Shut up! Shut up! Its my turn to talk...

... It is hard for me to find a good way to start this blog, so I decided the best way to start it would be to admit that.

I don't know why I am the way I am with some things. In this particular case I am referring to somewhat of a double standard that I can't seem to shake.

As many people may or may not know, I happen to enjoy consuming substance in large quantities. I also have no problem with other people consuming large quantities of substance. For some odd reason my problem comes in when this equation is completed:

Someone I care about consumes large quantities of substance+a cell phone= drunk texts= me a total wreck.

So in this case, my girlfriend is at after prom. I would be too naive to convince myself that her and her friends drove to the armpit of America to not drink. My problem was not there. My problem is that its now about 4:30 am and is telling me about how she drank too much. This makes me very uneasy cause she is in a different state and she is with at least 2 people that I am fairly sure would take advantage of her.

It also not helping that most of my friends were under the impression that I was going to cheat on my girlfriend tonight because I went on somewhat of a date with another girl. Proud to say I did not cheat on her, but since the idea is cheating on my head... well lets just say I have been shaking throughout writing all of this.

I try not to show my emotional side too often, hence why I use these blogs as a crutch to vent them, because this blog bares no judgement (until someone reads it and gets upset or offended but thats another story).

That being said, I still don't feel a whole lot better about this ridiculous predicament I forced myself into, so I'm gonna go take a walk and hopefully I don't smoke an entire pack of 54's.

I'm just happy to be alive...

First off, I would like to say that last nights show was absolutely amazing. We had a fun time playing and watching all our friends play as well. We also loved that the crowd was as fun and active as it was.

That being said, I would like to address I few points that several of my friends made to me during the show.

Desmond Zantua said it best: "Valet Parking breaks up and Vibe turns into an insane asylum. Why isn't it like this all the time?!"

This statement kind of urks me. Because he is making a really good point. Why does a band have to disband for kids to not only show up to the show, but go crazy?

The truth is more people should treat every show like the everyone treated last nights show. If more people came out with more enthusiasm and in greater numbers all the time, the scene would not "suck" as much as it does.

I was talking to Matt from VP a few days before the show and he was in absolute shock that so many people came out of the wood work online and stated how much Valet Parking meant to them. Where were all of these people who cared so much the last few years? Certainly not at shows.

In the words of Nick Ohrnberger. "This is our scene, don't let it die!"

If anyone does read this, don't take this as an attack, take this as incentive to support more local bands. The loss of VP was a devastating one, lets try our hardest to make sure that this doesn't happen to another great band from LI.

To conclude this post, I will shamelessly self-promote. Be on the look out for a few new recordings from The OverUnder, including 2 old songs done in new ways and a cover of a 1999 pop classic!

And of course, look out for good things to come from Matt, Travis and CJ.

I'll make the best out of a bad situation

It has been awhile since my last post. I have held off from writing in here for a bunch of reasons. Probably the biggest being that I did not want to hastily say something and subsequently fuck shit up.

I guess I will back track a few weeks to fill in all the blanks.

A few weeks ago, I had a pretty bad mental breakdown. I was desperately awaiting summer and it never came. I was under so much stress from school that all I wanted to do was relax, but the opposite actually occurred. Instead of being able to kick it, my stress levels spiked due to all the responsibilities I decided to take on that I mentioned in my last post.

I hit the climax of my stress the Tuesday before the show. My phone woke me up at 7 am. I ignored it because it was 7 am! My phone then woke me up again at 11. I decided that 11 was a more appropriate time for me to out of bed. I looked at my phone and saw a metric shit ton of missed calls and texts. I started to answer them all. Some time after I looked up at my clock and noticed that it was now noon. I spent a full hour responding to texts and missed phone calls, and they kept coming in faster than I could send them out. And then I snapped. I couldn't take being so heavily relied upon for everything. I then smashed my phone, punched a very big dent into my file cabinet and punched a hole in my wall. I then took every piece of technology I owned, put it in a bag and told my mom to hide it while I went out to calm down.

I am now doing a lot better. My phone still rings off the hook, but I have learned to just let it ring.

I decided that day that I could no longer be apart of the label and that I would stop booking shows. The last show that I did book went well though. I of course was still stressed out of my head for a million reasons, but at the end of the night it was a success.

Since then, I have kind of rerouted my summer a little bit. This of course would not be possible if a few things did not happen.

Thing one. The new drummer for TOU, Jason, has kind of been a fresh ball of energy and has been motivating us to take a more proactive approach to the band, which we have been.

Thing two. If Valet Parkings van didn't break.

Thing three. If I was not getting fed up with some behavioral choices of some of my friends.

Even though I know that if any of them read this, they will know I am talking about them I will say this anyway.

I have recently noticed that a select group of my friends rely heavily on smoking pot. It has gotten to the point where I am not sure if they do anything sober anymore. Now I don't have a problem with smoking weed, I enjoy the herb myself, but I was starting to get heavily inconvenienced simply by them having to smoke. Plans made with them would be delayed for hours. If I was at band practice, they wouldn't wait till I was done so we could hang out with out me having to drive miles out of my way, only to get high. I was even put in a tight spot when they smoked in a car at the last show I booked and the entire parking lot smelt like pot. Had someone who owned the place come by, I would of been royally fucked, but things like this don't cross their minds.

So I have been spending a little less time with them. I hope that sometime soon we can all hang out like we did last summer where being high wasn't the primary concern, but the secondary.

Till then, I will continue to hang out with some of the guys from the class of 08 and people in the scene.

There is one last thing I want to say.

In 2001, I started a band that grew into one of the more popular bands on LI. In 2008 I left. From then till now, I watched the band grow further and in venture off into new directions. Today, I get ready to say goodbye.

Valet Parking, like many other bands on LI, was started with a dream and a burning passion. I am sad to have to watch something that was so great and made me happy for so many years have to be put down. I wish everyone in that band the best of luck and I know they will be successful with what ever the decide to do.