Firstly, I want to start by saying Say Anything killed it. They played an amazing show, had incredible energy, showed great variety in their setlist and played a pretty long set.

This posting is about the ridiculous sound provided by Clutch Cargo. Absolutely shameful. Maxs vocals were hardly audible unless he was in his screaming voice. There was no kick drum, didn't hear a single kick all night unless there were no guitars playing. The guitars were a melded hodgepodge with no discernation between one or another to create a constant buzz with only the bass guitar providing any sense of scaling or chord change. The only instrument which was plainly clear all night was the cymbals. I've heard better sound at the Flint Local 432.

I haven't been out to a show since the Small Brown Bike reunion in Hamtramck over a year ago and I am by no means a music snob(for petes sake three of my favorite bands are Cradle of Filth, Say Anything and Lifetime yet just two weeks ago I picked up the newest Beyonce and Black Eyed Peas and like them very much). I think it's pretty safe to say my tastes span pretty well musically speaking. But I couldn't help but feel how out of touch I was with the crowd at the show. The crowd went off!! It was as if they had no sense of how bad the sound was handled, they just belted all night long and represented Michigan well. I didn't have it in me, I love all the songs they played but still left the show feeling ripped off and completely underwelmed by one of my favorite bands due in no part to their efforts/abilities.

During the last song of the encore Max removed his innerears and I couldn't help but wonder if he was getting a sense of how fucked the mix was. If he did, it didn't show and good on him for keeping on.

They were very gracious as a band throughout the night and I can only hope their next trip to Michigan either includes a different venue such as St.Andrews or at least sound guys with a clue as to how a good mix is accomplished.

-- Posted from my iPhone

First of all, congratulations to Team USA for really stepping up when even many Americans were in doubt of their ability to pull off the victory! Tedesco would of course be strong having been on a winning team before and knowing how to handle the pressure. Dungey is just coming into his own and really showing that he is a long time removed from the SX season which saw him succumb to the verbal taunts and mind games of one Jason Lawrence. Wow was he impressive! Weimer seemed a little frazzled but still put in a good ride for 8th and with the consistency of RD and IT, thats all that was necessary when you add in the problems for many of the other teams. Which brings me to my motivation for writing about the race.

I realize that in a race where national pride is on the line, the usual onslaught of race loser excuses are a bit elevated but really? Everyone commenting on the race saw the race; we all saw Byrne crash and DNF, we saw Reed get a horrible start in the last race. We saw Cairolli's bike twisted into a pretzel before he even reached the first corner. All of those unfortunate events sucked. Bad luck, karma, divine intervention, cosmic misalignment; call it what you will. I call it racing and perseverance by a under-estimated and under-appreciated US team. No self respecting racer would pull the "luck" card. Racing is unpredicatable, thats why you run all of every race. Racers know the deal when they sign up.(The cliche's are getting thick , I know)

Bottom line is this. A race happened. The USA won for the 5th consecutive time.
Congratulations Team USA!
Good race world, see you in Colorado.