Summertime's Alright With Me

Thursday of last week was the longest day of the year. It's all downhill from here as we spiral through the summer and fall towards another cold winter. I'm not trying to rush us there or anything. I'm just saying, time flies when you are having fun and that's what summer is all about, rrrright?!?! It's all happening... I've had the ridiculous opportunity to see some of my favorite bands in the world in the last four days.

On the Summer Solstice, I started out the long night with a film screening of "Unsettled" at the IFC with Mr. Benor. A first-time filmmaker, Adam Hootnick, gives us this brilliant documentary that follows the experience of six twenty-somethings - soldiers and civilians - during the evacuation of the Israelis from the Gaza Strip two summers ago. It was incredibly heartbreaking to watch the Israeli government (kids!!) have to remove their own people from their homes. Hootnick did an amazing job and it's incredible that he was even able to be there to capture all of that so closely.

From there, I went to Southpaw to see my boys JFJO. I've been working on something to post on JamBase but let me tell you two quick things. There is a new drummer named Josh Raymer. He's young and he's a killer. Jason Smart has amicably decided to move on from the band and during their touring hiatus this year, Josh joined Brian and Reed for practice and magic was made. The second thing was Steve Kimock - wow. His "Jerry" notes were mesmerizing and Reed was throwing down such a ridiculously heavy groove the whole time... That is when he wasn't ripping on electric guitar for most of the show!

Friday night was time for The Slip to come to town. It seemed like they started the show at the end by coming out with a rocking Zeppelin cover followed by "If One of Us Should Fall" - a song that usually comes towards the end when everyone's loose and ready to throw their arms around each other. The show had its ups and downs but we got an epic "Paperbirds." I'm really sorry for the lack of detail here but I got very drunk that night. Broken ATM machine at the Bowery and there's a $25 minimum at the bar. $25 worth of Jack Daniels in my system... ouch.

Goodness, I almost forgot that before The Slip, I went to my first Celebrate Brooklyn show in Prospect Park. Friday was bluegrass night and I met some friends to see Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys! I can't wait to go back to the bandshell again and again this summer. It's the best!

On Saturday, after waking up with that oh-so-fabulous-morning-after-drinking-way-too-much-whiskey feeling, we packed up Junior and headed down to Asbury Park for the Rocks Off School of Rock Music Festival. In short, we saw the coolest kids ever rock everyone's faces off, The Duo, Sam Champion, Benzos, Northern State, Ween, and Bustle In Your Hedgerow. What a (school of) rockin' day! See my friend Ace for a full report.

We had some pool time at the amazing Empress Hotel (complete with it's own super gay disco club and mirror ball over the pool) before heading back up to NYC on Sunday. Not much else to report on Sunday except for the new HBO show Flight of the Conchords. Both episodes had a Eugene Mirman cameo and we all know that I love that guy! Another local Brooklyn comedian Kristin Schall has a hilarious role as their groupie.

Which brings us to today... A couple of months ago, I got a ticket for a show the old fashioned way: refreshing ticketmaster like a maniac until I get through to purchase one ticket in the 5 minutes before the show sold out. The night was finally here - Wilco in NYC at the Hammerstein! Tweedy and the boys look and sound amazing. They played every song from Sky Blue Sky including my favorite "Impossible Germany" with the perfect guitar melody at the end. We got a bunch of old faves too - "Jesus Etc" for the heartwarming singalong; "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" absolutely rocked and had an extra long pause with audience clapalong during the fake out ending; "California Stars" made everyone sway and swoon. Nels Cline is just... uh... so amazing to watch. Cole and I named him the RockBot because he is machine! Tweedy seemed to be in great spirits all night. A beautiful beautiful night of music.

Now we're all caught up! Until next time...