The Festival Of Dudes

Dudefest 2009 - 17-18-19.

The Journey:

see ya Ohio.


hello monsoon storms. if you look carefully, there is a smiley face with shutter shades in the clouds. i seriously didnt edit this. fucking weird, yeah?


This is all the midwest has to offer you on the road; corn.


dudes on the rocks


The Always Inn. A lot dirtier than it looked. A lot.


MORE DUDES


The Team


Young Widows set


In The Face Of War after party. i got wrecked during Suicide.


Cookies Wingin' - It's vegan gumbo. $3 for a huge bowl. i had three

After a 7 hour drive with Andrew, Rick, and Mike, we finally arrived at the fest. Hilarity ensued.

First night highlights included:
Taking the Veg Pledge (no meat for this homeboy)
Get Rad,
Ice Nine (for being old, tight as shit, and energetic),
Young Widows and their great taste in footwear and bass equipment,
Torche (for the Floor cover and also for consistent smiles emanating from the band.)
meeting tons of new people and making new friends right off the bat,
Rick not really drinking that much,
Hex Records dudes being tight bros,
Cougar Den,
In The Face Of War (me starting to lose my voice during their set),
Get Rad/Minor Threat Cover set which i lost my shit to.
Oh and our hotel being dank as fuck. but cheap more so.

Second night/day highlights include:
Mehkago N.T.
Coke Bust (for reppin' the edge),
Weekend Nachos (for playing all the good shit),
Tombs,
Cookie's Wingin' - It's vegan gumbo and all the ladies that worked there
More new friends
Gaza (for having a 7' tall vocalist),
Buried Inside,
Russian Circles,
Portraits Of Past ( for being the best band at the fest hands down.)
losing a drunk and high Rick and later finding him at the after party where he allegedly almost got shot?,
Almost getting raped by an older man (thats serious, if you want to know the whole story, just ask.)
Skylar and I's stealthy tactics at avoiding said older man,
not seeing any band at the after show because i was too busy not getting raped,
Losing rick several more times through out the night,
Sleeping on a table,
losing my voice totally.

Sunday Nights Highlights:
Woke up at noon with no voice what so ever
Punch (for being edge, vegan, members of Loma Prieta, female fronted, and awesome.)
Furnace
Comadre (for being one of the most fun bands to see ever)
Mammoth Grinder (for being assholes and not playing new stuff but still being circle pit inducing awesome)
Hatred Surge
Phoenix Bodies (for having the smallest booty shorts and not practicing in two months)
Iron Lung (for being jaw droppingly heavy and tight and hilarious)
Mind Eraser (hate-doom mosh.)
Rick getting his glasses smashed
Rick running away from me while high and drunk
Rick hiding from me while high and drunk
Rick getting more high and drunk while high and drunk and running from me at the same time
get contacts from friends far away for future adventures
deciding im moving, for real.
sleeping in a bed

then i drove for like 9 hours, ate 666 veggie burgers and passed out to the texas chainsaw massacre with Amber on Monday.

great freaking weekend.

P.S. - Portraits Of Past changed my life.

My Still Life.

I guess i haven't posted anything on here in a while.
Probably because nothing has been going on.
That's probably why....

I've worked almost everyday at your local Country Fair straight except for about 3-4 days in the past 3 weeks.
...and to think I've been doing this for 5 years!

I do need the money though, so its fine really.

But some things have been alright.
Dudefest is this weekend. I couldn't be more stoked.
I WILL blow so much cash on merch. I promise you that much.

Also! Freaking went to Waldameer Amusement Park in Erie today for the first time this summer with Amber and her family.


Its decent enough
No water park this time though which is a total bumski

Another item of interest; Biter has begun our production of our album. Im currently working on the artwork/layout for the album itself while casey and mark make important phone calls or something. I dont know what they do with their free time honestly. Oh and Brent,......
...
.
Brent makes noise, literally.

Needless to say im super stoked to be turning out a product of this stuff. Im sure my bandmates feel the same.

I need to get some tattoos soon.
I have so many ideas but im not concrete on where to place them exactly.
Regardless of that, im excited to have them on my body when i decide where and how i want them!
I've been really into the artwork of John Baizley, the singer of Baroness.
He has done work for bands such as Cursed, Pig Destroyer, Torche, and Kylesa.
This is a sample of some of his stuff

i think this will get cut off by blogger but you get the point.

Thats all i got!

your still life.

somedays i feel totally paralyzed by my surroundings.
may it be my friends, my job, my education process, or my skills in different arts, there comes days throughout the week/month/year that i just feel like i don't even know how or why I'm in the situations I'm in or how i have come to know the people around me.

Today i was sitting in my living room with my roommates talking about whatever nonsense transpired throughout the day and i just sat there and started to stare at them. Not necessarily at them but more like "of" them if that makes sense at all. I don't know. Anyway, all I could think was "how do i know these people? how are these people my friends? are they friends? how do they know me? what do they think of me? Do they wonder the same thing?"

After a few seconds of rational thought I got a grip on my shit and put the pieces of familiarity back together.

A similar situation happened later on this evening. Two of my friends showed up with some fireworks left over from the weak display last night. Of course we decided it was time to put them to good use. In the interim of waiting to actually begin our night, we razzed each other like the fine young gentlemen we are. At one point i was informed of something that mildly offended me to the point where i wanted a logic explanation of the jeer. After not receiving one, i kind of retreated to my head for the remainder of the evening.

Do i know you?
Do you know me?

Again the feeling of unfamiliarity amongst a group of longtime friends bloomed. This time it stayed. I'm feeling it as i write this stupid fucking blog (which this whole blog thing is really narcissistic when it comes down to it. Why would anyone want to read about your garbage life and why are we saddened or offended when no one does in fact, care?)

I Don't Know. "I Don't Know." What a phrase that is. It's a total opt out of any further explanation or thought. Trust me, i use it enough.

Why are you here? Any of you? What do you serve for me?
What do i serve for you?

This whole blog post is honestly garbage. But i'll post it just because i don't feel like erasing this all and having it be a waste of time.

lower your voice and be recognized. i, of course, see no reason to reply. give me my just desserts give me my recognition, that proof. remain closed to all of those who dare to remain unchanged by your words. pull back the hammer and take aim. and shoot yourself in the foot, shoot everyone else in the foot. rid us all of meaning. the credit seems to be all yours. and you're sure of your strength once more.

(and all could be dismissed with "whatever, it's cool" and you could argue that it must be good or violent or irrelevant, but it isn't really any of those, and i guess i hate that attitude more than anything)

don't shoot, don't show. push harder the plastic forks under my nails. things don't turn like this even in our wildest dreams. what exactly is that smile? what is that smile on your face supposed to mean?

"we both know i've got those thoughts and words too, but i guess i don't give them enough use"

there are a few truths, and here's just one: i'm as fucked up about as much as you're fucked up. but beyond that there are only grasped straws and our own private perceived flaws. where's that gun? we should both use it. doomed from the start. committed to failure. simply mirrors all? rejected selves live to fall.

Portraits Of Past - Bang Yr Head

Cross Them Out

A lot of shits been going on.

first and foremost, an old friend returned himself to me out of the blue.


David has been a big part of my life for the past 3 or so years and when i heard he would be coming back to PA after his hitchhikes through central america and beyond i was beyond happy. The man can weave a tale, let me tell you.

Also, Biter has recorded. nothing of any importance to you mind you, but still, we are experimenting and preparing for the future. September 15th.
I couldn't be more excited/nervous/prepared than i am now for the coming of Biter.

Life carries on like usual. Working at the local gas station and hanging out with the roommates/girlfriend/locals, riding my bike, wishing i was skating, and being an over all difficult to agree with person, everything is in its place.

Whitey and I have made it an event to shave together now.

No homo.

Dudefest swiftly approaches. If i owe you money, you wont be getting it soon, i promise. All Codydollars will be spent on band merch....like it should be anyways.

speaking of which, got some new records (nerd time)


got some real important records in this shipment. Loma Prieta's Last City, Matrimony 7inch, and Our Lp Is Your Ep as well as the Us, Haunted Bodes 7inch. New End Of A Year 7inch and David Bazan demo 7inch also in there.

i wish i didnt waste money on this useless shit, but its so fun.
what the fuck is money for anyways, you know?

I've found a lot of time to read House Of Leaves recently and really dig into it. Amazing work. A truly unique body of literature.

Staying up late listening to Youth Of Today/Crossed Out/Infest/Unbroken. Thats me this summer. Get Into It!

Hit Record cause its all fucking pearls.
A bridge-burner to end them all.
Dont want to bite the hand that feeds I want to fucking break it off.
When they say Youll never work in this town again, is that a promise or a threat? Businessmen dressed up like friends, they want to talk about business or friendship.
The more confused the better the guilt trip.
After all I did for you, dont you owe me this?
Sign the paper, sign the paper, This Document Is Legally Blinding.
We the undersigned do solemnly swear by The Plan.
To break down on every highway from here to Creation.
To play the game and sit still for pictures.
Hows your draw?
Does it look good on paper?
Youd better be someone?
Oh arent you anyone?
Gonna be somebody
. We got friends in the music business.
Theyre gonna take care of all the details.
So is it business or pleasure?
The more confused the better.
Dont call me and I wont call you.

Cursed - III - Friends In The Music Business

South Eden

"It started With a clasp of what would seem as electric energy. I AWOKE running through a nailbomb of screaming and utter confusion. The walls of the apartment complex peeled off like the skin of some trophy hunt meat on a wood fire. An older man in a blue dress stood at the edge of the neighbors doorway crying. Hands over face, piss soaked carpet/legs. A discordant pitch sounded and i was launched into a fever of fevers. I pushed through the smoke and flesh hoping to find an exit...some sort of mute button to this whole swirl of violence and static. But upon entering the concrete stairwell between the second and first floor, i was halted. A grinding, screeching halt. A resolving note sounded. Pure and alone; Solitary and cleansing. The hum brought me to my knees. I spit up bile and blood like a sprinkler on a summer afternoon. I prepared for what some would call "the end." Instead i laid myself into another fit. Now a woman, not her. not here."

Experiments In Nocturnal Sound and Energy

Finally found the energy to not fall asleep early like usual and had a night much like that of last summer.

just me, the streetlights, and some music.

i wanted to capture my contentment and all i had was my cellular phone, so due was made.


























Playlist:
Towers - Full Circle
Castevet - Summer Fences
Dolcim - Guillotine Ride

We held hands on the last night on earth.
Our mouths filled with dust, we kissed in the fields and under trees,
screaming like dogs, bleeding dark into the leaves.
It was empty on the edge of town but we knew everyone floated
along the bottom of the river.
So we walked through the waste where the road curved into the sea
and the shattered seasons lay,
and the bitter smell of burning was on you like a disease.
In our cancer of passion you said, "Death is a midnight runner."
The sky had come crashing down like the news of an intimate suicide.
We picked up the shards and formed them into shapes
of stars that wore like an antique wedding dress.
The echoes of the past broke the hearts of the unborn
as the ferris wheel silently slowed to a stop.
The few insects skittered away in hopes of a better pastime.
I kissed you at the apex of the maelstrom and asked
if you would accompany me in a quick fall,
but you made me realize that my ticket wasn't for two.
I rode alone.
You said, "The cinders are falling like snow."
There is poetry in despair, and we sang with unrivaled beauty,
bitter elegies of savagery and eloquence.
Of blue and grey.
Strange, we ran down desperate streets and carved our names in the flesh of the city.
The sun was stagnated somewhere beyond the rim of the horizon
and the darkness is a mystery of curves and lines.
Still, we lay under the emptiness and drifted slowly outward,
and somewhere in the wilderness we found salvation scratched
into the earth like a message

- AFI - spoken word at the end of Sing The Sorrow

I remember this would come on the cd player when i was hanging out with my friends late at night and we would all kind of stop and just listen to this part. It may be AFI poetry or whatever, but its....elegant...or at least nostalgic, to me at least. This album reminds me a lot of being young and staying up all night for no reason at all.

its 5 a.m. i can hear birds. lets call it a night, ok?

Horizons

so guts and glory is finally done.
after about a year and a half run with them ( me playing bass), its over.
met a lot of cool people
had too much fun
landed about 10,000 of the sickest posi jumps known to man.

our last show was a lot of fun. we played with local War Of Ages who are a local metal band who have been in the area forever. i guess they are pretty big or something now.............

anyways, we got a great crowd response and i feel like we all had a great time. it was a good ending note and we got to cover Next Year by Champion and play my favorite guts and glory song Friend Neighborhood Posi Band. I'm not sure if that last bit is a joke or not (you'd have to know the song to determine it for yourself.)

It was laid to rest well.

now casey, mark, brent and i have our eyes set to Biter.
you will have to wait a few months to know anymore about that one.
but rest assured, Biter will be something......different.

quick side note: going to ISIS, Pelican, and Keelhaul tonight in Cleveland with my brothers. it will be nice to spend time with them both as i don't get to often.

i need a little more of this in the monitors please:


bro record listening nights are always the best nights. vinyl nerd 4 lyfe.

also, got a new tattoo that I'm very happy with


received that from Jake Miller at Ink Assassins in Erie. Great dudes/art/establishment. strongly recommended.

so other than all that jazz, life is pretty normal.
writing some stuff for a piece of literature I'm working on, work 5:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. just about everyday and hanging with the roomies. Working on some jams for a possible screamo/emo/powerviolence thing (if you would like to jam this type of stuff, PLEASE get at me because it seems like no one in this area cares about this type of music at all.)

BESTFRIENDPIE