Gyoza for Breakfast

Spring break.

Randy and I went to the Scion rock festival last weekend in Atlanta, which was cool except: 1) We arrived at the Masquerade at 6:30 AM to ensure that we were able to get in. Little did we know, the occupancy was never an issue, and meant that we would stand in the rain and cold for six and a half hours until the first band started. 2) I lost my wallet. Fortunately, no money lost. 3) The next morning, it snowed HARD on the drive back to Macon, and I almost had a serious collision on I-75 (Georgia NEVER has proper snow). Other than that, everything was groovy. All the bands I saw were awesome. The Boris, Krallice, Torche, and Neurosis sets were fucking amazing. Baroness actually pleasantly surprised me with an awesome 40 minutes. Later on I met a few of Randall's friends in Atlanta and smoked good jambi. Another out of towner staying with one of the ATL friends was into a few of the same Floridian bands as I am, and surprised me by divulging that his label released the Mehkago LP.

Scored a Logical Nonsense LP yesterday that was unopened with a 97-98 Alternative Tentacles mailorder list inside. Too bad AT excels at shitty packaging.

Midterm -- GRINCHFINGER back in business

Midterm for university students sucks, and that is all I have to say on the subject.

In different news, we are in the process of writing the new Grinchfinger EP, tentatively titled "SCUMBAGS", to be recorded in the Spring. Pure hemp-grind insanity for your virgin ears, plus a cover medley including our interpretations of Cripple Bastards & Mesrine. For more info email us at grinchfinger@gmail.com

Caught the Impaled/Phobia/Malignancy/Illogicist set in Atlanta on September 6th. All those bands kicked ass but the 3 openers were HORRIBLE. Randy and Stu and I are going to catch the Today is the Day/Weedeater/Black Cobra set at the Drunken Unicorn in ATL on November 5th. I haven't been to that club yet, so I'll definitely report back.

I recently found my digital camera and have been taking a lot of pictures, so once I find the right cables I'll have some great freeboarding, pipe soup, kitty, and grindcore pictures for your viewing pleasure!!

Been a long time...

So Stuart and I went back to San Francisco at the end of June for the At the Gates/Repulsion/Darkest Hour/Municipal Waste tour stop at the Fillmore. Municipal Waste sucked as expected, but every other band KILLED IT. Even Darkest Hour, whose latest two albums have sucked, and hard. I picked up some more sick vinyl, too:

• Lack of Interest - Never Back Down on red vinyl
  
• Unholy Grave/The Grade Grubbers split on blue vinyl
  
• Agathocles/Black Army Jacket split
• Insect Warfare/Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation split
• Rudimentary Peni - No More Pain EP on clear vinyl
• MK Ultra/Seein' Red split
• Los Crudos/Spitboy split

I swear Thrillhouse is my new favorite record store. Every time I've been in there I have found a trove of awesome shit these bay area "punks" don't even know about! Check out the rest of my collection, and trade or sell me your grind/punk/hc records.

With classes resuming today, summer is officially at a close. I'm back in school, still working in the library, still trying to keep Grinchfinger's momentum going. I moved in with my new room mate, Juan, on Saturday. We have a sick studio with a kitchenette and bathroom, but these IT folks did not bother putting in our ethernet ports, so we are temporarily without internet access... My schedule this semester is:

• Eng1101
• Urban Ecology
• Astronomy
• Environmental Sociology

I really couldnt ask for a better schedule- my earliest class, I think, is at 10:45. The only thing I'm really dreading is the 4 hour astronomy lab every Thursday nite. I think I will be a successful Sam this year though, I can feel it in my bones. I learned the secrets to success by nearly failing last semester, and I will be able to apply them this year.

I also found my camera and its charger this summer. Soon these will be REAL blog posts, with PICTURES!!

Hangin Heads Heading Home

Checked out tha new Shaxul Records today in SF. They had ONE decent record for an acceptable price. I do not recommend unless you have a black metal or thrash craving that can only be satiated by burning obscene amounts of cash. I did score a Dropdead & Totalitar split from Amoeba and some good pot, however, so the day wasn't a huge bust.

Curley and I, and our mom, are heading back to Atlanta on Thursday. I have to go back to Macon on Friday to get my check before 6, or else they hold it until Monday.

San Francisco - Summertime - School - etc

I finished my summer classes last Wednesday, which sort of sucked. For one, my teachers recommend that students take only one summer class. I understand why now- almost a semester of work crammed into a month is INSANE. Another, both the syllabi read that finals were on the 20th. SO I definitely showed up to Sociology without having studied... for my final. I passed Spanish with a 68 and I'm sure I did considerably better in Sociology, but my GPA is still very crippled. I need to pull some A's this fall semester.

So I moved out of the Hall the day before I came here to San Francisco. I got here on Friday and I leave on Thursday. My brother and I have hit most of the record stores and chilling spots in the city. I spent most of my check before I even got here, so I had to choose my purchases wisely. I snagged the Appalachian Terror Unit 7" and a repress of His Hero is Gone's "Dead of Night in 8 Movements" that Prank just did. The ATU record is fucking awesome, it came with a folded lyrics booklet/poster with sick artwork and a resealable wrapper. The whole thing is nicely packaged with an actual sleeve instead of the usual folded covers. The HHiG EP isn't anything special, but I had to buy it for nostalgic purposes. That shit still isn't dated, ten years later. The only bummer was having to decide between the HHiG or SFN's nasty new demo.

We decided to forgo the MDC set in Berkley because the train ride is a hassle and they didn't book any other good bands for the show. Plus it sucks having to absorb the cost of admission + a "membership card" (fee) every time I go to Gilman to see some punk bands, but that's how it goes.

Food for Thought

"Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Summertime

After finals, my grades were not bad enough to cripple my academic career, after all.

LSK-Pass
SCI-B
PSY-C
MAT-C
ART-B

This year I feel I am robbed of a summer break, at least partially, for the first time. No longer do I have three months to ramble aimlessly, driving the wheels off my car, and working fast food jobs to support adolescent drug habits. Being now content to live a life of the mind, as close to the Frankensteinian lifestyle as possible, I will be working, living, and attending class on Mercer's campus over the course of the upcoming summer. The last vestige of my youth will be a trip to San Francisco to visit my mother, acquire new long players, and finally relax. I have two tickets for the At the Gates/Repulsion/Darkest Hour/Municipal Waste set at the Fillmore in SF on July 25th. Though the AtG "Slaughter of the Soul" lineup/album is not my favorite, Darkest Hour is trapped in Boring Metal Land, and Municipal Waste shamelessly apes D.R.I., I expect the show to be good. I am most looking forward to the Repulsion set, which 5 years ago I never believed would happen. Hope springs eternal.