April 01, 2012 – Cleveland, OH -- Driftless Pony Club, Stellaluna

Venue:  Grog Shop

I don't remember many details from this show.

My girlfriend was a huge fan of Driftless Pony Club, and I went with her to this show.

I am 90% sure that this show was at the Grog Shop, and I think some other band headlined, because it is hard to believe that Driftless Pony Club was big enough to headline at Grog Shop.

We may have left after they played?  I'm not sure.

I actually enjoyed a few tracks off their album 'Buckminster'.

January 03, 2009 – Cleveland, OH – The Sounds of Seattle Tour – Ten, Hungerstrike, Badmotorfinger, Nevermind

Venue: House of Blues

I wouldn't normally list a all cover bands show on here, but this one is important to me for a few reasons:

1.)  It was my first time seeing professional cover bands.  I always wanted to know just how good or sad they could be.

2.)  I won these free tickets from a radio station call-in!

3.) After the end of my first long term relationship I was down about a lot of shit in my life and this show meant a lot to me.  I think my friend Giselle went with me. 

We had a good time.

The show was fine.  The band's performed well enough, and it wasn't that sad. 

It was pretty weird to see a Temple of the Dog specific cover band, but I guess you have to take advantage of having both a fake Chris Cornell and a fake Eddie Vedder.

The saddest part was the singer for the Nirvana cover band wearing his best awful Kurt Cobain outfit.  He even had the long hair in front of his face, like from some of the videos.

July 29, 2017 -- Cleveland, OH -- The Shins, Tennis

Venue:  Agora Theater

I love The Shins.  I like the album they were touring on here.  I liked the setlist they played this night.

I do not like being in the pit at the Agora during a sold-out show.  It is awful.  You are "nuts-to-butts" with people and have no room to breath.  As you get sweatier, due to the Agora's almost complete lack of air flow, you begin to question your decision in coming to the show in the first place.

I should have moved.

I could have moved, but at a sold-out show at the Agora it is often very difficult to find a place where you can see if you go back to the raised areas in the back of the venue.

I decided to be stubborn and miserable and stand down in the pit, about ten people from the stage and continuously feel someone breath on my neck, because their mouth was mere inches from my neck.

Tennis opened for The Shins, and this was my second or third time seeing them open for someone.  If you were an alt-rock band in 2017/2018, Tennis seemed to become the go-to band to ask to go out with you on a tour.  I have seen them open for Spoon, The Shins, and I will soon see them open for The Decemberists.  Tennis's  lead singer's hair is always big.  The guitarist's shirt is always shiny.  They are delightful and chill and make a good opening band.

The Shins played many songs that one would expect, but I was once again surprised by their opening up their encore with a sad murky song.  This time it was 'The Fear' off their new album.  Just like seeing their song 'Port of Morrow' open an encore a few years earlier, they elevated a dark and moody song to another level and James Mercer poured himself into the lyrics.  It was wonderful.

They ended with the same 'American Girl' tag during their closing song 'Sleeping Lessons', like I heard them play during the Bunbury Festival.  It liked it more when I heard it on that breezy summer day at Bunbury, but I had more air and more space and James Mercer was wearing cool sunglasses.

August 21, 2017 -- Cleveland, OH -- Green Day, Catfish and the Bottlemen

Venue:  Blossom Music Center

Green Day was my first real favorite band.

In 1994, I was eleven years old and I discovered Green Day through their music videos on MTV and from some of their songs being played on local rock stations.  I was kind of obsessed with their songs 'Longview' and 'Basket Case'.

Their 1994 album 'Dookie' was the first album I ever asked for a present, and my parents got me it on tape on my birthday in January of 1995.  I wore out that tape, but I only every listened to the singles over and over again.

Throughout Green Day's lifespan, they have released many album of varying quality and they have gone about as main stream as a band can get, and for many reasons, I kind of fell out of being a fan.  I remember really liking the album 'American Idiot', and I still think it has a few good songs, but my opinion of that album and of the band turned sour after hearing those songs played for the 1 millionth time.

I had an opportunity to see Green Day at Lollapalooza 2010 and instead opted to see the band Phoenix, which was a good choice at the time, considering Phoenix were touring on their awesome 'Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix' album.

I wanted to see Green Day to "check that box" and finally see a band that was an important part first step in nurturing my love of music.

My friend Chuck agreed to go to this show at Blossom with me, but he was probably more excited to see Catfish and the Bottlemen again.

The show was crowded and cloudy.  Blossom parking is always atrocious.  You park at least a mile from the venue unless you get there hours on advance, and leaving is worse unless you get out to your car before the music ends.

Catfish and the Bottlemen put on a good show and so did Green Day.

Green Day played probably half of 'Dookie' and a third of 'American Idiot'.  Billie Joe Armstrong's voice sounded great for his age.  Twenty-some years after I heard him on my tape he still sounded the same.

They brought a kid up on stage, had him play guitar and then gave him the guitar.  I had read a review of another show and discovered that they do this at every show, which is fine, but I hate when bands repeat the same songs AND experience or banter.

Once or twice during the show I felt a twinge of how I felt when I used to listen to 'Dookie' on my Sony Cassette Walkman.  They played 'Longview' and I sang along and then it all washed away when they played some newer song.

Sometimes it's good to go back and try to feel a certain way again.  It's not always healthy to chase after nostalgia and an old feeling, but it can be good for your heart.

Chuck and I left two songs before the end of the show and walked the mile or two back to my car and slipped quietly out of a packed Blossom parking lot.

I have no regrets.

June 24, 2011 -- Detroit, MI -- Matt & Kim, The Hood Internet

Venue:  The Majestic Theatre

I attended this show as part of a trip to Detroit to see Eddie Vedder solo at the Fox Theater.  I went on this little 2-3 day trip with my girlfriend at the time.  She was a big fan of Matt & Kim and I enjoyed them live, despite never really listening to them on my own time.

I think Matt & Kim are better at festivals than at theaters.  I think they just feel like the right music to listen to on a sunny summer day, and not so much what I want to see in a dark room.

This was one of many times that I saw Matt & Kim, and I remember it being one of the tightest of their performances.  They sometimes have a tendency to play a lot of covers, partial songs, and just kind of goof around.  I much prefer when they actually just play their songs and don't try to be a shallow party band.  They actually have some well written songs and they should showcase them more often.

A few recollections from the show include:

-A short blond haired girl behind me kept tapping me on the shoulder and yelling at me to dance.  She was mad that I wasn't moving around enough.  I did not dance.  I do not dance.

-This theater is beat up.  I have a most likely exasgerrated memory of shreds of wallpaper or wall-covering hanging off the ceiling and walls.  The place was rough.

#3098

I lost myself and don't really know who I am.

Too many days of worry and work.

I need hours and days to shake it off.

I sometimes feel like I am not where I should be.

I missed a meeting, a car ride, a class, a pamphlet.

I'll just keep making the best of where I've ended up.

Looking for everything to line back up for another day or minute.

Quick Game Review: Celeste

Platform I Played: Nintendo Switch

I have a confession:  I'm bad at twitch platformers.

I die.  Over and over.  Again and again.

It's sad.

I've never really been that great at completing a quick succession of actions.

I watch my younger siblings make jumps on the first or second try that take me more than a couple of tries.

So, it's amazing to me that, after 1,800+ deaths, I stuck with Celeste and made it to the end.

What kept me going in Celeste was the story.  This sets Celeste apart from other ultra-difficult platformers, in that it has an engaging and touching story that deals with mental illness and how we cope with anxiety and depression.

In Celeste, you play as Madeline, a girl who is intent on climbing Celeste Mountain.  Over the course of the game's main eight chapters, it's revealed that the mountain acts as a place for her to work through her demons and face them.  The Mountain is both a setting and metaphor, and many of the characters and set pieces throughout the story represent something more than they seem.

It's a story about having the courage to face yourself and your limits, even though you might be telling yourself that you are tired or not good enough.  The struggle in the game is mirrored, in some small part, by your struggle playing the game.  I couldn't give up on myself or on Madeline, and I had to keep pushing on.

I never came close to completing Super Meat Boy, and I bounced off games like VVVVVV and I Wanna Be The Guy, but Celeste, from developer Matt Makes Games, kept me hooked until the end and well into collecting items to unlock more.

You should buy this game.

September 15, 2017 -- Cleveland, OH -- Queens of the Stone Age

Venue:  Agora Theater

This was the second of two times that I saw Queens of The Stone Age on their 'Villains' tour.

It was also only the second of third show I went to with my girlfriend Whitney.

The sold-out (or near sold-out) Agora is a crowded, often hot and uncomfortable venue, but it wasn't that bad tonight.  The worst part was that we arrived a little later than I would have wanted and we had to park a few blocks down the street and walk through some shady parts of Cleveland.  Luckily, others had to park in the same tire dealship parking lot and we could all walk together to the venue.

Queens of The Stone Age were great as usual.  They played a setlist that was fairly similar to the Columbus show that i had just been to, which was fine, since I hadn't heard the new songs that much.

Notable additions were Kalopsia and I Think I Lost My Headache.  They closed out with Song for the Dead as the usually do, and I remember being a little bummed that they didn't play Make It Wit Chu.

For whatever reason, Whitney and I were tired that night and I was actually happy to get out of there and head home by the end of the show.  Queens shows are exhausting and fun.

June 24, 2015 – Columbus, OH – My Morning Jacket, Floating Action

Venue:  Palace Theatre

I have seen My Morning Jacket more than a couple times, and I am not all that huge of a fan.  They always put on a good show, and they share something with my favorite band, Pearl jam, in that they always really mix up the setlist.

This was night two of a two night stand in Columbus.  I commend them for playing completely different setlists each night, but it was a bummer missing some of the songs from the first night.  I was there with Joe and Chuck and we all agreed that we should have maybe seen them both nights.

This was also my first time coming to this very nice theatre.

We walked around a mostly empty downtown Columbus and found nothing to do.  There were one or two strange restaurants open on mostly empty blocks, but everything else was closed down.

I remember seeing a guy in a Pearl Jam shirt, and I made sure to remind Joe and Chuck that I had seen My Morning Jacket live a few times when they opened for Pearl Jam.

Short and Pointless Movie Review: The Girl on the Train (2016)

(I didn't read the book, but I sold a lot of copies of it at my job over the years.)

This film's story is mostly from the perspective of an unreliable main character.  Emily Blunt plays a drunk, amnesiac and she is very hard to like in this movie.  It is rife with plot devices and twists that are incredibly prevalent in many of the best and the worst novels or films that sell more than they have any right to.  It's great seeing Justin Theroux (aka Master Codebreaker) playing a silly villain, but overall this movie is a dark and blurry mess.  It plays too much with the mixed unreliable memories of Emily Blunt's character and it moves at a pace that screams that it came from a novel.  Oh, and it has one of those incredibly well placed rocks that sticks out from the forest floor, right next to a root, and perfect for a character that is gonna trip and then get murdered.  Don't float, drink, or trip your way through this one.

Five stars.

New RPG setting

I'm working on a new setting for an RPG.  Here are some basic ideas and the beginning of a rough sketch of whats going on in the world.

-Two worlds in the same solar system.  One is classic fantasy with a dependence on magic, the other is a technologically advanced planet.  The power players or gods of these realms made sure that the two planets never interacted with one another.

-The advanced world is completely destroyed, but not before thousands of refugees of all kinds and species get off the planet.  The leaders are all given the coordinates to the fantasy realm in the final days of the planet.

-The trip from one planet to another, takes awhile, so some time has passed.  Now the fantasy world has to deal with an influx of people and strange technology.

-The advanced technology doesn't have the same materials on the fantasy planet to run them, so alot of the systems and technology just doesn't work or breaks down.  Some of the people from the sci-fi planet kept going into the solar system.

August 18, 2016 – Canton, OH -- Pallbearer

Venue:  The Auricle

This show boasts a very important distinction from my other shows, because it is one of only a handful that took place in Canton, OH.

Most shows in Canton that I have attended (and I have attended dozens), I consider too small or insignificant to list on here.

This was an impromptu show put on by my brother Joe's high school friends.  The guitarist for Doom Metal band pallbearer went to high school in Arkansas with Joe.

Joe only lived in Arkansas for a few years, so it is very cool and very weird that he managed to make friends with a relatively notable recording artist like Pallbearer.

Pallbearer was asked to bring their equipment down into the Auricle and play a set that they weren't planning on playing.  They didn't play any actual songs, instead just jamming and making some interesting soundscapes.  There weren't more than 15 people in the venue and the bands sound guy played with them on stage.  It was cool to watch.

They would play Cleveland the next night and a bunch of us would go and see them at the House of Blues.

Life is weird and small.

September 12, 2008 - Cincinnati, OH - Cincinnati Celtic Festival - Enter the Haggis

Venue:  Sawyer Point/Yeatman's Cove

This was a very small show and I debated including it in my list, but it was important to me at this point in my life.

A few weeks prior to this show I had broken up with my first girlfriend, and so I decided to rent a car and visit my friend Giselle, who lived in Cincinnati at the time.

This was show an impromptu thing and it was part of my "healing process" after my relationship had withered and died a slow death.

I'm not sure if this was the first time I had been to Newport, KY and the parks across the river from it in Cincy, but I have come back to this area many times since then.  Sawyer Point is where the Bunbury Festival would take place.

Enter the Haggis was (and might still be) an Irish/Celtic bagpipe band that play lively Irish stuff that is perfect for a Festival. 

It was a little rainy that night and I remember that the chairs were damp.  We stood in the back and then sat down for awhile at the stage for awhile and later we watched fireworks from the Newport side of the river.

As of writing this, I am happy to say that Enter the Haggis is still a band and still performing,  They are celebrating their 20th anniversary.

Time moves on.

January 16, 2017 – Columbus, OH – Run The Jewels, The Gaslamp Killer

Venue:  Promowest Pavilion/Express Live (Indoor)

Run The Jewels are a great live act.

It isn't so awesome to see them live when the Express Live venue is sold out.

I went to this show with Joe and Chuck, and we arrived late, which didn't help us out in finding a spot to see.

It was very hard to get down onto the floor, and when we did, we could only get down to the extreme side stage area by the fire exits.  We ended up going up into the balcony and standing behind someone on the right-hand side.  A small drunk man stumbled around next to me, bumping into me occasionally, and meanwhile we could barely see them on stage.

Run The Jewels had amazing energy and put on a good show, but the night was ruined by the crowd and the sold out/over-sold Express Live venue.

I would see them again, later in the year at the Forecastle Festival in Louisville, KY, and they had some of the exact same stage banter and the songs were in the same order, which was disspointing. 

At Forecastle Festival, I happily stood at the back of the crowd with plenty of room around me.

November 17, 2014 – Columbus, OH – Interpol, Hundred Waters

Venue:  Newport Music Hall

This was a crowded show at the Newport.

I went down to Columbus alone and it was very cold out that night.  Unseasonably so, as if winter had already come.

This was my second time seeing Interpol.  I had seen them before at Lollapalooza 2007.

They were good here at the Newport, but they were better, tighter and had more energy at Lolla.  The one stand out was how much I liked the song 'Lights' live.  'Lights' was the first single off of their not-very-good-by-any-standard self-titled album that came out a few years before.  The song built up and drove home a very real energy.

Throughout the show, lead singer Paul Banks said as little as humanly possible.  I remember laughing a couple times during the show because his only stage banter was telling everyone what a song was called after they had played it.

They played 'My Blue Supreme'.

Paul said, "That was 'My Blue Supreme'"

They played 'All The Rage Back Home'.

Paul would say, "That was 'All The Rage Back Home'".

I don't need a band to talk much or at all during a show.  I am alright with whatever.  I just thought it was so basic and so straightforward.  It was like he had nothing else to say.  I kind of appreciated it.

A day or two later Interpol's bus would become stranded for awhile in a blizzard along a stretch of highway outside of Buffalo, NY.

They had to cancel a show or two after this Columbus show.

September 17, 2010 – Columbus, OH -- Matt & Kim

Venue:  Newport Music Hall

I simply do not remember anything about this particular show.

I could make up something and say that we watched from the balcony, and that Joe and and my ex-girlfriend were there, but that wouldn't be true.

This is just one of those weird shows where I have blurred it into one of the other times I have seen them, and now it's just a series of images that may or may not have happened.

So here's some things that I think happened:

-Kim stood on her bass drum and yelled.

-Kim had some people hold her feet and she stood in the crowd.

-They played 'Good Old Fashioned Nightmare'

-They played 'Daylight'

-They played the musical part of 'Let Me Clear My Throat'

-It was a pretty good time.

-Everyone had fun.

I'm the pup.

One More Year

Today is my birthday.

I had the pleasure of spending some time with some friends yesterday, but haven't done anything important with my day so far, besides relaxing.

I'm tired.

I have loose, unfinished threads clinging to me. 

Projects, books, music, plans, purchases, friendships, relationships, thoughts, feelings, commitments...

...all part way done.  All unrealized.

I'm looking forward to finishing some things in 2018.

At 35, I thought I'd be better at this.

August 04, 2007 - Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza (Day 2)

Venue:  Grant Park

Artists:  Interpol, Patti Smith, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Hold Steady, Cold War Kids, Silverchair, Pete Yorn, Ryan Shaw

The second day of my first Lollapalooza was great, but looking back on the bands I saw and the lineup in general, it was the low point of the festival this year.

Ryan Shaw, Pete Yorn, and Silverchair were all bands that my girlfriend at the time wanted to see, and while I thought some Silverchair was alright, I don't remember the shows being that great.  I do remember that it was incredibly hot this weekend and we brought in an umbrella to hide under while being baked on the lawn.

I don't remember anything of Cold war Kids, or The Hold Steady's performances, and I barely recall The Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs or Patti Smith.  I particularly regret not getting into or appreciating Patti Smith more.  She is a living legend.

We stood back for most of the acts on this day and explored the festival.

The best act of the day and one of my favorites of the weekend was Interpol.  They were touring on their 'Our Love to Admire' album, and those songs translated wonderfully from the album.  I also got to hear my favorite Interpol song 'Mammoth' at this show.

Interpol headlined the smaller 'Bud Light Stage', while Muse played the much larger AT&T stage across the park.  This would be the first of many times that i would skip Muse at a festival to go see someone else.  Poor Muse.

Short short story #1: Cypher Dream

Reginald Frum sat motionless in his dining room staring out his apartment window onto the city below.  He was dressed in his overcoat and rain boots, as if he was ready to leave at a moments notice.

Reginald's phone kept ringing, and although a small part of him wanted to hear the tones on the other end of the line, he had to remember what "the voices" told him.  So, he waited.

To be honest, he wanted things to go back to a simpler time.  His life for the last ten years was streamlined by the commands hidden in the tones.

"Get up, brush your teeth, comb your hair, work, work, work, eat, go to bed. Get up, brush your teeth, comb your hair, work, work, work, go to bed."

"Don't act up.  Stay in line."

These were the lies that the tones told.  All he had to do to un-complicate his life, would be to pick up the phone and meld into the sound and let it take him back to compliance, but he couldn't. 

Not after what he heard last night.

It was abrupt.  It was violent.

Last night, after work, he picked up his phone, as he was supposed to every night, and as the tone was flowing through him he suddenly experienced the feeling of a glass cracking in his skull. 

There was a sharp whisper that slowly turned into speech.

"You are needed.  You are wanted.  You are unique."

"You are someone."

The whispers continued, "We are Cyphers.  Join us and be free,"  they repeated again and again as tears streamed down his face.

These were the truths that he heard.  He knew them to be true the minute he heard them, and it was like he had never heard or felt anything like it before.  Not since he was a small child, before the Campbell Act went into effect, had he felt like he had his own path.

Reginald was scared. 

He was scared of his new life and all the possibilities, now that he wasn't part of the tone.  He was also scared that if he didn't pick up the phone, the authorities would come after him.  They would find him and they would make him meld back into compliance.

He had to put his faith in the last thing that the Cyphers said to him before the call ended.

"Tomorrow night."

"Be ready."