January 15th, 2000: Gamewinner, Crash Davis, El Secondhand, Choker, Looks Like Rain @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

We now make our way into the 21st century. Exciting stuff. Looks Like Rain's second show. I remember this one being small but fun. Choker featured Chris Camden and Dwayne Bruner from Cross My Heart letting their love of the Doughboys shine (pun intended). Great band. I don't think they ever recorded a proper demo, but I know there were some live tracks floating around cyberspace. El Secondhand were a melodic punk band from NJ who could cover Slayer better than any band I've ever seen. Great dudes. Not sure what any of them are doing these days. Crash Davis was a pretty decent fast hardcore band from western Mass. Gamewinner played with them on their first tour and returned the favor here. I don't know if anyone from Crash Davis went on to form new bands either.

December 19th, 1999: The Swarm, Daybreak, Gamewinner, Brace, Boxcar Children @ Kaffa House, Washington, DC

This was the only time I got to see the Swarm play and they were rad. I thought this show was gonna be a wild one but the turnout was weak. I don't think there were more than 20 people there. I was shocked cuz The Swarm were the shit and I was super pumped for this show. I'm not sure who Boxcar Children were. I think they were a poppy punk band. No idea who was in it or what they're doing now. Alex Dimattesa had a hand in the show. Pretty sure he made the flyer. I think "timmysly" was Tim Hefner, currently of Chaos in Tejas, but I can't remember for sure. To this day The Swarm are my favorite Chris Colohan (Burning Love, Cursed, Left For Dead, etc) band.

December 12th, 1999: Indecision, Kill Your Idols, Zao, Dragbody, Blue Skies Fade, Looks Like Rain

Minus the god-rock, that's a hell of a line up. This was Looks Like Rain's first show. Thanks to our friend Michelle Northam (currently of Sick Fix), she got her friend, a young Nolen Strals (currently of Double Dagger and Posttypography), to make a banner for us. I still have it. We only had four songs and a Misfits cover but I was super pumped to play a show with Kill Your Idols and Indecision. This was when Artie Phillie was on vocals for them. I also thought Blue Skies Fade's first EP was pretty cool. Not sure if they released anything after that but I feel like they did. Dragbody were a noisy/chaotic heavy metallic hardcore band from Florida. Decent, but not really my thing. Great first show. Jamie Arthurs booked it and I made the flyer at work.

December 8th, 1999: Turmoil, Torn Apart, All Out War, Darkest Hour, the Jehovah Jury @ St. Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

I have no recollection of this show at all. Pretty classic metalcore line up. I have no idea who the Jehovah Jury were though. Pretty sure Chris Brady booked this one. Someone share their memories for us.

December 4th, 1999: Kid Dynamite, Thursday, Crispus Attucks, No Justice @ the Wilson Center, Washington, DC

Kid Dynamite broke up a few days before this show so they didn't play. I'm struggling to remember who replaced them. I wanna say Majority Rule but I could be way off. Thursday only had Waiting out at this point so they weren't the huge band they are today. It was cool seeing them as Tucker and Tom are old high school friends of mine and I didn't get to bump into them that often. I still think that first album is pretty decent but I never bothered checking out anything after that. I'm pretty sure this is the show where Timmy chucked one of Gene's cymbal stands into the crowd during the No Justice set which collided straight into the skull of Dave Nada. Pretty sure stitches were involved. Even though KD cancelled this still ended up being a hell of a fun show. This one was a Sara Klemm production.

November 26th/28th, 1999: Page 99, Pig Destroyer, Daybreak, Midiron Blast Shaft, InSpite @ the Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

These two shows were in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Reptilian Records. I only made it to the Sunday matinee show. Great line up. InSpite were a powerviolence band from Harford County that didn't take themselves too seriously but were pretty rad. Nick Vance, currently of Deep Sleep, played drums. Brian Redbeard played bass. Jim Branscome sang. I forget who played guitar. They released a posthumous 7" on Torture Garden Picture Company which is well worth picking up if you ever see it. Midiron Blast Shaft were a noise-rock band with touches of metal/hc from Philly. I have no idea what any of the members are doing these days. I interviewed Page 99 during this show for the one and only physical issue of Speech Impediment zine that exists. Daybreak and De Nada were also interviewed in it. RIP Reptilian Records.

November 13th, 1999: Crispus Attucks, What Lies Ahead, Striking Distance, Brace, Gamewinner @ Kaffa House, Washington, DC

A solid local show at the Kaffa House. Not sure who set up the show but it looks like a Steve Clark flyer. Gamewinner is the only band here that I haven't mentioned before. This is a band near and dear to my heart. All good people, some of which I still hang out with or talk to on a regular basis. I released their 7" on my label at the time, Emogeddon Records, and my old band Looks Like Rain would play and hit the road with them often. I'll have to dig up the CD master for the 7" so I can upload it for your listening pleasure. Nik Korpon, who sang, is currently teaching classes (English I think) at CCBC in Essex, MD and has just had his first novel published, titled "Stay God". He also played in The Failure Design, a cool local post-hardcore band. Guitar player #1, Andrew "Duff" Duffy went on to start Desperate Measures before fading out of hardcore for a dependable job at BGE. Guitar player #2, Alex Dimattesa, is an avid reader/helper with this blog, currently works for the Independent Label Collective in Richmond, VA, operates Grave Mistake Records, plays in Government Warning and Wasted Time, and previously played in Crispus Attucks and Mendoza. He also loves quoting Fear of a Black Hat. Pat Martin played bass and would go on to play in Never Enough and sing for The Wishing Sickness (aka the Rock Band). He is currently bartending at the Ottobar and roadie-ing for Thursday and Strike Anywhere (literally currently for the latter, like right now). Ryan Brown played drums and would go on to play in Brace and Black Birds (the Baltimore one). Great band. Someone remind me to upload that 7", or do so yourself if you've already got it ripped.

November 9th/18th, 1999: Get Up Kids, At the Drive-In, Frodus... / Saves the Day, Grey Area, the Exploder... @ St. Andrew's Church, College Park, MD

Here's a flyer for two great shows at St. Andrew's Church. Maybe this STD show was the poop-doo show? I can't remember. That Get Up Kids show may have been the first show to "sell out" St. Andrew's Church. It was freakin' huge. Jamie booked the shows. I made the flyers. Woo.

Interesting note: There's been a show on November 9th on every year since the blog began.