14 January, 2008
The show to end all shows

Suuuuuuper fun show on Saturday. Jimmy booked it. It sold out, there were 300-something people there. I had an amazing time! Pushing On:

Dead Ahead’s last show. For what, the 3rd or 4th time? Ha.

They did a sweet cover of Burning Fight by Inside Out. Video:

Guest appearance by War Head:

Victim:

Down to Nothing:

And right after that my camera battery died. So sad! I didn’t get any pictures of Nothing Personal’s set, which was indescribable unless you have seen them before. They get an A+ for props from me, ha.

Awesome show, really positive atmosphere, packed house, good to see lots of older kids who don’t come out as much. Jimmy needs to book more so we can have more fun around here.

10 July, 2007
Morrissey at the Norva

Completely amazing show last night at the Norva. Morrissey, Morrissey, Morrissey!

I was worried about being late but I got there about 8:30, there was no line for will call, and Jimmy and I zipped straight up to the front at the right side of the stage near Matt, Megan, Andrea, Malorie, Sal and Davood. Billy was nearby too and I kept seeing faces I recognized across the crowd. I’m so glad I got up close, I hate being short.

The kick drum said “Art Suffer England Hatred”. He had five or so guys in the band, all wearing black. They looked like his little cabana boy mariachi band. The highlight of the show definitely had to be during How Soon Is Now when Timmy ran onto stage, kissed Morrissey and jumped into the crowd right in front of us. I swear Timmy is the only person on earth who could get away with this, Timmy, you should be an assassin or something. Look into it. Here’s the video of the whole song:

I hope someone posts a setlist. He didn’t play either of my favorite Smiths songs or Come Back to Camden, which I LOVE, but I was definitely not disappointed at all in the songs he did play.

He sang The Boy with the Thorn in His Side and I was so stoked for Matt cause I know that is his jam, but some annoying girl who tried to play crowd monitor the whole time (DON’T LET ANYMORE PEOPLE OVER HERE OKAYYYY) kept passing him her camera asking him to take pictures and video. Hello, I am shorter than you and further back and I did fine, deal with it lady.

Another video for your enjoyment: Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

During Let Me Kiss You, right at the point where he sang “think of someone you physically despise” he took off his shirt and threw it into the crowd. You so crazy, Morrissey.

I think he actually threw about three shirts into the crowd during the show, that’s gotta get expensive after a few nights haha. I heard there was some scuffle over one of the shirts, some lady put it on and someone ripped it off her. Sucks to be standing there in your bra, but you should have stuffed that shirt down your pants and hid it, that’s all I’m saying.

Other highlights of the show: the humongous gong, bass drum? and huge cymbals that were used with tremendous effect, especially during Life Is A Pigsty. Very dramatic.

Oh, what was with the Norva playing those extremely annoying vintage music videos and commercials and movie clips during the intermission? It was so distracting and I wasn’t digging it.

The band was awesome, everything sounded on point. Anyone who thought Morrissey might be losing his voice as he gets older is way sadly mistaken. He sounded glorious and all the little inflections and expressions and gestures of the live show just brought out his gorgeous voice that much more.

They went out with The Last of the Famous International Playboys. We were all hoping for a second encore, I had heard he’d played There Is a Light That Never Goes Out on the second encore at a couple shows, but no such luck. I left in a daze, covered in sweat and grinning ear to ear.

The opener was Kristeen Young (thanks to Justin for the link & spelling correction!), and I dug her a lot. She had a very Bjork vibe, sort of Bjork mixed with opera. It was just her on the keyboards with a drummer in front of a white sheet. Great colors and strange music.

Amazing show, definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Edited to add the setlist:
The Queen Is Dead
First Of The Gang To Die
In The Future When All’s Well
Everyday Is Like Sunday
Irish Blood, English Heart
The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Let Me Kiss You
You Have Killed Me
All You Need Is Me
Girlfriend In A Coma
Disappointed
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
That’s How People Grow Up
The National Front Disco
At Last I Am Born
Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
Life Is A Pigsty
How Soon Is Now?

The Last Of The Famous International Playboys

29 May, 2007
The Insider & Dead Ahead - Last show!

Friday night was one of the funnest shows I’ve been to in a minute. It was at some kid’s house on Granby St. in a basement (which I didn’t even know existed in Norfolk).

Soooo crowded and sweaty in there, but packed shows are the best of all.

The Insider played their last show ever. Sucks to see them go so soon but I’m pretty stoked on Jimmy’s new band, yet to be named.

Dead Ahead played their last show (again), I guess for real this time. Man, that was an extra fun set. I couldn’t believe how many people were packed into that tiny space. Enjoy the pics and videos.

More basement shows! Good times.

16 May, 2007
The Sweet Escape

Last night I took Grace and Maegan to see Gwen Stefani, Akon and Lady Sovereign for their birthdays. We had a blast! Lawn tickets were only $10 and I definitely got my money’s worth. I was entertained!

The show more closely resembled a Cirque de Soleil performance than any concert I’ve ever been to. Lady Sovereign opened up and was as teeny and cute and hilarious as I’d imagined her. She had on a big oversized tshirt covered in dollar bills and huge sunglasses. She only got to play 5 or 6 songs, but I was stoked when she covered Pretty Vacant.

Akon came on next. I’d never heard of him but heard lots of hype and some recent scandal he was involved in so I was curious. Meh. Pretty generic reggae/R&B mix, predictable lyrics and hilarious to see a super rich dude who’s obviously livin’ it up talking about how hard his life is and singing about the ghetto. Even more hilarious to hear thousands of rich Virginia Beach kids scream yeahhhhhhh when he asked who grew up in the ghetto. Ha.

Gwen finally came on and WOW. I’ve never been to a show like that. Aside from the normal lights and effects, her entire stage was a videoscreen, along with a huge screen above THAT. Add to all that the light-up G and awesome motion graphics and choreography that blew my mind and it was insane. I can’t imagine if I’d been up closer to the stage. Sensory overload.

I wish yall could see the original files for these videos, they are super crisp. I’m amazed at my little Fuji camera every time I use it. Gwen did several outfit changes and so did her dancers. I loved the motion graphics throughout the show and how well they coordinated with the lights and the music. Lots of Japanese imagery was used, such as Hokusai’s Great Wave during Luxurious, a geisha dancing in the snow for Early Winter and cherry blossoms during Wonderful Life. I especially enjoyed the motion graphics during Yummy (my favorite song on her new album), closeups of cupcakes, candy and sweets. She came out in the most hilarious outfit, sort of like a french maid with a tie and a ridiculously adorable rendition of a lopsided chef’s hat.

Maybe I’m silly for thinking this, and yeah I know she is a highly paid entertainer and as such probably has an “act” but she truly seemed thrilled that 18,000 people came to hear her play, and seemed like she wanted to really connect with the crowd. She was really humble and was the first artist I’ve ever seen play at the amphitheater that even mentioned the people on the grass. They wouldn’t turn the lights on us so since she couldn’t see us she ran up to the grass and sang Cool from the lawn. It was a little scary to see the crowds swarming that way, I’m sure she had a little entourage with her though. Oh, and PS, I’m more than stoked to hear that No Doubt is doing another record.

That sh*t was bananas! BANANAS.

30 April, 2007
House show!

Man I love house shows even though they always get shut down early. Saturday was a really busy day. I got up early to hit up some yard sales with Amanda (which were mostly duds, who are people kidding, $10 for a crusty ol’ casserole dish?) and then chilled around the house for a while, trying to coax the sickness to leave my body (it still hasn’t). Then headed over to Patrick’s house for War Head’s last show. Punchout played first. It was my first time seeing them and they sounded pretty good.

The Insider was up next. All things considered it was a fun set. Both their guitarists are on tour (one with another band and one in the military) and the guy they had filling in flaked on them 2 days before the show. Devan did a pretty good job.

Next time I wanna hear that Sheer Terror cover though. By the way, they have a newly recorded version of Get it Right on their myspace page.

War Head played next, their last set ever. Bama is going into the military soon and I think it was a pretty good sendoff.

I have a video of War Head’s last song but I can’t get it to upload right now. I’ll post it later if I can. Great turnout, fun show. There were a few more bands that were supposed to play but a really stressed out lady cop came and shut everything down. I’m not sure what the deal was, there had been like 5 cops there earlier and all was cool. Apparently the “neighbors were complaining about noise” which I highly doubt as we were right in the middle of Park Place and I can’t imagine anyone in that neighborhood calling the cops, but whatever. It was definitely fun while it lasted.

A bunch of us hit up Cogan’s afterward and I had a lot of laughs and good times. The rest of the weekend was spent craftin’. Etsy store update later!

25 April, 2007
Malfunction

This is on nonstop repeat all day at work today. I can’t wait til I get home tonight and I can play it at a volume which the Cro-Mags and God intended.

The show last night was boring except DTN who were awesome as usual, and Mission Statement, who were okay. I had a good time though. I can’t wait til Saturday.

Oh you didn’t know about Saturday? Here you go. Thank me later.

08 January, 2007
The Insider, Attack At Dawn, Death Before Dishonor

Saturday there was a fest with something like 46 bands in Virginia Beach. Jimmy’s band The Insider played and so I went later in the afternoon to check them out and see a couple others.

Look at this sweaty, irresistible gorilla. I know you other ladies are jealous, but hands off.

They played a good set, got a crazy reaction from the crowd, and I’m really stoked about their new guitarist. I got a video too. Here’s Get It Right.

Attack At Dawn went on next. Good times!

I am still cracking up about this photo.

Here is Attack At Dawn’s last song:

Sometime later Death Before Dishonor played.

I had a good time although the moshy hardcore stuff grates on my nerves after a few minutes, so by the end of the night I was done haha. I talked to John and he and Adam have bought a space that is going to turn into a hub for local activists, a ministry space and a place for shows. It sounds very cool and I can’t wait to get in there and help out. Also can’t wait to just book a show that is only regular ol’ hardcore bands, and not charge people $15 plus reentry fees and all that. Ridiculous. I’m getting really stoked on this place though. Watch for good things soon.

14 December, 2006
Beck—The Information

I’m pretty sure Christopher tipped me off to this like a year ago, but The Information by Beck is really, really, really good. This will be on heavy rotation on the way to and in New York City this weekend.

Also, Flickr is back. Thank goodness.

Guess what, y’all. I’m going to New Zealand for two weeks in March! I’m so, so excited, especially because it’s pretty much a free trip. Good thing I have a smart mom who gets invited to awesome conferences as their keynote speaker. New Zealand!

11 December, 2006
Spanish Bombs & Permanent

There was a show Friday night at Relative Theory — Bottled Violence, Permanent and Spanish Bombs. I missed Bottled Violence’s set which I was really sad about. I like that band. They need to record a demo soon or something.

Here are some photos of Spanish Bombs & Permanent.

I like how it looks like little lights are coming out of his mouth haha.

The only one of Permanent that came out:

Good times!

10 November, 2006
Events!

Tonight, a new restaurant/venue opens called The Boot. It’s by the dudes that own Relative Theory Records.

Here’s what Josh had to say about the restaurant: “We are going to be doing traditional Italian food with a VA twist. Mostly all of our produce will be organically grown and bought from independent farms from Suffolk, Charlottesville, Williamsburg, and other farms from our region. We will do the same for all dairy and meat. All will be organic, free range, and bought from independent farms. It’s pretty cool when a farmer from Charlottesville pulls up in his truck with his wife and shows you vegetables that were in the ground that morning while you were sleeping.”

Come spend your dollars locally and support a great new venture. All the glitterati will be there tonight for the opening. I can’t wait to eat some yummy Italian food. I’ll be there. Come see me.

Also, there is a show Saturday. Jimmy’s band The Insider will be playing, I have no idea who these other bands are. Probably a good deal of JUNT JUNT WEE will be involved. But come out anyway.

09 October, 2006
The Insider, Dead Ahead, Victim 10/06/06

Friday night, the local show that almost didn’t happen. Haha. My apologies in advance for these crappy pictures. There was stuff on the camera lens that I could NOT get off, and hardly anything focused.

A new band called Bottled Violence opened. Decent first show! They covered Filler and Start Today.

Jimmy’s band, The Insider played. I got ZERO good pictures. Sorry Jimmy. They did great. Everything sounded good to me and they covered Point of View (Floorpunch).

Dead Ahead played. Always entertaining.

Victim played too. Good set.

They covered AF, Murphys Law and Cro-Mags (seriously VB bands are running out of Cro-Mags songs to cover. Not that I’m complaining, I’m just sayin.)

Nice Tiger, dude.

Got a couple videos of Victim. They’re dark and grainy. Sorry. Here’s Braindead.

And the cover of Cavity Creeps.

Fun times. Didn’t do a ton this weekend other than that, watching season 1 of LOST on DVD and Jimmy helping me paint my office, which looks terrific if you only look at the sections he painted. Mine need another coat. Ha.

15 September, 2006
Whoa Beyonce.

I was gonna post this and say she’s quite the actress, but I suspect she’s really feelin’ it because her nostrils are flaring all over the place. Mine do that too when I am freaking out, which I always thought was kinda gross but now that I’ve watched this video I think it’s totally hot.

I need to get a hold of her new record. And also Justin Timberlake so I can hear that stupid Bringin’ Sexy Back song everyone is talking about. Everyone always gets sick of songs before I even hear them (example: I still have never heard the “My Humps” song by Black Eyed Peas or whatever).

01 September, 2006
Gorilla Biscuits!

Last night’s show was nothing short of amazing. The weather sucked and it took us 17 years to get there, and we missed DTN, but after all that, I was SO not disappointed. I sang every word to every song I knew (surprisingly to Joe who thought “girls would just stand there and nod”—ugh, go away), and my throat is seriously raw today. I didn’t go that near the stage, I stayed about 3/4 of the way back so I could see what was going on and hear everything without getting stage dived on.

They played all the songs I wanted to hear, I got to see my friends and watch them dance and sing along. Jimmy had a great time (I bought the tickets for his birthday a while back) and I got to see one of my favorite hardcore bands that I thought I’d never have the chance to see. It was an awesome night.

So this year I’ve seen Cro-Mags and Gorilla Biscuits. I don’t even know what can top that. Oh and did I mention they covered Dance Floor Justice and Do Something? It was just awesome. I took some video clips. Forgive the unsteadiness during the “mosh” parts, you know I was getting shoved out of the way haha. Here’s the entire song Time Flies. You get to hear me at the end “HOW BOUT YOURS!!!” Hah. I’m glad I can see a friend or two of mine stage dive in this clip.

If you can’t see the embedded video, click here: Time Flies (1:39).

And here’s the second half of Hold Your Ground. I was fumbling with the camera and didn’t get it out in time for the whole thing. This song went out to the straight edge kids.

If you can’t see this one, click here: Hold Your Ground (1:21).

Tonight is Strike Anywhere and Ignite at the beach. I’d really like to go but I miss my dog and it’s $12 plus parking. I’ll have to think on that one.

31 July, 2006
The Insider

Jimmy will probably kill me for posting these but too bad. The Insider played their first show Friday night at Club Relevant in Virginia Beach. It was a really good first show, they got a good response, especially for being the first band on. They covered Firestorm and people beat each other with pool noodles. It was pretty hilarious.

(He’s really not as scary as he looks haha.) This was the first time I’d really heard the band and I liked it. Some of their songs had a heavy Snapcase vibe, and that is A-OK with me.

The rest of the show was pretty lame. Suffocate Faster wasn’t awful but I was ready to go by the time they went on. Three Earth Crisis covers in one night, now THAT is outta control. Another band covered Firestorm as well even though they knew Jimmy’s band already played it, and another band covered Gomorrah’s Season Ends (I don’t know if that’s right, it’s the “I am straight edge” song hah).

Also I found out where all the straight edge kids went, they all went metalcore apparently. Anyway go check out The Insider’s myspace page, Jimmy should be posting a video soon. I hope they play out again soon, I am looking forward to seeing this band develop.

Mae at the Norva

So Mae played at the Norva on Saturday night. My brother-in-law Rob plays keyboards for the band and he graciously got Jimmy and me into the show. I have to say it was probably one of the best shows I’ve seen them play. The band sounded on point and the lights were amazing.

The band has these fancy lights that I’ve never seen anywhere except at a Dave Matthews Band show, anyway they really enhanced the music, you could tell they put a lot of work into coordinating the lights with the music. I loved it, plus it allowed my measly camera to take some semi-decent pictures. Larger versions are at my Flickr page if you’re interested.

It’s weird to think that they have been a band for five years. The singer mentioned that when they were talking about their upcoming tour, etc. Their first show was at Cogans, I remember being at that show with probably less than a hundred people there, when they still had some soccer dad playing bass for them and a saxaphone player in the band. Now they are selling out huge venues and making a name for themselves. I am really happy for them. Not many bands can successfully make a living off their music alone, but they have it figured out.

Here’s a video of part of the first song they played for their encore, called We’re So Far Away. The video sucks, but it showcases Rob’s extreme talent on the piano. I’m surprised the sound came out so well!

Good job Rob & the rest of Mae. Have fun on your tour! If you are in one of these cities, I highly recommend checking them out! They are playing with The Spill Canvas, The New Amsterdams and Vedera.

08/01— Richmond, VA 08/02— Charlotte, NC 08/03— Jacksonville, FL 08/04— St. Petersburg, FL 08/05— Lake Buena Vista, FL 08/05— Englewood, CO 08/06— Ft. Lauderdale, FL 08/08— Atlanta, GA 08/09— Nashville, TN 08/09— Nashville, TN 08/10— Cincinnati, OH 08/11— Pitsburgh, PA 08/12— Washington, DC 08/14— New York, NY 08/15— Boston, MA 08/16— Asbury Park, NJ 08/17— Philadelphia, PA 08/18— Williamsville, NY 08/19— Birch Run, MI 08/20— Grand Rapids, MI 08/22— Milwaukee, WI 08/23— Minneapolis, MN

08/24— St. Louis, MO 08/25— Chicago, IL 08/26— Lexington, KY 08/27— Memphis, TN 08/29— New Orleans, LA 08/30— Houston, TX 08/31— Austin, TX 09/01— Dallas, TX 09/02— Tulsa, OK 09/03— Lawrence, KS 09/05— Englewood, CO 09/06— Salt Lake City, UT 09/07— Boise, ID 09/08— Seattle, WA 09/09— Portland, OR 09/10— San Francisco, CA 09/12— Rohnert Park, CA 09/12— Rohnert Park, CA 09/13— Los Angeles, CA 09/14— San Diego, CA 09/15— Tempe, AZ 09/16— Irvine, CA

28 July, 2006
TONIGHT!

Jimmy’s band is playing out for the first time and they are covering Firestorm so come beat someone up while watching his band.

THE BURNING SEASON | SUFFOCATE FASTER | THE FINAL BURDEN
xTO THIS DAYx | LOSS OF REASON | HANGMEN | THE INSIDER

6pm, $10? at Club Relevant
929 Level Green Blvd, VIRGINIA BEACH, VA 23450

They are opening so get there early!

28 June, 2006
Dead Ahead & Attack At Dawn — 06/27/06

Dead Ahead made a surprise appearance last night and split a set with Attack At Dawn. The mic worked for about 20 seconds of the set. Oh well.

Attack At Dawn was as good as I expected. The place was pretty packed and I know this will sound cheesy but dang, the dance floor was intense. And I’m not the only one who observed that. I loved it. Great to see a band get such a good reaction on their first show. And they deserved it.

These kids were outside watching the whole set and freaking out. They were super cute.

My camera battery died after the split set, so I have no pictures of Terror or Death Before Dishonor. DBD were good, I always enjoy seeing them even if I wouldn’t necessarily pick their record to listen to or whatever. Jake’s band was good, I can see why they are so popular but the vocals drive me insane. The dude sounds like an angry seal or something. It grates on my nerves.

Terror was awesome. I forget how fun they are to see live. I think Scott Vogel is one of the best vocalists that’s playing out today, just because he seems totally into the show, no matter how many people are there or what the crowd is acting like. He is just a totally nice guy on and off the mic. Doesn’t lecture to or preach to the crowd about political crap or his version of hardcore like half the other “big” bands that tour. He recognizes VA bands on the mic. And he has the most hilarious stage dive calls or whatever. I think there was once a whole thread on the Bridge 9 board about Scott Vogel-isms. My favorite from last night: “OKAY VIRGINIA BEACH! LET’S SEE SOME AERIAL…. AERIAL TACTICS! Stage dives! Stage dives!”

Fun show overall, although I was definitely disappointed Terror didn’t play What Have We Done. It is me and Jimmy’s song, after all. I wanted to have a little romantic moment. Oh well, maybe next time.

26 June, 2006
Victim — 06/25/06

Show last night at the Peppermint with Wasted Time, Victim, Municipal Waste and Murphy’s Law. I felt like I knew maybe five people there. Lots of young punk rock types, I guess cause of Municipal Waste. Even though they got old for me real fast, at least I know how to draw a crowd if I need one.

My first time seeing Wasted Time. I liked it a lot. Victim was good as always and Murphy’s Law was pretty fun. Seemed like the first four songs or so, everyone was going nuts and then the crowd just kinda died. I think the Ska Song killed it.

The guy from the Hickory Ruritan needs to call me back so I can finish planning this fest thing. Four day weekend this weekend. Well sort of. I have to go to South Carolina for a work-related thing on Sunday, driving back the same night. It’s gonna be a loooong day but I’d rather drive straight back than spend another weekend-day on work.

The beach was great yesterday. I’m a little toasted.

Also I’ve had a huge surge of hits on this site lately. Like double what I normally get (triple last Wednesday). I haven’t even posted anything interesting lately, and it’s not Google doing it (same old searches on “kicking nuts,” “jeremy piven hair” and “fashion fat ass”). What in the world is going on? Anyway, if you’re a new reader, hello. Please leave a comment, you hundreds of strangers!

14 June, 2006
You don’t know what this means to me.

Decent show last night. Tarpit, Outbreak, Modern Life Is War, This Is Hell and Bane at the Peppermint Beach Club. Felt like the first real show of the summer. Good vibe all around, got to see some friends, see a few good bands. I enjoyed myself.

Tarpit’s set was great, I can’t get enough of seeing them live, even though I’ve seen them probably 20 times or more. Outbreak was decent, I kind of wish I’d taken pictures. MLIW & This Is Hell—yawn. Seems like they’re all the filler parts of hardcore with nothing exciting in there. Too slow or artsy or something. I enjoyed watching Bane even though I hate getting lectured every time I see them. This time it was, “If you’re an older kid who’s not happy with the way things are in the scene and you have complaints, maybe you should stop going to shows, because you’re ruining it for the 14-15 year olds.”

Maybe the 14-15 year olds whose first exposure to hardcore is a $12 show with a tour package that think this is a fashion show are ruining it. Hmmm I wonder.

Also, apparently, “if people aren’t talking shit about you on the internet, then you aren’t fighting hard enough for your scene or putting yourself into it enough.” Ehh whatever dude. To quote your own lyrics, you don’t know what this means to me.

Here’s Tarpit.

Watch out for a VA/RVA/DC hardcore mini-fest in late July/early August. I’m calling the ruritan this week to reserve a date. I can’t wait.

28 April, 2006
Friday Random Ten

You know the drill. Shuffle your iTunes, post the first ten tracks, no cheating.

1. The Moment I Said It—Imogen Heap
2. Shot in the Dark—RJD2
3. Congratulations Matt and Christine—Reggie & the Full Effect
4. Rememberance Day—Over My Dead Body
5. Volcano—Damien Rice
6. Your Biggest Mistake—New Found Glory
7. Emma—Alkaline Trio
8. American Hearts—Piebald
9. Kid A—Radiohead
10. Forced Down—SS Decontrol

Sorry I haven’t been very posty lately, not much going on. Working out, cooking food, bathing the dog, reading, watching Mission Organization episodes saved to TiVo. Seriously, not that exciting.

10 April, 2006
By myself

Dead Ahead at the Peppermint Beach Club on Saturday. This is the only decent picture out of about 20 I took before I got knocked flat on my butt (would rather save the camera than break my fall, ha). I decided that I wanted to be able to watch the show rather than risk another black eye just to get some blurry pictures, so I moved back about 10 feet.

You’ll just have to take my word for it that FVK were amazing. I believe they played the whole Age of Quarrel record, and several Bad Brains songs. It was an awesome show. I’m surprised the stage didn’t collapse; there were more than a few people up there. Set To Explode and Victim were both excellent also. If you missed it, I’m sorry. And if you went to Macrock instead, shame on you.

Other than that, productive weekend. The pink socks I’m knitting are halfway up my foot (everyone said these socks knit up fast, but I didn’t believe them til now). I did some pattern alterations on the skirt I’m working on, now I just need to cut and sew up the muslin I’m making.

Oh, and I watched Memoirs of a Geisha again at my parents’ house, and apparently I missed like the first 30 minutes of the movie the first time I watched it. When I was watching it I remember thinking I had started halfway through the movie, since they left out everything about her former life. I even tried getting back to the main menu and hitting play, but it didn’t rewind. Well there’s something wrong with this DVD because it won’t let me burn a copy either. Anyway I’m glad they didn’t leave out all that stuff.

I’m very articulate this morning, can’t you tell? I need sleep.

24 March, 2006
Friday Random Ten

Jumping on the bandwagon of the Friday Random Ten. Here’s the game: Fire up your mp3 players, load up your catalog of songs, and set to random play. List the first ten that it spits out and don’t bother skipping the embarassing songs. Here’s mine.

1. Bust It — Righteous Jams
2. Show You No Mercy — Cro-Mags
3. Thrice All American — Neko Case
4. Amie — Damien Rice
5. Oh, What A Dream — Johnny Cash
6. Words and Guitar — Sleater-Kinney
7. The Last Time — Johnny Cash
8. Violently Happy — Bjork
9. Get Well Soon — Reggie & The Full Effect
10. Dance Floor Justice — Project X

Okay, your turn. No cheating, now. Post your random 10.

20 March, 2006
Sweaty dudes with microphones.

Here are some pictures from the show Saturday night in Richmond. This post is image-heavy. Deal with it.

Down To Nothing:

Cold World:

Tombstone (saw them for the first time. LOVE IT. Sounds like old Soundgarden):

Bathroom graff.

Good times. I haven’t been to a show that packed in too long. I need to take my camera to shows more often. Shoot, I just need to go to shows more often. I may book one before summer starts back up. I’m gettin the itch to book shows again maybe. Uh oh.

27 February, 2006
Mark your calendars!

This is a show you should definitely make it out to. FVK doing an Age of Quarrel AND Bad Brains set, AND the Victim CD release party! Why would you NOT go?

03 February, 2006
Braindead.

It’s Friday.
It’s 70+ degrees outside. Take that, stupid groundhog.
Last night I worked hard at the gym. I’m sore today.
Tonight I’m going to a show. You should too. Here’s some info.

MUNICIPAL WASTE | VICTIM | TARPIT | BLOODQUEST
@ the haunted funhouse. 2500 atlantic ave. virginia beach. $5. 7pm.

Tomorrow: WW, dog training class, yardwork, date with Jimmy? Hope it doesn’t rain.

02 November, 2005
Last Minute Show!

I probably can’t make it out tonight, but the ever elusive Cutback is making an appearance. And besides, the flyer has Christian Bale with a nail gun. You should clearly go to this.

12 September, 2005
It’s a drinkin’ town.

So, the Kansas City/Lawrence trip was so much more than I expected it to be. Fun was had. In mass amounts.

It all started Friday morning at the airport when I got stopped at the security check, and got a full torso patdown and my bags fully searched. I am an idiot and carried scissors in my knitting kit. Duh. Apparently my bag also set off the explosive detectors, who knows what caused that. Getting questioned and felt up by a woman in rubber gloves was just sooo hot.

We finally got to Kansas City. Renting a car was a little scary but fun. Jimmy says I need to get a red car next time I buy one. Apparently it makes me even hotter. As if that were possible.

We explored the city Friday night and ate in a cute little diner called Winstead’s that had been around since the 40s. It reminded me of Doumar’s.

Friday night we chilled in the pool and hot tub at the hotel. Good times.

We got up early Saturday and worked out in the hotel’s gym (which had just enough exercise equipment for the two of us). We headed back to KC. Jimmy took pictures while I drove through the city.

The Broadway Bridge heading into the city from the north.

KC is full of bars. We asked our waitress what there was to do, and said that we don’t really drink. She told us, “You’re outta luck, we’re a drinkin’ town.” Ha.

Church.

One thing I noticed is that by and large, Kansas City’s graffiti sucks. Most of it looks like gang graffiti (i.e. no style whatsoever) except that it wasn’t. I saw handstyles that looked totally awful and I thought must surely have been gang stuff, but then around the corner, there would be a throwie using the same name. There were tags put up in totally prominent places that looked horrible. Haha I dunno, I’d be embarrassed. Maybe it’s a lot of young kids getting up, but somehow I doubt it. Jimmy says maybe that’s KC Style. Haha I think he is right.

A decent looking wall. But something tells me this might have been commissioned. The black background makes me think so anyway.

Union Station.

We headed through the city to Westport, which seemed to be the cooler, artsier section. There was indeed an art fair going on, with tons of local artists showing off their stuff. First though, we spotted a record store and headed in. It looked to be a normal used CD store, until the owner pointed us downstairs. It was HUGE and covered wall to wall in vinyl. It was really overwhelming.

We both bought some stuff. The lady overcharged me by $10 which I didn’t notice til later, but it was ok. The whole time we were out there, every time we turned a corner there was a record store. Seriously they have too many. But this was by far the best one.

More Westport.

Art fair booths/street.

We headed out and drove the 40-something miles to Lawrence, Kansas, which was where the show was. Oh, and if you didn’t know, the point of this trip was to go see Coalesce play their last show ever.

Anyway Lawrence wasn’t such a bad place to spend the day. They had a cute downtown with lots of locally owned stores. More and more record stores (I bought the new Death Cab for Cutie CD), a really cool antiques mall with stuff like this:

This place called the Yarn Barn which was an awesome awesome store. I bought some alpaca yarn that is soooo soft. We ate ice cream in a cute ice cream store and killed some time there (I fell asleep on the table and Jimmy played with his cell phone).

Also now, Jimmy has his own line of chips.

The marquee at the Granada.

The venue was cool. I guess about 500-600 people were there. The first two bands were not great, we were so bored. Nodes of Ranvier played third. I mean I’d heard them before so I wasn’t surprised. Regular moshy metalcore. Jimmy heckled the band as usual. No Firestorm cover upon request so they didn’t get cut any slack. Sorry, kids.

Coalesce were amazing. I am not a huge huge fan like Jimmy is but I like a couple of their songs a lot. But live they were awesome. Makes me sad they are broken up now. Their guitar player was so crazy to watch. He plays so fast that his hands were literally a blur.

Sorry, no pictures. I was not about to get close enough to the stage for my camera to cooperate with the dim lighting. People were acting too insane down there. Jimmy came out after their set with his shirt and shorts covered in blood (not his). Haha who knows what was going on down there.

We got back to the hotel and got a grand total of one hour sleep before we had to get ready to go to the airport. I was really glad to get home yesterday. Travel wears me out.

I want to definitely do more of it though. I want to go to Miami. And probably several places in California. And I want to go back to New York and really explore.

Other than the obvious (and apparently all coastal) locations, what is your favorite place to visit? I want recommendations for our next sojourn.

07 August, 2005
Last Anthem News

Hey kids. The Last Anthem Records site got revamped today. We also put up a new MP3 by Victim called Revenge off the upcoming full length. Check out the bands page to hear it.

23 July, 2005
Last Anthem Records News

NOBS records are in. Go to the Last Anthem Records store to pick one up. The record release will be August 9th at the Vans Warped Tour at the Virginia Beach Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre.

Victim has just finished recording their full length Electrocutioner. MP3s will be up in the next week.

Special edition demos, promo CDs and posters will be available at Posi Numbers for Dead Ahead, War Head and Tidal Wave. The posters will have band and release date info.

29 June, 2005
Tidal Wave

So I have pics from Tidal Wave’s first show in VB. You suck if you missed this. The muppet intro was croosh haha. Seven more photos, click below.