What's My Age Again?

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Blink-182, on a Thursday night, at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA, two hours away.  Ok.  Maybe didn't seem like that good an idea.  

But, my favorite band, which already broke up once (Van Halen is my other favorite band, by the way), on a relatively close to home on a very limited tour.  There was a little hesitation in our decision when my friend suggested it a few weeks ago, but we decided we had to go.

It did not seem like a good idea, though, as we drove up route 222 in a torrential downpour, or as we had been sitting in a traffic jam around Harrisburg, or on a construction-choked exit ramp 2 miles from our destination.  It did not seem like a good idea as we had dinner at the pub at the casino and were already exhausted.

It did not seem like a good idea a few minutes before 10:00pm, when Blink-182 still had yet to take the stage.

However, from 10:00pm until approximately 11:30, it was a spectacular idea.  Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and especially Travis Barker put on a great, high-energy show for the fans, most of whom were younger than me. Blink-182 played a mix including most of their biggest hits from each album but also mixing in considerable material from their last full-length album, Neighborhoods (2001) and their more recent EP, Dogs Eating Dogs (2012). (Full setlist here).  I've been a Blink-182 fan since college, and when they fired to huge confetti cannons at the end of "Dammit", their first big hit, to close out the evening, I definitely felt like I had gotten my money's worth.  Great idea!

 (L to R:  Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker, and Tom DeLonge of Blink-182)

I suppose I could say that it didn't seem like a good idea as we drove home, got back to my place at 2:00am, and then had to get up at 6:30 for physical therapy.  But I'd be lying.

It was still a great idea.  What's my age again?  37.  But that's not too old for the occasional stupid punk rock adventure.

Holiday Cheer (or Not)

It's the most wonderful time of the year. Or the most stressful and crazy, depending on who you ask and/or when you ask them.

If you need to relax for a few moments, I've got some holiday cheer from Elizabeth the Kitten and her Snowman Friends. Sit back with your favorite festive beverage and enjoy the cuteness:



Or if you've had enough holiday cheer already or just aren't feelin' it this year, this might be more your cup of eggnog:



Either way, I hope your holidays are happy!

Saturday Long Run: 18 Miles

I ran 18 miles in 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 47 seconds. Afterwards, I decided that running is stupid and no one should ever do it.

Shortest. Post. Ever.

I kid, I kid. I specialize in the long, rambling blog post and we all know it. And this one is really rambling, even by my standards. Sorry about that!

I had a much nicer day for a long run than I did last week. It was in the low 50s when I started and remained cool and overcast for the duration. Though it was a bit humid at the start (but nothing like last week!), it seemed to get cooler and less humid as the run continued. Perfect! I was trying to get an early start to beat the rain, and I did.

Despite the cool weather, however, I just wasn't feeling this as I started out. My stomach didn't feel great and my legs felt tired. It was a bad week of running -- I just didn't get my midweek mileage in. That explains my dead legs. The stomach troubles I attribute to something I ate the night before at the Revolution game. I suspect the turkey wrap, which I thought would be the perfect pre-long run dinner. (Or the best I could do at the Revs game).

After a mile or two, though, I felt fine. The temperature was comfortable; my Shuffle was rockin', and the miles were flying by. My plan was to run my usual 10 mile route, followed by a similar 8-mile route (which is identical but doesn't have the extra loop down toward Mt. Wolf). However, since it was cool and I wasn't sweating as much and drinking water and Gatorade as fast as last week, I decided to put off my refueling stop and extend the first "leg" of my run as much as I could. So I added some loops through Mt. Wolf and as I headed up the steep Chestnut St. hill going back toward my starting/refilling point in Manchester, I was approaching mile 14.

This was where things started to go wrong. I think this hill needs be expunged from my long run routes. My calves, which have been my weakness lately, started cramping up constantly after I ran up this hill. I was stopping to stretch at least every half mile for the rest of the way. The same thing had happened at this point in my run last week, when I climbed the same steep hill going up to mile 12 of 17. I'm not afraid of hills, but this hill is much steeper than anything Philly (I think) or Shamrock (I know) has to throw at me. Luckily, I had fewer post-hill miles to go, and was able to finish my 18.

I was pretty significant pain when I got home, and basically fell down on the floor in the kitchen before I could summon great resolve (sarcasm!) needed to make some chocolate milk (the recovery drink for when you don't by recovery drink mixes) and peel a banana (gotta keep those potassium levels up!). However, after sitting for a couple minutes, I was able to comfortably do my stretching and foam rolling, which I wasn't able to do last week after my long because my quads were cramping so badly. A little soreness today, but overall I feel better than I did last weekend.

This long run was definitely a success. I was scheduled for 18 miles, and achieved it without injury. The cool weather and my Shuffle (especially the new Blink-182 album) made the first 14 miles relatively enjoyable. Mentally, I'm not sure I was as psyched up for this as I could have been. Because of the cool weather and the possibility of having split it over 2 days because of bad weather I don't think I respected the distance as much as I should have. Hence, two beers and french fries at the Revs game the night before; and then during the run I never had that moment of determination that I had in last week's disgusting run: "I am going to finish this run no matter what." I mentioned that I felt after my gross 17 last week that I'd won a race -- mentally, I probably rested on my laurels when I could ill afford to so and took every excuse not to get my midweek miles in.

The Philadelphia Marathon is only 49 days away. I can't lose focus now. Next week is scheduled to be a step-back week, 13 miles, followed by 19 and 20 miles the next two weeks. However, due to a very busy Saturday in two weeks, I think I'll try the 19 next week and step back the following week. (If anyone reading this has reasons why that's a terrible idea, I'd love to hear 'em.). I'm hoping to run that 19 somewhere a bit flatter to get a real gauge of how far from being ready I am. 18 was as long a distance as I got in training for Shamrock, and though I definitely hit the wall badly on race day, at no point were my calves cramping like they have been on these last two long runs.

Hearts All Gone (Another Stupid Music Review Because I'm Boring)

I wasn't going to do another music review until either Van Halen put a record out or hell froze over. But, there's not much going on on the running front for another week or so, when I'll start my training plan, which will be worth a couple blog posts.

Otherwise it's pretty much been same route, same pace, with the only variation being how many adorable kitties I saw on my run. (On my most recent jaunt through Manchester and Mt. Wolf, I saw a mother cat watching over two baby kittens as they pounced at each other playfully. It was probably the most adorable thing I'll ever see on a run).

So...with not a lot else going on, here's "Hearts All Gone", the second song released from the forthcoming Blink-182 album, Neighborhoods.

Listen to "Hearts All Gone" here.

I really like "Up All Night." I stand by that. But this is more of what I think most long-time fans were hoping for. Noisy and fast, it sounds at first listen more like something from Dude Ranch or Enema of the State era Blink-182, but yet, it's not. It has a heavier sound to it and more serious lyrics. (It seems like each Blink-182 album got a little more serious. I'm wondering if we've seen the last of jokey songs like "What's My Age Again?" and "A New Hope".)

Mark Hoppus handles lead vocals; if Tom is providing any backing vocals at all, I sure can't hear him. That's ok with me -- I think Mark has a good voice. That said, I think Travis Barker steals the show on this one with the drums.

So far the two new songs we've got from the new album could hardly be more different from one another (and still be recognizably Blink-182 at least). I'm looking forward to getting my ears on the whole thing in September.

(This isn't Blink-182, but it was as close as you could get while they were on "indefinite hiatus.")

Up All Night

I'm not planning on running again until Wednesday night, so I'm going way off-topic here.

(Up All Night digital single artwork by David Choe -- from the Blink-182 facebook page.)

Blink-182 has been part of my life since May 1999. I still remember the day I walked into the record store at the West Manchester Mall with a $20 in my pocket, likely a graduation gift, and not only no idea what to buy, but no idea of where I what I was doing in life. "What's My Age Again?" was playing in the store, and it just seemed right.

Let's flash back. Job prospects were looking sketchy, to see the least. I hadn't been offered either of the jobs that I thought were my best chances coming out of college and other than a single interview the Monday after graduation, I wasn't getting any bites.

I spent a lot of time on AOL on the computer in the spare bedroom of my parents' house, looking for jobs on this new Internet thingy and instant messaging with my other equally unlucky friends.

It wasn't all bad. When I wasn't looking for gainful employment, I had plenty of time to spend my days sleeping till noon and shooting hoops at a court near my house in the afternoon, and spending my nights going out to the dive bars of York and Harrisburg with said friends. When I did find a job, in Philadelphia, I was an underutilized (paid) intern with lots of free time to sit in my basement cubicle and chat with my underutilized intern colleagues about the Eagles, the glory days of college, and where he'd go for lunch or happy hour.

Enema of the State was the soundtrack of that Summer, and "What's My Age Again?" was its anthem. For me, it was the beginning of a shift in my musical tastes that continues to this day...not that I don't still love Van Halen and occasionally blast the Crue, Poison, and their big haired ilk.

Since then, I've purchased a previous Blink-182 album, Dude Ranch, as well as the two follow-ups to Enema, the cleverly-named Take off Your Pants and Jacket and the last record before rising tensions in the band led them to go on "indefinite hiatus" in 2005, the self-titled Blink-182. They've all been on heavy rotation on my CD players and later MP3 players since and have been a gateway drug to other punk rock bands for me. (I'm not going to get into any arguments about what's punk and what isn't. I really don't care. It's all opinion. Nor am I claiming any expertise whatsoever of that subject matter.)

In the meantime, it seemed like we'd heard the last new music from Blink-182. I enjoyed Tom DeLonge's new band, "Angels & Airwaves", and Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker in "+44", but it just wasn't the same. Two friends and I did a very strong air-guitar rendition of "What's My Age Again?", complete with inflatable guitars at one of the friend's weddings, but we were no substitute for the real thing.

Unfortunately, it took the near-death of drummer Travis Barker in a 2008 plane crash to get the three arguing band members back together, but once the three of them were back in a room together, it seemed that they quickly decided to put aside their differences and get the band back together. They made their announcement as they presented at the 2009 Emmys, when they appeared in public together for the first time in four years, and quickly confirmed it on the band's website:

Hi. We're Blink-182. This past week there've been a lot of questions about the current status of the band, and we wanted you to hear it straight from us. To put it simply, We're back. We mean, really back. Picking up where we left off and then some. In the studio writing and recording a new album. Preparing to tour the world yet again. Friendships reformed. 17 years deep in our legacy. Summer 2009. Thanks and get ready.

After their bitter breakup, would it last? So far, yes. The reunited Blink-182 indeed went on tour in Summer 2009; I had a great time seeing them live for the first time on a rainy August night at Hersheypark Stadium, and now they've finally put out their first new material since 2003.

You can listen to their new single, "Up All Night" here (from the band's official YouTube site):



I like it. It took a few listens, but I really, really like it.

The main criticism of it that I've read is that it sounds more like Angels & Airwaves than Blink-182. At first listen, I agreed. However, while it's never going to be mistaken for "What's My Age Again?" or "Dammit", or even the more serious "Adam's Song" or the more positive "All the Small Things", I do think it's the continuing evolution of what they sounded like on the last Blink-182 album. The seamless back-and-forth between the two singers is what makes it sound like Blink-182 to me, and Travis Barker is excellent on drums, as always. It grew on me as I listened to it a few times; the same was true of Blink-182.

As Blink-182 got older, their sound changed and their lyrics matured as well. Sophomoric humor and lyrics about high-school parties, breaking up with girlfriends, or the lack of such, and even an infatuation with Princess Leia comprise Dude Ranch and Enema of the State. The band was in their 20s and their listeners were high-school and college students. These themes are less common on Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (except for, of course, the album title) and largely absent from Blink-182. But even so, this is pretty dark stuff for Blink:

Everyone wants to call it all around our life with a better name.
Everyone falls and spins and gets up again with a friend who does the same.
Everyone lies and cheats their wants and needs and still believes their heart.
And everyone gets the chills, the kind that kills when the pain begins to start.

Let me get this straight, do you want me here?
As I struggle through each and every year.
And all these demons, they keep me up all night.
They keep me up all night.
They keep me up all night.

Everyone's cross to bears the crown they wear on endless holiday.
Everyone raises kids in a world that changes life to a bitter game.
Everyone works and fights, stays up all night to celebrate the day.
And everyone lives to tell the tale of how we die alone some day.

Let me get this straight, do you want me here?
As I struggle through each and every year.
And all these demons, they keep me up all night.
They keep me up all night.
They keep me up all night.
They keep me up all night.
They keep me up all night.

They're older. Their listeners are older. The world seems more serious than it did in May of 1999. This isn't quite the Blink-182 of old. But 12 years later, it just seems right.

We now return to our regularly-scheduled program. If Van Halen ever puts out a new album, I'll review it. Please don't hold your breath.