I Want My Grave To Read:

As I get older (and aging so amazingly I might add) I sometimes get disheartened when I attend concerts. Ever since I really got into the independent music scene and began going to smaller concerts, I, along with many like-minded fans, would get arrive at the show for “Doors Open” to watch every band on the evening’s bill. In a time before MySpace where now you can click on a band’s site to hear new music or discover groups, you would have to get there early enough to discover the smaller up and coming acts.

I’ve come to notice music fans presently, especially the younger generations (who most of the time have no appreciation for the music which influenced the newer bands), arrive late to the show, just in the nick of time to catch the headliner. They don’t show any respect to the other bands on the bill.

Nothing instilled a stronger hatred towards my younger compatriots more than at Taste of Chaos earlier this year. While Pierce the Veil was on stage, the lead singer Vic Fuentes, kept telling all of the band’s many teenage minions to make sure to stick around to watch Thursday. He dedicated his band’s success to Thursday’s influence and contribution to music. What happens however before Thursday (the tour’s headliner) took the stage? Half of the crowd leaves. These ignorant little bastards took a sold-out show at the Palladium in Hollywood and left the grandfathers of post-hardcore feeling as it they were of no importance. (I’m assuming since the drummer Tucker Rule was in the crowd with me watching the earlier acts.) It really upset me.

However, last night gave me a glimmer of hope. A trip to the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. brought me back to the good old days, watching an ocean of kids/fans/music fanatics standing in line for “Doors Open”, anxiously awaiting to bust thru the door. The House of Blues was practically a full house from the drop of the first note that was pounded into the crowd’s skulls.

From the opening breakdown served up by Architects (UK), stretching into the Andrew W.K.-esque antics the lead singer of Oh, Sleeper mirrored, followed by the immediate Wall Of Death mind fuck which is Bring Me The Horizon, and ending with the quadruple cranium crush bestowed on us by Every Time I Die, the crowd, ranging from teenage scenesters to myself and my fellow seasoned veterans, kept the energy alive for a solid four and a half hours. Pure metal at it’s finest.

Needless to say, this eye-opening experience renews my faith in the younger generation of concertgoers. It was a good night.

Rather be forgotten, than remembered for giving in…

I Was Going To Sign It "Berries And Cream"

Yesterday was a pretty momentous day. I spent my afternoon in Oceanside, California, hanging with two amazing people: JP and Andrea Holeman, the co-owners of Holeman Surf Designs. The Holeman’s home / HSD shop is a rad little spot walking distance to the ocean which they share with Andrea’s cousin, Derek, and their vicious guard dog, Lola. But don’t let the size of the HSD headquarters fool you, their clientele reside everywhere from Southern Cali locals to as far away as the East Coast.

I met the Holemans during my recent stint producing Season 3 of Rad Girls (Andrea was my amazing assistant during our tour through San Diego). During my mini-vacation (back) to O’Side, I had the extreme pleasure watching the berth of my first custom surfboard.

The first part of my day was spent in an electric-blue shaping room. It was awe-inspiring seeing JP take something as simple as a slab of Styrofoam and shape it into an instrument of wave domination. Unlike industry giants like Rusty who use machines to shape their boards, JP shapes each board by hand. I spent about two hours in the air-conditioned chamber, watching and snapping photographs of JP carving, sanding, and pretty much covering the two of us in a fine white powder (no). Seeing someone with such talent and skill work up close and personal is pretty amazing.

What makes this board even more special for me is JP basically created a new design for my board. Holeman’s bread and butter is building short boards; he informed me in the shaping room in the beginning HSD made primarily long boards, but has since evolved.

I love giving artists freedom to do something original which gets them exited. When it comes to my tattoos, I give DaveR a simple idea (“I want a bear on my arm.”) and let him design and apply to my skin what he wants to see. He gives me a completely original piece, and I get the thrill of having the artist be as excited doing the work as I am watching what unfolds. JP shared the same artistic thrill. He was not only shaping a length of board he hasn’t done in a while, but he also fashioned a new style for the Holeman line (in theory) called the Magic Slipper. And I have the first of its kind.

To cool off after our stint in the blue room, I skipped down to the beach with the two lovebirds, taking my first dip in the Pacific Ocean in 2009. (Yeh, how fucking sad is that. I live four blocks from the water and I have YET to get wet. I have no excuse. I’m an asshole.) We did a little body surfing while keeping our eyes peeled for sharks. (Apparently a woman was mildly attacked about two miles south of where we were.) The water was super clear and a comfortable seventy-three degrees; warm enough to keep your testicles the proper size, yet cool enough to still be refreshing.

Post dip, we returned to home base and I sat down with Andrea, the artiste who does all of the artwork for the Holeman surfboards. Andrea whipped out a seven-inch thick color swatch and I picked out a slick little color scheme of Electric Blue and Sunbeam Yellow. Also, Andrea is going to take the Holeman logo, the silhouette of a phoenix, and trick it out with a lot of flair. So stoked.

I never want to take for granted the people in my life who share their amazing talents with me. I love to give credit when credit is due. I live to support my friends in all of their ventures, be they in development or already established in their line of work. The anticipation I have waiting to see the final product when Andrea and JP drop my brand new, original, custom surfboard off at The Hotel is only surpassed by the excitement leading up to catching the first wave on The Magic Slipper.

I’m falling down, but I should find my strength in this… A light that burns to reconnect my heart for what it’s meant to give…