Taking Back Tuesday
#179 Well, there's a first for everything
This isn’t my first Taking Back Sunday inspired title, but I had to do it as it’s my first Tuesday release (I think), technically breaking my streak, sadly. Was anyone counting besides me?
This weekend I attended When We Were Young Fest, and while I was unable to see Taking Back Sunday , who notably has song titles that highlighted in https://gringordo.substack.com/p/a-sunset-in-new-jersey-that-lasts, I was able to see The Used for the second week in a row, who came up in the same era. Well, that’s kind of obvious at the festival I was at, but still. I missed a few others that would have been nice to see in order to maintain a great spot near the front of the main stage towards the end of the night. Decisions as Borgore might say.
Generally, my favorite song titles are those weird ones as mentioned above. Another weird musical interest of mine is meme songs. It’s not necessarily the best music but they make me smile, especially when you hear the context out in the wild and no one knows it but you. Here are a few examples.
Paxi Fixi
There is a remix of a song called Paxi Fixi that I found a specific Polish night club plays at the end of the night. The crowd, normally pretty thinned out by that hour, goes crazy, with the bright lights on kicking them out. There’s even a whole call and response involved. Featured in some but not all is also one or more people jumping off of something, most notably the beat.
See the videos on TikTok. This one isn’t so much as a meme as it is purely esoteric. Finding the context and song title required reading comments, sometimes in polish, and then browsing YouTube to find the right remix.
I included a picture so you investigate the links!
Crab Rave
Most of you have probably seen this one, this particular version has 383 million views and is a relatively famous song.
But are you familiar with it’s “loli age conversion anime version” for lack of a better term? It’s hilarious. I don’t know when I ever came across it, but it’s hard not to hear “oh my god” in the normal version of the song. Better yet, to drop that inflection in regular speech to see if anyone picks up on it! It also is highly recommended you dance like the crab when you hear the song.
I AM DISTRAUGHT - AS FAR AS I CAN TELL IT’S BEEN WIPED AWAY. SAD. ONE MORE REMINDER THE INTERNET IS NOT PERMANENT…. maybe i should print all of these newsletters in a little mini book.
There is a ladies and gentlemen we got him version, which is another audio meme that’s incredibly useful.
Rather tame compared to the OG.
This at least can be some small consolation to the age conversion that takes place in the video.
One last song while I’m on the topic before I move on to other entertainment. Don’t worry you’re safe, this isn’t Infinite Jest. Learn this, drop it, and find individuals of culture.
The Sphere
Well, one highly overrated piece of entertainment I saw over the weekend was Wizard of Oz at The Sphere. Mostly CGI garbage. It looked like they photoshopped out the characters and dropped them into a video game. It would have been less noticeable on a small screen. Maybe a more animated, fresher movie would have looked better. Avatar perhaps?
The experience itself had even less going for it. The seating was too tight and if you’re in the middle row, good luck going to a bathroom, which you’d want to do if drinking because Vegas, and expectedly, those are expensive. That’s the least offensive and shocking part. Unless a concert or movie really hooked me I wouldn’t think of going back.
But Vegas is full of easily impressed and fresh consumers, it will probably do pretty damn well. What’s their move on the stock though? Grow to other cities or just increase the number of shows?
Stuck alone in Vegas
Later I found myself alone after everyone else left. Ended up in the Arts District and ate a great Italian restaurant called Esther’s Kitchen nestled amongst a row of thrift stores. Overall, a good alternative for casino walkthroughs. But maybe I should have made the trek to go out and drive a supercar or dune buggy?
A small note on When We Were Young
It was good to see some bands come back like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Saw a couple who didn’t hold up and some who did. Shout out to The Offspring who I think actually were better this time than when I saw them in Bumbershoot 2008 right after moving to Seattle.
When leaving, the airport was full of people with lounge access so the lines were busy at the airport - I haven’t seen that often, but they’re building more! Instead I waited out the time in one of the massage chairs and then went to the lounge — I too am part of the problem, but what can you do?
I had a LONG chat about the money flow of casinos and their shops etc. with Chat GPT before I decided to go to the Arts District. Maybe more on that next week.
When we were young, youtube videos just didn’t disappear. I’m bummed. Please let me know if you find it, it’s hilarious.