Friday, July 4, 2008

I've Never Felt So Strange Standing In The Jersey Rain

Happy Freedom Day!

It's been a while since I've posted, mostly due to my own laziness. A lot has happened, I left New Jersey, George Carlin died the same day, and the next day my family began the big move across the country to San Diego. Its a weird feeling, losing your home for the past 5 years. Being a military brat, I always felt that I really had no home, being that we moved every 2-3 years. But for some reason, I'll always consider myself from NJ. I spent 3/4 of my high school years there, discovered music, love, and good friends there, and it was the longest my family has ever lived in a single place. I don't know how long my family will be in Southern California, but I know that I will never consider it my home, no matter how fun it will be to make Anchorman jokes. I've always considered Colorado my second home ever since my Dad moved out here however many years ago (7? 8?) , and now it is my only home. That itself is weird. I'm not very good at saying goodbyes, so for the most part, I avoided them. My last couple days in town, I tried my best not to see anybody (except Jules) not because I didn't want to see them, but because I didn't want to have to deal with the awkward "well goodbye, possibly for years, possibly not, see you around I guess" Leaving my best friend was also weird for a myriad of reasons, even we avoided a drawn out goodbye, despite knowing what lay before us (and not knowing at the same time). Hopefully she isn't lost forever.

Well In music related happenings, its been a good few weeks. The Gaslight Anthem's new album The '59 Sound leaked, and it is fantastic. Not quite Sink or Swim, but still fucking great. It has potential to be album of the year, but there are still some albums left to be released. At the least, it is in the top 3. I haven't felt this good about a band since I first heard As the Eternal Cowboy. I also picked up Street Dogs' new album State of Grace, which is already sounding like their best to date (it even has a kickass cover of The Skids' "Into The Valley". Although Fading American Dream is a tough act to follow. Warped Tour was interesting but fun. I got in for free, thanks to Amnesty International. I spent most of the day tabling under the Non-Profit tent, and got to meet a bunch of cool people from other organizations. Apparently we were sitting right next to the Iraq Veteran Against the War who wrote "Letter From Iraq" and we didn't even know it! I managed to catch the sets of 3/6 bands I wanted to see. The Bronx were the first band to play all day, and they kicked ass to say the least. During the last song, which if I remember right, was "History's Stranglers," their singer jumped into the pit and sang down there the entire time. I look foward to their two new albums coming out this year. It seems they were 100% serious about making a mariachi album. Awesome. Street Dogs also played a kick ass set full of new material, and Cortie ended up getting punched in the ear, and even today it looks purple. The last band we saw was the mighty Against Me! at 3:00. The song choice was kinda "meh" (mostly due to closing with "Thrash Unreal", weird right?) but I still had a ton of fun, and it was cool to see "Piss and Vinegar" live. I nearly died of heat exhaustion from going crazy during "Walking Is Still Honest" Despite the mostly lackluster choice, the band themselves played in top form, despite being interrupted by a fight/douchebag of some kind in the middle of "New Wave"

I also went on a CD re-organization rampage, fueled by the sounds of Billy Bragg and The Weakerthans (Bob Dylan came too), and it was a resounding success. Nobody cares but me!

Well that's all for now, enjoy the traditional freedom tub!

A Playlist for the past 3 weeks:

1.Alkaline Trio-San Francisco (Remastered!)
2. The Gaslight Anthem-The Patient Ferris Wheel
3. (Young) Pioneers-We Ain't Even Married
4. Alkaline Trio-My Friend Peter
5. Leftover Crack-Gay Rude Boys Unite!
6. The Bronx-History's Stranglers
7. Street Dogs-Into The Valley
8. Against Me!-Piss and Vinegar
9. The Bouncing Souls-Letter From Iraq
10. Andrew Jackson Jihad-Jesus Saves
11. Billy Bragg-Which Side Are You On?
12. The Weakerthans-Confessions of A Futon Revolutionist
13. Bob Dylan-All I Really Want To Do
14. The Measure [SA]-Fourth of July


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