I feel really sorry for the 400 people who could have come to see Old Canes at the Mayne Stage but chose to do something else. That is my guess, that about 400 more people could have fit in there. After the show I approached the lead singer, Chris Crisci, and said, “Thanks man.” He said, “You’re welcome.” I went on, “I saw Neutral Milk Hotel open for Superchunk at the Lounge Ax over on Lincoln. That was a life-changing experience. I would put this show in that category. I really like the Appleseed stuff, and I love the old canes stuff. Keep it coming.” He replied, “I will.” He raised his glass to click with mine and that was it. I don’t know how to describe Old Canes stuff. It’s kind of rollicking. It’s kind of folky. It reminds me of Neutral Milk Hotel a little bit, but it’s more upbeat. It’s all acoustic, but it does rock at times. It’s like going on a hayride. Well a good hayride. I’ve been on the lame hayrides with my kids. You ride out into the pumpkin patch and it’s all dusty, you look at some pumpkins and they don’t look as nice as the ones all the way back at the Pumpkin Fest, and you also don’t have to lug them all the way back to where the other pumpkins are, so you just walk around and watch other idiots trying to lug pumpkins back onto the cart.
A good hayride would happen on a Friday night. Late fall, crisp weather, maybe a jacket required or a thick flannel shirt. You wouldn’t be with your kids, you’d be with your friends, and the girl you were digging on would be there. You’d split a sixer with your friends before the ride and when you got there you’d have a nice buzz going… Everyone is milling about, laughing. Some guy yells, “Hot cider! Get your hot cider.” Johnny comes back with 4 ciders and Fred pulls out a flask of whiskey. The amber liquid nicely tops off each cider and the four of you toast as the moon peeks out from behind some clouds. Jenny walks up, “Whatcha drinkin?” “Cider, you want some.” She takes the cup from your hands and puts it to her lips as her eyes gaze into yours. Everyone is a little tipsy as they load into the haycart. The moon is the only source of light as the cart careens through the forest. Jenny is giving you the eye from across the cart as she makes small talk with her friends. You sit there sipping your cider and getting warm from the inside. A glow appears in the distance. It grows as the cart comes through the forest to a clearing. There’s a bonfire and bales of hay are strewn about for everyone to sit on. There’s a shed out there and people are coming and going from it. The cart stops. Everyone unloads and takes a seat around the fire. Fred taps you in the gut with his flask. You take it, pop the cap and take a healthy gulp. Two men emerge from the shed. One has a guitar, the other a fiddle. They bust into some raucous foot stompin folk and every toe commences to a-tappin. People start to dance. You seize the opportunity to make your move on Jenny. “Would you like to dance?” “You bet sailor.” It’s not graceful, and you’re tipsy, but the two of you are touching and moving and the music is intoxicating. You both take a rest, and time stops as Jenny lays on your shoulder looking up at the sky. You hold her there and just exist. All good things must come to an end. You all pile back on the cart and head home. The only difference is that this time Jenny is sitting next to you and you’re holding hands.
So I hope that gave you a good impression of what Old Canes is all about. They’re basically a rollicking good time. The Mayne Stage is damn fine venue as well. Number one key element? An awesome beer list. If you’ve been to Lincoln hall, the setup is similar. You walk in, make your way to the back, they’ve got the bar there. Then you go through the doors to get into the space. It’s a wide open two story space that is sort of long like the shape of the key on a basketball court. It’s pretty dark, not the best for photography. Everything is brand new and totally posh. Bench style booth seating lines each side of the hall and then there are steps down to the main floor where cocktail tables are set up. There’s a little space in front of the stage for dancing. During the first act The Thin Man, I totally wished I had somebody there to dance with. I would’ve danced with my buddy Pizza, but I’m sure he would’ve wanted to lead. The Thin Man were really good. They had a pretty charismatic singer, a tall guy that looked like Kramer from Seinfeld. He played guitar and accordion. The music was honky tonkish. I liked it. Next to Old Canes, I liked them the best. Back to the venue. So the back of the main floor has a sort of VIP area. These are booths that are raised in tiers so you can sit back there, drink Courvoisier and watch the music. There was nobody back there. Tix for this thing were $10. Three solid bands. A really jamming new venue. There were maybe 100 people there. Has the whole world become somnambulant? Whatever. I can’t hassle it, I don’t like big crowds anyway. Although it would be nice for Old Canes to get some notoriety and make some money. I think I read somewhere that Chris had to sell a guitar cuz he was low on funds, that’s bull.
I was quite happy for the entire show in my booth spot along the side wall. I really liked the sound from there and wasn’t sure if it would improve anywhere else. When Old Canes came out. They started with Taxi on Fremont, which is my favorite song from them. I moved to the main floor assuming it would be better. It wasn’t. The sound was harsher and just plain not as good. So I moved back. After the show I was talking with Rusty, a multi-instrumentalist in Old Canes, kid looked like he was maybe 25, full head of crazy hair, played the upright bass with bow and plucking, played a few other instruments, now he’s on tour. Lucky bastard. I was explaining the sound phenomenon to Rusty and he replied, “That’s weird.” Good talk rus. I never made it up into the balcony. I did get a good sampling of the beer menu. I started with a Cane and Ebel, it was so darn good. Best brew of the night. Next I really wanted a Metropolitan Copper, but they didn’t have it. I went with a Metro Lager and it was a regular beer. Not bad though. Next I went off the map with an Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. That was nice. Something different. Sippable. My final brew was a Founders Dirty Bastard. It was a Scottish Ale and they pack quite a whallop. Tasty. Although I only had 4 beers, I woke up the next day and felt like crap, that’s the joy of micro brew mixing, sometimes you end up with the perfect concoction for a hangover. It wasn’t bad though. I managed to shake it off by lying in front of the tv watching the bears suck.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Call it what you will
You know what I love about missing the 1040pm train by 10 seconds? You only have to wait an hour for the next one. Last night, that happened to me for the 2nd time in two weeks. Seriously, Metra should give you like a 1 minute grace period to make the train. No official announcement, no hoopla, just they leave a minute late for every train after 8pm. For you naysayers out there, this is not a “But this one goes to 11 scenario.” “It’s a my cabbie sucked,” “I got held up by foot traffic,” “I had to do that last shot” type of thing. I almost said this is a utilitarian change, but it’s more of a common sense change. From a utilitarian perspective, the train should leave on time, because that is the right thing for the largest group of people (those already on the train). I would disagree though, I think the hardship caused to those who barely miss the train is much greater than the collective loss of 1 minute to the whole group. It was me and another dude sprinting for the train. We got there. The train was there. The doors were closed, and it pulled out of the station. J This morning I sent the following e-mail to Metra:
Missing a train by 10 seconds at 1040 at night forces you to wait an hour for the next train. It's brutal and it has happened to me twice in the last week. Can you please keep the trains open until 1041? I don't think the people on the train will feel inconvenienced for the extra minute, and the people who would now just make the train will be overjoyed. You don't need to announce it, just make it an unwritten rule that there is a 1 minute grace period for trains leaving after 8 pm. Thanks.
You might say, “What about the people that get there at 10:41:10 and just miss the train?” I would answer, “It’s not a 1041 train, it’s a 1040 train,” Therefore people who get there at 1041 already know they missed it. If you pop into the station at 1040:30, you know you’re hosed, you might as well grab a beer. But when you are sprinting through the station at 10:39:41, they should cut you some slack.
I was talking with my bro today on the way to work and I hit him with an analogy that went something like this. Remember when you were a kid and you saw a toy on TV and you just wanted it so bad? For me it was Shogun Warriors. Shogun Warriors were these 2 foot tall robots that you could make fight. The commercial made it look like they could shoot things 20 feet and make the other Warrior fall apart; the typical hyped-up visuals that totally misrepresented what the toy did. I don’t think that’s legal anymore. When I was a kid, I really wanted all the Shogun Warriors. I’d go to Toys R Us and look at them in the awesome packaging, all the weapons inside the clear plastic, stuff that looked like hours of fun. I begged my parents for the Shogun Warriors. Finally Christmas came and all I asked for was all 4 Shogun Warriors. On Christmas day I ran down and opened my presents, and sure enough, all 4 Shogun Warriors were there. I ripped open the beautiful packaging knowing that the contents would far exceed the promises made on the box. I put the stickers on and got them all ready. Then I went to roll one (it had wheels on its feet), it didn’t roll. One of them wouldn’t stand up. The other one that was supposed to shoot stars 20 feet only shot them like 2. The hand on one shot off and got lost under the couch. The whole thing was a big let down, it just didn’t measure up to the expectations that I had created in my own mind. The toys looked awesome on TV, the packaging was beautiful and exciting, but the contents were worthless.
I was reading today about Inez Sainz being in Playboy. She got offered a photo spread and turned it down. When I was a kid, I wanted everyone to be in Playboy. It’s like Farrah Fawcett, “When’s she gonna be in Playboy?” Anyone with a modicum of celebrity, and an awesome face/body, it was like “When is she gonna be in Playboy?” Not much changes. Tiger’s Mistress, the woman who brought down Spitzer, some woman in the military, you name it, people want to see them nude. Same with this woman who had the locker room issue. She’s hot, and I’d love to see her naked, but it’s just a weird concept. Oh, you got messed with in a locker room? You’re hot? Let’s see you nude. “Oh well, I’m nationally recognized now, and basically all people want is to see me naked, Playboy offered me a lot of money, I guess I’ll do it.” I know it makes sense to cash in and I would never begrudge a person the opportunity to take their fleeting celebrity to the bank, but I guess there is a self respect issue and a general idiocy of the whole idea issue. The only reason anyone cares about the whole debacle is because Inez is hot. The only payoff anyone really wants is to see her naked. I don’t think I’m doing a good job expressing the oddness inherent in this thing. I gotta ruminate on it, while I glance through a playboy.
Missing a train by 10 seconds at 1040 at night forces you to wait an hour for the next train. It's brutal and it has happened to me twice in the last week. Can you please keep the trains open until 1041? I don't think the people on the train will feel inconvenienced for the extra minute, and the people who would now just make the train will be overjoyed. You don't need to announce it, just make it an unwritten rule that there is a 1 minute grace period for trains leaving after 8 pm. Thanks.
You might say, “What about the people that get there at 10:41:10 and just miss the train?” I would answer, “It’s not a 1041 train, it’s a 1040 train,” Therefore people who get there at 1041 already know they missed it. If you pop into the station at 1040:30, you know you’re hosed, you might as well grab a beer. But when you are sprinting through the station at 10:39:41, they should cut you some slack.
I was talking with my bro today on the way to work and I hit him with an analogy that went something like this. Remember when you were a kid and you saw a toy on TV and you just wanted it so bad? For me it was Shogun Warriors. Shogun Warriors were these 2 foot tall robots that you could make fight. The commercial made it look like they could shoot things 20 feet and make the other Warrior fall apart; the typical hyped-up visuals that totally misrepresented what the toy did. I don’t think that’s legal anymore. When I was a kid, I really wanted all the Shogun Warriors. I’d go to Toys R Us and look at them in the awesome packaging, all the weapons inside the clear plastic, stuff that looked like hours of fun. I begged my parents for the Shogun Warriors. Finally Christmas came and all I asked for was all 4 Shogun Warriors. On Christmas day I ran down and opened my presents, and sure enough, all 4 Shogun Warriors were there. I ripped open the beautiful packaging knowing that the contents would far exceed the promises made on the box. I put the stickers on and got them all ready. Then I went to roll one (it had wheels on its feet), it didn’t roll. One of them wouldn’t stand up. The other one that was supposed to shoot stars 20 feet only shot them like 2. The hand on one shot off and got lost under the couch. The whole thing was a big let down, it just didn’t measure up to the expectations that I had created in my own mind. The toys looked awesome on TV, the packaging was beautiful and exciting, but the contents were worthless.
I was reading today about Inez Sainz being in Playboy. She got offered a photo spread and turned it down. When I was a kid, I wanted everyone to be in Playboy. It’s like Farrah Fawcett, “When’s she gonna be in Playboy?” Anyone with a modicum of celebrity, and an awesome face/body, it was like “When is she gonna be in Playboy?” Not much changes. Tiger’s Mistress, the woman who brought down Spitzer, some woman in the military, you name it, people want to see them nude. Same with this woman who had the locker room issue. She’s hot, and I’d love to see her naked, but it’s just a weird concept. Oh, you got messed with in a locker room? You’re hot? Let’s see you nude. “Oh well, I’m nationally recognized now, and basically all people want is to see me naked, Playboy offered me a lot of money, I guess I’ll do it.” I know it makes sense to cash in and I would never begrudge a person the opportunity to take their fleeting celebrity to the bank, but I guess there is a self respect issue and a general idiocy of the whole idea issue. The only reason anyone cares about the whole debacle is because Inez is hot. The only payoff anyone really wants is to see her naked. I don’t think I’m doing a good job expressing the oddness inherent in this thing. I gotta ruminate on it, while I glance through a playboy.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Riot Fizzle
Geez life is a roller coaster sometimes. Either that, or my brain just makes it into one. I’m feeling an unbelievable amount better, which is nice. It was really weird yesterday. For those that don’t know. OG dumped me a second time. On Friday. Before Riot Fest. Sorta dampened the mood at Riot fest and for the rest of the weekend. I started coming out of the funk yesterday. After work, on my walk to the train I felt pretty energized and amped. Then on the train I had a feeling of euphoria that maybe I’ve never experienced. It was really, really, weird. I wasn’t going to hassle it. I think my body was just saying, you’re all out of the negative stuff, we gotta burn some positive. I felt like a trillion suns. I don’t know how to describe it. I had also just submitted a giant project at work that has been sorta meandering along for 10 months. That probably helped a bit. I didn’t feel like going out like a punk bitch, so I asked OG if I could talk to her. We scheduled it for last night. A lot of people told me that I didn’t have anything to gain by talking to her, but like I said, I ain’t going out like that. I called her and eventually we got to talking. She had to go for work, but said she’d call me back. She did call me back and I just basically wanted to say my piece and move on. I said what I had to say. Then we both just started blabbing and 2 hours later I dunno what is going on. So that’s that.
This morning I was still feeling pretty good. I got off the train and was geeked for my walk into work. I like the cooler weather and the decrease in foot traffic. As I exited the train station, I saw my man that gives out the red eye newspaper. He’s a funny dude. He jaws at everybody and sometimes I say hey or something extra which he seems to dig. So when he gave me my red eye I said, “Good Morning, thanks.” And he shouts out, “Morning Hometeam, are you still playin?!” I said, “Yep!” Pretty sweet. The girl walking next to me looked at me like I was nuts tho.
Well this year’s Riot Fest and Last Year’s are really a study in contrasts. The big problem with this year is that there weren’t as many great bands. Much to my good fortune, all the bands I wanted to see were playing Congress on Friday. Bad Religion being the big one. I hope you guys read the Bad Sandwich Chronicles yesterday about Greg Graffin from BR, a punk diva, that’s hilarious. “No Boots, No show.” I love that stuff. Who would’ve known. I don’t want to go into the whole sordid story of what happened before the show, but I got dumped, that’s all you need to know. I turned to my stalwart, someone I knew would come through. Someone affectionately known as Nomis. I called nomer and asked if he could come to the show, that I had an extra tick. Well his wife was out, he had the kids, etc., but he pulled it off. So Nomer was in, I wouldn’t be alone, but Off with their heads was coming on at 630, so I had to get there. I cruised straight to the Congress. Parked on the street and went in. The place was only like .3 full when I got there, a sparse crowd. I wasn’t sure if it was gonna be an off year or what. I did not see anyone that I recognized from the previous year. There were a lot of sweet punks though, liberty spikes, Mohawks, mullets, the whole nine yards. Lotta kids too. Lotta parents with kids. The typical mishmash of people. I go over and check out the merch and there is only one thing that I want to buy. I don’t have any money, but there was an off with their heads hoodie that was beyond words. Try as I might, I can’t find a pic of it. I go in and check out this band the X is for Eyes. They weren’t bad. Typical Chicago type punk.
I have to mention that during X is, my buddy called me up and that was way cool. I sent out word that I got dumped and he rang me up. I’m at a punk show, alone, post dumpage, that really lifted me up. I grabbed a piece of pizza for dinner. It was nasty. Then I went back in for OWTH. At this point I’m like screw it, I’m getting a beer. Which I did. Then I went right up front for OWTH. They are awesome, not quite as amazing as when my buddy and I heard them at Liar’s club last year, but I’ll def check them anytime they are in town. The bouncing souls were next. I figured might as well hang in the balcony for that one. They played, they were good. Typical Socal type of stuff. You can tell when they play their classics, and they were good. I’ll def check them out on emusic and maybe DL some of their stuff. After TBS, I noticed that they were selling high life cans upstairs. Score (they weren’t selling them downstairs and I had to drink a stella). HL cans were 5 bucks I think a 16 oz stella was 8, by my math the Stella is a hosejob. Next was The Circle Jerks. Keith Morris, the lead singer of the Circle Jerks, was the original singer of Black Flag. I’m guessing he wrote wasted cuz TCJ played it and put it on an album. They played all their favorites: Wild in the streets, Wasted, World up my ass, Deny Everything, some other stuff. I have to say, for like a 50 year old dude KM could still bring it. He could sing the songs just as snarly, just as fast, it was awesome. I’d def catch TCJ if they come back to town.
Two bands left. Local Heroes The Lawrence Arms were up next. It seemed like there were a lot of people really amped to catch TLA. The kids were up. TLA came out and Brendan (author of BSC) really has an everyman approach which I think fans find accessible, it’s endearing and it really makes you root for them. It’s really hard for me to be up on their whole catalog, but most of the kids around me knew the words to every song. They didn’t play abracadaver, which is one of my faves, but they played Turnstiles, 100 Resolutions (awesome song), and Ramblin boys of Pleasure where the whole crowd was shouting along “Things have changed, things have changed forever…we’re the rambling boys of pleasure.” Sometime in there nomis showed up. I got him his tick, he came in, we embraced, grabbed beers. He brought earplugs, which were a welcome addition, then we cruised down and caught the end of TLA.
I forget what we talked about between TLA and Bad Religion, but the sets turned over quick and I guess they found Greg Graffin’s boots cuz Bad Religion came right out. GG looked awesome, just like it was described in BSC, he had some kind of Fred Perry golf shirt on, black pants, a beer gut, bald head, he looked like he would be at home in a dingy old golf clubhouse as much as in front of the world’s best punk rock band. I guess BR are celebrating their 30th anniversary. Pretty huge. They played for probably an hour and brought it with such hits as: I want to conquer the world, no control, 20th century digital boy, infected, We’re only gonna die, Atomic Garden, Generator, and many more. It kicked ass. Nomis seemed to enjoy himself. After the dust settled I noted that Off With Their Heads were going to be playing at Exit at midnight. He said, “Didn’t you just see them?” To which I replied, “yes.” He had to go to a dentist appointment at 8am, and as a little gift to the hygienist, we decided to grab some burritos right by the Congress. Surprisingly, there were only like 10 people in the place, everyone else probably went to the next spot. We grabbed some grub, talked about the old times, it was way cool. Then we parted ways.
This morning I was still feeling pretty good. I got off the train and was geeked for my walk into work. I like the cooler weather and the decrease in foot traffic. As I exited the train station, I saw my man that gives out the red eye newspaper. He’s a funny dude. He jaws at everybody and sometimes I say hey or something extra which he seems to dig. So when he gave me my red eye I said, “Good Morning, thanks.” And he shouts out, “Morning Hometeam, are you still playin?!” I said, “Yep!” Pretty sweet. The girl walking next to me looked at me like I was nuts tho.
Well this year’s Riot Fest and Last Year’s are really a study in contrasts. The big problem with this year is that there weren’t as many great bands. Much to my good fortune, all the bands I wanted to see were playing Congress on Friday. Bad Religion being the big one. I hope you guys read the Bad Sandwich Chronicles yesterday about Greg Graffin from BR, a punk diva, that’s hilarious. “No Boots, No show.” I love that stuff. Who would’ve known. I don’t want to go into the whole sordid story of what happened before the show, but I got dumped, that’s all you need to know. I turned to my stalwart, someone I knew would come through. Someone affectionately known as Nomis. I called nomer and asked if he could come to the show, that I had an extra tick. Well his wife was out, he had the kids, etc., but he pulled it off. So Nomer was in, I wouldn’t be alone, but Off with their heads was coming on at 630, so I had to get there. I cruised straight to the Congress. Parked on the street and went in. The place was only like .3 full when I got there, a sparse crowd. I wasn’t sure if it was gonna be an off year or what. I did not see anyone that I recognized from the previous year. There were a lot of sweet punks though, liberty spikes, Mohawks, mullets, the whole nine yards. Lotta kids too. Lotta parents with kids. The typical mishmash of people. I go over and check out the merch and there is only one thing that I want to buy. I don’t have any money, but there was an off with their heads hoodie that was beyond words. Try as I might, I can’t find a pic of it. I go in and check out this band the X is for Eyes. They weren’t bad. Typical Chicago type punk.
I have to mention that during X is, my buddy called me up and that was way cool. I sent out word that I got dumped and he rang me up. I’m at a punk show, alone, post dumpage, that really lifted me up. I grabbed a piece of pizza for dinner. It was nasty. Then I went back in for OWTH. At this point I’m like screw it, I’m getting a beer. Which I did. Then I went right up front for OWTH. They are awesome, not quite as amazing as when my buddy and I heard them at Liar’s club last year, but I’ll def check them anytime they are in town. The bouncing souls were next. I figured might as well hang in the balcony for that one. They played, they were good. Typical Socal type of stuff. You can tell when they play their classics, and they were good. I’ll def check them out on emusic and maybe DL some of their stuff. After TBS, I noticed that they were selling high life cans upstairs. Score (they weren’t selling them downstairs and I had to drink a stella). HL cans were 5 bucks I think a 16 oz stella was 8, by my math the Stella is a hosejob. Next was The Circle Jerks. Keith Morris, the lead singer of the Circle Jerks, was the original singer of Black Flag. I’m guessing he wrote wasted cuz TCJ played it and put it on an album. They played all their favorites: Wild in the streets, Wasted, World up my ass, Deny Everything, some other stuff. I have to say, for like a 50 year old dude KM could still bring it. He could sing the songs just as snarly, just as fast, it was awesome. I’d def catch TCJ if they come back to town.
Two bands left. Local Heroes The Lawrence Arms were up next. It seemed like there were a lot of people really amped to catch TLA. The kids were up. TLA came out and Brendan (author of BSC) really has an everyman approach which I think fans find accessible, it’s endearing and it really makes you root for them. It’s really hard for me to be up on their whole catalog, but most of the kids around me knew the words to every song. They didn’t play abracadaver, which is one of my faves, but they played Turnstiles, 100 Resolutions (awesome song), and Ramblin boys of Pleasure where the whole crowd was shouting along “Things have changed, things have changed forever…we’re the rambling boys of pleasure.” Sometime in there nomis showed up. I got him his tick, he came in, we embraced, grabbed beers. He brought earplugs, which were a welcome addition, then we cruised down and caught the end of TLA.
I forget what we talked about between TLA and Bad Religion, but the sets turned over quick and I guess they found Greg Graffin’s boots cuz Bad Religion came right out. GG looked awesome, just like it was described in BSC, he had some kind of Fred Perry golf shirt on, black pants, a beer gut, bald head, he looked like he would be at home in a dingy old golf clubhouse as much as in front of the world’s best punk rock band. I guess BR are celebrating their 30th anniversary. Pretty huge. They played for probably an hour and brought it with such hits as: I want to conquer the world, no control, 20th century digital boy, infected, We’re only gonna die, Atomic Garden, Generator, and many more. It kicked ass. Nomis seemed to enjoy himself. After the dust settled I noted that Off With Their Heads were going to be playing at Exit at midnight. He said, “Didn’t you just see them?” To which I replied, “yes.” He had to go to a dentist appointment at 8am, and as a little gift to the hygienist, we decided to grab some burritos right by the Congress. Surprisingly, there were only like 10 people in the place, everyone else probably went to the next spot. We grabbed some grub, talked about the old times, it was way cool. Then we parted ways.
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