Theme Park Experience

We have a relatively new column going at the Observer called Concert Foul. My first entry can be found here . First topic for me? The guy who loves to talk about equipment when a band plays.

This week's edition was a ton of fun to put together. Cabe Booth's birthday party at the Kessler has reunions of bands who once ruled in Deep Ellum in the 90s: Chomsky, El Gato, and Bobgoblin. I interviewed members from all of the bands and got plenty of great stuff.

Over the weekend, I reviewed two shows: A Perfect Circle (which can be found here ) and Mission of Burma (which can be found here ). As I started formulating in my mind what I wanted to say about the APC show, I was reminded of some good advice I was told a few years ago by a rock critic I respect: never forget what it felt like to be young and save all your money for a show and you came out of the show disappointed. I'm very thankful that the shows I've covered have come with guest list privileges. Shows at big venues are not cheap and I've always taken that into consideration when I write my reviews. After what I witnessed on Saturday night, I've never come away from a show so incredibly disappointed. But the key thing I suggest to anybody writing a review: don't write like you're a teenager who's let down by the show. Write in the voice of your own age, damnit. With my reviews, I try to use as much tact as possible. Weigh the good and the bad and consider...

As a very satisfied Facebook user, I had reluctance to hop onto the Google+ train. Figuring it wouldn't hurt, I accepted the invitations sent to me by a few of my friends. Well, after a week of being on it, here's what I've found to be good as well as frustrating. I know it's still in its testing phase. I get that. So far, the design is fantastic and I've found it very easy to navigate. But here's where things get a little bumpy. One of the big draws of Facebook and Twitter was how friends who fled (or were never on) MySpace were on those sites. It's fun to connect to more people in one spot, for sure. Maybe I'm to blame on this one, but all of my 90 friends on Google+ are also friends of mine on Facebook. I follow a couple of people I also follow on Twitter and more often than not, it's a lot of stuff I've already seen on their Twitter pages. I like the idea of Sparks. I made all kinds of Sparks on my page, covering interests from Stephen King t...

I enjoy doing these columns, but this week's edition is one I'm very proud of. A few weeks ago, I got the chance to talk to Roger Miller from Mission of Burma and this was the conversation.

A few weeks ago, while I watched a few Genesis videos circa the Phil Collins era, I started thinking about when I became a purist about a band's presentation. In watching videos like "Invisible Touch" and "In Too Deep," I can remember being young and not giving a rat's ass about how Collins never sang and drummed at the same time in the videos. And I didn't care that the band didn't have a full-time bassist. It was Genesis, man. They play good songs. That's all! All of this purist stuff would come later. Mainly, in my post-pubescent repelling away from all things phony. (Keep in mind, this repelling continues to this day, just in more complicated ways beyond music.) It would be years before I understood about the hazy world of legal stuff and how a band wishes to never "replace" a founding member, whether it was Creed or the Manic Street Preachers. I have reasons to care, but I can understand reasons to not care about this stuff. Can...

Lately, a large chunk of the music I've been listening to is from Genesis. And when I mean Genesis, I mean all three eras of the group: with Peter Gabriel, with Phil Collins, and with Ray Wilson. Yet when it comes to fans of Genesis, I seem to only know two kinds of them: those who love the Gabriel era and those who love the Collins era. There's very little carryover between them. Seems you're not supposed to like both. Well, I can't deny my early love for the Collins era with Invisible Touch . Yes, there is a nostalgic reason since that record was, along with the Cars' Heartbeat City and the Police's Synchronicity , my first introduction modern Top 40 rock music as a child. Listening to those records again, I think they still sound great, but I have a newer appreciation after knowing more about the people behind the music and the music itself. With the records the group did with Peter Gabriel, I heard about heralded records like Selling England by the Pound ,...

This week's edition is (roughly) a two-parter. First, it's Matt Barnhart. Next week, it's with somebody I had a wonderful time talking to and he's playing a show with Matt in a few weeks. The conversation we had last week turned into something more than merely talking about first show experiences. Definitely something I'm very proud of. Now to transcribe the whole thing . . .

There's an ongoing joke in our house about a nickname that I can't seem to live down. Whenever I'm near my blue recliner, Matt calls me Grandpa Grubbs and asks what Grandpa Grubbs is about to do. Usually, Grandpa Grubbs gets a book to read and a blanket so Victory's always-shedding hair doesn't get everywhere. This often results in a nap. Just like how a grandfather would be. I take zero offense to this nickname. A mutual work friend brought it up last December as we decorated the Christmas tree. With Victory by my side and slippers on my feet, the only thing missing was a pipe and a hearing aide. As much as I claim to be an old soul, I merely do this because of practical reasons more than anything else. Victory is a very clingy dog and tends to get antsy is she's gone too long without certain kinds of attention. Her lying in my lap usually calms her down. Plus my recliner is very comfortable to read in and I usually fall asleep in it after a while. (I should me...

Yesterday was interesting. After waking up from a mid-afternoon nap, there was an e-mail from Pete asking if I'd like to cover the Taking Back Sunday show . . . in about two hours from then. Luckily, I had no plans and was happy to see it. Here's my review .

A first for My First Show: I interviewed a female for this week's edition . I've known Trish for years and I was happy she shared a lot with me in the interview.