Thank U

Getting ready to eat just wanted to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving. If you are reading this chances are I'm thankful for knowing you. Enjoy your dinner and your company, and have a great start to your Holiday Season.

Thrash Unreal

Last night I took my niece Jennie and her friend Kelsey to see Against Me! For those of you that don't know, and judging by the looks I've gotten when I've told most of you about going that's pretty much all of you, Against Me! is a punk band whose current single is Thrash Unreal, I was gonna post a video but they have all been disabled. I love there sound, especially lead singer Tom Gabel's voice. Being a punk band, I guess it goes without saying that they are anti-establishment, and really what better time to be than during the Bush era. Songs like White People for Peace, From Her Lips to God's Ears, and Baby I'm an Anarchist are more than just junk by a group of misfits trying to be cool by being against everything. They have lyrics that make you stop and think, and that is really what I look for in an artist. The thing that astonished me wasn't Kelsey being the second person during their set to stage surf it was that all they did was play. Here's this very political band and they came out and played 14 songs straight through. No Hello Cleveland, no were Against Me!, and no Eff George Bush. They just let the music do the talking. Then they did a 3 song encore and show over.

The Show was at the House of Blues, if you remember my Fake Journey experience you remember me saying how intimate the stage is. I just stood in the back with my 16 oz Pabst and let Jennie and Kelsey do their thing. We ate at the Hard Rock before the show and walked from Tower City down Euclid in the cold. When we left the temp had gone up 20 degrees.
So I went knowing I'd like Against Me! but there were 3 opening acts. that's a lot of bands to stand alone and listen to if they are no good. The first was Cobra Skulls, they played loud and fast and I enjoyed their set but they were basically a club band.

The next band blew me away, World Inferno Friendship Society, check these guys out! I don't even know how to describe this guys, so I'm going to stick in this video, just watch a little bit of it, they sound like no one else, and their musical ensemble was really different. Super high energy, pounding drums, and lyrics at the speed of sound. Check out the chick standing up playing percussion, she kicks arse.

The 3rd act was just a guy that looks like Terry and his prerecorded music. His name is Sage Francis and he is a Punk Poet/Rapper. This guy was great, and I've already downloaded a bunch of his stuff, but will probably buy an album, because he is original enough that he deserves it. He's been around a little while so if you have heard of him great, I hadn't.

If you could see any of these acts for a reasonable price, you should, you won't be disappointed.

If You Hate People From Pittsburgh

SteelersSuck.com

Magic

Sunday evening my Sister-in-Law Lisa and I left halfway through the 3rd quarter of the Browns game for Cleveland. We were heading to see Bruce! Yeah I missed most of a great Browns game, but I listened to it until the last 2 minutes of the game, and then was able to watch the end on a TV that hangs outside the Quaker Steak & Lube at the Q. It was definitely cool to stand there on the street in downtown and watch the Browns win in overtime with a group of people that were already amped up for a Springsteen concert.

This was my second Bruce concert. It was one of the best shows I have ever been to, but paled in comparison to my first time. Everyone knows what a huge KISS fan I am and I've seen them at least 7 times, and they are the greatest show on earth...except for Bruce. What KISS does with amplifiers, theatrics, explosions and pure bombast, Bruce tops with pure energy, heart and the best collection of lyrics and music ever written. I left that first show drained physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That didn't exactly happen this time.

The band was incredible as expected, Clarence Clemons makes me want to learn to play the Sax. They are as a group so incredible together. There is no way to describe the E Street Band music other than pure Rock n' Roll. From The Big Man's Sax crying, to Max hammering the drums to Dan Federici and Roy Brittan on piano/organs to the haunting background vocals of Patti, to the battling guitars of Miami Steve, Nils Lofgren, and the Boss himself there really isn't anything better. It's so obvious how much they love their music and playing it as a unit. As I told Lisa on the way home it's just so cool that all these guys have other things going on in their lives, most notably Steve Van Zandt role on the Soprano's and Max Wienberg's job as band director for Conan O'Brien, But when Bruce Calls up and says, "I've written a E Street Band Album," they drop what they are doing, make a great album, and hit the road like they never stopped touring.

As for the concert itself, I loved the message Bruce is sending out. Yeah, he's pissed about the the current administration, the rights that have been taken away from us, and the needless deaths in Iraq over a lie, but he doesn't make it a negative thing. He is there to inspire, and give hope, not add to the fear that has led us to this point in the first place.

Problem is I like all of the songs I've heard off the new album, I just didn't expect him to play all of them. I wanted to hear the songs I know by heart, that have made me stop and think, and that have altered my life. He also had to hear one of Patti Scialfa's (Bruce's wife) songs. I didn't pay 100.00 for that! Most of the E Street Band members have released solo work but they weren't getting any play. I guess I wouldn't have minded if we got the typical 3 encores but he did only one. Then finished with American Land? I mean I thought it was awesome, but it was from his American Folk Song album the Seger Sessions. There was also no 30 minute story/speech wrapped up nicely in a song. Nor did he do any kind of big introduction of the band.

Highlights were She's the One, Tunnel of Love, It's Hard to be a Saint in the City and probably my favorite was a reworked blues version of Reason to Believe. That is one of the great things about a Springsteen Concert, he will completely change a song not just play it acoustically, but completely rework it. He may even put it to the music of a song by another artist like the Rolling Stones. I also have to mention Lisa's new favorite song Gypsy Biker, check it out on youtube there's a great guitart duel at the end between Bruce and Little Steven.

Okay, so I'll admit I was a little let down, still it was an awesome experience and I will be yelling Bruuuuuuuce! and answering the question, "Is anyone really alive out there?" at the top of my lungs next time he's in town.

Mak the Knife

I apologize for my disappearance over the last couple of weeks. Things haven't been easy lately, and my mind has not allowed me to focus too well. That said, I'm back and have a few things to blog about.

First, Karen and I enjoyed an excellent dinner at Hil-Mak's Friday night. I had grilled tuna covered in a Hawaiian sauce. It was incredible! Karen ate pasta and scallops, which she said was excellent. I am no food critic, but I know when something hits my tongue that tastes better than most of what I eat. Hil-Mak's is an Ashtabula Harbor staple. How anyone could go to Red Lobster and drop $40.00 when they could do the same at Hil-Mak's is beyond me. I worked there for a stretch in High School and received one free meal every night I worked. If you're in town and and enjoy seafood and a classy family owned atmosphere make sure you go, and get a twice baked as your potato choice and not the fries like I did. We went to the Locker Room after had one drink, and left since it was empty. We came home and watched about 6 episodes of the West Wing.

Saturday Mattie and I went to see Bee Movie. It was good, but I have seen better kids movies. Afterwards we headed out to Luciana's house in Roaming Shores. I walked in and Ray, her husband, and her brother Carmen were well into a bottle of Jim Beam. At no point earlier that day could I have guessed I would be drinking Jim Beam and Diet Squirt, while at the same time doing double shots. I knew 2/3 into the first drink I was in trouble. But Ray is pretty influential, and once Karen said she would head out after work and we could stay, I could offer little resistance. We hit The Paradise and Phil's bar for a couple of rounds then back to the house. The night saw an evening long debate as to whether or not the time change gave Carmen an extra hour to drink because he wanted to be in the stream fishing before sunrise. We convinced him it did...we were wrong.

There will be a longer post to follow tomorrow about my Sunday night.