element101

i wish people would realize to STOP GIVING THIS GUY YOUR MONEY. IT WILL NOT END WELL.
 
if nobody buys his product, he will stop. its like a bully. ignore the bully, its not fun for him anymore and he goes away. 

NJ to Orlando. 
 
We are not married, not together, and not friends. 
 
However, I got free access to all disney parks for 4 days. Worth it. 

I had a girl move from Gainesville to Brooklyn to be with me. We're married now with an awesome kid.
 
Gathering great stories is worthwhile in itself. Living life without regrets and questions is hard but worth the effort. Figure a way to find out and do it. Might hurt in the short term but avoiding "What If's" is always a valuable endeavor. 

I woke up on Sunday to Emmy showing me some pregnancy tests. We started trying in November. This is pretty awesome.
 
Little YCC should be here in October!
 
And I am stoked.

From what I've heard they are filming. Lots and lots of rumors. Shall be a fun night regardless. Heading up that way now!

My ?Complete? PTH collection
 
From the top:
Cobraside Fortress pressings (6 Variants and a Test Pressing):
#1/5 Clear Purple Etched Deadwax, Grey Marble, Purple Swirl, Sold Purple, Clear, Black
Scurillious (2 Variants):
Tan and Brown
Kezia (Only Pressing)
Search For The Truth EP
Underground Fortress Pressings:
Clear Purple, Clear, Clear Green
 
All on one of the backdrops from the Kezia Tour
 

I'll be at the last date. I'll grab as many as they'll let me to help anyone out. Not going to promise anything, so well see.

bkbrandonk I packed up a care package for you today for having to wait so long. I messaged all the people that hadn't received anything last week. If you are expecting your package and haven't gotten it yet just give me your address anyways having to wait so long blows.

If he treated everyone the way he treated my wife, then it's about time the ding-dong got fired.
 
This is just a case of "You're going to fire me? Then I'm taking you down with me..."

Even if the argument is that Rocketown is against same-sex marriage (which has yet to be proved, but can be assumed by most due to the fact that they are "Christian"):
 
If you're for same-sex marriage, why would you work for a company that is against same-sex marriage for SEVEN YEARS!?
 
Let the record show that I am a Christian (believe it or not because I say fuck every once in a while) and I am for same-sex marriage.

if you're claiming that your employer has been discriminating you based on your religious values and/or believes, why the hell would you wear a shirt proclaiming your religious values and/or beliefs to work?  I'm all for gay rights and same sex marriage and whatnot, but I'm also for common sense, and this guy seems to be lacking in that department...
 
also, newsflash: just because a shirt is rad doesn't mean that it's appropriate for work.

Ok, so first and foremost Rocketown is a religious establishment, it was founded by Michael W. Smith as a Christian outreach to bring kids to Christ in alternative ways. Obviously most Christian non profit business will have conflicting world views, but will not discriminate when hiring the positions they have. I'm sure this employee would have had to receive an employee handbook and most likely signed something stating they received the handbook. In it I'm sure it discussed many things two of those things being what you can not wear to work, and the other is how you present yourself to your customers. Once you are in the Rocketown establishment as an employee you are no longer representing yourself you are now a representative of that company, therefore you need to follow the rules laid out. I'm sure if he was wearing a pot leaf tshirt the same end result would have happened. It clearly goes against what the organization stands for, but most likely they would get a warning and be asked to change their clothing or be sent home and be requested never to do it again or further punishment could be taken. While I don't know any of the exact details I feel as though this not a first time fireable offense. Either the employee has had issues in the past not specific to the tshirt wearing and this was a final straw or he had been reprimanded not to wear this type of clothing while working and continued to wear the shirt he was there for being insubordinate to his superiors which would be grounds for firing. I don't claim to know the specifics of if they have a handbook or what the general practices are of Rocketown, I'm only making assumptions. But I know I wouldn't go to my job if I truly liked working there and wear something contradictory to what that company believes or wants represented for their company.

I'll be at the last date. I'll grab as many as they'll let me to help anyone out. Not going to promise anything, so well see.

I never stopped listening to 108's songs - such a great LP, a real seminal piece in my collection. I remember seeing them at the old Utility House in Gainesville in 1995 and a bunch of Krishna's from the local farm came to see them and didn't look too happy.
I don't know, music influenced me politically and socially. I think I found a positive path through it. It's a slippery slope but I think it isn't being used to strongarm people into believing things, I think the majority of people that spend their time making awful religion inspired music come from a place where they genuinely want to share something important to them like any other band.
Music has had no influence on me religiously. My Pop is a Devout Catholic who knew Pope John Paul 2 - My Mom is Jew. I rejected both. I really think religion is very personal and a) is not for everyone and b ) requires exploration. I guess I can see some music as being a means to explore. At one time in my life due to my vegetarianism someone told me I had to try buddism. I wanted to like it but it didn't appeal to me.
I don't have the definitive answer, I just don't believe in black and white. I watched kids at Food Not Bombs rail against religion on Sundays while I saw the Church down the street offer those same kids their kitchen to prepare that food. I watched that same church offer free meals 7 days a week. I just see plenty of good out there but I'd never say that all religious institutions are good and at the same time I wouldn't come close to saying all are bad.
I'm rambling. This isn't a subject I spend much time on honestly. I mentioned earlier it is personal and I keep it largely private accordingly.

Watch the HBO Documentary 12th and Delaware. Its about our small little city. A heap of churches go out an protest and confront people at a local abortion clinic EVERY single day. Quit their jobs. My friend, and my Co Worship Director yelled at them on camera. Most people with a brain can see that what they are doing is wrong. Not all churches believe these things. Not all churches are about hate. Don't put a whole group of people in a box because of a label and a crappy history. My church is a Biker church. Quite the opposite of church in the whole spectrum of things. I've been so many places in this country. These "Westboro" type of people are an extremely small number. Its funny that you fight what you believe to be Hate with more Hate. If you don't like it, get up and do something about it and stop complaining on forums.

Okay, the A Change Of Pace story.
 
I reviewed their first album for AP way back in 2005. Here it is:
 
 
 
 
I gave it a 1 out of 5, only because we didn't give zeroes. It is really a terrible album.
 
So after that review comes out, I start getting harassed by a few random people on AOL Instant Messenger, all of whom I assumed were in some way connected with the ACOP camp. It wasn't that big of a deal, only because they were as bad at insults as they were at writing songs. Additionally, their drummer also sent me a message (either via email or MySpace, can't remember) that literally just said, "Why do you hate us?" I remember laughing heartily at that.
 
Fast-forward a few months to Warped Tour 2005. I was at the Cleveland date, working the AP booth and taking photos for altpress.com. When I came back to the booth after shooting HorrorPops or somebody, a fellow worker told me that some people came by the booth asking if I was there. Being the Warped Tour, I figured it was someone I knew—you never know who might be out on Warped on any given summer, between bands, techs, merch people, etc. So I hung around the booth for a little bit, and a few minutes later, these two guys come walking by the booth with a megaphone and a sign (that is obscured from my vision by our tent). Whatever they're saying is muffled, but I definitely make out my name, so I walk out of the booth to see what is going on. When they see that, these two dudes just start booking it as fast as they can go from our tent. I run after them and eventually catch up with them at a bottleneck in the crowd. They turn around, and I look up at the sign—it says, "A CHANGE OF PACE — 6:20 @ SMARTPUNK STAGE."
 
I look at them and say, "Lemme guess: You're [insert AIM screennames here]."
 
They look at me and snort and say, "Huh-huh, yeah."
 
Then we just sort of stand there for 10 seconds or so, me waiting for the synapses in their brains to fire as to at least continue the conversation. When that doesn't happen, I say, "So, are we done here? Can I go back to work?"
 
As I turn around to walk away, one of them says, "Huh-huh, yeah, why don't you go find a treadmill on the way back!"
 
(Get it? Because I'm overweight.)
 
I snap back around and say, "That's funny! Your band still sucks," and walk away. The end.

That's fair enough. All I'm saying is they write about what their readers (not you) care about. Your beliefs have no standing on how they run their BUSINESS.
 
 
- Huh? Rolling Stone started out as a magazine that was founded solely to make a buck off of an underground community. Just not this one.
 
- If you think the "scene" doesn't care about making money, you're out of your mind. I love your optimism but everybody exploits you for profit.
 
What about Hot Topic? You think Hot Topic is doing all of these represses for the good of the scene, or because they're the "same as us"? You don't think they're just a business trying to pull money out of your hands, right? No complaints about that, though. One man's records is another man's neon t-shirts...

Depends on how you want to define "Christian Band". Brian from Gaslight Anthem is an outspoken christian and it shows through in his lyrics, but they don't do things like hold prayer ceremonies on stage.
 
GA definitely matters if they count as a Christian Band.

Equally as lame as the rest of the scene these days.

Now let's take a moment here. I did not see that Have Heart lp on your tradelist and I assumed off of what you had that you would genuinely enjoy the items I sent. I love that Tear It Up LP and figured you would, too. Apparently, however, obscurity means the band sucks versus me just getting you something stereotypically better known. Next time, I'll peruse the pages of AP for ideas. The note was completely tongue in cheek. Come on, man; I meant no malice. If you're genuinely sore about it, I will gladly send you a new package of stuff - no need to go into swearing at me. I DID try to get stuff in your interest range, afterall. Sorry that you took it as being a bad gift - would it have not been if I hadn't booby trapped it? No one ever plays pranks, they always play it super straight, I apologize for trying to step outside of that. If I was genuinely trying to give you a bad gift, would I have gotten things that I thought would be interesting to you? No, I would have gotten a half a dozen thrift store lp's and sent those. You may not have liked it, but I genuinely tried - I was unaware that there Are hidden rules for how to package a secret santa gift as well as what it's made up of.

It doesn't matter how well you package a record. It can get damaged.
Making friends and just explaining little things to your postal guy can help but alot of times, if you care alot about your purchase then insure it. As a seller, just pack it the way you would want your records to be packed.

my best advice is to not announce anything until it is in production. at minimal attention, i've noticed you announce or tease several releases that to my understanding aren't happening. i know they've all hit bumps in the road along the way, and you thought they were happening, but that's happened to me too. Those releases that have hit bumps have never been announced by me, and no one gets disappointed. It just looks unprofessional and will give you're brand a bad rep fast. Many labels and even bands talk about ETR like it's the laughing stock of the "vinyl industry" because of all these things. Perhaps your eyes are bigger than your stomach. Most of us know what a pain in the ass it is to work with huge labels or labels with less than ethical practices (cough cough drive thru). You have to work with whoever owns the music. There's a few labels out there that totally fuck bands and you can almost guarantee if you work with these labels, the band is going to see you as the enemy along with them. I wouldn't touch those labels with a ten foot pole

I think its just general respect to get the bands involved in each project involving them or their music.

Will wait for Rise... I'll be the idiot buying the $100 bundle