this is hardcore

Trial at Burning Fight this weekend. Hat tip to Kris Mission at WMF for the photo. EPIC video of the whole set is here.

PS I know that this is supposed to be a post about Trial but I have to add something. At about 28/30 min into this video I noticed in the bottom front of my screen a kid that looked pretty familar, then I heard a voice I know: Patrick fucking Flynn. It's kind of an embarassing thing for me to be such a big fan of this dude, mostly because at this point I'd say that we're at the very least acquaintances, but it's what it is. It's not often you see the singer of what is essentially the biggest band in hardcore being as stoked and into it as the next kid. We all like to pretend that's how it goes, but it's not. Pat, on the other hand, still comes out to small shows like when he was going hard for Rival Mob at Oxfam and is apparently going all out for Trial when he could have a cushy spot wherever the hell he wanted in that place. Not to nerd out or anything but the amount of respect I have for that kid is literally limitless and I couldn't be happier for him the HH dudes for all they've accomplished. They're the hardest working band in hardcore (they're in the fucking Philippines next week and are touring officially from now until forever) and deserve everything they've been able to achieve plus much much more.

EDIT: They posted a flyer for the schedule of this out with a bang world tour: 98 shows in 104 days over 39 countries.


Oof. I get tired just reading it.


EDIT: I think I just caught another PF stage dive about 21 minutes into the incredible Bane set during my favorite of all post OG hardcore jamz: COUNT ME OUT. I don't know how to explain this but I am absolutely bugging out watching this Bane set. Seriously, like BUGGING OUT. Everytime I see them, everytime I listen to them it's the same fucking rush of emotions I felt when I heard Count Me Out for the first time and it absolutely changed my life. I listened to Holding this Moment pretty much every single day on the bus ride to school sophomore year until I switched to Give Blood, which might be only slightly edged out by The Argument by Fugazi as my most-listened album of all time. No matter how many times I hear the lyric "I'll be here tomorrow, I'll be here next year. Just like this X on the back of my hand [I'm] not going nowhere...." it will cause a wrenching, visceral reaction in me. I literally have goosebumps watching Can We Start Again right now.

I just opted not to go out tonight so I can continue to think about how I "will not let clean shaven boys that all look the same toss hand grenades into this my faith" while I keep watching Burning Fight sets.

EDIT again: Approx 28:30 into this set Aaron's speech is just dead on. No one speaks like that dude does. Chills, literally.

cuenta reg 01: MG RGN SUP

List #01: preferred Argentine footballer

1. IMO, only one answer for this: MARCELO “THE DOLL” GALLARDO. I know I should probably say Messi (but he plays for Barca) or Riquelme (but he’s a diva) or even Palermo (a beast -- but he plays for Boca) but I have to say Gallardo. A) I have declared my loyalties. B) The former DC United player is ancient and a quarter the size of Palermo but still has been the fighting heart and soul of the River team this season, including the comeback goal in the last Superclasico. Too bad River lost to Nacional de Paraguay and were elimated from the Copa Libetadores. Oh well, it gave Gallardo an excuse to talk some sweet smack in the papers and hopefully means they’re better rested as the clausura finishes soccer season.

cuenta reg 02: I love livin in the city

List #02: favorite places, loosely speaking

1. Abasto: My first two months I was kind of cranky that I lived in Almagro. Most of the other Americans are in Barrio Norte and Recoleta, really nice upper-middle class neighborhoods. But now I love no area of the city more than I love the Balavanera neighborhood near the Abasto mall, also called Abasto. Abasto is home to my favorite cheap Peruvian restaurant and many more I have not yet tried, the Konex cultural center where there is theatrical live musc like the incredible percussion orchestea Bomba del Tiempo, Club Atletico Fernandez Fierro and their rock/tango orchestra, and the most incredible thing I have seen in my time in BA – an adorable porteno block party of sorts with maybe 30 young beautiful hipster couples folk dancing in the street, with an asado and lights/flags hanging that we stumbled upon walking home from Marmani (Peruvian food) one day. It was like a scene from a movie. This neighborhood is known for being a bit dangerous, as people try to pick pocket mall-goers and many poor immigrants from Peru, Bolivia and Senegal live in the neighborhood, but I fucking love it. Makes me glad to live in Almagro and be so close!
2. Santa Fe y Pueyrredon: This is technically Barrio Norte but I point to this spot specifically for a couple of reasons. First, at this particular intersection is the Galeria Americana where Axel has his tattoo parlor and the Varsity boys are opening their hardcore record store. It’s also the approximate location of my friend Alana’s apartment and very close to where Natalie lives. To get to those places I usually take the subway to Pueyrredon and then walk straight up it for 10 or so blocks to Santa Fe, enabling myself to walk through the Jewish area of town. Tons of Orthodox Jews and their Kosher supermarkets, one in which I stumbled upon a beautiful three year old also named Shana. What more makes me feel like home than good friends, Jews and hardcore kids? It’s the spot in which I am most likely to run into someone I know and like, Argentines and Americans alike (see: when I met these American girls from GW who were super nice, the time I ran into Axel before meeting Anna and her parents, how I ran into Emma while waiting for Axel, and how I just ran into Kiko Fede and Fran this weekend). Also very close to my favorite bookstore (El Ataneo on Santa Fé) and ice cream (Volta).

cuenta reg 03: about this americana

List #03: embarrassing ways that I stave off homesickness

1. eating peanut butter by the spoonful: I infrequently do this in the States but for some reason I have taken solace in doing so here. Each spoonful is an act of defiance, as I am pretty sure that the only two groups of people in the world who can hang with American style peanut butter are Americans and Israelis and it definitely seems like the Argentines frequently have negative feelings about all three of the aforementioned (Americans, Israelis, and peanut butter). Hey -- this beats going to McDonalds or Starbucks! Related honorable mention: Buying and destroying Oatmeal Squares for my late-night homework snack. I blame Andrew Helms for this.
   
2. downloading new old hardcore music: As you’d have to be a dolt not to notice, I’ve been really into hardcore lately. As a function of this, I’ve been jamming all sorts of bands I never listened to when I was in my many years of listening to basically the same 3-4 hardcore bands all of the time. This has been awesome but I am at a loss for a proper analogy to explain why. Maybe it’s because, without deviating from the same formula I love, I’ve been able to listen to things that a) seem new to me and b) are total classics / nearly perfect that I wrote-off long ago. Related honorable mention: I’ve been maxing the potential of my Google Reader and aggregating hardcore blogs. Now I get to read awesome back stories about said bands AND find inspiration for new ones!
3. The Wire: This is number three on the list because I finished the season that I had but in my first two months here I watched two whole seasons of The Wire. This was especially great when I had first arrived and felt super exhausted all of the time from being so new to Spanish all of the time and didn’t quite have a circle of people read for hangouts. I won’t say how quickly I watched each of the two seasons but let’s just say it was embarrassingly quickly. Related honorable mention: Happily, none! I’ve barely watched any TV or movies, The Wire phase excepted, since I’ve been down here as Silvia lacks a DVD player and I can’t deal with the stupidity of Argentine television.

cuenta reg 04: "snack attack bitchez," -- Jordan Fraade

List #04: snack attack, Argentine-style!

1. alfajores: Imagine two soft cookies with dulce de leche between them, covered in chocolate. Super rica, super amazing. Favorite brand, hands down, is El Chachafaz because the cookies are cloud soft and the dulce de leche is wonderful. Havana’s (Starbucks, more or less) house brand is a close second. Mmmm.
2. pomelo (grapefruit) soda: It isn’t sweet at all but rather tart and super addictive. I can’t tell you how much I wish we had Paso de los Toros (a brand) in America. I would drink it all of the time. The closest American comparison I can think of is Polar Orange Dry, except that stuff tastes like artificial sweetener whereas Paso de Toros tastes like awesomeness sans sweetener.
3. medialunas: Medialunas are Argentine croissants. There are two types: manteca y grasa. The former are made from butter, are very soft and usually contain a light but sweet outer coating. From grasa, or lard, are harder but flaky and not nearly as sweet. Usually accompany a café con leche, or espresso with milk. My favorite medialunas are served in the UCA cafeteria and sustain me during the short break that arrives 4.5 hours into my 6 straight hours of class on Tuesdays.
4. licuado: They’re like smoothies but not. Blended ice, water/milk/juice and fresh fruit, without whey BS or anything. My favorite flavor is peach with milk. Can easily replace a meal.

cuenta reg 05: FML

List #05: things about BA that I will not miss

1. Movistar: This is straight hate. You pre-pay for cell service instead of using a contract. Unfortunately said phone service is expensive so it’s never very long until your saldo está por aghostarse (you’ve exhausted your account), rendering you unable to send texts or make calls in crucial moments. Also they’re constantly sending texts to their customers, which leads to major let downs because who the fuck wants a text from their cell phone company? So much for thinking it was actually my friends, caring. I have friends?
2. switching into English: For all but the last three months of my life I have lived in America where I speak English every day. I did not come all the way to Buenos Aires to speak English. Yes, I know I am a gringa. Yes, I know I have an accent when in speak your language. But I seriously don’t need you to tell me that my empanadas cost “four pesos;” I promise I speak more Spanish than that. When you are trying to hit on my blonde friends and I in the street, you get no closer when you start yelling out, “Hello! Where are you from? What is your name?” I am thrilled that you a) passed elementary school English or b) speak English much better than I ever hope to speak Spanish without ever stepping foot outside of your country – and by thrilled I mean annoyed, so please allow me to fuck up so I can learn from my mistakes. (PS Movistar still annoys me more than this!)
3. honking at ambulances: I happen to live very close to a medical clinic and a major hospital, as well the major traffic artery and main road Avenida Corrientes. Every day at about 9 or 9:30 I lose the battle for my snooze button sleep because there is an ambulance and every driver on Avenida Corrientes decides to honk at every other driver to indicate the presence of an ambulance. Uh, hey guys, guess what? It has a siren for that! Ugh.
4. cubanas: The Spanish word for the phenomenon of dread tails / mullets. If I were Castro I’d be way more pissed that Argentines named their bad haircuts after me than I would be about American capitalism, sayin’.
5. that my professors smoke in class: Both of my UBA professors have lit cigarettes during class. Being the idiot American, I tend to sit in the front row in order to help myself hear/understand. Without any ventilation, this usually means I get to inhale some of that lovely cigarette smoke when I’m trying to learn. On some level I probably enjoy this because it’s so absurdly different from Tufts, but mostly it just makes me wish I wore a Swine Flu mask to class.

cuenta reg 06: overheard in argentina

I started this at 2 AM last night when my essay due today was about 85% done going on 85% of the past two days but instead of just finishing the damn thing I keep adding to its insides or just procrastinating outright. To continue my goal of accomplishing as little as possible (note the sardonic tone), I present to you a series of posts of lists about my life and Argentina which I hope you enjoy!

List #06: expressions I hear most (in order)

1. che, boludo: Che is roughly dude. Boludo is roughly asshole. But the thing is, the expressional really isn’t at all vulgar -- even your grandmother probably says it. Due to its Italian influence, Argentine Spanish is extremely flowy. Adding in a che or boludo tends to progress a conversation while also expressing affectionate mocking. I don’t really feel like I can use it, being gringa and all, but I dig it none the less.
2. ¿qué sé yo?: Its literal translation is “What do I know?” but it’s much more than that. You use it also to terminate a topic of conversation, a sort of bored flick of the wrist. Also used to dull a potentially polemical opinion.
3. mirá vos: The command form of “you look,” but more like “look at you.” Sometimes used to express shock, awe, mild interest… Mirá vos, I didn’t know Movistar had recarga triple today.
4. dale: I think of it as the adverbial form of “okay.” Example: You want me to go to the store? Dale. I’ll go in ten.
5. viste: Frequently used to display interest, sort of like we use “uh huh” to continue a conversation. Also used to underline/highlight a point, kind of like “got it?”
6. no pasa nada: As I’ve mentioned, efficiency here is subpar. Attitudes are generally pretty lax. Late to class? No pasa nada. See also, ni importa: Although it’s not grammatically correct, everyone says it anyway. An emphatic way of saying “no biggie” or “don’t sweat it.”