BrockLi Soup

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.

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.

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.

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 met with an academic advisor today and found that I could cut my remaining credits from 26 to 20 by switching over to the new curriculum they’re introducing for this coming fall. This means I’ll be taking one class this summer, while on co-op, and finishing at the end of fall quarter. I had to talk to the Bursar, Registrar, and Financial Aid to get it all straightened out so I could register - I still owe them money, so there was a hold on my account. It looks like I’ll be taking Tech Transfer this summer, and Needs Assessment, Internetworking Lab, Imaging Science Lab (or something like that) and something about Haydn (to finish out my German concentration) in the fall.

I wouldn’t have bothered to try and do it if it weren’t going to save me something like $9,000. I was planning on being here another year anyway, so I wasn’t too anxious to get out of here early. The only problem is that it leaves me with six free months before the 1-year MBA, if I decide to do it (it’s only offered beginning in the summer). I should be able to find a contract job or something for that, though.

I’ve been listening to Flogging Molly’s newest album, Within A Mile of Home, non-stop for like two weeks. I was unimpressed with it the first time I heard it, but it grows on you damn quick. Seeing it done live helps, too.

Flogging Molly Tickets came today!