Ted Leo and the Pharmacists 5/4 Avalon and Chicago

Saw Ted Leo and the Pharmacists this past Friday at Avalon. Good show, interesting crowd and lots of energy from the band. Unfortunately, the sound was off all night so the band was drowning out the vocals even more than usual.

One of my friends told me that since I went to the show, I’m officially pseudo-hipster now. I don’t buy it. I wasn’t in a blazer or fedora. Although, I was sporting my usual mean goatee. Natch.

I ran into a couple of people who I met a few months back at the Toad in Cambridge. I got up at Toad to get a beer and when I came back there were four new people sitting at my table. In other bars, it’s not a big deal — I guess. But if you know Toad, then you know table seating is worth its weight in fluffy bags of weed. Turns out that this crew of people (headed by Tom and Meri), live around the block from me between Ball and Davis Square.

That was  a month ago that I met Tom and Meri. On Friday, I came back from the bathroom at the Ted Leo show and there they were. I recognized them after about a second. We reintroduced ourselves and made drunken plans to get together sometime. Hopefully, we will.

Show recap is quick today for a couple of reasons. First, I just wanted to stretch my blog legs out again. It’s been nearly a month since I updated. To my two loyal readers, I apologize. Second, because today is going to be busy. I’ve got to get a lot done this afternoon because I’m catching a 7:30pm flight from Boston Logan Airport to O’Hare International.

Yeah, I was talking about the City, not the band. I know some of you are disappointed.

That’s right, my babies, I’m heading home. It’s a working trip, so I won’t be on vacation. But I still get to grace the MidWest with my presence for 11 days. The highlights? Tomorrow I’m at the 1:20pm Cubs/Pirates game at Wrigley and a week from tomorrow I’ll see the White Sox and Yankees duke it out at the Cell. Can’t. F’n. Wait.

It’s been about two years since I’ve been to Wrigley, so this will be one of the highlights of my summer. I’m planning on bringing my camera, so I’ll throw up some snaps when I get back.

So if you read this and you’re in Boston or somewhere else, see you soon. If you’re in Chicago, I’m on my way in exactly 12 hours. Feel free to stop by and say hello if you’re in the greater Chicago-land area.

Man, it is going to feel good to not be in Boston for a while.

He’s from the future

Thursday night I was in front of the Burren having a delicious Camel Light. A fellow smoker wandered up to me and asked what time it was.

“Uh, 11:15,” I told him.

“What kind of cell phone service do you have? Mine sucks,” he said.

Reaching into his jacket, he showed me a phone that looked like a Blackberry. “Look at this.”

I looked. The time said 2:15am and the date said January 15, 2021. I started laughing out loud. “He’s from the future,” I told my friend. We all started laughing. Then I said the only other thing that came to mind:

“Hey, tell me. Do the Cubs finally win a World Series between now and then?”

He laughed and went his way but didn’t answer me, which can only mean they won’t.

I hope he wasn’t really from the future.

Super Humiliation

I’ve been getting asked the same question a lot since Monday: What happened to your boys?

My typical response has been ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ And I usually get left alone. Since it doesn’t look like anyone is going to stop asking me, I thought I’d talk about the debacle that was the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl.

Granted, I set myself up for those question by talking so much smack about the Bears in Boston.

Things started off well enough. The touchdown run back by Devin Hester and the early pick of Peyton. I was sitting in my chair thinking ‘They are going to do it. They are going to do it!’

Needless to say, things went down hill from there. The defense crumbled, the offense fell apart and the coaching became suspect.

It was the coaching that killed us in the end. Manning was picking the Bears defense apart through the air and Ron Rivera either couldn’t make any adjustments or was too stubborn to try. End result: Bears loss, Peyton Manning MVP.

What a crushing defeat. Now it’s fashionable – if it ever stopped being – to pick on Rex Grossman. He did make some questionable throws and some really, really ugly plays, but I won’t blame the loss on him. The whole offensive unit stopped clicking and there was no rhythm because Grossman and company couldn’t convert on third down.

Advantage Colts.

To make matter worse, the defense couldn’t get off the field. It looked like the Keystone Cops were out there chasing Manning, getting chased by Manning and then doing dances with girl in bikinis – anything but playing like they should.

But what disgusts me the most was the coaching. When it became apparent that the defensive scheme wasn’t working there were no adjustments made. I don’t know if it was Rivera or Smith who was being so damn stubborn, but was a blitz out of the question? Hadn’t they watched tape of the Patriots humiliating Manning? It’s all about getting him to move his feet and feel uncomfortable in the pocket. Our front four obviously wasn’t doing the job, but no changes were made. It was almost as if they refused to make the changes they needed in order to regain a modicum of respect because they have so much faith in their philosophy.

Lovie Smith wants a big new contract? Ron Rivera might be heading off to coach the Cowboys? If that was the defensive coordinators audition for the job, I’d say only one of those two things is going to happen. The Bears do have to nail down Lovie but a change on the defensive side of the ball wouldn’t upset me. Maybe they could find someone who can put together a game plan and scheme affectively. But it seems doubtful. Rivera will keep his job, Lovie will get his raise and I’ll be sick to my stomach for 17 weeks next fall before the Bears miss the playoffs. Remember, this year Seattle was the first team in the Super Bowl era to lose the Super Bowl and then make the playoffs the following year.

Does that just fill me with confidence?

Oh well, at least next year is here.

Time to start rooting for the Cubbies.

Ugh, that’s supposed to make me feel better?