Quick October

Fall is a busy time. I've seen several shows without writing a word about them. I loved the DOC and Shoppers show at La Casa. The singer for Shoppers, Meredith, is incredibly friendly and talkative. I spent a long time talking about everything from matryoshka dolls to food with her. At La Casa, the band had some problems with equipment and Meredith's voice was drowned out by the sound of the band's instruments. DOC has never sounded better. The heavy bass got into my bones. The acoustics at La Casa made DOC sound all the more intense.

This Saturday, I went to Youngblood Fest in Baltimore, Maryland. So many bands, so much youth-crew style music. The line-up: Iron Age, Lion of Judah, No Tolerance, Police & Thieves, Rival Mob, Brick, Sacred Love, Give, Mob Mentality, Stick Together, Noose, and Bad American. Plus, Vegan Treats sold whoopie sandwiches there - chocolate and peanut butter or pumpkin and cream. Delicious. Our friend Joey from Chicago, who plays drums for Noose, gave me and Pat a sticky bun that the Chicago group had gotten from Vegan Treats the night before. An amazing, gooey, pecan-covered treat.

I enjoyed listening to Noose who delivered fast and furious hardcore. The singer from Razor Fade catapulted toward the stage to sing along with a cover song and took over the microphone for a little while. Between songs, Noose's singer broke into a speech about being vegan and straight edge. He berated listeners that if they'd been in the scene for longer than a year and were still eating meat, he considers them weak or heartless. Pretty militant. When Stick Together played, the singer praised Noose's performance, while also commenting that he eats meat.

No Tolerance from Boston, Massachusetts were incredibly tight and their singer, Justin from Mind Eraser, has a strong voice. I heard them last year and they impressed me then. They stood out for me among all of the bands who played the fest. I hope to see them again.

After No Tolerance played, Pat and I got take-out food from One World, a vegan cafe and sandwich shop. We also picked up a couple of items for our friends. I ordered the vegetable jambalaya. Pat got the steak and cheese for himself and Brian Lam, who was playing drums for Mob Mentality. Jason Toner got the meatball sub. One World uses the popular Daiya cheese and their mock meat has a good texture in the sandwiches. The sausage in the jambalaya tasted like Yves Sweet Italian Veggie Sausage that I tend to avoid, because of its mushy texture and artificial flavor. Regardless, for jambalaya, I'd prefer a spicier sausage or chorizo.The vegetables were soggy, although the restaurant mixed in a nice array of peppers, tomato, corn and onions. We passed our friend Andy Norton as we were walking back to the show. He labeled the jambalaya as tasting like something he'd fish out of the frozen food section of the grocery store and the food generally from One World as bland. I love spicy food and he was being a little too harsh. I really do think the sandwiches look filling and the bite I had of Pat's steak and cheese was tasty.

Rival Mob did an unexpected Misfits cover of Where Eagles Dare, which was fun. I was shocked, though, when the singer acted like they'd just played an obscure song given the fact that you can purchase Misfits merchandise even from Hot Topic at your local mall.

We left right before Iron Age took the stage. We got to the show before the first band started playing at around 2:15 p.m. We got to my house at around 10:30 p.m.

Oh - one last thing - I bought an extra-small, hot pink, girl's t-shirt with the Youngblood Records logo. Pat coveted my shirt. He complained that Youngblood failed to make neon pink t-shirts in men's sizes. Heads up to what might happen if Pat takes charge of making shirts for one of the bands he is in...