Tim's recent brush with his doppelganger (and then again) has me wondering: Just who out there do I share a name with? So I turned to good ol' Google to track other versions of myself down. I've known about this guy for a while:
Scott E. Heisel is the technical director of the American Malting Barley Association, Inc. (AMBA). Milwaukee, WI. He received B.S. degrees in biochemistry and in agronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982. In 1986, he received his M.S. degree in agronomy. He worked for several years at the USDA/ARS Barley and Malt Laboratory and has published several papers on characterizing various enzymes of germinated barley and the use of biochemical techniques to identify barley varieties. Heisel joined AMBA in April of 1987. He is a member of the American Association of Cereal Chemists. As a member of ASBC, Heisel has served as the chairman of Local Section Four and has moderated technical sessions. He chaired the Subcommittee on Deoxynivalenol in Barley and Malt and currently serves as the liaison officer to the AACC.
Pretty fancy, dude. I didn't even know "agronomy" was a real word! When I first discovered that someone with my same exact name was living less than two hours from me when I was growing up, it kind of weirded me out. Then it made me laugh when I realized dude worked in the beer industry and I was straight edge. The ironing is delicious.
(Side note: I wish I was a cereal chemist. Then maybe I could make my Cinnamon Toast Crunch taste even more cinnamon-ish. Maybe the world's not ready for such a thing, though.)
I'm not even the only Scott Heisel in Ohio; apparently, there's one in Cincinnati who workss at a science camp (or at least he did in 2004). This most assuredly is not me, as I am a total moron when it comes to science. There's a great comedy bit by Patton Oswalt called "Physics For Poets" that pretty much sums science up for me:
Apparently I'm not the only Scott Heisel to have played Magic: The Gathering before, but at least I was never nerdy enough to enter a tournament like this guy did. (It's not for lack of wanting; they just never had tournaments by my house growing up.)
And after a good 26 pages of search results, that's just about everything I came up with. It's kind of strange knowing there's someone out there with your exact name, although I imagine it's much, much weirder if you share a name with a celebrity. (I went to high school with a kid named Michael Jackson, and I went to college with a kid named Nick Nolte. Bummer for both of them.)
The Rise Against/Alkaline Trio/Thrice/Gaslight Anthem uber-tour kicked off in Cleveland last night -- inexplicably, at an outdoor venue -- and I was there, clad in a not-nearly-thick-enough Draft hoodie and not-nearly-pants-enough khaki shorts, freezing my butt off for rock 'n' roll. Here's what went down.
The Gaslight Anthem took the stage right at 7 o'clock to a thousand or so early arrivals, who just sort of stared at the band throughout their 27-minute set (dudes, you get a half-hour on this tour -- add another song!). Whether it was the cold keep the crowd's energy back or the lack of a confined space (the venue the tour was at, the Tower City Amphitheatre, doesn't really have walls, so the crowd just sorts of dissolves on the sides instead of being packed in by default because of walls, like any good rock club), the band got very little in terms of crowd response during their set, but when they ended (with a killer version of "The Backseat"), the applause from the growing crowd was pretty thunderous. It might take a week or two before Rise Against fans start buzzing on message boards about "Who was that opening band?" but I guarantee it'll happen. Heck, this was only the first night of the tour but already all three other bands on the bill were taking notice: I personally saw Eddie and Dustin from Thrice, Zach and Joe from Rise Against and Matt Skiba all watching parts of the band's well-played set.
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM SETLIST: Great Expectations The '59 Sound Wooderson Old White Lincoln Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis? High Lonesome Say I Won't (Recognize) The Backseat
Thrice were up next, and were allotted 40 minutes of stage time. They made the most of it, doing very little (if any) stage banter and delivering note-for-note perfect renditions of songs old and new, popular and obscure -- I've seen this band easily close to two dozen times before, and I'd never seen them play "All That's Left," "Blood Clots And Black Holes" or "The Melting Point Of Wax." Plus, this show was the first time they ever played "The Sky Is Falling" off the latest batch of Alchemy Index EPs, and it was pulled off very well. But the true highlight of their set was their absolutely devastating cover of the Beatles' "Helter Skelter." Take a look:
Seriously, you gotta have some big ol' brass ones to take on John, Paul, George and Ringo, and I think Dustin, Teppei, Eddie and Riley did a magnificent job. The crowd responded in kind, giving the band a "ONE MORE SONG! ONE MORE SONG!" chant when they left the stage after the monstrous "The Earth Will Shake." Consider the show officially stolen.
THRICE SETLIST: The Messenger The Melting Point Of Wax Blood Clots And Black Holes Firebreather Broken Lungs Helter Skelter (Beatles cover) Betrayal Is A Symptom Of Dust And Nations The Sky Is Falling (first time played live, according to Dustin) All That's Left The Earth Will Shake
One of my all-time faves, Alkaline Trio, were also given 40 minutes to deliver a diverse set to an ever-growing crowd. The Trio always does well in Cleveland, and this show was no exception, with some massive sing-alongs on "Cringe," "This Could Be Love" and "Radio." But the real highlight was Matt Skiba's shoes. Seriously, did any of you fellow attendees see those things?
ALKALINE TRIO SETLIST: Private Eye Calling All Skeletons I Lied My Face Off Cringe I Found Away In Vein Warbrain Goodbye Forever Love Love Kiss Kiss Help Me This Could Be Love Radio
At this point in the night, my joints were achy, my feet were damn near numb and my nose was running faster than Usain Bolt. As much as I was enjoying myself, my body was telling my brain, "Hey asshole, can we please go somewhere that's not cold and rainy and that also serves potato skins as an appetizer?" Because of this, I only made it through a small portion of Rise Against's 85-minute(!) set. The songs I heard sounded awesome (even the new single, "Re-Education (Through Labor)," which I think is pretty darn mediocre recorded), and their light show was insane -- they made use of every last inch of Tower City's gigantic stage, and had their own lighting rig in the scaffolding, too. (It's no surprise they're once again traveling with a semi truck to haul their stage gear.) I don't know how they're gonna cram this show into some of the smaller, indoor venues on this tour, but I bet it'll be impressive no matter where it is.
RISE AGAINST SETLIST (partial): Drones Give It All State Of The Union Ready To Fall Injection Re-Education (Through Labor) Chamber The Cartridge
1. My current favorite song is "Heaven For The Weather" off the Streets' new album everything is borrowed (yes, it's purposely lowercase. No, I don't know why). I've never been big into Mike Skinner's slacker white-boy Brit-rap (except for "The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living," off the album of the same name), but this song's beat is the dictionary definition of "infectious." Check it out:
Gotta love that chorus hook, too. everything is borrowed comes out next Tuesday, Oct. 7 on Vice. Go buy it.
2. Zach Tipton, formerly of Moros Eros, just sent me a link to his new band, Young Coyotes, and I gotta say these songs are really good. They remind me of Portugal. The Man, Wolf Parade and even a little bit of the Shins or a stripped-down Arcade Fire. I particularly recommend "Hell Is" and "Momentary Drowning." They're currently unsigned, but I doubt they'll stay that way for long. Tim, if you're reading this, put 'em in AP&R pronto!
3. One of my all-time favorite TV shows (if not my absolute favorite) was this:
I mean, c'mon, just look at that cast! Felicity Huffman pre-Desperate Housewives, Peter Krause pre-Six Feet Under, Josh Malina pre-The West Wing, Sabrina Lloyd pre-Ed, Josh Charles (of Dead Poets Society fame) and Robert Guillaume (aka Rafiki from The Lion King) -- had this show been made today, I doubt producers could afford all of 'em. But this blog isn't meant to convince all of you to watch what is one of the most brilliant television comedies in the history of the genre (seriously, watch this show, it's only two seasons so you can plow through the whole thing in a weekend); I'm instead writing about this show as I got all sorts of weirded out while watching tonight's episode of Law & Order: SVU.
See, tonight's episode featured Josh Charles as a guest star, as well as Teri Polo, best known as Pam from Meet The Parents and its sequel, Meet The Fockers. In my mind, though, I know Teri Polo as Rebecca Wells, Dan Rydell's love interest in the second season of Sports Night. (I know Josh Charles only as Dan Rydell -- I like to pretend S.W.A.T never happened.) And not only were Josh Charles and Teri Polo both guest starring on the same episode of SVU, they were a married couple, Sean and Dana Kelly! "Okay," I told myself, "Danny retired from sportscasting, popped the question to Rebecca and they changed their name to avoid the paparazzi, also having two kids in the process."
Of course, the happy-family bubble I concocted was quickly popped when the storyline of the episode had the couple's older son accused of raping his 5-year-old stepbrother. Then, in retaliation, his father (aka Josh Charles, aka good ol' Danny Rydell) sodomized his son with a homemade baseball bat -- but not before you learn, in an incredibly awkward scene, that good ol' Danny's been using his 5-year-old's T-shirt as a cloth to clean up his semen in the bathroom, as he and his wife are estranged; thus, the police start investigating him for potential molestation.
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Thank you for completely and utterly ruining my perception of two of my favorite TV show's favorite characters, NBC! I mean, at least you didn't have either of them kill their pedophile son (that was left up to another pedophile who was mad at him), but otherwise, tonight's episode was a complete and utter mindfuck on so many levels. Has anyone else ever had this problem, where they grow so attached to a character in a TV show that when the actor or actress winds up on another show, you just can't compute it?
September has been a pretty exciting month for the editorial staff. Both Jason and Tim celebrated birthdays a few weeks back, and just yesterday, our very own Jennifer Grathwol just got herself a new surname yesterday as she tied the knot (huge congratulations go out to Jen!). Heck, even outside of our department, there's good news: Our production director John Millin and his wife Bridget had their first child last week, and they named her Ragan Rose (which I'm assuming is a tribute to both Hot Water Music's co-frontman Chuck Ragan and Johnny Cash's "Give My Love To Rose," which automatically makes this kid cooler than I'll ever be).
For me, though, this month has been pretty low-key (except for that whole Dillinger Four thing). I've felt a bit stir-crazy lately, which resulted in me cutting off all my hair yesterday, which was therapeutic. But after today, I feel positively awesome, and it's all because of choral music.
I know, I know: Totally nerdy, right? Well, it gets nerdier -- I'm a member of the Cleveland Messiah Chorus, an organization that has performed Handel's Messiah (you might know it as "that big piece of music that features the Hallelujah chorus in it") every fall since 1921. It's a small group, one that I discovered last year when trolling the internet looking for singing opportunities (I've been singing chorally since I was 12 -- I've toured internationally three times with various choirs, and even went to college on a vocal scholarship), but it is an incredible release for me. We had our first rehearsal of the season earlier today, and I've been on a natural high all day. There's something about singing in a choir that just gives me a rush, especially when the material is as majestic and powerful as Messiah is.
While it is sort of weird being the only person under 30 in the group (and this is by at least a decade and a half), there's also something incredibly freeing about it, too. No one there really knows what I do for a living, nor the "scene politics" that come with it. No one is pitching me on bands, nor asking what my favorite album of the year thus far is, nor getting into debates with me about how incredibly overrated [insert band] is. I'm able to leave all of that behind for just 90 minutes a week for the next two months, and it is definitely something I am looking forward to each week.
It's also strange to me how choral singing is still viewed as "uncool" by people who are too obsessed with trying to stay cool. There's a discipline to it that you don't get just by belting out Moneen songs in your car, and there's an appreciation you develop from performing it that will heighten your knowledge of contemporary music and will help you see connections between things that you never would've seen before. I encourage anyone reading this to find a local choir and give it a try, just once. I promise you that no one will make fun of you (and if one of your friends actually does, they're just jealous they don't have the talent you have). And if you live in Cleveland, come join the CMC! Everyone is welcome, and there's no audition required. And since I'm already there, you won't be the only person wearing a Hold Steady T-shirt or a Braid hoodie, either.
There is really no better feeling than getting to see a glimpse of what your favorite musicians are cooking up in between records. Sure, it can be great hearing an MP3 of a new song performed live by one of your top bands on your last.fm chart, but in my opinion, it's far better to see just what they're working on. Here's a small sampling of what I am beyond pumped for right now:
TOM GABEL Heart Burns EP
RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28 on Sire
Anything Tom Gabel is involved in is always worth a few listens, and this being his first proper "solo" release since the early days of Against Me! makes the anticipation all sorts of huge. Out of the seven songs on the disc, only one has officially been released, and it was in the form of a makeshift music video for "100 Years War." It's a little bit chilling, in the best possible way:
Another one of the EP's songs, "Amputations," has been played at a number of shows by Against Me! in the past few months, so there's a swath of live clips on YouTube. Here's my favorite:
Anyone else think the hook of that song kinda sounds like Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light," or am I totally crazy?
DEFTONES Eros RELEASE DATE: winter(?) on Warner Bros.
Chino and the boys recently wrapped production on their sixth proper album with Terry Date again at the helm, and while there is no firm release date yet ("winter" could be anything from late this November till next February -- please, please, please, don't make me wait till February), guitarist Stephen Carpenter recently told my cohort Tim that this record is "more melodic" than past efforts, which truly gets my blood pumping. Deftones are good when they're angry and thrashing, but they're truly great when they can true heavy yet melodic masterpieces ("Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away)," "Beware," "Minerva"). Here's some in-studio clips the band have released, and of course, they love to tease with hints of new music:
WEATHERBOX The Cosmic Drama RELEASE DATE: TBA 2009 on Doghouse
This release cannot come soon enough. I truly look at Weatherbox leader Brian Warren as an unbelievably talented songwriter that not enough people are paying attention to (no matter how much I relentlessly hype the 'Box's debut album American Art, which is damn near perfect). I've been craving new Weatherbox material essentially all year, and am super-bummed that the split 7-inch between the band and Person L has yet to materialize, even though both groups have recorded their songs. In the meantime, I will continue to play this live video over and over and over; it's Brian performing a new song, tentatively titled "God Shuts His Door (It Happens To The Worst Of Us)," and the raw emotion and drive in his voice just kills me. Brian, I believe in you:
It's also better than pretty much everything on Chase This Light, too. I would totally buy a childrens' album from Jimmy Eat World! At least then Jim Adkins' ridiculously cheesy lyrics would be acceptable. What band would you want to see make a kids' album?
Which was awesome. Then, to wrap the night up, I ate this:
While watching the last half-hour of this:
Which was decently funny. All in all, it was a good day.
SUNDAY
Today, I watched this:
Which didn't really put me in a great mood. So I kicked myself in the butt and did this:
And painted this:
But the biggest thing I accomplished today was taking a picture of this:
Pretty cool, right? I then wrapped the weekend up when I went out to see this: (That's an amazing band called Mock Orange, in case you didn't know.)
And that about wraps it up for me. Did you do anything exciting this weekend? Leave me a comment and tell me about it (words are fine; pictures are optional).
