Cut the skin to the bone

Fall asleep all alone
Hear your voice in the dark

Lose myself in your eyes
Choke my voice, say good night
As the world falls apart

I haven’t posted very much on Postblink since last November’s election. School got very hectic for a bit and only got more hectic with the passing of a family member. Since then, I’ve missed putting out my thoughts on several new albums, movies, and other forms of entertainment. That was a temporary absence.

I transferred my personal blog from LucasJ.Net to Postblink in July of 2006. It has since contained numerous rantings, a few random attempts at playing music, and random thoughts about music, movies, tv, politics, and more. See, the year prior to that summer of drunken shenanigans, I had met up with these kids that were all trying to learn their instruments – except the drummer. He had pretty much gotten his shit down. We were spending many a Friday night and Saturday morning in this small green room. I could barely walk around in it, else lose the top of my head to a ceiling fan. We were playing a lot of blink-182 covers and I slowly fell in love with this band who’s name became synonymous with fart and dick jokes in the 90′s.

At some point that winter we had decided it would be a good idea to play some blink-182 covers at our high school talent show. At some point during that decision we had also decided that I would sing – big mistake right? Don’t let your ears be frightened. I never sang. Unfortunately (depending on your perspective) I had surgery to correct some nerve damage caused by a broken ankle the previous year and had enough trouble walking around. Standing up even for a few minutes of music was out of the question. I was pretty bummed.

Luckily for the other guys, I had a friend who was pretty stoked about music and liked what we were doing. I then suggested he take my place.

Essentially one winter had changed my thoughts on music. I began listening to the self-titled blink-182 religiously. Regardless of what you thought of the 3 piece punk band from SoCal, you had to respect their self-titled work. The recording tecniques and production values were amazing. Producer  Jerry Finn, who passed last August, had forged this group into a music machine.

But I jumped aboard the blink-182 boat too late. They announced their hiatus in early 2005 and shortly after we began to hear rumors of a new Tom DeLonge project. Angels and Airwaves came, followed by Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker’s +44. I saw Angels a few times and, while I enjoyed what they were doing, they weren’t blink. I caught +44 and The Matches at a club up in Minnesota that will forever be one of my favorite shows ever. I was feet away from Mark Hoppus and was watching Travis Barker dominate his set with one hand while his other sat in an arm brace with a ciggarette.. But of course, it still wasn’t blink.

Postblink was born sometime in the midst of all of this. During a sober moment in that summer of 2006 I had been listening to blink-182 all day. I decided, for some reason, to purchase a new domain. Postblink just seemed to fit. Of course, I didn’t even realize at the time that the music scene was changing drastically. Pop punk bands with effiminite lead vocalists began cranking out bubble gum lyrics to a generation of 12 year old girls. And the nerve of it all! More than half of them did it all while listing blink-182 as their biggest influence. Yeah, times were definitely post-blink. Flavor of the month bands began getting air time on the radio. Warped Tour began to die for many people. I remember watching girls come back from the front of a crowd watching My Chemical Romance with bloody noses, being carried to the med tent.

Things have gotten a little ridiculous in the “punk” scene. Of course, you can argue that the genre is wide and undefinable – whatever.

My point is that things have gotten a bit sad in that department for me. But of course, this past winter we found out that the members of blink-182 had began talking again. Rumors ran rampent. Then, in the days leading up to the Grammys, David Kennedy let loose that blink-182 had began recording a new album. Of course, Mark, Tom, and Travis showed up on stage at the Grammys to announce they were, in fact, back together.

And now the summer of 2009 looks a little more sunny and a little less bubbly. I don’t know that blink will influence a new generation of bands that will overcome the likes of Metro Station, but I am hopeful. And perhaps I’ll see you on their tour this year.

Postblink will stay Postblink. I will badger the hooligans that contribute to the site to do so more this summer. It may start slow for a just a bit, until school is done.

But hey – if you’re bored you can always go check out my friends at the adventuresofbradandjordan.

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Now purchasing postpostblink.com

I’ve been pretty busy lately, thus the inevitable lack of updates that happens once in a while… This is pretty important news for blink-182 fans. Even if there’s no reunion, it’s nice to see people get over stupid fights.

hello to you. it’s been a long time since i’ve posted anything here on the himynameismark site. i haven’t had it in me. these past two months have been the hardest times that i can remember, and i hope that we never see anything like this ever again. first losing our dear friend and longtime producer jerry finn, and then the plane crash that happened in september, taking our friends chris and che. even two months later, i still can’t believe what happened, and it’s too much to talk about. but let me say that i think about little chris every single day, and the world is not the same without him. he is one of the best people i’ve ever known. we travelled the world together, spending countless hours on busses and planes, in hotel lobbies and dressing rooms. we worked together, laughed, and played jokes on people. when i saw him in the studio, no matter if it were with blink-182, +44, or an unknown band i was producing, chris would walk right in, introduce himself, make some jokes, and make sure everyone was taken care of. he made everyone feel at home. like they were family. every person he met was a friend for life, and he could talk to anyone. it didn’t matter if it was the biggest star in the world or someone waiting to get into a show, little chris treated everyone as a friend. he was a dear friend to me. i’m so sad that he is not here right now. there are just no words.

i’m also so thankful that travis and DJ AM made it out of the plane that horrible night. travis is a brother to me, and since the crash he has gone through more than i can even imagine. from the day after the plane went down, when i saw him in the burn unit out in georgia, to the hospital here in LA, to seeing him at home, his recovery is nothing short of amazing. every day gets a little better. and not only is he my brother, but also the best drummer and musician i’ve ever seen. the man was born to play drums, and it is great to see him starting to get back into the studio and behind his kit.

as for me, i have been getting back to work as well. a couple of weeks ago i went into the studio with our lunar activities, to finish up their record. chris holmes and i recorded three more of their songs, and they are in the final mixing stage right now. then last week i went out to new york city to introduce all time low at the 2008 woodie awards for mtvu. the day i got back into town i went right into the studio with my friend richard gibbs, who scores films. he had a rough idea of a song for the movie he is currently working on, and he wanted me to come in and collaborate with him on it. we spent five straight days in the studio and came up with a really fun track for a movie called “fired up,” that comes out next year. it’s good to be singing again, and getting back into it. now this week chris holmes and i are working on a theme song for a tv show. today it passed the first round of approvals, and now it goes up to the big time producer people for their thoughts. hopefully it’ll be seen on a television near you very soon. check local listings.

in the midst of everything else that has happened lately, tom, travis, and i have all spoken together. first through a number of phone calls, and then a couple of weeks ago we all hung out for a few hours. they’ve all been great, very positive conversations. we’re just reconnecting as friends after four years of not talking. it’s a good thing. obviously the first question for a lot of people will be “does this mean a blink-182 reunion?” the answer is none of us know. we haven’t talked about it at all. right now it’s just good for the three of us to see one another, reconnect, and let the past be the past. the events of the past two months supersede everything that happened before. life is too short.

- www.himynameismark.com (Nov. 18TH, 2008)

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Death to all crickets!

I’m stuck in a coma, stuck in a never-ending sleep
And some day I’ll wake up and realize I made up every thing

I’m not sure what’s more annoying. There appears to be a single cricket somewhere in the building that I’m in, chirping away the following fourty minutes until my next class. On the other hand, the only sound I have to drown it out is this stupid Senses Fail song that’s stuck in my head. I didn’t even like their latest album, but it’s just this stupid chorus being sung over and over in my conscious that’s driving my crazy. On that note, here’s three random thoughts.

  1. I hope the debate happens tonight. As far as I’m aware, it’s still up in the air. I wish McCain would stop procrastinating and just get it over with. After some progress Wednesday and an agreement almost having been reached earlier in the day Thursday, everything ended up falling apart Thursday night when House Republicans walked out. Obama had suggested the candidates presence might cause that outcome and that’s likely what happened.
  2. If tonight’s debate does not happen, I hope it won’t it end pushing back the vice-presidential debate on October 2ND. I’m really looking forward to watching Sarah Palin get her ass handed to her by Biden. What business does she have being a vice-presidential candidate? That interview with Katie Couric was pathetic and Palin was obviously very coached on her responses, except for maybe one – I doubt the McCain campaign would be dumb enough to coach her “foreign relations” experience with Russia. . .
  3. I have tickets to see Weezer with Angels and Airwaves and Tokyo Police Club on October 3RD in Minnesota at the Excel Center. Probably the biggest venue show I’ll have ever been to. I’m hoping Weezer plays the old stuff too, I haven’t heard much off their new album.
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Jack’s Mannequin – The Glass Passenger, In Review Soon

I’ve been waiting for some new material from SoCal’s Something Corporate and Jack’s Mannequin front man Andrew McMahon for a while now. I was hoping to see a new Something Corporate album, but I’m more than happy to have the opportunity to review The Glass Passenger, a sophomore release from Jack’s Mannequin.

Shortly after McMahon put out Jack’s first album, Everything In Transit, he was diagnosed with leukemia. McMahon took some time for recovery and then followed up with extensive tours to raise awareness for cancer. Material for The Glass Passenger hadn’t even been written until 2007. With an initial release date of April 2008, complications delayed the album until late August/early September. The final release date would eventually end up September 30TH. Although backed by two EP’s, one in August and one coming September 9TH, the album has actually already leaked in it’s entirety. The 13 song disc runs is 52 minutes and 15 seconds in length.

The tracks, not unlike Everything In Transit, have a very upbeat feel. However, the production value has increased ten-fold. Although the piano is still a major player, this album features more guitar work and the percussion is definitely playing a larger role than past songs.

Closer to release date I’ll throw up a more in-depth, song by song review.

The walls are caving in
As far as I can see
The walls are caving in
The doors got locked for sure
There’s no one here but me

Beat my body like a rag doll
You stuck the needles in my hip
You said ‘We’re not gonna lie,
Son, you just might die
Get you on that morphine drip, drip’

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Bring That Beat Back To Me Again

After tomorrow is over I’ll officially have had my first week back to school. I’m taking 16 credit-hours total which is an okay load for this semester. I have classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday which allows for some downtime. That’s about how often I went to high school too. . . Ba-da-tish. . .

Recently LeRoi Moore passed away. He was the saxophonist/wind instrumentalist for Dave Matthews Band and an amazing musician. I’m really bummed that I never got a chance to see one of my favorite bands before they lost such an important member of the original lineup that had lasted so many years. Hopefully they’ll be able to find someone who can step into his shoes, although I’m sure it will be extremely tough.

Anyways – between class days and getting back into the groove of education, I’ve been watching the Democratic National Convention coverage on MSNBC. Michelle Obama kicked it off with an amazing speech and Hillary did well too, but man – what an amazing speaker Bill Clinton is. We need another leader that knows what they’re doing and how to lead. You see, it’s not entirely about “government” experience. It’s important, but it’s not as vital as just having someone who’s a natural leader. Biden hit it out of the park as well. I can’t wait for Obama’s nomination acceptance speech tonight.

I know, I know. This is just a circus show. Nothing actually gets done at these conventions. They’re just pop and flare. I don’t care what you think, everytime Obama speaks, he’s proving something. Proving that he deserves to be where he is. Proving that he deserves to go where he’s heading, all the way to the white house. He’s gaining an even bigger following and it is critical.

Anyways, that’s my latest. Back to work on the site and then time to do some psych homework. Yay?

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