If You Post It....They Will Come...

I really do plan on posting many if not all of my Warped Tour pictures. It truely was an experience that involved tons of running, many bottles of water, failing tools and some rock hard abs. All will be coming to you soon, hopefully tomorrow. But right now, I'm scanning in 9 rolls of film, very slowly, and you know, guys & girls.....a guy has needs that he usually has to fill nightly....and if I'm to get some sleep before work tomorrow, I have to choose either doing a big post here.....or taking care of those needs. So I'm off to watch Futurama....but I'll leave you with at least one pic:

High School Albums: The Missed Ones! Pt. 2

This one scares me. The fact that it didn't make my Top 5 is really something. This album influenced so many bands, they're pretty much uncountable now. It's pretty much considered one of the Top Ten Albums of the 80's, by anyone that really loves music. I just don't know how I either forgot and just didn't put it in:

It was durring my Sophomore year. I was dating a girl named Kat and I had just heard Weezer cover "Velouria" (Weezer still being my favorite band at that time). While browsing a CD store in the mall (yet another mall story, huh?), I came across this album. I heard that this was the one to get (would later hear that Doolittle was the one to get, but what can ya do?). My girlfriend wasn't into listening to it on the way home, so I finally was able to hear it in my own room.

This thing was like a whole new world to me. This expansive sound, yet....it sounded like it was recorded in my cellar. But that fit it didn't it? And it didn't really hit me until "Broken Face". Here was a song, just 1 minute 30 seconds long. But the thing just tore my face off. With lyrics that didn't make a fucking lick of sense, you had to listen carefully to try to grasp the song. You couldn't, but listening closely made the damn thing stick in your head. But what was worse was the fact that it went right into "Gigantic".

I can't tell you how many times I was just humming in high school...."Hey Paul, hey Paul, hey Paul, let's have a ball". And the first time I heard the song, I fell instantly in love with Kim Deal. And that was okay, cause I grew up in a town one over from the one she grew up in. Showing some Dayton love baby.

The rest of the album was marvelous, really delivering on everything everyone told me. But it was the last song, "Brick Is Red" that really hit it home. I don't know why it does it to me, but I can't help but repeat the song every time I hear it at the end of the album. It's just lovely.

Well, tomorrow, I head down to Cincinnati to shoot Warped Tour. What does that hold for me? Let me see: The Sounds, Motion City Soundtrack, Single File, Joan Jett and the MOTHERFUCKING STREET DRUM CORPS!!!! Yeah!!!! See ya later!

High School Albums: The Missed Ones! Pt. 1

I can't remember the exact summer that I actually found this damn thing (I'm thinking between Freshman and Sophomore years, maybe). I was on a family vacation and at that time, I really was not into sight seeing. I couldn't stand being around my extended family, they were a total bore to me. I'd rather sit in the camper and watch DVDs and listen to music. Every new town we hit, I'd immediately look for either the book/comic book shop or a great record store. And most of these towns didn't have them.

But I was lucky. One town that summer had a great mall. And at that age, I was a complete mall rat, always ready to leave the family to browse the stores.

Durring those years, I was heavily into Weezer and more male fronted bands. And I really was not into singer/songwriters. I hadn't found Brendan Benson or Pete Yorn or the Haden Sisters or Anna Waronker. And there was a reason I hadn't. It was because I hadn't found Liz Phair yet.

I was just getting into a lot of the indie review sites and half of them at the time were talking about what a big influence Liz Phair's Exile In Guyville was on every female indie rocker. How could this damn thing influence everyone? I hadn't heard of it. Well, as I've learned many times in the proceeding months and years, what I knew didn't mean jack shit.

I actually bought the album unheard, which is probably the rarest thing for me. Now a days, I usually download a few tracks or see the band live. But for some reason, I plopped down the $13 and said "Ring it up, register jockey!". I got out of the mall, tore open the packaging and checked out the CD. I popped it into my portable (I KNOW, PORTABLE CD PLAYERS, CRAZY!) and absorbed this thing. And my first thought was...."This girl has got balls!". I mean, she's showing part of her nipple on the cover. She is exposing herself to us!

And expose she did. Right from the start, she attacks the losers she's already gone through with the great anthem "6'1"". It's like she was thinking, "I'm not gonna pussyfoot around, I'm gonna knock it out of the park with the first track." And she continued to do it throughout the album. I wish I could post every track, but I won't, because it'd be wrong and I don't have that kind of time. Go buy the damn thing. But yes, almost all of the tracks are great, but it wasn't until the tenth one that everyone stopped and said, "We really have a force here."

"Fuck & Run" is a bonafide classic. There's no other way around it. It is probably the best song she'll ever write, sad to say. But when this is your best song, you shouldn't feel bad. I know when I heard this song, I actually cried a little. This song gave me a bit of hope. While Liz says in the song that she's just screwing to get buy, she asks that perfect question, "What ever happened to a boyfriend, the kind of guy who tries to win you over? What ever happened to a boyfriend, the kind that makes love because he's in it?" Oh my god, even my 15 year old mind grasped that this is the kind of guy I should be. That one song helped shape how I'd treat women. How many people can say that about another song?

And the album keeps going. With the amazing "The Divorce Song", you get the opposite of "Fuck & Run". Instead of a wish of what could happen, you get the end of what could have been. And after watching my parents in a very bitter divorce, I could relate to this very well.

But my actual favorite song on the album goes to the album closer, "Strange Loop". I could atribute it to this great opening set of lyrics:

"The fire you like so much in me
Is the mark of someone adamently free
But you can't stop yourself from wanting worse
And nothing feeds the hunger like a thirst"

And for some odd reason, those lyrics have stuck with me now for well over 5 years. But the song has more going for it, some of Liz's best guitar work on the whole album. She let's the song just sort of drift into a great jam and the slowly falls apart. A perfect way to end an album.

Now, I kind of feel bad, because when I was preparing my previous High School Albums (5,4,3,2,1), I really left out a ton of albums that should be near the top. This one was the closest to making the Top 5 and I actually think it should. But since I already put Pete Yorn's musicforthemorningafter there, I'm not gonna change it. But there will definitely be more High School Albums to come, stay tuned for them. I hope to have at least one or two more done before I leave for Chicago, then finish them after I'm back. I thinking that if the next four go well, I can just do sets of five till I have nothing else to talk about. Yeah, you guys will get some of my world famous monotany. Oh yeah.

Lala.com....

I was at my Dad's over a month ago and I was browsing through the Dayton Daily News. They have a pretty good entertainment section in the paper. And I'm glad I read the paper.

They had an article on a website called Lala.com. It's an online site that allows you to trade your CDs to other people for free, and if you receive a CD, it cost less than $2 to get it. Now, that may sound a bit weird, but you can receive some pretty rare CDs. How rare you ask? Try this out:


Yeah, that's right. I now own Petra Haden's Imaginaryland, all for the low low cost of....less than $2. If you go for the album online, you're looking at the lowest price of getting it being $30, easy. So yeah, I'd say this site is pretty fucking cool. But I can give you a list of stuff I've gotten so far:

that dog.'s that dog.
Last Days Of April's Angel Youth
Thrice's Artist In The Ambulence and Illusion Of Safety (thanks Sarah)
Sigur Ros' Takk
Rilo Kiley's More Adventourous
The New Pornographers' Twin Cinema

And I'll have more to come. So, if you'd like, I have just under 50 invites to send to you and I'd love to send them (mostly because I think I get a t-shirt or something if I send a lot out, and who doesn't love free t-shirts? If you don't, you must be Canadian or something.)

More Tonight, But...

It looks like I have my two biggest shows coming up in the next week or so. This Wednesday is going to be a Warped Wednesday. I have a great photo pass and press pass for this year, so I'm really looking forward to that. Then on the 1st of August, The Rentals/Ozma reunion tour. This is gonna be a great next week!

Flee The Seen, Hit The Lights & Thrice....

I'm not a hardcore music fan. Not like I don't love music a lot, I mean the hardcore scene. I can't get into the screaming and headbanging. It's just a bit too much for me most days. It's like....I don't know, it just can be too silly.

But lately, my tastes have slighty been shifting. I was surfing STIM TV (shameless plug) and I came across this video for a band called Flee The Seen. Now, the easiest way to get my attention is to put a female front & center, with a bass and let her sing. You will guarentee yourself at least a listen from me, cause there's nothing I can do to stop myself from loving the female bassist/singer. I just fall for them completely.

So I catch this video, for a song called "Wire Tap Out" and the song alone caught my ear, but the video sealed it. Here was this very forceful, yet extremely beautiful woman banging out the bass lines while singing the shit out of this song. I'm not gonna lie and say her beauty didn't help with winning me over, but the song kept me going afterwards. You can check the video out here.

The next band on my list is one I might catch up in Chicago on my upcoming trip, that is if the people I'm traveling with are going with me. Hit The Lights is a band I've seen a few times, they're from Lima, OH, which isn't too far away. I've caught them all the way from basement type shows all the way to Warped Tour. But the most bizarre show I've seen them at, was with a band I could never ever in my life picture them with.....The Static Age. When I heard that TSA was doing a tour with Hit The Lights, I was shocked. Not because Hit The Lights aren't a good band, but because they just didn't seem to fit. But let me provide you with a few samples go with my story:

"Bodybag" & "Save Your Breath"

"Bodybag" has to be one of the most catchy punky-poppy songs I've heard in years. The lyrics, while being the tinyest bit cheesy, are more than made up for with the catchiest chorus and sound. You really have to give the band props for the song. That's always been my favorite thing about the band, they've always written songs that catch you pretty quickly.

And my last band, my ever favorite Thrice. Ever since Sarah Saturday got me hooked on them, I have to keep finding more. On my most recent trip to Columbus, I was in a great record store next to Skully's and I found their Red Sky EP, which has one of the best songs I've ever heard the band put out (which still isn't much yet, but I'm working on that). "Flags Of Dawn" is one of the two songs I've heard lately that this band isn't your typical post-hardcore type band. They have a beautiful, light side to them that's just coming out with the release of Vheissu and the Red Sky EP. The other being Dustin Kensrue's acoustic work. He does a lot of solo shows with just an acoustic guitar and it really brings out the pop sensibilities of his songs. One of the best has to be the acoustic version of "Artist In The Ambulence". When I heard it sounded like The Cure, I had to check it out and I was completely suprised at how much it does sound like Mr. Smith. You really have to hear it to believe it.

Anywho, that's all for now. Watch out for snakes.

What Are Ya Two Gonna Do, Watch Deadwood Or Something?

My man Disco The Kid and his manservant Rene are at it again, with yet another episode of Food Is Not Love. Only this time.....I'm in it.

Go check out Food Is Not Love and download episode 2. You'll have to wait towards the end, but I get both a shout out and a listen to the message I recorded. Plus, you'll get to hear Disco's amazing call to a Christian Crisis Pregnancy Center....it just really has to be heard.

STIMTV.com....

Yeah, I think it's finally time to give you guys the speel on this site:

*sucks in a bunch of air*

STIMTV.com is the bestest ever site for watching unsigned, small label and much maligned big label bands and their videos. They have exclusive videos, live shows and interviews. It allows you to search either randomly or thorougly through their huge catalog of videos. You must go there!

Okay, after all that, let's really talk about it. I do work for them, but then, I don't support shit. I support things that actually deserve my attention. I really do love this site. I use it at least every other day, just to check out cool stuff I didn't know about, or looking for great stuff. Let me link two of my favorite videos:

Of Montreal "So Begins Our Alabee" Live

That is an exclusive live video of Of Montreal that is truely great. It's the first live recording that I've seen of them that truely shows what it is like to be at one of their shows.

Street Drum Corps "Medley" Live

This is an exclusive live video of the SDC, who I told you about earlier. This is just such an awesome thing to see.

And that's really just the tip of the iceberg for STIMTV. I hate to sound like a shill, but I'll be a shill for them. They're good people, a small group of people that put a shit load of work into their site. Try them out, if you think they suck, I'll send you any mp3s I have in my collection with out a care, cause I don't think I'd get any replies saying they suck. Try it out.

Irritating Stuff!!!...Nicole Ritchie As Braniac...

I just found out today that all three pieces of art that I entered into the Ohio State Fair didn't get in. What a fucking waste of time and money. I probably spent close to a $100 all together for mats, frames, entree fees and gas to get these pieces in, and to not get one in pisses me off. And that my professor said I''m almost guarenteed to get one in is just the icing on the cake. Errrrr.....

Well, because episode 4 is now out, I have to totally pimp out my man Dougie From The Block's online radio show Food Is Not Love. I've known Doug now for a good amount of years, way back when I did my own Diaryland site. Located here, FINL is really a precursor to an upcoming big time show down in Atlanta. Anywho, Doug is really one of the best bloggers not many people knew about....that is, until this year.

Doug has been in tons of bands over the years, including a really good one called {Public Domain} that I loved. He also does little songs that turn out to be big and great things. My favorite, his cover of Jay Z's "99 Problems" is a perfect cover. Not unlike Pink Nasty's cover of "Burn", this recording is still one I slip onto mix CDs and always play for people. Gotta support my kinda, sorta, maybe friends.

But the one song that got him the most play, the most press, the most notoriety...."Wigga Please". Meant to a joke just for his cousin, this very very.....let's just keep saying very white rap song is easily one of the funniest things I've heard in....forever at least. This song got Doug press all over nation, becoming a very big song on the morning rush hour radio shows. I felt proud to have known him.....*snicker*.

I just wanted to give Dougie a shout out for his supreme coolness. Check out Food Is Not Love and his lovely songs that he produces. Enjoy.

Shrug...

Shrug is one of two bands in Dayton that really gave me a start in photography (the other being The Motel Beds). I met Dan Stahl at a Decemberists concert down in Kentucky (one attended by Matt from You Ain't No Picasso) and I became friends with him. I had seen the band's singer, Tod Weidner, before at a solo show that he performed with PJ & Tommy of TMB...damn, I'm name dropping really bad, but it does set things up.


After meeting Dan at the show, and him seeing my Decemberists shots, he said he'd like for me to take some pictures at the next Shrug show. I was totally up for that, because around then, TMB was fading away, sadly. But I really didn't know the band that well, so he floated me a copy of their self titled release, which was their third album. Here's a track from it called "Jenny" (this song usually gets the whole crowd jumping, one of their most up-tempo songs they have).

So I tried this little band out. And wow, they really have a truly unique sound. Kind of southern boogie rock meets singer/songwriter songs meets a kind of power pop kick. But you really got to admire that they try that sound. It's only really recently that this kind of sound has been making it and yet they've been doing this for well over a decade.

These shots are from their tremendous CD release show for Whole Hog For The Macho Jesus. The album is the same style I mentioned above, but each song is just a hit. Though I think one of the most accessible songs is "Further & Further", another great up-tempo number.

I really have to thank the whole band, they really helped me out to get a foothold doing shows. And I'll always thank them for it. This is truly an ass kissing piece, but I don't care.

The Static Age...

The first time I ever laid my eyes on The Static Age was way back in 2004 (I know, man, way way back). Manda & The Marbles were throwing their release party/show for Angels With Dirty Faces and they had two opening acts. One was this guy playing guitar and keyboards and other stuff by himself and he was adequate, if not boring.


Then all of a sudden, this tiny little guy with his friends came out on stage and played the shit out of these amazing, dark, new wave songs. Andrew Paley (who I mentioned before is the man behind Paper Tigers, which soon will have a name change) really has a great stage presence, very calm, very collected, but his voice just draws you in.


And you can't forget Adam and Sarah Rose. Now, for the longest times, my bass player heroes were people like Rachel Haden, Sarah Saturday, Matt Sharp and others, because I either loved their lines or their stage presence. Now, Adam doesn't have a big presence, but his bass lines are pretty much my favorite ever. It's weird to say that, but they are just so damn great, they get into your head like no other. Rosey on the other hand, is even more relaxed than Drew. She's a damn cucumber, so calm she is. But her keys truly fill out each and every song, you couldn't imagine any of them without her.

Now, they had a different drummer at the time I first saw them, but these photos, taken from the time they were in Columbus, were with Tim, who's a pretty sweet drummer and guy.

Now, the pictures, well, let's just say that I unearthed these prints out of the dumster of some photo studio. They were wrecked and damaged and I did all I could to get them to you.....orrrr, we could tell the real story. That day, I just had bought a new flash that I had never tested before. And let's say it was a we bit more powerful than I thought it would be. So things got really washed out with flash, so I took what few prints off the one B&W roll I shot to give to you guys. I think I got ten servicable images, but I give you four tonight.

In return, I also give you songs! Whoot!

"Augustine" from their first album, The Cost Of Living and "Saltsick" from their second album Neon Nights Electric Lives. Enjoy them both!

Now That It's Finally Up...

That interview with Sarah was in the planning since the begining of the site....and then you wonder why it took so long for me to ask amateurish questions, and my response is: go to hell.

First off, I just finally got my Stree Drum Corps album, and even with it being ever so brief, it totally fits the vibe they were going for. I've met Bobby Alt plenty of times now and his drumming is so out there sometimes, that I wondered if he would better fit a more jam band type situation. And he does. The Street Drum Corps (or SDC) are the punk version of STOMP. Hell, they even have John Sawicki of STOMP join them for "Achilles". Their lead song, at least in every live video I've seen of them, "Wrecks", is just one of the standouts. If they're ever in your area, check them out.

P.S. They play weddings, baht & bah mitvah's and birthday parties. Book them!


One week ago, I got to see We Are Scientists for the sixth time, and for the sixth time, I've seen them play in either a crowd not meant for them or a venue that just plain sucks. I even had really nice 1600 speed film from Fuji to shoot this time, after the Cleveland debacle that left me with $25 in development costs for crappy images. This time....look, I'll be honest with you, these images aren't great either, but they're better than the last time I shot them. So we'll work with what we got.

All in all, the show was pretty damn good. The constant touring has really made them tighter than I've ever seen them. But, the same complaint I've thrown at them each time I've seen them lately is the same: the setlist is pretty much the same. I've seen the show. But for the first time, I'm alright with that. I've come to expect that they will no longer play old songs, hell, stuff from two years ago seems like ancient history. And they played the hell out of the show that night.



But we can't forget about Au Revoir Simone. This 60's girl group meets The Postal Service really was an odd choice for an opener. But there was one girl in the group, I hate to forget names, but she just had so much damn energy, that she totally made me crush on her instantly (she's the one on the right). They were a great diversion from the indie rock about to happen that night.

They have two great tracks up on their website:

Hurricanes
Through The Backyards

The Double, on the other hand, let's just say they got off to a rocky start with me and I think most of the audience. With Au Revoir Simone, they had song structure and everything, but The Double were this weird little noise band that until the last third of their set did I finally start to get them. That's not good, it shouldn't take that long. But when your songs seem to stretch out into infinity with no begining or end, you can't do much.

Back to WAS. They really kept the crowd going with their set, Keith being the stage demon that he is, made use of the whole thing, even running into the crowd at one point to sing to the people not in the up close. What a sweet fucking guy.

But all in all, the show was another of the same. Nithin from Wet Leather and The Motel Beds stopped by. Hadn't seen him in well over a year and a half or so. Hadn't gotten "Wet" in a while. Anywho, it was really great to see the boys again, they really are one of the best bands out there, and my favorite when it comes to how they treat their friends. Except for one thing: after talking with the band after the show, me and my bestest pal Shells went to buy a t-shirt (she was getting me one for my birthday (just turned 21 on the 19th of June)) and the merch guy was like..."Uhhh, I'm all counted out, I can't sell you anything."

Are you fucking stupid? We were going to give you money! So you could buy lunch the next day probably! DON'T YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE? WE'RE PERSONAL FRIENDS TO THE STARS....TO THE SCIENTISTS!!!! Whoooo......I'm better now. Guess I'll just buy my next shirt online. I miss the days when Chris and Keith ran the booth.