All posts by Brian Mc

Akron, Cleveland, Death, Festival, Good Times, Listing It Up, Live Shows, Music, Personal Entry, The Awesome, The Suck

Listing It Up: Best / Worst Of 2009 According To BHP

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Nothing like waiting until the last minute…  With less than 10 hours to go I give you my Best / Worst list of 2009.  Mind you none of these are in order/ranked, they are just the best / worst I have been pondering over all year long… Enjoy.

Best Albums:

  • The Avett Brothers – I & Love & You
  • Mastodon – Crack The Skye
  • Frank Turner – Poetry Of The Deed
  • Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus
  • Converge – Axe To Fall
  • Those Darlins – Those Darlins
  • Gallows – Grey Britain
  • Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
  • P.O.S. – Never Better
  • BlakRoc – BlakRoc
  • The Sidekicks – Weight Of Air

Best Unreleased Album:

  • Dangermouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Song

Worst Albums:

  • Brokencyde – I’m Not A Fan But The Kids Like It
  • Alice In Chains – Black Gives Way To Blue
  • Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major
  • Sugar Ray – Music For Cougars

On The Fence About Albums:

  • Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
  • Drummer – Feel Good Together

Guilty Pleasure Albums:

  • Owl City –Ocean Eyes
  • Brokencyde – I’m Not A Fan But The Kids Like It

Best Box Set Released:

  • Coheed & Cambia – Neverender

Best Anthology Released:

  • Fat Wreck Chords – Wrecktrospective

Best Festival I Attended:

  • Bonnaroo – Bruce Springsteen, Merle Haggard, Public Enemy, NIN, Andrew Bird, Wilco, Beastie Boys, Al Green, Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis, Phoenix and many more.

Best Shows I Attended:

  • The Avett Brothers @ Akron Civic Center – Akron, OH
  • Dan Auerbach / Those Darlins @ Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH
  • Converge / High On Fire @ The Grog Shop – Cleveland Hts., OH

Loudest Show I Attended (EVER):

  • Mastodon @ Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH

Most Unsuspecting Show I Attended (with good reason):

  • Britney Spears / Pussycat Dolls @ The Value City Area – Columbus, OH

Worst Show I Attended:

  • Gin Blossoms @ Cain Park – Cleveland Hts., OH

Best Local Acts I Saw Live:

  • Nicholas Megalis
  • Unsparing Sea

Best Movies:

  • Zombieland
  • The Hangover
  • District 9
  • Inglorious Basterds
  • Up
  • Star Trek

Worst Movies:

  • G.I. Joe
  • Transformers 2

Movie That You Should Not Watch When Your Heart Aches:

  • 500 Days Of Summer

Best TV Show:

  • Community

The Awesome:

  • Bouncing Souls celebrating 20 years as a punk band and releasing a song a month all year.
  • Greg Ginn (of Black Flag) agreeing to play a couple of songs for free at Blue Arrow Records courtesy of myself and Addicted To Vinyl.
  • Going to Bonnaroo with two of my favorite people and then coming home and immediate going to see Rancid / Rise Against from backstage.
  • Seeing Those Darlins 4 times live.
  • Matt’s wonderful girlfriend scoring me an autographed personalized CD from Frank Turner as well as a hi-five.
  • Meeting the fine folk at Thirty Tiger Records followed by shopping at Grimey’s while pit-stopping in Nashville.
  • Getting my Melt Bar & Grilled tattoo (I’m #47).
  • Having friends from all around come up to visit and see the magic that is called Cleveland.

The Suck:

  • November 5th, 2009
  • My laptop crashing
  • My external hard drive crashing
  • Changing for the better.

RIP (there were plenty more but these are ones that stuck with me):

  • Michael Jackson
  • James “The Rev” Sullivan
  • DJ-AM
  • Taylor Mitchell
  • Vic Chesnutt
  • Les Paul
  • Jay Bennett
  • Brittany Murphy
  • Captain Lou Albano
  • Patrick Swayze
  • Jim Carroll
  • John Hughes
  • Walter Cronkite
  • Billy Mays
  • David Carridine
  • Dom DeLuise
  • Bea Arthur
  • Jeremy Lusk
  • Heath Ledger

So with just a few hours left I would like to say goodbye to 2009.  It was a fun and incredibly rough year for me.  I see big things happening in 2010 for me.

Resolutions?  A couple I suppose…

  • Portion Control – I can eat and now I need to watch how much of it I do
  • Personal Conquest – I have ideas and will follow through
  • Sugar – I am limiting my intake
  • Live – I plan on attending more shows this year than previous years
  • Blog On – I will continue making BHP bigger and better so that people actually will COMMENT on here…

Do you have a best of you wish to share or do you think I overlooked someone?  Let me know.  Email me at broken@brokenheadphones.com or comment below.  I want to hear from you!

00's, Death, Metal, Music, Music News, The Suck

Avenged Sevenfold Drummer Found Dead

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I just learned that Avenged Sevenfold‘s drummer James Owen Sullivan, aka The Rev, was found dead.  He was only 28 years old.

He was a talented drummer.  I was lucky enough to see him play live a handful of times and his drumming always impressed me.  Shame to hear about this…

Direct from the band’s website:

It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we tell you of the passing today of Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Jimmy was not only one of the world’s best drummers, but more importantly he was our best friend and brother. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Jimmy’s family and we hope that you will respect their privacy during this difficult time.

Jimmy you are forever in our hearts.
We love you.

M Shadows, Synyster Gates, Zacky Vengeance and Johnny Christ

 For more info visit FoxNews.com or Drummer World.

Folk, Indie, Live Shows, Music, Music Video, Punk, Watch This

If You Make It, They Will Come

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I am not shocked anymore when someone tells me about something I was not aware of.  There is just so much out there on the internets that I really need to rely on other people to point out the awesome to me.  With that said I would like to talk about an amazing website that my pal Josh pointed out to me called If You Make It.  More importantly I really want to talk about The Pink Couch Sessions.

No this is not porno...well not that I know of.

If You Make It is a website started by a music loving guy named Dave Garwacke who used to throw house shows in his basement but never really cataloged it. Realizing that there was no proof ever recorded Garwacke decided he wanted to start recording shows again but this time recording them on site for the world to see.  Seeing how he was surrounded with a circle of musical friends it was not a problem to start over and once he moved to Brooklyn he was able to start where he left off,  but this time with cameras.

After spending time recording shows and festivals Garwacke decided to start “The Pink Couch Sessions”.  These sessions were recorded in his very own home on, you guessed it, a pink couch (as well as a few on the road).  The result is an impressive intimate collection of broken down acoustic performances by many bands, some known and others soon to be known.  Some of the songs are even available for free download too!

Josh recently emailed me a link to a Pink Couch Session featuring a band I really like called Bridge & Tunnel.  I have been a huge fan of Bridge & Tunnel since the day the CD arrived at my front door and sadly missed a chance to see them live when they played a free house show at the Soggy Dog in Lakewood, OH.  Josh was there and from what he told me I missed one hell of a show.  Even if I missed it I am thrilled he sent me this link because now I know of If You Make It and am positive that it will be a weekly if not daily stop on my internet browsing habits.  There is just so much music caught behind the camera for me to even fully discuss.  It would be best if you just checked it out for yourself.

I have spent some time watching performances on the pink couch by many bands I really dig tonight as well as have been introduced to a few I really want to look in to more.  Here are a few I liked including the Bridge & Tunnel session Josh emailed me…thanks Josh.

Bridge and Tunnel – Call to the Comptroller’s Office from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Ninja Gun – Front Yard Screamers (Kitchen Kissers) from If You Make It on Vimeo.

American War – Bricks from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Bomb The Music Industry – Sadder Weirder from If You Make It on Vimeo.

The Measure [SA] – Unwritten from If You Make It on Vimeo.

Folk, Indie, Music, Music Video, New Release, Rock

Bombadil – So Fresh And So Clean…

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Remember the first time you heard something new and fresh to your ears?  I know when I did and after checking out Bombadil‘s Tarpits And Canyonlands on Ramseur Records I can say it happened all over again.  This Bolivian threesome really hints towards their label mates The Avett Brothers but is unique in their own and just has me wanting much more.

How unique you ask? How about a core of electric / acoustic guitars, bass, piano and drums and appearances by harmonica, xylophone, organ, synth, saxophone, trumpet, viola, charango, glockenspiel, accordion, recorder and even zampona… Yeah, almost like a folk rock Gogol Bordello.

Fans of folk and indie rock will be fans of Bombadil once they give them a chance.  Check out the video below or visit their MySpace page for a few extra tracks.