& On The 7th Day, I Rocked

5 Cent Deposit/Test Specimen/Violent Affair/Union Dead/Sex Slaves/The Spunks
The Continental//1/7/06

I tried. Really I did.
My New Year's resolution was to cut back on shows or pace myself or something. And not go to shows because I felt I had to.
And I felt like crap after I'd decided that. Like I'd punished myself.
I've always felt that life's too short and besides, my money problems would work out in the end. Why deny myself? And however unhappy I am about my finances, my work sitch, my family, etc., none of that exists when I'm rockin out. It's really easy to drown those problems out with a really good band.
Besides, I passed on a few shows this past week, cover charge and free. So not only did I save money, I saved money on film and developing.
And besides, now there's a 5th band added to the bill, so the $10 goes further. It's like going to the Joey Ramone Xmas bash, which was $2, only I'm doing it 5X in one day. And I'm not bringing my camera. Baby steps.

I was afraid that now that I'm trying to be more aware of my show spending/going out I'd be over it or realize that I can live without it. Or force myself to. But when I woke up that morning all I could think about was the Continental and how it looks when it's empty, when I 1st walk in for shows like this. And it was sunny out, as it usually is on weekends when I spend the afternoon there. Like you'd expect spring and warmer weather to be right around the corner. Me & my stupid optimism. It's what's gotten me into this mess in the first place.

"I really hate this building," said the guy with a cup of Starbucks behind me as I waited to cross the street at Astor Place. "I mean, it's so out of place...." Maybe if there was a Starbucks in it he'd like it more. As it is, there's no Starbucks between the one on Astor and the one on Cooper Union.

You'd think with a name like 5 Cent Deposit they'd be somewhat--or something--better or more than they were. Instead, they laid down that typical Blinkin Green Weasel stuff that for some reason always strikes me as high school stuff. Maybe because, even though I don't know anything about the technicality of music, maybe that stuff really is easy to play. And then, funnily enough, as if to drive the point home, after their set the sound guy played Nevermind, which came out when I was in high school.

Test Specimen's circle pit-startin teenage punk rock girlfriends crack me the hell up and when I was hiding in the corner all their handbag friends were gathered there behind them like they were waiting for a midnight sale at Hot Topic. And Violent Affair still cracks me the hell up and that's not a good thing. Still with their brawling pits that almost had me getting punched in the stomach even though I was nowhere near the pit. So I moved behind them and leaned against the ledge, laughing, as they did their song about being from Valley Stream, their 14-year-old bass player trying to nail the Oi!Oi!Oi!s even though his voice hadn't changed, and covered Leftover Crack's Rock the 40 oz., which made me wish I had a 40 so's I could throw it at them.

So here's where I thought I'd be getting off easy because I've reviewed Test Specimen countless times, covered Violent Affair already, devoted a bulk of the last post to The Sex Slaves, and I won't kid myself, I know I only have 2 readers and both know The Spunks so what's the point in going on about them, but by the time Union Dead, wedged onto the bill at the last minute, came on, my back was hurtin' and for some reason you're not allowed to sit on the floor on the left side of the place, so I found a guitar case on its side to cop a squat upon. The good thing about Union Dead being on this bill is that that made it 6 bands at $10, and like the unlimited Metrocard ads point out, that's like $1.70 a band. Or something. The bad news is that they're crap. The singer was in pinstripe pants with a studded belt, 4 rows wide, around his ass and Converse while the guitar player and bass player wore motorcyle boots. They played hard rock in between posing and taking their shirts off and climbing on the drumkit. I was sitting on the guitar case and couldn't move because there was someone right next to me videotaping and I didn't want to get in his way so I had no choice but to watch the whole set. When they were told they had 1 song left of course they had to do 2. They were literally crammed onto the bill at the last minute and instead of being gracious they had to be rockstars and shortchange the good bands.

The Sex Slaves' "infamous live shows" might also include the circle pit that Test Specimen and their gang starts. That's nothing infamous to me because I've seen that before and I've seen circle pits at their shows. When they did We're Going Out Tonight they jumped onstage during the choruses and Eric said, "That's Test Specimen with We're Going Out Tonight." Obviously I'd take the circle pits over the fake tits any day--not to mention the teenage punk bands. There's just more camaraderie during their A/A sets. "Y'know why I like the A/A shows over the 21+ shows? More girls here I haven't fucked yet," Del admits. "Yeah you did. We were all standing here." After All Night Long, Del said, "If you're under 16, ignore that last song."

What is it with Japanese punk bands and assholes? Hajime said he wants to kiss Eric's asshole after the show. Also that his weenie doesn't sleep at night. "I have Godzilla in my pants," he says, and though The Spunks just came out with a new album, that should be the title of their next one--or someone's. Godzilla In My Pants. After simulating sex with the drumkit, Hajime called Eric onstage to jam with them and then simulated sex with him and of course I didn't have my camera on me. They kept it going even as the lights dimmed.

But I made the most of my locale by heading to Kinkos after to send out a resume even though I knew I wasn't going to get the job and kinda didn't want it. I thought I'd lost my hat but I ran back and found it. On my way to the subway a kid rushed up to me and asked if I knew how to get to a place called Continental. I told him to turn the corner and keep going and he'll see it eventually. "25 St. Marks, 3rd Ave." Uh, no. I look over his shoulder at the latest BOS flyer in the Learning Annex box, which of course is for a show not at Continental. "25 3rd Ave @ St. Marks. Around the corner--"
"This block, not the one with the McDonald's?"
"Yeah, and keep going. It's next to another McDonald's."
He thanks me and heads off, and I should've said that I just left there an hour ago. As I got to the subway I realized that I still had their sched--with the address on it--still in my coat pocket for future refrence.

Oh, yeah. I knocked my phone over and got disconnected so I figured I better copy the post since I assumed my browser would crash before I could post this, which is exactly what happened and has been known to happen regardless of getting disconnected. I could’ve lost a lot of this but I went to save this and saw that I already had something saved as 1/6. It was my Fabulous Entrourage review. I can’t believe that was only--and exactly--a year ago because it seems so long ago and far away.