More Indie Than Your Cat » WNYC

Courageous Tales of Brave Animals

admin — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 21:29:00 +0000

So as my New York City adventure comes to an end, another will shortly begin. How do I get 60+ lbs worth of clothing and toys up to Alaska and then turn around and bring them back here to the city.

My plans for the next few weeks are as follows. I will return to the land of my birth and eat a sandwich. After many days of laying on various couches and under bridges I shall complete the coursework I have yet to complete to receive my degree. After that I wish to play risk against Keith, Don, Colt, Nick, and Dustin at a very public venue where we will be extremely intoxicated. (It is only for a more realistic battle) Upon my victory, I will pack up everything I think I would need in the city (a bat) and head towards my new home… a storage unit on the bad side of town.

In all seriousness though. I have had a remarkable summer. Everybody in the IRTS group and Kathy along with everybody at WNYC were excellent to me. I can honestly say I have 30 new friends who will be calling and asking for a place to say. The best part of that arrangement is I will be doing the same when I need to travel to Florida, Arizona, Utah, or a whole mess of other useless states. As for WNYC, Patricia and Jenna, without whom I would have never had the opportunity to learn from the many mistakes I used to make or the slightly fewer mistakes I make now. Brigid, my intern partner in crime was always there to point out that Steve Bushemi or Robert Novak was in the building and that we should walk the halls pretending we had something to do so we could bump into them.

Overall this experience has shown me that I do think I could make it in New York City. It is as far away from home as you can get, and that is kind of sexy. Even though this summer has existed in a state of “safe” reality (one where I can’t mess up to bad and things are provided for me) the fun part now comes to see if I will make it in the city or if I shall wither and go back to Alaska to run their public radio network till I die.

Only time will tell.

As for the blog, I will try to keep sparse posts every so often about my time in AK. And will hopefully resume it when I return to NYC.

I know your prayers are with me… I’m going to need them,
Nick

Everything Goes Numb Will Make You Rob A Bank

admin — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:32:00 +0000

Streetlight Manifesto/Reel Big Fish/Less Than Jake, 7/19/07

This would have been the best show of my life it had been Fall 2003. I would have recently discovered Streetlight and played them in my car non-stop for over a month. Just ask April about that. Anthem would have recently been released, and I would not have realized quite yet that every LTJ CD is exactly the same, with the later ones being more cynical than the rest. And Cheer Up! would be the last decent RBF album before I lost faith in their ability to be more than an amazing cover band.

I would still be innocent in my love of ska music. It would make me happy and jump around with joy. And although the decline had come many years earlier, I still held out hope at being one of the few who held out hope during the dark years between the 3rd and 4th waves.

And although my musical tastes have changed a bit, I can always put on Turn The Radio Off and travel back to those years where I was looking for something to identify with the most. But now I don’t get the scene. Maybe growing up in a place so far removed made me ignorant to the way things really are. I have never dealt with a crowd like I did last night. They were ultra violent and extremely rude. So first, I will review the bands, and then a review of the crowd.

Streetlight Manifesto was up first. By far my favorite band going into the night, I had never seen them perform live. The main thing I left with was the entire set was extremely tight. Thomas is a perfectionist and it comes out on the records and it is present at the shows. The set featured a lot of material from Everything Goes Numb, with one song from the new album. They said the new album is finished and will be out soon, which means its only another two years before it sees the light of day. Along with the amazing Point/Counterpoint, Everything Went Numb were my favorites of the set. Although it was great to hear album like percision, I always like live shows to be unique. A place where a band can be raw and fun. 7 fueds with Catch 22 of 10.

Reel Big Fish were next. The first half of the set were hard to hear due to crowd issues (I’ll discuss later). So I’m going to focus on the second half. A much better live band than their albums. The second half of the set were great. Between a multi-style rendition of S.R. and closing with Beer it featured their strongest songs. And throughout it they kept the childish antics down to a minimum. I know they like to be vulgar, which is fine when you are 18, but these guys could be a little smarter about how they throw around the word Fuck. Overall it was great, they were tight. Throw in Enter Sandman and I’m still hooked. 8 Master… Master’s out of 10.

Last but not least, Less Than Jake. I really dug the whole Price is Right theme. They have always been able to take a brand and bend it to their will. Better crowd conditions made this way more enjoyable. Opening with All My Best Friends Are Metalheads hooked me in from the start. Then contestants were brought up to help decide what songs would be played. First up was a plinko board and plink…plink…plink, we get stuck with In With The Out Crowd. Their newest album which wasn’t all that great. Best part was, they know we didn’t like it and enjoyed making the audience suffer a bit. Next up was the large wheel, and finally… Pezcore! Their first and much better album. I really enjoyed the fact that the band is flexable enough to play anything from any of their albums. It isn’t just hits and crap from the newest one they have got. 8 plink…plink…plinks out of 10.

The crowd review to come in a following post. I want to put some time and effort into it.

-Nick

I Hate Winnipeg

admin — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:17:00 +0000

Tonight was more or less the embodiment of everything this summer has turned out to be. There were some terrible moments, a lot of uncertainty, and a big pay off at the end. I’ll start off with my day, and then describe every reason that this was probably my last Reel Big Fish concert ever.

WNYC continues to rock my world. After talking with Allison, I was able to get a press pass for the Siren Music Festival. It is huge, and I will cover it for both WNYC and for you guys. I was trying to get a large group together, but I think I might be going it alone for the sake of covering it a little better. I’ve already got an interview set up with The Black Lips, and hope to have one with Matt and Kim before the weekend is over.

On a lighter note

admin — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 05:28:00 +0000

I finished my story on the zip code change. I wish it would have come out a little better, I think it will do. Coolest thing that happened today though. I was in the newsroom when all of a sudden we started getting reports in that there were power outages in the subway system. So after a little encouragement I grabbed an audio kit and headed down into the sweltering concrete maze we call the City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge subway station.

The place was packed with people being loaded off of trains and people wondering around the station not knowing what was going on. After 5 min, I got my bearings and pulled out the kit and started running around with people to try and figure out where they were going and how they were going to get there.

I enjoyed the whole experience. The rush of being on the edge of breaking news and in the pit with all those confused people was really exciting. It was a great way to spend an hour covering non-life threatening breaking news.

Other than that I learned today I need to sit down and figure out the damn phones. I’m tired of dropping calls for co-workers. I’ll get right on that… after my cat nap I call a night.

Also, Live Free or Die Hard gets four yippie eie kye aies mother fucka’s out of five.

The Mesopotamians

admin — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:51:00 +0000

Although it wasn’t the most exciting weekend, I feel like I got some important things done. I took my first big bite of homework that I was supposed to be doing the entire time I’ve been down here. The hardest part about completing these topics is the act of sitting down and being focused on something that isn’t inherently fun, while friends around me are going to shows and eating pancakes.

Monday provided me with the first day I was given a task of going out and getting sound for WNYC and coming back with nothing. The woman I went to the Upper East Side to talk to was working in a different building that day and the realtor I was trying to get in with could not do an interview while I was in the lobby of the building. Sitting on the subway back to the Municipal Building was rough. I kept thinking about how they were going to be disappointed in me and tell me to go home for the day. Luckily the wonderful people I work with told me that, “it happens from time to time.” After I finished regaining my breath I rescheduled all the interviews for Wednesday morning.

After work, Brian, Abby, Brooke, and myself went for Thai food before our tour of Bloomberg. The food was alright, and I took a considerable amount of flack for ordering a chick cocktail during dinner, but I deserve to treat myself every so often. From the moment we walked into the building we were impressed. Mitch Leebe, a host for Bloomberg Radio took us around the building. Everything was money. Glass everywhere for transparency and nobody had an office. Everybody sat in a huge room with long rows of work stations. Free snacks were offered all over the place and they have one of the only spiral staircases in the world. Unfortunately the smart ass in myself had to remark, “at least Google has scooters in their building.” After his show and tour, Mitch sat down with us to talk about whatever we had for him. We discussed our careers, radio in today’s world, etc… It was amazing, I have never been so scared and excited for the future as I am right now.

Thanks Mitch,
Nick

P.S. I saw a show listing on Stereogum for a terrible art show hosted by Zach Galifianakis with Band of Horses playing after. My mom leaves for Michigan at 4 on July 10th, and the show starts at 8pm. Now that is timing your bliss.