The past two weeks, I've been on the move.
Illinois
A few weeks ago, I went to Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. We had some trouble getting out of Maryland, but finally left Frederick at 4:30pm on Monday afternoon (June 30th) and arrived at the house where we were staying in Macomb, Illinois at about 5:30am. This was my fourth consecutive year attending the festival, and it was probably the best one yet. The weather was fantastic this year, in the mid-80s all week, with only a little bit of rain that didn't make anything too wet. As usual, I met a bunch of awesome new friends, but this year I also felt like I grew more spiritually, thanks in large part to attending more of the Bible Studies and seminars that are offered. I didn't watch nearly as many bands as I normally do, but the time spent talking and hanging out with people is more important to me. We held Unified Underground Day at the Fatcalf Stage on Saturday, and it was a huge success. I expect a lot of people to come to Unified Underground in October, based on the outpouring of support and interest that I saw at Cornerstone. Our entire Sunday was spent traveling home.
Connecticut
Because I didn't think 30 hours was enough time to spend in a car this month, I went to Connecticut this past weekend for Life In Your Way's final show. The venue was in Danbury, only about four hours from home... but it took us six hours to get up there because of traffic. We had made a prior decision to stop for lunch at a Pizza Hut Express at one of the service areas along the NJ Turnpike, but that plan fell apart when we hit traffic and had to get off at the next exit for a bathroom stop. We pulled off at exit 7 and were greeted with the oasis that is Wawa, and ended up having subs there, instead. My stomach, I was quite sure, would thank me for this later. We finally arrived in Danbury with about a half hour to spare, so we checked into the Holiday Inn where we'd stay the night. I was a little wigged out when I walked in, and the first thing I saw hanging on the wall was a framed certificate of some sort, expounding Danbury as the "home of the first American-made hat." After a brief rundown of Danbury's colorful part in the history of hats, the document ended with this: "Welcome to the Holiday Inn of Danbury, where we celebrate hats!" As I continued to look around, I was made more distraught by the awareness that every other framed painting on the walls of the lobby contained hats as the main subjects. I decided to just stop thinking about it, lest I be driven insane, and we headed off to the show (I did, however, snap a photo with my phone before we left, so that I could share the insanity with you: Hat City, bitches!).
The show was held at the Heirloom Arts Theatre, an old theater that had been converted into a venue, in what I presume was "downtown" area of Danbury. The place was as hot as I imagine some of the cooler spots in Hell to be... probably at least 90º-95º once the place was packed with the show's sold-out crowd, numbering about 550-600 people. Gray Lines of Perfection and Saints Never Surrender split a set to open the show, and problems with the sound system reared the ugly head. I also quickly realized that the lighting conditions and number of "photographers" present, coupled with the crowdedness and high stage with no room on the side, would make getting decent photographs all but impossible, so I just put the camera away after those first two bands. The sound issues would continue throughout the night, with nonfunctional monitors, bad levels, and overloaded amps. Wrench in the Works played next, followed by Means, who I missed because I had to get outside and get some fresh air. Our Last Night was next, and then Life In Your Way took the stage. I retreated to the V.I.P. balcony to watch their set; it was hotter, but less crowded. The band played a few songs with the current lineup before switching up a few times to play several songs with past members coming back to recreate former lineups. It was especially cool to see the songs with the band as they were when I first saw them four or five years ago. They played thirteen songs in all, and before the last song, Josh told the crowd, "You can call for an encore, but there won't be one because we don't know any more songs." Although the night was plagued by faulty sound and oppressive heat, everyone made the best of it, and it was a fitting farewell to an awesome band.
After the show, we went through the Taco Bell drive-through on the way back to the hotel; at this point, I used up any of the brownie points that I may have earned from my stomach earlier with the decision to eat Wawa...
The next morning, we headed out around 9:30am and hit Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast before setting out for Maryland. It was a completely uneventful trip during which we listened to two full Jerky Boys albums, and we arrived about four hours later. Pat O. and I went to Qdoba for lunch, and Starr met us there. Pat decided to be lame and go home to write a paper, and Starr and I went to Friendly's to pig out on ice cream before church. Jay Chaillou gave his first sermon, and did an excellent job. Next weekend, I'm getting together with him and some others to learn more about the sound and lighting systems at Mt. Zion so that I can become more active in helping out, in addition to the few graphic design projects I've done for them.
A few weeks ago, I went to Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. We had some trouble getting out of Maryland, but finally left Frederick at 4:30pm on Monday afternoon (June 30th) and arrived at the house where we were staying in Macomb, Illinois at about 5:30am. This was my fourth consecutive year attending the festival, and it was probably the best one yet. The weather was fantastic this year, in the mid-80s all week, with only a little bit of rain that didn't make anything too wet. As usual, I met a bunch of awesome new friends, but this year I also felt like I grew more spiritually, thanks in large part to attending more of the Bible Studies and seminars that are offered. I didn't watch nearly as many bands as I normally do, but the time spent talking and hanging out with people is more important to me. We held Unified Underground Day at the Fatcalf Stage on Saturday, and it was a huge success. I expect a lot of people to come to Unified Underground in October, based on the outpouring of support and interest that I saw at Cornerstone. Our entire Sunday was spent traveling home.
Connecticut
Because I didn't think 30 hours was enough time to spend in a car this month, I went to Connecticut this past weekend for Life In Your Way's final show. The venue was in Danbury, only about four hours from home... but it took us six hours to get up there because of traffic. We had made a prior decision to stop for lunch at a Pizza Hut Express at one of the service areas along the NJ Turnpike, but that plan fell apart when we hit traffic and had to get off at the next exit for a bathroom stop. We pulled off at exit 7 and were greeted with the oasis that is Wawa, and ended up having subs there, instead. My stomach, I was quite sure, would thank me for this later. We finally arrived in Danbury with about a half hour to spare, so we checked into the Holiday Inn where we'd stay the night. I was a little wigged out when I walked in, and the first thing I saw hanging on the wall was a framed certificate of some sort, expounding Danbury as the "home of the first American-made hat." After a brief rundown of Danbury's colorful part in the history of hats, the document ended with this: "Welcome to the Holiday Inn of Danbury, where we celebrate hats!" As I continued to look around, I was made more distraught by the awareness that every other framed painting on the walls of the lobby contained hats as the main subjects. I decided to just stop thinking about it, lest I be driven insane, and we headed off to the show (I did, however, snap a photo with my phone before we left, so that I could share the insanity with you: Hat City, bitches!).
The show was held at the Heirloom Arts Theatre, an old theater that had been converted into a venue, in what I presume was "downtown" area of Danbury. The place was as hot as I imagine some of the cooler spots in Hell to be... probably at least 90º-95º once the place was packed with the show's sold-out crowd, numbering about 550-600 people. Gray Lines of Perfection and Saints Never Surrender split a set to open the show, and problems with the sound system reared the ugly head. I also quickly realized that the lighting conditions and number of "photographers" present, coupled with the crowdedness and high stage with no room on the side, would make getting decent photographs all but impossible, so I just put the camera away after those first two bands. The sound issues would continue throughout the night, with nonfunctional monitors, bad levels, and overloaded amps. Wrench in the Works played next, followed by Means, who I missed because I had to get outside and get some fresh air. Our Last Night was next, and then Life In Your Way took the stage. I retreated to the V.I.P. balcony to watch their set; it was hotter, but less crowded. The band played a few songs with the current lineup before switching up a few times to play several songs with past members coming back to recreate former lineups. It was especially cool to see the songs with the band as they were when I first saw them four or five years ago. They played thirteen songs in all, and before the last song, Josh told the crowd, "You can call for an encore, but there won't be one because we don't know any more songs." Although the night was plagued by faulty sound and oppressive heat, everyone made the best of it, and it was a fitting farewell to an awesome band.
After the show, we went through the Taco Bell drive-through on the way back to the hotel; at this point, I used up any of the brownie points that I may have earned from my stomach earlier with the decision to eat Wawa...
The next morning, we headed out around 9:30am and hit Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast before setting out for Maryland. It was a completely uneventful trip during which we listened to two full Jerky Boys albums, and we arrived about four hours later. Pat O. and I went to Qdoba for lunch, and Starr met us there. Pat decided to be lame and go home to write a paper, and Starr and I went to Friendly's to pig out on ice cream before church. Jay Chaillou gave his first sermon, and did an excellent job. Next weekend, I'm getting together with him and some others to learn more about the sound and lighting systems at Mt. Zion so that I can become more active in helping out, in addition to the few graphic design projects I've done for them.