Graduation, Walks, Records…

Last Friday night my wife, myself, both of our daughters, and my son’s girlfriend sat in the bleachers of the WCHS football field and watched as the boy shook hands with people we don’t know and received his diploma. Despite the near 90 degree heat we were relatively comfortable, our backs to the west as […]

Foo Fighters : But Here We Are

Dave Grohl is one of those people you wish you were friends with. Someone you’d love to hang out with and talk about music, movies, favorite drummers, or whatever. He’s just got something about him that says ‘I’m genuine”. There’s also the fact he was in Nirvana, then tragedy hit and Nirvana was no more. […]

Ben Folds : What Matters Most

Ben Folds Five were one of those bands that you either loved or loathed. There really wasn’t an “ehh, they’re not bad” category. They hit at just the right time for me. Their cabaret-meets-punk rock-meets-power pop mash up made the 90s bearable, eliciting something close to earnestness in a sea of indifference.That is, in-between songs […]

Beach Fossils : Bunny

Beach Fossils came out of the early 2010s Captured Track scene, along with bands like Wild Nothing, Craft Spells and DIIV. Beach Fossils debut was more lo fi and bedroom pop, with band founder/songwriter Dustin Payseur’s vocals sounding as if they were emanating from a haunted conk shell residing on some melancholy shore line. The […]

Photos Are Just Memories Out Of Context

Last week on one of my afternoon walks I decided to walk down to Chapman Lake Park. This is a small neighborhood located off of Chapman Lake, one of the many lakes that surround the area where I live. As a kid Chapman Lake Park was located directly across the field from the house I […]

Future Museums : Dorsal Fin

Dorsal Fin is a sonic dive into deep blue space, though not the uncharted reaches of the cosmos but the vastness of the ocean. Future Museums, aka Neil Lord, has built a discography founded in light and life; songs owing a debt to classic Komische and Berlin School, while accentuating the genre with his own […]

Memorial Day Thoughts(Pending Graduation Edition)

Last Wednesday was the last band concert at Warsaw Community High School. The last for our son, and the last for us. No more marching band competitions, winter programs, winter percussion, or spring concerts. Summer band camps and the sunburns that came with it are in the past, as well as those preview shows that […]

“Oh, this is a dangerous place…”

So for the last couple weeks I’ve been hitting the pavement hard each day. Counting my steps and miles walked. During the day at work I’ll walk on two breaks, then after work I’ll put in three to four more miles. I’m locking in at least 7 to 8 miles a day with over 12,000 […]

Mandy, Indiana : I’ve Seen A Way

The UK experimental post-punk/dance/noise band Mandy, Indiana is the sound of sexy androids building more sexy androids in a cave that doubles as a rave. Robotic rhythms seem to emerge from grinding machines and screeching gears, while the vocals are less a voice singing than another rhythm instrument. It’s grinding, industrial noise for the dance […]

Dave Lombardo : Rites Of Percussion

Dave Lombardo is arguably one of the great living rock drummers. As a founding member of thrash legends Slayer, Lombardo took heavy metal drumming and combined it with hardcore punk speed to create a style that was jaw-dropping fast but could also lock into grooves when needed. Lombardo’s drumming was the key ingredient in making […]