2011: The Year In Music.

foreward: coming up on the end of this year, i've had a very hard time collecting my thoughts on the year in music. 2 years ago, when i first started writing these, i knew the year was going to be huge for me and the bands i liked. last year, i knew it wasn't going to be. this year, i was overwhelmed and taken by surprise. the concert attendance wasn't as high as i would have liked, but the albums that just poured onto my computer/record player/ipod/car radio were overwhelming. so, with that i present my complete thoughts on oh'11 in music.

an incomplete list of the shows i was in attendance for:
-dropkick murphys/against me! -- rapids theater, niagara falls
-noah and the whale -- the mod club, toronto
-against me! -- water street music hall
-warped tour -- big d, less than jake, street dogs -- darien lake
-brad paisley, blake shelton, jerrod niemann -- darien lake
-alkaline trio -- water street music hall
-reel big fish/streetlight manifesto -- rapids theater, niagara falls.
-big d and the kids table -- town ballroom
-foo fighters -- first niagara center
-noah and the whale -- some other crap club in toronto that charged way too much for beer

shows i regret missing:
-nofx -- kool haus
-manchester orchestra -- water street music hall
-blink 182/manchester orchestra -- darien lake
-the archers of loaf reunion tour
-dropkick murphys -- rochester ----I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT UNTIL AFTERWARD
-brand new -- new years eve show



albums:
-akron/family -- S/T II: the cosmic birth and journey of shinju TNT
-akron/family -- bmbz
-against me! -- russian spies/occult enemies
-against me! -- black crosses
-against me! -- total clarity
-alkaline trio -- damnesia
-big d and the kids table -- for the damned, the dumb, and the delirious
-brad paisley -- this is country music
-blink 182 -- neighborhoods
-cake -- showroom of compassion
-dan andriano in the emergency room -- hurricane season
-dropkick murphys -- going out in style
-foo fighters -- wasting light
-green day -- awesome as fuck
-kevin devine -- nevermind
-kevin devine -- part of the whole/luxemburg
-kevin devine -- between the concrete and the clouds
-manchester orchestra -- simple math
-nofx -- 10" of 10 hardcore covers
-noah and the whale -- last night on earth
-radiohead -- the king of limbs
-rivers cuomo -- alone III: the pinkerton years
-she and him -- a very she and him christmas
-sum 41 -- screaming bloody murder

a "top 10" of the year

10. noah and the whale -- last night on earth
9. green day -- awesome as fuck
8. big d and the kids table -- for the damned, the dumb, and the delirious
7. brad paisley -- this is country music
6. manchester orchestra -- simple math
5. cake -- showroom of compassion
4. dan andriano in the emergency room -- hurricane season
3. foo fighters -- wasting light
2. alkaline trio -- damnesia
1. dropkick murphys -- going out in style


10. noah and the whale -- last night on earth


i extensively chronicled my thoughts on this album in the review of the first time i saw them live. it's good. is it as great as their first 2 records? not even close. i don't like drum machines. i don't like too many keyboards. i like charlie fink's guitar playing and consider it a huge inspiration, and there just isn't enough of it on this album. not enough singer-songwriter, too much poppy nonsense. but when it hits, it hits hard. "old joy," "the line," and "just me before we met" are all incredible. unfortunately, the song "life is life" is one of the worst i've heard all year.

9. green day -- awesome as fuck!


this album makes my top 10 simply on the track selection. incredible track listing for a live album by one of the biggest bands in the world. seeing them live on the tour where this album was recorded the previous year blew my mind. they dug so deep into their back catalog and it shows on this album. as a matter of fact, they probably would have made more money off of it if there were more of the hit singles on this. i wish there was a track from the buffalo show, namely "give me novocaine," and i wish some of billie joe's extended crowd interaction and guitar "solos" were a little more cleaned up, but this album is solid.

8. big d and the kids table -- for the damned, the dumb, and the delirious


i was initially very turned off by this album because it wasn't fluent in stroll. i've discussed big d so much lately, that my opinions on this band will become overbearing and old hat to some. this album is solid. they're one of the best ska bands of all time. with sean p still around, i think it would have been better but it's cool that he recorded some of the vocals and guitar on the record. "walls" is one of the most bad ass songs they have, it's right up there with LAX.

7. brad paisley -- this is country music


i wish i had accepted american saturday night quicker. it's become my favorite brad record. but, because i was so jaded towards it originally, i tried to learn from my mistakes this time around. the singles on this album have been pretty top-notch and "be the lake" is one of my favorite country songs of all time. however, there are a few problems i have with this record. it could be a work of art, and i think that was the original plan. the constant throwbacks to the title track are nice, but on my original listen, i thought they were going to serve as intros to segments of the album. instead, they intro specific songs. there are enough running themes that i think it would have been cool to keep it segmented. also, i miss the kung-pow buckaroos....

6. manchester orchestra -- simple math


this album was said to have "the best song i'll hear all year." that song, and the title track are the reason this album isn't higher on this list. that song, "virgin" and the title track fall on their face attempting to be epic. they slow the album down and bring a level of mundane into an otherwise awesome album. the opener is amazing. absolutely amazing. "pensacola" is so engagingly fun. the whole album is really strong minus those two aforementioned tracks.

5. cake -- showroom of compassion


i always thought cake was a gimmicky joke band growing up. i really fell for them this year. they're so damn catchy and so unique. if this album just had "mustache man" and "sick of you" 5 times each, it would still probably be in my top 10. i can't describe the effect they have on me. the guitar riffs are so engaging, the vocal delivery is so unique, and the added musical instrumentation, whether it be percussion, trumpet, or whatever.....it all works so well for cake, and this album is no exception.

4. dan andriano in the emergency room -- hurricane season












a total mood album. i've always preferred dan to matt in alkaline trio, and i was really excited for this album. it didn't disappoint. a lot of really really good stuff. even the songs i didn't consider to be that great have somehow managed to get stuck in my head on random occasions (such as "me and denver" yesterday while i was at work). dan is friggin awesome, i would love to see him live at a solo show.

3. foo fighters -- wasting light


it took a lot to not make this album my number 1 of the year. it's probably the most consistent record that the foo have ever put together and it's damn good from start to finish. when "rope" first came out, i was very hesitant. it was a very unique song-structure for this band. but it's gotten to the point where i crave listening to that song. there are so many hits on this album. any song on it could be a single in my opinion. the return of krist novaselic/dave grohl was great to see/hear as well.

2. alkaline trio -- damnesia


this record is perfect. my only complaint is that it isn't long enough! more songs like this!!!!! the two new originals are great. i thought "i remember a rooftop" was boring and too wordy at first, but now i absolutely consider it one of dan's best. "i held her in my arms" turned out amazing, and all of the re-worked songs from past albums turned out beautifully. i would have a hell of a time trying to make a best-to-worst list of the tracks on this album. so many great emotions covered as well, fun, dreary, depressed, angry, upbeat...it's all there.

1. dropkick murphys -- going out in style


i've occasionally heard the term "a triumph of the human spirit" be uttered by i myself have never used it until now. i would consider "bamboo bones" off of against me!'s white crosses to be a triumph of the human spirit because it is so jam-packed with emotion that it just slams into you when you crank the volume. and this is on an album with no emotion whatsoever anywhere else. so what happens when you have an entire album bursting with this very triumph of human spirit? you get "going out in style." it's fucking perfect. it's amazing. it is so overwhelming. i listen to it and i just want to scream the lyrics and be in a crowd of blue-collar workers having a beer. the gang vocals and giant sound are part of the reason for this. another is the excellent cameos. fat mike, bruce springsteen, it's great. even the weaker songs are better than 75% of the songs in the rest of this top 10. i don't think i could come up with a bad thing to say about it if i spent all day thinking about it. the title track and "memorial day" are incredible singles, "broken hymns" is truly beautiful, and this album has one kick ass closer. a triumph of the human spirit and the ideals of a blue collar, working class society who want's to work for what they have and have pride in where they came from.
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let down of the year:
Radiohead -- the king of limbs
i adored "in rainbows." i thought it was a really phenomenal album. i had to force myself to get through this album. it's boring, it's pretentious, it's lame, it fails at what it's trying to do. this band can do so much better.


thoughts on the rest:

akron/family -- what they did with the record store day release/fake leaking of their album was hilarious. i just wish i hadn't spent 15 bucks on the record without knowing that's what i was buying. the actual album is pretty good. i don't think they'll ever touch their old music in my opinion, but some of this stuff really still hits hard.

against me! -- awesome stuff from these guys this year, both live and on record. the new 7" was really friggin good. the total clarity stuff is pretty decent. black crosses is superior to white crosses. i think replacing warren was a bad decision for white crosses, he sounds great on this release. that being said, jay weinberg is a great fit for these guys.

blink 182 -- neighborhoods -- it's what i expected. a not-that-great follow up to a great album coming off an idiotic hiatus. there's some great songs on here (i'm looking at you, "after midnight") but there are some real sleepers. "wishing well" is the worst song they've ever written. what's with the production on this album?! it's so slick that it sounds like plastic. the guitar sound is friggin terrible, there's no meat to it at all.

kevin devine -- he's consistent. the 2 7"s were really good, with luxemburg being the superior of the two. his idea to cover nevermind was novel, it's something i could see myself doing with some of my favorite albums if i were to ever make it. but come on, i doubt anybody prefers it to the original. the angst and aggression just isn't there. his new full-length wasn't great in my opinion. it wasn't bad though. it was right in the middle. like i said, kevin is consistent.

nofx -- 10 hardcore covers -- the thing with nofx is you know what you're going to get, even if it is something new. they said this would be different and they explained how it would sound. they were right. it's exactly what i expected. aggressive, sloppy, fast, almost off-putting. not bad, just not my thing.

rivers cuomo -- alone III -- eh. i expected more. it's "the pinkerton years" and i was expecting it to reflect the greatness that is that album. this is very close to fitting into the "let down" category. i wanted this album with the book but it's so ridiculously over-priced. half the songs sound like he just recorded them without putting any forethought into what he was going to sing about. and it really goes to show that pinkerton was the superior to songs from the black hole.

she and him -- yeah....i listened to this whole album. i like zooey deschannel and i wish she still looked the way she did during elf. baby it's cold outside.

sum 41 -- screaming bloody murder -- it is what it is. another thing that was exactly what i expected. there's a few good songs and a lot of "meh." their time has passed and if they can continue to make music for the love of it, then good for them....i respect that to the ends of the earth. but they aren't about to blow up again any time soon.
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best of shows:

this was the first time sense 2006 that i didn't see brand new once all year. kind of a bummer.

i so so so so so so so wish that the dropkick show came 2 weeks later. it came just days before the album was released and they played a lot of it. the show was awesome and i could tell the new album was going to be good before it even came out. i just hate seeing songs live that i have yet to hear on album. it was such a high energy show and so much fun, it probably would have been one of the shows of the year for me if i had "going out in style" in my hands ahead of time.

against me! killed it at this show and it was the reason why i went back to see them in rochester later in the year....and thank god i did.

seeing noah and the whale live was something i had always hoped for but never really thought would happen. so to see them twice in one year was awesome. the first show was the easy superior to the second. they've strayed too far away from the band i loved at this point. the lack of guitar playing by charlie and the weird stage presence they had at the 2nd show was very off-putting. but that first show....magical.

my trips to darien lake weren't as successful as the previous year. warped tour was garbage, i think i was home by 3 in the pm. brad paisley was a hell of a time though. that line-up was awesome. again, like last year, i wish had been more sober for it.

the against me! show in rochester was the show of the year. i wrote enough about it already. you can look for what i wrote or read all the reviews of the controversy partially caused by me all over the web. i will forever support this band after that show.

after the alkaline trio show had happened, i thought it was a let down. a couple weeks later, however, i realized that it was friggin awesome. i just wish they played longer sets.

i'm not a big streetlight fan but i've been a reel big fish fan for years. they've gotten old. aaron barrett looks old. and it's weird to me. the eternally youthful feel of their music set to a gray-haired skanker in a hawaiian shirt is just odd. losing scott is a real heart-breaker in my opinion.

the big d show was interesting, as they all seem to be. i love talking to those guys and drinking beer with them. eternal thanks to ryan for sneaking me in after i got kicked out. the show was not the same though. the lack of sean, the lack of the dollies, the lack of the lights, the lack of dave's normal energy.....it wasn't bad, it just wasn't what i know these guys are capable of.

foo fighters are fucking awesome. what else can be said but that? they played for a fortnight. the highlight to me was the acoustic set dave played, namely "long road to ruin." if only they had played "wheels"!!!!!


looking ahead:

i really don't know what's to come in the new year. apparently new against me!? i hope so. with them on their own label, i think they can return to form. i really don't even know what else i have to look forward to. new motion city and maybe new brand new? who knows. maybe that's a good thing considering how this year turned out.

one thing, through hell or high water, there will be a next week's weather full-length in oh'12.

thanks
-jc

this site will slowly transition into updates for said album, so please feel free to come back and visit...

david mcwane.

david mcwane is one of the most important musical figures in my life. a lot of the people i'm friends with probably don't even know who he is and may not have ever even heard of him. and that's too bad. in the world of your lady gagas and your nickelback's (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5tBJ34wfOA), very few musicians in popular music seem to have a heart, a soul, and sometimes even a pulse. there are some exceptions. dave grohl seems to be about as genuine as they come and he's one of the most successful musicians of the past 20 years. but if you watch the foo fighters "back and forth" documentary, he too seemed to go through a period of being a rather awful person.

david mcwane is geniune. and to reverse his own lyrics, has a heart and has the soul. a few weeks ago, however, i was worried about how much longer he would in fact have a pulse.

david mcwane is the singer of punk/ska/stroll bostonians "big d and the kids table." he's also the only person left on the planet who wears cargo pants. and just over a month ago, news came out that the band had to cancel their current european tour because he was diagnosed with "throat cancer." this was one of the first real times that i concerned myself with the life of a "celebrity" in quiet some time. but it's tough to call dave a celebrity.

although big d's most recent album, "for the damned, the dumb, and the delirious" was not at all the smash hit for me that "fluent in stroll" was, the guys who are and have been in this band are people i will respect forever. i've written about it before and i've had conversations with the band themselves and some friends, but the punk community and the way they handle a band changing their sound is something that can really cripple a band. and from an outsider looking in, it really put a lot of stress on big d.

fluent in stroll is, in my opinion, one of the most upbeat, positive, and engaging records i've ever listened to. it came to me at a point in my life where i was down right miserable and it just put a smile on my face that wouldn't leave for a long time. but it wasn't a punk/ska record by definition or design. instead, it was a poppy blend of 100 musical stylings, perfectly meshed into the ultimate summer album. punks don't like that. they want you to sing about how the elitist los angele'ietes (don't think that's a word) are assholes. they want power chords and loud drums. they want stage dives and obnoxious horns. so outcome the guns with fluent in stroll in their scopes. bass player steve foote had a long talk with me about this twice, once in rochester after their show and once in buffalo before their most recent stint in wny. it hurt the band, and it showed.

they had a lot of line up changes. long time trumpeter dan stoppleman left the band, founding guitar player sean p rogan left the band, live fill-in brian klemm from the suburban legends was in the band for only a few months before being replaced by nick pantazi. steve foote even left for this past warped tour to, in his words, "have a real job to pay the bills...that i hated." that's a lot of line-up changes. with the subtraction of the doped up dollies, and all the above changes, this past warped tour, the only familiar faces were ryan o'connor on sax, derek davis on drums, and of course....david mcwane. now, it's hard for me to say with complete assurance, but i really think how poorly received fluent in stroll was by the more vocal members of the punk community had a lot to do with all these changes.

so out comes the new record. it was a self-proclaimed "return to form," bringing back the rock. is it a great record? eh. it has some killer songs on it and has an awesome opener, but it doesn't touch their past 3 releases in my opinion. and, again, a lot of other people's opinions were equally critical. it's funny in the punk community, you're bashed when you take a creative leap and then you're bashed when you scale it back and play it safe. what the fuck is that nonsense?

so on top of all this, david mcwane is diagnosed with cancer and the band claims they lost over 10,000 dollars by canceling the tour early. a huge bummer. i was terrified about the fact that i might never again see a band i've jammed to sense 10th grade.

see, like i said, david mcwane is real. so is every member past and present (or at least from "how it goes" on). i've hung out with all these guys, drank beer with most of them, done shots with brian klemm, helped dave find ryan's cell phone, the list goes on. hell, at the most recent show, me and who i was with got kicked out cause he didn't have his id on him. ryan o'connor snuck me in through the back door... and then they talked about it on stage at the end of the show. that's awesome.

these guys don't deserve some of the shit they get, they're the most legit people in music.

they've influenced my life in countless ways and i can not be happier to hear that he should be back on tour in a couple months. it's tough because these guys have been around for a long time and they only have a couple founding members left. it's hard to say they're going to blow up and take the ska scene by storm. they'll most likely forever be regarded with a lot of respect in the community and that's that.

but in my mind........different story.

hell, if the band ever happens to read this, and you guys don't have much luck with the new guy on 6-string, hit me up. i know probably 30+ songs of yours, live on the east coast, and have professional grade equipment...just a thought.

music's a steady riot in my soul. and i hope like hell that the one day where they stop stealing beer from clubs and stop hanging at the bar with the late night punks and lousy women......well i hope that one day never comes.

Why "Tattoos on this Town" By Jason Aldean is the Worst Song of the Year

in preparation for my annual review of music for the year, i thought i'd share some thoughts on what the worst song of the year is and why it should be held on such a pedestal.

jason aldean struck out in 2 swings with this song.

now, this album, "my kind of party" was released last year, and "tattoos on this town" was the forth single released from it. this piece of garbage somehow climbed it's way to #2 on the country charts and is the poster child for why so many people are so jaded towards country music. this is an odd turnaround as the single that preceded it was the huge hit "dirt road anthem" which attracted many not-so-country fans.

i don't get why this song had to be released as a single, or even written in the first place. it was written by three people, none of who are jason aldean. that alone already makes me dislike it. one of my biggest problems with country music is how often the song is written by someone other than the "artist" who records it. this is also one of the reasons why i respect brad paisley so much; dude writes much of his own music. but that's a story for another book. shame on these folk for penning a song that glorifies a terrible aspect of growing up.

what is that terrible aspect of growing up?

why, it's the glorified sense of entitlement that comes with being a teenager on your way out of high school. "we sure left our mark on it," the chorus boasts, claiming how much of an impact this particular group of teens made on their home town. it's like they left tattoos! oh but wait. that's not how growing up is. this song glorifies a fictitious sense of entitlement that so many high schoolers have when they are getting their diploma. every grade thinks they were so influential and did so much and were so unique. i remember my senior year, we had t-shirts that said "it took 2007 years to get a class this good." NO! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! we were nothing outlandishly over the top, we were very ordinary. nobody cares about the class that graduated 4 and a half years ago now. they just don't.

this song reminds me of that other country song, "boys of fall." both songs share the same sense of youth, only "boys of fall" gives a reason for remembrance. there are towns out there where if the football team is doing well, then the town may get behind them. but still, tattoos on that town? no. maybe a few years later, some old folk who go to the games might be sitting at a diner or a bar and reminisce about how good that team way back when was, but they certainly weren't that influential.

so if you think that you're so god damn special to your town and that you left such a mark on it.....wait a few years, you weren't. and jason aldean and the smucks who wrote this should NOT be glorifying such thought. it's just aiding to the already overwhelming sense of entitlement that plagues the current youth of america.

now some people might read this and go "oh but it's catchy! it's a toe tapper!" eh....not really. sonically, it leaves much to be desired. the chord progression is bland, the song structure is redundant, and the instrumentation is nothing to make itself stand out.

it just sucks. it's the worst song of the year.

i mean, even toby keith, who usually is so overwhelming with his obnoxious salute to america, his belittling "i like america more than you" attitude, and general slob'ish'ness managed to set aside his red-white-and-blue kiss ass'ing to put out two quality tracks this year (red solo cup and somewhere else). so that leaves you alone at the top, mister aldean. not even sum 41's bland new album or the garbage that is "wishing well" by blink-182 can touch the crap that spews out of this particular track.

coming soon:

-why david mcwane is so important to me and what his throat cancer means to music.

-musical year in review, oh'12

-my year in review, oh'12

stubborness and not admitting when you are wrong.

whelp. baby here i am again, kicking dust in the canyon wind....

i mean.

i've really had a hard time dealing with one of the issues in which the headline of this little ditty references. but seeing as the two are so closely related, and i am the definition of one of them, a discussion on the two is fitting in my eyes.

i am one of the most stubborn people i know. i am very set in my ways, i hate change, and i am often accidentally arrogant. granted, i'm often purposely arrogant for the sake of comedy, but that's entirely different. the fact of the matter is, if people can not understand when i'm being sarcastic and being condescending as a joke, then they either need to lighten up or aren't people i want to socialize with. however, not being able to admit when you are wrong is a whole other issue. i've been guilty of it on occasion, but i've also often admitted it and ran away with my tail between my legs. listen, if you debate me on an issue i feel strongly about, i'm either going to talk circles around you, go toe to toe with you, or, on a rare occasion, be put entirely in my place. and that's fine. if the stats stack up against me, then i need to be the adult and admit it.

but what happens when people CAN'T admit when they're wrong?

i know a lot of people like this. 3 of them have been an important part to the summer of oh'11 (rest in pieces). one was an important part of the fall of oh'10, another around sense hours after i was born, and the third, a new comer to my life. each situation is entirely different. the first is someone who was too immature for me to have dealt into my life. i made a mistake there. and the fact that they see no fault in their ways shouldn't be one to surprise me because i'm sure i was a lot like that at their age. hell, i know i was. i never gave a fuck what anybody thought of me, i was me and if you didn't like it, then fuck you. but. i'm still me. only now i'm proud of me and i strive to be the best person i can be. that's where the me back then differs from the me of now. i can admit when i'm wrong cause it's often times in a way in which i need to address my own personal character (ie. not knowing the full information on an issue i feel strongly about, making the wrong moral decision, etc. etc.)

the second person is someone far my superior when it comes to age, education, and wealth. unfortunately, for whatever reason, this person's stubbornness has grown to a level too big for his own house(s). it's fine, he worked hard to get to where he is, but even the highest of higher-ups fuck up, and you see politicians step down for a reason. everybody makes mistakes, and you need to be able to be the bigger person and say "hey, i'm sorry." i've gone months without talking to this person and have always been the one to bring them back into my life, even when i wasn't at fault for what happened. never once have i heard this person say "i was wrong" or "i'm sorry." and they've done some downright BAD things. why? why the ego? why the perpetual need to always be right? it's childish. it makes you look bad to the people who know what's really going on. and that's the whole point to all this, you're stubbornness and inability to admit you're wrong often just makes you look foolish.

finally the third example. this one is one i don't understand at all. this person was one in which i really decided i cared about, but i did so way too early. they lied to me. flat out. they lied about almost everything they said in the first week i knew them. did they ever admit to it? nope, they beat around the bush or ignored the situation. did i get upset and act out of character? absolutely. i was wrong in doing so. see that? i was wrong. admitting it. so when i hear this person say "oh i found out who he really was after." i think, well ya know what? fuck you. you knew who i was cause i was honest to you, you're the one who lied your face off and didn't admit to it. people act out of character when they're angry, that's to be expected. but when you can't act in character in normal situations or see the error in your ways when the anger subsides, then there's a problem.

people do other people wrong all the time. and sometimes all it takes to make things right is a simple "i'm sorry for so and so and so." that's it. but stubbornness and your own egos are way too prevalent in the world today.

listen, chill out, be yourself, be honest, and if you make a mistake, admit to it. it will make so much more sense in the long run. and, in the case of these 3 examples, it won't cut out somebody that is potentially important to their lives.

-jc

currently listening to:

-you and tequila make me crazy -- kenny chesney

-black crosses -- against me!

-cake.

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.