Music

Listened to

• The Black Keys (15)
• Mumford & Sons (14)
• Katy Perry (12)
• Metric (6)
• The Beatles (3)

Purchased

• The Beatles – “Revolver” (vinyl)
• The Black Keys – “Brothers”
• The Black Keys – “Thickfreakness” (vinyl)
• Katy Perry – Teenage Dream

Records were almost killed off by cassettes and CDs, but in the past decade, they have had a real reemergence. Most new albums are now released on vinyl as well, and many of the albums released in the last 15 years that were not available on vinyl are being re-released.

In my year-plus, I have picked up around 60 pieces (including a few I stole from my dad’s old collection that just sits in my parent’s basement). In Kansas City, it’s not easy to find good records. There are the resellers that have some small collections of differing quality, like Half Price Books and Vintage Stock, but they are either limited or way overpriced. I’ve stopped even looking at Vintage Stock since I’m not interested in Ted Nugent or torn-up, scratched to hell records. I’ve actually had pretty good luck at Half Price Books with some older records, so I stop by there every few weeks and just give it a look. I’ve managed to walk away with The Beatles’ “Let It Be”, John Lennon’s “Imagine” (while not in good shape, it was only $1 as was “Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits”), Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and “Animals”.

When it comes to new vinyl, there are only really 3 places in the area worth visiting (while Best Buy does carry vinyl and was where I purchased The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” and The Police’s “Certifiable”, it only offers up the most popular bands).

If you’re willing to make the drive, Love Garden Sounds in Lawrence, KS has a pretty decent collection. If I’m in the city with some time to kill, I usually wander over there and just take a look around. I’ve only found a few things there I was interested in, but they seemed to have a pretty good collection.

Closer to home, there’s Vinyl Renaissance in Shawnee. This is the closest to me, so it’s also the one I visit the most (every 2-3 months). They have a large collection of used records (mostly from 60s, 70s and 80s), and a decent sized collection of new records. Except for a few bands (The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Queen, for the most part), I’m mostly interested in new records and usually find at least 3 records I’m interested in on each visit (though paying $40 for a copy of Beck’s “Sea Change” keeps me from buying them).

Today I visited a new one, Earwaxx Records in Gladstone, which is north of the river up near where I lived for the first year I was out here. It’s only a couple years old, but it already has a very impressive collection. I found out about Earwaxx when I went to the Hooligan Record Swap Meet at the Beaumont Club. I don’t recall if I bought anything from them that day, but the owner gave me his card. So I took some time to make the drive up today and check the place out. I ended up walking away with a copy of The Beatles’ “Revolver” (leaving me just “Rubber Soul” short of my collection of “must-have” Beatles’ records – also featuring “Abbey Road”, “Beatles (White Album” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”) and a new copy of The Black Keys’ “Thickfreakness”.

Speaking of The Black Keys, I think they were made for vinyl. They’re a real bluesy garage rock band. It’s just so rough that vinyl seems to capture it perfectly. You would probably recognize them from Hung or various commercials.

Music

Listened to

• Something Corporate (39)
• Taking Back Sunday and Mumford & Sons (11)

Purchased

• Metric – “Fantasies”
• Mumford & Sons – “Sigh No More”
• Taking Back Sunday – “Live From Orensanz”

Concerts

• Something Corporate @ Uptown Theater – Thursday

Thursday night I saw one of my all-time favorite bands, Something Corporate, for the first and likely last time. I started listening to Something Corporate around 2002 or so. They were one of the first bands that I actually downloaded a CD from (though I did later purchase it), Leaving Through The Window. And over the next 2 or 3 years, I managed to never see them.

Then the band went on hiatus while their lead singer, Andrew McMahon, worked on his side project, Jack’s Mannequin, which has gone on to have far more success than Something Corporate. Their guitarist, Josh Partington, also formed another band, Firescape, who I did manage to see once in Atlanta and then again in a tiny dive bar (at the time called The Hurricane, now known as Riot Room) out here in Kansas City. Just as recording of the Jack’s Mannequin debut was completed, McMahon was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. He recovered and has released another album with Jack’s Mannequin as well as lots of touring.

Last year they announced that Something Corporate would be reuniting for a tour and working on new material. However, they did send out an email last week claiming it was their final tour together, though a recent interview with Alternative Press suggests they may be working on an album and further tours, so we’ll see.

But anyways, I saw them at Uptown Theater here in Kansas City. Doors were set for 7, and I arrived around 5:45 behind at least a hundred other people. I figured I would surely be stuck in the middle of the floor and have a difficult time seeing the stage. When I finally got in, I was in the 3rd row on the left side of the stage. After some adjustments by people, I managed to make it to the second row. Around 8 the band came on (they had no openers, which was somewhat nice), and they played for the next hour and a half or so (with a slight break before returning for an encore). I didn’t really track the time, so it could have been later. They played the only 2 songs that I was really hoping they would, “Globes And Maps” and “Konstantine”, and I recorded them both on my phone. Sound is a bit difficult at times due to the crowd, but they are still fun to look at and a semi-permanent remembrance of the show.

I hope it’s not the last time I get to see them, but if it is, it was an absolute blast to finally see them after all these years. It’s one less band on my “I wish I could have seen them live” list.

• Nigel Godrich (44)
• Sex Bob-Omb (7)
• Beck, blink-182, and Christopher Titus (5)
• Alkaline Trio, Barenaked Ladies and Manchester Orchestra (4)

Movies

• The Expendables – Friday
• Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World – Saturday

Books

• Built To Win by John Schuerholz and Larry Guest

Video Games

• Madden 2011

Speaking of my mom, she did something on Friday that may go down as one of the weirdest things I can imagine. She reads my blog… and then calls me. To tell me she read it. As she reads this, she is probably considering calling me to tell me she doesn’t appreciate me saying this. But now she won’t… or she will. Either way, I’ll hear about it one day.

I am also going to start doing a weekly recap on Sunday to cover whatever entertainment related information I want to recount from the past week. The kinds of thing I would not remember in a year, let alone 2 weeks.

The hair is a complete mess today. Probably doesn’t help that I’ve been a bum most of the day, but it did look better when I was out and about.

The Expendables was really good. Much better than I was expecting it to be. A lot of recent action stars, but also a lot of action stars that were past their prime in the 90s. I recommend it to everyone that enjoys action films.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World was just as good the second time as it was the first time.

Kansas needs to stop closing roads and half of interstates. It really makes getting to places difficult. Especially when you were unaware of the closures when planning out your time.

Blinkers. They come installed on your car for free. They should be used. You are going to cause an accident one day. If you don’t know how to use them, I will show you. It’s actually really simple. First graders could figure it out, so why can’t you?

I found out today that Little Debbie makes S’mores. So I bought a box. Oh. My. God. Somebody needs to steal my box before I eat them all.

It’s football season! Today was the first preseason game for the Atlanta Falcons, and they beat up on my now hometown Kansas City Chiefs. I wish the game had been out here in KC so I could have gone, but alas, at least I got to watch some of it on TV (the Braves on MLB Network took away the second half).

In a few weeks, Georgia Tech starts their season. On September 11, they will be out here in Lawrence, Kansas to face the Kansas Jayhawks. I still need to see about getting a ticket to the game.

But football season also means baseball season is reaching its postseason run, which is always a lot of fun to watch. This year will be no different. So yay, football!

For anyone that grew up an Atlanta Braves fan, or even a baseball fan, today might be a sad day. At 38 years old, Chipper Jones announced that he tore his ACL on a terrific play at Houston on Tuesday. While there is still a chance that he may attempt rehab and a comeback next season following surgery, I think this is the end. The man that really started his career with an ACL injury, now may end his career on one as well.

My first memories of the Braves don’t involve Chipper, but he was one of my favorites for years. In his first season, he was robbed of the Rookie of the Year (by Hideo Nomo), and he helped the Braves win their first World Series in Atlanta (and sadly only WS of the 14-year Division Champion run). When John Smoltz left for Boston following the 2008 season, Chipper officially became the last player remaining on the team from that championship season. Several times he took less money in order to allow the Braves to be competitive. He was drafted by the Braves 20 years ago, has never worn another team’s jersey and has played his entire career for the same manager (which ends this year, one way or another).

While I hope this is not the end and I know Chipper would want to go out on his own terms, I have a feeling this is it. And in a few years, he’ll have his number hung up in the stands by Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, Dale Murphy, Eddie Matthews, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Bobby Cox (#6 will be up there soon), and shortly thereafter, he’ll join the Hall of Fame with these same guys (minus Murphy, but that’s a whole different travesty). Nothing is official yet, but it’s been fun growing up watching Chipper over the last 16 years.

As you may or may not know, I can get annoyed rather easily. The simplest thing can latch onto my mind and just dig in. Sometimes it will bother me for a few hours, sometimes a few days, and on those rare special occasions, weeks. Right now, the numbering system around here has me bothered. Is today Day -20 or Day -19?  My birthday is in 20 days, so August 30 will be Day -1?  Is August 31 Day 0 or Day 1? Is it weird to jump from Day -1 to Day 1? Is it weird to consider August 30 Day 0?

Now, about this 26th year thing…. I may be turning 26, but it will be my 27th year. Would it be misleading to call it “27th Year”? Certainly more accurate.

Wow, I’m really scraping the bottom of the barrel today. I’ll try to do better tomorrow.