Monday, August 2, 2010

Hello. I was on tour with a band, and brought a bunch of DVDs and playstation games for everyone to enjoy on the bus. The bus was broken into and the case (which i have had for 13 years, with tons of band names from days of yore written in white out on the cover) was taken. Following, is a list of these items. If you would like to give me your copy (for playstation games, since i dont have a modded ps2), or make me a dvd copy (not a computer video file like avi or mpg or etc.) of the movies, that would be incredible. Thanks.

Updated DVDs that i missed:
wedding crashers
groundhog day
the jacket
harold and kumar go to white castle
the negotiator
the matrix
last house on the left (original)
devil's advocate
the man who knew too little
lord of the rings: the animated movie
PCU
Animal House

Playstation 2 games:
Grand Theft Auto: 3
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Sonic Mega Collection Plus
Genesis Collection
Ico (like I will find a cheap copy of this anywhere)
We <3 Katamari
Killer 7
God of War
God of War 2
Bully
Deus Ex
Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero 2
Guitar Hero: 80’s Edition
Metal Gear Solid 2
Ecco the Dolphin

Playstation 1 Games:
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey

DVDs:
Falling Down
Stand By Me
Ferris Buellers Day Off
Back to the Future
Back to the Future 2
Back to the Future 3
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Dark City (directors cut)
Space Balls
Goodfellas
Carlito’s Way
Napoleon Dynamite
The Sandlot
Billy Madison
Happy Gilmore
The Godfather
The Godfather 2
The Godfather 3
The Simpsons: Season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Bullitt
Asylum of Satan/Satan’s Children
The Monster Squad
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Scarface
Mars Attacks!
SNL Collection the best of Christopher walken
Dazed and Confused
Ghostbusters
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Clerks
Office Space
Project Kill
The Fast and the Furious
Leon: The Professional
Glengarry Glen Ross
Tron special edition
Swingers
Made
The usual suspects
The wraith
Casino
Minority report
Wargames
Seinfeld Season 1

Music DVDs:
Team narc 2003 halloween show
Pus and vinegar
Living in disorder: a forward to death dvd
Kid dynamite the dvd


And this isn’t to mention the dvds I painstakingly tracked down through various libraries across stateliness from new jersey to California to find and burn for myself. These include:

The entire akira kurosawa filmography
M
Little Nemo
Alien 1-3
Heat
Dark City Special Edition
The Simpsons season 6

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Meat Loaf tour with Lisa Bouchelle, July 2 Driving

So, as you may or may not know, I am being the alleged "road manager" for Lisa Bouchelle and her band as she opens the Meat Loaf tour across the north east and Canada this summer. I am driving a Ford E-350 mini bus, previously used to transport senior citizens around.

The band seem to be good peoples.

So we were to meet at a t-shirt maker in hackensack at 1pm on july 2, to drive to new hampshire. i got there an hour early. In my bid to save time, i went in search of a gas station. On the way, a low hanging branch in the right lane slammed into the two passenger sideview mirrors, shattering them completely.

I went on search of help. I went to an auto repair shop and they said they couldn't help, but directed me to a glass shop, who said that they couldn't help without the moulding bracket that had come off of the mirror, and that it would take at least 45 minutes.

Anyway, we got to get to a meeting at 3 in connecticut, the band arrived at 1:10 at the shirt place, where the shirts werent even to be ready until at least 2. we ran over to autozone to find a replacement, and could only get temporary. these dudes attempted to help us by like, gluing and taping and crimping the holder of the mirror to the temp. i got in the bus and realized that it had been re-angled by the branch, and was useless. we fixed it later. i dropped the temp convex mirror and broke that too.

so anyway, 2pm, shirts not ready, finally come at like, 2:10, there are tons of boxes of shirts, we have no idea where to fit them. make due, get on the road at like 2:25, no way making it to CT esp with ridiculous traffic. make it at 4:30. then we picked up the last member of the band, and it was pretty much smooth sailing.

some of the people dont like listening to music, i dont get it. music will definitely get us where we're going faster though, lol. soon, especially witht he mirrors replaced, i will be able to drive a respectable speed in this giant bus. in tilton, new hampshire now, the show is in gilford tonight.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Hoodwink Review - shockingly good.

so i ended up with a free ticket to the hoodwink. i wanted to see saves the day play pinkerton and steel train as saves the day, so i went.

i didnt want to pay $20 parking (actually $25), so when i got there i said i was going to the racetrack, and they didnt make me pay. lol.

so i was willing to go because i heard it was a pretty small affair, and it was pretty much. the first band covered britney spears, and didnt play "hit me baby one more time". they were also terrible. the second band covered kanye west, i dont know enough about him to say if it was good or not


Next up, was Saves the Day by Steel Train. I was looking forward to this. They went on, it was obvious that jack the singer was excited to be playing the songs. Unfortunately, the sound was either bad or it just wasnt too good (i'll blame the sound). Additionally, hardly anyone knew the songs. Chris Conley watched from the side of the stage and sang to himself. The Setlist was: shoulder to the wheel, certain tragedy, my sweet fracture, all star me, freakish, an interesting version of jessie and my whetstone, three miles down, and closed with at your funeral.

After that, some band covered taylor swift and the band that covered kanye interrupted them.

Then,, some band named Emmure covered rage against the machine. Terrible vocals, terrible setlist. Played bulls on parade, bombtrack, down rodeo, people of the sun, and killing in the name of. the people chanted for one more, and they came back and played an original song, terrible.

Next, the surprise of the day: a band named [All the Day Holiday covered The Beach Boys. It was EXCELLENT! They opened with Wouldn't It Be Nice, closed with Surfin' Safari into Surfer Girl. They also played California Girls, Good Vibrations (!!!!!!) (How did they do it?!), I Know there's an Answer, Do you Wanna Dance?, I Get Around, and Don't Worry Baby. They only had limited time, so i didn't mind that that was all they played. They also played everything great! It was a total surprise how good it was. It seemed like a lot of people didn't get it or know what they were playing, and no one was more excited than me.

some band covered everclear next, hardly knew the words, it was ok.

Then, Say Anything covered The Misfits. I dont really like say anything, BUT! They were pretty good. Seemed a lot of people again had no idea. they talked about how happy they were to play a misfits set in jersey. Opened with last caress, also played die die my darling, skulls, astro zombies, where eagles dare, teenagers from mars, and closed with we are 138. They may have played a couple more, but i dont think so.

A band covered nine inch nails next but i didnt pay much attention. They played the perfect drug which was interesting.

some band did some 60s covers next i guess, dylan, simon and garfunkel, etc.

Headlining, was Saves the Day performing Weezer's Pinkerton. They absolutely nailed it, i was surprised they didnt change it around or do something stupid. HOWEVER THEY DID DO SOMETHING STUPID WHEN THEY DIDNT PLAY FALLING FOR YOU (or no other one). It seemed like about half the crowd knew the songs, if that, but there were a lot of \/\/'s in the air. After they played butterfly, they came back and played At Your Funeral. It was a good time.

a shockingly good time.

Monday, April 26, 2010

foxboro hot tubs weekend

Okay, so,

Friday Night: Don Hill's New York. Line-up mandated at 4pm "police presence", Doors at 6. Capacity ~300 (probably less).

we got there at about 2:30. got on line, got handed a #39 "line placement" ticket. Found out they had just been selling tickets at the door, but we went there and were told they had stopped. hung around for a little bit and stache went to use the restroom, he came back and said "COME HERE NOW!" And they were selling tickets again. actually, they had stopped but the bouncer said to him "where's your friend? get him."


so we walked around and drank and came back around 545 and got back in our places in line and waited around and got in and i grabbed a spot on the raised area to the side-stage. honah lee went on first and were pretty good, a mix of pop punk and non-grungey mid 90s alternative. they closed with a dramarama cover.

up next was mystic knights of the cobra. "mike the magician" performed some tricks bewteen sets. so they go on, and opened with the EL CAMINO theme, and it was great. they continued their great set, putting the crowd into an uproar.

so after a while, foxboro hot tubs went on, opening with stop drop and roll and played the rest of the cd (maybe not red tide?) and high way 1. they also played a new song called "its fuck time" a few times during the set, as well as supermodel robots (the network) and blood sex and booze. lots of people into it, jason frees yelled "fuck!" when billie invited everyone to come on stage, closed with the last song from the cd, pieces of truth. some of them left the stage, and a richard belzer-looking mike dirnt was standing to the stairs (mind you i have never seen this band do an encore) and he goes "we're coming up with a plan so you guys better fucking like it"

so they come back and play st. jimmy (SHOCKING! WHAT?), then played stop drop and roll scattered through the hour-long encore 7 more times, its fuck time a few times, 27th ave shuffle again, earth angel, random covers, and closed with a quick one while he's away. excellent time, excellent set.

Sunday, Bowery Electric, lineup at 8pm ("or you will be turned away"), doors at 11. capacity: 150.

we got there at 6ish and saw a bit of a line, surprisingly as i pulled up i saw bill cashman on his bike turning into the same intersection i was, i honked at him and he pretended to get hit by the car, drawing gasps from the crowd. parked, got on line as they were passing out line placements again. the person in front of me got #100 and i said "oh, are there any more?" and the guy said "no, theres only 100 tickets" and i said "oh, if only this guy in front of me were to give me his 100" and jamie goes "that's a woman" and i said "uhhhh" and then she turned around and said "does anyone really want to see this show?" and we said "well yeah, what?" and she said "i dont really care, here" gave me her #100, and walked away and left. i figured that at least one person in front of us was under 18 and would get turned away.

anyway, the people co-ordinated with the venue so the line placements were king. multiple times they said "100 is the last person" (jamie was #101). at one point, the fan who handed out the placements said "it ends with jawbreaker" (as i was wearing a shirt) and i said "it always does!"

so they started selling tickets at around 730, it came down, and i was next and it looked like they were going to stop selling but the bouncer who was told "it ends with jawbreaker came out and saw me and said "wait, there's one more." i walked up, and got the last ticket. then we had to figure out how to get stache in. he ended up getting in after trying some ways to get in, but not until the second half of FHT's first set.

so the first band on, at 11, was emily's army, billie joe's son's band (he's the drummer). they were all about 14-15 and played punk rock and it was fun. they had a song called "statutory date rape" and they threw shirts into the crowd, one of which landed on me after the people in front of me couldn't hold onto it. i then saw it was a small and decided it should be stache's consolation prize, as it was an emilys army/foxboro one off shirt (he lost it later). later, they covered "do you wanna dance?" and only about 4 people in the crowd knew it. tre, mike, and billie watched from the side-stage stairs, while adie watched from the small balcony behind me, pretty intense.

so FHT goes on, plays pretty much the same set including encore. the highlight was during its fuck time, billie starts staring at adie and jumps on the crowd and makes her way towards her, never breaking eye-contact, and then at the chorus goes "OH ADRIENNE ITS FUCK TIME!" excellent. great weekend!

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Miniature Tigers/Morning Benders Review @Johnny Brenda's

The short version: miniature tigers played all one one unreleased song. each new song sounded real good. but i only knew one song. morning benders played a fantastic set of songs from their newly released "big echo" LP.


the long winded tirade version:

Last April, I saw the miniature tigers open for the get up kids at the troubadour in LA. While I usually don't care for opening bands at this old old age, there was something about them that captured my attention. I loved the set, and ended up getting to a show the next day about 4 hours earlier than i would have just so i could watch them again. Again, they played a great set. I went on to find and enjoy every release they have put out, a demo EP, two 10" EPs, and a full length.

When I found out that they were going on tour, I was excited and upset at the same time. Excited because, great, I get to see this band! Upset because, they were not headlining the tour, but opening for a band I had never heard of, The Morning Benders. I decided to check out the morning benders, and was pleased with what i heard, but not entirely drawn in.

Then, my friend Mike Smeen said to check out Big Echo, the morning benders new record. I did and enjoyed it even more than anything I had heard from them so far, and this greatly excited me for the show.

So, I grabbed a ticket and drove to Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia to catch this show. Opening was Acrylics, with a female singer with an acoustic guitar, and a full electric band behind her. They sounded good.

Up next was what I had been waiting for, The Miniature Tigers. They opened with a song I had never heard. It sounded great. They played some more songs I didn't know. They all sounded great. After the third song, some people in the crowd started shouting song titles that they knew, these requests went unheeded. They played ONE song from their entire released catalog, bumming out even the people that only knew the single, "Cannibal Queen."

Here is the Setlist:

Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Tell It to the Volcano
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew
Unreleased New Song that no paying fan knew

(i grabbed the set list. this is it: mansion, bullfighter, tropical, dark tower, volcano, gold skull, japanese, lolita, coyote).

As they played their new songs, the people that were there for the morning benders were enjoying it, while the miniature tigers fans were just annoyed. when they played the one song, the people sang along and looked happy. Mix in 3-4 new songs, maybe, fine. But just one song that anyone knew? That's just disrespectful.

Before Morning Benders went on, I ended up talking with another MT fan who had said the set was "Garbage" (which i dont agree with. they played real well and the new songs sound great). I said, "If morning benders played just stuff from their new, released record, it would be a different story. i like it more than the first record, and at least we have had a chance to get to know it."

So the Morning Benders took the stage. They opened with "Stitches" from their newly released "Big Echo" album. It sounded good, and they went into "Promises", and the singer, Chris Chu, shook the venue stomping on the stage, bringing everyone into the moment. The percussionist from the miniature tigers played keyboard and drum for the morning benders set, his second show with them. He also really helped bring the sound together. The band went on to play an entire set consisting of songs from their new record, and the crowd loved it. They sounded great up to their last song, "Excuses," where they really brought down the house with the whole place singing "da da dum" over and over with no music playing. Fantastic set.

Setlist:
Stitches
Promises
Wet Cement
Cold War
Mason Jar
Hand Me Downs
Pleasure Sighs
All Day Daylight
Excuses

So what this show did was turn a miniature tigers fan who had never heard of the morning benders before, into a big morning benders fan. After the new miniature tigers LP is released, I'm sure it will be enjoyable seeing them again, but unless I hear them open with an old, familiar song at the Mercury Lounge next month, I'll be in the back.

The 4/22 mercury lounge date of this tour is sold out, but the morning benders are playing there the next week, 4/28.

Friday, January 15, 2010

the hope conspiracy at the cake shop

got to the cake shop and i thought there would be no one there. however it was sold out in advance, though they let some people in at the door. waited a bit for the crowd to thin and walked in. got a great spot sidestage. watched mothers of mercy, pretty good. united nations was alright until the last three songs which were really good. blacklisted played just one song i knew because i only know some early stuff. kids were real siked for them, taking down the christmas lights they had up around the stage. but people were also taking a billion pictures (of them and UN) it was annoying. by the time the hope con went on, the sidestage area was packed with people to the point of there being hardly any reason to be there. right before they went on, the guitarist from UN, who was also playing for hope con, tried to fix some of the lights because he got shocked by them. i pointed out that he let the cut exposed end right where his head could hit it. he touched the ceiling with it by accident and shorted out the entire strand.


so the hope con goes on, opening with departed into defiant hearts. i tried to keep my composure (and spot) but couldn't during the end of DH. i went back to where i was as they played a song i didnt know, but there were way too many people pushing and it was unbearable, so i walked to the back. but the kids loved it. other songs they played include escapist, truth and purpose, fallen, etc. pretty much what you saw on the list of songs they said they were going to play..... i was standing in the back by the merch tables and could not even see the stage. and then kevin goes, "who has endnote? you probably all sold it by now. this song is from it." then.... they played For Love. In a move i have not pulled since i was a young'n, i ran through the crowd to the front to sing, what youthful exuberance. it was great. then, i left.