Well, here is where I am supposed to tell you that everything actually went according to plan and I had an amazing time. Well, for once I might actually surprise you....

So I left Boston in good spirits, the T ride over to South Station was free (yeah!) and I was sitting next to a cute redheaded boy. It was obvious he had a girlfriend, he was too prim and proper without being gay, but it was nice sitting next to him anyway. He didn't smell badly or anything. I was styling in the Cancer Conspiracy shirt and my dirty, dirty jeans. So we got to the New York City bus station(they call it the Port Authority. I don't know why.) and I was completely lost. No idea where to go. We were late too, so I was scared I was going to start out the trip by missing the bus. I made it. I asked. The line was fucking huge. I got in and two scraggling looking women got in line behind me. Up at the front of the line, a security guard was checking everyone with a metal detector and searching bags. The women behind me started freaking out because they had some sort of drugs on them and they had to get rid of them before this police officer searched her bags. So one woman went off and threw the drugs out while the second held her place in line. I thought I was going to die.

The guy took my ticket and didn't really check my bag, I think he felt bad for me and could tell I wasn't a NYC type of kid. There were hardly any seats so I got stuck sitting next to a woman with her small baby on her lap. I thanked her for moving her stuff and she said, "My pleasure, you're nice and petite." Should have known... Yeah, her kid AND her were almost on my lap for most of the trip. I was fine with it though. Put your baby's bottle behind me, fine. Baby's sleeping in my lap, fine. You're taking up over half my seat, FINE. I did have a BIG PROBLEM when she changed the kid's diaper, on the bus, sitting next to me! Kid's fucking head is in my lap and she's changing his diaper. Even worse, she left the trash bag (not closed or anything) with the dirty diaper wedged between her body and mine. For twenty minutes!!! I was very unhappy with that. I kept looking down at the bag and cringing, making sure she knew she had gone too far. That woman just completely went over the line. If that was my mother sitting there she wouldn't have tried to pull that shit. I put up with all that for fifteen hours. Oh, it sucked. We also only stopped at nasty food places like Bo Jangles and the woman next to me was trying to shoot me dirty looks when I took my multivitamin. Bitch. That first night on the bus was a cold one. I realized that even though I am travelling down South, it's still a good idea to bring a sweatshirt. I was cursing myself all night and trying to huddle into a ball to stay warm.

We finally got to Winston Salem, the most ghetto bus station ever. The road that my mapquest directions told me to take wasn't a road. It hasn't been for years. There are potholes up to my knees. It's beaten cobblestone. My friends would drive on there. They'd call it "off-roading." No way in hell was it a real road. No car (besides maybe Johnny's Honda because that's a tough little car) could drive on here. No one would want to. So this is the road that I take into Winston Salem. It's pretty late, around one or so, but no one is outside. The streets are almost deserted. Scary. I get lost going to the club from my mapquest directions and end up asking people. No one knows where this 533 Uprisings club is. There isn't a lot going on in Winston Salem, the fact that the people can not know what is two blocks down from them is hysteical. I end up in the library and the librarian tries to show me up on google. Not a chance, honey. I take control of that situation and get some proper directions. I was about four blocks past it.

I show up to the show and there are a group of kids there. I try smiling, but no one wants anything to do with me. I sit down and am reminded how much I can not wait until my friends show up and there are some familiar faces about. I watch the end of one band and then walk down the street and ask some kids on bikes where I can eat.
"Hmm... In Downtown?"
"Yeah."
"Well, maybe that one place... I'm not sure where it is..."
That is how things are here! People don't even have someplace to go to eat. What is this madness? I wander around and ask a few more guys and they don't know. One guy is offering me candy apples off the hood of his car, but I'm not that hungry. He asks me if he can talk about God and I tell him, "no" and walk away, pretending I am in a hurry. I eat in a small pizza place. I got a salad, but all I realy wanted was to use their bathroom. I did, after I ate, and cleaned up to soemthing halfways proper.

The show is pretty tedious. Every band sounds like the last. The few vendors there had some cool shit, I'll give them that. Lots of out of print stuff. I got a Beta Minus Mechanic 7" and a Toasters 7" for Eric G. I got some postcards to send to the kids back home. Went back to the show. It was getting later and I was worried that maybe (somehow) I had missed Santa Sangre. So I went up to the door kids and asked them what time the show was going to. They said about ten or so.
"And Santa Sangre is playing around 9:15 p.m.?"
"On no. They cancelled. So did Unearth."
"Would you happen to know why?"
"Unearth's van broke I think. Ask Danny."
So I track down Danny, this pissed off looking sXe kid. Dude, what are you so pissed off about? He told me very coldly that Santa Sangre had broken up. I didn't believe it. I wandered around the city fo awhile. I called Brush, Josh, and Brad. No one had any advice. No one knew whether or not this cruel joke was true. I dejectedly walked back to the show and watched the last couple of bands. One Nation Under played and they were good. The rest were pretty crap. Two merch guys at the old vinyl stand actually talked with me. That was cool. To actually talk with someone. One was joking around and told me, every time I lifted and album, "Are you straight edge? That band will beat you up if you buy their music and you're not striaght edge." He was funny. One of the guys from One Nation Under talked to me too. He was upset, as well, that Santa Sangre was no more. We bonded. I bought a video of Santa Sangre and Earth Crisis at this past Hellfest and the One Nation Under demo. Uprising Fest day one ended and it was time to go home. Well, to the bus station.

Never have I made a walk and felt so sure someone was going to jump out of the bushes and kill me than the walk on that dark, un-road back to the bus station. I was terrified. But I figured at least if I was murdered, the pain from the Santa Sangre breakup would be gone. I was tired, lost, lonely, and absolutley miserable. I wanted to go home but didn't have the funds to. And I was two hours early at the bus station. So I slept, and ate, and waited.

The bus finally came and I sat next to an attractive man from Bolivia. He told me the buses there were much nicer and cheaper as well. I wanted to tell him they were cheaper because the Bolivian economy sucks ass, but I didn't want to hurt this man's feelings. He was so cute, dressed up in a suit for his bus ride. I fell asleep a little easier than the night before, although I was still very cold.

The Bolivian man was nice enough to wake me up when we got to Washington D.C. I would have slept right through it. I didn't want to be awake and dealing with things, I wanted to be blissfully asleep.

I got off and had an hour delay there. I looked for something to eat and was forced to settle for two bags of Doritos. I was down to less than no money. It sucked. I looked for an ATM, but didn't see one. I toyed with the idea of calling my brother, but by the time he got to the bus station I would be gone. So I sat, very cold, and waited for the bus. The bus was late. When it finally got to Washington, there was only one other person riding it besides myself. I thought that was funny. We may have made some stops after, to get some people, I'm not entirely sure. I would feel the bus moving and then just go back to bed, confident that it would get me where I wanted to go.

I woke up and we were still moving through the country, going towards Newark, NJ. I looked at my watch and saw that the bus would be stopping soon. I was upset. Things were safe on the bus. I was finally warm, baking in the sunlight. I was very disappointed when we reached Penn Station. We were let off outside too, ghetto. I pondered calling Mihall, then realized I had no quarters to do so. I didn't have his new number, anyways. I got some money out of the ATM - Fuck it, mother sees than she sees, what is she going to do to me for going to New Jersey? I figure she won't see until about December anyway, so by then it's far too late to call me out on it. Got some McDonalds and bought my tickets to South Amboy and caught the train. One kid on the train was trying to be my friend, but he seemed like a prick so I carefully turned up my music and avoided eye contact. Slickness. He wanted to tell me how clever or maybe how dirty the old man sitting infront of us was for ripping off the train by lying about his destination. In all honesty, I really didn't care. He should rip off the train. He's old. He can.

I got off at South Amboy and it was the rinky-dink town that I imagined. The man sitting outside the gas station pointed me in the way of the directions mapquest gave me. I wandered around just shy of two hours, following different hunches and sets of directions from people, when I had to go to the bathroom and became aware of the fact that I was dirty. I commandeered the bathroom in FOODMART and washed, brushed my teeth, etc. When I looked halfway decent I left and asked the first woman I saw where the club was.
"Krome? Oh that's right by my house! What's going on there? Teen night?"
"Kind of. There's a hardcore show tonight."
"Oh okay. That's nice. Do you want a ride?"

What a small town. Wow.

I accepted the ride and this woman was nice enough to drive me to Krome. I was trying to pay attention so I could figure out how to get back. I was somewhat worried about that part. The woman told me I could catch a bus across the street. She also told me not to get stabbed because it was a rough club. I told her I would take extra caution.

I sat outside the club for what seemed like hours. It was really only about a half an hour. Bands were loading their shit in the club and whenever I asked if they wanted a hand, I was always denied. Grrr. Didn't they see how bored I was?

One guy was talking with a girlie band and telling them he was Ken from Unearth and he was on tour with Santa Sangre until they broke up. The girls never heard Santa Sangre. I was bored, I butted in.
"I have the CD here if you want to hear it. I also have the True Love demo and the Another Victim CD."
The girl was a pretty little Asian girl. I smiled and thought, Too bad Johnny didn't come here. She liked them both and Ken and I argued over which band was better, Santa Sangre or Another Victim. He liked Santa Sangre more, they are his friends. I told him they were my friends too. He asked to see my CD collection, changing the subject. As he flipped through he complimented me on the Throwdown, Cave In, Thursday, and This Day Forward.
"You like Oasis?"
"Yeah I think they're great."
He handed them back and then I realized he was probably hurt his album wasn't in there. Oh well. I did end up buying it later, so there. And I told him he played a good set, which he did, and I think that was our way of making up. In my mind.

The girls all went back inside and Ken went back to moving his stuff. He didn't want any help. Neither did they. I sat by myself some more. A tall guy showed up and the girls were all giggling and hugging each other, but I thought it was just a friend. I sat down and wrote. Started to do some reading. Nothing too interesting. Listened to some CDs. I was rocking out to the Thursday album for the hundredth time when I got sick of all of the silence and just got up and barged into the conversation the girls were having with a couple guys. They had said hi to me before so I thought it wasn't too rude, albeit still awfully bold.

They smiled when I came over and the talking continued. The tall man introduced himself as Alex, his friend was Hambone. The girls went back to setting up and all and I stayed and talked with Alex, Hambone, and Hannah, a friend of theirs. The This Day Forward kids arrived and they said hello to them. I was happy to be near them, I adore that band. Alex asked where I was from, what I was doing here, and I asked the same of him. He felt bad because of what happened with Santa Sangre and said that I was a good friend for coming down there to see them. One of the most attractive men I have ever seen in my life walked up and Alex introduced me right off the bat.
"Mario, have you met my friend Tina?"
I was stunned because after talking to this guy for ten minutes I was being intoduced as his friend. It was pretty cool, I must say. All of us sat around and talked. Hambone is a funny guy, it's so cute, he's completely and utterly devoted to Alex. Alex is one of those guys that everyone knows. Not only does everyone know him, but everyone wants to spend time with him. He got a call from Dashboard Confessional while he was talking to us, they wanted to hang out after their show and get drunk. How does that even happen? Mario works at a radio station and has interviewed Inhuman and Rick Ta Life. When he started talking about Rick Ta Life, he used his real name. I thought it sounded familiar, but had no idea from where.
"No, no, no, it is and always will be Rick Ta Life!"

Apparently Alex used to ride bikes with Rick Ta Life back in the day. Who does that? No one!! Mario was talking about how his band, December, was going to be buying Shutdown's van and trailer since Shutdown don't need it anymore. Who knows Shutdown that well? These are NYHC legends! These are some of the most amazing bands ever! If not for their music (because, fae it, it wasn't the best shit ever put out), for the social impacts they made! And these kids are dropping names like there's no tomorrow. My head was spinning. Alex asked what I was doing after the show. I explained I had to leave early to walk abck and get the train back to the bus station.
"No, you're not walking. Mario, will you give Lady T a ride back to the train stop? It's like five minutes away."
I looked at Alex, laughing.
"You don't know where the train stop is, do you?"
"No..."
"It's like two miles from here."
"Well, there you go. Mario, it's like a two minute drive."
Mario agreed and I had to smile. I had a ride to the train stop.

"Wait, you're taking the train back to Boston?"
"No, I'm taking the train to Newark to the bus station and then taking the bus to Boston."
"You're taking the train to Penn Station in Neward?"
"Yes."
"Newark, New Jersey?"
"Yes."
"Well, do you want a ride to Penn Station because it's like fifteen minutes from my house, not a problem. Then you don't have to take the train."

Well, by now these kids were getting so funny, talking about the crazy things that they did and all, I wasn't going to pass that up. Now I had a ride to Penn Station. Bonus.

Mario went off with the singer of Morgan's Storm, the band that was playing that night that is on Alex's label. Hambone, Hannah, and I headed inside. Alex was chilling outside with a woman who seemed like his girlfriend.

Inside I wa slooking at merch. Got a sweatshirt, the Unearth CD. Looked around. Talked with the This Day Forward guys about the Since Day One Mikes. This Day Forward was giving the Mikes props for being a good band and said they shouldn't have broken up. I feel the same way. It was cool being that close and being able to watch the band in their environment. Alex came in and introduced me to more people as "Lady T."
"Look at you, Lady T. Stick with me and now you've got a ride to the bus station, friends, and even a nickname. Do you mind if I call you Lady T?"
"No, that's fine."
"Cool Lady T."

The first band, Until Forever, played. I think that was their name. They were okay, but still kind of lacking. Alex came over, laughing, and said it was a "kung-fu" fest out there. Mario came over before they played with a huge smile on his face, laughing, "That drummer used to play for us - he sucks!!" and then dashed way into the crowd.
"We're really not dickheads, in fact, we're the nicest people here. I swear!" Alex told me after Maria ran away.
It was fun to watch them play and people's reactions. The one good thing I have to say about this Fest was that someone from every band was watching all the other bands. It was nice to see that support. Three of the This Day Forward guys stood front and center for every set (besides Unearth, that was a bad place to stand) and showed their encouragement. The little frontman from Until Forever did the same. Until Forever was okay, nothing all that special. The singer annouced, "I came down here all the way from Boston so this show is pretty special..." I looked at Alex and said, "I came here from Boston..." He laughed and said, "Until Forever guy, this is my friend Lady T. She came from Boston too. Wanna give her a ride?"

Morgan's Storm went on next. I don't like female vocals, but I think I was very nice and supportive, afterall, the head of their label was helping me out a great deal. For some reason the girls were really nervous and I thought they did and okay job - the vocals and drums were shit - but Alex wasn't happy at all. He took Hambone aside and told him that Morgan's Storm sucked some ass and that he was considering delaying their recording until they practiced some more. I think the most impressive thing about Alex is that he's this big, goofy guy that loves to have fun, but then when it's time he means nothing but business. Very smart man. He and Hambone planned on taking the girls to the same house that Thursday stayed in to get some focus.
"Yeah so Thursday's out of there - Morgan's in. I want them practicing thirty hours a week. I don't care when, but I want it done."
Hambone volunteered to stay at the house and help them. He's in a band called Pencey Prep that has an album out on Alex's label, Eyeball Records. He's very proud that he discovered Thursday and gave them a chance when no one else did, as he should be. This man, as far as being a businessman is concerned, ranks right up there with Bryan Burker. He's that good. He knows his shit and he's that good. Not only that, but he also knows how to get it done. Just very intelligent. I taked with Hambone for awhile about his musical ambitions and he gave me his contact info and his band's website. Very nice of him.

Unearth played and they rocked. The little frontman from Until Forever was moshing. So was Heath, the douchebag that put on the show. I never met the kid, but he looked like a schmuck and Alex said he was a prick. There was a nice little moshy-mosh pit going, though, and it was fun to watch. I got knocked down a couple times, but it was all good. I was standing behind the TDF guys. Unearth rocked. Ken's a great guitar player. He was wearing almost platform-like shoes, though, which I thought was funny. I wanted to tell him to embrace his shortness. After Unearth played Alex told me not to disappear for a few minutes because we were probably leaving. I stayed and talked with Hambone, bought a demo. I don't like female vocals, but I felt as though it was the least I could do. They were only two bucks, too. So I got one.

Hambone went to get the car or something and Alex was making the goodbye rounds. I stood with the Morgan's Storm merch girl and she asked who I knew at the show.
"I just met Alex and Hambone outside today. I don't know anyone, really.."
"And now they're giving you a ride to the bus station?"
"Yeah, it's pretty fucking cool."

Alex came back and got me. He bought a This Day Forward shirt. He was also hitting on the girl that sold it to him while Unearth played. We went to the lobby of Krome and there was Meghan from Morgan's Storm, Mario, and a few other guys. Alex introduced me as Lady T and made sure, again, that it was okay that I was getting a ride with Mario. Mario was leaving in about ten minutes, I told him that was cool with me. Alex left, and then came back,
"Lady T, you want to leave now with us?"
"Sure."
I said goodbye to everyone, told Meghan she had a great show, and as I was leaving I heard someone say, "Bye Lady T..." "Why did you call her that?" "That's her name isn't it?" and I started laughing.

Alex's friend (who's name begins with a "J"), Alex, Hambone, and myself piled into the car. We started going and Alex asked if I wanted to use his cell phone to call the bus station to find out what time the bus left. I told him I knew it was leaving at 9:50 p.m.
"Well, that's like an hour and a half from now. What are you going to do when we drop you off?"
"Wait...?"
"No, you shouldn't be waiting there that long all by yourself. That place is dangerous. Are you hungry? Have you eaten? Come get something to eat with us and then we'll drop you off."
"Okay."

So we drove to the "ghetto" supermarket by Alex's. I talked to Hambone most of the way and found out what his story was. He's a really sweet guy. At the grocery store, we were scared for a second because Alex thought there was a shortage of potato buns. A "bun-a-caust". Luckily, we found some. His friend was a vegetarian too and got some Bocca chik'n patties. Alex asked what I wanted. I only had four dollars on me. Bocca burgers were $3.99. He knew what was bothering me and told me that he had me covered. When I asked if he was sure he said, "I own a record label, I have cash!" and I got some spicy Bocca burgers. We got some things he would need since he was leaving for the Thursday tour the next day - toothpaste, multivitamins, vitamin C ("I need chewables, I can't swallow pills"), and a couple other things and then went to the check out. When I tried to give him my four dollars he patted me on the back and told me to save it for the trip home.

We went to his house and his friend took Hambone to his house so he could pick up his van because he had to go pick up the Dashboard kids soon. Alex showed me his place and let me put my bag down and proceeded to cook some dinner. he also made me take two vitamin C pills and a multivitamin.
"Lady T needs a multi-vitamin for the way home. I read that somewhere."
Most complete meal I had all weekend. Two Bocca burgers and a couple glasses of Adorondiak Cranberry Ginger Ale. I had the soda in a beer mug because all the other dishes were dirty. I met Alex's roommate Mark (who had makeup all over his face like Indian War paint) and Mark's girl Marilyn. They were cool. The palce was really nice and Alex says that the label is all he does now, which is good. It's nice to see that someone can start an indie label and it can actually work out for them to the point where they're doing really well. It's really good to see. It was a really nice house, well taken care of besides dirty dishes, but whatever. Our place always has dirty dishes. There was a Jawbreaker poster framed in Alex's room with half the glass missing - nice touch. Good taste in music, that boy. He had a massive stack of CDs too, but I didn't get a chance to look and check them out. Mark had pictures from the night Hambone got wasted and there were naked Hambone pictures. Very funny. There was also a picture of Alex taking a piss with his dick hanging out. He laughed at that one and said that I must be like, "Who are these guys showing me all these naked pictures before I eat?"

The pictures went on the fridge and I looked at the others collaged on there. There was a picture of one of the racist skinhead guys that kicked Alex's ass a couple weeks before and was calling him a mic. Alex isn't all that upset about it, he thinks it's funny. Alex cooked me another Bocca burger and told me all about how much better potato buns are than regular buns. he's actually right, they are much tastier. Mario came over and finished off Alex's second Bocca burger and Alex went to go do something and he told me all about his band, December, and how usually Morgan's Storm doesn't suck and all. He said everyone always sounds like ass in Krome just because of the way the acoustics are. He's the vocalist for December. December is playing Bill's Bar on New Year's Day and I promised I would go if I was in town. I'd like to be able to go to the New Year's Eve show in Syracuse and then to the December show here, but that seems almost impossible. We shall see, though. It might be able to work out somehow. I have made miracles work before. Alex's friend and Hambone came back. We hung out for a bit and talked and Alex told us how last week "the West Coast was calling me at 4 a.m." - Dashboard and Gabe from Midtown were calling him and telling him they were wasted. He was apparently wasted as fuck too. lol. Alex told me earlier how he fell asleep with Hannah and Bethany and Hambone said he was waiting for the house to rock ("this house shakes every time someone has sex in it") and then he was going to come downstairs and start jerking off. LoL, crazy fucks!

Before we left to go to the bus station, Alex went upstairs to the office to check his email. ("I do it by phone," Mario admitted. Geek.) We all followed and I got to see the office. Small, but pretty sweet. Alex gave me three or four CDs to check out. Good man. Very kind of him. Soon he says he's getting an office elsewhere and he's going to share the space with Mark from Makeoutclub.com and he's also going to try to get some local kids to start up a 'zine. He's just going to give them a place to do it. What a fucking guy. Just talking to him, it was like living hardcore/punk back the way it should be and was once. Help the kids. Help thy neighbor. There's a kid that's hungry, feed him. There's a kid that doesn't know anyone, talk to him. I know that if my bus left on Monday morning Alex would ahve insisted I sleep at his place instead of the bus station. Not because he's fucking weird, but because he's a genuinely nice person. It was really nice, they're so rare nowadays. I said goodbye to everyone, Mario reminded me of the New Years show. Alex, his friend, and I went to Penn Station. He gave me his card and told me to call him if the bus was delayed for any reason because it's too dangerous for me to be there hanging out by myself. They would come and get me if the bus was delayed or anything went wrong.

It was a really nice feeling, being taken care of. After being on my *very* own for over two days, it was nice to talk to someone and see someone smile, tell some jokes. It was good to laugh. It was good to see someone thinking positively and exherting some energy to making something work for his friends and also making a decent living off of it. I can't tell express how glad I am that I actually went to bum-fuck South Amboy and got so annoyed with being alone that I went up and talked to them. I have some friends in Newark, now. Who would have fucking thought? And right up there with that, I got to experience, firsthand, the way hardcore was and is supposed to be. When I thanked Alex, he reminded me, "This is what hardcore is."

Monday I rode the bus back to Boston. Had an hour layover in the breedign ground of the scum of the Earth (NYC Port Authority) and the kid behind me got drugs from some other kid right infront of me, but I was still riding on what happened. Nothing bothered me. I got my own seat on the bus and slept the whole way to Boston. I sat cold and shivering in South Station until five, then I caught a free T ride home. Before the T showed up some weird guy with no direction in his life was trying to make me feel bad for him. I told him it's all in perspective and when he didn't listen I tried not to laugh at him and tell him most people his age (27) would kill to be able to go back to school (or go to school, in his case) and take advantage of the opportunites offered. Most of my friends back home would jump at the chance. He was weird. I don't feel bad for him. I think he needs to think about how shitty his life could be and focus more on the things that are going right for him. And when did I lose my pessimistic edge? Damn...