Do You Remember, Remember That Summer?

Yesterday, I hooked up my very old-school Nintendo to our guest room TV. This was exciting for me, because, while I'm not much of a gamer, I do love me some RBI Baseball and Tecmo Super Bowl, and because I spent many hours during my last two years of college playing against Brandon, Garrett, and Jake in these games. Good memories.

Because the 'music,' for lack of a better term, on these games is so annoying, me and my friends would always mute the TV and put my iTunes on shuffle to use as the backdrop for our virtual competition. Of course, being the nostalgic person I am, it immediately brought me back to the Burgh, sitting in Garrett's old dirty blue recliner, wasting the day away.

As I listened to the music in the background, it inevitably came across some songs by some bands that I hadn't listened to in a while. After my gaming session was over (I went 1-1 with the Cowboys in TSB, and 3-0 with the Tigers in RBI, thank you very much) I went to my computer to check out the websites for some of the bands I had sort of forgotten.

Much to my surprise and dismay, I found that four of the five bands I listened to the most in college are no longer performing together. Out of Greatness in Tragedy, The Feds, Something Corporate*, Flickerstick, and Blue October, only Blue is still a band. This is not entirely surprising, since they've had the most commercial success, and members of some of the other bands have moved on to new groups, but still. The music I listened to not that long ago can now only be heard on the computer, ipod, or a CD, as there won't be any new songs or concerts to look forward to in the future.

I can't tell you how much time and money I spent going to the shows of those five bands, especially the smaller-time GIT, and Feds, who played most of their concerts in north Texas. I'll never ever ever ever forget the rinky-dink concert those two played at, in all places, Coleman, Texas in some abandoned-looking junior high gym. The crowd was small, and the sound system was terrible, but both groups gave it their all, and put on an entertaining set. Afterwards, my friends and I went to eat at the lobby of the old hotel they were staying at. It's funny to look back on it now. Those guys, in our eyes, were absolute rock stars, no matter what their record sales or iTunes download number were, and to get to hang out with them after a concert that they must have absolutely hated playing, was a memory I'll never forget.

Of course, the best show I saw them play was five years (whaaaatt?!?!!?) ago at the Curtain Club in Dallas, at the Feds CD release party. Much different than the Coleman show, there was a packed house of rowdy fans, the bands sounded great, and the Feds played for two hours. One of the most memorable weekends of my life.

The Blue, Flickerstick, and SoCo concerts I witnessed were fantastic, but because they were more recognizable bands, it didn't seem quite as special to watch them, since they could sell out and put on a great show almost anywhere. Regardless, I literally got a pit in my stomach yesterday when I found out that Flickerstick had broken up a few months ago. I found out about the Feds plans to disband this past December and got the same feeling.

I don't listen to new music much anymore, as my radio is set to basically talk radio of the political and sport kind, and Christian music for commercial breaks. Because of this, I feel a disconnect between the bands I enjoy, and what's popular out there today. As much as I'd love to be hip and all, I don't see myself buying a Laday GaGa CD any time soon (You're welcome, by the way, for having "Mymymymymymy poker face" stuck in your head for the rest of the day). I guess I'll have to stick to old YouTube clips of these bands, since seeing them in concert is out the door. At least I'll always have one good memory of Coleman, Texas.

*I looked at SoCo's website, and it only said that the lead singer is now involved in another project, and there were no new tour dates, so maybe they're just taking a break, and haven't officially ended the band. If anyone knows for sure, leave a comment.