Tuesday, October 7, 2008
HELLOOOOO
LIVE IN JAPAN.We've been here for about 4 days now and we're having a great time. Spent two days in Osaka and that was awesome, met up with the Strike Anywhere dudes who are cool. The trip has been fun so far. We went to a sneaker store in Osaka that was essentially a dream come true. Old shoes , some worn some new, just whatever you could find, shrink wrapped. all different eras. mostly mid 90's stuff. george found an original pair of 25psi grey green air max 95 with original box for 50 bucks. that was so fucking cool. at a thrift store i found a misfits bootleg t-shirt from the mid 80's..super sweet. the people here seem so innocent. everyone is just happy and respectful. more updates to come but so far so good.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
typical
As any true sports fan would agree, there's nothing positive about your team losing. Getting 4 shots at winning or at least taking the lead in a game, and blowing each of them with THE SAME PLAY CALL...now thats just salting a wound. I spent the first half of the sunday night showdown between the bears and eagles at a dive bar in hazelton called 4th St. One dickhead sitting next to me with a demarcus ware probowl dallas cowboys jersey on, another dickhead with a jerry rice jersey from 89', the biggest dorkass with an eli manning jersey and matching hat, and a few incoherent philly fans who i associated with. i can't lie, i thought that we were gonna pull away from this one at any moment. our defense would completely dominate, with our offense coming out looking flat (with certain exception). but nothing hurt more than the final 8 minutes where we drove 75 yards to be jammed 4 CONSECUTIVE TIMES at the goal line due to some truly stellar play calling from Mr. Andy Reid and co. typical. totally typical. i actually witnessed this happen IRL last year vs. the seahawks, where i sat in the freezing rain gripping my fingers to not fall victim to hypothermia...we blew that one too.
my anger led me to my mom's house to watch the rest of the game in silence knowing that i can't handle others in that type of atmosphere. i smashed the footstool so hard with my fist that i not only woke up the dog, but woke mom up as well who then told me to get it together. i said 'get out of my face'. then i apologized in saying the tiger got out of the cage and i didn't mean that.
my roommate texted me immediately with a "how about dem bears" statement. instead of shooting off a "go fuck yourself", all i could say was "thanks". that summed it up.
is this picture a heart stabber?
this picture is about 2 years old. I had Factory for a few months of my life, and they were both amazing and terrible at the same time. she was sick alot of the time with a very very very sensitive stomach (i spent more on her than i did on me, foodwise), but she also made me happy every single day. when i decided to start touring frequently, i decided that she needed a better home situation. My friends were amazing at taking care of her while i was away, but i felt like a bad father. I talked to a few friends and found her a great home where she could play with another pit, have a loving family and a huge yard to run around like a maniac in. That being said i miss her to this day and wish i was in a different situation in life to have her. I will have another dog when i'm more of a grown up.
Friday, September 26, 2008
blackberry, you're addicted.
Why do i like blackberry, and why does everyone i know also like blackberry? It seems like my BBM contacts have been growing considerably on a daily basis. i'm not complaining. The upsides: google's mobile applications. Having one touch access to 3 of the accounts i have on google is amazing. Full access, including sent mail, starred emails (great for paying bills or reminders), full list of contacts, mobile drafts in no service areas (not too many of those in the usa thanks), and the previously mentioned meandering amongst the 3 accounts at one button touch. blackberry messenger is also an amazing feature that i use daily, connecting media in seconds to any of the contacts in my list. when i returned from my last european trip, i turned my phone on and couldn't pull my head up for approximately 3 hours. It's a blessing and a curse but at least i know that in a seconds time i can be on wikipedia learning about the epiphone elitist series when im sitting at music-go-round in wilkes-barre,pa.
With the way our society is advancing, i'd feel pretty confident in saying that in 2-3 years, 80% of mobile devices purchased will be either blackberry or iPhone. Who knows what these phones will be capable of in that time? It's cool but it's also frightening. My first phone was purchased for me in my senior year of high school . It was the Nokia candy bar phone, where the only option of multimedia was to play snake.
To wrap up my little blackberry rant for the afternoon of Friday, the 26th, i'd like to add that if we are friends and you are using this little heartbeater...send me your pin. We can totally send each other stuff!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
it's been a long time since i rock and rolled..
i haven't posted in three months. mostly because i felt like i had nothing to write about, and with a growing amount of cool blogs with a purpose, mine was getting lost in the midst of mediocrity. i returned yesterday from 17 days in europe with rhythm to the madness. some highlights of the tour would include spinkicking under the eiffel tower at midnight, beating up on the local trying to break into the rhythm van, seeing klaas smash microphones in anger, playing dark ball in trier with jared and rashod...amongst other things. tour in europe is a trying time. lots of long drives in a relatively uncomfortable van, language barriers, etc. the positives outweigh the negatives, but it's still tough. america is full of convenience and you never appreciate that until it's gone. i'm home for about 10 days before we get back onto the airplane, this time headed for japan. konichiwa bitches! playing some dates with other american bands, so hopefully that is cool. then it's a full u.s. tour with have heart, ceremony and the european favorites let down. i'm very excited for this tour. it seems like it might be the last one for us for awhile. i read a few books in the last two weeks. slash's autobiography and hammer of the gods (led zeppelin). both of these books made me want to drop everything and just play guitar. i kinda do that already, but i realize that i need to excel beyond my current state of skill. so i'll be practicing my scales and licks nightly.
if you haven't yet, check out rttm at myspace.com/rhythmtothemadness
also, i have started a smaller-ish booking company in richmond called msmbooking, myspace.com/msmbooking.
here's a few pics from tour.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
IMG00218.jpg
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008
what sin
a little update on myself personally. i've been staying at my mom's house in hazelton and working at hawk mountain labs (where i worked when i was younger). it's been great. just doing whatever is asked of me, staying busy and making a little money here and there. ill be heading down to richmond this weekend to move into a new house and catch up with my friends..then back up north for wednesday. been listening to baroness-the red album a ton recently. still makes me feel like im on acid laced mushrooms. haven't gotten to do much lifting but work is pretty physical (have to move 500 pound barrels every morning) (putting up drywall tomorrow on a ceiling)...that's enough for now. oh i got some new technology in my life that i highly recommend. blackberry curve for verizon wireless and this here macbook. really makes things nice and convenient.
tell me what sin replaces love
Sunday, May 11, 2008
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Saturday, May 10, 2008
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
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Monday, May 5, 2008
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Sunday, May 4, 2008
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Saturday, May 3, 2008
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Friday, May 2, 2008
oh and p.s.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
come as you are
Friday, April 18, 2008
vegetarian?
Friday, April 11, 2008
serve the serpents
this picture was taken in syracuse after our show there. we needed to send the booking agent for our australian tour a "press" photo. here goes one that was snapped. my personal favorite. we're about 10 days into a 41 day u.s. tour. currently we are roomed at a super 8 (our hotel of choice, strictly because of some discount card we get). today we played minneapolis,minn. the show was fantastic. before the gig we went to willie's american guitars in st. paul. this is easily the coolest guitar store i've ever been in, in my life. (www.williesguitars.com) i found the guitar head that i've been on the prowl for, for a great price...a 1986 marshall jcm800 2203, 100 watt, in fantastic condition.
along with that purchase, bean got 2 new pedals and an orange guitar cabinet. i felt like i was a little kid again..the only feeling i could compare it to was being 8 years old and getting my first pair of air jordans..the air jordan 8 in 1993, black and aqua. i was so excited to own those that i slept in bed with them. when they were re-released this past year i acquired 3 pairs for nostalgia exclusively. the shows collectively have been great. it's refreshing for blacklisted to finally be able to play material that we can all 100% get behind. not to say that older blacklisted has less meaning or is not important...but it's just a totally recharged emotion. a new feeling. i've been road doggin/giggin/hangin with bl since day 2. and this is something that's just exciting to be a part of. chemistry, physics, biology, all that shit. that's all i can really say. if you haven't, please pick up heavier than heaven, lonelier than god. www.myspace.com/blacklisted for tour dates. our cds are available at record stores/best buy/hot topic..whatever.
thanks for reading. sorry for the lack of updates. i just got a new computer but it's at my mom's office. i will be posting much more when i get that. black macbook. stoked.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
THRASHER (record release mayhem)
our flights to los angeles were relatively painless...flying southwest isn't the nicest way to fly, but it is what it is. i think it was something like 85 in los angeles friday. i went to melrose with a close friend of mine while the rest of blacklisted hung out with the good man bob shedd. while in hollywood i saw jonah hill, of superbad and knocked up fame. i immediately started laughing..dude's funny. i call george for advice "yo would it be super gay if i asked him for a picture?", george says "yes"...so i take his words to heart and continue on my day. i also see a cute puppy at a dog store. i didn't know they had retail puppy stores. i got to the chain reaction in anaheim at about 6 p.m. i was lucky enough to see some very good friends of mine from when i lived in granada hills...jeff givens being one. jeff is probably the funniest human i know. we talk on the phone occasionally and it's about 30 minutes of non stop laughter. great guy. also got to see wig and tru...two dudes who i spent a lot of time with when i lived there as well. the show itself was great...and actually ended up selling out. we played with downpreser, alpha and omega (charley zanagan), bitter end, life long tragedy and ceremony. all of the sets were pleasers. we've also decided that when ceremony plays, its every kids 30 minutes to "be bad"..hahaha good stuff. after this gig we headed to shedd's american psycho esque apartment. shit was awesome. after the occasional dive bomber (this is when your head plunges to the floor in a thrashed sleep state) we made our way to the area of lax to get some food. ate at denny's...shocker. then pushed on to the airport. bean did a straight dive bomber onto kimpossible. kimpossible (sister) came along with blacklisted for our journey. she has documented the experience via photograph. i think she took something like 300 pictures..so when those get uploaded, i will have links. one picture comes to mind specifically while waiting in the airport...every single one of us, besides dave big jenk sausage, are passed out seated upright...hoods up or on our faces. its pretty good. we made our way to chicago for saturday. got picked up somewhere around noon by molly and carrie (if i spelled this wrong, crap). blacklisted typically stays with these people in chicago. they are good people and very hospitable. i immediately pass out on a couch. they have two awesome dogs, cyrus and evey...i think cyrus tongue kissed me in my sleep...no beasto. got to the gig later that night. saw tim smith (o.g. blacklisted/good friend). got a great bad brains shirt, took some photos. this night we played with convicted, dead city and holy roman empire. great lineup. convicted is straight up heavy hardcore, same for dead city.they both thrashed and sounded awesome. holy roman empire was super cool. female fronted. awesome guitar work..so many pedals. super good. we gigged and it was fun. two words: bum bag. don't forget it. after the gig, went back to the homestead. ate a delicious home cooked meal and slept. woke up at like 5 a.m. to head off to the airport for philly. now i don't know if it was the lack of sleep, or just ridiculous experience in general, but everything that occurred at the airport was hands down funniest thing i ever saw. one instance was george farting on the head of a baby. this literally dropped me to my knees. we arrived in philadelphia somewhere around 11. the blacklisted van was broken down at home with a dead battery (weird, go figure), so jd and chucky edge came to pick us up. went back to bean's house...got a quick easter sunday meatball sub from wawa...then headed off to the first unitarian church for the gig. i personally hadn't been to the church in about 3 years. which was crazy. i had alot of emotions going there. philadelphia is hands down one of my favorite u.s. cities. i was excited to be there again. the show went off amazingly. mongoloids opened up the gig hard as hell, with soul control, let down and shipwreck all singlehandedly pwning the whole club. cold world played before blacklisted. i used to play in cold world a few years ago. great band. really good friends of mine, i've been close with alex nick and dan since i was about 14...so that's almost 10 years, wow. seeing them was great, played alot of new material. i've determined that alex russin is the best guitarist and maybe best person i know. blacklisted played. we opened the gig with the lights out, cat power's "i don't blame you" song playing over the speakers. we love this song and it was something worth remembering. then we blasted through 13 or 14 songs...some old some new. and it was awesome. there was a young dude, maybe about 11, diving consistently right in front of me. joe hardcore would grab him by the back of his collar and bring him back to the stage so he didnt get lost amongst the lost (bjorn) and could continue to get his timmy no justice on. it was great. i feel like i had a smile on my face for 99% of this show. saw some good people i haven't seen in a long time and just had an overall positive experience. me, noles, courtney and mark drove back to richmond, and i was home by midnight. thrashed as hell.
i worked last night at verizon. this is pretty much my last week here for an undetermined amount of time. blacklisted has too much scheduled for me to know if i can guaranteed work at any point in time. right now i'm 9 hours into an 11 hour day. i didn't drink coffee today, so i'm feeling real megadeth. i'll get out soon though, and just live.
thanks for reading. love ya.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
learn to fly
its 730 a.m. and i'm sitting in bean's living room. got about 4-5 hours of sleep. we're getting ready to board a plane with a little layover in st. louis, then off to lax to be picked up by new jersey legend bob shedd. i arrived in philadelphia yesterday around 2:45 in the afternoon after a 7 hour train ride which was supposed to be 4 hours. i woke up and we were sitting in the woods in alexandria, so confused. some railroad beef...finally made it to my favorite city. got picked up at 30th st. station then proceeded to pick up the good man g. went to primo's, are you kidding me? insane chicken pesto sub plus diet mountain dew. gtfo. ate that shit, loaded the van/trailer, then went to get foley. met him at the wawa across from his place...you know i had to get the liter of diet green tea. proceeded out to our practice space that is shared with let down (good band check them out)...and riffed out for about 4 hours. good experience. got some good ideas and pedals. also yesterday i picked up about 8 copies of the philadelphia weekly. blacklisted recently was photographed (im not in this as i live in richmond) for a write up in this free paper available in the city. the write up is pretty cool.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
first failure
i am now writing this blog in hopes to explain daily life occurrences and experiences. to portray ideas and relate emotions. to convince myself that i really am that important (tasteful). really i want to be able to document my experiences on the road with blacklisted..as we have some crazy shit coming up. today i sit in the chesterfield towne center, showing a customer a samsung u740, wearing a shirt and tie..dress slacks, black dress shoes. tomorrow morning i'm boarding an 8 a.m. train to philadelphia. thursday i'm flying southwest to los angeles, saturday to chicago, sunday to philadelphia...i'll take it.