Nov 6, 2013

I got an early start heading up to Roseland, NJ for a photo shoot at a law firm. On the way I stopped at the post office to ship my old telephoto lens. I don't know if it was worth selling for what I got, but I don't have the patience to keep trying to sell it for more. I got to the firm and met up with my contact there then got right to shooting. The office was in the process of being packed up so I had to get creative and was limited to certain rooms. I put the lawyers and some aides in the conference room and shot a "meeting" for the marketing firm that hired me to put up on the new website. Everyone I met there was very nice and accommodating. I had a good time.

(Not my photo ^) Once done I headed straight back down the Parkway and Turnpike. I was home for long enough to eat and change before I had to get right back in the car, pick up Kate and head south. Well, north, then west, then south. Damn south Jersey. We got to DuClaw in pretty good time and got right to picking out our flight of 8 beers we hadn't ever had before. I was surprised at the amount. It has been a while though. The X6 Winter Warmer Wit was amazing. Totally my favorite of the night. There was also an imperial pilsner called Snake Oil that was fantastic and a black IPA called The Dark Side of Oz that was roasty, lightly hopped, and delicious. They always manage to have some of the best beer I've had. I still wish they were closer. I only had a sip of Kate's Sweet Baby Jesus because I didn't want to get a second full beer before finishing our drive.

After our tasty dinner of spicy appetizer and beer we headed to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore and parked near the venue before walking a half mile to Pratt Street Ale House which houses one of the Oliver Breweries locations. We did a full menu flight because, as always, we can't choose. There were a few good beers in there, but a few I didn't care for much. I enjoyed most of the Solo Album series, but my favorite was the EVOL #2: Fast & Loose pale ale. Fantastically smooth and full of hop flavor, this is the one I got a pint of.

Once we finished our beers we headed back to Ram's Head for the show. After a short wait, Taking Back Sunday took the stage, playing through an awesome set. They played songs I haven't heard in a while that I always want to hear including My Blue Heaven and Call Me in the Morning. The latter was a little odd live, but that might have been the performance. They played a few new songs that all sounded good and have me excited for the new album. I was enjoying myself so much that I didn't bother to take out my phone or my camera to take a single picture. It seemed like they played for a long time, and that's always nice. After the show we found a Wal*Mart about five miles away and made camp for the night. I fell asleep almost immediately upon lying my head on the pillow.

Sep 14, 2013

Chicago Diner again?? Yes. This time we parked right down the street from the diner since we saw so much parking yesterday. Found an all-day free spot within a mile of the park. I got the country fried steak and potatoes. Need a hearty meal if you're going to be watching music all day. It was amazing but huge. I took half of it with me.

I couldn't leave without getting the peanut butter cookie dough milkshake. It's one of those things that makes you make sounds as soon as you taste it. It is probably the best thing I have ever had. Really. If I wouldn't get sick and fat I would have like 30 of them. We went next door to Revolution Brewing so I could get a few beers and download things with their WiFi. We spent some time hanging out there until Joanna was ready to go down to the show. There were no bands I wanted to see for another 4-5 hours so I stayed behind and hung out in the car catching up on shows, trying not to fall asleep, and taking walks around the neighborhood.

Time really moved slowly while I waited, but I'm sure I could have found more interesting and useful things to do with my time that would have helped that. Eventually it was time to head down to the park so I got a slice of pizza to go from the bar we parked across from and walked swiftly down the street. I got into the gates just as Rancid was starting to play their first song. Those guys kick some ass. They played sooooo much from And Out Come the Wolves. I was quite happy. They seemed to have the crowds full attention as well, so that was nice. Great way to kick off the night.

I ran over to the Rise Stage to see Taking Back Sunday. They are consistently one of my favorite bands to see live. They are so much fun and they play a great selection of songs since they got the original lineup back.

There is a giant riser/VIP area about 100 feet from the stage directly in the middle of everything, which blocks the view of anyone behind it from almost all directions. This leads people to flood the sides of the stage, one of which is situated on a hill with a large curb on the edge. This is not a good thing to be underfoot in a crowd of thousands. One person trip and goes down the hill, taking a bunch of other people with them. It kept happening so I got away from it as best I could. I ended up on the side, down the hill, and right up front. It was still a decent view, but there was a very drunk girl that kept trying to get me to push forward and I kept telling her to go bother someone else.

During the last song we ran away to the Riot Stage to see Blink come on. They played basically the same set from the Starland show, but it was a good set so I can't complain. I was right up front for a bit, but I never tend to like that so I dropped back to where the pit was and had fun with all of my peoples. In usual Blink fashion, they sprayed the crowd with confetti at the end of the set and Mark stayed on stage awkwardly long trying to be funny (read: being funny) and the power went out right before his single-bass-note punchline.

I waited for a long while in the dark for Joanna at the merch area, but she finally appeared and we took our long-ish walk back to the car. It was nice to get out of there faster this time. We headed back to our spot at the hotel and made our car bed for the night.

Dec 29, 2011

I slept in for the early part of the day then Kate and I tried to find things to do early. We fail so I went out to get a new desk chair. It was long overdue. I picked out this nice "executive" leather chair and came home to put it together. Then I sat in it for a little while. I like it.

Later, we headed to AC to Tun Tavern to try all of their beers in the sampler. They have a lot of good ones, including the Maple Black Walnut Brown Ale. That and the pale ale are my favorites.

We got some food that was presented nice and fancy-like. It was all quite good. I'd go back. We had to catch the Jitney and rush back to the House of Blues to get to the show on time.

We came in while Bayside was on their second song. They played a set with very little talking and all music. It was good stuff. They played a lot of new songs, which I'm always excited to hear from them. The old ones kind of got old, honestly. Their set was great.

Taking Back Sunday was up next and we had to push through the boring crowd of people to get closer. They were really great musically and Adam was entertaining as ever.

They played all but three songs off of of Tell All Your Friends and they played a lot of new stuff. Their oldest and newest stuff is my favorite so that worked out nicely. "Existentialism on Prom Night" wasn't even so bad this time around. I was kind of excited to hear it. Adam ran off through the crowd for the last two songs, singing to the crowd from atop the bar. It was hilarious.

After a great night out we headed home. Dinner and a great show were definitely a great birthday gift from Kate. Thanks!

Jul 16, 2011

I went to my mom's for lunch with her and Larry. She made a summer pasta thing with red peppers and mozzarella. Really good. We spent some time going through the photos from the trip. We looked through them on the big screen since the Wii reads SD cards. Who knew?

I went down to Sam's after a while to join in the BBQ festivities for a little while. She made me a portabello sandwich almost immediately after I got there. We had some great food and I caught up with her, Ali, Jordan, and everyone I haven't seen in a long while.

We got into a game of horseshoes that took quite a while. Somehow Jeff and I won the game though! I got a couple of ringers. It's always so much fun there, I wasn't happy that I had to leave.

I picked up Diana and drove to Baltimore, parked and went over to Mex. The bartender that we had last time I went with Dave was there and remembered me so that was cool. We had some drinks and food and talked to her. She did a shot with us for good measure.

We had some time to kill before the show so we enjoyed our time there. We did another shot before going in. Still not as inebriated as when I drank Dave's wine.

Thursday played first and opened with a new song followed by "For the Workforce, Drowning." It feels like it's been so long since I've heard them play that. It was just nice to not hear all of Full Collapse again!

The set was great and the slideshow was a nice addition. The new songs sound so much better live in my opinion. I just can't get into the vocal effects on the album though the music is great. It fits in just fine live. They closed with "Turnpike Divides" after "Jet Black New Year" and it was a perfect closer. Worth the black eye.

We went out to the bar and got some water in between bands. We came back in as Taking Back Sunday was already playing. If I ever had a problem with them before, it's official: they're back. They are so good live and they play a great set of songs.

I will say that Adam talks so much that they could have played another two or three songs if he would shut up. Otherwise they play a lot of old stuff and the new stuff is so good live as well as on the album. I want to see them again already.

We got some more water after the show and considered what else we could do. We ended up just going home. Baltimore is a fun place to be at night though; I need to stay down there sometime.

Apr 30, 2011

It was a nice morning for tennis so Ryan and I played on the courts near his house. It seemed really strange for whatever reason. The balls were not very good and all courts feel a little different. We played a couple of good games before I had to run along.

I met Tracy at Rowan and we headed north to the Meadowlands Sports Complex to Bamboozle. After a strategic parking spot and some walking around following a large fence to the entrance, we found our way in and wandered around planning our day.

We had some time before the first band so we wandered and then took our place toward the front of the crowd at one of the main stages. In a very short period of time I got yelled at for standing in front of a couple of girls because I'm too tall, told that I'm ridiculous because all guys with beards smoke and I should have a lighter for this guy, and got a suggestion to put my camera in my little secret pocket that apparently all girls' pants have. That was exciting.

Anberlin came out to "Godspeed" to the delight of the sunbathed crowd. People were not really moving around too much, and it generally felt a little strange. I wasn't in the zone for a show yet. They played a good set, including some great old tunes.

We wandered over to the other stage to see Rx Bandits, who were somewhat disappointing because they don't have horns anymore and didn't play anything I knew at all. They weren't really bad, just not not what I was expecting.

Streetlight Manifesto was basically my welcome to the pit. Everyone was dancing and it was hard to not get caught up in it. I didn't know all of the songs they played, but I still had a great time dancing and jumping with the other sweaty peoples.

We left Streetlight a bit early to get to Thrice in time. They played a lot of new songs from Beggars amid a great selection of songs from older albums. Nothing from the EPs, but that was my only complaint about a really nice set. They closed with "Deadbolt," clearly pleasing many people.

I made my only visit to one of the smaller stages to see The Movielife for a short time. I was only there long enough to see them play a few songs, but it was all good and I hear they might actually tour so I'll check that out.

I ditched to go see Alkaline Trio, who were underwhelming again. I always expect them to be amazing, but they have been disappointing the last couple of times I saw them. I should have stayed with The Movielife. They did play a couple of good songs toward the end of the set.

I ran over to get to Circa Survive, who played the best set of the day so far. I don't know what it was about it; the atmosphere was wonderful and they just played great songs. It was better than anytime I've seen them at a club show before, which is really unusual.

The sun was setting over the crowd as they played and Anthony commented on the beauty of it and made some comments about appreciating what we have and that we're here. He always has something inspirational to say. "We can talk for days about what we hate, but take a minute and appreciate this. Don't let anything get lost." - Anthony Green

Though I was enjoying the transcendental experience of seeing Circa, I had to leave as they played "I Felt Free" to get to the other stage for what I was considering to be the main event: New Found Glory. They opened with.. you guessed it! "Understatement." They powered through a fast-paced set of great songs, including a cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop" with Marky Ramone on drums. I had no doubt they'd be good and I had an awesome time in the crowd.

I got to the other stage to see Chris Carrabba on stage playing "Swiss Army Romance" by his lonesome. This excited me that he might be playing alone or at least playing old stuff. The latter was true. He played a lot of old stuff; "Stolen" was the newest song he played so I was thrilled with the set.

We took a break to sit down for a while as we waited for the last band of the night. When the time came we came back to the stage and made it about halfway through the crowd before it was just a solid wall of people. Just before it was time for Taking Back Sunday to come out, the Exit 152 banner dropped down and the crowd pushed up. They opened with "You Know How I Do" followed by "Bike Scene" before revealing that they'd be playing Tell All Your Friends in its entirety!

It was amazing to see the whole album played on a beautiful night with the old lineup back together. Some of the songs they haven't played in almost a decade. They played a handful of other songs after the album set, including a cover of "Existentialism on Prom Night," which I was not thrilled with because Adam sang it even though John was right there. Regardless, this was the best set of the day. It was just awesome and exciting.

We got out of the parking lot with not problem and headed down the Turnpike home. The day was awesome and nostalgic; seeing so many bands that I've listened to forever play together and have such amazing sets was great. The TBS surprise at the end was a perfect ending to a superb day. Best festival show I've ever been to.

Aug 27, 2009

I had the morning and early afternoon to kill so I decided to take a bike ride.. ya know, for something a little different. After dropping off some important documents, I headed down 47 South until I got to the Mauricetown bridge area and I went over it.

I decided to stop at the waterfront area by the old bridge to rest for a little while since I was about midway through the ride. I found a nice shaded spot and sat down to have some water before getting back on the bike and heading back home. The trip ended up at 23 miles.

After having some lunch, I met Dave at his house to get ready to go to the show. Once our ride finally showed up we headed to Philly on what was to be a frightening ride. I dubbed this station wagon the "PSA Car." That's as much detail as I'll go into on here... I got out as soon as we got close and found my ebay buyer to give my extra ticket to and then we hung out in the lot.

Some of the girls we came with had their amateur tattoos on and they were actually really good.

I had one drink of Gatorade and vodka while Dave clearly had the rest of bottle...

This is the group of girls that I don't know that brought us to the show. There's Sara, Kate, Megan and that's all I remember. Sorry, ladies. I try.

My main mode of transportation in the parking lot was two mini skateboards that I used like roller skates. I almost fell a few times but I amused myself for a while.

Once Jamie got there we all headed in. Unfortunately, Chester French opened this show as well but their set wasn't long. Taking Back Sunday was up next and they were pretty disappointing. They played a few songs I wanted to hear but in general I was not thrilled with their set.

Weezer came out next in all white track suits and got right into their set. This was my first time seeing them and I didn't know what to expect but I was very impressed.

Rivers was crazy and energetic; he has a real stage presence. He can't dance, but that makes it fun (thanks for the pic, Jamie!) They played most (or all) of their singles but still left room for a bunch of others, mostly from the Blue album. They played My Name is Jonas and The Good Life, my two favorite Weezer songs. Totally awesome set.

Jamie and I were watching each others' backs in the pit because of all the crazies. One really tall drunk guy was just arching his back constantly... he looked drunk and possibly possessed. Can't say for sure.

It was finally time for the main event, Blink 182! They came out to Dumpweed again and played another good mix of new and old songs. I thought they were great. Tom was drunk and talking too much as usual but this time the video screens behind the band had an animation of the Blink bunny holding a sign that said "Shut Up Tom!" It was hilarious.

One highlight from this show that we didn't get in Vegas was Travis Barker's flying drum solo. He was elevated and tilted 90 degrees and still rocking the hell out of the drums. The man is amazing. He played in the air, hovering and spinning, for about five minutes before Mark and Tom came back out to finish the show.

At the end of Dammit, the crowd was showered in confetti to mark the end of another amazing night of Blink 182.

Mark didn't want to give up the stage, however, singing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" to the crowd as everyone shuffled out. Tom just posed next to him... and then danced around a bit before finally leaving the stage.

The show was awesome, Dave managed to not get into a fight even though he tried really hard to and I came home walking rather than limping so I can't complain! I rode home with Jamie and we listened to 104.5 play a complete hour of just Blink and Weezer. We stopped at Wawa for cold beverages and I got some tasty Mac and Cheese. What a good night it was! Two down, two to go!