Pre-Teenagers from Mars

It's not too often that the worlds of punk rock and elementary school collide, so imagine my surprise when I see a fifth grader sporting a crimson ghost t-shirt the other day. I was so pysched that I had to grab a picture of him rocking his Misfits shirt:

Hand in Glove

There were waves yesterday...well sort of. The forecasts were showing a small bump, but the cameras were showing what looked to be less than that and with the air temperature and lack of daylight, it was one of those days where I was really on the fence. I knew that if I didn't go, I wouldn't be missing much, if anything at all; but at the same time, I hadn't been out as much as I'd like, so I ended up grabbing my gear and headed over the bridge.

Although the days are starting to get longer, daylight is still at a premium, so its a race against sunset in the afernoons during the winter. After checking one spot and seeing how tiny it was, I drove around until I found a spot that still tiny but at least ridable. It was cold, but nothing too bad. Little wind, the air and water were probably both in the thirties. As I paddled out I suddenly felt a rush of water in one of my gloves...not good. This was the first time I used my thicker winter mittens to surf and it was very apparent that there was a hole somewhere in it. Each time I went to paddle, the glove would fill with icy salt water slowly numbing my hand and crawling up the sleeve of my wetsuit to chill my arm. Sitting out in the line-up, I studied the glove to find a nice puncture hole in the palm of the glove making the 5mm glove pretty much worthless. I surfed for about forty five minutes, which wasn't bad considering my hand was slowly turning into a claw. With the tide coming in, it looked as if the waves were inproving slightly, but my hand could take no more. Here is a post-session shot of the claw:

Falling Asleep on Lincoln Drive

A shot of Maeve and me (and Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba too) before heading up to the Lehigh Valley this weekend. Notice I said before. Only a jackass would take a picture while driving...which I considered on the drive home after passing a car on the Schuykill Expressway with a "PWN3D" liscense plate. Back to the beach for some waves today hopefully.

Twin Killing

Since I headed to the Lehigh Valley this weekend, I made the pilgrimage again to Double Decker. It's been said before, but I'll say it again: hands down the best record store on the East Coast. I spent a solid hour digging through piles, stacks and crates of records found inside Double Decker. I didn't go in with the plan to pick up much, but ended up finding a bunch of stuff I wanted including a copy of Chain of Strength's True 'Til Death seven inch in my purchases. It never ceases to amaze what records are instore or just passed through the crates of DD. Not only did I get to check out an Agnostic Front United Blood ep and a Minor Threat In My Eyes seven inch(in the picture below), but Jamie had told me that he just sold the Antidote seven inch just as quickly as it came in. The price tag for just those three records alone was $1,000 dollars easily (AF- $400, MT- $200, Antidote- $400). Needless to say, a photograph of those two records was all I could afford. Thanks to Jamie for letting me take the picture.

Offshore Style

My neighbor Jim lent me his copy of the Offshore Longboard Club's DVD filmed by Paul Aspenberger. Runs about fifteen or twenty minutes and features the usual suspects in a variety of locations in Ocean City and beyond riding mosty singlefin longboards. Very fun to watch. Now I just need to figure out how to burn a copy...

Adult Crash

I finally got my copy of Adult Crash, Dave Brown's photobook from different hardcore shows over the years. Included with the book was the record below featuring Cloak/Dagger, Slumlords, Down to Nothing and Kill Your Idols.

The book is what it is. I like the fact that Brown explains at the onset of the book that he is not a photographer, just someone who takes photos. Rather than be an artistic collection, Brown says he published the book to document what he saw at shows over the years. The photos are for the most from the RVA scene and stretches to outlying locations as well. The pictures tend to be heavy on bands that are from or play Richmond regularly. That being said, the pictures are great, particularly the earliest pictures of shows from the late eighties (Release, Chain, etc.). The book is well work picking up if you have been on board the recent hardcore goes literary movement that has sprung up in the past couple years.

The record itself was a really pleasant surprise. If you are familiar with the bands on the record, you know what you are getting, but the surprise is, they do covers. I really dug the Kill Your Idols cover, but Down to Nothing doing Four Walls Falling was probably my favorite of the record.

http://vcrecs.blogspot.com/2008/10/ordering-info-finally.html

The Road to Hell

I have been meaning to get a picture of this road sign for some time now and last weekend, I finally got it. Located back in the wooded wilds where Atlantic and Cape May county meet is the blackest road in all of New Jersey.


Just to prove there's no photoshopping involved:


I feel confident that if Danzig ever moves south, I know where he would live.