Remembering the Encores

Who: John Mayer with Philip Phillips When: July 26, 2013 Where: Shore Line Amphitheater/ Mountain View, CA With: an entire row of people SUPER PUMPED to be in the third row Of Note: OMFG I have pretty much always had a lot of feelings about John Mayer. There’s something about his music that cuts – lyrically, I think he’s one of the best in the business. My good friend Neil sent me the webcomic below, which is pretty accurate for 99% of people and 99% of music. I feel like John Mayer’s music takes absolutely no trying to make it all about me. (And let’s be honest, most of what I do here is make music all about me.) I think it’s been so fascinating to follow his career and watch the progression of message & tone on each subsequent album. I feel a little like I’ve grown up with him. I mean, ‘No Such Thing’ from 2001's ‘Room For Squares’ was big the summer after my freshman year of college and, in under four minutes, perfectly described what it felt like to b...

Who: Philip Phillips, Megan & Liz, Owl City, Austin Mahone, Ed Sheeran, Boys Like Girls When: December 10, 2012 Where: First Niagara Center/ Buffalo, NY With: Christine Of Note: Super cheap, very nice StubHub seats; so very many screaming teenagers. So, we all know that I have feelings about Kiss 98.5 , Buffalo's premiere pop radio station. So, it's maybe fitting that my last concert in Buffalo was their holiday blow-out, Kissmas Bash. Much like Kiss the Summer Hello , Kissmas Bash brought together a bunch of acts - though these ones seemed much more "up and coming" than "on the way out". Despite the fact that we were definitely the wrong demographic - neither teenage girls, nor their mothers - the lovely Christine agreed to accompany me. Let's get into it! Phillip Phillips Oh my last American Idol boyfriend, who I hope goes on to do incredible things (How good is his debut album? So! Very! Good! ), how jipped were you in the kick ...

I remember watching the first episode of 'Glee' when it aired after the American Idol finale; I kept it on my DVR that entire summer and watched it, truthfully, more times than I care to admit.  In my mind, it stands as one of the best hours of television of all time. Though I was long past high school then, I identified with these characters - small town kids with big ambitions trying to figure out exactly who they are and how to get where they want to go.  This past spring, I was talking to some old friends, friends who had known me since high school and before, about the show and the direction it had taken - if Rachel had become too over the top.  I quite honestly replied, "Let's be really honest here.  Rachel Berry and I are kindred spirits.  Her neuroses are tied to her musical talent.  Mine were tied to my academic success.  She'll never be too over the top." Central to my enjoyment of 'Glee' was the character of Finn Hudson - the affable...

Frank Hamilton/ All or Nothing (I Want You) I know very little about this guy, but am super into his "best of #OneSongAWeek" tracks on Spotify.  It seems he actually wrote & recorded a song a week for all of 2012, which is super impressive.  What's more impressive is a lot of them a are really good! Theo Katzman/ I Feel Love Seriously, please go listen to his album 'Romance Without Finance'.  It's incredible. Hudson Taylor/ Battles Apparently, I'm having a moment for cute boys with guitars, because I'm noticing a pattern in this batch of picks.  This sounds to me a bit like a Mumford & Sons + Ben Howard mash-up and I can't think of anything more exciting than that! Andrew Watt/ Me And the Road You can't help but head bob.  Or, maybe that's just me. Frank Hamilton/ Another Love Song I wasn't lying when I said I was really digging his Spotify listings! If you're ever interested in what I...

Who: moe. When: July 4, 2002 Where: Tower City Amphitheater/ Cleveland, OH With: Ben, Ryan, Mike Of Note: 'Merrrica!! The last summer I spent at "home" was the one after my sophomore year of college. During my sophomore year, my folks moved from the house I grew up in to my step-dad's hunting cabin, presumably to prevent anyone from moving in with them ever again. The cabin is out in the forest, on a dirt road and approximately nine thousand miles away from anywhere I needed to get - work, friends, actual civilization. The cabin is so far out that there's not cable or internet. Within about three days of arriving, I knew I would never live with my mother again after that summer and, in fact, spent a lot of that summer couch-surfing withe friends closer to civilization. As such, it was a crazy couple of months - one last hurrah in the town I grew up in. Anyway, the boys & I saw moe. as often as possible and a Fourth of July road-trip sounded ...