I know it has been far to long since my last post, but I would hope that you would excuse my absence due to a busy work month and illness. In the time that I have been away from “the couch” I have picked up some new tunes and did some reading. In fact one of the books I am reading is the inspiration for this post.

In the latter half of the book, the author describes his drive across Montana during August of 2003. He mentions the oppressive heat on the wide open eastern plains and then the thick smoke that surrounded Missoula, Mont. That summer the western part of the state was ablaze and the rest of the region was covered with a think ash haze.  The date and descriptions immediately took me back to that summer because that was the year I spent two months as a “carnie”. Pause for effect… Well I didn’t really work for the carnival but I did work for a concessions company that traveled to county and state fairs. I mostly flipped burgers, drank soda, and burned things in the deep-fat-fryer.

I worked in something similar to this

How does this all relate to music?? During my time between fair gigs I was able to get tickets to a Deftones concert and it was the one thing that I could to look forward to, other than the final stop of the “carnie” train. Before you decide this another blog about the Deftones, I ask you to keep reading because in the end I never was able to see said band live that summer. After driving 3 hours with three other friends we arrived at the venue only to find that the show had been canceled due to some injury of one the members.

The devastation was tough to take but I was able to get through the rest of the summer with the help of three newly found sources (they were newly found to me anyway). To this day these three bands, namely these three songs, are the soundtrack of that summer I spent grease soaked, soda covered, and smelling of stale beer (I guess I really was a “carnie”). It is an experience that I would never advise another FRIEND to do, but is also a time in my life that I will never regret.

Oddly enough all of these songs are self-destructive… but then again when your 21 and a “carnie” most of your music is heavily influenced by self-destruction.

1. Taking Back Sunday – Cute without the “e” (Cut from the Team)

* As a note the only “official” videos I could find of this song were heavily censored. I guess Victory Records now has a problem with the word gun. Also, the photo that is used in the vid is of the newer lineup of band members. In 2003, guitarist/vocalist John Nolan and bassist Shaun Cooper left the band (both of whom played on the original recording) and were replaced by Fred Mascherino guitar/vocals and Matt Rubano on bass (at least according to Wikipedia).

2. Finch – What it is to Burn

* This is the title track of their debut album. It is to date the only album from said band that I have found worth owning

3.  The Used – The Taste of Ink

* I found that this one track sounds completely different from any other on the debut album from the Orem, Utah based group. I think I wanted to like them more than I really did because they were from the Salt Lake City area. I was hoping for a musical revolution to happen right under the noses of the high priests of the mormon church, but in the end The Used failed to stand out and this is the only song that reminds me they were once relevant.