Fairweather Zealot

Last month, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals were coming to town and I wanted to take Shari and I to the show. I’ve bought (or won) us tickets to 3 shows in the past but she hadn’t made any of them yet (including the show we BOTH missed because we were armpit deep in bathroom renovations). Unfortunately, with finances tight lately I had to give up on the plan for getting us tickets for the TLA show.

The morning before the show, I saw an announcement that WXPN was having a contest giving away a few pairs of tickets to the show if you liked their page on Facebook and left a comment. I figured that lighting wouldn’t strike twice (I won a pair of tickets to the show at Bryant Park in NYC a couple of months ago), but what the hell.

Enter a little bit of luck (or karma) – on the morning of the show I got the email that I had won a pair of tickets – and Shari had a cancellation of an appointment in New York, which meant she would be here to go. Fourth time was a charm, I guess. Continue reading

A while back I came across a chance to win tickets to see GRACE POTTER and the NOCTURNALS – one of my favorite bands – in New York City, and figured I’d enter for the hell of it. I never win these things but they already had my email so no big deal.

Then I get an email telling me I won two tickets to a ‘secret’ show being held at Bryant Park for a taking of the PBS show “The Artists Den”. Needless to say I was pretty stoked even considering the drive. It seemed like it was going to be a fairly limited audience and I figured if they were being taped, they’d really deliver (although the only time I’ve seen them at the TLA in Philly, they were pretty extraordinary without being taped).

I came home with the good news, expecting to FINALLY take Shari to see her (the first time she was sick, and we both missed the second show in the midst of bathroom renovations); to my surprise, she said she couldn’t go because of work commitments! I was bummed and considered giving up my tickets, but decided I could pull it off fairly cheaply by bringing my own food/drink and parking in Jersey, taking the subway in. But I had an extra ticket. I tweeted about my extra and got a response from someone who knew someone who wanted to go. We made arrangements to meet up, and up to NYC I went. Continue reading

Let me preface this by saying, “Yes – I am a little OCD, it seems”.

Okay, now that THAT’S out of the way, let me explain. I don’t listen to radio very often around here, almost exclusively when I’m in my car. But when I do, the radio is usually tuned to WXPN, a local station that focuses on more independent (read: folk and singer-songwriter) music. However, there are times when WXPN is playing some programming (such as Kid’s Corner or during their pledge drives) that I have had to turn elsewhere, and my first two choices have been two rock stations – 93.3 WMMR and 94.1 WYSP. Continue reading

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to a show of any sort, let alone one at a bar.   But when I heard that Grace Potter & the Nocturnals were coming to town, I immediately mentioned to Shari that I wanted to go. I got my newly-married cousins Erin and Chas interested and they grabbed tickets even before we did. Then I got my cousins Mark & Lisa and their daughter Megan interested in going, too – next thing I knew we were 7 strong (9 after friends of Erin & Chas joined us). And it was still almost 2 months away. Continue reading

Metallica’s new album comes out at the end of this week, and I’m really not sure how I feel. I should be excited that they might be putting out some good music – but they have done so much damage to their musical reputation, and reputation in general, that it’s hard to by into all of their self-promoted hype (although it’s better than the endless nothing which is Guns n’ Roses next album). I want to believe, but can Metallica make a comeback? Continue reading

I’ve had a good run of music over the last 2 months – I’ve found some really cool new stuff and enjoyed some old favorites once again. I usually won’t listen to the same stuff repeatedly, but lately Grace Potter & the Nocturnals’ latest album, “This is Somewhere” has been really a stalwart on my iTunes playlist. Definitely worth a listen if not a buy if you like strong blues-influenced rock. Continue reading

The other day, my boss Dante and I got into a discussion about the first albums we had ever bought. I can’t remember how it started but I said that my first 5 albums were Kiss – “Love Gun” and “Hotter than Hell”, Styx “Kilroy was Here”, Journey “Escape” and Def Leppard “Pyromania”, to which he replied his first album was The Who “Live at Leeds”, which he said he thought was still one of the best live albums ever done. I wasn’t sure but it spurred a debate about what was the best live album out there. So, here are my choices: Continue reading

Sometimes, you can go back again. I had my iPod on shuffle when Pink Floyd’s “Shine on You Crazy Diamond (Parts I – V)” (from Wish You Were Here) came on Continue reading

I’ve been doing a lot of listening to music lately, both at home and at the office becuase for me, music helps drown out the background noise. And I’ve been finding myself listening to a lot of stuff repeatedly, which is unusual for me. Usually, I can tolerate 3-4 plays of a song/album and then it has to sit on a shelf for a while. Not so much – maybe I’m getting better music, or I’m just getting used to it… Anyhoo, I decided to put together a list of the top 10 songs/albums that are getting major airtime… (well, 11 because I never like being restricted). FYI – the links go to iTunes, for your convenience… .

currently listening

1. Sara Bareilles – Little Voice, particularly the song “Morningside”
2. Brandi Carlile – The Story, most often “The Story” and “Late Morning Lullaby”
3. The Killers – “Uncle Johnny”
4. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals – “Deliverance Road”
5. Soulive – “Crosstown Traffic”
6. A Fine Frenzy – “You Picked Me”
7. Daughtry – “It’s Not Over” (I know, but it’s actually a good tune)
8. Everlast – “Saving Grace” although “White Trash Beautiful” is also great
9. Guggenheim Grotto – “Wonderful Wizard”
10. Sia – “Breathe Me”: even with it being used in tons of commercials, it’s still great.
11. Blind Boys of Alabama – “Amazing Grace” They could kill this doing it normally – using the music of “House of the Rising Sun” makes it even better.

So, anyone else have a list? Sarah, Michael, Van, Tom?

“Lest ye get distracted, aarrggghhh…”

• You Know You’re Worth It Great infographic from Indexed
• Zeldman vs. Facebook – amusing.
• Chocolate Rain by Chad Vader – a hilarious parody of the original Chocolate Rain
• Innappropriate “Talk Like a Pirate Day” remarks Aaar… Feldman’s on a roll lately.
• Honestly. Another great reason to bookmark this site/add it to your RSS feed.

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Now playing: KT Tunstall – “Night Like Peppers”

In their ever-increasing goal on complete music homogenization and greed, the RIAA-sponsored SoundExchange Royalty Program has strong-armed a new ruling through the United States Copyright Royalty Board that basically starts charging all webcasts of music a fee for doing so, on a per-listener, per-song basis. Continue reading