They were aboot, at least according to my translation, the people you rely on when you’re at your darkest, and being that person for someone else. Anyone who knows me personally and/or just follows along on teh Internets knows that 2011 wasn’t particularly enjoyable, and I find myself being the one relying on others mopre so that usual. More than any other song this year, on a personaly level, this one…well, got me.

Of course the band went in a different direction for the video…

I also like that, in a genre full a pop tarts, she gives young girls an option of someone with talents and a level head to lookj up to. With my baby sister giving me a baby niece next year, that matters to me more than it normally would.

So because I’m a big enough fan, you get two videos: the official one, and the live performance from the CMA’s.

Travis decided to go back to school this year for radio broadcasting, and not to put him on blast or anything, let’s just say he and I are both “outside the margin of error” when it comes to the average age of your average student.  Yet he wanted a career change to something he loved, and after busting his ass is now interning on one of the top talk radio shows in Denver. I don’t know how or to do what, but I plan on using his courage and motivation to change to help motivate me to make necessary changes I need to in my life. Thanks bro!

Here’s the video…

Everything you need to know aboot the song is in the title, and without even hearing it you can relate to filling the cup at the keg or outside a football game. And on a personal note, the song came out during the final days with my dad and was a well needed distraction. It felt a little weird wandering around the hallways of a hospital singing to myself, but it worked.

Here’s the video…

I choose a “song of the week” every week with the YRs, and picked “El Paso” the day it was first posted on the YouTubes. He was shocked (and I think somewhat amused) that YRs were into his band. My feeling has always been no matter how much people disagree on political issues, we can all agree on great rock n’ roll. That, and if we only listened to artists who agreed with us politically…Toby Keith gets boring real quick

The best rock n’ roll album to come out this year was easily the self titled album from the reunited Taking Back Sunday. From beginning to end, I loved every song on the album. The guitar licks in “You Got Me” were killer, and there was an underlying them in all the lyrics that appear to deal with forgiveness and redemption that I really connected with, as I’m sure most other could as well.

There was also something else, and something that growing up on Long Island led me to be a fan in the first place…these could easily be friends of mine who formed a band and hit it big, both in the style of music and also that “Long Island humor” that you can’t quite describe, but no it when you see it. Seeing the band reunite with the originally line-up just strengthened that.

Anyway, if you haven’t picked up the album yet, get yourself to iTunes…unless you live on The LI, in which case I’d direct you to Looney Tunes in Babylon.

Here’s one of their videos…

During the last days with my father, when the days were spent at the hospital, the nights were spent generally reflecting on what was going on trying to drink myself to sleep. It’s not something I’m particularly proud of – especially when I started with Goose Island Bourbon County stout and ended with Bud Lite Lime (it wasn’t pretty) – but we all mourn in our own ways. Plus it’s not like I was drinking alone, because they were there with me.

I’d stay up until 2am listening to their albums over and over again. It relaxed me and helped keep me calm, and in some way helped take my mind off of what I was ready to admit was coming next. The outpouring of support from friends and family was and has been humbling, but it was Levi Lowrey and Sonia Leigh there with me when I was at my lowest. That’s something I’ll never forget.

Anyway, here are my two favourite songs from the two of them…

The other day, I had one of those experiences at Terminal 5 in New York City (a club that sucks as bad as everyone says it does) during a My Chemical Romance concert.

I had seen MCR a few years ago during “Projekt Revolution” and thought they put on a great live show. I was looking forward to seeing them again as a headliner (when I saw them, they were just under Linkin Park in billing). Their new album was a favourite of mine from last year, so when tickets went on sale I figured “what the hell?”

What the hell was that…for starters, my pre-gaming has changed from a few Budweiser tallboys to a few pints at Rattle n Humm that are slightly higher in ABV, which was ok. I wasn’t in the bag, just buzzed and a little tired. Then came the concert.

I used to enjoy being at shows where everyone has packed together, bouncing up and down, swaying back and forth, and moving however you could with the limited personal space you had. I also used to go to concerts where I didn’t look like a chaperone compared to the rest of audience.

Halfway through the show my friend and I tapped out, and made our way to the back where we had elbow room and a short line for the bar (I think less than ten of us were old enough to drink). Even then, we just got water and said to each other, “Let’s go.” On the way out, I found the only guy who was around my age…and who was there with his son. The final reminder that maybe, in the immortal words of Danny Glover, I’m too old for this shit.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love the band. If they play a show at the Garden, I’m there. I still love live music and like checking out new bands. But it seems somewhere along the way, my peers stopped listening new music at some point while I was still, and am still, tuning into the music that their kids are starting to listen to.

And yeah, while in the movies, characters like Paul Rudd in “Knocked Up” and Jason Bateman in “Juno” seem cool to an extent (Bateman turned douchy), in the real world they’re just lame.

So I pose the question to you, what do you do when you still love the music but have outgrown the scene?

(Though I have to admit, I did get a bitchin’ hoodie)