Merry after-Christmas stuff!

I hope my faithful 1.5 readers had a good Christmas like I did. The funniest part of my gift-exchanging experience this year was that my sister and I got each other the SAME PRESENT - Oh, Inverted World by The Shins. Look at us cool kids. I also got Dodgeball on DVD, some jeans, Connect Four (hellz yeah!), some other junk, and a Christmas Story-style "leg lamp" nightlight! Huzzah. It was a good Christmas (and it's not even over yet!), so I'm thankful.

R.I.P.

Wow, they really are dropping like flies. Reggie White died Sunday, at the age of 43. I had forgotten that we shared the fine birthday of December 19th. I know, I don't have much sports on here usually, but Reggie was a great player and, from what I understand, a good (though kinda crazy) guy.

Rock
On Christmas night, I was at Dick's Den with a bunch of folks, and we saw a fine jazz trio that played for tips. I have no idea who played, but it was tasty. Andy and I did make it to Cafe Bourbon Street last Wednesday, but we did not make it until Shell Shag. We did see The Lids and The Final Solutions, however, and they were both fine out-of-town punk-ish bands with lots of energy. With the weather problems around here lately, I think we need to get some of these amped-up out-of-towners hooked up to generators.

It's On Like Donkey Kong

Naturally, the new album by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (I know, Andy, I know!) drops on January 25th. And of course the only way they can celebrate this scrumtrulescent event is with a big tour! Now, they are obviously not coming to Columbus, obviously, but they will be hitting the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland on Saturday, February 19th. I'm ready now!

Well, I really don't have much else to say. Reading other end-of-year lists has been fun, and I'm sure at this point if I manage to crank out my own best-of-the-year list, it will be heavily influenced by others, but who cares? No one here seems too worried about whether I actually finish it or not, so we'll see what happens. Peace!

Snow days ROXOR!!!

Yes indeed, no work for this guy today. Thank God for working in Delaware County, where it's a Level 3 Snow Emergency. So Chops and I are hanging out and cooking 3 lb burgers!!! Call me sometime to make sure I'm alive. We're currently bangin' the new Afrika Bambaataa Dark Matter Moving At The Speed of Light album, which is one fuckin' party! It's still cheap at Magnolia Thunderpussy, so rock that shit, homie!

Andy is talking about good stuff here, so check it.

I've been reading alot of year-end stuff these days, but I think I found my favorite review-blurb ever at ol' cokemachineglow.com. Read the following Madvillain blurb by Dom Sinacola in its entirety here, but it's even better out of context:

5. Madvillain Madvillainy (Stones Throw) Three brothers discuss the beer in front of them. One is seven, one is ten, and the oldest is fourteen. The youngest brother sneers, complaining that beer tastes gross and how when he gets older he’ll never have any beer. The ten year old has heard rumors about beer, has sat in hidden corners and listened to the organs of his parents’ friends' voices pump and trip through the alcohol. The oldest brother grabs the beer and opens it. At first he winces, but soon he grins. His adam’s apple bulges and his littlest brother cowers. It is a great moment in one young man’s life.



Wow.

Another year older, another year wiser...

And something about being a king, czar, and a kaiser. It's true, it's true, I turned 25 on Sunday. To make sure I feel older, I now have glasses and a cell phone! I failed my vision test to renew my driver's license, so I had to hustle to get some glasses and get my license before it expired. Damn, it must be time for me to expire now! And as far as the cell phone goes, if you didn't know already and you want the number, comment here or email me. OK, enough personal shat...ROCK!

Future?

Andy and I should be able to catch Shell Shag with a bunch of other bands at Cafe Bourbon Street on Wednesday night. Their website informs me that this is their ONLY US date after their Japan tour (until January 5th!), so that's cool. These San Franciscans brought the rock the last time we saw them there, so I'm excited.
Next week, Little Brothers has an assload of shows I want to see. Monday is SA Smash with various other local rapsters, Tuesday is an Evolution Control Committee show (supposedly a farewell show, so I wanna be there!), and Wednesday is another boat of Columbus hip-hop. Thursday is Fat Girls by the Snack Table at Bernies! I'm not really feeling a show on New Year's Eve, so maybe it'll be a four-day rock jaunt to almost end the year. Let me know if you're interested in any of this year's remaining shows, frenz.

Past

On Sunday night, my birthday, I somehow got eleven friends to join me at Oldfield's on High for the weekly shindig with The Hoo Doo Soul Band. So I want to thank Ashley, Amy, Andy, Dave, Jason, Renkes, Chops, Mandy, Victor, Todd, and my cousin Nate for their presence. It was a funky good time, as always. I think my highlight of the night was hearing "Ring of Fire" (birthday request from Chops, thanks buddy) BACK-TO-BACK with that old soul song sampled for "In Decatur" by Ghetto Mafia, wish I knew what the song was called. And I also talked to Nick Labita, this guy that Dave and I went to elementary school with, which was cool. It was a good birthday, thanks everybody.
On Thursday night, Andy and I went to Little Brothers for the Mas Bagua CD Release party, which also featured DJ sets from Wicked Lung & the Wookalar and a Live PA from Doctah X. The boys played solid stuff like they do every Tuesday at the Ravari, no doubt. And I think we saw most of Doctah X's set, which was some good dub shite. We did not get to stay for the headliners, but Andy and I weren't in the mood to hang out with old hippies until 2:30 on a Thursday night, yaknawmean???

So yeah, those year-end pontifications and prostrations are still in the works. So until next time, keep commenting and inspire me to greatness!

"Houses of the Holy...was a really bitchin' album"

Damn, that was out of the blue, but the above title is a lyric from a helluva song. The first person to tell me the name of the song AND the name of the artist that recorded it wins...THE CD OF THEIR CHOICE, THAT I WILL ACTUALLY GO OUT AND BUY IF NEED BE! THAT'S FUCKIN' CHRISTMAS SPIRIT!!! GET TO IT!!!

Future Awesomeness
Sure, the holidays are approaching, but that doesn't mean that we can't get down. Anyway, on Friday night after the company Xmas party, I will try and catch VHS or Beta (for the fourth time this year) at Skullys. If folks wanna meet there, that would be cool.
Saturday is Turkey Day and...Me and Franz's Bitchin' Birthday Bash at the Mannhaus. You know the name of the game. Be there or/and be square.
Sunday is...my 25th Birthday! I plan on going to Oldfield's on High to catch The Hoo Doo Soul Band, so I think you should too!

9-8-7-6-5-4-Fuck-You
There has not been a whole lot of actual rock lately. John visited this weekend and we tore shit to pieces, nuff said. In our various related bar excursions, Chops and I were lucky enough to randomly catch The Fat Girls by the Snack Table at Bernie's! Actually, we stumbled in there to see if George Moshington was killin' it, but after waiting for a set change, we found 2/3 of one of my favorite Columbus bands on-stage. Man, that was great, dancin and clappin and the whole nine yards. Check 'em out here, and check 'em out live when they play at Bernie's again on December 30th with Bravado and Diet (well, according to the Girls' site at least, I thought Diet broke up or left town or something).

Otherness
Lots of people are making up their big Best of the Year lists. I'm not usually that good at such a thing, but now that I'm a big rock critic (see?), I am working on making an attempt. For right now, check out Dave Drake's "sinsurr" choices, the favorites of the staff of Columbus-based Donewaiting.com, and some hip-hop choices for you to make, read, and eat.

I suppose you could say that M.F. Doom's MM..Food is a disappointing album. After all, the hype was reminding us that this is the official "second" M.F. Doom album, cuz, you know, Viktor Vaughn/Madvillain/King Gheedorah/etc. are different people. Now, of course, most of the songs are hot. "Rapp Snitch Knishes" is one of my favorite songs of the year, and I love "Hoe Cakes," "Potholderz," and "Deep Fried Frenz" too. But why, oh why, all of the Doom-sample skits?!?!? It annoyed me enough that I sat down one night over Thanksgiving and analyzed the running time of the album. By my count, out of 49 total minutes, only 34 minutes were used by actual songs. Tracks 6-9 are all skits. I know, Doom loves reminding us about the story of Doom, and the particular food theme here, but damn! In the end, it's still a good album to me, because there are songs that keep drawing me back. But with some more rappin?????

Well, I could probably meander wordily about gobbledy gook, but who wants to read that. Post up your answer now, and celebrate my birthday this weekend! Peace!

Now aren't you GREEN with envy???

Wow. After many days (and a few recent hours fighting with Blogger.com), the blog is back and greener than ever. I'm sorry that all of the old comments are gone, but this was the easiest way to get everyone commenting again (hopefully). I will be tweaking the setup a bit, but I hope everybody likes the new look. Let me know what you think.
New New News

As of today, I have music reviews published on someone else's website! Please visit Swizzle-Stick, run by the Columbus Alive's own Chip Midnight, and look for my reviews. As there is no mention on the front page of the authors of the reviews, I will let y'all know when I have what reviews up. Right now, look for my review of Black Octopus Lipstick Project's Foam Party, third down on the right on the mainpage. Sometime later this week, Chip will post my review of The Holy Sons' I Want to Live a Peaceful Life. He seems to be pretty open to reviewers reviewing whatever, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.
Rock?
Well, I think I'll have to break the streak of carefully chronicling every show that I attended. I know I hit a Tony Monaco Trio gig at the Ravari last week and a Jim Volk/Kevin Oliver acoustic gig at Oldfield's two Wednesdays before that. So subtract all that out, and you have two big shows:
Vertical Slum's Electric Holiday @ Little Brothers, Saturday, Nov 20
Andy and I got to see Don Caballero, This Moment in Black History, 84 Nash, Ruby Vileos, Earwig, and Tree of Snakes, which was quite the rocking lineup. TMIBH rocked my socks off, of course, and Lucas was there at that point to mosh with me. 84 Nash also rocked shit, of course. And another local band, Tree of Snakes, surprised me with their happy punk set (SERIOUS KNIFE FIGHT!) and the fact that their lead singer is that one omnipresent campus rock dude. The other bands were OK, but did not rock me very hard.
The Dirtbombs w/ Peelander-Z & Amps II Eleven @ The Beachland Ballroom (Cleveland), Friday, Nov 26
What's a turkey??? These guys rocked the Thanksgiving right out of Ashley, Andy, and myself. Amps II Eleven is a Cleveland area band with a greasy Southern heavy metal sound, and damn did they hit hard! Peelander-Z is a crazy Japanese rock band (now based out of NYC) with a crazy live show. I thought that riots would ensue at several points, but they made it to slide through bowling pins and everything. And of course, the Dirtbombs rocked shit. Though they did not play Andy's favorite song, they did everything else, including some crazy covers of "Lust for Life" and "War Pigs." I was hip/side-bumping with a new friend, Heidi, but trust me, the relationship was purely rock-tonic. Then we stopped at Denny's on the way home and got back to Columbus at 5:15. Wow, what a night.
OK, that's enough living in the past. It is good to be back. Now open up that comment link and tell me how happy you are about this. Come on, you can do it!