JERSEY'S BEST DANCERS-LIFETIME- JANUARY 2006

JAN 25TH. Riding a train from Los Angeles to Ventura.

So I am here in California at the moment where I have been for the last couple days and will be for a couple more. I flew here because a couple months ago I was asked by the almighty LIFETIME to come here and work their shows and since I was already going to be here for these shows I decided to make a whole trip out of it and book some flights to south east asia. Both situations I am super excited about.

I got introduced to the music of lifetime in 1997. It was valentines day and my girlfriend at the time and I went to see a show which lifetime was playing at. At the time I had heard of their name but never had heard of their music. I went to see a couple other bands who I was familiar with. Eyelid, my friends the missing 23rd and Good Riddance in Santa Barbara,CA. I did watch lifetime but again I did go to see good riddance so that’s who I really watched. It was after this show that I then got WAY into lifetime. A lot of my friends were getting into them and I decided to check them out. WOW. I bought their album “hello bastards” and soon after “jersey best dancers” and listened to themday after day non stop. A couple months after that show my girlfriend and I broke it off and it was then when the lifetime music came at me with an even stronger appeal. There have been plenty of days in my later teens cruising around in my dads car that he would let me borrow blaring both albums and singing along at the top of my lungs. The good ole past eh!!!
I never grew out of lifetime and have always considered them a very classic band in the punk/ hardcore scene of the 90s- mid 90s but I know that after this part of my life when I moved out of my house to santa cruz I didn’t listen to them as much. they still however were/ are one of my favorite badns in that genre. Some of the members went on to form another classic band in the hardcore scene named kid dynamite. This band also had a huge impact on my musical tastes, beliefs and attitude. Not as melodic as lifetime and a little more angst which was needed for me or any kid who just made there first move out on their own to see how the world really works. When kid dynamite was formed it seemed like it was the last of lifetime and then a couple years later it seemed like kid dynamite was calling it quits as well.
Lets fast forward a goood couple years now to the most recent part of my life. 2004.
Kid dynamite re grouped to play 3 benefit shows in philly for a non profit org. I heard about these shows a couple months before they happened and realized I was going to be on tour at that time and miss them by about 4 days. Damn! My good friends and old tour mates strike anywhere were also playing all the shows, I had friends from the west coast flying out for the shows, and my girlfriend at the time was going as well. Everyone was going to be there but me. DAMN! Oh well.
Now lets come to 2005. Rumors were out that kid dynamite was playing another show and lifetime was rumored to be reforming to play the same shows. WOW! It stoked me out to hear that but I didn’t even think about trying to go not because I wasn’t into it just because I think I was on tour or the shows would have been the hardest things to get into. Gorilla Biscuits also played the same weekend for the same causes. I could be wrong but I think that the “cause” was for the legendary nyc club cbgbs. From what I hear about those shows is GB put on their best show ever and the lifetime shows were off the hook. Right on.

Okay now to the present. About 2 months ago I check my email (actually myspace but I hate mentioning this website…. My own issues even though I have an account… oh well) and an old tour buddy/s named Tanis had dropped me a line. You see Tanis was in a band named Zero Zero with her hubby Ari, and Dave. Both dudes were in lifetime. Zero Zero did a the first tour I ever got invited on with strike anywhere. The Plea for Peace. Good good times. The SA dudes and myself all befriended the Zero Zero dudes/ dudettes. About a year after this tour (2000) I went up to san fran to see zero zero but since then hadn’t heard or seen any of them since.
SO……back to a couple months ago. Tanis drops me a line and says “yo. Whaz up etc etc. lifetime is getting back together to do 3 shows on the west coast and they want you to do the shows” WOW!!!! As soon as I read this I quickly hit reply and asked for all the details and within 24 hours of this it was confirmed. I was pretty blown away. Lifetime music was a big part of my life back in the day and have always been to me a very good example of a great hardcore/ punk rock band. Positive energy with melodic riffs with great lyrics/ sing alongs.
So now I am on the west coast here for the lifetime shows and im stoked. Like I was saying earlier I have seen them once but at the time wasn’t into them because I wasn’t familiar with them. Now I am a huge fan and not only get to see them 3 nights in a row but actually be part of it. YEAH!!!

Jan 30th, sitting here in los angeles

So the last couple days have been filled with so many different amazing experiences.
I went to Ventura, CA about 4 days ago to chill out with some friends and to see my dad.

The first night I just arrived and went out to a bar to see some old faces. These friends of mine here were friends of mine when i/ we all started getting heavily into the whole music scene. Venutra is where it all most of my friends here as well as myself.
The next day I just chilled out and got picked up by the paps. We hadn’t seen each other in about a year or so so it was nice seeing him and hanging out for the time we did. That night I hung out with some more friends and went to some art gathering.

This is where things begin to pick up. The next day my friends john c, john Lancaster and myself drive to LA so I can head to the troubadour to start on these lifetime shows. The dudes dropped me off and I started doing my thing. Saw all the lifetime dudes and helped them unload. Tito arrived and was doing sound/ tour managing so it was super nice to see him and know we would be around each other for the next 3 days. We toured together with anti flag a couple years ago. Shortly after my friends heather and wilkie showed up who were also going to be on the 3 shows. Wilkie was there with the loved ones doing merch and TM. Heather was there with the SSE foundation (breast cancer awareness) selling shirts. I have toured with Wilkie before numerous times on the warped tour, and when he was with the bouncing souls/ strike anywhere tour. Heather is a friend from SLC who I have known now for some time. I first met her years ago at gilman and have run across her since then. Now she does all the shows that come through SLC so I see her quite often.
The punk scene is such an amazing thing. You run into people all over the country who you know from shows, booking, promoters, roadies etc etc.
The thing about these 3 shows is that since lifetime has become an extremely classic band in the hardcore scene there were SO SO many old faces that came out.

The last 3 days have been such a special time for me. Just seeing such old faces of people I have grown up with, toured with, kept in touch with and some not having kept in touch that much. I knew this was going to be the case with these shows. The minute they were on sale they sold out with in days. People from all over the world flew in. I met kids from Italy, England, Australia, and Alaska who made the trip just for these shows. DAMN!!!

So the shows. The first show I couldn’t watch the whole thing due to our location in another room. Earlier in the day I heard them sound check and had a major goose bump reaction. THIS IS IT! That night kids felt the same way and went nuts. I manged to sneak in for a couple songs to see the reaction of the kids. They were going haywire but unfortunately there were a lot getting thrown out from the security guards. Due to everyone on the LT crew being busy but me I went and talked to the head of security and said “everyone is just having fun etc etc”. it’s the whole stage diving thing which I am not really into but for this show people were loosing it and having fun. There was no tough guy bullshit. Just people screaming there hearts out and stage diving.
I was super super busy as we expected it to be. One of your favorite bands plays there 2nd show in almost 10 years of course your going to go crazy.
That night there were a lot of peeps hanging out after the show. The bouncing souls were in town recording and at the show so people were just trying to figure something out. Everyone was going to a bar which I did drive by but couldn’t find parking so I then just headed back to vta with the dudes and would catch a ride back up the next day.

The next show was chain reaction and was going to be better then the first. A smaller club with more of a punk rock vibe. The Swedes played there last month and the show was incredible. This was going to be the first show where I could see the whole thing. It was incredible but the downer was the club enforced a no “floating/ stage diving” thing which kinda ruined it I think. The kids were going nuts but it was still a contained energy. Oh well. What can you do. A lot of the kids from the show the night before were back again so it was nice seeing some old friends. YEEHAAW! After the show I got dropped off in van nuys so I could meet up with everyone early the next morning to drive to san fran.

So yesterday. Woke up at 630 in the morning, drove to san fran, did the show, and then drove back too la to get here this morning at 630. wow. I didn’t sleep the whole time but it was totally worth it.
I think a lot of people expected this show to be the best out of the tour(ha ha ha tour… 3 shows). Well those predictions came correct. As soon as dave opened up with a bass note on “daneurysm” the place went nuts.(they then went right into “rodeo clown” one of my favs) Fingers in the air, people dancing everywhere, people diving off the stage and the whole place singing along. Something I will never forget.
I have been to shows such as this but I don’t think the energy was quite like it which makes sense. This is 10 years of energy coming out in the band and the crowd. These 3 shows were a prime example of what shows need to be like and how shows even were. In the last 6 years or so and shit even longer there has never been a very close, intimate show that have been to with this vibe. It was such a special special thing and I am so glad to have been part of it and witness it as a fan. I think 100% of the people who were there walked away with a very memorable experience and something that again stoked em out on punk rock. Music these days for the most part has been pretty stagnant. I know there is still fun to be had and kids/ and myself still do have fun but again I haven’t seen anything like I did these last 3 shows in a long long time.
I had a lot of people I knew at the san fran show as well due to my whole santa cruz experice. I saw people I used to work with, my old boss at sessions records/ fury 66 joe clements… yeah!, my friends annie, lisa, Julie, mike a. It was nice seeing all them but again when your at a show like this you cant really hang out so I didn’t really get to shoot the shit with anyone. My friends amy, heather, smith, and Nolan came out as well. Heather made wilkie, and I (vegan solidarity) some fresh still hot banana bread. SO SO nice. Being at a show and someone brings you fresh vegan treats is a nice nice thing. It was that much better cause it came from them and we were all together again hanging out.
Amy, Heather, Smith, wilkie and myself did a lot of hanging a couple years ago on the warped tour. Everyday we were by each other having a great time. These 4 people made my summer of 2004 so last night there was some more of that classic hanging out going on.

There is so much more I want to write but I do leave to south east asia in 1 day and have to take care of things. For all those lifetime fans out there. Those 5 dudes still have it together and fucking destroyed. I hope that one day you all will get to see this energy transformed live once again.