Reunion Tours: Quantifying Age via Concert Preferences

I'm the kind of guy who likes to keep track of things. I catalog my record collection, organize my hockey jerseys, kept a log of which players I scored the most goals with in NHL 94 on Super Nintendo and of course a color coded excel spreadsheet of every concert I've ever been to (216 and counting). And checking back on it now I've noticed a few trends that indicate my young yet advancing age...

1) I don't go to as many shows as I used to, Eleven in 2012 down from Thirty-Two in 2006.

2) Once a year over the past three years I've seen a "Reunion" show

Pictured above: Band stuck in infinite Reunion loop

Reunions? Only 50 year olds go to those. Right after they go see Jimmy Buffett.

But you know what? I've been able to see bands I never thought I'd be able to see. It's a growing trend right now in my favorite genres. Pavement, Quicksand, At The Drive In, The Postal Service, Rage Against the Machine, countless ska bands and many others have all called it quits on calling it quits. And thanks to this trend I've gone to see Sunny Day Real Estate, The Specials, Big Audio Dynamite and most recently Refused.

It was that last show that has been stuck in my head for a while. Not the band's music but the night of the show itself has been imprinted on the back of my skull. In 1998 Refused did what every punk band says they're going to do if they became too popular; they broke up. After releasing their greatest album, an album that consisted of the track "New Noise" an anthem that redefined a genre for the next 15 years, they packed up their guitars and said 'no more of this' having never supported their latest release. In 2012 we (being their fans) got the show we've been waiting over a decade for.

Now picture it. A bunch of twenty-something ex-emo kids in a crowded House of Blues. All of them with these grins on their faces that I've never really seen anywhere else. You're excited to be there, you're excited for the dude next to you because you know they're just as excited. It's very much a reunion without knowing personally anyone around you. It yielded one of the best crowds, one of the best pits and one of the best shows I've ever been to.

Next month I may very well pass up seeing Willy Moon, an up and coming artists from New Zealand artist, to go see Texas is the Reason a band I care minimally about anymore but if this show is anything like the other Reunions I've been to it'll be well worth it.

Check your local listings... Go see Fishbone, or Fu Manchu, or They Might Be Giants, or the Gin Blossoms if you're so inclined. Pick any decade old band and go. Watch the faces of those around you and of the band in front. I guarantee you'll be glad you did.

Bunny Club in the Swinging Sixties

via (dangerousminds.net)

The Evolution of Reality and Space

Are we headed in this direction? Who knows. But what I do know is that we are living in a very exciting time. Have a great day all.

1967 Hippie Temptation TV documentary

This section has an interesting interview with a young Greatful Dead:




If you are interested in the whole documentary:

How to be a beatnik

Carl Sagan - 4th Dimension

A mind made for mating

A MIND MADE FOR MATING! by @JasonSilva from Jason Silva on Vimeo.

Modern Propaganda Poster

via (artofmanliness.com)
click here to see the rest in the series.
art by:  Ted Slaympyak

Pins and Needles

Cool Hunting Video Presents: Pins and Needles from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.

via (dangerousminds.net)

Guitar Heroes

Guitar Heroes by: biotwist

Carl Sagan

  via (disinfo.com)

Where's Rudolph? Where's Blitzen Baby?

Over the weekend I was listening to my digital music playing machine on random shuffle and this GEM of a Christmas song came on.  I listened to it probably 20 times in the course of the weekend.  The last track on  1989's "Brain Drain," which was considered a lack luster album for The Ramones (It did have Pet Sematary on it which was a great theme song for the movie of the same name -Ed.), Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight) is definitely worthy of a spot in the Christmas Song Pantheon and as of this weekend has earned its spot in my own personal Top 50 Songs of All Time.  If you're at all familiar with the Ramones you already know that 50's and 60's rock and pop was a major driver for the "Joey Ramone" sound and you can hear legendary producer (and more recently murderer - Ed.) Phil Spector's influence all over this one (Sorry Best Coast, the Ramones were there long before you were - Ed.) and if it were Darlene Love or Ronnie and the Ronettes singing this song it probably wouldn't sound out of place on Spector's iconic Christmas album.

It's The Ramones; you know what to do.  So without any further ado...all the way from 1989; The Ramones and Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight).

 

And because you're going to want to hear it over and over again, here's the bonus video.

 Io Saturnalia! and Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

Just chilling out...

Listening to this psychedelic mix found on mixcloud. (via dangerousminds.net)

716 Exclusive Mix - Kenneth James Gibson : One drunken sailor's curse from deep psychosis... vol.2 by 716 Music on Mixcloud

Robert Anton Wilson

Reeking of Human Fallibility

The future is awesome.  I can't wait until my choices are limited to only a handful of options.  That way I'll never have to think again; just point, grunt and hand over a plastic card.

From Metropolis Magazine:

 It's bigger here