Thursday we played a show at showcase. I love playing showcase. Nice stage, good sound, its home for us. Plague: The Red Letters played. I swear, every time I see them they just get better. I’m trying to figure out a way to snag their demo when they aren’t looking so I can make a copy of it. When I came home from the show, Amy had cleaned the house and baked me 2 pumpkin pies. She’s the best.

I spent all Friday night fixing Kevin’s mom’s computer. It was way beat up. I got it working though. Jason and JD went snowboarding and stayed the night at my house. My first official guests!

Saturday I passed on snowboarding to hang out with Amy and go to a pumpkin patch with her some of the boys and Maryn. I forgot how cool oak glen is. I think I’m going to take Amy back there pretty soon. Apples are in season. After that, Dylan’s new band, eaten alive had a show at lyrics in San Bernardino. I hate that club, but it was a good show anyways. I love seeing Dylan on stage.

Sunday, all hallows eve, Halloween if you will. I slept in for once it was good. I really need to get some blinds on my window though. I get cooked once the sun comes up and starts beating on me in bed. Everyone met up at Thommy’s, and to my surprise, d-bo showed up. It was so awesome to see him. He had one day off of tour and he decided to spend it with us. D-bo, Beejay and I took a trip to the Wal-Mart across the street from me to get Halloween gear. We showed up way early to the show. It was cool though because the church was having a carnival with free food, candy and stuff for the kids. A LOT of people showed up for the show. More then I expected. The first band dropped off the bill… sucks for them. Plague of shoel (Brandon’s other band) played. They were pretty good. Big Ryan’s vocals rule. Next was Death of The Saints, The Newest Redlands band featuring Thommy on vox, Daniel on drums (both ex-deathstar). I forgot who played guitars (I want to say it was Daniel elsinor, and Corey. I could be wrong though). I LOVED THEM. The place went nuts for them. The music was a but more obsecure then other Redlands bands, but it was excellent. Plague: The Red Letters were next. Steve-o wins the costume contest i believe, he was a Mexican gangster… like a vato. Naomi was a chola. They played really well. Kids murdered each other. I forgot how much fun it is to mosh around when everyone is in costumes.

Last up was xDEATHSTARx. We all wore black clothes, white face paint, black eyes and lips…. dead presidents style. people kept telling me that I looked like the joker, or old davey havok. I can live with that I guess. The stage was super tiny. I don’t know how we all fit, but we did it. It was an excellent time. Redlands needed a new venue. Im glad that we were able to be one if the first bands to play in it. I also love the fact that it is also my church. Going to shows at Oasis helped me to break down my misconceptions about Jesus, God and Christians in general. Hopefully this outreach can do the same for other kids out there.

After the show we all went to Eden’s house. I hung out with her stinky dog all night. I went home when I started to fall asleep while waiting for Thommy and Krissi to come back with food. I wonder who ate my burrito? I’m going to guess that Beejay did.

Halloween this year ruled.

This weekend, I officially moved to Redlands. Friday night, I borrowed my dad’s truck and moved my mattress, clothes, and snowboards to my new place. Keller helped me unload the truck and set stuff up. I love that guy.

I have owned the place for a month now, but I had to do a lot of work before I could move in. Mostly paint the walls, put in new flooring and get/assemble new furniture. Ikea is my home away from home. Saturday I went and got a bunch of stuff, but i need to return some of it tonight… wrong color wood.

Eric and I designed 2 new pieces of xDEATHSTARx merch, a new shirt and a zip-up hoodie. We should have those made in time for our show at showcase on Thursday.

On the subject of xDEATHSTARx, I have started to redesign our website. I have also re-started construction of the next version of notPop. Last night I spent some time and worked on the private messaging/notPop-mail feature that we will have. If you have any suggestion about what you would like to see in the new notPop, or xDEATHSTARx site, please let me know.

Today I am feeling a bit better. Last night I started to feel really bad. Kind of like a cold was coming on. I rocked the theraflu, and went to bed early (I don’t know if you call a mattress on the floor a bed, I couldn’t move my mattress to my new house yet because of the rain)

Today is October 21, 10.21 if you will. One of my favorite bands is SkyCameFalling. Their only full length is called "10.21", thus making this SkyCameFalling Day.

Released in 2000, on Ferret Records, 10.21 blends Hardcore aggression with the pain of Emo Music. I’m not talking about some crappy new hardcore band that wears girls clothes, has fashion hair, pink merch, and sings about how girls are evil. This album was possibly at the fore front of all that, but its watered down or cliche at all.

The music is heavy, but not brutal. There are not crucial breakdowns, sing alongs, two-steps or anything like that. Its just raw, maybe that’s why I’m so attracted to it.

I started to listen to this album early in 2001, but It didn’t really hook me until June 2001 or so. My grandpa was dying in the hospital, and I would watch him during the night. All I had to pass my time while he slept was my headphones, and my computer. I listened to this album several times a night it seemed like. The frustration in the lyrics and vocals, along with the heavy, but elegant at time music summed up my feelings completely.

The metaphors and similes used in the lyrics show thought and reflection, and give depth to the words I believe. Examples:

"When the sun never rises wherever you are, you begin to lose track of the stars"

"Someday we may rise up in the hearts of those we once loved as picture perfect memories"

"These sand-castles we so carefully built. The waves crash in. Washes them all back to sea, watch them crumble."

The cd also features 3 instrumental tracks. 1:21 seconds, 2:04 seconds, and 8:59 seconds. I believe that the instrumental tracks speak volumes about the bands. It offers almost a reflective time, and a break to let things sink it. It really adds to the over all balance of beauty of this album.

On September 8th 2001, I saw my grandfather buried. I left his funeral, still dress in a suit and drove to the showcase theatre in corona. SkyCameFalling was playing, Sante Sangre, Bleeding Through, and Atreyu for $8. I lost my mind at the show, loving all of the bands that played. I don’t even really remember seeing SkyCameFalling play, I didn’t stop moving and singing along. I was venting all the frustration of losing my grandfather to music that was equally as raw.

After the show, I got to talk to the singer of SkyCameFalling, I asked him what the numbers "10.21" meant. He told me that on October 21st he lost his Job, his Girlfriend and got kicked out of his house… the worst day of his life. All he had left was his band, and hardcore.

Some people say that bands like this don’t have a place in hardcore. This music and this band was something that I was able to connect to and something positive for me when I was hurting and feeling alone. Their music gave me a release to pinned up anger and frustration, and let me feel that I wasn’t the only one who was hurting out there.

SkyCameFalling broke up earlier this year, so I will never get the chance to see them again, I wont ever forget what it was like when I did see them, and I wont stop listening to 10.21

(Thats me with my hand in the air)

Friday was the ESRI block party, The close down New York street in Redlands and bring in a ton of carnival type things for little kids. They have free food, music, and other games and things. Its basically the ESRI company picnic. I invited Thom and Maryn to come with Amy and I. Watching Maryn play on the rides was the best. Nothing is as awesome as a little girls laughter.

I went to get my haircut from Dylan, he gave me a FLAT TOP. A legit flat top! I look like guile from street fighter. Its out of control. Amy hates it with a passion. I don’t like it a whole lot, but I think its funny to wear. Who else has a flat top, nobody! (maybe there is a reason to that…)

After my haircut, Keller and I went to town. We tore one of my bathrooms apart. We ripped out the sink and vanity, manage to knock a hole in the wall during the process, took up the tile floor. Basically its a room with a bathtub… which wont be in there for long, I am taking that out also!.

We were supposed to play a show on Slyvan Park but when we got there, there was a family reunion going on. They had matching shirts and everything. I didn’t want to be a dick, so I postponed the show. We didn’t start until after 6. There was still a ton of kids there. Oblige and Plague: The Red Letters got to play before the police showed up and shut the show down.

Sunday, Keller and I fixed the hole in my bathroom, and i painted the door jambs and baseboards of my master bedroom. Practice was good, we are using new PA speakers, and they rule compared to our last set. I skipped church and went to the glasshouse with Amy, Yenny, and Hardcore Steve. Scars of Tomorrow, Between the Buried and Me, Cave-in, Converge. Cave-In was the highlight for me. They are amazing. They played two of their heavy songs, Matt abd I killed people as soon as they started playing them. Jake from converge is creepy. His stage presence is just bizarre. One of his arms is always like rubber and he looks like a pissed off zombie. I think the set they played last night was better then the set at Hellfest. I ordered one of Jake Bannons paintings, "unloved", it was way expensive, but well worth it. Only 100 printed.

The process of working on my house (or THE NEST as Amy calls it) is never ending. I have decided that I hate my bathrooms enough to rip them apart.. I am talking about the sink, the tub, the tile floors, light fixtures, toilet… everything. Sometimes I wonder if I am ever going to fully move into this place. I dont have time to work on my websites or hang out with my friends.

xDEATHSTARx has a bunch of shows coming up, I am excited about that. Its been a really long time since we played some shows. I think we have 6 shows in the next month. I forgot how much I like making show flyers. It is going to be cool to get on stage again. I miss the fact that Thommy is not in the band anymore, but I know that Little Ryan will do a great job, and that the church is more important then the band. It is a win win situation.