August Rush-a Musical Journey that Brings Things Into Perspective

So the other night, my fiance and I drove out to a movie. Something we don't do that often due to work schedules and other nuisances of everyday life. We went to go see August Rush, which is a very interesting movie staring Robin Williams, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell and others. So basically, this charismatic Irish frontman of a band is playing a club in NY, and after his show, escapes to a rooftop of a building to get away from the noise. At the same time by chance, this young sheltered cellist plays a much bigger show, and decides to go out for some air. Both meet, and spend the night on top of a building. They both get separated the next day, and the cellist ends up having a baby. Flash forward 11 years, the child is stuck in an orphanage with a 'gift' of hearing everyday music such as chords of the telephone wires or perhaps cars on the street. He sets out on a journey to find his parents that he has never met or seen. He gets picked up, and finds himself in the city of NY, under the eye of The Wizard (Williams).

The Wizard, who houses dozens of homeless kids who ran away from their parents, exploits the child and all of the kids under his watch for money playing on the streets. The child even changes his name so the police don't find him and return him to the orphanage. Well, I would rather keep somethings to myself in fear of ruining the rest of the movie. It's an amazing movie that makes you think. The child believes that music will bring his parents together and that they are listening to him. He never gives up on it, and "loves music more then food". I highly recommend it. It totally makes me appreciate music even more then I already do.

Bands, leave the makeup in your sister's room.

What exactly, was so great about the 1980's culture...



...that inspired people in 2007 to dress like this?

The domino effect

Today, I was thinking about how certain events in my life impacted my current musical tastes.

For instance, for a very long time, I had an irrational bias against the Promise Ring. I had a long-distance thing with a girl who was into "emo." With TPR being the only "emo" band I had heard of, I bought Nothing feels good out of the used bin at Cheapo.

All these years later, because I discovered that I loved The Promise Ring, I am a huge fan of two of the bands that spawned from their breakup - Maritime and Decibully.

When I first discovered that I liked punk, all I knew was on Punk'O'Rama vol. 1, which my friend Schanen owned and readily shared with all interested.

That prompted me to follow NOFX, Pennywise, Bad Religion, Down By Law and the Offspring. He was also the one who bought Mustard Plug's Big Daddy Multitude first, and sparked my interest in ska.

One of the few friends from Wisconsin I retain, Pete, was a teammate of mine on beer league hockey team. Didn't really speak to him much, but I did speak to his best friend, Chad, a lot. I ran into them a couple years later at a public skate session and while Chad was off doing whatever, I discovered in conversation with Pete that we had identical tastes in music. However, Pete, being four years older, had the advantage of recommending good music to me.

The first two bands he mentioned to me? Unwritten Law and Voodoo Glow Skulls. UL's Oz Factor was on constant play during the summer of 1996 and got even more play after I saw them at Warped Tour '96 with Pete, of course.

Really, that whole summer was one of discovery.

Pete, being a college music writer, got us tickets to that year's Warped Tour, where I discovered the Blue Meanies and Rocket From the Crypt and not only saw NOFX and met Fat Mike, but bought another influential compilation Survival of the Fattest. From there, I got into Tilt, Propagandhi, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Snuff and Bracket.

Warped was the beginning of an impressive string of shows I'd attend over the next three years with Pete.

Many say that music changed their life, but I can honestly say it did.

Follow, if you will: I bought Skankin' Pickle's Green Album, which was on Dr. Strange Records. Dr. Strange, as many other mailorder labels, included a catelog in that CD. Along with Zoinks! I also ordered Rhythm Collision's Clobberer.

While Zoinks!'s Bad Move Space Cadet is one of the greatest pop-punk albums ever, Clobberer was about the greatest thing I'd ever heard.

I wrote to order a t-shirt and the first RC record. Their singer, Harlan, wrote me back with the goods. I then started ordering as much merch from them as possible. After they got back from their Brazilian tour, I learned that their drummer had a band in Minnesota, so I ordered the CD.

Fert Mert was exactly the kind of band I've have started if I knew competent musicians. Fast songs about not being able to get a date... man, that was me Noj was singing about! I wrote to beg them to come play Milwaukee. I came to learn that they needed a drummer. I volunteered myself, then set about to learn every song on the CD (there were 49 on it... all short songs).

I tried out, made the band and moved to St. Paul.

While with Ferd, we opened for The Stereo, AMP-176 and Cadillac Blindside, all of whom I got into prior to their demise. We also played with The Fairlanes, Belvedere and Pezz. I own all of The Fairlanes' stuff, bought three Belvedere CDs over the years but Pezz blew me completely away.

So many experiences shape who we are and what we listen to. I have zero regret.

Saturday morning quote

From syndicated columnist and comedy writer Argus Hamilton:

"MTV launched MTV Arabia in Dubai for people in the Middle East. It will feature groups singing in Arabic. The only downside is, in this part of the world rap artists will have to show respect for women in order to rebel against the culture."

Axl and Slash should be spinning in their metaphorical graves

If you enjoy metal, you may or may not want to read this, pending if you consider Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X that their true diehard fans refer to them as) metal. For the last few years, these California prima donnas act like they are bigger then everything and everyone. When they started out, they appeared as another scream-o band dressed like they raided Davey Havok's closet. That was about it. Then City of Evil came out. The singer got stoked on aviators, and developed the band around image, and some familiar substance very simular to Guns and Roses. Shound G&R be flattered? I wouldn't be, but that's all Axl and the gang have goin for them. The album's success gained them a popular crowd with the Hot Topic kids as well as the TRL girls. I almost threw up when I saw them on TRL when I was at my parent's house. They were yellin "hey, we want to be number one on the countdown so continue voting for us!" . Aw. Right there with Fall Out Boy and whatever else MTV shoves down the viewers' throats.

The thing that I can't figure out, is why so many people worship these chumps. Every metal-influenced teenager thinks Zack and that other guy are the best guitar players ever. Mostly because they solo constantly on the guitar. Nothing too exciting. Dualing guitar solos. Wow. Does that sound fun? Perhaps they do each other's makeup too. That's more adorable then the dualing guitars on every song.That brings mee to their drummer. "The Rev". Another makeup-wearing wanker. He is also worshipped by many, hated by few. Mostly me. He smirks like an idiot when he plays and poses for the camera. Sure he can play double bass fast, but since when does playing double bass over and over and over again on every track consider someone talented? It's just extra noise that is overrated.

So you may be asking "why the hate for this band?" Well, 82 got me into the majority of the bands I enjoy. This is not one of them. Well, this general type of band that is. I stay away from crap like this. They don't offer anything to the music world worth while. They have nothing to say. Oh wait! Yes they do! They're pro war and pro Bush! Two things I don't support. But if you do, more power to you.

So when you go out there shopping for christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate, save your money, and stay away from Avenged Sevenfold. They'll bore you to sleep with the ever-popular guitar solos, and songs about picking up hookers in Vegas among other enlightening moments in their lives.

Live!

I used to be a major sucker for live albums. Apparently, I have 49 of 'em. And these are just CDs. I've got a few lps and cassettes that are live records, too.

I recently put them all on my work computer, here's the inventory of them all in alphabetical order:

Afterlife - Joe Jackson
...And the band played on - Live at Home - Ann Beretta
A Show of Hands - Rush
At the Key Club - Pennywise
Babylon by Bus - Bob Marley & The Wailers
BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert - The Selecter and Specials (split)
Ben Folds Live - Ben Folds
Best of and the Rest of Original Pistols Live - Sex Pistols
Bootleg A Bootleg, You Cut Out The Middleman/Live In Las Vegas - Less Than Jake
Bullet in a Bible - Green Day
California Concerts Vol. 1 - Gerry Mulligan
California Concerts Vol. 2 - Gerry Mulligan
The Complete Concert 1964 My Funny Valentine + Four & More - Miles Davis
Crunch Time - Rhythm Collision
Different Stages - Rush
Exit... Stage Left - Rush
Filthy Lucre Live - Sex Pistols
Freeway Lanes - Let's Go Bowling
Hallraker Live! - Descendents
Live at the Hollywood Palace - Unwritten Law
I Heard They Suck Live! - NOFX
Kick out the Jams - MC5
Lagwagon Live in a Dive - Lagwagon
Live - Bob Marley and the Wailers
Live in Birdland - John Coltrane
Live at Montreux 1979 - Dennis Brown
Live at Oslo Jazz Festival - The International Noise Conspiracy
Live at the Uptowner - Jack Grassel
Live at the White River Reggae Bash - Everton Blender
Live from the Middle East - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Live from Uranus - Less Than Jake
Live in '99 - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Live in a Dive - Bracket
Live in West Hollywood - The Queers
Live plus One - All and Descendents
Live seven-track 3" - Less Than Jake
Live: From Here to Eternity - The Clash
Liveage! - Descendents
Playel Concert Vol. 1 - Gerry Mulligan
Ruin Johnny's Bar Mitzvah - Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
A Sonic Documentation of Exhibition and Banter - Blue Meanies
Strapped Live - The Pietasters
Summer in the City - Joe Jackson
Sweatin' to the Oldies - The Vandals
Tested - Bad Religion
Thank you very little (disc 2) - Screeching Weasel
Tie One On! - Bouncing Souls
Trailblazer: Live - All
Two Rainy Nights - Joe Jackson
We're all together for the first time - Dave Brubeck (with Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan)

A night revisted with Decibully's Ryan Weber and Aaron Vold @ Carroll College

Last night, I was writing up an article for my short interview via Myspace with William of Decibully, whom are one of my favorite bands from Milwaukee. Lately I have been writing for Armchairs and Earphones, a DIY online magazine from West Bend, and they asked me to check out Decibully to see what they are up to. As I wrote up the article last night, I started thinking about the time I interviewed Decibully's Ryan Weber (multi-instrument extrordinare) and Aaron Vold (drummer) at Carroll College on WCCX. WCCX is a small radio station where Carroll College students could play music, talk about sports or whatever was on their mind for a few hours. I had already reviewed Sing Out America! for the New Perspective, which Carroll's newspaper, so why not see if I can get them at the radio station?
I started out the show playing a few songs such as Green Day, some new ads etc, then Ryan calls into the station "Hey we're here, look for the guy wearing a backwards blue trucker hat".
Okay. So I walked upstairs and waited. From the darkness of the parking lot emerged two gentlemen. One wearing a blue backwards trucker hat. Aaron greeted me, and introduced me to Aaron, the drummer. Both seemed stoked to be here and we walked back downstairs. Thankfully, Jill had some good expierence playing songs and CD's on the radio, which allowed me to look for the guys.

I played most of the songs from Sing Out America! and we had a lot of fun. They brought a lot of energy to the small closet-like room, which made the interview very fun. In fact, during a good portion of the songs I was playing, off-air they were cracking myself, Cheryl and Jill up. One moment which I couldnt stop laughing, is when I asked if they would like to read a PSA (public service announcment) on the air. One of the requirments to do a radio show, is to read or play 2 PSA's an hour. Dan Didier from Maritime read one the year before, so I asked if they would. Aaron and Ryan were glad to do it. In fact, Aaron wanted to read it in the form of a Beasie Boys rap. I couldn't stop laughing. My sister recorded them doing it, like a small clip from it. They heavily promoted their upcoming show too. I remember Aaron saying "Ryan, is our show at Mad Planet THIS weekend? I wasn't aware of it!?"

Before they left, they signed my SOA! CD, and hung around for pictures. I swear it was like a poporazzi moment. My sis and Jill just snapped a TON of pics, and Aaron and Ryan were posing like actors on the red carpet. Before they headed out for the evening, Ryan informed me I was on the guest list for the Mad Planet show. I was very stoked for that.

Today, Aaron sent me a message a day late and a dollar short about an interview. Like William, he also wanted to do an interview for Armchairs and Earphones but, in person. The article is due tomarrow, so there is NO time to meet up with them unfortunatly. Perhaps another time.

Getupgetupgetup

If there's one genre of music I highly regret buying too much of, it's late-90s ska-punk.

We all remember how oversaturated the market was back then, with indy bands playing punk-with-horns with upstrokey guitar.

While there were and remain some excellent bands that came out of that era the majority were just terrible bands who were just playing the flavour-of-the-day, much in the same way all the indy bands these days play "screamo."

When it boils down to it, ska-punk bands were classified as "jokey-silly" bands and those that took the lyrics seriously even if the shows were goofy for entertainment's sake.

Over the years, I've been either, selling back the silly bands' CDs or keeping them and just not listening to them.

Here's some of the bands whose albums I used to own or still do. The ratings are:

**** Will buy all CDs
*** Will buy some or have CDs burned for me, if possible
** Will only have CDs burned for me
* Would be interested in selling their CDs.

**** Voodoo Glow Skulls - One of the bands who I just couldn't get into early on, whose stage show made them one of my all-time favourites. I own every VGS CD and have no plans of selling back any of them.

** Mustard Plug - A band with only two good albums (Big Daddy Multitude and Evildoers Beware). They were about half-way between silly and serious lyric-wise and their shows never disappointed.... OK, maybe the last time I saw them, when they had a bunch of women in slutty cop outfits, that was disappointing, because they're way better than that.

*** Reel Big Fish - If it weren't for their excellent musicianship, I'd have left these guys a long time ago. This is a band that sings fun, silly lyrics, but sometimes I'm left wanting some substance.

**** Spring Heeled Jack - These guys released one album that I thought was excellent (Static World View) until their second record came out (Songs from Suburbia). SFS totally blew SWV out of the water. SFS was a rock'n'roll record with horns that sometimes deviated to ska and after hearing that and seeing them live, I wish they'd have stayed together. Their drummer's untimely death probably sealed the band's fate, though.

* Skankin' Pickle - Part of me thinks the reason I bought all their albums was because they were universally loved by people who listened to ska. Truth be told, they were awful. It was just too Sesame Street for me. Highly overrated band.

**** Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Couldn't initially get into them because of Dickie's voice sounding like Cookie Monster (speaking of Sesame Street). I'll admit, my first Bosstones record was Let's Face It, which of course, was the one that got them all the MTV time. I still believe all their records from Question The Answers to Jackknife to a Swan were their best.

**** Less Than Jake - My all-time favourite band, who puts out the greatest record ever made every time. In With The Out Crowd was almost universally panned, but it remains my favourite disc. And my least favourite LTJ record is Pezcore, which is many people's favourite. Go figure. Talk about a band that was able to progress thoughout the years...

** Telegraph - Were among one of the bands I saw open for someone else. When it comes down to it, they were very forgettable. I hung onto their two CDs for sentimental reasons, maybe.

* MU330 - Really got into them for a week or two. At one point, I owned all their records, but then dumped all but the Japan-only release of their Greatest Hits and Chumps on Parade, which was a rock record. They went back to silly ska songs after they dumped that singer, which made me leave the ship.

* Link 80 - With Nick Traina, these guys were my number two favourite band. After Nick's death, I still went and saw them a couple times, as they were still playing his songs. When they released the very metal, The Struggle Continues, my struggle with their sound ended. That CD is out of my collection, but the first two records remain. And I still think I know all the words to Killing Katie.

** Kemuri - I saw this Japanese band on the Ska Against Racism tour and fell in love with them. Bought the Roadrunner-released Little Playmate and played it all the time. The second record was very forgettable and was sold back when I could find a willing victim.

*** Mad Caddies - I really don't know how I fell off their bandwagon. I first heard of them on the Honest Don's Welcome Wagon comp and bought Quality Soft Core when it came out. It had some silly songs, but like Reel Big Fish, the musicianship was very very good. Duck and Cover had some good songs, but it kinda left me feeling underwhelmed. I have not heard anything by this band since.

**** Blue Meanies - One of my other all-time faves, they started as a weird ska-type band and got weirder, incorporating all kinds of music into their sound. They couldn't even shake me from my fandom when their major label release, The Post Wave, came out sounding very poppy. They are teasing a box set which may come out in a couple years. You better believe I'll be first in line for that.

** The Aquabats - Saw them open without knowing anything about them years ago. Was impressed enough to buy the first three records, but the third record was sold back instantly. Their silly songs were catchy enough that I've kept the first two CDs, but have hardly listened to them. In fact, just a few weeks ago, The Return of the Aquabats got stuck in my home CD player when I tried to listen to it. Maybe that was an omen.

** Buck-o-Nine - A friend got me into them, but they really weren't that good. I sold back a couple of their CDs while retaining two. I'd be interested in hearing their newest stuff.

*** Pietasters - This band really hasn't done anything for me, but I enjoy the three or so CDs I do own of theirs.

* Lets Go Bowling - I have all of their albums. Any takers? A pseudo-serious ska band that didn't quite have the chops. Again, anyone interested?

* Bim Skala Bim - Another overrated Moon Ska band. That said, Vinny Nobile was an excellent trombone player, probably the best in ska. Not his fault his bandmates couldn't write any decent music.

**** The Pilfers - speaking of Vinny Nobile, this was the band he formed with Coolie Ranx. They were an opening act for Reel Big Fish and I instantly became a fan. It was more like dancehall-punk with Coolie's vocals. This was probably one of the bands that got me so heavy into reggae.

**** Hepcat - Just an excellent traditional ska band. You can't go wrong with them, as they were about the closest thing to old school ska, like Toots.

**** New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble - I like ska and I like jazz. Nothing better than instrumental ska band covering jazz standards.

*** Slapstick - The amount of bands their breakup spawned is incredible, but they aren't as amazing as everyone would have you believe.

* Suicide Machines - One very very good record, followed by a good record, followed by crap, crap and more crap.