Notes from a Genius

Wednesday night, I ended my summer of concerts with an unbelievable and quite fitting show: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. This was the fifth time that I've seen them and by far, hands down, the best set they've ever played. They rocked hard on some songs, with incredible guitar solos that really put the dudes in the spotlight, even though Grace Potter (the lead singer and guitarist, and by all accounts and purposes down-to-earth diva of the band) is clearly the vivacious lady who gets most of the attention. I love that she makes it clear that the band would be nothing much without these guys who back her up. They also pulled out some great acoustic songs, that still sounded bombastic. Hell, they even covered Tom Petty's "Last Dance with Mary Jane" (which has been a favorite song of mine since I was a kid and saw the video with Kim Basinger. In the encore they played "Nothing But the Water" for over 15 minutes!!! It was an awesome show and I couldn...

All right, so maybe this week I didn't necessarily stay true to my word of keeping up-to-date with my writing, but I've had a busy first-half of the week. Monday night I went to see mewithoutyou at Port City Music Hall. I'd seen them once before, open for Brand New at UNH, but it was the wrong kind of crowd because they got booed and were completely unappreciated. This crowd was a bit disappointing as well, but only in quantity. There were only about 50 of us in the crowd. The quality of the crowd was decent, though, because we were all clearly there because we enjoy their music. It was a good time. Then, Tuesday night, I was back at Port City Music Hall, this time with my buddy David, to see a hardcore band I've been into for almost 13 years: Everytime I Die. They put on one of the best, most energetic sets that I've seen in a long while. The entire crowd was into it, dancing, moshing, crowd-surfing. Hell, even at the end, the band let some of the audi...

Film 228 "Swinging with the Finkels" starring: Mandy Moore, Martin Freeman, Jonathan Silverman written and directed by: Jonathon Newman Are we supposed to care about yet another couple who seems to be having problems? Especially when those problems stem from not being able to communicate with each other about what's wrong! It's marriage between a young couple facing an apparent "7 year itch" that is the focus of this drab film. Marriage has been ingrained in us as that "necessary evil" that we should all be striving for in our lives; it's why we get into relationships- to find and figure out if we can see ourselves with this one person for the rest of our lives, devoted to each other, through thick and thin, helping each other through the drag and pull of relationship gravity. Here, we have Ellie and Alvin (Mandy Moore and Martin Freeman, respectively) who are the happily married couple prior to the actual starting point of the film. O...

So, Sunday night, I went to probably the best, most spectacular concert of the summer. I had one of the best nights in a long time. Hung out for the morning at my sister's house and babysat my nephew for a couple of hours. Then, I headed into Boston, hung out at Boston Beer Works for a couple of hours and had some beer, before meeting up with another teacher and having a few more drinks. Justin Timberlake and Jay Z at Fenway Park Enough said. Holy Grail   ( JAY Z  cover) Rock Your Body   ( Justin Timberlake  cover) I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)   ( JAY Z  cover) I Want You Back   ( The Jackson 5  cover) Izzo (H.O.V.A.)   ( JAY Z  cover) Excuse Me Miss   ( JAY Z  cover) Señorita   ( Justin Timberlake  cover) On to the Next One   ( JAY Z  cover) Like I Love You   ( Justin Timberlake  cover) My Love   ( Justin Timberlake  cover) ...