Homework Break

Alright, i know it isn't October anymore, but i have been on a huge horror movie kick. Not so much watching them, but researching 80's slasher flicks which i haven't even heard of. I love horror movies, but i am more fascinated by the stories and the imagery more than anything. I'm sure most of these movies are horrible, but the trailers and original art work are worth checking out alone. Here are some awesome obscure trailers i found on youtube. Hopefully i get a chance to watch some of these when i am done with school for the season.


The Burning (1981)





The Video Dead (1987)

Final Exam (1981)

The full movies are all available to watch on youtube. Check em out if you feel so inclined.

SPOOKY!!!

In honor of the Halloween season, I want to share with you one of the most frightening aspects of my life. Its called sleep paralysis. If you are unaware of this condition, let me provide you with some background (In a very nonclinical way of course). Its a sleeping disorder where your body falls asleep before your brain does. Im not sure of the official cause of it, im just enplaning from experience. You can't move a muscle in your body, you can't talk, blink, nothing. However, you are fully conscious. The only way to break it, is through deep concentration, usually into trying to move a limb or talk. Otherwise it can last for great periods of time. I used to get it quite often, but now I know how to avoid it from happening. However, it still happens from time to time.

This is something that I have had constant experiences with. I get it if i sleep flat on my back, or if i sleep in certain beds. I used to have horrible experiences with it. But over the years i have learn how to control it, and break it before it goes into a cycle. What normally happens, is that i will wake up out of a very light sleep. Almost to the point where i dont ever realize that im sleeping yet. Then i find that my body is completely paralyzed. I used to just wait for it to run its course, then fall back asleep immediately. But then it would happen again moments later, and i would do the same thing, try and break it and fall back asleep. Normally i am so tired, that my body and brain go right back to sleep before i have a chance to react and readjust my body. At this point, it has gone into a cycle, and i start having dreams where i am having sleep paralysis. I would break it, and then wake up to find my body paralyzed. It happens over and over again. Its one of the most frightening things i have ever experienced. It takes so much concentration to break out of, and when you finally do, the idea of going back to bed scares the shit out of you.

There has also been many times when i have felt a horrible pressure on my chest, like someone is holding me down. I don't know if its just my mind fucking with me, but i can usually feel the blankets getting pulled off me, and this really cold air brushing against my face. Its such a violating experience, and i dont know how to explain it. Situations like this usually last about a minute or two, but it feels like an hour. At the time it happens, you can almost swear that its something super natural. Like a ghost or something. This doesn't happen nearly as often as it did, and i am very thankful for that.

I remember the first time i ever had it. I was about 12 years old, and had no idea what was going on. I remembered trying to scream for help, but couldn't because my entire body was paralyzed. It lasted about 5 minutes, but it seemed like an eternity. It wasn't till years later when i discovered that it was a sleep disorder and other people had experienced the same thing.

Its also funny that people who claim to have been abducted by aliens experience sleep paralysis right before it happens. I know thats bullshit, but you can't help it from flowing through your mind when you is having a real bad case of it.

I hope everyone enjoys this as much as I did

NEW PHONE!

Thats right boys and girls, I finally got a new phone. No more screaming into my phone to have the person on the other end hear whispers. And as much as I enjoyed having a pink phone, its nice to have one that I can actually use in public without trying to cover it up. I hope this one actually lasts me more than 6 months, unlike my previous phones.

Text me so i can just save your number in it, rather than me manually adding 110 phone numbers.

Good Luck in Hollywood, Us Ugly Kids Will Stay Right Here

Mike and Nate, I hate you for being there and not enjoying it.

Alright, so I have finally decided to check out Hardstance. I had heard the name tossed around a few times, but didnt know to much about them. I was also told that Zach De La Rocha played guitar for them, before he sang in Inside out. So I decided to check em out. I did, and Im totally blown away. I'm not usually a fan of 80's hardcore aside from the essentials (YOT, GB, COS, Judge, etc) and I had heard so many second rate bands to really turn me off the era. But This is totally blowing me away. Totally before its time, and kind of reminding me of In Stride at points, but with that youth crew spirit alive and well. Do yourself a favour and check this out if you havent already done so.

http://www.mediafire.com/?cktzvz4l7gm

This is one of the things (besides hardcore) that remains constantly awesome in my life. Nothing cheers me up more, then pouring myself a big glass of milk, and cuddling up with Benson and Stabler. Im so happy I got into this show so late, Its like I have an infinite amount of episodes to watch.

Finally an update

Alright, so I have 40 minutes before i need to get to school, so i figured i would drop an update. Alright, so i figure i will let yall know whats going on with me. I'm currently back in school, trying to complete my criminal justice degree. So far, its been hard trying to get back into the grove of things. I have already had an exam and paper due. It took me a while to get cracking on both, but i finally got around to it. I got my paper back yesterday, and it was a C+. I'm pretty bummed about that. I'm a B+ student, and don't expect to get anything less than that. However, it was the first paper i have written in over two years, So I guess its not to bad considering. I also wasn't to confident while writing it. So next time, i will just need to organize better and focus on structure, because that's where i lost the majority of my marks. There wasn't anything wrong with the content. I guess i will just learn from this experience. I have also been trying to catch up on my readings. I used to leave them all til exam time, but that doesn't seem to be working this far into the game.

Alright, so i will stop boring you with school and move onto something a tad bit more exciting. On Our Side is playing our last show on Saturday night. The end of an era. It wasn't a very tight or motivated era, but an era non the least. I'm happy to be putting things to an end. The bands had definitely ran its course, and things went over far better than I ever expected, which is pretty awesome. I definitely won't miss playing those songs, but i will miss being in a band. I really enjoyed having a voice, and creating something with some of my best friends. Ever since I was a kid, i dreamed of being in a band. It was something that I never thought would come to be reality. And even though we weren't the best band, I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything else in the world. For instance, all the times we played with our bros Sleeping Tigers and Scared stiff. These shows were always absolutely ridiculous. It didn't matter how many people paid at the door, we all supported each other and that's all that mattered. Those shows will always be my best memories of on our side. Also, all the times we played in Fargo, those shows were always ridiculous. Our second show ever was in Fargo with This is well, Its pretty ridiculous to even think about that. And its all thanks to our bros in Any Day, and our bros in prison Barber production. Some of the best friends I have met through hardcore. Nothing but love for those dudes. All and all, i wish we could have done more as a band. I really thought we would have gotten off our asses and recorded something over the 19 months we were a band, but i guess that's how it goes. At least we played a ridiculous amount of shows, and made t-shirts. I guess that's something to be proud of. In closing I would like to thank everyone who gave a shit about on our side. Any one who gave us a show, moshed, took the time to learn the words to our songs, and even watched us. It means the world, and has created a life time of memories for me. I love you all.

If you care, This is the info regarding our last show

OCTOBER 4th.

HORIZONS - http://www.myspace.com/horizonshc (MEMBERS OF DAGGERMOUTH)

WITHDRAWAL - THIS BAND CLEARLY NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION

ON OUR SIDE - LAST SHOW EVER

ILL INTENT - http://www.myspace.com/illintent206 (MEMBERS OF "THE ANSWER" I DO BELIEVE)

LIFE IN HAND - http://www.myspace.com/lifeinhandhc (MEMBERS OF REGINA)

The show is officially at the spot under the fix.

7 BUCKS AT THE DOOR. ALL AGES

The next day is something that I am real excited for. Bane and outbreak in Fargo. Not only that, but the show is at the red raven. If you have never been there, its a small room in the back of a coffee shop. The stage is only about 6 inches off the ground. I would say capacity for the place to be around 100. Its going to be insanity. I didn't think i would even get to see Bane again, let alone seeing them in a setting like this. I can't remember that last time i was this stoked for a show. It totally brings me back to my early days of hardcore, when the night before a show was like trying to get to sleep on Christmas eve. I have missed that feeling. I can only imagine the mayhem that will ensue at this show.

Alright, i guess i will go now. Hopefully its not another six months before i update this thing again. Thanks for reading.

Worst picture of two of the best guys I Know

"I Don't Want to Grow Up, I'm Never Getting Old"

"Everyone's open to heaven, But no one is open to death"

I'm going to use this time to talk about a band that has become one of my favorite active acts in music. That band is called Blacklisted. Blacklisted are a band that I have been familiar with for about 5 years, but I never really understood the hype. I had owned "our youth is wasted" and didn't give it much attention. After that I had written them off for a few years. I didn't give much thought about them until the first time I saw them live. It was at Sound and Fury 2007. The rest was history. The way that George captured the crowd was unlike anything I have ever seen before. From his introduction with "This Band is called Blacklisted, I love you all" To the last notes of their final song, I was in awe. They Opened up with "Ivory Tower", and then went into "Eye For an Eye". I will admit that I was scared shitless when i heard the opening riff of "Eye For An Eye", but as the chaos was unleashed, I found the true beauty in what i was watching. Its pretty hard to describe, so lets just say that its one of those moments where you are truly reminded of why you love hardcore. Of why you spent $1000 to fly out and see a bunch of dumb bands, of why you would rather be at a show with 50 other people, in some shitty hall, then some shitty dance bar on any given night. Of why you don't care that your parents will never take you seriously as long as you are involved in hardcore. It was one of those perfect moments. If you have never felt this way, then i truly feel for you. The Emotion in the room was unbelievable as they went through songs from "our youth is wasted", "the beat goes on" and their most recent release at the time "Peace on Earth, War on Stage". I was right up front, literally getting punched, kicked, and walked on every 30 seconds, but i didn't care. All I cared about was getting to be apart of their set. Its safe to say that I left a huge fan of this band. I went home, ordered all their records, and just waited until I got to see them again.


Heres a video of "thats not real much" live at S&F 2007.


Luckily I have gotten to see them 4 times since then. Each time, i have been forced to travel to see them, but fuck it, always well worth it.

The next time I saw them was in Chicago at the Suicide File reunion. The lineup was stacked; Regret, damnation A.D, Turmoil, Ringworm, The Hope Conspiracy, The Killer, The Suicide File, and of course, Blacklisted. Chicago is 15 hours away, The show was 10 days before christmas, I was BROKE, and had just started a new job two weeks prior. All perfect reasons to decided against going. But fuck it, I had to see Blacklisted again. So I headed out with only giving my boss 12 hours notice by leaving him a note saying that I was headed to my grandfathers funeral in chicago, and that i would be back in 5 days. One of the greatest decisions I have ever made. The Show was packed, and insanely violent. The best term I could use to try and paint you a picture would be "prison Riot". Blacklisted played second last, I thought this was strange seeing how the lineup was packed with legendary bands. But, when Blacklisted came out, it was made perect sense. Once again I was in Awe. I was immediately consumed by George's energy. Never have I seen a frontman rock the stage and the mic like the way he did. The set was perfect, playing nothing but the classics (That ain't real much, finding Faith, tourist, The Long way home, Eye for an eye, the entire POEWOS record and a new song). I went home from this show broke, unsure if I had a job anymore, unsure how i was going to afford Christmas. But only sure about one thing, Blacklisted are one of the best bands in hardcore.

Here is a video from that chicago show


Fast Forward 4 months later to April 11th and 12th. I along with 4 friends made it down to Minneapolis and Fargo for a perfect little Blacklisted Weekend. The show in Minneapolis was great. It was the first time that I had to see them in a local setting. They had also just released the new record which we were all super excited about hearing it live. The venue was prefect for this show, a long narrow room with no stage. The place just screamed DIY. We get there and it turns out that others had traveled to get there as well. Kids from Fargo, iowa, and Detroit all came down to see the show. That made me very happy to know that others cared as much as we did. Blacklisted hit the stage, after four unexciting twin cities locals. The show was only about to begin. They opened with "I am Weighing me down" and then continued into "Ivory tower". "Eye for an Eye" was magical as always. The place was full of energy, and everyone who was into was loosing their minds. I had goosebumps the entire time. Great shit. The best thing about the show was knowing that we were going to wake up the next day and do it all over again.

The Show in Fargo ruled. The show was at the Red Raven and a bunch of kids from Winnipeg made the trip down. Great shit. Im pretty sure this was the most violent show in Fargo history, of course thats not saying much. They played the same set, but it was still nothing short of amazing. Definitely one of the instances were you never want a band to stop playing, no matter how sore, or beat up you are. amazing.

Heres a picture from that show
(Credit to mr Rich Moyer)



Lastly, I'm going to talk about the most recent time I saw blacklisted, which was 2 weeks ago at Sound and Fury 08. They played third last on the sunday. I had been killing myself in the pit the enitre weekend, i could hardly walk, talk, or breath, but i still had a ton of energy for Blacklisted. They hit the stage and shit was magical right from the start. They opened with Stations, and every kid knew every word. They still played all the classics, with all the new songs i wanted to hear. Their set wasn't nearly as violent as last years, i guess they shook alot of the tough guys with the release of HTH,LTG. But I was totally cool with that. As a result it was a lot more unified as kids weren't as afraid to mosh or sing a long. Definitely one of my favorite sets of the festival. Here is the only picture i can track down at the moment. Notice the handsome gentleman on stage ready to dive.



There you have it, a complete review of my favorite live band. I saw them 5 times in exactly a year, and i hope to see them 5 more times this year. I already have plans to see them in November in minneapolis on the tour with Have Heart and Ceremony.

Blacklisted, They are unstoppable

First Post

So I've Finally Broken down and created a blog. This is something that I have wanted to do for a bit over a year now, but have just never gotten around to it. Its funny how i spend 10 hours a day on the internet, but yet couldn't find the patience to sign up for one of these things. Its all done now, and things can only go up from here. I imagine i will use this blog to promote local hardcore shows, review records, and post detailed summaries of my weekends, etc. Thats right, I plan on joining all the assholes who have cameras in their hands every possible moment (Sarde, beeps, nate). Just kidding around, I love you all. I think this is a pretty decent introduction. So i'm going to stop here, right after i let you know what may be to come very soon.

- recap of sound and fury weekend/hollywood trip
- Virtual Tour of my work place and co workers
- Random photos of road trips i have been over the last year or so.
- Etc


Alright, if you have made it this far, thanks.