Whoops

So it's the last day of August, a finale to an excellent summer.

My only regret is not staying comitted in the final month, espically when I consider that August was hands down the best part of my summer.

August saw my birthday, many travels, Krista's return and lots more, but those are all just written down in memory. I know none of my followers will be to upset as to the month I took off writing, there were none.

But for those that did pop in and out, thank you. More importantly, for those of you that made this summer, thank you.

Tony

Get Yer Records Out

That last post was White Stripes heavy. Probably because I've been thinking of them all day. Neil and I went to try out a new record store, Spoonful, a cool, new hangout / acoustic venue / record store that just opened downtown.

The place is in a sort of sketch part of town, and was a little tough to find, but well, well worth it. The walls are lined with racks of vinyl albums, and the racks are on wheels so they can be moved to facilitate crowds for shows he plans on having in the store for small bands and other artists. To keep the retro vibe alive, he's also got many 50s tabletops, 45 Players and a few pinball machines. Spoonful looks awesome inside to say the least; a gem of vinyl and vintage.

Just opened up Saturday, and you can tell it needs a lived in feel, but the owner, who I got to meet, is a super cool dude with an even cooler story. I asked him where he got his collection from, why the store:

"I've been collecting since the 80s...I even opened up my own label for local bands at one point...I worked at the Art Museum for awhile, and when I got laid off, really, I had nothing left to lose."



It's a sweet place, and I think it's going to do real well. Look for an interview on WOBN, I got his info and plan on chatting him up on NAME THAT SHOW. I'm going to challenge this quote that stuck with me, because he does have something to lose:

an unopened original pressing of The White Stripes' "White Blood Cells."

Fifty Bucks? It will be mine...someday.

Random Music Playlist #7

Special Guest DJ Downtown Neil Brown playing "What Tony Likes" on WOBN...

"Sleepyhead" Passion Pit
"Untouched and Intact" The Honorary Title
"Die By The Drop" The Dead Weather
"American Slang" The Gaslight Anthem
"(If You're Wondering) I Want You To" Weezer
"Grapevine Fires" Death Cab for Cutie
"Stacey's Mom" Fountains of Wayne
"The Cave" Mumford and Sons
"The Hand That Feeds" Nine Inch Nails
"Cousins" Vampire Weekend
"Chips Ahoy!" The Hold Steady
"Mothers(?)" Lux

Some awful song the system threw in to cap the ten oclock hour. Took three tries for Neil to pull it out. Lol.

"Breakneck Speed" Tokyo Police Club
"Tiny Dancer" Elton John
"Mykonos" Fleet Foxes
"Treat Me Like Your Mother" The Dead Weather
"The Sons of Cain" Ted Leo
"My Girls" Animal Collective

and that is where I leave the office and join Neil at WOBN

Complain Post

If I was ever going to devote a post to bitching, this would be it. Things just haven't been connecting recently for me, and it's getting absurdly frustrating. For starters, work's been awful; secondly, it's been a bajillion degrees around town, and finally, I miss Krista bad.

Jack White says that we should pick apart our problems, one by one, and stow them away like little acorns. Why not.



Okay, so really I only have two problems: work and separation anxiety.

Work has been crazy because of many, many reasons. Primarily, two of our six person staff is on vacation, and I cannot wait to get them back in the weeks to come. To make matters worse, we had three football camps in and out this week, and a young girl's basketball clinic on campus this week.

This means many things, like: very, very early breakfasts; insanely disorganized check-in's; rude players; people leaving trash heaps of plates and garbage in the cafeteria; football men hitting on basketball girls; and worst of all, moron coaches. At least our Otterbein Football coach contact, the hilariously doppelganger named Alan Moore (ours has no hair, Watchmen's has too much) has been totally awesome.

So here is the play by play highlight reel of this week's tasks that we have had to take on, exhaustion amplified by the lack of support and early mornings for all of us still here:

-Getting up at seven for Lorain's football camp check in, only to have them arrive at 9:15. Then to find out that I missed Maddie DeVelvis' guest appearance by a matter of minutes. Great.

-Having to un-loft or un-bunk EVERY bed in 25 W Home, so the children don't get hurt fooling around in bed.

-Working extra shifts in the Campus Center Office. Yes, sitting and doing nothing gets old. Even when you're on the clock.

-Being called a queer while working by disgusting, dirty, sweat covered overly testosterone boys whose hobbies include taking group showers and dog piling on their muscular peers.

-Walking across campus at 12:30 after a really long day to go to bed in an un-air conditioned Hanby, only to find the 'gentlemen athletes' of Lorain have stolen both your mattress, and the mattress from the nearest convenient room to take from.

Did I mention it has been at least 90 degrees outside every day this week? Because that for sure does not help.

What else can I bitch about?



Oh that's right, I miss Krista so much I don't know what to do with myself...

only a few more weeks, and she's back. we're together again.

Other then play with font justification; luckily, I'm going up to visit tomorrow, so if I can just get through tonight the better days will be more then just a blurry picture from finals week.

Rock Rock Rock 'n' Roll High School

I used to abuse a phrase: "That's so punk rock," was the phrase, and for awhile, it was appropriate: someone would get told off, somebody stuck it to the man, I figured out how to open a tightly sealed CD, those events would all earn a shout: "That's so punk rock!" Earlier this summer, the phrase found itself number one in my encyclopedia of overused expressions. So I cut it out. But friends, it's back. You see, last week, for me,

was so punk rock.

So, due to a snafu with scheduling, I had to cancel Neil and I's tickets for Tokyo Police Club at the Grog Shop on July 25th. Instead, because the show was my birthday present to beardo, I had to get tickets (via Ticketmaster, yuck) for the Tokyo Police Club show in Columbus, at The Basement. Now, I love this venue, I've seen many shows (including TPC) there before, but, this move meant no more Gaslight Anthem at the LC. It would have been my fourth Gaslight show, and I was looking forward to taking my good friend Jeremy "Never Has Any Fun" Kuhn, as he loves him some Gaslight Anthem.

To tease myself, I searched for GA shows near Ohio, and found one hell of a solution: "The Hold Steady with special guests Gaslight Anthem and The Whigs." Neil was down to drive and Kuhn was in, so we immediately purchased our three tickets for what we could assume, would be a rude, loud night of rock and roll in Detroit Rock City! Of course we were down!

But I'll get back to that.

For my birthday, Jonathan hooked me up with tickets to see another band I was done making excuses for, The Hold Steady. They were playing a show in Columbus reasonablly close to my birthday (July 14) so why not? To make matters better, on the bill as a supporting band were The Whigs, a nice bluesy-Southern Rock outfit from Georgia.

So, it's me, Matt Porter and Dan Axmacher from Wooster (pleasant surprise) Pat, Jonathan and myself. The local band to open up was this really killer group called "Two Cow Garage." They sounded a lot like a more punky version of The Hold Steady, so it was a great fit; and dropped one of my favorite stage talk lines ever: "We're from Columbus, well, small towns around it." Bassist says: I'm from Columbus, f***ing Clintonville, I don't give a s**t." Then The Whigs came on, who I had seen opening for The Kooks way back when, and they killed. Only played one song I knew, but I did really dig their new music. Finally, nothing between the Hold Steady and us but a few roadies.



So finally, they come out and just kill it. Crazy good set. The play everything I want to hear expect Chips Ahoy, but we'll get to that tomorrow. "Southtown Girls" clearly stole the show, see:



All in all, the Hold Steady play a mad show, and at around the time we're back at Otterbein with Hound Dogs, I realize: I'm going to see them tomorrow. The idea hits Pat and Jon and suddenly it's a two car, five man road trip up to Michigan for another crazy rock show.


All night I think of this, and how excited I am to upgrade from The Newport, which is a fantastic venue, to the world famous Fillmore, where I will see The Dead Weather in a few weeks.

So, we drive up, Neil, Jeremy and I, with Jon and Pat bringing up the rear. It's a fairly easy drive, full of Lady Gaga and Red Vines. Finally we get there, and the venue is crazy awesome. I told Pat and Jon it was like Powers Auditorium without the bad shows and failure: beautiful theater stage set, the show takes no time getting started. Tim Barry, The Gaslight Anthem's supporter is awful. Some dreamer with an acoustic and too many bad words, he plays a quick set. Then The Whigs play another crazy good set, minus the volume being a little too loud. And then, Gaslight.



They come out and blister into a set, opening with their title track "American Slang," which is delicious live. Unfortunately, when they rip into their louder and harder tracks, we find ourselves stuck behind a bunch of slow, there to get drunk types, and it takes a few songs to get around them, but we do. Well, I do.

Brian was kind enough to pose for my camera:



They play an amazing set, the fourth time for me seeing them, and totally the best. The new album translates live so damn well it's crazy. The fans weren't too wild either, which surprised me considering we were in Detroit Rock City. During the last few songs of the set ("Great Expectations," "Here's Looking at You Kid," and "The Backseat") all the fans jumped and swung together, screaming, or gently whispering depending on which track, lyrics back at the band and each other. It was an awesome, community driven pit.

The Gaslight Anthem finished up and asserted themselves as one of my favorite bands. An easy decision, to watch them play, I can see how devoted to their fans and their music they really are, and it's energizing to be around them and the fans who all feel the same way.

This was all good. Then The Hold Steady came out. Neil, Kuhn and I were all sort of bummed that they had the headlining spot; we were there for Gaslight, but no big. Kuhn looked miserable, but Neil, Pat, Jon and I all jumped and partied straight through an amazing set that included "Chips Ahoy!" That moment sold the deal on our 6 hour car ride, 3:30 AM arrival time before a 7AM orientation day to come completely worth it.

We grabbed some merch, stole some killer posters off the Fillmore's walls and cruised home.

Two shows, six bands, two days; my friends, that's so punk rock.

What Also Happened Two Saturdays Ago

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists played a bar gig at Skully's downtown in Columbus. Pat and Jonathan carpooled down with Jim for the road trip, because as you will know, Jim was in town for far better reasons. So, en route to the Arena District (you know, Neil Ave, best part of town?) we dropped Pat and Jon off at Skully's to waste an hour or so while Jim and I sped off to BD's (a Columbus tradition that Jim seems to always pay for...) and then "Weird Al." Well, around the same time Jim and I were finding seats on the grass, probably an hour and a half from when we left the boys off in the Short North, Pat texts us and the long and short of his message is:

Ted Leo doesn't really start playing until 11 or 12, you'll probably be able to make it.



Now, I've always liked Ted Leo, he was one of those bands that I picked up via proxy from Pat, Jon, Jim and Porter (see Hold Steady post to come). In fact, I'd go as far as to say, I really liked Ted Leo. Not as much as the others, who have crossed state lines more than once to see him play in Pittsburgh, or Philly for that matter. But I'd always been wanting to tag along. With no excuse, Jim and I finished up at "Weird Al," and crossed town to see The Pharmacists.

We were two or three songs late, but it was cool, the dude at the door let us in for half of the cover charge, and proceeded to get rocked. Old school punk kind of rocked. It was absolutely awesome; the sound was operated awfully, Ted Leo's guitar had broke earlier, and, well, so what? It was a dirty, bar, rock and roll kind of show, and that's what mattered.

Most of the fans were sort of boring, or bored maybe, but there were a few guys in the middle, including myself, who let the music carry them, fists towards the grungy roof jumping and shouting out the occasional lyric and just going crazy. It was awesome; it had been a long time since a good old fashion rock show for me, and it was totally worth it. And when the band ripped into "Colleen," my favorite Ted Leo track, off of the album one before "The Brutalist Bricks," I went nuts. Ted was shouting lyrics, the crowd was shouting back, and the whole place was a big explosion of sound.



People often ask me why I spend so much money on concerts. That is in no way true, but if they did, I would try to give them this kind of feeling: loud, unquestionable moments of complete perfection, where the audience and the bands, the vocals and the guitars are fist-fighting with the amps, it's just too good to pass up.

And the only way to know how that feels is to see some shows.

Detox

I'm tired of being out of shape, out of breath from climbing a flight of steps. I feel occasionally inadequate, and for that, I must take matters into my own hands. I'm going to cut some new and bad habits, and adapt some good old ones. Maybe this revival of my cross country glory days will do more then help me shred a few pounds, a good way to clear my often troubled mind.

I'm also going to start a diet, of what, I am not sure. But now more then ever, as I start to use my own kitchen, I'm going to use healthy eating habits. Start now, I suppose. My band t-shirts are too expensive to not fit in...

I think my greatest motivation comes from some of the people closest to me: Krista, for her always support of me, Mum, for her constant love, my friends: Neil, my new personal trainer; Brent, who I will complete my goal just to spite; but the person who I think my new pursuit of health I owe the most thanks to, is my Dad.

He's done amazing things for himself this year, and I'd like to imitate. I had McDonald's tonight. Won't happen for a while I'm speculating.

Wish me luck...