Asbury Park, Rock City

I started this post with intention of sharing my review for the Furthur show on Dec 13th 2009 in Asbury Park, but this is what I wrote, the review will have to wait . . . at least for a lil while.

I’m beginning to settle back into my surroundings here in the 732 and that means getting out and exploring the local scenes again. The Jersey Shore has never been the hub of artistic genius (and this is my opinion but) it’s hard to find good music here, it’s hard to find good art here, but it does have it’s bright spots, or it’s one bright spot. . and Asbury Park has always been that place in my mind. The only town in the area where you can find live music nightly. Asbury, as bad as it’s reputation has been in the past, is a beautifully interesting location. History surrounds the place (especially when it comes to rock’n roll and music in general) but most importantly to me, my own history and memories were forged there. I did a lot of growing up there, I learned to appreciate live music there, I found myself preforming at those dive bars/ nightclubs, I learned to rage at the Berkeley Carteret after summer punk shows, I dicovered drugs from sketchballs on those streets, I found and lost what I thought was love there, it shaped who I would become. . . .but I was young and stupid. . . and then I left.. What I believed to be the punk/emo/harcore scene died, the bands I listened to stopped preforming in Asbury, and stopped making music altogether, and I was left with the feeling of starting over somewhere new. I remember feeling like the time I spent there was a waste, but that all changed a few days ago. . . . When I went back to Asbury for the first time in 5 years for a Furthur show...

to be continued...

Grinch Tag

Happy Holidays everyone!

PHISH FALL RUN LIKE AN ANTELOPE, OUT OF CONTROL!

SHOWS: Philly - Tues 11/24/09, NYC MSG - Weds 12/2/09, Fri 12/4/09

The week before Thanksgiving, me and a few friends took the trip down to Philly to see our first fall Phish show of the year. Phish is notorious for rip’n Philly and I wanted to see it first hand, but I didn’t expect this. One of the best Phish shows I’ve seen. Songs I never thought I’d ever hear, rip’d right before my ears. Plus we had amazing seats, (front row 2nd level, dead center) won in the lottery by a friend, but the highlight of the night (upon request from someone in the front row) was the Talking Heads classic “Cities”, one of my favorites. Thought I may hear it at Bonnaroo ‘09 b/c Byrne was there but no luck and that’s ok because this absolutely made our night in Philly. Other highlights Mike’s Song> Simple> Slave> Weekapaug. I did however, expect a better lot scene at Philly (from what people have told me, the lot rages there) but I wasn’t impressed, lots of cops and sketch balls, we found what we needed and had a much better time inside the venue. One more note: people were giving these tickets away on the lot! Not selling, giving them away, anyone could have gone to this show, and from what I hear, Weds in Philly was the same way. Step your game up Philly, they rip it for you! And Trey even wore a Flyers jersey for the show! Great show though.

Thanksgiving came and went, I’m back in Jersey, and tonight I’m going to MSG. I was running a little behind schedule as usual. (I’m a lil tipsy at this point) I’m meeting a good friend at the train station. Phish at Madison Square Garden. It’s going to be a good night. Now, it’s hard for me to say this, but this would be my first trip to the Garden ever. . I can’t honestly believe I’m saying that, no concerts?. . no Knicks games?. . no Rangers games? Although I do hate the Knicks and the Rangers, it still seemed a little weird. So there we were, freshly boozed and off the train at Penn Station, and I didn’t know this but you walk out of Penn Station and BAM!, the Garden practically smacks you in the face. Right in the middle of downtown NYC, it’s raining, people are yelling and selling tickets (and other things) all over the place, the constant noise of the traffic, it’s all a little over whelming (and I know this is cheesy) but it’s kinda beautiful at the same time, the chaos. We begin our walk to a nearby friend’s apartment. ( good friends from VT) There we meet the rest of our party, pound some beers, get in the right mind state, and head out for the Garden. We get there and it’s humid as hell, I feel faint and sick (most likely from pounding cheap vodka on the train) but I try to make the most of it. They played a decent set, but I had heard most of the stuff pretty recently (either over the summer or at Festival 8 in Indio, CA) it was still a good time though. Highlights: Brian & Robert, Peaches en Regalia > The Divided Sky, Tweezer Encore: A Day in the Life > Tweezer Reprise. We leave the show and it’s pouring rain like there’s no tomorrow, a walk to the apartment and back to the train station left me completely drenched, I sat there shivering on the 1am train and finally got back to Jersey sometime around 230am. But it’s all good, I wasn’t sick the next day and that’s one hell of a first experience at MSG, I would do it all over again if I could and I did on Friday.

Friday’s show was the show we all came to see. They absolutely rip’d MSG apart. I was under a heavily influenced mind state but I was really feeling good and that’s a good thing cause I can’t say enough about how much fun I had at this show. I’m there with 3 of my longtime best friends, I had other friends from VT come down to the show, it was a beautiful night, the set was ridiculous. Highlights: Possum, Wilson, Glide, 46 Days, Bouncing Around the Room > Reba, Dinner and a Movie, Guyute, Maze, First Tube(maybe my favorite song to dance to ever, when they played it at Bonnaroo I nearly lost my mind) THE ENTIRE SECOND SET: Scents and Subtle Sounds > Rock and Roll -> Seven Below > Twist > Mike's Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, You Enjoy Myself. This was all too amazing, and afterwards we all went out and hit the city streets hard. Out till sometime around 6am, catch the 7am train and head back to Jersey. What a night. Thank you to Phish, my bros, the girls for letting us use the apartment, GREAT FALL RUN!

What's next??? . . . MIAMI???