Saturday was the “Jesse James no love party”, in long beach at west coast choppers / monster garage. xDEATHSTARx was invited by Jesse James to come out and play the party. The party started at 12, xDSx went on at 12:30. There were about 800 people or so there when they played. The sound at the show was amazing. When the band started, I was blown away. It felt like the first time I saw the acacia strain. I was in xDSx for 3 years, I know all of the songs, but something was different this time. The last song of the set was represent. During the guest vocal spot, I ran up and took the mic. It felt good to be back on stage and screaming my head off, even if it only lasted 30 seconds.

There was a roller derby set up there. It was pretty awesome. There is just something about girls on skates, beating the crap out of each other that is simply amazing. Ive invited the LA Derby Dolls to the notPop roller jam 2005. I hope they come out.

The rest of the bands were what ever to me. Droid, Manic Hispanic, High on Fire, and the Adolescence played. After the Adolescence, Jesse James got on stage and said something unimpressive in a drunken snooper, then introduced the special guest… DANZIG.

DAN freaking ZIG! He was rocking his typical gear, samhain logo belt buckle, and a rubber looking shirt, and long black hair. I had never seen Danzig in person, but I have been a fan for years. A few months ago, Frank Pavich showed me where he lives in Hollywood. They played a few songs off of Danzig 1. There is something about Danzig that is captivating, it was amazing.

After a few songs, Danzig invited Doyle out onto the stage, then the Danzig band was transformed into the Misfits! Doyle is a beast of a man! He stood about 7 feet tall, looked like bodybuilder and with this face paint and hair, reminded me of real life frankenstein. He dwarfed Danzig. The Misfits was great. They didnt play long, but they played with the energy and heart that I would expect from them. I can really see how The Misfits have change the face of both punk rock and metal over the years. Danzig closed the set with his signature song, mother. The crowd was probably louder then danzig himself. I have seen hundreds of bands, and heard thousands of bands, but Saturday night will be forever engrained in my mind.

Whats ever funnier is that xDSx played Hellfest with Jerry Onlys version of the misfits a year and a half ago and no one cared. Sure he might be a balding jerk, but damn there is something electric about Danzig.

I wrote this on may 15, but im just getting around to posting it

I�ve been working hard on things lately. I feel like I have so many things going on, I get one night a week to work on each one.

In the past week, I have added two new features to notpop: "notify admin" and message board spell check.

Both explain themselves, the notify admin will send me an email with information about a problem a user is experiencing, so I can fix the situation.

The spell check is really cool. I have wanted A spell check feature for years on notPop. I stumbled across a javascript/php/linux application that would allow me to do finally have one. It uses php to power a linux binary called "aspell", the javascript will replace the misspelled word. It works really good.

Last night I went to the bury your dead DVD video shoot at chain reaction. I pushed my way to the very front of the crowd. During the first song, big Eric threw his guitar and accidentally smashed Matt in the head. There was blood everywhere. I got a bunch of blood on me. For the last few songs, I did some stage dives. The show was super fun. I�m all beat up today though. I have bruises all over me from being pushed by the crowd, and having kids headwalk/stagedive on me. It�s all in good fun though. I�m glad I went. I think the DVD will be pretty good.

I�ve also been working a bunch on my house. It�s really coming together. I think I�m almost done with all of the dry wall work. That means that I can get it all textured, and then I can paint, and then get the flooring put in! Before I do that, I need to put my master bathroom all together. It�s still all ripped a part.

I like working on my house so much, that I want to buy another house, an old beater, fix her up and either rent it or sell it off. I think it would be way fun, and a good way to make some money. I could also employ some of my friends to do some of the labor for me, giving them a job, and also helping me out. It�s a win win situation! Anyone have a beat up house they want to sell for cheap?

I wrote this on may 19th, but I am just posting this now

Today during lunch I stopped by del taco to grab a bite to eat. I saw some kid in camo shorts and tattoos in the corner, along with some other similar looking guys. After I ordered my food, I realized who it was. It was the band Pale Horse all the way from Connecticut. They had played the church 2 nights earlier. I thought they were on their way to Vegas after they played. Apparently the show got shifted back a night, so they stayed in Redlands all yesterday. Thom put them up at his house.

I ate lunch and hung out with those guys. I bought a cd and a shirt from them to support them on tour. Its cool because I wanted to buy merch at the show, but I didn�t have any cash on me. I really like their music.

I really like the fact that we have a venue in town and that we can help out touring bands. I�m learning that actions really speak louder then words when you extend friendship and hospitality to people. When you�re a small band on the road you�re basically homeless, and living out of the van for weeks on end, and most of the time really broke on top of it. I�m glad that Redlands and kids from xdeathstarx can extend the favor and spread the blessings that we have had. More times then I can remember have had people we didn�t really know let us sleep at the place, shower, and feed us when we had no place to go.

Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in;

so I havent updated my blog in over a month; several reasons.

1. no one reads this, so why bother updating
2. so much has been going on, so the number of updates would be insane
3. i havent had much "free" time to work on fun things like updating my blog

ok, so lets talk about this whirlwind that is known as my life for the last month.

Jan 22 – phoenix fest
xDEATHSTARx played phoenix fest, in phoenix AZ. We drove my dads truck. phoenix wasnt as far as tuscon, so that was good. We played second to headline, right under evergreeen terrace. It was a fun show. they covered op ivy, I was stoaked. We hung out with them afterwards. I was bummed that they wanted to go to a strip club and get drunk, all but josh, their guitar player. We stayed at jews house. Lizzy got us food.

Jan 28 – glasshouse show
We played glasshouse with bleeding through. My mom came for the first time to see us play. I was nice to have her there and finally understand what being in a band is kind of like. It was a fun show. To bad that its the last hardcore show that glasshouse will have. The sound on stage sucked ass. I guess the sound in the house was good, so thats not so bad.

The days leading up to the 19th are a blur.

Feb 19th – The wedding of Josh Highland and Amy Abernathy
On the wedding day, Keller and I drove down to newport so dylan could cut my hair. It was raining like mad. We saw 12 totaled cars on the way down there. Every few miles, cars were spun out, flipped over and just wrecked. Dylan did a rad job cutting my hair. We got to the chappel later that day and everything was good, until the sound guy couldnt be found. He showed up late, but i was to pre-occupied with everything else. The ceremony was amazing. Amy was beautiful. I wanted to cry when I saw her. I had to keep my eyes fixed on chad because I know I would lose it if I didnt. I actually dont remember much of the ceremony or reception. There was so much going on, so many people, so many things all going on at once. It was the best thing ever. I wish i could of spent an hour with every guest there. We left the reception and went to downtown disney and stayed at the california grand hotel. They had the room all decorated up for us with rose petals, and baloons. It was a nice touch to the finish of a very long day of celebration.

Feb 20/21 – The Mini Honeymoon
Despite the rain, Amy and I hung out at downtown disney and then south coast plaza, we spent most of the day shopping. Amy got a pair of seven jeans, I couldnt find any pants under $250 bucks that fit me well, and I wasnt about to pay that, so I didnt get anything. We are going to take a really nice trip in June. This was just a quick getaway.

Feb 23 morning – Dr. Church
At the Bleeding Through show, CJ from sinai beach told me I should go to see his sinus dr, dr church. So I had an Apt time with him. He stuck a camera down my throat, up my nose and in my ears. He saw some problems, gave me a bunch of meds, he might want to do some surgery, but we are going to try to some meds first. He also gave me this crazy sinus rinse that I have to use in the shower where i shoot medicated fluid up one nostral until it starts to come out my my other nostral, and mouth. It sounds gross, and it is, but it helps a bunch. Maybe this will help my singing voice.

Feb 23 afternoon – The car in the garage isnt mine
I come home to today at lunch. I live in a condo complex, and my garage faces another garage. The 80 something year old lady that has the garage across from mine forgot which one was the gas and which was the break when she was backing out of her garage. Her car slammed into my garage, taking out the door, and the wall between my neigbors and I.
In the process she severed a water main, and the whole complex had to be turned off, so im with out water for the next 24 hours until it can be fixed.
The best part is that when she took out one of the load bearing beams, and my roof which was wet and heavy, started to cave in on itself. One of the beams holding up my roof broke, so now my roof is leaning and about to fall in. A construction crew came by and put in some temp. supports, so it doesnt fall down all the way, until an insurence adjuster can look at it, and then someone can fix it. This sucks, I have the worst luck ever. Hooray to being a home owner, Boo for old ladies who shouldnt be allowed to drive anymore.

Feb 26 – Amys B-Day / Crowbar
It was Amy birthday, but she let me me go to a show anyways… It was crowbar! Freaking Crowbar!!! We had to drive all the way to the House of blues in hollywood. I drove with eric, natalee, and kevin. Some wild stuff happened in the car once we hit sunset strip, im not going to mention that stuff here, but it was amazing. It involved an old soda cup, piss, and traffic. Crowbar was amazing just watching them play, It was a sight to see. Im way stoaked to have seen them. Metal crowds suck ass.

March 5 – Goltry House Party
It was eric and joys birthday party. The plan was hatched at my wedding… a formal birthday party. Everyone in shirts and ties. Thats just what we did! 4 bands played. Aces metal band, Plague of Shoel, Plague: The Red Letters, xDEATHSTARx. It ruled because it was just our friends, and some random "hardcore" (notice the quotes, indicating how HARD they are) Kids. The randoms just stood on the side. They didnt REPRESENT their mosh crews haha. The show was really good. Afterwards one of the kids talked to me about his band. They have 4 singers also, he sumorized his band in this sentence… "xdeathstarx has influenced us alot, we have 4 singers also, people say we are trying to be like you guys, but i dont think so. We are way heavier then you, and not as old school sounding as you"…. 4 singer and youre not trying to be like us? xdeathstarx is old school hardcore? ha! Ok, so as the party wound down, They rootbeer kegs came out. I had made a rootbeer bong, and planned on using it till i puked. It took 10 rootbeer bongs to get me really puking, but once it happened it happened. I puked all over the place. It sucked ass. Im sure there is pictures floating around. Amy got upset at me, I got upset at myself for making myself look like an ass. It was cool all except for the puking, I shouldnt of done that.