Since that 2007 Warped Tour appearance, the band has released their debut album, So, Wrong, It’s Right last September, and the album reached the upper regions of the Billboard Top 200 albums chart and has consistently sold records since its release. The band is lead by hit alt-rock radio singles “Dear Maria, Count Me In,” and “Six Feet Under The Stars.”

The band recently played the Jimmy Kimmel show and is a fixture on the college-leaning mtvU channel, which we are told actually plays videos instead of that Tila Tequila show. The band’s video for “Dear Maria” has been viewed over 2 million times on mtvU and on their MySpace page.

The band has a very busy schedule coming up. The band recently finished a UK tour with Cobra Starship, and are doing some headlining dates before hooking back up with the Warped Tour on July 23^rd, where they will play through the end of the festival. The band will also play on the mtvU’s Video Music Awards Tour, with Katy Perry and Boys Like Girls. But in the meantime, the band will hit the road with Valencia and Hit The Lights in what will be a night for their brand of emo-leaning alt-rock when it hits St. Andrew’s Hall this Wednesday (July 16^th). So, go and check out one of 2008’s sleeper success stories as All Time Low hits an appearance before they get back out on the massive stages of the Warped Tour.

All Time Low will be at St. Andrews Hall on Wednesday, July 16^th. Tickets are $15 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates can be found at www.alltimelow.com.

The band will be on the road on this tour through July 27^th before some random European dates before the shows in September. So, if you want to see if the band can live up to some of those “Behind The Music” stories on tour, check out Edison Glass at the Stick.

Edison Glass will open for The Working Title at the Magic Stick on Tuesday, July 15^th. Tickets are $10 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates can be found at www.myspace.com/edisonglass.

So Speed Racer didn't get much love upon release and I don't get it. I'm no Speed Racer fan, having never seen a single complete episode in any incarnation so I can't compare them. I enjoyed all of the Matrix films (of course they went downhill after the first one, but I still dig all the action). V for Vendetta was a great movie. So you see, I don't hate the Wachowski Bros. NO, I'm not gonna spew gushing amounts of love for Speed Racer all over you readers, but I really don't see why it has been slammed by so many critics and reviewers. Sure, the story is a little thin, but it IS based on a Japanese cartoon. And anything that has a chimpanzee as a main character is not going to require a whole lot of brainpower to enjoy. In fact, I think the Wachowski's only real flaw was to try and add too much seriousness to a film that should have been just a wild romp through a cartoon world.

Speed Racer succeeds in blending cartoon with live action. Blending may be the wrong term. The world of Speed Racer is brought to life in all of it's garishly bright, psychedelic hyper reality cheesiness. But it works, seriously. The races are phenomenal. The tracks are otherworldly with twists and turns and jumps and weapons and helicopters and spikes and etc, etc. Not only do these cars race along the tracks, they use “Car-Fu,” as it has been dubbed, utilizing the aforementioned weapons and acrobatics to try and knock each other out of the race. The cars themselves are just bad ass. Imagine some of the more “interesting” designs of Hot Wheels that you have seen on steroids. Spiked balls, oil slicks, tire blades are just a few of the modifications these cars have.

What can you say about a cast that includes Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, and Christina Ricci? All I can say is that all of them were upstaged by Paulie Litt as Spritle, Speed's younger brother. This kid hams it up in every scene and while he's being goofy as hell, he seems older than his thirteen years. I swear, he makes the price of admission worth it alone, especially if you see it at the “dollar show” as I did.

At times the story seems a little simplistic and yet, at others over complicated. Let me explain. For the most part Speed Racer is the story of one kid who just wants to race. It's all he knows how to do. It's all his entire family does. So he races and races and (Spoiler alert?) wins the big race (No surprise there, right?). Where Speed Racer tries to be mature is the idea that all the races are fixed and that it's all about Big Business. I understand what the Wachowski's were trying to do, I just think that Speed Racer isn't the film to do it in. Speed should just be pure fun through and through, nothing else. Especially with the style they chose for the film.

I tell you, at the very least, Speed Racer will be worth the price of the DVD or Blu-Ray if you were only to use it as a test for any home theater system. With bright colors, a booming soundtrack and hardcore CG, it will put your system to the test.

The band’s summer tour is their biggest to date, as the band heads to summer sheds for the first time as a headliner. The tour starts today (July 7^th) in Chicago and comes to Freedom Hill in Sterling Heights tomorrow (July 8th). Expect the band to unleash material from “The Meanest Of Times” and as well as aptly titled fan favorites as “The Spicy McHaggis Jig” and “Kiss Me, I’m S—faced.” The tour runs through July 26^th before the band heads to Europe for the end of summer festival circuit.

The band is bringing along a name from the punk past, as they bring 90s punk superstars the Mighty Mighty Bosstones along with them, who are back after their 2004 break. The band has prepped a few new songs for the tour, as well as some of the songs that put them on the map as well. If you’re in a mood for s---kicking music and green beer (yes, you heard me right; Freedom Hill is plugging the fact that they are selling green beer that night), check out the Dropkick Murphys heading our way.

The Dropkick Murphys play Freedom Hill on Tuesday, July 8^th. Tickets range from $20 to $36 and are available at www.ticketmaster.com. Additional dates can be found at www.dropkickmurphys.com.