Now that’s Italian!

Clarks Summit resident joins EOTC Board

First Posted: 12/22/2013 Here we are at the end of 2013. On many levels, my article this week is a celebration &#8211; it&#8217;s my final article of the year, it&#8217;s an overdue yearly celebration of the column, it&#8217;s the holidays, etc. We can recollect our favorite memories over the last year in both a great year of music and as my first year as a music journalist of sorts, or we can sit around and wait wide-eyed for what 2014 has in store for us. I&#8217;ll try to briefly do both.
We were fortunate to have a great year of music. New music came out from all over the world to bring us some of my favorite records in recent memory (Milk Music&#8217;s &#8220;Cruise Your Illusion,&#8221; Demolition&#8217;s &#8220;World Gone Mad,&#8221; and Balance and Composure&#8217;s &#8220;The Things We Think We&#8217;re Missing,&#8221; among others), and more importantly, we were able to bring all of those bands plus more to the area. Milk Music and Merchandise played in Taylor at the Underwood Skatepark after not being able to reach the former due to lack of a cell phone, Demolition rocked Glen Lyon along with Intent and others, which was one of my favorite shows of the year, and Balance and Composure graced us with their presence at Title Fight&#8217;s Ten Year show, also in Glen Lyon.
We lost one of my favorite bands, United Youth, but were able to hear them play their namesake song four times before they left us. West Side Park returned itself to glory, being the host of the majority of 2013&#8217;s shows. Title Fight was able to put the Revelation Records star on the back of a 7-inch. All of this happened &#8211; and in under 365 days.
We&#8217;ve also already been lucky that a string of shows for early next year have been announced that will be discussed at more length next year (January 16 at West Side Park with Freedom, Social Damage, Life Of Reilly, Single Me Out, and Griswald; February 13 at West Side Park with Turnstile, Diamond Youth, Angel Du$t, Blind Justice, Shorthand, and Noise Pet; and February 24 at West Side Park with Backtrack, Xibabla, Downpresser, Not Til Death, and Haze), but those are just some of the many things that are awaiting us.
New records from Life of Reilly, Stick Together, Dead End Path, and Cold World are all scheduled to drop next year, plus there has already been some tracks laid down in the Demo Studio for another crop of new bands.
As always, I&#8217;d like to encourage everyone to take hold of the energy going on. Come to a show and check out a new band, meet some new people and start a band, bring a band that you enjoy to town, release the music of a band you like, or write down your thoughts and put out your own zine. Let 2014 be a year of unmatched creativity and support from Northeast Pa.
I&#8217;d like to thank you for being along for the ride with me this year. I&#8217;ve been able to share not only current events, but my own thoughts, and I couldn&#8217;t be happier that you are here reading it. Here&#8217;s to 2014.

BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS: 2013 a great year for music