Theme Park Experience

You know that line, "Don't sweat the small stuff?" Well, I didn't understand this in college because what other people thought was "small stuff" was "big stuff" to me. Worrying about grades, getting to class on time and not studying enough were just some of my worries that induced panic-filled freakouts. Then I had the post-college, "Now what do I do?" blues that almost everybody has. They don't teach you how to deal with this stuff in school, so I had no idea on how to handle most of this (hence, more panic-filled doubt now with feeling utterly worthless). When I would ask an older person about what to do, I'd hear tired cliches that I couldn't fully understand. Sure, water may slide off of a duck's back, but I didn't think that a duck would enjoy getting unintentionally wet. Anyway, relief from all these old school, simplistic and hindsight-filled phrases came in the form of a Scooby-Doo episode. I watched Scooby-Do...

I was born in New Orleans in 1979. In my time there (which lasted until summer of '87), there were a few threats of hurricanes but nothing incredibly harmful came of them. Just watching the TV yesterday, you could say it was inevitable that a bad hurricane would hit the town, but I don't think anybody really lives to see such devastation. New Orleans is a classy town filled with lots of history, so seeing it flooded out was very sad. I haven't heard about what all was safe and what was destroyed, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear about some irreplaceable things that were lost. Now I don't know how badly damaged it was, but the most memorable place that sticks out in my mind is Cafe Du Monde, best known for its beignets and coffee. I remember it very well from my formative years as a resident and a little better in later years as a visitor. Sure, you can have beignets and milk at home but the kind of atmosphere you have there is unique. When I saw this quote from ...

"My friends look out for me like family" - from H2O's "5 Yr. Plan" "I was thinking about the good ol' times/and all the people who helped me survive/and who the hell knows where I'd be without the branches of a family tree" - from H2O's "Family Tree" While I haven't really kept up with H2O in the last few years (I don't even know what label they're on now), their impact on me is still felt. Here's the story: Back in the late-'90s, I thought hardcore-tinged punk rock was synonymous with tough guy machismo. If you weren't ready to throw down in a mosh pit, it was best to stay away. I didn't hear much about brotherhood in this music; I heard shout-along slogans about being straight edge and how much life sucked. In other words, I thought all hardcore was a voice of frustration, not a voice of hope. I was introduced to H2O via a short-lived show on MTV called Indie Outing , which showcased up-and-coming ac...

I touched on the book's title in an earlier post, but I only really touched on the main title, Post , and not the second part, An Anthology of American Post-Hardcore/Whatever-You-Call-It-Core 1985-2005 . Here's a breakdown of the second part: An Anthology of My book is not meant to be the only history of this genre, hence the 'an' and not a 'the' in the title. Maybe it's because of reading a lot of articles by this guy that I truly believe that there is no such thing as one historical account of things in the past. I'm not speaking for everyone involved; I'm seeing it through my own eyes, my own experiences and my research and relating them to what I feel is pertinent to talk about in the long run. Think of it as my view with a lot of other views but not law. American Post-Hardcore/Whatever-You-Call-It-Core This genre has many names: emo, spazz and math rock are just some of them. Since my book is more about the ideas of Do It Yourself that sproute...

If you've checked out Mission Label's press release for Post , you've seen the book's cover photo. If you're curious as to who that is or where that came from, there's a story behind it. In early 2000, I went to a show in Denton at a renovated car garage called Green Means Go! I showed up early to see the first band play and that first band was Red Animal War. I had heard a couple of their songs online beforehand and had walked in right as they were finishing a set at the Door a few weeks before. I liked what I heard but I wanted to hear and see more. I made sure that I didn't miss the show at GMG! and I was glad that I came out early. Why? Because their set changed my life. I had always heard of people that dropped everything to help a band out but I didn't understand this until I saw Red Animal War play. Here was a band of guys that looked intense (on and off stage), played intensively and rocked hard. Their songs were jarring and angular but there was...

. . . for a book update, so here we go: As of late, I've been working almost exclusively on the Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eat World chapters. I interviewed former Get Up Kids drummer Ryan Pope on Monday and the conversation went really well. We touched on a lot of things that I've always wondered about the band. Now I'm trying to think of what else I could ask his brother, Rob, when I interview him. I'm sure I will leave no stone unturned. The spot in the Jimmy Eat World chapter that I'm currently on is just after they signed with Capitol Records and were about to record Static Prevails . These were some different times back in 1995/96 and I hope that comes across. Due to the fact that Christie Front Drive is often talked about but never really described in other places, I figured the Jimmy Eat World chapter was the best place to bring them up. Along those lines, I feel it's safe to come out and say that each chapter is not completely focused on the band/label it...

I am not knocking people who call bands like Architecture in Helsinki, Head of Femur and the Polyphonic Spree "ork-pop" ( a shortened nickname for "orchestral pop" bands - these are bands that utilize horns, strings, and pianos, in addition to drums and guitars, in a rock setting ) here, but something about the sound of that nickname puzzles me. I keep thinking of orcs, the name of Sauron's goblin minions found in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings . Orcs and pop music? Orcs epitomize evil and ugliness, not good and happiness. Yeah, I'm stretching things here, but when you are a big fan of both orchestral pop (read yesterday's post on Petula Clark) and the Lord of the Rings books and movies, I feel torn on what to call this style of music. How about orchestral-pop? The name fits well with the sound of the word, "orchestral." If this is pop-rock music played with a wide assortment of classical instruments, shouldn't its nickname be clo...