First Real Post
This is my first blog post.
Back in college, I had a friend in my department named Tracy. She was incredibly smart, friendly, and about 3 years older than me. She and her boyfriend Doug were like the older brother and sister I never had. They taught me a lot about life, music, and beer. My 21st birthday party was a pretty small affair sine I didn't have a lot of friends, and the ones I had were not yet of drinking age, so it consisted of Doug, Tracy, and another friend of mine who tried to get me hammered on the kinds of drinks you would only drink on your 21st birthday. Doug was a beer geek to the extreme, and he showed me there was more to beer than the fizzy yellow water I drank, but never really liked. He also played angular and exciting guitar, and I think of his playing whenever I listen to a certain dissonant guitar band.
One day, he pulled out some vinyl by a band I had never heard of before. In the space of the first minute or so of the A-side, it sounded like 4 different songs played in quick succession. There was no rhyme or reason to the playing, it was not quite in tune, and had this seasick, lurching quality to it. The tempo slowed down and sped up, individual guitar lines stopped and started. When the vocals kicked in after a couple minutes, it didn't help to bring the song together at all, since there were two singers who weren't altogether... all together.
I did not like it.
About 5 years later, I bought that album from a bargain bin just to see if it still sounded as weird as I remembered. Sure enough it did, only it was intriguing this time. That CD lived in my car for the next several weeks.
The band was Polvo, and the album was Today's Active Lifestyles. I got all the rest of their music any way I could, and they are one of my absolute favorite bands. Unfortunately, they broke up a few years before I got to know them.
Until just recently.
I will be in the front row, and we'll see if I manage to take any time away from rocking out to snap some photos.
Oh, Doug and Tracy left Rochester, NY not long after that fateful day, lived in the Bay area for a short time, and then ended up in Chicago. I visited them once for a week, caught the Chicago Jazz Festival, and had a blast. Chicago has an incredible music scene, and it would be a great place to live except for the weather. A quick search turned up the microbrewery that Doug and Tracy opened, Metropolitan Brewing. I can only imagine that it is some of the tastiest beer ever.
Back in college, I had a friend in my department named Tracy. She was incredibly smart, friendly, and about 3 years older than me. She and her boyfriend Doug were like the older brother and sister I never had. They taught me a lot about life, music, and beer. My 21st birthday party was a pretty small affair sine I didn't have a lot of friends, and the ones I had were not yet of drinking age, so it consisted of Doug, Tracy, and another friend of mine who tried to get me hammered on the kinds of drinks you would only drink on your 21st birthday. Doug was a beer geek to the extreme, and he showed me there was more to beer than the fizzy yellow water I drank, but never really liked. He also played angular and exciting guitar, and I think of his playing whenever I listen to a certain dissonant guitar band.
One day, he pulled out some vinyl by a band I had never heard of before. In the space of the first minute or so of the A-side, it sounded like 4 different songs played in quick succession. There was no rhyme or reason to the playing, it was not quite in tune, and had this seasick, lurching quality to it. The tempo slowed down and sped up, individual guitar lines stopped and started. When the vocals kicked in after a couple minutes, it didn't help to bring the song together at all, since there were two singers who weren't altogether... all together.
I did not like it.
About 5 years later, I bought that album from a bargain bin just to see if it still sounded as weird as I remembered. Sure enough it did, only it was intriguing this time. That CD lived in my car for the next several weeks.
The band was Polvo, and the album was Today's Active Lifestyles. I got all the rest of their music any way I could, and they are one of my absolute favorite bands. Unfortunately, they broke up a few years before I got to know them.
Until just recently.
I will be in the front row, and we'll see if I manage to take any time away from rocking out to snap some photos.
Oh, Doug and Tracy left Rochester, NY not long after that fateful day, lived in the Bay area for a short time, and then ended up in Chicago. I visited them once for a week, caught the Chicago Jazz Festival, and had a blast. Chicago has an incredible music scene, and it would be a great place to live except for the weather. A quick search turned up the microbrewery that Doug and Tracy opened, Metropolitan Brewing. I can only imagine that it is some of the tastiest beer ever.
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