Theme Park Experience

Not only did I get to review last night's Rush show at the American Airlines Center, I also had the pleasure to snap a few pictures up in the front. Turning around and looking at the crowd in the arena, I thought I was in The Song Remains the Same . Absolutely special night.

This week's edition is with Evan Chronister, someone I've known for years. He's told me plenty of great stories about seeing pivotal and influential bands, but he had never told me about seeing Rush. I hope to see him tonight when I cover the Rush show at AAC.

For two decades, when it came to compiling a Christmas list, compact discs were at the top of the list. Every year, from middle school to last year. Be it a box set, single CD, or double-CD, there was a continuation of my want-itis for years. But this year, my Christmas list doesn't feature any CDs. As much as this might sound like a joining with modern society, I'm still a CD buyer and only listen to CDs in my car. But when it came to things I most wanted for Christmas this year, DVDs, books, golf-related stuff, and bike-related stuff came to mind. I still listen to plenty of music, but given the MP3s I get every month from eMusic, along with used LPs I get from Half Price Books, CDs aren't the go-to format for me now. I certainly will not fathom abandoning the format completely. But for now, my wants (and the things I want to buy for others) lies in other things. I credit (credit, not blame) this to a decision that music isn't the only important matter in my life.

I'm rather perplexed by the supposed pressure we put on ourselves before meeting possible future in-laws. I've put pressure on myself before and it ended up not being a big deal. I've had friendly relations with my previous girlfriends' parents and I'm happy to say that has continued with Jenny's family (I met her mother and one of her sisters a few weeks ago, and I will meet the rest of the family at Christmas.) When we're teenagers, there's a bigger sense of pressure. The whole, "Why are you dating my daughter?" awkward conversation and all. Since every girl I asked out in high school turned me down (sad trombone), I never had to deal with that. No questions like, "What are you going to do with your life?" or "Where do you plan to go to college?" When I got to college, I had a relatively pressure-free experience with my college girlfriend. These days, on paper (and in the eyes of suspicious skeptics), I sound like a qu

This week's edition is with John Solis, drummer of seven Dallas bands. I've known this guy for years and found out a lot more in this conversation.

This week's edition ran a day later for a technical difficulty. Our interview was scheduled for noon on Tuesday, but all attempts to make contact didn't happen. Hans called me yesterday, very apologetically, and we did the interview. We spoke for less than ten minutes and I asked a lot of questions. Then I transcribed it and uploaded it. Also, in print edition, I wrote a couple of blurbs about two winners of the DOMAs. I wrote one on Burning Hotels and one on the Foundry. I couldn't make the awards showcase on Saturday due to a wedding, and I couldn't make the ceremony since I was at the Title Fight show at Dada. The promoter and one of the bands on the bill won DOMAs and were very gracious of their respective awards, but they seemed like they had more fun being at a show (and a rowdy one, no less).

For the past three years, I have looked for a single book that went out of print years ago. Almost every single time I went to Half Price Books, I dropped in on the TV books section all for the hopes of finding Mr. Show: What Happened? by Naomi Odenkirk. I wasn't sure how the book would be filed: "Mi" for mister or "Mr" for Mr? Repeat trips to the section found me looking a plethora of Monty Python-related books as well as books on Mr. Ed and Mr. Bean. I can't remember exactly where in the filing I found this, but I was tremendously happy to find it last Sunday: I wouldn't consider myself a super-fan of Mr. Show . I didn't really find it funny when I originally saw on HBO or when my friends would watch it. When it was on HBO, I thought the humor was over my head. When I originally watched it with my friends, I thought I had to be high to get the humor. Luckily, I gave the show another shot a few years ago and I finally appreciated the dark/tw

There is a little war being waged in my household over Rod Stewart's career in the past ten years. Yes, Rod Stewart. (War might not be the right word, as the extent of it has been posting links on Facebook timelines and hurling light insults at each other. Nothing has come to fisticuffs or hurt feelings, yet.) If my memory is correct, my housemate Matt casually mentioned his love of Rod Stewart's recorded output. Rod the Mod's been on his mind quite a bit lately, mainly with all the used vinyl LPs he's found in the past few months at Half Price Books. I have plenty of appreciation for the material found on these LPs, going back to his days with the Faces to his early solo work, and all the way to songs found on his mid-1990s albums. For those keeping score at home, that's "Stay With Me" and "Maggie May" all the way to "My Heart Can't Tell You Know" and "Rhythm of My Heart." Where the line goes off in different directio

Before Friendster, MySpace, LinkedIn, Plaxo, and Facebook, who you kept in touch with was not for public knowledge. A lot of people had a Rolodex or an address book filled with phone numbers and addresses. (Throughout high school, I had a small piece of paper with my friends' phone numbers on it.) With cell phones, keeping any number stored in your phone was groundbreaking. But ever since those aforementioned social networks came into prominence (especially MySpace and Facebook), deleting anyone from a virtual (and public) Rolodex has become a touchy subject. Un-friending someone doesn't mean, "I don't want to hear your political rants, what you're eating, or what was the last movie you saw." Instead, it often comes across as, "I need distance from you, so I'm breaking communication ties for now." And sometimes (usually with the blocking function) it means, "I don't want to have anything to do with you for the foreseeable future."

This week's edition is with Shane from Title Fight, a band I've come to love in the last few months. My friend Seth highly recommended their latest, Floral Green , to me, and I returned the favor in the first question I asked.

I believe it's safe to share this information now: while it's not a full-time job, I have a new, regular freelance writing gig. Writing copy for dentist offices throughout the country, it's something I am learning more about by the day. My skills as a blogger and copywriter have come in handy, allowing me to finally break from the box I've felt trapped in for so long. I will continue to write about music and books because I feel extremely passionate about doing that. I might make little or no money off of writing about music, but I'm not going to stop. Writing in general still keeps my chops in shape and my thoughts flowing. I'd be foolish to quit. Something that was hard to explain to non-radio people was my actual job with my last company. Essentially, I was the guy who took a lot of information about traffic and made it readable and understandable for quick reports on the radio and TV. That involved a lot of multi-tasking with plates spinning in the air,

I've been very lucky to see many great shows this year. From Chris Botti to the Jealous Sound to Ben Folds (with and without the Five) to the Afghan Whigs, all of these shows will be in my (usually lengthy) end of the year recap. Yet it was the show I witnessed last night that trumped everything else I've seen in 2012: Converge with Torche, Kvelertak, and Enabler at Dada. This was a show that reminded me about what life is truly like in the now, not worrying about yesterday or tomorrow. Just living in the present and having a ball. Performances alone made the night, but the kicker was the camaraderie with the people I knew at the show and some of the new people I met. Before the show began, I had the chance to meet and chat with Jake Bannon at the merch table on the patio. Following up on the conversation we had for this week's My First Show, we talked and talked about other things, like the hold-up on the vinyl edition of All We Love We Leave Behind (that new Beatles

In this week's print edition, I wrote the main feature on Bobby Patterson's life after radio. Even though I've talked with him plenty of times before, I immensely enjoyed interviewing him for the first proper time. As in, the recorder was on. Doing traffic for him was the highlight of my final year as a traffic reporter, but like him, I'm moving on. My hope was to write something honest and personal, but in a way that people who haven't heard his music can relate.