ESPN.com tries to be clever, fails...

Check out the screenshot below, which shows ESPN.com's front page just a few minutes ago. The caption below the picture, in case you can't read it, says "The Red Sox might be weary of Manny Ramirez, but they still need his wicked bat, right?"

Based in Bristol, Connecticut, you would think that the people at ESPN might be a bit more in-tune to what their fellow New Englanders say and how they say it.

I'm not from the greater Boston area, but I've spent enough time there -- or with people from there -- to know that the people of Beantown typically use "wicked" in addition to another word to describe something, not just the word "wicked" by itself.

Manny's bat itself is not malicious or mischievous, nor is it prone to evil-doings. Therefore, it's not wicked. What it could've been, however, is "wicked hot," "wicked pow-ah-ful," "wicked dangerous" or "wicked pissah."

OAR at Merriweather

A few months ago, I e-mailed a guy that I know that has some very good connections with OAR, asking him if he could put in a word for me regarding a photo pass for one of their shows. After a few back-and-forths, the pass was confirmed on Thursday and, despite some last-minute miscommunication at Will Call, I finally had said pass in my greasy little palm just in time to head into Saturday's show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.

Only able to shoot for the first 3 songs meant scrambling back and forth for approximately 15 minutes, dodging 2 other photographers as well as two cameramen, a few venue personnel and about 8 large bouncers / security guys... all within a gap between the stage and the crowd that couldn't have been more than 30" wide.

This was one of my first shows at a venue larger than the 930 Club, so it was great to get the experience of shooting a full band under the lights on an enormous stage. Even though the aforementioned conditions made it extremely hectic and unbearably hot -- I walked out to an open area near the lawn and had to sit for about 20 minutes just to stop sweating -- it was great times.

Some of my favorite shots are below, and the rest of the set can be found here.

Enjoy, and keep your fingers crossed -- Coldplay is coming to town on Sunday and I should find out later this week whether or not I'll have a pass for that show as well. Eek.

My life in music...

I saw this on another website and thought it was a pretty good idea...

My mission was to choose my favorite album from each year of my silly little existence, so being born in 1979 meant picking 29 albums that I've either fallen in love with or, after doing some research, consider the best from that year. Turns out it was quite the challenge, took multiple visits to Wikipedia's Years in Music pages and much more time than I anticipated.

To make things even more difficult, I told myself an artist could not appear twice on my list. For example, Coldplay's "X&Y" could've easily been my favorite in 2005, but since I already used "A Rush Of Blood To The Head" -- the better of the two -- for 2002, I had to choose another for 2005.*

Get it? Good.

So if you have some time to kill, an internet connection and a love for music, feel free to comment with your choices (or to tell me part of my list sucks). Not that I should expect anyone to, but a boy can dream.

Without further ado, my life in music...

1979: Led Zeppelin’s “In Through The Out Door”
1980: Bob Marley & The Wailer’s “Uprising”
1981: The Police’s “Ghost In The Machine”
1982: Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”
1983: U2’s “War”
1984: Bruce Springsteen’s “Born In The U.S.A.”
1985: Phil Collins’s “No Jacket Required”
1986: The Smiths’ “The Queen Is Dead”
1987: Guns N' Roses' "Appetite For Destruction"
1988: R.E.M.’s “Green”
1989: Beastie Boys’ “Paul’s Boutique”
1990: The Grateful Dead’s “Without A Net”
1991: Pearl Jam's "Ten"
1992: Sublime’s “40 Oz. To Freedom”
1993: 311’s “Music”
1994: The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ready To Die”
1995: Oasis’ “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory?”
1996: The Dave Matthews Band’s “Crash”
1997: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ “Let’s Face It”
1998: Outkast’s “Aquemini”
1999: Incubus’ “Make Yourself”
2000: Lifehouse’s “No Name Face”
2001: Remy Zero’s “The Golden Hum”
2002: Coldplay’s “A Rush Of Blood To The Head”
2003: Jack Johnson's "On And On"
2004: Keane's "Hopes And Fears"
2005: Death Cab For Cutie's "Plans"
2006: State Radio's "Us Against The Crown"
2007: The Shins' "Wincing The Night Away"
2008 (so far): Vampire Weekend's "Vampire Weekend"

* This also explains why "The Joshua Tree" was not chosen for 1987. It's obviously the best album from that year, but since I already used "War" for 1982 -- a much tougher year for me -- I had to nix it.