Slam of the Month

One of my favorite moments in the month of June (2008):

While alone at Jimmy Eat World concert (well, not exactly alone - it was sold out - but I didn't have a date for the night....) I was asked at least twice if I was a chaperon. That was kind of funny - if not a tiny tiny tiny bit of an insult - but the best part was when I told them, "No, actually (use of this term is a shameless tribute to my awesome grandson Carter Nikolaus) my band started playing one of their songs, so I checked their albums out and have become a big fan."

[insert video of attractive young person(s) - probably from the East Valley - saying "Oh, that's great" (which may have been directed as much to themselves as to moi-self) while sporting a riotously blank, perplexed look on their face(s)].

I resisted the urge to tell them that my son (Jeff) had been a quasi-roadie for JEW on one occasion in the State of Colorado (Jeff knows his brother), but did pass along a little known factoid that the guitar Jim Adkins uses is actually the cut-out version of my Taylor 810E guitar (as if this somehow legitimizes my roaring infarct of a musical career). So does this make me cool? Name-dropping? Association by instrument? Offspring is a quasi-insider-roadie? No, no, no - these are just cheap old tricks. And this alone obviously does not make me cool.....it is attributable to so many newer cheap tricks.

Incidentally, my take on J.E.W.'s latest album (see Note 1) Take This Light is that it is as good as anything they have ever done, end-to-end. I know that lyrics aren't everyone's focus with the music they listen to, but encourage you to check out the lyrics for this CD if you pick it up. The music is a little poppy in spots (not an insult, just my way of letting you know that this isn't Metallica Lite), but very good, with just enough EMO/alternative (i.e. 'dirty') guitar tracks to keep it on the right side of the, uh, tracks. The vocals are great as always, though a little less reverb/echo on Big Casino would have been my choice for the 'best mix.'

But then who asked me? I'm just a lonely fan disguised as a chaperon. Or am I a 'Rock Star in Chaperon's Clothing?'

You make the call.

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(1) This free review - offered due to, or in spite of, absolutely zero demand from the blogging public - is provided at very little charge by Papa Linus. who may not know everything there is to know about everything, but has an opinion on everything of which he has ever become aware.