Category Archives: Non-sports

The experience I wish I could have

Posted on September 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

My wife, Julie, had the greatest concert experience of her life Saturday night. She drove to Chicago with some friends to see U2 kick off its North American tour, and since she got back this afternoon, she’s been talking non-stop about what a great time she had.

She gave me the play-by-play of her trip while we ate dinner. She showed me the pictures she took on her camera. She made me watch the YouTube videos (crappy sound quality and all). She swooned over Bono.

We saw U2 about a decade ago at the Georgia Dome during the disastrous Pop Mart tour, and since I’m not a big U2 guy, I was just fine skipping this show. Julie, though, made me relive it.

“It was 100 times better than the show in Atlanta,” she texted me minutes after the last notes evaporated into the night.

“It was the best concert ever,” she exclaimed the next day, as I wiped the pizza sauce off my face.

“Don’t you wish you were there?” she taunted (though she knows I don’t really care).

It brought me back to the favorite concert I’ve ever seen. I’ve experienced some great acts – Ben Harper four times in high school and college; Mike Patton close to a half-dozen times; a Bad Religion show where the band played EVERY song I wanted*; Tool, an eight-hour roundtrip ride from Philly to New Haven to see Sparta; etc.

*This is a phenomenon I hadn’t experienced before and I haven’t experienced since.

But the best show I ever saw was Pink Floyd in 1994 at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta on the Division Bell tour, the last tour the band will ever play (I don’t think any YouTube videos exist, but strangely, there are numerous clips from the band’s 1987 stop at the now-defunct Omni). The stage show … incredible. The vibe in the audience … awesome. The sound from the band … pretty good. The entire experience … best-ever.

I remember thinking at the time that this was the best show I had ever seen, and that was true. It was only the second true rock concert I’d ever witnessed (Aerosmith was show No. 1 in 1993, though before that, I was supposed to hit a Coverdale/Page concert that eventually was canceled (I still remember how devastated I was when I heard that show was kaput because of poor ticket sales)). I also remember thinking Pink Floyd (minus, of course, Roger Waters) was the best show I’d probably ever see. And that’s true. At least I think.

I really wish I could have found some YouTube clips from the show at Bobby Dodd, just so I could confirm what I’ve built up in my mind the past 15 years. That apparently is not possible. But I do know this. The stage show was incredible, but the vibe in the audience was mediocre (the crowd was decidedly uninterested when the band played its new music, though the fans turned themselves around when Pink Floyd played the hits in the second act). The sound wasn’t really the best I’d ever heard either.

But overall, that show – when I was 15 years old and a freshman in high school – was the highlight of my concert-going experience, and I don’t think anything will ever live up to it. Listening to Julie describe her experience, I was a little jealous, because I don’t think I’ll ever feel that way for another show. It’s not the Pink Floyd show that was so great. It’s the memory of the Pink Floyd show that was so great.

Maybe I peaked too soon.

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Why can’t I find this music?

Posted on September 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

I used to listen to an Internet radio show where the host – a fairly well-known bass player who continues to play and tour with various bands – would throw out songs by artists I’d never heard before. Some were beautiful. Some were horrible. Most of the new songs I heard didn’t do much for me one way or the other. A precious few hit me right in the heart of my ear drum.

Of course, the host played more mainstream music – some Zeppelin, some Beatles, some Clash, some Afghan Whigs, some Pixies.

But there were two songs that came out of nowhere that I really dug. I’ve sought out the songs occasionally during the past year to listen, but I can’t seem to find a place to download them. They’re not on iTunes, they’re not available for purchase on Myspace, they’re not seen on Imeem. They’re not really anywhere that you can buy.

They are Jeff Klein’s “Bury It Low” (which is actually performed by My Jerusalem, a band in which Klein plays) and Martyn LeNoble’s “Closer” (one of the more beautiful songs I’ve heard lately). All I want to do is download the songs (legally) so I can rip them onto a blank CD or just listen to them on my iPod.

But for some reason, that’s impossible right now. And that seems insane.

Don’t we live in a time where we can get anything we want, whenever we want? Isn’t the Internet supposed to give us whatever we need? Yes? Then why can’t I download the damn songs that I want. Why can’t I pay my 99 cents and listen to the music when I’m sweeping the floor or writing a game story? Why is it so got-damn difficult?

It’s frustrating, you know?

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An almost glorious movie

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

I liked it. Didn’t love it. I’d see it again, but I don’t think it would replace my top two favorite Quentin Tarantino movies. But I liked it. Liked it a lot.

I saw Inglourious Basterds last weekend. I thought it was very Tarantino-esque. Lots of violence, lots of squeamishness, lots of humor. I really enjoy the way he shot the movie*, and believe me, I don’t study directors like a film student would. Some of it was pure Tarantino. Some of it was somebody else Tarantino was impersonating or praising.

*The closeups – of the fabric of a Frenchman’s courderoy pants, the wide white eyes of a family hiding beneath another family’s floorboards, the wild-eyed expressions of a man killing dozens – were particularly enthralling.

Brad Pitt’s Tennessee accent was overly-acted, but appropriately so with a nod and a wink to the audience watching him. Mike Myers was Austin Powers imitating a British Army officer (again, with a knowing smile to the audience). The villianous Nazis were comically inept and boorish.

And then there was the final scene – a scene that sort of emerged from nowhere and featured a climax that could have turned a movie that you liked into a movie that you loathed.

I liked it. I just didn’t love it. It was Inglourious. Just not as Glorious as I hoped.

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How much is it worth?

Posted on July 10, 2009 | 1 Comment

I read this story today, and immediately, I had two different reactions: “Yay!” and “Well, I guess I won’t be visiting NYTimes.com much anymore.”

First reaction: I think it’s great the NY Times is thinking of ways it can make money on the Web. I always feel optimistic when somebody in this not-dying-but-totally-changing business is thinking of trying something a little bit different. If the NY Times wants to charge a bit so you can read the best newspaper in the world, I say “god bless.” If ESPN.com wants to employ a blogger for each NFL division and each BCS conference to get fans a micro-view of the news, I say “that’s awesome.” If CBSSports.com wants to pay me for … well, I’ll get into that part later. It’s all about adapting and finding a formula that works. The NY Times (and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as well, in a similar capacity) tried something a few years back called TimesSelect where, basically, you had to subscribe to read certain columnists. It eventually went away (the linked article explains why). Now, the NY Times is going to try something different. I think it can work. If people perceive the content as being too good or too important to pass up, they’ll pay for it. Ask the Financial Times’ web site about that. The NY Times can accomplish the same as well,* because, in reality, you could spend all day on the site reading fascinating and well-written stories.

*Whether a paper like the Cincinnati Enquirer or AJC could make that formula work, I don’t know. But I kind of have my doubts.

Second reaction: If I, a journalist and a student of this business, question whether it’s worth it to shell out, say, $60 a year to read the Times online, you wonder how well this idea will really work. I love the Times (I love reading the newspaper, anyway. I don’t read the web site nearly as much I should), but I don’t know if I want to pay to read it on my computer. I’d almost rather spend the $200 (or whatever it is) to subscribe and get the paper thrown at my front door every day than to have to read it online (maybe, that’s what the Times would want anyway). I just don’t know if I want to spend my money on that.

On one hand, I’m optimistic. On the other, I’m a little bit sad.

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Cincinnati Punchline (05-19)

Posted on June 9, 2009 | 1 Comment

I had a good time writing this story for Soapbox Media, an online Cincinnati-area magazine. I’ve always been fascinated with stand-up comedy, and there’s a relatively well-known comic in this area who I wanted to write about for the web site. The editor said that was fine, but he also wanted a broader take on the state of stand-up comedy in Cincinnati. I traveled with Josh Sneed, his girlfriend and his dog to one of his college gigs in Louisville and spent the entire evening with them. It was an interesting time – getting his take on the art of stand-up and what it’s like to be a comic on the road while discussing how strong or weak the Cincinnati scene is.

I knew I wanted to lede the story with him being on the road (driving to Louisville or eating for free at the tiny dining hall on campus or something like that). After thinking about a couple ideas – and discarding them because they were all kind of stupid – I decided to go with the comic listening to another stand-up’s comedy CD and going crazy over it. I thought the lede effectively blended Sneed’s sense of humor and his appreciation for the art form in general. At least, that was the point.

My favorite line, though, was this:

Now, he’s reaping the rewards. And as Todd Barry ends his set on the car stereo, Sneed looks in the backseat once again at his girl and his dog (one of whom is snoring rather loudly). He’s about to cross the Brent Spence Bridge into Cincinnati and is close to home after a fulfilling night’s work. He shifts his body frontward and looks through the windshield, content with his career and with his life.

And funny enough, the next time I saw Sneed and his girlfriend (perhaps inappropriately enough, at a funeral), that’s the first thing she mentioned.

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