Life of Riley

Glancing at my upcoming calendar I’m starting to understand what my dad meant when he told me one time that I live the ‘Life of Riley.’

March 24 – Switchfoot Concert
April 3 – Run for Diabetes Awareness 5K
April 10 – Martian Meteor 10K
May 14 – Barenaked Ladies + Ingrid Michaelson Concert
May 29 – Traverse City Half Marathon
June 19 – Warrior Dash
June 30 – U2 Concert

Can’t wait to get things started off tonight!

Filed under: Concerts, Exercise, Music

89x Stole Christmas – X

I finally have a second to debrief my little concert on Monday night.

Plain White T’s — The iTunes review sums them up best, “Plain White T’s are one of those unusual success stories in which a band becomes hugely popular on the basis of a single that doesn’t really represent the band’s standard sound.” That single would be Hey There Delilah, and it’s a pretty decent song, but it’s not even close to how they sounded the rest of the show. It felt like Nsync meets the Jonas Brothers.

Mute Math — You all know where my affections lie with these guys. It was the shortest of the 4 sets I’ve seen from them this year, but they still brought it. They were completely different than everything else there that night. It was probably above most of the audiences heads to be honest, but it got their attention none the less. The three things I remember most are Paul wearing a sweater, Roy’s spectacular beard, and Darren taking a drum out to the crowd and banging the snot out of it. All good. (Here’s some bad home video).

Coheed and Cambria — Supposedly this was a rare acoustic set. Rare in that they don’t do acoustic sets that often. But I really enjoyed it. They weren’t on my radar before the show, so hearing it this way for the first time was nice. If you’ve never heard them before, jump over to their myspace page and listen to The Running Free. It’s pretty good stuff. The lead singers voice reminds me of someone. Any thoughts there?

Jimmy Eat World — Ashamedly I had previously only heard The Middle and Sweetness from them. And now, after having them shred for an hour, they have a new fan on their hands. I’ve been listening to Bleed American non-stop since the show, and it’s already on my top 10 album list! During their set, Paramore’s lead singer joined Jim Adkins on Always Be. That would be my only exposure to Paramore since we left before they came on.

Here’s one of my new favorite songs:

Hear You Me — Jimmy Eat World

*And for the record, crowd surfing is stupid.

Filed under: Coheed and Cambria, Concerts, Jimmy Eat World, Music, Mute Math, Paramore, Plain White T's, Reviews

Friday Quickies

1. I’ve completed the 2007 Mud Puppy Media Consumption List. I went ahead and added concerts too, just for fun. That project was well worth the effort! 2008 won’t be so tough though, since I’ll be starting from day one.

2. Download Jon Foreman’s song The Cure for Pain FREE, courtesy of Zune, here. It’s from his new Fall EP. (ht: Driveby Media)

**UPDATE**
3. Looks like the Mud Puppy just scored a ticket and backstage pass to THIS!!! (Courtesy of Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas!)

Filed under: Books, Concerts, Jon Foreman, Media, Movies, Music

Mute Math: Take 3

So this being my third Mute Math show of the year, not a whole lot new to report other than another amazing performance of musical talent and energy. I’m not sure there can be a more fun show to see than this one. For a small taste of the show on Friday click here. For a couple more extended examples click here and here.

A few things to note…

1. They played another new song. This is the second new song I’ve heard at one of their shows, and makes me excited about their next album! This one is called Clockwork, and can be heard here.

2. They did NOT play my favorite song of theirs, Picture, which really bummed me out. The only disappointment of the night, but I soon got over it because they rocked my face off.

3. I got to walk from the restaurant to the venue while chatting with Paul Meany before the show. And afterwards Darren King came out to hang with the fans, and I got to shake his very talented hand. Both very nice guys!

Overall it was a great night. I’d like to take this time however to recommend that you not see Eisley in concert. Such a disappointment! At one point in the middle of a song she said she forgot the words. How lame is that?

Filed under: Concerts, Music, Mute Math

It’s Official

I’m a maniac! I just purchased tickets to my THIRD Mute Math show today. Not third all time, but third this year. Thank you Mike Jacobs for your confirmation, I now have a definite concert partner. I still do have a bunch of probables—Chris, Jason, Kasey, Blake, Tommy—but Mike was definite, and we have tickets in hand!

So on Friday, October 12 @ 7pm I’ll be getting jiggy with it at The Intersection in Grand Rapids. Care to join us?

Filed under: Concerts, Eisley, Music, Mute Math

Concert < CD?

I have to ask.

Jason is balking at going to another Mute Math concert with me this October. His reasoning is that he’s already seen them in concert recently.

So here’s my question. What’s the difference between seeing a band in concert multiple times and listening to an album multiple times? Wouldn’t it stand to reason that seeing the songs performed live is far superior?

Filed under: Concerts, Live Music, Mute Math, Questions

Spirit Song Wrap-up

We made our second trip down to Kings Island for the Spirit Song Festival and it was great once again.

For starters, I whole-heartedly recommend camping at Cedarbrook Campground. It’s a family run business and it’s so nice, and clean, and quiet, and only 15 minutes away from the park.

Secondly, I’d like to recommend you get a locker at an amusement park or water park rather than leave your stuff off to the side. We were reminded this weekend that people still feel the need to steal things. Major props to the Kings Island staff for helping us out in that situation. (By the way, I hope the thief enjoys the bra’s and kids shoes he got when he thought he was getting wallets and cameras. Nimrod.)

Finally, the music. I realized this weekend that I need to space out some of my concerts. For at least three of these artists, this was my third time seeing them in a year. I knew their setlist and I knew their jokes, so there weren’t any real surprises. Regardless, the music was still great. Here’s a breakdown of the concerts I caught.

BarlowGirl – One of the bands I circled as a must-see because I’ve never seen them before. Stellar. There is something very cool about three sisters rocking like that. Here’s a video of my favorite song of theirs.

Jeremy Camp – Second time seeing Jeremy. Outstanding as well. I came out of that one saying to myself that I really need to listen to his albums more often.

Jackson Waters – A band I had never heard of before, but I checked out their myspace page and liked what I heard so I made a point to see them live. Here’s the deal, I’ll be buying their album very soon.

Hawk Nelson – These guys reminded me once again why I love Canadians. If you’ve never seen Hawk Nelson live, you’re missing out. They probably have more teenage appeal (they reminded me a lot of Family Force Five in concert), but they were hilarious and the music was fun.

David Crowder Band – Nothing new to report here. David being David. He did break out his new Guitar Hero guitar again, and we were undignified, and sung like we were saved. I’d still see them again tomorrow if given the opportunity. I will say that it was sweet to see my boy singing the lyrics to most of his songs.

NewsBoys – Every time I see these guys I am impressed with their professionalism. They pay attention to every single detail. The lead singer quoted some scripture in-between songs which is now my new favorite scripture, and my new life mantra. (See post below).

TobyMac – Tons of fun here. You can’t help but sing along, and your body starts twitching. And that’s a good thing.

Casting Crowns – These guys are really tight as a group. I wasn’t aware that they had a new album coming out soon. The story behind the album title is awesome and something we all deal with. I took more from that story than I did from their music. Good stuff.

We really enjoyed the company too. Big thanks to Tim, Adele, Lizzie, Amy, Pete, and Haley for making this weekend a blast! Let’s do it again next year!

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UPDATE 1: Forgot to mention that we were able to stop by and grab some Sonic twice on this trip. Mmmmmmmmmmmm…..

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UPDATE 2: By the small chance the people that book the entertainment for the Spirit Song festival are reading this post, here are some artists that I would LOVE to see next year: Aaron Shust, The Afters, Audio Adrenaline, Family Force 5, Hillsong, Hyper Static Union, Lifehouse, Mat Kearny, MercyMe, Shawn McDonald, Switchfoot, Third Day.

Filed under: Camping, Concerts, Kings Island, Sonic Drive-In

Crowder Review

So a bunch of us went up to Northridge last night to see some David Crowder Band. I did some quick counting and that was the 4th time I’ve seen them in 2 years, and I plan on seeing them again in two weeks. However this is the first time I’ve seen them when they weren’t a part of something bigger—like a festival, or opening for someone else. It was just the band left to themselves to fill up a big stage.

And it was weird. Maybe it was because the stage was huge and they didn’t have a lot of stuff. Maybe it was because they were new to this solo gig stuff. Maybe it was because they were breaking in a new guitarist. Who knows, I just had a weird feeling all night.

That’s not to say it was bad by any stretch. No sir. They played my all time favorite Crowder song (Oh The Glory of It All), they played some Wholly Yours, they played some Sunsets and Sushi versions of songs, they dazzled with a Come Thou Fount / Amazing Grace medley, and they played a new song off their Remedy album (video below). Oh, and David introduced us to a new guitar of his. Very fun stuff! Always a must see show!

Since this is turning into a very long post already, I’ll mention some more weirdness from last night. About 4 songs in, David started talking about the banjo, and Texas, and figuring out where in Michigan he was on his hand, and the crowd was getting really ramped up. This is the time that a couple decided to walk up to the stage and summon David. Noticeably taken back, David walked over and listened to what they had to say. It turns out that these people were at the beach that day and somebody with them had almost drowned. They said that he went without breathing for a full 30 minutes and has a faint pulse, and they asked if the band could pray for him. His name is Scott. So David said…”um OK.” And he prayed. Then he said, maybe we’ll wait a bit to play the banjo.

It was a very odd sequence of events to be sure. David handled everything perfectly, but I wonder if things would have been different had that not happened. Anyway, enjoy the video below of some newness. Please excuse the audio hiccup there in the middle. I hate recording stuff and not enjoying the moment.

Filed under: Concerts, David Crowder, Music, Northridge

FREE Concert

» myspace.com/renovaudiomusic
» myspace.com/jeremyblaska
» comeinunity.org

Filed under: Community, Concerts, Jeremy Blaska, NewSong, Renovaudio

Was Ist Das?

Would now be a good time to mention that I just booked a flight to Dallas to celebrate Cinco De Mayo in style with my boy Brandon…and, uh, another Mute Math show?

Filed under: Cinco de Mayo, Concerts, Mute Math