**REGISTER TO VOTE ONLINE!** **SIGN DARFUR ACTION PETITION HERE!!**

---

Mmmm where to begin with Warped? Let's start with a pic of me, the afternoon-after.

I am mother fucking tired.
Very fucking good time though. I met people I didn't think I would, did drugs I didn't pay for, parked and got four of us in FOR FREE, three wrist bands and one VIP laminate. Really the only bad parts were all the mohawks reminding me of Geoff and the fact that an eighth ounce of mushrooms STILL didn't make Good Charlotte good. And the only REALLY bad part was that NOFX didn't play. Mike's wife was having a baby, a girl, that's what Mel said. I didn't know he was Mel. But I asked, even though I felt like an idiot, but he was cool. The booth next to B4BC was Girlz Garage, I'm not sure what they did exactly but the girl who ran it was "someone special's" girlfriend or wife cuz people kept coming up and asking "aren't you so-n-so's girl?" and she'd say yes. Well their booth had all these sharpie colored on Vans that are for auction at Girlz Garage. Mel, I didn't know who he was, but "special people" had been coming into our tent all day, people would follow them in and ask for autographs and pictures, I dint know who they were... so Mel comes in and I'm watching both booths for a while and he asks how his shoe is doing. I ask "which shoe" and he looks at me funny and points to the NOFX shoe. So I'm all, ohhh... joey you're a moron... "OK I'm gonna be honest, I'm just getting into punk, don't ask why it took so long, please excuse the ignorance, but are you in NOFX?" and he smiled big, "Yeah, I'm Eric, Melvin" "Oh, OK, 'The Mel-Yell'" He laughs "Yeah, the Mel-Yell" We talked for a good 20 minutes, sitting on coolers, about why I'm just getting into punk, why it was War in Errorism that did it. he was pretty flattered, I told him WOE was my third fave album, In Utero, Violator, WOE. Explained how sometimes albums or songs come out right at the perfect time, right when you PERSONALLY need them to, and it just works... I explained a little bit about mohawk boy, and going to sleep listening to punk, waking up listening to classical. We talked about what happened, "You talk about him in the past tense, what happened to him?" I explained a little, but was positive, he was better off having met me, and I came away with punk, so it was symbiotic. He told me I was pretty smart. He then asked if I can cook. I said "Don't I look like I can cook?" it was pretty funny. I told him that I wished I'd had more of a punk education so I could know what I'm experiencing here, I feel like I'm missing out no tknowing what (or who) to be looking for. He sounded worried when he said "You watched the Vandals right?" "Watched em, shit I met up with em afterwards" "See, you're not totally ignorant... make sure you see Flogging Molly and.." "and Bad Religion, yup I know, really the only bands worth seeing, well I shouldn't say that..." He said Yellowcard was ok but the tour was mostly for the youngins. We took some pics together when the B4BC girl (Rachel) came back. We talked of other stuff, how I've always been "punk", you know, no rules, doin my own thing, giving a shit but not really giving a shit, or maybe the other way around, and the kinda lifestyle I lead, and how I never got into punk cuz it was still a label, still a trend, to be punk means you're still somebody, and I'm not somebody, or anybody, not even a punk. He mostly understood and again said I was smart, and I told him "and I know how to cook" I have a feeling if I woulda dropped "yoga" in there somewhere I coulda fucked him, but anyway. We talked more, about drugs & punk rock karaoke mostly. I suggested "scary-oke" for a name or something and he wrote it down. He and some other guys, one from Bad Religion, teamed up as a backing band while people signed up and sang punk songs. They do this outside of Warped too. I of course only knew two of the songs on the list, both being Ramones, (and not my fave ramones songs either) and therefore didnt wanna seem like a poseur getting up there not knowing any of the other songs, and I told this to Mel when he asked why I didnt do PRK when I'm telling him I really like karaoke. I told him that I do PRK everytime I'm out at karaoke, but I do it with un-punk songs. He said "Gimme an example" and I sang Don't Stop Believin, but I sang it my way. He really dug it, sang it with me when he could remember the words, and then thrashed out at the same part I always thrash out on. So if NOFX comes out with a sic cover of a Journey song, you know who gave em the idea. Anyway it was a very nice time, almost as sweet as Dave Grohl.

Meeting the Vandals was cool too, but it wasn't personal, just signing a disk I got, Joe E. going "Hey that's MY name, only I spell it differently!" When I told him my name, and I was like "Um..." tryign to figure out how many other spellings there are for 'Joey'. The next guy in line asked if it was my real name, the guy after that asks if I was named after Joey Heatherton, and I say "Actually yes I was" and the guy after that says "Sweet!" and starts singing 'Joey' by Concrete Blonde.

My encounter with Bad Religion wasnt' so cool though. By then the shrooms had kicked in, and I couldnt take Good Charlotte anymore, I'm kinda close up and facing backwards, and I still can't hold my own, so I make my way to the car, which is parked by the tour busses cuz I'm the shit, and the huge ferris wheel from the amusement park is all lit up and sparkely so I stand there in the road for about 10 minutes giggling at it, and I hear people saying shit to me but I can tell it's an asshole tone and it's distant cuz of the shrooms so I pay no attention, just watch the lights change and then I get hit with empty cans, and I just start laughing hysterically cuz I realized what I must look like, and then my pocket starts ringing and I'm laughing even more and it's Gary on Bridgette's phone trying to find me and I'm all like "I think Bad Religion is throwing empty cans at me...?" and they all start cracking up and I hear "better than full cans!" and Gary hears it too and starts laughing. I walk over to the guys and theyre all in really tiny chairs, those folding canvas and plastic camping chairs and they look REALLY tiny, cuz of the shrooms, and the band looked super mean and scary with these tiny chairs under them so i didnt stay and talk, just asked if they could point me in the direction on the John Lennon bus, (dont ask) which they did, and even gave me the right directions, but they still threw shit at me as I walked away. I felt like a dork for being so wasted, but my feet hurt so much by that point.

After getting back to Gary and Tab's place, Gary borrowed his mom's van and he and I went to Karaoke (comcert ended at 9pm). I bought a bag of blueberry trees and did the best version of Don't Stop Believin. After the bar closed we went to some dude either Jesse or Parker (I'm not sure if they're the same dude or two different guys or what) anyway we went to someone's house with Erin and smoked some more but by then the pills and smoke and alcohol and shrooms had caught up with me and I kept nodding out. I got back to the house round 2:30, said hello to the camper party but went to bed after making myself a sandwich, which was all I ate that day. And now it's 5pm and I go to work in a few hours, and I gotta take a shower and get all the mosh pit filth off my skin and out of my hair. I have a bruise that looks like a boot print on my shoulder.

Always remember to quit while you're ahead.

last :: next