Happy Fuckin' Birthday You're Not Special

So my birthday happened, AGAIN, and we went to see NOFX-another attempt to hang on to my youth. It was a shitload of fun we got all hammered and seen one of my fav. bands play. I took along with me my wife, my brother and his girlfriend, and my Uncle Horse. We had a great time. It was at the Fox theatre in Pomona. That kinda sucked 'cause it's so far from L.A. but whatever it was the only show in L.A. for a while. They played a bunch of cool songs. I bought a noah-fx T-shirt. Take that Underoath! I drank a shitload of beer. We seen Mad Caddies play too. That was O.K. they played some songs I knew from some Fat comps. I missed Dead To Me-that sucked I kinda wanted to see them. But I'm not that impressed with their new album soooo....... But I blame the club for the HUGE line to get in. They should get their shit together better. All in all it was a great night. I got drunk and that is always fun!!! Cheers and Beers!

"An Evening Of Extraordinary Circumstance"

All right! It was so fuckin' cool. One of the best shows I've ever been to. Great time from the minute we walked through the doors. I can only be talking about Saturday November 7 2009 at The Troubadour. The Lawrence Arms!!! Yeah, I'm sure it was no Metro show but man did we have a good time. Me and DieXanna had Dogs of War hats made to honor our allegiance to The Bad Sandwich Chronicles. The second we walked through the door I'm like "Head to the merch booth booth before my size t-shirt sells out"(which it did-fast). But before we could get to the merch booth we are getting yelled at by some drunk dude. That drunk dude just happened to be "The Blogmaster" Brendan Kelly. He was like "Dude your fucking hats are so rad. I'm at a loss for words." He was so excited to see that we Dogs of War actually appreciate his Blog. So we chatted for a while then I made my way to the merch booth to get my goodies. Then the merch guy is like "Whoa, nice fuckin' hats dude!" and we talk and he introduces himself. It's Sean Nader, Brendans friend who drew the 10th anniversary show t-shirt/concert poster design. Well he was so stoked that he gave us one of the limited to 200 copies hand numbered posters. So I bought my merch and then watched Madison Bloodbath. They were pretty good. I actually really enjoyed their set. When they were done we went to the bar to get a drink and met the guitarist and singer of Madison Bloodbath. They were really cool dudes. Then Cobra Skulls came on and rocked the fucking house! They were a band I was really excited to see. They were fucking awesome! Such energy, and unlike some bands they sounded just like the recording(if not better) when playing live. They finished up and it was back to the bar for more drinks when who did we find there this time??? Tennessee Hennessy! Thats right Neil Hennessy the multi tasking drummer of TLA. We talked took a pic with him and bailed out to see Teenage Bottlerocket. They were good and played a bunch of cool songs. Back to the bar for another drink and then the highlight of the night The Lawrence Arms rocked the fuck out!!! What a great show! So everyone is clearing out of the club and I tell my wife hey lets hang out for a minute. What was just going to be a minute turned out to be all night. We were getting yet another drink when who do we see now at the bar??? Matt Skiba and Brendan kickin back. So we go over get a couple pics with them and talk for a while then we go downstairs and see Chris McCaughan the guitarist for TLA. We talked with him for a moment and got a pic...then back to the bar where we continue to party with Sean Nader, Matt Skiba, Madison Bloodbath guys, TLA guys, Teenage Bottlerocket guys, and Hiro the photographer(and nicest guy ever). We all hung out until the bar kicked us out and then we all moved outside and talked even more. The show ended at about 11:45pm and we didn't leave The Troubadour until about 3am. Wow! What a good time. Thanks to the bands for playing and being so cool. Thanks for Matt and Brendan for putting up with my drunk ass(I'm sure I was a little annoying I was really drunk and kept asking them band related questions). My wife said I kept saying "Let me ask you one more question.....". Thanks to Sean Nader-what a rad dude. Sean was down to earth and cool. The whole band was. This is why I love The Larry Arms they are not only great musicans but great people too. Coolest night ever we got lots of pics. I was so excited from meeting all they guys that I could not sleep when we got home so I listened to all the records I bought and had one last beer before crashing out. A great night not to be forgotten soon.

JSIN and DieXannas Excellent Adventure

Yeah I know this is late but I've been busy. But me and DieXanna went to the Wiltern last Friday night to see Tiger Army(thanx to Uncle Horse). They kicked ass-played a bunch of good tunes. Also playing that night was Combichrist and The Creepshow. The Creepshow was good psychobilly fun! But Combichrist was a little weird. They wernt totally bad but just s freak show. And they mashed up hardcore/metal/techno. It really was quite a weird band and they had speacial guest guitarist Wes Borland(he of Limp Bizkit fame{if you can call it that}). I saw kids with glowsticks like it was a fucking rave(I shit you not). And the lead singer reminded me of that tool Micheal Graves(you know the guy who paints a skull on his face and sang for the Misfits for a minute{after the REAL Misfits broke up and Jerry Only milked a good thing dry). I guess mainly because the whole band painted their faces like skulls(and I don't think it was a Oct./Halloween thing they were doing). But anywho it was a good time and the first time going to the Wiltern(which was not that great a venue). We got the Larry Arms coming up around the corner and that should be fun. But first comes All Hallows Eve~Taking little Sophia trick or treating up in Santa Clarita and having a little party for her and her friends. Should be fun. Until next time......Happy Halloween!!!

Here's To 25 More Years Of Fun!

Hey Hey Kids! I went over to my brothers house last night for a little celebration of his birthday! We had a good time. It's been a while since we hung out due to our work schedule. Uncle Horse was there as well so the party was on. He had "The Johns" over too. They are a couple of cool dudes that are my bros neighbors. Also were our girls. We got "Jaked On Green Beers" and had a great time. A couple more of his friends stopped by as well. DieXanna really tied one on and we had to get a ride home(better safe than sorry). That was fun 'cause she rarely drinks with me. A good time was had by all. What else? Oh yah, I went to Amoeba to get my bro a couple CD's and didn't get my self anything!!! That's not entirely true I did get Sounding The Seventh Trumpet by A7X for DieXanna. I got him Life Wont Wait by Rancid and S&M Airlines By NOFX which he already had :P And they gave me a cool little goodie bag for him with stickers, buttons, magnets, and a cool little case with earplugs in it. It's cool I didn't pick anything up-a lot of records are coming out online soon. Buttsweat & Tears is almost out(yay). But I heard via BadSandwichCronicles that TLA will have 100 copies for the 1st 100 people @ the 10th anniversary show on exclusive color vinyl that will not be released anywhere else(not yay). Oh well Black vinyl is the new ....uhhhh....Black(?). Also I am excited about NOFXs new 2x7" coming out Nov. 24. My Orphan Year and Cokie The Clown. Looks great-cant wait. Check out the cover art http://www.fatwreck.com/ Fat Mike as Pennywise(the clown not the band) and him and his Dad. So that's whats up for now. Cool Beans Steve McQueen. Until next time~ The JSIN

Clever Songs By Canadian Punks or Anarchist Punks Crime

All right I finally purchased the new Propagandhi album "Supporting Caste". Also picked up Against Me!s Crime 7". I have been meaning to pick up the Propagandhi album for a while now but haven't been to Amoeba in a while. I am stoked on the new album-good songs. It came in a 2x12" LP set. Cool. No color vinyl but still cool. Starting listening to it I was first a little wary because the first song sounded familiar. It seemed a lot like the songs off of "Potemkin City Limits". Chris' singing pattern was the same and guitar riffs similar. Then that song passed and the rest of the album kicked my ass. Glad to hear The Rod screaming some songs. I really liked the interlude between The Funeral Procession and Without Love. Without Love is a great song as well-good summary of life. And the final song Last Will & Testament is an epic song. Love the way the song rocks out for like three minutes before vocals kick in! Great! Worth the wait for sure. As for the Against Me! 7" it was good. Nice to hear a couple songs I haven't heard from them before. Yall Don't Wanna Step To Dis is a new personal fav for me now. Still awaiting the new Larry Arms 7"-just a little over a month before Buttsweat And Tears is available. Got my tix to their show at the Troubadour on Nov 7th-YES-can't wait. Still need the new Rancid(it can wait{come on it's not like it's gonna be their best}) Will probably pick it up next paycheck. Other than that not much in music news~SO-Until next time-In the words of Bill and Ted "Party On!"

Sounds Like A Robot

Things. Dripping from a hole in your head. What? Wait. There it goes all the values you made us believe you actually had. No. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Not any more-now you are a systematic automaton. Built to be complacent. A product of the system__________THIS SOUNDS SO CLICHE' But it's true. As one walks the streets of a modern American city you can see it on the skyline. No one will pry themselves away from what is slowly draining the life from their very essence. I try to look into the eyes of a fellow human being as we walk down the cracked sidewalk, but indeed they are trained not to show feeling. Do not socialize-Work-Eat-Sleep-REPEAT! Where has humanity gone? We pretend we care for others than ourselves but when you look at the fleeting society in which I am exposed to you see the dirt under the fingernails-the skeletons in the closets if you will. The blackness of the hearts of a nation of egos
swells in the underbelly of a quiet storm. Rise up! Repent! Try the flesh of the simple. It's tender! Go to church-school-work-Grab a gun and KILL for Uncle Sam! Or if you are so sluggish and lazy you can't do that-THAT'S FINE-We got a place for you too-CONSUME CONSUME CONSUME!!! Buy our goods-Eat our food-You'll be fine. The shadows fall from the sky and rain injustice on people who just want to breath. It will not be you who walks in their line that falls-No, no, no. It will be those who choose not to comply that will burn! Then after they weed them out you will be free to buy/sell/DIE! What a wonderful time to be alive.

Let's Talk Music

So I decided that since I started this thing intending for it to be a blog mainly about music and I never really blog about music that today I will blog about music(Yay!). So in recent news Brenden leaked the title to the new Lawrence Arms 7" out sometime in the near future on his blog(if you don't read it GO CHECK IT OUT!!!!!! badsandwichchronicles.blogspot.com) The title is "Buttsweat and Tears". Brilliant right? Well I will be awaiting the release of that record. They are also coming out to Hollywood to play the Troubadour(our fav place to see 'em) in Nov. That should be fun. I'm gonna try to get tix soon before they run out. What else???............Oh yeah, I went into Amoeba Music today for the first time in a few months and they rearranged the set up. It's cool though now the Cd's and Lp's aren't mashed together. I seen a couple things I need to pick up but could wait cause they'll be there next time I go or are readily available online. But there was one golden nugget I found today-a Tiger Army record. The second album limited to only 1300 copies on Moon-Yellow Vinyl. Tiger Army II: Power Of Moonlite- a good album in great condition(sealed[that's right never been opened!!!]). Now here is the tricky part it was the most expensive record I have ever bought to date. But I couldn't let it slip away! I have too many times not picked up a record cause I thought it was too expensive or that it might be there next time when I have more $$ but it never is. And most times I never see it again or it is at some outrageous price on ebay that is only gonna get higher if anybody else sees it(which they will). So I picked it up this time. $50-fifty bones-that's what I spent on one record. Now there are a lot or record collectors that might think "Oh dude that's nothing!" But that's a lot of cheese for me my friends. But it was worth every hard earned penny let me tell you. There is nothing like the smell of opening a new sealed vinyl. And this record is from 2001 so it's been ageing for eight years. Getting ripe for me to pick. It's nice to be the first person to put a needle to this record eight years later! So the other records will have to wait until next time I make it to Amoeba(oh well). How was that? Was that cool? I did it a blog about music! Ya!

Just A Gripe!!!

O.K. So this is just going to be a HUGE bitchfest so if you don't wanna hear my rant about how uncontent I am with the parking situation in L.A. STOP READING NOW! O.K. Nuff said-you still here then listen up cause this is gonna be good. So I am a regular victem of the unjust institution known as the Municipal system. They're the fuckers that run parking patrol and courts right? I belive so if not correct me in the comments area. Teach a dumb ol' fool. Back to the point-what was it-OH YEAH! Those fuckers are always giving me tickets. For years I've dealt with this Bullshit in L.A. And except for one vehicle(out of 6 or 7 cars all of which had their fare share of parking tickets) I paid ALL my parking tickets. So I've been reemed by the "Parking Enforcement Agency" often. But this morning I'm just pissed! Yeah I was parked in a spot where you need to move by 7:00am and I would happily pay the ticket cause I over slept but those Fuckers towed my car. That's right they fucking hauled off my shit cause it was in their way. Not just a ticket but a $250.00 impound fee. YEAH!!!!!! Great way to wake up in the morning. The city is fucked. They don't realize that in my neighborhood there are a lot of apartments with a lot of people which means...............you've guessed it A LOT OF FUCKING CARS ASSHOLES!!!!! Also there are lots of spots painted red that aren't by fire hydrants and really should be spots. Not only all that B.S. but this is L.A. home of the most full of themselves jerkoffs that are complete idiots and don't know how to park and make two spots into one by parking like a mindless, thoughtless, inconsiderate, waste of space, sorry excuse for a human being!!! Fuck Em All right?-Pay the shit and move on right?-I could bitch until I grow a vagina but that's not gonna help anybody now is it. So then what was the point of this whole bitchfest??? I dunno-But I sure do feel better now :)

Great Night For Late Night!

Last night I stayed up and had a couple beers so I could watch Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon. Both hosts had great guests. Coco had the all mighty Hank Azaria(of Simpsons fame) and Jimmy had on Adam Sandler. What a good night for late night. I usually fall asleep around ten pm because I work Sat. morning. But I knew I had to stay up for this one. Soooooooo.......I grabbed a couple beers and made sure I was awake for the shows. Conan was hilarious, and Hank Azaria added a lot to the show. What a great guest. He even did numerous Simpsons voices which was fun to see. Jimmy Fallon was good as usual. Backed by the greatest band in late night THE ROOTS(sorry Max). And Jimmy and Adam were sooooooooooooooo funny together I couldn't stop laughing my ass off.(the beer may have helped) Adam had on a cool Zoo York T-shirt. I can't wait to see Funny People that shit looks hilarious. Oh yeah and the singer of drunk Jimmy Buffet was a guest and performed "Margaritaville" with The Roots. Glad I stayed awake!

Gettin' out of Dodge

Living in L.A. is not as glamorous as seen on T.V. It is full mostly of upper middle class A-Holes who want to be(and act like they are) rich A-Holes. People don't know how to drive so it takes forever to get anywhere. Even though there is a new law stating that you are not supposed to talk on your cell without a hand free device people still are, and are even now texting while driving(and they wonder why their car is all dented up). Besides all that everyone has no common courtesy anymore. People are unfriendly at best. Every ten to twenty minutes there is some kind of siren(police/ambulance/fire dept). I could go on.....But that's not the point of this blog. This blog is about how nice it is to get out of L.A.(even if only for a few days). I recently went camping in Oakhurst(near Yosemite[also my wifes hometown]) for the 4th. It was a really nice time. Quit atmosphere, clean fresh air, and the sound of running water to put you to sleep(if the beers and campfire don't help). Even driving was nice. No traffic(well once we got out of the city), No A-Holes on the phone, just open road and my tunes. The family and me had a great time. It was totally therapeutic for me. Relaxing. Glad I got to go. When you get out of the city you sure don't want to go back! I mean sure there are lots of good things about livin' in the city but it is soooooo nice to get out every now and then.

O.K. So Sue Me!

YEAH! I Know! I am a lame. I said Twitter is the Devil and not even an hour ago I started Twittering. Yes I have turned to the darkside like our dear friend Anakin Skywalker. I am no better than anyone else using Twitter now. So go ahead mock me if you will, Remember I only said YET.......

To Twitter Or Not To Twitter~That Is The Question

O.K. so twittering is all the rage right now. That sounded really lame "all the rage". Oh well it is super popular right now. It's like teenage sex in the ninety's-It's popular and everyone is doing it. Actors, musicians, T.V. personalities, everyone is twittering. I guess I just don't get it. What makes you sooooo important that you feel a need to let everyone know exactly what you're doing at all times in 140 characters or less. Who really cares. I don't want people to know what I'm doing at all times and I don't really care what your doing either. Americas general society is obsessed with celebutards. They have to know what actor is doing what actress and what they are having for lunch-are they going to impregnate each other-What are you buying right now I HAVE TO KNOW!!!!!!! This is not something that should be important to anybody but every ones life is revolving around this twitter thing right now. I mean really this twitter thing should have gone down the crapper with my last bowel movement. But people are eating this shit up right now like a free for all buffet. Proving how narcissistic our society really is. Just wait until 2020 when it's the United States of Brangellina, and having a T.V is required by law. Mandatory viewing of TMZ, Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood, and Fox News will be a daily routine we will all have to drone through. Well you can thank the gateway drug that started it all TWITTER. So my dilemma remains-Do I become a part of this mongoloid parade or do I stay true to my roots and continue to remain one of the few that do not Twitter? Twat? I don't know but for now you can count me out for I will not succumb to Twitter!(yet)

Tonight Show Transfer

Sooooooo.........I've been watching Jay Leno on the tonight show since I was about thirteen or fourteen which would be '94 or '95. I was stying up later right away found I liked Jay way more than I liked David Letterman. I was pulled in by Jays skits like Iron Jay, Ask Jay Anything, and of course Jaywalking. I think Jaywalking was the first thing I saw. Then I started watching and liked his monolouges etc. etc. Well I've benn watching ever since(not religously or anything but definantly whenever I was up that late or could watch it). Then through watching Jay I found Conan. Now mind you I was young and loved The Simpsons but I was young and didn't pay attention to the credits to know Conan worked on The Simpsons . Had I known that then I would have watched it even more. But I loved Conans monolouges and skits way more than Leno. And that's saying something cause I really liked Leno. Well Shift to years later and I'm a way bigger fan of Conan than Jay but still try to catch both shows when I can. Then I hear Jays leaving and that Conans taking over and I'm STOKED!!! The last Jay show was cool. The whole last week of Leno was pretty good, but the last night with Conan was cool. Then this week Conan took over dutys at the tonight show and I'm diggin' on it. I am really happy they decided to bring Andy Richter along as the new anouncer. I've been watching and he is really funny. But let's give credit where credits due I like Andy and all but he doesn't do the whole "Cooooonaaaaaan OOOOO' Briiiiiieeeeeeenn" as good as the last anouncer but kudos to him for trying. But I'm still totally stoked on Andy Richter being on the show again. I also wanted to note that if you were watching on wednesday 6/3/09 Kareem Abdul Jabbar made a little cameo and I've never seen Conan look so small before. Actually I've never seen Conan look small. The guy towers over most of his guests so it was so surprising to see him stand side by side next to Kareem and Kareem Towered over him= Funny! So I am excited to see whats in store for Conan on the tonight show. Will the Masterbating Bear return? How about that annoying(yet funny) little guy the interruper make an apperance? They already brought back the year 2000 bit but now it's the year 3000 so I'm sure there will be a lot in store with that skit. I can't wait! UmmBuddyBoyyyyyy!!!

Fun Fucking Fat Chicks

So I guess I kinda wondered(as I'm sure we all have at least one time or another) how a heavier woman and a skinny guy couple have sex. Well I just found out. Ha Ha, I know what you're all thinking but not in that way. My wife explained to me the routine in mismatched couple fuckin'. We work at hotels and are privy to some rather unsettling information. We'll a neighbor of one of our guests at one of the hotels complained about their neighbor(the mismatched couple) always having sex and being real loud while doing so. So my wife's first response was "I didn't think they could...you know....have sex!?!" And the neighbor was like "Yeah I've done it before ya just bend 'em over and let shit(the fat) fall forward to make room for the lovin'!" With a surprised look on her face my wife told the neighbor she would ask them to keep it down. I laughed so hard I had to immediately write this blog. And no offense to any overweight people out there just kind of a funny story.

Complacancy in the Music Scene

Have you noticed the way the youth of America are so bent on going out into an underground music scene(whether it be punk/metal/goth/emo/etc.) try to be "different" to fit into the scene but the whole time is following some social code. If they are sad and want to be goth they go get some black jeans, T-shirts with some mediocore band from the eighty's, smear on some black eyeliner/lipstick/fingernail paint and try to be somber. If you wanna go metal wear some tight ass jeans(honestly i don't know what is up with the young dudes nowa days wearing these tight ass jeans-come on man let the boys hang free) and get a Iron Maiden T-shirt and start growing your hair long. Wanna be an Emo just start acting like a whining little bitch and put your hair in your face. The punk scene also has a lot of posers wearing a Germs/Black Flag/Ramones T-shirt(don't get me wrong these bands kick ass just most of the kids wearing those shirts probably don't know shit about the bands at all). Or the guy with the three foot yellow mohawk and the torn to shit jeans with "The Smiths" patches all over them. It's not even just the kids really you got the dudes my age trying to act cool or fit into the Indie scene or whatever. I just call 'em hipsters. You know the type "I'm so cool I paid $200.00 for a haircut." "I know where the best dive bars are." "Have you heard the new Killers/Muse/(insert lame band here) album? It Rocks!" My point being All these people trying to differ themselves from everyone else are just fooling themselves. They are simply falling into a category trying not to be put in a category. I remember a day when it wasn't about fashion or what is cool at the moment. We all just simply listened to music we actually liked. Or stuff that was passed down to us from Uncles/Cousins/Fathers. Ultimately it boils down to not wanting to work hard at being yourself or standing up for what you belive, so you just fall into a slot allotted for you. Hey it's easier to live life when someones guiding you. Or is it........

New Tattoo

Hey there music fans! Sooo....... I got a new tatoo last night. We had a babysitter so me and the wife did a couple shots then thought it would be a good idea to go get a random Hollywood tatoo.
It was fun! Made me feel young again. To do something random at the spur of the moment was good for me and the wife.

I find that in a digital music age the conection with the music you are listening to is lost. What happened to the day when you couldn't wait to buy your new album open the pakage and see all the pictures/lyrics of the new record you bought. Now if your downloading your music you don't even get a feel for the record 'cause all you get is the cover art downloaded onto your computer. I'm just wondering if anyone else feels that the youth of today are going to ruin the music scene due to buying overly produced music only available for download at itues? Or am I just a crotchety old fart that still loves him some old vinyl records?