Binhqx's Blog

February 14, 2008

MonkeyBar rocks out!

MonkeyBar had an incredible set this Thursday night. There where more people in Mojito's then any other Thursday. The room had so much energy, it was incredible.

I hope we have more nights like this.

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February 8, 2008

Window Pain and Lourds at the Dover Brick House

What a lineup. The return of Window Pain AND Lourds. What a night!

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January 17, 2008

MonkeyBar at Mojito's

Every Thursday night, after programming at Medaverse Studios, I like to unwind with friends and cute girls at Mojito's. On these nights, Mojito's hosts live music provided by MonkeyBar.

MonkeyBar is a great cover band that plays quite a few of my favorite rocks songs. I need to see if I can find a full list of their song sets.

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January 5, 2008

Sneaky Pete at the DBH!

I met Rachel this summer at one of Boring Kind Of Guy's parties. It was then that I promised her that I would go to one of her band's show.

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November 16, 2007

Lourds concert

Cap and I went to a Lourds concert at Milly's Tavern this evening. The show was great. Lourds Lane has a cool new look.

It was also good to catch up with old friends who also attended the concert.

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August 25, 2007

The return of Window Pain

After a eight month hiatus, Window Pain returned to the stage at the Dover Brick House. Back in January, Window Pain planned to take a two month break to do work on independent projects and some new songs. But one event after another transpired to delay their return. During this delay drummer Scott Murphy left Window Pain to be the lead vocalist of Sake of Reason. Now Andy Cacarillo has taken up the positions as the drummer and he is doing a excellent job.

Now Window Pain is back and they have brought in some new songs to mix with our favorite classics. It was a great show with great energy.

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August 22, 2007

Boring Kind of Guy at the Brick House.

Tonight was metal night down at the Dover Brick House. Boring Kind of Guy played along with Sudden Death and Wreckoning .

image courtesy of http://www.returntothepit.com

I love a good metal show. When it comes to performing metal, the key ingredient is energy. That is what separates those who play metal for those who are metal. I have to say that Boring Kind of Guy (BKOG) has that energy. That is what really made the difference between BKOG and the other performances that night. Sudden Death and Wreckoning had a excellent performances. They have refined and well rehearsed sound, but they did not have the energy BKOG brought to the stage.

A band is only as good as the artist that make it up. BKOG has pulled together some some individuals who talent mesh together well.
Jeromy leads the group with is unrelenting vocals and animated stage presence. He will mosh around the stage, throw kung-fu moves and even jump over the other performers without dropping a single lyric. Keeping pace with Jeromy are Aaron and Rick on guitars. Their skills bring the the electric roar the makes amps cry and fans scream for more. Laying down a fat base line is Matt. He jams away keeping the whole thing solid. At the heart of the band, Jamie drums a beat that drives the metal machine.
You can listen to some of BKOG repertoire at their myspace, but it does not do justice to their stage performance. To get the full BKOG experience, you must attend one of there shows.

Lets not forget about the fans. BKOG has managed to pull together a dedicated group of supporters. They make sure that all the BKOG shows are well attended and reflect the energy of the stage performance. The BKOG fans make sure that every show is as much fun as posable.

BKOG is still a new band so they have not written many songs. Some people may not find anything that they like in the set. However, I suspect over time more songs will be written and the BKOG sound will be increasingly refined. They have energy, talent and dedication need to become a big in the metal scene.

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August 13, 2007

Blumberg’s Music Theory Cipher

I found this interesting new take on music theory called Cipher System . It removes the old vestigial names and music notation and replaces it with a simple mathematical counting system. For a person who is engineering minded like myself, Cipher makes a lot more since.

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August 11, 2007

Sake of Reason rocks out at the Cafe @ The Governors Inn

The Cafe @ The Governors Inn is a cool outdoor venue tucked way in the woods behind the Governors Inn in Rochester. Basically it is a lawn with a stage that connects to a little Cafe.

I am guessing that the venue is usually used for acoustic and bluegrass music. However, tonight Sake of Reason rocked the stage. Literally, the small stage could barely contain the band and it was rocking back and forth. That is what I call good energy.

As usual, the set sounded great. I think it helps a lot when the fans come out to show their support.

I was happy to hear that Sake of Reason will get more of their songs recorded in the future. The three that they on the myspace are good, but I want to hear more.

Shameless plug: Sake of Reason has a online store. So go there and buy something.

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July 28, 2007

Bo-fest!

Bo-fest is a big metal festival out on lawn in South Berwick. There is a stage, a giant Slip 'N Slide, and plenty of a drink called "Jungle Juice."

When Chris and I arrived there it was hot under the noon sun and the bands had not setup yet. So we just hung around the food tent drinking the "Jungle Juice." It was at that point I got drunk and I stayed that way for the rest of the day.

Just after the first band played a powerful thunderstorm blew through. This sent everyone running to tents and indoors. The storm lasted for about a half hour. Some people gave up and when home other like myself stuck around to see what would happen next.

The storm blew out just as quickly as it had come. The rain stopped and the sun came out. Most of the audio equipment was undamaged by the rain. So the show went on. The rain had created a enormous mud pit at the front of the stage. This became a muddy mosh pit when the next band started up. The rest of the afternoon went on without a hitch. In the end, only one amplifier was destroyed by the weather. We passed around a collection bucket and managed to rase enough money to play for its replacement.

I did go down the Slip 'N Slide and got soaking wet. It was a ton of fun.

Update with some tiny pics from my cellphone:

Here is Monkey hanging out under the tent during the rain storm.

The stage was setup on milk crates. It may not be classy, but it did prevent the entire stage from sinking into the mud.

The giant Slip N' Slide made sure that everyone had a wet and wild time.

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July 20, 2007

Sake of Reason at Slims Tex Mex

Yesterday, Sake of Reason played a gig at Slim's Tex Mex. I had seen Sake of Reason last month and since then they have only improved.

Actually they sound a lot better then they did the demo recording. So do not use the music on their myspace page to judge their quality. The recent live performances are even better.

The Sake of Reason set is also more diverse then the songs on the site. The live show has more hard songs and fun songs that can really drive the crowd.

Here is a pict that I snapped off on my cell phone:

Of course, I can not talk about a Sake of Reason show with out mentioning the fans. They are fantastic. They make the show exciting and keep the energy levels high.

Great show guys!

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LOURDS at Milly's Tavern

Last night Cap and I want down to Milly's Tavern for a LOURDS concert.

LOURDS are great. I have said it before, the level of audience participation in there show is what make them so fun. I took some pictures with my cell phone. The quality is low, but it get the feeling of it.

If you have not heard LOURDS, here are a few of my favorite songs:

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July 10, 2007

Godhead - Eleanor Rigby

Godhead - Eleanor Rigby:

This is probity my all time favorite metal cover of a Beetles' classic.

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June 1, 2007

Sake of Reason at Bourbons

Sake of Reason is a fairly new band, they have only been playing together for a few months. However, the band is made up of people that I know from past acquaintances or other bands I know.

So I had to show up and have a listen. I was very happy with how they sound. I was particularly surprised by Scott's vocals. I have only known him as a drum player, but he can really sing.

Over all it was a great performance.

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May 29, 2007

Go Yuki at the Abbey Lounge with a new drummer!

Alix Jakson parted ways with Go Yuki a few weeks ago. Since then we have heard about a talented drummer named Aine Fujioka who would be the band drummer.

Tonight was her first show with the band and Cap, Matt and myself decided to show up to see how it worked out.

Here you can see Aine in the back on the drums. The show was pulled of with out a hitch. That is impressive considering Aine has only participated in three rehearsals with the band. She showed to be a very talented drummer and make a welcome addition to the sound of Go Yuki.

After the show we hung out with the band. Yuki said that I do not have enough pictures taken with her. So here is a new one.

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May 8, 2007

Go Yuki show in Somerville, MA

Cap and I decided that we have not heard or talked to Go Yuki for too long. So we made a road trip to Somerville to see them at the The Abbey Lounge. The other bands that played there where pretty good. Go Yuki played third so it was a bit later on in the evening.
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The show was great, there was a lot of energy in stage and off. Some how one of the guys from another band got a bit drunk from too many PBRs. Half way through the set he decided to start a one person mosh pit. This was a big guy jumping around and running into other people. All he really accomplished is scaring away the rest of the audience.

Other then that it was a good show.

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April 21, 2007

LOURDS show at the DBH

Saturday night Cap and I went to the Dover Brick House (DBH) to see one of our favorite bands, the LOURDS. Their shows are always phenomenal and energetic. I am always impressed with Lourds Lane. She seams to have unending talent with her vocals and impressive array of stringed instruments. However it takes more then one person to make a successful band. With Sarah Vasil on drums, Gene Blank on guitar and Joey Sagarese on bass; LOURDS just rock a show.

If you have never heard LOURDS, check out these videos:
Astropop 2007
City Sessions

What really makes a good LOURDS show is the way the band interacts with the fans and audience. Cap and I learned long ago that the best place to experience these shows is right up in front with the craziest fans. We are so lucky to be in a place where the music fans are the craziest of all, Dover NH. Check out this clip from a blog entry by Joey:

You never think of Dover NH as being a hard core music place, but it is!

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March 30, 2007

RPM Challenge '07 Globle Release Party

The RPM Challenge is put forth to encourage music artists to make music. The rues are as follows:

Today was the global release party for all the album submitted. There were a lot of them. Over 850 albums mad the cut off. That is over 8500 original songs written in the month of February for the challenge.

The event started in The Music Hall Portsmouth. All of the entries CD were placed on stage so that the magnitude of the event could bee seen first hand. It is hard to beleve that all of this music did not exists before last month.

Here is one side of the stage. So much music.

Here is the other side of the stage. So much music!

This is a close up of a random section of the CDs. As you can see, so people put in the extra effort to make completed CD cases with artwork and everything. Other just make due with a burned CD and sharply.

After the presentation was over the participants split off into the various listening events around town. There were so many people there that it took six local venues to accommodate all the people.

I followed the crowed over to Bourbon's, a bar where one of the listening parties was being healed. There I got to talk with a few of the musicians and get there reactions to the event. The listening parties were broken up by genre. First up at Bourbon's was the "Other" category. These are songs that can not be classified into traditional music genres. Many of the musicians there produced some real bizarre (in a good way) stuff.
I good example of this is Walter Sickert & The Army Of Broken Toys. It is difficult to describe what they do so I will let a W.S Mag interview do it for me:

Contrary to their music, Walter and Edrie are some down to earth people who are passionate about their music. Walter Sickert is a experienced music producer. He was personally involved with three bands with entries for the RPM challenge. He, alnoge with just about everyone else there, expressed that the challenge catalyzed people who have been thinking about making music into actually doing it.

The motivation from the challenge was also the story behind the formation of Doctors of Medicine's album, Save the World, Get the Girl. All the members of the band are music teachers. For a long time they had wanted to pull their talents and make a album. They had planned to make the album during February vacation. However, they procrastinated as badly as their student and by the last day of the vacation they had not begun recording. In just one seven hour session, they managed to record most of the album. They managed to completed it in just four hours the next day. Creating a entire album in just ten hours takes a extraordinary amount of energy. I asked them if they plan to continue to work together on other album. To them, making Save the World, Get the Girl was just a lot of fun and they would definitely continue making music.

In addition to the motivation of the RPM challenge, technology was the other impetus in the speed and volume of the result. With the power of music authoring software many musicians authored their albums without ever stepping foot in a professional recording studio.

There was so much going on in so many places I did not get to listen to the music and meet every one I wanted to. I have a personal interest in the technology behind music. It is great to see the creativity being explored here.DMG prodused an entire album using GameBoys. 10010010 not only wrote all the software for their synthesizer but included the entire source code and documentation with the submission of the album CD.

The music found in the results of the challenge have incredible volume, incredible diversity, and incredible quality. Just imaging what could be produced in the next 28 days.

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March 15, 2007

Go Yuki in Boston

Cap and I had a little adventure down to Boston to hear Go Yuki. It is a long drive for us, but it is fun to get out of NH and visit a big city.

We left right from work and drove south. Once we got to the city, finding parking was a pain in the butt. There was a Bruins that night, so all the parking locations near the venue where greed for the event. There was cheaper parking farther away. However it was raining and we where willing to pay a but more for a close location.

We hit the Boston streets on foot and had a few hours to kill. While we where eating dinner the rain stopped. This gave us the opportunity to do some exploring around town. You never think of Boston as a seasonal attraction, but that appears to be the case. By 7:30 many of the interesting little boutiques where closed. The only places still open where the restaurants and pubs. Cap and I checked out some of the historical locations. I had never seen many of them during the night with no one around.

Around 8:00 we where supposed to meet up with band members at the venue, the Bulfinch Yacht Club (BYC). We found Eric and Kenn just down the street and helped them move some equipment to the BYC. When we got there we found that there was currently a private party going on inside and they would not let us in.

Instead we hung out side, talked to the band, and tried convince passersby to see the show. Eventuality we did get inside.

The Bulfinch Yacht Club is a bit of a hole. It is not very big and not very comfortable, and the quality of the sound system is poor. However, the people who run the place are friendly.

The first show of the night was Celerity. They are a fairly typical Punk / Rock / Grunge band from Athens, Georgia. It is a bit colder up here in the north, they must have been freezing to death. The music was okay, although they did do a good grunge cover of Paint It Black.

Next up was Go Yuki. They did another fantastic set, as usual. The band play with their defining energy and Yuki had another cute outfit to strut around in. The only problems they encountered where from the poor sound system. Yuki likes to walk out into the audience during her set and connect with them. Unfortunately when ever she would get off the stage the sound system would produce feedback. I blame BYC for this.

Here are some images that Cap took of the performance:

The last show of the evening was Trans Cardia. They say that they are a dance influenced progressive rock group. To me, Trans Cardia sounded like straight up rock. Like Go Yuki, much of their energy comes from their lead vocalist Keenan. Scott, the guitarist, also maintained a strong stage presence. I enjoyed the show and hope that they can make it up to NH one of these days.

By now it was past 1:00 AM so Cap and I had to hit the road. It is a dark trip back to home. The overall experience was well worth the trip.

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March 6, 2007

Rock & Roll Benefit for Mario

Mario is one of the coolest people I have met since moving to Dover. He contributes so much to the local music community and is just a all around nice guy.

Recently Mario's father passed away. This hurt him very deeply, his father was a important person in Mario's life. In a amazing show of support, Mario's friends pulled together a acoustic rock & roll benefit for him at Mojitos.

Some fantastic musicians donated their talents to bring people in. There where also a few Items donated for auction. A painting, a dinner for two at Mojitos, and a hug from Mario brought in some additional donations.

Here is a picture of Fetch strumming and singing some mad acoustics:

The pinnacle of the evening was when Mario took the stage and gave a touching speech. He talked about how great and how much of a positive influence his father was. Mario thanked everyone for coming and showing support. It can best be summed up with a quote from the speech, "If we could measure our wealth in friends, I would be rich man."

It is very true. Mario has earned so much respect and admiration by being the unselfish person he is. It feels great to give a little bit back.

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March 5, 2007

Cool Pop/Techno Remixes

Today I happen across some cool pop/techno remixes of random songs. Here are a few that I found particularity interesting:
Doctor Who Theme
Cotton Eye Joe
Take Me Home, Country Roads <-- Very good!

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November 30, 2006

Local Music: Hour Past

I went to see Hour Past. They have a very well defined and well rehearsed sound. It makes other bands sound like amateurs. To bad they did not start playing until midnight. Too many people have jobs to go to in the morning and can not stick around long enough to hear them.

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November 18, 2006

Hanging with Go Yuki

I got the opportunity hang out with the band before and after the show. Here is a photo of myself, Yuki (singer of Go Yuki), and Mike.

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November 17, 2006

Thursday night music with Go Yuki and Lourds

It is great when you find that two of your favorite bands are playing just down the street. Last night it was Go Yuki and Lourds.

Unfortunately the band that played before them was very boring. I suspect that because of this a lot of people left early. It is too bad for them, they missed some great performances. Go Yuki is as energetic as ever. The lead vocalist of Lourds plays a incredible electric violin.

Go Yuki is playing again over at the Tin Palace on Saturday. We will probably go there and lend our support.

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