PorchDrinking Playlist & Event Preview | WinterWonderGrass Festival

This upcoming weekend marks the sixth annual WinterWonderGrass Festival. It is also the bluegrass festival’s second year in the town of Steamboat Springs in Northern Colorado.

This three-day outdoor festival is sold-out and attendees can expect performances from Elephant Revival, Leftover Salmon, Greensky Bluegrass, Yonder Mountain String Band, Lil Smokies and many more bands and artists. There are 22 bands in total comprising this year’s Colorado lineup! Below is a run down of the event as well as a playlist for those heading up to Steamboat for some music and beer. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree

I’m a strict “No Christmas Until After Thanksgiving” kind of guy. I threaten to fire employees, yell loudly when I hear the faint jingling of bells, and I materialize as the physical embodiment of “Bah Humbug” until Santa’s sleigh arrives with the Macy’s Day Parade. While some of my fervor may be out of respect for Thanksgiving (a very underrated bacchanalian holiday where the goal is to hang out with those close to you and consume things like you were an H2 on a road trip), I also get really sick of Christmas music. Living in LA it feels wrong walking outside singing “Let It Snow” when it is 90 degrees out on Thanksgiving. In case you are wondering, that was not hyperbole—it was 90 degrees on Thanksgiving this year.
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PorchDrinking Playlist | Don’t Burn the Turkey

It is about that time when even the individuals lacking cooking skills attempt to get in the kitchen and whip up something for their loved ones on Thanksgiving. If you are the host this year, first of all props to you! Everyone loves and appreciates you. Now, if you are a guest and would rather not make everyone pretend they are enjoying your dish, do not worry! Bring over some unique beers with a calming playlist to match. Celebrating a variety of individuals gathering at a table to give thanks and consume a delicious meal inspired this playlist. I have always enjoyed listening to a variety of genres and I hope you will too. This playlist may even set such a relaxing, easy going mood to help any stressed host from burning the turkey.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | GABF Edition

Get ready, beer lovers! It’s GABF week and in honor of the great host city of Denver, we’ve put together of a playlist featuring some of Denver’s best bands as well as some classic live recordings from Denver’s most famous venue: Red Rocks Amphitheater. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Summer Road Trip

Maybe you have already been on a road trip this summer, but if you haven’t yet, this playlist suits the road well. Turn it on, turn it up and cruise along! It’s only August, and there is still plenty of weekends before summer ends to get out there and enjoy a quick getaway. Even if you aren’t planning anymore getaways this summer—this is a good playlist for a weekend spent hanging out or, hell, do I even mention doing chores?! Nah, go do something way more fun than chores and take this set of songs along with you. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Brew Gentlemen

Braddock, Pennsylvania was once a thriving borough in Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs, but the decline of the steel industry in the 1980s forced businesses to close and people to leave. Today, there are still more empty storefronts than occupied ones, but in the former electrical supply store at 512 Braddock Avenue, the lights are on and business is bustling. That building is now occupied by Brew Gentlemen, and this brewery is definitely drawing visitors to Braddock.
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PorchDrinking Playlist | Jesus Christ Pose

Feature image courtesy of SoundGardenWorld.com.

The morning of May 18, 2017 started out like most mornings usually do. I generally wake up early, take a quick shower and get ready for the day (never forgetting to brew a fresh pot of coffee). However, this day turned out to be significantly unusual for this music lover. Jumping into the daily morning Facebook feed, I read a startling comment from a fellow music lover. She mentioned in a post that she “never thought [she] would write down these words until [she] was much older.” I didn’t even read the entire post. I knew if this friend was heartbroken, I was going to be affected in some way too. I jumped to my news app and instantly swiped past the Trump news of the day to the shocking news of Chris Cornell’s ‘sudden and unexpected’ death following a show in Detroit just hours before. This was such a punch in the gut! Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Windows Down, Volume Up

The transcendental experience provided by the combination of a sweet summer, sun-kissed breeze and the right song is surreal. It calms. It centers. It also energizes and inspires. In a month dominated by big beer buyouts, political turmoil and the sad, unexpected death of Chris Cornell; it’s easy to get lost in all of life’s difficulties. Well, forget all that for a bit. Get in the car, find an open road, don some shades, feel the breeze and listen to some road tunes picked by a few PorchDrinking.com writers and editors.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | An Ode to Summer Movie Season

Featured image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

It’s funny how Hollywood has decided that the best time to release their biggest, CGI-fueled blockbusters is during the season when the weather is finally nice enough that you actually want to go outside. I blame Los Angeles’ eternal summer for Hollywood’s ignorance of seasons. But, here we are in early May, and as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 gets our Baby Groots dancing, let’s take a moment to pay tribute to one of the great American pastimes: the hit soundtrack song. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Spring Storms

Photo Credit: Mathew Powers: Campo, Colorado tornado (2010). 

No place on Earth enjoys conditions more conducive for tornadoes than the U.S. It’s not even close. And, late April into June marks the peak of tornado season. Music, like severe weather, masterfully pieces otherwise chaotic components into an orderly, harmonious sensory delight. Both can evoke feelings of tranquility or make one’s heart beat rapidly.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Mraz Brewing Company

Featured photo courtesy of Mraz Brewing Company.

For this PorchDrinking Playlist we reached out to one of our favorite California natives, Mike Mraz, owner and head brewer for Mraz Brewing Company in El Dorado Hills, CA. We had the pleasure to meet Mike a few years back during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO. It was a wonderful experience to walk the great halls of the Colorado Convention Center with such a knowledgeable master of beer. An expert craftsman showing us the way was both thrilling and a tad bit intimidating. Mike welcomed us into his crew for the weekend, resulting in an adventurous time. The following year we hung out again, inspiring a portion of our Are You GABF Experienced? playlist. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Be Kind, Rewind (A New Year’s Resolution Check-In)

How has 2017 been treating you so far? I think it has been a pretty rockin’ year. I fully expected 2017 to commence in a far more miserable fashion judging by the speed at which people determinedly blotted out the remainder of 2016 with an impressively steady flow of champagne. To my (personal) pleasant surprise, even the hangovers in 2017 appear to have resolutions which I’m convinced have something to do with showing a little bit of mercy. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Stickman Brews

Featured photo credit: Stickman Brews

It’s no secret that Ethan Buckman of Stickman Brews is one of my favorite figures in Pennsylvania beer. His open fermented, style-defying beers are delicious and inventive, and Ethan himself is an all around good dude. When I bothered him in the middle of a work day to ask about his brewhouse music selections, he responded quickly and enthusiastically.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Neon Noir

Featured image photo credit: 280steps.com

It’s almost time to thaw yourself out from the dark depths of winter and spring ahead to the synths and sunshine of the futuuuure! From what I’ve heard, the future is filled with all things groovy, galactic and…totally tubular?  You heard right! The 80’s are working their righteous way back into our ears with a retro-futuristic fusion of neon noir. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | When Irish Eyes are Smiling

St. Patrick’s Day is upon us. A day where you celebrate Irish heritage by getting drunk enough to exhibit all the worst stereotypes of Eire: unhinged drunkenness, hot-tempers, and boiled-based cuisine. You’ve probably attended one of the many different St. Patrick’s days where smaller towns hold their own parades to give pipe and drum bands some practice before the main event already. As such, you’re slowly starting to remember the transitions in Celtic Symphony. Maybe you even remembered that the chorus is “Up the RA” and not “Up their ass.” PorchDrinking wants to make sure you enter this festive season with the right tunes. Because of this, they have bestowed this sacred duty to their resident potatoey-looking writer. Read More

PorchDrinking Playlist | Best of 2017 (So Far)

Feature photo credit: Symphonicdistribution.com

When we first met, we had very different tastes in music. One of us comes from the tail end of the 80’s rock scene, rooting firmly in the 90’s grunge and alternative music of his high school years. The other preferred the popular artists of the 90-00’s, pretty much a trendy Billboard Top 100 girl. Looking back on the old days, it’s interesting how much influence we have had on each other. She took him to his first Iron Maiden concert. He broke down and attended a Tim McGraw concert. Together, these two opposites opened up a whole world of possibilities.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Music in the Movies 2016 Edition

Award season is upon us. We are a couple weeks removed from the Golden Globes, and the Academy Award Nominations were just announced. 2016 was an amazing year for music in movies. From the awards-darling La La Land (nominated for a record tying 14 Oscars), to the uber charming and my favorite movie of the year Sing Street, the movies of 2016 produced some extremely streamable music.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Why’d You Have to Make It Weird?

Your social awkwardness has never done you any favors. In school, you were a wallflower and too scared to ask someone to dance. The cool kids and their brazen self-confidence make you unsure of yourself in conversation, as you try to put on an air of coolness for their benefit. Even the best of us have gotten nervous and spurted out word vomit, which inevitably elicits the question, “Why’d you have to make it weird?”

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Fuzzy Sock Moonwalk

As I approached mile 3,000 on my seemingly never ending cross-county road trip, the novelty of bumping to an infinite playlist of my favorite sounds had sadly worn off. Just as mesmerizing mountains gave way to an endless expanse of less than captivating flatness, my treasured playlist suddenly found itself back to ‘Track 1’ … for about the 20th time. I quickly realized two things: one, that I had zero cell service and two, that I had made a huge rookie mistake in thinking that I could solely rely on a single playlist, no matter how fantastic, to get me across the country.

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PorchDrinking Playlist | Summer Sounds 2016

This playlist is dedicated to the sun-kissed skin, beer-filled bellies and music-fed ears of summer! With the help of countless barbecues and beach brews, we’ve had the opportunity to bulk up our seasonal stockpile of sounds. We’ve pulled together a collection of musical discoveries featuring tracks that have caught our ears while soaking up the best of all things under the sun. Read More