THE STARTING LINE, BAYSIDE, & FOUR YEAR STRONG... AMAZING SHOW

On Friday night, Dusty, Pattitude, and I attended The Starting Line's farewell tour at the Electric Factory, as TSL prepares to go on a "hiatus" which basically means they're breaking up and won't be getting back together any time soon. Well they made sure to go out with a bang by lining up Bayside and Four Year Strong as their opening acts (Steel Train was the first opening act, but they were horrible so I won't bother acknowledging that they actually played). And an added bonus for this show was that The Starting Line were filming this show to eventually be put on DVD so automatically we wanted to go out of our ways to be seen on this DVD.

We started off the night up in the bar area of the Electric Factory for a pre show beer (which by the way was one of the worst beers I had ever had because I was grotesquely hungover that day from the previous night's engagements which involved Molson Golden). As soon as the the first band was done, we set off for the front of the crowd so we could adequately be able to get into Four Year Strong's set. We had seen them one previous time at The Troc but were sitting up in the bar area so we couldn't get into the music. As the band took the stage, Dusty and Pattitude rode the wave to basically the very front while I got a little more to the side which actually worked out for the best once crowd surfing commenced and I didn't have people dropping in on my head.

Four Year Strong played an amazing set (basically their whole cd that's out right now) which the crowd was definitely getting into. I was surrounded by an equal number of people who either extensively knew FYS's music and those who had no idea who they were... but everyone was getting into it. Throughout the whole show, there was a constant current going through the crowd. I was continually pushed back and forth as crowd surfing commenced and attempts were made to get a pit going. From my vantage point, I was never able to see a pit going on but the bands were reacting as if there were one so I'll go ahead and assume people were trying to dance.

Bayside came on next and their music seemed a lot more mellow sitting between Four Year Strong and The Starting Line. Bayside has been a long time favorite of mine and this was my first chance to see them live and they did not disappoint. Musically and vocally, they were on par with their records and with their live show, they were able to get me to end my embargo on their self-titled album, which had long been my least favorite of their albums. It's all I've been listening to in my car the last few days...

Finally, the cameras were put in place and The Starting Line came out to a ruckus crowd. There was a camera on a dolly floating above the crowd for most of the show getting crowd shots so that'll be my best chance to be on camera but the fact that I was more towards to the left might hinder that. Dusty and Pattitude were front and center so they probably got more camera time but they paid the price by having people landing on top of them via crowd surfing.

Considering that this was their last tour, TSL pulled out all the stops in their song selections playing a lot of their older stuff while still mixing in some of their newer songs. They were very business-like, not really talking too much in between songs, which probably can be attributed to the fact that the show was filmed. But, it was funny seeing how many of the young Starting Line fans didn't know any of their old stuff, which I consider to be their best stuff. Dusty was intent on hearing "Greg's Last Day", one of their oldest songs and had planned on yelling for it until they played it. Unfortunately for him, that was the second song they played so he was able to fulfill the role of "that guy"...haha.

All in all, it was an amazing show and as an added bonus, I was able to grab one of the TSL guitar picks they were throwing out to the crowd after the show. What can I say, I got caught up in the frenzy...

We're talking Politics...blah

With the Pennsylvania Primary coming up next Tuesday, the Debate between Hillary and Obama had my full attention because I'm still on the fence as to who to vote for. After that less than festive debate, I find myself leaning a little more towards Hillary but I'm not completely satisfied just yet. I thought that some of the questions that were debated were pretty trivial and shouldn't affect who we vote for. I don't really care if Obama accused small town Pennsylvanians of being bitter about losing their jobs and clinging to religion and guns. It's the truth in a sense. That's what religion and guns are - a means of salvation for those less fortunate. And why should this topic dominate a half hour of the debate when there are more important things to discuss like the economy, Social Security, and Iraq. It's funny that those topics took second stage to questions about Obama's pastor and Hillary's jaded account of arriving in Bosnia under sniper fire. Topics like that and abortion are what seem to dominate people's decisions as to who to vote for anymore and it's one of the reasons that we've been stuck with someone who drove our economy into the ground for eight years...

Also on an interesting side note, Rep Jim Sestak's people placed a call to my house last night while I was watching the debate asking whether myself or my mom would be interested in working the polls on Tuesday... shouldn't they be watching the debate instead of placing phone calls that will distract their constituents from the debate??

Recently Purchased Albums That I Can't Get Enough of...

It's been a slow year so far in regards to releases but I'm finding some hidden gems out there / picking up on what the latest "it" bands are so give all of these albums a listen:

Vampire Weekend - Self Titled
Yes Marty I know you had been talking about them for weeks but they didn't get my full attention until their performances on SNL... now I can't get enough of them
A Day To Remember - For Those Who Have Heart
Another one of those pop-punk hardcore hybrids along the same lines as Four Year Strong
Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
A lovely British songbird with infectious lyrics and an adorable British accent which I love
FOALS - Antidotes
Another Marty recommendation, I haven't given the album a full listen yet, but I'll be seeing them with Marty at Johnny Brenda's next week... should be a good show from what I've heard thus far
Foxy Shazam - Introducing Foxy Shazam
Some piano-centric music with vocals reminiscent of Chiodos
Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd.
They've dropped the exclamation mark from their title and that's not the only thing that's dropped out. It seems that they're trying to distance themselves from pop-punk and instead trying to cop off The Beatles with a Sgt Pepper's-esque change of music... still haven't been able to fully bond with this album yet

Upcoming Album Releases I'm Anticipating - New Found Glory / International Super Heroes of Hardcore (NFG's hardcore alter-ego), Paper Rival, Forever the Sickest Kids, Neil Diamond, Flight of the Conchords, REGGIE AND THE FULL EFFECT

John McCain - a fan of reality TV

Here's another reason why I find John McCain appealling as a person, not necessarily as a politician. It's not enough that he spent five years in a POW camp or that he's a Maverick Senator - he's also a fan of The Hills, MTV's reality spin off of surreal soap opera Laguna Beach. When told that Heidi Montag of The Hills had endorsed him for President, he responded that he never misses an episode of the show.

So it looks like I share a common interest with John McCain - we both enjoy uber-crappy MTV / VH1 reality tv shows. Come on! you know you love Rock of Love II

The Final Verdict: I KNOW COLLEGE BASKETBALL

So another March Madness has come and gone and for a second year in a row, I'm in the money. I was able to finish in the Top 3 in both pools that I was in giving me a winnings grand total of $150!! And the key to success in both pools was picking Kansas to win it all...

In my Dad's work pool, I miracuously rode the Kansas wave to a 3rd place finish and $75... I took a hit in all of my pools by not having Memphis is the Final, let alone the Final Four, but my best guess as to how I was able surpass six people going from 9th place to 3rd would be that everyone had UNC winning it all. HAHA SUCKERS...

And in my Aunt's work pool, I had to relinquish my first place status to a guy who had picked the Kansas-Memphis final and Kansas as the winner. So Memphis definitely bit me in the butt. But with a Second place finish in this pool, I doubled my winnings from my Dad's pool with another $75.

Finally, in my for amusement only pool (Bri's), I finished a respectable second behind Bri's friend Steve Laird. Obviously finishing in first for a second year in a row would have been better, but I still beat Bri, Marty, and slew of other people so I've got some bragging rights to exercise...

All in all, another successful year in picking my college basketball brackets... maybe I've got a future in bracketology...

The kid can pick 'em...

This year, I was only able to participate in 3 NCAA pools (2 for money, 1 for fun; all for entertainment purposes...) and I'm sitting mighty pretty for the second year in a row. I was 3 for 4 on my Final Four picks (I had UNC, Kansas, & UCLA) and my other picks up until then were pretty solid.

In my Aunt's work pool, I am tied for first out of a hundred people with one of my cousins. There's also about 10 people within striking distance of us so it's no done deal. If Kansas and UCLA make the final and Kansas wins it all, I win the pool... simple as that.

In my Dad's work pool, I am tied for ninth out of 100+ people. I'm satisfied to finish in the Top 10 any time there's a lot of people involved and who knows maybe I can make a late run at finishing in the money.

And in Bri's bracket league that he set up on Yahoo, I'm in second place and can very easily finish in first depending on the outcome of the games... It'd be nice to win this league for a second year in a row... it's not like it'll pad my evergrowing ego or anything...

SAY ANYTHING @ The TLA

On Wednesday night, Maureen and myself took in the Say Anything show at the TLA and it was quite amazing. The night began at the South Street Diner for a lackluster meal and an apparent stench that permeated throughout the diner that Maureen was picking up on, but with my less than stellar sense of smell, I was unable to smell anything. Maybe I'm immune to the inevitable aroma that most diners give off from too many night spent at Tom Jones Restaurant...

I didn't really care much about seeing the opening bands so by the time we got to the TLA, we had already missed the opening band, Weatherbox, but we were just in time to see Biffy Clyro, the second band. Apparently they're from Scotland so already they've earned some bonus points and their music was pretty diverse going between being soft and serene and loud and chaotic. It was a nice mix and they even did some harmonizing between the three band members so that was pretty cool.

After their set, Maureen mentioned that she wanted to get a drink. For the first time in forever, I didn't associate drink with alcoholic beverage so I walked her over to the snack stand and that's when she laughingly said she wanted a drink drink not a soda or water. I guess you'd have to be there to find it funny. But just a heads up, if you're looking to get ripped at a show at the TLA, you should order a rum and coke at the bar. Maureen got one and it was as if they filled the cup with rum and just put a spritz of coke.

Manchester Orchestra came on while we were in the bar area and I have to say I was a little disappointed in their performance. They seemed to have sped up all of their songs and the mellowness of the songs was replaced by an almost chaotic stage pressence which was cool but still disappointing for some reason. Either way, their set was pretty good but they didn't live up to the hype that I had built up in my head.

Quick little side note: In between Manchester Orchestra and Say Anything, they played Beatles songs on the house PA system which was extremely enjoyable. It was nice hearing songs you could sing along to / enjoy instead of random songs you've never heard of / don't want to hear. But The Beatles songs just added to the giddyness I had in anticipation of seeing Say Anything.

Say Anything entered the stage to the intro from their latest record, In Defense of the Genre and broke into the first song off the record, "Skinny, Mean Man" and the energy in the building just exploded. Max Bemis, the lead singer writes amazing lyrics and he definitely backed them up throughout the show with his stage pressence. And musically, the rest of the band was dead on with what they were playing. The music sounded as if you were listening to the actual record. With the variety that Say Anything employs in their songs, each song evoked different responses from the crowd. One minute everyone was rocking out to a straight up rock song and the next minute everyone's dancing along to the beats of a song like "Baby Girl, I'm a Blur". Max even played an acoustic song to which he had everyone in the crowd hold up their cell phones and lighters. It was a pretty amazing show that kept everyone on their feet because you never knew what kind of song was coming up next... I'll definitely be seeing them again the next time they're around.