded like.  So when he and his three other band mates took the stage I was just as curious as the rest were to hear them.

Unsparing Sea put on a great show and I have to admit I really got a kick out of their style.  I loved the fact that they had a cellist and also an Ol’ DIrty Bastard poster hanging from the lead vocalist’s mic stand.  Their sound was more indie folk and they really sounded well.  I did feel bad for the band though as they had to pack their instruments into an already clogged stage thanks to the headliner but it did not seem to bother them at all.  Head over to their MySpace page to get a taste of some Unsparing Sea.  Who knows, you might like it just as I did!

Here’s a video of Unsparing Sea’s “Wolves At  Wedding”:

The second band, Baltimore’s Ponytail really confused me because I could not decide if I liked them or not.  Almost all of the crowed loved them but I myself could not grasp why.  I enjoyed the music tremendously but the lead girl with the mic making random yeps and cries was giving me a headache so bad that I opted to leave mid-set and head home.

I of course took a video to share with you all.  This was one of the tamer songs and the more and more I watch it, I think I like it…

Now on the other hand I am the one that Tweeted:

Ponytail on stage. This some weird indie sh@t…and I think I like it.

Moments later:

I lied. This sh@t is way too weird for me. Sounds like wild animals having sex on a piano.

Followed by:

Someone take the goddamn mic away from the little kid on stage. Oh wait, some people are actually clapping to this noise.

Finally:

All I can say about this band is WTF. Seriously I feel so lost. I am not cool enough to be here. I do not understand. Help.

I was not kidding when I said I left mid-way through Ponytail’s set.  I opted to miss out on Yeasayer and kind of regret it but at the same time I had a pretty busy day and just wanted to get home.  I got hell from Melanie from Music Saves when I said bye to her and I deserved it.

Walking down Coventry with my friend we opted to hit up Phoenix Coffee for a little pick me up.  It was a good ending to a busy day.  With the streets still crowded after midnight we walked back to the car and headed back.

Good times.  I needed them.

Cleveland, Emo, Festival, Good Times, Hardcore, Hip Hop, Live Shows, Metal, Music, Personal Entry, Photography, Pop Rock, Punk, Screamo

More Warped Memories…

1 Comment

So tomorrow the all day punk rock summer camp, also know as the Van’s Warped Tour, returns to Cleveland.  Once again I, along with a few of my friends, will make way through the endless crowds of kids to check out some amazing punk rock bands including Bad Religion, NOFX, Flogging Molly, and Gallows.

Armed with my trusty camera (the pics in this post are from the 2007 & 2008 Warped Tour FYI) I plan on doing my best to take some killer photos to share with all my readers.  I always have fun mingling with the fans and the bands and already know tomorrow will be an amazing day.  I may even sneak in a couple of photo sessions or interviews too.

I can not even tell you the number of Warped Tours I have been to but I know I have attended over half of them that rolled through Cleveland since 1996.  There were good times and bad times as well as times I do not even remember.

I’ve seen the festival blossom into what it is now and have watched grow as it moved from venue to venue in Cleveland.  I even remember the one time it was held at the Agora!  I think that was in 1997 and I do not remember any of it except for it being very cramped.

Having already recapped the 1996 Warped Tour in a previous blog, I though I would continue the fun stories although I am not sure my other Warped memories can top that dog choke chain story…

Here are a few select years I remember:

1998
I remember this Warped Tour being at the Nautica Stage / parking lot in the West Side of the flats in Cleveland.  Utilizing the parking lot the festival did not seem too cramped but I know that a whole ton of kids snuck in without paying as the fences were unguarded and short.

There were a few bands I can recall without looking them up on the internet that played including Bad Religion, NOFX, Rancid, Deftones, Kid Rock, MXPX, Unwritten Law, and the The Aquabats.

It was a good time although I was not feeling very well.  I was having stomach issues and just did not want to be bothered by anyone.  During Rancid a girl was punching people and kicking the guys in their lower abdominal area.  I yelled at her for her to stop kicking people in the junk after she got me once.  She went for round two to my crotch with her Doc Martin and I grabbed her foot and…well that’s all I have to say about that.  Everyone in the pit cheered.

My long time friend Gary was with us and I remember him flicking off the Goodtime III as it sailed past us.  The horror on the people’s faces was priceless.

Kid Rock…wow.  Kid Rock was one of the closing bands for the day and I kid you not (no pun intended) there were less than twenty people checking him out.  No one seemed to like him.  In fact, after a couple of songs my friends and I took off as did most of the crowd.  (Not even a year later Kid Rock would be opening up for Metallica)

2004
Ha, this was the year my pal Anthony and I collectively spent over $211 on beer.  Yes, $211 of our hard earned money was spent on overpriced draft beer.  I had brought a lot of cash with me planning on getting some merch from a lot of the bands I was a fan of and instead thought it would be a good idea to spend it on rounds of beer.

I think the Casualties played as well as NOFX, Bad Religion, Lars Frederickson & The Bastards, Anti-Flag…Yellowcard…umm…that’s all I got.  I was pretty hammered at this Warped Tour.  Ok, pretty was an understatement.

About 10 beers into the day my friends and I found an area to the left of the main stage that we pretty much staked ground at when there were bands we did not care to see.

“Eiffel Tower” was born that day too.  No, I am not talking about the Paris landmark, I am speaking of a cheers that takes 3 or more folk to engage in.  Anthony and I would hold our beers up high in the air to a random beer drinking attendee and scream “Eiffel Tower!!!!” expecting them to hold their beer up too.  At first people looked puzzled at the gesture but soon the beer drinking folk loved it and honestly I think we started something awesome that day…in fact I know we did.

In case you need more proof how much of an a-hole I can be, Yellowcard had just finished up their set and the younger crowd was leaving the main stage area because I think Bad Religion was playing and they needed to get to some other pop-punk stage.  Drunk and annoyed we started yelling at the kinds “get you of here you jerks” as well as called them “phonies”.  The looks of their faces was priceless.

I was that guy, that drunk guy, that annoyed everyone.  Hey, I was having fun so I guess that is all that mattered.  Thankfully we sobered up before the show’s end and then killed even more time afterwards ensuring no dangerous/stupid decisions were made.

2006
This was the first year that I got a VIP pass to the Warped Tour thanks to my lady and to the Transplants‘ guitar tech Jay Bastard.  This year I actually went to Cleveland and then the very next day to Cincinnati.

Avenged Sevenfold, Senses Fail, Transplants, No Use For A Name, My Chemical Romance, Dropkick Murphys, and others were on this bill.

In Cleveland I was tame but Cincinnati was a different story.  I was reunited with Anthony and even though the two of us planned on only spending little money on beer we still got hammered.  “Eiffel Tower” was introduced to Cincinnati that day.

Later during the festival Anthony and I were beyond wasted looking for our girlfriends who were actually on a tour bus with Tim Armstrong (Rancid) and Jay Bastard enjoying the AC.  Anthony and I were hanging on a fence trying to watch the Dropkick Murphys having no idea where to find the girls while sweating our asses off.  Eventually the girls found us drunk morons and walked us back to the car.

I swore to never again get hammered at the Warped Tour.  That sun was lethal and drinking did not help it one bit.  In fact I think it made us drunker…haha.

2007
This was one of those years I will never forget in my life.  Not because of the festival but because of mother nature’s fury.

This was actually the first festival I would not only attend but also review for the blogging site Blogcritics.org.  I was pretty psyched to have the opportunity to review the festival yet a little nervous becuase it was the first time I had ever really reviewed a festival.  I was so clueless what to do or where to go but I soon figured it out.  See below for a link of my review.

I drank one beer this time.  My friends…did not.  “Eiffel Tower” returned to Cleveland.  I kept a good eye on my friends this time to make sure they stayed out of trouble.  I should have kept my eye on the sky.

Around the 3 o’clock hour the blue skies turned dark and a freak thunderstorm rolled in to the Cleveland area.  I remember calling my lady asking her if she was getting hit by the storm.  She was at a dog park by our house and she stated it was still blue skies and had no idea what i was talking about.

This devil of a storm for some reason decided to slowly pass downtown Cleveland causing just horrible conditions, especially for folk like myself who were stuck outside with only tents to protect.  The storm pounded the area with heavy rains and winds so strong I swore we were in a tornado.  Everyone made the best of it because honestly, what the hell were we to do?  Luckily I was under the main tent surrounded by a ton of other folk.  Some kids were not so lucky hiding under bridges and wherever else they could find cover.

After the storm I walked around the grounds and it looked like armageddon.  Almost all of the merch tents were either packed up or blown over and destroyed.  The power was out in most of the city and there were hints of the Warped Tour not going on.  Even though the rumors were brewing, not many fans left and stuck it out waiting for an official announcement.

Kevin Lyman, the founder of the Warped Tour, made way to a stage where Coheed & Cambria were to play stating that the storm was one of the worst he has ever seen.  He also added that the show would go on and that they had two generators to power the two main stages.  He also offered all the storm survivors an added bonus and told everyone that their ticket stubs were good for admission to any Warped Tour for the duration of the summer.  I did not take advantage of that offer but some of my friends did.

As the sun set Bad Religion took the stage with a single hanging light bulb hovering over the stage.    It was a bittersweet ending to one heck of a day.

Click here for the review I did for the 2007 Warped Tour on Blogcritics.org

2008
Pretty tame year actually.  Since earlier in the year I put drinking on a hiatus I just flooded myself with water and enjoyed such acts as Against Me!, Story Of The Year, Gallows, Gym Class Heroes, MC Chris, 3OH!3, Beat Union, The Briggs, Pennywise, and Bouncing Souls.

Click here for the review I did for the 2008 Warped Tour on Blogcritics.org

2009
The day starts tomorrow at 11am.  I am sure I will have some stories to share.

Until then, have a good one.

Eye Opener, Music, Music Video, Personal Entry, Pop, Punk

Story Of The Year Pay Tribute To The Troops

Leave a comment

Recently pop punk rockers Story Of The Year released a very heartfelt video for their song titled “Terrified”, a song off of their 2008 release The Black Swan. This is one of those songs that can bring some tears to your eyes and the video just adds even more potential.  With Independence Day this weekend the band recently created the video in honor of all the men and women who are or have served in the armed forces.

The band talks about the video:

“The video for “Terrified” is pretty much a direct interpretation of the lyrics,” explains singer Dan Marsala. “A story of a husband who is off at war, scared of the fact that he might not ever make it home to his wife and family, and a pregnant wife who is left at home, not knowing if she will ever see her husband alive again. It is an extremely touching subject because there are hundreds of thousands of families in America going through this exact scenario as we speak. It has to be one of the most terrifying situations that any family could ever experience. I think the video is a great representation of the story told in the lyrics and it is our tribute to all the families who suffer through this situation every day.”

“What excites me the most about this video,” adds guitarist Ryan Phillips, “is that it takes an enormous issue our generation is facing, the war in Iraq, and instead of getting political we honed in on the human aspect of the situation.”

Story Of The Year – “Terrified”

This pop-punk ballet got me going a little as one of my friends / co-workers who was serving overseas was injured thanks to a roadside bomb in Iraq.  As I will not reveal his identity for personal reasons I can tell you that the kid’s life will be changed forever and he is currently in Washington D.C. at a hospital.  He will survive but will never be the same.  He is a brave man for doing what he did and I am so glad he was able to return to the states to his family.  I just wish it was not because of the injury.

My thoughts go out to him and his family on a speedy recovery.