The Lemonheads at the Trocadero in Philadelphia

I used to play The Lemonhead’s first three albums endlessly when I was a DJ at my college radio station in the late ’80s, so you could say I’ve been a fan of the band for ages.
My wife would leave me in a heartbeat for Evan Dando if she had the opportunity. She’s seen him perform solo a handful of times but I shudder at the thought of watching him sing Mrs. Robinson so I never had the urge to see him live until I heard he was teaming up with Karl Alvarez and Bill Stevenson of the almighty Decendents.

The Troc was pretty empty so we had no trouble walking right up to the stage. After the show we waited in the alley backstage with one other super-fan (also named Matt) and got to meet the hunk himself. My wife is still grinning.

How was the show? fine I guess. I expected more from their earlier punkier albums because of the new members, but no such luck. Evan’s voice has really held up well over the years even though his years of drug abuse have wreaked a bit havoc on his good looks.

If you haven’t heard the newest album (self titled from 2006) then take the time to give it a listen- it’s actually quite good with a sound that fits perfectly between the early punk stuff and the later pop stuff.

UPDATE: The other Matt in the picture made it onto spin.com, along with other pics from the Philly show.

National energy bill passes but PA’s still on hold

First the good news: I didn’t think it would ever happen, but Bush is expected to sign a Democratic-sponsored environmental bill sometime today. The bill will require that all auto fleets meet an average fuel economy of 35 mpg by the year 2020.

A lot of naysayers believe it will further hurt US automakers, but I disagree.

The bill will also require increased production of ethanol, which according to a lot of evidence isn’t much of a great thing. Congress also left intact most of the tax credits for big oil companies to the pleasure of the Bush administration.

One part of the bill that really got me excited is the bicycle commuter act, which would essentially rewards bike commuters with tax credits. It made it through the House but not the Senate version. No word on whether its included in the final bill- I’ll have to do some more digging.

Now the bad:

PA governor Ed Rendell’s sponsored energy bill is getting scaled-down by state Republican Senators. The Republican actually isn’t all that bad, it just doesn’t go far enough. The funny thing is, they stripped all ethanol requirements out of Rendell’s bill, even though he promised a veto without the ethanol requirement.

On the same topic, I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on alternative fuels and hybrid cars, since the ol’ VW Passat is getting a little worn out and will need to be replaced in the next few years.

I read AutoblogGreen daily and have been learning a lot about hybrid and clean diesel vehicles. I’ve been leaning toward the new Saturn Vue hybrid which is rumored to have a plug-in option available in the next few years, then I laid eyes on this beauty from Nissan. Its just a concept car now, but man, for a minivan, its pretty schweet.

Just leave me alone

50th Street @ Baltimore Avenue & Whitby Avenue, West Philly.

Another brewery confirmed for Philly

This time in the Mount Airy section, right on Germantown Ave. Cool!

Foobooz even has a shot of the building, which looks pretty small to me.

More from Jack Curtin and the Beeryard:

Tom Baker told The Beer Yard this morning that the brewpub he and wife/[partner Peggy Zwerver promised to open when they shut down Heavyweight Brewing last year will be located on Germantown Avenue in the Mt. Airy section of Philadelphia and that he hopes to open the doors by the end of March 2008.

“We have a signed lease and will be moving our equipment into place as soon as possible,” Baker said. “We also plan to relocate our residence to the area and hope to become a part of the neighborhood and a destination site for beer lovers.”

The new pub, to be named Earth. Bread & Brewery will feature flatbread and Baker’s beers, along with guest craft beers. “We have a full liquor license but won’t use that right off the bat. We’ll take things slow and get them right.”

Earth, Bread & Brewery will be located at 7136 Germantown Avenue, a few blocks south of McMenamin’s Tavern.