A few years ago, SHR and I went to Two Boots to see two former students of mine play their first ever rock show. They were in my class the year before and were nearing the end of 4th grade by the time of the show. In jest, I wrote that Two Boots would one day be known as the place where future rock legends were born.
Four years, one name change, one Converse ad, and a few lineup changes later, the band keeps picking up steam. The singer and the drummer (the students in my 2003-2004 third grade class) remain the same
April, 2005 before they jettisoned the boys. August, 2009 before the Letterman show. April, 2006 The video footage takes a long time to load.
I've kept up with them but haven't seen them since that show in 2006. They've played Lollapalooza, South by Southwest, gotten major press coverage, met the Jonas Brothers!, and have now been on national television. Not bad before entering the 9th grade. Crazy.
It was only lasted for a brief moment (actually about an hour between the time SHR deleted a No Reservations episode and a Keith Olbermann show began recording) but still, it was absolutely glorious.
Bart was all excited to point out to me that this guy looked like the main character from Up. Harness racing is only on the weekdays but we did get to see one horse get some work in. BBQ time. Bart bought some cheese here but ended up losing it somewhere. The Ommegang Brewery Everywhere I go, Huey Lewis stuff follows. I didn't notice this sign on the brewery tour but Marc pointed it out to me. Check here for the Little Falls, NY college league game we saw on Saturday night where Marc ate his first peanut.
Balgavy looking for trouble in the streets of Albany. Sunday The happiest I've ever seen Bart. For the full story, read the post about the game. Also during the game, Erik outheckled a heckler. The next night, Erik left a pointed message on a bar bathroom chalkboard. Marc changed the message. (photo by Marc
During the endless second inning my wife texted me, "Wow you should just come home now." I thought about it but I was enjoying my pork sandwich too much to leave. I decided to stay.
What an embarrassment. One friend e-mailed me, "The Mets should reimburse all of the season ticket holders." Or at least hook me up with a Shake Shack burger or something.
Since you charge such a ridiculous amount to park near the park, I park for free at The Iron Triangle. Upon returning to my car, I saw this.
In better light, it looks like this. Of course, I don't have collision coverage on my car because I had to save up my money to pay your season ticket prices.
My friend who was with me wrote me today, "Send the bill to the New York Mets. If they had a better team people wouldn't be so aggressive and angry when they pull out of their parking spots."
SHR is the best! Even with Double Trouble around, I was allowed to take a short baseball trip in mid July.
I dropped her and the boys off in NJ.
Bart, Erik, and Marc rented a car in Brooklyn and met me there.
First game was supposed to be in Scranton. But, um, it wasn't. For the reason why, read the post on my baseball blog.
Instead, the game was in Allentown.
This one's for Sam, this one's for Otis. (photo by Erik)
Bart was too cool for school to dance. This was Bart's first baseball trip and he was already debating the wisdom of attending. I love how serious he is in his study of his Bud Light. By the end of the game, Bart had been won over to the charms of a baseball trip. (photo by Erik)
Bethlehem / Allentown nightlife on a Thursday night. Bethlehem Diner on a Friday morning. (photo by Erik)
Balgavy doesn't love all cupcakes. (photo by Erik)
Pre really boring tubing on the Delaware River. Still can't believe we didn't bring any beer. (photo by Erik)
Friday before the Sussex Skyhawks game. We ate at a dumb fake 50's diner. Erik complained many times that the iPhone ruined this year's baseball trip. The couple on the left couldn't agree more with Erik's thesis. (photo by Erik)
(photo by Erik)
For a 50's diner, I still don't understand why they had such an odd assortment of movie posters. Charlie Chaplin? Yep, it was the kind of place that had a car parked inside. Marc immediately regretted ordering two chili dogs. There were many kids with mohawks at the game. This one was my favorite - a mohawk into a tail. For another picture of kids with mohawks, check the entry on my baseball blog. Post game fireworks. The only bocce on the trip. It was Bart's first ever time. Erik and I were the Sussex Skyhawks champs. There wasn't much to do so we went to Wal Mart to buy some pizza rolls. Unfortunately, the stove wasn't working. So Erik improvised. He could make only 3 at a time, but they were reportedly quite delicious.
Pre Double Trouble Reading Philip Roth - I Married a Communist, 1998 Blah. I've liked every other Roth book I've ever read to varying degrees. But even if I didn't really really like them, I at least was entertained by every one and was never bored. But this book bored me to tears and I am not sure why I stuck with it. I should have quit 50 pages into it but I stuck through to the boring end. I kind of liked the storytelling structure - old dude tells middle-aged dude and friend about his brother's life story as a commie. But I was bored pretty much all the way through.
Robert Middlekauff - The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763 - 1789, 2005 Seems like we won.
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World, 1932 Am I a jerk for not loving this book? I just couldn't get into it.
Haruki Murakami - Norwegian Wood, 1987 My love affair for Murakami keeps on keeping on even though I was slightly disappointed in this book. I'd heard about this book for years so I was expecting a bit more. Then again, I think I just wasn't expecting something so straightforward. I like my Murakami a little more out there. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore are two of my favorite books ever. Still, I did like this book and want to keep on reading all of his books.
After the Arrival of Double Trouble Reading Michael Shapiro - The Last Good Season, 2003 A pretty good book about the 1956 Dodgers - on the field and the off the field maneuverings of Robert Moses and Walter O'Malley. A fascinating subject but it sometimes reads as David Halberstam Lite.
Elmore Leonard - Freaky Deaky, 1988 A standard Elmore Leonard effort. And by standard, I mean awesome. A great summer read. Chris Larry recommended this to me a few years back. I bought it then and finally read it now. This book needs to be made into a movie.
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest, 2009 Why does this band get compared to Animal Collective? That band is good, this band is boring. They were good on whatever late night show they were on last month though.
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca, 2009 If this is what passes for great indie rock these days, I guess I'm more into classic rock.
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, 2009 I didn't love the super hyped EP but I like the LP a lot more. A band that definitely wears its influences on its collective sleeve but any band that reminds me of a fun mix of Rocketship and My Bloody Valentine can't be that bad, right?
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, 2009 I knew absolutely nothing about this band when Molly excitedly posted about their upcoming Saturday Night Live appearance a number of months ago. I set the DVR and was quite impressed. Then Jeremy started raving about them. Fine, I'll give the album a chance. I'm glad I did. This has been one of my albums of the summer of stay-at-home dadness.
I couldn't find the SNL footage but here's a performance from Letterman.
Sonic Youth - The Eternal, 2009 I've liked their last few LP's quite a lot but this has got to be their best release since I don't know - Washing Machine? Then again, I really liked the last album. Either way, they are in nice little groove. This is a damn fine album. There are a couple clunkers on here but I guess that is to be expected. Youngsters Sean and Rebecca recently mentioned to me that they thought Sonic Youth was too noisy and maybe older folks like me liked Sonic Youth but that younger folks didn't. This was part of a discussion of the silliness of the way Sonic Youth's music was used in Juno. I completely disagree with their sentiment - but if they thought Sonic Youth was too noisy and not melodic enough, I think this new album might be the one to convince them to like the Youth. Plus the song Anti-Orgasm definitely ranks up there with the other anti sex songs by Weezer, The Vaselines, and Neutral Milk Hotel.
Sonic Youth - definitely no Warren Zevon
God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl, 2009 God help Stuart Murdoch get back in the studio to record a new Belle and Sebastian. After you hear the version of Funny Little Frog on this LP though, you might decide to throw away all of your Belle and Sebastian CD's. Ugly. Overall, there are a few good songs on here but they don't outweigh the bad and the mediocre.
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion, 2009 Better than the Peter, Paul, and Mary show I saw at Merriweather Post but not as good as the Rick Springfield show.
Robyn Hitchcock - Goodnight Oslo, 2009 I can't even remember the last Hitchcock LP I gave a good listen to but maybe I should go back and listen to some more. This is really good. Good melodies, quirky but not overly so. All around just good. Kind of reminds me of Eye even though this isn't acoustic.
M. Ward - Hold Time, 2009 Post Post-War Snoozefest.
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast, 2009 There are some good tunes here but this is definitely a letdown after his last few. Each of his last three kept getting better. This one is like 3 steps back.
Pete and the Pirates - Little Death, 2008 At first I really liked this, then I cooled on it, and now I'm back on its bandwagon. Power pop fun. Nothing terribly original but when the songs are this much fun, who cares?
Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career, 2009 How do you follow up one of the best albums of the past few years? Let's Get Out of This Country was my favorite album of 2006. While this isn't quite as good as that album, this is definitely a worthy followup. The album never reaches the dizzying heights of Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken or the title track of their last album but there are definitely some gems here. Plus, SHR and I both love that the title track of this album sounds like she's singing Korea, all Malkmus style and all.
We didn't spend nearly enough time here - we'll have to take the boys in a couple of years.
We never got close enough to actually figure out how the hell that thing was standing. Who needs art when you have a blackberry? Stone Barns
Nena gave us a tour. Dinner! Mama Pig and little piglet. These turkeys were facing me until I started taking their pictures. They immediately turned away. And stuck their asses in my face. Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Nena worked her magic and got us a reservation. I can definitely say I've never had a dining experience quite like this one. Happy Anniversary! SHR's review.
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