to the Masses...Indeed

With great sadness and the most humbling attitude, I unfortunately (and fortunately) am about to witness the final show of one of the most (in my opinion) prolific, political, experimental, original, creative, powerful & moving bands that I've ever been so fortunate enough to witness (several times for that matter) throughout my years as a resident of San Francisco. I've been here since 2001 and even though I've known their drummer since my high school days back in my hometown of Bakersfield California I still am blown away by his and the other bandmates creative capabilities and harmonies throughout their entire performance.

From Monument To Masses has and always will be about the movement. The band has cited the American Civil Rights Movement as an example and note the hard work of hundreds of organizers that often gets overshadowed in history books by admittedly important individuals. The band members have often explained in interviews that their music is only one expression of their respective politics. Each member has been involved with various organizations throughout the life of the band, including the League of Filipino Students-SFSU, Challenging White Supremacy, Kalayaan School for Equity, BAYAN USA, and others.

Not one time throughout the years of listening to their recordings have I, and those around me not been moved by the strength of their message. Its energy and direct attention towards the change of the environment sends a message throughout the minds of the deaf or faint of sound. It's rare these days that I'm completely moved by the performance of a band. For some reason From Monument To Masses has that effect on me. If you're a resident of San Francisco and you have never witnessed these guys perform live then I highly recommend that you cancel your plans for this evening and partake in the closure of many years of blood, sweat and tears poured out from these guys. If your unable to commit to the events of this night, then I recommend that you purchase their albums and witness the revolution. Or what's left of it.

Here is a link to a live video

REVOLUTION

Here is a link to purchase tickets

WITNESS

Fuck It! Summer revisited.

Okay. I know that I failed in my feeble attempt to try and write a weekly (if that) updated translation of our summer adventure throughout the midwest. Also, I have a very good reason why I didn't commit to such demanding tasks and here are my lame excuses; I'm not a writer for one, and therefore I am granted at least some type of immunity towards my inability to be clever enough to singlehandedly amuse you with my adventurous wit and charm. I was so busy entertaining more important endeavors throughout our trip that it would've lowered my responsibility to others around me to have to consistently check in and inform you of my current status. After all this isn't Twitter and I don't Tweet!

That said I can say that although our summer trip has been over for a week now, we (my wife & I ) have officially had an EPIC summer! We traveled to far places throughout the midwest and have enjoyed every minute of it. All throughout our journey from Portland to Yellowstone it was as beautiful as I'd imagined.

I'd like to take this time to especially thank my wife, in-laws, nephew, Goldie & Rose for some very memorable days/nights. You all are truly entertaining and a joy to be around. I couldn't have asked for a better family to be married into. I appreciate all that you have done for me and Melinda and enthusiastically look forward towards our next encounter. This is merely the beginning of our adventures together. Till next time we meet in the lobby of 4 Bears, with the stench of cigarettes in the air, the anticipation of meeting "Larry Lobster" in the bonus round and Tim's good old luck. You are all one in a million.

Road Trip / Day 1

I first started out with the intention of writing about our journey to the midwest on a day by day basis however, it never seems to turn out that way. Staying committed to the actual idea of blogging while in the process of traveling is very low on my priority list to be honest. I'd much rather document it with pictures, then transfer my memories as best as I can later. That said, these particular travel blogs will not be in real time and may have a slight delay. I'll try to keep the days as close to the date as possible but no guarantees. Moving forward, here is my documentation of our 2010 midwest adventure.

Our first day's journey was to leave San Francisco early in the morning on Friday 6/25 and head north towards Oregon stopping at various eateries and sites along the way and eventually stopping to spend the night in Portland. We searched online for interesting places to see and eat along the way and our first stop brought us to Redding CA where we saw that they have a popular bridge called the "Sundial Bridge" and a cozy cafe to have lunch called "the Old Mill Eatery".

The bridge was a pretty impressive spectacle and I never would have pictured something of this nature and class to be located in the town of Redding. I highly recommend checking it out if you ever cruise through. The Old Mill Eatery was pretty damn tasty too. The portions were HUGE (always a plus in my book), and service was friendly. I knew that this summer I would be devouring an endless supply of meat while staying with the in-laws so in order to prepare for my carnivorous rampage I ordered the french dip. Lean pieces of beef that almost melted when dipped in the au-jous served along with a side of crinkle cut fries DAMN! I wish this place was
close to San Francisco.

Union of Uranus

This has to be one of my favorite hardcore bands from the 90's. These Canadians fucking destroyed. Union of Uranus as far as I know released a handful of 7"s, one 12" and a complete discography. Members of this band went on to play in His Hero is Gone and Tragedy. I met Yarrick (the guitarist) at the Goletafest in 1996. He was on tour with One Eyed God Prophecy and selling records from his label Great American Steak Religion and other labels as well. I must have spent $300 on vinyl at that fest. I own all that is released by these guys and they will forever be one of the most heaviest bands that came out of the 90's in my opinion. Enjoy this MP3 from their 2 x 7".


HERE

Rye Coalition

Rye Coalition were from Jersey City, New Jersey. Their music was both catchy and heavy. They released Four full lengths and several 7"s. My personal favorites are the split 12" with Karp (which features Jared from Big Business) and the super catchy "New Sheriff in Town" 7".

I first heard about Rye through a review in HeartAttack Magazine ran by a fellow named Kent McClard out of Goleta CA. That magazine was my bible for many years. I ordered hundreds of records through that mag because Kent also advertised his record label called Ebullition Records in issues of HeartAttack. That mag and word of mouth was how I heard about a lot of bands back in the day. Growing up in Bakersfield there wasn't much for zines and the internet wasn't even a glimmer in Bill Gates' eye. Snail mail was my primary source of contact with the outside world.

The last show that I caught of Rye Coalition was at Bottom of the Hill with the Blood Brothers several years ago and their music had progressed a little much for my taste but still they managed to Rock just like they did throughout the 90's.

Enjoy this MP3

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UDIAUAQX

Channel

Channel hailed from Norfolk Virginia they were heavy as fuck and broke up in the late 90's. Enjoy the mp3 link

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DJKR609R

A week with records

So I received a record player with a USB port for Christmas last year from my mother in law and have put the process of going through my entire record collection and transferring those songs to MP3's long enough. The time has come to begin my trip down memory lane.

I figure the best way to go about this is to start with my 7"s. I figure that they're shorter than an LP so I should breeze through them in no time. The thing is, with a project of this size (my record collection is huge), what you don't realize is that this will be in real time. That's the classic way and only way that it can be done. There are no downloading speeds or drag and drop wav files. Just the good old play and record buttons to work with.

Along with the transfer of these records I will give reviews and links to an MP3 or two from the record along with a brief history of who that band was and how that record came to be in my collection. I'll try to remember as much as I can. Some may be short, some may be long. All that I know is that I'm gonna really enjoy this and I hope you gain a little knowledge about some of our past musical friends.

Lakers, Deep Dish & the Fourth Kind

Why is Kobe Bryant so damn good? I mean 30 points against the Boston Celtics? The Lakers out performed the Celtics throughout the entire game 1 of the series finals. Towards the end they had almost a 20 point lead. Somehow they are the only team that I love that are located in or anywhere near LA. The rest of me bleeds Giants, Niners and for some odd reason the Detroit Red Wings.

There's nothing better than homemade deep dish pizza with a little scary movie. Our pizzas keep getting better and better. This one was probably the best so far. Filled to the brim with mushroom, onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, pepperoni, fresh basil, sauce and quattro formaggio all packed into a whole wheat crust. DAMN TASTY!

The Fourth Kind...Speaking only because of my own personal experiences with outer lifeforms living in this universe do I believe that we are not alone. ( A long story for another time). I rather enjoyed this movie. It featured "archival footage" of the "most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented." The 'footage' is that of hypnotherapy sessions between a "Dr. Abigail Tyler," played by Milla Jovovich, and patients who claimed they were abducted. The aliens in the movie spoke the long-lost language I believe to have been Sumerian. Great suspense and non cheesy dramatics.

Tia Margaritas

So my goal is to try and write 1 blog entry a day. I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop with all the coffeeheads and ex-alcoholics enjoying the middle eastern twang softly playing in the background. I always gave coffee shops a bad rap. Maybe because I lived above one for so many years. However I am finding this rather peaceful at the moment even though a dirty homeless man creeps by the window from time to time. That's the element of this neighborhood.

Mel (my beautiful wife) and I finally decided to try out Tia Margaritas on 19th Ave and Clement. No margaritas were included in our meal though. A lot of my friends were on the fence about that place but I found it nice. The food wasn't too bad. I was fucking starving so I of course had to get the biggest most badass thing on the menu which was the large combo plate consisting of a chicken burrito, a beef enchilada and a chicken tamale. HOLY SHIT! These portions we're huge. The tamale was a little bland though. The burrito had the most flavor of them all though. All in all I can say that I would go here again and next time maybe drink a libation or 3.

Farewell to ISIS

Well this is it. The last tour of ISIS. This Friday will be their last show in SF. I've listened to ISIS for a very long time and although they aren't one of my favorite bands, I do respect them immensely. In case some of you have been living under a rock for the past decade and have no idea who ISIS is then its never to late to begin your journey. ISIS have been a huge part of helping to evolve the sound pioneered by the likes of Neurosis, Swans and Godflesh. Their career has spanned over 13 years and they have released over 16 albums (including split releases). I'm gonna miss ISIS and I'll absolutely be there for their last performance at SF's Great American Music Hall on Friday June 4th. Hope to see you there.

Here is a link to the track "Hall of the Dead" from the album "Wavering Radiant"....ENJOY!!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ME7I4SEW

the Beginning

This is about music, food, art, adventures, the past, the present and all that is in between. I've given some thought to why I am creating this blog but nothing substantial comes to mind. I guess to try and tell my story in the hopes that one might find something interesting whether it be a new band, an old record that they haven't listened to for years, a new restaurant, a hike or an old town in the middle of the U.S that they should visit. These are my words and that's all that they are....words.