Well the clock's heart it hangs inside its open chest with its hands stretched towards the calendar hanging itself

Skate and Surf
Saturday, Apr. 17, 2004 at 4:52 p.m.

[Now playing: "if your weapons could speak" Stafford]

Well yesterday was skate and surf... Nothing short of amazing. I had such a good time and I can't wait to go next year.

Theresa and I arrived at Convention Hall in Asbury Park at about 11:00. We walked around a bit, as there wasn't anyone waiting on line just yet. We went and sat on the beach for a little while, then got on what was apparently, the wrong line. Once we were on the right line, we sat and waited for about 2 and half hours for the doors to open. About 15 minutes before the doors opened (half an hour late) Matt, Heidi, Theresa's sister, and Tail, got there, and yelled at us for being idiots and getting on the line, thus putting us about 250 feet away from the door.. Which doesn't matter anyway, because there are 5 stages and the fight for a good spot didn't really start until at least 5... Which was when more people began flooding in.

When we first got there, we wandered around, only to find that we had missed Stafford. ijqndsijkfdnask I was not at all happy about that. I ended up stopping off at Stafford’s merch stand, which was upstairs of the Main Stage and wound around about 1/8 of a mile, and got their e.p... I'm listening to it right now... Very good stuff. I am enjoying it a lot.

I'm really unsure about some of the bands we saw... because at that point, we didn't have a list of what bands were playing where, and when they were playing... because there are 5 stages... 2 were outside, the smallest (paramount theater) was mostly seated, but there was a small section by the stage for standing. That was the smallest. 1 was all standing room, and it was the second largest... that was arcade stage... it was in the main lobby where the concessions, and the biggest band's merch was set up (the smaller bands merch was upstairs, in the place I mentioned earlier), and the largest was main stage... it had a very large area for standing, then above, stadium type seating, and the stairs led to the other merch section.

Anyway, I'm fairly sure that the first band we stood and watched was Shortly After. I am not positive though, because they didn't announce their name after they performed. After, we went wand saw Skyler at the Arcade Stage, which I really enjoyed, and a bit of Maxeen. We went upstairs and wandered around again, getting a bunchhhh of cd samplers, free pins, and a couple of stickers. The guy at the Denali stand was an artist and was charging $1 for all sorts of weird drawings... one of them was "I will draw your mother from 'memory' which I thought was funny. So I had him draw a picture of my mom. Hahaha.

The vocalist from the band All Rights Reserved approached Theresa and I... Actually me as she noted... Hah... And tried to talk me into buying a CD. I hadn't heard their band, so I didn't, but I bought some pins for $1. I talked to him for a while, and then he said to "keep in touch." Haha. Actually, earlier, I got about 3 months worth of allowance and bought $110 worth of CDs, including theirs, because I went to their site and listened to a few songs... and liked what I heard.

I do intend on keeping in touch... Hah... Their email addresses are up on their site and I'm going to be a weirdo and email him. They are a good band, so maybe I'll go see them during spring break.

At around 5, we went outside to see Fear Before The March Of Flames. We got wristbands, so I figured there would be no issue with getting back in. Theresa had to go to the bathroom, but you can only get to the porta-potties (blehhh gross.) from inside and we had just walked outside which is when we realized that if we wanted to go inside, we needed to wait on a long ass line.

I was later informed that this wasn't true. After waiting an hour and a half on the line, we realized there was a separate line for people with wrist bands. While in line, there was another guy with a wristband that we talked to, so we assumed that it was the correct line.

When we got inside, we went to go see Funeral For a friend in the Arcade Stage... Which was one of the CDs I ordered earlier... The performance was really good. We walked around more, Talked to Julie, Taylor, and... Julie’s boyfriend for a few minutes, then caught a few minutes of Motion City Soundtrack at the Arcade Stage, then went to the Main Stage for the first time of that day and sat down and watched Andrew WK. It was an interesting performance, but I don't really like them. The piano that is incorporated in their music makes me laugh. Towards the end, we went to the standing area to wait for Coheed and Cambria.

Coheed was one of the main reasons I went... Because they rock. When the show started, Theresa kind of got overwhelmed pushed my way up closer to the stage. Overall, the 40 minute set was good, but not complete without "Delirium Trigger"... And I also wished they had played "Al the Killer" and "Time consumer" as they had in November when I saw them, but ohhh well. Maybe next time I see them they will have a longer set, which I feel that they deserved. The Starting line did not deserve a 50 minute set, in my opinion. Coheed and Cambria is better.

During Coheed, the crowd was realllly intense. Every time a circle pit opened up, I ended up going through it and moving closer to the stage. At one point, there were 2 people crowd surfing practically on top of each other, and they were dropped right on my head. I heard this huge crack and the person next to me was like "WOAH are you ok?" and I kind of passed out or lost my balance... something of the sort, for a few seconds... And fell over. Ahhh.

After Coheed and Cambria, Theresa and I went to the Paramount Theater once again and saw Denali, which I had really been looking forward to. They played a good set, but the vocalist's voice was hardly audible. She has a realllly nice voice, but she was completely drowned out. Oh well.

After that, we headed over to the brand new merch. I got a brown t-shirt and Theresa got a red one.

After Denali, we sat down for a little while and called her dad to let him know when to pick us up. Then we walked over to Main Stage again to see Brand new. The little card said that they only played for about an hour, but I believe it was much longer.

Once again, I pushed closer to the front. The set was absolutely amazing. Everything that I wanted them to play, they did, and they just put on an excellent show. I kind of lost my voice. Ha. Not to mention the fact that during the few... songs that it isn't really possible to mosh to... I completely emo'ed out. Hahaha. Pathetic. I didn't really expect much mashing during "Guernica," so I was fairly surprised when I received a shoe to the face. Awesome. And it wasn't just the chorus; it was the WHOLE song which is fairly calm... Hah. Towards the end of the show, I saw a guy in a Winnie the pooh suit crowd surfing. I laughed.

When it was over around 12, I found Theresa, and we went and waited for her dad. On the ride home, Noah called me... Hahaha. He calls me at the most random times ever. I ended up falling asleep in the car. When I got home, I threw my stuff on the floor and went to sleep in my clothes.

I also bought an Alabama Black Snake CD on a whim because several people insisted that it was good, and the little display said that fans of brand new would enjoy it.

Ughhh I hate it. I couldn't listen to the whole thing. Fucking waste of $5.

Anyway, cameras weren't allowed in the venue, so I have no pictures besides a picture of the 2 CDs I bought, the many cd samplers I was given, and my t-shirt. My apologies for this 1,500 word entry. Haha.

Other stuff: the Connor Oberst look-alike that was walking around alone... or rather pacing around... he walked by thersea and I in line about 15 times... I don't know why, but every time he walked by, he radiated sketchiness. Hahaha.

Hmm I also saw the vocalist from Armor for Sleep... Yeahhh.

I guess I'll stop attempting to go over every detail of last night now.

Oh... I found out that a member of Saosin left in late February, and it's rumored that they are broken up now, because their record label stopped the print of their e.p. GODDAMN. I wanted it so badly. IF ANYONE HAS ANY IDEA OF WHERE I MIGHT BE ABLE TO BUY IT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I've looked everywhere though... amazon, their website, ebay, interpunk, cd baby, etc... Yeahhh. I'm done now.

can't wait for skate and surf 2005! :)