Burning Fight Book Trip

For some reason it doesn't feel like I was in Chicago 18 days ago for the Burning Fight Book Release show. It seems like it was yesterday. I think that feeling comes from the good vibes that I had for the two plus days that I had when I was in Chicago. Burning Fight is a book about the 90's hardcore scene. Its a music scene that a lot of my peers and I grew up on. I would say that my high school experience in the late 80's was what I would call a moderate to poor experience. I felt very alienated in high school. I never felt like I fit in and I never felt like I had a place. I was the kind of kid who never went to lunch because I didn't have many friends and I didn't want to not find the few friends I had have to sit by myself in the cafeteria. Instead I stayed in the library read, did homework and whatever else I could do to occupy my time.

Anyhow the reason I wrote that is because until I found the hardcore scene I never felt like I fit in anywhere and the Burning Fight book is kind of my story . It's our story. Well the story of most of the people that I call my friends. It's where most of the people I respect come from. It's the only peer group I really feel that I connected with. I really feel that hardcore really helped me to salvage what was my lost directionless youth.

Ok this all besides the point. Last Saturday I set out on my "Burning Fight Roadtrip". I thought that since I'm 35 years old and I'm not much for newer hardcore that this would be maybe my last real roadtrip to see bands. ( I have since found out about an Error Type 11 reunion show in NYC that I will be attending). We flew to Chicago which I have never actually done for a roadtrip and got there in about 90 minutes. I've driven to Chicago and frankly 10 hours in a car isn't as much fun as one and a half hours on a plane.

The Rental:

When I booked the car rental I picked a midsized car (Pontiac G6 or equivalent). Through priceline.com I managed to get a rate of $12 day which totaled about $40 with taxes and fees. At the car rental counted the rep offered us an upgrade. for $20 more a day we were able to rent a Infiniti FX-35 crossover vehicle which apparently a $42000 vehicle. It was between four guys so it only actually cost us an extra $10 a day. It was well worth it if not just for the story but we ended up not even driving on the second day. We took public transportation to the show. Even still none of us will probably ever get a car like that so for the fun factor I would definitely say it was worth it.


The Hotel


We stayed at the Howard Johnson in Downtown Chicago. Cak got a deal and we only had to pay $25 bucks a night for each room. I think hotel rooms in the hotel were normally about $140 a night. The deal was good but I think the rooms were only worth about $25 at best. The hotel was pretty run down and had a great view of a brick wall outside of the window. We also noticed some water damage on the ceiling. It was still a good deal overall though i really can't complain because of the price.

The Crew


Cak JDS Farside


Uncommon Ground.



Right before the show we had lunch at this coffees shop called "Uncommon Ground". It was about a block from the show so it was pretty convenient and easy. ME, Jeremy, Farside and Cak went to get a bite to eat there. We sit down to eat our sandwich and we notive a customer lounging on a couch near us drinking wine. She starts to talk to Jeremy and Cak about their various tattoos and other subjects. The conversation then turns to her telling us that her husband had left her that very morning (for another woman we believe) and the lady started crying a bit. Cak then asks her "Is that why yer getting drunk in this coffee shop?" , to which she answers, "I'm not drunk" Cak then says, "Well you look like it!". The lady then started to cry a bit more and left. I guess Cak's tact is what I remmeber it being :)


Outside of the show.....



I saw tons of people out side of the show whom I hadn't seen in a long time...

- The Damnation AD crew...Mike DC , Ken, Issa and others. We've had a long history with them which started with me meeting ISSA at the Columbus fest in '95 and continued with Damnation AS staying with me everytime they played Buffalo. This crew features two black men of hardcore who also happen to still be edge. This crew also features Mike DC who has been inspiring me as both an artist and friend for the greater part of the last 14 or so years.

-Michaela Morgan...Old Syracuse/DC hardcore kid who i became acquainted with because we both did hardcore zines in the mid nineties. Mine being "Hello My Name Is...." and hers being "Kismet" I've probably stayed closer to her more than most over the years because she now lives in New York City, which is where i'm originally from. We also share a very similar taste in music.

-Rich Elrath...The kid who according to Jeremy Smith..."singlehandedly ruins hardcore bands careers" Rich started the infamous Cleveland Riot and the Cleveland Fest in 1996.

- Celeste Peterson...when I was on tour with Despair in 1996 her and her sister followed us on tour. I think we met up with her in South Carolina and she and her sister followed us all the way to chicago.

Nicole Kibert...The one new person I met on this trip. Fellow shutterbug who took a ton of pictures at the show.

- Brian Ryder...my old friend from Chicago. He lived with me and Jeremy for a summer when he played drums in Halfmast. I lost touch with him a while ago but I'm hoping that we can stay in tiouch and get close again since I've recently learned he has a great love of Major League Baseball.

Not that anyone would be offended but I did come across some other people and i wanted to mention them....Chris Wyatt, Jay Jancetic, Zac "I thought you forgot me" Osner ,Chris Behm, Jim Grimes, Dan Cross, Murderous Dave , Carey, David Moore and these people all helped enhance what was a great weekend.


The Show

The highlights of the show for me were Split Lip, Damnation AD and Unbroken. As a younger adult I was able to see Split lip on a few occasions as both Split Lip and Chamberlain. While they were spot on musically I guess it wasn't the same but it was fun. I think the fun of it was seeing Split Lip with like minded Split Lip fans. Not too many of those existed in the mid 90's (well not in Buffalo anyway)



The same with Damnation AD. I knew of less than 10 Damnation fans in Buffalo in the 90's yet they still came to Buffalo to play which made them even cooler in my eyes. Time after time they would come, there would be about 50 people there and you were luck if one or two of them were moshing.

Unbroken was awesome mostly because I never got to see them in my younger days. I think everyone I know likes them and if they don't "they aren't listening right" Unbroken was one of those bands that combined fury, emotion and metal all in to one pretty package. On top of that the Life.Love.Regret CD layout is one interesting layout. The actual best moment of the show for me was when David Clairbourne was explaining the song "End of a Lifetime". He told the tale of returning to San Francisco to seeing his grandmother in her dying days and being ostracized by his family. It's something that hit home for me seeing that I rarely see my family because of teh distance I live from them and it always seems that it's uncomfortable when I do come home because of the infrequency of my visits.

Photo by Nicole Kibert

So my final thoughts.....I went into the show thinking that this would be my final band show roadtrip. That changed when I discovered that Error Type 11 would be playing a reunion show in NYC later this summer. I felt like I was energized by the show and it was fun. The bands were fun the people were fun and the all around atmosphere was fun. I wish every hardcore show experience could be like this one was but it can not and thats what made this show all the more special.


PS MORE PICTURES FROM WEEKEND