Author: everloss

I listen to a lot of pop-country at work. The more I hear it, the more I think I understand.
For example, a popular ditty right now is “A Guy Walks Into A Bar” performed by Tyler Farr and written by Melissa Peirce, Brad Tursi, and Jonathan Singleton (possibly because Tyler Farr is a fake, phoney, piece of shit that sucked his way through Nashville… oh shit, that was mean wasn’t it?).

This song is about a loser falling for a barfly, and “holding on tight.” Why do I point that out? Because “holding on tight,” is just as common in pop-country as mentions of whiskey, freedom, and trucks. What “hold on tight,” means as far as I can tell, is that the singer is an abusive alcoholic and the love interest is supposed to take it for as long as they can, before they wise up and leave.

In nearly all of these songs, both people are abusive alcoholics, so they have to “hold on tight,” to each other. If you ever grew up knowing “that couple,” of white trash friends who shouldn’t be together but stay together even though they hate each other and are constantly at each others throats….

… they’re just holdin’ on tight.

Because God forbid they stop being drunk idiots.

Also, this is one of the worst songs, of any genre, out right now. So fake, so cliche, so boring, so utterly full of shit. Just like this wanker’s fans.

See for yourself!

Whoa! this is my first post here in a very long time! Maybe there will be more soon. Who knows?

Another business shout out: Alt-Smoke on campus.
Lane, the dude who helped me out, said, “When you leave here today, you won’t have any questions.” And he was right. He answered every question I had about e-cigs, vapor, whatever you want to call it.
Cool thing about the place is you can try before you buy; there are 140 flavors to choose from, and complete starter sets for less than $40. A weeks worth of vapor is 6 bucks. 10% off on your first visit, and every $100 you spend (builds up over time, not all at once) you get 10 bucks off. 
All of the workers there are knowledgeable and friendly. I never felt any pressure to buy anything, and had all the time in the world to test out different flavors. I stayed away from the ones that tasted like tobacco; my favorites were Clearwater and Smarty Pants, both of which were sort of melon-y, but not too strong. 
One of the first questions they ask you is how many cigarettes you smoke in a day. They base their recommendation of nicotine levels off that, and guide you on how to decrease the dosage to zero. 
There are tables and chairs and people just seem to hang out there and chill. 
If you’re interested in e-cigs or vaping, I recommend Alt-Smoke at 2460 N High Street. They are open from 10am-10pm seven days a week.

I listened to Kendrick Lamar’s “diss” rap to, let’s face it, all the other shitty rappers out there today, the day after it was released. And it was weak. Incredibly weak. No secret that I think Lamar is unbelievably overrated. But that wasn’t a diss rap. If it was, then rap is at it’s lowest point ever right now. Tupac’s Hit ‘Em Up was a diss rap. Ice Cube’s No Vaseline was a diss rap. Cypress Hill’s No Rest for the Wicked was a diss rap. Every single thing Eazy E released was a diss rap. Kendrick Lamar rapped some bullshit with every other word being “nigga” and the industry is falling all over itself. Fucking pathetic. I’m supposed to believe that Drake is a hardcore dude? Uh, yeah. okay. What next, Chief Keef is the next savior of hip hop?

I purchased a 32 ounce growler of Sierra Nevada Narwal Imperial Stout. It’s surprisingly good, considering it’s made by Sierra Nevada. The staff went out of their way to make me feel appreciated and gave me a walking tour of the place. Which was fun because it’s 30 feet by 20 feet in size.
They have 4 and six packs in refrigerators, as well as a large selection of “build your own six pack” beers out on the floor.
The dudes at Cornerstone also said they would look into finding Affligem Dubbel for me and possibly stocking it. It’s my all-time favorite beer.
They also sell my brand of cigarettes, so basically they are my favorite shop.

So ends the mini-review of my first experience at Cornerstone Craft Beer and Wine.

Why Not? So says the neon sign in front of Dick’s Den. I will try to answer that question.

Dick’s architecture and atmosphere is almost perfect – a big dive bar with cool stuff everywhere to look at and a large enough and diverse enough crowd to make people watching fun. A lot of good choices for bottled beer. A pool table. When I was much younger, I would go to Dick’s to buy 12 pack cans of Black Label if I missed the 1 am cutoff. They sold 12 packs of Black Label for $6 bucks. Anywhere else it would have been 12 dollars.

Anyway,

Bleugrass night is full of great music; even if you don’t like bluegrass, or think you don’t like bluegrass, you should check it out. It’s free, and like the neon sign says…

One issue with Bluegrass night is it’s meteoric rise in popularity. It’s long been a popular destination on Tuesdays, but lately it seems to be a monster. People have to stand and wait outside in a line because the doorguy can’t let anyone in until people inside leave. That’s how crowded it’s become. I almost expect a velvet rope to appear in the coming weeks.

Another issue is that a lot of the people aren’t there for the music. They’re there to be seen and to socialize. Whether that’s good or bad is debateable. For me, I think it’s both. Good, because more people are exposed to the music. Maybe they’ll catch something they like, download some bluegrass, and see a local show just to see the band. Bad, because it means people who do want to go for the music aren’t able to either get inside or can’t hear the pickin’ and strummin’ because of all the scene kids chattering away about financial aid, graduate school, and who has the coolest non-prescription glasses.

There is another issue though, the staff kept a friend of mine, who was so drunk she could barely stand, from leaving with her friends. In fact, they locked her inside and closed the blinds, so that her friends outside who were banging on the window, trying to get their friend out, couldn’t see in.
That right there means Dick’s Den will never get my business again.

Paul Collins Beat is the name of Paul Collins and his backing band – in the case of his show last night at Ace of Cups, three Australian dudes.

I had never heard of Paul Collins, nor did I know his influence on modern music. This dude has been around the block a few times, and you can tell he’s a pro and takes his music seriously (while having a good time playing it). His stage demeanor is humble and modest born out of seeing it all before.

I can’t name any specific songs, as I said, prior to last night, I knew nothing about the man or his music. But I’m certainly going to investigate his extensive catalogue after witnessing his performance.

His musical style at this show was mostly pop-punk/power pop – catchy chorus’, fast guitars, rhythm guitarist and bassist providing back-up vocals on the chorus’. Songs about girls and good times.

Middle band was The Girls, which has 5 members and only two of which are women. They were excellent as well. I saw them play at Carabar a few weeks ago, where I wasn’t impressed, but they brought a lot more energy to this show.

My date and I couldn’t help but laugh at the make-up of the band. Like I said, the music was excellent, but band seems to be made up of an irregular cast of misfits; from left to right…

• The bassist seemed to take playing the bass VERY seriously. Even when his strap fell off and a roadie/fan was trying to help put it back on, he didn’t miss a note. 
• Jessica Wabbit (or Rabbit, she played in another band that I reviewed here) is the pixie-sized singer/guitarist who has an incredible voice. Her between song banter consisted of one-line zingers and taking her shirt off, and telling The Angriest Tambourine Player to take her shirt off as well.
• The Drummer was an ogre and really kicked ass on the drums. 
• The Angriest Tambourine Player was just that – an angry tambourine player. She also sang some back-up and danced; all while scowling. Which was kind of impressive considering how energetic she was.
• Lastly, the second guitarist was Metal Dude who looked like he was in the wrong band. He was super into the music, though, and looked like he was having a blast. 

One of the best things about where I live (and there are a lot of cool things) is that I can walk to Carabar in approximately 7 minutes.

So when I heard that Sleep Fleet not only relocated from Dayton to Columbus, but is also playing a show at Carabar, I made it a point to attend. The bassist for Sleep Fleet, Nick, is a former co-worker of mine, has one of the best mustaches in the city, and knows more about cars than I ever will. Seriously, the dude is a mechanic. I used to ask him questions all the time.

This Is My Suitcase opened and I assume they performed well, as I missed all but the end of their last song.

Sleep Fleet was the wiener between the buns (so to speak), and performed… I don’t even know… noise punk? Nah, that’s stupid. No point being that specific to label anything. I hate labels. Sleep Fleet blasted out some loud, obnoxious, feedback filled, sonic destruction.

I loved it.

Sleep Fleet killed it.

See these dudes every time they play. Also, Nick has an awesome mustache and loves talking about mustache upkeep and styling. He even told me his secret to his up-twirled mustache. I won’t reveal it, simply because it is THAT awesome.

He also convinced me to regrow my beard.

I was hanging with Michelle at Ravari Room a few weeks ago and met two of the guys from Sundown. One of them asked me if I knew of the band and I replied that I had heard of them, but hadn’t listened to them yet.

He looked visibly disappointed upon hearing this.

Look, in this town, where you can throw a rock in any direction and have a 50% chance of hitting someone who is either in a band or doesn’t care about local music at all, meeting someone who has at least heard of your band shouldn’t be cause for disappointment.

That’s called buzz, son, and a lot of bands would kill for it.

I don’t know if Sundown has even put out any albums, EPs, singles, or splits. I don’t know anything about them other than what I gathered from meeting these two dudes.

But I’ve heard of them. Their name is in my head. Which means I will, at some point, go to a show they are playing or look them up on bandcamp or something.

Actually, they are playing tonight, and Michelle and I are already planning to go. She’s friends with the dudes in Psychic Wheels, who are also playing.

You know what grinds my gears?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/08/21/159559500/taylor-swift-princess-of-punk?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120821

This article states that a song by Taylor Swift is “punk.”

The article itself states that it could have been an Avril Lavigne (hereby called “Anal Ravine”) song, as they both have the same song writer, and this song sounds exactly like an Anal Ravine song. There is absolutely nothing punk about this. Punk isn’t about angry rich girls who are sad about a made-up boyfriend breaking up with them. It’s about social, political, and cultural values. Usually, about how those values need to change in a violent way. It’s about anger at the system. How many Black Flag, Clash, Sex Pistols, Subhumans, Total Chaos, Rancid, NOFX, Agent Orange, Sloppy Seconds, GG Allin, or Pennywise songs were about a breakup?

Check out the link. Write Ann Powers, and tell her that she doesn’t speak for punk music. She has no fucking clue what punk music is. She’s a fool, a charlatan, and an idiot who wrote a steaming pile of shit in order to try to equate corporate mainstream crap with a sub-genre she doesn’t understand.

Here is what Ann Powers thinks punk music sounds like.