Schedule & Links

This Week in Eric-Land

Tonight - Red Wanting Blue playing downtown Columbus at State & 3rd for a free, early evening outdoor show from 6-9; then home to watch the Ultimate Fighter.

Friday - Driving to somewhere else after work; but you should go the final weekend of Quinn and Andy owning Andyman's Treehouse to see the X-Rated Cowboys, the Whiles and a couple of other cool bands. Or if that's not your style, Razorbliss is playing at BoMA for Vampire Fest in celebration of Friday the 13th.

Saturday - Somewhere else. But you should go the final weekend of Quinn and Andy owning Andyman's Treehouse to see Willie Phoenix with his band, and a couple of other cool bands, and ghosts of Treehouse past playing that night; and do a zombie walk to raise money and collect food for the poor at Goodale Park with the Columbus Zombie Walk

Sunday - Somewhere else, then driving back to Columbus.

Monday - Fish, in Cleveland, at the House of Blues; but if you're in Columbus and don't want to drive, you should go see Megan Palmer and Alyson Greenfield at the Rhumba.

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Links I like... and good reading for you

• Things Overheard in the Office


• Passive-Aggressive Notes (blank stare)


• The best rant ever, and it puts mine to shame. It's one of many great reads from The Best of Craigslist


• CNN calculates the economic stimulus of gay marriage in California. I bet a lot of wedding industry types in Ohio would love this kind of bling. After all, isn't Columbus one of the gayest cities in the US?


• Esquire Magazine has a GREAT piece about Metallica will kill Bonnaroo like it's killed many other things. If you've seen "Some Kind of Monster" you know what a farce the band has become ... that was some of the best unintentional comedy ever put on film in my lifetime.


• Speaking of a good laugh over a man-cry ... much like Dave Mustaine and Lars crying in Some Kind of Monster about Mustaine being kicked out of a pre-successful Metallica for his party habits, professional baseball player Milton Bradley broke down and had a good cry over something a TV announcer said about another player. What a tool. This guy has a history of stupid.


• And finally ... Tastybooze gives us the three ultimate Chick-Repelling Tattoos. For reals.

I love my life.

Well, gas is $4 a gallon. Cleveland is 126 miles away from Columbus. I am in Columbus. David Ford is in Cleveland.

Some things (meaning amazing fucking music) are more important than the price of gas.

The genius that is David Ford was in Cleveland last night (that's May 15, 2008). And so was I. My favorite David Ford friend Lia (who you might remember is cooler than you) and I headed up I-71 in hopes of a great bunch of music from the now 30-year-old David (as of May 16, 2008).

We got more than that.

As I was checking in to see if I had a photo pass, who's in the lobby setting up the merch table but David Ford himself, and his tour manager Emma. So being the extrovert I am, I walk over, offer my hand and introduce myself as a long-time fan. The pleasantries are exchanged, I introduce Lia, he introduces Emma, I tell him I was hoping for a photo pass but hadn't heard back from the contact as his label. He looks at Emma, says "Put them on the list." Emma says "We have no list tonight, but we'll make one." We continue to talk, I fanboy out for a few moments (shut up, I'm allowed, I'm in the presence of genius), and not wanting to overstay my welcome or invoke the need for a restraining order, we allow David and Emma to get back to work on the merch table setup.

And out of the deal we got free tickets, and a photo pass, and the memories of being able to hang out and talk with a man I consider to be a musical genius. A man who's kept me company for many hours of music on my radio while driving, and a man totally worth driving to Cleveland to see play for the 30 minutes he was allotted as the opening man for Augustana. Even if gas was $10 a gallon.

Here's me and David hanging out before the show:

And here is David rocking out during the show:

Yeah ... good days, my friends. Good days. (More DF photos to come ... but homey gotta works in the AM!)

This Week in Eric-Land

My friend Lia is cooler than you. She is the guest DJ on CD101 today from 1-2 pm (http://www.cd101.com if you're outside of Columbus and wanna listen).

Tonight I'm to see Megan Palmer tonight at the Rumba Cafe.

Tuesday might go see Iron Man. Hang out at Easton for a bit.

Speaking of movies, they're making a Dead Like Me movie. I loved that show.

Speaking of Television ... Battlestar Galactica has taken the "OH SHIT" count in Season 4 away from Lost. They stole a fucking base star? OH SHIT.

Wednesday I'll be On The Rocks in Dublin for The Filthy Habits. Damn those boys have good photos :D

Thursday, Lia (see above) and I are going to the House of Blues to see David Ford.

Friday I'll be at Victorian's Midnight Cafe to see Leah-Carla Gordone solo acoustic. She can rock the 12-string!

Saturday and Sunday I'll be in Youngstown ... going to visit some friends and take my mom back some big gray plastic bins she let me borrow when I moved ... and to get the last load of stuff out of her garage and basement ... visit some friends and grab some Yuengling.

Sweet home, Chicago

Well, that was a fun weekend.

After getting my face rocked off by Razorbliss, Semi Precious Weapons and Bullet Jones on Thursday night at Ravari Room, me and the roomie headed up to Chicago to see the tour-ending Semi Precious Weapons show at the Cobra Lounge. Outstanding ... was again in the front row, had my head used as a footrest and my big fake 'fro ripped off my head towards the end of the show ... and yes, there will be fabulous pictures of Justin, the insanity of Cole and Aaron and some damn near naked Dan photos to come.

Prior to the show, we spent the day Saturday at the Navy Pier since the weather was so crappy (cold rain, snow and the world-famous wind of Chicago that was producing massive whitecaps and waves on Lake Michigan that one could, given enough warm weather gear, probably body-board, if not outright surf). Walked through the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows ... which was AMAZING. (yep, pictures to follow. Imagine that!) Had a couple of cool drinks (with take-home souvenir glasses) at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, and despite not liking the movie all that much (and having just seen the whole thing for the first time start to finish in 2007), still answered three trivia questions right.

Spent a little bit of time at the Cobra talking to Justin's mom, Cole, Dan, Krista, Sean and various other people about my new hair do (big-ass Afro wig I bought at the Navy Pier).

Spent a lot of time at the Cobra talking to Aaron Lee Tasjan ... both before and after his blistering guitar work that had the guys in the opening bands wow'ed. Then again, most are wow'ed seeing Aaron play.

[SIDENOTE: I urge everyone in the greater metropolitan Columbus area to come get wow'ed as Aaron plays the Rhumba Room on April 23 ... backed by the genius that is Two Cow Garage ... and bring some cash money to purchase Aaron's debut (as far as you know) solo album "Hard Love and Free Luck" ... which I'll be reviewing here later this week.

And then come see Two Cow Garage blow the bark off Andyman's Treehouse on April 25 ... but bring your earplugs. END SIDENOTE]

And finally closed out the weekend stopping off in Indianapolis for a bit ... saw Monument Circle, stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe, Circle Center Mall (four floors of shopping goodness) and got home at 9:15 p.m. - exactly 36 hours after we left.

Oh, and we saw a midget, too.

Song of the Day

The Habit

Watershed (written by Colin Gawel and Joe Oestreich) I've got to stop drinking beer to fall asleep taking pills with coffee to wake up. I've got to stop hitting on your friends and hoping you ain't lookin' Breaking the habit. Man I've got to stop it Breaking the habit before the habit it breaks me I've got to stop getting news on the net paranoia with destroy ya I've got to stop tripping on the curb walking home after midnight Breaking the habit. Man I've got to stop it Breaking the habit before the habit it breaks me I've got to stop staring at the screen that picture it ain't gonna kiss me I've got to stop feeling sorry for myself cause you don't ever call Breaking the habit. Man I've got to stop it Breaking the habit before the habit it breaks me Watershed is out on tour. I'll be in Cleveland on the 10th, Columbus on the 11th and Toledo on the 12th. Join me and rock out to the best band you've probably never heard of.

Red Wanting Blue photos posted

Went up to the House of Blues last night to see a couple of friends play with their band. I will totally admit it was weird not driving, but the knee's still not up for that.

I spent most of the night on a stool, sitting beside the stage snapping photos. Worked out well. Collected on the beer Mark McCullough owed me ... and finally went to a show with another crazy rock photographer, despite the fact we've known each other for more than ten years.

In fact, I might have to steal the stool from the singer more often ... I like the way these shots turned out.



Scott Terry of Red Wanting Blue

John Kengla of Red Wanting Blue


Eddie Davis of Red Wanting Blue


Mark McCullough of Red Wanting Blue


Greg Rahm of Red Wanting Blue

See all the photos here.

Catching up

Semi Precious Weapons:

Stunning. As usual. Don't believe me?

Justin "Precious" Tranter

Chest Rockwell

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Washington DC:
One of those cities I'd like to spend weeks exploring, not a couple of hours. Especially at night, since most of the cool sites are now cordoned off by concrete barriers and police. Maybe the terrorists have already won. I have a couple of good photos of the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol taken at night, but that was all I got.

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Projekt Revolution:
Linkin Park was quite fun. They had a very rockin' entrance, slowed it down in the middle, then blasted out again at the end. Love the fact they're not afraid to push the envelope still, after eight years, but did realize that their song "Shadow of the Day" is damn near a note-for-note iambic pantameter rippoff of "With or Without You" by U2. Hey, if you're gonna steal, steal from the best.

My Chemical Romance was as I expected it to be. Very good corporate alt rock that's radio friendly save the occasional f-bomb put in places easily masked or edited for radio/tv. They could have headlined if not for Linkin Park. Lots of MCR fans.

Taking Back Sunday surprised me. From what I heard while waiting in line for my $8 pizza. I like their CD's ... their live show was pretty much as you'd want. Not a whole lot of change from the recorded versions, but that live energy and boost.

Now comes the bad. Specifically, HIM. Goths from Finland. Sounds promising ... but oh, well, uh ... here's where I was shocked. I've seen and heard so much about this band. I've seen so many people talk about how great they are. I can't figure it out. I've seen dozens of bands that ripped off Ronnie James Dio much better.

Weekend Update

Jane, you ignorant slut.

Oh, wait. That's soooo dated. Most of you won't get that.

Anyway ...

Had an MRI on my knee this morning. Been having some problems and not too sure what, but I've had problems before with that knee and surgery, too ... so it's damaged, to say the least. Lately it's been really, really bad, so I'm back to the Orthopod who fixed it last time ... 7 years ago.

But MRI's are weird ... and like anything else in life ... when they tell you not to move your leg, all you want to do is move your leg. Like when you're having surgery, and they tell you not to eat or drink after midnight, at 1:30 a.m. you're starving and dying of thirst.

But I go back on Tuesday to get the results.

Another fun weekend ... today (Friday) I'm taking Jessy and Mandy) to the Projekt Revolution tour ... Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, HIM, Placebo and other screamers ... two of Jessy's favorite bands are Linkin Park and MCR. I like Linkin Park ... the rest of the bands are cool ... but for the most part, I'm being the cool dad/uncle.

Saturday morning picking up Carolyn and heading to Washington, D.C. to be tourists. (Oh, and see Semi Precious Weapons ... cause they rock!)

Sunday is my ex-wife's company picnic at Kennywood so we're all going to that, too. Quite a fun, busy weekend, but that's me.

2007 Comfest Schedule ... FINALLY

Um ... rarely have I waited so long for so little.

2007 Comfest Schedule = Y.A.W.N.

Here's where I'll be ...

Friday - June 22 (maybe)
6:00 - Leah Carla Gordone - Gazebo Stage
8:00 - Willie Phoenix - Gazebo Stage

Saturday - June 23
4:00 - Miranda Sound - Offramp Stage
5:00 - Stretch Lefty - Bozo Stage
6:35 - Sadie Thomas - Solar Stage
8:15 - Megan Palmer & The Hopefuls - Gazebo Stage

Sunday - June 24
4:25 - X-Rated Cowboys - Offramp Stage
8:00 - Aaron Tashjian - Gazebo Stage

I think this is the thing that pisses me off the most about Comfest's schedule this year:

Schedule Conflicts.

There are THREE acts I'd like to see Friday - they play at the same time.

Jen Miller
Leah Carla Gordone
Elliot 12Trees

Sunday ... 8:00 p.m. ... ditto.

Aaron Tashjian
The Receiver
The Spikedrivers

Damn. I need clones. Who can help?

Wanna get rocked?

Friday - May 11 - Brillo Box - Pittsburgh
Semi Precious Weapons

Saturday - May 12 - Little Brothers - Columbus
Two Cow Garage

Um, be there.

Or not.

But if you're not, you're gonna miss out.

That's all I'm sayin'.

Event Recap ....

This goes with the Photo Blog posted yesterday:

3/23 - Two Cow Garage. Yeah, it rocked. One of the best ways to end a show is with a song that just makes you scream out all you have left.

Once again, these boys showed they bring the rock. Tossing "Epitaph" out after the end of "Postcards and Apologies = genius. And damn, makes a fan wanna drive to Buffalo on May 4th. Todd May opened. I forget how much I like this dude until I see him again. He's my kind of music.

3/31 - Taylor Hicks. Now I don't watch American Idol. I don't watch much on TV to be honest with you. So I'd not heard anything he's sung. Or seen him, other than a picture or two. So I had no idea what to expect. It was a good show. Would I rush out to see him again? No. But I had a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old with me - both attending their first real concert ... so that was fun. The window-licking couple beside us that kissed, and hugged, and fought, and bitched and moaned were also entertaining. David Warren opened. If he lived in Hawaii, not Alabama, his name would have been Jack Johnson.

4/1 - Wrestlemania 23. Anytime you can go to the pinnacle event of any organization - your company's annual stockholder meeting, the World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup finals ... whatever ... take the opportunity, even if you're not a fan (and I am wrestling fan, so it was even better). Big-time over the top production, and it was worth the trip. Two quick funny crowd stories: Bought the tickets off a guy in Florida on eBay. Drove to Detroit. Sat next to two guys who bought their tickets from the same dude on eBay. And drove to Detroit. From Youngstown. Where I work ... and 10 miles from where I live. How weird is that? Second - the guy in front of me who was yelling out things to the wrestlers ... expected. Me laughing at him ... unexpected. Sorry, but when you have a speech impediment and everything you yell sounds fucked up, I have to laugh. I can't help it. I'm that evil.

4/5 - Aaron Tashjian & Friends. Driving to Oxford to see this gang was quite the adventure ... and we found a very expensive martini bar (Miami University is a money school) that had $1 PBR drafts. Fuck yeah. Hanging out with Mark Nye & Aaron and Rob Heath again ... always fun. Meeting John Kengla from Red Wanting Blue - added bonus.

The highlights:

• Aaron singing with a tampon tied to the microphone.
• Aaron singing "Jessie's Girl" ... or as much as he could remember.
• Aaron singing "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones. Well.
• Aaron singing "Missing You" from "Circus Tent Revival" ... hell yeah.

4/6 - Aaron Tashjian & Friends. Andyman's Treehouse is my favorite place to take pictures. The sound sucks. The light suck. You're literally on top of every other person in the room. And when there are those in the room who detest the fact you still walk the earth, it's even better. FUCK YEAH.

No crazy covers tonight, just good old Aaron Tashjian rock and roll. With Mando-Quinn (Quinn Fallon on mandolin) joining in.

4/6 - Quinn Fallon. Quinn opened the show with a great set of new songs and a couple of old favorites from the X-Rated Cowboys. His new solo album is nearly finished ... I can't wait to hear it.

Breaking rocks in the hot sun

Yeah, I fought the law(s) ... and the laws won.

Well, not The Law. Not Johnny Law. Not The Man. The 5-0. Pick your name your gang, group, ethnic background or heritage currently uses to designate police activity in the area from this list ... but be aware I didn't fight any of them.

Nope, no stainless steel bracelets; no stupid human tricks; no free ride downtown (Yeah, a DRI shout out in a blog. I'm so xhardxcorex) ... but no, nothing like that.

And despite spending a day in Dayton, I wasn't arrested (this time. And the time I was is a story for another day.)

And I didn't fight the laws of physics, either, like my previous entry about the wreck in Monroe, Ohio. Despite the wicked bad snow on the North Coast on the Egg Eve (that's the Saturday before Easter), there's nary a mark on Icey Blue.

(check this shit out - this is the wicked bad snow ... taken 2007-04-08 at 4:03 a.m. as I was driving through Geauga County. Yeah. Genius me drives from Strongsville across I-90 to Route 2 to Mentor on the Lake down Route 44 to Route 422. In an April blizzard. Cause that's how I roll ... or slide as I did a couple of times last night. Photo taken with camera phone at the car dealer at the intersection of Ohio Route 44 and US Route 322).

I did a lot of driving in the past four days, I've covered a good portion of the state of Ohio, and when I drive, I like to think. And I was thinking about the kind of woman I'm attracted to. And tried to fight myself into thinking outside my box, while driving my little blue box.

I fought with the laws of attraction. And as is always the case, the laws wons.

Because attraction is a funny thing. It's so totally subjective. Everyone has standards, everyone has wants, likes, dislikes. Everyone has that thing they need to see or feel from another person to know if they wish to go further.

For some, the eyes have it. For others, it's a smile. And while some other brothers can deny, there are those who like big butts and cannot lie. Or maybe a great rack.

But I'm the guy who looks beyond that. Not to say I don't notice a great rack, but I look for more than just a great rack. Because when you find someone physically attractive, and are then generally attracted to them, that's good. And if you're lucky, you then find there's more to the attraction than just that spark (or series of sparks) that opened the door, that's good, too.

That's the part of the attraction that I need to have - that which is beyond the physical.

And then there's other side of that. The person who you find attractive, but aren't attracted to. You like them, but not in that way.

And you wonder why.

And you wonder if you can have that beyond the physical without that spark.

I've learned Jon Landau was right when he told Bruce Springsteen during the Born In The USA recording sessions, while perusing a stack of 120+ songs, that there wasn't a hit there, because you can't start a fire without a spark.

Oh well, I'm tired of sitting around here trying to write this book. Good night. And Happy Easter to the Christians out there. Don't read the other entry until after your holiday is over.

Tuesdays in March - Be There.

Tuesdays in March at Andyman's Treehouse:

Ryan Cox, the excellent frontman for Bullet Jones is doing an acoustic tribute to Pink Floyd's "The Wall." 

I love Ryan's voice. I'm curious to see how he does the whole album.  If you're interested, he'll be doing it every Tuesday in March at Andyman's Treehouse. 

Five Good Reasons you should go see Ryan:

1. Dude can wail.  And that's a high compliment from me.
2. He's a good songwriter, too. His band's album was number 3 on my top 10 for 2006
3. He was a finalist on Acoustic Idol
4. His girlfriend is an unabashed conservative (and has great blogs)
5. Supporting live, local music is always a good thing.
6. I'll be there on the 6th and the 20th. (see, told you there were 5 good reasons)

"Monet in Normandy" at CMA

Everyone has their favorite Claude ... mine happens to be Lemieux, the hockey player.

Then again, I'm weird.

But if your favorite Claude is named Monet ... and he happens to be a famous French impressionist painter, make some plans to get to Cleveland before May 20th ... the Cleveland Museum of Art has some cool Claude shit on display in.

I saw a lot of his work on display in Chicago last summer. Dude can paint it, straight up serious. And "Water Lillies" is one of those things that every adult should view, at least once, to see why museums are worth supporting.

Anyway ... from the CMA news release:

Cleveland is the third and final U.S stop for the show "Monet in Normandy," which is billed as the first scholarly exhibition to celebrate the relationship between Claude Monet and his native landscape.

Born in Paris, Monet moved to the Normandy coast as a young child and frequently returned to the region, which was the subject for some of his most significant works of the 1860s. The Impressionist master spent the last 30 years of his life in Giverny, a village on the eastern border of Normandy.

The exhibition is organized geographically and feature about 50 paintings, including the Cleveland museum’s own "Water Lilies" (1920-26). Works are on loan from prominent collections throughout Europe and North America, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Art Institute of Chicago; National Galleries of Scotland; The National Gallery, London; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

"Monet in Normandy" will be on display through May 20 at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Blvd.

Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for senior citizens, university students and children ages 6 to 18. CMA members and children ages 5 and younger are admitted free.

Plans? I got plans. Yikes.

So ... It appears that Icey blue and I are going to have a very busy two months coming up:

• Feb 3 - Columbus - Work / Fun
• Feb 9 - Columbus - Bullet Jones, Ravari Room (Great band)
• Feb 12-15 - Cincinnati - Work
• Feb 16-19 - Dayton - Work / Fun
• Feb 21 - Columbus - Tim Easton
• March 18-23 - Columbus - Training to be a Citrix Guru
• March 31 - Cleveland -Taylor Hicks at the House of Blues in Cleveland - Jessica & her cousin Mandy LOVE HIM and I get to the cool stepdad/uncle who takes them to their first real concert.
  

And finally ... the biggie:

April 1, I'll be in Detroit for ...

for Adam's 16th birthday (which is Feb 19th).

I told him a long time ago next time WM was close we'd go ... just so happened to work out this year.

Who needs sleep, anyway?

Playing Tourist in St. Louis

So on Monday we drove to St. Louis from Milwaukee with nothing to view but corn, soybeans, silos and cell towers.

Tuesday, however, we did the tourist thing in St. Louis.

That means the Gateway Arch.

630 feet tall. 630 feet wide. 190 acres of land. And a shitload of stainless steel.

And a four-minute ride to the top gives you the ability to look down on the rest of the Gateway Park ...

The City of St. Louis, including the old courthouse

And Busch Stadium ... home to the St. Louis Cardinals.

And parts of Illinois ...

And then we took a riverboat tour of the area ...

so we've now been on two of the three main bodies of water that surround this country ... in June we were whale watching in the Atlantic Ocean, in July we took a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi River ... and in August we plan on whale watching on the Pacific Ocean.

And we ended Tuesday as we ended Sunday, Saturday, Thursday and Wednesday of last week ... getting our faces rocked off by the genius that is Aaron Tashjian.

Don't believe me? Come witness Aaron with Swig Tooth in Cincinnati on August 3rd, Columbus on August 4th (with the X-Rated Cowboys) and in Cleveland on August 5th.

As for us, we're bidding farewell to Illinois and Missouri tomorrow, heading to Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee (thanks Paul Simon) and Nashville, and if we can't find any good music to listen to we're planning on going to see Drew Hastings, cause he's a funny motherfucker.

We'll be back in Columbus sometime late Thursday and rocking out on Friday to the X-Rated Cowboys at the Short North.

Next update ... well, when I can ;-) ... Video blog of the Arch coming in a bit.

Video Blog - St. Louis Arch

Today's video blog: Our visit to the St. Louis Arch.

Blog recorded July 18, 2006. Camera by Kara ;-)

Video Blog - 'express lane' ?

So here's my first video blog.

Not sure why I never thought about doing a video blog before.

I have all the cool tools to do it.

And the skill and knowledge to use those tools.

But for some reason, I never did.

Until now.

So here it is.

Word of warning: If you're on dialup, I don't recommend trying to watch this.

It's only a minute in length, but I'm on my old laptop that doesn't have the cool editing software, so it's a 38mb QuickTime file.

Sorry.

Those of you with fat pipes, enjoy!

On the road again

WeAreThatFuckingCool, Inc., is at it again.

With our Mark Nye-penned philosophy of "Why The FUCK not?"

So greetings, again, from Chicago.

North West style.

Like O'Hare Airport Area.

To feed into, bring out and destroy Kara's fear of large, low-flying aircraft.

By putting her in the midst of the world's second busiest airport.

Cause I'm that fucking evil sometimes.

(That's a joke. Unless you listen to what some people would tell you. Then everything I do has an ulterior motive behind it. ANYWAY ...)

Aaron Tashjian is continuing his one man one guitar face-rocking midwest tour. Five cities, seven days.

And we decided ... why the fuck not go to all five shows.

Originally we were going to see four of the five shows ... Columbus (Wednesday, July 12), Morgantown (Thursday, July 13), Chicago (Saturday, July 15) and St. Louis (Tuesday, July 18). Then we kicked it about after hanging with Aaron for a bit at the kick-ass Tim Easton show in Columbus (Friday, July 14) and decided to hang out in the FREAKING FUCKING HOT MIDWEST for a few days ... predictions are hot and sunny and UPPER 90's all week ... because the face rocking is worth it. Even though the gas is about $3.39 a gallon here. So we're kicking in Chicago on Sunday, then driving up to Milwaukee to the Guitar Bar for Sunday's show, driving back through the long state called the IL on Monday to stay outside of St. Louis, then visiting the Gateway Arch on Tuesday before getting our faces rocked off on the final Aaron Solo Acoustic date in July.

Then we're heading to Graceland.

And Nashville.

And guess who we're going to see perform in Nashville? Another great Ohioan ... Drew Hastings.

Because that's how we roll.

But let's get back to the reason we're here: Aaron's Acoustic Stylings.

And how on Saturday, at Lilly's, He rocked the joint. As usual.

And I think we rocked his world a bit when we walked in the door with a hearty "FUCK YES."

I think he was quite surprised to see us.

I KNOW he was surprised to see the Swig Tooth shirts we made with some kick-ass iron-on transfers we found at Best Buy.

Because we're that cool. Or dorky.

But regardless of which side of that fence we're on, we did have one person at the show in Chicago give us her email address and wants us to make her a shirt like Kara's cool tanktop with the new hot Swig Tooth logo (designed by, well, me.)

And the Chicago crowd was in full coolness at Lilly's ... Justin from Semi-Precious Weapons (a Chicago native) was there ... with a host of friends, and a couple of other Ohioans were present as well ... friends and former classmates of Aaron.

(For the record ... Aaron is a graduate of New Albany High School and was a performer with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra. And he got the fuck out of Ohio after realizing that, for the most part, there are three types of music fans in Columbus:

1. The Cool Dude (or Hip Chick) who goes to be seen in their latest cool kid wear, stands there, talks and could give two shits about the music
2. the introverts go out to listen to music and stare at their shoes,
3. the extroverts go out to listen to music and stare at other people's shoes)

Anyway ... tomorrow we're off to Milwaukee ... which, to quote Alice Cooper, "it's pronounced 'mill-e-wah-que' which is Algonquin for 'the good land'."

Party on, Garth.

Weekend wrapup

Well, quickly, because it's 3:40 a.m.

Chicago - had a blast.

Taste of Chicago - Super.
Chicago Institute of Art - Super.
Taste of Chicago (again) - Super (again).
Martyr's - amazing sound.
Semi-Precious Weapons - Awesome band.

The looks on the faces of the band members when they realized our insane asses drove 6 hours to see them play Chicago - totally worth the drive.

Pictures and detailed descriptions upcoming.

But now - I'm tired. And I'm going to Kennywood with my daughter today (like after I sleep for 4 hours I'm gonna drive 3.5 to play all day).

Ain't life grand?