Travis Good, lead singer of the Sadies, thanked Kurt Vile at the beginning of the show for inviting them on his tour, but it should have been the other way around: despite the increasing hoopla surrounding Vile, his set was a big, thumping letdown. I expected this because his latest album really sucks, but the Sadies’ more than made up for the violation. We left four songs into Vile’s performance and I didn’t feel bad at all. It was good to see him live, but he’s just not much of an entertainer. He’ll need to come up more stuff like Believe I’m Goin Down, Lott’s Sea Lice, and Walking on a Pretty Daze before I risk seeing him perform live again. The Sadies, though. Mixing in some cool new songs with a blend of their classics, this band fucking rules. During one of their new songs, the band slowly began drawing together toward the drum kit and created such a vortex of sound that I felt like I was witnessing the creation of the song right before my eyes. It was like walking into a garage and watching a band discover a groove and then crank the amps and jam it into life. I don’t know how they managed to pull off “Good Years” – a song about a widow who spreads her asshole husband’s ashes by the sea because she “couldn’t think of any place he’d like to be” – in the middle of all this high energy, dual guitar sonic ripping of a show, but they did. Their song sets are crafted to lift you up, draw you in, then blast you back out. You don’t even mind when Travis turns his back to the crowd during a solo. It’s tough to see them breaking down their stage at the end of the show after cranking so much energy, but it also served as a stark contrast to all the hipster, scarf-wearing roadies who meticulously prepared Vile’s stage. The show ain’t about the lights and the hype. And you can’t create energy by over-mic’ing the bass drum.

However, hanging out for a few minutes with Sean Dean, the Sadies stand-up bassist, as we were on our way out, put a nice big exclamation mark on the night. He was a little drunk, but he chatted and goofed with us, and we invited him to come back to the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. Cool dude, cool band.

He did awesome, stayed in command and took some sweet lines!!!

Rivering

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-flow/1449767021?i=1449767023

Egg and I took a spin out to Twin Sister Falls, near Brecksville. Egg has been there a few times, but I bailed on the ride last time he and everybody else went there, so I was left wondering.

Honestly, I wasn’t really feeling a ride, or at least getting out in the cold, but riding came through as always, and once we got going, I shed that funk that had been haunting me all day.

One the way back, a beaver crossed the towpath right in front of us. I thought it was a porcupine at first. He crawled down the bank to the river, not quite scared, then rolled in and began his ferry to the other side. His life.

Twin Sister Falls has got to be one of the most beautiful sites in Ohio. There’s got to be a story around the name and its obscurity.

Did you know Mr. Rodgers saved PBS?

Keep them dogs on a leash

So Karen and I decided to ski out to the lighthouse at Ludington. Temp was much warmer than the day before – 25 degrees vs 11. Barely any snow covering the road but it was better than walking on the ice and we made good time. Once out there, we poked around the lighthouse and checked out the shore ice. The water was crystal clear. As we headed toward the dunes, I saw a ranger pull up. Now you have to understand that the only people we had seen since we had left the parking lot were three intrepid guys who had camped out in the dunes, which must have been a cool experience. So as we started hiking up a dune, I looked back and saw the ranger get out of his truck and motion toward me. I waved back and he yelled “thanks for putting the dogs on leashes” (which we had just done) and then “Make sure you keep them on.” A little sour to go with out sweet. So Karen skied back with Csaba heeled beside her. Only thing more impressive was when she put Supe on the leash too. Such a stud.