Pandora...the new time waster

So apparently I am a bit behind with the times. A friend of mine suggested the other day that I check out Pandora. I was like...WTF is that? You mean that crazy old Greek beotch that opened the box that released evil into the world? Apparently...thats not what it was. Boy was I way wrong on that one...

DISCLAIMER: Before I write any further let me convene to you that I am no way working for pandora.com...I am just a newly found fan who is excited with the services they offer.

So anyway...it's amazing what you can find on the internet these days. I was looking for some quick way to brush up on my Bonnaroo bands before the big festival comes my way in June...and then magically it appeared.

This online program called Pandora is basically an on-line radio station, except it plays only the music you want it to, but then here's the sick part...IT EVOLVES!

You basically pop in the name of one of your favorite bands and then it plays that band and other bands like them. If you don't like their suggestions you give it the big thumbs down and you never hear that crap again.

FOR EXAMPLE: Today I typed in one of my favorite depressing mood bands (Death Cab for Cutie) and I got to listen to one of my favorite songs on their new album ("No Sunlight"). The next three bands that played were Wilco, Elliot Smith, and...get this...COLDPLAY! OH NO YOU DID NOT PUT THAT GARBAGE ON MY RADIO STATION! I was infuriated and was about to swear of the website forever because they tainted my radio station with that unintelligent, untalented, for lack of a better word...dribble. BUT...my friend at work told me that I could hit this thumbs down button and it would never play another one of their songs on my radio station again. So I breathed a sigh of relief and I thumbs downed that band so fast...Siskel and Ebert would be proud.

So anyway...if you haven't already (like I said I'm behind the times)...check out Pandora. It's great for when you're at work and you're looking for some music to keep you on pace. It comes highly recommended.

Oh and my buddy from work is from Kentucky and brought me back My Morning Jacket's limited release live EP they put out for National Record Store Day. It's called Celebracion de la Ciudad Natal. Cool thing is he bought it from ear X-tacy, which is the store that the EP was originally played in and recorded in...HOW COOL IS THAT!? Good man. So needless to say I will give it a listen tonight and let yinz know how it is. That's right...that's a yinz...dedicated to Steve, Pat, and all the other Pittsburgh dudes that drank their faces off with me all weekend. Good times.

The Top 25 Most Influential Albums of My Life - The Top 5

First...the list as it stands so far...

#25. "Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots

#24. "Dither" by moe.

#23. "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" by Dashboard Confessional

#22. "Ten" by Pearl Jam

#21. "Under the Table and Dreaming" by Dave Matthews Band

#20. "Greatest Hits" by Journey

#19. "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns N' Roses

#18. "Nevermind" by Nirvana

#17. "Unplugged" by Alice in Chains

#16. "Clumsy" by Our Lady Peace

#15. "Retrospective: Vol. 1" by Rush

#14. "Sublime" by Sublime

#13. "Collective Soul" by Collective Soul

#12. "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica

#11. "Live at Luther College" by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds

#10. "2001" by Dr. Dre

#9. "On and On" by Jack Johnson

#8. "Z" by My Morning Jacket

#7. "The Conch" by moe.
#6. "Good ApolloI'm Burning Star IV Pt.1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" by Coheed and Cambria

So without any further delays...here is the Top 5!

#5

"Weezer (The Blue Album)" by Weezer – This album has followed me around since I first heard it in grade school. I STILL listen to this album once every couple months (currently on my IPod btw) because it is just that damned good it never gets old. The Deluxe Edition of this album is even cooler because it contains a ton of bonus tracks... including what for years I referred to as "that song from the end of Mallrats" (I finally found out the name of the track was indeed called "Suzanne"). We all remember the ground-breaking video for "Buddy Holly" where the band dressed up as Happy Days characters (Heyyyyyyyy!...whats cooler than Rivers Cuomo chillin with the Fonz?), we all love to play "Say It Ain’t So" on Rock Band, and we all have tried to remember the spoken part at the beginning of "Undone (The Sweater Song). However, what makes this album even better to me are two of my favorite"pump-up" songs of all time…"Surf Wax America" and my personal favorite, "My Name is Jonas". These songs are guaranteed to make your pacemaker explode! This album should definitely be listened to at a party in a dank basement while playing a grueling game of beer pong (i.e. my senior year apartment). Good times.

#4

"Are You Experienced?" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience – This was the first vinyl (yep those black frisbees with the hole in the middle) I ever owned. I found it in my mom’s old collection when I was like 13 (still have it today…still works) and I immediately popped it in the record player (still have one of those too). The first time I listened to this was like one of those moments in your life that could only be called a "wow" moment. I learned a new appreciation for electric guitar after hearing this album...especially in its original recording form with the sweet static-y background you only get from old records. When I listen to Jimi my mind gets lost trying to figure out in my head how he is playing these riffs. A friend of mine I work with idolizes Jimi and let me borrow some of his live DVD's over the summer and I finally got to see how it was done...it blew my friggin mind! This is how electric guitar was SUPPOSED to be played...the problem is is that no one can imitate the soul and passion that Jimi put into his riffs...the shit just came to him on the fly. The fact that Jimi died so young is a tragedy to music history. We’ll never know how much better he could have been. Best guitarist of all time...hands down. Nobody will ever have a better understanding of an axe than Jimi.

#3

"Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd – Ohhhhhhh man...I don’t think much needs to be said about this album, but I'll give it a try. This album was not my first taste of Pink Floyd. The first time I ever heard of PF was when I was in 5th grade and my class and I went on a tour of 3 Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh (this was around the time the Buccos were good...remember skinny Barry Bonds? HA!). We looked onto the field and it was completely littered with trash. My teacher asked why it was so trashed? The tour guide said that Pink Floyd played there the night before...no further questions needed to be asked. I never understood this until when I was 22 I finally saw Roger Waters play live at Post-Gazette Pavilion in Pittsburgh (they played two sets...first one was the entire Dark Side album!)...then I understood...completely. Although PF have many great albums...this is a total classic and in my eyes...a much better album than "The Wall" (musically speaking). The songs just flow with each other so well. It's like the entire album is just one 43-minute long song. One regret...I still haven’t tried synching it up with "The Wizard of Oz"…sigh…some day.

#2

"Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory" by Dream Theater – Anybody who knows me well knew that this album would be in the top 5. In fact...if it wasn't for the fact that this band is influenced by #1 album, it probably would be #1, but we must respect the rock lineage here. This band was originally introduced to me in high school by one of my best friends who picked it up on a total impulse buy. We listened to it in the car on the way back from the mall, and the rest is history. It spread like wildfire through my group of friends with everybody demanding a copy to burn (this is when it still took like an hour to rip a CD). If there is a band that knows how to play their instruments, it is Dream Theater. These guys are and have been students of music all of their lives. Their lead singer (James LaBrie) used to sing opera, can sing in at least 3 octaves, and has recovered from almost losing his vocal chords. Their strum man (John Petrucci) has been rated one of the best guitarists in the world multiple times by Guitar Magazine. Their drummer (Mike Portnoy) has for 12 consecutive years been named Modern Drummer magazines "Best Progressive Rock Drummer", is known as one of the top clinicians in the business, and is regularly considered one of the top 10 drummers of all time. So anyway...as far as the album is considered...by now you all know I love concept albums...well in my mind this is the best concept album of all time. It tells a great story (not gonna spoil it...listen to it...its awesome) that has many twists and turns throughout it...so it automatically gets replay value because you have to listen to it multiple times to get all of it. The songs reflect the moods of the characters and LaBrie sings parts for multiple characters (high voice for girls, normal voice for dudes) that are written out like they would be in a Broadway musical. They even set the mood for you by putting you into a trance in the first song (you'll hear what I mean). There are so many cool things about this album...just go listen to it. I'm done trying to explain how awesome it is.

#1

"IV (Four)" by Led Zeppelin – Possibly the greatest rock band of all time. Possibly the greatest rock album of all time, containing (possibly? nah...it is) the best rock song of all time ("What? No Stairway? Denied!"). Here it is...the album that forever shaped my musical tastes. Half of the bands on this list could name Zep as one of their major influences. This album came out at the peak of Zep’s career and showcased the talent of the entire band. From John Bonham’s insane beats on "Rock and Roll", to John Paul Jones' sweet bass lines on "Misty Mountain Hop", to Robert Plant's shrilling vocals on "Black Dog", to the always historic Jimmy Page solo on "Stairway", this album is legendary from beginning to end. I really can't describe this album in words so I'm just going to say that this list would look entirely different if it wasn't for this album. This album IS rock and roll. There is no other concert in the world I would rather see than Led Zeppelin. Seriously I would pay an obscene amount of money to go see them play again (and yes...I did put my name in the lottery for last year's reunion show at London's O2 Arena). If the reunion tour ever happened I would see them play as many times as I could. Seeing Robert Plant play at Bonnaroo last year with Allison Krauss did nothing for me. Not that they're not good...but it sucks that Plant's voice got so damaged over the years that he had to give up singing rock n roll and my first time seeing him I had to hear "adult contemporary" or even worse yet..."easy-listening" music. Please, please, PLEASE let there be a reunion tour (stop being so selfish...f'n rock stars).

So that's that. The list is complete. Now you know where I stand when I talk music. This list took a lot of time to compile, and was edited many many times, but I had a blast doing it. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

The Top 25 Most Influential Albums of My Life - #10-#6

Alright their O-Heads...we're getting down to the wire here...let's take a look at the list so far...


#25. "Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots
#24. "Dither" by moe.
#23. "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" by Dashboard Confessional
#22. "Ten" by Pearl Jam
#21. "Under the Table and Dreaming" by Dave Matthews Band
#20. "Greatest Hits" by Journey
#19. "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns N' Roses
#18. "Nevermind" by Nirvana
#17. "Unplugged" by Alice in Chains
#16. "Clumsy" by Our Lady Peace
#15. "Retrospective: Vol. 1" by Rush
#14. "Sublime" by Sublime
#13. "Collective Soul" by Collective Soul
#12. "Ride the Lightning" by Metallica
#11. "Live at Luther College" by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds



Alright...we're into the top 10. All of the albums from here on out could really be put in any type of order, but I tried to do my best with them. These albums are all awesome and all are the artists masterpieces...


#10








"2001" by Dr. Dre – This was the soundtack to my senior year of high school. Best rap album of all time if you ask me (I'm sure many of you disagree and will put some Tupac or Biggie album in its place...which is understandable). We all know I love rock, but what many people don't understand is that I love old school 90's rap. I couldn't tell you who the artists are or what the names of the songs are, but I like a lot of it. So many great rappers came out of this era, and few of them survived. Dr. Dre is one of the best lyricists and beat writers of my generation and this has so many great "guest stars" on it including Eminem and Snoop Dogg...who are also greats in this genre. This album kicks soooo much ass. Who hasn’t tried to sing Eminem’s part in "Forgot About Dre" without passing out from a lack of oxygen? And who, as a teenager, didn’t blast the song "Pause 4 Porno" at an unreasonable volume in a rich, classy neighborhood? This whole album brings back some awesome memories that I shall not discuss here.



#9









"On and On" by Jack Johnson – Is there a better CD to listen to when it’s 90 degrees outside and you’re driving down the highway with all of the windows rolled down? Not in my books. This album should be in everyone’s summer collection. The surf rocker was never better than on this CD, which was listened to over and over again in the car in the summers of ’05 and ’06. I’d put down a song to try out, but they’re all good…really, they are. Listen to the whole thing from beginning to end. If I had to pick a favorite song on the album though I'd probably go with "Gone" or "Wasting Time". This album is influential to me because Jack Johnson is in a genre all his own...and what musical artist wouldn't want to be considered that?



#8









"Z" by My Morning Jacket – I didn't know where to put this one on here...honestly. One of my new favorite bands is led by the rock immortal himself, Mr. Jim James. I first heard this band years ago, but it wasn't until last year that I really got into them. I saw MMJ twice last year, and I got to see two of their most historic concerts they’ve ever played...first, their historic 4.5 hour long Bonnaroo set which included guest appearances by Kirk Hammet of Metallica and my favorite comedian, Zach Galifinakis...and second, their 4 hour long New Years Eve set at Madison Square Garden. Both concerts were amazing. The Bonnaroo set was completely indescribable and may be my favorite concert ever. Although all of their albums are good in their own way, this album highlights some of their best songs. "Gideon", "Dondante" and "Wordless Chorus" are fan favorites at their concerts. This CD is packed with some of the best electric guitar riffs I've ever heard from guitarists Jim James and Carl Broemmel. If you like guitars and have never heard of this band…check them out…now! They are rock’s new guitar gods!



#7









"The Conch" by moe. – This is the second moe. album on this list, and this one blows "Dither" out of the water. Considering how much praise I gave that album....you should really trust me when I say this is one of the greatest guitar albums I've ever listened to. I found this album to truly be the jam bands masterpiece. Another concept album, this album took four years to create (taking tour breaks in between of course) which includes some of the best dueling guitar battles from axe-men Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey. This album gets me fired up and is great for long road trips or working out. If nothing else, check out the dueling guitar battles on "Lost Along the Way" and "The Pit". This album just flows...you'll hear what I mean.



#6









"Good Apollo I’m Burning Star IV Pt. 1: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness" by Coheed and Cambria – This band is not a new found favorite, but this album is. Coheed amazes me, especially the fact that all of their albums are concept albums that are written based on a comic book series ("The Amory Wars") written by lead singer/guitarist Claudio Sanchez. However, this album is based on a graphic novel named after the title of the album, which continues the story from previous albums. Sanchez has one of the best voices in rock and his diversity can be shown from angry songs like "Welcome Home" to pseudo-love songs like "Wake Up". The entire album is EPIC…and has a sequel ("No World for Tomorrow"). This album has not been taken off of my IPod since I downloaded it the first week of March. The entire band influences me because they put so much time and effort into their music. The cool thing is that you don't need to understand the books to follow the albums...they are two separate entities that tell different interpretations of the story.




I love concept albums, and this is one of my favorites...but the BEST is yet to come...the top 5 will be posted on Wednesday night/Thursday morning so be sure to check and let me know what you think.






TO BE CONTINUED...

Music Festival Season Begins

Festival season begins today! What a wonderous occassion! Everybody drink a beer...NOW! And one more for good measure.

For those of you who don't know Coachella begins today. I'm pretty sure that nobody I know is going, being that most people I know live east of the Mississippi, and Coachella takes place in So-Cal, but if you are, drop me a line this weekend and let me know when you're going to be sober again.

I consider Coachella as the first MAJOR music festival of the year. Many people would disagree with me and say that South By Southwest is the first big festival of the year, but I don't consider SXSW a festival. It's more an entire city (Austin, TX) that turns into a giant hotel room for bands from all over the world for more than a week in March. SXSW would be awesome to see some day...I would probably die from a brain aneurysm though trying to figure out the schedule and how the hell I was going to see all the bands I wanted to see. SXSW is way too big to be considered a festival. So...let's keep it simple for now.

So anyway...back to Coachella. Lots of great musicians are there this weekend, and you can catch their performance live via webcast here (NOTE: I am not to be held responsible for anyone caught by their boss while wacthing this at work).

Here's what I'm looking forward to hearing this weekend from Coachella (keep in mind I'm only putting the big acts on here, because that's probably all that will be on the webcast) :

FRIDAY NIGHT

Paul McCartney - a living legend, probably the biggest act of the entire weekend.

Franz Ferdinand - never heard them live before. Weird band, but some cool songs.

The Black Keys - also a band I have never heard live.

SATURDAY NIGHT

The Killers - a little too "pop"-y for my taste, but they write some good songs.

M.I.A. - I bet she puts on one hell of a concert. Talented up and comer on the hip-hop scene.

TV on the Radio - they had the album of the year last year hands down. Insane band...can't wait to see them in June.

SUNDAY NIGHT

The Cure - don't like much from them, but never really gave them a chance. Here it is.

My Bloody Valentine - heavy band, lot of history. Will see them in July so might as well get a preview.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - awesome band. Also looking for a preview for when I see them in June.

So, if you're bored have a listen. It's not as good as being there, but you might catch a glimpse of some guest performers.

The main reason I am so excited that the festival season is here is because I have 3 festivals on the slate for this summer: All Points West, Gathering of the Vibes, and of course...BONNAROO!

Some think that Coachella is just as good, if not better than, Bonnaroo. However, look at the lineups and tell me the truth. Really? REALLY?! Coachella's headliners are Paul McCartney, The Killers, and The Cure. Meanwhile, Bonnaroo's headliners are Bruce Springsteen, Phish, and Beastie Boys. Plus, Bonnaroo does have about 3 times the amount of bands...and has night shows which last until 4 sometimes 5 in the morning (thats about 16 hours of live music per day). Let's keep this in mind. All festivals are great, but nothing compares to Bonnaroo (except Rothbury, but we'll save this argument for another occassion).

I'm going to end this post with the following fact:

There are only 52 more days till Bonnaroo!

Let the summer concert season begin...

The Top 25 Most Influential Albums of My Life - #15-#11

Alright, after much contemplation and second guessing the next 5 are finally done, but first...the list so far...

#25. "Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots

#24. "Dither" by moe.

#23. "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" by Dashboard Confessional

#22. "Ten" by Pearl Jam

#21. "Under the Table and Dreaming" by Dave Matthews Band

#20. "Greatest Hits" by Journey

#19. "Appetite for Destruction" by Guns N' Roses

#18. "Nevermind" by Nirvana

#17. "Unplugged" by Alice in Chains

#16. "Clumsy by Our Lady Peace

#15

"Retrospective Vol. 1" by Rush – I would never put this as one of the best albums of all time, because it is a Greatest Hits compilation, but the purpose of this is to list influential albums and this is certainly one of mine. The 3 Canucks (Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart) write so much music that this is only the first of three volumes of Greatest Hits albums. This album highlights their early years from 1974-1980. This band was probably my first taste of progressive rock, and opened my eyes to other prog rock bands like Dream Theater and Coheed & Cambria. Plus, their songs are written with different meanings (some political, others historical, others fantasy based) that come straight from the mind of one of the greatest drummers of all time. This album packs on more of their hits than on the other volumes. "The Spirit of Radio" and "Freewill" are two of my favorite Rush songs of all time...ESPECIALLY Alex Lifeson’s finger-busting solo in "Freewill".

#14

"Sublime" by Sublime – This is the ultimate summer album! It must be enjoyed sitting outside while drinking a beer or other alcoholic beverage. "Wrong Way", "Santeria" and "What I Got" are all classics, but the rest of the CD is packed with other greats. I love to listen to this album in May and June, right as the summer concert season is starting and barbeques start to roll around. Too bad this band didn’t last longer…they had a lot of potential and staying power in my opinion. The remaining members of the band got together for a concert in Nevada back in February, but no other information is coming out about hiring a new lead singer/guitarist or a new album.

#13

"Collective Soul" by Collective Soul – Ask any of my friends I’ve known since grade school and they will tell you that one of my favorite bands ever is Collective Soul. I don’t know why, but I find them to be a band that was always better than they were given credit for. They were one of those bands that flourished in the rock genre in the mid-to-late 90's when the public eye started moving to Hip-Hop and Rap after the whole Grunge scene started to die off. When guitarist Ross Childress left the band after the "Dosage" album, I shed a tear. They haven’t been the same since. This album means a lot to me because CS was my first ever concert (along with Train), and this album is so catchy from beginning to end. Good sing-a-long road trip album.

#12

"Ride the Lightning" by Metallica – Probably the first heavy metal album I ever heard. The first thing I ever noticed while listening to this band was that there was not one, but two guys playing the main riffs of the song. The dueling guitars of Kirk Hammet and James Hetfield are incredible on this album (see: "For Whom the Bell Tolls"). I love listening to Metallica in surround sound cause you can easily pick out who's playing which riffs. We all know Metallica lost some popularity with the whole Napster thing, but after their performance at Bonnaroo 2008, all is forgiven. They even apologized to the fans, which is pretty amazing for Lars Ulrich's ego, but I guess that's why Hetfield made the announcement. This album brought out my love of heavy metal and "Fade to Black" will always be my favorite Metallica song.

#11

"Live at Luther College" by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds – This album is responsible for me ever picking up an acoustic guitar. Without this album I probably would’ve started with electric. The harmony of Dave and Tim's guitars in songs like "Tripping Billies" and "Typical Situation" are beautiful, and what Dave fan couldn’t love the live acoustic version of "Jimi Thing". This album is a jam from the first note of "One Sweet World" until the crowd applause fades out at the end of "Two Step". I used to listen to this album almost every night before I went to bed for a 6-month stretch in college. I also saw these guys play live/acoustic together in Vegas at the Aladdin because of this album…money well spent. P.S. - The Dave & Tim "Live at Radio City Music Hall" album is nowhere near as good.

That's all for now folks. I've got the Top 10 written down, just gotta put them in some sort of order, but the rest of the list should be out soon. Stay tuned...

TO BE CONTINUED...

UPDATE

This is getting tough, but nonetheless...#'s 15 - 10 are on their way tonight! Stay tuned...

In the meantime be sure to cheer on Geno and Sid as the Pens take on the Flyers in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Quarterfinals tonight. For more information check out www.steve-is-alive.blogspot.com. This is my roomate Steve's Pittsburgh sports blog...if anyone knows the Pens, it's this kid...his gf (another roomate) is a big Flyers fan so they're looking for a bet to place on the series...shoot them a "tasteful" idea.

Party on Wayne.

The Top 25 Most Influential Albums of My Life - #'25-#21

DISCLAIMER: Its taken me quite a while to compose this list and it is lengthy. For how much I love music it was really hard to narrow this down. So I created this list which contains some of the albums I grew up with and listened to over and over again and some albums I’ve heard recently that forever changed my taste in music. This is NOT a list of the Greatest Albums of my life (although many of them would fit in that list as well). Thanks to Larry for giving me the idea for this.

#25

"Purple" by Stone Temple Pilots – Most people would probably pick "Core" as the most influential STP album, but with songs like "Interstate Love Song", "Vasoline" and "Big Empty", Scott Weiland’s vocals never sounded more grungy and raw...probably because of the mass amounts of drugs he was doing at this time (he was actually arrested for heroin and cocaine possession during the recording sessions!). A lot of people don't know that, Robert DeLeo was the mastermind behind a lot of the songs on this album (alongside Weiland). Also, Dean DeLeo created some really awesome guitar riffs for this album (especially on "Silvergun Superman" and "Meatplow"). Always reminds me of one of my best friends who has seen STP in concert dozens of times. I grew up listening to this album with him.

#24

"Dither" by moe. - Probably my first true "jam band" CD. One of my ex’s got me into this band knowing my love for great guitarists, and then I found out this band has two, Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey. This band opened my eyes to the world of improvised jam music. When I saw them play in Vegas it was 95 degrees outside and these guys were jamming for 10-15 minutes on every song...that's some endurance. Of course you can’t hear the improvisation as well on the album as you do when you see a live moe. concert, but still, singles like "Captain America", "Understand", and their remake of "In a Big Country" will always remind me of Vegoose 2005. Can't wait to see them again this summer.

#23

"The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" by Dashboard Confessional – Still when the band was primarily made up of just Chris Carrabba, this album always takes me back to college and what I call my "wuss-rock" days. Anybody who knew me in college knew my love for some Dashboard. I used to cover the songs "Screaming Infidelities" and "The Brilliant Dance" on open mic nights at Gemmel. And of course…the CND crew has heard AND sung along to every DC song I could ever play. I don't listen to a whole lot of D/C anymore, but when I do this is usually the album I pop in, because it's genuine...nothing but a man and his guitar.

#22

"Ten" by Pearl Jam – Everybody should have this album in their collection if they haven't for the last 18 years. This is still Pearl Jam’s masterpiece. It was released in 1991, which means I was only 8 years old when I first saw the always graphic video for "Jeremy" (which if you have never seen, then you have been living under a rock your entire life). This album contains some of the best riffs and solos Mike McCready has ever done (especially "Alive" and "Even Flow"), but Eddie Vedder’s hardcore vocals on songs like "Black" and "Porch" are what makes this album one of the best ("What the fuck is this song?"). I karaoke Pearl Jam, I used to sing and play "Elderly Woman..." (still my favorite) at Open Mic Nights in college, and I’ve seen them headline a historic concert at Bonnaroo ’08…and this album started it all.

#21

"Under the Table and Dreaming" by Dave Matthews Band- This album is still the bands best album. Released when DMB was still playing small bars and clubs (and not selling out arenas and outdoor pavilions for 2-day drunk festivals), their breakthrough album still holds true Dave fans’ all-time favorites like "Jimi Thing" and "Warehouse". DMB just doesn’t make their albums like they used to. I miss Dave’s old acoustic stylings and Boyd Tinsley's spine-tingling violin solos. Dave concerts will never be the same since the death of LeRoi Moore (their long time saxophone/woodwind player) last summer. I love this album because it was my first taste of jam band music which I love so much these days.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Prologue

(tap, tap, tap...is this thing on? Hellooooooooo Cleveland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

So here it goes...my lazy ass is starting a blog. I've decided to shed my recent hatred for technology and stop being such an old man (plus I needed a reason to hone my writing skills in case I get back into producing soon).

Many of you are probably asking yourselves, "Self, what is Matt going to write about? He knows nothing about nothing." Well my friend...you've got some nerve!

I plan to use this blog to write primarily about music. This isn't going to be a music blog about musicians personal lives (unless it's really cool OR lame) like whether or not Lily Allen is psycho (yes, she is, but she is also incredibly talented...and she's hot). It's going to be about music...simply put. I plan on sharing my take on music with the others.

Also, many of you know that I do write music on my own and am in a lengthy process of trying to set up a home recording studio. I plan on posting some of my lyrics (and hopefully down the road, my own actual songs) of my own creation and I want to let all of you tell me what you think about them.

My friends who read this know my love for music. Even if you hate my taste in music, I hope you at least appreciate the fact that I do have an opinion about music, and don't let music critics and DJ's pick my music for me. Music is everywhere...in all shape and forms...from horrible jingles (like JG Wentworths 877-Cash-Now opera) to epic albums everyone has heard of (see: The Beatles...yep, spelled with an a...not an e). If you don't love music, you're simply not human. Ha! Enjoy...

COMING UP THIS WEEK: The Top 25 Most Influential Albums of my Life: #'s 25-20