Neutral Milk Hotel @ Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA 1/30/14

The Church @ The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA 2/15/11

Once upon a time there was a website called MOG. 

Last 10 tracks shuffled randomly from my iPod - 1/27/14

I have about 26,000 songs on my iPod. Sometimes it is just fun to see what you get. It also reminds me of some great material that I do not always see when I am looking through all of the songs. These are the first 10 songs that came up when I hit shuffle this morning.

Album Review - Lorde / Pure Heroin

It Lorde's life was the movie Pretty in Pink you could easily picture her as Andie mocking the likes of Ke$ha and Miley Cyrus.

"I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air
So there
I'm kinda older than I was when I rebelled without a care
So there"

AWOLNATION @ The House of Blues - Atlantic City, NJ 3/23/13

My oldest son is now concert going age. The first show I took him to was Mastodon, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Red Fang at 11 years of age. the problem with that age they are a little overwhelmed and it's hard for them to stand and stay awake for the whole show. I also keep them in the back so the view isn't great.  Now that he is older I drag him along more to my shows more often but occasionally I let him pick the show.

Peter Murphy @ The Trocadero - Philadelphia, PA 5/9/13

A few years back I was on a cruise.  When we came back to Tampa we stayed an extra night before flying home.  There was a concert venue right next to our hotel and that night Peter Murphy was playing.  I so wanted to see him but we were on a family vacation and we had an early start the next morning.  I swore to myself if I ever had the opportunity to go again I would.

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ The Wells Fargo Center - Philadelphia, PA 5/11/12

I have a friend that is in the business.  I've known her since High School.  I try not to ask her for tickets because, well...I don't want her to think that that's what our friendship is about.  Occasionally I will ask. Madonna was coming to town and my wife is a big fan.  I had sent her an e-mail to ask if she could help me get tickets to the show.  She let me know that due to the nature of high priced ticket show like hers that it is hard to get tickets...BUT...she wanted to know if I wanted to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Ummmm...OF COURSE I WANT TO SEE THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!!!  She had worked with new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer previously and and had asked if any of her friends in the Philly area had wanted tickets to the show.  I was super excited.  She was planning on flying in for the show to see it with me and her family.  This was going to be epic.

My Favorite Unsigned Band - Hey Sandy

In another life I was a Sales Manager that spent a good amount of time on the road with my sales reps.  That meant that I attended every industry trade show from Chicago to Boston to North Carolina.  One of my favorites was Columbus, OH.  It is a fun college town, and I liked our sales rep in this area (Which isn't always a luxury in this business).

The Salesman was a music guy so we had a lot in common.  He had even set up a small recording studio above his garage for his 14 year old son that he would bring to the shows with him.  I liked to talk music with him as well.  I had just gotten into Death Cab for Cutie and he was the first to tell me about The Postal Service.  The kid had good taste for 14.

Album Review - St Paul and the Broken Bones / Greetings from Birmingham, AL EP

I don't really listen to public radio.  I probably should.  Because this is not the only time that I have to credit them for a discovery.

I was getting in a work vehicle to fuel it up and 88.5 FM WXPN Public Radio from the University of Penn was on.  I reached to turn it off and something caught my attention.  They were announcing a new music discovery that was playing that night at The World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, PA.  It wasn't the hope of a hot new artist that caught my attention.  It was the description of this artist.  I am quoting below from my best recollection.

"Have you ever gone to a party and there is that nerdy guy sitting in the corner all to himself when suddenly Otis Redding comes on the radio and he comes to life?  Well this is that guy."

He was speaking about St Paul and the Broken Bones.

The Dickies @ The Open Arts Theater - Bordentown, NJ 11/7/13

There are concerts that I regret not seeing.  Sometimes you do not realize it until the opportunity has passed.  As I get older I find myself taking every opportunity to see a band that I missed seeing in my youth.  The Dickies are one of these bands.

Book Review - 33 1/3 Book Series - Neutral Milk Hotel / In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Kim Cooper

A dream of mine will finally come true this month.  A band that was unlikely to ever perform again will be on stage in an intimate setting for a show that sold out in two minutes...and I will be there.  

The band is Neutral Milk Hotel.  I may have completely missed this band if it wasn't for a mixtape given to me in 2006, seven years after they disbanded.  I will go into this more when I review the show. For now, I wanted to revisit this book, to indulge my growing excitement for the concert that I never thought I would witness.

Remembering A Great Year Of Concerts In 2013

Fran

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Ryan Adams @ The Academy of Music - Philadelphia, PA 12/2/2011

I first learned of Ryan Adams from Stephen King's Celebrity Playlist on iTunes in 2005.

Let me repeat that so it sinks in...

Mayer Hawthorne @ The Union Transfer - Philadelphia, PA 04/18/2012

This is a typical musical discovery for me.  Let me set the scene for you.

- After Midnight
- Backyard Tiki Bar
- A Night of Drinking with Friends
- Spotify

A friend and I were taking turns choosing songs on Spotify.  We were discussing top 5 artists and we had two in common.  Whiskeytown and Neutral Milk Hotel.  But then he hit me with a curveball.  He asked if I had heard of Mayer Hawthorne.  I was a little puzzled.  I had not.  He told me that he had recently seen him at a cool, small venue in North Philadelphia called Johnny Brenda's.  He told me about this brilliant concert full of music that was a throwback to Motown.

Album Review - Arctic Monkeys / AM

I never got the Arctic Monkeys.  Maybe because I never got Franz Ferdinand.  I like a few tracks by the Kaiser Chiefs but that is about it.  I am not saying that I didn't like them.  I'm just saying that I didn't get what it was all about.  I am a fan of pop.  I am a fan of Power Pop.  And I always will be.  They are owners of the fastest selling a debut album in British history.  I just assumed that it was a British thing.  Kind of like Oasis, who I actually quite fancy.

That all came to a crashing halt as soon as I heard 'Do I Wanna Know?'.

Allen Stone @ World Cafe Live, Philadelphia PA 09/27/12

It is not too often that I hear an artist and immediately run out to see them in concert.  Allen Stone is the exception.

I hadn't heard of him or heard his music.  There was just a photo.  A photo that kept popping up on Music streaming sites like Rdio, Lastfm and Spotify.   The photo was so intriguing I was curious.  He looked like a hippy version of Garth from Wayne's World.

Butch Walker @ The Stone Pony - Asbury Park, NJ 10/30/13

I'll admit it.  Up until a year ago I had never heard of Butch Walker.  A friend of mine snuck him into a collaborative playlist of mine for a long road trip that I was heading out on.  Before playing 'Sythesizers' on loop for the next hour I had no idea of his start in the late 80's - early 90's hair metal band Southgang.  I did not know he was the creative force behind the 90's one hit wonder Marvelous 3.  No inkling of the hits he had written for P!nk, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, Weezer, and Fall Out Boy.  Just one catchy pop song that I could not stop listening too.