Haircuts & T-Shirts

One of my favorite parts of going home to visit my family was getting to go back to my old barbershop from growing up. I hadn't gotten a cut in a couple months so it was prime for slaying.

Pre-Cut:

Rachiele's Barber Shop on Broad:


Post-Cut:

After eight years in South Jersey, I'm still searching for a good barber shop. There is one on West Avenue in OC that I have heard good things about and may have to check out. Nothing will rival Tommy's place in Bethlehem. He always gives a great cut and the conversation I had with a few of the old-timers on the porch before he opened was priceless.

Turning the Tide

Some thing just catch you off guard. One of my Christmas gifts from my parents this year was the t-shirt below:
I absolutely could not believe it when I opened the box. I used to wear the above t-shirt at least once a week in high school after seeing Shutdown at Scarlett's back in the day. These were the days when I wore the straight edge banner with pride and this shirt was awesome for so many reasons. Name in Xs? Check. Live shot with kids going off? Check. Youth Crew? Check. Xs on the front? Check.

At the time I thought Shutdown were incredible. Listening to Turning the Tide nowadays I feel, eh whatever. Looking back, they were mediocre, but I know a lot of kids loved them especially once they got to Victory. I just loved the fact that I had a straight edge t-shirt and I wore it with pride in High School. Somewhere along the lines the shirt got lost in the shuffle, and I no longer had the straight edge or the shirt, but I always wished I had held onto it. After bringing the shirt up in conversation a few months ago, my dad asked Dmitri, who ran Positive Face, if he had any shirts left. I can't believe they hooked me up. Just reason number 5,687 why my parents are the best.

Four Cornered Night

A piece I did over the summer on an old wood block using spraypaint and paint pens. Cruising on a fish at night.

New Offering

One of my newer favorite LV bands has been Oxygen Destroyer. They released a killer cassette last March and I was able to catch their set at Jans Room around the same time where they blew me and the others in attendance away in feedback and riffs. Recently, they just released a newer cassette entitled "Offering", which is worth checking out as well. Lots of amps and feedback. Special thanks to Adam for hooking me up with the new cassette.

Oxygen Destroyer live. I should know who took this, but I don't...sorry!


Their first cassette:


Offering Cassette:

Fortunately, Vans run in our Family

Maeve and I sporting our "Mackaye" model Vans. Sometimes I wish mine had velcro.

Noseriding in a Ghost Town

Driving into Ocean City to surf yesterday was like driving into a science fiction movie. This time of year traffic is never a problem, but there were NO cars on the streets. Nobody anywhere. It was really creepy but made the prospects of surfing by myself pretty strong. No luck. I walked up to the boardwalk on Seventh Street and saw that there were a ton of people on the boardwalk enjoying the mild weather.

I had the right side of the jetty to myself for about the first twenty minutes and then was joined by a father and son. The waves were consistently waist high and clean, no bigger or smaller with a fairly decent peel to them. Overall it was a good session, considering the beautiful weather and fun little waves rolling through.

Once again though on the drive home, ghost town. I stopped and took a picture of the sunset in the middle of Wesley Avenue and didn't see a single car as far down as 10th all the way up to 25th.

Christmas in Scranton

Straight Edge Means I Have New Crayons

Imagine my surprise when I looked down at one of my students the other day and saw the letter X on his hand. I had to grab a quick picture while he was coloring. Unfortunately, the X was not because he was into SSD or Uniform Choice but because he bought a slice of pizza at the youth holiday dance over the weekend.

Please Shut off the Lights

I give you the Smith Family Christmas Tree. Step 1:

Step Two:



Step Three:

The Girl of the Christmas Tree

We finally got around to getting our tree over the weekend. This is probably the latest that we have ever gotten it, but it seemed like every time we had a chance to go get it, there was rain. Here are the girls headed into Sea Grove:


Maeve checking out the inventory:

Close-Up:

Nice Shoes:

Is this one it?

Maeve & Mommy:

Maeve & Mommy II:

Maeve with some Jackass:

On the way home taken out the sunroof:

Ready to go in the house:

I'll have a couple pics tomorrow of the tree fully decorated.

Sheeeeeeeeeet!!!

For a cool $250 bucks, the complete series of The Wire can be yours. The best TV show ever made. I will be saving my pennies for my copy.

Can't Waste Death

Another garage piece from earlier in the summer using a slab of wood, spray paint and paint pens. I had high expectations for Death Tens but its stalled out as of late. I still like the way the sign turned out anyway.

Best Of...

One of my favorite demos from early '08 and the picture below defies words. Bunch of ex-members of good LV bands doing some heavy, droney hardcore. Very good stuff.

Why that's Pretty Low Mister...

Trying to watch this as many times as I can before the 25th. Up to about four times so far. Everyone has their favorite holiday movie and for me this is it.

Retroutfitted for Today

Remember when Christian Fletcher had his own clothing line? We need more of him and his brother in surfing today and less of people like the Hobgoods. Crash and burn is always way more interesting than point ratings and pleasing your sponsors.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out

Here's a piece I did over the summer that I like to call "The Red Ryder". There hasn't been much going on in the garage as of late, but the recent warm weather has made me want to get back out and work on some stuff. The piece with the rasta hearts on the left is separate as is the longboard "career suicide" mini-plaque. More fourth grade artwork pics to come...

Fat Waves

This spread was from an old issue of Surfing Magazine from the 90's. Despite the crappy scan job over two pages, I couldn't help but post this picture, mainly because of the fear it instilled in me when I was younger. I can't imagine what is going through Sean Briley's mind as he is bearing down on this monster. That wave just looks evil.

Hearts of the Opressed

Here is an article from one of my favorite holiday shows from the Firehall era of LVPR. I remember that the line up for this show was incredible to me at the time. I don't remember the show being that long, but according to FOE it clocked it around five hours. I thought Ifarm was great and the seven inch they had out at the time was awesome, very NOFXish punk. Later when they released "So My Kids Won't Have to" I was kind of disappointed and lost interest. The Crash were awesome. To me they were like Plow Jr. and it still is a mystery what happened to them because they had so much potential. Their full length was awesome despite the cheesy name and cover. The Boils blew me away. My friends and I were still relatively new to DIY punk shows and the Boils just seemed so completely punk to us. Waaay more punk than any band we had seen up until that point. They were incredible and ripped through so many good songs. I can't say I followed them after that, just grabbed their seven inch which I still like to listen to on ocassion, but they are still alive and kicking today. Tru Zero played this and I don't remember them. I remember seeing them in Allentown a few months later and really liking them and their cassette, but I had no idea they were even on this bill until I reread the article. Plow was the final band and kids just went off, but the floor was completely soaked from snow, so people were just eating it left and right. The copy looks pretty bad because it was glued into a notebook a while back and I couldn't get it out without scanning the whole notebook page.

Peel Session

Spent an hour or two on some frozen peelers at Eighth Street this morning. Nothing too incredible, about waist high and clean. The tide started to go out and the wind picked up and it got tiny quickly. Here is a pic right before I paddled out:

You are Not What You Own

Young Pa

This show was one of the better, bigger Valley shows I had been to. While Lupo's isn't exactly the picture of DIY, Weston had grown to a point where they needed some size to play. Despite the rock club vibe, there was minimal time between bands it was a quickly moving show for five bands being on the bill. Grieving Eucalytus were a band that, to me, never really got the recognition they deserved. It seemed like they were always viewed as up and coming and then things kind of fizzled out after the LP on Foe. I still listen to their single that Self Starter put out. Just thought this was a great flyer:

Mind Ripper

A great photo gives you a lot to think about and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. For starters, who in their right mind would let me shave a smiley face in the back of their head? Secondly, the T-shirt: An ear of corn riding a stick of butter in a pool of butter? What is in that box next to the toilet? Why is there an ashtray on top of the toilet paper? Who are the gentlemen taped to the wall and what are they saying? While this photo may be strange, the confusion is breathtaking. Sadly, many of the answers to these questions are only known by the residents of Hillside 2A formerly the Beck A-Team.

I Always Wear a Suit to the Office

This band changed my life in high school:






Besides a VHS copy of a show they did in Jersey, these videos are the only footage I have found of them. A lot can and has been said about how completely incredible Plow United was during their time. It's pretty crazy to think about how big the Bouncing Souls are right now and Plow United pretty much blew them away in my book when they were playing together way back when. The footage from the first video has three songs and the second song in that set is "Martin" which is my favorite Plow U song ever. One of the best bands I have ever seen live. Period.

Freezing Process

With the recent cold snap, it might not belong before this scene becomes a reality; although it might be sixty degrees towards the end of the week with swell on the way. Looks like Thursday could be fun. This picture was from the Ocean City Gazette a while back.

Mystery Juice

Listen to this band as much as you can:
www.tilenoise.com

They have two seven inches and two tapes out if I am correct, with an LP on the way. So good.

The Lines are Drawn

Another grad class in the books and another notebook cover destroyed. While I really liked the class I took, I have trouble listening if I am not doing something.

90's Flashback

A railgrab takeoff of an unknown soldier from circa 1990. Scanned this out of an old Ocean City Maryland publication called Action Watersports. I used to pick it up in the summer down there.

Wine, Women & Wrestleviolence

What do I want for Christmas? How about all these:








Nazo's first sons and from what I can tell this is everything the Ultimate Warriors ever did. These pics were up on the B9 a while back

The Bars

"America is a place that destroys the minds of its young people at an early age. By the time they are of any age to think for themselves, it’s much too late...Kids look to others to make them feel good about themselves. Those who rebel usually go to the shop next door to buy their new clothes. They are compensated for their choices. Their avenues of rebellion have been provided for them by the same people that will apply the chains in a few years. How many of these upstarts will end up cops? More than you think.

The hands are invisible, the hands are subtle, the unseen hands mold and push ceaselessly until the human clay molds and sets without question. Change has to come from the inside. No bullets have to fly. Thirst. Hunger. The soul must be set aflame. Self expression must be realized. Do you remember that line from that old Earth Wind and Fire album, “You’re a shining star/ no matter who you are”? It’s so true…Just because they built a desk for you that does not mean you have to sit behind it…"-Henry Rollins

Nine Lives

Hopefully, Hollywood doesn't turn Dora's life into Catch Me if You Can part two. Photo by Pat Darrin.

Bee Bomb

Some quick artwork I did the other day: