Stockage
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As I long for summer once again (and I’m getting it too with this wacky NY weather being 60 degrees every day), I had the rare and unique opportunity to attend STOCKAGE – a three-day music festival with the bands and fans of ALL that participate in their message boards. It was an amazing bonding experience with people I chatted with for a year or so but had never met, with a band we love, with plenty of friends and surprise guests. Sound creepy? Well, this Internet dork and rock fan will dispel ALL preconceptions of dorks who hang out on the message boards of obscure punk bands. (www.allcentral.com)
You see, I am one of them. I had been posting to the board for a while. Scott Kowalski got me into the band ALL, which is basically the same people from the Descendents, but with a different singer, and a different sound and vibe. I’d venture to say that they are more of a pop band, but then again, I think the Buzzcocks are a pop band. Sounds catchy to me! Anyway, I joined the board and everyone was raving about ‘Stockage, which was the music festival they put on every year in Colorado, where Bill Stevenson has his studio, The Blasting Room.
After spending a year of feeling a little left out, and certainly lambasted on the ALLboard, I had made some friends, but also wanted to prove something to my detractors. Though I may be a name-dropping, boy-chasing party girl (this was my rep on the board), it doesn’t mean I don’t rock, right? So, we are finally picked to play “Stockage 2003. We have a decent slot on Saturday night. We have 20 minutes to show the ALLboarders that we don’t suck!
There was also a strange and fortuitous event. Your gal Kitty has a knack for prophetic dreams. No joke. It’s creepy and scary. I hate it. But, I can’t help it., and I can’t tell which dreams are which until the thing really happens. About 6-9 months before Stockage (before I even knew about it, really), I have this dream. I am in a mountain town. There is snow on the mountains. The Kowalskis are playing a show. I am really nervous – I can’t find my band or my gear. This guy – tall dark and handsome with dorky glasses who is the ALLboard moderator (I have never seen him), takes me in his car, and helps me look for them. We stop at his house, and start making out until we fall out of the car into the street and roll around. Very HOT! I wake up. I post my dream to the ALLboard about Jeff, and someone posts a photo of the guy who coordinates Stockage, and it’s the SAME guy from my dream. I am now EXTRA nervous as I don’t want to be lost in this mountain town without my band and my gear and who knows what will happen next. I can make a better ending!
We get a show the night before ‘Stockage at a bar called The Surfside Seven, which is almost right across the street form the Starlight, the Stockage venue. The place was REALLY small, and held about 50 people without exceeding their legal limit. John, the owner, said the cops had been coming down on them, and I certainly sympathized, suffering from like harassment at Coney Island High. I had to tell a childhood friend who was driving from Denver to see us to turn around and go back because she would not get in. The club hit capacity REALLY early. I meet my “dream boy” – literally, and I’m VERY nervous, but he’s WAY too busy running the shows to mess with the likes of me.
I had NO IDEA how hard it was to perform while adjusting to mountain air. We start drinking early – big mistake- and play LATE. I had to run over to Jon Snodgrass’s house of Drag the River and borrow an amp – we are playing on all borrowed gear. So, I did have to run around this mountain town and get gear before our show! I was ALL alone! After song one, I was seeing stars. I thought the floor was going to come up and hit me in the head! I later had people tell me that sea-level dwellers sometimes come up there have one drink and pass out! We were also treated to a set by Wretch Like Me, who from ‘Stockage, became one of my new favorite bands. I try to party all night with the rest of the mountain folks and just wind up a babbling fool back at the Snodgrass Pad. when he says, “Let’s do some recording” I know it’s gonna be a long night, and me and mike Kowalski sneak back to the hotel.
The hotel has a POOL and this little breakfast room we raid every day fro frozen bagels, apples and juice. I show up in my mirrored cop aviators, my satin leopard-print PJs and clear plastic Barbie shoes. Everyone is all nice and dressed. I can’t deal – it’s too early to be dressed, but I want the free breakfast, dammit. Now the ALLboarders I am meeting live get to make fun of me to my face! We hit the pool, which is especially amusing because we New Yorkers are as white as snow and act like we just got out of prison! We’re splashing around the pool like a bunch of kids. We all decide we want to move there.
We have a radio show to do that Friday – “Left of the Dial”: with Jon Bard, and Bruce Brodeen from Not Lame Records. These are also two folks I have been e-mailing for a while but never got to meet in person, so it was exciting. I also spent two days making a New York Rock and Roll compilation of some fun stuff from yesterday and today for the radio show. Jon is just as nice and cool in person as he is n his e-mail. He was a little homesick for New Yorkers to talk to, but we were ready to move to Ft. Collins! I’m sure if we were there a while, we might be feeling the same way! Bruce stopped by toward the end of the show, and that was cool. It’s great to talk to guys who really love music and are doing their own thing!
It’s the first day of ‘Stockage, and our homeboys from New Jersey The Lawndarts are going on EARLY! We don’t want to leave the pool, but we want to represent for our guys, so we get there just in time! They sounded great – all 20 minutes! Next up is the Hurting Crew, who are chicks that ROCK. JoAnn Rawkmom, another girl on the ALLboard that gets teased a lot is the drummer and she KICKS ASS. I DARE anyone to give her shit now! They were really one of the highlights of the weekend! They also have ALL karaoke where the REAL band – Stephan, Bill and Karl – play the songs, and the fans get to get up and sing. Scott asks me to take photos of him doing Karaoke. I agree, and go out back to have some burgers. While I’m chomping away and shooting the shit, I hear a voice that sounds like what I think Scott Kowalski would sound like singing. I totally blew it, and really, Scott was the reason why we were there! I’m eating meat AND I miss his performance. I am on his shit list.
Drag the river plays, and they are awesome as well. We played a show with them in NYC – they are this excellent country-style band that have some of the BEST and moving songs. We already were friendly with JJ from the Nobodys, but he introduced is to the rest of the guys, Jon Snodgrass, Zack, Randy and Chad Price, who is also the singer of ALL. We definitely didn’t want to miss them, but now I am hungry, so we have to miss the other headliners. I really just want to see ALL! They start the first of playing three nights in a row. Their bass player Karl Alvarez, who I will say is one of the greatest bass players living, said that they rehearsed over 120 songs for these shows. They have three shows plus the karaoke, so they have to be ready to play anything, as they add some Black Flag and Descendents songs in there, too. SET LIST!!!
OK, it’s Saturday, and JJ offers to take us out to the land of Mountain Dew commercials. This is also the day of out show! We go out to breakfast and JJ takes us to this rope swing in a river. I get into the river and it is SO COLD I feel like I’m wearing ice stockings. I look into them thar hills, and there is SNOW. I’m standing in SNOW water. I’m brave, though, and make it across to the rope swing. My first swing is GREAT and fun, but my hands start freezing up and the next two are BELLY FLOPS into an ice bucket. Ouch is not the word. JJ takes us to this national park. There is a sign that says “Wildlife you may see in this park: Mountain Lions, bears, rattlesnakes, black widow spiders” and other critters you may not want to come across. Mike Kowalski is a dyed in the wool New York City boy and is all freaked out. A butterfly sneaks up on him and he jumped 1- feet in the air. We saw cows and he wouldn’t go near them. Poor guy has to PLAY!
We go back for our show, sunburned, and adrenaline depleted, so we are ready to ROCK! What were we thinking! At least we won’t be nervous. WRONG. I was about this nervous when we opened for IGGY! I feel the eyes on me – some of the people who called me a talentless, cocksucking whore may be in attendance – so I have to just KICK ASS! We play ALL our rockers, but that was the longest 20-minute set of my life! All the cool people we met Dale from Canada, john Lowery, who was filming the whole thing, Rich/Wretch, the Hurting Crew gals, my new crush Ben, cutie and all-around nice-guy Zach, sex god Mark P., West Bank Punk, Jon Bard and his wife, Joe Nolte and Lisa of Misfortune Cookie (best parody name EVAR!), and Missy, Robbie and Andrew of Queef (we missed them! They played too early!) are all there to give us a pat on the back! I survived! It was a big LOVE fest! People actually BOUGHT our t-shirts and CDs!
Now I can drink and relax. I still can’t drink that much because of the mountain air. It’s kind of weird. The Last was one of the bands I REALLY wanted to see the second day. Joe Nolte was on stage a lot – for Misfortune Cookie, his band the Last and in Karaoke – bill Stevenson invited him on stage. We sang the Sex Pistols song “Belsen” together – that was wild. The Last are a great power pop band from LA, and Bill Stevenson sites them as a major influence, so the whole day was a fan fest.
That night we went to a local house party at Garin’s. JJ was there, Karl Alvarez was there and we were just drinking beer in the kitchen and chillin’ JJ’s roommate gave me a ride back to the hotel – I was DONE – and sunburned!
The next morning it is a bit grey, so I decide it is time for the Stockage Crew staying at the Best Western in Ft. Collins to go bowling. It ain’t Vegas, but it’s still funny when rockers take over a bowling alley. The locals beat us to the punch – it was their league day, so we went to Chuck E. Cheese instead. Can someone explain to me what happened to PINHBALL machines? There was nothing for me to do, until we discovered the chuck E. cheese Portrait machine! That was the best thing ever! We all got portraits! The Lawn Darts! The Kowalskis! Rob & Missy from Queef. (Someone tells me that Rob is Cousin Oliver form The Brady Bunch and I don’t believe it – until I look at his portrait!) . Chuck Nasty gives the belle of the ball Emily his portrait. We go outside and get someone to take a photo to commemorate this moment.
There are GREAT bands playing tonight – many of them local. Garin’s band, The Presidents’ Wives is ran improv/experimental jazzy sounding band and Garin does spoken word. It was REALLY amazing and moving. Garin did this one for his parents and Annie Kowalski and I were in tears. Literally. We also loved The Red Headed Yetis with Kiera, who is Jon Snodgrass’s roommate, and Jones, which awesome girl from Surfside 7. Jones MUST be taking bass lessons from Karl because she kicks ass and she claims to be playing for a short while. They were a lot of fun and ferocious!
Karl’s other band, a blues band called The Vultures, were on next. The Vultures features Ben (who later had a spectacular fight with Karl on the ALLboard after getting drunk and posting shit), who is my kind of cutie. Musician, a bit dorky with those thick glasses for that “naughty librarian” effect. He was also wearing a Graham Parker & the Rumor shirt. Awesome. Anyway, that day Karl was on stage for four hours – he played with Presidents’ Wives, The Vultures, ALL karaoke, and then with ALL again. Just an amazing musician.
It’s Wretch Like Me’s last show. EVER. They are calling it quits. After seeing them at the Surfside and seeing them live, it’s really SAD. They are a great band. One of my favorite people of the WHOLE weekend was Jeff, the bass player for Wretch, who is also in Zeke. In fact, I think people were calling him Zeke. Again, amazing musician, and a unique individual that I had a great time shooting the shit with after drinking too much beer with my oxygen-deprived brain. Jason Livermore, the drummer for Wretch is amazingly talented and a great studio engineer. Listen to the records that come out of the Blasting Room – many bands on Fat Wreck Chord record there. Last but not least, there is Abe, one of those rare front people that can sing, command an audience, get everyone into a frenzy and just feel the music. Why wasn’t this band famous?
Anyway, there is yet ANOTHER night of ALL and they even do a Descendents set as well. It’s the end of Stockage, and everyone is saying goodbye. I get the ALL guys to sign my poster. I talk to the guy that sung the Descendents set – he was REALLY good, and I tell him so. Milo is a tough act to follow. I ask, “Do you have a band of your own?”. “Yeah”, he says, “Good Riddance.” DUH. I don’t really pay attention to these things, but he was GOOD. I can draw pictures of people who were in punk bands 20 years ago, but have no idea what Blink 182 looks like.
So we say goodbye to all our new old friends. Annie Kowalski is amazed by the community spirit. Mike Kowalski buys Stockage trucker caps for everyone. It is the final party of this four-day fest on our part, but somehow, I can’t make it out. Three days of drinking and I can barely stand. Going back to Garin’s house would KILL me. There is a big party at Longfellow’s, but I uncharacteristically head for the BED!
Will we make Stockage ’04? I don’t know. I can’t imagine it being any better than this. Maybe we’ll wind up at the Blasting Room one of these days. Who knows. ALL in ALL, it was great fun, and I don’t know if it can be duplicated!
I will get back to writing more about chicks that rock, the holidays and also the commemoration of Joey Ramone Way here in NYC!
kitty
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