Keep cool with summer gear essentials for concerts, more
As of Wednesday, summertime was officially here.
To help with whatever you’ve got planned in the coming months, be it relaxing, heading on vacation or — perhaps most importantly — going to concerts, Rock Music Menu has locked onto some items that are guaranteed to make the heat a lot cooler, literally.
Over the next couple weeks, I’ll be spotlighting necessities for the road, home and everywhere in between to think about picking up for the long hours under the sun or in your climate-controlled world.
This week’s theme is all about heading to the show.
Let’s have a look at the first part of our “Summer Essentials” series for 2023:
RovR RollR Wheeled Cooler
When I was seeking out a cooler for this year’s guide, I wanted to find something that was durable but not an eyesore, functional with a sense of style.
Then I came across two words that sold me on RovR’s wheeled RollR series: “Bear proof.”
What?
There it was, buried way down in the list of attributes, almost like an afterthought: “Bear proof.”
There are even directions that say, “For bear proofing, secure with our Bear Proof Lock on each corner to ensure minimal play between lid and RollR body.”
RovR is the original wheeled rotational molded cooler and its high-end RollR comes in 45-, 60- or 80-quart sizes.
It’s also available in a multitude of colors with fancy names like “glacier,” “chili pepper,” “midnight,” “magic hour” and “moss.”
Key features include high-performance 8-inch puncture-resistant tires, which roll right over sand and obstacles; a dry bin so your food doesn’t get soggy; remarkable ice retention, up to 10 days depending on use; add-ons like a modular fold-out cutting board and dual cup holders, a stash bag for your wallet or keys, an umbrella holder and more.
Looking specifically at the RollR 45, it offers a telescoping handle and expandable wagon bin that can fit a standard beach chair and four-person tent.
It holds 60 cans and 10 pounds of ice, or 40 cans, 10 pounds of ice and four to six bottles of spirits with a removable dry bin installed.
The cooler is a bit weighty, but you don’t notice it one bit with the aforementioned all-terrain tires that are fast, agile and durable.
It’s clear from the unboxing that this is made for more than just the sports complex asphalt. Take it down the shore, up the mountains and on the trails.
You can even hitch it directly to your bike so that it goes where you do.
Back to the whole “bear proof” thing.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I’m headed down to the Linc next month to tailgate before the Luke Combs’ show, I’m less worried about bears and more my buddy Phil getting into the cooler before the rest of us get back to our parking spot and find there’s no Yuengling or burgers left.
So, I think the RollR will do just fine. Paw your way to rovrproducts.com for more information.
Purist Maker bottle
Purist is the Bay Areabased creator of innovative hydration bottles, founded on the principle of designing bottles without a hint of taste, be it a metallic tinge or hint of last week’s coffee.
Thanks to innovative technology paired with inspiration from the natural world, and inspired by the lotus effect, the brand has created a process that transforms silicon dioxide into a flawless glass-like interior that promises to be unbreakable.
The resulting material resists any aftertaste so that no matter the liquid, each sip is as pure as the next.
I tried out the 10 ounce Maker series, which is double-wall vacuum insulated, features a surgical grade stainless inner, is leak proof and keeps liquids a serious 12 hours hot or 24 hours cold depending on lid style.
The lid style I used was the all-new “Scope” top, which Purist boasts as “the best bottle cap ever made.”
With one twist, the top opens so you can sip from any angle with ease.
There’s also a weird added bonus where liquids interact with the surface differently and carbonated beverages won’t foam as much when poured into the bottle.
This makes novices and the ham-fisted among us look like mixologists when serving up beers or soda.
And in addition to the 10-ounce Maker, Purist offers an 18-ounce Mover and 32 ounce Founder, all in a variety of colors.
Sip up to puristcollective.com to see all the different colors and sizes.
Eargasm High Fidelity Earplugs
We’ve covered some of the pre-concert necessities above, but what about taking care of yourself once you get inside the venue?
If you’re a music lover who came up in the generation of “If it’s too loud, you’re too old,” you may be saying, “Huh?” more often than, “Turn it down!” these days.
That’s because rock concerts typically push about 110 to 120 decibels, which is decidedly not good when the Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organization recommend maintaining environmental noises below 70 decibels over 24 hours to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
Earplugs are a must if you go to shows with any regularity, but you don’t want to compromise your listening experience by sticking those foam nubs in your ears or fumble around with allegedly “high tech” items that aren’t easy to figure out once the lights go down.
The brand Eargasm has been around for nearly a decade, and in an era of “here today, gone by lunch,” that counts for something.
The goal of the company was to provide hearing protection that would allow people to suppress the sound but not muffle it, thereby enriching the experience by lowering the volume while creating a sonically safe environment.
Eargasm High Fidelity Earplugs keep the noise to a minimum, but you can still hear people talking and hear music with clarity.
The earplugs are a clear, discreet design that’s almost invisible to others and are made with hypoallergenic soft silicone. They can be worn comfortably for hours on end without becoming aggravating.
And if not losing something as small as a pair of earplugs sounds daunting, they come with a lightweight aluminum case with a keyring for easy transport.
The noise reduction rating for the earplugs is 16 decibels.
They come with standard-size shells and smaller-size shells and for those with smaller ears, there’s even a branded Eargasm Smaller Ears Earplugs.
The default color option for the filter is blue, but there’s also clear, gold, pink, a rainbow-colored Pride Edition, Lollapalooza Edition, Outside Lands Edition and Electric Forest Edition.
Follow the soundwaves over to eargasm.com to see all the designs.
Vinyl of the Week will return in July.