#243 (of 365) "Island Ridin'" The So So Glos

5/9/2025

2013 was one of the greatest musical years of my life. And one of the greatest years of my life. I met my partner (of 12 years now) in December 2012 but we didn't officially start dating until the summer of 2013. I sold my house in the suburbs and moved to Hoboken in May of 2013, the best life decision I ever made. I went to Manhattan Beach for the first time in May of 2013 (as part of extended trip to LA), which is now my favorite non-NYC place in the country and I have probably spent at least 50 days there since. And of course, the summer of 2013, I started going to multiple concerts a week, multiple times a month, walking around Hoboken and Manhattan and Brooklyn with the songs of bands I never heard of playing on my iPhone in my headphones, loving what life had become, after way too many years of struggling to finally just do what I wanted to do in life (and be who I wanted to be).

Anyway, one of the songs that reminds me the most of that time is by local NYC/Long Island band So So Glos, more famous perhaps for operating one of the great underground clubs in Brooklyn - Shea Stadium, which was on the 3rd floor of a converted warehouse space in--I want to say Greenpoint? Bushwick? Not sure I remember but it was super tiny, had barely functional bathrooms, and sold beer in cans from coolers. Had a fire escape/balcony where people smoked, and a makeshift stage barely elevated from the fans. So you were right there on top of mostly unknown bands that I somehow discovered and somehow discovered this venue and spent just a boatload of time going to shows here and in similar locations in "deep" Brooklyn (in retrospect, these were never all that far from the L). Fire code violations eventually shut it down and it never came back and So So Glos never really came back either, as far as I know. But for one summer in 2013, they were everything to me.

See me riding all around town
A hungry boy is an angry boy
Island ridin’
No one’s around
An angry boy is a hungry boy

"Island Ridin'" - The So So Glos // Blowout (2013)

(NOTE: The Video below appears to be taken at THE Shea Stadium, with Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes and Desaparecidos) joining in the singing. That place was fucking awesome).