I’ve been writing music oriented articles on Postblink since the site was created. I don’t know if they’re good or bad but they’re my thoughts on what ever happens to be on my play list at the time of the writing. This will continue. Not only will this continue but I’m going to attempt to get more structured pieces together as far reviewing full length releases. This includes an actual rating system. I didn’t do this from the start because I’ve never looked at the site as anything more than an outlet for my thoughts. That’s changing. Judging from the site’s logs, I’m getting hits on albums I’m talking about, new songs, and shows I’ve attended. So I’m going to try being more consistent by applying the rating system. I’m still going to ramble on with my pointless thoughts — they’ll just be accompanied by stars or hearts or bunnies. Who knows?

I’ve also been writing a lot of personal articles. My life, my thoughts, my aspirations of music. This will also continue but with an exception. I’m not going to talk about politics anymore. It’s really fucking annoying — no, not what I have to say. I’m always brilliant, so screw you. It’s just annoying to keep defending a tired cause. Okay, and maybe I was a little annoying. I guess I feel a little jaded on the whole political spectrum. Left-to-right, it’s all a bunch of bullshit. I have my thoughts, my ideals. I have my beliefs and they are strong. I’m just not into talking about them on a largely public medium anymore. If you want to chat one-on-one with me about it, you know where to find me.

For a while I had intentions of having multiple authors on the site. It didn’t work out so well. The group I picked out either didn’t maintain an interest in writing or moved on to create their own blogs. That’s fine, and I’d even encourage it. What it means, and I’ve been thinking about this for a while, is that the site once again becomes more identified with me. That’s why I’ve gone back to writing longer, more personal articles over the last six months. Guest articles will always be welcome however.

I guess I don’t really have anything else to add. It’s cold in Iowa. Single digits cold. That’s not much of a conclusion but I’ll leave you with it anyways.

Let’s start out with my lost tickets. On December 8TH I bought two tickets from Ticketmaster. Those tickets never showed up. This was a first for me. I’ve always ordered and had my tickets delivered from Ticketmaster via USPS with no problems. After a couple phone calls and email exchanges I finally got my tickets changed to TicketFast so I could just print them out. Alright, obstacle one down.

Next up? The weather. This is only the second time I’ve ever assembled a group for a show in the winter, the first being The Matches opening for +44 at the same venue. There are good reasons to avoid winter shows, including but not limited to ice, snow, freezing rain, frigid temperatures, long lines in frigid temperatures, getting to the venue in the madness, and expensive coat-checks in which you gamble even getting your jacket back. So checking the weather for both Iowa and Minnesota became a twice-daily ritual. Again, we lucked out. Temperatures stayed above freezing. It was wet outside but not dangerous. Good news.

So we all committed to going. We meet up, we get on the road and we head west towards a town just off I35 to pick up another friend. A hour and a half later we arrive at a truck stop. Someone puts down a window. Said window doesn’t go back up. We try to guide the window up. The window falls off the tracking and is down for the count. Oh shit. It’s raining. It’s 35 degrees. What the hell do we do now? We procure duct tape and a garbage bag from the friendly truck stop. Doesn’t work. Fails catastrophically, actually, shortly after we’re back on the road. We search for another gas station and the second group following us saves the day with a towel. I kid you not, one of them gets out of the car and hands us a towel. Our ghetto cruiser officially becomes white trash.

We can make this work. So we’re off again, we spend a little more time on the road and then as we approach the cities we begin to get stuff ready. Some of us take a quick glance at our tickets to make sure they’re there. They are not. Someone is officially down one ticket. This is also a first. We often, believe it or not, have had extra tickets for shows. We’ve always had everyone covered one way or another. But we continue on. I’m confident things will some how work out. A little stressed, but confident.

We find a parking ramp a block away from the venue and park four floors up. Then we make our way to the elevator lobby and try attempt number one to fix the ticket fiasco, which is having the person that forgot their tickets call Ticketmaster to see if they can get the order changed to will-call. We’ve done this before, it’s a pretty simple process, and I’m certain it’ll work. It does not. After spending a huge chunk of time on hold, confirming he is who he says he is, and providing order numbers (his receipt, unlike his tickets, was still in the otherwise empty envelope), the jackass at Ticketmaster couldn’t press a few keys to assist someone who just traveled a few hours out of state. Awesome. I remain optimistic, though my confidence is admittedly shaken up.

We head towards the Hard Rock across the street from First-Avenue to grab some dinner before the show and avoid the growing line. People who stand in lines are suckers. I should know, I’ve frequently stood in lines. Once you’re inside a venue, you can make your way through the crowd to just about anywhere you want, but even then you’ll most likely bail on your awesome front-row, center spot when the crowd attempts to kill you. The energy will always be awesome, but it’s only tolerable for so long.

Two of our party split up to see if they can get a hold of a manager at the club, an unlikely chance at best. They do come across a couple of empathetic doormen who tell them they have a 50/50 chance of working with the venue and Ticketmaster in conjunction to get the ticket order changed, but they’ll have to come back after the doors open. They meet back up with us somewhat uplifted. 50/50 is better than 0/100.

We head to the venue slightly after the entire line has shuffled in. We wait inside the door while the last member of our group tries to reason with the front desk. He has his receipts and identification. The lady working the desk finally says he can purchase another ticket to get in. Hey — out another $18.50, but at least he gets in, right?

But no. Because this is both the least and most lucky day for a concert, it’s even better. Another lady taking tickets pulls him aside before he has a chance to buy anything, stamps his hand, and he gets in without any physical ticket what-so-ever. Thank you random stranger.

So in the end we caught awesome sets by bands I hadn’t been into (The Swellers, This Providence, and Set Your Goals) and a crazy kick off for Motion City Soundtrack’s tour in support of their new album My Dinosaur Life. MCS played stuff from all four of their full-lengths and even an earlier track from one of their first EPs.

And that stupid window? It came up on the ride home. Because everything works out in the end.

Motion City Soundtrack Set

Worker Bee
My Favorite Accident
Everything is alright
Delerium
Last night
Cambridge
Shiver
Disappear
Time Turned Fragile
Motherfucker
This is for real
Capital H
A Lifeless Ordinary
Make Out Kids
Her Words Destroyed My Planet
L.G. FUAD

Encore:
Even If It Kills Me
Throwdown
The Future Freaks Me Out

This is the question that’s been on my mind recently. A question probably sparked last week after watching coverage of the Haiti crisis. The remarkable thing about the natural disaster was how many American lives were thrown into chaos so far from home. Last Friday I posted a link on my Facebook to a page displaying information on how and where people could donate to relief efforts. The further that information spreads, the better. In our advanced society we have the ability to support charities that save lives with a few key presses. I donated $10 via text to the Red Cross in less than a minute. No paperwork. No credit card authorization. It’s just added to my phone bill at the end of the month. I also gave $10 through Paypal to the Save the Children fund.

I have an old high school friend who keeps a blog that I would guess he would argue frequently discusses Christianity. I beg to differ. I think the majority of what he writes about is acceptance. Acceptance through forgiveness. Acceptance through love. Acceptance through open-mindedness. I think he might argue that these are all aspects of Christianity. I would argue that Christianity is an aspect of them. I enjoy arguing with this friend. In the end I think we usually come to the same or similar conclusions. I believe what defines a good person is continued faith that things will work out. I’ve come to learn that accepting the hand we’re dealt is also an important factor. That’s not to say we can’t change or learn from the hand we’re dealt. Quite the opposite.

A long time ago I was a very forgiving person. I was the guy everyone came to with their problems. Today that’s not quite as much the case. When I flunked out of high school there was a period of time before snapping back into reality and getting my life back on track where I was a huge dick. I didn’t see it then but I’ve since come to realize that I was in a pretty fucked up state of mind. No drugs. No alcohol. Just a really pathetic depression. I tricked and lied to my family and closest friends. I didn’t go out much. I stopped playing music. I stopped playing music with some of the best guys I know. I told everyone I knew I was fine. Fooled people I shared a roof with. After years of solidifying relationships I spent two years, starting early my senior year of high school, knocking down the walls. I did it without thinking. I did it subconsciously.

I did not mean to do it. I would not have let myself continue what I was doing had I known it was happening at the time.

I’ve only started apologizing recently, the situation becoming clearer as I distance myself from it through time. Discussing it with family and approaching my friends and explaining it to them individually. It’s a really weird experience to hear their thoughts on it. I realized that I needed to talk to my friends about where I had been mentally after bringing it up to one of them casually one day. After I finished explaining he told me me that our group of friends had literally had points in time where they said things like “I wish Luke was here.” It’s both incredibly uplifting and horribly heartbreaking to hear those words from a friend. I didn’t think I had low self-esteem, but knowing that I had left people hanging so much that they came to that kind of conclusion really put things in perspective for me.

And then, a few weeks after that encounter, I told one of my best friends and he told me he had realized something was up but never really brought it up. He seemed pretty upset about it and I understood his position because I’ve been there before. And no matter how much you tell that person they couldn’t have changed anything and that you’d have just gamed them like everyone else, they still think they should have done something more. But it’s not anyone’s fault. It played out like it did. We have to accept the hand that was dealt. We have to have faith that things will stay better.

Around four years later I am a different person than I was then. I’m rebuilding the bonds I busted. I’m in a much better mindset. I’m the dependable person I was before everything turned to shit and I’m working to show that to those around me without throwing it in their faces.

And I am writing again. I used to think people could be my muse. Then I thought it was conflict. But that’s all bullshit. Life is my muse and too much of any one thing can throw it horribly off balance and make for a terrible script. It takes equal parts faith in the future and accepting the present. Otherwise you’re just an asshole, a joker, a fool, or a crybaby.

This weekend, as I’ve mentioned in other posts, some friends and I are going hit up Motion City Soundtrack’s show at First-Avenue  in Minneapolis. Somehow I tend to get put in charge of organizing and orchestrating these trips, but that’s okay by me. It’s easier for me to shoulder the responsibility. Right now I’m just hoping that the weather doesn’t destroy it, because I could use a get away.

And hey, if you think I should have talked to you about this one-on-one, approach me about it. It’s impacted friendships with pretty much anyone I knew at the time and I don’t mind talking it through. And I apologize ahead of time.

1. blink-182 – Feeling This
2. Frightened Rabbit – The Twist
3. blink-182 – I Miss You
4. The Spill Canvas – Lullaby
5. Matt & Kim – Daylight
6. Motion City Soundtrack – Hold Me Down
7. Motion City Soundtrack – Last Night
8. blink-182 – Stockholm Syndrome
9. blink-182 – Down
10. Phoenix – 1901

• Most listened to artists…

1. Motion City Soundtrack
2. blink-182
3. Death Cab for Cutie
4. Saves the Day
5. Dashboard Confessional
6. Angels & Airwaves
7. Dave Matthews Band
8. Say Anything
9. The Get Up Kids
10. The Format

• Most listened to albums…

1. blink-182 – Self-titled
2. Motion City Soundtrack – Even If It Kills Me
3. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight
4. Matt & Kim – Grand
5. Motion City Soundtrack – I Am The Movie
6. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
7. Angels & Airwaves – We Don’t Need To Whisper
8. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
9. Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This To Memory
10. blink-182 – Take Off Your Pants & Jacket

And look real close ‘cross the winds and the roads
It is there to decode, will you fly as a ghost
Or a spark to explode – it’s the start of the show
It’s the part you love most where your heart will implode

And do you believe in hallucinations,
Silly dreams or imagination?
Don’t go away ’cause I feel you this time
Don’t go away ’cause I need you there this time

As the wind floats home, carry us back to shore
And up the mountainous coast where the sun starts to glow
From our head to our toes, to the stars that we know
And with you as my hosts it will keep us afloat

Again…
And do you believe in hallucinations,
Silly dreams or imagination?
Don’t go away ’cause I feel you this time
Don’t go away ’cause I need you there this time

Do you believe in hallucinations,
Any dream or it’s revelation?
Don’t go away ’cause I need you there this time
Don’t go away ’cause I needed you all my life

The science is taxing, I’m waiting for something
There’s images of love and war and everything’s here to explore
It’s all alike, unusual, a different place but beautiful
And it is not quite as it seems, I hear the children’s laughs and screams

(It’s beautiful, so beautiful, it’s beautiful)

Do you believe in hallucinations,
Silly dreams or imagination?
Don’t go away ’cause I feel you this time
Don’t go away ’cause I need you there this time

Do you believe in hallucinations,
Any dream or it’s revelation?
Don’t go away ’cause I need you there this time
Don’t go away ’cause I needed you all my life

(All my life, I needed you all my…)

P.S. – This song ends on the same synth chord that’s at the end of Adam’s Song/beginning of All the Small Things. Fuckin weird things I notice…

• (Right click, Save as) Angels & Airwaves – Hallucinations [6.8Mb]

• (Right Click, Save As) blink-182 – Remixed (by Carv!) [35.8mb]
  

Happy holidays.

Now while I can appreciate my parent’s generation of music and understand what it’s meant for generations to come, I cannot call it my own. I also can’t compare the impact of the music to the albums that are going to follow. Anyone who would make such a futile attempt to would come off looking like a jackass. But I can list my generation’s artists who’ve impacted my life. So I leave you with the following list — five albums that I think you should check out. Five albums that have influenced me creatively or have had some significance on music that I think is important. Five albums that I just think will put you in a better state of mind. Here are my top five albums for the past decade.

1) The Ataris - End Is Forever (2001)

The Ataris made a name for themselves in 1999 with their sophomore effort Blue Skies, Broken Hearts… Next 12 Exits, an album full of emotional lyrics and big, pop-punk guitar riffs. Their third album, End Is Forever, continued where that left off but turned the volume up. Warm over-driven guitars and Kris Roe’s blunt words about growing up, breaking up, and giving up blend in a more mature production without ever taking themselves too seriously. (see: Welcome to the Night) This is a band I’ve gone over on the site before and they’re one of the bands on the list that made it simply because I can get into the band regardless of my mood.

2) Jimmy Eat World – Bleed American (2001)

People often attribute emo music with stereotypes of dark clothing, guy-liner, and and dudes in their sister’s jeans. Those people don’t listen to Jimmy Eat World. Founded in 1993, front man Jim Adkins and company defined 90’s emo before the scenesters were able to eat solid food. 1999’s Clarity, while an initial commercial failure causing them to get dropped from Capitol Records, would eventually achieve cult status with an album that showcased a much softer alternative rock not heard on the band’s first and second efforts.

Clarity’s failure would soon be a turnaround for the band, earning them enough to start recording Bleed American on their own while being free of contractual restrictions with Capitol. Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American released mid-summer 2001 to critical acclaim. The album hits much harder than Clarity and features a much more commercial sound while maintaining a unique feel that’s clearly Jimmy Eat World. With the second single The Middle getting massive video rotation on music television networks, Bleed American has since gone platinum. It should be noted that the album became self-titled after the September 11TH attacks and the lead track was changed from Bleed American to Salt, Sweat, Sugar.

3) blink-182 – Self-Titled (2003)

blink-182 gained popularity in the mid-to-late 90’s when their three-man line up solidified it’s sound with Travis Barker replacing Scott Raynor. The band, infamous for dick and fart jokes, unabashed nudity, and simple “three chord” pop-punk split vocal duties between guitarist Tom DeLonge and bassiest Mark Hoppus. With DeLonge’s knack for melodies, Hoppus’ bright, crunchy bass, and the extremely talented Barker on the set the band has a simple but effective recipe which has made their popularity blow up and created thousands of “copy cat” bands over the years. The 2003 self-titled album put aside the dick jokes and humorous bonus tracks in an effort to show off a more mature and skilled band. The album has gone on to sell over two-million copies since it’s release. Unfortunately the band’s popularity and years of touring took it’s toll in 2005 and the band went into a mysterious hiatus. A blame-game between DeLonge and Hoppus would surface in interviews and the band appeared to be permanently done. DeLonge would go on to form Angels and Airwaves and it wasn’t long before Hoppus and Barker followed suit with their new project +44. After four years of silence the three members of blink-182 would reunite as friends following Travis Barker’s close brush with death in 2008 and as a band the following spring. blink-182 recently completed a successful summer tour and is currently recording their sixth studio album. I didn’t really get into blink-182 until after they broke up. I knew some of their big songs but I didn’t really get into them until the fall of 2005, but when I got into them I got into them hard. I still get together with friends and play old blink tracks from time to time. Their the only band to which I’ve memorized the guitar, bass, and vocals to most of their albums. This site wouldn’t exist if this band didn’t.

4) Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism (2003)

I first discovered Ben Gibbard  through his electronic efforts with The Postal Service. I was trading a music a lot back then with friends when someone I went to high school with overheard me talking about the lyrics to one of the bands songs and recommended Death Cab. My first experience with DCFC was their 2003 album Transatlantiscism, a lighter indie record. I was pretty much hooked when I heard Title & Registration, the albums second track and third single. Guitarist Christopher Walla’s rhythmic hooks and Ben Gibbard’s airy voice are prime examples of indie nirvana. If there’s any doubt of Ben Gibbard’s abilities I would only ask you to keep in mind he recently married actress Zooey Deschanel. I’d consider that an impressive feat of its own.

5) Motion City Soundtrack – Commit This To Memory (2005)

Motion City Soundtrack competes with blink-182 for one of my favorite band. Let me just get that out there. I love Motion City Soundtrack. There are no MCS tracks I ever hit skip on because I’m not into the song. The guys in the band are awesome, down to earth dudes. Alright? So my unconditional support for this band is out in front. Feel free to judge me for a second before you continue reading.

Motion City Soundtrack is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They’re a pop-punk outfit with an original sound featuring Justin Pierre’s high voice exploring tales of love, childhood, mental stability and drug and alcohol abuse. Commit This To Memory, produced by blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, is the band’s sophomore release following I Am The Movie. Making MCS different from every other power pop group is Jesse Johnson on the Moog, a special keyboard synthesizer that the band manages to use correctly when so many bands can’t seem to. The only thing better than their ability to mix in that synth as a band in the studio is Jesse’s awesome moog-stand skills, as shown to the left.

My music tastes have fluctuated a lot over the years, but I think I have a pretty open mind. I can judge pretty quickly what I like from what I don’t and I’m pretty opinionated, which I think gives the impression that I have extremely specific tastes. I don’t.

Growing up I listened to a lot of country. I also listened to the radio all the time. I picked up a lot of music interests from my family. I spent most of my childhood bouncing between one home in Independence, another home in Waterloo, my aunt’s home south of Jesup, and finally my grandparent’s home in Jesup, the last two being where I spent the majority of my time and were really what I considered my home. Now staying at my grandparents meant lots of bike rides, football at Pioneer park, & pink lemonade, but staying at my aunt’s probably had a far greater impact on who I am today. There was music blaring anywhere at any time over there. 70’s, 80’s, hard rock, R&B, pop, and country. From the garage, the kitchen, the living room and everywhere in between. Looking back, this was probably the single greatest impact on my music tastes. I was exposed to everything and I loved it. My cousins were way more like siblings to me than cousins. Lots of memories and firsts took place on that farm.

Lately I’ve been trying to get find new music to get into. It seems like I’ve been in a listening rut with the same stuff which prompted me to look back at some of the stuff I’ve loved over the years.

Anyways. My birthday is January 27TH. I’m not usually big on celebrating birthdays but this year I’m looking forward to it. Motion City Soundtrack is playing January 23RD at First-Avenue in downtown Minneapolis and I’m going with a decent sized group of friends. It”ll be their first show following the release of their new CD and in their hometown, so it should be a good time.

My high school choir trip to Memphis, Tennessee is similar. My 30GB iPod was full but Cartel’s Chroma was pretty much the only thing I listened to the entire time. It was more or less exclusively on repeat the whole trip. I remember much more of the trip, but that album pretty much brings to mind the bus. Memphis is a trip I wish I could get a do-over on. It was way more interesting than my band trip and more my kind of thing, but I remember being in the worst mood ever the entire trip. Someday I’ll go back for a Memphis/Nashville double header. Chroma is still one of my favorite albums of all time, but sometimes it feels corrupted. That feeling sucks.

Then there’s the seasonal albums. The Format and Limbeck will always mark Spring and early summer on my audio calendar. Without fail. blink-182 is always going to be the hot, dirty part of mid-to-late summer. Fall is any indie and/or acoustic track I can find. Phoenix and Blind Pilot seem to be taking over this season. Fall is also when my pen hits the paper a lot more.

There are soundtracks for people, places, and feelings. Times and experiences. Rain or shine. There are tracks that will instantly put me in a good mood, regardless of who I’m with or what surrounds me. There are tracks that I can’t listen to anymore. There are albums that make me sick. There are songs that I’ve put in the back of mind. They are songs I cannot forget but need to find a mental cure for before I can listen to them again. These are the notes, the chords, the tempos, & the phrases that make us who we are. How could someone not be into music?

Dear Santa,

I want iTunes giftcards.

Sincerely,
Luke

I love the holidays.

I tried very hard to avoid this. I really tried. I didn’t want to write about this because it should be easier to just write it off as something very unfortunate. It sucks, but it happens. It always seemed very odd to consider a pet part of your family, but sometimes they just are.

Last night my step dad, Lyle, told me my dog wasn’t coming in. This is pretty normal. Both of our indoor dogs are very protective of the property and will chase off critters and not always come home immediately when called. I shrugged it off and waited twenty minutes to try him again. Nothing. Still not that strange — they’ve both spent the entire night outside before and usually come in in the morning when Lyle leaves for work. Something seemed off, but it wasn’t a big deal.

I didn’t sleep last night at all, despite my frustrated attempts. I was still up when Lyle left for work around 5:30 this morning and my dog still hadn’t shown up. When it finally got bright enough out, I could see Pip on the shoulder of the road down from house. My only thought process was a very literal, very blunt “Well that fucking sucks.”

And the day continued. I got asked several times if I was okay all day and yet no emotional flip switched. Nothing. I was bummed, but I wasn’t hit as hard as I thought I’d be. I went to class. I came home. I think the fact that my dog was gone was so surreal I didn’t understand it.

Tonight my step dad walked into the house. I met him at the door to let our other dog outside and he said he was sorry.  We both summed up the day as shitty. And he was trying very hard to keep a stable face. It didn’t work. And then my switch got flipped. Lyle frequently wanted to get rid of that dog. For a dozen reasons that were all pretty sound. Then late last month Pip bit someone who was jogging by our house and we panicked. We thought we were going to have to put him down for sure. The deputy sheriff called and requested a fax to make sure Pip had all his shots, which he did. After reimbursing the person for their torn pants, we thought the whole thing was behind us. The deputy said this is a pretty common issue and to not get too worried about it. All that fucking drama — and today Pip gets hit by a car? Such a damn waste of time and worry. Such a stupid thing to stress about.

So today my step dad buried my dog in the rain because I didn’t think I could. Today my step dad shed some tears over a “pet”, who was more or less a nuisance for him. And so did I. Today was a shitty day.