Tuesday, October 25, 2005

5.


Over the next few weeks I'll attempt to do my best in telling you about my 5 favorite shows that I've ever been a part of. Hope you enjoy.

Sugar Plum Dandy –American Legion - Chicopee, MA circa 1993

The now irrational owner of the Chicopee VFW had turned on all the lights on. She was screaming at everyone that the show was over. One Poison Idea cover and two Sugar Plum Dandy songs does not a set make in my blurry, floating eyes. Why is she shutting us off? It’s still early. We’re no louder than the other 6 bands that played tonight. There are still people here listening to us. Well, all 60 of them are kinda pinned against the back wall. Watching something that they can’t quite make sense of. They understood the concept but just couldn’t figure out where this fit in their world. Which was good, ‘cause neither could we. And we all took great pride in being the most violently unsettling. I don’t think any one of us truly cared about anyone’s physical safety at shows. If you were there, and close to us, you might get hurt. We held this rite of passage very close to our hearts. Violence was an unfortunate side product of intense passion. That sounds slightly criminal. And we didn’t even remotely give a shit.

The rest of the bands playing this show were straight edge hardcore bands from various places. Worcester, Albany, Boston etc. All young, shaved-head, combat boot wearing tough guys. The reason we went on last is that the singer in the band from Worcester (whose name escapes me) insisted that they were going on before us. They felt it was their right because they drove 45 miles to get here. We only drove 10. He was pretty belligerent about it. Luckily for us (and unlucky for them) they said they’d still be willing to stick around while we were playing so we could borrow their drum set. We didn’t have one. Never did, I don’t think.

During the course of the evening, while the other bands were rigidly re-interpreting every cliché of the late 80’s hardcore scene, we were approached by several (not one, mind you) but several under age straight age kids. One at a time they would start to lecture us. About how we shouldn’t be drinking. How it would ruin our minds. So enthralled in their beliefs they were that one of them made a motion to take a beer out of one of our friend’s hands. After this something-teen year old was threatened with having his spleen removed with a spoon (an actual quote from that evening) the harassment died down. I guess this justified our anger. Why should we be treated like misanthropes in our own musical community? In a community that was fragile and neglected by most of all of the musicians in the area? One that we helped build for kids (much like the aforementioned ones) to help them connect with new people from all different walks. To not judge and not to be judged. To be freed from your daily stasis that was known to be filled with judgmental dictators. Bullshit. Unacceptable. It was time for us to react.

Jamie (Bloodbath, Hatebreed) manned the drums, Karl (Bloodbath, Pushbutton Warfare) grabbed the guitar, Rob (Home) grabbed the bass and Dave (Briteside) and I grabbed the mics. We tore through Poison Idea’s “Getting the Fear”. All I truly remember was rolling around on the floor with 5 or 6 other people in some crazy gang vocal gone awry. I was bleeding from the forehead and from somewhere else that I never found. Rob had essentially removed the entire headstock from his bass somehow. As the cacophony of the first song came to an end we were received with complete silence from these 60 or so kids. I then sat behind the drums and Scott grabbed the guitar (which continued to howl in feedback pain) from Karl. Rob stayed on his mangled bass and Louis grabbed the blood soaked microphone. We played 2 songs of our (Sugar Plum Dandy) own and it was during the second one that all the lights came on in the basement of the Chicopee American Legion. I saw this little, very pissed off old lady screaming at everyone to get out. As I stood up behind the drum set I noticed that two of the drummer’s cymbals were cracked. The hi-hat stand bent. The snare drum had a softball-sized hole in it. The floor tom was literally on the floor after snapping two of its legs. The kick pedal was imbedded in the torn head of the kick drum. And there were nothing but chards of sticks laying everywhere. In the chaotic shuffle of the aftermath I remember very little. I’ve been reminded of these forthcoming things by people who were there. See, I tend to lose control when playing music. Only sometimes. When things lift beyond the grounded normalcy of G major. These are the times that I live for. People in bands from earlier in the evening (specifically the drummer of the band that let me borrow his drum set which I just returned to its natural state of metal and wood) were being held back by random Legion patrons. They were trying to kill us. Or maybe it was just me that they were trying to kill.

Supposedly I screamed something about hating everyone and then managed to rifle (I have a pretty strong throwing arm) two beer bottles into the scuffling crowd. I was grabbed by the back of the neck and the next thing I knew Rob and I were running down the street in the rain. Through the blurry lights and the electric haze we see roughly thirty ATF people with shotguns screaming and rushing into the building across the street. Turns out there is a massive drug bust going on right next door. Simultaneously, there are four cop cars with screaming lights and sirens screeching to a halt in front of the hall that we just left. Looking for us, I presume. In the chaos some of the ATF people get spooked and turn their guns on the cops that are there for us. They begin screaming at each other and a handful of the completely armed and prepared ATF guys follow the sprinting police into the legion. We drive by slowly. In my friends ‘78 Grenada. Sweating. Bleeding. Chests heavy with fear and elation. We get about 4 blocks down the road and someone says “When do you think we should call them back about another show?”
Awesome.

Friday, October 21, 2005

question.


I was sent an online survey. I usually delete these things faster than you can say insecure. I decided to give this one a whirl. Hope it's not as boring as it seemed when I was doing it.

What is your name? Mark Thomas Schwaber
How old are you? 33
When is your Birthday? September 12th, 1972
What is your zodiac sign? Virgo
Where were you born? Noble Hospital. Westfield, MA 01085
Where do you live now? Easthampton, MA 01027
What color eyes do you have? Blue
What color hair do you have? Red
How tall are you? 6'3"
How much do you weigh? 165 lbs.
What is your race? 100 meter
What is your worst fear? JESUS CHRIST! You just scared the shit out of me.
Do you smoke? Currently
Do you drink? Formerly - beer, wine, whiskey. Currently - water, soda, tea, coffee, juice.
Do you swear? Not too fucking often
Do you use drugs? Formerly - things I shouldn't say. Currently - aspirin, nicotine, a little caffeine, allergy medicine.
Have you ever or will you ever steal? Formerly. Was arrested at 16 for stealing a connect the dots book in Enfield. Never stole again.
Are you dependable and/or trustworthy? Isn't that essentially asking me the same thing twice? If you're truly trustworthy aren't you obviously dependable by default? I understand that one could be dependable (show up for work everyday, rake your Mom's lawn every year etc.) and not necessarily trustworthy. For instance, A compulsive liar could always run on time. But does untrustworthy mean compulsive liar? No. But anyway...kinda, I guess.
Do you play in a band or play an instrument? No.
Do you have any tattoos and/or piercings? Several.
If you had a favorite serial killer who would it be? Whoever it is that ends up ritualistically slaying George Bush, Dick Cheney and every other member of their cabinet.
If you had a choice about how you wanted to die what would it be? Unloved and violently. Or in a bed of flowers with Jen. You guess.
Do you ever get jealous of somebody else? Yes. Scooter.
Are you obsessive and/or compulsive? *Rocking back and forth in chair* *Perfectly aligning mousepad* No, not really.
Are you a violent person? Ask me again and find out where your teeth go.
What is your favorite game? Baseball
What is your favorite movie? Being there, Field of Dreams, The Natural, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Punch Drunk Love and too many more to mention here.
Who is your favorite band? Dave Matthews Band.
What kind of books and/or magazines do you read? What kind? Well, the ones with words would be a good place to start. How about authors because books are too numerous to mention. Saramago, Ichiguro, Steinbeck, Vonnegut, Eggers, Plath. Magazines are easy. Rolling Stone, Spin, Guitar World and MR+R because they sit in front of me many days a week.
What is your favorite color? Blue.
What is your favorite food? Baked Potato. Salad. Cheese.
What is your favorite drink? Water. Coke. OJ. Coffee.
Are you a virgin? At handgliding.
Have you ever shaved your head in a socially unacceptable way? You would never ask me that if you knew me. I'd look like a bug. Actually, what the hell is a socially unacceptable way? The only thing I can think of that thing they do with your head when you join the military.
Are you religious? Spiritual.
Do you stand for originality and creativity? Do I stand for it? It's the only way I know how to live.
Do you like meeting new people? Not really.
What do you like most about life? Love. Music. Friends. Family. Dogs.
What do you dislike most about life? The state of the world. The perpetual, endless, cyclical spiral of the political state of every country on earth. Sadness. Death.
Do you believe in love at first sight? I don't know.
Do you own a car? Yes.
What is your favorite season? Fall.
Pick One...
Snowboarding or Skiing?
Watching a movie.
Coke or Pepsi? Coke. But Pepsi is OK.
Cats or dogs? Dogs. Dogs. Dogs.
Really smart or really hot? Depends on whether you're talking about people or my dinner.
Really successful or really popular? Both mean nothing to me.
Really rich or really famous? Both mean nothing to me.
Smart and depressed or stupid and happy? I have this conversation often. I am, by no means, a man of supremely elevated intellectual capacity but I do believe I can hold my own. Sometimes the fear. The anxiety. The sadness. The anger. They make me wish I was born with the IQ of someone with less ability to be affected by such environmental flaws and synapse misfirings. I don't know if I could ever say that I would like to be close to vegetative (W) but I could settle with being congruently listful and ambivalent (Adam Sandler).
Summer or winter? Winter when it's not freezing. Summer when it's not sweltering.
Spring or fall? Fall.
Hot or cold? Cold.
Love or lust? Depends. Not the diaper.
Chocolate or vanilla? Vanilla.
Skateboarding or surfing? Reading.
Rain or Sun? Sun.

So there you go. Sorry to burden you with all of that. I'm going to go...I've got more ideas that are brewing. I just finished writing my last song (I mean it this time, I swear.) for the next record. I have the date of November 3rd booked at Slaughterhouse to mix down the rest. Mastering at the end of November. Out at the end of the year-ish. I'm also kicking around the idea of making a book of letters that Jen, myself and a good friend of ours out west are sending to each other. More on that later. Hehe...I just said More on.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

this exhausting month


This is Tom Campbell (Jen's Dad) and I embracing this past Sunday night at the Apollo Grill in Easthampton. I don't know at which point of the night it was but I think this picture beautifully sums up the evening. Thanks to everyone who helped us raise over $7,000 for the Miguel Ayerve Scholarship Foundation. It was a night I'll never forget.
Since I still can't get my head around how wonderful the entire evening was I figured I'd write another random-ish thoughts thingy. Sound good? No? Tough shit.
1) I have a new pet peeve. Though this one reaches deeper than just chewing with your mouth open. I'm really sick of people asking me

"How the store is going?"

when they 1) rarely come in to support it in any way and 2) are people that I've met through music in some fashion. My answer to that question is always the same.

"Pretty good, slow and steady...but steady."

I wonder if this statement is keeping people that I know out of here. Maybe they're thinking

"Oh, cool...he's fine. He doesn't need my help."

Which couldn't be further from the truth. This calendar year has been really bad for us. Don't worry though, we're not going anywhere. We're too stubborn. We're down from last year but our store is more filled with stuff than ever. What am I trying to say? Well, I guess I'm trying to say that the next time you get the urge to ask me how our business is doing just squelch it and substitute it with the idea of stopping by sometime soon and spending 10 bucks. Is that too much to ask?
2) The new Winterpills CD is amazing. I already know that it will be on my top 10 list for 2005.
3) Things I bought yesterday:
PETCO
45 Holyoke St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
413-539-9197

Description Price
DC-MD PUDDLES RAIN $9.99
FCY-BEAGLES-POPULA $8.99
BDA-LG TERRY COW $7.99
TFH-REGULAR PORK C $3.99
AXX-QUICK TAG PET $7.00
Sub Total $37.96
Tax $1.45
Final Total $39.41

Barnes and Noble Bookseller
7 Holyoke St.
Hoyoke, MA 01040
413-532-3200


DOUBLE
9780156032582 $14.00
Sub Total $14.00
Tax $0.70
TOTAL $14.70

That's one raincoat for Scooter, a pork chop Nylabone, a stuffed cow toy, Beagles Magazine(for....err, Scooter...yeah, that's it) and a new name tag for the little man. "Double" is actually "The Double" by Jose Saramago. I also bought 1 pack Camel Lights Box. 2 rolls of HALLS coughdrops. I have no fucking idea why I'm telling anyone this. Oh wait, yes I do. It's because my ego is so fragile that I must let everyone know that I know how to read and dress my dog up in weird outfits. Not sure how that's gonna help my ego. Come to think of it, it should probably get me arrested.
4) I love rainy days. But this is ridiculous.
5) I posted a new song on here. It kinda sounds like crap. I think it has something to do with my less than stellar mp3 burner. It's a tribute song to Elliott Smith called "Forever Every Evening". I promise it will sound better on my next record. Which I keep pushing back the release date for. It now looks like the end of the year. I don't know. Money sucks. Guess I should return Scooter's raincoat. Here's some shows I've got coming up:
Tuesday, October 18th at the Bishop's Lounge with Carter Little and Dennis Crommett 9PM
Friday, October 28th at the Iron Horse with the Stone Coyotes. 10PM
Saturday, December 3rd at the Basement with Dennis Crommett. 10PM

6) Check out The Moves (no, not that all-female punk band...I loved them)and their great video for "Straight Outta Hadley". Too funny. We've got their new CD/DVD here.
7) This week, both the Batman Begins DVD and this amazing baseball CD boxset get released. So much for saving money for mastering. That's right. In this DIY world that I live in it must be good to know that if you like my music at all you have to wait even longer to hear it because my 33 year old ass has to get a Batman DVD and a baseball CD...jesus.
8) The Red Sox are eliminated from the 2005 playoffs. Bringing this magical and drunken championship ride of 2004 to an end. We only die once; but for such a long time.
9) October 9th's benefit, let alone my life, would not be possible without the hard work and huge heart of this person. My hero.