However, Community House Senior does have a state of the art bathroom facility, and this is where Brian first ran into one of the Tungsten 74 members. All kept their hair above the ears, all wore button up shirts and jeans, all wore Rivers Cuomo style glasses, and all were super nice, according to Brian. As a side note, that bathroom is really nice and clean as well.

This Community House is somewhat of an oxymoron, at least for our scene. The building has not done much to foster a sense of community, mostly because of massive defense budget spending, i.e., the cops cost too much, and you can't do shows without them there. Brian West, not to be confused with Drummer Brian who i spoke of earlier, was putting on this show. He seemed bound and determined to do this on his own and suffer his own disasters. We tried to tell him that this emerging scene is a community, we want to take care of each other, and throwing money at sentinels with badges is not a good way to go about paying a traveling band. But we supported his wish to do this show, and I was glad I stuck around for the whole thing. However...

So we were late, Brian Chad and I, and I at least felt pretty crummy about it. Local radio-rockers Ascetic played first, much to their disdain, i hear. If you haven't heard Ascetic, what kind of mossy rock have you been snoring under? Jesus! I would describe them as Creed doing Weezer covers, but I don't think they would like that, so I won't use that. umm... But I can't really think of anything else. They're really tight, and they sound good, but they played at least two cover songs, if not three or four, and I just have to ask what it takes for a band to suck up their pride and take a chance on their own music? What!?! But what they did, they did well, and all are talented musicians, at least as far as playing other people's songs. And they didn't kick our asses for making them play first. Yay!

The community house has a stage, with what looks to be an extra "mini-stage" in front of it that's slightly higher than the real stage. The purpose of this "mini-stage" remains unclear to me, and somewhat disorienting in the rock experience. Drummer Brian Chad and I talked to Brian West, and he was gracious enough to let us do our chaotic thing, even though we were super rude and mega late. But we refused to do the stage, in order to save time and fuck things up. We parked our equipment in front of a bricked up fireplace on the east side of the building, effectively ripping off the setup of Tungsten 74, who had set up at the back of the building, since they require no PA use.

Brian and I changed into our costumes. This was the night after halloween, and we felt that much fun was lost in those invitation only events that fell through, so brian decked himself out in ninja gear, and i in my own homemade samurai gear, and proceeded to chase each other through the unsuspecting building. We slipped and fell, and probably ran into a few people, but eventually we made it to our stuff, where chad was waiting with a silvery bike helmet. I asked that the lights were turned off, and we rocked. It was perhaps our sloppiest set to date, but i'll be goddamned if it wasn't our funnest ever, at least for us. We moved and danced, chad broke stuff, we made the cops uncomfortable and the parents disgusted, and it was all under a half an hour.

Parasite B set up as we convulsed with instruments. Shortly after we killed a Milemarker song, they slid into their radio metal groove. Those guys can play. They're loud, the new singer yelled "fuck" a lot cause it's what the kids love, the guitars were heavy and the bass was thundering, and they were all wearing black and even some eyeliner. I do believe a pair of panties were thrown up. Or they would have been, if it weren't so cold. Damn cold. The band did a System of a Down cover, which, while probably on the plates of several rock bands, could not have been properly pulled off, except for this band. All in all, had Parasite B been rockin' a stadium, they would have been ready. I think the mini-stage confused them. I hope they play again soon, though.

Tungsten 74. "Instrumental Math Rock", the flyer said. Brian West came by my position on the bench the second Parasite B put down the metal and said "this is going to fuckin' rock", with a shake in his voice and a glint in his eye I've rarely seen. Tungsten 74 kicked in gear, slowly but building. The beats washed over my jerking body as the bass soothed my aching limbs and the howling guitar scrubbed my ears. Both stringed instruments had a plethora of pedals at their disposal, and i do believe the guitarist was rockin' dual wah pedals with both feet at one time, which I would proud to see. The sound never stopped, they played a thirty minute nonstop set. The music was spacey, but like space, it was massive and multi-contoured, blasting with asteroids, stars, black holes, and nothing. When they finished, it was like waking from a dream. I cursed my lack of fundage for a shiny compact disc.

Dischotomy took the rock back the stage and its miniature sidekick. The kids in Dischotomy haven't played for a while, and i was wondering what kind of sharpening their music has gone under. This band is tight, like, wind a rubber band a thousand times around your finger and watch it turn purple, and that kind of pressure is just what the speakers delievered during Dischotomy's set. The guitars sounded a little week, but the rhythm section was quite rumbly. The vocals were a little off, but they always are. I know how cruel a mistress vocals are, so it's not like I can make a valid judgement, but Andrews vocals sound like a cross reference between the melodic undertones of bad religion to the gruff smoke-smeared stylings of jawbreaker back around to the whiskey soaked croonings of social distortion and the warbly prepubesent squak of bob dylan. The problem is, much like when i would mix every liquid i could find in the fridge in order to make some sort of "super-juice" and it went horribly pink and wrong, is that there is just too much crammed in the vocals.

But Hell, the kids love Dischotomy, and for a good reason - They put the energy on thick during their sets. The songs were lively, and Abby's singing is near siren-like, and while the guitars felt buried they did their best to crawl out of the dirt. And they made excellent use of the mini-stage, what with the jumping and the yelling and the stage diving. They played well, and I just wonder where they're going to take their music next.