The Break-Up

Friday I hiked around the city getting tickets for the last shows of two of my favorite bands: Kill Your Idols and Boy Sets Fire. BSF at the Troc is going to be a blast. It's been so long since I've seen them or anything, but I remember in high school when I borrowed J Ro's copy of "The Day the Sun Went Out"; I immediately copied it onto a cassette and listened to it over and over and over again for years. That was probably the first record that you could be angry and intense while maintaining a good deal of sensitivity. I remember going out and buying "After the Eulogy" not long after that and, even though it wasn't as "essential" to my youth, it still made an impression on me and I played the shit out of it. I feel like a lot of people are going to cry at this show. That will be entertaining, but I can't blame people for letting that band mean so much to them.

Saturday afternoon saw the final Philadelphia show for KYI. I've been really stoked/bummed on this show for awhile. I have never, since the 10th grade, missed a KYI show. Well, I missed one but it wasn't my fault. The last time they played was at the 7 Seconds show two years ago. I remember the show was almost canceled because of some lame fight involving FSU and a Champion roadie. We all waited in the cramped Church basement for over 1 1/2 hours until the decision was made to carry on. I was right up front and KYI walked on and made those 1 1/2 miserable hours completely worth while. Always been too punk for a lot of hardcore kids and too hardcore for most punk kids. Consequently, there shows have always been full of kids who listen to classic American hardcore. All hell broke loose that night, and in measuring it up to that, Saturday was kind of disappointing. There were so many people there but everyone just stood in the back. It was so fucking stupid. The last time they headlined in Philly there were about 30 kids there and we all went off because we all wanted to be there so badly. It was so obvious so early on this weekend that people were there so that they can say they were at KYI's last Philly show. Lame. I'd say about 15 of us consistently went off, but I was hoping for a lot more. Bad Brains and Jawbreaker covers rule though. Where was the Negative Approach!? Hopefully I can make it to there show in Jersey this weekend.

PS - I just heard that the Explosion are splitting too. Fuuucccckkkkkk...
PSS - Go Sox. Gregg, your Yankees suck.

Playlist
Pixies - Bossanova
Tom Waits

Ugh, allergies

Tonight sees the start of the second round of the NHL playoffs. The NY Rangers defeating the Atlanta Thrashers in four games was perhaps the greatest shock of the first round. Now they go up against the mighty Buffalo Sabres. I maintain that Buffalo will win the Cup this year. Over the past few years I have slowly but surely become a hugs Sabres fan. I think the sentiment was finalized when we drove through Buffalo last summer on our way to Ohio and about 1/5 of the houses and apartments that we passed, had Sabres flags. I love that - when a city not only gets behind but breathes their team. Erich and I placed our next round of bets last night. Below are the upcoming series - my picks are bolded. I am very confident that I will be making some dough on this.

Buffalo (1) v NY Rangers (6) - We are not betting here as we are both aware of the power of the Sabres. Buffalo in 6.

New Jersey (2) v Ottawa (4) - Although Brodeur made me a bit nervous against Tampa Bay, and I hate to cheer for Jersey, Scott Gomez will carry them through. I don't think that Ottawa has the defense to hold NJ back. The goal tending battles will be interesting though. NJ in 7.

Detroit (1) v San Jose (5) - I know that the Sharks can beat Hasek, as great as he is. Thornton drew countless penalties against Forsberg and the Preds last series, giving the Sharks the upper hand, and I see him doing it to Detroit. Although the majority of hockey fans are picking the Wings, I think that San Jose will pull an upset. San Jose in 7.

Anaheim (2) v Vancouver (3) - Vancouver is exhausted from 7 very long games with Dallas, so the Ducks will (have to) win the opening home games. Roberto Luongo is the Canucks last chance. Expect more overtimes than in the Dallas series! Anaheim in 6.

Gooooooo SEPTA!

It's that time of year again! Prepare for the second annual "Melrose Mullet Madness Gallery!" Only Barry can reference Cool Hand Luke and soft-porn with hockey.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2007/news/story?id=2834375

By the way, mad props to SEPTA for taking 45 minutes on the Express line to transport me from City Hall to Olney this morning. I could completely understand if this was just a one time accident; a train in front of us was having problems and we had to wait under this sparkling city for repairs. But the more I ponder, the more I recollect this happening at least five other mornings since Christmas. You know, no, I really would rather spend my time in other places than an 8 AM lit class, but the orange line is not that place. I would rather jump naked into a tub full of broken glass. It's a good thing that today's Metro had less spelling errors than usual. Can you say excited!? Ecstatic!? Thrilled!? Boy oh boy that newspaper really puts a smile on this bearded face! Especially when I'm sitting a hundred feet underground on a Hepatitis coated seat, reading about how SEPTA's fares are estimated to increase by 30% soon.
I <3 Philly.

Playlist:
Tragedy
From Ashes Rise

Team Rollins

Oh yeah, the new season of the Rollins Show begins this Friday the 13th, at 11 PM on IFC. Words cannot describe how great this show it. Half an hour of one pissed off man plus rad guests and musical performances.

Also, the NHL Playoffs commence tonight. Yesterday I placed my bets with Erich. It goes as follows:

Pittsburgh (5) vs. Ottawa (4)

San Jose (5) vs. Nashville (4)

Dallas (6) vs. Vancouver (3)

Minnesota (7) vs. Anaheim (2)

New Jersey (2) vs. Tampa Bay (7)

I have all the teams on the left. We are leaving the other three series out because both of us know that the NY Rangers will lose and that both Detroit and Buffalo will win. According to espn.com, I will win this round 3-2. According to my own judgement, the same will happen, only Pittsburgh will win where Dallas will lose. I also think that Minnesota has a genuinely good chance of defeating Anaheim. If they do it will be a huge upset and happen in 7 games. Anaheim has lost the steam that made them a #2 seed, and the Wild have been gaining that momentum. Either way this is my favorite time of year. It's funny because my mom's always pissed in these months because my dad's watching every game. Shelly has a genuine interest in hockey and will probably watch a couple of games with me, though more in the finals like last year. I'll just have to have beer present. The best lure in human history.

'91

There's a documentary called "1991: The Year Punk Broke", which follows Sonic Youth and Nirvana on tour around Europe. There are also peformances by Husker Du, Dinosaur Jr, Ramones and others. It's rad as hell. Someone uploaded it onto Google Video. If you have an hour and 40 minutes to spare, check it out.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5074745239075255736&q=year+punk+broke&hl=en

Rose McGowan

Last night I saw Grindhouse. I reccomend this film you you are not offended by any of the following: Rose McGowan go-go dancing, immense amounts of blood, immense amounts of slime, the word "fuck", the word "bitch", brain-less skulls, Rose McGowan, naked lesbians, accidental suicides of children, insane car chases, car crashes, severed limbs, Rose McGowan, Kurt Russell in a leather jacket, Sheri Moon Zombie, werewolf nazis, stakes in eyes, Bruce Willis playing almost as much of a badass as in Die Hard, severed balls and spending the best $9 you've spent in a long time. Seriously, Grindhouse was the greatest "theater experience" I've ever had. People walked out. It was that good.

This past weekend I found my old Mighty Mighty Bosstones records. That band is so good. I was skanking all afternoon Sunday. I read somewhere that Dicky Barret is now an announcer for the Jimmy Kimmel show. Huh?

Also, this new Cusack movie looks really rad. Check it out.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0450385/