2011-2012 NHL Colors Scales Super Turbo Bonus Edition: The Rejects

If you actually read all the crap that I wrote then you know that there were several colors retired before the start of the 2011-2012 season. Instead of just dumping them into a lonely pit of silly names and broken dreams I compiled them into a single sad block.

And here is it, with all the glory of a Wheatley designed test chamber, the rejects of 2011:

Nashville has totally eschewed silver this season, and having seen the gold jerseys we should all be grateful. I couldn't picture actually look at another human being in direct light without being afraid of severe retinal damage due to the combination of silver and eye-bleed banana peel gold. Still, at least no one has to worry about the eye twisting purple and gold combo. I was under the impression that outside of film buffs everyone was glad that the 80s had died, but for some reason hockey fans pine for the NHL equivalent of leg warmers and Miami Vice. We also got to witness True North taking the Thrashers colors out back and shootin'em right in their cutely named hues. 

Oh, the Islanders also retired a color but no one cared.

If at any point some color seems off or flat out wrong, then please don't bother emailing me. My goal is to stick this little scale here for my own entertainment, and since the colors are retired I'm not terribly concerned with perfect accuracy. Thanks

2011-2012 NHL Color Scales: Red & Blue

And so we have reached the final color scale. I do plan on releasing all of these on a single page so that people can have them or fiddle with them or whatever it is that people do when they are downloading pictures off the internet. Today we have the two largest scales in the Red and the Blue scales. People often talk about how overused these colors are in the league and this pair of scales really demonstrates how extensive the use of blue and red really are. It isn't terribly surprising since blue and red are often tested as the two most popular colors in the world. In case you're curious, orange is often picked as the least appealing color, go figure. If this is your first time looking at these scales I invite you to go back and take a look at the first two entries for the rest of the the scales in the series: Green, Purple, & Natural and Orange, Silver, & Gold.

And since both of these are so long, you can find them both after the bump if you navigated here via the main page.

2011-2012 NHL Color Scales: Orange, Silver, & Gold

Ok, time for the second round of color scales. As the scales get longer things get more interesting as you can see what has been added and dropped for the start of the new season. The three that I'm posting today consist of the Orange, Silver/Gray, and Gold scales. If this is your first time here then I want to point you back towards the first entry where you can find part one of the series.

EDIT: It just occurred to me that the Islanders haven't unveiled their new third jerseys. If there is one team in this league that I'm not going to wait on it would be the New York Islanders. If there were two teams it would be them and the Red Wings. I stuck this edit here because the jersey is supposed to include grey, which would fall on the silve scale.

Orange Scale:

So, I lied a little bit because not much happened in the world of Orange. Really the only change that we have is that the redish toned orange that the Flyers have employed since 1999-2000 has been totally retired in favor of the brighter orange from the heydays of the franchise (or the years when they won those shiny Cups).

2011-2012 NHL Color Scales: Green, Purple (sort of), & Natural Tones

Back in December of 2010 I sequestered myself in my apartment for an entire weekend working on a single, time consuming project. Granted the only difference between that weekend and my typical weekend is that I spent less time sprawled on my office floor mumbling the lyrics to Off With Their Heads songs. Still, it was an incredible fulfilling project that several people got very excited about but was ultimately ignored until someone did the same thing only with a pretty but useless presentation that got linked on Puck Daddy. Ultimately I found myself undaunted and moved ahead with updating my color scales for the 2011-2012 season. Now that all of my somewhat pretentious angst is out of the way I can go ahead and start breaking out the scales.

If at any point some color seems off or flat out wrong, then please email me at puckandpunk [at] gmail [dot] com. My goal is make this as accurate as possible and I'm always happy to accept input. Thanks

Austin Lucas Needs Your Help

If you don't follow Austin Lucas on twitter, then you may not know that someone sold him a shitty van that is now all broke like. He says the read differential needs to be rebuilt. I don't know what that is, but it sounds complicated and expensive. Austin is accepted donations in exchange for some live recordings from his most recent tour. I really encourage you to offer any little bit you can so that I can get back to doing what he does best. I met him just a few days ago and really enjoyed his company and his attitude. If you'd like a point of reference I reviewed his latest album just a little while ago.

http://t.co/hC2sDad

Don't use Facebook? Then you can donate via Paypal by sending your donation to the follow email address: blownamps [at] hotmail [dot] com

*and I really hope that link works...

More Bargain Contracts From the Nashville Predators

There has been an ongoing series over at NBC Sports’ ProHockeyTalk where James O’Brien takes a look at each NHL team’s best bargain contracts. The only two players that made the cut for the Nashville Predators were Pekka Rinne and Ryan Suter who next season will be making $3.4 million and $3.5 million dollars respectively. Clearly both of these are extremely talented hockey players. What is also clear is that they both only have a single season left on their contracts are due sizable raises when the 2012 offseason arrives. Those aren’t the only bargain contracts on the Predators roster, and I am hardly surprised that Mr. O’Brien overlooked some of Poile’s deft signings. 

Friday Music: Most of the good bits were about frogs, I remember that

I am so happy that the bulk of the Webergeddon (Weber Watch, Sheananigans) stuff is all behind the Predators now. But this has been a fairly shitty week as far as I'm concerned, so I'm just going to let the reviews take over.

Aficionado – Self Titled (iTunes Link)

I have to say that the energy and excitement surrounding this album drove me to make the purchase. I’m fond of the indie + punk rock sound, and from what I’d heard, that was exactly what Aficionado were serving. Right off the bat I’m going to let you know that the band’s eponymously titled debut is a good album. What it is not is a great album. That may prove to be fortuitous because Aficionado has a lot of room to grow and really wow people whenever they record and release a sophomore album. The thing I love most about the record is the guitar work. The entire album is packed with soaring guitar riffs that are just too energetic and alive to be compared to metal. I instantly thought of a less technical Fang Island, which makes sense with Fang Island being an instrumental band. I’m not entirely sold on the inclusion of the keyboard. Frequently the keys are used to support the melody and it sounds wonderful. Other times the keys try to make themselves known and it just sounds forced. The other thing is the flute. I saw all sorts of people talking about the flute. There is one song on the album with a flute part, and it is pointless. The melody during the bridge of “Everything Was Right” is wholly given over to the flute, and the flute sounds totally out of place and weak. It strikes me as being somewhere between a gimmick and pointless addition.

 I am found of the vocal work. Nick Warchol puts up some really great vocal work that is reminiscent of an American Frank Turner. Laura Carrozza sings what I guess you would call back-up vocals. She takes the lead on a few songs, but gets overpowered the second Warchol joins in. This could be due to a difference in loudness of the vocals or it could be due to the mixing, but it works. Laura’s more melodic tones are pleasant and contract nicely with Nick’s voice. Finally, the band really shines lyrically and compositionally when they slow things down. It may be because there seems to be a greater emphasis on the lyrics or possibly because Laura and Nick can play off one another better at a slower tempo. All things considered Aficionado put out a solid album, and I could see them having a bright future.




Aficionado:EOAYSDF from brighterlightsmedia on Vimeo.



Larry & His Flask – All That We Know (iTunes Link)

You can’t just sit down and write a review for Larry & His Flask. Every song that the band performs is meant to be heard and experienced in a live setting. When you record that music you lose an important element of what makes the band what they are. But I would in no one deny that “All That We Know” does not do its absolute best to capture the raucous spirit of the band. L&HF belong to the same general family as Old Man Markley and Mischief Brew. All of the band’s songs are punk-infused bluegrass romps paired with lyrics that are part Americana, gothic and part drawn from the diaries of free-roaming rapscallions. There is lots of shared vocal duties, but guitarist Ian Cook handles most of the leads. What the band can guarantee is that they will do their best to sweep you up in their stories and carry                
                                                      you dancing into the night.

Since I’ve had the privilege of seeing Larry & His Flask live I wanted to touch on the band in their element. They were touring with Streetlight Manifesto, and I have to say I’m grateful that they were first band on that night. If there had not been a buffer band between the two I think Streetlight risked getting shown up that night. The boys on stage were certainly a unit, it seemed like they could switch around instruments at will without losing a beat. Well, to be honest they did exchange instruments regularly without a drop in skill or intensity. Within the first thirty seconds the entire crowd was into the set, and for the last five minutes the band was into the crowd. Literally. The final song found the whole band intermingled with the crowed dancing, playing, and singing. It was a wild good time, and I imagine that the remnants of my memories of the show enhance my enjoyment of the album.

This song features Andrew Carew on lead vocals. The crazy bearded man with the guitar is Ian.

Call it What You Will - Larry and His Flask (Music Video) from Wes Coughlin on Vimeo.