a few years ago, tom gabel called the punk scene a "ghetto"

and, i can't help but admit his word choice was incredibly poor, but i'm pretty sure i understand perfectly what he meant.

i wrote this on an internet forum discussing whether or not "ska was dead" and it's got me thinking a bit more about the grand scheme of the ska and punk genres.

"ska is dead but i love it oh so much. here's an abbreviated reason as to why it's dead. first and most relevant example to current day: the new big d and the kids table album. coming off of an album that they said was their most fun time in the studio as a band, and an album that put their necks out on the line to try something new, the negative response from so many ska punk kids bummed them out (yes this is true, they told me themselves). so they go back into the studio and put out a generic medio-core album with minimal stand out tracks. why? to appease the mass ska-punk assholes who refuse to let a sound progress. i hate to quote tom gable but maybe he was right with some of his critique of punk, because so many of the hard-core punxxxxxx refuse to let a band progress with their sound. so the heart is taken out of the music. next example. the mad caddies. their last album was the same kind of thing, a big departure from their punk roots and a bit of experimentation in a more laid back sound. i saw them live in support of that album, and they said it was their lowest attended show in 10 years. that's fucking weak. ska shouldn't be dead, but because people refuse to let it off life-support, it may as well be."

there'll be a lot more about big d as this bit of thought progresses. but the fact of the matter is you can't progress very easily in such a scene of music. i mean, that's if you develop as a band with any sort of real involvement in the culture. a band like alkaline trio is a band that can change their sound without a ton of backlash, and the reason is because they were never the DIY hardcore punk ethic kind of band. the hardcore punks seem to never really be that into alkaline trio, they always seem very indifferent. never much hate, and the love for them is a different kind of love than you see with some more hardcore punk-ethic bands.

and there's your nofx's. their sound hasn't wavered, but their opinions have become more politically and self aware. the hate for them is never too strong. sure, the street punks might not like how big fat wreck is (even though it's not even part of the RIAA) or how it has an outside distribution deal, but the fact of the matter is fat mike has done a lot for the scene and never changed his sound too much, so their legion of fans has stayed rather constant.

but let's get back to the idea of punk being a ghetto, or maybe a place where music isn't allowed to progress. i'm writing while listening to what i believe is the absolute best rancid album. life won't wait. life won't wait is an album unlike any other rancid album. it's actually rather different than most punk out there. this album has so many outside influences, it's so unique, and it has some of the most intelligent lyrics tim and lars have ever put out. speaking of lars, it's the last album where he scored the opening vocals. but that's neither here nor there. everything clicks on this record for rancid, their ska influences are in their element, matt freeman is shredding the bass, you can actually distinguish tim's guitar playing (something almost impossible, even in their live show), and the guys are at their highest point as musicians. i know punks who hate rancid and would give anything for another op ivy record, but love life won't wait.

and what happens? everybody bitches because it's not hardcore enough. where's the punkkkk rancid i grew up on? blah blah blah. complain city. now, i'm not going to lie, i got into rancid when the nofx/rancid split came out, and the last album i ever bought of theirs was life won't wait. and why was that? cause the band hardly ever acknowledged it, so i didn't think it was worth my time. it's the least represented album in most of their live shows, and i think the reason was the mini-backlash.

now i don't think rancid are the kind of people who really give too much of a fuck what people think. especially nowadays. they want to be long-timers, and i'm pretty sure they know they're best ablums have been made. dominoes was a bad attempt at trying to fool people into thinking the next wolves is right around the corner. and the fact that nothing has ever been said about why brett reed left is another odd "we don't care" kind of example. they don't care, they know who they are and they're comfortable with it. but the fact of the matter remains. punks bitched about the lack of "punk" on life won't wait and the next album was a direct response to that. rancid V, or rancid (2ooo), or whatever you want to call it, is undeniably their most hardcore album. and they've never dipped back into the kind of sounds found on that monstrous forth album. sure they still play bloodclot, and hover street, and occasionally a few others, but you don't see as much as the other albums. it's too bad, really.

hey, i'm not saying a band shouldn't ever try and please their fans, but they shouldn't do it quiet so drastically. again, i could be wrong cause rancid don't seem like they give a fuck, but they definitely took a big risk with life won't wait and i'm sure they all were very proud of it and had wished it was as big as wolves. there's a level of chance taking that's between artist integrity and fan appreciation that is tough to find.

that's big d's current problem.

they have gone about for the damned, the dumb, and the delirious in all the right ways. saying "oh we didn't have the punk songs in us at the time, so we had to wait for the inspiration again" and yadda yadda yadda. but read sean p rogan's thoughts on fluent in stroll and look at the mass exodus of band members. or hell, read the post i made about the night i spent with these guys. they were bummed that the album they put all their heart into and had a blast making was rejected by the hardcore punks. big d, you're not allowed to not be a punk band. how dare you spread your horizons and make an album unlike any other out right now? to the guys who criticized that record, fuck you. you're allowed not to like it, but the shit that was talked was unjust. i can't think of anything more punk than doing something completely unfamiliar to you and taking a huge chance on something. punk is supposed to be anti-authority and inherently anarchist, fluent in stroll put aside all the rules of what a ska punk band should be.

i will say this. people are the most vocal when they're unhappy. if everybody was happy, we'd have a quiet world. the people who loved fluent in stroll weren't the ones who were bitching about it. and now that damned is out, the people who liked it are complaining. people love to bitch, and you're going to always see more negative comments than positive. it's the nature of the world.

but it didn't sit well with the guys sitting at the kids table. nobody wants to be hated, and their spirits were down. in the words of steve, "i was reading comments on punk news telling me to kill myself. that sucks." so where are we now? sean p rogan, founding member of the band, is out of the band, living in mass with his new wife, playing solo shows and giving guitar lessons. i have a hard time believing if this album took off, he wouldn't still be in the band. dan stoppleman, long time trumpeter, tired of touring. big steve, not even at warped right now. seeing big d at warped last week, the only familiar faces were derrick, dave, and ryan. that's a more than 50% turn around in personnel. and how's the new album? generic. you're a DIY punk, how dare you change your sound. it's not allowed. i don't care if it makes you're band unhappy.

so let's now take a look at the guy who called the punk scene a ghetto. freshly off a major label and back in the streets where he started...just with a lot more money. they signed to fat-wreck after being sabot and no idea veterans and putting out one of the best folk-punk records i've ever heard (as the eternal cowboy). oh there's that backlash, they're on fat-wreck. they better up the punk hard or we're gonna hate them. nahhhh, searching for a former clarity pushed the creative envelope further than cowboy and was their sonically best sounding album. was it their best album? no, that's still cowboy. but it definitely had the best sound.

but they go to sire, and out come new wave and white crosses and in comes the backlash. but i can't help but support some of the criticism. tom acted like a prick, warren seemed to get kicked out of the band, and their setlists were awful. but lately, man. all i gotta say is go back and read my review of their recent set in rochester. i will defend this band from that day forward, unwaveringly. unless they change their sound too much and i gotta join the hardcore punks in hating them.

some criticism is warranted when it comes to artistic development. what green day did was the wrong decision at the time, and they almost deserved to be cast out of the scene. but lookout! couldn't support them anymore, they were getting too big. and you can't criticize a band for being liked, if you made music to be hated and have no fans, you wouldn't be around very long, and even the punks wouldn't like you. but. there were other options. for example, epitaph was starting to take off and they handled smash just fine. but, instead they went reprise. which wasn't the right move. but hey, dookie was a good record. and they could have never made such an amazing album like warning: on lookout! records. those songs wouldn't sound good at gillman street. sorry. but what happened after warning:? the same thing i've been talking about throughout this whole piece. it was a creative gamble that turned out amazing, but was critically ill-received. and as a result, the band went into hiatus. granted, i don't know if it was the punks who hurt green day's feelings. this was probably very much more a weezer post-pinkerton breakdown than a big d breakdown. and oddly enough, weezer and green day both regrouped after a few years and put out a medio-core record that was somehow well received amongst critics and fans alike.

but i'm starting to stray from the point. there are too many punks that can't be happy. if tom gabel isn't an anarchist, and mike mccolgan isn't the singer for the dropkick murphys, then life sucks. big d better play LAX at every show, fat mike should have fed those fans piss, the mad caddies better not play too much reggae, and the day blink-182 breaks up again will be the best day ever for the true punxxxxx.


-jc

fireworks.

the 4th of july has always been one of my favorite holidays. now it's no news that i'm not very patriotic, so the reason is very much more about me having a lot of really great memories from this holiday. and that's what holidays are supposed to be, right? making memories with people you love.

fireworks to me are kind of dumb. a lot of money for very little pay off over a very short time period. but, a professional display is something i've always enjoyed. as a little kid, you always want to see fireworks, it's such a cool thing. it's like an explosion you pretend happens every time you beat up all the bad guys and save the day when you and your cousin are playing. but it's an explosion in the sky that can take your breathe away as a little kid.

it's the kind of reaction that i imagine parents live for. that's probably why after my parents got divorced, my mom would drive around in the old blue beat up pickup she had until we got to a high point somewhere with a good view so i could see them. we didn't have anywhere to go, we were in a rough spot as a family, but she still wanted me to have fun. so there we sat atop a hill in eden where we could see the lake and see fireworks, parked in that old truck.

few years later, we're on a boat in lake erie watching the fireworks display in dunkirk. my step-dad's dad, on the top of the boat dancing just to get a reaction out of the kids. and there's me all upset that they won't let me up there without a life jacket.

it's so hard to see how fast time flies.

the past handful of 4th's have all been sunset bay-located. but before that, there were plenty of little kid-version's of me and my cousins playing with sparklers in my grandma's back yard by the pond.

lately it's been different. it's been drinking, it's been partying, it's been hanging with friends, hell, it's even been playing in a band at a party in sunset (that was a good one). it's the spontaneity of it that's been so enjoyable.

maybe i've just been in an exceptionally cynical mood lately or maybe it's because we're getting older, my cousin's getting married, i'm not as adventurous or outgoing as i used to be, or family issues, or whatever. but this year i settled for the quieter approach. sure, yesterday i had my share of fun, but tonight i was okay sitting in the sand outside my grandma's cottage watching the fireworks all down the bay. it just brought back all these memories and it was both very peaceful and very lonely. having someone to sit with would have been nice, but solitude's good for the soul.

time goes by too quick. it's amazing how quickly things can change from one year to the next. this time last year i was on a kayak with my cousin and his soon-to-be-fiance watching the fireworks all over the lake, completely at peace with everything except my lost sunglasses. this year, it's a lot different. i'd like some peace.

-jc

currently listening to:

noah and the whale -- mary

archers of loaf -- chumming the ocean

brand new -- play crack the sky

Against Me! Against Water Street. 6/12/11

have i criticized against me! in the past? yes. and i was very vocal about it at times, even here on this site. one of the few album reviews i've ever elaborated on was for "white crosses" and i mainly bashed the album. but, for my review on music for the year, i firmly placed my tail between my legs and admitted the album grew on me and that i may have been wrong. a lot of my criticism of this band was put to rest this past sunday, and hopefully this little bit of literature will put some other people's criticism to rest as well.



it's lame to say it, but this band is still "reinventing axl rose," just in a different way than they used to. everything about their show at rochester's water street music hall was what i would hope to see from this band, and then some. but let's backtrack a few months to their set opening for dropkick murphys in niagara falls. i went into the set hoping amongst all hope that i wouldn't get a set of new wave and white crosses with their back-catalog forgotten, i mean, their last stint at warped tour was primarily new wave and i figured the set times would be similar. i was terribly mistaken. they played a great mix and an incredible set. so, when i found out they would be at water street in a few months time, i knew i had to be there.

the opening bands weren't anything incredible, but i will say this, i don't know if i've ever seen a girl shred the guitar like the singer of "screaming females." she was impressive.

i got to the venue right around the time of doors, and bought my ticket. 20 dollars. hmm...i thought it was advertised as 18, i asked the door-man. "no, sorry, that was a misprint" he told me. oh well, 2 bucks, no big deal. there was reentry, so i bought their 2 latest vinyl releases and went back to my car to leave them there and drink a couple beers before the show. i got back mid-lemuria and made my way to the front.

when the time came for against me!'s set, i was front-row-center and ready to yell my brains out for the guys to play "disco..." they blasted into "cliche guevara," and from that point on, i knew i was still very much in love with this band. a good 20 songs later, including "35%" from the "disco..." ep, and "reinventing axl rose" (a song i had somehow never seen them play in the 4 previous shows), they arrived on the intro to t.s.r., and that's when the show got interesting. tom stopped before the party was over (if you'll excuse my pun) to thank the opening bands and to tell water street to fuck off. there was no misprint on the price of the tickets, the venue was overcharging people. and he made sure everybody knew it. he then said he'd be happy to give back the money to whoever was overcharged. next song, "sink, florida, sink" tom's mic was cut out. either suspicious or a coincidence? regardless, he grabbed andrew's mic and finished the set there.

come encore time. after yelling it all night, "disco before the breakdown" made it to song #2. was it written on the set? probably. but who cares, i was stoked they were playing it, and andrew saw my reaction and gave me a salute. the familiar closer came after a clash cover, and "we laugh at danger" lit the room on fire. tom's mic was faulting again, and he decided it was time to start smashing it in to the monitor. i've been a fan of this band long enough to remember the days when fans would hit the stage during the end of this song, and after catching eyes of another fellow long-term-fan, all i had to say was "let's go" and away we went. bouncers got to him quick, and i almost made it. instead, however, i was pulled back by the collar of my shirt and put in a headlock and dragged to the side of the stage. wait, here comes tom gable to pull the bouncer off of me? yeah, he stopped the show and told him to leave me alone, and stop being a "fucking jerk." it was awesome. absolutely awesome to see a guy who so many people criticize prove he still really cares a hell of a lot about his fans.

the band left the stage pissed, and away went the fans. i walked around the side of the building just to see who was hanging around, and sure enough, there was jay weinberg. if there was any drummer who could fill the fans hearts who were upset about warren leaving, it's jay. the guy is awesome. i shook his hand and said thanks for everything (oh, and they stole a bottle of jameson). i figured if they were all coming out, i'd stay and say thanks to tom personally for him sticking up for me. unfortunately, no such luck. i did have the opportunity to have james come up to me and make sure i was okay, and there was andrew, staying true to tom's word with a giant wad of one dollar bills, giving them away to whoever wanted a refund. i talked to him for a while about music, struggling to make it on my own, his joining against me! and some other various stuff. he was seriously a really cool guy. unfortunately, i had a drunken friend with me and i didn't want to pester him too much even though he said i wasn't.

without a doubt one of the most amazing shows i've been to and one of the coolest concert memories i have. it was incredible. the only down side was falling asleep at the wheel because i was so exhausted on the way home and scrapping the hell out of the side of my car. but that's what insurance is for (hopefully) and it was still very much worth it just for the experience and for the memories.

Setlist (in ALMOST the correct order)
-cliche guevara
-pints of guiness
-from her lips to god's ears
-new wave
-because of the shame
-don't lose touch
-violence
-russian spies
-walking is still honest
-rice and bread
-rapid decompression
-white people for peace
-americans abroad
-reinventing axl rose
-miami
-tonight we give it 35%
-white crosses
-teenage anarchist
-t.s.r.
-sink, florida, sink
-slurring the rhythms
-you look like i need a drink
-clapping hands/balled fists
thrash unreal
--------------------------------
-occult enemies (i think)
-janie jones (clash cover)
-disco before the breakdown
-we laugh at danger



amazing.

Rebecca Black. Friday. In Her Defense. (and some thoughts on japan)

now i'm sure if you're reading this, your first thoughts are probably somewhere along the lines of "seriously? somebody is going to defend such an awful song?" whelp....here we go.

first of all. she's 13 years old. 13. thirteen. that's 8th or 9th grade. lets look back on ourselves at 13 and what we wanted more than anything. if someone came to you and told you they could make your biggest fantasy a reality, would you say no at the sake of artistic integrity? no you wouldn't. you're 13, you don't know what artistic integrity is. now let me clarify, this song is in fact a fucking AWFUL song, but the hate it is generating and the hate towards her is completely unjust. this girl took a shot at becoming a famous singer because it was her dream and she was successful. you can not condemn her for that.

now, of course, the anti-globalist conspiracy theorist in me wants to say this is just a ploy by big corporations trying to dumb down our society even more....and let's be honest...that's exactly what it is. the people to blame for such a bad moment in musical history are the people that wrote this song and the people that used a 13 year old girl to make money. not rebecca black. she's blame free. she is doing what any other 13 year old girl would do in her situation. seeing interviews with her saying that the hate her video was gathering was bringing her to tears....that's just not right. the hate should be at the money-makers and the suites who tried to bank off a poor girl by giving her such a piece of garbage to make her famous.

rebecca black, as far as i can tell, is a role model 13 year old, and the world could use more of her. she's donating the money she's making from this song to relief efforts in japan and to her high school. that's fucking awesome. this girl could stand to make enough money off this garbage to sit pretty for some years to come, whether it be to pay for her college or fund a legitimate recording career. instead she's giving it all to charity.

hat's off to you, rebecca black. good for you.

_____________________________________________________________________

some other thoughts on the world right now. the mess in japan and the crisis in the middle east are all fucking awful. this world has been so violent both naturally and militantly that it's unnatural. what happened in japan is just another example, as far as i'm concerned, that God is pissed. and i don't blame Him.

now let's go back to when the earthquake first hit japan and they were talking about how the nuclear reactors weren't going to be a problem and that everything was going to be okay and that death tolls were low and blah blah blah blah. i was sitting in a hotel room in savannah, ga with a couple guys on my rugby team and i said out-loud "that's bullshit, give it a week and all kinds of bad things are going to happen with the nuclear reactors." well.....here we are.

every night when you watch the news, it's almost always horror stories and depressing bullshit. we try and downplay the severity of such things and then we just consistently correct ourselves and tell the real side of the story as it keeps getting worse.

let's get fucking optimistic.

how does one do that? when such an event happens, expect the fucking worst. say everything is as bad as it could possibly be. and then, when it turns out that it isn't so bad, and the reactors aren't so awful, and the death tolls aren't so high, it'll be some fucking good news for a change and people will have a sense of relief saying "oh, well it isn't as bad as we thought" instead of it constantly being the other way around. i'm just so sick of being lied to and fed so much depressing news about how the world keeps getting worse.

Noah and the Whale. Last Night on Earth, Toronto. 3/24/11

Last Night on Earth was easily my most anticipated album of the year and one of my most anticipated albums ever. The First Days of Spring is far and away one of the most moving albums I've ever heard, and is easily in my top 5 favorite records ever made. That being said, did Last Night on Earth meet my expectations? No, I unfortunately can't say that it did. But the reasons why are mostly due to my own personal tastes and not the quality of the music. One of the reasons why the first two albums are so great to me is how organic they sound and how real the place they seem to come from. Anyone who's ever had a heartbreak can relate to the second album, and anyone who's ever been in love can relate to the first. The third album is a change of pace. It's a lot more electronically driven. Gone are the guitar and violin hooks, and in are the electronic drum beats and keyboards. The catchy pop sensibilities are still there and as soon as Charlie Fink starts singing, you know it's still the same band. I have my theories on such a change, I feel as if Doug leaving had a lot to do with it, but that's neither here nor there. The album is far from a bad album, it's just different. Sure it has it's bad moments (the hook "your life is your life, you gotta live like it's your life" is a rather dreadful lyric), but you can't expect a band to make three albums without a single down moment.

That being said, I never thought I'd get the chance to see them live in the era in which I fell in love with as they're from across the pond. Luckily, on just their second trip, I was able to catch them in Toronto. Their first appearance at the Mod Club before the release of their second album would have been the night of my life had it occurred last night, but such a feet would be impossible, either I'd see the songs I love before they were even released and I would have stood there like a zombie, or I see the show I saw last night and love every minute of it. And I did in fact love every minute of it.

The night started in the freezing cold, waiting in line for doors (which opened a half hour late). While waiting, I saw the band ducking out the back door and heading down the road to some local restaurant or something of the sort. I found it kind of odd for some reason, but that's neither here nor there. The local band Bahamas was the opening act and the crowd loved them. They consisted simply of a singer/guitar player, a drummer, and apparently a pair of female backing vocalists performing for the first time with the band. The guitar player's style was awkward to watch but the music they put out was incredibly engaging and really fun to listen to.

To Noah and the Whale's credit, the change-over between sets was incredibly quick (oh I hate a long wait between bands, it can be so frustrating). And soon the lights were dimmed with that white Jaguar center stage on a guitar stand. Damn, that guitar that wrote one of my favorite albums ever was only a couple feet away.

Over the PA comes a familiar tune: a big-band instrumental of Bohemian Rhapsody. The entire crowd sang along, and just before the final "nothing really matters," out came the band. Besides the new album, the setlists I had seen had mildly lowered my expectations, a lot of new songs to start and a rather short set in general. That wouldn't be the only time I was proven wrong. With no introduction to the crowd, the band blasted into Blue Skies, and the rest of the
show was nothing short of excellent. Tom's violin levels were a little low at the start but other than that, the entire band sounded excellent. With all 5 guys in suit and tie, it was almost funny to see Charlie so animated in his performance seeing as he always seemed so docile in videos. His small stature was fun to watch fist pump and pseudo-direct the band. His appearance almost seemed arrogant and cocky, but every time he opened his mouth to talk in between songs, that notion was out the window with such a calm and almost shy voice settling over the crowd.

The band was friendly and engaging with the crowd and played through the entire new album, half of the second, and a good dose of the first. "Give a Little Love" turned into a full blown rock jam, and seeing my two favorites off of the new album ("The Line" and "Old Joy") only made me like those two tracks more. After Fink noted that we were in fact in the first days of spring, the back to back tandem of "I Have Nothing" and "My Door is Always Open" was one of the most beautiful concert moments I've ever witnessed.

Criticism of this show would be almost impossible minus some petty things. Sure, I would have loved to have heard "Mary" or the entire second album front to back, but that wasn't to be and that's fine. I still think Urby needs a haircut, I thoroughly enjoyed his old short haircut/hat look from back in oh'8/oh'9. But he seems very into the suit and tie/long hair/peace sign-giving niche he's found his way into, and that's fine. The show was absolutely incredible and was everything I had hoped to be and blew all my worries out the window. The only possible HONEST complaint I have was that the setlist had "Stranger" but the song was cut for some reason or another. I would have loved to have seen that song live as the last minute of the piece is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you, Noah and the Whale, you were fucking incredible and I pray you come back within my driving range soon. I have never been so close to tears so many times in a show, the music has such a place in my heart and represents so many incredible memories in my life.


Setlist:
-Blue Skies
-Tonight's the Kind of Night
-Give a Little Love
-Give It All Back
-Love of an Orchestra
-Life is Life
-Just Me Before We Met
-The Line
-Stranger (NOT PLAYED)
-I Have Nothing
-My Door is Always Open
-Wild Thing
-Rocks and Daggers
-Shape of my Heart
-Waiting for my Chance to Come
-The First Days of Spring
-------------------------------------------
-Old Joy
-L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
-5 Years Time

the Green Bay Packers.

i have been a green bay packers fan sense i was a little kid. i distinctly remember building legos while watching the first time they were in the superbowl, and after being asked "hey son, who do you want to win the big game" like 1,000's of other little kids before me. my response, after mulling it over for a few moments, "the green bay packers!"

and sense then, it's been one of the few consistency in my life. the green bay packers play football at a high level, i watch, i cheer. so here we are, the first time in my adult life that a team i have routed for for years is in a championship game of this caliber (minus the buffalo bandits, but the scale is nowhere near as great). and i am admittedly excited. it's a milestone. no, the entire city isn't caught up in it like they would be if it were the bills or the sabres, instead there are nothing but band-wagoners. people always watch the superbowl, and therefore they need people to cheer for. that's fine.

here's why you need to cheer for the green bay packers.

they are one of the classiest organizations in professional sports. they are blue collar, they are america's team, not the dallas cowboys and their 1.3 billion dollar stadium. the green bay packers are community owned, the only sports organization of it's kind. the fans own the team, not some rich slick jerry jones-type. they are upstanding players. take brett favre as the perfect example. he was a role-model athlete the entire time he was in green bay, there were books and documentaries made praising his greatness as a green bay packer. he goes to two other teams at the tale end of his career and what happens? his legacy is forever tarnished by both his on the field and off the field antics.

aaron rodgers has never been suspended from football for allegedly raping anyone. ben roethlisburger has. in fact, aaron rodgers has had one of the toughest obstacles any quarterback could ever have in his career and he handled it better than anyone could have hoped for. he was in the shadow of the greatest of all time, #4. and he waited patiently until it was his time and now he's shocked the world, calm and collectively. greg jennings and donald driver are the two most professional stand-out wide receivers in football. name two other receivers as high profile who let their playing do their talking, and not their mouth. there's no vh1 reality show for these guys, there's no controversial press conferences or trash talking. they go out and let their playing do the talking.

they are a defensive football team first and foremost. aj hawk, clay matthews, bj raji, and of course charles woodson....all guys who let their playing do the talking, and they save their mouths for what's important. there's no head and shoulders endorsements for hawk or woodson like there is polamalu. in fact, what do you see from matthews in commercials? charity work. this team is all about class.

what was the big controversy for the packers this week going into the superbowl? that the players on IR weren't going to be in the team picture. that was it. that was all. and what happened? the team moved the date of the picture so they could be in it.

these guys shut their mouth and let their playing do the talking. they are modest, they are professional, and they are the classiest organization in football. with the threat of a looming lock-out and possible no football for a while, no team deserves to leave cowboys stadium tonight with the trophy (for however long that might be), than the green bay packers.

so for the last time this season, and maybe the last time for quiet some time............................go, pack! go.

guitar picks and girls.

if you play guitar, this analogy could be right up your alley. or you might look at me and think i'm a fool. but, i often times feel my opinion on girls isn't one that is shared very often anyways.

a way a guy treats a girl can be very similar to how a guy treats his guitar picks. some guys don't care about picks and go through them like crazy. they might lose two in a day, they might throw one away for the hell of it. but some guys will find a pick they like sometimes and try and hang on to it until they lose it. it might not be a big deal if they do, but if that pick wears the right way, it could be something you don't want to lose.

that's how i am. i mean, occasionally i find a couple picks that i don't care if i lose, and it's no big deal cause they weren't right for me or my playing style to begin with. but. a lot of times i'll find one and i'll love it and i won't want to lose it. sure, getting a brand new one out of the pack and hitting those first few chords can feel great, but sometimes that one you keep on your bed rest or on your amp is the one you want to go back to. i mean, i've been using the same one guitar pick sense i moved into the apartment i currently live in back in august. that might say something. throw this into the metaphor, maybe i have a tough time letting girls go? maybe if i find a few bad ones i have no problem letting them go cause they're not my style. and maybe breaking in a fresh pick/starting a new relationship can feel great.

but some guys never use picks and only finger pick....yeah, those guys might not like girls either....

thanks.

jc

currently listening to:

a mix cd i made a girl who i had trouble letting go

currently reading:

calvin and hobbes.

2010: the year in music.

Forward

going into the year, it wasn't set up to be the power-house of releases that '09 was, but it turned out to be pretty good. i did a lot of back-tracking with music, and didn't listen to as many of oh'10's offerings as i would have liked to, but i definitely got in to some of the stuff i heard. there's a lot of shows i wish i had made it to, but some of the ones i did hit were the times of my life. next week's weather put out a new demo set (http://www.mediafire.com/?6v7y91jcq01we6y) and oh'10 was a musical success.

Shows
-big d and the kids table -- suny fredonia
-manchester orchestra -- kool haus
-big d and the kids table -- kool haus
-brand new -- suny fredonia
-warped tour -- awk, alk3, bouncing souls, every time i die, the casualties, sum 41, reel big fish (kinda), motion city soundtrack
-brad paisley, justin moore, darius rucker -- darien lake
-weezer -- CMAC
-green day -- darien lake
-the river city rebels -- club diablo

Shows I Regret Missing
-alkaline trio -- toronto
-against me! -- town ballroom
-brad paisley -- rochester - h20 iced over tour
-weezer -- memories tour
-all of reel big fish's warped set


Albums
-alkaline trio -- this addiction
-against me! -- white crosses
-bad books -- bad books
-big d and the kids table -- 2 songs/1 download digital ep
-bouncing souls -- ghosts on the boardwalk
-brad paisley -- hits alive
-darius rucker -- charleston, sc, 1966
-eminem -- recovery
-kevin devine -- she stayed as steam ep
-mad caddies -- consensual selections
-matt skiba -- demos
-manchester orchestra/kevin devine -- i could be the only one
-motion city soundtrack -- my dinosaur life
-mumford and sons -- sigh no more
-nofx -- the longest ep
-superchunk -- majesty shredding
-weezer -- hurley
-weezer -- death to false metal
-weezer -- pinkerton (deluxe edition)

A "Top 10" of the Year

10. eminem -- recovery
9. mumford & sons -- sigh no more
8. darius rucker -- charleston, sc, 1966
7. superchunk -- majesty shredding
6. brad paisley -- hits alive
5. bad books -- bad books
4. alkaline trio -- this addiction
3. weezer -- hurley
2. against me! -- white crosses
1. weezer -- pinkerton (deluxe edition)*
1. motion city soundtrack -- my dinosaur life

* it's hard to include this in a list of top 10's seeing as it is a reissue, but it's one of the best albums of all time, so it deserves an asterisk

10. eminem -- recovery

i've always had a soft spot for eminem. maybe it's because he's white. or maybe the real reason is because he's had a history of singing about real issues, not just the typical rap about partying and drugs and girls. so it's no surprise i stopped listening to him when that's what his music deteriorated into and it's no surprise i decided to check out his "return to form" record. it's pretty good. the singles are good and some of the other tracks are excellent. i love the intro to this album. however, some of the songs and some of the rhymes are corny as hell. he occasionally ends up trying too hard and i really cringe at how goofy some of it ends up.

9. mumford & sons -- sigh no more

came out in the uk in '09, but didn't arrive in the states until early oh'10. this album is a very fun listen. a lot of highs and lows, some good emotion and some solid depth. i've heard them compared to noah and the whale, and that comparison is downright wrong, they're too different. but seeing "little lion man" live on letterman was solid. that song itself is so powerful, easily one of my favorites of the year.

8. darius rucker -- charleston, sc, 1966

i hadn't heard much of darius rucker's solo stuff besides the big singles before i saw him on the H2O tour with brad, and even then i enjoyed him but didn't look into him. it took "come back song" to really take him serious. this is a good record. unfortunately, there are a few sleeper songs in the middle, but it starts off great and ends decently. "southern state of mind" is a great highlight, as is "i don't care" featuring brad. a song with paisley is so easily distinguishable right from the get-go. he has such a strong style to his guitar playing and he's so good at it.

7. superchunk -- majesty shredding

it took me a while to get into this record. i actually had to force myself to sit down and listen to it with headphones to finally get into it. but when i did, boy did i. this album rocks. it really does. the opening track is one of my favorite songs in their discovery. great, great album.

6. brad paisley -- hits alive

so much more than a greatest hits album. i was wrong last year when i said american saturday night was a let-down album. it really grew on me. and seeing him live really made me fall even harder for his music. and that's what makes hits alive so good, it's also a live album. brad himself is a terrific guitarist, and the rest of the "drama kings" can all play their asses off as well. incredibly talented, easily my favorite country artist/band out there right now.

5. bad books -- bad books

not exactly what i expected from kevin devine and manchester orchestra, but not a disappointment. at first i didn't like the single (you wouldn't have to ask), but like the rest of the album, it really grew on me. a lot of great tracks, but a few sleepers. "holding down the laughter" is such a fucking song.

4. alkaline trio -- this addiction

every alkaline trio has the potential that this album has. unfortunately for the past few albums, it doesn't quiet live up to that potential. yeah, this album has just as much filler as the last few, but the difference is the filler is much more memorable. i've always loved the trio but this is the first album of theirs i can listen to all the way through without getting bored of in a while. only downside, not enough dan. but "fine" is one of the best tracks he's ever penned.

3. weezer -- hurley

with a little more time spent on this album, i think it could have cracked the top 3 weezer albums of all time. unfortunately, it fades in and out and cuts abruptly in some weird ways. but, all the songs are excellent. i'm one of the few who has never hated a weezer release, i like them all, and hurley is no exception. the problem though, like with most weezer albums (but this more than others) is that it's too much of a collection of songs and not so much an album. the bridge of "where's my sex?" is one of the coolest weezer moments in a long time.

2. against me! -- white crosses

i need to apologize. i gave this album an AWFUL review when it came out and i thought it was complete trash. but i had the wrong opinion going into it. i was hoping for a thrash punk/folk punk record to blow my ears out. instead i got a much poppier sound than i was expecting and it really made me cringe at first. after lightening up and realizing how much i can appreciate a good pop rock song later in the year, i realized this album does a lot of great things. the bad songs are still bad, but the good and okay songs on it are actually really great. "because of the shame" and "bamboo bones" are excellent tracks, and the b-side "lehigh acres" is awesome. with them finally leaving sire, i still have a lot of hope for this band and can't wait to see them in february with dropkick

1. motion city soundtrack -- my dinosaur life

i liked these guys when they first came out. i was in my pop-punk stage and i thought "the future freaks me out" was a blast. so i sat in for their set at warped tour this year and i really enjoyed it. even the songs i didn't know, i could get in to. so i come home and i download my dinosaur life. and i'm blown away. this album is fucking phenomenal. from the uplifting "worker bee" to the darker "the weakends," this album is great all the way through. it carries so many great emotions and ideas. "pulp fiction" and "@!#?@!" are perfect geek-rock numbers and "stand too close" is the story of my relationship life, every girl i've ever been involved with can attest to that if they hear the song. justin pierre's vocals are awesome. really, i could talk about how much i love every track on this album for different reasons but i'll spare everyone the time. the only song i don't absolutely love is "history lesson," but hey, not many albums are perfect.

*pinkerton.

i can talk about this album for days and how much it means to me. it's perfect. everything about it. matt sharp is the man, rivers cuomo was out of his mind, pat wilson is from buffalo, there isn't a bad thing i can say about those 4 guys circa 1996 except maybe rivers being a control freak, but even so, without that, this masterpiece wouldn't have come to be. this album is so important, i'm willing to say there never would have even been a "my dinosaur life." matt sharp is the reason for motion city soundtrack, in my opinion (take pinkerton, the blue album, and return of the rentals, mix them together and through them into the 2000's and you have motion city soundtrack). the acoustic tracks are such a bonus, and the b-sides that were originally songs from the black hole tracks are awesome. "long time sunshine" is a masterpiece and how it took 14 years for this song to get an official weezer release is mind-boggling.

Let Down of the Year

-big d and the kids table -- 2 songs/1 download
coming off such a promising and creative album like fluent in stroll, these 2 songs are let downs. the first, "lash out" doesn't have enough low end, and no horns. it's a bummer. not our fault is pretty decent though. the problem i have is that i think this band is sacrificing creativity to please their fans. now, you want to please your fans, but at what expense? you shouldn't hamper yourself by it. but we'll see how the new album turns out. i love these guys too much to criticize too much.

-weezer -- death to false metal
very "eh." it's nothing special really, there's a few good tracks but most of it is so forgettable. rivers cuomo has such a back-catalog of songs, i figured this would be a lot better than it turned out to be. nice to see "turning up the radio" getting to see the light of day though, such a novel idea.

Thoughts on the Rest

-bouncing souls -- ghosts on the boardwalk
i purchased all the 7"s back in '09, so the music wasn't new to me. decent group of tracks but nowhere near the souls at their finest.

-kevin devine -- she stayes as steam ep
there isn't much kevin devine has done that i don't like (besides smoking cigs), and this ep is no exception. both tracks are excellent, and the two live tracks are excellent. ballgame was always one of his bests, no matter if it is "that song" in his discography, and "chelsea hotel no. 2" is a great track and he does it justice just fine.

-mad caddies -- consensual selections
i love the mad caddies. i can't deny it. such a unique take on ska, and man can their horns play. this is a good collection for sure, a lot of great tracks. love their more jazzy menacing side and there's a lot of it here. but some of their best punk tracks are missing for sure....ahem...macho nachos?!

-matt skiba -- demos
pretty much exactly what i expected. very low-fi, occasional sleeper songs (like a lot of alkaline trio recently) and some spectacular tracks. didn't wow me, but didn't disappoint me either.

-manchester orchestra/kevin devine -- i could be the only one ep
both songs were great on their respective albums, and both bands do the songs justice covering them. i've heard some negative reviews, but i definitely enjoy both the original and cover versions of each song.

-nofx -- the longest ep
great collection. their discography is so massive at this point, it's tough to get ahold of everything, and this ep has some great stuff on it for sure. nofx has been pretty consistant over the years, and this ep is a perfect example. the highs are never out of this world, and the lows are never so low you want to tune them out. they're always at a good level of consistency.

Best of Shows

i didn't go to anywhere near as many shows as i did last year. kind of a bummer. the ones i missed, i reallllly wanted to go, but scheduling problems and lack of money caused me to miss some. but some of the ones i went to were all time.

big d opened the year with one of the most fun shows i had ever been a part of at fredonia. the show was an embarrassment to the SUNY fredonia campus. they couldn't handle it. the audio guys were awful, the local bands who opened were jokes, and the school was not ready for the atmosphere that comes with big d. they tried to shut the show down and big d wouldn't have it. they played till the school cut the power. it was just a big fucking party and it was a testament to everything that is big d and the kids table. it was a free show, it was the band being close to the fans, and it was the band not letting anybody in the room down.

my second time seeing manchester orchestra at the kool haus was just as good, maybe better than the first. hearing colly strings live was a really touching musical moment for me as that song means so much to me. second time they played the venue, and the second time andy played "holland 1945" there. i don't know if it's tradition to them, but to me it is. every time they've played western new york, that song has been played.

i headed back to the kool haus a few weeks later for the best show of my life with big d. i wrote a big bit about it chronicling how awesome it was to hang out with the band after, and it really was just a friggin spectacular night. one i won't forget any time soon.

heading back to fredonia, not happy with how they handled the last show or how the ticket distribution was for this show either. brand new let down. i'm sorry, they did. they've been one of my favorite bands for years, but they played the shortest set i've ever seen and it was very medio-core. 15 songs in just over an hour, when they had over 2 and a half available hours (according to the schedule) and they used to easily fill 2 hours. left me wanting more.

warped tour was great. finally seeing alkaline trio was awesome. i dressed up as andrew wk and partied hard, motion city was solid, and it was the best time i had seen the bouncing souls by far. sum 41 are washed up. they were a joke. sorry if you think otherwise. unfortunately, i missed almost all of reel big fish's set, but i heard them from the parking lot and caught the last song (of course, "take on me")

brad paisley was excellent. unfortunately i drank way too much at this show, so some of the details are clouded, but boy can he play, and he played long. great songs, great show. "alcohol" became the theme of the summer of oh'10.

weezer don't disappoint live. seeing "el scorcho" live was a dream come true of sorts. they were great. they really were. never enough pinkerton, obviously, but still great.

i won the tickets to the green day show from 103.3: the edge. i was on the fence about going because of financial reasons, so getting front row pit tix for free was awesome. green day are the e street band of this generation. they played a marathon set and it was sonically perfect. they can play their balls off live and the show was great.

and last but not least, river city rebels rock.


Looking Ahead

a lot of good stuff coming up. the new noah and the whale track "wild thing" is very interesting and a huge departure for them. their new album is my most anticipated by a mile as their first two are easily two of the best things i've ever heard. new big d will be equally interesting to hear. also, new blink, foo, akron/family, manchester orchestra, and possibly brand new leave a lot to look forward to. i can't wait. it's been a good year, a good new beginning.


thanks
jc.

black friday: target 2010. and the holiday season.

i made a personal goal to make this holiday season the best it could possibly be. usually around this time i'm troubled by my own personal issues but this year a lot is going on around me with the people i care about. so, with the holidays being about family and the gift of giving and good will towards men, and everything else, i made a personal decision to put forth the effort to be as good of a person as i can be to those around me this holiday season. but, so many things trouble me about the holidays.

for those who have known me for a length of time, they know how frustrated i am with the commercialization of christmas, specifically how much longer the christmas season gets each year. i wait til thanksgiving to even think about starting to celebrate christmas, and that's a personal choice. if you chose to do something different, then fine. but all you're doing is buying into the commercialization of what used to be one of the most ethical holidays of the year. need proof of this? look no further than "black friday"

now, if you remember, 2 years back, 3 people died on black friday. a salesmen was trampled at wal-mart, and two men shot each other in a toys-r-us. fucking awful. disgusting. where is the holiday spirit in any of this? what gift and what reaction upon it being open, is worth taking the life of someone? it's selfish and disgusting.

so i was happy looking over the news last year and seeing no such incidents of major violence. but this year, in buffalo, ny, the place i call home, this disgusting behavior reared it's ugly head again. three times, all at target.

the one that attracted all the major news headlines is a store that is but five minutes from my house, and the employer of a girl i really care about. she was there, saw it happen, the whole nine yards; hell, there's even footage of it. so the doors open, a guy in a stupid yellow rain coat sprints in. a bunch of others start to run in, a guy trips and falls and starts to get trampled. instead of people stopping to help him out, they barge their way past him and cheer on their way to their beloved sales. the reactions are truly disgusting, these people did not care one bit how they were treating this guy. the guy survived and is okay, but he has said in interviews that he was fearing for his life. what the hell? what is so "christmas" about that?

another target, in the southtowns, had a registered sex offender flashing customers who bought the last of the televisions he was trying to get his hands on. are you serious? that same store, there were reports of a guy having four extras of these televisions and trying to sell them for $40 more than the list price. again, where the fuck is the christmas spirit? there is no good will towards men here, this is pure selfishness.

and then finally, at the niagra falls target, a woman had a seizure. yep, a seizure. and instead of customers helping her, EMT's reported that customers were pushing her out of the way and grabbing items around her.

people need to get the fuck over themselves, over their selfish desires, and realize there's more to life than their own bullshit agenda. good will toward men. where is it? please, show me where it is.

everyone needs to take some time to reflect this holiday season and realize what is truly important to them. and i gurantee you what's truly important in life is NOT a good deal on a television set at the expense of the health of others. these people have families too. please, let's get ahold of ourselves and figure out what christmas is really about again.

thanks.

currently listening: vince guaraldio trio -- a charlie brown christmas

and of course "baby, it's cold outside" (if you read this, you know who you are, i'm still waiting to watch "elf" with you)

thanksgiving: an honest cliche, all arrogance aside

i've always been one to say thanksgiving was my favorite holiday, and for good reason. it isn't commercialized to the extent of other holidays, it's maintained it's moral values, it brings family together, allows me to eat great food (although i never eat as much as i plan to), and most of all, it is founded on a great principal. now yes, if you look back, the stuff you're taught in grade school is bull shit, about the pilgrims and indians and everyone getting along....okay, the story got a little twisted, but that's fine. the fact of the matter remains, thanksgiving is about being content with what you have, being thankful for the good fortune you have, and to reflect on just how well off a lot of us over in america really are.

so, what am i thankful for? i can say i'm thankful for a lot this year. it's been a good year for me really. it got off to a bad start and the past little while has been iffy, but the majority of my year has been amazing. for the first time in a long time i can say i'm thankful for both my dad and especially my mom. my dad has become somebody i actually enjoy spending time with again, and without his financial support i'd probably be screwed by now. my mom, if i wrote about all the things i'm thankful for with her, i'd be here for days. she's amazing and i love her to death and want nothing but the best for her, regardless of what's happening now.

i'm thankful for how lucky i've been with school. i'm going to make it out of school with both a coaching and teaching degree and i have hardly done any work to acquire these things. i've gotten by on just my natural talents and help from some great people in my life. i'm thankful for my athletics. i love my rugby team and i am so happy to have found a position coaching wrestling, it's great to have it back in my life.

but above all, i am eternally grateful to the people in my life who have ever cared about me enough to make me aware of it. there's times i'm a miserable prat and hate everything and times i feel terribly alone, but there's a good handful of people, some i've known for years and some i've known only for a couple months, who have gone out of their way to be there for me, and without them, i don't know where i would be.

so thanks everyone, happy thanksgiving, and yeah, now it's okay to start celebrating christmas.

currently listening to: brad paisley -- american saturday night

brand new -- the devil and god are raging inside me

mad caddies -- songs in the key of eh

halloween: the most wholesome holiday in the american calendar?

i think so.

i mean, i think so at the family level. as pleasing to the eyes as it may be, i hate girls at an adult level using halloween as an excuse to dress up like a total whore. i feel it's demeaning and rather two-faced. but that's a completely different issue, this is supposed to be an uplifting piece.

now let us look at the holiday as a whole. it's supposed to be this scary day that celebrates death, gore, and all kinds of disgusting things.

also, as much as i hate to admit it, but "it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown" is probably one of the more depressing peanuts specials i've ever seen. it doesn't end well at all. linus and charlie just admitting defeat as the credits role? come on schultz, that was crap.

but behind all this depressing and dark imagery is a lot of great things. first of all, it's not all scary costumes. you see little kids becoming their idol for the day, whether it be an athlete, a superhero, or even an animal (my mom's 5 year old neighbor was rocking a sick dinosaur costume, heather wheeler would have been jealous). it's a great bit of imagination and optimism presented to the kids.

and it's not overly marketed!

hell, considering how over-marketed christmas has become (there's been a full christmas section at home depot for a month now), halloween almost slips right through the cracks. sure there are your attractions; there's your haunted houses, and candy displays. also, there's your partycity's who have great buisness for a couple weeks (even though the only song they ever seem to play on their PA is michael jackson's "thriller"). but i like that it's maintained a semi-grass-roots holiday. it isn't shoved in your face like christmas is.

but still, why is it the most wholesome holiday in the calendar? you might be thinking "what about thanksgiving?" hell, thanksgiving is great on a family level, but halloween transcends the family level by a mile. kids are encouraged to walk from house to house, yeah, STRANGERS houses, and ask for candy. and people openly give the kids free food. now you're always taught when you're younger "oh check the candy for glass or poison or nuclear warheads" but come on, that doesn't happen anywhere near as much as it's warned. halloween encourages goodwill towards the fellow man, something christmas used to encourage. it encourages togetherness, discourages selfishness, and allows for kids to have the time of their life if they so choose to, once a year.

and that is why halloween is the most wholesome holiday in the american calendar, charlie brown.

bring on the christmas music.

currently listening to:

motion city soundtrack -- my dinosaur life

brad paisley -- american saturday night

bad books -- bad books

noah and the whale -- first days of spring

jackass.

something i waited a very long time for, something that's stayed a part of my life sense jr high, something that consistently brings a smile to my face....

"hi, i'm johnny knoxville! welcome to jackass!"



the whole concept behind that opening line alone has an element of hilarity. it's almost a formal invitation to some of the most nonsensical crap you will ever witness.

so here we are, jackass 3d, the third film installment, possibly capping off 10 years of antics, a tv show, numerous spin offs, cky, don't try this at home, 2.5, the list goes on and on. i still remember where i was the first time i saw the first movie, and i remember the night number 2 came out and who i was with. i remember sitting in one of the front rows of the theater, and i remember not being able to stop laughing for the majority of the movie. it truly was one of the funniest things i had ever seen.

so as i combed the internet for details of jackass 3 from the moment it was confirmed, i couldn't help but hold the group to outrageously high expectations. sure, i wasn't too happy about the jackassworld website shutting down, and i was definitely disappointed about the 3d announcement because i believed the whole concept of 3d was gimmicky; but nevertheless, i was excited. and as i pounded my last miller high life before walking into the theater with my 3d glasses on, i was excited.

but, hmm...

the absolute most epic thing the jackass guys had ever done came to the tune of carl orff's "o fortuna" with epic smoke machines, slow motion, and a giant shopping cart. number 2 folllowed it up as best as it could with "the ecstasy of gold," so, now, with the prospect of 3d, what amazing intro was up next?

let down.

where was it? yeah, it was funny, but it bucked tradition and i didn't care for the results. it just seemed way too "yeah, we're using 3d now, so we're gonna showcase the hell out of it, disregarding the artistic integrity that came with the first 2 intros." whatever, i still laughed.

the next hour and a half had me bursting with mixed feelings. was this movie good? oh absolutely. i laughed my ass off numerous times. but was it a nonstop laugh like number 2? not so much. there were times where they seemed to be trying too hard to show growth. there were cameos that seemed forced, with the nitro circus guys, the dudesons, and all the other dickhouse productions. it just seemed unnecessary. again, very "look how far we've come."

there were also times where it was the exact opposite. while the first two movies were chocked full of bits that were obviously written and edited to be movie quality, there were some bits that seemed to call back to the days of the tv show. back when bits would be full of people just dicking around in front of a camera till, in the words of knoxville "i think we got it." now don't get me wrong, some of these bits were hilarious. the jet engine bit was a perfect example. i thought it was going to suck based off of the preview, but they made it hilarious. still, something just seemed out of place about it in a major motion picture.

but still, there were so many pros to this movie. some of the slow motion footage was incredible. it didn't necessarily induce gut-wrenching laughter, but was visually hilarious. some of the cameos that went unnoticed were great, with eric koston and tony hawk sneaking on screen for a bit, eddie barbanell, and of course, my personal favorites, the guys from weezer.

a popular concept for this movie was taking old bits and making them "better." sometimes it worked wonders, other times, they could have done so much more. one of my all time favorite bits was ryan dunn's "snake river launch" but the "snake river redemption" just didn't seem to live up to the name. yeah, he busted his ass, but part of what was so good about the original bit were all the antics surrounding the actual jump. while on the topic of that bit, by the way, where the hell was brandon dicamillo? not a single cameo. but i digress, one of the best bits of the movie, and one of the few points where 3d really shined, was the call back to the poo cocktail. absolutely hilarious and absolutely disgusting, perfect jackass combo. and it was great to see steve-o get the closing bit. one of the best parts of the movie, at least for me, was seeing how healthy he looked.

all in all, the movie definitely struck gold a few times. all the april and phil bits were spectacular. phil's total lack of caring has made him grow ever more hilarious to me. dave england is still my favorite cast member and pontius continues to offer hilarious one-liners. bam margera having one of the funniest bits of the movie was a shocker, although it was completely at his expense and to the pleasure of a bunch of snakes. but still, i kept thinking to myself at different parts in the movie "come on, get better!" i was just expecting an out-doing of jackass number 2, and what i got was simply another out-doing of jackass number 1. redoing the tooth pull with danger ehren was unnecessary considering the footage already exists with don vito. and i don't really know how much 3d added to most of the movie, some shots looked great, others didn't really do much for me.

i can't talk too much shit on this movie cause it really was hilarious, it just wasn't another step up collectively. it definitely had it's faults and let-downs because of what the first 2 movies brought to the table, but there were absolutely some great new things to add to the mix. with the weezer track and the call-back to the early days in the credits, i can't help but think that this will be the last horah from a motion picture standpoint (although 3.5 has been confirmed). and i'm fine with that. it's been a great 10 years of laughter. i've enjoyed (almost) every minute of it.


currently listening to: hurley, my dinosaur life, brad paisley
currently reading: jurassic park

at the start.

well. i can't believe this. i had all my thoughts summed up on this matter and then i accidentally clicked one of those fucking adds on the side of the facebook page and lost the whole thing. i suppose this is why i shouldn't write my notes in facebook.

these thoughts will no longer be anywhere near as poignant as originally intended, but i'll try my best to replicate.

it's unfortunate that i'm always the most inspired when i'm in a bad mood, cause it makes me come off as a lot more miserable than i am. i'm not a miserable person. at least not anymore.

but the past few days i have been a little down, and it's gotten me thinking about a lot of things. and really what i've noticed is the majority of times, no feeling is ever as good as the first time you are entering into something new. something that really turns out to be great. the feeling you get when you are first involving yourself or familiarizing yourself with something is just such an amazing experience to look back on, but it's frustrating cause you don't ever know when these feelings are happening and there's no way to get them back.

what do i mean? like the first time you hear a great album. or when you first move into a new place. or when you first meet a new person you really grow to care about.

these feelings could last a day or two, or they could last a lot longer. they could last up until something changes your perspective or changes the relationship you have with such thing. it's like when you first meet a new girl. really hitting it off and the whole getting-to-know-each-other, happy with each other's company original feelings are amazing. until that first fight or something, then it all changes and it's tough to ever get that original momentum back.

that leads to problems, at least for me. it's hard not to dwell on times where things were great, new, exciting, whatever. but it's not like you can hop in a delorean and time travel back to them. oh how i wish.

so what's the sense in all this? i have no idea. i'm sure it has something to do with a "savor the moment" mentality, but can you really? you never know when something is going to turn out to be great. you don't know going into your first listen that the album you have is going to be amazing, hell it could be terrible. the girl could be a bitch. you can't see the future so it's tough to savor a feeling if you don't know when it's going on.

as i type this i can't help but think of a line from big d's song "safe haven." maybe the best way to go about all of this is not to be too uptight, enjoy every positive moment you have and simply "relax, slow down, take a breath, and breathe."

currently listening to:
noah and the whale--peaceful the world lays me down (specifically "second lover")
motion city soundtrack--my dinosaur life
weezer--pinkerton
the rentals--return of the rentals.

those sunglasses really tied the room together

this weekend, in an unfortunate kayaking accident, i lost my goofy-ass yellow sunglasses i've been wearing for the majority of this year.

now yeah, they're just a pair of sunglasses, yeah they were cheap as hell, and yeah i'm going to go buy another pair tomorrow (possibly a different color though, thus not to tarnish the legacy of the yellow ones), but they had a lot of sentimental value to me.

so in remembrance.

i picked those sunglasses up back in February, at a time where i was making a conscious effort to become a more positive person and enjoy life a lot more. those sunglasses traveled across the country with me playing rugby, traveled to concerts with me, bars, work, many a drunken evening when i should have lost them but they stayed so oddly snug around my neck, ever so un-budging. they helped me develop an odd sense of personality, where i was no longer a miserable ass who hated everything, but a goofy kid who had more fun than the average guy. along with odd spray-paint t-shirts and bright colors, they were symbolic is what i'm trying to say.

we shared a lot of memories, me and those goofy yellow sunglasses. i thought i had lost them last week when a screw fell out, but no, i repaired them, and got another week out of them. i thought i dodged a bullet, but i only dodged a boomerang and on the 4th of july, the epitome of my new-found optimism, a truly amazing weekend, they sank to the bottom of lake erie.

so here's to them. this beer's for you.
and to the fish who finds them at the bottom of the lake...treat them well. they were good to me, and they'll be good to you.

Big D and the Kids Table.

david mcwane may be the last person on earth to wear cargo pants.

but he may also be the most genuine person ever to make a living wearing said cargo pants. for a while i've relentlessly harolded his band's, 2009 release "fluent in stroll" as the best record i had heard since brand new's "the devil and god are raging inside me." and maybe it's time some reasons were given as to why this record, as well as this band, are some of the best in music right now.

i've never been a lucky person, but i will say my luck in regards to concerts has been fantastic. upon the release of both of the above-mentioned records, both bands seemed to find western new york as a hot-spot for the subsequent tours. i managed to catch brand new 5 or 6 times touring in support of the devil and god, and i've caught big d 4 times sense stroll's release.

now the two albums and the two live shows are incredibly different. one is the most emotionally havoc-inducing album i've ever heard while the other is the most upbeat. and brand new's live show is filled with artsy light shows and is very art-first, band-interaction-second. big d's shows have/had a bit of a light show and a film projection for a while, but their shows are unpredictable and just absolute fun. they don't give a fuck on stage. well, that's not true, they do about one thing, making sure they put on a damn good show.

a few months ago i saw them at SUNY fredonia, it was a free show, and it got shut down about half way through the set. well, it was supposed to have gotten shut down, but in the words of brian klemm, the new guitar player, "there were like 600 kids there, what were we going to do? just stop and leave them disappointed?" the band played until they shut the power down. the last half of noise complaint was nothing but stage diving, david mcwane lost in the crowd, and horns and drums (as all the electronic instruments had lost power). there was no alcohol allowed at the show for obvious reasons, but the guy i ended up standing with managed to sneak a few in and we gave one to dave....one of the best decisions i've ever been a part of.

fastforward to last thursday, the scene is rochester, ny, at the water street music hall. we roll into rochester with a case of pbr in the backseat and pull into the cheapest parking lot i know, about 2 blocks from the venue. we have some beers, and load up my buddy's leather jacket with extra (yup, same guy who snuck them into fredonia). we're walking to the venue and who do we see? brian klemm standing outside a convenient store. does he recognize us from fredonia? not at first, but after a few seconds reminding he absolutely does. just as cool of a guy as he was when i was heckling him about having to fill sean p rogan's shoes (former guitar player) during the setup at the last show. we get to the venue, after having to run back to my car. who do we run into again? brian klemm. this time he initiates the conversation. i end up talking to him again the entire time he's setting up his equipment, this time not heckling, but talking about gear and guitar choices and roommate situations (he lives with reel big fish's aaron barrett). i was trying not to sound like i was interviewing him but i ended up asking questions about sean leaving (yup he's done for good), where dan stoppelman is (long time trumpet player sat out this tour cause he was "burnt out") and the next record (which they're writing in june).

show goes off. great show, really heavy on the old songs unlike the past few shows plus a brand new one that's to be on a split 7". LAX closes the set and a ton of people end up on stage (scene of my first ever stage dive....i usually hate when people get on stage cause they never know when they've overstayed their welcome, so i got off quick). during the show dave said something about buying the tour manager a shot after the show. of course, my buddy jumps at the opportunity and basically drags him off stage. i buy brian a shot for being such a cool guy. after some banter we end up with an invitation to drink beer while the band is packing out.

and so began the coolest musical moment of my life, the one that really cements this band as one of the most genuine and coolest in music.

we're standing on the sidewalk while the band is up on an elevated loading-dock-type platform. we're shooting the shit and trying not to act TOO much like excited fans, and they tell us to come inside so they don't have to look down on us. and this is the whole band, everybody is coming over to talk to us. and they're all really really cool people. we exchanged stories, drank beer, and hung out like friends. at one point i even got dave's girlfriend in trouble and i tried my best to smooth the waters (which dave simply replied "i'm just going to give her shit, ya know, like you'd give a buddy"). i helped them search for ryan's phone (sax), brian gave me the chords to "known to be blue," we talked favorite live songs, the idea of pressing how it goes on vinyl (they're considering), and talked about the new album. apparently it's going to be a thrash punk, ska, and stroll record with some more folky stuff on it. dan and paul (trombone) are supposed to be on it even though they haven't been on the road.

however, there was some stuff that bothered me amongst the night of absolute awesomeness that i was a part of. while talking to steve (bass), i mentioned how a lot of the stroll songs were missing off the set. and what followed was a lengthy conversation about how the reception was very mixed and it was unsettling for himself and the rest of the guys (some were quicker to admit to it than others). at one point steve went as far as to say "it's frustrating, the reception is divided and the guys who don't like it are VERY vocal about not liking it. i hate going on like punknews.org and reading 'oh go kill yourself, your album sucks.'" i didn't know what to say, i had already told them how important the album was to me, but all i could think was this band that laid it all out there and made a truly unique album is letting stupid mindless critics get the best of them, and i wish that wasn't how it was.

i mean, these guys are your DIY band, they live on the road, play free shows, and will drink beer with you after the show like you guys are long-time buddies. i don't know if it gets any better than that. i don't know if there's more i could ask for out of these guys. i mean, the old guitar player used to post guitar lessons on youtube for their songs...that's awesome. these guys deserve to be huge, but instead they're losing members like wildfire and they're stuck playing the smaller room of water street. and i can't help but think the reason sean left and dan got burnt out is because of the reaction to fluent in stroll. i hope not because it is a truly amazing record.

there is no better band out there right now, and the live show i saw at the town ballroom back in november, the amount of fun i had at fredonia, and how cool these guys were in rochester just proves it time and time again. not to mention they always answer their fan emails...who the hell still does that these days? they've been doing it for as long as reel big fish, but without the major label and the "sell out" big hit. instead their "big hit" is a song telling the west coast snobs to fuck off and that they'd rather work for everything they have.

yeah, that's the song that says "fuck" like 25 times. that's their "hit." but we'll keep on doing our best, even though our lives are a mess. these guys are so good at what they do and they deserve so much more.

a pic...cause it happened.

the Buffalo Sabres: what they mean to western new york.

to be short, they mean everything. and they mean everything for so many reasons.

let's take a look back a few years ago, before the president's trophy, before ryan miller was a household name. the team was a mirror image of the city it represented. they were on the verge of bankruptcy, future was in doubt, owner was corrupt. things were grim. but there were some steadfast honest men. lindy ruff still stood in the back of the bench with his suite and tie, much like the arena stood on the outskirts of a city that was looking grim.

but something magical happens in this city when the team is winning.

you walk down elmwood avenue on a sunny spring day and you're no longer reminded of the poor, grim spiral the city of buffalo has fallen into. you forget all about the crooked politicians, the lack of jobs, and the ugly areas of town. but you see smiling faces, blue and gold everywhere, flags flying from cars that are honking their horns in that familiar quarter note quarter note triplet pattern. "lets go buff-a-lo"

this city is blue collar to it's core and how can one not admire that? we've had a football team that hasn't made the playoffs in a decade but yet we still make sure they sell out every game almost every year. neither the sabres nor the bills have ever won a championship in the current professional leagues. but nobody thinks about that this time of year. they wear the colors, grow their playoff beards (even though some people's, like my own, are not coming in well at all), drink their beers, and cheer for the buffalo sabres.

they stand outside the arena, packed in front of a big screen tv, rain or shine, and cheer as loud as they can. half the people don't even have a full look at the screen, but something as small as coming back from a commercial makes them all erupt in noise. that's something special. the moral of this city, a city that's been beaten down for years with shrinking job markets, highest gas prices in the nation, and has endured so much, is lifted every time that puck is dropped. every goal the blue and gold score. every time ryan miller stands on his head to make an immaculate save. every time someone sees a fellow sabres fan.

who knows what will happen down the line. there's a lot of hockey left to be played if this team is going to go all the way. and after a disappointing game 2 against boston, one can only hope. i for one want to see these spirits be lifted to their fullest potential. if the sabres can do what they need to do, it could do so much for this city. bring some respect and some positive emotion into an area that so desperately needs it.

so, heres to the sabres. this town needs you guys, and we love you like family. come on boys.