Jul 16, 2010

I met Tracy and Tina at their house and headed to Camden, drinking water on the way in an attempt to be hydrated for the day. Seriously? 25 dollars for parking? I know it's supply and demand but come on, it's a little ridiculous.

We went into Warped Tour, my first in three years, and found the giant inflatable schedule to plan out our day.

The Reel Big Fish were coming on just a few minutes after we got there so we went up to the main stage to see them. They had a really good crowd too.

It seemed like they played a lot of songs. They were a great way to kick off the day!

We walked around to find out where everything was and came upon this band, Left Alone, on a side stage. They were a good punk bank that sounded a lot like Rancid. It turns out that these neo-punk rockers have nothing to rebel against except other bands. They did nothing but talk shit on emo bands the whole time for their hair and whining. I feel like it's pretty juvenile and stupid, just play music and if you don't like other bands, don't listen to them.

We took a little break from the sun inside while there were no bands we wanted to see. We were approached by a guy with a petition to stop cruelty to elephants and another guy who was giving away books for money...

Four Year Strong was up next on the other main stage. They opened strong with some good new songs and then an old one or two. They had technical problems with one of their amps or guitars which caused them to spend a majority of their set talking to the crowd and playing bits of cover songs. Once they fixed the problem they only had time for one more so they finished with "Heroes Get Remembered.."

The band we were all most excited to see was on the main stage next. Motion City Soundtrack killed it as always. They're always a lot of fun.

They played almost all of my favorite songs in a row. I love pretty much all of their music so it's hard for them to disappoint me with a song but the set was great and they seemed like they had a great time.

I headed over to the side stage to see AM Taxi, whose CD I just got recently. They sound good live but they don't have a lot of stage presence. I guess they're a fairly new band so they didn't have a big crowd either. I think they might get more popular.

I headed back to the main stage to see most of the Bouncing Souls' set. They are a great old punk band. They play for their fans and they still seem to be having a blast doing what they do. No complaining about other bands or anything, they're just there for the music.

I went back across the lot to see Hey Monday. I only caught their last three songs: a new one that's really catchy and I think will be great on the new CD, a cover of "My Head" which they did really well and "Homecoming." This was my first time seeing them but I'd like to see them play a proper show one day.

Inside, Ace Enders slowed things down quite a bit for us with I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business. Whatever he does in music, it's always sincere and really good. He ended the set with The Early November's "Baby Blue." Great set.

It was break time after that so we got food.. well, pretzels. It was a delicious pretzel. Overpriced of course but it was nice to eat something. It was also nice to sit down for a little while in the shade.

Set Your Goals played as the sun was getting lower and hiding behind clouds so they breeze off the river felt nice and cool. I still don't know a lot of their songs but they are entertaining.

I made the mistake of going to see The All-American Rejects, whose songs I love but whose live performance leaves much to be desired. It was basically Tyson Ritter theater. He was being very strange and seemed annoyed at the crowd when they didn't know songs off of the band's first album. He pretended to go to sleep on stage because the crowd was so boring and then taunted them when they got excited about them playing "Move Along." He just danced around and refused to sing a full verse. That was when I left.

I went inside to see Sum 41, who were arguably the best band of the day. They put on a great show and really get into it. They played a ton of great songs and the crowd loved it. I was hotter in the mass of people during their set than I was at any point during the day under the sun. I hope they play some club shows soon.

The Rocket Summer came on the stage right next to them so I stayed to watch a song and a half but sadly, Alkaline Trio was playing at the same time.

Alkaline Trio played a great mix of old and new songs, pulling out a few that I didn't expect and hadn't heard in quite a while. As headliners they're supposed to play longer than the rest of the bands but it seemed like their set got cut short.

We got a chance to get into the crowd one last time as they played some of our favorite songs but the ending was anti-climactic as they just left the stage awkwardly and never returned.

We went to Olive Garden on the way home for some real food. I ate so much. I was really hungry after not eating much all day so I suppose it makes sense. I ate a bunch of breadsticks with my soup and finished my raviolis, which I usually can't do.

When we got back to Tracy's we attempted to figure out some plans for later in summer before I headed to home to get a refreshing shower and lay down.

Mar 5, 2010

I met Katie and Ryan at Bagel University for lunch. I had a tasty veggie sandwich on a bagel and we tried to plan skiing and disc golf trips.

I took at short job at Alternative School, where I worked for three hours with a maximum of three students in a class at a time. Not too bad at all.

Katie and I went up to Rowan where we met Joanna and took the shuttle bus from school to South Street and got there just as Deas Vail was going on. They were great just as they were the last time I saw them.

Person L came on next. I just can't really get into them. I don't know if it was the atmosphere or what. I like some of the recordings but when I see Kenny, I just want him to play Starting Line songs.

Ace Enders came out next with I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business. It was cool to hear some songs I haven't heard in a really long time and he played some new songs from the CD that is coming out in a few weeks that sounded pretty good too. Early November reunion, please!?

Copeland took the stage for the last time in Philly on their farewell tour and played a slew of great songs from all of their albums. They broke out some great older songs that I really hoped they would play. It was a great set, I wish I got tickets to more than one show.

We waited for a few minutes after to talk to Aaron and get a photo. He's a really nice guy and always wants to talk to fans after the show. I hope he'll do more music stuff in the future.

I grabbed a veggie steak down the street before we headed back to get our bus. When we got there (before 12, when it was supposed to leave) we saw it just starting to round the corner. I made eye contact with the bus driver, who talked to me before we left Rowan, and she continued driving away. I figured she was rounding the block but she ended up never coming back. Joanna called Monica, who couldn't get in contact with the bus driver and had to come pick us up herself.

It was a bittersweet show, a bitter cold night and a bit of an adventure as always. Good night.

Oct 29, 2009

I didn't work but I didn't want to do nothing and I felt like exercising so I went to the gym and did a lot of running and then some weights. I need to do this more often.

I came up to Rowan and Mich showed me a spot nearby where there was a nice lake with some fall colors surrounding it.

I kinda liked the other side better where there was a stream and this sign that I really liked.

I came back to Rowan and took Joanna to Shop Rite to get foods for her gallery opening and then I had her drop me off at my class so I could go fail my test. Surprisingly, I don't think I failed but that doesn't mean I really knew anything. It doesn't help that it's in another language.

After not failing I walked to the High Street Gallery for Joanna's opening. Her dress matches the camera strap, almost like it was planned.. This is the big piece.

She and Eric had similar photos on display; she used shadows and he used close-up shots of mechanical objects and other things of that nature. There were some really good shots up, like the closest one here that uses the shadows cast through window blinds on a bulletin board.

Quite a few people ended up stopping by. We hung out, had some hummus and pita with apple cider and mingled. The two hours went by pretty quickly and we left for more activities.

We went to Rowan After Hours at the Student Center where I got a wax hand made by first putting my hand in extremely cold ice water then really hot wax. It was something. It hurt but the finished product was pretty cool and my hand felt really nice.

I painted a pumpkin to look like a penguin. I went over the pink part with white once we got some white paint at the table I was at. It's kind of funny looking but it's a pumpguin, what do you expect?

This was my favorite costume that I saw of the night. He lost the costume contest to a girl in a pirate costume. Get over pirates, already! Come on, look at all the detail in his costume! He clearly spent some time on that.

Finally, we got word that Ace Enders was about to play upstairs so I went up to see his set. There was a decent crowd there that knew his stuff.

He played a lot of his solo stuff that I don't know that well but he also played some I Can Make a Mess.. songs and Jeff Kummer joined him on drums to play "I Want to Hear You Sad"!

After a few more solo songs, Jeff came back out and they played "Ever So Sweet" and "Something That Produces Results." It was an awesome set and very surprising that he played several Early November songs. It was a lot of fun.

Joanna got to take a break from working just in time to miss all of the Early November songs. We got to use the photo booth though. I don't know why it's fun getting an instant strip of pictures of yourself but it is.

After we went to the cereal bar and I had some Cocoa Puff with milk and Joanna had some mix of Frosted Flakes and Lucky Charms with water.... yeah... she went back to work and I came home. It was a fun night.

Oct 13, 2008

I didn't sleep much last night, but I got up early and met Ryan at his house to go to Stockton with him. I had breakfast in the cafeteria while he went to class, then I used the rest of his class time to update some blogs. When he got out, we went to the newly created disc golf course at the school.

It's a great course, they just don't have baskets yet so I'll look forward to playing it again when they do.

We went to the Cape May Courthouse course for the first time too. Some holes were okay, but I doubt we'll return. We went back to Vineland and played the home course.

After I took a nap I went to the county college to the Barack the Vote (lame name) concert. I'm not really sure how a county institution can get away with such a partisan festivity.

I only came for Ace Enders. He played a cover of Bittersweet Symphony to open the show.

He played some solo stuff from his current project, a song from I Can Make a Mess and one great Early November tune, "Sunday Drive."

Jordan wanted a creepy man hug, but she got a picture instead.

I talked to Ace for a moment and got a picture also.

I came home to have dinner, catch up on Dexter and CSI and now I'm just putting off artwork.. as always.