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Fall comes early this year
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|02:06 pm] |
Clock out for the weekend, you've got two whole days, and you'll spend every moment faking a nihilistic haze. It's gonna be a rager, or so you pretend, mostly you're just gonna fuckin' hob nob with your friends, taking stupid pictures, acting moderately disorderly, but we both know image maintenance is still your top priority. Devoid of any real opinions that haven't to do with people or bands, and since shit talk is the only language you understand, I'll say this as clearly as I can: "you're a fucking tool," "you're a worthless chode," your life's a joke you think you get but it's getting pretty old. Talking shit and kissing ass as they all mock you behind your back, and still you have the nerve to roll your eyes as I walk by. You're nothing without that bottle, you think you're pretty brave, but you're making fun of me for not drinking when I'm not the one who's a slave. Spend half your income on alcohol and wonder why you're broke. And what's with all these anarchists with their corporate beer and smokes?
This is what you live for.
This is what you live for.
This is what you moved to the city for.
This is your life week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after week after ad nauseum. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 15th, 2009|10:48 pm] |
-Friday I got a citation for running two red lights. I use my passport as my ID, and so no social security number was on the ticket, meaning there's no way they can totally identify me when/if I decide not to pay it.
-Sunday was Brad's 30th birthday party, and we partied like it was 1991 with laser tag and go carts in Fairfield. I so want to get the weekday all-day pass. I also want my own fucking go cart.
-Monday at work, I got chastised for something that happened seven months ago. When the state is paying for your glorified maid service, get the fuck off your high horse.
Then I paid $15 to see Nomeansno play half a block from my house, and they bored me to tears.
The most likely place for me to move right now is a house in the Bayview with some cool people, EXCEPT that there are at least two polluting sites a mile from the house, and I don't want to have to move because of air quality issues for the THIRD time.
Why am I bothering looking for a stable living situation in a city I don't enjoy?
I don't fucking want to live here anymore, but I don't know where else I'd go. Maybe living in Oakland would change my mind? Probably not.
There's a room open in a house there that I'm waiting to hear back about,
Part of me just wants to put my shit in storage, couch surf for two months to save up more, and then quit my job and hit the road right after the new year. It's practically what I'm doing now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 17th, 2008|05:12 am] |
All my stuff is packed, cleaned, the purging/donating/selling of stuff is done.
I boxed up most of my records only to find out that USPS won't ship boxes with duct tape, so I unpack it, make two different trips to get strapping tape, and repair the shit out of a mildly falling apart box.
Couldn't find an adequate solution for about ten of my records, so they're coming with me on the bus and I'll find a decent box while in Syracuse.
I leave at 12:30 tomorrow, but before then, I have to:
-Get under four hours of sleep
-Vacuum my room
-Get a ride to the post office to mail my records at 9:30AM
-Take the Metro to City Bikes and pick up my boxed bike by 10:30AM
-WALK THE FUCKING THING TO THE UPS STORE IN NOW GENTRIFIED AS FUCK COLUMBIA HEIGHTS. This is at least ten blocks, and I'll get to pass the Target that just opened, Wonderful.
-Take the Metro BACK to my house, pick up my shit, and walk the two blocks to the Greyhound, hopefully getting there by 11:30.
Stressed but excited. |
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| Spring has come early this year |
[Mar. 9th, 2008|07:18 pm] |
Holy fuck, two year-defining weekends in a row.
This weekend I went to Kollapse Fest in Richmond. Here's the short version
-Being in full-on "feeling/acting drunk while completely sober" mode all weekend. Playing kickball on one hour of sleep and everyone else still recovering from the night before (except Chris from Baltimore, who is pretty much my equivalent as far as straightedge kids go). Me figuratively stealing bases, him literally stealing bases, my jumping in the air to buttslam him, overaiming, and yes.
-Anytime Jeff "Foat" Kraftos and I get together, there's mayhem and usually kissing involved. Sucks I only usually see him once a year.
-Met some awesome Baltimore kids, I don't know why I'm meeting them now instead of when I lived there!
-Not nearly as into crust/d-beat/whathaveyou as I was a few years ago, but most of the bands were pretty good, especially After The Bombs, Attake, and Man The Conveyors. Punx going nuts instead of standing around with their arms folded.
The only negative is that Jen didn't show up.
Injuries:
-Attempting to jump on the stage to stagedive, and hitting my head on the corner of a hanging speaker.
-Getting thrown/dropped back onto the stage after I did stagedive, and falling onto the corner of a stage monitor. My left side has a two inch bruise.
I got home late last night and spent today organizing and packing my stuff. Two suitcases (one with all my 7"s from out here) are on their way to Chicago, I'll be mailing 2-3 boxes of tapes and zines, and my backpack should fit the rest.
GOT A PLACE IN SAN FRANCISCO!! Treasure Island to be specific, $540 a month and $20 utilities with roommates that seem a lot more interesting than most on Craigslist, and 24 hour Muni service to the city. I don't want to live there for too long, especially since the island has questionable air quality and I'd rather live with friends on the mainland, but it seems like a decent option for now. |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 6th, 2008|12:27 am] |
I'll be flying from Kansas City to San Francisco, a 5.5 hour trip, for $83, including all the taxes and what not.
A Greyhound ticket with 14 day advance purchase would've taken at least 38 hours and cost $89.
Fuck You Again, Greyhound. |
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| Last days in DC |
[Mar. 3rd, 2008|02:17 am] |
What a fucking weekend.
Last night there was a show at my houae with Coke Bust, Logic Problems, Time To Escape, and a few others, where the fucking cops came out in force. I actually missed all this because I was going to two shows last night and was at the first on the other side of DC (with local band Turboslut, check them out if you can they are fucking fantastic, turboslut.org), but apparently the cops stayed there for over an hour and intimidated my roommates (who don't have much experience with dealing with cops or knowing what they can and can't legally do) into blocking off every entrance to the house, entering, and breathalyzing everyone there under 21.
Two out of five bands had played, and the rest of the show got moved to another house a few miles north, and luckily I passed a car of kids going there on my way back to my house and hopped in. Something like 75 people paid at the first location (far above what shows there usually draw), and only about 20 people including bands made it to the new location, but it was so fun and had this intense feeling of catharsis and camaraderie that only comes with a show triumphantly finishing up after some bullshit goes down. I got there during Logic Problems, they're from North Carolina and are great. Then Time To Escape played as a three piece because their drummer is Guilty of Ditching Out. Then Coke Bust finished things off with the best set I've ever seen them play, and the last time I'll see them before I move.
Then the Ergs, Max Levine Ensemble, and a few others I missed played tonight at the same house as where Turboslut played and it was so amazing, seriously something out of a Cristy Road drawing of quirky punk kids singing along in a packed basement.
Next week is Kollapse Fest in Richmond, then my final weekend here will be spend tying up loose ends and hanging out with friends I've been neglecting. Most things are fine, I need to figure out the specifics of shipping my bike and records, and maybe shipping a box of books, tapes, and zines.
I know I can be naive, but I've been scouring Craigslist nonstop for the past few days, sent out about 20 emails (looking for $650 or less in the city, $500 or less in the East Bay, maybe I'm shooting too low, I hope not), and heard back from exactly one person.
I have an advantage because I don't smoke or have a pet and I'll have very little stuff with me, but still. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 29th, 2008|12:52 pm] |
The leg of my move from Chicago to Kansas City on April 1st is costing me literally $2.50, and the extra dollar is so I can check an extra bag.
Fuck you Greyhound.
Now I just need to find a place. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 28th, 2008|09:45 pm] |
Leaving town in two and a half weeks. Syracuse, Cleveland, Chicago, Madison for Madisonfest (Repos, Life Trap, PITF, etc.), Lawrence, and Kansas City all along the way, getting into the Bay Area around the second week in April. All this for less than the price of a plane ticket from BWI to Oakland.
In the meantime, compulsively looking for places to live. If anyone has or knows of an open room in the area for April, please get in touch. San Francisco is preferable, but either side of the Bay is fine. My financial situation is a lot better than it was last month so I can afford a proper room, but would still be fine with and might even prefer an out of the way space. I'd rather live with people I know or would get along/have things in common with than some random Craigslist people.
Worst case scenario, there's a seemingly seedy hotel on Folsom in the city that offers weekly rental rates that are less than what it looks like I might be paying for a room, and all I'll be taking is what I can fit into two boxes (for records, tapes, books, zines), two suitcases, and a backpack.
Filling out Rainbow Grocery application and crossing my fingers. |
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| Shows I'm doing in the next two weeks |
[Feb. 10th, 2008|02:02 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jawbreaker | ] |
Scanner at my work isn't working so I don't have the flyers scanned, but I'll try again in a day or so.
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16TH
PYRAMID SCHEME (Pittsburgh wingnut thrashers)
THRAK (Ditto)
OFF MINOR (last tour)
REJOUISSANCE (on tour with Off Minor)
BROKEN BODIES (The positive yeouth)
PHOOEY (listened to their demo about six times today)
At the Corpse Fortress
906 Philadelphia Ave in Silver Spring
8PM // $6-$7 sliding scale (four touring bands, OK?)
and then...
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 26TH
AMERICAN CHEESEBURGER (Mixed nuts from Georgia)
DEEP SLEEP (Harsh Realm)
MOON BALLOON AND HIS UNEARTHLY ADVENTURES (Cob Nobblers)
DOCTOR STRANGE (Wack Slacks)
BAD HABIT (Bound and Hagged)
At the Corpse Fortress (Swingin' on the Flippity Flop)
906 Philadelphia Ave in Silver Spring
8PM // $5
($1 off to the first five people that can name the origin of these descriptions at the door)
What else?
Gave notice to the Maryland Food Co-op a few weeks ago, it's really hitting me that I won't be there in six weeks. I definitely plan on applying at Rainbow Grocery in SF and looking into other worker-owned places around the Bay, but it's not going to be the same.
Been on a pin making kick lately, I made a bunch of designs for the co-op and am selling a bunch to Smash, which will help with money for moving. I think I'll have about two grand when I leave, which will include what I'll be using to move, and I think I'm just gonna Greyhound from Lawrence to the Bay instead of flying.
Some other good shows coming up: Vitamin X is hitting the east coast and midwest, and I'll be seeing them in Baltimore and possibly Philly next weekend. Anti You and Religious SS Disorder are playing my house at the beginning of March, and then Kollapse Fest in Richmond the last full weekend I'll be in the area, with Keri coming up afterwards!
I'd like to set up a final all-local show a day or two before I move with specific bands that don't play much and/or never play together, but I don't know if it's going to work. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 20th, 2007|01:36 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Penelope Houston's "The Pale Green Girl" CD | ] |
A vasectomy at Planned Parenthood in Towson will run me only $150 according to their sliding scale thing, and this is the exact amount I'm getting as a year-end bonus from the co-op. I am definitely making an appointment as soon as I get back.
Right now I'm at my parents' house in Seattle with no plans for the next week. I'll probably get some writing done (Karen, I'm almost done with a column for Mix Tapers #3!), read a few books I brought, and I figured out how to get to Portland AND Vancouver BC on public transit, as well as Astoria, OR (where the Goonies was filmed), so maybe I'll make an overnight trip out of one of these. One of the few things Seattle has going for it is the vegan restaurants that I've been missing the shit out of, and I plan to make up for away time while I'm here. If anyone in WA or even Portland or Van wants to hang out or partake in said plans, get in touch!
After some going through the motions at holiday family get togethers, I'm off to Orlando for motherfuckin' This Is For You fest! Last year was some of the most fun I've had in years, and I have high expectations for this one. Afterwards I go bumming around the south with We Need To Talk for about a week, hopping off their tour to head back to DC after one of their shows in the Carolinas.
Except for probably a weekend trip to Boston and/or upstate NY, this will be my last hurrah for traveling before I move to the Bay Area. This move will almost definitely happen closer to the end of March, and I kind of want to make a road trip out of it if I can find anyone or at least visit someplace I haven't been on my way west.
I'm not really one to download music, but holy shit I just stumbled on MP3 blogs such as kbdrecords.com, 7inchpunk.com, and Something I Learned Today, and have been going crazy downloading everything that looks interesting. I wish I could find out about these bands through mixtape trading, but I suppose this is the next best thing, albeit a distant second. |
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| A statement of our times |
[Dec. 6th, 2007|05:25 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cynical | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Joel snoring | ] |
Although I am probably the least sexually active person you know, I've been seriously thinking about getting a vasectomy in case this changes at some point.
I pretty much never want to have kids, it seems I would not qualify to make donations for cash at pretty much any sperm bank, and I think that guys in general should take more responsibility for birth control.
Does anyone have any experience with this?
or know how much it might cost?
or if it be a better thing to do after relocating?
I understand there's a no-scalpel method too! |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 14th, 2007|03:26 pm] |
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I am not going to defend everything Nirvana did musically, or career-wise, or Kurt as a person in a lot of ways, but they have infinitely more substance than the ironic skeletons in the musical closets of the DIY purists that dismiss them. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 14th, 2007|01:54 am] |
When my move out of Olympia was put off, I kept a weekly countdown that I checked obsessively. Things aren't as desperate this time around, but I've decided my move to the Bay Area will be for mid-March, so I guess that puts me at about eighteen weeks.
That said, I still haven't been to Allentown, Providence, Boston, or Montreal since moving out here, and I really want to go to Toronto again. The only traveling I have on my plate is going to the NW around holiday time, heading to TIFY, and then tentatively spending a few days in the south as a "roadie," but I'll see what I can do.
I vehemently take back what I said about that Mr. Airplane Man CD being a let down. I seriously have no idea what I was talking about, as this CD has quickly become a favorite despite a few songs that are only OK. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 22nd, 2007|04:40 pm] |
Last summer when I was in Michigan, my friend Claire and I drove La Piovra to their show in Milwaukee and back, and we bonded a bit and talked about every subject imaginable. We got back to Grand Rapids at like 5AM, where she gave me a copy of her zine with a mixtape "soundtrack."
A few days later, I was on a Greyhound heading back to DC and popped the tape into my walkman at some point during the night. I heard a bunch of different stuff: Joan Jett, Magazine, Angst, the Descendants, even Carole King for fuck's sake, but there were two songs in particular that I found completely mesmerizing. These songs were on different parts of the tape, and I spent hours on the overnight ride going back and forth on the tape listening to them, but there was no track listing and so I had no idea who did them. After the latter was done, I'd usually listen to the German language version of "Just A Dream" by Nena (who did the original "99 Red Balloons") before rewinding.
I was completely infatuated with these songs and needed to know more about them. When I got home, I looked up various song lyrics but couldn't find anything out about them.
A couple of months later, I fully unpacked my backpack from my trips and found my copy of her zine, which gave me more to work with but only lists the bands out of order. Upon doing some research, I found out that the two songs were actually by the same band: female duo Mr Airplane Man's "Don't Know Why" and "Sun's Going Down," which is their take on a song written in the sixties by The Outsiders from Germany, and both of which are on a CD called "C'mon DJ." I cringed at the CD title and cover art, and doesn't appear to have been released on vinyl, but I ordered it regardless.
I got the CD in the mail today. The other songs aren't bad for the most part, but don't even compare to the two on the tape, and much to my dismay, there is a fucking music video of a song from an earlier record. I still love the songs from the tape, but I feel a bit let down knowing the full story of this band and the record and kind of wish they'd stayed mystery mixtape songs.
Funny how things work out.
In other news, I am going to see The Avengers in Philly tomorrow night and Baltimore on Wednesday, and am unbelievably excited. They were a life-changing band for me that I still love just as much, and I have high expectations given that Penelope Houston never stopped making music. |
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| (no subject) |
[Oct. 3rd, 2007|10:38 pm] |
Never underestimate the power of:
Blatz
Op Ivy
pre-major label Green Day
(you can throw in Pinhead Gunpowder, Crimpshrine, etc. as well, but they're less universally well known)
I don't care if you say you don't like them.
If you're at a party
and you're drunk as shit
and someone puts on something by one of these bands, if you enjoy fun in any way, you will dance around like an idiot and sing along, whether or not you know the words.
As for the sober people, my single best memory of 2006 was seeing a robot-themed Blatz cover band at a Halloween house show with at least a couple of vegan sxe kids in the band, so you have no excuse.
The last night I lived in Baltimore, I was talking with someone, and as someone in the house put on the Shit Split, our conversation about something interesting (don't remember what exactly) rapidly degenerated into a singalong and jumping on couches.
If more parties had Blatz, then more parties would be worth going to.
The only two more recent bands I can think of that can make me feel this way are Soophie Nun Squad and Red Thread, and with more earnesty in both cases. I'm sure there are more out there, and I need to find them!
I'm going to see The Avengers in Philly on October 23rd and Baltimore on the 24th! I really want to try and interview Penelope Houston for me zine, which is coming along better than any other I've attempted. |
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| Fall comes early this year |
[Sep. 18th, 2007|04:34 am] |
I am typing this from an undisclosed location on the UMD campus where there is a bed, and obviously a computer, but no blankets, it's way too cold, and I accidentally took the wrong dose of my meds, so because insomnia is a side effect, I will probably not sleep tonight.
This was not a good idea. I figured it'd save me commute time and Metro fare, which it will, but the last thing I need is to work another shift on next to no sleep, especially since I'm going to see Double Negative in Baltimore and staying there to(morrow)night.
I'd been hopping the metro a bunch lately, but I got caught twice at my home stop and once at the College Park stop, so I'm gonna give it a rest.
I live next door to a towing company, and there are people getting yelling and getting into near fights at all hours of the day. This afternoon, there was an ordeal where this guy who didn't have enough to get his car out of the lot started yelling at some other guy and literally threatened to rape and kill the guy's daughter who was with him. One of my (female) roommates went outside to tell the guy to shut the fuck up and not to talk to women like that, and received the same threat. Apparently, the guy works at a vision clinic and was trying to offer optometry service in exchange for getting his car out of impound, and ended up dropping his business card with cell phone number on the ground, which my roommate retrieved, called the office where he works, and told them what happened because they deserve to know.
What makes people act like this?
I went to the anti-war march in DC on Saturday, and I honestly have to wonder what the point of continuing to have them at this point is. The rally culminated on the lawn outside the capital, and at one point people were practicing "civil disobedience" by literally volunteering themselves to get arrested, and something like 125 people did this. If you're going to get arrested at a march, shouldn't it be for doing something?
I think a trip to the Midwest, this time Chicago and possibly Indianapolis is in order for early November. I'm probably going to a conference in Ann Arbor, MI with the co-op the first weekend of the month, so it wouldn't be a stretch to take the following week off work.
Speaking of both trips and Ann Arbor, I got the Stooges "Funhouse" on vinyl after wearing out a tape copy and have been listening to it nonstop. This record definitely makes sense after the first one, but the musical transition from this to "Raw Power" isn't yet clear to me, except that it's a psychological return to reality, in spite of Iggy Pop being a full-fledged heroin addict when the latter came out.
It definitely seems like a drug thing, where Iggy "didn't have a lot of fun" in 1969 and started taking SOMETHING (heroin at that point, or hallucinogens maybe?) in 1970, and things suddenly got a lot more interesting. It really makes me think of being fifteen and smoking weed by myself in the woods near my dad's house, or the one time I did acid in November of 1997, and goddamn I wish I'd known of and listened to this record instead of the fucking Spawn soundtrack.
ANYWAY, it's sort of the equivalent of, say, listening to My War and the B side of Family Man after getting burned out on The First Four Years.
His "I Got A Right" single has recently been bootlegged. I believe this song was recorded around the same time as Raw Power, but didn't appear on anything else and sounds like the fast punk that was to come, maybe even proto-hardcore.
Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever become more well adjusted and be able to focus on things and function like a regular person someday, or read all the books that I want to, find something I'm good at that I can run with, or at least find people who "get" me and who I get. |
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| Maybe...it's time...to say goodbye |
[Sep. 3rd, 2007|11:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cynical | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Urban Waste | ] |
Almost everyone that makes this area worthwhile for me either wants to leave or is planning on it.
I'm getting out come early next year. I've talked about moving to the Bay Area for years, and god knows it won't be nearly as good as when I originally planned on it two years ago: at least two of my favorite places to see shows in the world have either stopped doing them altogether or have severely cut down, I don't talk to my friends there nearly as much as I used to, Oakland is developed all to shit, and I'm sure there's other stuff I can't think of. Hopefully it'll be worth it, and it'll be more than just a change of scenery. Not that I'm apprehensive in any way.
I always say that I don't regret moving to the east coast, but I feel so fucking stupid for talking about moving to the Bay for so many years and not actually doing it, and wavering between it being worthwhile and feeling like I've wasted the last year and a half of my life.
I'm 25 today (today, yesterday, who cares)
Getting older really sucks, I don't know why I get hung up over the inevitable.
I just wish things didn't get worse with age, and people didn't get less fun and adventurous. Someone please prove me wrong. Maybe it'll be some Californians?
I spend my entire life wishing I was somewhere else and wishing I was younger. What the fuck? |
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| No Future |
[Aug. 27th, 2007|03:10 pm] |
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This decade, whatever it ends up getting called, will not be remembered as having any sort of distinction, as it has been almost nothing a nostalgia trip for decades past. On a subcultual level, no one is going to hear about "00 punk" or any sort of distinct sound in ANY music genre for that matter. On a mainstream level, what the hell would "I love the '00's?" even consist of? Ipods as retro chic? Will future generations of activists wish they'd been part of the Iraq war protests (which I might add, are not nearly as relevant now as they were in 2003)? Someone prove me wrong. |
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| I will regret this in the morning |
[Aug. 1st, 2007|04:04 am] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | cynical | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Jump Off A Building | ] |
I have to go to work in two hours and I've tried but haven't slept yet. Working 8+ hours on literally no sleep for the third time in a week (and probably the next day) is going to suck and will probably lead to me fucking up, though there is the consolation of seeing the Regulations in Baltimore afterwards and then in Philly on Friday.
I am about 50/50 split between staying in DC and moving to San Francisco come January. If I get fired from the co-op, I will split town immediately. If people are not going to give a shit about me wherever I live, I'd at least like to have good times with them than just be tolerated and be treated as a novelty by people who don't get me and don't want to hang out with anyone but the people they've known forever.
Oh yeah, I was gone seven out of the last nine weeks. Fucked with my head in both good and bad ways, my hearing is a LOT worse, I feel inspired to do a lot of cool shit but also have $400 I need to earn in the next week and a half.
I haven't dated anyone in two and a half years, and while there is no way I am going to "settle," it'd be nice if this changed sometime soon. About that move to California. |
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alloutofspite's journal