Day one: Friday, June 12 – Boston, MA
Ripped pants, spaghetti sandwiches, delicious treats and booze.
All three pretty much sum up the days leading up to Shaun Luu Horror Fest in Syracuse, NY.
After exhausting all of my electronics on the non-stop, five hour plane ride on Friday, departing from San Diego, CA, and arriving in Boston, MA, I was ready to check out the portion of the nation yet-to-be discovered by yours truly—but apparently by most other humans.
For a first timer in Boston, I could go on for days about the things I saw. But chances are many of the people reading this have already been there and are thinking, “relax Cali, I’ve already run like 20 miles around what you just saw.”
I was a sheltered kid, OK? Traveling was a rarity in my household.
I’ll save you all some eye-rolling, and stick to the highlights:
· Vegan food in the North End, joined by post ingestion grub crawling across the plate where my vegan slider once sat.
· Chocolate covered cannoli from Mike’s Bakery. Two of these suckers proved to be too many—my first fail in pastry eating.
· Boston Common sidewalk dweller proudly exclaiming his awareness of what resided beneath our pastry box—“I know what yah gaa-aht!”
· An Irish bar playing techno and a bartender who really wanted to prove he knew his Guinness.
· Map fail in Boston, no “You Are Here” dots to be found on ANY of the city maps.
· My guide stepping in a murky, dog-shit textured puddle of dirt that adhered to his shoe for the next three days.
Day 2: Saturday, June 13 – New Hampshire
It’s 11 a.m. and time for the_Network to hit up the jam spot before heading to a show in Portsmouth, NH.
All I’ve been told about Portsmouth for the past hour was that it’s a city by the ocean and it’s awesome—too bad the show ended up really being in another city adjacent to Portsmouth, so all my dreams of grandeur went down the shitter.
Greenland, NH wasn’t anything spectacular, nor was the show the_Network played. What was supposed to be a fest ended up being more like a grab-and-go liquor store—go in, do your stuff and get out—and your choices for a beverage were watered down beer, or one lone bottle of whiskey.
I’ll leave the Greenland gig at that—what follows next is much tastier.
Pre day three: Sandwiches and six hours of open road
Massive French rolls covered in assorted grilled meats, spiced up condiments and layers of melted cheese was the best idea for a fitting meal to try and forget the fact that we had a six hour drive before us to Syracuse, NY.
Restlessness prevented some of us from sleeping, others knocked out in meat-induced food comas, but upon reaching Keith from Architect’s house, everyone slept like they were trying to kick Swine Flu.
Day three: Shaun Luu Horror Fest – Syracuse, NY
Two pound sandwiches were a great idea, yesterday.
Breakfast at Mom’s Diner in Syracuse had to be the best choice of the day—so far, anyway.
Curry and Mediterranean spiced eggs were the highlight of the meal, and Recess Coffee and Roastery provided its glorious conclusion (shameless plug for Ed Gein).
Properly caffeinated, I watched the_Network wake up the half-glazed over audience, with distorted bliss running through my ears and Mikey Bones assaulting random members of the crowd.
Engineer followed shortly after, playing to a mostly full room of eyes gleaming with excitement for the band of brothers. No matter how hard I try to describe how fucking great Engineer was, no description will do justice to the post-show exciting masses, who were evidently amazed given the rampant amount of prideful name droppings and “fucking rad”’s being uttered upon their departure to fresh air.
Architect reminded me why I just traveled nearly 3,000 miles. My mind was literally blown and dripping down the side of my skull post set—they definitely need more than a Swiffer to clean that shit up. I was told they deliver every fucking time, but at this particular show, they were near God-like—though I bet the band would be disgusted to share a comparison with God.
Ed Gein. Do I really need to say anything? Seriously. So many people have hyped up how fucking stellar this band is live. How it’s been years since they’ve shared a stage. The more I heard, the more stoked I became. I didn’t doubt for a second that Ed Gein wouldn’t live up the hype. I was so fucking right. If everyone else’s mind wasn’t lying in a pool of chunky mucus on the floor, I would not have doubted it. The crowd knew what they had just witnessed was magnificent, chanting “Ed Gein” and “play more songs,” to which the band responded, “We don’t have any more songs!”
If you missed out on the fest, no worries. All of the afore mentioned BMA bands are writing for coming albums—the_Network’s “The Bishop Kent Manning” is out in September—so you’ll get your chance to make a mess of the floor soon.
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