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Download This!, Good Times, Live Shows, Music, Random, Review, The Awesome, TV Party Tonight!

You Down With The EG At The OG In The C(anton)?

22 March, 2010 Brian Mc 1 Comment

Saturday night I conquered new territory, saw a show, and got to hang out with old friends. It was a very quick and triumphant evening full of laughter, new faces, and 80’s/90’s sitcom references sung in the key of The Electric Grandmother (TEG).

Let me explain because I am sure you are scratching your head right now…

TEG, aka my great friends Pete and his awesome wife Mary Alice (MA), decided to grace the city of Canton, OH with their presence and play a show at a place called Old Glory (more on OG in a moment).

So what kind of music do they play? The answer is Sitcom-core. Take one part 80’s & 90’s sitcom love and add it to freaky beats and a roller-coaster of vocals that are pure raunchy yet hilarious. That is Sitcom-core. I should also add TEG has been doing their thing before Nerd-core was even fathomed – so no haters please, they are pros at this and honestly, it is way more entertaining.

The two person team is musically and visually entertaining with Pete belting out the singing and creating the beats while MA takes care of a slide show like no other that coincides with the music. It is like nothing you have ever seen or heard and you need to have an appreciation for cheesy ass television to even remotely have a clue. It’s fun and meant to be fun and they are also my friends so I guess that makes it even more special to me every time I get to see them.

Photo by Allsion Edwards — Photo by Allison Edwards

Aside from them making what TEG is, I have known Pete for half my life now and he along with Mary Alice are two of the most genuine people I know. Sadly I do not get to see them as much as I would like to as they reside in Columbus but we still communicate quite often. Needless to say when they told me they were going to be performing at a venue in Canton I was most than pleased and canceled all zero plans I had that evening to go and see them.

Now I am not familiar with Canton at all but thanks to my trusty GPS I was able to find Old Glory, at least I thought I did. The sign on the building said Old Glory Tattoos and for a quick moment thought I found the wrong place and was about to give the bird to my GPS. You see, I have a bad history of GPS’s taking me through the ghetto of different cities. I have driven through the projects of Baltimore once on account of a GPS thinking it knew the quickest route to a venue so once I learned that Old Glory Tattoos is now Old Glory I just laughed.

Old Glory is basically a DIY house. They are working on getting a liquor license so they can sell beer during shows and turn into a business but until then they open their doors to all who want to attend free of charge. Until that happens the venue is BYOB and smoking is welcomed (not a fan) since technically they are not a business. The owners of the place were super awesome and I wish I was able to remember their names but to make a long story short the place was a tattoo shop in a not-so-good part of town so he decided to close the shop up and open up something fun – a place where bands could play music.

There was no cover for the show as mentioned before but donations to the venue and the bands was accepted. Supposedly there were to be 5 bands all together that were to play that night but only 3 showed up and stayed. I guess one band showed up called Hollywood Lies (no link necessary, I am not going to promote them) and said they would be back but never came back. Apparently they played the Warped Tour and they were too good for OG. Kinda of a douche move if you ask me… It’s ok though because I did not want to see them play if they were going to have that type of mentality.

The neat thing about DIY houses is that there are loyal attendees that will always come out and see what is going on. Rather than have TEG play just to a handful of folk the owner of OG kept asking them to hold off and kept making phone calls. By 10:30pm there was a nice collection of music and beer lovers in the house.

TEG took the stage and immediately wowed everyone in the place with “The Day I Pretended To Watch Airwolf”. Those in the crowd who were there to see TEG knew what to expect but for all of the people that just came in unknowingly they were all very accepting of Sitcom-core to their virgin ears.

I admit I get nervous for my friend’s bands sometimes when they get on stage to a new crowd but I don’t ever need to worry about Pete. He is one of the punkest kids I know in life and he could really care less what you think about his music. He is there to have a good time and just do his thing. The folk in OG Saturday night really did get a kick out of TEG as they played though the night with”England-man American”,”New Coke Rap”, and also fan favorites “Car Phone” as well as a song dedicated to The Golden Girls. Throughout the songs MA kept the projections moving along with hilarious pictures that reminded all how corny yet memorable television and culture was in the 80’s and 90’s.

By set’s end the place was having fun and that is exactly with TEG came there to do. Giving away free CDs and making fun of the bands that did not show up to OG that night TEG was all about having a good time. TEG is not a gimmick by any means and what they do is for the love of performance, gratitude, and plain old generosity.

How generous? Well TEG is offering all of his synth heavy albums for free download. Yes, free. The following are a couple links to download his most recent albums. Check them out and honestly if you don’t like them delete them but I can guarantee that at least a couple of the songs will crack you up and who knows, you might just become a fan of The Electric Grandmother. It’s ok, I won’t tell your friends…but you should because it’s ok to like them.

Download This! – The Electric Grandmother – Listening Party
Download This! – The Electric Grandmother – The Stenographer
Download This! – The Electric Grandmother – Pee Sells But Who’s Buying

For more free downloads visit The Electric Grandmother’s website.

Be their friend on Facebook. TEG writes a pretty funny and to the point blog as well…

Here is a quick documentary done about The Electric Grandmother:

Babble Blog, Cincinnati, Funny, Good Eats, Good Times, Photography, Road Trip, The Dumb

Babble Blog: G250 & Shooting Trees

28 October, 2009 Brian Mc Leave a comment

Good news everybody!

All I can think of at this very moment is Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth:

Seriously though, there is some good news as I was able to recover a lot of data thanks to a computer whiz at work. This means I have all my music and photos back. Sadly I am still having a hard time finding my contacts and whatnot in Outlook. I really hope I can figure something out and retrieve some of those email messages but if it is not able to happen at least I got something back…

Why are computers such a pain in the ass? I wish I could have had some warning so that I could have planned accordingly. Lesson learned.

I have noticed lately that I have actually been blogging more personal aspects of life rather than what music I am listening to. Get used to it. Sometimes there is nothing better than typing out your day/week/month for the world to read. Who knows, someone might get a kick out of it.

A few days ago I was having one of those days where the zippers were falling apart on my hoodies and the pain from screwdrivers stabbing my thumb while trying to fix it just made it worse. Crappy as it was, it turned for the best when I found a package at my front door. It is the little things in life that mean the most. Someone out there took time out of their life to make me something and honestly it is the coolest thing I have ever received:

Of course I have already sent something back. I look forward to the reaction. It was nothing absurd in case you were wondering… It was thoughtful, fun, and maybe even amazing.

BHP is still getting things straightened out with the whole loss of the laptop. Any day now I will be posting worthless information for everyone to shake their heads to. Speaking of, let me tell you about my weekend…

This past weekend I went to Cincinnati to visit one of my best friends. Usually when I make the trip down there I take a friend but this time it was just me and the pups. I left Saturday morning and arrived there just before noon and returned home the following evening around 7pm. That one quick trip was full of hilarity from the moment I pulled into his driveway.

I could sit here and talk about everything that happened while down there but that might take a while so I will just point out the parts I look back at and either shake my head or laugh at.

-Hibachi. There is a place in Cincinnati called Tokyo that has the best sushi and hibachi ever. I make a point to go there each time I visit. Their dragon rolls are quite possibly the best I have ever had and the hibachi is damn tasty as well. The staff is super friendly and usually when we go it is not busy. This particular time it was just me and my friend at the hibachi grill. We stuffed our faces, talked for hours,and sipped on sake. Life is good.

Sushi @ Tokyo

-IKEA. I have always liked IKEA products but never had been to one of their stores. An IKEA store opened in Cincinnati within the last couple years and I decided it was time to pay the store a visit. Walking in there I felt like I was in a Disney World attraction with all the different types of people and giant cargo elevators as well as human jammed escalators. I felt like I was in a rat race of sorts following all the people through the upper level of the building that showcased different rooms full of IKEA product. After endlessly dodging customers and employees while looking for an end to the maze I found myself getting bored and decided a pillow fight was in order. Some of the IKEA zombies did not like that. Moving on we managed to get lost but then noticed the convenient arrows on the ground were pointing the opposite direction we were walking so a u-turn got us back on track. As if the upper level was not enough we skipped the Swedish meatball stand and headed downstairs where it was just a warehouse of product. I admit I bought some stuff but did not spend a lot of money. I grabbed two pillows, two small tables, and a tool set. I wanted more but knew it was not a good idea. The shopping carts did sweet 360’s too.

-Roman Candles (Part 1). When a friend tells you that the roman candle you are about to light off may shoot far, listen. I did not and shot one of the balls of fire over my friend’s fence and into his neighbor’s yard. Oops.

-Guinness 250th Anniversary Stout. It’s been a little over a month since I started drinking again. I went alcohol free for a while not just because I wanted to see if I could but because I needed a break. As soon as I fell off the wagon I had a mission to find the Guinness 250 stout. The G250 is a limited edition Guinness stout that was brewed for their 250 year anniversary – simple enough right? Well I have been unsuccessful in finding it on tap in my neck of the woods but was lucky to find an Irish pub in Newport, KY that had it. My friend and I drove there, took at seat at the back bar, and proudly ordered a pint. My (insert worship character of choice) that beer was absolutely AMAZING. It is not thick like Guinness as it is a stout, but still holds that distinguished taste I love.

-Zombie Girl. After we left the pub we walked around the Newport area and as I walked past a Hot Topic I noticed a girl dressed like a zombie lying on the floor perfectly still just inside the entrance. She waved ever so slightly to inform me she was not dead (yet) so being the friendly guy that I am I walked up to her and complimented her on her zombie success. It was funny to see other passerby’s reactions, many who just did not get it. I wanted to punch those people in the face but did not. As my friend and I left the Hot Topic I noticed Ms. Zombie Girl had her hand open as if she were holding it open for a donation. I told my friend I wish I had some change to drop in her hand but my friend was quick to my idea and pressed thirteen cents into the palm of her hand. She looked me confused and we left laughing. We are idiots, yes.

-Roman Candles (Part 2). This time was a little funnier and a little dumber as I thought it would be a good idea to light more roman candles in the early hours of the morning. This time I made sure to hold it away from any neighboring house but for whatever reason managed to shoot a tree with the first fireball. I am an idiot, yes I am.

I survived the weekend unscathed. I did not hurt myself or others so I must say the weekend was a great success. I visited one of my best friends ever, ate mad amounts of foods, drank for at least 12 hours, and remember everything. Good times indeed.

The dogs had fun too. Of course I took them, they have friends in Cincinnati too…

The pups...

Akron, Babble Blog, Cleveland, Funny, Good Times, Live Shows, Music, Personal Entry, Punk

Babble Blog: Weekend + Punk Rock + Friends + Beer = Great Hang

11 October, 2009 Brian Mc Leave a comment

What a weekend… Time to blog about it!

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’s I & Love & You LP 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.

90's, Cleveland, Funny, Good Eats, Good Times, Live Shows, Music, Personal Entry, Punk, Reunion, Rock

Well Overdue Post Regarding Some Fun Events From Past Weeks

20 August, 2009 Brian Mc 1 Comment

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.

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.

The 27th is the homecoming show of Nicholas Megalis at House Of Blues Cleveland. At $5 a ticket I am sure there will be a lot of folk there. Then on the 28th is Cracker at the Beachland Ballroom. Can someone say me so busy? Well, I am.

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.

Art, Funny, Photography, Road Trip, Watch This

Sexy Brokenheadphones?

26 July, 2009 Brian Mc 2 Comments

The other day I was taking my boys on their morning walk around the marshmallow ghetto. As usual I was wearing my headphones that were not broken and jamming out to good jams contained within my iPod. As I got to an intersection I stopped to avoid getting run over.

While waiting for the light to turn green I noticed a car containing two cute girls smirking at me. Immediately I smiled back thinking that the sun might have been reflecting on me making my appearance that much more stunning. They both started giggling and I immediately thought they were giggling at my dogs because they are pretty cute too. I turned to look at them and thank them for attracting cute girls for me and that is when I discovered what all the smirking and giggling was all about.

Sweet Lou was taking a sweet poo.

Awesome.

Anyways I wanted to apologize for the lack of posts within the last few days after almost overflowing the site earlier this week with reviews and whatnot. Don’t worry I still have tons of material to review but sometimes work gets the best of me.

Today though I was approached by my friend’s website Sexy Photo Trip (SPT) about helping them out. The site is 18+ so all you youngsters you need not know what they are all about.

So what is Sexy Photo Trip you ask?

Here is a video that can explain it:

Bascially SPT is according to their site:

We are 2 photographers and a make up artist, traveling the country documenting our travels and telling our stories. We shoot naked girls throughout all of this. They are very nice and very tight. We like girls who chew gum and walk with confidence.

We are road trippers, documentarians and voyeurs. We’re here to document a day in the life of interesting women willing to share intimate details of their life with us and to make very nice, very tight sexy photo shoots.

It’s not porn by any means, it’s art and it’s fun. Marcos and I made nice nice a few years back when I was a writer for a certain site I care not to talk about any more. We met up in Austin for an event and have remained friends since. He is one of the reasons I got a little more serious with the camera and he is also the reason I speak like Borat a lot.

Marcos asked me if I could help SPT with supplying music for future videos seeing on how I am exposed to a lot of bands these days. Of course I said yes. I am looking forward to working with SPT in the near future and hopefully one day can be in on of their videos being remixed as I scream at traffic.

If you are interested in photography of beautiful women with little or no clothing as well as witty smart humor head over to Sexy Photo Trip and see what happens when three friends travel around the country for the sole purpose of taking sexy photos. Nice.