I don't give a shit what punk has to say anymore!

Did all of you miss me yesterday? I'm sorry I didn't write last night, but when I got home from the show I was beyond beat. I got home after that two and a half hour drive, and pretty much fell right to sleep. But I'll make up for missing yesterday with a really great entry! I mean, I did spend my yesterday doing things, I should have a lot to write about, shouldn't I? Well whether or not I should is of no importance, because I do have a lot to write about. So sit tight, kids. Here it comes!

Alright, so as you all should know, I went to a concert last night. It was great, but we'll get there. Don't be impatient. First off, let's talk about how you should always be wary of the directions that Google Maps gives you. I swear to god, Mr. Google has a boner for the George Washington Bridge. It's the dumbest fucking bridge in existence, and I hate George Washington because of it. What was Mr. Washington thinking when he built that bridge? It's stupid, and full of traffic, and leads to the New Jersey Turnpike, which is also all of those things that our first president's bridge is. Fuck those things! So, needless to say, I took my route to the show into my own hands. I took the Tappan Zee Bridge to the Garden State Parkway. Now this is, hands down, the best way to go to New Jersey. It's much less congested, and is overall a much nicer drive. There's even some nice scenery going on on the Garden State Parkway. Yes, there are parts of New Jersey that are nice to look at. Imagine that! Nobody else knows about them because they take the New Jersey Turnpike. Dumb idiots. But I made it down to Asbury Park without incident, and made it to Asbury Lanes with an hour to spare. Now I had never been to Asbury Lanes, and I thought it was weird driving on this really wide, one lane, divided road. So I pull over on the side of the road, and go into the venue, and ask the person behind a desk if it's cool if I park on the side of the road. She tells me it's fine as if it should be obvious to me. So I explain to her that I'm from Connecticut, where everyone is stupid, and that cleared everything up. So I go outside and just hang out until the doors open. During this hang out time, I heard people in bands make jokes, I listened to some serious drum circle jamming going on somewhere out in the distance, and I talked to some guys that like bands that are on shirts. But eventually, I got inside and waited some more. Then Kate and Neil showed up and, as if they were waiting specifically for Kate and Neil, Ruiner got on stage and started playing.

Now Ruiner is a band I've never really gotten into. I would always check out some of their tunes, and while I liked them, they never really grabbed me. But holy damn! They absolutely killed it when they opened this show up. They had so much energy, and just put on such a great show. I was really into it. I could also really relate to the singer, because his on-stage banter consists of him making a joke, and just stretching it out until everyone is more or less uncomfortable. He's a big rambler for sure, and I love him for that. He was talking about rigging up some giant bowling balls to swing through the audience like we were pins or something. It was really bizarre, but I was cracking up the whole time. But at the end of their set, I was a big Ruiner fan. A+ performance.

After Ruiner, Crime in Stereo took the stage. I had seen Crime in Stereo before, and while I love their music for the most part, they do not put on a very good live show. I was hoping that they could have possibly improved since I last saw them. And I will admit they were better that my first time seeing them, but overall, they were still boring. I did get into it when they played Small Skeletal, though. But that's probably because it's my favorite song of theirs. Yeah, that's right! My favorite song is off Is Dead! Deal with it, elitists! But yeah, not a good live band. I'll stick to their recorded material.

Then comes the band I was there to see. Yes, indeed. Polar Bear Club was up next. And I got right up in front for them. Now I haven't really got into the thick of it at a show in awhile. I used to all the time, but somewhere along the line I started hanging out to the side or in the back. That's a fine way to watch a show, but it was not how I planned on watching Polar Bear Club. And I'm glad I got up front, because Polar Bear Club put on one of the best shows I've ever seen. They played such a killer set, and definitely had a great mix of songs. And I had completely forgotten what it's like being in front. It was such a great time singing along right into the singer's face, getting pushed around, and having people surf on the crowd I was a part of. I was right next to this side stage sort of thing, so whenever the crowd came my way, I was getting quite the beating from the stage. I also had Kate right in front of me, who I was trying to keep from getting crushed. This was before I knew how tough she gets in the pit. She probably didn't really need my help, but that's neither here nor there now. Although, I probably could have avoided a headbutt or two had I let Kate just get crushed. But by the end of Polar Bear Club's glorious set, my knee was pretty fucked up, and I was sore everywhere else too. But it was completely worth it, because as I said, Polar Bear Club put on one of the greatest sets I've seen from a band.

And finally, we had our headliner, Strike Anywhere. I believe I've said this before in this blog, but I was never a huge fan of Strike Anywhere. I listened to them from time to time, but I never would have called them one of my favorites. That was all until I heard their most recent album, Iron Front. That album is so solid, and it ended up really getting me into the rest of their catalog. So I was really psyched to see them. And they put on a close to perfect show. This was their album release party, so there was vegan cake, and everything. But who cares about cake, when Strike Anywhere is playing a great set? Not me. They played all the songs that I wanted to hear them play, and it was just a great experience. And when they talked about all the issues their songs deal with, I was really drawn in. That tiny, scrawny guy with the big dreadlocks really knows how to work a crowd. Towards the end of their set, I kind of hung out in the back, and just watched. But I'm really glad I did, because it gave me a chance to watch Kate mosh from an outside perspective. Kate moshing is honestly the cutest and most hardcore thing I've ever seen all at once. She's a tough girl for sure. And for those of you who don't know her, she's a tiny little thing on the lower end of five feet. But she was in there with the big guys, and roughing them up too. What a punk.

And that was the end of the show. After all the bands played, we perused the merchandise tables, and I picked up a couple t-shirts, because my entire wardrobe comes from shows. Kate was upset, because none of the bands had shirts in girl sizes. Well, that's not entirely true. Strike Anywhere had a girl shirt, but it was pink. And Kate did not want a pink shirt. I thought it was a little weird for a band with such a strong focus on social and political issues to have their only girl shirt be pink. It seems a little sexist to me. So I told Kate to bring it up to the singer, because I'm sure if someone brought that up to him, he'd probably really take it to heart. This guy doesn't want to look sexist. It won't look good with all of his peace punk friends. But Kate didn't take my advice, and went home shirtless. Be right back. I'm going to take a little time to think of that image...



...and back. Alright. So after hanging out a bit and watching Kate drool over the singer of Polar Bear Club while talking to him, we slowly started the process of getting ready to leave. First, we talked by my car for awhile about nothing in particular. But thank god for the rain, or else who knows when we would have gotten out there. But yeah, it started raining so I got in my car, and Kate and Neil got in Neil's car, and we left. The drive back was pretty nice, as well. I hit some construction, ran over an already run over animal, and I had some rest stop Burger King that didn't sit well with me, but other than that it was a pretty good ride home. I parked in my driveway, texted Kate telling her I got home safe, because she's concerned for my well being, and passed out in my bed. It was a fantastic way to spend a Tuesday.

Also, concerning bands that share the same name, Mockingbird Wish Me Luck is the name of two great bands that I started listening to recently. It's also the name of a book by Bukowski, but I have not read it. But I first heard about one of the Mockingbird Wish Me Lucks through a friend. They're a Canadian pop-punk band that have some really great tunes. http://www.myspace.com/mockingbirdwishmeluck Check them out! I was telling my friend Anthony about them, and he looked them up and told me they sounded "cute" so I flipped out on him, and told him "cute" was a dumb word to describe this band. Little did I know, he went to the Myspace of a completely different band with the same name. This band is an indie-pop band from Sweden, who are also amazing, but for completely different reasons. But you should check them out too, because they're both great. http://www.myspace.com/mockingbirdwishmeluckswe

Well this concludes my blog for today. I even made it extra long for you guys to make up for yesterday. I hope it's a good read for all of you. I've got a big day of doing nothing coming up tomorrow, so I need to be well rested. But first, I'm going to look up Rick Rypien fights on the internet. He's the best damn fighter in the NHL, and try to tell him he's not. He may be small, but he'll punch your head off. Okay, that's enough of this. Talk to you tomorrow, pals!