Memory Layne

The NY kids had CBGBs, the Valley kids had Scarlett O'Hara's . Now some club named 40 Below, it just didn't seem the same without seeing a bunch of punk and hardcore kids loitering around the entrance.

Misery Loves Company

Snow More Riddles

Went to grab some last minutes gifts up on the boardwalk and snagged some post-snow shots. I will remember these images come mid-July, when its packed shoulder to shoulder and you can hear the noise from a block away.

Before the Dawn

A foot or so of snow later- driveway destroyed....WOLVERINES!!!!!!

True Colors

This Saturday. Sold Out. Get into it:

Face Down

The holidays have taken its toll on Plex. A scene taken from the Yo Gabba Gabba E! True Hollywood story, while just to the right in the picture are a handful of Xanax on the floor as well.

A New Foundation

Much like food, when you mix two songs together, the results can be incredible (coffee with chocolate milk) or incredibly terrible (peanut butter and pickles). The Quicksand performance that mixed GB and the Smiths together was clearly incredible from start to finish, much like Cold World's mixing of The Smiths with Mobb Deep. But just because you take two good bands and put them together, doesn't necessarily make for greatness (I love Sick of It All and I love Mobb Deep, but their version of "Survival of the Fittest" is almost unlistenable).

So with that being said, here is Kate Nash and Billy Bragg together, doing two of my favorite songs of theirs together. To be honest, it starts out great with "foundations" and when Billy Bragg kicks in with the opening lyrics to "New England" ur moshing, but I really wish Kate Nash would have shut the fuck up during the chorus.

Catch the Flashback

Do not adjust the computer monitor. Yes, those are NKOTB mugs and the picture was taken in 2009. As to why the good people at the school holiday sale decided to push mugs that were twenty years old (I checked the copyright: '89 and feelin' fine), we won't ever know. Most popular comment overheard at the sale- "I'm getting one for my mom! She used to be a fan!". Somewhere Donny Walhberg is smiling.

Cold Water Music

Fun waves to be had this morning in weather that felt like December. Cold air temps-check. Light snow on the grass- check. Ice on the car- check. Sunny- check. Frozen sand-check. Light winds-check. Peeling waist-high waves-check. Decided to go early and hit up the south end. This picture was taken AFTER things had warmed up once I arrived home. Board slightly askew and probably the only car with a carseat and a Cro-Mags sticker.

Truth be told, this picture was taken a few weeks ago, but it is pretty close to what things were like this morning. Nothing fancy, but a lot of fun.

We're Not In this Alone

Stumbled upon the bulletin board in a coworker's classroom the other day. I immediately had the opening chords and lyrics running through my head. Truth be told, I snuck back in the room later to take the picture, because I felt like the explanation would be too long winded and confusing:

"Well, see there was this band..."

I am now contemplating what other hardcore anthems would make for motivating bulletin boards for my students. I'm thinking "We Gotta Know" along with whatever we are learning for the next couple weeks and a picture of John Joseph.

Jesus Hates a Backslider

Santa gets ready to take the plunge before delivery day somewhere in the Point. Shortly afterward he was spotted face down outside the Anchorage, bottle of JD in his mitten.

One Day Goodbye will be Farewell

Welcome to Waverly, or what's left of it. Careful of the geotubes and have a nice day.
Now go fuck yourself.

Supercoven

Managed to snag some waves on Thanksgiving, but ended up completely screwing up the trash day schedule. Turns out, public works had the day off the day after too and we had about nine bajillion bags of trash from the move sitting by the side of a very busy road and no one picking it up for a couple days. Rather than lugging everything back up to the house, I planted it all hidden safely behind a bunch of fir trees in the yard, tucked out of sight.

At night it would almost look like a bunch of druids or witches hanging out under the trees practicing their dark arts or something, but I couldn't get a decent picture out of the window, so I took a daylight shot that is not nearly as cool or satanic. The view at night was pretty killer. If I ever start my Electric Wizard cover band, you can bet the name of the group with be Coven of Trash.

The Process of Weeding Out

A couple years ago, I sold off some of my record collection to fund a new surfboard. While the fat has been trimmed, strangely enough, it is beginning to slowly grow in size once more.

Keep It Up

New house and new shed. I cannot wait to get things going in the new spot, but for now, a rafter shot will do. Name will be forthcoming with a few ideas in the works.

The Gorilla Smithiscuits Meet Quicksand

This video is insane. Seriously. It makes me want to put my head through a wall when the last few notes of "Start Today" end and the opening riff to "How Soon is Now" kicks in. Top notch from the crowd reaction to Walter's gyrations to Sergio getting in the groove. Total ampage.

Back on Track

After many wild weeks packing boxes, moving furniture, surviving insane floods and a host of other craziness, I'm finally online at the new place and ready to post. Here's a shot I took while packing up my record collection:

Break the Chain

Went to surf a favorite break of mine the other day, only to find this on the gate. Not like I couldn't climb it, or go to another entrance way north or south, but it was just weird.

All Hell Breaks Loose

Samhain greetings:

Where We Started

Drove around looking for waves yesterday afternoon and stumbled upon this scene in Strathmere. Took me back six or so years ago to another classic photo hanging in our house.
Ended up finding some gentle waist high waves with howling winds a little further down Ocean Drive and surfed until dark alone.

Let Me Ride

Grainy pic for sure, but I think one of three things is going on here:

a) Spray-painted flames to cover up the rust.
b) Spray-paint color poorly chosen in an attempt to "match" the white.
c) Just a bitchin' spray paint job.

Gene Pool/Cess Pool

My reaction to watching flawless waves roll in on the surfcams all day at work, only to show up late afternoon to a dead low tide and a much smaller size. Still paddled out and threw myself into some closeouts.

Drop Dead

Been on a huge Mind Eraser kick lately, which is always a good thing. When I found this video of Mind Eraser covering Siege, I thought by clicking on it, I would some how start a black hole in the universe or something. After viewing, it comes pretty damn close to it. So good.

Crucial Yule

Headed to the Liquor Store this morning to pick up some boxes for the upcoming move. It was about ten in the morning when Santa and one of his elves showed up to fuel up for the weekend.

Spiderland

Yep, that fucker is as big as it looks and it lives on the Shack.

Full Spectral Dominence

So I went to the Youngblood Fest to catch the Rancor Reunion. I also took some very poor pictures of a couple bands that came out even worse than I expected. Here they are:

Work gloves on, it's time for No Tolerance! One of my favorite bands on the day.

Mind Eraser was a definite highlight:

Lion of Judah. Never really was into them, but they sounded pretty good live. Crowd was into them.

Break out the vegan water...Oh No! It's the Rancor!
A great set of stuff off of both seven inches, the demo and the Time is Now comp and "Clobberin' Time", a Floorpunch cover and a judge cover. Just insane.
Saw a bunch of other bands too, but the pictures either looked worse than these piss poor quality photos or I didn't bother to take any, but still good. Tons of great merch, Vegan Treats, and good bands made for a great showcase and I was able to pick up the new Carry On LP and the 2nd press of the new Mind Eraser, so I was happy. Despite the three hour drive there and then the three hour drive back, it was completely worth the trip.

Reocurring Nightmare #105

I think the title says it all...

Hidden World

Went to visit an old friend this morning, but unfortunately, the beach replenishment looked to make things super dumpy, so I headed back to the north. Its funny to surf clean, waist high waves by yourself and watch the 59th pier fill up from yards away. Before leaving Strathmere to find a rideable, uncrowded spot in OC, I snapped a pic of this bumper sticker:

The Fine Art of the Arm Fold

Found these photos on LVPR taken by Neil. Despite the sour look on my face, Fresh Meat and the Back to Back/mini-Carpenter Ant sets were killer.

Just a Garbage Man

Death Tens: slated to kick off 2000never.

Your Mistake

Self portraits seemed like a simple enough task for my kids to conquer for a quick way to label their desks for their parents at back to school night. Then I stumbled across this one and nearly lost it. Sooooo good and no he looks nothing like this in real life. I give him a year or two before he begins listening to Hellhammer or Darkthrone.

Last Warning

Not going to have much time to post in the coming months. Daily posts are coming to a close. Updates whenever I feel like it or have something worthwhile to post.

Big Plans

I've been digging a lot of the Fashionable Idiots Records releases as of late. I hate to say it, but I just happened to order this Condominium seven inch as an add on, but I am very glad I did because I've been listening to "Barricade" a lot ever since. The track reminds me a lot of Black Flag with the chugging bass intro into the screaming guitars and vocals going from talking to howling. "Big Plans" is the b-side and is good, but "Barricade" is definitely the stand out for me. It's really good and you should check them out. Then again, what do I know?

http://www.fashionableidiots.com/

Tired of Being Alive

I had something planned for today, but honestly after seeing this tire cover in the parking lot of our local supermarket, I completely forgot what it was. The fact that it is on Geo Tracker makes it even better and the fact that there is someone out there who thinks this is awesome makes me shudder. The tire condom makes the Tweety Bird cover look almost classy. Almost.

When I Was Ten

Through these Eyes

Dead and Gone

You won't be seeing this scene for a while...whoever is the last person off the island, don't forget to turn off the lights.

Mark of the Squealer

Been listening to a lot of Leeway lately...

Last Place You Look

Hidden somewhere on the boardwalk is this secret shredder.

Shape Up or Ship Out

I'M A MAN!!!!!

Talking about this today...best moment- 2:25. It never gets old.

My Block

217 forever.

Back to School

School starts next week and lesson #1 shredology. Tudor showing my kids last year how its done. One California Day comes to one New Jersey classroom....

It's The Limit/Hard Times

Ultra Mantis

This showed up on the side of our house the other day. I had to snap some sort of picture to give a better idea of the size. That's the corner of our red shutter in the second pic. Thing was huge:

Gametime

This year has been a pretty good year for shows. I really didn't expect a whole lot of surprises in the remaining months of 2009, but I gotta say that this was probably the most amped I've ever been over a mass email:

Hi, this is Sean writing from Youngblood. I thought you might be interested in knowing that Rancor will be playing a full set at our showcase. Thanks!

--
Youngblood Records Showcase 2009
Saturday, October 10th
At the Champ in Lemoyne, PA

Iron Age
Mind Eraser
Lion of Judah
Police & Thieves
No Tolerance
Mindset
Give
Mob Mentality
Peace

+ 2 more TBA

Insane!!!! After having not really considered going to the showcase, I will now, hands down, be driving into the wilds of Central PA for this one!!

Photos: Brett Barto

I Hate Society

Finally got my camera back that had some weak Bill shots on it from last weekend. These were taken at the height of weakness, high tide and onshores, but oh well. I'm sure most people can figure out where they were taken. The pictures suck, there's no denying it, but at least it's a few shots to remember what Bill was like.

The water had an almost Carribbean feel to it.

If there was an East Coast Daily Donkey, this would get sent in. Goin' Straight meets Mr. Duckdive. The results had to hurt.
Two worlds:
Lines:
This was about the best lined up wave I saw as I shot. It looks makeable too, but further down the line, things get a little weird.