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Showing posts from 2011

Repeat Song of the Week

As anyone who has ever lived with me (or studied with me)  (or taken a car trip with me) (or talked to me, really), I have a tendency to get really, really fixated on a thing and...beat it to death? From time to time, I'll be sharing my musical obsession of the week.  The only qualification will be that I have to have listened to it more than 30 times in the last seven days. This week's song of the week?  'Find My Way' by the Gabe Dixon Band.  I "discovered" Gabe Dixon via a Pandora station playing the song 'And the World Turned'.  I've purchased and listened to a couple of their albums but this week, this song is really hitting the spot. Enjoy!

I Asked You What You Wanted/ You Said You Wanted to be Alive

Who: moe. When: October 12, 2006 Where: Town Ballroom/ Buffalo, NY With: myself Of Note: The October Surprise moe. was playing two nights Town Ballroom in October 2006, Thursday & Friday the 12 & 13. This was my first fall after grad school and I was getting into the swing of "grown up" life. I was really excited that moe. was coming to town and bought tickets for both nights. Because I didn't know anyone that wanted to go, I just bought tickets for myself. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I'd done that - bought tickets to something just for me. I was apparently feeling all kinds of sassy and independent. Anyway, as anyone who lived in Buffalo at the time knows, that afternoon it started snowing. I remember coming in from lunch and talking about it with my then new co-workers. Mark said, "There is no way this is going to stick; it's just a flurry." When I got home, it was still snowing and definitely stickin

I Can't Keep Looking Backwards/ There's a Lot For Me to Learn

Who: the Sheepdogs with Monster Truck and Young Rivals When: December 11, 2011 Where: Lee's Palace/ Toronto, ON With: Hillary Of Note: "I just want to give up my life and go on tour!" Okay. So. The Sheepdogs. I love the Sheepdogs so much that I can't even really talk about it. They appeared on an episode of Project Runway, where the designers had to design looks for the members of the band. Instead of the traditional fashion show, the band played a mini concert to showcase the outfits. While they were playing, I turned to Steph and said, "Man, they're really good. I would totally listen to that." I went on to read about them and the the Rolling Stone contest (which is an awesome story), and bought their 'Learn & Burn' album which has ended up as one of my top 5 most played albums of 2011. (Side note: As a marketer, I really questioned their Project Runway appearance. As gritty, bearded, old school rockers, it seemed li

We Push and Pull/ And I Fall down Sometimes

Who: Mat Kearney with the Leagues When: November 11, 2011 Where: Town Ballroom/ Buffalo, NY With: Katie, Sara Of Note: my own personal dance party, Katie's Kearney obsession, discovering the Leagues From Remembering the Encores The internet is an amazing thing. Like really, how else would you be able to discover that people you went to high school with but haven't seen since you graduated moved three blocks away from you? So, thanks Mark Z., for creating a world where you can falsely feel like you're still "in touch" with people even though you're absolutely not. In any event, welcome to Buffalo Katie! I'm glad you're here. And, thank you for being cool with my whole, "We're gong to be friends now, 'kay?" schtick. When Katie asked me to go see Mat Kearney, I was more than happy to go along. Katie & Sara had a good laugh at my expense. I had bought my ticket online, labeled the envelope with the name of the

He Starts Me Up and Stops Me/ And Puts Me Into Bed

Who: Phish When: September 14, 2000 Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center/ Darien Center, NY With: Ben, and a bunch of other people Of Note: Philly cheeseys, the pouring rain, not finding my car for hours afterwards, my huge fight with Ben So, one of the questions everyone asks you when you go to college is if you're going to stay with your high school boyfriend. I remember running into some folks I graduated with a week or so before I moved to Buffalo and when they asked, I truthfully told them I didn't know. I'm not sure I made a conscious decision about the long-term implications of what it meant to stay together/do the long distance thing but, I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time? Anyway, as I said, before, Ben found Phish. Which means that I got into Phish. So, here's the thing about me and Phish. I like Phish for their great musicianship, their crazy lyrics and their songs. Yes, I like it when Phish sings songs, not so much when they

Breathe, Breath Deep for me James

Who: O.A.R with the Lost Trailers When: May 17, 2003 Where: The Tralf/ Buffalo, NY With: Matt, Andy, Pete Of Note: Pete getting stuck in the crawl space above the Hell House porch, standing right up against the stage, all my favorite songs in one night From Remembering the Encores Man, who didn't love O.A.R. in college?  Their story is relatable (they started by playing frat parties!), their tunes are infectious (you can't help but yell along to, "It's 3am and I want to go to be-e-ed!"), and they know where their bread is buttered (closing every concert ever with "Crazy Game of Poker").  Matt said that he, his brother & their buddy Pete were coming up to see O.A.R. play in Buffalo and invited me along.  I found some crash-space at the Hell House for them and it was quite the week-end. There was some drama with tickets, I think - Matt & Pete had them; Andy & I didn't?  It wasn't really a big deal; we went to the ticket

The Nights Just Like This/ Make Me Feel Like I'm Rich

Who: Chris Trapper with Kristin Cifelli When: October 28, 2011 Where: Ninth Ward/ Buffalo, NY With: Hillary Of Note: fun acoustic show! From Remembering the Encores My (new) friend Hillary is obsessed with Chris Trapper.  She is a super fan.  I can appreciate that, having some musical obsessions of my own.  She has talked about Chris a ton and when she said that he was coming to town and invited me along, I was more than happy to accompany her.  Especially because Hillary is fun, funny and super duper nice. I'd never been to Ninth Ward, but it's a beautiful performance space.  Ani DiFranco converted an old church; the building is stunning from the outside.  The concert was in the basement, a really chill and intimate venue for a concert. Kristin Cefelli opened.  Her voice...was incredible.  It has a really unique timbre with almost a haunting quality to it.  It was just her and her guitar, but she definitely filled the space.  The refrain of the first song she p

Fourteen Dollars/ Didn't Sleep So Well

Who: Al & The Transamericans When: September 4, 2003 Where: Nietzsche's/ Buffalo, NY With: Ben, Mike, Matt, Ryan (?), Ben's Southlake roommates (?) Of Note: essentially bluegrass moe. for $10, Mexico for Mike's 21st birthday From Remembering the Encores This day had not been a good day. The brakes on the Jeep were shot and making some sort of weird scraping sound and I did not have the money to fix it. But! Ben had rounded a bunch of us up to go to a concert at Nietzsche's. I wasn't sure what to expect because I think this was after we'd gone to see al.one, which, no disrespect to Mr. Schnier, but the electronic DJ thing did not do much for me. Ohmygoodness, was I in for a treat. Al & The Transamericans is a side project of a bunch of great musicians from other bands - Al, Vinnie & at the time Jim from moe.- who play fun, poppy bluegrass and do moe. songs! So, it was essentially like seeing moe. minus the half hour jams, plus a

Hey Baby, Hey Baby Yeah

Who: No Doubt When: April 12, 2002 Where: Alumni Arena, University at Buffalo; Amherst, NY With: the entire UB undergraduate population Of Note: the concert genie From Remembering the Encores Kiss98.5 has been a staple of my Buffalo life. Though we spent a fair amount of time in the dorms downloading music (legally at the time) and creating the perfect playlists in Napster, then WinAmp, then Windows Media Player (yes kids, there was a time before iTunes), when we dormed together sophomore year, Beth and I spent a fair amount of time listening to "your number one concert connection", Kiss98.5. (Later, we would go on to name our goldfish [who ended up dying of fish cancer, we're pretty sure] after some of the famed Kiss98.5 DJs. I would also spend a fair amount of time, energy, and social capital into getting an autographed picture of Janet Snyder and Nicholas Picholas for Beth. You could say we were maybe just a wee bit psychotic?) UB announced that t

Collect Your Things/ You're Coming With Me

Who: Dave Matthews Band with moe. When: June 20, 2003 Where: Darien Lake Performing Arts Center/ Darien Center, NY With: Beth, Cassandra Of Note: moe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDavemoe.andDave, the sacrifice of the duck blanket, the best damn hot dogs I have ever eaten, Beth's post-show adventure From Remembering the Encores Dave Matthews Band. Summer time. Big, outdoor concert venue. Long day of tailgating. Killer opening band. Boone's Farm. Hot dogs in a Solo cup. Intense sunburns. And the funniest story pretty much ever. This day will go down in history as one of the best days ever. Days like this are the reason so many people love concerts. So, being college girls in the early 2000s, we obviously loved Dave Matthews and were excited to get tickets for the summer tour, now a tradition. Because the only concert I had ever been to at Darien Lake at that point was Phish, I assumed all concerts at Darien were like Phish and you neede

Perfectly Lonely

Who: John Mayer with Michael Franti When: February 14, 2010 Where: Air Canada Centre/ Toronto ON With: Becky Of Note: the fact that John Mayer was cracked out beyond belief from start to finish It is my prerogative as a female to love John Mayer. It would also be my prerogative to hate John Mayer if I wanted to. I don't. I love him. On the rockstar>dreamboat continuum, he is probably 70% dreamboat and 30% rockstar (though, most of the rockstar cred comes from his John Mayer Trio work). I find him adorable and almost all of his music makes me want to do one of three things: dance around my living room, make out, or cry. That makes me love him. I was very excited for both Becky and John to be my Valentines. Though we had pretty crappy seats, we had a pretty awesome time. The week before this concert was the week that John's interview with Playboy came out...you know, the one where he called Jessica Simpson "sexual napalm"? Because of this, I had a

Take Control of the Atmosphere

Who: MuteMath When: September 22, 2011 Where: Mohawk Place/ Buffalo, NY With: Barb Of Note: Paul's feverishness, the mini stage acrobatics, the still sexiness of a key-tar From Remembering the Encores I love MuteMath. No, actually, I LOVE LOVE LOVE MuteMath. I learned about them when preparing to attend the Virgin Mobile Music Festival a bunch of years ago (stay tuned for fuzzy recollections!), saw them live and was blown away. I have been waiting for them to tour anywhere vaguely in the northeast since then. I was so excited when they announced their Odd Soul pre-release tour dates and one of them was Buffalo! Like 10 minutes away from my house! I bought tickets the moment they went on sale and waited anxiously for the day to come. Though I didn't know who would be going with me when I bought the pair of tickets, Barb graciously accepted my invitation. Because now, after Jen-e-bration, Barb is my homegirl. (Why did that take so long?) There was a little

God is Light/ Light is Good

Who: moe. When: March 2, 2001 Where: Landmark Theater/Syracuse, NY With: Ben, Adam Of Note: first moe. show!!!, the nine hours of driving it took me to pick up Adam From Remembering the Encores I went out with this boy Ben on and off for three years at the end of high school/beginning of college. Ben and I were young, impetuous, infatuated as you are at that age, and later incredibly destructive. We went on to become friends, until his next girlfriend didn't allow it anymore. (That always happens, right?) Anyway, Ben is also responsible for some of my live music obsession. Around the time we started dating, he lost God and found Phish. I suspect his parents blamed me for this, though, I really had nothing to do with it. Anyway, it was my freshman year of college. I was at UB and Ben was still in Corning. I went home one week-end to visit and when I walked into his house, he said, "Stop. You have to hear this. You are going to LOVE it." And, he pl

It All Begins....

Who: Sugar Ray & The Goo Goo Dolls, co-headlining When: August 28, 1999 Where: Finger Lakes Performing Arts Center/ Canadaigua, NY With: Holly Of Note: Mark McGrath's steaming hotness, Johnny Rzeznik's life advice From Remembering the Encores It was the summer before my senior year of high school and AIM was all the rage. While chatting one night, one of my high school friends and I decided it would be fun to go to a concert. I used my sweet AOL dial up to find out who was touring. So naive, I just started thinking about bands that I liked and searching "Madonna tour dates" and "Counting Crows tour dates". Holly, I believe, took a more geographical approach and we discovered the Sugar Ray (hot off the success of 14:59) and the Goo Goo Dolls (And I'd give up forever to touch you!) were co-headlining! And Fastball (don't you know that the road that we walked on is paved in gold...) was opening! And they were coming to Canadaigua