Avett Brothers NYE 2013!!!!

Had the great experience of doing something we have never done before and that was going to a NYE concert.  We got to see one of our all time favorite bands, hometown NC band, The Avett Brothers, perform one of the biggest concerts to date.  This was our fifth Avett's show and by far the best and a reminder of how great they are and how much they continue to grow into one of the best bands out there and most fun live bands touring these days.  Another artists, Amos Lee, was the opener.  We also love his music and have seen him live once before as well.  I have wrote a blog about him as well.  One of the smoothest voices in music.  He played a very nice hour long set that started mellow and developed nicely including some favorites and some cool covers, especially Queen's "fat-bottomed girls" which was a crowd favorite.  The Avett's came out with an insane amount of energy.  The south is usually laid back, but definitely not when the Avett's play.  We have seen the Dead and Bruce in the same venue and this was twice as loud.  The setlist was a well thought out blend of old and new tunes, special appearances and surprise stage shifts as those of us in the back got the treat of an impromptu stage being used by the band not once but twice during the show, giving everyone in the back a front row seat.  The band can rock, jam, and play moving renditions of their songs, moving like I have witnessed no other band do.  Usually when it gets slow at a concert, people run to the bathroom, but not with this band.  Their slower songs are some of their best and it takes balls to stand on a big stage in a big room and capture an audience like they do.  The countdown at midnight and the first kiss of 2013! made for a perfect night as the Avett's played for an additional hour and change after midnight.  What a show, what a night.  If you have missed this band, you've missed some of the best music out there.  Probably my favorite line in any song, "Always remember there is nothing worth sharing, like the love that let us, share our name"

Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise

Go to Sleep

Down with the Shine

The Fall

Distraction #74

Life

Paranoia in B-Flat Major

At the Beach

Pretty Girl from Cedar Lane

Live and Die

Hand-Me-Down-Tune

(Stage B)

Operator

The Ballade of Love and Hate

Ten Thousand Words

(Main Stage)

Colorshow

February Seven

Laundry Room

Old Joe Clark

Kick Drum Heart

Geraldine

(Jammed into 2013!)

Talk on Indolence

Salina

(Stage B)

Murder in the City

(Main Stage)

Living of Love

Encore:

Salvation Song

I Killed Sally's Lover

Gimmeakiss

I and Love and You

Silver Lining to Best of 2012

Ok so my best of movies for 2012 was a little early and I missed out on some of the holiday films that are usually a big deal.  Of course Django was awesome, and probably my favorite Tarantino movie since Pulp, the rest of the holiday movies left a lot to be desired.  This is 40 should have been titled "Leslie Mann Wines for 2.5 hours" as Judd Apatow probably made his worst movie--cast someone else!  Les Miserables from what I hear was a horrible waste of time but I think you would know that based on the title.  Parental Guidance and Guilt Trip are old people telling young people how bad they had it and how easy we have it now, doesn't take a genius to figure that out.  If you thought the first 3 Lord of the Rings were long and boring...wait till you see The Hobbit.  Each of the Lord of the Rings were based on one book, the Hobbit is one book to be divided into three movies! Cash cow for Peter Jackson, but I will not waste my life with that.  There is one Silver Lining to all of these movies and it was one of my personal most anticipated movies of the year as well as a quiet movie that is excellent, finally being recognized with Oscar nominations in every single category.
Silver Linings was made by David O Russell and I have seen everything by him since seeing I Heart Huckabees.  I wrote a blog about his last movie, the Fighter, that was awesome as well.  I knew Linings was set in the fighting city of brotherly love that is Philadelphia and dealt with sports, right there I am sold.  What I  saw was a romantic comedy that wasn't a romantic comedy, it flipped the genre for me in a way that I didn't predict.  I wasn't expecting a romantic comedy or dramedy but I got it without even realizing it.  I wont give much away about the story but I will tell you what I liked.
It felt real.  This was not a Hollywood love story, this was not a "normal" love story, this was real in a different way.  Most of life that I see, maybe due to my job, is very dark and sad.  Not alot of happy endings or silver linings.  Life is tough for most people and you wouldn't know that by going to a restaurant, mall, or turning on the tv or a movie.  This movie dealt with some of that disappointment and how people keep on pushing forward even when they don't know what they are driving for.  The movie dealt with dysfunctional families, grief, addictions, mental health issues, anger, rage, and loss, but managed to not be depressing but uplifting and at parts, funny.  There is a Silver Lining.
The sports references in this movie were awesome and in many ways it hit home.  Maybe its because my family all comes from the Metro Atlantic/Tri-Cities area and this maybe how those people act because it wasn't just me or my family but most people I knew acted as Robert DeNiro's character did.  My parents would watch sports games and you weren't allowed in the room if their team scored when you were out of the room..cant fuck with the "juju" as they call it in the movie.  I grew up thinking that these things had an impact.  The Yankees lost the first two games of the 1996 World Series, absolutely slaughtered, but when me and my friends got a little stoned on the day of Game 3 and we won...I thought I had a part in that and the only way to find out was to do it again.  Three more games later the Yankees won the world series.  It wasn't until I got sober, first in 2001, that the Yankees finally lost the World Series in no small part to my non use of chemicals.  I also believed that in some way it was my fault for fucking with the juju when I moved to NC in the summer/fall of 2004, and we all now what happened to the Yankees in the fall of 2004.  I still have to wear a certain jersey or sit in a certain place or keep weird insignificant superstitions alive to not mess with that weird energy that crazed sports fans like myself live with and I got that from my family that I am sure got that from their family and they weren't the only ones when I was growing up, like I said, that whole region is obsessed.  If you are like me in that sense, this movie will disturb you, but also make you laugh at those moments.
I cannot say enough about the performances in this flick.  DeNiro was DeNiro, easily his best movie since Heat! He acted! Chris Tucker, who wont act for anyone these days, took a serious part and killed it as he kept escaping from the mental ward.  Jennifer Lawrence continues to be the best young female actress out there and probably my favorite right now.  Her second Oscar nomination in her third year of acting! and Bradley fucking Cooper A/K/A Johnny P.  I thought he was kind of a tool and a pretty boy who did fluff movies like the Hangover but what a role.  He had the rare performance where you want to punch him in the face for most of the movie but yet you root for him to succeed.  Amazing job.  Also, just like Johnny P, Bradley Cooper gave an interview on Howard Stern and discussed how he has been sober for 8 years, not drugs no booze.  Alot of respect for him, not just a fluff actor/pretty boy.  One of my favorites right now.
See this movie if you haven't already.  We had to wait so long to see it as it was such a small release but I would watch again right now if I could.

The Last Stop Dave Matthews Band Philadelphia, PA 12/22/12

The Last Stop of this tour just happened to also by my 41st show! What a way to end the tour as well.  We were here in Philly in 2010 and that was easily one of the best shows I had ever been too.  The energy in Philly is almost on equal if not more than with the NYC Madison Square shows.  We got to spend a great couple days in Philly to start our holiday break and it was a great reminder of how awesome that city really is.  Dave was fired up from the start of the show and the Lumineers gave their best performance even having Rashawn sit in with them for a beautiful rendition of Charlie Boy.  I was forced into buying the poster as it had a big 41 on it and says the last stop and it being my 41st show, it is now one of the most expensive pieces of art we own!  The high energy continued throughout the show to some of the loudest concerts I have ever been to.  Dave could have just stopped singing and the crowd would have carried him.  The first three songs got everyone into it, Monkey is probably my favorite and this tour was the best I have heard it played, got my 41, BOWA, Pig and the ending run was phenomenal, So Damn Lucky blended in and out of Thank You, Warehouse with the stop start intro and louie louie outro and cornbread with Lawlor was unlike any other and much better from a week ago in CVille.  Drunken Soldier is awesome, very Floydish, but they keep getting better with that as well.  Awesome show, awesome venue, awesome place to close out 2012 touring and awesome start to the holidays! Cant wait for the new year!

Seven

Belly Belly Nice

You Never Know

Proudest Monkey

Satellite

Rooftop

#41

The Best of What's Around

Mercy

Pig

If Only

Grey Street

Gaucho

So Damn Lucky (Thank You)

Warehouse(Louie Louie)

CornBread (Lawlor)

Ants Marching

Christmas Song

Drunken Soldier

All Along the Watchtower