Sunday, December 28, 2008

Total Fury, Broken Needle, & Punch @ Che Cafe: Reviewed!

Thanks for the encouragement...got to the Che Cafe around 730, and a band was about to go on, the female fronted Punch. The guitarist was warming up with jawbreaker - ache and a one man army song, so I figured they were from SF. Then, they surprised me: kinda thrashy, pretty awesome. Unfortunately the mic was way too low, but you could tell she was screaming. Kids were singing along, into it. http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... =146449855

Up next were tourmates of the 2008 Winter US Break-Even Tour, Broken Needle. More punk rock than the first band, and real good. Kids even more into it here...awesome. Closed with a cover of minor threat's "stand up". http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu ... ID=7376802

Lastly, Total Fury of Japan went on. Fucking awesome thrashy with rock n roll thrown in and it was just great. Kids flying around. The drummer just pointing at everything and being psyched. The singer climbing on the rafters, then getting picked up and paraded around. They tried to stop playing, but we wouldnt let them. They played two more songs, and then minor threat's "filler"....into "straight edge". Awesome. Here is the setlist as written out:

I Win You Lose
Show Down
Crossed Out:High Time
Outcome
Get Tought Enough
Lie
in My Hands
Our Rules
Stand
Little Story
You Too Old
Plan Ahead
Attitude
Fall
Split Milk (sic)
Promising
High Time
World Update
Street Smart
Total Fury

Briefcase
Guilty

Awesome! And, I got an incredible total fury shirt with japanese bombers on it.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Rancid @ Soma

I wasn't going to bother writing about this show but i remembered someone wanted to read about it. So, here goes. Got to soma. this time i actually took stock of how large the place really is. soma is a converted movie theater into a venue, with the width of the main room being what used to be the length from front to back of the theater and the length being the width of about 7 movie theaters side by side...in other words the place is huge, with an alleged capacity of 2400 (which i don't believe because that would mean its the size of starland ballroom which is not even close to as big as this. I got there, not remembering how big rancid actually is, being the last time i saw them was at BB kings, and before that at CB's. the show was sold out, and the place was packed. buck o nine was playing and was pretty cool, i dont know anything about them. they finished, and i snagged a spot with my back against the sound board so i could lean on it, a favorite spot of mine in my advanced years of late. after a while of tim shaw setting up gear, he came out and flashed a light to cut the house music.

t. armstrong comes out and starts singing and playing the intro to Radio, while the rest of the members take stage behind him (more or less). after this, they pretty much played the standard rancid set, nothing too special except rejected from the first record, and I wanna Riot from the b sides record, and knowledge. armstrong spent most of the set attempting or pretending to play his guitar and not singing, alternating feigned dancing with sitting on the drum riser. i guess its okay since he wrote the songs and is now 42. lars sang most of the songs except for the freeman songs, which matt sang himself. tim sang for a few parts along the way. as far as song quality: they played nihilism and it sounded okay. Salvation took me a while to even figure out what it was, and it was played poorly. However, the Matt songs they played from let's go were great: tenderloin, black and blue, gunshot. Freeman played a very extended bass solo on matt freeman, awesome. i got offended by the west coasters singing olympia, WA. unfortunately, they only played one song from life wont wait (Hoover st). they played for over an hour, closing with ruby soho and coming back for a 1 song encore to play timebomb (weak). freeman and lars were killing it up there though, which was cool, even if matt's mic was turned up too much for his raucus voice.

in the end, it was cool to see rancid, even if i wasnt that into the performance and it was such a huge venue. i can't wait to go see them again.

Friday, November 21, 2008

The shows pt1

So the day came. February 20, 1997. Roseland Ballroom. One of our friends parents drove us, I believe another picked us up, still just the kids from school. So we're at the show, enjoying it a lot. I ran into one of the only cool kids from the summer camp i had been attending for many years. He was there with the best counselor I ever had (still in contact to this day), hung out with them a bit. Counselor got kicked in the face by the singer of orange 9mm while they were playing. the kid, named rob weil, kept crowd surfing and coming back, i thought that was crazy. so the show continued, i moshed for the first time ever, with alex, as face to face started playing disconnected. so the show ended, we all went home, siked on the show.

went to camp that year, some of the older kids were into 'punk', but thats really it. the kids my age were into numetal, they liked VOD a lot (all the kids were from long island). a bunch said theyw ere going to see vod with a band i had actually heard of (but didnt know), fahrenheit 451, at irving plaza the day after camp ended. i said i'd come along, live music seemed to interest me.

so i got to the show and couldnt find any of them. while i know that my parents picked me up from the show, i may have taken the subway to it, and probably did. so i was by myself, at a huge hardcore show at irving plaza, and new no bands or anything. somehow i ended up right up front at the front of the pit, while some spin kicks landed on my arm, it was nothing except a rush.

much later that year, a bunch of my friends said they were going to go to see the toasters and ruder than you at the wetlands after christmas. i convinced my sister to take me and attend the show as well, as she was in town for the holidays. so she did. the show was awesome.

the next show was alex's bands first show, president lemon, at skaters world. after going to a few sw shows and another irving plaza show, my friends and i all went to a show that alex had some hand in at some point...at abc no rio. so within 7 shows, i had gone from Roseland Ballroom...to ABC No Rio. looking back, I think that's pretty impressive. at abc, the show was '82 gremlin, useless ID, and distraught.

our parents continued to drive us to shows at skaters world, with us sometimes getting to shows in the city and our parents picking us up from them, until the oldest of us started driving, but that wasnt for a while.

In the beginning...

We'll start from the beginning. End of fifth grade, "Longview" becomes a hit on the radio. I liked it. I listened to it and many other 90s alt bands on the radio and was into it, including Rancid, who had the song "Salvation" on the radio (and soon to come their other hits as well as The Offspring). My sister went away to college around this time. She would call the house and talk to me sometimes about how she was so excited to be able to go see bands play (she said "I can finally go to concerts!"). Apparently either she hadn't tried to or our parents didn't allow her to when she lived at home.

So she said she had gone to see Rancid a few times and got me something, it was a Rancid "And Out Come the Wolves" tour shirt, which I still have to this day. She also talked to me about this band she saw and was pretty into named the Voodoo Glow Skulls. I thought the name was real cool. I found out later that the first time she saw them it was at a Checkers that at nights on the weekends was turned into a showplace, fucking weird.

Over the time of talking to her, at some point she said something about "black flag is pretty cool, but you probably wouldn't be able to find their cd in normal stores." to which i said "oh! i've seen them in sam goody when i was looking for black sabbath!" she was surprised. she told me to pick something up from them. one day at the end of school year for sixth grade (1995), my friend Ed and I and possibly one or two more were in a barnes and noble in the cd section. I found "Everything Went Black" and went to buy it. He comes up behind me on line, looks at what I have, to which he says "Why are you going to buy that shit?!" I looked at what he was holding. It was Marilyn Manson's "Smells like Children". I said, "whatever man." a week later my father drove us and two other friends to action park, i offered ed to listen to the record, and he flat out refused saying it sucked. my two other friends agreed with him.

My bar mitzvah was the next year, my musical tastes were apparent. It was dubbed, "Doug's Rock-a-Rama" with the kids tables named for bands: I sat at "Nirvana," while other tables were named "Sex Pistols," "Black Sabbath," and "Black Flag." On the shirt there was a variety of bands, including Rancid, nirvana, sex pistols, meat puppets, smashing pumpkins, pink floyd, and nine inch nails (i told you, 90s alt). My sister got me a cd: NoFX's "I Heard They Suck Live." In all honesty, I didn't like it at all. She told me later it was between that and operation ivy's energy, i was confused. she said i had told her i didnt like 'ska' so she got me the nofx cd. i was thoroughly confused.

That year, 7th grade, we had a new kid on our block, i was the first to make friends with him. He had moved from florida. He was really into less than jake and face to face, along with 90s alt. Him and our friends formed a band and 'played' my bar mitzvah, it was cool.

So the next school year, i received a postcard in the mail, talking about an "offspring secret show," at tramps with the joykiller. I was pretty jazzed, and asked my parents if i could go. They said yes. The postcard said that tickets were going on sale at generation records on a certain date. I ended up heading down a day or two later, I cant remember which. It was my first time using the subway by myself, I remember getting onto the wrong platform and not knowing what to do so i left and went to my dad's office to ask what i should do, ha. So I get to gen records and obviously its sold out already. they say to try ticketmaster. So i look around the pretty cool store and area (i'd heard a lot about bleeker and the village) and went back to the office. down the block was an HMV record store, which had a ticketmaster in it.

So I went to the store, I went up to the counter, and my friend ed had just bought tickets to something! i asked what to, and he said that him and alex and a bunch of people were going to the sno-core tour...with face to face, less than jake, and voodoo glow skulls. i said, "i love vgs! and i know ltj and f2f are good because of alex" so they said the offspring show was sold out (just a funny corollary: two of the people that played with f2f at that show are now in the offspring)...i thought for about...3 seconds, and said i wanted to buy a ticket to the sno-core tour. It was only $17.50 after ticketmaster charges.

Friday, November 14, 2008

face to face and guttermouth at sunset strip HOB reviewed

Got there a little after 7 to make sure i got a ticket, then was informed that face to face would take the stage at 10:50....cool. The parking situation in this area of hollywood is downright dire. After grabbing a bite to eat and watching the end of the jets/patriots game, i drove to santa monica and back and then paid $10 to park at a tiny strip mall. It was odd.

I walked into the place. It's just like the anaheim HOB, with an extra small tier of bar space, which made it much more comfortable (the anaheim HOB is tiny). I'd only been to the atlantic city and san diego HOB which are both much bigger, and incomparable to these other two.

On the way in, I hear from the security guard checking IDs that there is someone who has collapsed on the floor and may be seriously injured. Next, a different one walks outside and goes "Oh, god." I walk in.

Guttermouth is on stage, commenting on the "body." After a little while they start playing again. I really don't know much about them. But now, I know this: Guttermouth is funny. Played a song about kung fu, chicken box, and closed with perfect world. They were all dressed in skimpy workers clothing and short shorts, with sunglasses and creepy moustaches. It was excellent.

After that, I went to get a nice spot where I wouldn't be bothered by dem mosherz, and then saw that there was barricade space, and good spots too, I snagged one between where scott and trever would be. It's kind of funny, the only bands I've ever stood against a barricade for were face to face and..........that's it, but like 4 times now. Anyway, they went on, and killed it, playing these songs, in order.

You Lied
Struggle
Bill of Goods
I'm Not Afraid
Ordinary
I Won't Lie Down
What's in a Name
Disconnected
You've Done Nothing
Pastel
Blind
I Want
Walk the Walk
Nothing New
I'm Trying
Big Choice
A-OK
It's Not Over
1000X (request)
Bikeage

It was awesome, there didn't even seem to be that many people there, but it didnt stop the drunk contingent from trying to get up front and being drunk. The best was during It's Not Over, some kid managed to jump over me and land on the stage and kept trying to get to scott, pretty funny. Not too many crowdsurfers compared to other times...thank god. After the set, scott gave me the setlist, which was pretty cool.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

face to face in anaheim

So I rolled up to the Downtown Disney parking lot with no time to spare, in fact, they had probably already started playing. Ran through downtown disney to the house of blues only to find that the will call windows were closed...I asked a passing HOB employee what the deal was, she took my id and came back an agonizing 2 minutes later telling me there were no tickets for me. I just started stuttering like "uhh but uhhh uhhhh uhhhhh" and she asked when and how i bought the ticket...I told her about 5 days ago through ticketmaster. She left for another agonizing 3 minutes and came back telling me that she was going to let me in because I was in the computer but they for some reason had no physical ticket.

I then took off up the stairs into the venue...i thought that a big reason the show had sold out was because the band rufio was having a reunion and the other HOB shows hadnt sold out...I was incorrect. running into the main room, it was completely packed. I believe I walked in and face to face was playing ordinary, but i could be wrong. I likely missed 3-4 songs.

THE SET!!! aside from the songs I missed, they played these songs (no order unless indicated): A-OK, disconnected, you've done nothing, i'm trying, pastel, struggle (i think!), big choice (also, i think.), velocity (A SONG I HAD REQUESTED ON A SIGN AT THE SHOWS IN APRIL! THANK YOU TREVER), blind, ordinary, I won't lie down, and shoot the moon (another song i requested on their myspace after not playing it in april either...had a poor reception from the audience unfortunately, probably only 1/5 the crowd sang along if that.). They closed with It's Not Over, and then came back with a two song encore...the first song was Bikeage which was cool (also the second time in a week i have seen a band cover that instead of playing their own songs which i'd rather hear), and finally closed with 1000X.

There was a circle pit going on for basically the entire show, seems to be the case usually in california apparently. awesome show, i left feeling so much better about the show than the night before where i went to this same venue to see the bouncing souls, who had spoiled me a week earlier with a pre-96 set, the set they played in anaheim had good songs but just didnt seem to play what i wanted to hear.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The Fest 7 in Gainesville, Florida

Flew in thursday night, first thing bought was yuengling. It was late, so we just went straight to the hotel and checked in (Super 8). The next day, woke up earlier than I should have and around 11, we headed over to the fest hotel to get ready to register.

We're just standing around as no one knows where to go or anything, and I notice people i recognize walking by. It was the bouncing souls, and they tried to check in and only one of their rooms was ready. Trying to figure out how to decide who got it, Shamus suggested Odds and Evens. They did it, and the loser (the drummer) protested that he "wasn't ready". Then shamus suggested that there should be an outside referee, and they appointed him. Thusly, he caused greg to lose, even as DJ values siked him up for the challenge.

Upon our entry upon the premises of the holiday inn, we went up to the registration spot and got on a pretty short line with really only about 50 people in front of us, within 20 minutes we were registered and checking out the 'flea market'. Pretty unremarkable, except when they switched out one of the tables selling glass with a pro-obama table, keeping the small price signs, which led to funnyness like a picture of obama with a sign over it that said "Glass pipes, $15".

We went up to the third floor rooftop pool reception and hung out for a while, everyone that jumped in the pool freaked out over how absolutely freezing it was, which was funny. After a few hours, we decided to walk around towards the downtown and the venues.

First, we went to "Common Grounds", for myself to see Ringers, and for shamus to see them, chinese telephones, the falcon, and underground railroad to candyland. As I was very worried about not being able to get into venues (a fear that i later found out was completely unfounded but not until it was too late the last day), I left after only seeing 4 Ringers songs. But they were good.

I headed over to The Venue, which was the main venue for The Fest. First up in the small side room, was Gimme Drugs. They were really, really good. I really was into Jesse(????)'s vocals, and just enjoyed the music. Next, up first on the mainstage, was Rehasher, who I don't know very well but what I know, I like. It was their first show in 2 years, and they were great. When their set was coming to a close, they said "OK, we ran out of songs, but we're going to play two covers....this band is breaking up. fuck you! dont break up you assholes!" and went on to play the ergs pray for rain and saturday night craporama...and it was awesome! The kids that knew what was going on freaked out, myself included. Right after they finished and i was so jazzed about it all, I turned around only to see my friend Kate running at me and yelling my name, I was surprised, amused, and happy. Up next on the main stage was Ann Beretta, playing their last (electric) show. I got a great place to stand, two steps up from the floor directly in front of the singers view, so he could see my Worthless shirt the entire set. He saw it, and glared and grimaced the entire time. They didnt play fire in the hold, but they did play another song that sounded like a Worthless song. All in all, band isnt so bad when they arent ripping off worthless. After them was Strike Anywhere, opening up with two older songs, and I thought that maybe i'd be real into the set after all. Not so, as after that they just started playing lots of stupid new shitty songs. I left only to come back later as they were closing with sunset on 32nd.

Finally, Less Than Jake was set to play, I was happy to see them in their hometown. To the soundclip at the beginning of Hello Rockview, they came out dressed as cops and went straight into Last one Out of Liberty City, and then played My Own Flag. Other songs they played included automatic, sugar in your gas tank, johnny quest, never going back to new jersey (with intro), doug hastings, jen doesnt like me anymore, help save the youth of america from exploding, all my best friends are metalheads (with intro), scott farcas, look what happened, the ghosts of me and you, plastic cup politics, two songs from the new record, and closed with gainesville rock city. Even though they didnt play other songs I wanted to hear, it was a great set, at one point coming out with boxes upon boxes of doughnuts and throwing them into the crowd. I lost my voice shouting for them to play "malt liquor tastes better...". After the set I felt like I was seriously done for, even though I hadn't even moshed at all.

Headlining the first night were The Bouncing Souls doing an entire pre-96 set....and it ruled. They stuck only to material from good bad argyle and maniacal laughter and didnt go further back. Songs included i like your mom, the guest, 80s movies, joe lies, some kind of wonderful, old school, neurotic, and all of maniacal laughter. The 80's movies quote was: none, they just yelled and kept going in the song. Everyone was into it. Finally, they said "we're going to play one that isnt pre-96" and played True Believers. Great set.

After this, Paint it Black had planned on playing in the lot across the street from the venue. I left the venue even as cops were coming in to shut the show down, apparently. Across the street was a vacant lot, and beyond that and across another street, was a parking lot with a crowd of people...and a Uhaul truck. I ran over and heard only drums and singing. Kids were jumping off the top of the truck. When the song ended the band kind of just stopped, until kids started singing another song. Dan dove from the truck and sang. The next thing you hear is someone yelling "460! RUN!" to which someone else replied, "Horses? I dont see any horses!" The next thing you hear are tons of whistles, cop cars and firetrucks at the venues. And horses. cops on horses. With whistles. Those cops assaulted everyone with the threat of trampling by horse...for no reason. After the cops made everyone disperse (........?) I walked to my car, and not four blocks away almost got mugged. Great use of police. Then, I was not one block away on the same street when these two drunk black girls pushed each other in front of my car. Again, GREAT policing in that town.

Saturday. Headed over to the Market Street Pub and caught this band The Swellers. Personally, I have no idea what they were like. At some point I headed over to the venue, again, to make sure that I would be able to get in. Up first was Atom and His Package. Very unremarkable. Then Coalesce went on, to some of the worst dancing I have ever seen. Band was pretty alright. Up next, The Lawrence Arms played and only played two songs i knew. Great, drunken stage banter though, even if they forgot to say what number show they were playing. After them, None More Black took the stage. Opening with We Dance on the Ruins of this stupid stage, they also played nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy, oh theres legwork, peace on mars, everyday balloons, dinners for suckers, banned from teen arts, wallpaper looks like paint, zing pong, opinions and assholes, peanut butter, and closed with drop the pop, to the end of which i lost my mind and ran a bunch of people over. Great set. After that, Paint It Black played a set, commenting on the attack of centaurs at the attempted show the night before, "Half man/half pig". After them, Municipal Waste took the stage, and proceeded to throw out many, many small shot bags of vodka to the crowd, and had everyone take the shot at the same time. Hilarious. Then, they proceeded to play one of the craziest, funnest sets I have ever seen. I dont know any of their songs really, but it was still a good time. They even covered SOD's "United Forces".

After Municipal Waste, I headed over to The Kickstand to catch the degenerics. I got there early and saw Slingshot Dakota, who was pretty cool, and the sidekicks. When The Degenerics went on, there was so much jersey around. cashman. jay insult, j. porter. fid. it was an awesome time and they played an awesome set. After them, the Star Fucking Hipsters went on, I watched a song but then left and got the car and waited for shamus so we could head out to the middle of nowhere...

About 5 miles out of town, there was a small warehouse/storage area over some train tracks off a highway. One of these garages had been turned into a practice space. And in this space, they were holding a show. While I forget the name of the first band, I certainly remember the name of the second. None More Black played to about a hundred people, with Colin saying "This is the REAL fest!" They played an abbreviated version of the set they had played earlier, but were that much drunker, and that much more excited. It was absolutely awesome. Following this, I felt like I was dead, and didn't care to see the new mexican disaster squad play their last show, or the shook ones, etc, so I went to the hotel and passed out.

On the final day of the fest, shamus and I checked out of our super 8 motel, headed to the downtown area, and ended up at the market street pub first, and caught Jawsome. I didnt really like them. Next, I planned to see san diego's own Dan Padilla at the Atlantic, but the line refused to move. So I headed over to the venue and saw a bar across the street that was part of the fest and went into it. Called Durty Nelly's, this irish bar looked pretty cool. The band also looked pretty cool, Deep and Holy Sea. However, they took way too long to go on and i was restless so i left and seriously walked like 3 miles within this 2 block area back and forth, waiting for something worth checking out. After going into various venues and being bored, I finally got on line for the venue. The Arrivals went on first and were all right. I wasn't into Off With Their Heads at all. Toys that Kill were much better when I saw them at babe's warehouse in long beach.

Then, The Ergs went on. I'm not going to go super into detail here, but for the first set they played a mix of really old songs and newer songs. The set was good. Towards the end, a comment from the band: "We have a few songs left, and then we're up next". Up next was them playing all of dorkrockcorkrod, and it was a blast. Mikey didnt know the words to a few songs, but that was only funny. Coming to the end, I thought they would close with upstairs downstairs, but instead DID NOT PLAY IT!>!?>!JIOfjeoiajfd and played two covers instead. While bikeage is a great song, I'd rather have heard them played upstairsdownstairs and destroyed everything.

After that, we headed to the failsafe warehouse again, hearing that the lawrence arms were playing at 10pm. Unfortunately, the show actually started at midnight, and they werent playing. We caught a few bands including anti-lectual, who played a horrible cover of a face to face song (ordinary), as well as another band who covered coffee mug. After that, we headed over to the fest hotel which we were staying at that night, and shamus got caught in an elevator.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Crime in Stereo/Broadway Calls at the Radio Room 10/19/08

So I went out to see crime in stereo for the first time since is dead came out, and ive been looking forward to it. Some local bands opened up, Blue in the Face, a man/wife duet with him on guitar and her on keyboard kinda boring but alright. Up next was the band that booked the show, Breaker Breaker One Niner. They were really good and they also covered pinhead gunpowder "life during wartime". Up next was broadway calls, surprisingly awesome. all the people there knew them which surprised me.

Next up was crime in stereo, and i was excited to hear the ...Is Dead songs live finally. Set up, went on, loud as hell. Kristian jumping all over the place, but unfortunately no one was joining him. Opened with some kind of 'crime in stereo intro' and played a song i did not know....Then they went on to play XXXX, third atlantic, almost ghostless/above the gathering oceans, and ...but you are vast before sending out small skeletal to me. Finally, they had what i am assuming was the bass player from silent majority (as the tour was with polar bear club as well) come up and played what i am still assuming was a silent majority cover. it was a great set and i just wish it wasn't so short.

at that point it was midnight and as ive seen PBC a few times already i headed home. good show, would attend again.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My top shows, with blurbs.

1.SnoCore '97 (Roseland, 2/20/97) $17.50 face to face, The Pharcyde, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Less Than Jake, Orange 9mm, The Flip

My first show. I can’t not put it on the list, personally, I was going for VGS, everything else was kind of a bonus. My friend got kicked in the face by the singer of orange 9mm, I got a flashlight shined on me while holding a bowl (I wasn’t even smoking) and I moshed for the first time ever during face to face’s “disconnected”.

9.Ska Against Racism Tour (Montclair State, 4/26/98) $10 Less than Jake, The Toasters, Mustard Plug, Five Iron Frenzy, Mu330, Kemuri, Bruce Lee Band, One Cool Guy

Getting tickets to this show was a nightmare, but it didn’t matter because there were tickets available at the door. I found a ticketstub on the ground and kept it. If anyone was at this show, you’ll know how awesome it was as it was raining the whole time, and was outside. LTJ mosh pit in a torrential downpour? Yes please. The best was when they vented the tarp over the stage and it was like a waterfall.

10.Skapunk Show at Irving (5/16/98) $10 Suicide Machines, Mephiskapheles, Limp, Telegraph

I was a lot more cavalier about things such as leaving my glasses in random places at this time, I left them on some stand or something, and they were still there when I got back to them. My friend made me crowd surf during mephiskapheles. The whole show was cool, one of the first shows with suicide machines’ new drummer.

23.Shillelagh Club (1/22/99) $8 Excess dB Blanks 77, Vision, Violent Society, LES Stitches, Where Fear and Weapons Meet, Banner of Hope, The Skabs

This was a mix of shows, as my friends and I were going to the punk show, and then a show heath had at JT’s fell through, so the hardcore bands were added. Before this show, none of my friends liked LES Stitches, but this show changed it, with the singer hanging from rafters, ETC. Violent society ruled at this show.

31.Teaneck American Legion (3/20/99) $8 Excess dB Dropkick Murphys, Oxymoron, The Ducky Boys, *The Ploys*, *Hudson Falcons*

This show is legendary. The Ducky Boys were awesome, and played a killer “Stand By Me” cover. During Oxymoron, some kids and myself found this awesome table to stand on right by the band, who was playing in the corner. We realized what it was when heath got on the PA telling “everyone please get off the pool table”. Then the Dropkick Murphys played, and it was insanity. I cut my hand on someone’s spike, and who knows how? The angle made no sense. When the cops arrived, dkm said something to the effect of “The cops are here, but we’re going to play until they make us stop.” Like I said, legendary.

41. East Coast Attack Tour- CIH (6/18/99) $8 Aus-Rotten, The Casualties, (Violent Society cancelled), The Unseen, The Devotchkas, Thulsa Doom, The Virus, Society's Failure, The Stand

Your typical coney island high punk show, right? Dropped off by someone’s parents, and picked up by another’s. I got punched in the eye during thulsa doom, and somehow didn’t have a shiner. Even more remarkable was the CIH staff letting me re-enter. Violent Society couldn’t make it because pat had to go to a wedding, so aus-rotten was added. This show ruled.

93. Roseland Ballroom (9/15/00) $14 Less than Jake, The SUicide Machines, One Man Army, Pollen

One Man Army in 2000. The Suicide Machines (DDT CIRCLE PIT?). Less Than Jake, along with pyrotechnics. Rolling apple.

146. The Garage (2/10/01) *Revolution Summer*, Ensign, Strike Anywhere, De La Hoya

Now, I don’t recall if this or the December strike anywhere garage show was better, but this one definitely had a better lineup. Personally, I can recall Mike Mclean on top of the crowd screaming along.

152. The Garage (3/2/01) Rest Assured?, The Assistant, Tear it Up, The Blue Star Diary

Look who played this show! I recall going home to get something after the first band just because it was 5 minutes away. I came back and listened to the down in flames demo tape about 3 times….then TIU covered the DIF theme. The assistant was awesome and leigh yelled at yarm for talking. Then rest assured played, and it was your usual Bergen county random kid/MF mosh. T-shirt.

163. Surprise Birthday party for me! @ Liss's House (4/13/01) Folly, Leftover Crack, Give us Barabbas, The Voicecracks, Sit on it Potsie, It Takes all Kinds, Tommy Lasorda, The Fleshies, Lucas

Well, duh! Barabbas, leftover crack, and most importantly folly playing to just all of my friends after the dumb kids left after LOC. Then stza kicked a hole in the wall, real cool.

191. Hanover House (6/29/01) $8 Bane and we missed or didnt watch the rest of the bands

This show is legendary, but only to davey and I. Bane was supposed to be playing “This Island Earth” Fest this day, but double booked. I decided that I was going to see bane no matter what. Got there at like…830. Bane ended up going on at about 1:30, playing the eeriest set ever. Zach swung his guitar around his neck and the strap came loose and it went flying.

216. Alissa's (8/11/01) $6 BrianSUrvivor GOod Clean Fun, This Day Forward, *Taken*, *The Break*, The Survivors, Oblongata, Folly, Plan of Action

Folly debuted a new song, “Broken”. I really wanted to see this day forward, and they had had a philly show fall through (I didn’t know they were from philly at the time). I told brian to put them on the show, and he told me to get in contact with them. I did, and them and taken ended up on the show. I went to this show after my sister’s wedding. Every band that I saw was good.

267. US Homebase (11/23/01) $10 Converge, American Nightmare, The Hope Conspiracy, The Dedication, Stalemate

Even though I wasn’t into AN anymore and it took them an hour to set up, the rest of the show made up for it. I recall this show being really, really dark.

292. Ethical Humanist Center (1/25/02) $8 From Autumn to Ashes, Most Precious Blood, ETID, On the Might of Princes

No one from this board was at this show. OTMOP was awesome. MPB was awesome. FATA was awesome, LI return home show or something like that. I remember talking to Joe 9 Iron at this show and he was talking about how “That Vicky girl is always following me around.” While I was walking back to my car, I got a call from chris connallon that he and peet Johnson were at my house and where was i? I got home in record time (something like 40 minutes or less), and we all dinered.

304. Krome (2/22/02) Excess dB Thursday, Piebald, MPB, FATA, *The low end theory*

“No stagediving”, the rule was circumvented by erik whaylen quickly. FATA ruled, and played ‘short stories’ for the first time I ever saw it before it was a single on the radio which meant it wasn’t just a bunch of people jumping on stage to crowd the drummer who would sing it then, instead the girl came out and it ruled. MPB also ruled. Thursday was really awesome, and colin and myself also disregarded the no stagediving rule during this side of brightness (definitely a song to stagedive for, really).

410. 113 Louis St. (1/23/03) Homage to Catalonia and the cassettes

Probably not a lot of people remember this show. It was in a living room (or an attic?) everyone had blankets, and it was just really cool. It just sticks out in my mind.

510. CBGBs (10/1/03) $3 Rancid

Rancid. CBGBs. $3. Standing on the box in front of the speaker on the right side of the stage and fingerpointing in Tim (Armstrong AND shaw)’s face the entire time? Yes please. During the last seconds of timebomb, the last song, I jumped off a chair that was on the box, and people actually caught me and held me up. What?

519. Hamilton st. (11/1/03) $8 “7 Seconds” by Scream Hello, “[Early] Black Flag” by Tear It Up, “Minor Threat” by Kill Crush Destroy, “Bad Religion” by The Procedure, *”Bad Brains”* by The Degenerics, “Gorilla Biscuits” by Ensign, *”[Late] Black Flag”* by Tear It Up

Minor Threat by kill crush destroy. The end-all, be-all of cover sets, EVER. I was standing in the back kind of and heard the opening notes of Salad Days, I thought they were still messing around. No. I realized that they were actually opening with it, and freaked out. Awesome set.

542. Ian's House Barley Island (1/17/04) $3 The Fiction Effect, The Little Rascals, A New Enemy

:Originally was at bloomfield ave with: -The Hope Conspiracy-, -a new enemy-, -lords-, -breather resist-

554. Goon Squad (2/21/04) $5 Thumbs Up, Bottom Line, 86 Mentality, Sex Positions, Crime in Stereo, *Kill Crush Destroy*

Both of these shows kind of meld together. A new enemy was awesome, and so was sex posi, 86 mentality, and CIS. This was the first night I saw CIS where I knew the music, and it ruled. They complained about how left turns are illegal in NJ, and I made that crying noise, and a legend was started.

616. Irving Plaza (9/21/04) $45 Green Day

Pay no attention to the ticket price, it was green day, the day their cd was released, at irving plaza, playing the entire record. The stache and I went, along with dave who just went record shopping. This was the craziest I’ve ever seen for a ticket situation, as there was literally NO ONE selling, and ridiculous offers were being thrown out for them: “I’ll give you $200 and the shirt off my back”, “I’ll give you $150 and my shoes”, etc. After all of American Idiot, then they played all the hits I wanted to hear. Some guy in a Tool hat tried to fight me for moshing during Longview, and all I said was “dude, it’s LONGVIEW!” and he backed off. Awesome show.

713. Manasquan Women’s Club (7/23/05) *Go It Alone*, %Allegiance%, %Blue Monday%, Modern Life is War, Kill Your Idols, Forward to Death

Sped here after the avail show at the church in philly, every band we saw was awesome. I think mliw and kyi had the split available early for this show. Also, mliw was playing a bunch off witness since it had just come out. KYI was on point, FTD ruled.

721. Stone Pony (8/21/05) $20 The Loved Ones, Bouncing Souls, Lifetime

Ostracized.

789. Maxwells (4/23/06) $10 *Permanent*, *Pink Razors*, *The Draft*, Avail

Probably the best time I’ve seen Avail. I missed the rest of the show because I was seeing brand new in the city. I heard some people say after this that it was the worst time they had seen avail and that they “[were] done”. Those people shall remain nameless.

825. CBGBs (9/24/06) $10 %Between the Wars%, *band*, *Capital*, None More Black, Grey Area

Probably the first time I saw a lot of people care about None More Black, all the newer songs they played from the second LP were on point. After the show I told Paul they should put out a live record because I felt it really captured the energy of those songs. His response was that they had broken up. Oh, and Grey Area was awesome, but not as awesome as they were when they showed up kid dynamite at cb’s the year before. Ernie even told some of the same stories.

858. 538 Johnson Ave (3/31/07) $5 Paper Dragons, *Mother Night*, *band*, Modern Life is War

This show.

869. Smithtown Masonic Temple (5/13/07) $10 Splitting Headache, %Cranked Up%, *Capital*, %Crime in Stereo% (played ½ song), ---show moved to practice space back lot---, Kill Your Idols (Last show) (Shutdown by police 2x)

Also, this show.

897. Welfare Records (1/4/08) $10 Reprobates, War of Words, Ringers, %Violent Society%, The Pinkerton Thugs


I was so fucking tired at this show. I was literally sleeping inside the show on a couch for like an hour before the first bands, and in between bands, until I was able to snag an awesome balcony-type spot (more lofty than balcony) right before Ringers….who I had never heard and proceeding to be awesome, doing everything how I thought it should sound. Then, the pinkerton thugs went on. I had wanted them to play mostly the new record and definitely the last song on the first. They did exactly that pretty much, closing with that last song ( I believe) and making it simply amazing. Violent Society may or may not have played, if they did they showed up late. I had to get back to NJ to catch a plane in the morning, and most importantly, sleep. I raced home in maybe three or three and a half hours.

924. Safari Sam’s (5/19/08) $12 International Superheroes of Hardcore (first show), New Found Glory

This was like seeing NFG without a bunch of teeny boppers…because it was. Played an actual all-request set. I had an awesome close to the stage high vantage point and kept yelling at chad. Got them to play Vegas….which I have been trying to get them to do for 4 years, after they denied my request of “forget everything”. It was too really really hot in the club and I had to leave where I was to get some air after about ¾ of the set.

927. Alex’s Bar (5/28/08) $20 Girls With Guns, The Mystic Knights of the Cobra, Foxboro Hot Tubs

This show ruled. No tickets, just a mad dash to get on line. Anyone who was there about 30 minutes early got in, I got there like two hours early. Ended up on a couch right in front of the sound booth next to Mike Dirnt’s wife and mother in law. Girls with Guns were terrible two nights earlier, but really really good this night, it was weird. The Mystic Knights of the Cobra were AWESOME/BIZARRE. Really odd, and weird and good. Foxboro, what can I say? Billie Joe literally crowd surfed on a surfboard to the stage, and it was madness the whole night.

#? Reggie’s Rock Club (8/22/08) $? The Repellents, The Chinese Telephones, The Jetty Boys, Ben Weasel and Danny Vapid performing “My Brain Hurts”

Got there a little late, but there was no one there. Saw a space against the stage, and took it. Fought off my hunger (I had only eaten a hot dog at 1030 at the cubs game) and stayed there. Every band got progressively better. Then, after a very long time setting up, the weasel happened. It was magical hearing that record, my favorite (I had said that if sw got back together I wouldn’t go because they probably wouldn’t play any songs I knew since I really only knew that record) for over ten years. Being up front and able to shout and go crazy for it was awesome too.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Ben Weasel and Danny Vapid at Reggie's

The Facts: Ben Weasel recruited Danny Vapid to play the entire My Brain Hurts screeching weasel album. I had always said that if sw got back together i probably wouldn't go...since i really only knew one album, which was MBH. So when i heard this, i was excited.

The Idea: get extra tickets and sell them to cover the airfare and maybe hotel.

The plan: there was none. I kept asking Mandi, who was coming from jersey, what she was doing hotelwise etc. refusing to get back to me for over a month, I took things into my own hands, for myself, about 3 days before I left.

The Hotel: The Chicago Hilton (HOTWIRE!), excellent, excellent. I couldn't believe anything anything about it. There was hardly any line to check in (at 1130pm). They gave me a room with a king bed. I went up to the 13th floor, and searched for my room, 1304. i went down a side hallway, and kept walking, towards the double doors at the end (of course that wasnt my room). Looking at the numbers on the doors, until i was at the double doors....numbered #1304. I stepped in. King Murphy bed on the right with down pillows, luxuriously comfortable bedding. A couch (pull out bed) , nice chair and coffee table to the left. Mini bar (i refused the key), complete bar area. Con: only a shower and not a giant bathtub. I went to the indoor pool on the 8th floor the next day, nice. When sean and mandi got there they didnt want to knock on the door because they thought i was lying.

The Lead-Up: I woke up friday morning, checked out the pool, walked around the loop area. The entire time i was thinking of ferris bueller and singing songs from it to myself. I walked directly to the sears tower just to see if i could, and then i hopped on an 'el' train and then switched and ended up at Wrigley Field. I got a hot dog at the 7-11 across the street as i had nothing else to eat and was hungry. it was about 1020 and i thought the game started at 1205. I bought a ticket at the gate and was directed to walk right in. I had to walk through a bar, and then was in the hallways...I decided I wanted to see the field of a famed park such as this as soon as possible, and walked out. There weren't many people out, a group of blue and/or white shirted people in left field, a guy in a pale green shirt, and me. I walked directly to the visiting bullpen where the pitcher was warming up. I got behind him to see all the movement. It was real cool. Got a few foul balls. Then the group of people in left field started breaking up, i realized they were the ushers. One came to the section i was in, and we made small talk, he said he was surprised they let me to the seats, i didnt realize he meant because the field was closed. hahaha. the game was cool, i had a good time. i left in the middle, swam, and went to the show.

The Show: Got there what i thought was late, apparently wasnt, able to grab a spot against the stage.

The Repellents: The singer sounded like the guy from osker. into it

The Chinese Telephones : also awesome! better than the band before

The Jetty Boys : Also awesome.

Ben Weasel: got crushed against the stage, played my brain hurts through, it ruled. also played this aint hawaii, sunshine, falling apart, and more. i had to leave at some point after the album because i felt i was going to pass out, and then i almost did.

the show the next day was pretty much the same. i got a good spot to watch from, and at one point during the sceince of myth ben and i shared a mo' and when he went into the verse he fucked up and i kept singing and he smiled. IT WUZ SO KOOL.

anyway, back at the hotel, finally ate for the second time , and it was the most delicious turkey club & fruit ever. got alright sleep. mandi and sean lovett got there around 730am, they slept, i swam and read a bit. got outside and mandi wouldnt stop complaining, cool. got a shitty shitty shitty motel in niles, il, far, far away from anything useful. but it was still funny. 3 people to a king sized bed sleeping the wrong way, tv on to drown out the sound of people fucking, awesome. ha


woke up at 5am and sean drove me to the airport.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ergs!, Hunchback @ 924 Gilman

So, waking up saturday, i got shamus riled out of bed (still drunk). got an oil change, and got shamus and we left for the famed 924 gilman st. venue in oakland, for a show i could have seen in new brunswick for the past 6 years but for some reason (i'm stupid), never did. drove through the san joaquin valley with no A/C, and it sucked. burned my arm even after looking at and almost taking the sunblock with me, saying "no, i woudlnt need that". got to 924 around 7 (left at 11).

ran into jay insult at some point, who was already in his "OHMNYGOD IM AT 924 GILMAN" stateofmind. he had some choice photo ops, especially my favorite, which was "Sweet children" written on a rafter.

Hunchback went on, again, were good. not as theatrical until the end what with rolling on the stage/floor, and balancing on a walker. The Ergs! were up next. they went on, a few kids were dancing, having a grand old time, kids were singing, also having a grand old time. seemed to play the same set. looked like they were having ablast. joe ranted about how he didnt want to tell everyone about 924 gilman and how cool it was to play there as all those people already knew, about as much as we wouldnt want to hear someone go to cbgb's and talk about how cool it was to play there. closed with hey jealousy, a request on my part, and everyone got excited. excellent set.

the next day, decided not to drive through the valley again with no A/C, but to take the mostly more coastal route, stopped at sound and fury for about 5 seconds, and then just kept going. i didnt take into account santa barbara traffic on a sunday night, and it sucked. later, we hopped on the pacific coast highway and ended up caught in more sunday beach traffic, but would have been nothing compared to taking the 101 into LA. got down into santa monica and took the dreaded i-10/405 combo all the way to the 5, and it was glorious, no traffic whatsoever on the 405 (STILL CANT BELIEVE IT) until the last 3 miles, and that was because of a john meier concert. fuck that guy.

Things learned:

I need A/C
I need brakes
Don't take the PCH on a sunday.

ergs!, hunchback, tiltwheel at the tower bar

vena cava, hunchback, tiltwheel, rich white males, the bugs, the ergs

So we went to the tower bar "late" we thought, actually well before the show was to start, so we came back at a better time. anyway, lots of people, lots of drunk, happy people. The Rich White Males were on, dressed as rabbits and possibly other furry animals. I didn't stick around, as the place is way too small to watch a band I only like a bit, but I'll still watch them at a bigger place. Vena cava played, then tiltwheel was supposed to go on, but we saw some people run to their car and come out with guitars and The Bugs jumped on the show. it was ok, but i was waiting for the other bands really.

So tiltwheel got on, played a pretty short set, but real fun. shamus kept patting davey on the head, it was a good time. Later, Hunchback set up, i'd never seen them before actually, so i was surprised at the theatrical show they put on, the keyboard/antenna man attacked the crowd, who then attacked him back....i thought it was all joking, but apparently not. still awesome though. Would watch again.

The Ergs! went on next. My first time seeing them actually knowing their songs (stupid, i know). Ripped through the set, playing almost every song i wanted to hear, actually. A mix of upstairs/downstairs and dorkrockcorkrod (probably what they always play). Everyone in the bar was having an absolute blast, singing, dancing, etc. Before they could play their last 2-3 songs, for some reason, the bar decided to kick everyone out (only 1:40am at this point).

Outside, the incredibly drunk Shamus was playing in the middle of the road, etc, and talked me into going to the show the next day. It went something like this:

s: doug, we should probably go to the show tomorrow at 924 gilman
d: hmmm....okay.
s: doug, we should go to the show otmorrow, i'll pay for gas.
d: ok
s: doug, we can we go to the show tomorrow?
d: ....Yes!

etc.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

none more black and the ergs at the barbery, reviewed

bearface, the first band: i think they said it was their first show. music wasnt bad, but between every song they just talked to each other, the last song and the instrumental were real good though. seemed to drag a little

the ergs - played well, a bunch of kids into it, i enjoyed it.

none more black - opened with we dance on the ruins of this stupid stage.
closed with drop the pop.

also played :

nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy
under my feet
my wallpaper looks like paint
zing pong
opinions and assholes
i see london
who crosses statelines without a shirt?
d is for doorman
10 ton jigawatts
you suck but your peanut butter is ok
majestic
oh theres legwork
peace on mars
genuine malaise and misery
i'll buy you the fucking single
everyday balloons
dinners for suckers
banned from teen arts


played pretty well i thought. colin almost forcing them into getting 30 more minutes was crucial. a bunch of kids were there, it was really really crushed at the front, i couldnt handle it. shirtless moshers arent that cool, but at least they knew the words. i thought they should open with oh theres legwork but when they played it, the intro isnt really as distinctive, so i guess it made sense not to.


awesome show. talked to a cute girl about face to face playing in california and she said she recognized me from the cb's none more black show hanging off the speaker because she was right behind me. unfortunately im stupid and didnt talk to her more.

Monday, June 23, 2008

upcoming shows

likely shows to attend:

june 28 1916 I ave national city 6pm graveyard drifters, el hombre lobo, apathetic youth, la raza pura, modern aggression, reset status

mon june 30 san diego fair (del mar) wierd al (concert free with admission)

jul 11 8pm 6116 brooklyn ave infitada, abrade, liberate, the americans, abject

july 13 King's music (3592 Main St. Lemon Grove ) social sickness, X-Communicated, the Imposters, Gross Negligence and Boneless

jul 17 o'connells bar murphys law

jul 22 House of blues jesse lacey

7/23 The Maac ( 1385 3rd Ave., Chula Vista) Furious styles, kids like us, mongloids, life or death, wages of war

july 24 6116 brooklyn ave 8pm annihilation time, mother speed, SBV, broken patterns (ex tear it up), titanarum

july 25 the ergs, hunchback, vena cava

july 31 KIMBARA (530 calle 8 between avenidas pio pico and quintana Roo Zona Centro) spanish bombs, Shipwrek AD, Red Awakening, A Better Hope Foundation, MYPAQ

aug 7 canes agent orange

sep 19 soma Rancid

Sunday, June 22, 2008

seasick, ANS @ brooklyn ave encanto

So I drove 10 minutes to Encanto, San Diego, also known as one of the most "hood" sections of san diego. Driving through on an earlier date, my roommate and I saw a drugpin getting taken down by the cops (during the day).

So i drove up to the house: 6116 Brooklyn Ave aka the brooklyn bazaare, aka the ninja lair. a few kids are there, just hanging around in the driveway drinking. a cop was 2 houses up and paid no mind to the gathering of white kids and hispanic kids in the hood.

Find out that while the show is at the house, the bands actually play on the back porch of the house, with the PA speakers pointing directly at the next house, across the driveway, a distance of 10 feet at most. you stand in the driveway and watch, pretty cool.

THe first band goes on, Clocked In. Not just a black flag reference, as they had their own song called clocked in (about work obviously). pretty good.

up next was a band i had been meaning to check out for a while named gross negligence... i went to get a bottle of water, and unfortunately due to my stubborness to not turn around and the lack of unsynchronized lights and terrible drivers AND ENDING UP GETTING CAUGHT IN STADIUM TRAFFIC AND DRIVING ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE STREET i fucking ended up MISSING this band. but i digress...

up next was Mother Speed, pretty good band. kids circle pitting in the driveway (which was on a minor slope) , pretty cool. as if to test the will cops (who werent there) the singer repeatedly called for people to smoke pot in the next 5 minutes because "its probably better than whatever else you would be doing", and during a lull in the song runs into the house and comes out with a whitewalled bong, pretty amusing.

unfortunately, about half of the kids left after that band as it was about midnight at this point, but it didnt really matter. seasick was up next, and pretty much killed it. nick is a madman and the band played well. the singer of the previous band jumped off the roof into the circle pit, pretty crazy. covered the cromags. good set

ANS was up next. While there werent too many kids left, the ones that were were PUMPED. played crazy for the whole set, even as mark was playing his second set of the night on guitar. covered poison idea. singer commented at about 1am, "I cant believe no one has called the cops yet!?" i found out later that apparently the cops are "too scared" to shut down shows there.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

So we went on down to tj and have a few beers, shoot some pool in an empty bar, head over to the Escape Club on AVENIDA REVOLUCION. There are a few kids there, not much, hang out a little before heading in.

The venue, the escape club, was the upstairs half of a bar, pretty damn small. upstairs was a small showspace with high ceilings, stage on the side of the room with a railing and staircase to the crowd, weird setup. on the far end was merch and a small seating area that opened up to the street. there was also a balcony type thing, including a weird part that came right up to the stage with a ladder going up to it.

Vena Cava went on and it was alright, I wasn't that into it.

After that I ended up talking to this awesome mexican kid for a while all about everything, he had a pretty cool POV on shit, then i went to watch the next band.

Tiltwheel went on after that and played a pretty short set a lot more kids were paying attention to them than vc, mostly SD kids though, it seemed. However afterwards, that mexican kid came up to me and told me he thought it was awesome.

After that, some very loud band named BLUMBKLAAT went on. not really sure what was going on.

After that, Citizen Fish went on. I watched from the balcony for a little bit, there was a giant circle pit, it was pretty cool, not that rough it didnt look like. They played well and for a while, and then got off.

Finally, at 12:45, Leftover Crack went on. Brad played on the part of the balcony that came out to the stage, while the rest of the band played on the stage. played a bunch of songs, scott was standing on the railing and jumping up to the balcony a lot, touched a disco ball on the ceiling and almost fell on the crowd multiple times. kids were surging onto the stage from the weird staircase and had to be pushed back by the sound guy, it was pretty weird.

cool show

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Hello!

so, i guess im going to use this from now on, add me pleaseze.