Fuck! When I was a teenager I was a PUNK. A BLOODY PUNKROCKER! I went to hundreds of shows and moshed (or slamdanced as we used to call it then), from start to finish. I had a mohawk...I wore spikes...a Bullet Belt...sewed my pants tight onto myself. I saw some of the best/worst bands of my generation on a two foot high stage in the basement of the Nordic Hall in Sioux Falls, SD. Small town scenes were the tightest and surprisingly we had the best bands come through. I remember listening to MINOR THREAT with my cousin/best friend Shawn blasting from my overstressed, treble drenched speakers of my Dodge Omni and thinking "Even when I'm old I'll be listening to this shit!". I remember wondering what happened to people that would make them gravitate away from loud, angsty, exciting music and want (actually WANT) to listen to sappy Lawrence Welk type bullshit or classic rock piss and dribble that plays endless loops on squaking, product hawking radio stations or portentous "intellectual" j-j-jazz. Well brothers and sisters I am now thirty-two and although I can say that I still listen to punk I have mellowed to the point of finding myself sitting in a bourgeois jazz joint listening to my friend and ex band-mate's free jazz/experimental combo. WHATTHEHELLHAPPENEDTOME? I miss the ENERGY the raw PASSION of PUNK. Yeah I know my buddy digs what he's doin'. I know that he feels smooth and cool jamming to some stinky mid-tempo trumpet lead bleeps and bloops...but FUCK. I felt like a shmuck. All these pseudo-hip, secret pot smoking, designer glasses wearing assholes who are walking the knifes edge to middle age bobbing their heads thinking "I totally get this, man. I am really cool. I can't wait to pass the bar and then fuck that chick at reception". YUCK! MAN! SHIT! I'm not one of these people...but then I'm not an angst ridden teenager who is content with a band that has thirty songs all in the same key and using three (if you lucky) chords. WHERE AM I AT? My home life is AMAZING my wife and daughter are so seriously cool and fun and I wouldn't trade them for the world. It's not that I'm unhappy with my life...just the current soundtrack!!!!!