I kind of hate the word “blog,” so whenever I write something to contribute to Pencil Storm, I refer to it as a “piece.” Once published online, I call it a “post.” That’s a personal quirk, but whatever you want to call them, you are now reading number 101. The first and most important thing I need to say in looking back over the previous 100 posts, is thank you. The enjoyment that I get out of writing for Pencil Storm is something I am grateful for. I connected with Ricki C. sometime in 2016. We bonded over music and certain bands (The Neighborhoods, in particular) and we became friends, to the point that he suggested I contribute to Pencil Storm. Thankfully, Colin Gawel did not balk at that idea when I jumped at the chance. Over the last seven and a half years, I have traded hundreds of e-mails with Ricki C., and along with Colin, Jeremy Porter and other contributors, I feel like I am part of a very cool team. Again, thank you to all involved - including readers of course - who have made this possible. The pay is lousy, but the rewards are immense.
Having said all of that, I thought I would look back on my 100 posts and recall some of the best ones and some that I’m not so sure about anymore. I am proud of most of them, but there are some clunkers in the bunch for sure. My very first post on Pencil Storm ran on September 15, 2016, and was called “The Old Man at the Rock N Roll Show.” It wasn’t great, but read on to see if it was a top five certified piece of suck.
Let’s start with the best ones, shall we? Of course this is just my own opinion, and while many would probably agree with my list of the ones that suck, the best ones would be more of a personal thing. The subject matter plays a vital role. I could write the best piece ever, but if it pertains to something you don’t give a damn about, it won’t resonate. The nine I ended up with are the ones that resonate the most with me. They are not ranked in any particular order.
1. I DROVE 7 HOURS TO SEE WATERSHED IN PERSON FOR THE FIRST TIME I Drove 7 Hours (411 Miles) To See Watershed (And Meet My Friend Ricki C.) In Person For The First Time - by JCE — Pencil Storm
I got to see Watershed play live for the first time in 2021 after being a fan for over 25 years. I wrote about my trip to Columbus, the show, and my whole experience in great detail. I love this one, and because it meant so much to me, I go back and read it occasionally. I met Ricki C. in person for the first time on the trip. And this one has actually been posted twice!
2. VANS WARPED TOUR 2018 The Vans Warped Tour 2018: My Experience - by JCE — Pencil Storm
I went to this all-day outdoor music festival, which was on its final run after over 20 years, with my daughter. It was just a great day of music and spending quality time with my awesome kid. What more can I say, really? We had a total blast and I treasure that day, so it’s natural that I wrote a decent piece about it.
3. THE NEIGHBORHOODS (W/ Ricki C.) Ricki C. & JCE Talking Boston's Finest Sons: The Neighborhoods, including a brand new record..... — Pencil Storm
After a decade of anticipation and expectations, The Neighborhoods finally released a long-promised new record in 2019. It was only natural that ‘Hoods super- fans Ricki C. and JCE collaborate together to talk all about the band and review the new release. Ricki is such a great writer, and it was so fun tossing this back and forth with him. I am proud of this one.
4. DAMN THAT WAS STUPID – SHOWS I MISSED Damn, That Was Stupid / Nine Amazing Shows I Missed - by JCE — Pencil Storm
I don’t know why I like this one so much. It seemed like a unique thing to write about at the very least. These are shows that I could have easily made an effort to attend and simply didn’t (for no really good reason). They still haunt me.
5. JEREMY PORTER & THE TUCOS, LIVE The Saturday Night Special: Jeremy Porter & The Tucos / Live @ State Fare, Catonsville, MD. — Pencil Storm
Being a fellow Pencil Storm writer, I was hoping to meet Jeremy Porter in person someday. Just as importantly, I have become a huge fan and faithful follower of Jeremy and his band The Tucos. I had a great trip to go see them with my wife, I got to hang out with Jeremy a bit and I had a good time writing about it.
6. WITNESSING ROCK & ROLL HISTORY AT THE OLD 9:30 CLUB Witnessing Rock & Roll History at the 9:30 Club: 13 Amazing Shows - by JCE — Pencil Storm
This is the oldest post that I have on my favorites list. I witnessed so many cool shows at the old 9:30 Club in D.C. that I had to write about it. I just read it again, and I like it. The Go-Go’s, R.E.M., The Professionals, Johnny Thunders, Dead Boys, X and others were included. I got to see a lot of my heroes in that small D.C. club.
7. RECORD STORIES Record Stories - by JCE — Pencil Storm
This is another one where I kind of liked the premise. It seemed like an original idea to not just write about old record stores, but to tell a story about a particular purchase or occurrence at said stores. And the title, “Record Stories,” is cool I think.
8. UNDER THE COVERS – 10 CLASSIC COVER SONGS Under The Covers: 10 Classic Covers of 10 Classic Songs — Pencil Storm
This one has a good title too, “Under the Covers.” It’s a clever way to allude to a bunch of cover songs. Full disclosure however, I blatantly ripped off the name from the name of an early 1980’s radio show that was on WTJU in Charlottesville. It worked even better in that instance though, because the DJ was a girl named Jackie O., so it was “Under the Covers with Jackie O.” Anyway, I like the songs I picked and the side-by-side photos of the original and covering bands.
9. A TO Z CONCERTS Live Shows A to Z - Pencil Storm
Finally, I have to include my most recent effort. Although the concept came from fellow contributor Nick Jezierny, I think I kind of nailed the bands and the visuals.
Now let’s move on to the clunkers. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t totally hate these. But if I’m going to brag about the ones I like, I have to be honest and admit that there are some that suck a little. I picked five of them. But hey, if you read one of them, it’s only a few minutes of your time that you’ll never get back. Heck, click the links and read ‘em now, just to see if you agree that they suck.
1. THE OLD MAN AT THE SHOW The Old Man at the Rock N Roll Show - by JCE — Pencil Storm
I’m putting this one on my bad list solely because of some comments I made regarding tattoos. Nothing really bad mind you, but I didn’t have a tattoo when I wrote the post. Now I have four, and I would make a much different comment than I did in 2016. Other than that, it’s a decent piece and I got a nice comment at the end from a reader that made me feel great, seeing as it was my first post ever!
2. GETTING CRAFTY Getting Crafty on Pencilstorm - by JCE — Pencil Storm
Sometime in 2017, I started cutting up old skateboards that I source from the landfill and making birdhouses adorned with craft beer bottle caps. It’s a pretty cool thing I thought, and I still do. But cool or not, I don’t think it worked well on Pencil Storm. I’ve written a couple of sports-related posts, and I did one post I really like about a skateboarding short film, but I think I really should try to stick with rock n roll. Arts and crafts… nah.
3. FAVORITE GUITAR SOLOS Part Three of Pencil Storm Staff Picks for our Five Favorite Guitar Solos. — Pencil Storm
Following the lead of Jeremy Porter and Ricki C., I decided to identify my five favorite guitar solos. Here’s the problem. I like tons of guitar solos. But I don’t play guitar, and in fact, I am not a musician at all. I have no business even trying to write a post about guitar solos. I have no idea what I’m talking about. On top of that, number five is an embarrassing choice. Ughh. The good news is, in going back to find the link, I have discovered that the video for number five is no longer available, so no one can listen to that one now, at least not from the Pencil Storm link.
4. 1990’S BANDS Are There Any 1990's Bands That Are Still Around? - by JCE — Pencil Storm
This post stinks. The premise was bad, and I got lost halfway through it trying to even figure out myself what point I was trying to make. Yuck. This one is a certified piece of suck. The comments that followed are proof positive that this was just weak. Sorry, Pencil Storm readers.
5. ALBUM COVERS What Makes a Great Album Cover? - by JCE — Pencil Storm
This post isn’t that bad. It is made ever so slightly better by the extra commentary Ricki C. added after each choice. So why don’t I like it? I think because I love so much album cover art. It just wasn’t a good idea to single out five record covers. All my choices are fine, but good God, there have to be 100 better ones based on my mood on any given day. It was just not a great concept. Maybe if I had done 100 of them, but that’s not realistic…..
Well, that’s it. And I will readily acknowledge that there are more than five that probably are a C-minus at best, but no one at Pencil Storm has fired me yet. Again, I want to say that this entire post is written primarily to say thank you to the Pencil Storm editorial board, especially Ricki C. for his help and Colin for allowing me to contribute so heavily, and I know Jeremy puts in a lot of time and effort too. Over a period of almost eight years, and 100 posts later, the above is a list of 14 of them. That means there are another 86 that lie somewhere in between the good and the bad. I hope I write 100 more. Thank you for reading, it means a lot to me.
JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital. He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C. His earliest musical memories are tied to a transistor radio with a single earphone that he carried everywhere listening to AM radio. At this point he still listens to a steady diet of punk, power pop, metal (Faster Pussycat=Yes, Megadeath=No), alt country and anything that has plenty of good guitar and drums. Oh, and he has an ever-growing collection of about 150 vintage skateboards.