The Umbrella Academy

So it’s been a while since my last post. So much for spending this time at home writing more. Honestly since the craziness began, it’s been difficult at times and I haven’t felt as inspired to write as I normally do. I did plan on another album review a few weeks ago, but the album release was postponed until next month. Look for that in the coming weeks. However, I didn’t want another month to go by without making at least one post and the second season release of one of my favorite series on Netflix made for some perfect timing.

During my flight to Coachella last year, I began watching a Netflix series about a family of superheroes based on the comic book series of the same name created and written by My Chemical Romance front man Gerard Way. The series is called The Umbrella Academy. Since watching the entire first season last spring, I’ve been anticipating season two. It filmed last year and was scheduled to debut this summer. Thankfully, even with the world wide crisis of 2020, it’s still coming out on time aka TOMORROW! You could actually say the second season of the series debuts at midnight tonight. I can’t wait to watch!

The story of The Umbrella Academy begins on October 1, 1989 when 43 women around the world gave birth simultaneously despite not showing any signs of pregnancy until labor. Seven of these children were adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, a very wealthy man, and turned into a team of superheroes called The Umbrella Academy. Each of the children are named as numbers by Hargreeves, but received regular names from their robot mother.

The series begins in present time and shows the current lives of the Hargreeves children, but routinely flashes backwards (and forwards because time travel is a part of the series) to tell the story of how the superheroes came to be. The story also develops to where the Hargreeves are headed, which seems to be certain doom. Without revealing any major spoilers, the first season ends with the apocalypse and the season that begins tonight should pick up with the Hargreeves going back in time to find out a way to stop the apocalypse from happening.

The Umbrella Academy is packed with an all-star cast of Tom Hopper as Number One/Luther, David Castañeda as Number Two/Diego, Emmy Raver-Lampman as Number Three/Allison, Robert Sheehan as Number Four/Klaus, Aidan Gallagher as Number Five, Justin H. Min as Number Six/Ben, and Ellen Page as Number Seven/Vanya. The cast also includes Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, Kate Walsh, and Colm Feore among others. The series was created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater. Gerard Way is also one of the executive producers of the series.

I’ve always been a fan of Sci-Fi/Fantasy films and television series involving superheroes and super powers from Marvel films to Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers so when I saw this series on Netflix before I left for Coachella last year, it was a no-brainer to download the first few episodes to watch. I watched every episode I downloaded on my way to California and downloaded the rest for my trip home, again watching each one. It’s kind of a bummer that I don’t have a flight to be on to binge watch the new season this time around, but I’m glad to have the free time to do it anyway. I went in blindly to season one, not knowing anything about the series aside from the fact that it looked pretty cool. The same is true for season two. I haven’t read any previews nor do I know what to expect. I’m just overall excited to watch the Hargreeves in action again after becoming a huge fan of The Umbrella Academy. I feel like I haven’t been hyped on many Netflix/TV series in a while except this one so if that says anything to how much I think you should check this show out, then take my word for it right now and check this show out. If you’re still sitting around with not much to do like I am, it’s worth a watch. Even if you’re busy, make some time this month because it’s sure to be an action packed second season.

So again….tonight! Midnight! Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy! Catch you on the stream!

Coachella Band Preview: Emo Nite

So January is almost over. Just like that, there’s 1 month down and 2 to go until Coachella. I hope you’ve been listening to your favorite artists or maybe some new ones you want to check out. There’s a handful of artists I’m pretty stoked to see this year, but I’m also pretty excited about checking out an act that I might not have to do much preparation for. That act is Emo Nite.

Emo Nite started in LA in late 2014. It began when friends Babs Szabo, T.J. Petracca, and Morgan Freed wanted to host an emo themed bar party with their friends. The friends initially met and bonded over their love of emo music and growing up in the emo/pop-punk scene. They made a facebook group for their event and 500 people showed up. They tried again and the same thing happened. A lot of people love emo music so Emo Nite became a thing.

Over the past 5 years it has began touring around the country and playing other festivals like Life Is Beautiful and Firefly to name a few. The group has recruited guest DJs from emo and pop punk bands to come to Emo Nite like Blink-182’s Travis Barker, All Time Low, Good Charlotte, The All-American Rejects, Circa Survive’s Anthony Green, and Andrew McMahon of Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, and Andrew McMahon and the Wilderness. They’ve even had non-emo artists like Halsey and Post Malone come out.

I’ve been to emo nights before (I’ve actually gone to 3 over the last year!), but never the official Emo Nite. I’m stoked to go at Coachella though. After the hype and rumors surrounding My Chemical Romance playing Coachella this year and then ultimately the band not being on the lineup, I think Emo Nite will help fulfill that void for everyone who expected to sing “Welcome to the Black Parade” with Gerard Way. Also this is Emo Nite at Coachella, a festival synonymous with epic guest appearances. I think we’ll be in for some great surprises at their set. Maybe a member or two of My Chemical Romance shows up? Or who knows who could be there? It’s definitely not worth it to sleep on Emo Nite though, especially if you were ever a fan of emo music.

I can’t even come up with a great guess on when or where Emo Nite will be. I would guess either Gobi or Mojave. I would also hope in the evening, but I think set time/stage possibilities really depend on what’s going to happen at Emo Nite and that we won’t know until the schedule comes out in the days before Weekend 1. Emo Nite is a tough one to prep for because let’s be honest, you’re only going to Emo Nite if you like/liked emo music and if you do or did, you’ve probably spent most of your teenage years prepping. Instead of giving you a bunch of songs to listen to, I’m gonna leave you with some bands you’ll probably hear at Emo Nite. Prep if you want, re-visit some of your favorite songs, or show up and have all the old lyrics come rushing back to you. Do whatever you want except don’t sleep on Emo Nite!

1. Dashboard Confessional
2. Brand New
3. Taking Back Sunday
4. Fall Out Boy
5. Panic! At the Disco
6. My Chemical Romance
7. All Time Low
8. Something Corporate
9. Green Day
10. Blink-182
11. Good Charlotte
12. Simple Plan
13. The Starting Line
14. Forever the Sickest Kids
15. Bayside
16. Jimmy Eat World
17. Saves the Day
18. Say Anything
19. The Get Up Kids
20. Death Cab For Cutie