03/07/2008 The Dreaming, Shelflyfe (Rochester, NY @ The Club At Water Street)

By Eric | March 7, 2008 11:59 pm

This one started later than usual (10pm doors for a 10:30 start), and I walked in just as Shelflyfe was getting ready to go on. They’re a local band, and they weren’t too bad, a four piece rock band that uses a sampler, and uses it well. The songs were kinda catchy, but the singer had a cold, so between that and how low he was in the mix, it was hard to hear him. The rest of the band sounded pretty decent though.

But the whole reason for going was The Dreaming. They’re a five-piece techno-tinged rock band that could be described as what lead singer Chris Hall did after Stabbing Westward. Which should tell you what they sound like. They also feature drummer Johnny Haro (Econoline Crush) and guitarist Carlton (Deadsy). The band has actually been around for awhile, but finally got a full-length CD out at the beginning of the year. After setting up their own stuff, they kicked right into things, and over the course of the night, played just about everything off the album, and for an encore, did a cover of Stabbing Westward’s “Save Yourself”. Not that I had any doubt, but the band sounded excellent, Chris’ singing was right on, powerful, and the band was into the show, as was the majority of the crowd. And for $10, it was a bargain.

There were about 100-150 people there, and a good number were at least familiar with the band, if not all the songs. At the risk of sounding old, it was quite humorous to see the younger kids right at the front that had never heard “Save Yourself”, while all the older people (there were more of us, for sure) rocked out. Chris Hall was a pretty chatty frontman for someone that sounds so depressed in his music! He was cracking jokes and talking with the crowd all night, posing for pictures and the like. I picked up a CD and got an autograph from Johnny, and called it a night.

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NIN sees Ghosts

By Eric | March 3, 2008 9:49 pm

Finally, the new Nine Inch Nails album, Ghosts I-IV was up for purchase and legitimate download last night, and I grabbed it this morning. It’s a double-disc of 36 instrumental tracks, broken up into Ghosts I through Ghosts IV. As an incentive to sample the album, Trent made Ghosts I (the first 9 tracks) available for free. As in, he seeded those 9 tracks on The Pirate Bay himself. It could be bought physically in one of a couple different configurations (I went with the cheapo 2CD digipak for $10 plus shipping), or simply downloaded in either FLAC or 320k MP3’s for $5. If you bought one of the physical copies (which don’t get shipped to people or to stores until April), you get a download code for all 36 tracks, for free, immediately. If you can get the server to talk to you. Which I couldn’t. (The traffic to the site was unbelievable.) Or, you can do what I (and many others did), which was go to The Pirate Bay, and download the psuedo-legal 36 track torrent. Either way, they’re mp3’s I actually paid for, and the results, if you like NIN, are quite good. Imagine the instrumental tracks on Downward, The Fragile, Still, and Year Zero, and that’s the vein these are in. Cool stuff, innovative distribution, and since he’s not signed to a major label anymore, he can do pretty much whatever the hell he wants with his music going forward. Should be interesting to see how far this goes.

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The World’s Greatest Music Collection

By Eric | February 19, 2008 11:22 am

I need to bolster my collection a bit, so I think I’m going to put a bid in…. anyone want to help?

The World’s Greatest Music Collection

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02/16/2008 Will Hoge, Dawn Landes (Buffalo, NY @ The Tralf)

By Eric | February 16, 2008 11:59 pm

(Jason Isbell was also on the bill, but we didn’t stay for him.)

Tiffany was giddy with anticipation for this one, since this show was at the Tralf, we’d be a lot closer than we were in Ithaca, and with what we assumed (correctly) would be a more respectful crowd. We got inside and found a table pretty much front and center to the stage, and after a snack and some refreshments, Dawn Landes and her band started. I’m sure she’s very talented, and good at what she does, but folk/indie rock is just not for me. However, her half hour set was entertaining and engaging, and we certainly enjoyed it. But we were here for one reason only, and that was Will Hoge. He and the band appeared on stage right at 9pm, and launched into “These Were The Days” to warm approval from the crowd. They slowed it down a touch with “Someone Else’s Baby”, and from there my order is not entirely correct, but a string of up-tempo numbers followed, including “Rock ‘N Roll Star” (which I hadn’t seen live yet!), and then “Wait Till Your Daddy Gets Home”, which featured an extended jam session in the middle that was just incredible. I think “Secondhand Heart” was next, which prompted some of the more inebriated members of the audience to get up and start dancing. Right in front of us, but hey, we could still see, and they were showing Will way more love than the Ithaca crowd did. They decided to keep everyone up and moving with “Sex, Lies and Money” before slowing down to “I’m Sorry Now”. He pretty much had the crowd in his hands by this point, and the band finished strong with “The Highway’s Home”, “Midnight Parade”, and if I’m not mistaken, the closer was “July Moon”. There was a very enthusiastic response from most everyone in attendance, which was great to see. After the stage was torn down, Will and guitar player Adam Fluhrer came back to the merch booth and we chatted with them for a minute or two, thanking them for coming back to Buffalo, and Tiff mentioned to Will that she saw him in this venue roughly four years ago, acoustic with Edwin McCain, to which Will exclaimed “Ya know, I had totally forgotten about that until we walked in today, and I was like ‘I’ve played here before!!'” So they mutually got a kick out of that story, and we said goodbye and thanks again before bouncing back to Rochester. A much better crowd experience this time around!!

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Two Years In The House, and More Concerts

By Eric | February 15, 2008 3:59 pm

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since we’ve been in the house. Sometimes it feels way longer, but mostly it’s like, “where did two years go?” I’m not really sure. It’s kinda like asking, where did 28 years go, because that’s coming up in a week’s time too. We’ll be celebrating that at HSBC arena though, at the Sabres/Lightning game. Should be a good one, both teams are playing pretty decent as of late.

We have the Will Hoge show this weekend, and then the parentals are coming up on Sunday for birthday fun, so we’re looking forward to that. Then event/concert silly season heats up for me, as there’s a bunch of stuff that I’m either going to, or I’m on the fence about. Observe:

Sat 2/16 – Will Hoge @ The Tralf
Wed 2/20 – Lightning @ Sabres
Sun 2/24 – Tesla @ Club Infinity – $32 (most likely going)
Thu 3/6 – The Dreaming @ The Haunt (most likely NOT)
Fri 3/7 – The Dreaming @ Water St – $10 (most likely going, its the former lead singer of Stabbing Westward, former drummer of SW and Econoline Crush)
Thu 3/13 – Mike Doughty @ German House (have tickets, going with Matt)
Fri 3/14 – Sun 3/16 – Atlantic Hockey Champs (have tickets, RIT better make it!)
Sat 3/15 – Chevelle/F11 @ Water St – $28 (most likely NOT going)
Fri 3/21 – Matt Good @ Water St – $17 (already saw him once, but I may go again)
Wed 3/26 – Hatebreed @ Water St – $25 (probably will)
Fri 3/28 – Raine Maida @ Town Ballroom – $30 (on the fence, would like to, but $30 is kinda steep)
Sat 3/29 – Matt Good @ Club Infinity – $29 (not likely, esp. if I do go to Water Street)
Wed 4/9 – The Dreaming @ Infinity (probably not, unless the Water St. show is the best show I’ve ever seen, EVER)
Sat 4/12 – Bandits @ KHawks (have tickets)
Sun 8/3 – Rockstar Mayhem @ Darien Lake (waiting for this to go on sale, Slipknot, Disturbed, Sevendust, 36 Crazyfists, etc, etc)

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I Tweaked The CD Pages… Again.

By Eric | February 8, 2008 5:10 pm

I’m not sure if anyone even actually looks at them, but I’ve remade all of the entries for the CD collection, so that it’s completely in line with the Readerware database I have. At this count, we’re up to 993 CD’s, only seven more until 1000! But anyway, all the album covers are there, there’s tracklistings, and of course, my opinions falling on deaf ears.

Naturally, I’m still pondering some kind of convergence between databases for the CDs and the MP3 collection, with all kinds of searchable goodness. That’s gonna take forever, and probably won’t ever happen. But let the little geek dream.

Off the dork topics, it’s nice to see that the Sabres are finally playing well again. We’ll see how they fare against Boston tonight. I love the fact that they’re keeping Pat Kaleta up with the big club, and I love how, much like a frat boy at Mardi Gras, he’ll hit anything that moves. Keep it up PK!

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02/05/2008 Eric Hutchinson, Jared Campbell (Rochester, NY @ High Fidelity)

By Eric | February 5, 2008 11:59 pm

Thanks to Matt alerting us to this show two days before it happened, how I was asleep at the wheel I’ll never know! Anyway, Tiff and I headed down to what used to be Milestones to check out two singer-songwriters that’d we seen before at different times. The opener, Jared Campbell, we saw back in 2003 in Harrisburg opening for Sister Hazel, and at that point he did a lot of covers and jokey kinda-stuff. Not so much anymore! He’s definitely come into his own as a songwriter and a performer, and his original music is quite good. As he played this show acoustically, by himself, the songs are in the pop/indie/light rock vein, but he’s got some groove to go with it. He certainly had the small but faithful crowd (probably 75-100 people) with him by the end of the set. After his 45 minutes were up, it was time for Hutch! He invited everyone to get closer to the stage, and opened by himself on keyboards with “You’ve Got You”. After this, he introduced his drummer and bass player, and continued on with “Food Chain”. After this, I don’t remember the order, but they played everything off of “Sounds Like This”, plus “Breakdown More”, and a mashup cover of “My Girl” spliced with R. Kelly’s “Ignition”, and then he encouraged all of us to try and decipher the words to UB40’s “Red Red Wine”. The “encore” consisted of “Rock and Roll” and “OK, It’s Alright With Me”. Eric was interacting with the crowd in his deadpan way all night, alternating between the keyboard and his acoustic guitar, sometimes with the band, sometimes without. The highlight of his set was a rollicking take on “You Don’t Have To Believe Me”, which the crowd ate up. There were certainly more than a couple of Hutchheads in the audience, which made for an even better evening.

After the show, we picked up the three Jared Campbell CD’s, and had him sign them for us. We mentioned that we saw him open for Sister Hazel back in ’03, and after being surprised we were at that show, he relayed a story about how he was really excited to meet and be opening for Hazel, and how he received some encouraging words from lead singer Ken Block. We also caught up with Hutch, thanked him for coming to Rochester, and said we wanted to see him up here again. We had a great time at the show and look forward to seeing these guys again.

Eric Hutchinson – Rock and Roll

Eric Hutchinson – Back To Where I Was

Eric Hutchinson – Outside Villanova

Eric Hutchinson – Breakdown More (clip)

Eric Hutchinson – Oh! (clip)

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01/31/2008 Killswitch Engage, Every Time I Die, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Parkway Drive (Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall)

By Eric | January 31, 2008 11:59 pm

My first show of the new year! Adam and I got to Water St. around 7:30, expecting to walk right in (doors were supposedly 6:30), but we ended up waiting outside for about 15 minutes. What’s up with that?!?! We got in as the stage was being set up for Dillinger Escape Plan, listening to Parkway Drive (sorta) from outside. Dillinger’s set was okay, but it seemed to me that the songs don’t really have a hell of a lot of structure or direction. No real melody either. I’m sure for those that are into it, they were great, and they seemed to have a lot of energy up on the stage, but it’s not for me. Next up were my _real_ hometown boys, Every Time I Die. All of the guys are from North Tonawanda, and guitarist Andy Williams was actually in my graduating class in high school (I didn’t really know him though, so no rock star connection there!). Regardless, their set and music was what I think Dillinger was going for, but missed. ETID had the crowd going nuts, and put on a really great show. I’m only kinda familiar with the songs, but I certainly enjoyed watching them. They looked like they were having a blast up there themselves, and it made for a fast paced 40 minute set. Adam and I were on the edge of the pit when their set started, and naturally the floorpunchers and spin-kick artists were in attendance. Some unfortunate girl was on the wrong end of an elbow or an arm, and was holding her head in her hands trying to get out of the pit. I was closest, so being the benevolent concert attendee I am, I swung her around out of the pit so she didn’t get clocked again. Adam and I retreated to the bar for the rest of the ETID set, and then returned to our original spot when they were done. As we returned, the girl I pulled out of the pit came back and actually thanked me for doing so! I thought that was pretty cool, and then a couple minutes later, for my ego trip of the night, she came back again and wanted to know if I was single and could she get my number! Alas, all she got was a look at the wedding ring, but hey, I’m flattered. (Of course, Tiff said “Yeah, she only hit on you because she was still woozy from the blow to the head!”).

All this aside, time for Killswitch!! They came out to the Price Is Right theme song, with each band member being implored to “Come On Down!”. Typical goofy KsE! They opened with Daylight Dies, followed by Unbroken. The crowd was into it immediately, much more so than the Niagara Falls show last year. In fact, this whole show was better this time around. The set continued with Take This Oath and Arms Of Sorrow, with various Adam D rants in-between. Next was Breathe Life and my personal favorite, This Fire Burns. Rose of Sharyn, Still Beats Your Name, Fixation on the Darkness, and My Curse came next, with more banter. The set rocked on with Desperate Times, A Bid Farewell, This Is Absolution, and then the main set was closed out with The End Of Heartache. Adam and I took this opportunity before the encore to move up right into the thick of things on the floor, much closer to the stage. The boys came back out, and opened the encore with My Last Serenade. Then for the final number, the floor shook as everyone started jumping in unison to Holy Diver. A great end to a great set, a great show, and one hell of a lot of fun. Grasshopper Adam has learned well from the master, as he staked out the soundboard for the KsE setlist after the show, and was successful!

KsE – Price Is Right Intro / Daylight Dies

KsE – My Curse

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This Present Bargain

By Eric | January 26, 2008 4:44 pm

this present darknessSince Tiff headed out to Watkins Glen for the day for her cousin’s cheerleading competition, I was left to my own devices this morning/afternoon, and after running errands, I did what I do best, went used CD shopping. Today’s crown jewel comes courtesy of FYE at Eastview, where among the throngs of used CDs they had in the special section, I uncovered the CD to your left. An original copy of Chimaira’s first EP, “This Present Darkness”, which had a limited run in 2000, and naturally, is nowhere to be found now that the band is world famous. Except at FYE for $6.99. (Sorry suckers, of course it was the only one!!) Considering it goes on Ebay and record collector sites for about $30, I think I got a steal on this one!

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The Best Song Ever Made

By Eric | January 25, 2008 1:13 pm

While surfing Wikipedia, I came across the page for the T-Pain song “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” (don’t ask, just… don’t ask). This is generally unremarkable, except for the fact that due to the nature of Wikipedia, anyone can edit the pages to say anything they want, and unless someone catches it, funny, goofy, and just plain wrong information can sit there for awhile. Such as with this page. It just struck me as funny, and it’s been there since the 12th.

“In 2008, Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin’) won the Grammy for Best Song Ever Made, thus leading to the abolishment of both the Song and Record of the Year awards. T-Pain has since been granted the title “Pimp General of the Republic of Congo.””

I believe everything I read on the Intertubes!!!

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