Feb 6, 2017

I worked at Memorial for CST and had a pretty easy day of meetings. Good amount of downtime and the meeting before lunch ended really quickly so I got a long lunch with Becca to have our sloppy joe leftovers. After work I had my dentist appointment for my cleaning. I never have to wait to go in there. I was in, cleaned, and out really fast. Everyone there is nice too.

We headed to Blackbird later for an amazingly delicious slice of pizza and some wings. It was somehow the best slice of the spicy bbq that we've had yet. I could eat that pizza everyday to quote Becca.

We had some time before the show so we went to Prohibition and got a couple drinks. I had a pretty decent sour IPA and then we shared a Hoppy Lil' Hudson because we couldn't fit that much beer in after our heavy dinner.

We got over to Union Transfer to catch the last couple of songs of Nothing. They were very loud noise and I didn't care for it. We stood in the hallway to protect our ears. AFI came out to the crowd chanting and then went right into Girl's Not Grey.

They were awesome and Davey was as energetic and dramatic as usual. The set was a great mix of songs I knew well and ones I didn't but still could enjoy. The crowd wasn't even as crazy as I expected so I left without too many bruises.

Jan 14, 2017

I got up early and got a lot of little things done that I've been putting off. Becca wanted to go for a run so we met at Parvin. I ran the Black Oak trail for 4 miles. It felt good even though the temperature had dropped back to the normal cold. We walked a little after running separately then took off.

I felt like staying outside a little longer so I went to the park and ran 10 baskets, alternating 10 push-ups and 20 V sit-ups after each one. I played a decent game for being in a hurry.

I spent the afternoon packing, doing laundry, and taking it easy. Becca and I headed up to Philly early to meet up with Andrew to FINALLY get my MacBook Pro. We met at a Qdoba near Temple and made the exchange. I'm excited to have it, but it's frustrating to have a new thing and not be able to use it right away. We went to Blackbird and got delicious pizza and a sandwich then stopped at La Colombe for a cold brew.

We got to Union Transfer just as Hidden in Plain View was finishing up, but they sounded really good. The Early November played a full set of songs from The Mother, The Mechanic, The Path. It was a good mix of songs that I knew and some I didn't. The second set was worth the wait. It was full of all the songs I would want to hear including Fluxy! They ended on Every Night's Another Story which was an incredible end to a really fun and special night.

After the show we started driving North toward Watkins Glen. We drove about three hours, but it didn't feel like it because we chatted the whole time. We stopped at a rest area just over the New York border where we set up camp in the back of the car. It was cold and my sleeping pad sprung a leak so it wasn't very comfortable either, but I got to sleep.

Dec 17, 2016

I woke up pretty early for a Saturday and scraped the ice off my car to go over to Ryan's. Since he has a second TV set up we played through Zelda and Super Metroid side by side. Metroid takes a lot longer than I remember and there is a lot of searching around with seemingly not much happening. We took a break for Moe's in the middle, and even after playing for about 6 hours when Ryan finished Zelda I still wasn't done. I'll finish later.

Becca and I headed to pick up Tracy and Christie and then met Chuck at Barnes and Noble before going into the city to get dinner at The Abbaye. We had some good beers and really good food as usual. There was an Evil Genius guava IPA that I really liked and the Brew Works Rude Elf that I forgot was candy delicious.

We headed to Prohibition Taproom for a couple more beers after that. Chuck and I got a cask beer from Yards called Hoppy Lil' Hudson that was really good. They were playing Jimmy Eat World on the stereo and we were teasing Christie about not knowing who it was even though we saw them last night.

It was a slightly icy and very foggy two-block walk to Union Transfer, but the church in the fog looked awesome. This reminds me I really need to go out in fog, rain, and other "bad" weather to get the interesting photos I desire.

We got inside in time to use the restroom before The Starting Line came on. The crowd was a little thin, but it was perfect for the room. No one was moving around at first, but I had had enough drinks to not care about pushing forward. Once things got started it was an amazing show and a great set. We all had a lot of fun. There were a couple of guys in the pit who were being assholes. Under Armour guy was just being annoying, but sweater guy was being a real dick so I went and got security (I wasn't even alone; some other guy was already telling them) and the guy got kicked out so that felt nice. We could enjoy the rest of the show in peace.

Dec 11, 2016

I began the day waking up earlier than I planned thanks to loudness just on the other side of my wall (like too many days.) I felt pretty good anyway and got up to begin working on uploading the Frank Turner interview and writing the blog. I got into it and started posting links to the completed post which grew pretty quickly. I got retweeted by Frank himself and it started getting a good amount of views.

I was kind of beaming with excitement over finally posting the finished product and I grabbed my outdoor stuff and headed toward Delaware. On my way I stopped at Auburn Road Vineyard to pick up some Christmas presents. I continued on to Iron Hill disc golf course. My hands were freezing at first, but after about 5 holes I had warmed up. I forgot the feeling of a disc ripping into fingers in the cold. There were only a couple of other people playing so I felt like I was alone out there. I had a great time. I think it might be the best course around here.

I wanted to make the most of my time so I went to Brandywine for one more round. This one I really did have to myself. I played through the course pretty fast and it was getting colder as I went. Playing fast warmed me up again, but it was a little windy which made it more difficult sometimes. The dead trees that sparsely dotted the wide open fields were beautiful. It almost looked like they were placed there that way.

I headed up to Philly after the round to get some dinner at Whole Foods. I sat on the roof of the parking garage in the car and ate before I went to The Foodery to check out the beers and find more Christmas presents.

I decided to head to Union Transfer early to see the opening bands. Petal played first, and they were okay. Pinegrove played next. I've heard of them, but I have never listened to them. Their live set was incredible. They were energetic and their songs were unique and catchy. I definitely will be checking out their record.

Kevin Devine came up last and played a heavier, faster set than I've seen him play before. It was great and I loved the energy. He played a mash up of his song and a song from each of the openers so that was fun. He also did his signature freestyle rap, this time about a beautiful man named Sebastian who interns at a Boston venue they recently played at. Besides the music always being great, half the reason I love seeing him is because he's hilarious and just makes me smile every time. The set ended late after a lot of talking since it was the last night of the tour. I headed home to grab some stuff and then went to Becca's to stay since she just got back from the Grand Canyon.

Feb 22, 2014

I headed to Valley Forge in the morning to meet Joanna for a long bike ride to Manayunk and back. After we got on our bikes and headed to the trailhead we found it covered in snow and ice still. People on mountain bikes were having trouble with it. So after standing there staring at it for a while in disbelief we went back to the car and tried to regroup. Disc golf! But oh-- the course we wanted to play is closed only on Saturdays. Makes sense. I should probably just drink beer. Not even good beer as it turned out. I went to McKenzie's and tried their sampler. Some of them were average, but mostly not so good. I'm not even sure what it was.

We decided to go to Wissahickon Creek. Surely one of the more popular hiking, biking, and running trails very close to the city must be clear by now. Or it's still a solid sheet of ice with some developing puddles. Well then.

More beer it is. We went to The Abbaye, the one place that can't disappoint! I got a couple beers, we split the vegan lasagna, which was awesome, and then I had peanut butter pie for dessert. Jorge was even there to serve us! And I got the pie for free because they were out of ice cream.

There was still a while until I wanted to go into Union Transfer for the show so I sat in the car and listened to a podcast while almost falling asleep at times until I actually did go in. The World is a Beautiful Place and I'm No Longer Afraid to Die was really good. I think I'd like to check out their recorded music. Into It. Over It. was up next and they were phenomenal. This is the first time I've seen them since I knew the songs so it was even better than last time. 

I was directly up front singing along and it was great except not being able to hear the vocals sometimes. Evan was really funny and played most of the songs from Proper. I didn't leave wanting much. I already can't wait to see them again.

Dec 21, 2013

I went over to Kim and Chester's in the morning to meet their new human, Courtney. Clearly, she took to me right away.. ladies. But seriously, she was cute and pretty much slept the whole time I was there shooting.

As per uszjh, we did some ridiculous photos with farm things. I took pictures of them on tractors, near corn cribs (which I didn't know was a thing until this morning,) and of course, with the cows. I need to bring some city people out here to take some photos just to see what they do.

I met Jess in Philly at Spring Garden School No. 1, an abandoned elementary school north of downtown. We easily gained access through an open window in the back and were soon quietly creeping up the stairs and through the mess of hallways.

We heard someone on the second floor so I said hello and a guy came out, said hi, and then moved on. I felt the threat had been neutralized. I could tell he was a nice dude, so I wasn't worried anymore about a homeless guy with a broken bottle coming to stab us. All good. We went up to the roof and shot some photos of reflections and the skyline, enjoying the view.

The cage on top is a cool, unique feature. We slowly made our way down the floors, checking out the different rooms. Few were picturesque, but it was certainly interesting to see what had become of the school. I was surprised there were so many books still all over the building. We encountered our friend again, who was taking wiring or pipes out of the walls to sell, I presume. We exited through the basement, giving instructions to several girls who were just making their way inside. We checked out another building nearby, but we couldn't find an obvious way in so we called it a day.

I went over to Sedgley, where there was a tournament going on and a ton of people playing because the weather was so nice. I chose to come to The Abbaye instead. I got a Fullers ESB, which was perfection, and the seitan cheesesteak. I chatted with a guy at the end of the bar until Jordan and Phil showed up to hang with me. We had a good time talking and Jordan really liked the Sweet Baby Jesus! Food and drinks and friends was good.

Joanna met us there and hung out for a while before going to The Foodery and then Soy Cafe, where I got a green tea coffee or something like that. It was cold. And it was pretty good. We spent an hour or so there before it was time to head over to the show.

We went over to Union Transfer and waited for a while near annoying people until The Early November came out. They played through The Room's Too Cold in full, which was awesome almost all of the time. The last track didn't really play well live, but the rest of it was fantastic.

Ace said something like, "Oh we forgot to turn on these Christmas lights during that whole set.. If you guy hang around we might come back and play another one." And then they did. They played a decent amount of songs from their other albums. The new songs all sound so good live.

They closed with "Every Night's Another Story" of course. It was a great ending to an awesome show. The crowd was great; everyone was having a good time and being cool. Ace was as grateful and happy as always and I left with a big smile on my face. I love those guys. I didn't miss missing the Brand New show at all. This band never disappoints.