On a mid-summer night at the beginning August of 2022, The Goo Goo Dolls took the stage to an (almost) sold-out crowd at Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. A show that had been postponed from a previously scheduled date, there was heightened energy around the event.
The Goo Goo Dolls riveted the audience with a 23-song setlist. They brought the heat starting with the first lines of opener “Yeah, I Like You,” an effervescent track from this year’s self-reflective Chaos in Bloom. Along with their new work, they played the audience through a multitude of hits and favorites. “Slide,” “Here Is Gone,” “Black Balloon,” and “Lucky Star” were all performed within the first ten songs. And there was no room for slowing down there.
Bassist/vocalist Robby Takac brought his quintessential “ball of fun” energy to the stage all night long–this time around, notably wearing shoes, which isn’t necessarily his MO–dazzling the crowd with some deep-cut tracks in moments you can only classify as magic. As many post-pandemic shows have gone along to prove, The Goo Goo Dolls’ influence spans generations, as people of all ages and demographics came out to enjoy the show despite the blistering midwest heat. (I wore a neck fan I borrowed from my parents, and have no shame around that fact.)
As someone who has had the honor of seeing this storied band perform live multiple times during their time in the limelight, I can firmly say that their performance felt different this time around. Though there were kaleidoscope lighting features and the same level of excitement coming from the band members as in previous shows, there was an extra layer of sheer joy emanating from the stage. You could sense Johnny Rzeznik’s (guitarist, vocalist) weightlessness as he beamed at the audience, appreciating the moment much more, perhaps, than anyone could have pre-pandemic.
If you stayed through to the end, you had the benefit of singing along to “Name,” “Broadway,” “Iris,” and more, and may have even had the privilege of singing along to a beautiful, showstopping cover of Petty‘s “Runnin’ Down a Dream.” It felt like glitter was falling over the crowd if you took the chance to gaze up at the starry night sky at that moment.
Until you remembered that, with the end of the show comes the end of the beautiful distraction. And you’re actually outside. Sweating from every pore. And the band is gone.
But–if you’re one of the lucky few–the black balloons that were passed around the audience might not be gone. (And we treasure a show souvenir.)
When you hear me say I’m about to talk about the television show “Maggie,” there is a chance some of you might have flashbacks to reruns of the 1998 single-season series starring Ann Cusack, John Getz, and John Slattery. In that, a middle-aged Maggie returns to veterinarian school and approaches life from a different perspective.
But HULU just released the first season of “MAGGIE” — a sitcom about a young woman with psychic abilities (Rebecca Rittenhouse) and the obstacles that crop up after she thinks she has seen a vision into her own future. She grapples with her idea of what ethics a psychic needs to live by and how she thinks society views psychics. She also wonders what leverage she has over the ability to adjust her visions, and struggles with curiosity over that impact.
Everything is all the more complicated as a one-time hookup – and a man from that vision – moves into the lower level of a property her parents own with his long-term girlfriend while she occupies the upstairs apartment.
Sound silly and weird? Surprisingly, it has more depth to it than you might think. Here are four things we can all learn from watching a show like MAGGIE, below.
*SMALL SPOILER ALERT*
What Watching Maggie Can Teach Us
1. To Recognize and Appreciate All Of Yourself
The first half of the season focuses on how Maggie sees the world as a psychic and intuitive. It throws acute observance onto the fact that she is hesitant to fully embrace who she is. The second half of the season sees Maggie unable to cope when her intuition falters and she is no longer able to see visions. Her sense of self was more wrapped in her abilities, than in herself.
Just like Maggie, we all need to see that just because other people may not see all of our unique, wonderful sides doesn’t mean they are not valuable. We need to put time and attention into all of the things that we love, all of the people we adore and all of the hobbies we have. This will allow you to have other interests and fallbacks if something doesn’t work out, or if one interest burn outs.
2. To Be Honest When Establishing Relationships
The entire first season, Maggie is grappling with the guilt of sleeping with a man who is now her neighbor. For reasons we won’t spoil, Maggie finds herself feeling bad, as an empath often can. And that feeling discourages her from being open with her new friend Jessie about her dating history.
One big thought I had while watching this entire season was that Maggie could have avoided a lot of her strife with an open and honest conversation. If anyone wants to establish a lasting relationship, it should start with an open and honest dialogue that sets you up right.
3. To Know That You Create Your Own Destiny
After Maggie sees herself in someone else’s future, she begins to heavily rely on her psychic abilities to inform her decision-making.
When Maggie’s powers to see into the future abandon her mid-season, she is thrown into an identity crisis, though. First of all, who is she without this insane and unique ability to tap into the future? Does she have other talents and hobbies that can lead her into another career or pastime? The second part of her crisis is that she feels like she has no control over how she maneuvers her new relationship.
Like Maggie, we can all benefit from learning that we do have the power to create our own destinies, even if it’s not how we imagined it to unfold. And that’s okay.
4. To Stop Stressing About The Future
All of this brings me to my last point. As a habitual worry-wort, I have never had the luxury of a stress-free life. But, examining everything from the perspective of having the ability to see into the future seems heavy and stressful as well.
Worrying about how you are influencing an outcome or your own future is a fair thought to have, but focusing on it can be so detrimental. Not only does it take you out of the here and now, but it blocks you from appreciating what you do have at this moment. It distracts you from enjoying your surroundings, accomplishments, and community.
We can all truly benefit from stopping how much we put our energy into stressing about the future.
Our favorite alternative project Goon – expertly commanded by Kenny Becker – is revving up to release their latest full-length, an enjoyable listen titled Hour Of Green Evening. The second single off of this album is titled “Ochre,” and is an absolutely magical track. From the light-as-a-feather vocals to the gorgeous piano arrangement, the song makes you feel like you’re falling backward into a cloud. While it generates ideas of kaleidoscope wonder – as though you are in an Alice in Wonderland fever dream – the song itself was inspired by Becker’s favorite color to paint with, yellow ochre.
Let inspiration consume you while you enjoy this beautiful new track.
It’s been 10 months since the first episode of “Only Murders in the Building” premiered on Hulu. This week, our beloved trio of geriatric-minded comedians – and we would argue that Selena Gomez, at times, takes the cake for seeming the most mature – is back on the small screen with the season 2 premiere.
What is all the hype about?
Take two legendary comedians (Steve Martin and Martin Short) and one millennial who has always had a dry sense of humor and comedic timing like no other (Selena Gomez) and put them in a room together. Add in a murder mystery storyline set in Manhattan for some east coast flare, and you’ve got yourself a winner.
Vibrant, nuanced, twisted. Audiences rated it a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes while critics gave it a glowing 100%. Dad jokes, slapstick, and sarcasm. “Only Murders in the Building” has it all.
What happened in Season 1?
In a situation of happenstance, Charles-Haden Savage (Martin), Oliver Putnam (Short), and Mabel Mora (Gomez) meet in a diner during an evacuation of their apartment building, The Arconia. Conversation strikes when they realize they are all trying to catch up on the latest installment of a true-crime podcast.
But the evacuation in their building was for more than just a standard fire drill. The three new friends find out that one of their neighbors has been murdered. With their shared, vested interest in the case, they decide to create a podcast around the killing–effectively getting to the bottom of a case the police can’t seem to crack.
Tim Kono’s (Julian Cihi) murder isn’t as cut and dry as our protagonists wanted to believe. First, there’s the neighbor with a cat who doesn’t really like anyone in the building. There’s the fact that Mabel and Tim were childhood friends, something she hides for several episodes. (Why?) Plus, there is someone else who knew their childhood friend group–Theo (James Caverly)–living in the building with his father (Nathan Lane).
But his rich father couldn’t possibly know anything. He sponsors the podcast.
While their sleuthing leads them to one red herring after another, the tension and fear for their safety builds. Mabel is seemingly stalked and attacked by a man that turns out to be another member of their friend group, fresh out of prison for a murder he didn’t commit. (Or did he?)
Savage’s new girlfriend – another tenant named Jan played by Amy Ryan — is stabbed and left to die just inside her apartment door. Nosy, annoyed neighbors begin to throw obstacles in their mystery-solving path. But is it because the podcast seemingly blows up overnight, making the entrance at The Arconia a busy mess of fans? Or is it because one of these neighbors is the murderer?
Spoiler Alert
While there were certainly moments of clarity throughout the season, the uncovering of the murderer in the last two episodes and the way she spirals is a bit of a shock to the viewer. Jan, the oboist girlfriend of Savage, was Tim’s unexpected lover and murderer.
Case closed, right?
Well, the last episode unveiled a fresh murder. And now Mabel is being framed.
Season 2 is Here
Today is your lucky day. As of midnight on June 28, 2022, the first two episodes of Only Murders in the Building season 2 went live on Hulu.
Their energy burns so bright that not only are they the most electrifying performance on a hot summer’s day (and we mean hot), but if you blink… you might miss them. Gracing the stage around sunset on Day 1 of Boulevardia 2022, BLACKSTARKIDS brought an array of fans out to party. Eye-catching hair, intense vocals, and a stage presence like no other make them some of our favorite when it comes to live performance these days. Come to dance, stay to feel hints of nostalgia and a genre-bending experience you just won’t regret.
Pretty Little Liars alum Dalton Cyr is tackling more than just acting these days. As a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter, the 21-year-old’s talents seem to be almost neverending. While his debut album was released in 2012, the mastery of his craft is palpable with his latest release.
His new single “Dying to Love You” is highly relatable, and with a voice as smooth as butter, the lyrics are cutting but absolutely beautiful. “I wrote this song to capture the helpless feeling of being trapped in a hot and cold relationship,” explains Cyr of the track. “The toxicity of emotional high highs and low lows takes a toll on the psyche- hence, ‘Dying To Love You.'”
The music video gives us a peek into his live performance capabilities. An intimate view of his handiwork, shadows dance across his face, alluding to the darkness that his sweet vocals are almost camouflaging. Check it out below!
Dashboard Confessional was slated to headline Boulevardia 2019. Then, a massive summer storm blew threw and everyone ended up hanging out under shelter, many in a parking garage in Kansas City’s West Bottoms region.
Kansas City was ready for a Dashboard Confessional show. Way past due, Carraba started the show by addressing that night, and explaining how much he had been looking forward to hanging out with us over the last three years. We bought it, and sang the night away under the stars–our echoes reverberating off the downtown skyline–during one of the most excruciatingly hot weekends of the summer. Ah, Boulevardia.
Simple Plan headlined The Blame Canada Tour at Uptown Theater on Wednesday, May 18th, 2022. Along with Set It Off and Sum 41, they lit up the stage with their intense and joyous energy. Yes, despite the most gut-wrenching emo lyrics, these guys couldn’t help but lift the entire audience up with their stage presence.
Touring in support of their new album Harder Than It Looks, they pulled an array of crowd favorites out for our nostalgic enjoyment, as well as some great new tracks. The most relatable moment, however, happened toward the beginning of the set, when Pierre encouraged everyone to stretch before the ever-enjoyable “Jump”.
Al Olender is a songstress from upstate New York, with a knack for unraveling our biggest fears and emotions in her own words. As recent years have forced her to get to know herself on a deeper level, her music stages itself as borderline therapy for those of us who are muscling through tough times as well. Her first full length–aptly titled Easy Crier–is out now, and we implore you to experience it with your own ears.
“All I Do is Watch TV” has a title we can all get behind after being locked away during a pandemic, but the song itself is so unimaginably magnetic, and such a beautiful way to open this initial full-length of hers. The song itself is about dealing with the loss of a loved one, found in lines like “I read a book on grief, it told me to lay in bed.” Second track “Keith”–named after her older brother, who was lost too soon–is a testament to a life gone awry. Incredibly specific, yet viscerally relatable. She continues in this pattern with the delicate “Liar Liar,” which transports you to these moments and this intense feeling of melancholy.
“Djouliet” picks the pace up a bit, with notably light piano that makes the track, quite honestly, perfect for the summer months. The title track is infinitely relatable, as Olender discusses her experiences as though they are fleeting moments, passing her by on a screen. Her detachment–even during the pleasant memories–is incredibly notable, especially for those who have experienced any level of depression in their lives. And yet, she sings it all with an ethereal disposition, as though it hasn’t affected her at all.
But that is, perhaps, Oldender’s greatest superpower, as revealed throughout all ten tracks of this release. Her beautiful vocals feel untouched by any negativity, a slight release from the chokehold of seriousness that has seemed to enshrine us these past few months especially. And yet the subject matter is so much more complex. “Forget Your Number” is bittersweet and a bit vengeful, and we’re absolutely in love with it. “Neptune Pool” and “Minnesota Waltz” follow suit, employing silence between the notes to encourage a more emotional pull. “The Age” picks the pace up and layers in more instruments alongside boosted optimism. It serves as a quick one-two punch to get your heart rate up, almost blindsiding you with the return to delicacy in the final track “Mean.”
Keep up with Al Olender and her endearing music here.
