Everybody Wants Some!!

I want some too!!  Saw Van Halen last night with my brother at the Mohegan Sun Casino. Awesome show!! To say that my brother and I have a great time every time we get together is an understatement. We always seem to have an awesome time. My brother had purchased two tickets to see Van Halen and had offered me one. So I jumped at the chance to see Van Halen with my brother and make it a rock star weekend. It has certainly been just that. I flew in Thursday and it's been nonstop good times since...pool, casino, tasty beer, family and friends, and more.

Thursday night we played pool and genuinely took it easy, well aside from all the beer we drank. Friday we went down to the casino. We had dinner and did a little bit of gambling. I didn't win though. We were surprised to find out that Filter was playing for free. Sweet deal! I've seen them several times over the last couple of years and they usually put on a good show. This one was a small stage inside the casino. Richard Patrick spent a considerable amount of time walking through the crowd and body surfing, even body surfing right over us. He was obviously high on something. I did get take some good pictures. I met up with an old high school friend who works at the casino. Great to see him.

Saturday was the night of the Van Halen concert. We started the day by heading to the Willimantic Brewing Company to sample their beer. This should be no surprise to those who know me.  The beer was excellent too! We then made our way back to the casino where we chilled, drank beer, and waited for the show, which was awesome!  Apparently this is the only date on their our that Kool & The Gang isn't playing, so we were treated to two full hours of Van Halen. David Lee Roth may not jump and kick like he did in 1984, but he definitely brought the energy. Eddie Van Halen's fingers are still as fast as ever. It was just an outstanding show from beginning to end! Check out the pictures and the setlist.

The party didn't stop after the show either. We made our way back and stopped at a bar called PYZZZ. This bar has been in existence for like 15 years yet I had never heard of it. So much has changed since I moved away. From there we went back to the pool hall where I ran into an old high school friend who I haven't seen in 20+ years. We ended up going to his house for more partying.  It was great to see him. Seems like every time I make my way back to CT, I have a great time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. I wish I could meet up with more of my friends, but that will have to wait until next time.

Let the 2012 concert season begin

Granted it's only two months into the year 2012, but my concert season finally got serious this past Saturday. Up until now, I had only seen a couple of cover bands, namely the 5 Card Studs and Choogy, both great and very fun. I did also see The Heroes Lie a few weeks back. These guys are amazing. The Heroes Lie is a great band from right here in Milwaukee, WI and they rock. They are starting to get some serious national exposure. It's pretty exciting to watch it unfold.  Aside from those shows, I am flying to CT to see Van Halen with my brother. I also have tickets waiting for me to see Incubus on May 8 and Nickelback, Bush, My Darkest Days, and Seether on May 25, but those shows are three months away. And don't scoff at the Nickelback concert...did you check out that lineup?! I couldn't wait three months though. I needed my fix. It was finally time to get really serious and kick it into a higher gear. So on Saturday, February 25, I went to see Korn, the perfect band to appease my live music addiction...a definite warm up while I wait for Summerfest to announce its lineups...and a perfect start to my concert season.

Friends and I had attempted to see Korn last year at the inaugural Rock USA, but that turned out to be quite the failure. One, we couldn't get close to the stage. We were probably a 500-600 years away. Two, the sound system that was out near where we were sitting cutout, so we couldn't hear them OR see them. Terrible venue. Feel free to look back at that blog post to read about that show.  Back to Saturday...

When the announcement was made that Korn was coming, it said that J Devil would be performing as well. J Devil is the alter ego of Jonathan Davis, the lead singer of Korn. It didn't matter to me who would be opening, but I thought it would be cool to see J Devil. When the show began, a young almost Justin Bieber-looking dj by the name Maximillion (not sure if that's how you spell his name). I'm not sure if it was because of the way he looked or if the majority of the crowd was not prepared to hear djs mixing up sounds, but most of these metal heads kept flipping him the bird. Most even turned their back to him for most of his performance. He was good spirited about it and even asked the crowd to keep flipping him off while he was up on stage jamming away. What was even more interesting was when the next dj came on stage...none other than J Devil himself. Well of course these metal heads loved him, but he was basically playing the same kind of stuff that Maximillion was playing. Maybe it was that he looked like he was 15. J Devil jammed out for about a half hour or so and then left the stage for the last dj whose name was Sluggo.  This guy was really good...certainly knew what he was doing. Overall, three djs opening up for a metal show was definitely new to me, but I did enjoy it.

At last Korn took the stage. Awesome! Simply Awesome! So much energy! No frills, no talking, no political tirades, no bullshit...just loud, metal music! They opened the show playing some old and rare songs - Predictable, Lies, No Place to Hide, Helmet in the Bush. Then ripped into several off their latest album "The Path of Totality" (a must for any Korn fan) - Narcissistic Cannibal, Chaos Lives in Everything, My Wall, Get Up!, and Way Too Far. Korn then played some of their hits - Here To Stay, Freak On A Leash. Falling Away From Me, and their awesome cover of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. The encore was pretty sweet as well...three songs beginning with Shoots and Ladders that morphed into a cover of Metallica's One, finishing with Got the Life and Blind.  Great show!! So glad I went!!  I did take pictures...check them out. Until next time, rock on!

The year is starting to shape up

Not a lot happening so far in 2012, though it has been a pretty good year to date. Only one or two small blemishes, but certainly nothing that is going to deter this from being a fantastic year. The 'opportunity' that I had mentioned previously didn't pan out. Yes, it was a job. Turns out they aren't really sure which direction they want to take with the position I had interviewed for and it may take a turn away from technology altogether. A bit of a bummer, but it was great to have people express interest in me, my skills, and the value I could bring to their company. It was a good morale booster, that is for sure.

I'm well on my way toward a personal goal I set for myself involving fitness and nutrition. I signed up with a personal trainer last October to kick my workouts into a new gear and educate myself about exercise and nutrition. I set goals of being fitter, leaner, and stronger by my 40th birthday as well as wanting to knock a couple minutes off my 5k run time. I'm definitely looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and seeing my progress.

No major concerts yet this year, but I did see a couple of local bands. In January I saw the 5 Card Studs again.  I saw them a couple times last year. They are a lot of fun. They describe themselves as "a unique blend of big-time Las Vegas attitude and ‘70’s TV game show schmaltz, all glossed over with a ‘washed-up lounge/wedding singer’ veneer"...a definite good time!  The other band I saw was called Choogy. A friend knew one of the band members and asked me to join her. They were your typical cover band and decent. Nice variety of music from different decades and genres. They even covered Lady GaGa. The surprise of the night was finding out that I knew one of the guitarists. I thought I recognized him and then it hit me. I met him through a mutual friend about five or six years ago. He said his band was formed in our mutual friend's basement. Interesting. It was good to see him.

The concert scene is starting to shape up. I already have tickets to see Nickelback, Bush, Seether, and My Darkest Days at the Bradley Center in May.  Couldn't pass up that lineup. Third row seats don't hurt either.  The first weekend in March, I am flying to CT to see Van Halen with my brother. That will definitely be a rock star trip! This week it was announced that Incubus is coming to Milwaukee in May as well. I've been wanting to see them for a while now so I'm going to see about scoring tickets for that show. Korn is here this month. I still may go to that one. Jonathan Davis, the lead singer, is debuting his brand new DJ set as his J Devil alter ego. Rock USA announced their lineup...I'm undecided about going to that venue again, but we'll see. I'm still waiting on lineup announcements for Rock Fest and to see if the Verge Music Festival will come back this year. Of course, Summerfest looms as well.  Stay tuned!  Keep on party rockin'!

Another year over. And a new one just begun.

Each year as the days on the calendar go by and the year changes to a new one, I like to recount my experiences of the previous year and look forward to what lies ahead. 2011 was a great year full of music, beer, and lots of good times.

Last year I went to quite a few excellent music concerts. I began the year with My Darkest Days and Three Days Grace. I saw an amazing acoustic performance by Chris Cornell (lead singer of such great bands as Temple of the Dog, Soundgarden, and Audioslave). In April, I saw Cold, Egypt Central, Kopek, and a few other bands. In May 2011, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee with my Bachelor's Degree in Information Systems & Technology, an achievement that I am very proud of. My brother came to Milwaukee to help me celebrate my graduation weekend and we had a great time. I took him to see Disturbed and Nonpoint at The Rave. Great weekend! The last weekend in May I saw Godsmack and Sully Erna's performance of his solo album Avalon. The Avalon performance was my all time favorite show of 2011, hands down!! Simply AMAZING!!!

Summerfest saw me attend 10 out of 11 days, unlike all 11 in 2010. Summerfest is always a great time! Among the bands I saw were: Saving Abel, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Rise Against, Sick Puppies, Middle Class Rut, Crash Kings, The Heroes Lie (a great local band), 10 Years, Hollywood Undead, and many more. I attended the inaugural Rock USA festival in Oshkosh, WI, where I saw Dokken, Hollywood Undead, and KISS. Other shows I saw were Five Finger Death Punch, All That Remains, Evans Blue, Pop Evil, Chevelle, and Bush. I met quite of few bands last year as well.

At the tail end of 2010, my brother and I kind of proclaimed that 2011 was going to be a great year for both of us. That turned out to be true for my brother, who landed what he calls is his dream job. While it was a great year for me also, I didn't experience the kind of change that he did. Looking forward to 2012, however, I think there could be some very promising opportunities being presented to me in the early part of the year. Aside of the unknown, I know I can count on plenty more concerts, festivals, and great times with friends and family. I am well on my way to fulfilling some of my personal goals for 2012. I'll let you know how it goes as the days of 2012 go by. Happy New Year everyone!!!

The Twelve Beers of Christmas

Beer aficionados often zestfully look forward to seasonal and special releases from craft breweries everywhere.  These innovative special blends are part of what makes the craft beer industry so great. Breweries experiment with ingredients like fruits, vegetables, spices, and varieties of hops to create beer with so much flavor and uniqueness. There are seasonal brews from Summer, Fall (including Halloween and pumpkin), Winter ales, and special Christmas blends. The Christmas beers can be difficult to find as breweries usually brew a very limited supply and they sell quickly. I wanted to put together a collection of Christmas beers that were named specifically for the Christmas holiday. I specifically did not include Winter ales. To share with you my favorite Christmas beers, here is my adaptation of a Christmas classic.

The Twelve Beers of Christmas

On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Holiday Spice Lager from Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, WI. 

A very special lager brewed with honey, oranges, and spices. The spices and hops balance the sweetness of the honey and malt to give this lightly hopped beer its perfect flavor.

On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Holiday Porter from Sam Adams and the Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA.

A full-flavored porter with aroma of chocolate and coffee. Very smooth, lots of flavor, and very drinkable.

On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Holiday 'Sucks' Ale from Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA.

It's called 'Sucks' because Lagunitas were unable to brew their regular seasonal brew, BrownShugga Ale. Make no mistakes about it though, this is one fine beer. This american strong ale rates a 99 out of 100 on ratebeer.com, consistent with everything Lagunitas makes. I have yet to taste a brew from Lagunitas that I did not love.

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Christmas Ale from Bell's Brewery, Kalamazoo, MI.

This malt driven scotch ale is made with 100% Michigan grown barley. In contrast to many other seasonal brews (Winter, pumpkin, etc.), Christmas Ale doesn't contain any spices. Plenty of flavor and very little bitterness.

On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Christmas Ale from Abita Brewing Co., Covington, LA.

Abita changes the recipe on their Christmas Ale, an amber ale, every year. It's not very strong this year...actually pretty weak with not a lot of flavor. I've had better.

On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Christmas Ale from Breckenridge Brewery, Denver, CO.

This american strong ale has rich flavors of caramel and chocolate and at 7% abv, it's definitely a 'Winter warmer'.

On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Our Special Ale from Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco, CA.

A very nice and smooth seasonal rated a 95 on ratebeer.com. Just slightly bitter with hints of spices. Excellent!

On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Christmas Ale from Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland, OH.

Rated a 93 from ratebeer.com, this fine brew has a cinnamon and ginger spice flavor, a rich copper color, and a medium body that will fit with any holiday meal. Quite possibly the best Christmas Ale I've had so far!

On the 9th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Christmas Ale from Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago, IL.

This Christmas Ale is a brown ale and is a deep garnet color and brewed with a generous amount of hops that adds that extra spicy aroma. Another fantastic beer from Goose Island, rated 93 from ratebeer.com.

On the 10th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Santa's Private Reserve Ale from Rogue Ales, Newport, OR.

This amber ale, rated 93, is a variation of Rogue's Red Ale, which seems somewhat appropriate. This one has double the hops, including a mystery hop called Rudolph by the head brewer.

On the 11th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Alpha Klaus Christmas Porter from Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, IN.

Rated 100 on ratebeer.com and 7.5% abv, this big American Christmas porter is brewed with chocolate malt, Mexican sugars, and lots of hops. Another absolutely fantastic brew from Three Floyds!

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Delirium Noel from the Huyghe Brewery, Melle, Belgium.

This spicy, crimson brew completes the Delirium trilogy (including Tremens and Nocturnum) of fantastic belgian strong ales and is, by far, my favorite of the seasonal Christmas ales. This ale is rated a 97 on ratebeer.com and is a stout 10% abv.  

Finding and sampling these beers was a lot of fun. I am especially pleased to have found twelve Christmas beers. I even have two more in the fridge that I did not include here. Maybe an addendum?  A friend of mine suggested that I do an advent calendar for next year...a whole month of Christmas/Winter brew.  That could be quite interesting. 

Five Finger..............Death Punch!

It's been a little while since I've been to a concert, but last night was a show that I had been anxiously awaiting for a few months now - Five Finger Death Punch. When I purchased tickets months ago, the lineup was supposed to be FFDP, All That Remains, Hatebreed, and Rev Theory. Of the four bands, I was most excited about FFDP and Rev Theory, but Rev Theory pulled out after one of the band members had some kind of an accident. They were replaced by a band called Rains. Having never heard of them, I listened to their music and I liked them. I liked them so much I bought the album. Though I was curious as to how they fit in with the other three bands on this tour. Rains is a bit softer, more like Evans Blue. Good rock tunes, but certainly not tear-it-up, speedy metal.

Arrived at The Rave about 6pm and was herded into one of the smaller bars downstairs to wait before they allowed us to go upstairs to the ballroom. I hate it when they do this. At least they had bands there playing while we waited. The band playing when I got in there was on their last song. No idea who they were, but I didn't think they were that good anyways. Then I recognized the next band as they were setting up. Hard to forget the big black guitar player and the smoking hot lead singer from Losing Scarlet. Saw them back on April 8 when I went to see Egypt Central. After their first song, the gates opened and upstairs I went. The stage setup was interesting and because it was already after 6:30 I was wondering if all four bands would play. The stage was setup with Hatebreed's banner separating the stage leaving about 10-12 feet of stage in the front for the bands to play. Right around 7pm, Rains took the stage. They only played five songs. The crowd did warm up to them a bit, but seemed happier when they finished.  I enjoyed them and would definitely see them again.

Up next was Hatebreed. I'm not a huge fan of this band, but they did put on a really good stage show. They had a lot of energy and got the crowd involved a lot. I know I've mentioned in the past that working the crowd and stage presence is something that separates the good bands from the bad ones. Don't get me wrong though, good music is important too. After Hatebreed got the crowd whipped up into a frenzy, All That Remains was next. Whereas Hatebreed is more of a guttural growler band, All That Remains is more of the screamo type. They ripped through a good set mixing in old songs and some off their new album. I did notice a couple of interesting things about this band. First, the bass player is a woman...and she's a growler. When they got to the parts of their songs where there was growling, she did it. The other thing I noticed was the drummer. Again, I've mentioned in the past that I do pay attention to drummers as they can make or break a band. All the drummers were good on this night, but the drummer for All That Remains held his drum sticks in the old school traditional way (see picture below), which I don't remember ever seeing from a hard rock or metal band.

Not even sure what time it was, but some time after All That Remains, Five Finger Death Punch took the stage. I thought they kicked ass too! Stage was set up with a lot of towered lights and several large video screens up high. The drum set was on like an elevator structure, which raised the drumkit up high in the middle of their set. FFDP opened with Under and Over It, then right into Salvation. American Capitalist was the only other song they played from their new album of the same name. The rest of the setlist included: Hard to See, The Way of the Fist, No One Gets Left Behind, Bad Company (Bad Company cover), White Knuckles, Far From Home, Bulletproof, Never Enough, The Bleeding, and the encore Burn It Down. A great setlist!! Great performance!!  I did manage to take a few decent pictures. Check them out if you'd like.

As of right now, my next show is An Evening With Corey Taylor on November 23.   Rock On Everybody!!

The Sound of Winter

No, I'm not hearing things nor am I hoping for the cold and snowy season of Winter. The Sound of Winter is the latest single released by the band Bush. The once extremely popular band had gone their separate ways in 2002 only to reunite and release a new album, The Sea of Memories, in 2011 that is both new in sound but also continues Gavin's amazing lyrical content. I do recommend you check it out.

You might be asking. "Why is he mentioning Bush's new album?"  I can tell you that I am not getting paid for this advertisement. I mention Bush's new album because I saw them in concert on Saturday, October 8, and it was an amazing show. I saw three bands - Filter, Chevelle, and Bush - that each could have been the headliner and all for less than $30. In fact, each of them has been a headliner at Summerfest in years past, though you would most likely never be able to see them in the same night.

A quick gripe...the venue website said the show started at 7:00. I arrived at The Rave at 6:30, because I wanted to check out the merch booth, only to find out that Filter was already playing. They must have started closer to 6. I ended up missing the first three songs, but still heard a few of my favorites, including Take a Picture and Hey Man Nice Shot. They did a pretty cool cover of ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin' and also played (Can't You) Trip Like I Do, a collaboration with Crystal Method. During the performance of The Best Things, Richard Patrick body surfed through the crowd while singing. Pretty cool!

Taking the stage next was Chevelle. I love this band! Two brothers and a brother-in-law, I love the sound these three guys put out. Awesome bass grooves! These guys just get on stage and jam! This tour was a double-headliner, so Chevelle and Bush both played longer headliner sets. Chevelle played all of the usual favorites - Jars, Antisaint, Sleep Apnea, Well Enough Alone, Send the Pain Below, The Red, The Clincher - and played a new song called Face the Floor off their forthcoming new album. At one point, I believe it was during The Red, Pete's guitar wasn't working. The roadie brought out another one, but that one was apparently not tuned correctly. Third time's a charm. He was visibly annoyed. Finished out the set and tossed the guitar into the crowd and slammed his mic. Entertaining to say the least.

And finally...we've got Bush! Reunited after a ten year hiatus...well Gavin and the drummer are original members at least...fans packed The Rave for an awesome show! Kicking off the show with Little Things and then performing I Believe in You from their new album, they did a great job of introducing fans to their new songs while appeasing cult followers with some of their all-time hits such as Comedown, Machinehead, and Everything Zen. During their encore, they did a fantastic version of The Beatles' Come Together that had the crown singing along.

As with all of the concerts I see, I usually take some pretty good pictures. Check them out.

Thanks for reading. Rock on!!