I hope that you haven't been experiencing blog withdrawal since I haven't posted anything in the past two days. To be quite honest, I've ended up asleep before I've gotten to post something, so I just didn't. Please don't take it personally.
Also, I've talked a few of you, my loyal readers, lately. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for reading this in the first place, but also for your praise and/or constructive criticism. It is all appreciated.
To be quite honest, another reason I haven't written lately is that I really haven't had anything I wanted to discuss. I do have one CD recommendation for all of you however.
It's the self titled debut of a band by the name of Chickenfoot. It features people from a few bands you may have heard of--Van Halen, in it's "Van Hagar" phase (Sammy Hagar and guitarist Michael Anthony), the Red Hot Chili Peppers (their drummer Chad Smith) and guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani.
My review: It's just a great record all around. Great sound, great playing, great everything. Pick it up on either iTunes or like I do, go out and buy the damn thing at a store. Actually you should do that. The packaging is printed with a heat sensitive ink that changes appearance when above or below 84 degrees. If nothing else, it's cheap fun to put your fingers all over the case.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Rollins at the Grand
Initally, my Sunday was going to be used to recuperate from the NIN/JA show if I needed to. Hey, I'm not as young as I used to be, so i figured it was a distinct possibility. That was, until my friend Mike asked me if I wanted to see Henry Rollins at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington. I was, to borrow a baseball term, being asked to pitch hit for the previous holder of the ticket, who decided they did not want to go.
The Grand is a very non-descript looking venue in the heart of downtown Wilmington. When we walked up to the building I realized how many times I had driven past it before while in the city.
Special thanks to the poseurs behind me for making me remember all of this, but Rollins is one of those people who has done pretty much everything. He started out as the singer of influential punk band, and through a "sure, I can do that" sort of attitude, moved into acting, spoken word performances, hosting his own show, documentary making and writing and publishing his own works.
After being fashionably late, Rollins performed for over two hours without even a break for so much as a drink of water. During that time, he touched on a wide variety of topics, including the recent shooting of abortion doctor David Teller, the state of the GOP, traveling to Iran, Syria and other hot button countries, seeing the Killing Fields of Cambodia, Marilyn Manson and his relation to the shootings in Columbine, the Transportation Safety Administration, acting with Cuba Gooding, and what is the most unlikely one of all to me, being a commencement speaker at Sonoma State University in California.
Rollins is a contradiction. Let me clarify. His buffed up, tattoed physique is not the kind you would expect to hide such a brilliant intellect like the one on display tonight. The talk was thought provoking, and due in part to his dry sense of humor, extremely funny. And, like any truly good speaker, he made the time fly.
To be honest, he threw enough stuff at the audience that I am still processing, and the show ended about three hours ago. But, I will say that I was blown away.
The Grand is a very non-descript looking venue in the heart of downtown Wilmington. When we walked up to the building I realized how many times I had driven past it before while in the city.
Special thanks to the poseurs behind me for making me remember all of this, but Rollins is one of those people who has done pretty much everything. He started out as the singer of influential punk band, and through a "sure, I can do that" sort of attitude, moved into acting, spoken word performances, hosting his own show, documentary making and writing and publishing his own works.
After being fashionably late, Rollins performed for over two hours without even a break for so much as a drink of water. During that time, he touched on a wide variety of topics, including the recent shooting of abortion doctor David Teller, the state of the GOP, traveling to Iran, Syria and other hot button countries, seeing the Killing Fields of Cambodia, Marilyn Manson and his relation to the shootings in Columbine, the Transportation Safety Administration, acting with Cuba Gooding, and what is the most unlikely one of all to me, being a commencement speaker at Sonoma State University in California.
Rollins is a contradiction. Let me clarify. His buffed up, tattoed physique is not the kind you would expect to hide such a brilliant intellect like the one on display tonight. The talk was thought provoking, and due in part to his dry sense of humor, extremely funny. And, like any truly good speaker, he made the time fly.
To be honest, he threw enough stuff at the audience that I am still processing, and the show ended about three hours ago. But, I will say that I was blown away.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
NIN/Jane's Recap
First off, I owe all of my loyal readers an apology. Sorry, but I didn't really feel like posting at 2am Saturday morning. Quite frankly, I just wanted to go to bed. Then yesterday, I crashed at about 8pm. I somehow managed to avoid the crash from the concert till yesterday. Well, better late than never. For the crash and the blog.
Friday night was the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction concert, which sounds like it should be taking place in 1991, and not 2009. This tour is preceded by the scuttlebutt that it will be Trent Renor's last for a while for whatever reason. I've heard marriage, that's he quitting, you name it, I've likely heard it.
Anyway...
Before the NIN set, the opening act, former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello's new project, Street Scene Social Club performed. I was not impressed. First off, someone should tell them you don't have to curse to be entertaining. It seemed as though the amazing guitar work of Tom Morello, which I will admit made the set worth it on its own, was put to waste by crap lyrics. And to be honest, I'm being a bit kind. It doesn't help that the lead singer kept being sure to mention that the group was "more than a band, we're a social club." I don't care if you are the second coming of Christ, if you have amazing guitar work and horrid lyrics to go with it, I'm not going to be impressed, and I wasn't.
Aound 815, I got hammered into the person directly in front of me, and moved about a foot to the left of where I was standing, which was next to my friend Mike who I went to the show with and then slammed into the new person in front of me. Why did this happen you may ask? That would be one of the hazards of being in the pit at a NIN show. I will be honest, I had to look up the setlist before I started writing this. I had an idea of what they played, but the fact that at some point I was more worried about being able to breathe, I just wanted to get my facts straight. Trent played a few covers (Gary Numan, Saul Williams and Adam Ant), and played a lot of material from the last few albums, but also trotted out some of the old reliables from back in the day, namely the pleasant surprises "Heresy" and "Mr. Self Destruct." I was very happy getting slammed into the person in front of me, and belting out the words, all while on a few occasions realizing that I couldn't breathe because I was getting crushed.
That said, I wouldn't trade any of those 90 minutes for anything. My shirt was covered in sweat, and I can say I don't know how much of it was mine.
After the NIN set, there was a small break before Jane's came out. Mike and I took the time to go outside and recover. I had made it through my first experience in the pit. I may go back into the pit, but I don't think I would for a NIN show.
At Trent's request, Jane's Addiction was the headliner. I will admit that I had to be convinced to stay. I really didn't care if I saw them or not. And then, they played the song "Three Days" and I was blown away by the guitar work of both Dave Navarro and Eric Avery. What was even more impressive is that during his playing, Navarro was able to pick out a girl to meet him backstage after the show. Mike and I both saw it happen, although Mike saw the whole thing, I just caught the second half of things. They played for about an hour or so, before walking off stage before the encore, but not before bringing out the old hits such as "Ain't No Right," "Mountain Song," and "Been Caught Stealing." They saved "Jane Says" for the encore.
All in all, the trip back to 1991 was fun. The only thing I would change is no pit.
Friday night was the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction concert, which sounds like it should be taking place in 1991, and not 2009. This tour is preceded by the scuttlebutt that it will be Trent Renor's last for a while for whatever reason. I've heard marriage, that's he quitting, you name it, I've likely heard it.
Anyway...
Before the NIN set, the opening act, former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello's new project, Street Scene Social Club performed. I was not impressed. First off, someone should tell them you don't have to curse to be entertaining. It seemed as though the amazing guitar work of Tom Morello, which I will admit made the set worth it on its own, was put to waste by crap lyrics. And to be honest, I'm being a bit kind. It doesn't help that the lead singer kept being sure to mention that the group was "more than a band, we're a social club." I don't care if you are the second coming of Christ, if you have amazing guitar work and horrid lyrics to go with it, I'm not going to be impressed, and I wasn't.
Aound 815, I got hammered into the person directly in front of me, and moved about a foot to the left of where I was standing, which was next to my friend Mike who I went to the show with and then slammed into the new person in front of me. Why did this happen you may ask? That would be one of the hazards of being in the pit at a NIN show. I will be honest, I had to look up the setlist before I started writing this. I had an idea of what they played, but the fact that at some point I was more worried about being able to breathe, I just wanted to get my facts straight. Trent played a few covers (Gary Numan, Saul Williams and Adam Ant), and played a lot of material from the last few albums, but also trotted out some of the old reliables from back in the day, namely the pleasant surprises "Heresy" and "Mr. Self Destruct." I was very happy getting slammed into the person in front of me, and belting out the words, all while on a few occasions realizing that I couldn't breathe because I was getting crushed.
That said, I wouldn't trade any of those 90 minutes for anything. My shirt was covered in sweat, and I can say I don't know how much of it was mine.
After the NIN set, there was a small break before Jane's came out. Mike and I took the time to go outside and recover. I had made it through my first experience in the pit. I may go back into the pit, but I don't think I would for a NIN show.
At Trent's request, Jane's Addiction was the headliner. I will admit that I had to be convinced to stay. I really didn't care if I saw them or not. And then, they played the song "Three Days" and I was blown away by the guitar work of both Dave Navarro and Eric Avery. What was even more impressive is that during his playing, Navarro was able to pick out a girl to meet him backstage after the show. Mike and I both saw it happen, although Mike saw the whole thing, I just caught the second half of things. They played for about an hour or so, before walking off stage before the encore, but not before bringing out the old hits such as "Ain't No Right," "Mountain Song," and "Been Caught Stealing." They saved "Jane Says" for the encore.
All in all, the trip back to 1991 was fun. The only thing I would change is no pit.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
My long history with Pearl Jam, Part Two
Anyway, when we last left me, I was telling you that because of Pearl Jam I also boycotted Ticketmaster.
Well, they released Binaural in 2000, and I really wanted to see them in concert if they came around, even if it meant having to deal with Ticketmaster. Around the time I headed to the Exton Target to grab the new album they announced a tour, with the evil giant, and they were playing in Camden. I had a shot.
Thankfully, I was dating a smoker, who incidentally went to get smokes around the time tickets went on sale. She came back to the apartment we lived in and told me "if you want tickets, you better get somewhere fast, they added a second show."
Note to all of you out there: Boscov's have TicketMaster windows.
Thank God, she was a smoker, and that the Coventry Mall Boscov's was so close to the apartment.
Got there in time, and waited for the guy in front of me to get tickets to Chicago (seriously!). I got a pair for the second show of the set in Camden. Now I just needed someone to go with. I asked her to go, and she gave me the same answer she gave a friend of hers when they mentioned Pearl Jam to her at lunch at college: "Yeah, I used to like them, but then I graduated high school. "
For the record, I went with a friend of mine from college. Also, things between us (the girl and I) continued to slide south until she moved out about a year later. We lost touch, and I couldn't even get a hold of her to break up with her officially till 2004. Not that her answer aboout going to the show caused the break up, but it didn't help.
The concert was awesome, and I was so happy to actually see them in concert that I could barely contain myself. The fact that they started the bootleg program with this tour came in handy too because I could buy the show, even if I managed to lose it for years (I'll explain later). Hell, I didn't even care that I got lost in Camden trying to find my friend an ATM before going back across the bridge. OK, I lie. That part scared the shit out of me. Big time. Have you ever been to Camden? Enough said.
Thankfully, they built a Target in Oaks, which is much closer than running to Exton, and that is how I snagged Riot Act and Lost Dogs, the album of b-sides. Also, around this time, they came back and played the Spectrum. I had a co-worker who was also a huge Pearl Jam fan, who went and made a copy of the show, which managed to get me in trouble one train ride home.
On Vs. , there is a song called "Animal" and it features the line "I'd rather be with an animal." Well, long story short, back then, I had a habit of singing along to the Walkman, and apparently, the fact that I sang that particular line freaked the young lady next to me out.
The group also helped me to break a rule I have about movies, thanks to providing a song in Tim Burton's movie Big Fish called "Man of the Hour." I usually don't buy I a movie if I haven't seen it first, but I figured what the heck. Who knew it would be that good? The Golden Globe nod was well deserved.
Things with the group were quiet for a while until the beginning of 2006, when I heard the buzz that a new album was coming out, just not on Epic. They also put out a video. Who were these guys? Guys that were touring and damn it I had to go, that's who! And I almost won seats ahead of time. Except....
that my damn cell phone gave out. Let me explain. WMMR, the local station, was giving tickets away, provided that you could identify the songs in a sentence made from song lyrics. I could, and I was able to get through. Sadly, the phone died as I was starting to give my answer. I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. I still got to go.
By the time tickets went on sale, I had made the Target run to Oaks for the CD, and was digging it. The show went on sale on a Saturday, and the girl who was my girlfriend at the time recommended that if I wanted to get seats, I might want to go stand in line at the Exton Strawbridge's for her and I, and my friend Mike, also a big fan.
Before I go any further, I just realized that I had to explain that I lost a cd of the Camden 2000 set. It was around this time that things were getting serious between the new girl and I, which meant I spent a good chunk of my free weekends at her place in Bear, DE. More of my cd's started to find their way there, including the one in question. Long story short, I lost the second cd of that set for about two years, until she found it after I had moved out, and she came across some things I manged to have left behind.
In case you're wondering, I did get up and get to the store and stand in line to get led back to the Ticketmaster window. Tenth in line to be exact. Around the time tickets went on sale, someone from the store came out and informed those of us standing in line, who by this point had to be around 75 people, that they would do a drawing to see who got first place in line at the box office. We were given a number based on our place in line, and the person with that number would be first, and all those behind him would be next in line, with those before him/her at the end. While not exactly fair to the early crowd, I sort of saw the point. So, they get this little kid to draw at 945 (tickets went on sale at 10), and give you one guess what number she drew--mine! I couldn't even get the word "Me" out when they asked who had number 10, the guy behind had to speak for me.
Needless to say, getting tickets was easy. I went and informed the girlfriend of the luck I had, and also thanked her for pushing me to get out of bed and get to Strawbridge's, especially since I really did owe her.
As for the show, I wasn't big on it at the time, but after getting a copy of it recently, I realized something. The show actually was really good, since it was a band clearly at the height of their powers leaving everything they had on the stage.
Side note: The girlfriend and I later got engaged, but ultimately ended up breaking up early last year, not because she didn't like Pearl Jam (she actually liked them more because of being with me, or at least that is my impression), but simply because things between us ultimately fell apart.
Since I mentioned my friend Mike, I should make a note here that he got me at least one of my rarities, thanks to independent record store collections. He is the reason I scored Live at Easy Street, an EP of a show played for an independent record store meeting in Seattle. Also, through a friend, he is the reason I scored the copy of the Camden show in 2006 recently.
I mentioned the girlfriend (and later fiancee) who went to the 06 show with me, and I bring her up because she figures into my getting to go again last year to see them in Camden again. She got me the tickets for my birthday, since they were playing two days before it in June, but we broke up between when we got the tickets and the show. Needless to say, it was hard for me at that point to go with her, mainly because I think I was still emotionally raw, but I had fun, thanks to her friend Chrissy. She had bought tickets for us, not realizing that we had gotten our own. Thankfully, I sold the tickets my now ex bought to a friend of mine I knew would love to go, and I hung out with them for most of the night.
I got to buy the show again, and also got one for free. Let me explain. The Camden venue was known as the Tweeter Center till early last year, when it became the Susquehanna Bank Center. When I received the Camden show in the mail, I actually received the Tweeter Center show from Massachusetts. I called the Ten Club, which I actually finally joined at this point (only took 17 years), and they told me just to keep it, and they would send me the Camden show. Pretty damn cool.
Then, recently, in an effort to make me feel old, Pearl Jam re-released Ten. OK, maybe not to make me feel old, but to celebrate the fact that is going to be out for almost 20 years.
I listened to it in its remastered form, and the effect is still the same. It still blows me away, much like the group did the other night playing "Get Some" on Conan.
A lot of things have changed in my life, be it the girls I date, the year of school I'm in, or the town/state I live in, but one thing has remained a constant--Pearl Jam. They have been there through the good, the bad, the ugly. The good breaks, and the painful ones.
They are truly, the soundtrack to my life. And that makes me proud to say that I have been having a love affair with them since 1991.
Well, they released Binaural in 2000, and I really wanted to see them in concert if they came around, even if it meant having to deal with Ticketmaster. Around the time I headed to the Exton Target to grab the new album they announced a tour, with the evil giant, and they were playing in Camden. I had a shot.
Thankfully, I was dating a smoker, who incidentally went to get smokes around the time tickets went on sale. She came back to the apartment we lived in and told me "if you want tickets, you better get somewhere fast, they added a second show."
Note to all of you out there: Boscov's have TicketMaster windows.
Thank God, she was a smoker, and that the Coventry Mall Boscov's was so close to the apartment.
Got there in time, and waited for the guy in front of me to get tickets to Chicago (seriously!). I got a pair for the second show of the set in Camden. Now I just needed someone to go with. I asked her to go, and she gave me the same answer she gave a friend of hers when they mentioned Pearl Jam to her at lunch at college: "Yeah, I used to like them, but then I graduated high school. "
For the record, I went with a friend of mine from college. Also, things between us (the girl and I) continued to slide south until she moved out about a year later. We lost touch, and I couldn't even get a hold of her to break up with her officially till 2004. Not that her answer aboout going to the show caused the break up, but it didn't help.
The concert was awesome, and I was so happy to actually see them in concert that I could barely contain myself. The fact that they started the bootleg program with this tour came in handy too because I could buy the show, even if I managed to lose it for years (I'll explain later). Hell, I didn't even care that I got lost in Camden trying to find my friend an ATM before going back across the bridge. OK, I lie. That part scared the shit out of me. Big time. Have you ever been to Camden? Enough said.
Thankfully, they built a Target in Oaks, which is much closer than running to Exton, and that is how I snagged Riot Act and Lost Dogs, the album of b-sides. Also, around this time, they came back and played the Spectrum. I had a co-worker who was also a huge Pearl Jam fan, who went and made a copy of the show, which managed to get me in trouble one train ride home.
On Vs. , there is a song called "Animal" and it features the line "I'd rather be with an animal." Well, long story short, back then, I had a habit of singing along to the Walkman, and apparently, the fact that I sang that particular line freaked the young lady next to me out.
The group also helped me to break a rule I have about movies, thanks to providing a song in Tim Burton's movie Big Fish called "Man of the Hour." I usually don't buy I a movie if I haven't seen it first, but I figured what the heck. Who knew it would be that good? The Golden Globe nod was well deserved.
Things with the group were quiet for a while until the beginning of 2006, when I heard the buzz that a new album was coming out, just not on Epic. They also put out a video. Who were these guys? Guys that were touring and damn it I had to go, that's who! And I almost won seats ahead of time. Except....
that my damn cell phone gave out. Let me explain. WMMR, the local station, was giving tickets away, provided that you could identify the songs in a sentence made from song lyrics. I could, and I was able to get through. Sadly, the phone died as I was starting to give my answer. I could hear them, but they couldn't hear me. I still got to go.
By the time tickets went on sale, I had made the Target run to Oaks for the CD, and was digging it. The show went on sale on a Saturday, and the girl who was my girlfriend at the time recommended that if I wanted to get seats, I might want to go stand in line at the Exton Strawbridge's for her and I, and my friend Mike, also a big fan.
Before I go any further, I just realized that I had to explain that I lost a cd of the Camden 2000 set. It was around this time that things were getting serious between the new girl and I, which meant I spent a good chunk of my free weekends at her place in Bear, DE. More of my cd's started to find their way there, including the one in question. Long story short, I lost the second cd of that set for about two years, until she found it after I had moved out, and she came across some things I manged to have left behind.
In case you're wondering, I did get up and get to the store and stand in line to get led back to the Ticketmaster window. Tenth in line to be exact. Around the time tickets went on sale, someone from the store came out and informed those of us standing in line, who by this point had to be around 75 people, that they would do a drawing to see who got first place in line at the box office. We were given a number based on our place in line, and the person with that number would be first, and all those behind him would be next in line, with those before him/her at the end. While not exactly fair to the early crowd, I sort of saw the point. So, they get this little kid to draw at 945 (tickets went on sale at 10), and give you one guess what number she drew--mine! I couldn't even get the word "Me" out when they asked who had number 10, the guy behind had to speak for me.
Needless to say, getting tickets was easy. I went and informed the girlfriend of the luck I had, and also thanked her for pushing me to get out of bed and get to Strawbridge's, especially since I really did owe her.
As for the show, I wasn't big on it at the time, but after getting a copy of it recently, I realized something. The show actually was really good, since it was a band clearly at the height of their powers leaving everything they had on the stage.
Side note: The girlfriend and I later got engaged, but ultimately ended up breaking up early last year, not because she didn't like Pearl Jam (she actually liked them more because of being with me, or at least that is my impression), but simply because things between us ultimately fell apart.
Since I mentioned my friend Mike, I should make a note here that he got me at least one of my rarities, thanks to independent record store collections. He is the reason I scored Live at Easy Street, an EP of a show played for an independent record store meeting in Seattle. Also, through a friend, he is the reason I scored the copy of the Camden show in 2006 recently.
I mentioned the girlfriend (and later fiancee) who went to the 06 show with me, and I bring her up because she figures into my getting to go again last year to see them in Camden again. She got me the tickets for my birthday, since they were playing two days before it in June, but we broke up between when we got the tickets and the show. Needless to say, it was hard for me at that point to go with her, mainly because I think I was still emotionally raw, but I had fun, thanks to her friend Chrissy. She had bought tickets for us, not realizing that we had gotten our own. Thankfully, I sold the tickets my now ex bought to a friend of mine I knew would love to go, and I hung out with them for most of the night.
I got to buy the show again, and also got one for free. Let me explain. The Camden venue was known as the Tweeter Center till early last year, when it became the Susquehanna Bank Center. When I received the Camden show in the mail, I actually received the Tweeter Center show from Massachusetts. I called the Ten Club, which I actually finally joined at this point (only took 17 years), and they told me just to keep it, and they would send me the Camden show. Pretty damn cool.
Then, recently, in an effort to make me feel old, Pearl Jam re-released Ten. OK, maybe not to make me feel old, but to celebrate the fact that is going to be out for almost 20 years.
I listened to it in its remastered form, and the effect is still the same. It still blows me away, much like the group did the other night playing "Get Some" on Conan.
A lot of things have changed in my life, be it the girls I date, the year of school I'm in, or the town/state I live in, but one thing has remained a constant--Pearl Jam. They have been there through the good, the bad, the ugly. The good breaks, and the painful ones.
They are truly, the soundtrack to my life. And that makes me proud to say that I have been having a love affair with them since 1991.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
My long history with Pearl Jam, Part One.
As I have said before, I like Pearl Jam. A lot. Anyone that knows me for any length of time knows that they are my favorite musical group. There isn't even a question as to whether or not I like another group more. It's been this way for almost twenty years.
I remember sitting in cafeteria at lunch during the second part of my sophomore year of high school talking with some of my friends, one of whom could not stop talking about a group named Pearl Jam and their new cassette Ten (what? They were still the dominant medium when I was 15) and he recommended buying it. Thankfully, I got paid to serve weddings at my church and had spare money to spend. I picked it up at the Wall to Wall Sound and Video (it's FYE, about two name changes ago, with electronics and TV's) on MacArthur Road in Whitehall, just outside of Allentown.
I took it home, put it into my crappy little stereo and got blown away. If I were to make a movie reference that even comes close, I would choose the scene where the central character in Almost Famous discovers the copy of Tommy his sister leaves behind after she ran away from home and he and gets that dumbfounded look on his face after putting the needle to the wax. I can't put into words what the album said, but I can honestly say, that it spoke to me. Something in those songs just jumped out and grabbed me. I don't know if it was the influence of the death of Andrew Wood on the proceedings, or the fact that I was a teenager, who looking back on it, was probably in my serious and brooding phase. Who knows?
Anyway, the album opened my eyes to the world of rock and roll, since my musical tastes I am ashamed to say before that had run the gamut of the popular stuff of the time from Taylor Dayne to Paula Abdul and those sorts of artists (and I have the tapes packed away somewhere to prove it), but I digress. The debut album held me over till near the start of my senior year, even though I got close to wearing the tape out.
They were also a part of history, as I had mentioned before in this blog. I moved into the world of compact discs, giving my mom money (they had dropped me at a school dadnce and were going to kill time at a newarby mall till it was time to pick me up) and a piece of paper with the title of the soundtrack to the movie Singles written on it. Among the other songs on the CD were two from Eddie and the boys, "Breath" and "State of Love and Trust."
In October 1993, I had gone on a college visit on Monday I had off from school (apparently Mom did not want me to blow the perfect attendance record). I went to see the campus of Moravian College in Bethlehem and get a look at their English program. On the way back home, we stopped at the MacArthur Road area, for what I don't remember, but I think my mother wanted to buy something. I, on the other hand, had to go to Camelot Music, and buy something--Vs. It had come out the previous Tuesday, and was selling like crazy, with over 950,000 units sold in the first week. I had moved into Cd's by this point, and actually own a hard to find version of the album--the Eco-Pak. Think the cardboard cases used by some bands today, combined with the traditional jewel case.
Again, I was blown away, and to be honest, I don't think the album came out of the cd player until sometime after New Year's. Pearl jam had put me through two or so years of high school, and now we would face the rigors of college together.
The rigors of which would be made easier by a welcome friend in early December 1994. After waiting the two weeks after it was released on vinyl to my CD version, I hit MacArthur Road one more time, this time at the Wall in the Lehigh Valley Mall, to get Vitalogy. It sticks out in my mind for one major reason--it looked different. The CD wasn't in the traditional jewel case, instead looking like a small black textbook. Incidentally, the version that was released isn't the original version of the book, since some of it was still under a copyright.
Another reason I remember this CD was that I eventually had to get it "replaced" by somewhat defrauding The Wall. If you lived in PA before Best Buy came in, you remember the stickers The Wall put on their Cd's so that you could replace them if they ever went bad. Well, I scratched mine up pretty bad taking it out of the packaging to put it into my stereo. Oh, and I made it worse by running up and down a cinder block wall, a fact I neglected to tell the employee at the South Mall in Allentown when I went to replace it. It was also around this time that a friend of mine actually helped me out by giving me Ten on CD for Christmas . At this point it had fallen a bit by the wayside as the group had more albums, and I sort of stopped using the tape player.
We had both done some growing up at this point, me heading towards graduation, them into a influential and increasingly political band, by this time starting their boycott of Ticketmaster. I was young and didn't care too much about that, because I had a new album called No Code to keep me happy. An album my friend Dave and I stood in line for at a local record store the night before it went on sale to be the first to get it. If I think about it, it was the first of many times we did that, but then again we were kids with nothing to spend our money on but music and that is exactly what we did. The album was also unique for it's packaging, which contained nine Polaroid photos with the lyrics to the songs on the back. That was also the night I got the Pearl Jam poster I had for many years. The store gave them away with every copy of the new cd purchased.
The boycott of Ticketmaster meant that they wouldn't be coming east, which made me a bit sad, but it also was the first time I decided to do something influenced by someone popular-- I too boycotted Ticketmaster, not attending a show they sold tickets for until 2000.
I'll tell you tommorrow who played that show.
I remember sitting in cafeteria at lunch during the second part of my sophomore year of high school talking with some of my friends, one of whom could not stop talking about a group named Pearl Jam and their new cassette Ten (what? They were still the dominant medium when I was 15) and he recommended buying it. Thankfully, I got paid to serve weddings at my church and had spare money to spend. I picked it up at the Wall to Wall Sound and Video (it's FYE, about two name changes ago, with electronics and TV's) on MacArthur Road in Whitehall, just outside of Allentown.
I took it home, put it into my crappy little stereo and got blown away. If I were to make a movie reference that even comes close, I would choose the scene where the central character in Almost Famous discovers the copy of Tommy his sister leaves behind after she ran away from home and he and gets that dumbfounded look on his face after putting the needle to the wax. I can't put into words what the album said, but I can honestly say, that it spoke to me. Something in those songs just jumped out and grabbed me. I don't know if it was the influence of the death of Andrew Wood on the proceedings, or the fact that I was a teenager, who looking back on it, was probably in my serious and brooding phase. Who knows?
Anyway, the album opened my eyes to the world of rock and roll, since my musical tastes I am ashamed to say before that had run the gamut of the popular stuff of the time from Taylor Dayne to Paula Abdul and those sorts of artists (and I have the tapes packed away somewhere to prove it), but I digress. The debut album held me over till near the start of my senior year, even though I got close to wearing the tape out.
They were also a part of history, as I had mentioned before in this blog. I moved into the world of compact discs, giving my mom money (they had dropped me at a school dadnce and were going to kill time at a newarby mall till it was time to pick me up) and a piece of paper with the title of the soundtrack to the movie Singles written on it. Among the other songs on the CD were two from Eddie and the boys, "Breath" and "State of Love and Trust."
In October 1993, I had gone on a college visit on Monday I had off from school (apparently Mom did not want me to blow the perfect attendance record). I went to see the campus of Moravian College in Bethlehem and get a look at their English program. On the way back home, we stopped at the MacArthur Road area, for what I don't remember, but I think my mother wanted to buy something. I, on the other hand, had to go to Camelot Music, and buy something--Vs. It had come out the previous Tuesday, and was selling like crazy, with over 950,000 units sold in the first week. I had moved into Cd's by this point, and actually own a hard to find version of the album--the Eco-Pak. Think the cardboard cases used by some bands today, combined with the traditional jewel case.
Again, I was blown away, and to be honest, I don't think the album came out of the cd player until sometime after New Year's. Pearl jam had put me through two or so years of high school, and now we would face the rigors of college together.
The rigors of which would be made easier by a welcome friend in early December 1994. After waiting the two weeks after it was released on vinyl to my CD version, I hit MacArthur Road one more time, this time at the Wall in the Lehigh Valley Mall, to get Vitalogy. It sticks out in my mind for one major reason--it looked different. The CD wasn't in the traditional jewel case, instead looking like a small black textbook. Incidentally, the version that was released isn't the original version of the book, since some of it was still under a copyright.
Another reason I remember this CD was that I eventually had to get it "replaced" by somewhat defrauding The Wall. If you lived in PA before Best Buy came in, you remember the stickers The Wall put on their Cd's so that you could replace them if they ever went bad. Well, I scratched mine up pretty bad taking it out of the packaging to put it into my stereo. Oh, and I made it worse by running up and down a cinder block wall, a fact I neglected to tell the employee at the South Mall in Allentown when I went to replace it. It was also around this time that a friend of mine actually helped me out by giving me Ten on CD for Christmas . At this point it had fallen a bit by the wayside as the group had more albums, and I sort of stopped using the tape player.
We had both done some growing up at this point, me heading towards graduation, them into a influential and increasingly political band, by this time starting their boycott of Ticketmaster. I was young and didn't care too much about that, because I had a new album called No Code to keep me happy. An album my friend Dave and I stood in line for at a local record store the night before it went on sale to be the first to get it. If I think about it, it was the first of many times we did that, but then again we were kids with nothing to spend our money on but music and that is exactly what we did. The album was also unique for it's packaging, which contained nine Polaroid photos with the lyrics to the songs on the back. That was also the night I got the Pearl Jam poster I had for many years. The store gave them away with every copy of the new cd purchased.
The boycott of Ticketmaster meant that they wouldn't be coming east, which made me a bit sad, but it also was the first time I decided to do something influenced by someone popular-- I too boycotted Ticketmaster, not attending a show they sold tickets for until 2000.
I'll tell you tommorrow who played that show.
Pearl Jam on Conan
Here is the performance from last night, courtesy of Hulu.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/75484/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-musical-performance-pearl-jam#x-4,vclip,1
http://www.hulu.com/watch/75484/the-tonight-show-with-conan-obrien-musical-performance-pearl-jam#x-4,vclip,1
Monday, June 1, 2009
I've Got Some if You Need It.
If you've known me for any length of time, you know that I like Pearl Jam. Ok, so maybe I'm understating that a bit. Some. OK, a lot. A look at my CD collection will confirm that. Through a quick (and rough) estimation just now, I figured out that about 15% of my collection is Pearl Jam, be it studio, b-side collections, concerts, special editions, you name it.
Even with all the changes that occur over the course of a lifetime, they have been a constant in my life for almost 20 years. They were part of the first cd I ever bought was Singles, the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie they had two songs on, and Jeff, Stone and Eddie cameoed in as part of Matt Dillon's band, Citizen Dick. To borrow a phrase from a friend of mine, they are the soundtrack to my life. I can find one of their songs to fit almost every mood, or help me get back into a good frame of mind.
One indication of how big of a fan I am: I can spot the Pearl Jam reference in Almost Famous, and I know that Mike McCready played the lead guitar parts for Stillwater in the movie as well. How do I know that you ask? Well, you know what, just ask me and I will tell you.
I salivate at even the thought of new material, and I have since I heard they were making a follow-up to Ten. It was called Vs., and sold over a million copies in the first week, maybe you heard of it. Since I heard they were recording a new album I've been waiting (I'd say patiently, but I would lying) to hear the songs. I found out recently that I will get the chance on The Tonight Show.
I have to hand it to Conan O'Brian, he certainly set the bar high, as far as musical guests go, having Pearl Jam as his first musical guest. Even more so, considering they don't do much in the way of network TV, or even TV performances for that matter (and they usually play on Dave).
With the new songs, I will try and be objective, especially since one of my readers pointed out to me "they could sing the ABC's and you would rave." Disclaimer fully in place, here's my thoughts. I also offer the offensive language disclaimer here. Sorry.
Holy Fucking Shit! The song is called "Got Some," but I will go with "Buzzsaw." It was about two and a half minutes of unbridled hell. Also, it's catchy, a word I know I have never used to describe a song by the group EVER. Not that I should be shocked by this, but Mike absolutely shredded the solo in this one. I honestly had to go jump around like a dork for about five minutes outside of where I'm living, so I could calm down enough to write this post in the first place.
If this is any indication, I will be a very happy man come Sept. 20, holding a copy of Backspacer, walking out of Target with a stupid looking, shit eating grin planted all over my face.
Even with all the changes that occur over the course of a lifetime, they have been a constant in my life for almost 20 years. They were part of the first cd I ever bought was Singles, the soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe movie they had two songs on, and Jeff, Stone and Eddie cameoed in as part of Matt Dillon's band, Citizen Dick. To borrow a phrase from a friend of mine, they are the soundtrack to my life. I can find one of their songs to fit almost every mood, or help me get back into a good frame of mind.
One indication of how big of a fan I am: I can spot the Pearl Jam reference in Almost Famous, and I know that Mike McCready played the lead guitar parts for Stillwater in the movie as well. How do I know that you ask? Well, you know what, just ask me and I will tell you.
I salivate at even the thought of new material, and I have since I heard they were making a follow-up to Ten. It was called Vs., and sold over a million copies in the first week, maybe you heard of it. Since I heard they were recording a new album I've been waiting (I'd say patiently, but I would lying) to hear the songs. I found out recently that I will get the chance on The Tonight Show.
I have to hand it to Conan O'Brian, he certainly set the bar high, as far as musical guests go, having Pearl Jam as his first musical guest. Even more so, considering they don't do much in the way of network TV, or even TV performances for that matter (and they usually play on Dave).
With the new songs, I will try and be objective, especially since one of my readers pointed out to me "they could sing the ABC's and you would rave." Disclaimer fully in place, here's my thoughts. I also offer the offensive language disclaimer here. Sorry.
Holy Fucking Shit! The song is called "Got Some," but I will go with "Buzzsaw." It was about two and a half minutes of unbridled hell. Also, it's catchy, a word I know I have never used to describe a song by the group EVER. Not that I should be shocked by this, but Mike absolutely shredded the solo in this one. I honestly had to go jump around like a dork for about five minutes outside of where I'm living, so I could calm down enough to write this post in the first place.
If this is any indication, I will be a very happy man come Sept. 20, holding a copy of Backspacer, walking out of Target with a stupid looking, shit eating grin planted all over my face.
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