I gotta bad case of noise maker blues.

Today has all the makings of an awful day. I hate that. You are just setting yourself up for a bad weekend. Here are the chain of events that led me to right now.

-Last night I finally settled in to watch 'The Lost'. As I mentioned before I am uber excited for this movie since I just finished the novel a month ago. So I get past the tense beginning and just when the story is about to kick in the disc stops. I hate Netflix. There is scratch down the entire middle of the thing.

-I wake up this morning after falling asleep to a 4-1 Phillies lead to see that they blew the lead in the 8th again and lost the game.

-I had a ticket to see my favoritest band in the world tonight at the TLA. I ended up giving the ticket away because I knew I would have to spend tons of money on drinks and parking plus I can't leave an 8.5 month pregnant women at home and there is no way she would enjoy herself at a Hold Steady show.

-I pulled into work today and realized that I left my lunch sitting on the floor at home. At first this was only a minor inconvienence because I figures I would just go out to lunch but then the true horror hit me. In that Tupperware was Brats, Potatoes and RED CABBAGE. If Brodie got into that our disgusting turquoise rugs would be tie dyed a nice hue of violet. So I had to get back in the car and go home. This not only upset me but B-Man didn't appreciate being woken from his mid morning nap.

So there it is. All the makings of a bad Friday. How do I combat it you may ask? Well I'll tell you. We are going out to dinner with the in-laws where the ol' man will INSIST on me getting good food and even better drinks (in the 22 oz variety). I then plan to come home and hang out on the couch with my wife and watch her favorite (also one of my favorites but I'd never admit that) shows, The Soup. She'll pass out early which leaves me to have a Code Red DVD double feature of Sole Survivor and The Dead Pit. I can't imagine a better evening. Well maybe seeing Sonic Youth and the Hold Steady.

I used to write show reviews for an awful Pitchfork wannabe website. It was cool because once I got into a sold out Alkaline Trio/Pretty Girls Make Graves show based on my press credentials. Actually that was the only cool thing that happened. Anyway about 2 years ago I wrote a review for a Mogwai show and sent it in. They never responded or published it so I just stopped writing for them. Maybe I was a bad writer, maybe they were a bunch of elitist tool or maybe it was a bit of both. Either way I vowed that one day I would get the review published on the web so here it is. I love blogs! Everyone can be a critic.

Mogwai
(Club Sonar, Baltimore
MD)
3.07.2006
There are very few bands that I would make a 4 hour drive to see on a rainy Tuesday when I have to be up at 6:00 on Wednesday. Mogwai is one of those
bands. I loaded up on the NoDoz and Red Bull and made my way down I 95 to
Baltimore. I have seen Mogwai several times at various venues but Sonar was
definitely the most intimate. It was a great setting and the anticipation
was high.
Mogwai quietly took the stage to Cex induced chants of, "Mogwai, boma ye!"
and without hesitation blew the crowd away with “Mogwai Fear Satan”.
I never thought of this as an opener but it worked perfectly. “Mogwai Fear
Satan” set the tone of the evening by lulling the crowd to comfort and then
destroying them with the crushing guitars. People were seen running from the
speakers holding their ears. Truly amazing. The band then softened it up and
played “Acid Food” and “Friend of the Night” from their new album, Mr. Beast. I
couldn’t understand why Mogwai, a band who previously had never released a
single, chose to make “Friend of the Night” their first single. After
seeing it live I now understand. Mogwai played “Friend of the Night” with
such amazing energy that you couldn’t help but get wrapped up in it. The album
simply does not do it justice. The rest of the set did a fantastic job of
mixing older songs with some of the newer material. High points included a heavy
version of “Folk Death 95” and the always amazing “Stanley Kubrick” It made me
realize that, despite the claims that Mogwai has changed their sound, they are
the same band making the same type of music they have always made.
The highlight of the set was definitely the end. The intensity was unreal from
the first note of “Glasgow Mega Snake” to the last. This song is by far
the most punishing on Mr. Beast and it lives up to this live. My
sweatshirt was being pushed back by the sheer volume of the song. It was
by far the loudest musical moment I have ever experienced and the best way for
Mogwai to end their set.
When Mogwai returned to the stage for the encore the crowd was still recovering from “Glasgow Mega Snake”. They chose to completely slow it down by playing “Cody”. “Cody” is my favorite Mogwai song on my favorite Mogwai album, Come on Die Young. This version of “Cody” seemed to be a little slower than both the Come on Die Young and Government Comissions versions and it worked perfectly. It was the most emotionally moving song of the night and it really showed how versatile the band is. Despite pleas for “My Father, My King” the final song was “We’re No
Here” which was fine in my book. It was a little tough getting into it
after the amazing version “Cody”. After “We’re No Here” Mogwai left the stage in
a sea of feedback.
Overall this was the best I have seen Mogwai play. Everything was solid and crisp. There was more crowd interaction that previous shows and the set list was varied. What more could you want on a
rainy Tuesday
night?


Set List:
MOGWAI FEAR SATAN
ACID FOOD
FRIEND OF THE NIGHT
KIDS WILL BE SKELETONS
YOU DON’T KNOW JESUS
KILLING ALL THE FLIES
FOLK DEATH 95
NEW PATHS TO HELICON 2
I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?
STANLEY KUBRICK
HUNTED BY A FREAK
GLASGOW MEGA SNAKE
Encore:
CODY
WE’RE NO HERE

Man I couldn't even read that without cringing. No wonder they never
published it or wrote me back. I stink!

Brats and Cabbage

I can't believe that I'm going be a dad soon. The enormity of it all gets to me sometimes. It happens when I start to think of the smallest things like leaving work early to get to a soccer practice or picking a good day to take him to get his picture taken with Santa. These are the small events that will define my life for the the next 30 years. Weird.

We went to visit Mark and Jen last night and got to meet two upstanding gentleman, Rocky and Chase. Both cats are cute beyond belief and its amazing to see how different their personalities are. Rocky felt that my lap was the perfect place to take a nap which was fine with me because I was enjoying a Spaten Oktoberfest which was interesting. I liked it as a beer but it didn't have that Americanized Octoberfest taste that you get with Sam Adams or Pete's. I guess thats like an American weened on General Tso's Chicken going to China and not enjoying the food. So be it. I don't mind playing the role of the ignorant fool.

The Phillies lost. I turned it off after the second Delgado HR. I can't take it sometimes.
Seanez = Least Favorite Phillie Ever!

I made Black Beans and Rice late last night. I put too much hot sauce in it so I had to over-compensate with extra chicken stock. It may have been the best batch I've ever made or at least thats what Kristen said.

Kristen has this green maternity shirt that is beyond cute. I like to call her "Froggy" when she wears it. I know its weird. I wonder how our kids will see her. Will they see her as this cute girl that is always smiling and brimming with fun or will they just see her as Mom. It makes me wonder about my own mother and all of the other mothers in the world. Do they have dual lives? Does something inside change once you have a kid? Growing up I always thought these questions would be answered in a pretty definitive fashion once you have children but I still find myself wanting to go to Horror Conventions, drink too much and spend lots of money I don't have on things I don't need. Man this parenting thing could be tough.

Tonight "The Lost". I'm gonna make it happen!

Late Nights and Fun with Electricity

The Phillies won last night and I couldn't be happier.
Nothing better than first place with a win over the dreaded Mets.
Extra innings and I fell asleep by midnight. Woke up tired and frustrated I didn't make it until the bottom of 13 but there will be other games.

The wife is getting really uncomfortable and the doctor is willing to "write her out of work".
This opens up the possibility of an extra week and a half off before the baby comes. This will not only do wonders for the morale around the ranch but also for our wallets come Christmas.

Christmas. I think that is what I'm looking forward to most about having a baby. The ability to pass on all of these traditions that mean so much to me now. I hope he grows up with the utmost respect for 7 fishes, the Bing Crosby Christmas Greats album, Charlie Brown, The Twilight Zone episode 'Night of the Meek and his family. I guess this whole experiment would be a success if all of that happened. I mean really what else could I ask for?

I've been thinking about Pumpkin Ale a lot recently. My top 5:
1. Dogfish Head - Punk'in Ale
2. Smuttynose- Pumpkin Ale
3. Saranac- Pumpkin Ale
4.Weyerbacher- Imperial Pumpkin Ale (this also happens to have my favorite label of all time)
5. Iron Hill- Pumpkin Ale

I'm on a mission to try as many Pumpkin Ale's as I can this year. Lets see how these parenting schenanigans play into this plan.

The B-Man is at camp today which means that I get to take a late lunch and spend the whole time in the car. I guess its worth it because the ol' man put in a ceiling fan in the nursery today. If you were wondering, yes it does make me feel like less of a man having my in-laws do maintenance work around my house but I'll be damned if you catch me doing that. Then after work were going to my brother-in-laws place so I can see their new kittens and try an Oktoberfest that I've never had before. I'm a big fan of baby animals and beer so I see this working out well for me.

Hopefully I'll get to watch 'The Lost' tonight. Man that was a good book
Baseball.
Maybe no movie till Thursday.

I just found out the new Gaslight Anthem album came out last week. If I was five years younger I would have been at Chester County Music the day it came out. Now I'm trying to justify spending the $10 to download it. Who am I kidding?
Soulseek.

Its starting to feel like Fall out. I saw my breath when I let Brodie out this morning.
I'm beyond excited.