So after work Friday I went home and Kim and I had some dinner and headed to the airport. Got to Baltimore just past 11 and met up with my buddy Weeba. We took a cab to the downtown area to meet up with everyone. We went to a couple different bars on Federal Hill, ropewalk and mothers. A good night out on the town. An old friend of mine (EJ) was out with us, so it was fun to party with him. Tracey must have said “best birthday ever!” 4 million times, and we all did have a great time.
Saturday we got up and ate at Chipotle! Then headed to DC to checkin to the hotel there. We sat around for a few hours, when we should have been going out to a few museums or something, but I think we were all tired and lazy. The show that night was awesome, we owned the entire top balcony/bar area. Our buddy Rob and his wife Ilona came out to the show. Felt like I hadn’t seen him in years. We ended up going to Ben’s Chili Bowl after the show was over and then closed the basement bar. The guy taking orders could not get the fact that I wanted a chili dog without the dog, too funny. It’s no Skyline, but it wasn’t too bad. :)
Another good weekend out with some great friends!

Last night we just sat around and watched the Olympics for the most part. US is doing pretty good over there, both the male and female individual all around golds in gymnastics. Team gold for female and team silver for male. Not to mention the swimmers. Definitely a ton to watch…

I’m not sure how I could forget to post this, but I’m heading to Baltimore and DC this weekend. It’s my good friend Tracey’s birthday today, and she decided she was heading out that way. It took some convincing for me to decide to go, but after awhile there were too many of my friends going not to go. Good thing I have a free southwest flight, that I am using. We are going to go out in Baltimore tonight, and then head to the 9:30 Club to see The Low Life. Should be a great weekend!

Kim and I both fell asleep super early last Thursday night, and I think I needed it to get ready for the party that was this weekend…

Friday we took a half day and flew direct to Cincinnati on Delta. I like doing this so much better than flying to Indy or whatever else we have done. One and half hours max and you are done with the trip. We got in around 6, and Kim’s college roommate (Amy) picked us up. We went over to her apartment to get ready to meet up with some people and go out for the night. We decided that we would go to Christy’s in Clifton for dinner. Courtney and my good buddy Liam both met up with us there. I had a turkey reuben, and it was excellent! Kim’s cousin Katie works there and showed up as we were finishing up dinner. We then decided that we were going to Mt. Adams for the rest of the night. This is where the night got funny and interesting both at the same time. Liam and I were going to take his car over to Amy’s apartment and head out from there. We get in his car and realize that he has no gas and it requires diesel. We had no idea where to get diesel so we just decided to take a cab directly to Mt. Adams and meet up with the girls there. The cab driver shows up and we have the typical cab conversation asking where the driver is from, where he has lived, etc. Through this conversation we learn that this particular driver has only driven in Cincinnati for 10 days. However, he did say that he had been to Mt. Adams a few times this past week. We almost make it there on our first try, but we missed one crucial turn. We ended up on the highway going north, away from where we want to be. He tells us to ignore the meter at that point and we would just have to pay the $10 that it was currently showing. I think the total amount should have been less than $10, but oh well he was obviously having a rough day. I’m not sure the order of everything, but I know we were in Kentucky at one point, we went up the mainstreet bar district downtown at least 2 times, etc. When we finally got to Mt. Adams the meter said $35, and I think we were in the cab for almost an hour. The girls had almost given up on us. The rest of the night was a pretty typical Mt. Adams night, a good time on the town…

Saturday we hung around with Kim’s family for a little bit, playing some flag football with the kids, until it was time to head downtown to get ready for the wedding. We were staying with my parents and brother Tim at the Garfield Suites. I’m sure this place was really nice at one time, but it is definitely showing its age. The suites were very large and spacious, but I think the TV was older than I am. The wedding was at the Verdin Bell & Clock Museum, which is in the old St. Paul’s church. If you follow the link, you can see just how pretty the building is. The nice thing about this place is that both the service and the reception were in the same place. The have everything setup for a service when you get there, and after that is over, everyone goes to the courtyard for drinks and hors dourves. While this is going on the inside is setup for a reception with tables and chairs along with a dance floor. We all had a great time, and it was good to see so many people that I hadn’t seen in a long time, all of the old Lake Cumberland houseboat people…
Sunday we spent most of the day with Kim’s family, after having a lunch with mine. A fun and tiring weekend…

It’s been a pretty typical week so far. I have started playing hockey 2 times a week though. Just played again yesterday. This is more of a pickup game with the same guys each week, just different team. No refs, no keeping track of the score, etc. It’s pretty quick hockey though, so hopefully I can get good again…

Tomorrow we fly back to Cincinnati for my good friend Amy’s wedding. I wish I would have planned it out better to see DMB tonight. Oh well, just a couple weeks away is the KC show. I’m sure this weekend is going to be a blast. If you are around friday, let me know since I don’t have anything planned yet…

Sorry about not posting yesterday, but I was super busy yesterday with work and catching up on all my usual internet activities. Well obviously FBTE was a great time. It is so hard to sum up such a wonderful time, so I won’t even try. I never want these weekends to end though, too much fun with such a large group of great friends. Not much else you can really ask for. Now the long wait until this years Hammerstein shows begins. Hopefully all of us can make it to NYC once again, for some more great times and memories!
The only bad thing about the weekend was the loss of my digital camera. I’m not sure if someone took it, if it’s still hidden under a bed somewhere or what, but hopefully it turns up. If you see anything strange on ebay let me know. I rarely lose anything, but I guess when I do it is usually something pretty important or of a pretty good value. Oh well, not much I can do now except for keep bugging the hotel…

So tonight I went to the String Cheese Incident for free thanks to The Planet. Obviously I was headed to the show by myself, but I had two tickets. I attempted to get some beer money for the show, but all of the people standing around outside looking for tickets didn’t have any money. I decided to just give the ticket to this one guy, who then proceeded to give me a hug. Aren’t hippies great? :) So I headed inside to see a nice taping section setup right behind the soundboard. The security had given all tapers the 2 rows immediately behind the board. The past two shows I have been to at the Uptown have had something like this, the other show was of course moe. I think that all bands should have a designated taper area, even if it is just a couple of those portable cages. It makes everything so much easier. The show was great, those guys really can jam, and their production isn’t too bad either. Legendary blues guitarist Taj Mahal (link has sound, beware!) was in town for his own show, and I guess he came over to the Uptown after his show. SCI and Taj Mahal came out for a second encore to play a tune. How cool is that? I’m glad I went…

Tomorrow afternoon I’m headed to Cleveland for this years Feelin’ Better Than Everfine Festival. I’m sure this is gonna be a great time. Updates when I return…

Friday was a day of traveling. We flew to Indianapolis and had to get my brother to come pick us up. We finally got home around 1 I think. We messed around for a little bit, but when to bed soon enough. We knew we needed sleep for the next day…

Saturday was such a great day. How do you even sum up Pig-Fest? I think it is really hard to do unless you have been to one of these events. I had friends come in from all over the place. Chris arrived first, after a two day drive from Charlotte. We immediately started drinking on the Yuengling he brought along. Once he was there, the floodgates were open and my all of my buddies started pouring in. Tracey showed up with a bunch of boys from all over the place. Sharkey had driven from Rhode Island, and picked up Pat on the way. Dave flew in and so did Weeba. They added even more beer to the collection. Jay showed up with Corinna and Shell, they had a tent that was the size of our house. Liam, Fighty, Joe, Reif, Kim and Hazard all showed up as well, making shorter drives from all over Ohio. Someone said that there were 200 beers for 10 or so people, well that wasn’t enough I guess. American Cherry played some tunes for us as always, and sounded really tight. Tim read Pat’s biography over the microphone, funny stuff. The cops showed up, but were soon turned away after Tim told them the band was done playing, haha. Way too many storied I could tell, but it wouldn’t matter if you weren’t there. All my friends who came said that the party will definitely be on their list of events from now on!

Sunday we all said our goodbyes, then Kim and I headed over to her parents for a cookout. I was too tired to do much, but I did manage to lose yet another game of cornhole. Kim’s parents then drove us out to Indy, and we were on our way back here…

Some of the pictures my mom took with my camera are up on the pig-fest site. I also put my pics up from last weekend, finally…

The big news for today is that we officially released oarsa.org v2.0! So far it is getting great reviews, and very few issues have been found, which is great! We are already up over 100 users right now, and it is steadily growing by the minute. Make sure you go and check it out: oarsa.org

We are leaving in just hours to head back to Cincinnati. This is gonna be a great weekend!

Sorry about slacking on the updates. I had a nice entry typed up at my parents house over the weekend, but then their computer froze and I lost the post. I’ve always hated that computer…

The last work week was not terribly exciting at all. I did take a half day on Friday though, so that we could make the drive to Cincy. We made it into town around 10 on Friday night, and I immediately met up with Liam and our buddy Reif, to go see The Shantee at Mad Frog. We got on the guestlist thanks to Pitcock, so it was a pretty cheap night out, especially with $4 pitchers of Coors Light. I think they only played 2 or 3 songs that I knew, but they sounded so good, and the crowd was really into it. Good show!

Saturday was the anniversary party that we went into town for. Another good night, and I’m really glad we made it in for the party. I got to see all of the family of course and some of my parents friends. We ended the night playing flip cup, haha.

Sunday we went cabrewing or floating as they say here in Missouri. We went down the river at a speedy 1 mph. We then later went to the Red, White & Blue Ash bash. Styx was playing on the stage when we arrived, but I don’t think that the original signer was up on stage with them. We were pretty far back though, so I don’t know. I never heard them play Mr. Roboto though, which sucks. The fireworks were great though. I took a ton of pics and a video of the finale. It doesn’t get any better than Rozzi’s Famous Fireworks!

Yesterday we headed to the Beach Waterpark with Kim’s family. I forgot how much fun that place is. I think the combined two days in the sun have left me pretty red.

If you remember from a few weeks ago, my buddy Pat was writing a part fictional part factual biography of yours truly. Well, he finished it up, so here it is in it’s entirety…

The Legend of Ed Paff Jr. (abridged from the full legend of Ed Paff Jr, later re-named The Odyssey written by Homer)

Forward: Throughout the ages, very few men have attained the status of Hero. Fewer still could be called Legends. Only one man, Ed Paff Jr. has the ability to not only be a legend, but to be worshipped as a new God. One day children will kneel before the statue of the man called Ed and praise the name of Paff, drinker of alcohol, loser of shoes, and collector of girls whose names begin with the letter K. Mostly, however, he will ever be known as The Creator…of oarsa.org, the Bible for all who listen to the band OAR. Long after Ed ascends on his flaming chariot into the heaven reserved only for the truly gifted, his work, oarsa, will continue to be available as the resource for all things OAR. God Bless Ed Paff Jr., you say? Oh, he already has my friend.

THE LEGEND OF ED PAFF JR.

Part 1 : Early Childhood through College

Ed Paff Jr. was born to rocket scientist Ed Paff Sr. and Claire Paff on March 24th 1980. He was born how most geniuses are born: ugly as sin. He actually won the “ugliest baby in Alabama” contest in 1981, and if you’ve ever been to Alabama, you know that’s no easy feat. It was later found that by a miraculous feat of nature, Claire’s breasts were not pumping milk, but rather Bailey’s Irish Cream. Once the problem was remedied, and he was on the bottle, he became much more normal looking, more active, and he no longer had such a hard time developing words. It was the only point in Ed’s life that hitting the bottle had these results.

As Ed grew up, his family decided to move from Huntsville, Alabama to Cincinnati, OH. Whether it was his dad’s hankering for chili, or the fact that Cincy was the headquarters for Hustler Magazine, the Paff family was heading for the town with the greatest motto in America. “Cincinnati: Its like Kentucky, only its not”.

Although young Ed had a hard time adjusting to school at first, he found that the fumes from the local refinery calmed his nerves significantly. The teacher liked that it caused a stall in his hyperactivity, so with an open window and a happy heart, Ed Paff Jr., slightly buzzed, got his education at Archbishop Moeller High School, which was known for 2 things: Its winning football team and its sign that proudly announced “No Molestings in 472 days.” (changed daily, of course)

One day while Ed was walking to school, he noticed a sign that said “Special Ed”. “Well, shucks,” he thought “I must be one popular guy to get my own room.” And in he went. It was only when his fifth period teacher noticed that Ed was late for his home economics class (he made the best strudel in the entire class) that the situation was remedied. When Ed later explained what had happened, there were discussions about letting him stay.

During this time, Ed developed a love for the sport of hockey. Coming from Huntsville, Alabama, the “hockey capital of the south”, he became interested in skating on the many frozen lakes in Alabama’s blustery winter nights. After almost drowning twice, Ed also decided to take swimming lessons. This helped make his transition to Cincinnati “The swimming capital of Southern Ohio” that much easier. Ed loved to prance and twirl upon the ice, making figure eights and doing triple axles to impress his friends. After getting beat up several times, he stopped with the triple axles but found that the figure eights were still ok, as long as he said he was actually making boobs on the ice.

Also during this time, Ed joined a Pastoral Ministry program. Although not a highly religious person, Ed grew spiritually through this. So much so, that he actually became a minister with the Universal Life Church. Though the minutes it took to fill out his internet form were grueling, Ed was rewarded one hour later when he was contacted via email. He was now The Reverend Ed Paff Jr., and could officially start his own church. He played around with artsy names for his church like Over A Rainbow Stands Allah and On A River, Satan Asphyxiates, but none of them really clicked, so he shelved starting his own church for the time being to concentrate on his hobbies and school.

Finally the day came: Ed Paff Jr. graduated from high school in 1998, and decided, following Jesus’ example, to pick a life of danger, pain and poverty. And so he enrolled at The University of Cincinnati. Ed’s grades had miraculously picked up by that time, and he was able to get into the college of Engineering, where he labored for 5 years to get his degree, only to never use it in a real life situation. Degree in Engineering? F**k that, he decided to sling sausage while the slinging was good, and he’s a better man for it. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Part 2 : The Rise of Duckfood – Present Day

Ed had always listened to music, except for that one year he stuck a q-tip too deep in his ear. At this time, however, he was a casual fan. He went to the occasional concert (usually Dave Matthews Band) but wasn’t really too big into the music scene. That all changed when his brother, Tim, made him listen to “That Was A Crazy Game of Poker” by that band that has that name of the thing you row with. From then on, he would never be the same. He saw his first show at Bogarts, a small club known primarily for kicking Ed out, on 9/23/2000. He was blown away by the 4 guys on stage jamming out and having a good time. It was like he was born a 3rd time (Ed was actually born, crawled back in, and was yanked out again by the umbilical chord, so the phrasing “born again” doesn’t really work here).

His lust for live music sparked, he joined the OAR tape trader’s board (the early precursor to oarfans.com), where he met many like-minded people. In fact, some of those people were right there in good old Cincinnati, and after going to a few shows and meeting with them, he decided to room with 3 of those young rapscallions: Liam, Ryan, and Nick.

Although he didn’t know it at the time, big things were in the works for Ed, and his decision to move in with the 3 of them would ultimately change his life. In late 2001, Ed and Ryan (or Fighty, as was his stage name) decided to form a band. Ed was on vocals, Fighty was on guitar (and drums), and Liam with the occasional guesting on cowbell. There were a few other people from Cincy, too, but they aren’t really important to the story.

And so Duckfood was formed. They started from humble beginnings, opening for opening bands. Often playing in front of just Liam, they wondered if the band would ever truly take off. One day, however, Ed got a call from Marc Roberge, lead singer from OAR. Ed answered the phone, and Marc said “Who is this? Oh, Ed? Sorry, I dialed the wrong number.” That phone call stayed with young Ed Paff and gave him the strength to continue his singing career.

Then one day they got their big break. They played in front of a capacity crowd at 112 W. Oakland Ave in Columbus OH (once named Vedder Arena, the naming rights have since been bought by Cialis. They don’t let concerts last more than 4 hours without medical attention). They performed a mix of samples, teasers, and covers to an overwhelmed audience. Aaron “Weeba” Weeberson was immediately signed on to manage, and what happened next can only be called scrumtrulescent.

Duckfood’s metoric rise to the top was fueled by Ed’s screeching vocals and Fighty’s screeching guitar riffs. Every now and then Liam would make a screeching sound by running his finger up and down the cowbell. They thought about changing their name from Duckfood to Owlfood to accommodate their style, but decided against it for marketability purposes.

The pinnacle of their career came in March 2003 when they played in front of dozens at 223 Bosley in Cincinnati. They opened for Pseudopod who opened for Marc Broussard who opened for OAR. This festival was called Marchtober. Duckfood played all of their hits, such as “The Stone at 2x speed” and “Half of The Joker before Ed forgets the lyrics”. Sadly, this was to be one of the last times they would play together. After the show, there were several incidents such as a girl throwing a bottle, DMX sightings (they were in the middle of a heated Midwest/West Coast feud at the time), and a lady throwing rocks at the band and the band’s friends. It had gotten to be too much stress on the young frontman.

During this up and down roller coaster ride that was Duckfood, Ed made a habit out of traveling to see his favorite band, Ore. He’d follow them, basking in the 5 members (they added a trumpet or something) on stage performing. Watching them, Ed decided that although Duckfood was an important part of his life, he couldn’t do it forever. After a hiatus due to creative differences, Ed announced that he was moving to Kansas City to be with the one he loved. After Fighty said he was staying in Cincinnati, he decided to move to KC anyway with a girl named Kim.

Life in Kansas City was rough for a while. As mentioned earlier, Ed was unable to find an engineering job and so took a job with Hickory Farms setting up sausage stands in Kansas City, “The Sausage Capital of the Midwest”. Eventually, however, Optimal Solutions Inc utilized his computer and engineering skills in a quality assurance capacity. This made Kim, who was tired of hearing stories about how much sausage Ed was handling, very happy.

Part 3 : OARSA.ORG

Edison gave us the light bulb. Bell gave us the telephone. Some guy somewhere figured out sliced bread was a really, really good idea. All of these ideas are complete crap compared to oarsa.org. God is kicking himself for not thinking of it first. That’s how great it is. For those of you who dwell in caves, living off grubs and bats, oarsa.org is the Of A Revolution Setlist Archive. It is the bible for all things OAR. If you need a setlist since 1999 or if you want to see when a song was played, you can go to oarsa. If you want to see how many times you’ve seen a song played, or which songs you haven’t yet seen live, you can go to oarsa. If you need direction in your life, and you feel like you have no where to turn, go get therapy, then pop in an OAR cd and go to oarsa.

Ed thought up the idea after taking down setlist after setlist at shows. One day, he decided that through the vast network of the message board, if he could get one person to take down the setlist at every show, he could have a comprehensive online list of every show date, venue, and song played that anyone could use for a reference material. He even made friends with the band so that when they play in places that no one inhabits (like Canada or Iowa), they can still give him the setlist, and its there for anyone’s reference, even if they just played for a hillbilly, 3 bears and a squirrel.

Paff 3:16. For Ed Paff so loved the world, that he gave it oarsa.org.

THE SECOND COMING

With OARSA v2 now no longer just a twinkle in his eye, Ed Paff Jr. has done what no one could have imagined. He took a perfect setlist archive, looked at it, and spit upon perfection. The new v2 is so good, that it is a step above perfection. So seamless is it that a new word had to be created just to describe its flawlessness: Pafflawless.

One day when your children are online, looking up setlists, you will be able to relate the story about the man who started it all. You’ll look at your children and with a tear in your eye be able to say “Ed Paff Jr. was born to rocket scientist Ed Paff Sr. and Claire Paff on March 24th 1980…”

So Ends the Legend of Ed Paff Jr (for now)

Deer Creek. What can I say? It was the same as always, an unbelievable time! We got into Sleepy Bear in the early afternoon on Sunday. Immediately we set up shop and starting pregamming for the shows. Sarnovsky and Pitcock decided to switch at the last minute from staying at Dead Creek to join us over at Sleepy Bear. Great decision! We played a ton of cornhole as well. It has been a long time since I’ve played, and it showed when I didn’t win a game the entire weekend…

Night 1 was incredible. Seeing Dave come out to introduce OAR was something I’ve always dreamed of saying. To sum it up he said something like, many of you probably already know them, but if you don’t I’m sure you will after this show. They played a good 6 song setlist after than and then DMB played a solid set of new and old. The after party was my favorite though. Mike, Joe DiDia and I stayed up until the sun was coming up. The time was just flying by. Thank god it was chilly overnight, I was able to sleep in until around 10…

This is when Day 2 started. The same usual daily activities with a lunch at Qdoba thrown in. Mike agreed with me and said that it is good but it is no Chipotle. The show this night was amazing though. Both bands’ setlists were incredible, and the energy was insane, even during OAR. Sarnovsky estimated a crowd of 17000 for OAR and that is huge! The return of Best Of Whats Around was reason enough to love this show. One of my favorite shows ever!

Now it’s back to work though, booooooooo.