Category: Music


More of the Disc Golf and Bobaflex

Filed Under: Disc Golf, Music by Dewg — Leave a comment
March 25, 2010

A slow start to the day, soon escalated to a rather incredible evening. I started the day off writing blog entries, loading the van and cleaning the house, as I was planning on heading home to my parents’ house for the weekend, my dad excited to do a weekend kayaking trip, sounded like fun, so I’m in. Upon finding out I don’t actually work until Monday at camp (there has been some confusion there the last few days, but I think it’s all straightened out now), I figured I could catch the Bobaflex/Downstait show again in Mankato on the way to my parents’ house near Albert Lea. Then the thought process expanded to sampling a disc golf course in Mankato, or at least that was the plan.

I drove to Mankato by 5:00 pm, the first disc golf course in St. Peter, was completely underwater, I should have expected that. The second Disc golf course, also completely underwater. Ok, so that plan wasn’t going to work. I did some quick research and found the next nearest course in New Ulm, about a 25 mile drive. I figured what the hell, I’m not doing anything anyway, and made the drive. I pulled in, grabbed my stuff, got Forest on a leash and headed past a group of guys practicing putting. I inquired about the course, and they asked if I wanted to play in a doubles match, $5 to enter, and an extra $1 for the ace pot (a cumulative reward for the next person to get an ace, valued at over $250), didn’t sound bad, I was in.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu
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They split us into pairs randomly (separating the longest throwers, that included me), I got paired up with a guy, his name was Max or something, he’s from the cities and drove down with some friends to play. 8 in total, each puts in $5, $40 to the winning team divided by two, $20 per person. Not bad, I don’t usually make any money playing disc golf. But, I figured I didn’t have a chance, only have been playing for about six months, while these league players have been playing for years. They talk the talk, looking at my discs saying things like “Is that all you’re throwing, look at this one, it flies just so” Yeah, they all look the same to me. But I suppose if I start to figure out these little differences in discs and learn some more throws, maybe I could be good.

I can rip it off the tee, my short game still needs work. We started out well, with a few early birdies, followed by a streak of pars and even a bogey before grabbing a few more birdies. The course was nice, long and mostly wide open, with a few interesting obstacles thrown in, even the playground came into play a little bit. Forest had fun running around getting in everyone’s way, but everyone loved Forest, one guy in particular was real impressed with his frisbee tricks, I taught him one trick and he did it over and over and thought it was the greatest thing ever. We finished the round just as it was getting dark, at 4 under, the pair that we played with came in at 3 under. As the last teams came in, the best was also a minus 4, and I never thought I had a chance at winning! But, we had a playoff, and lost on the first hole.

It was an exciting round of disc golf, I definitely enjoyed my time, I might have to join them for another round or two this spring sometime, whenever I come down to my parents’ I might try to work it in. So, I went from there to B-Dubs for some wings, beer, and basketball. Then it was off to Buster’s, I made it in a little after 10, and what a difference in atmosphere from Monday night. I talked to Shaun and he says it’s because they play the music on the radio on Mankato, so people actually know who they are, there was several hundred more people than Monday night in St. Cloud, considering I was about the only fan at the St. Cloud show. And what a difference a crowd makes. The crowd has much more energy than one guy yelling “Born again” “You guys rock” “Go Tommy!”, the band feeds on this energy and the overall show feels so much more powerful. Now, Monday night was incredible in its own right, it’s not very often that a fan of a rather large name band will get a private performance. But tonight just had the raw energy of a high powered rock show. You could see it in both bands.

I got a chance to chat briefly with each band member, definitely not the intimate setting of Monday, it was more of a hectic “Hey thanks for the show, you were great tonight.” I again talked to the lead singer from Downstait, and he was so happy that I returned for another show that he gave me a free t-shirt. They impressed me, I think if I’m ever in an area where Downstait is playing, I’m going to try to make it to a show, it was enjoyable, and the band, they’re friendly I feel like I could sit down with them and have a few beers over some chow (though I think most of them are not old enough to drink). Bobaflex played a great set, several more songs than Monday night, and even came back on for an encore. I left with a drumstick from Tommy and a goodbye to the band, I’m sure I’ll see them again someday. It was a 45 minute drive home and I was soon passed out in bed.

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Bobaflex Rox

Filed Under: Music by Dewg — Leave a comment
March 22, 2010

Live music is a passion of mine. I love music festivals and often go to several concerts each month, totaling over 250 live bands that I’ve seen in my life. I used to be strictly a metal head, as far as I was concerned, hard rock was the only kind of music. Recently I’ve expanded my tastes to include many other types of music, basically I enjoy anything with “Rock” in the genre title: Alternative, jam, indie, etc. But I am definitely still a fan of hard rock.

Following a day of nothing worth mentioning, I drove over to St. Cloud to The Rox Bar, to see Bobaflex for the eighth time. So yeah, I’m a big fan and have been known to drive hundreds of miles to see them. It was a treat to have them basically in my back yard. Bobaflex is a hard rock band from West Virginia, the brothers Shaun and Marty McCoy are the direct descendants of the infamous McCoys of the Hatfield Family Feud, they share the lead vocals/guitarist role in the band. And ‘Bobaflex’ is somehow spawned from ‘Boba Fett.’

After 20 miles of driving on the freeway I found a parking spot, Forest chilled in the van and I walked up to the bar. I had no idea when the show was supposed to start, or when doors were supposed to open, the doors were locked. The manager came to the door and opened it asking if I was in the band, I nodded yes and walked in. Obviously I’m not in any of the four local bands that were there, nor am I in Bobaflex, but I do know the band well enough to walk in and sit down with Shaun and Marty as they’re finishing up their dinner. So, no questions asked and it was basically like chilling backstage. I did take note of an unfamiliar face at the table, but he didn’t say anything, and nothing was said about him.

After sharing some conversations about their touring adventures their manager came in and made them go take showers. I found that kind of amusing, but I suppose, you have to put on your band face before you perform in front of a crowd. So, I was left at a table by msyelf and the two opening bands were the only other people in the place. At some point doors must have opened, but there wasn’t exactly a long line of people waiting to get in. Sound check was done and the opening local band hit the stage, it was a private show, just for me and about 3 other people that walked in from the bar next door. They sounded pretty good, it was quite enjoyable.

After a rather short set, and a set change, Downstait, the supporting band touring with Bobaflex, hit the stage and the crowd didn’t grow much. Having never heard of them, I quite enjoyed the music, I actually think I’ve heard one of their songs on XM Octane. After they got off the stage, I chatted briefly with them at their merch booth and bought a CD, their first merch sale in Minnesota! Before the set change, I shared a shot with Marty and wished him luck.

Bobaflex hit the stage, and right away I noticed that Mike had been replaced by the unknown guy from earlier. Later I asked Tommy about him, he was Chris Grogan, he and Tommy had played in a metal band many years back, so when Mike left for personal reasons, Chris happily joined the band. They played what seemed like an extremely short set in front of a crowd that still hadn’t grown much, my own private Bobaflex concert! It was great, it was mostly new music, I think they played 2 songs off of their first album, and only ‘Home’ from Tales From Dirt Town that I remember, no matter how hard I begged for ‘Born Again’ or ‘Turn the Heat up’ I got nothing.

Once they came off stage I shared shots with Shaun, chatted with Tommy, met Chris, chatted with the bar manager, and talked with a few of the others that had enjoyed the show. At some point somebody gave me a free copy of the new Bobaflex EP. A few more local bands took the stage, and eventually, around 1:00 am the evening came to an end. I was in no shape to drive, so I crawled into the back of my van and covered up with all of the winter clothing I had in there, this is why I usually store a sleeping bag in my vehicle, but I stayed warm enough to pass out for a few hours to sober up and drive home in the early hours of the morning, just knowing it’s going to be a rough day.

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