Made in Germany: Stinkbombens

I ordered 45 stinkbombs that finally came in yesterday. Today at work Gregg and I let some off. Oh my God...they smell so bad. Haha I'm going to have so much fun with these. I also got a switchblade comb. It rules.

Last night I went to a screening of the new Minutemen documentary: "We Jam Econo." Wow, what a band. So original, especially in the stringent and often times insipid hardcore/punk scene. To put it simply they make me want to start a new band, (an endeavor I'm in the process of dealing with.) Mike Watt narrated a good deal of the film and shed a lot of light on aspects of the band that always remained mysterious to me. There's a chapter about them in the great book, "Our band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground," but the film went three steps further. Watt said something interesting about Bob Dylan during an interview that I can't get out of my head. He said something along the lines of, "hearing Bob Dylan is like hearing your pop speak." Wow. I've never heard it better put. Everytime you put on a Dylan record, even though you know the thing by heart, you know when he opens his mouth that it is incredibly important and you damn well better not forget it. Another thing I liked about the documentary was that they didn't focus too much on D. Boon's death as I expected they would. If anything they focused too little on it. There's a tendency in documentaries about bands, in a world where singer's are seen as the most important part of bands, to put too much emphasis on them, leaving the rest of the band behind the scenes and seemingly trivial. I was appreciative that the filmmakers didn't fall into that trap.

Other news...other news...other news...I finished "Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins last Night. I liked it a lot more than other stuff I read by him. He's part Chuck Palahniuk, part Vonnegut, part Thompson, and yet unbelievably original. He's just, so...weird. Definately the best book I've read so far this summer. Now I'm onto a biography of Elvis Costello. Fuckin' right.

Playlist:
The Beatles - Revolver, Magical Mystery Tour
Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death
Ramones - s/t
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
National Geographic
IFC

Buy this CD

Seriously.

The Cup

Last night the Canes won the Cup. Cam Ward won playoff MVP...right on. What an awesome time the playoffs were, but it was weird not watching them at home with my dad. At least this way I can get drunk while I watch though. Tomorrow night i'm taking Gregg's fiance's seat at the Phillies/Yankees game. It's gonna be madness but i'll behave myself. To an extent.
I'm in the middle of a book about Theodore Roosevelt's adventure in the Amazon after he lost his re-election bid. It's pretty awesome stuff, I figure that if I can't get down there I might as well read about it. I should also probably get into the man i'm named after; find out a little about him. I think at the end of the summer Shelly and I are going to hike the Appalachian's in PA for a little. After I graduate I wanna do the whole thing though, from Georgia to Maine. They say it takes between 2 and 3 months to get it done. I figure it would be really good for me. It'll be weird getting back though without having contact, or very little contact, with everyone for so long. I really wish I could base a career around exploration and travel. I'd love to explore Africa, South America, or even Northern Canada. Maybe i'll get to Iceland one day and do all the open areas there. Until then i've got the city and the hoardes of cockroaches that I can't escape...

Playlist:
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin', The Bootleg Series 7, Blood on the Tracks
The Clash - s/t
Cat Power - The Greatest
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
The River of Doubt - Candice Millard
American Hardcore - Steven Blush
The Simpsons

Sonic Youth

Still as innovative and rockin as always. I remember when I heard about the show; in the Good Dog, drunkedly singing 'Sugar Kane' from the radio and Erich saying something like, "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. SY's playing the Starlight!" Shit man! Well it finally came. We walked there in the rain as happens at every Starlight show. Walked right by Kim as we were getting in line, she walked right passed us and smiled. I really didn't know what to say. Haha. Be Your Own Pet opened, shit kids...be your own band. They annoy the hell out of me. It sucks because I think the majority of people there who were getting into them were only doing so because Thurston Moore hypes them up all the time. That man could shit on a piece of toast and people would take "artistic" pictures of it and buy it for $100's on Ebay. Regardless, once they left the stage we moved up. A kid next to Shelly passed out, fully contortion-like, right on the floor. Twice. The second time people just kind of looked at him laying there, including his "friend" he was there with. Once I realized no one was going to do anything I dragged him off to the side. His accomplice just kind of looked at me as if to say, "Do something else man!" Well buddy, I hope you enjoyed the show from the floor. Asshole.
Finally the band came on. In a place of that size, holy shit. They sounded better than when I've ever seen them. They played pretty much the whole new record but also threw in 'Pattern Recognition', with some sweet noise at the end, Pacific Coast Highway (!!!), and Shaking Hell, to which Kim declared to young fans shouting for very old songs, "This song's so fuckin' old, it was written before you were born." Setlist:

1. Incinerate
2. What a Waste
3. Pattern Recognition
4. Do You Believe In Rapture?
5. Reena
6. Rats
7. Sleepin' Around
8. Turquoise Boy
9. Jams Run Free
10. Lights Out
11. PCH
12. Pink Steam
-----
13. The Neutral
14. Shaking Hell
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15. Or

How to simultaneously pound ones fists and laugh at the news

So today the UN has officially recognized "mass Darfur killings." Months ago it was evident that the shit had hit the fan when even the Bush administration considered what was happening in Sudan as "genocide." Yet now a prosecuter of the International Criminal Court has documented "thousands" of killings and massacres.
But it's okay, because today President Bush, after visiting Baghdad, pledged to do "whatever it takes to help Iraq succeed." Mission accomplished old boy!

Another State of Mind

I finally got my hands on a copy of Another State of Mind this past weekend; the documentary from 1984, following the BYO tour of Youth Brigade and Social Distortion. I thought it was really well done, at least better than I expected. However, Mike Ness, though I will always remain a faithful Social D fan, can be such a dick. It's really obvious watching him on the screen that all he really wanted was to be a rock star. Well good for him, because he's finally achieved it. I don't think that his intentions were ever truly "DIY" or "Dischord-esque punk rock," but the guy knew what he wanted and he got it. Bravo. The visit to DC and to Minor Threat shows were priceless. At one point before the Threat got on stage a couple of mics got broken so the PA people gathered up their equipment and left the show, and the kids without a PA. So what did Ian and the gang do?, they played without it. The video showed a breathtaking rendition of the song "Minor Threat," with the crowd simply screaming the lyrics so loudly no PA was even needed in the first place.
It reminded me alot of an American Nightmare show from around 2000/2001 at Skatefest in Worcester, upstairs at the Palladium, when the power went out halfway through, "There's a Black Hole In the Shadow of the Pru," and despite the silence from the guitars and mic, the drums kept going and every kid in the room finished the song word for word. I remember those 40/50 seconds being one of those defining "punk rock" moments of my life. One of the realizations of, "this is my home and always will be," and other such cliched thoughts. Those were great years indeed. You could literally feel it in the air that something special was happening for those two summers. Such great bands emerged from Boston that literally changed the landscape of hardcore/punk not only in New England, but throughout the world. American Nightmare, Panic, The Hope Conspiracy, Shark Attack, Carry On...the list goes on and on. And the bands that already had been around a long time were seeming to re-emerge and re-establish themselves with a new generation of punk kids: Bane, Reach the Sky, Converge. Those were the days. I feel as if hardcore/punk lost something after that period of time that it still lacks. It doesn't feel like the same community. So many more tough guys now, less acceptance. I don't know...I'm just rambling. But regardless, I'll never say "goodbye" to hardcore/punk no matter how old I get. Maybe I won't always listen to it nonstop, but the spirit and philosophy will always remain. You won't find that in any other music sub-culture.

In other thoughts, I ate lunch from the La Salle Union this afternoon: two grilled cheeses and fries. I honestly wanna puke. How can people fuck up food so badly? I just don't get it.

Summer of Rock

The envelope full of tickets sitting in my freezer has already been delved into. First was Radiohead at the Tower Theater, in one of the most amazing performances i've ever seen from any band. The sense of intimacy was what made it so perfect i think. The new songs were amazing too. No matter how long we wait for it, they just won't fuck up. Let down and hanging around...FINALLY! I've put the setlist here too.

1. There There
2. Lucky
3. 15 Step
4. Arpeggi
5. Kid A
6. Dollars & Cents
7. The National Anthem
8. Nude
9. Go Slowly
10. Paranoid Anrdoid
11. Spooks
12. The Gloaming
13. Bodysnatchers
14. 4 Minute Warning
15. The Bends (!!!)
16. Everything In It's Right Place
17. How To Dissapear Completely (!!!)

First Encore
18. I Might Be Wrong
19. House of Cards
20. Black Star (!!!)
21. Letdown (!!!)

Second Encore
22. Idioteque



Then this weekend was Paint it Black, the Explosion, and the Souls at the Troc. A great new band called Spanish Bombs (good name choice!) opened up. The bands sounded great but I really don't like punk/hc shows in that club. It just doesn't feel right. I think that the Starlight would've been ideal. The next day was Outbreak, Modern Life Is War, and Bane at the Church. I hope to God that wasn't the last time I saw Bane. MLIW is, hands down, the best hardcore band around today. Their records are inspiring and amazing, their live shows are a fucking blast, and they cover "Nervous Breakdown." Killer. You can't fuck with that.

And as far as hockey; shit. I really wanna see the Oilers take the Cup but it doesn't look like that'll happen at this point. Carolina at home is unstoppable. I wanted to see a Canadian team take it, plus see Samsonov hoist that Cup. However, the mighty Canes are the new home of the Whalers; that seemingly ancient team whose logo used to adorn every car I saw growing up that didn't have a B's sticker on it. So I guess I can live with the (inevitable) results. The game's Wednesday night and I really hope that the Oilers take at least that game because I haven't missed the winning of the Cup since I've been a hockey fan, and that night I'll be at Sonic Youth. Well, now that I put it that way I most definately can't complain.

Besides all that stuff, my grandmother isn't doing so well, so I'm holding out for her, hoping I can get home sometime soon to see her.


Playlist:
Sonic Youth - Rather Ripped
Ray Bradbury - The October Country

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