Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Too often young people are pegged for having no awareness, care, or opinion as to what’s going on in our society today. Chords Will Cure says it’s time to stop forfeiting our voices.

Finally giving shows a reason to be function over fashion, Chords Will Cure is setting out to use music and knowledge to send help across Long Island, the country, and even the world. Dreamed up by Sam Fruner and Mike Antonucci, the invested team also includes Devin Passariello, Tim Vargas, and Joe Barcella, all of which have signed on with a common goal to raise money and promote the kind of public awareness that will eventually make changes in a corrupt society. Their plans to raise money highlight monthly concert ticket sales and original merchandise, which exists so far in t-shirts and bracelets that are equally stylish and affordable. Future fundraising plans include walk-a-thons, charity dinners, raffles, and contests. All of these again, are in effort to give kids the opportunity to get involved.

Rather than choosing one charity to call attention to, the CWC team has decided to take on four. “We decided to donate to 4 causes that we feel kids in the (music) scene would connect with the most.” says Passariello. Established as fully non-profit, CWC will benefit:

Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance; which prides itself on being the leading patient-directed organization, helping sufferers of the most prevalent mental illnesses pre-diagnosis, immediately following diagnosis, and when treatment isn’t working.

American Cancer Society; which is attributed for sending out hope on their way to finding a cure. Well known events include the highly successful Relay for Life and Strides Against Breast Cancer.

Global Aids Alliance; which sets out on the mission of halting global AIDS, especially reaching out to help poorer countries where the epidemic hits the hardest. They promote a hearty goal of achieving universal HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care in the coming year.

ASPCA; which dedicates itself to the prevention of animal cruelty throughout the United States. As the first humane organization in the Western Hemisphere, this organization works to pass laws, rescue abuse victims, and deliver resources to animal shelters nationwide.

Chords Will Cure is already receiving a tremendous amount of support from the Long Island music scene. Its avid supporters include bands like This Condition, Patent Pending, Score24, Chasing Fiction, Under Spinning Lights, Set In Color, Big City Lights, and Stereo Skyline. All of these bands and more have been booked for the organization’s first two shows, set for January 16th and February 27th 2010. In the nearer future, CWC is sponsoring ChristMOSH ’09 at the Vibe Lounge on December 20th, featuring Stereo Skyline and The Bigger Lights.

The organization’s personal investment to change is apparent as Passariello opens up; “For me, donating to the American Cancer Society was the first priority. I lost my mother this past May to cancer. Luckily I started this business with 4 of my really good friends, so they were obviously supportive when I mentioned the ACS.” Antonucci says likewise; “Devin’s mother was a huge motivation for why we wanted to do this, and I also lost my grandmother to cancer several years ago. There are people in my life who suffer from depression and bipolar disorder, so DBSA is really important to me and hits close to home.”

Chords Will Cure can be found on facebook, twitter, and myspace, all of which have been excellently designed by the talented Ashley Veltre. Visit www.chordswillcure.com for more information and for links to BigCartel.com to check out their merch, as well as PayPal.com to support by donation.

An end to suffering is near, and change fight-worthy. So speak up, get involved, and listen to the songs of an organization who wants to sing society into a bright and united future.


...Terica.
*Please re-blog this anywhere you can, and don't forget that Streetlight has officially move to http://streetlightdiaries.tumblr.com/

<3only.

Friday, December 4, 2009

tell it to tumblr

To all my punks and their posses:

Streetlight Diaries is moving to tumblr! Please head over there promptly as a new TC blog is waiting to melt your face <3

http://streetlightdiaries.tumblr.com/


...TERICA!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

You must cross your heart and kiss your elbow.

The truth is- no one can save a soul which does not want to be saved. We wait for salvation, but does it wait for us? Or does it move on to someone else, and do we miss our chance? I have never been a chorus girl so I refused to be immortalized as one. If I am just that to you, then wait outside. Tweet from there. Wait till you realize Dr. Seuss never rhymed with damaged. Break the rules, break the mold. Break your shoes, break the cold. I am no chorus girl.

Today I spent writing. And seeing if I wanted to heal. I did not. So I had a drink and played a game. Ohh! You all know how playing games is my favorite. So I asked a bunch of my readers, and another handful of friends, to text me a word -any word- so that I could write with it. Rules are I cannot stop writing until a page is filled and also that I cannot judge nor stop whatever comes to my mind. And so this is some of what you have given to me. To you. Don't expect to comprehend, don't expect it to make sense on first read, don't expect at all. Draw what you will, and then do come share it with me. Only, if you can stop tweeting that long.

ACHIEVEMENT- ashleigh
Achievement is in the eyes of the beholder. It is the will of the masquerader. What I do in life will not be measured in references or pounds, or dollars or damned relationships. No, what I do will be measured in faces and pages, conversations and moments. Achievement is on the shoulders of me, and therefore, you. What will you be measured in? Do you feel the need to be measured at all? Achievement seems to go hand in hand with judgement..by someone else. Yet I find my harshest critic cannot hurt me half as much as I do myself. Achievement is as big as a high award of esteem and honor, or as small as the point of this moving pen. It as medium as the lunch I have finally agreed to eat. Achievement is in the eye of the beholder. Hold me, and I will hold you.


INSANITY - melana
I find this predictable even in context. Especially in context. The word is void of creativity, of color, or correlation to anything but some dark and shallow past which is blamed for everything. I am clearly mad and not void of this word. Insanity can be cute; a coy reason for feeling or sounding out of place. Yet it can be ugly and boresome, because excuses are such. Insanity as an adjective doesn't interest me much, nor does it explain hardly anything much to me. It is not mysterious. Mysterious is interesting to me! Open-ended; a potentially colorful feast of my sole healthy habit for curiosity. Mystery is chanceful, glorious or impetuous of rot- the key word of course being 'or.' And shit, here I've gone and broken my rules of description and correlation for this game because I haven't written about the word but another word, and context. A context that quite clearly both bores and angers me with predicability. Yes, even anger bores me now. Shoo, context, or fly. At least flying would be worth my time. Insanity. Is just kind of old-fashioned. An disloyal faux fur covering the shoulders of a perfectly cute outfit.

BOTTLE - austin
A bottle is such of containment,
yet it makes me feel quite the opposite.
What say you, Bottle?
Art thou not hand nor foot? Nor keg nor twist-off?
That which we call a bottle by any other name would ring as sweet!
Oh- I so do like the word bottle,
how it rolls from my throat a mere word forth my day. Or your day.
How easily it can then be fandangled into a sort of funny British accent, and how my
lips smack before each recitation.
Oh sweetness, do contain me!
Do what you will, Bottle, to enwrap me in your glass, so strong but sheer-
transparent to the world my love for you with willing imprisonment by your realm.
Contain me, Bottle, else I shalt break you..
For every delicacy which cannot hold on must fall
from my shelf
in a glittery display of shard and surface.
Contain me, Bottle, else I consume you first.

DISAPPOINTMENT - LJ
Everywhere I tilt my head in this forsaken room is a picture of someone who has disappointed me. And they are, in fact, faces I love. So I think over to myself- is it really these people who have disappointed me, or is it the love. Is it I who has disappointed both? Could it be that we try so hard to be something worthy that we become nothing at all? Worthwhile is a small matter of someone else's comparisons, but worthy is a greater obstacle of our own. Because it is so often, isn't it?, that we feel disappointed in others when really, we are upset with ourselves for not making us worthy enough for them. What is good enough? There isn't anymore a published code of standards like there was in my adolescence, and I sense that maybe the intuition for perfection and the over-agility to please was not my idea in the first place. Perhaps I am more brainwashed than I think.
Disappointment promotes excuses often times, such as the following; I sent out the message for a bunch of you to participate in this game with me (because games, you know, are my favorite), and only less than half of you responded. If I am purposefully rational I say; he is probably driving, or sleeping, or working, or writing his Great Aunt Hans a thinking of you note. He's just- not thinking of me right now. Excuses freeze over disappointments to be heated up and dealt with another time. Now, what's your excuse for me?


These, just a few of what I drew from you. Some funny sort of sentences to make you think, and to make me loosen up. Mind you, these paragraphs are not addressed to the prescribed names, I just thought I might give credit to those vocab waiters who struck the most tangible words in my conscious tonight. The others to come. And of course, the night ends with Breakfast at Tiffany's, one of Ms. Soto's favorites, and a perhaps trite yet warmly lingering anecdote I scribbled initially in but a half-sleep this morning:







You will always owe somebody something,
but you will never owe anybody yourself.


Tera.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

be careful of falling parachutes.

I sit outside a venue with "the group"- the one-stop, badass, don't ask us our jobs but we'll tell you every band we've ever been in...Long Island scene kids. They are mature enough to call each other immature, but not mature enough to trust their own friends. Nearly everyone I could ask company for is present, yet tonight I am unamused by most of them. Where does the anti-complacency end, or even falter? I sit here in a bitterly cold wind, comfortable in my surroundings and feeling lucky to know them all, but suddenly I feel that perhaps I've been just a little too much part of it all. It was brought to my attention that in the past I have given off the initial impression of a backstabber, a gossip artist. The latter I'm sure I am, but as I sit amongst people who jump ship like they've been sworn into the U.S. Coast Guard...I realize I hardly want to be considered the first.

A few long moments later I am out of the wind and leaning against the bar with Travis McGee, Tom Angenbroich, Rob Fox, and Pat Brown. The confusing simplicity of this line up strikes me again to feel lucky and I decide I'm ready to clear the air: I may know all of your secrets, but I would never try to hurt you with them. I couldn't. To everyone I have hurt- I'm sorry. It's not that I want to make trouble, call you out or give you a bad review. It's that I swore I'd tell the truth how ever I experienced it, and without the truth..this blog..well it's nothing but a bunch of glorified boys and a girl stuck in their world. The fact that your stories are real is what makes these words worth the time.

Last night I took a few long moments with 6 lighted globes and someone who thinks that maybe it's just time for me to forget. A while later I was carried home in disillusion; not knowing what I wanted to say or think, but being okay with doing neither just yet.

Then I had a dream.
I had a fever, then I had a dream- that I couldn't get home. And that you said you wouldn't hold my hands on Mondays. When I woke up I thought you were there. But it was only last night's 6 colors in my eyes. And as my fever broke so did the dawn, and I remembered that it was Thursday. So I reached- and hoped that the wind had not taken you away.

Something has changed as of this morning. Something is over and I am not sad. At times I write with a pen as sharp as your stabbing knifes. Other times I try to dull your blades with a confusing paragraph or made-up word. At all times, I find, the truth is the hardest of sentences to post. I can't compete with anyone. I won't. And if that means losing pieces of some of you, then well- I am constantly moving on. Moving past. And it is time to forget. We are all quite difficult to love, this "group," and I probably the hardest of us all. Yet our long moments have yet to written, and our anxieties...nothing more than a couple crunchy leafs blown in by a bitter wind.

Be careful of falling parachutes, it's only a matter of time before someone changes your life.

...Terica.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

further untitled.

The truth is, I've been taught a lot.
The truth is, I can't tell you the truth.
The truth is, he's not right. But he's a hell of a lot closer to being so than I am.
The truth is...my perception is often altered and I write my own stories because none of you are good enough at telling me ones you make up.
The truth is. There are no certain truths.

I'm sorry.


pl

untitled.

I hate you.
You think I love you but I don't. I don't because you don't love me, and that ship has way sailed. You guys are backstabbers, and manipulators. And you'll all spend the rest of the afternoon telling me I'm crazy and mouthy, that this is simply not true. But it is. And you were all meant for each other. I wanted to belong. But to friends who don't want me? You want to be written about yet...you treat me like shit. You treat each other like shit. I can't write about that. You make my not-job so hard. I couldn't bear to write what the Book really says. I couldn't bear to lose the people I've never had. So what am I gonna do? What am I gonna say, what am I not gonna say. I can't trust any of you and worst of all, you could care less. You are liars, and addicts. Viruses and heroes. You think I don't hate you. But I'm not so sure.

Today I'm sick. I'm in need. If you know of what, gimme a text. Otherwise, just let me know when your shows and practices are. I'll write about them. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone the kind of people you really are.



pl

Thursday, November 5, 2009

We're crashing up, I'm falling again. Well the summer came, and then it swept us away.

Once again- no kids at Vibe. The Club Loaded boys don't wanna be here, I don't even wanna be here. There is a crowd of people one person deep at the bar. I can't even roll my eyes when I turn away from the stage because there are parents video taping and relatives saving seats for a band 5 years older than I. "He's a lyrical genius" a mother says. I smile and nod and walk away as quickly as possible. I'm pissed off today, sick of the local drama and sleepy from taking the fall for it. A singer smiles and snags me for a cigarette outside. Finally someone making a little sense in my world.

I'm here to see Hollywood Lies. To me they are boys from Warped Tour, the good faces that steadied my tour-wind summer. Now I realize I've missed them. I miss seeing the same different people every morning. I realize I'm starting to go stir crazy on this island in an stubborn scene with unreliable band boys. But I'm standing here freezing in runned tights and bleached hair trying to pretend it's all fine and trying to get lost in the tour coming through tonight.

Have you ever heard a band and been able to see the future? Every next kiss, every last night. Maybe it's cuz they're all cute. Maybe because it's cuz they're all hungover. Kings of the power stance and advocates of the head bang, City Lights is sure to make your guilty conscious smile. They sure surged out all that Long Island scene frustration that's been building up in me since the end of summer tours. I love the way their frontman handles the small crowd, allowing inside jokes with his tourmates (no doubt inklings of the bottom of previous night's bottles), but not totally forfeiting the set from lack of fans. Secret Secret Dino Club could leanr something from them. Plus their drummer seems to be just the right amount of everything. I start to like something about this place tonight.

And then. A Shakira intro. Nothing like a little Shakira to shake your saddness away. I've never seen Hollywood Lies play. I've never seen them do anything but cheer me up. So when I lifted my chin to watch their set, I didn't know what I'd end up writing...

His fingers have all the assests I love in a singer. And though he has a serious battle with the microphone stand, I can't stop watching him. He's clumsy onstage; getting his wires tangled, stubbing his toe on the rock box, and having a similar battle with the drum mic. When I ask he says it was the small stage, still I wonder if there's outside circumstances affecting him. His babyface tries to assue me so I let him have his secret. After all, I still keep mine from him.

Johnny..looks like he's ready to jump into a pick up game of hoops. But damn. If I'd have known he played like this I would've stepped aside in those Warped selling wars that made us friends. He is such a fun drummer to watch. No predictability in his live movement, great hair flips, and oo...one little stick drop. He laughs it off. Johnny Fuckin Barbas is a drummer you go see. Good Form.

It's not totally unpredicatble but they swiftly play a cover song, and Marc switches with Matt to play "Low" by Flo'Rida. The second I see a singer duck under the guitar strap, I forget all about the idiots making a mess of Long Island. Not only do these boys of summer semi-surprise me, but they sound sick doing it. Oh snap, Hollywood Lies.

Fast forward to this morning.

The smell of cologne and clean boys trails out of the bathroom and into where I sleep. Everything about it comforts me. Perhaps it is a reflection of the gender ratio I grew up with. Or maybe it's a reminder of the ex-boyfriends who were able to hold me calm. Regardless, my bedroom smells like boys and I wish there were some physicality attatched to it. Yet every morning I have their text messages, not them. Every gift is a curse and every blessing a heartache. I woke up this morning with a heartache and knew just which kind it was. Today things would be different, again. Loss of appetite, loss of singers, loss of lucky blue pen. So I reached for my phone and began to face it all, missing that same kind of different.

My lifestyle is so fleeting, unstable. It's what I bargained for, I knew what I was getting into- mostly. Live fast, die young. The first part I'm doing well, the second I'm still waiting on. I feel like I'll get struck and run over by a tour bus...oo, I hope it's the Maine's. Until then, everything and everyone floats away too quickly and frankly, I'm afraid to get lost in the stratosphere. I feel like it'd resemble some sort of airy purgatory with helium balloons everywhere and Kevin Bard's voice playing constantly. Don't let me go there! What I really want is to be held still for just one hour. I want someone to witness my existence the way I do theirs. But between tours and band meetings, other girls and twitter updates, my chosen family doesn't really have time to sit still with me. And I know this- I knew what I was getting into. So I am left here with this blog as my witness, casting confessions in effort to anchor myself down to something. Anything. My secret.

I lied to you when I said I never listened to your ep. I listened to it every dusk in the van trying to drown out that desert heat.



...Terica.
"Secrets" by: Hollywood Lies

note: both Cerney and Mess submitted quotes to be included in this blog. One I can post, one I can't. It is my creative decision to let your mind wander...

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Sexy vs. Skanky; Battle of the Facebook acoustic videos...

A darling little spin off of Cosmopolitan magazine's ever-indulgent column.


Sexy: letting us into your bedroom.
Skanky: letting us into your cave.

Sexy: asking us to listen.
Skanky: telling us to listen.

Sexy: making us watch you smile before you play.
Skanky: making us watch you drink before you play.

Sexy: rhyming about girls.
Skanky: rhyming about clouds?

Sexy: dressing differently for every video.
Skanky: dressing in your pajamas for every video.

Sexy: writing a song about the moment.
Skanky: writing a song that I could have sworn was a George Michael cover.

Skanky: not shaving.
Skanky: not shampooing. Lose-Lose.

Sexy: posting links to your tumblr.
Skanky: treating your facebook status like it is your tumblr.

Skanky: trying to get outsiders on your side.
Skankier: letting outsiders fight your battles.

Sexy: moving on.
Sexier: moving me.




Please check out this past week's creative wave on facebook.com and let me know which songs youu give a sexy thumbs up to ;)


...Terica.

Monday, November 2, 2009

enjoy the fall.

How did I get here? We are in Wlkes-Barre, PA and there is a weird feeling in everything about this instant. We are here for Justin's show, Justin as Big City Lights. We brought him on account of the Big City Dissolvement that went on this past week. So much fighting, so little resolved. It's sad. A death is always sad somehow but, I guess their lights just weren't big enough. So Mess and I brought the Singer here and here we are beside a Pennsylvanian sidewalk, waiting for another door to open and hoping for the best.

He sits in my backseat instinctively pulling his fingers over strings, an acoustic sound to fill the moments we are passing by. This is how we always want it. No matter what he plays- cover or original- he still sounds like Justin which tonight, is just what it is. I'm not sure if I think or feel anything of it. I'm not sure if I've ever heard an acoustic guitar sound so...easy. Gentile. I feel like he's not really playing it, that it's playing itself. His quote, "Guitar's so weird."

How did he get here? A boy who has been Permanently everywhere, who has probably been through too much. How did he end up in my backseat? As he plays I let him chose my inspiration. I'd ask for a song, but whatever he picks is far closer to what I need to hear than any request I could submit. Plus I believe he knows the role he is playing right now as I try to write. He chooses an evenly tempoed melody- a whisper that neither ear nor enemy can deny, and I realize I have run out of adjectives for all of this. I stare at his fingers and I can see into his soul, but when I meet his eyes they seem to be asking me not to tell anyone. The song brings us to the chorus again and I am suddenly quite sad. I think there is a broken heart in my backseat. Broken fingers, no. But broken trust, maybe. Whatever it is, he's trying to hide it. He takes all my questions with a deep sigh, like it's very hard for him to answer. He says there is no secret. But I kinda think there is. There must be. He says the secret is there is no secret. But he pops a string while tuning inside the venue and I think somehow it's a sign he's lying. We laugh at the broken wire because he just can't catch a break. The Singer isn't all bad luck though. I find a string envelope under the stage left monitor, present it to him, and by some stroke of meant-to-be, it contains the very string he needs. I don't say it but the coincidental fate blows my mind. Later in the car, I notice a shiny glare from under the drivers' seat. It's the ring my parents bought me for my 21st birthday that I thought I'd lost months ago. I would have never been in the backseat if we hadn't dragged the Singer out to nowheres land to pull those fingers over strings. He's not bad luck, he's just...luck. Keep it or give it.

I wonder what year we are in. With this pre-show playlist I really feel like I'm not sure. It's cold in this venue and in my memory- it's having such a hard time settling on anything. Things get..more active, but less real. If that makes any sense. We play board games with the kids who came out to see Big City Lights; Mess somehow confuses a tooth and an appendix in her logic. We dance. We try to make Justin jete from one end of the room to the other. He doesn't do that exactly, but he constantly obliges in his signature strut and hip pop. We don't know what we're all doing here together but we are laughing. Mess and I get onstage to open for BigCityJustin. Did a little stand up comedy, a little hardcore intro, but I think our main staple was Dakota by Rocket. We will be moving it to close our set in all future gigs. Later than sooner it is Justin's turn to play. He hops onstage, embodying his blog-given name, and those fingers make the Singer fall into his songs.

"And maybe it's too late to turn around-"
The thing is...I would have driven him to Maui to play this little acoustic set. It's okay if we are all the way from home, if we have no money, if he doesn't need me the way I could possibly need him. Because this is beyond us, this story we are living out. And each of us are replaceable characters; the boy with the guitar and the girl with the smile. Yet this is our turn, and this page is my favorite. I will dog-ear the part when his necklace shines in the spotlight. I will doodle the name of this song and underline his favorite lyric. I have a lot of questions all the time, except when he's playing. Then it doesn't matter. And I'm the one sighing. When he gets offstage he is a herb again, just an anxious boy with a secret. That he'll never tell me. Maybe he tells us while he plays.

This place is cold. So much colder than it should be. This place is real. This sound guy is creepy, and I like him. He's, well, I don't what's in his head but I think at least physically, he's real. These 3 kids who drove an hour to see Big City Lights are fucking real. Effing real. I drove him 2 1/2 hours for these kids. I am the "gratefulest. Most grateful." He thinks he's bad at talking onstage, but he's probably the smoothest I've seen at it. It's least awkward when he's doing the talking. He laughs, and lets us laugh at him. We smile, and he smiles for us. He's real. Hm - whaddya know.

I wonder who the Singer really is. I wonder what he'll become. These lights cast red and purple shadows on this page though, colors too beautiful to see past anything beyond right now. I don't need these questions answered yet.

No stage diving. Means no quitting. That's why he's here. There are pages and pages of Book filled before these, 11 to be exact, all with the harsh details of how a Long Island band imploded this week. But that is just one of the many stories that will stay in here...for now. The aftermath, in my words and his songs, now that is for you. There is no quitting. If you truly believe, then I truly believe you can't quit. No option. No bridge. No broken strings.

My hair is dirty and my feet are cold. All I have right now is this pen, his fingers, and the 12 people in this room. That's real.




...Terica.
"Human Toy" by: the Singer
"Bad" by: Michael Jackson

Saturday, October 24, 2009

"Tonight I am at the Vibe Lounge"

I am being overly advised on the subject of boys. It seems as though I have 5 or 6 big brothers in the LI scene (bigger, not older) who are determined to look out for my best interest. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have submitted an opinion, however none of you will be taking home the grand prize of being right. Sorry. I know you've all seen the worst of each other and that you're only trying to look out for me...but let's do like we usually do; let me make a mistake, then you come over and play Dakota on your acoustics to make me smile and neverr say i told you so. Deal? :) Ok.

Tonight- sigh. I have written this sentence maybe 12 thousand times; Tonight I am at the Vibe Lounge. It's been years now that I've been coming here, a few less years that I've been recognized here, and even a few less that my presence was requested. Yet in my scene, all roads lead home to Vibe. No, kids don't so much come in packs anymore, and yes, I have to repeat outfits all the time. But I had a lousy day with the situations mentioned above and I just wanted to be around a guitar. I wanted to be somewhere where no one could text me their opinions. I wanted to go to a home. Lucky for me, Dob tweets every 6 seconds and I was reminded of The Promise's show. So. Tonight I am at the Vibe Lounge.

I chat with Dob outside. I get my bag checked by the bouncer. I fixed my hair in the mirror coming down the stairs and accept a black X on my right hand. How many times have I done all this? I go to the bathroom, because there is nothing else to do yet, and as I come out, I quite nearly smacked Travis McGee with the door. Ok, I've never done that before. Hi's are exchanged like it's not awkward that I hit him with a door and now he's staring into the girl's bathroom. Then I walk to sit at the bar shaking my head at how classic Ricky that was, and wonder how many awkward moments I've created at the Vibe Lounge.

This band on the show- Stay, from Massachusetts- has a bassist with a mess of curly hair and a singer who wears super form-fitting skinnies (cuz he's not lanky he actually has a form to fit) and spends a lot of the time singing on his tip toes. Now why does that sound familiar...

The Promise- promises to be always slightly unconventional. I mean there's not a skinny jean or Vans shoe in sight and the frontman wears a Beijing 2008 Olympic t-shirt. That's The Promise. Dobby's mic is pretty short, as are many of the songs. But the jumps he does with his bass get mad air and, in a post-set "interview" he tells me those leaps actually come completely natural to him. No practice. Believe it or not.

I think I love it when a musician asks me if I can hear his instrument from the audience. It's always the same charades; quick point to his guitar then to his ear, while mouthing the question. I wonder how many times I've been asked this in the Vibe Lounge.

I have my favorite parts about this place for sure. For one, getting asked said question. But I also like how the touring bands just sit and stare at the local circuses play. And how Travis and Cerney get bored and start using alternate voices to announce Loaded's upcoming shows. I like when the girls in the bathroom are complaining about how stupid a drummer or bassist is acting while they graffiti his band's name on the stall. That step by the merch tables. I like how when I look into the ceiling mirror above the front row I can see 12 thousand sets and smiles and times that have been awkwardly perfect for me here.

Tonight I am at the Vibe Lounge. I had the lousiest day. I know everyone's just trying to help, but it's wearing me out. I got dressed and went to the same old venue with nothing but the promise of it feeling like home. I talked to Dob outside. I got my bag checked by the bouncer. I fixed my hair in the mirror coming down the stairs, and I accept a black X on my right hand. I didn't crack a real smile until somebody put on Mercy Mercedes in between bands. Then it felt like home.

Thanks for cheering me up guys.




...Terica.
"Shiver Me Timbers" by: Mercy Mercedes
(nov. 14th at TheVibeLounge with Between The Trees and Big City Lights)

Friday, October 23, 2009

you're what they're talkin about.

TimmyEPIC and I have had several conversations over why we love writing about the morning so much. I still don't know why. MatthewinColor says he can wake up and feel if it's going to be a writing day or not for him. I think it's mornings that Timmy and I wake up with 3 sentences already written that we notice, and it's those mornings that are, well, epic enough to be written about.

Every morning I wake up with a song in my head. Every morning I mumble "hola" to Candace as she walks back and forth getting ready for class. I must look ridiculous with blankets and blonde hair everywhere. Eyes still closed, I listen to what the dancers are complaining about in the kitchen- mostly teachers, mostly I always agree. By this time Nathen is singing out of my phone, because I'll set an alarm once in a month and never remember to turn it off. This is when I smile and open my eyes. 10 new text messages: Radio, Radio, tweet, tweet, Nate, Nik, tweet (shut up Dob), AndrePalmer, tweet, tweet. I roll over and the first thing I see is the Back To The Future picture Rob24 drew for me during Arts&Crafts time the other day. He says on Scene Street, USA, we will do Arts&Crafts and watch Elf every day. Next I see This Condition flyers, and I remember what I dreamt. I dreamt of a sacrifice, a kitten, a caterpllar, and an encore. I dreamt that everything was worth it.

I remember I get to go to Vibe tonight. I don't know who will be there or everybody who will be playing, but it excites me enough to free my legs from the covers and stand up. Today I don't fall. On the couch there's 10 minutes before the Golden Girls comes on, which is the official start of my day. I go to read the Singer's blog before I get coffee and before I start the TC mailing list.

But I don't get my coffee.

I sit there, everything quiet, still, and calm but my eyes. My eyes read his words and by the end one single tear falls, splashing loudly on the keyboard.

Please read it.
http://justinis.tumblr.com/

So far, if this was my last day, I would have made all the right choices. I would listen to The Maine and watch The Golden Girls and write a blog that didn't make sense until you guys read it. Sometime into the afternoon I would get dressed and go to Vibe, and I would smile no matter who was playing. Yet I supposed there is something I would be sure to do before I left..There are a handful of people who I should tell I love them. And you are one of them.


...Terica.
Can't Stop Won't Stop by: The Maine

Thursday, October 22, 2009

back to the future

I am sick of loving things that don't love me back. These things, I'm sure, have no idea I feel this way. Some of them care. Some of them claim to care more than I comprehend. There is room for selfish in caring. Caring is not loving, not exactly. Some of them I have given my life to and still, they throw me out. They don't look back. Some of them I walk away from before they walk away from me. I am sick of being in love with things that leave me sitting in a corner or wondering if I said something wrong. I am sick of being in love with question marks. I don't want maybes.

I know the logical answer to this. I know I usually do the opposite of that. What I don't know is if my heart knows what it's talking about.




...Terica.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Shh. Just go with it.

Pros and cons.

I fell asleep in my skinnies, scarf, winter coat, and shoes.
Pro: I can literally roll outta bed in the morning and get coffee.
Con: Someone put a chip in my heart the night before.

Bright and sunny October morning.
Pro: it's a bright and sunny October morning.
Con: I just rolled outta bed. omg, I can't see a thing.

Grabbed the first cd off my passenger seat.
Pro: I started singing!
Con: the cd was old and only Every Avenue would play, over and over.
*scratch those. Reverse them.

I clap at the end of songs which both the band and I have performed exceptionally.
Pro: the audience loves me.
Con: the person in the car next to me thinks I'm psycho.

Radio wakes up early.
Pro: our love lives start or continue before breakfast.
Con: our love lives start or continue before breakfast.

Tom the Builder e-mailed me last night.
Pro: got the new song I wanted!
Con: see #1.

Everyone uses Twitter, Facebook, and aim.
Pro: you know when people wake up, when they went to bed.
Con: see #1.

I'm at a loss for words this morning.
Pro: I'm prolly not gonna text you anything stupid.
Con: I'm prolly gonna text somebody else something stupid.



Summary (for those of you with short attention spans):
It's gorgeous outside even though staying up all night induces heavy shivering which leaves my body tired. But I got my coffee and listened to Every Avenue, which reminded me of the boy who did make me smile last night. I'm a bad singer, but I've got sweetheart friends that egg me on anyways. My day is open and unpredictable, where as yours, well you know at least one thing that won't happen.


"I heard the bad news, I heard all about you.
It's not what you did. It's just what you do."



...Terica.
"Trading Heartbeats"

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

these hands are meant to hold.

So I think it's gonna be one of those days.

This was the first morning in weeks that I woke up on my own. Confused, I checked for text messages I didn't have. At first I thought it was nice, but I'm not so sure how I feel about it. I freed my legs from the covers to stand up with strength I didn't have. I forgot I had danced last night and fell right to the floor. My hernias are pissed. I got up to get dressed in peace that wasn't there. One of my roommates was screaming, shocker. So I threw on a scarf and left, while friends on my phone asked me for answers I didn't have.

I looked at the size of my wallet and bought plain coffee, drove home and dropped it all over myself. My hand were shaking. Anxiety. I sat down, letting the liquid scald me just to have a moment to breathe. Tears though, I don't have.

The only thing I have to eat are Eggos. So I made one and ate it with syrup that I don't have. I have water, and an Eggo, and a coffee stained leg. And patience.

I spent money I don't have on the Stereo show at Highline later. I don't know why. I don't have the heart to see them. I think this is gonna be one of those days, but at least I've got today right? There's a lot I don't have, but I have a lot to give..I'm just not sure it's anything you want.



...Terica.
"Move Along" by: All American Rejects

Monday, October 19, 2009

hey there it's good to see you again.

pa⋅tience

 /ˈpeɪʃəns/
Show Spelled Pronunciation [pey-shuhns

See web results of patience
See images of patience

–noun

1. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay.












...Terica.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

we watch and wait and do nothing but sigh, and hope...

I am laying in my bed listening to cold rain tap up against my window. I know its cold because Radio already warned me in a text that it was. I wonder when I started sleeping with my cell phone on my pillow, and I wonder why by now it's not a boy there instead. But it was 3am when I reached a full inbox, so I don't wonder for long.

There are 4 or 5 vans full of the people I believe in most tooling around various parts of the country right now. Tour awake hours are different from home awake hours, and I don't mind that they consider me on their schedule. Therefore I am up texting every night, sending homemade hope thousands of miles down the line. I guess it's the scene form of pillow talk.

I slept more tonight then I usually do, having time to dream about one of the vans living along the highway. I woke up, losing how it ended, but the tense pain in my back must mean it wasn't well. My arm instinctively wiggled free of the blankets and I squinted to start answering the 4 new messages since last I was awake. I started sleeping with my phone on my pillow when they started sleeping in bunks on wheels.

Most readers think I hate tour, I've written it mainly as a thing of abandonment and loss. But the truth is, I would rather have 5 vans of the boys I love most scattered around the country making me worry at all hours of the night than have them safely in their Long Island beds. It's where they want to be, and where they should be. Plus I'll worry either way. And I can sleep when I'm old and have fully reaped the fiscal benefits of an entire season of VH1 Behind the Music.

The sun is coming up, and while the last of my band boys gives into rest, I sit up and start working on the 11 pages of notes I took on Casari last night. I have until lunchtime to finish them, which is when I usually expect the next round of pillow talk texts.




...Tera.
"Everything'll Be Alright (Will's Lullaby)" by: Joshua Radin

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Remember when you said that you could save me?

I wanna trip and fall.
But when I do, I want to fall into somebody else.

Spending Wednesday night in the basement that is the Vibe Lounge yet again, I stand short next to MikeCondition, who has so graciously accompanied me on my excursion out of the depths of cyber space. I swear if tinnitus doesn't do me in, wonky eyesight will.

The boys of The Right Coast are scattered about the near-empty venue. The last time I saw them they were here in flip-flops and tanks in the dead of summer. Brandon Ehrgood's look had thrilled me then, but his set hadn't. Regardless, I stand next to this front man some 4 months later and get the same old rush. I consider that it's much like the feeling I had with Mr. Stereo AFTER he got signed or Nick Santino BEFORE I hung around him. Impressions and rumors tell me they are less than heroic, but my scene kid smiles are inevitable. Standing next to Brandon, it's probably not so much him that gives me smiles, but more so his hair and voice. I can be so predictable sometimes.

At set time the songs didn't impress me any more than they hadn't this summer. Sloppiness doesn't impress me. But there is something about The Right Coast that makes me very very sad. No. That lets me be very sad.

There is so much stress on the characters of this blog lately. Money and ultimatums, tour schedules and poor health. And all of us have our acts to cover up with; the fierce one, the happy one, the heartless one, the mysterious one. We rarely break down for anyone, we rarely even let each other see our weaknesses. Tonight it was the know-it-all one who nearly crashed my own facade.

Characteristically, he made a twisted comment before thinking over how it would sound to me. I was hit, but too stubborn in my act to lay down and accept the cut. I moved away and shamelessly watched the voice with the thrilling hair, soon finding myself in that predictable place with the same old rush.

Don't ever let anyone take your scene kid smile from you. I know how hard you have worked for just those few songs in a set. I know that it's probably the only place you feel safe, at home. Maybe it's the only place you feel it is okay to be sad in, the only time it's alright to drop your act. So don't let any ill-tongued motives take it away from you. Your slow motion moments are yours to make however big or small you want to remember them as.

That being said...

Dear Long Island kids,
Bands are going to stop touring through here if you don't all quit being a bunch of bitches. 40 faces for the local band, down to 7 for TRC, down to just me, Mike, and Travis for SSDC? Really? These bands want to play for you, get off your lazy asses and come out to their shows. Otherwise, I hope you'll be happy with a collective lame identity and no reasons to get away from your nagging parents.
Loooveeee, Terica.

Thaaat being said...

Dear Secret Secret Dino Club,
If you want kids to stay at your show, maybe don't treat them like you don't give a shit. Thanks.
Loooveeee, Terica.


I spent Wednesday night in a place I've spent maybe a thousand others. This venue would be so different in memory and experience if it ever rendered any cell phone service for me at all. But time stands still at the Vibe Lounge and all outside going ons must wait until after the rock show. I kind of like it that way. I feel, at home. When you're hear, you're hear. A touring drummer warms up behind us and I glance at MikeCondition. He rolls his eyes at my smile. I can be just so predictable sometimes.

Dear Long Island music scene,
Please stop giving up. I believe in you and you're making me look like an idiot. I wanna trip and fall into

Love.




...Terica.
"This Is Now" by: The Right Coast

Monday, October 12, 2009

Oh, Dakota.

The maine thing we kings have learned while searching the city is to never shout never and to keep building that rocket to the moon. If you should find yourself at an all time low, hop in a cab and start again.











tomorrow A Rocket To The Moon's album "On Your Side" comes out. It is...well, you be the judge and let me know. <3 Terica

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Am I too dirty? Am I too flirty? Do you like what I like?

I'm avoiding the 2 things I actually have to be writing and watching Pats-Broncos instead. No, I do not want to talk about the Red Sox. In fact don't mention them to me until April, which is when I'll probably stop wanting to march J-Pap to the guillotine. Dammnit! My friends say I have anger issues, but I just don't see it. Anyways, a friend recently wrote a rather introductory tumblr of himself. I thought maybe I should do the same, so here's 20 things you may know about me, but probably don't.

1.) Hardly anyone calls me Erica. They call me Terica, short for Tericadactyl. Or Ricky, or just Rick. Or Ica, E-Mart, Casey, or Mikey. Fun fact; when I was 4 years old I wanted to be called Cindy and refused to answer to anything else. My mother got questioned on the premises of abduction after a hissy fit in Toys-R-Us. But it wasn't my fault, I was Cindy. Not Erica.

2.) I'm deeply addicted to coffee, though sometimes I quit long enough to give attention to the Captain.

3.) I've read To Kill A Mockingbird 6 times. It's my favorite.

4.) There are 4 bleecher seats from the old Fenway Park bolted into my parents' living room floor. They threw out a church pew to make room for them.

5.) I'm really bad at telling stories, audibly. There's really only one person who always pretends to listen anyways.

6.) I choreographed every song on Madonna's Immaculate Collection and performed them on my grandmother's porch the summer I was 6 years old. In September, my mom put me in dance classes.

7.) I am the friendliest psychopath you'll ever meet.

8.) As a toddler I had plenty of stuffed animals, but I carried around a baseball card of Jesse Barfield. I have no idea where I got it and he wasn't a Red Sox so idk why my dad let me keep it, but when I fell and skinned my knees I'd cry for "My Jesse."

9.) I always have holes in my tights. Nate says, never trust a girl with no holes in her tights.

10.) I say "Nate says" a lot.

11.) I have a secret obsession with Peter Cetera. OMg I love him.

12.) I was blue when I was born. Very blue. And I had a full head of spiky black hair that just wouldn't go any where's but up. My uncle coined me the Punk Rocker. My mom says it was foreshadowing.

13.) I fall in love easily. Radio lets me know when it's only a crush.

14.-15.) I like the color yellow and watching the same movies over and over again.

16.) I ask too many questions.

17.) I act out a lot too.

18.) When things get really bad, and I'm too confused, I run away. To Boston, my favorite place in the world and the only city I'll ever trust. I like the air, I like the cobblestone. I like walking Newbury Street on Saturday nights.

19.) I believe with my whole heart in things you think are ordinary.

20.) I once ran over my little brother with a go-cart. He was kinda mad at me.






Now you know me. Or at least it's a start.

...Terica.
"Grace Kelly" by: Mika

Saturday, October 10, 2009

...And that's what I do it for

On a bad day, take a seat in Row 4 and let This Condition make you laugh till you cry. Works for me.

We're on our way to a show in New Jersey and first they fight about a smell. Who stepped in the death fruit that grows in Mike's front yard?! Not I, I know better. Touch them, kick them, or even look at them and you WILL instantly wreak of shit. Next they argue about Miley Cyrus' better looks: Does she look hott enough in the video for "Party in the USA" to make up for her cankles? The world may never agree. The first controversy I take part in is a discussion about Johnny Gomez of the Summer Set. I'll be damned if Nate gets his attentions too. It happens all the time in and out of venues. The boys I like...like to talk to Nate. Luckily, I adore him more than I ever will any of them. Mike says tonight I have to put up some pretty stiff competition if I want to have any chance. Thanks, bfg, you're so much help. I always thought I'd have to compete with the skinny gorgeous girls of the world, but my main concern is a saucy male singer.

"The brave may not live forever, but the scared do not live at all." It's paraphrased. I try my best to remember it when I'm somewhere where the Johnny Gomez's of the world are walking around. TJ, Rossi, and I were the lucky 3 taken to this free show in the quad at New Jersey Institute of Technology. This show - with the tour package of A Rocket To The Moon and The Summer Set - has capabilities. Possibilities, yes. Expectations, never. It's my secret to scene stamina. I'm excited, but chill. Composed.

I saw Nick Santino cross the street as our van strolled up for load in. I'd like to report that I took a deep breath and smiled smugly, totally keeping my cool...but that would be a complete lie. I fell off the seat in Row 4 and covered my mouth to filter the giggles.

What is it that makes us girls giggle over guys? Why do we spill over in smiles but still try to act all mysterious and sexy. Why don't they giggle over us? What do guys do when they have a crush? Do they write songs? The ones I know probably do. In basements and backseats of vans. Or U-Hauls.

After many occurrences; a stiff t-shirt, a wet green room, a loud kick drum, a disheartening comment, a cover song, 6 shout outs and a short circuit later, I was sitting on a park bench, side stage for A Rocket To The Moon's sound check and set. Those of you who have been living outside the parking lots of Long Island might have not heard me profess my adoration for Rocket, Nick, and especially their song Dakota, but they're definitely a favorite. You should just take my word for it and imagine the jitters as I watch them all from feet away. The new songs were sweet, the old ones sweeter, and as expected, a smile louder than any of the amplifiers. But no, not mine. Their lead singer's.

I did not talk to Nick Santino this evening. I ran into him, literally, and did keep up some worthy eye contact. But when I roped TJ into approaching Nick with me, I backed out of talking to him. Not many have seen the shy Terica and few expect me not to push boundaries. But tonight, one sight was enough.

The kids were gone and the vans were pulled around for load out. I watch Nick climb a grassy hill and tug at one huge road case. He pulled it past the bench I'd been sitting on and pushed off to ride it down the hill's sidewalk and across the quad. A certain Long Island band had me thinking that contracted musicians never lifted their own equipment. I smile to see a redhead with a red case. I smile to be mistaken. I guess he can make up his own words.

On the ride home, This Condition made me laugh to the point of tears. They sang "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan. Then they discussed her involvement in the animal cruelty commercial, claiming it was overly graphic and had ruined the song for them forever. First thing they agreed on all night.

What is it about boys that make me giggle? I don't know, but I'm sure when I finally figure it out, I'll be laughing from Row 4.






...Terica.
"She's Killing Me" by: A Rocket To The Moon
"The Boys You Do (Get Back At You)" by The Summer Set...just bc I cannot get it outta my head!