W♥M

Yellowcard at The Armory (07/15/2023)

Yellowcard Setlist Way Away Breathing Lights and Sounds Believe Life of a Salesman Rough Landing, Holly Fighting Holly Wood Died One Year, Six Months Hang You Up with Derek Sanders Empty Apartment Childhood Eyes Light Up the Sky Always Summer Awakening Back Home -- Encore -- With You Around Only One Ocean Avenue Read More Yellowcard This will be the last time you will ever see Yellowcard (Ryan Key, Sean Mackin, Ryan Mendez, and Josh Portman). The band is on their farewell tour, in support of their latest self-titled album via Hopeless Records .… Mayday Parade Tallahassee’s Mayday Parade returns to touring in celebrating of their 11-year anniversary of their self-titled debut record. In addition to the 11 year old album, the band also released a new album What It Means To Fall Apart .… Story of the Year Fans of St Louis's Story of the Year will be lining up in line tomorrow to get their much anticipated album, The Black Swan, their debut on legendary punk label Epitaph. So a little background on SOTY, that they .… This Wild Life Long Beach, California indie alt duo This Wild Life will be stopping by the Garage in Burnsville this Monday. As usual with these all-ages show, expect a million bands on the bill, including: Dryjacket .…

Speaking from the view of a former soccer player, what a great name for a band, yellow card, a card that is indeed yellow and pulled out by a referee if a player causes some infraction like tripping an opposing player or kicking him in the knee. Yellowcard, the band, got their name from an iteration of the sport’s penalty, meaning if someone spilled a beer at a party, the offender was issued a yellow card for the party foul.

Out of Jacksonville, FL, they are comprised of Ryan Key on vocals and guitar, Sean Mackin on violin, Ryan Mendez on lead guitar and Josh Portman on bass. They were also joined on stage by a Swede on drums, Jimmy Brunkvist. They are touring this summer to promote the 20^th Anniversary of the fourth and most successful album, Ocean Avenue, an album that in Key’s words moved them from a struggling garage band to a leading one on the pop punk scene and wildly popular Warped Tour.

Yellowcard brought along with them a few friends to start off the evening while the crowds slowly filtered into the cavernous venue of The Armory. This Wild Life kicked off a brief set, followed by Story of the Year and finishing with Mayday Parade.

By the time the headliner stepped onto the stage, the venue was at capacity as the crowd surged ahead for some punk antics to give security more than to do than the normal show.

Although Yellowcard has recorded ten albums, the night was focused on the album that got them into the limelight, playing nine of the thirteen songs like “Way Away” “Breathing” and “Life of a Salesman.” “Empty Apartment” was an early favorite of the crowd with Mackin playing a zippy solo from his violin as he dashed around the stage. A personal favorite was “Holly Wood Died” a sweet lament that involved a little bit of crowd surfing and moshing.

Yellowcard_2023_credit_Jason-Hackett_design_Mara-Bearcat

Childhood Eyes EP (photo by Jason Hackett, designed by Mara Bearcat)

Key said it was unbelievable that they were even performing, considering their last tour in 2016 was to be their last for the band was to dissolve. He even remembered their stop in Minneapolis at The Varsity Theater in front of a meager crowd and thought it best to try something new. But an invite last year for the band to play for Riot Fest in Chicago lit a spark, for they not only started touring again, they are about to release a new EP this month, Childhood Eyes. The promotional material sent to us even has a cool photo, an ode to the movie Trainspotting with Mendez flashing the backhanded Begbie peace sign and Key cocked with the double-barrel Sick Boy “hand” gun.

They played “Childhood Eyes” before moving back to the Ocean Avenue canon, finishing with the self-titled song that launched their career twenty years ago.

And as the crowd surged and danced about, I almost got kicked in the shin by one dancer who was probably not even born when the song was released.

Remaining tour dates:

Jul 16 Chicago, IL Huntington Bank ^*+
Jul 18 Charlotte, NC Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre ^*
Jul 20 Atlanta, GA Cadence Bank Amphitheater ^*
Jul 21 Jacksonville, FL Daily’s Place ^*+
Jul 22 Jacksonville, FL Daily’s Place ^*+
Jul 23 Tampa, FL Yuengling Center ^*+
Jul 25 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall ^*
Jul 26 Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater +
Jul 27 Irving, TX The Pavilion ^#
Jul 29 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre ^#+
Jul 30 Los Angeles, CA YouTube Theater ^#+
Aug 01 San Diego, CA Petco Park - Gallagher Square ^#
Aug 02 San Francisco, CA Bill Graham Civic Auditorium ^#+
Aug 04 Seattle, WA WAMU Theater ^#
Aug 05 Garden City, ID Revolution Concert House +
Aug 06 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheatre ^#+
Aug 08 Denver, CO Levitt Pavilion Denver ^#+
Aug 10 Indianapolis, IN TCU Amphitheater ^*+
Aug 12 Pittsburgh, PA Four Chord Music Festival ~
Aug 13 Worcester, MA Palladium Outdoors ^*+
Aug 15 Hershey, PA GIANT Center ^*+
Aug 17 Syracuse, NY St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater ^*+
Aug 18 Portland, ME Cross Insurance Arena ^*+

^ signifies dates with Mayday Parade
* signifies dates with Story of the Year
# signifies dates with Anberlin
+ signifies dates with Emo Night Brooklyn DJ set
All dates with This Wild Life
~ Not a Live Nation date

Yellowcard at the Armory, Minneapolis (15 July 2023)

dave ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Pump Up The Volume (1990)

Pump Up The Volume (1990) New Line Cinema Read More Films I’m a sucker for the sports documentary. From “the thrill of victory” to the “agony of defeat” and all nuances in-between, I find it all fascinating. However, I have a special affection for the “Field Of Broken Dreams” .…

One of the best music teen angst film is Pump Up The Volume. The film was released in 1990, written and directed by Allan Moyle and starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.

If you've never seen it, it is about Mark Hunter, who just moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He's a little anti-social, and expressed himself through a personality called Happy Harry Hard-On via a small FM pirate radio station that broadcasts from the basement of his parents' house. His station is popular with his high school and, of course, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) eventually stepped in and try to stop the pirate broadcast.

As the movie's theme song, "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen plays over the opening credit, you get a glimpse of Hunter's "underground" bands on cassette tapes: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Camper Van Beethoven, Primal Scream, Soundgarden, Ice-T, Bad Brains, Concrete Blonde, Henry Rollins, and The Pixies (see image below).

Pump Up the Volume Soundtrack MCA Records

The official soundtrack, released by MCA Records on August 14, 1990, features Concrete Blonde's version of "Everybody Knows", not the Leonard Cohen original. This is possible due to costs and licensing issues. For example, the movie Trainspotting wanted to use Blondie's "Atomic", but it was so expensive to license that the movie producer spent a fraction of that cost and had Sleeper record a cover of that song (that information was given on the audio commentary of the Trainspotting laser disc.) Instead, if you watch the movie, the Concrete Blonde's version does appear on Hunter's final broadcast.

Pump Up The Volume's soundtrack still holds up, as does the film. Although, I do find it hard to believe that some of the actors that appeared in Pump Up The Volume are teenagers, despite the fact that Slater previously appeared as a teenager in Heathers.

If you enjoyed Pump Up The Volume, other films, from this era, worth checking out: Say Anything... (1989), Dazed And Confused (1993), Singles (1992), Empire Records (1995), and, of course, Trainspotting (1996).

Pump Up the Volume: Soundgarden, Camper Van Beethoven, Pixies, and Henry Rollins New Line Cinema

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Lou Reed - Perfect Day

Lou Reed - Perfect Day

Lou Reed

We just saw this movie (this would've been my 100th time watching it).

This movie, along with Happiness of the Katakuris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Leon the Professional, Run Lola Run, Rushmore, Super Ninjas (I love Venoms!!!!!!!!!), The Princess and the Warrior, Zatoichi #1-27, are in my little exclusive list of movies I can watch over and over again.

So anyway, there is a scene in the movie, where Ewan is going into a coma and this beautiful song is playing.

Some random fact #1: Kirsty MacColl re-recorded this song, but she turned it into a duet.

Random fact #2: Danny Boyle wanted to use Blondie's "Atomic", but the record company wanted too much money for license.  So he got the next best thing, he got Sleeper to record a cover version of it.

Random fact #3: The original Trainspotting soundtrack was so successful, that they released a second soundtrack!

Random fact #4: The drug dealer at the end of this movie, he was supposed to be the flatmate that's introduced in "Shallow Grave".