I'm not sad anymore...

I am just slightly irritated and beyond flabbergasted.

Guys, I think it is great that you have all found a band that has said something that bands like H2O, to a lesser extent Set Your Goals and countless others have been saying for years. But this shit has got to stop. The Upsides was great for what it stood for a year ago. Now it has become like an oath for anyone associated with pop punk. When Kevin posted a link to a facebook page for a company that is going to be making profit off selling bracelets that say "I'm not sad anymore", I died a little inside. I am beginning to fear that this overwhelming influence that The Wonder Years seems to have is going to result in a loss of creativity and originality.

I guess my main point is this, and I'll even say it in a way everyone can understand: '

Can someone tell these kids liking the rain "I'M NOT SAD ANYMORE" no longer counts as an idiosyncrasy.

P.S. I would like to state that I do in fact like The Wonder Years and I do enjoy listening to The Upsides. However, by putting a price on a message severely decreases the value of the sentiment itself (as if it wasn't cheapened enough by its seemingly never ending utterance).

The entire idea of selling this message is no different and no better than pop bands selling their image.

I saw your ghost tonight.

As promised, here is the blog about blink, and the a whole bunch of other seemingly unrelated nonsense.

So on Friday, Travis, Nick, Hannah, Ally, Heather and Ian all took a trip out to Hershey Park to go camping, ride some coasters and see blink. I had been looking forward to this weekend for a long time because it was really like a vacation. I was able to escape the hellish life that is sitting in my room till its time to go to class, work or band practice.

Each night camping was absolutely great. We cooked food over a fire, drank a lot of rum, ate at Sheetz and walked around the camp grounds nude. This was my first time to Hershey, and although I enjoyed the roller coasters, I could of been more thrilled with them. My buddy Rob pointed out that Great Adventure is amongst some of the highest ranking theme parks in the world, so I guess that may have been a contributing factor to my expectations. Regardless, I had a good time.

So the entire point of this weekend was to see blink. I have to say that they did not disappoint. They played the best I have heard them play live, through in some songs that weren't on the original set-list and sprinkled hilarious banter throughout the set. I am really stoked to hear the new album after that night. The 4 new songs sound really, really good, and quite frankly, they give me erections.

Worthy side note: There was a very attractive young lady sitting behind us at blink. Her and I spoke a little bit and I was able to get her to perform felatio on me while My Chemical Romance was playing. That was pretty cool, but some of the parents there didn't think so.

So I started my last summer class last week, and I will finish it next week. It is another Shakespeare course, and I am enjoying it a lot. I have to say that the English Department at Hofstra is fucking incredible. The faculty there treats me like an equal, rather than subordinate.

I am happy to announce that I have put an end to what seemed to be a never ending conflict this weekend. If you are reading this, thank you for putting up with my shit, I'm sorry it went on for so long.

And finally, this week is a busy one for Bellwether. We got a show today in Hicksville, our listening party tomorrow at F and S in East Meadow, and we have another show Friday in Queens. Go to facebook for all the info, and get your ass to at least all of these things. It's gonna be a killer time. Good music, good food, good people, good sex.

Can't fight against the youth.

This weekend I skated down to Jones Beach twice to listen to blink-182 in the parking lot. Both nights they were incredible. But as much as I would love to talk about that, this blog isn't about that. The blink blog will come next week though, after I see them in PA, don't worry.

This blog is about how the cops at the beach were nothing less than a bunch of assholes and bullies!

When I first showed up on Saturday, I met up with all my buddies and began to party in the parking lot. A cop car circles us a few time and finally parks to confiscate our beer. Normally this wouldn't bother me because they were just doing there job. What did piss me off about this is that when they opened up their trunk for us to put the beer in, the had a cooler of ice, just empty ready for our beers. While this was happening, they made our friends who were drinking much cheaper beer just pour it out. This infuriated me. They weren't looking to keep anyone safe or enforce the law, or ever do their job. They were looking to get drunk off our beer.

Tonight made me much more angry though. Tonight the cops totally abused their power. Pushing my friends and I around the parking lot like captives in a concentration camp. Some cops would drive up on the sidewalk, get as close as they could to a group of kids and sound the most annoying horn I have heard repeatedly and forced them to all move or risk getting hit by a car.

I am beyond irritated, and anyone who was there tonight knows exactly why. I hope that if you were harassed by the cops tonight, that you join me in writing a series of angry letters and emails. It is our right to enjoy music and it is our right to enjoy the beach. And it is my god damn right to enjoy beer!