Theme Park Experience

This week's edition is with a couple of members from Ice Eater. I've known Jordan for years because I used to work with his uncle. Unbeknownst to me, I was at the first DJ set Jordan did at Dada. It was there that I learned about the attraction between drunk college students and hip-hop.

I've decided to revamp my Pandora listening experience. After twelve months away from the site, I want make some better stations with plenty of variety. I need good music to work to, and stuff that will not make me long for a big bed and pillow. And I don't want music that makes me want to bounce off walls. Since stations devoted to Converge, Nada Surf, and Strung Out will make long for driving 100 miles while sitting at a desk, I'm opting for Carly Simon, Walter Jackson, and Explosions in the Sky. Consider this going soft, but I look at it as making sensible choices with music. The difficulty that I have involves the degree of familiarity and unfamiliarity. How many times do I want to hear a song over and over again? How often do I want to take a gamble on something I've never heard before? Good questions to consider since I don't like burn out. My hope is that I can enjoy hearing music I don't have or have never heard before. And I let someone else do the pick...

I have a healthy addiction to watching Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives . Yes, that show on Food Network with Guy Fieri where he drives all across the country for one-off havens. If it's on and I'm not watching VH1 Classic, then I watch. Even though every episode follows the same format (imagine the drinking game involving fist-bumps and the words "texture," "melt in your mouth," and "amazing"), no place is the same from the others. And it's a nice reminder about why one should celebrate your local places. While it's nice that Applebee's is available anywhere with cheap beer, going to a place like Angry Dog or Twisted Root is much more satisfying experience. The places are locally owned and their menus are not created for the lowest common denominator. Of course, given how the show is on Food Network, it makes me want to eat. And also seek out local places that I haven't tried before. In the past few weeks, Jenny and I have hit up Fuzzy...

This week's edition is with Jesse from These United States. Some interesting answers and a nice little story about playing with Willie Nelson.

Donna brought this up last week, and I thought it was too good to pass up without comment: She has recently taken to making the beds in her house. After all these years of being a "bed rebel" (as she calls it), she enjoys straightening up the bed she shares with her husband as well as the beds their kids sleep in. As someone who has visited Donna and Noel's house, I vaguely remember seeing an unmade bed. Seeing this didn't make me think less of these well-spoken and well-rounded friends of mine. I remember more about the Days of Heaven , Tunnel of Love , and London Calling posters in their abode, along with a vast library of comics, CDs, and DVDs. Their home is a reflection of who they are and what they like -- as a home should be. When it comes to the beds that I sleep in -- including hotel rooms -- I make them by habit. Not only does a made bed look good, it sure is nice to climb into one that has smooth sheets. Smooth sheets help me relax as I drift off. But I se...

Here's a fun little thing, showing a little behind the scenes of the writing and editing process. Read my edited review of last Friday's Iron Maiden/Coheed and Cambria review, and read the following, my original draft. Notice little differences and tweaks here and there, and compare and contrast. Iron Maiden, Coheed and Cambria Gexa Energy Pavilion Friday, August 17 Seems like Iron Maiden’s set on Friday night was a make-up for the last time they were in town. Talking to a number of people who saw that show back in June of 2010, the common complaint was, too many new songs and not enough old songs. No one leaving the old Starplex said that after the “Maiden England” tour on Friday. The six-piece gave the nearly-filled shed 100 minutes of classic songs, including “2 Minutes to Midnight,” “The Prisoner,” “Run to the Hills,” and “The Number of the Beast.” On an arctic themed-set, along with several permutations of the band’s mascot, Eddie, a handful of songs from Seventh Son of a...

This week's edition is a pretty special one. It's with Josh Eppard, the returning drummer of Coheed and Cambria. Originally I was going to interview Claudio, the band's frontman, but scheduling conflicts tied him up. Josh was cool enough to step in and the interview turned out well.

I haven't played drums in front of people since last fall, but I've been playing in some sort of capacity almost every day. It's not just because I can't stop tapping along to music; I have a drive to be a better player. Yes, even after playing for nearly 18 years. Back when I started playing, I tried playing along to records. Without any padding on my kit. So when I'd hit a cymbal, everything would get washed out. I didn't try drumming along to a record until last year. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that I could play along to records as long as there were sound-deadening pads on my kit. But that's how it's rolling these days. Also helping things: playing along to a metronome. Playing by myself without a metronome can get boring very quickly. Working on my timing with the metronome on, things don't get boring. Since I tend to rush whenever I do a complicated fill or build-up, I hope to curb that with the electronic beep-bop-bop-b...

I must admit there was a sinking feeling when many of the bands I featured in Post reunited. Not that reunions are bad in general; it was just a little tough to stomach writing about bands being finished and then they reunite. I considered writing a new afterword, but that did not come to fruition. And while a number of bands that reunited have proceeded to do more shows and record new material (ie, Braid, Hot Water Music), some of the bands went dormant again. I wasn't really surprised when Sunny Day Real Estate ceased touring and recording again. (Take a wild guess as to why, if you know their story.) The members of the Get Up Kids are doing other things in their lives, and who knows how long At the Drive-In will keep doing shows before people get tired of them playing the same set again and again. Even though Texas is the Reason doesn't get a lot of coverage beyond a few paragraphs in the Jawbox chapter (read much more about them in Brian Peterson's Burning Fight book...

This week's edition is with the members of the Virgin Wolves. I asked some different questions this time out, and it was certainly fun to talk about The Song Remains the Same .

I've seen many in-store acoustic performances at Good Records, but Neil Halstead's recent one was probably one of the best I've ever seen. Not to over-hype things too much, but his 50-minute set was nothing short of fantastic. Even with false starts and forgotten lyrics. This past Saturday, Jenny and I walked up to Good about 20 minutes before "show time" and we found none other than Jimmy Menkena talking with Neil. Menkena's band is planning on featuring Slowdive's "Machine Gun" on their next record, so it was very apt to see the two of them talking. Noticing my Slowride shirt, Neil said he had never heard of Slowride, the great Dallas punk band. Sure was nice to introduce him to at least the name. I mentioned to Neil about the last time he was in town (10-ish years ago) when he played the Gypsy Tea Room. I was fortunate to interview him with my friends Brad and Nick, and we even met Sid Hillman, Neil's opening act who happened to be from Ki...

If memory serves me correctly, I was not a competitive child growing up. I liked to play sports and had one meltdown in elementary school during P.E. When I got into music, I liked playing above all else, and I could care less about "challenging" someone for his or hers seat in concert band. But when I started playing kickball a few years ago, something snapped. As in, people who are my friends off of the field are not my friends when we play against each other. Trash-talking, psych-out moments, complaining about calls, you name it. I was expecting a throwdown yesterday when I played volleyball for DC9. Our team was made up of three full-timers (including my editor Audra), a walk-on player, and me with a fellow freelancer. Playing against the digital radio station Indie-Verse, I knew a couple of the players beforehand. When the ball was in play, my team's focus was trying to get the ball over the net and scoring. But when the ball wasn't in play, we were friendly and ...

This week's edition is with Vinnie Kircher from Jaill, a Sub Pop act. Despite the fact that his cell reception kept dropping (I stopped counting after five time), we talked about a lot of stuff.