1 - Coming out of 2009 feels like coming out of a year long hangover. Not because I spent every day of 2009 in various states of sobriety but rather because 2009 was crazy, arduous, and surreal. I've had some crazy years but considering what exactly I went through and accomplished in the past twelve months, I think '09 tops them all. I learned alot, about life, about myself, about my career, but memories of the whole ordeal, frankly, are fuzzy. Maybe I actually AM coming out of year long hangover...2 - That fuzzy feeling? It definitely describes by experience on December 31st at Northside Tavern. Coming up with enough recollections to actually form into anything so much as resembling a cohesive interview is proving alot trickier than I thought.
3 - The last time I was at theTavern was for You You're Awesome's EP release show on the 18th! I wrote a really sweet review of that... And never posted it. Oops? I guess my Cincinnati Livin' series is going to go back in time shortly.
New Year's Eve (Heretofore to be referred to as NYE to save me a good eight seconds of typing) brought to fruition a few noteworthy things:
1 - I got to interview Lightning Love, a band I wrote about in the last blog, who are from my old stomping grounds. It's actually been a while since I interviewed a band that wasn't either from Cincinnati or a bigger band I felt like I had to interview for the sake of the job. Getting to choose a non-local band that I wanted to talk to because I like them was a nice reminder of why exactly I do what I do. Couple that with getting to see a band I adore play for the first time (Something else that hasn't happened in a while), I was as happy as a clam.
2 - Seeing Bad Veins in Cincinnati as a Cincinnati resident. My first experience with local darlings The Seedy Seeds was at Northern Kentucky (which, for all intents and purposes, is part of Cincinnati) The Southgate House, making it all the more endearing and enjoyable. Seeing how much the people at the show cared about the Seeds was a little heartwarming and seeing as I've seen the Bad Veins guys more times than I can count at various venues through out the Midwest with varying amounts of people that, for the most part, seemed to be slightly ambivilant to the fellas made the prospect of seeing them on their (and now my) hometurf is something I've been looking forward to since I moved to Cincy.
3 - My first official DMF experience! For those not in the know, DMF (or "Dance MF" if you prefer) is easily the coolest dance party in the Midwest and very well might be the coolest dance party anywhere. Presented by Cincinnati's Project Mill, DMF consists of wall to wall hipsters, dancing, drinking, and having an all around blast. Some of the city's finest DJ's orchestrate DMF, which usually takes place on the first Saturday of every month. This month, however, DMF took place before Lightning Love and after Bad Veins, making it the bread in a damn cool sandwich of drunk hipster fun.
Lightning Love was everything I hoped that they'd be and more - I don't remember the last time I danced that much at a concert which leads me to believe I'd never danced that much at a concert. After months of going to shows multiple times a week, the fact that a band can still get me excited enough to sing along and dance up on whatever stranger just so happens to be near me (Not because i want to mack on said stranger but just because the music has me so excited that I just want to move) is slightly amazing and very refreshing. Combine that with the band's catchiness, their relatable sentiments, and a sense of strange familiarity and this blogger's got herself a new favorite band to listen to when getting ready for a night out. Priot to this experience, I was so weary of seeing live music that the last concert I went to was spent standing in the corner looking so bored that multiple people asked me what was wrong with me. Yet a mere couple days later, here I was at the Tavern, having quite possibly the best time I've had since I moved to Cincinnati... And considering what a blast I've had in the past two months, that's saying something.
As for Bad Veins, well, reportedly, drummer Sebastien Schultz was inebriated to the point of missing cues. This girl, however, was too drunk by that point to take note and I thought everything sounded great. NYE might have been the least solid Bad Veins performance I've been in attendance for but, in my opinion, it might have been the best. Sure, that opinion might be tainted by my state of drunkeness but what it comes down to is that I've seen Bad Veins more than a few times throughout the Midwest over the past year and now, I'm a resident in their hometown. Seeing the guys play a show on such a special night of the year to a room full of people who have known the band since they started was really the high point of my life with Bad Veins.
I danced until my feet blistered then drank until I couldn't feel how bad they hurt before continuing to dance. I got various alcoholic beverages spilled all over me which may have resulted in the ruining of a borrowed pair of tights. I had my first meal of 2010 (Fittingly, it was Skyline). I took off my shoes and managed to not loose them. I made it home despite the fact that my ride had left the Tavern hours beforehand (It seemed like a good idea at the time for me to tell her to leave and that I'd find my way back to her house). And to top it all off, I got the first midnight kiss of my life. Everyone at the Tavern knows what transpired as Bad Veins' Ben Davis may have announced it on stage. If you weren't there, however, you'll just have to speculate.
Welcome to Cincinnati, indeed.
