Excursions

Since the last post:

Social D showed Youngstown how the fuck it's done on Thursday. As predicted, I didn't get any pics of the rock, but if you weren't there, you can trust me that it was a real blast.

I didn't bring my camera to Cedar Point either, but that was also a load of fun. My buddy Noah and myself rode pretty much everything but the Millennium Force and the Mantis. Not because we didn't want to, but we had to make it back to Y-Town for the Johnie 3/Hollywood Blondes/Turbo Lovers/Tarantulas Attack! show at Cedars. The debauchery was in full effect, but once again, no pics. I'm kinda miffed about that one, because it's much easier to throw a pic on here and talk about it than it is to type about everything. It's probably better for the reader too. I'll tell ya, it was like an f'n reunion at Cedars that night. I'm not gonna name names (mostly because I don't know if the people in question want to be named), but it was cool to see kids I haven't seen in five or more years (and even some kids from the old pizza shop too).

I spent way more $ than I wanted this weekend, thus I'm too low on funds to be able to check out Interpol tonight at the House of Blues. The $28 price tag was a lot to stomach, though, even if I had a lot of cash. I waited patiently the last few weeks for it to show up in the 2 for Tuesday email, but no dice. I checked Ticketmaster today for kicks, and it looks like the show sold out. Somebody on Craigslist has four tickets for $20 apiece, but you probably have to buy all four. I don't really trust that site anyway, no matter how many people tell me that it's reputable. Oh well. I hope everyone that gets to go has a great time, but I guess I'll have to wait until next time. I hope for their sake that Interpol's not in a foul mood either, since I've heard some horror stories about their tendency to dog it every once in a while if they're not "feeling it". There are enough shows coming up that I guess I can miss one.

In other news, my good (MySpace) buddy Madlib sent a bulletin today hyping his new record in the Beat Konducta series, Beat Konducta in India. The previous Beat Konducta CD was fantastic, and the vid below makes the next one look pretty darn good, too:




If you ask me, the beat heard in the last thirty seconds is good enough to warrant a purchase on it's own. I guess I'm off for a fun run. I made a mix of my favorites from the first three albums from A Tribe Called Quest, so there's the playlist.

Until Then,
Later.

Deerhunter / Ponys / Jay Reatard and Whatever Else

I used to hear about The Reatards a lot in my maximumrocknroll reading days. But, I never knew anyone else cool enough to be into them (living in Youngstown, Ohio at the time might have something to do with that) and I never took the initiative to seek their albums out. Now I wish I had. Jay Reatard started the night off right after a fairly lengthy delay. The Ponys and Deerhunter were both coming from Pitchfork Fest in Chicago (you may have heard of it) so they were a little late. My buddy Noah and myself were running late ourselves so I'm glad it started late since we didn't miss anything. Above is what Jay and his band look like when Jay's singing.



And here's another one. Note the punk rockers in the shot.




And here they are rocking the fuck out. I can probably learn to crop the ceiling out of the picture, but, like the Chromeo/Flosstradamus shots and every other picture I've posted, I'm gonna keep it as is.



Here's more rockin, along with more gratuitous ceiling. It was tough to stay in one spot to get these shots since there was a small mosh pit that kept shaking everything up. It was great to see kids into the show, though. Also, it was interesting to see a Jay fan that I don't think I'd seen since the Rapture show at the Grog in 11/06. She had short cropped sandyish blonde hair, and if by some miracle that she actually reads this, I hope to see her again because she seems like someone I'd like to get to know.



The Ponys were next. I'd missed them each and every time they'd been in town, so it was great to finally catch them in action. I'd heard good stuff about their live show, and I've gotta be honest, they don't really wow me on record. Every album I'd heard just seems to be missing that little ooomph to take it over the edge. They found that ooomph on this night.




Those are some tight jeans.



I knew that keyboard was there for something other than to add stage decor.




Another tight jeam shot, although I was standing on her side of the stage, so what are you gonna do? In all seriousness, she was super nice when I talked to her after the show. And, I don't get into soap opera type BS of who's in a relationship with who and all that, but I think I saw a ring on her finger anyway. Great set by a great band.




Deerhunter is the group I knew the least about, since I just heard of them recently and tried not to get caught up in the hype machine. I've heard numerous bands name My Bloody Valentine as an influence through the years, but Deerhunter may be the best of the lot. I know that's the most obvious comparison, too, but TS.




This shot's a little better. I didn't get a lot of Deerhunter pics, since it was getting late and I was getting tired. After they were done, I had the aforementioned conversation with the Ponys bassist and purchased Jay Reatard's Blood Visions CD. Here's what it looks like:


I really like it, and I'm glad I made the purchase. It's been a while since I bought a CD at a show. And, between CDs, LPs, 7"s, and shirts, he had plenty of merch. I almost forgot that I swiped a flier the night I was at the Grog for Fujiya and Miyagi. Here's that one:



I think that's enough fanboyishness for one post. Although, this flier brings me to a point I was gonna make. The fact that the first act of the night had fliers all over the place, in addition to everyone else, let everyone know that this show was pretty important. Another thing the night had going for it was the immense diversity of the bands involved. The jumpy late 70s-early 80s sounding punk/no wave/new wave/whatever of Jay Reatard, the rock of the Ponys (I hate the term indie), and the shoegaze/ambient/rock/whatever of Deerhunter. I like seeing bands from such different areas of good music get together like that. I think that was my point, anyway.

In other news, the TNA Pay Per View was mostly boring, although the Steiners came back, so I'm pumped about that. Somehow, I don't see Scotty getting any smaller after the upcoming crackdown on steroids from the Benoit situation. Social D's playing Y-Town tomorrow, so that'll be a lot of fun. I probably won't be able to bring a camera, but we'll see. Cedar Point(?) sometime this weekend. Let's have fun.

Until Then,
Later.