Anton's CD recommendation of the week

This week I recommend to you the self titled release by Fleet Foxes. I have only owned this album for about 9 hours now but I am absolutely in love with it. I am on my 3rd consecutive listen now while I sit here at work and it gets better and better with every listen.

Fleet Foxes is putting the tired Seattle music scene back on the map. This quintet describe their music as “baroque harmonic pop jams.” Their harmonies are AMAZING! It’s like your listening to the “Smiley Smile” era Beach Boys mixed with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. From start to finish no track on this album disappoints. I’m struggling to find words to describe how these songs make me feel, it’s almost spiritual. I feel like I am just gushing now so I’ll stop and let you make your own opinions on this album.

This is the first album released this year that I feel excitingly confident recommending to people. With that being said buy it, burrow it, download it, burn it…hell steal it if you have too. Once you own it, play it at high volume wherever you go so others can hear it. Make that middle aged man next to you in his luxury sedan turn off his Michael McDonald CD and remind him how good music can be. Make that douche bag on the crotch rocket next to you want to grow a beard and trade his bike in for a horse. Make all those Tweens walking down the street realize that Miley Cyrus is no talent ass clown. That’s all I got.

The Hold Steady on 7/22 at First Ave

Tuesday night a friend and I went to First Ave to see one of our favorite bands The Hold Steady. The show was in support of their new album “Stay Positive” and it sold out over a month ago.

We arrived in time to catch the last couple songs of the opener “The Loved Ones” which seemed like we walked through some time portal back to our high school days. Did First Ave just turn into Hot Topic and is this the new coolest band on the Warped Tour. We both were underwhelmed and surprised this is who The Hold Steady picked as their opener but were happy to only have to listen to two songs.

After the opener was done my excitement started to build. This was my 4th time to have seen The Hold Steady and have not been disappointed yet. At exactly 10:25 The Hold Steady took the stage, walking out to “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince. They started off the set with the 1st track off the new album “Constructive Summer” and reeled in the crowd right away.

As the set went on I found myself getting really excited when they played tunes from past records. I have not found that “love at first listen” with there new album like I did with the others. There are some great tracks on the record but I find myself skipping tracks from time to time which I’ve never done in the past. I thought maybe seeing the band play some of these songs live would give me a new appreciation for them but I found myself drifting away from the show until a older tune was played.

The highlight of the show was the two killer encores they performed. Probably the most rocking I’ve ever seen the guys.

All in all I still had a great time at the show. I think it is impossible to not have a great time at a Hold Steady show. I wouldn’t hesitate for one second to see them again.

SETLIST:

Constructive Summer
Hot Soft Light
Chips Ahoy!
Sequestered In Memphis
Yeah Sapphire
One For The Cutters
Stevie Nix
Hot Fries
Magazines
Sweet Payne
Party Pit
Massive Nights
Two Handed Handshake (First Time Played Live)
Joke About Jamaica
Lord, I’m Discouraged
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Stay Positive
Slapped Actress
——————
Positive Jam
Stuck Between Stations
How A Resurrection Really Feels
——————
Certain Songs
Killer Parties

Friday night I was entertained by the man with the itchy legs and ignited a rock crush with a set of twins.

A small group of friends and I decided to head to the Turf Club on Friday to catch Tim Fite and the Watson Twins perform. We arrived early enough to grab a table right up in front. They were great seats except for the Antarctic air blowing at gale force speeds right at us from the air conditioner.

A local opener took the stage first treating us to some unimpressive banjo playing and some uncomfortable between song banter. As soon as her set was done the show began.

Tim Fite started off walking the whole bar, shaking people’s hands and thanking them for coming before taking the stage. The stage was set with a large wooden light up boombox and a projector screen. Tim put on a very entertaining show, fun songs, funny stories such as “let’s go outside and stab a mother fucker”, and great visuals. He was inclusion rock at it’s best.

Next up the headliners, The Watson Twins. After listening to their album I was expecting a pretty mellow show which would not have been a good fit following Tim Fite. They started their set with their upbeat single “How am I to be” and then kept the set rocking from there. The highlight of their set was their hauntingly beautiful cover of The Cure’s “Just Like a Dream.”

After the Watson’s finished up Mary and I headed back to the merch table to have them sign our CD and thank them for the show. Mary ended up hitting it off with one of them and chatted with her for a good 5-10 minutes. They both seemed so nice, almost too nice.

Anton's CD recommendation of the week

This week I am going to recommend “Over the Counterculture” by Tim Fite.

So you may have heard the old joke “what do you get when you mix country and rap music….Crap” well this album proves that wrong. I don’t know if any other artist would be able to pull this off but somehow Tim Fite makes it all work. He’s twangy vioce, intersting use of samples and lyrical satire of capitalism and commercialism all come together to make a mind blowing album. One of the best things about this album is Fite decided to release the album for free online from his website and not at stores.

The ideas contained within this album were spawned from Fite witnessing Sean “Diddy” Combs on a video award show starting a call and response of: “Don’t Get Mad! Get Money!” Fite said, “It sounded so true. It made so much sense. I liked it. I wanted to respond - Get Money! - Get Money! - Get Money! But as quickly as it had started, it was over. Mr. Combs plugged his new record, and the commercials came on - a car ad with a hip-hop beat - Vitamin Water by 50 Cent - Dirty South Ring Tones - The Game: Sneakers by Reebok - “Don’t Get Mad…Spend Money…Don’t Get Mad…Spend Money…Don’t Get Mad…Spend Money!” I slammed my last three quarters into the laundry maching. I am mad. Fuck money.

I highly recommend you go to the site and download this Album. Listen to it a couple times and let me know what you think.

Anton's CD recommendation of the week

This week’s album recommendation is “Revolver” by the Beatles. Alright, so I’m not really going out on a limb with this week’s pick but not only is this my favorite Beatles album, it is my favorite album of ALL TIME.

People often argue about what Beatles they like more, early Beatles or late Beatles…well I say middle Beatles. “Revolver” along with its predecessor “Rubber Soul” are known as the transition albums. In 1965-66 the Beatles started finding new influences such as LSD and Hindu spirituality which started bringing new sounds, instruments and deeper meanings to their songs. These influences can be heard in the backwards guitar solo on “I’m Only Sleeping”, Harrison introducing the sitar in “Love you to” and in what I consider to be the first techno song ever “The Tomorrow Never Knows.”

“Revolver” also carries hit tunes like “Good Day Sunshine”, “Yellow Submarine” and my personal favorite “Taxman.” However, the true star of the album is “Eleanor Rigby” which reads like an incredible poem on paper but when set to the music of a haunting string section the lyrics really come alive.

Running 4.5 miles has never been so entertaining

Recently I have taking up running as a hobby. Yes, this is the same Anton that used to dread “The Mile” day in grade school. In 6th grade I actually fainted after completing the mile. I don’t know if it was because I was completely exhausted or if I was overwhelmed with excitement because I finished seconds before the obese kid.

As I pulled into the parking lot of Lifetime in Plymouth I decided to set my goal at 4 miles. I stepped on to my favorite treadmill and began my 3 minute warm up. About midway through my first mile I noticed some wild arm movements a few treadmills ahead of me. First thing that came to my mind is “I need to be filming this” but I am pretty sure they don’t allow cameras of any kind in the gym and I don’t want to be pegged as Mr. Creepy, so I will do my best to describe what I saw. Let the show begin!

Working out(?) a few treadmills in front of me was a lady in her late 30’s maybe early 40’s. She wore tight spandex pants, a gray cutoff T-shirt and some sort of weight belt thing to cover most of her midsection. Even crazier than what she was wearing was how she was moving on the treadmill. I quickly noticed her frantic leg movements that were somewhere between a roller disco routine and a pro athlete running an agility course. From time to time the upper body would want to get into the mix moving her arms in some sort of choreographed cheerleader routine.

Before I knew it I was just over 2.5 miles into my run. My mind was completely distracted from how my body felt, 4 miles is going to be easy, and then it happened…In between the unconjoined leg and the arm movements the lower and upper body decided to work together. This move was straight out of “West Side Story” when the Jet’s and the Sharks are walking towards each other in the alleyway before the big fight. Her back was hunched over, arms at her side, fingers snapping to the beat while her legs took long cool strides. I was like “oh, no she didn’t.” About 5% of me was amazed at the energy and balance this lady had but the other 95% was just hoping to see one of the most horrific treadmill disasters in history.

Disappointment struck when she started her cool down which consisted of a normal one foot in front of the other walk. The show was over. I looked down at my digital display and noticed I have now ran for 4.1 miles! I decided to stretch out my run to my new personal best 4.5 miles.

I would like to thank you Ol’ Crazy Legs whoever you are for helping me become a better runner. I wish my old gym teachers could see me now.

Anton's CD recommendation of the week.

Part of my blog will be a weekly CD recommendation. These recommendations will be both new and old albums that would make a great addition to anyone’s music collection. If one sounds interesting to you let me know and I let you take it for a spin.

My first CD Recommendation is “Naturally” by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. This is Sharon Jones 2nd release on Daptone records, a label I have absolutely fallen in love with over the last few years.

Sharon Jones has a huge soulful voice and an attitude to back it up. Her ability to go from upbeat funk tunes like “My Man is a Mean Man” to slower bluesy songs like “Stranded in your Love” is truly amazing. Her cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is your Land” turns a folk track into a genius funk/gospel version. Sharon’s backup band the Dap-kings are one of the tightest funk/soul bands I’ve ever heard. The Dap-kings played back up on most of Amy Whinehouse’s “Back to Black” album and were employed as her touring band. “Naturally” was recorded in 2005 but you’d swear it was 1965.

This album is perfect for driving with the windows or top down on a summer’s day. Enjoy!

Our First (and last) Time to CiCi's Pizza.

Our adventure started on Monday night when Mary and I go through our nightly routine of what or where should we eat. After looking in our fridge and seeing a few cans of Grain Belt and some soy sauce starring back at me, we decided going out to get food sounded like a great idea.

One of the perks of living in a suburb (I’d be pressed to name more than two) is that you have every food option available to you within a 5 minute drive. We decided on trying a newly opened all you can eat pizza buffet called CiCi’s. I have to admit the combo of the words “all you can eat” and “pizza” got me pretty stoked to try this place. As we parked the car I noticed a big sign on the front saying “All you can eat just $5.49.” What?! Did we just get into our DeLorean and travel back to 1988? Now with both a little excitement and apprehension we walked through the front door.

Just seconds after walking through the door we were greeted by every employee with an exciting “welcome to CiCi’s.” After paying the cashier and receiving the low down on how it works we started our way down the buffet line. It started with 3 pre-made salad options followed by a pasta bar with your choice of both red and white sauce, then we hit the “Coup De Grace” the pizza. CiCi’s had somewhere around 15 different types of pizza sitting under heat lamps for your choosing. If you listened close enough you could here their screams “Help me!, Pick Me!, Get me the hell out of here!”

With our plates ambitiously loaded we sat down. We both agreed that the Italian salad was pretty good, a little soggy but good. The pasta was bland at best, Mary however did complement the texture of the noodles. Now on to the pizza. Dry, dry, dry, every once and a while one of us would say “Oh, a fresh piece” and still be disappointed. I have to give CiCi’s props for trying some adventurous topping options like their Mac and Cheese pizza, but the more adventurous the longer it sat under the lamps and the dryer it got.

As we battled our way through the pizza we started to take note of the clientele that CiCi’s brings in. You know how we all have Aunts or Uncles that we try to avoid at family gatherings but the gatherings wouldn’t provide any good stories if they weren’t there, well they all hang out at CiCi’s. These aren’t the Coach toting, nose in the air, Bravo housewife wanna-be’s that we are accustomed to seeing everywhere else in Plymouth, oh no, these were Plymouth’s forgotten ones. We watched in amazement as two young athletic guys took full advantage of the pasta bar for carbo loading. Plate after Plate loaded with noodles and white sauce. I just hope they make their sporting event and don’t get stuck in the crapper. The people watching was way more fulfilling than the food.

Just before we decided to leave the bus boy came buy with his cart to clear our plates. He wheeled up right next to us and took each plate and banged it clean into the garbage bag before placing it in the dirty dish bin. Leaving Mary and I having an uncomfortable conversation next to the portable kitchen for about 30 seconds. We quickly headed for the exit where we were thanked by every employee with a gracious “Thanks for coming to CiCi’s!”

We giggled our way back to the car and told Mary “I really need to start a blog.” Just when we thought it couldn’t get any funnier we noticed a rainbow of bungee cords holding the crimpled hood shut on the car parked next to us. “Where and the hell are we!”