Splash On Em!

It was cold this morning, 26 degrees when I left my house in fact, and I rode into work today. Not gonna lie, it was a bit chilly out there.....my water bottle was even starting to freeze up! No bueno. So to combat the cold, here's a lovely swimming music video featuring none other than Northern VA's own, Ed Moses...and a few other fast swimmers. Obviously this is a 'for fun' music video with many amusing aspects....my favorite is probably the dodgeball part and the facial expressions. Anyways, enjoy the sights of warmer climates and nice swimming pools!

[Splash On Em]

To Shuffle Or Not To Shuffle

I like music, a lot. It's what helps me through my day to day routines, gets me in the mood to work out, cheer me up, or even put me to sleep. But every once in a while I'm at a loss of what I feel like listening to. I'll open up the ipod player on my phone and skim through my preset playlists, and if nothing strikes my fancy, I'll switch over to 'songs' and hit that magical tab at the top, 'Shuffle'. 

I've also got a ton of music on my phone, enough to last for a week or two if played straight through, so when I hit the ol' shuffle button, it's a bit of a crap shoot of what you're gonna get. But isn't that part of the fun? There are definitely times when I've heard a really good song that I didn't even know I had, and have had to look down to see what it was. There are also times when I get a song that I really don't like at all, and I'll reach down and hit the 'next' button to skip over that song, and then I'm left wondering why I even still have that song on my player, taking up valuable space! Of course I don't do anything about it, and then ask myself that same question next time I hear the song.

Moving on though, this morning was one of those mornings where I was left with no choice but to hit the shuffle button, and thought it would be fun if I wrote down the first 10 songs that played, and then share them with you all. I should note that I chose to not skip ahead through any of them, so everything on this list I listened to in it's entirety whether I liked it or not! Also of note, I always find it crazy that out of more than 3,500 songs, there are still times when I get the same band a couple times in a row [like what happened with Senses Fail in the list below.] At any rate, listed below is my list, and admittedly, I was hoping for a better finale than Prodigy, but that is how today's shuffle list decided to play out [haha, get it?] Enjoy!

1. Five Iron Frenzy - American Kryptonite

2. New Found Glory - No News Is Good News

3. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun [Really beautiful song by the way]

4. House Of Pain - Jump Around

5. Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

6. Senses Fail - Slow Dance

7. Senses Fail - Lost and Found

8. Rise Against - Savior

9. Millencolin - Fingers Crossed

10. Prodigy - Voodoo People

What do you think? Should I make this a more regular feature of my writings?

Irish Punk Rock Music

Irish punk rock is almost like Christmas music to me. I love it, but I just cant listen to it year 'round. There are of course a few exceptions, but for the most part, spring is the only time I really let it all fly cranked up to 11.  In keeping with years past, here's a bunch of really fun Irish punk rock music songs that I really like. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone, and be safe. Enjoi! [See what I did there?]

[Dropkick Murphys, Going Out In Style]

[Flogging Molly, Drunken Lullabies [Live]]

[Dropkick Murphys, God Willing]

[Carbon Leaf, The Boxer]

[Flogging Molly, If I Ever Leave This World Alive]

[Dropkick Murphys, Famous For Nothing]

A Non-Awesome Snow Morning: Counter-Post

This post is purely to help me recover from this morning's unwanted adventures. Right now I'm listening to some good 'ol fashioned rock and roll, and daydreaming about cruising around in my car during the summer months. Sunglasses, shorts, ice cream, coca-cola classic, a summer breeze and open windows are running wildly through my head.

And for good measure....

Hear It Now: Social Distortion, Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes

A couple months back I mentioned in this post that my favorite band of all time, Social Distortion was getting ready to release a new album in January. Well guess what my friends, IT'S JANUARY!! The official release date of the album is next Tuesday the 18th [I've already had my copy pre-ordered for a while now], but just today the band released the whole thing for streaming online. Which means you get to listen to it in it's entirety a week before you can officially own it! Awesome, I know!

Anyway, I've listened to it about 3 or 4 times now, and it's realllllly good. Like, reallllly good. The wait was well worth it for this one. I can just picture myself cruising in the summer sun, windows down in the Challenger with this album just blasting! Yea, thoughts like those will help me make it through these dark and dreary days of winter. So the streaming service hosting the album also let's you embed the songs, so I'm going to put them up here for everyone to listen to. My favorite songs so far are [in no particular order] 'California [Hustle And Flow]'; 'Still Alive'; and 'Can't Take It With You'. I hope you like this album as much as I do! Enjoy!

Social Distortion - Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes by Epitaph Records

Little Drummer Boy

Since we're well into the official Christmas music season, I felt it was time to get a couple songs going up in here! This first one is a great rendition of Little Drummer Boy by a band called 'The Almost'. Enjoy!

[The Almost - Little Drummer Boy]

Sirius-ly, Stop Calling Me!

The phone number 866-301-7344 is stuck in my memory, and not for the fun reasons like 867-5309 either. On and off for the past 5 months, Sirius satellite radio has been calling me trying to get me to at first renew, and now re-activate the satellite radio in the Challenger [it came with one free year.] I mostly ignore them, but they keep calling, and keep sending letters. I thought about renewing for a short while once they cut the cost down to half of what they originally offered me. But because of the constant harassment I've decided they're not worth my money for what's still an overpriced service. Plus, anyone with a smartphone, like myself, has free and unlimited access to Pandora, which is pretty much what Sirius is anyway. 

Anyways, out of curiosity I googled 866-301-7344 and found this fantastic open letter that someone else [coincidentally also named Rob] had written to Sirius and it sums up my thoughts perfectly. You can find the original post here.

"Dear Sirius/XM:

I know you’re going bankrupt, and seriously, that’s gotta suck. But really, do you need to call me on my phone every frigging day asking me to resubscribe? I got rid of the car that had the Sirius radio in it (in fact, I already told you that on the phone) and yet you still call. Moreover, I now take the subway to work, so I have no need or use for satellite radio on a daily basis.

While we have two cars with built-in XM capability, I’m not interested in turning satellite radio on in those either. I just don’t drive often enough to warrant it. And I also have a brain, which means that I realize that any money spent on Satellite service today may disappear tomorrow as Sirius/XM goes out of business. And if they do emerge from bankruptcy protection in tact, prices will be lower then, maybe low enough to justify me subscribing again, despite not driving much any more.

In short, please stop calling me. And if you really do want me to pick up, you’ll change your phone number to something different than 866-301-7344, because I now know to let that number go straight to voicemail.

Regards,

-Rob"

Well said, Rob. Well said.

New Blog Theme Song

Until further notice, the following song is the new theme song for this here blog. You wanna talk about how awesome it is to be 6 years old? Just check out the video below. It's by an artist named Frank Turner. Frank opened for Social Distortion a few weeks back at the 9:30 club, and beefore seeing all the tour dates for Social D, I had no idea who Frank Turner was, so I looked him up to get familiar with some of his stuff, and I'm glad I did. He's got a bit of folk/rock thing going on, and I really dig his sound. He closed his set with this song 'Photosynthesis' and it's pretty much an anthem on not growing up. It's awesome, and so is the video. Rock on little ones, rock on! ENJOY!

[Frank Turner - Photosynthesis]

Social Distortion Concert: After

Simply put, the Social D show was awesome! I had built it up quite a bit in my mind since I had been waiting so long to see them play, and I'm glad they didn't let me down. I got there early with another friend and we headed inside just after the doors opened so we could get a good viewing spot. We grabbed a place upstairs straight back from the stage and right along the front railing, excellent viewpoint. I stayed up there for most of the show until I couldn't resist any longer and headed down into the pit to let loose! It was a great time, and they played pretty much every song I wanted to hear, except one [Far Behind.]  Anyways, not a whole lot more to say except that I'm really glad I finally got to see Social Distortion play live, I somehow feel like my life is a tad more complete! On with the media!

Another pic/view of the crowd and stage

Here's a small clip I got with my phone of the song 'Ball and Chain'

[please, pay no attention to the awful tone deaf singalong]

[Ball And Chain]

Here's a clip from the song 'Don't Drag Me Down' --  my favorite song and

guitar solo[s] of all time. This is also when the crowd started to really go nuts!

[Don't Drag Me Down]

As I mentioned, I was upstairs just enjoying watching the show for the majority of the evening, but then my buddy said we needed to head down and get into the action, so I double knotted my shoe laces, handed off a t-shirt to another friend staying upstairs, and headed on down. I hadn't been in a mosh pit in quite some time, but it was so much fun, I even got one dude to hoist me up for a small crowd surfing session.

View from the pit. Mike Ness doing what he does best. Rocking faces off!

At the very end of their encore, I was able to get the drummer's attention and ask him to throw out his drum sticks. Anyone who's been to concerts with me, knows that I like to try and get a drum stick from the band. I have a strange knack for usually being able to get one, so I always try. [My collection currently includes drum sticks from Motion City Soundtrack, POD, Dragonforce, Less Than Jake, and [now] Social Distortion.] So the drummer recognizes my request and heaves one stick in my general direction, and I elevated like none other, got above the crowd and snagged that baby right out of the air. My friend Matt was standing right next to me and he immediately starting laughing and exclaiming "of course you of all people would get it!" My friends that remained upstairs saw me right after heading outside and said they couldn't believe how high up I jumped to get the stick, and they were watching the whole time thinking "Did Rob just get that stick?!" Why yes, yes I did. It was a great end to an awesome, awesome night.

The Holy Grail of my drum stick collection

Last but not least, I wanted share one more song/video. I mentioned in my last post that they're getting ready to release a new album, and they played a couple songs from it, and I was pretty excited about what I heard, this song 'Still Alive' was a standout in my mind. Here's video of the song from a concert earlier in the year. Enjoy!

[Still Alive]


Until next time, Peace and Love, Don't Push and Shove!

Social Distortion Concert: Before

Tonight is the night I've been waiting for, for a long, long time, and it's loooong overdue. I'm finally going to see Social Distortion play live. A long while back I mentioned that I was going to see them the next time they toured no matter what. Well they're currently on tour, and tonight they're playing at the 9:30 club, and I will be there, rocking out all night long to the sweet sweet sounds of Mike Ness' guitar solos. Here's some of my favorite songs by them, and some great pictures [old and new.] Social D has been around for decades, and for me, they've always been one of those bands that I absolutely must see play live. Check back tomorrow for pictures and video from the concert. Enjoy!

[Story Of My Life]



[When The Angels Sing]

Old Social D Picture

New[er] Social D Picture

Gibson Les Paul, Goldtop - Mike Ness's Axe of Choice

Current Tour

[Far Behind, Live]



[Don't Drag Me Down -- Probably my all time favorite song]

Also, Social D is getting ready to drop a new album, 'Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes'

VERY excited about that!!

It's Friday, It's October, Let's Groove.

I know I've heard this song a while ago [as in years] but I can't for the life of me remember when. Then, I heard it again yesterday on a commercial for a snowboard company, and immediately started to feel all groovy. Anyway, it's Friday, it's a new month, the weekend is upon us, let's groove. Cowbell!

[Cut Chemist: What's The Altitude]

Danger Days: True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys

My Chemical Romance just released a teaser for their upcoming album, and it looks quite promising. They always put out really good music and very entertaining videos, and by the looks of this small trailer it sounds like everyone will be in for yet another theatrical treat.

[MCR - Danger Days: True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys]

Something Corporate Last Night

It ruled. Band still sounded real good [for the most part] after having not played together for a number of years. They played two nights, and both nights sold out as well. Also, there was no opening band, and we were a little late getting to the show. Fortunately for me, I was wrong yesterday in my guess about 'I Want To Save You' being the first song, and I got to hear it later on in the set list. The long metro ride home though reminded me of going to shows in high school and getting home real late, only I get up earlier now for work than I did for school! Anyways, here's a few iPhone pics of the show. If I can get a hold of the small video clip I took I'll post that up as well. Enjoy!

Pretty sure this was them playing 'Konstantine'

'Punk Rock Princess'

End of the encore

Something Corporate Tonight

Tonight I'm heading over to the legendary 9:30 Club in DC to see 'Something Corporate' play one of their reunion shows. Two of my best friends will be there as well, and we all used to listen to this band in high school together, so it should be a pretty fun show for us.....and the swarms of screaming teenage girls who will no doubt be in attendance as well. My favorite song by them is called 'I Want To Save You' so I hope know they'll play it tonight, and judging by the video below, I should hear it pretty early on in the show. Enjoy!

[I Want To Save You]

Air Guitar, Rocking Out, and Classic Rock

Every once in a while you have to just let loose and rock out. I do this on a regular basis, yet probably not enough. It's even better when you go nuts, and don't care how stupid [or awesome, depending on your point of view] you may look.

There are two videos posted below. Some of you may be familiar with the first one. It's from an episode of Scrubs when the hospital's air band, the 'Cool Cats' performs More Than A Feeling at the end. It's a classic scene. The second video is from this past weekend when I was down in Tennessee. We had some free time one afternoon and my buddy and I felt the urge to get our rock on. We also happened to choose More Than A Feeling as our song, and it wasn't until the weekend was long over did I remember about the Scrubs version.

Now, I don't think we could ever compare ourselves to the Cool Cats, but what's your take on our [unrehearsed] version? At any rate, I'm sure this will be good for a few laughs at my expense [I'm in the black trunks.] Happy Friday everyone. Enjoy!

[Cool Cats, More Than A Feeling]



[Mullet Rock Out Session, More Than A Feeling]

St. Patty's 2010

Welp that time of year again, everyone who's only a part Irish is suddenly 100% Irish, and those who aren't Irish at all, are....well suddenly 100% Irish. I get a kick out of it if nothing else, and will more than likely enjoy a good beer or two this evening for good measure. If you want to kick things up a notch though, I recommend trying an 'Irish Car Bomb' if you've never had one. Guiness, Whiskey, and Irish Cream, that's all you need. Here's a quick instructional video, but note the bartender fails to mention, that you MUST DRINK IT REALLY FAST IMMEDIATELY AFTER DROPPING THE SHOT IN, otherwise the cream will start to curdle once mixed with the Guiness:

After you've kicked off your night on the right foot, I recommend enjoying some lovely fast paced Irish sounding tunes. Some of the same bands as last year, but new songs for you to enjoy! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone, stay safe.

Muscle Cars Forever

Boy this winter is just dragging on isn't it?! How about something to warm your hearts.....and your tires! QUE THE FACE MELTING, RUBBER BURNING AWESOMENESS!!!

[muscle cars forever]

Music: Timeless vs Lifeless

WARNING: I might as well tell you now, there's going to be some really bad excuses for music in this post, two to be exact. I just want everyone to be prepared so it doesn't catch them off guard like an obese fellow without a fast food joint in range of his motorized chair. There will be some spectacular sounding stuff as well, so it wont be all bad, but you have been warned.

WARNING #2: This is gonna be a long post, and I tend to ramble at times. With that said, I'll begin.

In addition to having some of the coolest cars this world has ever seen, the 'good ol days' as we'll refer to them [even though I was not around to experience or remember them first hand] had some of the best music ever made/recorded. For clarification I'm referring to the mid 1950's through the mid 70's. Man there was some serious musical talent in those days! Decades before frosty haired boy bands, teeny-boppers, and auto tune, there was some real music happening! I realize that a lot of folks who grew up during that time may not realize that people my age can actually recognize good music when we hear it, but trust me, those of us who can actually form our own opinion rather than blindly listen to what the DJ tells us to, do indeed posses the ability to distinguish the good from the really, really, albeit popular, bad.

I suppose a lot of this would make more sense with examples huh? Well let's get down to the dirty dirty then. This first video is a song of Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Tuesdays Gone' covered by Metallica. A lot of people argue about how well someone can cover someone else, but that's besides the point here, because it takes actual musical talent to make a recording like this. You wont hear any synthesizer or artificial sounds in this one. What you will hear is a collective group of musicians coming together and blending their talents into one memorable concoction. Songs like this [whether it be the original or a cover] will live on forever.

[Tuesday's Gone]

Pretty awesome huh? Taking a complete 180, it's time to reference that warning I handed out at the beginning of this post. I promise I will not be mad one bit if you don't make it through some of these videos either. This next one is my a girl named Ke$ha. What? How you pronounce a dollar sign in your name?? Retarded. You might also remember I referred to auto tune in a previous paragraph, and it's because that tool and others like it make possible for people with little to no singing ability to sound shall we say....interesting. Obviously it's not their real singing voice, but oddly enough I think most people would be thankful that that is the case. I don't want to get too far off track here, so click below [if you dare] to hear some over-produced, over-digitized, 'music' from an artist who's currently quite popular.

[Tik Tok]

Notice how I said 'currently popular' well it's because it won't be in a very short time, thankfully. And it is with that, that we finally get to the point of this post. [Sorry to keep you waiting] In the first song, there was no software changing the pitch or key of the singers' voices or instruments. There is no gaudy, fake music video to accompany it, and for a reason. It's real music, music that won't die or grow old. The second song clearly needs all the help it can get. Digitized voices, effects, and computerized beats doing all they can to save it. Fortunately no one will be listening to it one year from now. Lifeless.

Do I dare continue?? Yea, why the heck not.

Round two will provide more examples with basically the same principals applied. This first song has got to be one of the best rock songs of all time, by one of the most popular bands that ever played. This song has been used probably hundreds of times in movies and TV shows and for a reason, it's timeless, and it will always be around.

[Gimme Shelter]

Ready for that 180 degree turn again? Cause it's about to hit ya. The second song is another computerized monstrosity. [Seriously, I don't think there's a single note sung that hasn't been tampered with in some way] And again, the only good thing about all of that is that no one will be listening to it a year from now. If you can make it even 90 seconds into this song, well then you're a braver soul than I.

[3]

Seriously, what are 'musicians' aspiring to nowadays? Cause it doesn't seem like a whole lot to me. Unfortunately though, instead of letting this crap just make it's way to the gutter, it gets plastered all over the television and interwebz. Why though?? It's not any good.

Time for a couple clarifications. Clearly not all music made past the 70's is bad. That would be a moronic statement. I simply chose to use the good stuff, the timeless stuff to make my point. In fact, I rather like a lot of new music out there, especially the new country. I'm not sure how to best conclude this little post other than to ask you the reader, for the sake of self preservation, the next time you hear some hot new, popular 'song' ask yourself if it's truly music, and if you think it'll go down as one of the greats. If not, why torture your ears more than you have to?! Timeless or Lifeless?

Or, you know....I could be completely wrong.

Just A Simple Plan

It's only Tuesday and this week seems to already be dragging out. Not good. Are you in a similar situation? Give this song a listen for a quick recharge. Piebald's 'Just A Simple Plan' engage.

High School Rock N Roll

Every once in a while I go through a phase where I listen to the exact same stuff I listened to in high school. Granted not everything I listened to was good, cause I was still developing my musical ear, but a lot of it was and is still a lot of fun to listen to! Here's some of my favorite 'blasts from the past.' What are some of yours? Enjoy!

[bonus points for anyone who can tell me about this next drummer]