Chickens Don't Get No Life after Death

Artist: Felice Brothers
Venue: 123 Pleasant Street
Location: Morgantown, WV
Rating: 4 out of 5 harps

Last night kicked off the summer of music concerts and festivals with a show by the Felice Brothers in Morgantown. The Felice Brothers play a perfect blend of rock, folk and bluegrass, and though I wasn’t too familiar with their music, I’d only heard good things about their live shows. The band consists of two brothers and a few friends who got their start playing in the subways of New York.

The opening act, Cassettes, featured a female lead singer, jamming keys player, a decent violinist and a cellist with awesome facial expressions. With good stage presence and original songs, the crowd seemed pumped and anxiously awaited the main act.

As the Felice Brothers jumped on stage, their appearance was initially shocking and took a good four songs with which to become adjusted. First off, the fiddle player looked terribly out of place with a flat brimmed Yankees hat, gold chained necklace, and straight up gangster vibe. But then he began playing with immense energy and excitement that reverberated from his bow. The lead singer and guitarist was probably the most entertaining. He walked on stage appearing to have a personal goal of out-drinking everyone in the audience. After throwing down the microphone in the second song, he struggled to pick it back up, and sadly the sound wasn’t quite the same the rest of the night. However, his scratchy soulful voice made each song jump alive while his electric guitar skills left a certain someone fairly jealous. The band was topped off with a nervous drummer, hipster bass player, and sweet keys/accordian player.

Sadly the sound quality of the show wasn’t up to par with the rest of the performance. The Felice Brother’s excellent stage presence, uplifting songs, and good sense of humor made for a great concert. They didn’t play the crowd favorite “Penn Station” however “Run Chicken Run” was easily a highlight of the night. “Whiskey in my Whiskey” and “Frankie’s Gun” were also crowd favorites and hopeful requests of this article’s author. During the band’s encore, the best dancer in the venue invited herself on stage and began shaking what her mother gave her around the band. One was never quite sure when she would fall or what she would do next, adding to the entertainment.

Overall, great performance by the Felice Brothers and definitely a band worth checking out! And a great start to the summer! Rock out.

"I drove here all the way from West Virginia." - humorous quote from a concert goer

This Blog Post Title will Describe My Inability to Think of a Creative Title for this Post

This is the last blog dealing with pizza for a while. Promise. Today is the unofficial, official start of summer vacation. If anyone is interested in paying for someone to be a professional hanger outer, please tell me where to send my resume. Three topics on this joyous day of Cinco de Mayo and - Happy Birthday Mom!

Pizza. Just typing the word makes me nauseous. First off, I am a pizza lover. Three months ago I might have even told you it was my favorite food. But three months later, after making pies from pre-made dough, frozen toppings, and too much greasy meat, I’m over it. It will be quite a while before I have an appetite for pizza again. I’ll also be taking a break from the restaurant business. Yes there are many perks of working in a kitchen. I met a plethora of cool people working in a restaurant, however most of them are heavy drug users and poor money managers. And these are their two main topics of conversation. If my mind and body recover over the summer, I have been told I can come back any time to work. “You make the best looking pizzas. How do you do it?” my boss asked me yesterday. It’s pizza people. You sprinkle toppings in a circular motion. It’s not rocket science.

Second, Sports Science - this exciting, informative, useful, fun, misunderstood, wonderful, specialized degree I’ll graduate with in a year. I’m not quite sure what people imagine when I tell them the name of this degree. They probably peg me for a bodybuilder who eats protein like it’s their job and aspires to be a personal trainer on the Biggest Loser. (And a sidenote, bodybuilding is basically a beauty pageant and does not in any way deal with strength). This is not the case. First to clarify, Sports Science is a specialized field dealing with maximizing athletic performance. This primarily means lifting weights. We analyze movement patterns of sports, attempt to mimic them, create training plans, and then implement said plans. Exciting stuff. There’s also a large aspect of research in this field. The goal is to always improve. What jobs are available to one with a Master’s degree in Sports Science you may ask? Most of my peers will work as a strength coach at a university and continue to do research in the field. Others will work at Olympic training centers and try to bring home the gold for their athletes. What will I do with this degree?

Third, it’s summer! Time for sun, fresh fruits and vegetables, and hammocks!!

But if the world could remain within a frame like a painting on a wall,
then I think we would see the beauty, then we would stand staring in awe at our still lives posed like a bowl of oranges,
like a story told by the fault lines and the soil. - Conor Oberst