BrockLi Soup

Tonight was the Swell Season show at 930. As tired as I am, I feel like I need to write about it before I go to bed.

First off, the opener - Amy LaVere - was way better than I expected an opener for Swell Season would be. She plays a bluesy southern rock, and I have never seen a girl play an upright bass like that before. Plus, she’s adorable, so big plus there.

Swell Season really threw their hearts into it. Glen Hansard is sort of like the awkward, shy-but-charming underdog that everyone’s rooting for. That crowd was putty in his hands before he even struck a chord. Frankly, they don’t really play my kind of music - sort of a mellow, Irish folk acoustic rock - but it’s heartfelt and more honest than most other bands I would throw into their general category.

That having been said, that was the biggest bunch of douche bags I have ever had the displeasure of seeing a show with. And let’s be honest, most of the shows I go to are attended by a bunch of drunks, but tonight, they took obnoxious to a whole new level. A handful of frat-boy types a few rows behind me spent the entire show screaming “STAR STAR!” Now, yelling the name of your favorite song is played out as it is, but at this kind of show? It was like they got lost on their way to the Nickelback concert. And then, when he DID finally play the fucking Star Star song (second to last in the encore), it was one of the weakest, whiniest, sensitive-guy fucking candy-ass anthems of the evening. Seriously? If THAT’S your Freebird, you need to re-think your musical priorities.

So, in summary: Amy LaVere: wonderful. Swell Season: pretty good, but not my style. Everyone else there: can go fuck themselves.

Through a wonderful stroke of luck, I got myself a ticket to see Kaiser Chiefs last night at 9:30 Club thanks to Brian. By the time I heard about the show, it was sold out, so I figured I wouldn’t get to see them anytime soon. As far as I know, this is their first American tour, and they’re only here for a month or so before heading back overseas, so I got pretty lucky.

Annuals opened the show, and were already playing by the time we got in. They’re sort of a drum-heavy hipster groove band. About half the songs they did featured two drummers, and during one of them, the lead singer and the guitarist both whipped out drumsticks and started pounding away on floor toms. It was cool as hell. Also, they kind of reminded me of the New Pornographers, because they had a red-headed fella and a Neko Case-y chick.

The Walkmen sucked. Brian assured me that it wasn’t a very good performance - he’s a big fan and has seen them quite a few times - but even so, I don’t think I could get into them. They were like a melancholy Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, with lots of unintelligible mumbling and screaming, and we all know how I feel about that.

The Chiefs were awesome to see live (”like a hundred million hot dogs, sir”). I don’t think I know anyone else who really knows them, so it was really cool to stand in the middle of a big crowd and sing along with other people that actually know their songs. I picked up Employment while I was in SF two months ago and listened to it the whole time I was there, so it’s firmly entrenched in my subconscious as the soundtrack for that trip, and as such, a lot of the songs they played reminded me of particular parts of the tip. That made me smile. It was a great set, they played all the songs I wanted to hear, and put in enough energy and showmanship to make it as much fun as I’d hoped it would be. Hopefully, they’ll come back to the US after this tour, because I’d love to see them again.

Oh, and I got a bonus: anyone who’s been to 9:30 knows the enormous bouncer with all the piercings and tattoos. I went out for a smoke during The Walkmen and got to see him throwing out some punk-ass trust-fund baby in topsiders, khakis, and a polo. Apparently the kid said he was going to wash the under-21 marks off his hands as he was walking by a bouncer, who followed him into the bathroom and watched him do it. The kid actually had the balls to argue to the big guy, and I give him credit for that, but the bouncer got pretty pissed when he started mouthing off to a girl that was out there, and escorted him pretty quickly away from the club’s entrance. It was fun to watch.

Gogol Bordello is headlining a sold-out show tonight at 9:30, and I don’t have tickets. I SHOULD have tickets, because I knew about this months ago, but I kept putting it off.

No matter; my point here is that they sold out a headlining show at a pretty big venue, which is a big step from the first time I saw them, opening for Flogging Molly in a small venue in Binghamton (still a pretty good gig, but they’re definitely moving up in the world). I do feel a little of the requisite “I loved them back before anyone knew them and now they’re popular and I think they suck,” but I’m happy that they’re doing well. I’ll catch them next time.

I woke up this morning feeling a little off, and just had a bad feeling about things. By 3 this afternoon, I was coughing and sneezing, that full-body ache was starting to set in, and my head was just starting to hurt - just a little, just so I’d know what to expect.

I should be at the DAR Constitution Hall right now to see Ted Leo & The Pharmacists open for Death Cab for Cutie, but I figured that no one wants a guy coughing and sneezing through a show, and I was bound to be pretty miserable as soon as they fired up the subs. I was looking forward to seeing Patrick and Risa there more than the bands - I like the music, but not as much as I once did, and I don’t get to see Pat and Risa very often (and, of course, I knew I’d miss the $40 I paid for the damn ticket). So that sucks. But, as I lay here in my PJs, wondering if it would be bad to just go to sleep now, I know that staying home was the right decision. I’m going to take some vitamins and crash early, because I really don’t want to deal with a cold all week.

It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve written much of anything, but let’s make this quick, shall we?

About a week and a half ago, my parents and youngest brother came to visit for a long weekend. We hit some museums, looked at some monuments, and spent a lot of time just hanging out. I was the de facto tour guide, but since I don’t know the city terribly well, we almost got lost a couple times. I took some pictures - see?

This past weekend, BP, Otto, and Freshman came down to visit. We spent most of the weekend drinking and BBQ-ing, and I’m still recovering from it all, but it was wonderful. During the BBQ (and after a number of drinks), BP and I agreed that we would get tattoos together on Monday. Turns out, I had to work and he had to drive back to New York, so that didn’t happen, but it will sooner or later.

On Sunday night, BP and I drove up to Baltimore to see Flogging Molly (the fourth time I’ve seen them, the third time with BP) at Rams Head Live. The venue was pretty good for it - medium-sized and conveniently located on the closer side of Baltimore. Zox (not bad) and Bedouin Soundclash (”horribly average,” as a guy at the bar described them) opened the show, and thankfully, neither of them did a full set like the last time. During Bedouin Soundclash’s set, Nathan Maxwell (the bassist) came out from backstage and hung out with the crowd between the bar and the pit. I wandered over to shake his hand, mostly so I can say I touched a Molly.

BP and I made our way into the pit about 15 minutes before Molly took the stage, and, being a few beers deep, spent the entire time getting the crowd around us riled up with sing-alongs, stretching exercises, and bare-knuckle fisticuffs. It was definitely the best show of the four times I’ve seen them - the crowd was fantastic, I had just the right amount to drink beforehand, and I even managed to hang onto a bottle of water in the pit (you get thirsty in there). Dave King came back out alone for the encore and did the first half of Black Friday Rule acoustic, before the rest of the band jumped in. It was OK, but definitely didn’t touch the thirteen-minute version. The openers could have been better, and we could have convinced more friends to come with us, but really, the show was so good in so many respects that I can’t complain.

It was a rowdy rowdy weekend, and totally worth the hurt Monday morning. Right now, I think I need a weekend without extra people around, but I’m already looking forward to the next big party here at Brockstone Manor.

Tips For Punk Show First-Timers

1. Don’t wear flip-flops. You will lose them. Boots are your best bet, because sneakers will come off easily too.
2. Don’t be surprised when people push you. I don’t know what things were like at the last N’Sync concert, but that’s not how it works around here. Standing there giving everyone a pissy look won’t earn you immunity
3. If mom or dad insists on escorting you to the show, they’re either really cool, or (more likely), you’re too young to be there. Don’t bump into my beer hand.

Of the three times I’ve seen Against Me, this was probably the weakest. Much like the last Flogging Molly show, this is due in a large part to the fact that I wasn’t there with the crew from school. Unfortunately, they were opening for Alkaline Trio this time around, so the place was pretty sparse when they went on and the crowd wasn’t as charged as usual. On top of that, it was an all-ages show, so most the crowd was under 18. It was kind of fun to just stand there and be buffeted by wave after wave of tiny little punk kids, and I laughed when they all sang along to “I’m drinking Irish tonight,” because I knew that most of them wouldn’t taste Guinness for another six years. The pit never really opened up, so it was 45 minutes of pushing back and forth.

Despite my gripes with the audience, the band put on a great show, as always. They played about half of Searching For A Former Clarity (opened with The Energizer, one of my favorites), and maybe a half-dozen older songs, finishing with Sink, Florida, Sink and Pints of Guinness. I only stuck around for Alkaline Trio’s first two songs - the first one featured a police siren, and the second sounded like generic pop-punk, so I didn’t have high expectations for the rest of the show.

It was definitely worth the ticket price, and the trip up there, and the $5.50 beer, but it didn’t hold a candle to their show in Buffalo (and the trip to Mighty Taco after the show is only part of the reason). Hopefully they’ll come through town again soon.

On a related note, Gogol Bordello is playing at Nightclub 9:30 tomorrow night. As much as I’d love to see them again, I already know that tomorrow is going to be a long day at work, and apparently I’m going to NYC for the weekend, so I should take a night off and maybe do some more laundry. Such is the life of a moderately responsible twenty-something.

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Flogging Molly in concert for the third time in a year. The show was over at 9:30, and I went with Bryan and Jeff from work, and Bryan’s fiancé Katie.

I can’t lie - it wasn’t as good as the first two times I saw them. I wasn’t really expecting it to be, though; I knew that seeing them without BP and Sharon just wouldn’t be the same. It was a 21+ show, so the folks in the pit were bigger and capable of doing a lot more damage.

The Rolling Blackouts opened the show with a lackluster set. They were fun to watch, but not very good. Scotch Greens were a lot better - sort of a blue-grassy punk sound - but they played a full-length set, and must have been up there for an hour, so Flogging didn’t even go on until like 10:30. I wound up leaving before the show was even over: I went to take a leak, and decided I had been hit in the chest enough times for one evening. And, the last train was only 15 minutes away, so it was that or $20 for a cab ride home.

Flogging’s set was as good as always, but it took the sound guy three or four songs to figure out what he was doing - the backup mics weren’t even on for the first song. They didn’t play Within A Mile of Home before I left, which was disappointing. The Guinness was $6 a can, which almost makes Rochester look good (which reminds me, I met three different people from Rochester before the show).

So yeah, it could have been better. I blame Scotch Greens for the fact that I couldn’t see the whole show, but what can ya do? Against Me! will be here in April, and my hopes are higher for that one.

I had to go to an RIT Alumni site to find out that Dierks Bentley is playing at RIT the same night I’m coming in for the CSH 30th anniversary.

This sucks for two reasons. First, no one cares about this nearly as much as I do. I was pretty excited when I found out about it, but no one else gives a damn. And second, I’m expecting to be at Mark’s or a party that night, because I’m not driving eight hours for a concert (well, not this concert anyway).

Why didn’t they have more good shows when I was there? I have to give them credit for Dropkick and Skynyrd, but those were two diamonds in the rough. I’ll have to see if any of the colleges around here ever host shows.

I spent the evening at another classical concert than was almost exciting as the first, but this time, it was chamber music. The first piece was by Beethoven, which was alright. The last was a Dvorak, which was OK.

But the second piece, Berg’s Lyrische Suite, made me want to cry a little bit. It was six movements of dissonant, pretentious, classical fan-boy snobbery. Really, I think the only people that like this guy are looking for classical indie cred. It was a creepy, dark piece, and while some parts sounded kind of cool, there was no musical theme or any kind of consistent idea or anything; normally, that would be fine, but not so much when you’re supposed to write a paper about the music. I thought it would be more fun if I imagined the musicians as clowns, but that just made it scary.

The show was at the Eastman School of Music, and since Darrin was on-campus at the time, we drove out there together. I wound up sitting next to a girl who’s a freshman here at RIT. She asked for a ride home, which seemed a little odd, but I’m the adventurous type! So we had merry adventures finding our way home, because I’ve never taken the same way home from downtown twice (mostly because I don’t actually know the way home and wing it every time).

In conclusion: I need to spend more time downtown, and I think I might like a sandwhich.

Against Me! will be in Buffalo on September 25. Who’s going with us? Tracy, I’m looking at you.

BP and I drove down to Binghamton on Thursday to see Flogging Molly with Sharon. Taber and his cousins met us there too, and we ran into Wanker when we got there. The venue, Magic City Music Hall, was perfect for this kind of show. It was about the same size as Water Street here in Rochester, but instead of being narrow and long, it’s really wide and short. Even back at the bar, you weren’t too far from the stage. It was easy to get up front because you could fit twice as many people right up at the barrier. They had ceiling fans all over the place, which was really nice toward the end of the show when everyone had been dancing and knocking each other around for a couple hours.

Gogol Bordello opened the show, and they were absolutely ridiculous. We were outside smoking when they went on, and I honestly expected to see clowns on stage when we went back in. It was like Hungarian gypsy circus punk. The band was all over the place, and these two girls were there to just dance around like nobody’s business. At one point they came out with cymbals and a giant bass drum and just went nuts. They were a lot of fun and I think I’m actually going to buy their album when it comes out Tuesday.

Throw Rag was the second opener. They weren’t as good as Gogol - more straight punk, which isn’t really my taste - but one of the guys just did backup vocals and the washboard. They had guitar pickups on it or something, and he spent their set just wailing on the thing with spoons. I didn’t really like the music, but that guy was fun to watch.

Flogging Molly put on a pretty good show, but not as good as the one in Rochester. Dave King (the singer) said he had been sick that week, so they did a shorter set. On the other hand, Bridget Regan was there - she was really sick when they were in Rochester, and Molly without the fiddle just isn’t the same. It was the sweatiest pit I’ve ever been in, even with the fans making a nice breeze.

We left here around 4:30 in the afternoon and didn’t get home until 12 hours later. The show was definitely worth the trip, even if I was barely functional at work Friday.

Last weekend when I was home, my mom mentioned that my youngest brother Shaun (age 15) wanted to go to the Warped Tour show at Darien Lake earlier this week. I haven’t talked to him since, so I’m still not sure if he went, but that’s not the point.

Ben is good friends with Allison, and since I’ve been seeing a lot of Ben lately, I’ve spent some time with Allison. She mentioned the show a couple days ago, so I jokingly asked if she saw my brother there.

“The one with the ‘I’m not wearing underwear’ shirt?”

Apparently she met my other brother Eric at the Dropkick show back in January. He was wearing that shirt, and figured he had to live up to its promise. At some point, he met Allison and her then-girlfriend. One of them asked, “You’re not wearing any underwear, huh?”

“Nope! Wanna see?!”

They saw anyway.

I ask an innocent question about Shaun and hear a story about Eric flashing two lesbians.

Next weekend is going to be pretty awesome. On Thursday, we’re going to see Flogging Molly in Binghamton. Friday (the 5th) is the opening of the Dukes movie, and we’ll be pre-gaming here before going to see it in full Dukes attire (10 points to anyone who paints their car orange for the occasion). Saturday the 6th is the Redneck Party here, for which I’m importing a few REAL rednecks.

It’ll be a rowdy good Irish redneck weekend. Let me know if you’re going to join us for any of it.

I know it’s a little late, but Lynyrd Skynyrd played here at RIT on Tuesday. I found out right before the show that Jeff Cosco Band was the opener. Boss told me, “If you like 80’s rock, you’ll like these guys.” I couldn’t have put it better - they had this mid-80’s southern rock sound to them, and they weren’t bad.

Skynyrd was pretty awesome. I’ve never been a big fan and I was absolutely exhausted Tuesday night, but I figured I had to go, just on principle. They played a bunch of songs I didn’t recognize, and a few that I did but mistook for others (I swear, three of their songs are the exact same until the chorus).

Watching them play was better than listening to the music. I can’t believe these guys are still doing what they’re doing at their age. I think they saved Freebird for the encore because they knew they would need to take a breather before it. The guitarist Bill Nighy with gray hair halfway down his back, but he was going ape shit. Freebird lasted about fifteen minutes. Those guys are way too old to be doing this stuff still.

Also: men reach an age where skin-tight jeans with skin-tight leather chaps are no longer a viable clothing option. Skynyrd has long since passed that age.

Flogging Molly Tickets came today!