Taken with instagram
Trying to keep this as short as possible…
Since I’m sure everyone has had just about enough of reading about SOPA and PIPA (and I promise you from the bottom of my heart I hate getting involved with politics on any level) but I just have to chime in the day after what seems to have been a pretty successful nation wide protest to say, this isn’t over yet and we must all really take into consideration the potential severity of this situation.
Between things like the Patriot Act and National Defense Authorization Act(s) alone flying these days as accepted by the government and apparently general sedated public under the guise of constitutional stipulations proposed, accepted, and set “to protect our freedoms by keeping our nation safe” (even though they decimate any basis to still have the right to claim said freedoms) it’s an easy argument and clean paved road to pass a bill to “protect industry” and create an act just as dangerous, if not more at a time like this where our solid rights are questionable, to our nations future. Basically, when the internet is under strict ruling, it’s hard to name too many things we really have left at a time where an official can kick in any innocent persons door at any time for “saying the wrong thing”, “acting or living the wrong lifestyle”, take them away for as long as they want, with nothing they, their friends, lawyers, or family… hell ANYONE can do about it.
You may call that an extreme scenario, you may initially deem it a conspiracy theory but facts are facts and it could potentially happen to any of us on paper right now just like any of the fears people are stating about SOPA and PIPA could potentially happen in the future no matter what sleazy little amendments with loop holes are added to these bills to appease the general public enough to stop making enough noise and get them passed successfully. The danger here is the POTENTIAL. Not the reasons. There really cannot be too much of a settlement on this subject. We MUST do everything we can to contact Senators, congressman, and anyone else we can every day in our free time because you can’t just sit back and take Obamas word and assume everything is going to be ok. This could easily be the calm before a shit-storm. Even if that calm lasts a long long time, there is a blueprint for disastrous potentials being drawn out.
I’m just saying, none of us want to wake up one day and say “wow if we just decided not to be lazy and picked up the phone or show up…” that’s going to be a day where we really feel like a bunch of assholes… with little to no porn. Just sayin’.
-GC
A week for music…
Hearing about Thrice and Thursday breaking up is a huge bummer to anyone who’s a fan. Their music means a lot to a ton of people I grew up with, clearly myself included. I remember discovering these bands when I was a young teenager and going from an elitist hardcore/metal/punk phase kid to opening my ears and mind to a whole world of new music that was coming out at the time and finally getting into watching the developments in the music scene.
I can clearly remember my friend coming up to me at summer camp with a demo CD and telling me i NEEDED to check out this new band from NJ. It was a white CD with a bird on it that said Thursday. Instantly I thought, wow what a stupid name for a band… Thursday? REALLY? How lazy. But this was the same friend who shared a love for Bigwig and all the punk and hardcore stuff that was happening at the time so I took his word for it, popped it in my cd player… and HATED IT!
What was this whiny screamo stuff? How pussy! But that stance only lasted about 2 hours before I wanted to hear it again. And again. And again. I got hooked on that band so fast I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t figure out how or why but the songs were stuck in my head pretty often. That was just about where I stopped being a little closed minded prick and was able to get into everything from At The Drive In to Taking Back Sunday and some other pretty cool stuff that I may never have given a chance before that day. Things haven’t changed since, I still love Thursday and still love listening to anything promising… but I guess there is a change in that I will give anything a sonic chance now. Who knows what you may think is garbage one minute and could become your favorite band the next or open your world up to a new scene you’ll end up spending the best years of your life involved with?
Things with Thrice were strangely a longer process than that for some reason. I remember hearing them on punk compilations and stuff when they first came out and always thinking they were really cool. I don’t think it was until I finally physically bought Artist In The Ambulance and listened to it 8,000 times a day that I was able to appreciate how amazing they were. To this day they’re still my favorite band. They’ve developed so much and broken so many boundaries as a band 100% successfully from an artistic standpoint every single time (whether or not their fans were happy with the changes from album to album). They always deliver an album full of incredibly powerful songs in one way or another, whether they’re crushing you with distortion and screams, lulling you with hymns, or belting out soulful bluesy goodness. Respectably only making music they’re 100% into making at the time and not just doing things to please other people or for the money they could be making recording another Identity Crisis over and over again. I couldn’t name one Thrice song that sucks. Such an underrated band that deserves so much more success than they’ve ever attained it’s unreal. Not that they’ve done bad for themselves… just saying. Somebody buy these guys a yacht or two.
Another huge thing about both of these bands is that as many times as I’ve seen them live over the years they always seemed to out do themselves from the time before. The last time I saw Thursday was a show at the Starland Ballroom with Glassjaw, Dillinger Escape Plan, and United Nations. That was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to and it was fairly recent. Thrice is one of a kind live though. No matter what the circumstances they’re such a deep emotional and powerful professional band of incredibly gifted musicians they always deliver a stellar performance. I’ve seen them in top form, sick, with bigger productions, with busted stripped down equipment… you name it! Always incredible.
It’s a shame that things aren’t easier for bands to survive these days. It’s incredibly difficult for bands to make enough money to live comfortably with the state the music industry is in that it adds a ton of weight on any usual stress that could occur working with a group of people both artistically and professionally. We’re going to see a lot of bands calling it quits that we love (and plenty that we never even got the chance to) because they just can’t swing it any more for one reason or another be it money or family or whatever… so as much as I hate it, I can totally understand and respect these bands needing to at least take a break. I just hope that they will pick back up someday soon and at least make or perform more music in some capacity.
Anyway, I could ramble on and on about my personal experiences enjoying these bands over the years for ever but this isn’t about me so I’ll keep it short and sweet. Thank you Thursday and Thrice. We’ll miss you and hope to get you back sooner than later.
-GC
Late night sessions with Dusty. This photo suggests acoustic death metal but in reality, I’m making some super chilled music at home and loving life. Playing guitar just makes me really happy. I’m getting very passionate about playing again lately, as opposed to just writing for the sake of writing. I miss my guitars all day when I’m away. Haven’t felt like this in a while. It’s great to feel this in tune with playing again, heart mind and soul get a good cleansing every time I pick one up! Who needs an audience? Any time I spend with the loves of my life is incredible whether there are other ears listening or not… those ears are probably better off not listening anyway most of the time… but point being, I’ve had a close emotional relationship with all of my instruments since I was a kid and they’ve always been a great outlet for me and the most positive thing I’ve ever had in my life.
In one way or another, music has brought me around the country, around the world, and connected me with the most amazing wonderful people in my life… and I never had to become a rockstar or a world famous musician to achieve those things. Music truly brings nothing but positivity on any level and can do the same for anyone. Most importantly my guitars have never turned their back on me no matter how many times I may have turned mine or taken them for granted. They’ve always been there just as helpful whether I’m at my highest of highs or lowest of lows. That’s what I call love.
- GC
http://espn.go.com/video/category?id=3060647
(Entire Doc. in much better quality)
Hang in there Chico… Seriously fuck drugs, I idolized this guy as a kid. Razor Ramone was the man in the 90’s, now as I found out a few minutes ago through this documentary, he’s a sad shell of the man he once was. This should be a lesson to those of us who don’t have the money, the fame, and the fortune to look out for ourselves and the ones we care about. Our vices can have any of us find ourselves lost forever before we know it… a lot faster than a super star could.
God knows I love to party and I would love to be able to keep having a great time as long as humanly possible… but I have a great time under the influence or not and I don’t want that to ever change. I know some people that can’t have fun sober and I never want to see this happen to them. All you can do is hope.
-GC
