While checking out Punknews.org this evening I could not help but get excited for the Van’s 2009 Warped Tour. The successful punk rock festival created by Kevin Lyman looks to be getting back to it’s punk roots this year. This will mark the 15th year the festival has been running.
Can you say awesome? WIth Bad Religion, Flogging Molly, NOFX, and Shooter Jennings listed I am going to be there for sure. In fact I may try to hit the Cleveland and Columbus shows… maybe even Pittsburgh!
I have has the pleasure of reviewing and photographing the Warped Tour in 2007 and 2008. I hope again to be able to cover the festival as each year is all so entertaining.
Something that got my attention too was the announcement by Kevin Lyman on NotMTV.tv that there would be some changes at the next installment of the Warped Tour including 40 minute sets, less stages with only one major stage, and ticket prices staying hopefully around the same price. By the looks of the line up too it looks as if he is making a point to actually have a more punk oriented festival in 2009..
Here is an interview with the creator of the longest running festival ever thanks to NotMTV.tv:
I found out some info about the movie thanks to Wikipedia. The movie is acutally is a prequel to the X-Men film trilogy (approx. 20 years before), focusing on Wolverine and his time with Team X, before Wolverine’s skeleton was bonded with that indestructible metal.
This is one movie I will be checking out in the theater.
I finally have a moment here today to let you all know what has been going on.
Yesterday we received unexpected news, my wife’s grandfather passed away.
We the received terrible news yesterday evening that my wife’s grandfather passed. He has been ill for quite some time now and was fighting to live each day. It was sad to see him pass, but he is at peace now. He was a good man and will be terribly missed.
Every year since we met, my wife and I travel to see her grandparents around the holidays. We drive to upstate New York and stay for a long weekend. We had planned on actually coming up today before the sad news we received.
With what happened of course we drove up but things are a little different and a whole lot sorrowful.
There is a lot going on right now. I am not going in to detail about everything but what I can tell you is that I am going to stay strong for my wife and her family and be there for her during this difficult time.
I will continue to do what I do on here when I can. If you need to get in touch with me I have limited internet access. I will be in NY for an undisclosed amount of time to try and help with anything I can.
Today I thought I would share some humorous Calvin & Hobbes comics after I shared them with one of my co-workers who said it gave her a pick-me-up. I figured maybe more could use a good laugh today…
Many of you know I do not call the birthday of Jesus by it’s common name. I skip out on tradition mainly from over exposure of retail during the holiday season. I see how people really are before the big day. I have turned away last minute shoppers from buying just one more thing that is not necessary to give. I have seen nice turn to pure evil in .00056 seconds. It’s tough being in retail. I am glad I am out of it and I do not miss it one bit.
I am sure many of you have heard this before but if not, I call this day of giving some refer to as Christmas or X-Mas simply J-Day. It stands for Jesus Day, you know, the whole reason the day exists for all you religious type out there.
My wife and I are not religious though we do respect people’s beliefs. We actually see J-Day a little differently than most mainly because J-Day is the day my wife and I hooked up. In fact this J-Day will mark 4 years.
Impressive.
We met at a punk rock x-mas party. I will never forget the night. We both had rough days and randomly ran in to one another at party my friends threw. She was actually friends with my best friend’s girlfriend at the time and I remember I kept asking him before the party if she was coming. They told me she was coming and I figured it was a good day to talk to her. Good conversation, endless cans of gross Natural Light, and the rest is history…
So what does this blog have to do with punk and rock and x-mas? Well I have a certain little compilation I listen to every once in a while during the holidays I thought I would share with some of you. It is a compilation for all you punk rockers out there who like tradition and also like a little out of the ordinary. The CD really reminds me of the night of the party I met my wife at not because that music in particular was playing but more so the reminder of the combination of punk and holidays.
Punk Rock X-Mas
Track Listing:
1. Punk Rock Christmas, (It’s Gonna Be A) – The Ravers
2. Silent Night – The Dickies
3. Hooray For Santa Claus (Theme From “Santa Claus Conquers The Martians”) – Sloppy Seconds (CD only)
4. F*ck Christmas – Fear
5. Merry Jingle, A – The Greedies
6. There Ain’t No Sanity Claus – The Damned
7. Homo Christmas – Pansy Division
8. It’s Christmas – Bouquet Of Veal (CD only)
9. Merry Xmas Blues – Celibate Rifles (CD only)
10. Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) – The Ramones (UK single version) 11. Deck The Halls – Metal Mike/Alison & Julia
12. Feliz Navi-Nada – El Vez
13. Run, Run Rudolph – The Humpers (CD only)
14. Daddy Drank Our Xmas Money – TVTV$ (CD only)
15. Here Comes Santa’s Pussy – The Frogs (CD only)
16. Christmas Christmas – Mojo Nixon
17. Mr. Grinch – D.I.
18 White Christmas – Stiff Little Fingers
Choice tracks on the CD would have to be of course The Ramones, Mojo Nixon, and D.I. I originally bought this on cassette when I was 17 and played the hell out of it. It was not until a few years back at The Exchange (no way they would ever ever fire me on the day after x-mas) for $5.00. Worth every penny of it!
So check it out if you dare, or not.
There again if that is too much for you there is always Jingle Cats:
Jingle Cats -
In case you are wondering, yes I own this CD too. Well actually I took it away from my old co-workers at a certain little music store one year because they played it daily.
Just in case your sick sick mind wants to know what Jingle Cats sounds like I found a clip:
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