May 31, 2009

Tally Hall

Have you ever heard of the band Tally Hall Well I hadn't either until one day when a friend from Rochester sent me a message about going to see a band he really likes in Pittsburgh. Of course, I was immediately interested and soon found myself on Google and YouTube checking out these mysterious "Tally Hall" people. And I was in for quite a treat. This group knows no genre boundaries, with hip-hop jams and country tunes, both equally effective. So, in short, I was like, "yea, this show is gonna be sweet!" It was a Wednesday afternoon when myself and two friends from Rochester crammed into the back of their Prius and took off to Pittsburgh. Considering that the back seat of a Prius isn't entirely fit for three teenage boys, it was somewhat of a long ride, but still fun. When we got there, it was absolutely necessary to wander through a labyrinth of hallways to find the theater entrance, with was undoubtedly one of the more obscure places I've ever been too. We sat through not one, but two opening acts before Tally Hall took the stage. Mercifully, the third didn't show up. Tally Hall's show was just as eclectic and unusual as I figured it would be, but what I didn't expect was how darned funny it was. From randomly interacting with audience members to the "technical difficulties breakdown", the show was as amusing as it was entertaining. The five members of "The Hall" wore their classic uniform, white button down shirt with black vest and dress pants. Each one of them has their own color tie. I beleive this references their hilarious and unusual web show, "Tally Hall's Internet Show", which can involve anything from clay-mation music videos to dancing with a man dressed as a gorilla on a street corner. After the show, I purchased their album, "Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum", and noticed the excellent cover art and how each member had their own page in the liner notes. When the band came out to greet their fans, I asked each of them to sign by their names. They were all quite nice and just as funny as onstage. The ride back was cramped and I was super tired the next day, but it was totally worth it. Tally Hall is now one of my new favorite bands. You should check them out!!

May 29, 2009

The Killers

This is getting ridiculous. I'm going to be doing tons of crazy awesome stuff and nobody will know about it but me. So lets get caught up, shall we?
I went to a couple awesome concerts this month that I really need to talk about.
The first was on my birthday. That's right. The Killers came to Cleveland on my freaking birthday!! It was the best thing ever. We got there just on time to be early and had a fancy birthday dinner of pizza, chicken tenders and french fries from one of the concession stands at the Time Warner Cable Amphitheater. My friend Jay tried to get as far up front as he could (before people started getting severely angry). Jayme and I had no choice but to chase him, and we ended up dead center and about 10 yards from the stage. Hooray for us! First we waited for a little while, then watched the opening act, Chairlift. They were very different and had an interesting sound, even though they only had three people and the drummer had to keep switching to bass. Next was the super exciting part!!!! We stood and waited for hours. Like a really long time. Fast forward to when they finally got on stage and the rain stopped. Brandon Flowers and his crew had a commanding stage presence and got the whole crowd into it almost immediately. The lights were incredible, and the sound was almost overpowering at certain parts. In fact most of their stuff either lit up or was reflective, including the monitors and the amps. When they stared shooting sparks that was really cool too. Of course, they played some of the best songs that had been recorded in recent history. Certainly the best concert I've been to so far. But I'll be going back to the Time Warner Cable Amphitheatre to see Jason Mraz this summer!!!

May 7, 2009

Band Trip (sorry I'm so behind on this one)

If you haven't noticed, I have been doing a lot of pretty awesome stuff as of lately. In an effort to not get too far behind on blogging this awesomeness, I present to you The Story of the MASH Band's Trip to Virginia/DC, abridged.

Lets just say it was a really long bus ride. A fun bus ride, but still a long one. And the band bus is unlike any other buses that anybody rides on at any time, because the people on it are just that cool. I would say the most fun part is when we attempt to play card games between two rows of seats. Fast forward to our arrival at the parade that very same day. There was much rushing around to unload all manner of uniforms, hat boxes, and insturments from the lower compartments of the bus. After warming up we set out on the long journey to the beginning of the parade. On our way we saw a lot of other cool bands, some of which had way more stuff than we did, some sounded way better than we did, some just looked better than us. But not all of them. By the time we made it to the start we everyone was more than ready to get going. I was fairly impressed by our overall performance. We made straight lines, our turns looked good, and naturally we sounded quite good as well. Of course, the drumline was tight and precise the entire time. By the end everybody was significantly tired out, and we all celebrated by drinking cold water and changing out of our uniforms upon reaching the bus. Then we drove aimlessly around the Virginia countryside until we found the hotel.