August 01, 2018 -- Cleveland, OH -- Bully

Venue: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

This was a free show that Bully played outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I saw Bully in 2015 at Lollapalooza and really liked them ever since. At Lolla, their set was in the middle of the day and there were probably 50 people at the small stage that they played at.

This free show was a couple of days before I saw them open for Father John Misty in Pittsburgh.

At one point, during this show in Cleveland, the lead singer mentioned that she had spent part of the day with kids at the Rock Hall summer camp thing that they do. She said that she hoped that they would all find themselves playing somewhere bigger and better than a free show outside the Rock Hall.

I had free tickets for a Guster show on that same night, at the House of Blues in Cleveland, but I was tired and didn’t go.

December 09, 2012 -- Columbus, OH -- Nada Surf, Endless Summers

Venue: The Basement

This was one of a few Nada Surf shows that I attended because my girlfriend at the time was way into them. I came to enjoy their music as well and especially liked their “big” album ‘Let Go’.

This venue has the distinction of being very small and also having bad sight lines. We were two people from the stage and packed into the “pit” and it was not comfortable. When Nada Surf played you could see people had completely filled the pit and were on all the stairs behind the pit as well as the area around the pit. With low ceilings and the way the venue is set up, the people in the back just couldn’t see anything.

I don’t remember many specific details about the performance, but Nada Surf always put on a solid show.

A guy kept yelling for them to play their song ‘Killian’s Red’ and in the small venue it was super annoying, because everyone heard him. They were either planning on playing it anyway or they buckled and then they played it.

Then the guy started yelling for ‘Hyperspace’, and they played that too.

The lead singer Matthew Caws stayed after the show and played a couple of songs on acoustic guitar out in the venue out past where the crowd could see. It was actually pretty cool. He seemed like a genuinely kind guy.

August 07, 2018 -- Cleveland, OH -- David Byrne, Benjamin Clementine

Venue: Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica

Earlier in 2018 I had seen David Byrne in Atlanta at the Shaky Knees Festival and he was amazing there.

This show was the same setlist with a few songs added. It was also a great show, despite everyone on stage coming across as a little tired. The show was further impacted by the fairly muddy sound, so between the tired performance, the same setlist, and the rough sound, the Shaky Knees show was my favorite of the two.

I purchased one ticket for this show in the front row of the stands behind the floor seating. There was a very angry woman sitting a few spots to my left that kept shushing people during the opener for talking too loud. There was also a couple of really cool people sitting directly behind me who started a conversation with me about this show and when they had seen David Byrne in the past. The conversation eventually went to a place where we were comparing shows that we had been to, and I asked if they were thinking about seeing Phil Collins in a few months. The gentleman seemed to be kind of offended that I asked him this and the conversation ended not long after.

The angry woman left the show early, sometime before the encore. She gathered her purse and in a huff looked angrily at everyone and walked toward the venue’s exit. She was an angry, upset cartoon of a woman who had trouble handling the crowd.

I don’t like people talking at concerts either, but she can respectfully and graciously go fuck herself.

September 17, 2018 -- Columbus, OH -- Interpol, Sunflower Bean

Venue: Express Live (Indoor)

I went to this show with my girlfriend Whitney, as well as the usual concert group of Joe and Chuck.

We arrived a little late and missed most of Sunflower Bean, which was a bummer, since I like them alot.

Interpol was great, but the sound was a little muddy and the floor was just crowded enough to be kind of uncomfortable.

Earlier in the tour they were playing my favorite interpol song ‘Mammoth’, but unfortunately, they didn’t play it here.

The last couple of Interpol albums have been pretty decent, but I haven’t really listened to them enough to recognize all of the new songs easily. This new album ‘Marauder’ is a little “samey” and I had trouble differentiating the songs from one another.

Still a good show, just not my favorite Interpol show.

August 11, 2010 – Cleveland, OH – Analog Rebellion, River City Extension, The Manhattan Scene

Venue: The Grog Shop

This was a show that I went to because my girlfriend at the time, Alexa, was really into Analog Rebellion. She liked them alot when the dude from Analog rebellion went by the name PlayRadioPlay!, and I think he had changed his band name shortly before we saw him at this show.

I don’t remember many of the details of the show, except that River City Extension was good and their sound mix was great. They were a folksy rock act that were fairly upbeat and featured a violin and horns maybe? They had 8 to 10 instruments up there and you could hear them all mixed well and differentiated.

I then remember that Analog Rebellion sound mix was the usual Grog Shop muddy bullshit, where you couldn’t make out anything that was being sung and some of the instruments were drowned out by others.

Another example of shitty Grog Shop sound.

September 23, 2015 – Columbus, OH – Father John Misty, Mikal Cronin

Venue: Express Live (LC pavilion indoor)

This was one of my favorite Father John Misty shows, because it was about half empty.

There was nothing but room to move around and not get crushed.

I went to this one alone and that only made things easier to navigate.

He closed out with one of my favorite songs ‘ Every Man Needs a Companion’, and it was great.

I have seen him many times after this and he hasn’t closed with this song since.

February 29, 2016 – Cleveland, OH – Beach House, Wume

Venue: House of Blues

A great show from a band touring behind an excellent record.

I went to this show alone and arrived late, so the floor was almost impossible to get down into.

I managed to get a spot upstairs right along the railing behind the seating area and I just stayed there for 2-3 hours.

At the time I would go to sleep almost every night while playing Beach Houses album ‘ Depression Cherry’, and they played all of my favorites of that record at this show.

Highlights were the songs ‘PPP’ and an amazing version of ‘Sparks’ that closed out the show.

Thinking back on this show just makes me want to go to more shows alone.

3: Favorite Records

Days are slipping by too fast.

My favorite records:

  1. Death Cab For Cutie ‘We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes’

  2. Broken Bells ‘Broken Bells’

  3. Radiohead ‘In Rainbows’

  4. Pearl Jam ‘Yield’

  5. The National ‘Boxer’

  6. Real Estate ‘In Mind’

  7. Queens of the Stone Age ‘Songs For The Deaf’

  8. Modest Mouse ‘Good New For People Who Love Bad News’

  9. Father John Misty ‘I Love You Honeybear’

  10. Spoon ‘Hot Thoughts’

  11. Pearl Jam ‘Live On Two Legs’

  12. Wellwater Conspiracy ‘Brotherhood of Electric’

  13. Courtney Barnett ‘Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit’

  14. Queens of the Stone Age ‘…Like Clockwork’

  15. Gorillaz ‘Gorillaz’

  16. Pearl Jam ‘Binaural’

  17. Pearl Jam ‘Cleveland, OH 04-25-2003’

Brief Bummer

Not feeling great today.

2 of the guys that were supposed to go to the Parquet Courts show cancelled because they couldn’t get tickets.

The my brother got up and has been sick all day and he cancelled as well. He was supposed to be using my second ticket.

On top of that, I am feeling kinda weak and sick. I’m OK. Just not feeling great.

So, I decided not to go up there. Oh well.

Now, I’m listening to podcasts about GI Joe and trying not to feel super depressed about the waste of money and the fact that I’m not going to what would have been a good concert.

December 1st on December 2nd: Looking ahead!

I didn’t want to immediately fail my pledge, so this will count as my December 1st post.

I have a lot to look forward to in December, so this will be a list of all the positive things that will be happening. Hopefully I can refer back to this post to remind myself when things get rough at work.

-My brother Joe’s birthday!: We are having a nice birthday dinner at ‘91’. I am already looking forward to the BBQ chicken pizza. I got him a few nice things for his birthday. He has been having a rough time the last few weeks, and I am looking forward to making the next week or two happy and special for him.

-Concerts!: Thom Yorke, Parquet Courts, and Death Cab For Cutie!

-Christmas presents!: For others and myself! I went overboard again with the presents and got Whitney too much stuff. I am also looking forward to being surprised by some gifts and I am going to try hard to not get bummed out by what i get.

-Family Christmas Party!: Another huge get-together with my family. Whitney and I have the whole day off and I am planning on having a great time.

-Board Games!: No one knows it yet, but I am going to force my friends and family to play games with me. It will happen!

-Smash Bros for Switch!: Something to use my amiibo with! Also looking forward to using my new grip and possibly some switch skins to change the color of my stuff.

-Reading Books and Comics!: I’m behind on my comics, but I have a bunch of good series to catch up on.

-Writing more!: I am doing it right now. Starting out simple and hopefully ramping up to some fiction, poetry, concert reviews, etc.

-

It's Here (#1845)

Find me this Saturday

Neatly unraveling at a park

Cleaning up messes

breathing and sweating for them

Find me mostly

figuring the cost

of years spent idling

Lighting that candle

that I should have lit

when we were kids

Find me faking and falling

in love and out of, and through love

Tearing into new days

and then throwing them away

Find me carrying a bug

in a cup

outside to a bush

The best thing I’ll do all day

#1831

Just bury me

underneath all of it

Just give me

something else

to do

 

Just lose me

in thing after thing

release me

into losses

into something new

 

Just cover me

with loose distractions

old hobbies

new directions

with smiles

into them and you

and you

and you

 

Just bury me

in their dreams

I'll ride along

skip my ride

let it go

 

run it out

 

 

That's It

Amazing Radiohead concert last night!

Coming down and really bummed out.  Tired.  Drained.

If I could find something to do and achieve.

Work is not good. 

I have made no progress with anything outside of work, because I am depressed and work takes up so much of my time and energy.

I have today and tomorrow.  I have to get started on something.  I have to find myself.

 

October 20, 2016 – Cleveland, OH – Sunflower Bean, The Lemon Twigs

Venue: Mahall's

There is a bowling alley in Lakewood, OH that holds concerts in a small room located off the lobby.  You have to slink by the desk where you would get your bowling shoes.

There's always a big Igloo water cooler in the corner of the concert room and a folding table with the bands merch on it.

It is intimate and cozy, but the best part about it, is that the sound is always great.  Sonically, it is an opposite experience to the Grog Shop.

I saw Sunflower Bean earlier in the year at Lollapalooza with the same crew that I took to this show.  They put on a good show, and it is always great to see an up-and-coming band in their early stages as they are touring on their first albums.

I decided to stick around after the show and get them to sign a vinyl copy of their first record.  I also chatted with them briefly.  I told the lead singer that I had seen them earlier in the year at Lollapalooza and she just said "wow, thanks!"

The opener, 'The Lemon Twigs' were also great!  They were about 12-14 years old.  Based simply on the amount of drum stick swirls and rock star kicks, I would have to seriously recognize them.

It was a good night and a good show.

IMG_3940.jpg

 

 

Today

Today is now tomorrow (I know, I know..)

Things are a little better.  My dad got the call back from the doctor and went in to give blood.  He has a couple of appointments next week.  Hopefully, we can get everything worked out.

I am truly looking forward to spending the evening with my girlfriend!  She is beautiful and wonderful and I am excited for where we are going to go together.

I start back to work tomorrow, and my vacation is over, but I can't let my job keep winning and putting me in a mood.

Move ahead.  Try again.  Always forward.

Today

My dad is sick again.

Well, technically he has always been sick.  He has a seizure condition, but it's been under control for the last five years or so.

His doctor put him on a new medicine and it isn't working. 

I wanted to go to an Indians game on my vacation, and so i bought five tickets and my dad and some friends went and I had to leave in the third inning because he was not doing well.  He got very cold and couldn't walk.

I can't help but feel some anger and resentment.  He didn't eat anything that day before the game.  we all blamed his diabetes, but then he tells me two days later about the new medicine.  His issues at the ballgame had little or nothing to do with his diabetes.

He has not taken care of himself and he has lied and hid things from me before and it always ends up leading to him having a massive seizure in the bathroom in the middle of the night.  He broke the back of the toilet one time and flooded the bathroom with a seizure.

The next day on my vacation I had an endoscope done and couldn't go anywhere for awhile.  This is turning out to be a weird vacation and I'm just tired and sad.

I have a Slayer concert to go to tonight.  I am not a big Slayer fan or metal fan, but the tickets were very cheap and alot of people I know are going.

Here's to distractions and nice June nights.

Here's to waiting and hoping for something else.

August 01, 2015 – Chicago, IL – Lollpalooza (Day 2)

Venue:  Grant Park

Lineup:  Metallica, Brand New, Tame Impala, Death From Above 1979, Charli XCX, Django Django, Catfish and the Bottlemen

Lollapalooza 2015 was the year that my brother Joe had to stay behind, because our father had just gotten out of the hospital after being diagnosed with Diabetes.  I might go into that in further detail when I write about the first day, but here I just want to comment on what I remember from this second day.

My friend Chuck, who I was with at this festival, loves Catfish and the Bottlemen and I think that they are pretty decent.  We caught their set and then I broke away to get into a good spot for Django Django.

Django Django ended up being amazing live.  I prefer them live to their recording and they had a great vibe and great energy.

Continuing that energy was Charlie XCX.  She did not stop moving for the length of her set and was a fun novelty for me.  I'm not a big fan of her music, but she had some big singles and she put on a good performance.  I don't want to be creep, but I remember her pigtails, tall socks, and short short shorts.

I'm a creep.

Death From Above 1979 was fine.  They are another novelty act to me, because they only have a bass and drums and they get alot out of that, but many of their songs sound similar.

Tame Impala played on the main stage before Metallica, but before Brand New, and this dude in a leather jacket standing near me did not like them at all.  He kept booing and screaming "You suck!", at the stage.  He had a mohawk and his leather jacket was covered in Metallica badges and buttons.  Tame Impala was good, but not as good as when I saw them in the rain at the Bunbury Festival.

Brand New played across the main field, and were fine and I then met up with Chuck at the back of the crowd and we walked over to Metallica.

Metallica was a big band in my life, because they were my older brothers favorite band when I was growing up.  I listened to Master of Puppets and Ride The Lightning and The Black Album many times either through the bedroom wall or while hanging out in their rooms when I was little.

I am not, nor have I ever been, a big Metallica fan, but they put on a great show.  All of their songs were sing-a-longs and I knew most of the words.  I even liked some of their songs that people make fun of like 'Fuel'.  Fuel was good live.  Master of Puppets was also great love.  I loved the song 'Creeping Death' and 'Seek and Destroy' was really good.

They played with a bunch of their fans up on stage behind them, which was cool.  They also played over the curfew by about 20-30 minutes.  It made me wish that Pearl Jam, Radiohead, or some of my favorite artists would have played longer in past years.