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The Descendants, Roseland Ballroom, 9/23/11

By on Sep 26, 2011 in Music

Thank you for playin’ the way you play The Descendants are on of my favorite bands and I credit them with getting me into punk rock. I spent the summer of 1996 training and swimming at Niles Ice Arena in Niles, IL. One of my first days there, one of the guys put on some music during warm up. It was The Descendants’ “Everything Sux” and I was like “Wha-what? Punk can me hard and fast and melodic and sweet? Who knew?” Then I found out that Milo had a Ph.D. in Bio-chemistry, which, as the child of two Ph.D.s and a big nerd myself, made me fall ever harder in love. That next summer those same guys took me to the second ever Warped Tour and my first punk rock show … and possibly show ever, but I can’t really remember. During the Descendants set, I crowd surfed for the first time … because, well, I was young and naive and weighed a lot...

Billy Bragg at the Grand Ballroom, New York, NY

By on Oct 26, 2008 in Music

Tonight I had the privilege of seeing Billy Bragg live for the first time. The show was extra special because it was Adam’s Birthday present … and it was awesome. Part Nader Rally, part punk rock show, part acoustic performance at a coffee shop, on-stage, Billy Bragg, is not like any performer I’ve ever seen – partly because he spent about as much time talking as he did playing. He bitched out an audience member who was heckling him about war in Ireland. He talked about the excitement he felt in the US over this election and warned us that, like Britain when Blair became PM after Thatcher, our expectations were high and likely to not be met. However, if Obama is elected, we shouldn’t be cynical because this election, while it doesn’t represent a change in the world, it does represent possibility. He was so good that I even enjoyed one of my least...

New Playlist: “Reinventing Happiness Again”

By on Oct 14, 2008 in Music

I made this last night. It’s the first playlist I’ve made in a long time. Significant? Perhaps. Give it a few minutes; it takes forever to load … If it never loads, click here.

Genius Playlist: Maybe Tonight

By on Oct 11, 2008 in Music

I was messing around with Apple’s new Genius feature and to try it out, I asked it to come up with a playlist for Nicole Atkin’s song Maybe Tonight. I just realized this playlist changes as it goes so instead of listing it, I’m going to list the high lights and low lights so far … I started with: Maybe Tonight by Nicole Atkins off Neptune City in Country – Alt Country Highlights:Ted Leo & The Pharmacists in Rock – HipsterThe Pretenders in 80s/New WavePaul Westerberg in Rock – Indie/AlternativePixies in Rock – Indie/Alternative – I’m not a big huge Pixies fan but I think it’s nifty that it came up hereOld 97’s and Rhett Miller in Country – Alt Country – Since I was introduced to Nicole Atkins when she opened for Rhett Miller recently, this is extra fitting.Sucked Out by Superdrag off Regretfully...

And it’s iTunes for the win!

By on Sep 16, 2008 in Music

Sunday I installed the new version of iTunes – usually I’m pretty lax about my updates but iTunes was giving me weird errors so I thought it would help. With the new install, came “Genius,” a nifty little side bar for iTunes that recommends music or creates playlists based on a selected song. I decided to try it out and see what it would say. To be honest, I was wary. I selected my favorite Buddy Holly song – (I don’t care) Baby you’re so square (which, by the way, Joni Mitchell covers – how wierd is that?). Genius created a playlist which I have yet to listen to – it was an interesting mix of old rock n roll and punk which, for me, is an excellent sign and Genius recommended a few Buddy Holly songs I didn’t own. So I begin trying this for various other artists, styles, etc. At some point, I click on The Cramps … and...