C-Stone.2k5

So here I am again, not only posting… but posting old news! these next few posts are backdated.

This was an interesting year for Cornerstone. For one, the standard bands were not there. Among the expected were 5Fe, MxPx, Pedro the Lion, and Zao. But then there were the last minute cancelations from Extol and Joy Electric. :-/ Also, in the past I’ve gone with the church youth group, with random friends, Tom or Jim. This year, pretty much just me.

winsday
stopped in awa city to pick up one of Tom’s roommates who needed a ride. fortunately for me, he couldn’t find his group when we got there, so he helped me set up camp and ended up stayin over.

thirdsday
a day to myself – which was actually quite nice. this day had a few significant scenes. i met the hot girls from SoCar that camped next tent over. in a few ways they were just what i’d expect of typical carolina girls such as the sometimes cute, but slightly annoying accent and laid back, care free attitude. what surprised me is that they didn’t like country music and came to IL for all the screamo bands. or as jim and i prefer to call the genre, RAAAH.

bands fortunate enough to perform in my presence: Alesana, Calibretto, Children 18:3, Discover America, Emery, Haste the Day, Hawk Nelson, Mercury Radio Theater, One-21, Pretty Big Plunger, Project 86, Sidewalk Slam, Spoken, Thousand Foot Krutch

first up for review, Pretty Big Plunger
Genre: Ska
Rating: 1 horn for being ska, 1 horn for being canadian
i randomly heard they were playing one of the side of the road generator stages (not official) at another ska show i was @. these kids from canadia were young and full of energy. the first thing one will notice is that Kevin on drums is also the lead singer. the bass and horn players were backing vox. right after i showed, the started a FIF cover, A Flowery Song! i tried recording it on my cheap korean mp3 player, but with no gain control it turned out too distorted . The majority of the show they played original material mostly fun bubble gum ska, a few tackled actual issues. What surprised me most was their song Down Without a Fight, an anti-abortion song. its great to know despite canadia’s media brainwashing, there are conservatives in the great white north. another cover they played was Mr. Roboto by Styx. the song worked aMAZingly well as a ska song, really! once they ran out of songs, the crowd shouted for more. so they played 5Fe’s 3 second Pootermobile joke of a song. hmm, now what. they were asked if they knew their national anthem (there are actually a number of canadians that come down to the great green midwest). none did, but the drum player wanted to do it anyway. so he played his set with fills throughout while 3 of them sang in Englische and one in Franzosen. i guess you had to be there.

Review #2: Mercury Radio Theater
Genre: unknown
Rating: 1 lonely vampire
i first met Buddy (vox, guitar) when i worked backstage Decapolis Stage 2004. the name comes from the classic radio program famous for the War of the Worlds scare (MRT, not buddy). at most of their shows, they have a projector hooked up to a PowerBook so the audience can see the artwork by Joe Whiteford, lead singer of Calibretto, which is included with the album (the artwork, not joe). the only words are between songs and this narration is by Joe Jack Talcum from The Dead Milkmen. as you’re starting to imagine, the music is extremely original in sound. they can’t be compared to other bands, only genre mixtures. even the show-goers react special for this music. no mashing, no skanking, no fist-throwing… a form of interpretive dance, but the best description would probably be spazzing (as acknowledged by Buddy at the show the next day). so imagine a bunch of ppl falling around in the dark, acting like gimpy vampires or zombies, throwing blood in to the air and on each other. back to the music, its a dark blues, rockabilly, surfer-punk, but i REALLY can’t describe it, listen to samples if you’re curious. i like it. i liked it enough to make it my only music purchase this yr. the following day, i saw them again. they had arranged for joe to come and paint during the show. this time we couldn’t see, not because it was dark, but b/c of all the dust we were kicking up. the band was incredible again and i even got slaughtered with a sword! its alright cuz i was exhumed by the end of the song. after the show, jim and i went and spoke w/ buddy and said he should come to Ames. now i see its on the schedule, coincidence? probably, but i can’t wait to go.

Review the Three: Haste the Day
Genre: Hardcore
Rating: 3 injuries
Tru RAAAH music. The band has grown ?musically? for their most recent album, When Everything Falls. I put up the questions marks because most ppl would argue its still not music. that’s nice, i like it. HTD is probably SolidState’s best band right now. yes there is distortion screaming, but there is also so much more. melodic backing vocals and metal guitars tear in to the night. the only thing i don’t like about this band is their fans. that’s right, i realize this gives off the impression i have an inferiority complex, but listen up! these fans create a huge mosh pit, not 15 but 30 ft across. then we all run in circles during the fast parts. sometimes some1 will get on their hands and knees so others can jump onto the heads of those in front. during the slow parts of music, one is to stake out his 5 sq ft and practice his martial arts moves. between these two major forms of musical interpretation, 3 ppl were injured. one knocked in to a coma and had no ID, one broke an arm, and one broke a few ribs. i guess teenagers aren’t invincible afterall. so now you probably have a bad impression of the band. do not, the band repeatedly said to respect one another and to be careful. their shows are full of raw energy and some apparently can not absorb this. coming soon to a hardcore teen’s too-loud car stereo near you.

fryday sunshine
slept surprisingly well on the hill. awoke to the sun warming the tent, yes! time to eat! using a power inverter in my car, i started buzzing my hair leaving a clean mohawk. jim arrived at camp and touched it up some before i applied my leftover blue dye from Cornerstone 2000 and leftover red dye from Big XII Tournament 2005. from my car’s rear view, it didn’t look too bad. did i mention i had 2 hot neighbors from s.carolina? its true, and they seemed to like how my hair turned out too.

jim and i entered the 18+ canoe race. unfortunately, neither of us have been to boundary waters recently and were out of shape. of ten teams, we placed 4th by one second! had we done any of a number of things differently we would have rec’d a cheap medal, but more importantly had the opportunity to race against the 17- teams. oh well, it was fun anyway. not only that, my face is now pictured on the cornerstone website.

bands: Hawk Nelson, The Huntingtons (final show), Mercury Radio Theater, Pretty Big Plunger, Skillet, TobyMac

Review 4: The Huntingtons
Genre: Punk Rock
Rating: 4 Ramones
First time I saw these guys was CS2k. they had caught our attn b/c they were doing a full Ramones set. that’s one of my main memories from five yrs ago. that and blue hair. Their original songs aren’t much different. You don’t have to be a fan of either bands to quickly recognize their musical influences. while its sad to see them break up after 12 years, can’t say i’ve supported them. i still would recognize them as one of the best “christian punk” bands of all time. I will always love their music video “No Pool Party Tonight.”

Review Five: TobyMac
Genre: Rap-Rock
Rating: Fresher Than a Night at the W
Toby McKeehan of DC Talk is back with another rap-rock album Welcome To Diverse City. Get it? ha. I liked him more in ‘95 then ‘05, but its still a pretty good album. Some tracks I will continue to play over, others I won’t mind not hearing again. An amusing track features his son rapping about not needing training wheels in TruDog, The Return. at the end we find out he gets paid a Happy Meal for his services. Glad to hear Toby is not spoiling his kids.

Saturday am
fried some eggs and packed up camp. drove straight out back home to u-town. time was short, showered quickly, grey suit on, gel in my strip of hair and on the road again to a-town for summer wedding four of six…

[ incomplete list of bands i've seen in concert ]

~ by bobbomo on Sun 3 Jul 2005.