What's Been Going On?

Titus Andronicus at Rough Trade NYC

So, What Have I Been Up To?

I always kinda hate reading blog posts that are like, "Sorry. I know I haven't posted in a while." But, sorry...?

For a variety of reasons, I haven't been feeling the fire that I used to around here. Some of it is feeling the need to maintain some perspective about what's important in life. Some of it is probably just age. Some of it is wanting to spend more time with the coolfamily before the cooldaughters start to move on to the next big phases in their lives. Some of it is... ...well, I don't really know.

I felt a little surge of inspiration around Father's Day Weekend with shows from Sweet Spirit / High Waisted, William Tyler / Renee Maskin. Then, later that week, I got out to a great show with White Reaper, TWEN, and Dentist. It felt like I was getting back in the groove.

Sweet Spirit at Rough Trade NYC

High Waisted at Rough Trade NYC

William Tyler at The Saint

Renee Maskin at The Saint

Dentist at Wonder Bar

TWEN at Wonder Bar

White Reaper at Wonder Bar

The following weekend, I hit both local release shows with Titus Andronicus for An Obelisk. I got to watch and talk to my favorite band. I took a bunch of pretty cool pictures. But I never got around to saying anything about the shows. Same for the excellent Happy Mondays that week with Daddies, QWAM, and Shut Up.

Titus Andronicus at Rough Trade NYC

Titus Andronicus at Rough Trade NYC

Titus Andronicus at vintage Vinyl

QWAM at Wonder Bar

Shut Up at Wonder Bar

Daddies at Wonder Bar

As usual, though, our fantastic contributors, Henry and Rosi, kept the content coming with Henry's reviews and a truly in-depth interview with Chris Stamey and Rosi's coverage of Screaming Females and Swearin' at Brooklyn's Industry City. Tom Barrett also honored us with the opportunity to premiere his solo EP, Three Songs.

Screaming Females by Rose Lamela at Industry City

Swearin' by Rose Lamela at Industry City

This past weekend, CoolMom and I hit the heartwarming (and body-roasting) show with The RockNRoll Hi-Fives and Mulch (who we all know by now is Dentist, right?) at Asbury Park Yacht Club; and I made a last-minute decision to catch Potty Mouth and Colleen Green at Asbury Park Brewery on Sunday night. That was a good call. More pictures.

"Mulch" at APYC

The RockNRoll Hi-Fives at APYC

Potty Mouth at Asbury Park Brewery

Colleen Green at Asbury Park Brewery

I've also been listening to lots of stuff including new albums from Pip Blom, Mannequin Pussy, Rick Barry, and of course Titus Andronicus. Reviews haven't been coming as easily as they used to, but I plan on writing something about at least a couple of these.

Anyway...

What am I saying? I'm not sure, really. I've toyed with the idea of saying that, for all intents and purposes, I'm done here; but I don't think that's the right call. It's been fun spending more time at home with the coolfamily, riding my bike, and watching my Yankees / Mets games; but I also love taking and editing pictures. And almost nothing makes me happier than the feeling of being at a live performance for a band that I love. Every one of those shows I mentioned above elevated my frame of mind for, at least, a little while.

So, I guess, I'm going to keep doing whatever it is I've been doing here as best I can for a little while. I'll continue to share whatever Henry, Rosi, and whoever else want to provide. I'll tote my camera along to shows, and I'll do my best to help my friends find places to play their music. And I'll always be a place where artists can share their art if they want to continue to give me that opportunity.

I haven't been reading emails or messages as religiously as I used to, and I'm sorry for that; but that kind of stuff has taken kind of a backseat to things like driving the girls around or riding my bike by the beach.

Thanks for reading and thanks for sticking with me.

Oh! And don't forget to come out to The Saint on 7/29 for the show... ...No! THE THING!... ...I've been most excited about this summer. You might get to see my heart burst right out of my chest, and you'll have a blast.

Poster by Matt Hockenjos

In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram at @cooldadmusic. All the pictures I take eventually show up in the Flickr account.

Peace.

White Reaper Played Wonder Bar with TWEN and Dentist, 6/19/19

White Reaper

The World's Best American Band

Back in May of 2015, I went over to Asbury Lanes on a rainy Wednesday night. Openers that night were Roy Orbitron and Glycerine Queens. The headliner was a rock band from Louisville, Kentucky called White Reaper. The street out in front of the Lanes was torn up. It was pouring. I think there may have been rain leaking through the ceiling in some spots. There were, maybe, a dozen people there who weren't in one of the bands.

White Reaper at Asbury Lanes in 2015

None of that stopped White Reaper from giving it everything they had. Early in the set, guitarist / vocalist Tony Esposito smacked bassist Sam Wilkerson in the nose with the headstock of his guitar. Wilkerson bled for the entire set and never slowed down. Ever since that night, I've been a fan.

On a rainy Wednesday night in June of 2019, White Reaper came back to Asbury park for a headlining set at Wonder Bar. Joining them for this one were Boston-born / Nashville-based, TWEN, and local faves and best CoolDad buddies, Dentist. Following the success of The World's Best American Band and some past stops in Asbury Park -- including a slot on one of the Front Bottoms' Champagne Jams, White Reaper played to considerably more than a dozen people. Wonder Bar packed out pretty nicely with the area in front of the stage taken up by fans dancing and singing along.

Dentist started things off; and, honestly, there isn't much more I can say about them at this point. For my money, they're absolutely one of the best and hardest working bands to come out of Asbury Park in the last five years or so. Their consistent touring has paid off not only by reaching new fans but also by allowing them to hone their chops as a live band. What looked like it might be a pretty lightly attended first set of the evening ended up drawing a good crowd from every nook and cranny of Wonder Bar to the stage.

Dentist

Dentist

Dentist

TWEN are accompanying White Reaper on this tour. Founded by singer Jane Fitzsimmons and guitarist Ian Jones, they played on Wednesday as a four-piece. The band's sound is hard to define. It's dreamy and psychedelic, but it also has heaviness and complexity that keep things interesting. The live performance was impressive, and the entire band clearly enjoyed themselves onstage. On Thursday, TWEN announced that their debut album, Awestruck, would be out on 9/20 via Frenchkiss.

TWEN

TWEN

TWEN

The crowd edged up towards the stage as White Reaper came out. The band's set included songs from an unannounced (I think), upcoming album like recent single "You Might Be Right" along with older selections like "B.T.K." (an audience request / audible) and a cover of Pretenders' "Brass in Pocket," a song from the era that clearly provides White Reaper with a good deal of inspiration. The intro to crowd favorite "Judy French" was an aborted / fake out cover of Brian Adams's "Summer of '69." At one point, guitarist Ryan Hater suggested that it might be ok if the crowd jumped around a little bit; and that set people bouncing for most of the set.

White Reaper

White Reaper

White Reaper

White Reaper are heavily influenced by the era when rock and pop were essentially the same thing -- Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick. Their power-pop rock is loose in its feel and amazingly precise in its execution. The band play up the arena-sized rock theatrics, even in an intimate bar on the Shore.

Wonder Bar

White Reaper

White Reaper

The White Reaper tour rolls on with a stop at Philadelphia's World Cafe Live on Saturday, 6/22. They'll be co-headlining that one with the like-minded Sheer Mag. Thin Lips join.

All the pics from Wednesday are up at Flickr.