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A Few Quick Things, vol. 213

November 8, 2013 By Jeff 32 Comments

ItsPartyTime(1)Just so you know: I once saw the Commodores in concert. My girlfriend liked them, and we went. There was a lot of choreography, as I recall. And that’s about all I remember about it.

I also attended a Rick Springfield concert with the same girlfriend, as well as a Hall & Oates show. H&O was a blast. I wouldn’t have gone, if it hadn’t been for… you know, romance. But it turned out to be a good time, and made me a fan. I’d now call H&O a guilty pleasure, if I felt the least bit guilty about it.

I also saw the Statler Bros. with my parents. I got my nose broken in the mosh pit that night. Pure unbridled mayhem! Of course that’s a lie. I don’t remember much about it, except there was a lot of scripted banter. It wasn’t bad, though. A little too Branson, Missouri… but not bad.

These are unlikely shows I’ve attended, not of my own free will. None were horrible, and one turned out to be a lot of fun. Please tell us about the events you’ve been dragged to, kicking and screaming. Anything? Use the comments link below.

Our youngest son has a birthday on Sunday. One of his main gifts will be a good turntable. He loves the vinyl, and has half my LP collection in his bedroom by now. He’d been using a crappy $59 Target model, but we’ve upgraded him to a decent one. I think it’ll make him happy.

And since his birthday is coming up, I guess I’ll have to sit down and over-write a sappy, melodramatic Facebook post? That’s required by law at this point, right?

Fifteen years ago today… on a bright and sunny California morning… our family was made whole, with the arrival of a beautiful baby boy…

Blecch. What’s wrong with people?? All those “years ago today” posts make my rectum turn inside out. And why must the weather always be brought into it? Humanity is a shithouse.

And speaking of rectums, check this out. I’m referenced in a Canadian newspaper article about toilet paper, for some reason. Heh. I’ve never been prouder.

Yesterday I happened upon a tiny record label that’s reissuing obscure and semi-obscure albums from the ’70s and ’80s. Check it out. For a burned-out old record store rat like myself, this shit is mind-blowing. So much stuff I’d forgotten about… I kept hollering, “Oh, wow!”

There are a few stone cold gems mixed in there too, which disappeared decades ago and never even made it to CD. Like this one, and this one, and this one. Fantastic! I already downloaded the Payola$ album, and will snag several more soon. I experienced a full-on nerdgasm when I found out about this. I ain’t kiddin’.

Toney came home from the grocery store today with a six-pack of this. A Christmas seasonal, already. And one of the best beers I’ve ever tasted. Those babies are chilling in the fridge as I type, and are not long for this world. Lambs to the freakin’ slaughter…

And I’m going to call it a day, my friends. If you’ve ever been dragged to an unlikely event, because of “romance” or something else, please tell us about it in the comments.

I’ll be back with more of this hard-hitting investigative journalism soon.

Have a great day!

Now playing in the bunker
Do your holiday shopping at Amazon!

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Comments

  1. John Smith says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:10 pm

    Coincidentally, the only concert I was dragged too was Hall and Oates. Hated them.

    Reply
  2. WB in OH says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:23 pm

    I once saw “Pure Country” with my then girlfriend, what a turd. The movie that is. Well…never mind.

    I’m guessing Ms. Hall is a fan of your work.

    Can I go home yet? Fuck it, I’m going home.

    Reply
  3. Billy Joel says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:25 pm

    I got dragged to a Ani DeFranco performance. I was mentally castrated by so many lesbians that evening that my dick hurt for a week.

    Reply
    • Billy Joel says

      November 8, 2013 at 3:27 pm

      I’ve got nothing against lesbians, but Ani seems to attract a particularly militant wing of their ranks.

      Reply
  4. Billy Joel says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:28 pm

    Oh yeah, I got dragged to see Cat Power as well: Similar experience.

    Reply
  5. madz1962 says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:39 pm

    It was my suggestion to get tickets for my parents and aunt to go see Neil Diamond. I can’t begin to tell you how excellent that concert was. I thought it would be corny but it kicked ass.

    I also got dragged to a John Denver concert and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was more fun than shit.

    Jeff, with your permission, I’m going to have a plaque made for my desk “Humanity is a shithouse.”

    I’ve come to the conclusion that those turdballs who write that shit on Facebook about “22 years ago today blah blah blah” have such bankrupt lives they have to play it up on social network thinking their “friends” might actually give a shit.

    Reply
  6. CasInKnoxpatch says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    Had to attend an Indigo Girls show one Friday night. Thank Gawd that the Bijou was selling alcohol that evening.

    Also got dragged to a Tori Amos show. Tori was good, the man-hating crowd was not.

    Reply
  7. Ognir says

    November 8, 2013 at 3:50 pm

    I use to rock See You in Hell – Grim Reaper. Good Times.

    Reply
  8. Joe T says

    November 8, 2013 at 4:22 pm

    Worked at a country station and I too saw the Statler Bros., Anne Murray (in the round), and Conway Twitty.

    I once followed some girl in college to see James Taylor. Worse than the Statlers, Murray, and Twitty combined.

    Guilty pleasure…saw Tom Jones twice.

    Reply
    • madz1962 says

      November 8, 2013 at 4:35 pm

      I would love to see Tom Jones.

      Reply
      • BoMama says

        November 8, 2013 at 6:12 pm

        It’s not unusual.

        Reply
  9. kristin says

    November 8, 2013 at 4:57 pm

    I got roped into taking a friend’s mother and sister to the holiday Rockettes show when they can to visit her in NYC but she was too pregnant to go. I was dreading every minute, but it turned out to be really fun!

    Reply
  10. Alex says

    November 8, 2013 at 5:16 pm

    Must be doing something right Mr Kay, getting the WVSR print in a Canadian newspaper. =-)

    So Miss Karen Hall a you a lurker or a poster?

    Reply
  11. johnthebasket says

    November 8, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    Concert attended due to coicumstances beyond my control:

    …Herman’s Hermits. (Better than I had any reasonable right to expect)

    Concert I attended voluntarily with no apologies but feel a little funny about:

    …Jackson Browne (A year after Saturate Before Using and several years before he got annoying…Totally kickass version of Song for Adam)

    Value of owning a good turntable, using a ten year depreciation schedule with 2013 present value calculation assuming 1.8% compounded annual inflation rate:

    …Priceless

    Number of offspring Jonathan Katz reports having when asked how many:

    …”Two beautiful children, and two that are not so attractive.” (on behalf of Dr. Katz, feel free to use this in your facebook post) If Jonathan Katz isn’t the funniest man in America, then he’s surely the funniest man in America with mid-stage MS and a personal scooter fleet.

    Number of Facebook accounts I have so I can keep up with important child and pet events in the lives of people about whom I don’t give a shit:

    …(Rhetorical question)

    .
    jtb

    Reply
  12. Jorge says

    November 8, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    I went to a Kenny Rogers Christmas show with my parents.

    It was the most fun I’ve had at any concert ever.

    The full story is here: http://thejorgeexperience.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-tradition.html?m=1

    Reply
  13. johnnyonthespot says

    November 8, 2013 at 7:24 pm

    Pat Bone and family…..I was 15 and it was my first date. Nuff said.

    Reply
    • johnthebasket says

      November 8, 2013 at 7:27 pm

      porno?

      Reply
  14. MikeFromLI says

    November 8, 2013 at 7:43 pm

    I have that Rocket’s disk on Vinyl – Turn it Up. They do a rocking rendition of Peter Green’s “Oh Well” That’s Jim McCarty’s band. He was from Mitch Ryder’s Detroit Wheels and Cactus.

    Yeah I’m a geek – Rock On!!!

    Reply
  15. chill says

    November 8, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    Jeff, congrats on the international stardom!

    I was somewhat dragged to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival, but it turned out to be fun. And there was plenty of “fair food”.

    The only concert I recall really disliking was one that I wanted to go to and was looking forward to. It was the Psychedelic Furs about 10 years ago, and the sound was so bad that I couldn’t hear, in spite of the 100dBA-ish levels. I seriously couldn’t tell if I liked the music or not, because I couldn’t hear it; it just sounded like very loud pink noise, with some beat coming through. Not a fun experience. Yes, it was a shitty venue.

    A “crappy $59 Target” turntable? I’m surprised that such a thing exists. You did the right thing by getting the boy a good turntable, and I’m also surprised that such a thing exists at a reasonable price.

    I have not yet tried this year’s Celebration, but it looks worthwhile. My assignment for this weekend is to work through some Sixpoint Resin. A beautiful double IPA, and made in my old home town of Brooklyn.
    .

    Reply
    • Uncle_Wedgie says

      November 11, 2013 at 12:24 pm

      I busted into the seasonal Full Sail Wassail this weekend. God I love winter.

      Reply
  16. offensive2you says

    November 8, 2013 at 8:05 pm

    On my 2nd six pack of celebration this year. Damn good beer. Hope to find it on tap in the Greenville/Asheville area soon.

    Reply
  17. The4thStooge says

    November 8, 2013 at 9:46 pm

    Heh. On November 14, my Facebook entry (or whatever they call it) will be…

    “On a bright and sunny day, six months ago, I held a bundle of emotion in my arms. It was a milk crate full of my work life…20 years of work life, which I carried home with me.”

    …and so on. I’ve never been able to stand those sappy entries about how verklempt you get over your kids and how blessed you are. Pretty much anyone with a brain, decent health and working genitalia can do it. It ain’t rocket science!

    Onto much more important things–what brand of turntable did you buy? I don’t think $59 would’ve bought much even in 1974, when my father bought his (the only one I’ve known). I think the retail price was $159–in 1974 dollars. That’s like $5000 in today’s dollars!

    Reply
  18. Stuart says

    November 9, 2013 at 12:53 am

    Humanity is a shithouse.

    indeed! Jeff, brilliant

    Reply
  19. maineseadog says

    November 9, 2013 at 8:25 am

    When I first started dating my SO, she dragged me to a karaoke party at some friends’ house. I felt like I was sitting in Swinger Central with a roomful of mid-life crisis wife swappin’, alcoholics. And I thought leisure suits were dead… What we missed was the John Prine concert at the State in Portland that I had wanted to take her to. But she had never heard of him and wasn’t interested in going. When I got home that night, I fired up the internet to see if anyone had reviewed the concert for thhe local paper and saw the headline “John Prine Performs Concert of His Career at the State Theater” I guess it was freakin’ unbelievable and absolutely packed except for two empty seats on the third row center aisle. Never again….

    Reply
    • chill says

      November 9, 2013 at 8:39 am

      We had a chance to go see Stevie Ray Vaughan, but figured we’d catch him next time. There was no next time.
      .

      Reply
    • johnthebasket says

      November 9, 2013 at 9:51 am

      John Prine was an American Treasure for forty years. I was too busy or too lazy to drive 50 or 100 miles to see him, not just once, but for four decades. He’s pretty much lost his voice now; fortunately, he leaves many, many hours of recorded material.

      Hope the SO was worth it. Not many are.

      jtb

      Reply
      • maineseadog says

        November 11, 2013 at 3:40 pm

        Worth it!

        Reply
  20. SaucyDeb says

    November 9, 2013 at 5:15 pm

    A guy I dated in college surprised me with tickets to Garth Brooks for our month-i-versary. He put on a hell of a good show.. ya know, except for the music. For the record, it was our ONLY month-i-versary.

    Reply
  21. The Divine Miss E says

    November 9, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    In related news, I just saw your Ads vs. Reality pictures uncredited on another site. Thieving bastards.

    http://9gag.com/gag/aG9dXx7?ref=fb.s

    Reply
  22. Stuart In Oz says

    November 10, 2013 at 3:22 pm

    Jeff, what a coincidence, my son’s birthday was on Sunday too…18 years old!! Thanks fuck that’s the last lot of school fees done & dusted.

    Reply
  23. Ypsiman says

    November 11, 2013 at 5:55 am

    The romantics. In 1984. Playing at a country fair. I hated just looking at the album cover. Only reason I went is because the girl I was dating did things that I had only seen before in the nastiest of porn movies. As soon as they came out she stood in a chair screaming the whole time. In the second row. She kept pulling on me until I relented and stood next to her. God I hated that. Looking right at them frowning. Wishing I was anywhere but there. I still have nightmares.

    Reply
  24. Harpo says

    November 11, 2013 at 10:07 pm

    Concerts against my will… Loverboy/Streets, circa 1985 – not good; Temptations, early 90s – pretty good; Kansas/Survivor, 1982 – not bad; Elton John/Quarterflash – really good. I just recently found some boxes of old vinyl, cassettes and yes, even 8-tracks. Some good old stuff in there I had forgotten about. I was able to digitize everything I wanted except the 8-tracks – luckily I had duplicates of most of those in the other formats. After looking through all those for a couple days, the thing I miss the most from those days is the album art. I’m thinking I may plaster one wall of my garage with the best ones and really embarrass my daughters.

    Reply

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