Dec 13, 2007

Above: Tasha, Sara & Me at work.

Above: Waiting outside for the show in Chinatown




Above: Cassino

Above: Dear and the Headlights




Above: Fred, of The Color Fred. And us.

Above: Straylight Run rocking out.



View from the PSFS building

Jeff dribbling a massive globe basketball.

Jordan gets her first taste of Philly Pretzels.

Today was a pretty great day. I started off by working, which could have gone better, but at least I made some money. I had some food after work and killed some time before picking up Jeff and Jordan to head to Philly.

We got there a little early and had to wait in line for a while before they let us into the Troc. Once inside (with my camera, surprisingly!) we got settled and Cassino played. I'm a giant fan of Northstar, so this project built from the remains of that band was an obvious draw for me. They were awesome, they added some electric and keys to some songs that were mostly acoustic on their CD. Dear and the Headlights came up next, they were as amazing live as on their CD (if not more so.) The singer, Ian, has such intensity! The Color Fred were up next, featuring Fred from Taking Back Sunday. They weren't horrible, but definitely my least favorite of the night. The songs seem a little ripped-off of TBS, just not as good. I think Fred should have stuck with back-up vocals and shredding the guitar. Straylight Run headlined, of course. They were friendly, entertaining and, as always, musically tight. They played a lot of newer material that I'm not familiar with, but they played a good handful of old favorites, switching off instruments after each song like they do. All in all, a wonderful show full of good music.

After the show, I took Jeff and Jordan over to the PSFS building up to the observation area to show them the great view of the city. Then, we headed over to the pretzel factory and Jordan was introduced to the finest food in the City of Brotherly Love. Now I'm home, I have to give two speeches in the morning and I'm not prepared for either. I love procrastination.

EDIT: Cassino video I took can be found right here. And the Straylight Run video I got of them playing Buttoned Down can be found here.