DUDEFEST 2007!

So "DUDEFEST" was held this last weekend in Indianapolis, Indiana. I think it was a success, congrats to the people behind it because they did a great job organizing it. Congrats to all the bands touring for making it to the fest, it's a lot of dedication especially those who traveled overseas. It is the first time i had the great opportunity to meet people from all over, let's see if i can pull up a list, i met people from: England, Germany, France, Canada, California, Texas, Kentucky, Florida, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ohio and even Indiana and Illinois. It was international and multicultural a lot more diverse than i remember "DUDEFEST" back in 2004. There are tons of pictures that i would like to share with everybody but I am in the process of labeling everything so it's going to take a little bit, i will keep everyone posted though.

I think "DUDEFEST" is a great name for a festival since " dude" is a universal word that transcends all the social implications of gender, you can actually compare it to the word "guey" commonly used in Mexico with the same kind of connotation as "dude". It was also a great place for vinyl lovers and artsy fartsy t-shirts ,and of course, to meet new "dudes". The best part is that with a few pictures you can give a global recapitulation of the most important parts of dude fest. So this is what "DUDEFEST" was all about:
1) Thrashing yourself in the moshpit:






















2) This dude screaming in a really high-pitched voice "yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" after every single song:























3)Partying hard and being punk:

Meet my new friend: THE BIKE.

About a year ago I decided to buy a car because it would help me get to work faster, go grocery shopping or leave on a trip out of town. It did help me with all that but i was estimating napkin numbers , as they call it in Mexico, and the cost of owning a car in one year was about 18.6% of my annual income. Personally I think that is a high percentage considering that at least 80% of the annual income goes down to pay rent, bills , etc, etc, etc.
Recently my car started having transmission problems and the situation worsened when it was obvious that i needed a new transmission, which i couldn't really afford to pay so i decided to get rid of my car and forget about it. I took out my old huffy bike from the basement and went down to "Easy Ride" Bike Shop @ 4119 N. Lincoln Ave. (chi-town baby!) and see if i could make some sort of trade and pay the difference for a bike that could be in a better condition than mine. Lucky enough they had a nice Japanese Miyata road bike. They gave me a great deal for it so i couldn't miss the opportunity of getting a nice bike. I've been riding it for a while now and it seems like i can go to many places because Chicago is a bicycle friendly city. It is a whole new world for me, and within this short time that I've been riding I've learned so many new things and even better opportunities to make new friendships.
Bicycles seem to be a world with the D.I.Y. ethic to the maximum. I am interested in volunteering for bike collectives because it seems that the aid they provide is great locally and internationally. So yeah, I dedicated this space to my new friend the bike, thanks for opening myself to this.

A Recent Approach to the Chicago scene...

Well last week I discovered a new independent venue in the city of Chicago called "People Projects" located @ 2129 N. Milwaukee Ave. I was really excited to realize they are booking the show on Tuesday July 31st for the upcoming and awaited AMPERE-DAITRO summer tour '07. I love these bands. It seems to be a pretty busy season for the venue since they seem to have at least 5 shows every month. We all know it's summer and every band takes the opportunity to hit the road in their vans since the weather is optimistic for their purposes. This is a new face of the local scene that I am hoping it will prevail and flourish throughout time. Please do come out for this show, great bands with generous messages and good intentions. If you like to find out more information you can go to the venue webpage @ www.myspace.com/people_projects .

Last weekend I went down there to a show. Four bands played, i think the two main touring bands were theDeathset and Ponytail, I think the first one is from Baltimore and the other one I am not quite sure. Sorry, I should've got more accurate details but I wasn't paying enough attention. Anyways I enjoyed the first two bands more than anything. The first band that played was a local band called Parsley Flakes. I think their style is very unique and is convincing the fact that they sound like a mix between Devo and Crass. It was a great performance that got me dancing for the most part. I hope to see a vinyl record soon. And the second band that played was from Milwaukee, WI called Terrior Bute. Double Keyboard and drums it's all they got but sure is enough to make you dance through their tunes. I couldn't get any of their recorded stuff because I am not a big cd fan. But I got some nice pictures for everyone to look at the fun we had:
1)Parsley Flakes:











































2)Terrior Bute: