Dumbek's Random Stuff

You Scored 85% Correct

You are an 80s expert You never confuse New Order with the Pet Shop Boys You know which classical musician Falco rocked When it comes to 80s music, you Just Can't Get Enough!

I have seen the future of rock and roll and it's name is "Abbatite For Destruction."


Yes - Your greatest rock and roll dream has come true. A band that has finally created the perfect blend of ABBA and Guns 'n' Roses. Seamlessly careening from "S.O.S" into "Sweet Child o' Mine" without hesitation. Going back-and-forth between "Take A Chance On Me" and "Paradise City" as if they were written as one.


They're no Mac Attack, but they're a fabulous force to be reckoned with.

I was looking around over at dead.net this afternoon and I discovered that they posted a couple of tracks from a show I attended. In fact it was exactly 16 years ago tonight.

My roommate/tour-buddy Steve called me at work at around 3:30. "I can't go." Crap. We were supposed to be on the road at 6:00pm. I really don't want to drive for 12 hours by myself. After spending a few minutes of being annoyed, I decided to call one of my old college friends who lives in York, PA.



"Tom? It's Jim. What are you doing this weekend?"
"Not much."
"Wanna go see The Grateful Dead?"
"Where are they playing?"
"Chicago."
"When are you leaving?"
"When can you get here?"
"Around 7:00."
"OK - Hurry up."


By 7:30 he was here and we were on the road to Chicago.

We drove all night, stopping for a couple hours of sleep and arriving around 10:00am. A quick breakfast, a few more hours of sleep and we were primed and ready to go. The Soldier Field scene was huge. Lots going on. Plenty to see, do , eat and drink. I even ran into a couple of people from College Park who recognized my car, which was covered in stickers at the time - easily recognizable if you lived anywhere near me (I lived in Greenbelt at the time).

The show was great - which was the norm for '91. Dark Star, Playin', Shakedown and Let It Grow all in the same show. Yowza. Our seats were ridiculously close - 5th row - waaaaay to the left. So far left that Phil was waaaay to our right. It was my one and only time visiting Soldier Field. The Dead's final show would be performed here 4 years later.

After the show we made a dash for the car and headed east. Gotta get to the rest stop before it fills up, otherwise we'd be stuck driving for hours trying to find a place to sleep. A decent night's sleep later (as good as you can get with 2 people in a 1988 Celica) and we were on the road early Sunday morning. The drive sucked. My car basically brokedown on the PA Turnpike. Not really brokedown, but it was overheating every 30 miles or so. So we'd drive for about a half-hour, stop for a while, then start up again. I think it took us about 15 hours to get home. Ugh. We both made it to work on time the next day though. When people at work asked "What did you do this weekend?" I just smiled and said "Oh, the usual."

Anyway - What prompted that useless story was the fact that the folks at dead.net posted the opening Bucket and Shakedown from that show this week. Enjoy. (You can stream the whole show here.)

That was 16 years ago tonight. I also saw The Dead exactly 15 years ago tonight (6/22/92 Burgettstown, PA). Not quite as eventful, but a fun one too. (Stream this one here.)

Gone are the days...

Friday, June 8, 2007

Forest Glen station is currently closed.
Rail line(s) affected: Red Line.

Thanks, Metro.

Could the weekend have been a little better? I think not.

It started on Saturday with a couple of cute boys hanging out by the pool, followed by a much-needed nap, then a show at The Black Cat. We caught The Pipettes on the second date of their US tour. I was quite surprised to find The Cat sold-out, considering they don't even have a US release yet. Apparently, the hipsters love them some old-school girl-group action. Polka-dot party dresses, happy little songs that weren't always so happy, lots of hand-clapping and synchronized dancing. You can't really ask for much more than that. I went into it never having heard a note from them. Everyone I talked to described them the same way: "They're good and a lot of fun, but the songs all sound the same after a while." They played for about an hour. After they were done, I thought to myself, "They're good and a lot of fun, but the songs all sounded the same after a while." A good way to spend a little time on a Saturday night though. No arguments there. Glad I went. Don't need the record.


The opening band Smoosh, however, friggin' slayed. OK - That may be a bit of an overstatement, but considering Smoosh consists of only 2 girls - both under the age of 15 - and they're performing kick-ass indie rock tunes like they're old pros, it's pretty damn impressive. They also had a special guest sit in for one song. Another girl came out and played bass. I swear she could not have been over 8 years old. It was like the female version of Hanson, except they didn't suck at all. In fact, after a few songs you kind of forgot they were kids and they just rocked out. Awesome. They made The Pipettes look even more ridiculous. They've been opening for the likes of Bloc Party, Eels and The Go! Team. They rule. What were you doing when you were 14?



Sunday brought the return of Bloc Party to DC. I could probably cut-and-paste a large chunk of my Arcade Fire review here, but instead I'll just give a bullet list:


- Saw Bloc Party in a club and loved them (Black Cat and 9:30).
- Loved the first record.
- Hipster backlash - tepid reviews of second record. Didn't buy it.
- Announce DC show. Decide to go only if I can get really good tickets.
- Presale. I scored a seat in the friggin' FRONT ROW.
- Bought the cd. It's far better than the reviews/backlash claim.
- Show kicked-ass.
- Bloc Party roadie was sporting a Smoosh t-shirt.

There are more of my sucktastic pictures up at flickr.

Update: Metro Distortion has the Bloc Party setlist here.