May 6, 2000: The Index, Lycosa, Goat Shanty, Pay the Price @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

Keeve from Daybreak put this show together. It was a matinee because Page 99 was playing a record release show for Document #5 with Daybreak that night at the Ottobar. That's a full day of grind mayhem. The Index were a decent metal band with Rich from Enemy Soil, Drugs of Faith, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and many others. I think Jake, who currently plays drums in Triac and Hatewaves, may have also been in the band. Can't remember for sure. I don't remember anything about Lycosa, except that they were from Richmond, or Goat Shanty. Pay the Price featured Forbes Graham of Amalgamation and Kayo Dot, Pat Vogel of Sick Fix, Crispus Attucks, and a million other bands, and I forget who else. Hot show. Literally.

PHOTOS: April 30, 2000 - De Nada, No Justice, Striking Distance @ GWU

I told you I had photos from this show...

PHOTOS: May 13th, 1998 - Hot Water Music @ Supreme Imperial

Nick Vance dug up these photos that Mike Thompson took. My favorite thing about these is that my wife is in these photos, but we wouldn't meet until 8 years later. The only other people I recognize, besides myself, are John Waszak, Mike Dubin, and I think I see Kevin Lamiell, but I'm not positive.

April 30, 2000: De Nada, No Justice, Striking Distance, Arcangel, Bleeding Head Good @ George Washington University, Washington, DC

I really gotta remember to email myself the photos I have of a lot of these shows so I have them when I'm making these entries. I know I have some of this show. Was this the one where No Justice brought that mini-trampoline to the show? Pretty sure it is. I don't think it lasted too long before it got destroyed. I have no idea who Arcangel or Bleeding Head Good were.

April 28, 2000: Fast Times, Worthless, The Real Enemy, Red Angle Dragnet, Looks Like Rain @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

This was a pretty sparsely attended show at the Sushi Cafe. Decent line-up but nothing too crazy. Matt Times used to rage behind that drum kit. That was fun to watch.

April 22, 2000: Rain On the Parade, For the Living, Best of Times, Gamewinner, Brace @ Homebase, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Pretty sure this was the first show I ever saw at Homebase. Went up with Gamewinner. It was a pretty small show for such a large space but it was cool that WB had a place like that for a while. They hosted a bunch of Posi-Numbers fests. Not sure why they shut down. Someone remind me who was in Best of Times.

April 16, 2000: the Control, Innerside Burning, Emerge, Think Fast @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

This is a show I booked at the Sushi Cafe. The Control were dudes from Buffalo who were previously in bands like Halfmast and No Reason. They had some good songs, but never really seemed to catch on. Jeremy went on to play in Dead Hearts. Innerside Burning was Gus Bowman and crew. Gus went on to play in Looks Like Rain, Never Enough, Desperate Measures, Pulling Teeth, and Unrestrained (OR). Emerge was a chunkier hardcore band from the Bowie area. Matt Moulis played drums. He went on to play in What Lies Ahead, Looks Like Rain, and some others. He's currently living in Austin teaching kids how to play drums. Think Fast were from MD's eastern shore. I have no idea if any of them are still playing in bands but I doubt it.

more from the March 24/25, 2000 weekend

I forgot to post these yesterday. These are the flyers John Bachman made for these two shows.

March 24/25, 2000: Good Clean Fun, Bane, Brother's Keeper, Atom & His Package, the Hope Conspiracy, Daltonic, Dead To the World, Sick of It All, more

Ah, a Jamie Arthurs flyer...an assault upon all that is understood as good design. This one is for a weekend of hardcore at St. Andrew's Church in College Park. Both have pretty stacked line ups. I don't remember anything about the first show so I'm not positive I went. I can't imagine Good Clean Fun actually headlined that show but maybe they did. I definitely went to the second show it was a blast. I can't remember the last time before this show that I saw Sick Of It All at anything other than a large club with a barrier. SOIA sounded so tight and kids were going off their whole set. Lots of speaker dives. I loved every band on that show so I had a blast all night. Helluva fun show.

February 22, 2000: Althea, River City High, Boom Boom Cats @ Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

I went to this show to see River City High. I'd never heard of Althea before but they were great. I picked up their EP. Still have it, but haven't listened to it in a while. Real catchy indie/pop/punk. I'll have to dig it out and post it. I have no idea if any of them went on to do any other bands. I'm not sure if I watched Boom Boom Cats. They were a rockabilly band with punk rock roots, but not punkabilly, from the area. I didn't know any of them at the time but I currently work with their bass player, Lee Verzosa. He's a tattoo artist at Ghost Town in Ellicott City and does the labels for Stillwater Artisinal Ales. He recently did the artwork for a Pulling Teeth shirt as well. Great dude.

February 19th, 2000: De Nada, Striking Distance, What Lies Ahead, Gamewinner @ Sushi Cafe, Baltimore, MD

This is an Alex D flyer. He loved using artwork from Ebullution records for flyers. Kevin Hodges booked the show. I've got a great photo from this show that I've gotta dig up. The Sushi Cafe was in one of the more run-down neighborhoods in the city and sometimes the locals would come check out the shows. On this night a guy came up during De Nada's set and started freestyling between songs. This was a super fun all-local show. Apparently, according to the flyer, it was Michelle's birthday. I'm guessing Michelle Metrinko, but I could be wrong.

February 12th, 2000: In My Eyes, Ann Beretta, Time Flies, Count Me Out, Right Brigade, American Nightmare, Brace @ 1st Cong. Church, Washington, DC

Sick show. One of these things is not like the other. I love Ann Beretta's first LP though, so it didn't bother me, but I think the room kinda cleared out when they played. I think this was the one where I was doing sound and got stuck in DC traffic on my way and didn't get there until an hour or so after doors opened. Needless to say, sets had to get shortened. I think this was also the last time the Malfunction crew used the First Congregational Church, but I'm not sure why. This may have also been the first time AN played the area. First time I remember seeing them was at the Falls Church VFW though.

Update from Alex Z: "This was the first time AN played DC. They covered Op Ivy and had the demos and matt rinks designed shirt for sale. I think may have been dave and aarons first show with Brace too."

February 9th, 2000: Turmoil, Himsa, Haste, Daybreak, The Allied War Effort @ Phantasmagoria, Wheaton, MD

I have no recollection of this show so I'm not positive I actually went to it. Maybe I did. I liked Turmoil, and Daybreak and AWE were friends, so it's quite possible that I went, but I have no idea. I never liked Himsa and I have no idea who Haste were. Tony? Mike Wolf? Jamie? Help me out here.

February 8th, 2000: Future Perfect, Ampersand, Red Died Out, Spot @ Ottobar, Baltimore, MD

This is a Carl Caracia flyer. He played guitar in Ampersand. Kinda funny how they're the only band name in bold. The Future Perfect were a cool indie band with members of Blank and Bridgewater (Kerry and Jeremy Silanskis, Scott Cullum). I forget who else was in the band. To my knowledge they never recorded a demo but I was always bugging them for one when they were around cuz I really dug a bunch of their songs. I'm not sure if the Spot on this flyer is the SST producer or some other band with that name. It would be weird if it was that guy and he was opening this show.