Sadly, I didn’t work hard enough on my top choices for Halloween costumes, so you won’t be seeing me as anything from the poll. I do have a pretty decent costume lined up, but I have to finish working on it today at lunch time. Hopefully I won’t burn down any buildings in the process.
Last night I went to Haddon Heights High School for their “Coffee House,” where high school musicians get up there and play for their friends. Events like this are awesome for students, because a lot of times these gigs can be a kicking off point for bands. I know of a ton of groups who got together solely to work on the school gig and ended up doing at least a few out in the area afterwards. It’s a great experience. My favorite act of the night was a group that did only one song. The singer stood up to the mic and said, “This next song goes out to all the ladies” and a guitar started playing a familiar tune out of nowhere. I thought for a second, “this kind of sounds like the batman theme,” and suddenly I see a huge shadow of the caped crusader shoot up behind the band. “Batman!” said the singer. Out pops a guy in a batman suit, playing the batman riff on guitar while the singer yelled “Batman!” whenever he was supposed to. Eventually, a feud started brewing between batman and the singer on how long they should actually keep doing this.
Sadly, I didn’t work hard enough on my top choices for Halloween costumes, so you won’t be seeing me as anything from the poll. I do have a pretty decent costume lined up, but I have to finish working on it today at lunch time. Hopefully I won’t burn down any buildings in the process.
Last night I went to Haddon Heights High School for their “Coffee House,” where high school musicians get up there and play for their friends. Events like this are awesome for students, because a lot of times these gigs can be a kicking off point for bands. I know of a ton of groups who got together solely to work on the school gig and ended up doing at least a few out in the area afterwards. It’s a great experience. My favorite act of the night was a group that did only one song. The singer stood up to the mic and said, “This next song goes out to all the ladies” and a guitar started playing a familiar tune out of nowhere. I thought for a second, “this kind of sounds like the batman theme,” and suddenly I see a huge shadow of the caped crusader shoot up behind the band. “Batman!” said the singer. Out pops a guy in a batman suit, playing the batman riff on guitar while the singer yelled “Batman!” whenever he was supposed to. Eventually, a feud started brewing between batman and the singer on how long they should actually keep doing this.
As I mentioned earlier I caught my friend Jay’s new band King of Prussia. I was really impressed with their sound, especially considering 3/4 of the band had either joined or switched instruments in the past two weeks. If I had to peg them to a sound, they remind me of Fountains of Wayne, but good. I loved how their songs were extremely short. Most never made it past two minutes, despite rally monkey interuptions. The band following them rocked as well, but their name escapes me. This was my first time at the Nodding Head Brewery and I liked it. Try the Harvest Ale and you too will fight sleep all the way home.
My home network is now wireless, and I can already feel the radiation flowing through my brain. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but my Internet connection seems a lot slower. It could also be my brain. I’ll have to do some tests to confirm that.
As I mentioned earlier I caught my friend Jay’s new band King of Prussia. I was really impressed with their sound, especially considering 3/4 of the band had either joined or switched instruments in the past two weeks. If I had to peg them to a sound, they remind me of Fountains of Wayne, but good. I loved how their songs were extremely short. Most never made it past two minutes, despite rally monkey interuptions. The band following them rocked as well, but their name escapes me. This was my first time at the Nodding Head Brewery and I liked it. Try the Harvest Ale and you too will fight sleep all the way home.
My home network is now wireless, and I can already feel the radiation flowing through my brain. I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but my Internet connection seems a lot slower. It could also be my brain. I’ll have to do some tests to confirm that.
Last night I caught Medeski, Martin, and Wood at the Electric Factory. I had my tickets at “Will Call” and we waited forever in line to get them. I don’t even understand why they call it “Will Call” either. It should be called “Pick up Tickets” or “Don’t Buy Them Because You Already Did, Remember?” We finally got in and the guy checking IDs into the bar looked at my license about 50 times and then asked me what my date of birth was. “Tomorrow,” I replied. I’ve been getting carded everywhere these days except for liquor stores. At least I haven’t been getting carded for R rated movies anymore.
Medeski, Martin, and Wood sounded great and played forever. We started getting tired so we left, but couldn’t find a cab. We ended up walking to the high speed line from the Electric Factory in the pouring rain, so that was fun. Tonight I’m going to see my friend Jay’s band, King of Prussia, at the Nodding Head Brewery. They go on at 10:00PM if you want to check them out. What I like is that Jay was wearing this New York sweatshirt the last time I saw him and we also used to be janitors together.
Someone once said to me, “24 years ago you made me a mom” and that is truer today than it ever was. My dad keeps thinking I’m 25 for some reason. Slow down there.
Last night I caught Medeski, Martin, and Wood at the Electric Factory. I had my tickets at “Will Call” and we waited forever in line to get them. I don’t even understand why they call it “Will Call” either. It should be called “Pick up Tickets” or “Don’t Buy Them Because You Already Did, Remember?” We finally got in and the guy checking IDs into the bar looked at my license about 50 times and then asked me what my date of birth was. “Tomorrow,” I replied. I’ve been getting carded everywhere these days except for liquor stores. At least I haven’t been getting carded for R rated movies anymore.
Medeski, Martin, and Wood sounded great and played forever. We started getting tired so we left, but couldn’t find a cab. We ended up walking to the high speed line from the Electric Factory in the pouring rain, so that was fun. Tonight I’m going to see my friend Jay’s band, King of Prussia, at the Nodding Head Brewery. They go on at 10:00PM if you want to check them out. What I like is that Jay was wearing this New York sweatshirt the last time I saw him and we also used to be janitors together.
Someone once said to me, “24 years ago you made me a mom” and that is truer today than it ever was. My dad keeps thinking I’m 25 for some reason. Slow down there.
I hadn’t been to the Carribean Crab in a while, but I stopped in last Wednesday because Kopie from nowayscoob was back in town after completing his air force training. Nowayscoob sounded great and I sounded terrible, but it probably had something to do with my voice passing out one song in. I’m not sure what was going on there. I played “Folsom Prison Blues”, “The Genius of it All”, and “Get Miles.” Hosts “Do It For Danny” are still playing each Wednesday at the open mic and they have a new website.
They caught the sniper that night, too and I found out he had a bunch of connections to Camden, NJ which is terrific because that’s about 10 minutes from here.
I hadn’t been to the Carribean Crab in a while, but I stopped in last Wednesday because Kopie from nowayscoob was back in town after completing his air force training. Nowayscoob sounded great and I sounded terrible, but it probably had something to do with my voice passing out one song in. I’m not sure what was going on there. I played “Folsom Prison Blues”, “The Genius of it All”, and “Get Miles.” Hosts “Do It For Danny” are still playing each Wednesday at the open mic and they have a new website.
They caught the sniper that night, too and I found out he had a bunch of connections to Camden, NJ which is terrific because that’s about 10 minutes from here.
How’s this for miscellaneous? A the risk of sounding like a giant geek I’m going to complain about the size of Linux ISOs. An ISO is a file you can download and burn onto a CD that will let you install Linux on another machine. All the major distrubutors of Linux have these (Redhat, Mandrake, Slackware, etc.). An old laptop just came into my posession and I was planning to install Linux on it. Unfortunately, all the ISOs I’ve checked out have one thing in common: they’re all over 650 MB, which is too big for the standard CD-Rs I own. So my options are to
- Go out and buy some 700MB CD-Rs.
- Buy a distribution of Linux right from the store instead of downloading one for free.
I understand that the Linux companies are trying to encourage the buying of their Free software, but I think this runs the risk of pissing off their supporters. I’ve already purchased Mandrake 7.0, so I don’t feel morally obligated to pay them again for a new version (for the technically uninformed, I have no legal obligation to pay for any of the software I’m talking about either). I guess I could also download some cruddy super small Linux distro, but I’d like a few more features. Like I said, I understand these companies need to make money, but most Linux companies were founded on the idea that they were extremely supportive of the people who used their product and this practice seems to go against that philosophy.
How’s this for miscellaneous? A the risk of sounding like a giant geek I’m going to complain about the size of Linux ISOs. An ISO is a file you can download and burn onto a CD that will let you install Linux on another machine. All the major distrubutors of Linux have these (Redhat, Mandrake, Slackware, etc.). An old laptop just came into my posession and I was planning to install Linux on it. Unfortunately, all the ISOs I’ve checked out have one thing in common: they’re all over 650 MB, which is too big for the standard CD-Rs I own. So my options are to
- Go out and buy some 700MB CD-Rs.
- Buy a distribution of Linux right from the store instead of downloading one for free.
I understand that the Linux companies are trying to encourage the buying of their Free software, but I think this runs the risk of pissing off their supporters. I’ve already purchased Mandrake 7.0, so I don’t feel morally obligated to pay them again for a new version (for the technically uninformed, I have no legal obligation to pay for any of the software I’m talking about either). I guess I could also download some cruddy super small Linux distro, but I’d like a few more features. Like I said, I understand these companies need to make money, but most Linux companies were founded on the idea that they were extremely supportive of the people who used their product and this practice seems to go against that philosophy.
Monday night was a dead night at the Living Rooom although I heard some good performances by Roz King & co., a guy named Vinnie, and an instrumentalist I believe to be named John Marquis. I could be dead wrong about that like I was last week when I incorrectly referred to Dave and Miria’s song “Let Me Be” as “Let it Be.” Let’s hope they aren’t still mad at me. Thanks to Vinnie I remembered to remind myself I was thinking about possibly buying the new Flaming Lips CD. We’ll see. He played the Lips song, “Realize,” which sounded great live last summer at the Unlimited Sunshine concert.
I played “Headstart”, “The Genius of it All”, “16-18” and Beck’s “Cut in Half Blues.” I felt like Uncle Nutzy from UHF trying to get the kids to like the show. Nah, it wasn’t that bad, but I don’t think too many people were into it.
Roz mentioned to me that he gets some sort of strange pleasure watching other people play his guitar. I’m not surprised.
Monday night was a dead night at the Living Rooom although I heard some good performances by Roz King & co., a guy named Vinnie, and an instrumentalist I believe to be named John Marquis. I could be dead wrong about that like I was last week when I incorrectly referred to Dave and Miria’s song “Let Me Be” as “Let it Be.” Let’s hope they aren’t still mad at me. Thanks to Vinnie I remembered to remind myself I was thinking about possibly buying the new Flaming Lips CD. We’ll see. He played the Lips song, “Realize,” which sounded great live last summer at the Unlimited Sunshine concert.
I played “Headstart”, “The Genius of it All”, “16-18” and Beck’s “Cut in Half Blues.” I felt like Uncle Nutzy from UHF trying to get the kids to like the show. Nah, it wasn’t that bad, but I don’t think too many people were into it.
Roz mentioned to me that he gets some sort of strange pleasure watching other people play his guitar. I’m not surprised.
Beck appeared on the Tonight Show last night playing “Lost Cause,” one of the best from his new album, Sea Change. Stripping the song down to a lonely guitar and vocal arrangement sounded great and it made me jealous of anyone who has never heard Beck do anything like this before. He’ll probably sell an extra 100,000 copies of Sea Change just from last night. I understand I probably sound like a greased up fanboy right now since Beck is my favorite artist, but wait until my full review of Sea Change. I won’t pull any punches on what I think about it (overall, I’ll let you know right now: It’s awesome, but no album is perfect). If you want to hear Beck today, XPN’s World Cafe is interviewing him. Check the website for times. If you haven’t heard Sea Change yet, you can listen to the whole damn thing on Beck.com if you sign his mailing list. Still no Philly tour dates for the Beck/Flaming Lips tour.
Jerry Seinfeld also appeared on the Tonight Show and at the end Beck asked Jerry about Ted L. Nancy. If you haven’t heard about the Seinfeld / Ted L. Nancy conspiracy, read on. I actually bought one of Nancy’s books for my dad one year as a gift and it was hilarious. Jerry looked pretty unprepared for the question and replied, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Then, he said Nancy was a fictitous character, but denied it was him. A friend of Seinfeld’s perhaps? All signs point to yes.
Beck appeared on the Tonight Show last night playing “Lost Cause,” one of the best from his new album, Sea Change. Stripping the song down to a lonely guitar and vocal arrangement sounded great and it made me jealous of anyone who has never heard Beck do anything like this before. He’ll probably sell an extra 100,000 copies of Sea Change just from last night. I understand I probably sound like a greased up fanboy right now since Beck is my favorite artist, but wait until my full review of Sea Change. I won’t pull any punches on what I think about it (overall, I’ll let you know right now: It’s awesome, but no album is perfect). If you want to hear Beck today, XPN’s World Cafe is interviewing him. Check the website for times. If you haven’t heard Sea Change yet, you can listen to the whole damn thing on Beck.com if you sign his mailing list. Still no Philly tour dates for the Beck/Flaming Lips tour.
Jerry Seinfeld also appeared on the Tonight Show and at the end Beck asked Jerry about Ted L. Nancy. If you haven’t heard about the Seinfeld / Ted L. Nancy conspiracy, read on. I actually bought one of Nancy’s books for my dad one year as a gift and it was hilarious. Jerry looked pretty unprepared for the question and replied, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Then, he said Nancy was a fictitous character, but denied it was him. A friend of Seinfeld’s perhaps? All signs point to yes.
This my first time checking out the Living Room open mic since Jason left. Roz(well) told me to say anything bad I wanted about him presumably to improve his skills as the new host. Overall it was really good night of music and even featured a few new artists which hasn’t happened in months. Roz wanted some feedback, so here it is:
Good:
- The night went smoothly. There were only a few times where the setup took too long and most people seemed pretty prepared to go on.
- The artists were great. I don’t know if Roz had anything to do with getting out some new people, but I liked them a lot.
- Roz did a nice job of introducing everyone and making them feel welcome.
- Thanks for giving out my web address so much.
Bad:
- I went on first and the sound from the monitor sucked. Whenever I can’t hear my guitar I tend to overplay and wear out my left hand pretty quickly. I could hear my voice ok, but it could have been a little louder. It sounded like Keith Lewis had the same problem at first, too. If someday I can sing as loud as Melinda this won’t be a problem, but that’s not going to happen unless I get some sort of electronic amplifier implanted in my throat. That would be awesome.
- Promote the Living Room schedule a little more. I don’t think Roz even mentioned the Monday night open mic, much less the Jesus open mics on Thursday and Sunday. Tuesday is Jazz and Friday & Saturday are for prominent local arists.
- Don’t push off the decision to let Willie play another song on to the audience. If you’re the host you can make those decisions yourself.
Most of these are easily worked out after a few shows and are just my opinion anyway. Did I mention there were a ton of great artists there last night? Regulars included Roz, Keith Lewis, John Romeo, Willie Tapps and myself, but a few newcomers made the night stand out. Gina played a terrific three song set and promoted her upcoming gig at Fresh Fields(?) in Philly. I asked her if they made her call out the price checks, but she said this was her first time playing there. I don’t have the exact date or location, otherwise I would post it. Her friend Forest also did a few good songs and he’s playing 3 Beans of Haddonfield in Novemeber (it’s right on Haddon Ave). Even though it’s really close by I’ve only been to 3 Beans once, but I liked it. Kelly from the evidently huge trio 3 Stories High closed out the night with two originals and “Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (side rant: Do you know how much Peter Gabriel is charging for his upcoming show at the Tweeter center? You don’t want to know.). I thought it was pretentious when Kelly referred to herself a “ringer” at the open mic, but I have to admit she was pretty damn good and according to their website, so does XPN’s Michaela Majoun. I have to give the night’s best performance to Melinda who sang three great covers, including “At Last” by Etta James. I think I’ve seen Melinda in the Living Room before, but I definitely never heard her sing. Like I said before, it would take futuristic bio-technology to ever put me at her level.
One new duo I haven’t mentioned yet, Dave and Miria, (Update: Forget all of this. The song is called “Let Me Be” and I just need a bionic ear along with the voice enhancer. You can hear Dave and Miria this Tuesday night at Mokas in PA next to Drexel University and Universtiy of Penn. It’s open mic 8:30-1AM)
Willie Tapps told me I look exactly like someone who works at Guitar Center, except he has a long squared off goatee. With no chance of growing anything remotely considered a goatee, I’ll have to resort to fake facial hair to execute my plan of snagging their employee discount for myself. Willie suggested I tell them to take it out of my paycheck. Muhahahaha.
Beck is playing Leno tonight so check it out especially if you haven’t heard his new album yet. He still hasn’t announced any Philly dates for his tour with the Flaming Lips, but I’m sure he’ll make it around here.
This my first time checking out the Living Room open mic since Jason left. Roz(well) told me to say anything bad I wanted about him presumably to improve his skills as the new host. Overall it was really good night of music and even featured a few new artists which hasn’t happened in months. Roz wanted some feedback, so here it is:
Good:
- The night went smoothly. There were only a few times where the setup took too long and most people seemed pretty prepared to go on.
- The artists were great. I don’t know if Roz had anything to do with getting out some new people, but I liked them a lot.
- Roz did a nice job of introducing everyone and making them feel welcome.
- Thanks for giving out my web address so much.
Bad:
- I went on first and the sound from the monitor sucked. Whenever I can’t hear my guitar I tend to overplay and wear out my left hand pretty quickly. I could hear my voice ok, but it could have been a little louder. It sounded like Keith Lewis had the same problem at first, too. If someday I can sing as loud as Melinda this won’t be a problem, but that’s not going to happen unless I get some sort of electronic amplifier implanted in my throat. That would be awesome.
- Promote the Living Room schedule a little more. I don’t think Roz even mentioned the Monday night open mic, much less the Jesus open mics on Thursday and Sunday. Tuesday is Jazz and Friday & Saturday are for prominent local arists.
- Don’t push off the decision to let Willie play another song on to the audience. If you’re the host you can make those decisions yourself.
Most of these are easily worked out after a few shows and are just my opinion anyway. Did I mention there were a ton of great artists there last night? Regulars included Roz, Keith Lewis, John Romeo, Willie Tapps and myself, but a few newcomers made the night stand out. Gina played a terrific three song set and promoted her upcoming gig at Fresh Fields(?) in Philly. I asked her if they made her call out the price checks, but she said this was her first time playing there. I don’t have the exact date or location, otherwise I would post it. Her friend Forest also did a few good songs and he’s playing 3 Beans of Haddonfield in Novemeber (it’s right on Haddon Ave). Even though it’s really close by I’ve only been to 3 Beans once, but I liked it. Kelly from the evidently huge trio 3 Stories High closed out the night with two originals and “Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (side rant: Do you know how much Peter Gabriel is charging for his upcoming show at the Tweeter center? You don’t want to know.). I thought it was pretentious when Kelly referred to herself a “ringer” at the open mic, but I have to admit she was pretty damn good and according to their website, so does XPN’s Michaela Majoun. I have to give the night’s best performance to Melinda who sang three great covers, including “At Last” by Etta James. I think I’ve seen Melinda in the Living Room before, but I definitely never heard her sing. Like I said before, it would take futuristic bio-technology to ever put me at her level.
One new duo I haven’t mentioned yet, Dave and Miria, (Update: Forget all of this. The song is called “Let Me Be” and I just need a bionic ear along with the voice enhancer. You can hear Dave and Miria this Tuesday night at Mokas in PA next to Drexel University and Universtiy of Penn. It’s open mic 8:30-1AM)
Willie Tapps told me I look exactly like someone who works at Guitar Center, except he has a long squared off goatee. With no chance of growing anything remotely considered a goatee, I’ll have to resort to fake facial hair to execute my plan of snagging their employee discount for myself. Willie suggested I tell them to take it out of my paycheck. Muhahahaha.
Beck is playing Leno tonight so check it out especially if you haven’t heard his new album yet. He still hasn’t announced any Philly dates for his tour with the Flaming Lips, but I’m sure he’ll make it around here.
I hadn’t been to the GSP open mic in a while, but I had to go to check out Lea. I thought she was awesome 4 years ago when I used to hang out at her open mic at DC’s Soho Coffee and Tea (near Dupont Circle), but she’s even better now. She’s playing at The Fire on Wednesday at 10:00PM, so check her out. Adrien, Paul, and Greg all made it out last night, too, but Greg decided to forego playing for sleep when he found out his slot was late in the evening. He probably doesn’t mind since he has a gig upstairs on Tuesday, October 22. Y-100 hosts a Tuesday Night Music Club at GSP every Tuesday and it’s a sought after slot, so come out and support Greg Dress.
Adrien and Lea both played great (the overall sound of the night was kind of muffled, a rarity at Grape Street) and I also liked some of the new people I saw. Greg Roth from a band called The Jillians was pretty good (I love his website, too) and so was one of the guys from Haywood Trout. The singer of Stygian Veil did a couple of great songs and of course I always like hearing Leroy Montana who did his hopefully world famous “Don’t be a Jerk.”
I checked out the latest issue of Origivation (Lquid Cloud 9 on the cover) and saw they did a pictorial of the GSP open mic and had pictures of a few people I’ve met including Calvin James and Mark Lancaster. Too bad I wasn’t there that night, but I guess I can draw myself into it if I want.
I ended up going on at an insane 1:45AM. I played my recently remastered song that I’ve been playing a lot lately and people were actually dancing to it. I really need to settle on a title for that song, because I hate having to explain here which one it is.
If the power goes off in my apartment again I’m going to have to invent some sort of new personal energy source. I understand not much can be done about storms, cars hitting poles, sneakers hanging from the wires, etc., but the power has gone out 4 times in a month due to problems in my building.
I hadn’t been to the GSP open mic in a while, but I had to go to check out Lea. I thought she was awesome 4 years ago when I used to hang out at her open mic at DC’s Soho Coffee and Tea (near Dupont Circle), but she’s even better now. She’s playing at The Fire on Wednesday at 10:00PM, so check her out. Adrien, Paul, and Greg all made it out last night, too, but Greg decided to forego playing for sleep when he found out his slot was late in the evening. He probably doesn’t mind since he has a gig upstairs on Tuesday, October 22. Y-100 hosts a Tuesday Night Music Club at GSP every Tuesday and it’s a sought after slot, so come out and support Greg Dress.
Adrien and Lea both played great (the overall sound of the night was kind of muffled, a rarity at Grape Street) and I also liked some of the new people I saw. Greg Roth from a band called The Jillians was pretty good (I love his website, too) and so was one of the guys from Haywood Trout. The singer of Stygian Veil did a couple of great songs and of course I always like hearing Leroy Montana who did his hopefully world famous “Don’t be a Jerk.”
I checked out the latest issue of Origivation (Lquid Cloud 9 on the cover) and saw they did a pictorial of the GSP open mic and had pictures of a few people I’ve met including Calvin James and Mark Lancaster. Too bad I wasn’t there that night, but I guess I can draw myself into it if I want.
I ended up going on at an insane 1:45AM. I played my recently remastered song that I’ve been playing a lot lately and people were actually dancing to it. I really need to settle on a title for that song, because I hate having to explain here which one it is.
If the power goes off in my apartment again I’m going to have to invent some sort of new personal energy source. I understand not much can be done about storms, cars hitting poles, sneakers hanging from the wires, etc., but the power has gone out 4 times in a month due to problems in my building.
Jason Wheatley is no longer the bi-weekly host of the Living Room’s open mic (and as far as I know that’s “bi-weekly” and not “bi weekly”). Considering the crowds all summer at the Living Room, MC Jason’s last show was surprisingly low key, but the night featured many LR regulars such as Keith Lewis, Adrien, Greg, Justin Taylor, Roz King/Mike Scanlon, and myself. The first time I saw Jason perform was probably a little under a year ago doing his great rendition of “Georgia on my Mind.” He’s a talented performer and songwriter and I’m sure he’ll be playing around town a lot. Sure he laughs at his own jokes a little too much and occasionally has trouble stalling for time while waiting on open mic performers, but hosting an event like that week in and week out is difficult. He always encouraged the crowd to support the musicians and that’s probably why so many came back each week. Good luck Jason. Taking over for him will be long time south jersey performer, Roz King.
I played “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” “Headstart,” Gomez’s “Get Miles”, and a soon to be retitled song. It was the first time in a while I played without one of my giant “dorito” style picks. “I Hope I Die on the Moon” practically requires using the bigger picks, so I think I’ll make sure I have one on me from now on. I also played “Headstart” using the capo I just bought. That was the first time I have ever used a capo live since I started playing out (7 years ago!) and I liked it.
I looked over my web site statistics and people are still mostly coming to my site from Google to read about Collingswood’s new restaurant, the Tortilla Press. It makes me wonder if I should do restuarant reviews on here. Here’s your guide to good Collingswood area dining:
- Tortilla Press (Corner of Haddon Ave and Collings Ave):
Great gourmet “mexican inspired” food. Bring some tequila and order their virgin margaritas.
- Crystal Lake Diner (Cuthbert Ave. near Wendy’s and Freddy’s Liquor Store):
Definitely the best diner in the immediate area.
- Lo’s Chinese Restuarant (Haddon Ave):
Good chinese food for take out or dining there.
- The Living Room (Corner of Haddon Ave and Collings Ave):
They have great breakfast sandwhiches and good coffee.
Now I’m going to sit back and watch this hits pour in.
Jason Wheatley is no longer the bi-weekly host of the Living Room’s open mic (and as far as I know that’s “bi-weekly” and not “bi weekly”). Considering the crowds all summer at the Living Room, MC Jason’s last show was surprisingly low key, but the night featured many LR regulars such as Keith Lewis, Adrien, Greg, Justin Taylor, Roz King/Mike Scanlon, and myself. The first time I saw Jason perform was probably a little under a year ago doing his great rendition of “Georgia on my Mind.” He’s a talented performer and songwriter and I’m sure he’ll be playing around town a lot. Sure he laughs at his own jokes a little too much and occasionally has trouble stalling for time while waiting on open mic performers, but hosting an event like that week in and week out is difficult. He always encouraged the crowd to support the musicians and that’s probably why so many came back each week. Good luck Jason. Taking over for him will be long time south jersey performer, Roz King.
I played “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” “Headstart,” Gomez’s “Get Miles”, and a soon to be retitled song. It was the first time in a while I played without one of my giant “dorito” style picks. “I Hope I Die on the Moon” practically requires using the bigger picks, so I think I’ll make sure I have one on me from now on. I also played “Headstart” using the capo I just bought. That was the first time I have ever used a capo live since I started playing out (7 years ago!) and I liked it.
I looked over my web site statistics and people are still mostly coming to my site from Google to read about Collingswood’s new restaurant, the Tortilla Press. It makes me wonder if I should do restuarant reviews on here. Here’s your guide to good Collingswood area dining:
- Tortilla Press (Corner of Haddon Ave and Collings Ave):
Great gourmet “mexican inspired” food. Bring some tequila and order their virgin margaritas.
- Crystal Lake Diner (Cuthbert Ave. near Wendy’s and Freddy’s Liquor Store):
Definitely the best diner in the immediate area.
- Lo’s Chinese Restuarant (Haddon Ave):
Good chinese food for take out or dining there.
- The Living Room (Corner of Haddon Ave and Collings Ave):
They have great breakfast sandwhiches and good coffee.
Now I’m going to sit back and watch this hits pour in.
