NWA were right.....

I was returning to work this afternoon when I came upon a cop chasing some dude down the street and thru traffic. The cop almost got hit by a car at one point. As they got closer to me, about 10-12 feet away, the cop took out a gun, but it turned out to be a tazer gun. At this point he tazered the dude, who hit the pavement hard, convulsing and screaming.. The cop started yelling at the guy to get on his stomach but he refused and was yelling something along the lines of "I can't....my gun!"
It was pretty intense. I actually stopped eating my frosty for a brief moment.

San Francisco

San Francisco. The City by the Bay. Burritos in the Mission district. Hippies on Haight Street. Amoeba Records. Muddy Waters Coffee on Mission Street. Large, hairy, gay dudes wearing ass-less chaps. Alcatraz, must escape. Sea Lions at the wharf. 924 Gilman Street. City Lights Books and the ghost of Kerouac. Walking up & down Telegraph & University Ave's in Berkeley. Bitching & complaining about the steep hills. 108 and Rise and Fall playing at an art gallery. Great food everywhere. Golden Gate Bridge. Fog coming off the water in the early morning. Figuring out B.A.R.T. maps and stations. Needles & Pens store. Maximum Rock n Roll house...and so on and so on.....
San Francisco. I will be seeing you on Friday April 13th. I booked a plane ticket today and i'm so excited about returning to the city by the Bay, for it's been too long since i got to spend some quality time down there. As you can see from the list above, i've got alot of things to see & do while i'm in the area.

Another show in Rain City

A few nights back, Thursday Feb 22nd to specific, I put on another show; Go It Alone, The First Step, Get the Most, Carpenter, Obsolete 5000. As to be expected i got stressed out in the days leading up, culminating in one insane rough night before the show. I guess the stress is always there when I put on a show but this one involved me filing paper work to get the First Step across the border and a hall that was super expensive. But i'm proud to say we pulled it off, and the show was a huge success with more people showing up then we expected!
I was working the door all night and i couldn't help but notice so many new faces coming thru the door. Not to mention people who traveled from Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Victoria and Seattle. I couldn't believe people traveled for this show! I've been traveling for shows since I was 16, so i always get excited at the thought of someone traveling for a show I put on. Guess that means i did something right.
But like i said, alot of new faces at the show, which means things are picking up here in Vancouver. This show made me happy about my choice to move here, and made me feel a bit of pride in Vancouver Hardcore. Aram got Ollie to make some really rad Vancouver Hardcore shirts that he gave out to people. Alot of people put them on as soon as they got them, which was especially cool when i was standing at the back of the hall during Go It Alone's set and seeing people in Vancouver Hardcore shirts stage-diving or dog-piling.
And speaking of Go It Alone; best Vancouver Hardcore band. They hadn't played in a while, about 4 months or more, so it was good to see them back on stage. This band just fuckin' kicks my ass. I remember hearing the demo, when it was just a project band, and everything about it just sounded perfect to me. I can't wait for their new LP to come out in a couple months.
The First Step played a great set as well. They're one of the only bands playing Youth Crew Hardcore that don't sound boring or lifeless. Get the Most are a Vancouver youth crew band who also do the style justice, and put on a good set as well. Opening the show was Obsolete 5000, a bunch of high school kids from North Vancouver. They were great, and I can only see them getting better with time. Carpenter played as well, and obviously they were different than everyone else which is why I put them on the show. This band has some crazy good hooks and really knows how to write a song. I can see this band getting onto a bigger label, and I think that everyone needs to hear them. They have this one song that sounds like Texas is The Reason, but is far from being a copy-cat knock off song. So good.
It was a really long day, worked till just after 4, set up the hall, loaded in bands & sound, worked the door, then cleaned up the hall. It was almost midnight when i walked outside, I had been in the Ukrainian Cultural Centre since 5pm. I was tired, but not sleepy. I put my headphones on and hit play on the Tim Barry record and walked home. The crisp, cool air felt good as i cut thru Strathcona and up the Main Street hill, heading home to my couch and a can of cherry coke.

FUCKED UP.....a weekend in review.

This past weekend I put on 3 Fucked Up shows. The band wanted to fly out here to play some shows, seeing as they had never been to Vancouver before. After months of planning, stressing and flyering i'm happy to say the weekend went off without any big problems (except for some band members getting stuck in an elevator)

Thursday Feb 15th-- The band arrived mid-afternoon. That evenings show was all ages, in a new, small room i discovered. Opening the show was Deadsure (ex-Sparkmarker and Strain), Daggermouth and the Tranzmitors. All the bands were great, and hearing the Tranzmitors cover the Exploding Hearts was great. Fucked Up headlined the show and got the crowd moving. They played a bunch of new songs, as well as "hits" like Police and Generations. 2 funny moments were Damion realizing he had a giant piece of belly button lint after the rest of the crowd had been staring at it for a few songs, and when Damion picked this kid up in the air and carried him around while singing a song. After cleaning up the hall me and Team Calgary (Lana, Todd and Shawn) hit up Uncle Fatty's for some pizza and then home where i couldn't wind down enough to sleep.

Friday Feb 16th-- That afternoon the band appeared on Nardwuar's radio show, if you know who Nardwuar is then you probably know how good this interview is. Check it at www.citr.ca This night was the 19+ bar show, with the Tranzmitors and the Riff Randells opening. We way over sold the venue because the bar manager saw how huge the lineup for drinks was, so he didn't care. This show will be one for the history books, because Vancouver hasn't seen a crowd go off like this in a long time. People from every music clique were on the floor dancing, flailing, pogoing, and stage diving together. No fights, no bullshit. They opened with Police, which needless to say made everyone go nuts! And they finished the set with "Nervous Breakdown" by Black Flag. Yeah it was pretty cool. I saw a indie rock kid in a suit get kicked in the head by a stage diving crust punk and rather than fight they high-fived each other. People were pushing people onto the stage and then using them as a launch pad for dives! Fuckin' insane. I left this show with a pocket of $5 bills and a huge smile. Good times!

Saturday Feb 17th-- After about 5-6 hours sleep I woke up feeling like shit. It was like a cross between a hangover and a cold. Me, Lana and Shawn met up with Steveston Mike and his wife Elizabeth to drive to North Vancouver to hit up the Tomahawk for some brunch. This ended up being my only meal of the day, and let me say this meal knocked me on my ass! Me and Mike ordered the Chief Skookum Burger; Beef patty, cheddar cheese, a fried egg, hot dogs, bacon, lettuce, onion, tomato and special Tomahawk sauce. Throw some fries on the side and you have a big fuckin' meal. But then the waiter came and offered dessert and how could i resist a piece of strawberry pie (with custard and whip cream)? I ate the pie and felt like i needed to lie down. We drove back to the city, went to my apt and we all felt the need to try and nap. I lied down in bed feeling like a beached whale....a happy beached whale.
This show was out in the suburbs and a bit of a let down. The crowd was ok, little over 100, but the room was big and the sound echoed. Opening the show was some local punx, then Ill Advised (singer of Blue Monday's new band), Set Foot and Needles. Not alot of people from Vancouver proper could get out to Surrey, and the ones who did weren't really moving much. Fucked Up played more songs from Hidden World, which i was stoked on.

I didn't get much sleep all weekend, but I'm really stoked that i got to do these shows and that we covered all the expenses. It was a huge risk flying them out here, but Vancouver came thru in a pinch and everyone was happy with how things turned out.
That's my story. Check www.nwhardcore.com if you want to see pictures.

Food Hangover

Most people celebrate their birthday by drinking a swimming pool of alcohol and getting completely shitfaced. But since I'm Straight Edge (and proud of it) I tend to over eat on my birthday. Actually some might say i over eat often, but that's another blog all together. Anyhow, today i woke up feeling kinda fucked up and lethargic and i'm blaming it on all the food I consumed yesterday. Thanx to Racan for the Dairy Queen Pizza Treatza, Jeff for the cookies, Emily for the muffins, and of course Elizabeth for the chocolate cake and 2 loafs of Chocolate zucchini loaf (no i didn't eat it all, but close) Also thanx to everyone who came out to Chong Qing for dinner and then over to my place for ice cream and cake. And finally a big thanx to all my friends who called, emailed, myspaced or text messaged me to say "happy birthday". It's been a year since i moved to Vancouver and it felt good to be surrounded by good friends on my 33rd birthday.

Welcome to the ghetto

"You know where you are? You're in the ghetto baby, you're gonna die." (sung to the tune of G n R's "Welcome to the Jungle)


The neighborhood I live in is the same one i lived in for a spell back in the early-mid 90's. Back then it was a fuckin' disaster, and pretty depressing. I was quite surprised when I moved back and saw the change in scenery; hip restaurants and cafe's, families and yuppies where there was once crack heads & welfare moms. I remember the punx weren't even stoked on the area, as it was really just an extension of Main/Hastings (lots of drugs & prostitutes) It's not that the neighborhood became a perfect upstanding place to live, it's just that somehow the 2 worlds co-exist with each other now.
But there often times where elements of the old neighborhood show up. Like when I see sketchy dudes on the corner of Fraser and Broadway. Or like my apartment building and the notices up in the lobby area. Around a week ago there was a notice reminding people to not let strangers in the building, and it then went on to confirm that "an incident occured in the building and that police are investigating". I'm not sure what happened, but i often hear late night arguments inside and outside the building. And today I came home to see a bunch of official notices on the front door saying that a grow op has been discovered on the first floor! WTF?!?!?!
Ah...life in the ghetto........

Tacoma?

Tacoma, Washington. Somehow i made it 33 years without setting foot in that town. I would drive by and think "Man, Seaweed was a good band"....and then i would notice a smell in the air (and i didn't create it). I don't notice the smell as much anymore, but that might have to do with breaking my nose so many times. Anyhow, Tacoma was always a town that I would speed by. I never saw a reason to go there. But somehow in the past few weeks i've been there twice. Last night I once again found myself in Hells Kitchen watching some bands play; Strike Anywhere, Shook Ones, Sinking Ships, and Sunset Riders. It was a good show, an early show, and a quick show. The first band started at 5:30, and the last band finished around 7:50. Which is funny because the drive down, not including the hour spent in Seattle, was around 3.5-4hours. But the benefit of an early show is getting home just after 11:30 and catching Drew Barrymore host Saturday Night Live! And since we stopped at the Hagens grocery store in Bellingham on the way back i had ample snacks for watching TV (I bought a case of cherry coke, Blazin' buffalo and ranch dorritos, some donuts, and a box of Cap'n Crunch Berry cereal).
All in all it was a good roadtrip. Strike Anywhere were good as always, it's been close to 2 years since i last seen them. Looking forward to them playing Vancouver in May. Shook Ones continue to be one of my favorite NWHC bands, and Sunset Riders and all the Bremerton kids give me hope for the next generation of NWHC.

Hitting the Streets

3 hours, over 200 flyers, 2 rolls of tape, many many miles and neighborhoods covered, and only 1 paper cut.
My legs are sore and i'm exhausted after hitting the streets putting up flyers for the shows i'm doing this month, feb 15/16/17th with Fucked Up and guests, and Feb 22nd with the First Step/Go It Alone and others.
I'll be doing this more and more the days leading up to the shows. I'm glad I have my ipod for nights like this.

the Doughboys

I often want to write about music on this blog, but it can be hard for me to find the words. If i'm writing about a new record it can be easier, but if i'm writing about a classic band or album, i've got to fight thru the emotions and memories to properly write something down.
This morning I listened to the Doughboys "Home Again" as i walked to work. Memories came flooding back to me as i walked thru the foggy crisp air. I remember buying a cassette copy at Sound Connection while skipping school back in 1989. I was still figuring out the whole punk thing, the past couple years i'd been buying punk records and tapes really randomly. You know the saying "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? Yeah I totally did. I remember picking up the Doughboys tape and thinking the cover was pretty cool, but then i looked inside and saw pictures of the band members jumping in the air and i remember thinking that looked pretty cool.
I bought the tape that day and 18 years later i still listen to it and it still makes me smile and gives me goose bumps. I've heard people complain about the production on this record, but i feel like it's muddy quality is part of it's charm. The songs are really poppy and jangly, and the vocals are kinda whiny and slurred, and I feel that with clear production values alot of these songs would come off sounding limp and lifeless college rock. I for one love the guitar sound on this record, it sounds sloppy and loose, like John Kastner is just bashing away at the guitar. The bass could've been turned up a bit, but the quietness is part of the charm of the bass/vocal part in "I won't write you a letter". And speaking of that song...that's a song that i would listen to when I was far from home, or feeling sad, and as cheesy as it sounds i would put that song on when I returned home from a road trip/tour. And you gotta love a record that has kazoo on it!
"Home Again" was a record filled with songs that always seemed really vulnerable, and lonely. When i was younger I used to listen to it after a night out raising hell, it became my soundtrack to help me come down from whatever substance i partook in that night.The songs made me feel not alone. Even today the songs made me not care about the fact that i was walking to work.
I saw the Doughboys on this tour for the first time at the Bronx in Edmonton. I can't remember who opened, but i'm sure i still have the flyer in a box somewhere. During the first song John Kastner did this leap off the bass drum and it looked just like the picture from the inside of my tape! The band was amazing at this show, lots of movement, played the songs well, etc. I still wear the shirt i bought at this show, although I think you can see thru it now.
I saw the band live alot of times over the years, and generally enjoyed their records they released. One strange show was in the late 90's when they opened for the Offspring in a hockey arena. At that point John was joined by guys from Big Drill Car so it was a pretty cool lineup, and they played songs from the Doughboys and BDC catalog.
Maybe tomorrow morning i'll listen to the first album "Whatever".

The past couple days i've felt brain dead, like i'm walking around in some strange haze. The funny thing is that Vancouver has been quite foggy lately, which i love, but i don't think it's helping me to shake the cobwebs in my head. At work i've been bumping into things, hitting my knuckles on the shelves in the warehouse, and forgetting where I put something down. And i've been tired, more so than usual. Like right now, i'm so tired that i can't drag myself off the couch to go to bed.
In amongst this haze of mine I've been on the streets flyering for the Fucked Up shows and tonight we managed to secure the venue for the show on Feb 22nd. It's amazing that i was able to be productive in this state of mind. Oh, and when i say "we" i'm not alluding to imaginary friends or the multiple people that reside in my head. I'm referring to "Vancouver Knights", a collective of friends who all happen to be older and straight edge who are going to try our best to help out the Vancouver punk-hardcore scene.
Anyhow, the show info:
Thursday Feb 22.

Go It Alone (It's been too long since they last played)
the First Step (Rivalry Records)
Get the Most
Sex Vid (probably. Will confirm soon)
and guests TBA

@ The Ukrainian Cultural Centre -- 805 E. Pender
(this is right by the Astoria. Easy to get to by bus)

$10 at the door
Doors 7pm
All Ages - No Drugs - No Alcohol - No Bullshit
For more info email xcitrus@hotmail.com