Reel Big Recap

I may have mentioned this last week, but the first time I saw Reel Big Fish was November 2000. I was 18 years old and super pumped to see my favorite band in concert. My then-girlfriend and I got to the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach two hours before the doors even opened.

We were among the first in line. When the doors opened, we sprinted to the front and lined up right up against the stage. Catch 22 played, but I don't remember the other two bands.

Anyway, being right up against the stage meant I was constantly on the edge of the mosh pit, which I've always thought was funny at ska shows, but they're there nonetheless. I didn't find it quite as moronic when I was a moronic 18-year-old.

I am less enthused about them now, which is just another way of saying, "I'm getting too old for this shit." If you've never been to the 9:30 Club, the lower level is open, and the second level has a balcony around the sides and the back. With smallish venues, you don't need to be super close to get a nice view of the stage.

So when the doors opened I ran upstairs and got a spot directly in the center of the balcony. All of that is to say I was close enough to see everything I wanted to see, but too far away for acceptable pictures since I was taking them with my Blackberry. I did take a few video clips with it, and they turned out surprisingly OK, but they're short because my battery kept threatening to die.

What can you do.

Anyway. This was my 10th Reel Big Fish show (twice in DC, twice in Charlotte, twice in Atlanta, twice in Norfolk, once in Winston-Salem and once in Myrtle Beach), and I'd say it easily ranks as the best one I've seen. They played a solid mix of all of my favorites, including some songs I hadn't heard live in nine or 10 years.

RBF and Streetlight Manifesto were co-headlining this tour, which means they were alternating who played last at each stop. I got lucky here because RBF played last, and they played for a solid hour and 45 minutes.

The new guy is Matt Appleton, a sax player who was in Goldfinger previously. I have to say, he nails the newly departed Scott's vocal harmonies perfectly, but the show just isn't the same without the witty banter between Scott and Aaron. Aaron still jokes with Dan (the only other guy on stage who's been in the band for longer than five years at this point) and a couple other guys, and it's still funny. But you know. Scott was always my favorite.

Still, great show. Thanks to my brother, Matthew P., for serving as my notepad during the show. I BBMed him the setlist as they played so I would have it for later, as well as a few notes I didn't want to forget. He wanted to be there anyway, so it was a nice way for him to live vicariously through my BBMs.

They opened with "Everything Sucks," which is such a great song to open the show. It's immediately clear what song it is when the drummer hits the opening tom shots, so the crowd goes crazy. And then the horns kick in. Really gets everyone jumping. They played "Sell Out," "Beer" and "Take on Me" as the encore songs. So, so good.

A few notes about the videos I managed to get: first, I am relieved you cannot hear me singing on them. Because I most certainly was singing as loudly as I can. Like you do. Second, sorry if they're a little bouncy because I was also dancing while I was recording. Of course I was. I think I did a pretty good job making sure it stayed at least a little steady.

And third, sorry the clips are so short. The battery was running dangerously low, and I didn't want to record too terribly long. And also, I wanted to stop recording so I could go back to singing and dancing. So there's that.

Here's the set list (with videos embedded when I have them):

Everything Sucks
Trendy
The Kids Don't Like It
In the Pit
Ban the Tube Top
Down in Flames
Why Do All Girls Think They're Fat
She Has a Girlfriend Now
Good Thing
Your Guts (I Hate 'em)
Slow Down
Brown Eyed Girl



Where Have You Been
Cannibal
Join the Club
Say "Ten"
The Set Up
Sayonara Senorita
SR (regular, punk, disco, country, metal)
Another FU Song
Sell Out



Beer



Take on Me



So there you go! It was just an awesome, awesome show. I think the whole ska thing really appeals to the inner band geek in me -- especially the live shows. When that wall of brass horn sound hits you at a show and they start hitting their high notes...whew. Gives me the chills man. It's just so hard not to dance around and have a good time. Love it.

Some other notes! Before they played "Brown Eyed Girl," Aaron had a little schtick for the crowd. "If you've been to a Reel Big Fish show before, you know we have many, many, many, many, many, many hit songs...(pause, crowd screams)...hold your applause...that we cover." Hey oh.

After they played "Why Do All Girls Think They're Fat," which I'm happy to say I recommended to you last week, Aaron explained, "that song was recorded on our very first record 'Everything Sucks' and then again on the 'Everything Sucks' major label issue, and then again on the 'Keep Your Receipt' EP and then again a couple other places and then we rerecorded it for our 2007 record "Monkeys for Nothing and the Chimps for Free," so I can understand why you might have a hard time finding that one."

"These are the jokes, kids."

So yeah. The 9:30 Club had signs up asking departing concert-goers to be respectful of the neighborhood and try to keep it down. And yet, the club was playing "Sweet Caroline" as we were leaving. Now, you can disagree about whether or not the song is any good, but you cannot disagree that it's a song people will sing and sing loudly.

So I thought that was an interesting decision -- asking people to try to be quiet as they played "Sweet Caroline." I don't make the decisions.

Excellent day all around. I'll probably only post today and Thursday this week. I know you're heartbroken. Crazy week keeps on truckin'.

LET'S GO!

-BG

LET'S GO

I am on the cusp of good news. I can feel it. It's coming. Too much is going right for me right now for this not to come through.

First of all, I've weighed in two days in a row now at 195 pounds. Progress, my friends! That's 32 pounds down with 15 to 20 more to go. God I feel so good. I just can't even begin to express it.

Do me a favor and go to my Facebook page. First, stalk a few of my photos. Specifically, look at the ones from Christmas where I'm wearing my kick-ass abominable snowman shirt. And look at my Halloween photo where I'm dressed in a Yankees uniform.

Now, look at my latest profile picture, which was taken after a softball game this past Tuesday night. That's the first new picture I've seen of myself in a couple months. What a difference!! Jesus. Look how small I look! Wow.

I'd say I don't mean to brag, but I absolutely do mean to brag. Seeing visual evidence of progress is like a shot of pure adrenaline. All I want to do is kick even MORE ass now. Still work to do. Like I just said, I've got at least 15 or 20 more pounds to lose, and I really can't wait to get there. I feel so good. Wow.

What else is going on?

Well, tonight is the end-of-season party for our softball league where they'll announce the tournament seeds and pairings. Plus, it's $25 all you can eat/drink. Sold! Man, I hate that our season is already over. It went by so fast.

We have our league-wide tournament next weekend, but then we just have to wait for the next season to start. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm going to play flag football for the N.C. State team, too, and so are quite a few of the softball folks. But man I love me some softball haha.

Flag football will be pretty great, though. I've heard the State team has been around for a while and is actually quite good. Like I mentioned last week, I think a lot of our softball team's problems came because we had no continuity from last year. There was no team last year. I think we'll be much better next year now that we have a really great group of people to work with.

But the flag football team has been around for quite a few years and apparently regularly competes for the league title. That'll be fun.

And then Sunday is going to be fantastic. First, I'll be heading to Nats Park at noon for some pre-game pre-gaming, and then a 1:35 game against the Mets. Katie from softball decided she wanted to have a "Sunday Funday for No Good Reason." Well, I can get behind that. So I'll be heading down there with Katie and, like, 17 of her friends haha.

We'll buy the cheap $5 tickets and then just hang out at the huge bar in the outfield. LET'S GO!

Man I love going to Nats games. Plus! I'll get to see Jordan Zimmermann pitch. He's a really great young pitcher who sometimes gets lost in the Strasburgmania going on here. Zimmermann is legit though. In the next few years, if Strasburg can come back successfully and Zimmermann stays healthy, a 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation of Strasburg-Zimmermann will be pretty stout, man. Not bad at all.

The main event of the weekend, though, is 6:30 p.m. at the 9:30 Club downtown. REEL BIG FISH!! They are so much fun to see live. So much energy, such a great stage presence. Fun songs you can dance to, and since I know all the lyrics to all the songs, I will undoubtedly be screaming along, like you do.

I just can't wait haha. It's going to be a really great weekend.

Now, the impending good news about which I am extremely hopeful is I've advanced to the next stage with the company from last week. If you'll recall, I had a job interview last Monday, and they contacted me yesterday to invite me back for some more interviews and a writing test. Man, let's go.

So there you go. Almost everything is going right for me at the moment. If I can get this one more thing to go right -- wow. Jubilation.

The energy has been uncomfortably bottled up for more than four months now -- since I narrowly missed out after being a finalist for another position. I have to say, there's a chance I just spontaneously combust if/when I get the good news for which I'm hoping.

Bottom line: I feel good, man. Really good. Life is good. Good news is coming. I can feel it.

-BG

Reel Big Fish!

If you know me at all, you know my favorite band is Reel Big Fish. Even if you don't know me very well, there's a really great chance you at least know about my affinity for RBF.

It dates back to my sophomore year of high school. Their song "Sell Out" had just hit it relatively big, and cracked the charts around the country. I, like literally dozens of others, bought their CD "Turn the Radio Off" because of that song.

I believe it was spring break of my junior year, and my family was driving to New Jersey. Back in the time before iPods, you actually had to bring these things called "portable CD players" with you in the car. And you actually had to bring a wallet full of CDs! CRAZY, RIGHT?!

Well I did. Charlotte to NJ is a solid drive, so I actually listened to the full "Turn the Radio Off" CD for the first time on that trip. I was hooked. I've purchased every release; I've seen them in concert nine times in five different cities. I'm a fan, you could say.

Which brings me to the point of today's post: Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto are playing the 9:30 Club in DC on Sunday night!

I can't NOT go, right?

So! I actually run into this a lot, but a lot of people either have never heard of RBF, or they've forgotten they knew that song once upon a time.

With that in mind, here's a primer of some of my favorite songs by both bands for the half dozens of people who read this blog who may go to a show on this tour.

Now, this is the 20th-anniversary tour for RBF, so they've said they're breaking out a lot of songs they don't typically play on tour, which is good news for people like me, who celebrate the entire catalog. Still, there are a few songs that will almost certainly be played.

"Take on Me"

Yes, this is a cover of the 1980s A-ha classic. But it's fantastic! They've taken to closing their shows lately with this song, which suits me just fine. Huge fan, obviously haha. This is seriously one of my favorite songs. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, this song was the reason I wanted to learn to play the guitar.

It's also one of my absolute favorites to play along to on the drums. It's a workout! Plus, I love the off-beat hi-hat hits that start the song. Winner.

And yes, I do know of that scene from Corky Romano, and yes, I do sing the falsetto parts of this song flawlessly. I am unashamed. Bring it.



"Sell Out"

This is their big hit. If you know Reel Big Fish, this is the song you've likely heard. They used to close their shows with this one, obviously, since it was their "hit." But they've actually opened the show with it the last couple of times I've seen them. It's still a great song, but I don't think it'd make my Top 5 or even Top 10 for RBF songs.



"She Has a Girlfriend Now"

There is a small chance you may have heard this song. It's a fun song, and among people who have only casually listened to RBF, it generally comes up as one they like. Based on a true story too! Aaron the Lead Singer had a girlfriend who left him for another girl -- pretty self-explanatory, actually. Catchy song, upbeat melodies, fun lyrics. Recipe for fun. I've seen them pull girls up from the crowd to help them sing if they don't have a female singer with them on the tour, too. Good times.



"Beer"

Among RBF fans, this generally comes up as the favorite song. Erik loved this song. A lot. Every time he rode in my car he would ask me to play this song haha. It's a winner, though, so I understand. Another really fun song to play along to on the drums. It's fast; it moves; fun drum fills.



"Why Do All Girls Think They're Fat"

This is a favorite of mine from a bit deeper in the RBF catalog. It's actually a pretty old song, with the first version appearing on an album in the mid-90s I believe. It was re-recorded for the album the band released in 2007.

As with most of their songs, it's just a lot of fun, and it's easy to get up and dance to it.



Now, Streetlight Manifesto is co-headlining this tour with RBF, so I'm not sure who's closing the show on Sunday night. Streetlight Manifesto features Tomas Kalnoky, who was the lead singer of another popular ska band, Catch 22. So if you hear songs by SM that sound a lot like Catch 22, it's because SM has a few former members of Catch 22.

And they also re-recorded one of Catch 22's more popular albums (their debut album, Keasbey Nights), which featured Kalnoky singing in that band, obviously.

I've seen SM twice before, and Catch 22 was actually playing on the same bill as RBF the very first time I saw them 11 years ago. I got to the show two hours early and was standing right up against the stage. I caught a drumstick from the Catch 22 drummer, and this weird guy next to me kept asking me for it.

Buddy, if you wanted it, you should have caught it like I did. So I put it down my pants. Like you do.

"Somewhere in the Between"

Man, I just really like this song. It doesn't matter how often I hear it. Just listen to it. You'll like it. Promise.



"Point/Counterpoint"

They sing the chorus so fast in this one! Ha. But really, they do sing it pretty fast, and I'm a fan. This was the first song of theirs I discovered. I generally look up the bands that play with RBF beforehand so I'm at least a little familiar with them. I happened to download this one first, and that's that.



"The Blonde Lead the Blind"

I really like the drummer in this band, and I like the way he plays the intro to this one. And, well, the rest of the song, too. So there you go. It's also a horn party. Good times.



So there you go. You're ready for the RBF/SM show this weekend. Now you just need to get your asses to DC and come with me!

-BG

...well then we're shit out of luck.

Time for a music post! I don't know why, but I really love these music posts. Anyway, here are five songs I feel like writing about right now...haha. Oh, and if you count my embarrassing obsession with that Keri Hilson song two posts down, then that's six songs. Anyway.

Stu's tiger song from The Hangover

Yes, that's right. I totally loved this movie -- one of those rare times when I have HUGE expectations for a movie and it delivers. This song was one of my favorite moments. It's funny and catchy, and then he gets to the last line, and it just hit me like a ton of bricks. I lost it. I can't watch this clip and NOT giggle like a little girl. But if he's been murdered by crystal meth tweeeaaakers...well then we're shit out of luck.

I can't embed the song, so click here for the YouTube clip!

Muse - "Knights of Cydonia"

The first time I heard this song was on Guitar Hero, actually, haha. It came on, and I was unimpressed at first. The intro is kinda cool, but it's almost two minutes long. Then the driving drum beat kicked in. Fuck. Yes. This song EASILY made the cut onto my half-marathon list. Here's a live version of it because it still sounds awesome. If this doesn't get you pumped up, you have no soul.



Lady Gaga - "Bad Romance"

Yeah, I know. I don't really want to talk about it too much. I absolutely hated this song when I first heard it. But that damn "gaga ooh la la" shit grows roots and plants itself on your brain until you just give in. Please, let's just move on.



Weezer - "(If You're Wondering if I Want You to) I Want You To"

So here's the deal with Weezer. The Blue Album and Pinkteron are two of my favorite albums I own. I can listen to them front to back, never skip a song and LOVE them just as much each time. Because of this, I get sucked into every new Weezer album that comes out. Make Believe, the Red Album and, now, Raditude. While Raditude has the best album cover I've ever seen, *sigh, the rest of it...just, yikes.

This song, I mean, I like it. Don't get me wrong. It's catchy. It's fun. But I'm afraid it stands out so much because the other songs were so...*sigh...so not very good. So yeah. This is the only song on the entire album I can see myself listening to with any regularity at all.

Plus, it really makes me want to play the drums for some reason. Any song that elicits that feeling usually scores pretty high with me.



Reel Big Fish - "Boys Don't Cry"

Well you know how much I love Reel Big Fish. And I'm crazy about some cover songs. This song was originally done by The Cure in the 80s. Fun song. Then RBF took it, added horns and sped it up quite a bit. Love it. Here's a live version from 1997. Good stuff.

I'll be your whatever you want

A few songs I'm into right now:

"Cannonball" by The Breeders

The Breeders were formed by Kim Deal (bassist from the Pixies), and this is the song they're probably most-known-for in mainstream rock. Killer bass riff.



"Say It Ain't So" by Weezer

This song really needs no introduction. If you don't like this song, you're doing it wrong.



"Little Willy" by Sweet

I have absolutely no idea why this song entertains me so much. Anne said it sounds like it's from Barney and Friends or something. Well, shit. All I know is it's catchy as hell. Gotta love the ridiculous 70s outfits too.



"Somewhere in the Between" by Streetlight Manifesto

If this sounds like Catch 22 to you, that's because the lead singer of SM is Tomas Kalnoky, the guy who provided the distinctive vocals of what I consider to be Catch 22's glory days. In fact, if you're so inclined, you can check out SM's version of the album "Keasbey Nights," which is almost an exact reproduction of the kick-ass album of the same name by Catch 22 (back when Kalnoky was still with the band). Anyway, this song is great. Epic ska song.



"In My Life" by The Beatles

Without a doubt, my favorite Beatles' song. This song hit me hard when my grandfather died back in October 2000. It was the only song I cared to listen to for approximately two or three weeks surrounding the funeral. It's been almost a decade now, and time does wonders for the cooling and calming of emotions. But playing this song still takes me back to the long ride in the limo from my grandparents' condo to the synagogue and, eventually, to the cemetery. I still love the song. I was exceedingly pleased with myself about four years ago when I figured out I could play the basics of this song on the guitar. So good.



"Take on Me" by Reel Big Fish

Because a music post where I don't mention Reel Big Fish is just incomplete. This is one of my favorite songs they play, and here's a live video showing exactly why I love this band so much. Take the energy they play with in this song and multiply that by two hours, and that's a live RBF show. There's a reason I've seen these guys live eight times. Love the off-beat hi-hat to start the song -- this is also one of my favorite songs to play on my drums.



Well, I think that's a diverse-enough collection of music for now. Go forth and love these songs as I do.

-BG