Along for the ride.

I went to my first hardcore show yesterday in Newport News. Lewd Acts, Kingdom, Original Sin and some other band I forget were the band du jour for the evening. Liberty 4 is a craphole. It's a room with a stage. And by stage I mean something made out of plywood that stretches maybe 10 feet long. Spraypaint tags and graffiti added a lovely decor feel to the room. The weather was not in our favor (a friggin terrential downpour), as the rain made the non-airconditioned venue stink and swamp up like a humid day in Richmond. It was fun and interesting, that is for sure.

I rode up in the pedophillic "Small World Child Care" van with Larry, Trey and Brett. Observation 1: Larry is a nutty driver. Of course the second we got onto the highway, there was an accident, which caused a 30 minute delay to our destination. No biggie! Larry's van had no A/C so I drenched my shirt in sweat as I jealously watched Trey and Brett go shirtless for the entire ride. Sticky leather van seats blow!

It took a little bit of "Who's going on first? Us? I thought you were!" to figure out the schedule but the show finally started about an hour after we arrived. During this hour, Larry, Stu, Kevin, Aaron and I all sat in the pederass van and drank. It smelled like MAN in that van, let me tell you. It was awesome though. I'm a tough girl.

Original Sin is fun to watch. So is Kingdom. They just returned from a tour in Europe. Their lead singer is this tiny little unshaven tattooed vegan straight edge girl. Her appearance gives off the notion that the band is iffy, but once she opens her mouth, you are blown away by what sounds mistakenly like a large man screaming mercilessly into the mic. I was amazed. I almost saw a fight, too. Typical! It would've been too cliche to see a fight at that show though and I'm glad it didn't errupt. Original Sin played for about 20 minutes and I couldn't help but tap my foot and nod my head to Larry's pelting and gigantic performance. I felt a rush of energetic electricity vibrate through my body as Trey, Stu and Aaron shredded. I'm no expert on music, but if it makes me vibe, then it's good to me.
Observation 2: Kevin Kauffman (drummer) is badass. Kevin is like the Yanni of drumming. It comes out of no where, you'd never think it if you saw him. Jaw-dropping percussion heaven.

After we packed up and listened to most of the show, everyone became groggy and tired. Newport News' sky and air was filled with smoke and campfire-esque fragrances due to some peet burning in NC (or at least that's Larry's story). We all had humidity headaches and the lack of water and decent food (my dinner was a tabasco slim jim and a pack of peanut butter crackers) turned everyone's mood into blah. Stu and Kevin rode back with us, as Brett drove and Larry continued to drink. Trey and I sat in the back using each other's shoulders as pillows. Observation 3: Brett drives crazier than Larry. To Larry, this was funny, because how could you not laugh at a 6'5" bouncer driving a ped van at 90 miles an hour with 5 people and a whole set of instruments in the back, all the while swerving and taking exit ramps at an alarmingly fast speed.
No one barely spoke the entire ride home. Except Larry. Observation 4: Larry LOVES Tim Barry. I do too, but jesus you'd think the singer of a hardcore band, after having a show, wouldn't want to sing for the rest of the night! We were serenaded by Larry for a good hour. It was soothing and far from what he does in Original Sin. I had so much fun last night.