I'm Going To Get There. Your Going To See Me. Your Going To Say That So Much Has Changed

Can you believe I'm going to play there? I'm losing days. Only about 60+ left. But I've been having a really good time in each one so it's all good. I made my first friend at the school over a facebook group. A guitar player actually. He's from Sweden. From Sweden. I was looking over the pictures of all the kids in the group and they are mostly foreign names and have these professional pictures of themselves and their instruments. It makes me wonder what in the hell I am doing going to that school. I'm just hoping I'm not going to be the only guy who enjoys going out and having a good time. But then I think about it and realize all these kids are my age so there's no way it could be like that. Not that partying and stuff is my top priority, but you have to have balance, you know? I recently stopped hiding from my fear and started practicing rasgueado. I dislike flamenco music for the most part, but it's a great technique to have. It's been frustrating. It's not my style and my right hand just isn't handling it well. But I have to keep practicing. I've only been doing it for two days so I'm hoping I see results soon. Just talking with another guitar player got me inspired. I already started to feel that competitiveness flow through my body. And again, it isn't so I can be better than him and he feels like he's below me or anything like that. It's just because I want to be the best at what I do. Not to gloat. But for self satisfaction. Because I don't believe in having limits. Rarely will I ever say something is too hard. Challenging yourself is the best possible thing. Especially at the level I'm at.

Lets talk about bands that used to be good but aren't anymore. That list could go on for a while but for now we'll talk about 2. One more so than the other. When I go to work, physically I'm there but not for a second am I there mentally. All I think about is music. Whether it's my guitar playing, classical music, or punk music. Through out the shift, at least 5-10 songs will be stuck in my head and I'll be singing it to myself in my head. One of those recent songs was Punchline's "Getting There Is Getting By." Probably still on my top 20-30 favorite pop punk songs of all time. It come off Punchline LP "Action." back in 2003? I believe. I got it in 2004 for my birthday and it really was a solid anthem(along with other bands) for my first semester of sophomore year in high school. I still consider that year huge for the fact that I developed so much. I experienced dealing with extreme regret, missing another girl who literally flew out of my life, introduced into classical guitar, started going to shows, and just a bunch of other stuff that I hadn't experienced my freshman year. Anyway, one of the guys who made that band was the guitarist/singer who gave them that real pop punk sound. He left after that album was released and that's where it went to crap. They got another guitarist and released an album, "37 Everywhere" and wow, it was some wuss-ass pop music. It was always wuss stuff but this was just bad wuss stuff. I know bands on Fueled By Ramen aren't tough dudes but fuck, it was just painful to hear. A band with genuine pop punk in them, gone down the toilet.

Anti-Flag. I don't know where to begin. They ran my life 9th and 10th grade. I thought I was SO punx listening to them on my huge discman. Especially in "Police Story" where Justin sings "What a bunch of fucking shit!" Then onto how cops beat up homies and stuff. A New Kind Of Army is still easily on my top 10 favorite albums of all time. But boy have they take a turn. In 2005, they signed with major label RCA and released "For Blood and Empire" which I will admit, I rather enjoyed. There were a few really bad songs but I approved of it for the most part. They somehow got put on the Madden 2007 sound track which was a bad sign. Then they released "The Bright Lights Of America" and good god, it was terrible. It's just this radio sounding/call out to the mall punx/immature crap put onto a disc. Unbelievable. They left RCA and hooked up with SideOneDummy which had some sort of hope in it. Nope. They just released "The People Or The Gun" andI don't know what it is, but I'm done with Anti-Flag. Maybe I'm just over the whole gimmick? Maybe I'm over the same recycled, more whored out than my ex-girlfriends guitar riff that they seem to use in at least 4 songs on every album. But the thing is, I did give this a listen. I did give it a chance. I know I was skeptical about it, but I always try to have an open mind. This is just not good and it's a little depressing to see a band that meant so much to me growing up just go to waste. Not every band can be Lagwagon and Thrice I guess, right? Here is a little something nice for you people. Even nicer to have the Souls covering it immediately after. A song that you've probably never heard but you've definitely heard of...

Anti-Flag-That's Youth

When all you hear is that, "you cant " or "give up" or "you're a fool"
and you're so sick of all the in crowd and trying to be cool
And you still dont, still you dont. still you dont know what to do...
But in the end you do your own thing, and you tell'em to get screwed!!!