Skatepunk

Dave Swift turned 40!

The Contribution CD shipped today! Sorry about being so excited...

Now Playing: Mission of Burma: "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" from Signals, Calls, and Marches.

More truly randumb notes: Longtime Santa Barbara local and recent videography big wig Ty Evans got married this last weekend. Good job, Ty! Congratulations.*** All you Australian skateboarders--the Girl team left here today headed down there. Go say hi at a demo near you.*** Pixies and New York Dolls reunion shows? What's in the water in New York? And when will Fugazi be playing again? *** I found a huge turkey vulture in the backyard yesterday morning... they're actually pretty cool birds, they just have that ugly head. My sister was teasing me because I shot photos of it. I only wish I didn't have to go work so I could shot more photos of it! *** Although he probably won't send you one, GSD has recently made a 'zine about his life. It's called "this is (not) my life" and covers his life, mostly in skateboarding, from the early 1970's thru early 2004. It's amazing, and if you know Garry, you should get one. *** The Minor Threat remastered discography CD sounds so much better than the original. You might not notice it until you compare, but everything is bigger, louder, better. Time to trade in that old one, or better yet, pass it on to a youngster. That band was the first and best in so many ways. Being into them in 1982 we just took them for granted, but damn, they're great. *** From the ashes of Radio Antagonista's pheromone-laden duet of Yvette and Yessenia come one-half of Respira. Veronica and Yasmine round out the four-girl band. They're recording a three song demo right now that rips... one part Moving Units-type danceable hip shakers and one part Bikini Kill, with a little bit of At The Drive-In's energy and sound... pretty cool. I love punk rock girls. *** I'm psyched--I'm getting all new windows on my house right now. It's the little things... *** The Toy Machine video Good and Evil will be premiering on Friday, October 22 at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California. Make plans to be there! And the Thrasher SOTY party is on December 18. ***

Don Brown, the etnies man, myth, and legend, came up with this cool idea for a skateboarding contest. He was thinking how there are so many contests, and that if there was going to be a new one, it should be unique or different or somehow set itself apart. Our friend Brandon had talked about doing a surfing Goofy versus Regular contest, and Don adopted that and came up with the etnies GvR skateboard contest. I'm not sure exactly how the details work, but basically, the teams aren't by sponsor, they're by your stance. I think there's more info on the etnies site, and I'll have more here as I learn more--it seems like a great idea!

Now Playing: Bob Dylan, Desire (Just discovered Bob Dylan, thanks to Dave Hoang, and this album is amazing. He'd just gotten divorced, and was all pissed off at the world. From the mid-70s.)

One of my good friends has got viral meningitis, and it's driving him crazy. Its funny, I'm not sure I would be any different if I were that sick, but it was very easy for me to dispense with the advice--focus on priorities, and that means getting healthy, nothing more. It's funny how we often can't see the forest for the trees... sometimes I feel wise. And then I don't, when I look at how bad my spelling is on this site. Embarrassing.

Another friend was asking me for advice about love... which I am smart enough to know doesn't mean they want advice. It means they want to be heard, listened to. And it feels good to be helpful to my friends, and in this particular case, since I know the boy she was asking about, it was easy and fun. Did I spell everything right in this paragraph?

Now Playing: The Replacements, Let It Be

So I just got back from the San Jose Punk Rock Reunion, and now I'm facing another milestone--my high school reunion. It's going to be a weird one, but I'm definitely going. The last one was fun, sort of. The lame people were still lame, only it took the 5 year reunion for me to realize that, which is actually fairly representative of my whole damn life. Realizing things too late. Anyway, I've sort of found myself caught up in all the B.S. that goes along with it. What clothes should I wear, should I try to lose a quick 15 pounds, blah, blah. Anyway, this other reunion was so relaxed and so much fun that I realized I'm going to go, be myself, and screw it. Why would I think anything else?

Now Playing: Husker Du, Flip Your Wig

So this weekend was the San Jose Punk Rock Reunion. It sounds kinda funny but it was really cool. There were three events planned. The first was Friday night was a show at the Blank Club with Frontline, Executioner, and Ribzy. Frontline was amazing, they sounded better than I ever remembered them before, and Joe Sib was even better than 1986, even though he hadn't been on stage in more than eight years, since 22 Jacks broke up. Kevin Morrissey now lives in Dayton, Ohio, and it was great to see him, he was always one of those super nice people I'd see everywhere, skating and at shows, for 20 years, and I couldn't place where I met him for the first time if my life depended on it. After a while skateboarders and punk rockers just become your friends and you know them and there's not too much need to ask a lot of questions. But that never stopped me. Next was Executioner. Although they sounded great, I was never as much of a fan of these guys as some of my friends were. James Igoe was always a huge fan, and he was there. He played in a band with Charles Norman, too, for a while. The two things I remember most about Charles: my first impression of him was in the Lynnbrook High School yearbook in 1981 or 82. The photo was Charles, the name said John Lydon. The second thing was that he faded me the first time I met him because I asked him about skateboarding. He didn't really skate, I guess, or something. Anyway, it's way under the bridge and downstream, and Executioner sounded great, even though I didn't really know their songs--just the two on the From The Valley Within comp 7". Next up was Ribzy. I saw these guys in the hardcore days at least 6 times, and they were always fun, but without a record out there weren't too many bands that I would say I was way into. They had songs on the Max RnR record, and on the Valley Within 7" with Executioner, the Faction, and Mistaken Identity, but I'm not sure what else. Anyway, Ribzy sounded great, too, even though I didn't know their songs well. So besides the bands, the show was chock full of old friends and people who I barely knew years ago but struck up conversations with. I always spent much of the evening with my old friend Jennifer Lopez, who is living in San Jose again and has twin girls who are almost three. Jennifer made it out, but her husband John was with the girls so I didn't get to meet him. Jennifer is awesome and it was great to see her.

Saturday during the day there was a party, sort of, at Hellyer Park. Everyone got together and shared photos, flyers, and stories. I was visiting my dad so I didn't make it. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. That night the Boneshavers played with Grim Reality, the Faction, and Los Olvidados at the Blank Club, and it was a great show. The Boneshavers are amazing. Their record is really good, and Bob Denike is like a different person when he's singing, so cool. I loved the Kingpins and I like the Boneshavers a lot. Next up was Grim Reality. These guys played my first hardcore show at DeAnza college in 1982. By then I had already seen X, but this was a great show DIY style, instead of a big concert production. There were two shows at DeAnza and I can't remember everything, but I remember Grim Reality and Los Olvidados and Whipping Boy very clearly--the singer of Whipping Boy had on black leather pants and was rocking a huge sidepipe--for some reason that image has scarred me for life. Anyway, Grim Reality, in the words of Adam Stern, "rips." And they did--Jason Hoenig (sp?) is very captivating on stage, and Dead Soldier was great, and still very fitting for the times. Ironic, huh? The Faction...well, it's no secret I'm a fan of these guys, and they had a surprise in store. Adam Bomb Segal was in town for the show, and he brought his guitar (which was an amazing Les Paul Custom in a color I'd never seen before, very cool). I guess that Steve and Adam had been working out who would play what leads via email, but they hadn't played together in 19 years. It showed a tiny bit, but that's it. It was great--Adam finally sounded better than he ever had, tone-wise, and while Steve has worked hard to become the great guitar player that he is, it was very evident that Adam is still a great, natural guitar player. Craig Bosch even joined them on drums for a couple of songs--Let's Go Get Cokes and Tongue Like A Battering Ram. It was a great set--the band has buried the hatchet with Adam, although even after 19 years there was still something... Next up was Los Olvidados. While this wasn't the best I'd seen them, by a long shot, even a mediocre set by this band is better than the best other bands have to offer. I've written it here in the past, but Mike Fox is one of my favorite guitar players ever. And Mike Voss' version of "Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory" was very appropriate and fitting for the last song of this reunion. He was always a huge Johnny Thunders fan and disciple.

Even though a lot of reunions are cheesy, this was more like a regular night out where you knew you were going to see old friends, and it was a lot of fun. I've seen a lot of old friends fairly regularly, but seeing Ray, Reeps, Gavin, Corey, Andy, Aaron Arno, Joe Sib, Jennifer, Stevie, Bob, and all of them is always great. Other old friends, like James Igoe, Cheryl Smith, Cherise Klein, Johnny Granada, Greg Aguilar, Teresa Cortez, Cheryl Smith, and Alex Hamalian were a trip to see after that long and it was pretty funny to catch up with some of them. Thanks to Larry Trujillo, Gavin, Joe Sib, and all the others who put this thing on and kept me in the loop on emails. Watch here for photos, or a link to the reunion photo page...

Now Playing: Remastered Minor Threat Discography CD

I saw my old friend Rob this weekend at the Crib Ramp in Palo Alto. It was the last day the ramp was skateable after ten years. It took me two tries to make a stupid rocknroll on a mini ramp. Talk about feeling old. And feeling like a wuss. I also met Rob's friends Jason and Charlie. Charlie wasn't skating when I was there, but Jason rips and is a genuine guy. It's funny how you talk to one person about something and you instantly get all these periphery friends who want to get in on the conversation, too. And those are the people you know to never give anything to. They never appreciate it, no matter what it is. Hello to Jason and Rob and Crib Ramp R.I.P.

Now Playing: Punky Reggae Party Mix CD by Hagop

The Contribution CD "What Is Your?" comes out in about two weeks!

I'm reading this book right now called Our Band Could Be Your Life, by Michael Azzerad. It's subtitled "The Indie Underground 1981-1991" or something like that. Anyway, it's an in-depth look at a bunch of bands that I love, and a couple I didn't know enough about. The pieces on Dinosaur Jr, Minor Threat, Black Flag, Fugazi, Butthole Surfers, Sonic Youth, all cover some familiar ground, with a new perspective and some new great stories . But I'd never read too much about Husker Du, the Minutemen, the Replacements, or Mission of Burma. The title of the book comes from a Minutemen song--I've always listened to a bunch of songs from comps by them, but have never dug out their records and really listened closely, but I will now. Same with Mission of Burma and the Replacements, and while I like Husker Du and own a bunch of the the records, I really got into them more after Sugar came out in the early 90's and always liked the later stuff better. Anyway, the book is well-written, with unique insights and lots of cooperation from most of the folks involved, which makes it an easy read. I still haven't finished it and I couldn't wait to write about it--it must be good!

For the first time in my adult life, I am 100% completely debt free. About a year ago I got it down to car payments and school loans and one credit card, and now I've got nothing--just the house payment! I was certainly part of the american capitalist credit system that sprouted and bloomed right at the time I was 20 years old. I was largely naive in the beginning, then by the time I was in a partnership with my wife on money, having that access to money was so much a part of the day to day life that it was tough to change the habit, no matter how oppressive and depressing it was. Jen helped me learn the right way to think and act towards credit (that sounds weird, but I needed to learn) and I've spent the last three years, since our divorce, digging out of the hole. Now, can I stay here...? That will be the next challenge. Anyway, it feels so good to not have that hanging over my head.

Booker got his stitches out yesterday and is doing fine. Thanks to those of you who asked how he was doing.

It's funny how some people have to shut out all emotion towards things of their past so they can move on. I guess we all have our areas of strength and weakness, though, huh?

Now Playing, while I work on the site tonight: Game Theory, Rush, Quicksand, Buzzcocks, Joe Strummer, the Beatles, Bush (guilty pleasure), and Jawbreaker (iTunes on shuffle).

September 2004 Randumbs Check Out