happy new year

Yesterday we finally found a punk record store, though it was more of an info shop similar to Arise. There was a flyer for a punk/metal fest taking place at a squat that night; no bands we had heard of but of course we were gonna check it out. The squat was the dirtiest place I've ever been to in my life (next to the Thomas house of course). It was in a warehouse and was actually pretty big. It was divided into two rooms, one side was the show space with a bar and the other room was where everyone slept. There were tents set up and nasty matresses all over. In a way it reminded me of punk fest. Traveling kids, dreadlocks, dirty skumfuks and of course dogs. For christs sake, there was a fucking broken down van in the place where they were selling "food." We saw only 3 bands two punk bands and a metal band. The last band we saw were actually really good. They were called Primates (pronounced pre ma tays) and played spanish punk rock similar to Sin Dios without the ska and with a female singer. Good shit. Have a good New Year all, I hope at least somone went and saw the Hellshock/Imperial Lether show. Cheers!

Shitting in the Dark

You always notice the little things when you travelling. Instead of thinking about how historical or beautiful Barcelona is I often find myself occupied with more basic questions. Like why does my hostel have automatic lights in the bathroom that turn off in 30 seconds leaving the occupant to finish his or her buisness in the dark or streach and contort ones body in order to reach the light for another 30 seconds? Or why is it that I can buy a bottle of wine for 51 cents at the store while it costs €2.50 for a can of refried beans, is it really that hard to refry beans? Where is the Mexican food anyway? The Spanish took nearly everthing from the new world but forgot the most important thing, the tortilla. And I really don't get why stores close at lunch. It seems to me that it would be more of a pain in the ass to close the store, go home, eat lunch and come back and open the store again, when I go home I'm staying there and sure as shit not going back work. Take a 30 minute break, eat your ramen and get your ass back to work. The lunch closings are extremely inconvenient for those who wake up in the afternoon. I understand and appreciate other cultures. Learning about other cultures and seeing life from a different point of view is one of the best parts of traveling but sometimes the stupid american that lives inside of all of us comes out and says "what the fuck?"

Andy's Pics

We finally got Andy's camera figured out so here are some of the pics he took. The top pic, the third pic and the fourth pic are from Park Guell in Barcelona, a park designed by the famous architect Antonio Gaudi who has designd hundreds of buldings in Barcelona. It is pretty much the coolest park I've ever been to. The second pic is Sin Dios and the last pic is Andy drunk on his birthday, no doubt saying somthing prolific.

Merry Christmas

Ok this is the second time I am writing this post, this worthless computer just erased my last post before I could publish it. It had pictures and everything. The pictures are gonna have to wait cause it takes way to fucking long to upload pictures and I am running out of patience so a quick update will have to suffice.

Christmas eve was brillint. A Scottish girl named Hazel cooked a veggie dinner for all 15 people at our hostel. 9 bottles of wine, a bottle of wisky, a case of cheap spanish beer (€6) and people from all over the world made the ensuing party very interesting. We didn't get to bed till around five. Christmas day was exceptionally rough though it didn't stop us from having another go. Hazel cooked dinner again and we still had some wisky and wine left over. Ugh. Hope you all had a good Christmas and I hope at least someone was holding down the CC Christmas night.

alright people.

first officers log supplemental:
as you may all know by now, i lack in the area of 'smarts' so to say. so no more of this ridiculous non-english jibber jabber(your in america for gods sake!). thats an order. robby, keep up the good work! on another note, we just arrived in barcellona about an hour ago (1pm), and i have already seen 1,000 girls that will be the lucky recipients of some severe lovin by your most humble author. but seriously folks, this is no joke, i think they must feed these girls something or its in the water because every corner i turn theres a most beautiful and luscious chica. the weather isnt bad either, about 55 f and sunny ALL DAY LONG. sorry guys, wish you were here! mad props to nick and boofter for getting the band stuff figured out, shout out to willy and mike d. on the drunken phone call, bones you need to answer your fucking phone once and a while,shout out to jj for the e-mails and the posts on this here fine blog and for joining the 21st century and rejecting his ludite ways, to the few who may be so inclined, go see hellshock and imperial leather on fri. dec. 30th at the t-rock. to everyone else, have a blast this weekend with your families(admit it, you like it), and you all better get together on new years and rip it up for those not able to join you! mike and i will drink a bottle of jameson for all of you.
first officer clover out bizzzzzzzzatchez!

party

we got pretty drunk last night. correction -- we got wasted. we went to this bar called peanuts we've been going to every night since we've been here. the bartender peter was having a going away party so the bar was closed and we chilled in the basement. they made the mistake of telling me I could drink all the wine I could drink. I can drink alot. we met this guy jesse from minnesota who is here cooking in a restaraunt. cool dude, small world. we called dupont and willy, i can't remember a word said. i getting sick and tired of eating bread and cheese, the europeans have not fully realized the power of mexican food, i can't find one place that will make me a burrito. keep in touch guys, any form of english communication is greatly appreciated.

more useless pictures

Martin, Lundy and Christina
Monpellier
Kitchen chillin
Antwerp

more pics

Here are a few more pics. The top pic is in Ghent. The second is in Amsterdam with the spanish girls, notice the Aussie who looks like he's dying. The last two are Andy's birthday in Antwerp. I couldn't figure out how to turn the crazy aussie around, turn your head.

Sin Dios

I think I got the picture thing figured out. Here are some of Sin Dios at ACU a squat in Utrecht. They are in black and white cause I sent them to MRR.

hear ye, hear ye!

first officers log.
this is a challange to all who dare to accept. be warned, for you have very little a chance to win. upon my arrival back in the states i shall challange one and all to 3 rounds of indian leg wrestling back to back and i shall not be beaten. i have not decided what the prize shall be if in some way i am beaten(mabey a kick to the balls?) now to explain my rant. i swear that by the time we get back my legs will be grossly disproportionate to the rest of my body from all this walking. mabey tree trunk size? so take heed my words, and dios mio to all that accept my challange. on another note, i have declared all out war on babies of all nationality, race, gender, religion, creed, etc... both times mike and i have been on a substantial train ride we have sat next to screaming babies whos parents in some way think this type of behavior is acceptable. i think not! this war will be long and painfull but i assume victory for me in the end. but i digress. tonight we are going to the american bartenders going away party so that should be fun. mike and i got some kisses from a hot brittish bartender last night for helping her close down the bar, that was nice. also, europeans have no idea how to play pool. something about red balls and yellow balls and putting the balls, it made absolutly no sense to me. another strange observation, we have been eating at this vegitarian resturant and we are the ONLY males in the joint. mabey to be veggie is sissy out here? thats all for now, but take my challange seriously and start training!
first officer clover

Montpellier

France. I'm still not sure if I hate this country or what. We arrived in Marseille on Friday only to find the dirtiest, smelliest, most hectic place we have been. Marseille is the second biggest city in France and sits on the mediterranian. It is a mostly car oriented city so it made walking around a serious bitch. We couldn't find anything to do; it seemed that at six the whole city would close. The only open bar we found grilled us at the door and proceeded to charge us €5 for a Hoegarden (in Belgium we were paying €1.50). After two days we bounced and headed for Montpellier. This is by far the best city I have ever been to in France (I'm not a fan of Paris either). Monpellier is a beutiful mediteranian town with very nice people and plenty to do (i.e. they have bars that stay open past 8). The city is old and mostly pedestrian. The weather is wonderful, sunny and 50 degrees. It's not exactly tropical but it beats Minnesota any day. Though it feels wierd wearing a winter jacket around palm trees. France is a bit more expensive than Belgium and Holland but the wine is dirt cheap, about €2 for a bottle. The language barrier is pretty steep out here, I suck at French, every time I try to say anything it comes out as Spanish, ugh.

Last night we were walking around and found a bar that was having a punk show that night. We had not heard of the bands but it was free so we decided to check it out. The show turned out to be a french version of higher grounds circa '97; highschool kids watching their friends try to play in a band. It was interesting to say the least. It was painful watching the last band attemt to cover "the longest line" but overall the night was really fun. The bartender was American and gave us the lowdown on Montpellier. He has been here over a year and has decided not to learn any French. He told us to meet up with this guy from Edina (of all places) and he would show us around.

I'm still typing on these wacky keyboards, it took about 40 minutes to type this post. Paz, D

Ghent

Captains Blog, Supplemental.

Andy's birthday turned out very good. We ended up with a nice crew going to the bar, the two wack NY kids, a polish chick Katerina, a dutch chick Michia, two aussies and an American. Every aussie we have met has had a different accent, the best was this guy chris who had a burly Dooley style beard and spoke like Benicio Del Toro in Usual Suspects (gimmethekeysyoumuthafuckincocksuka). in english please. We are now in Ghent, a beatiful city that holds a sizable student population. It seems like a big part city, no doubt we will have fun tonight.

first officers blog, supplemental.
i had a blast on my b-day! thanks to mike for the €5 jameson shot. that night actually turned out to be our most fun night in antwerp on accident. we came to ghent with a kid named max that we hung out with on my b-day. in an extremly drunken state i told him to meet us at the laundramatte the next day and to our suprise he did so thats that. max is from some crazy fuckin island in the pacific nw. going to marseille tomorrow to fight with thug french guys(what a bunch of pussies). the city is 800,000 people so it should be fun. thats all for now. stay up yall! big ups to the people running the tourist shop here, free internet! and the girl here made up some bitchin coffee!
first officer clover.

a weird day to turn 24

well, its my birthday today. kind of strange considering where we are. not a big deal but it feels like something should be diffrent. but i digress. last night mike was feeling under the weather so i went out with two of the most annoying and self-absorbed kids(from new york) i have ever met in my life and this really funny australian dude to a pub that has 930 beers to choose from. holy shit the belgians know how to make a beer! it was an interesting night to say the least. the aussie kid steped it a pile of dog shit the size of my head, these two belgian guys hung out with us at the pub and told us what beers to order, i had a beer that was 12% and was 11yrs old that rocked me hard. after the pub, one of the belgians invited us back to his flat to smoke and we accepted. so we got there, watched the simpsons, blazed, and this guy looked like he got hit by a train. after about three minutes he says, "i think i need to take a rest." which meant get the fuck out. all in all it was fun i guess. word up to all the hommies back in the states!

clover

our prayer

Our lager, Which art in barrels, Hallowed be thy drink.
Thy will be drunk, (I will be drunk), At home as it is in the pub.
Give us this day our foamy head, And forgive us our spillages,
As we forgive those who spill against us.
And lead us not to incarceration, But deliver us from hangovers.
For thine is the beer, The bitter and The lager.
Forever and ever.

thanks nick (who else would come across a prayer of such genius?)

antwerp the second.

sorry to everyone about mikes post, its pretty fuckin weak no? anyway, last night in antwerp we just walked around and went to a couple record stores(how about the first pressing of the first subvert album on vinyl!?). after a while i decided to go to the market and buy some beers and holy shit did i! we bought some STRONG blond ale and took that shit to the dome! the can said it was beer, but this stuff tasted like god damn rubbing alcohol. after one 50cl can(you guys do the conversion), i could barely walk a straight line. we drank the beers in this really cool little park in the middle of some residential area and people were looking at us like we were fucking nuts. i dont know if drinking in the streets is illegal in belgium or europe for that matter, but fuck it; im having fun! we moved to a new hostel today and i think the people who run the place are crackheads or something. you dont get a key and there is no cerfew so i guess these people stay up all night and wait for people to come back, very strange. the place is an old school transformed into a hostel so its real big and spacious. i gotta go, the guy running the internet cafe dosent have change and im up to about €2 so thats all for now.
p.s. whats with the lack of comments you weak fucks?! keep em comming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
first officer clover out!!!!

Antwerp

I am trying to write on this wack-ass keyboard, the letters are in the wrong spot. The q is where the a should be and you have to use the shift for a period, what the fuck?

Antwerp is dirty and smelly but otherwise it seems pretty cool. They like to drink here and the beer is really strong. Its definetly colder here than Amsterdam but the sun is out; I prefer this whether to the rainy and windy haze that is Amsterdam. We found a "punk" bar last night that was ok but I couldn't really figure out what was punk about it. Apparently, if there is no techno blasting it's punk rock, I don't know. Fuck this key board. Thats all for now, gotta email those spanish chicks.

G-rated

So Nick says that our blog is a little g-rated. Really, do I need to write about weed? I think we all know the deal, its cheap and everywhere. Yes, they have the red light district here, it fuckin sucks. On every corner people try and sell you drugs, its dark and not very friendly and I'm not really into prostitutes.....(but they are pretty fuckin funny)-clover

Anyways, Amsterdam has been a lot of fun. We've met tons of people including a rad aussie named Martin who taught us some cool slang(bags on that chair, mate!). We finally met the Spanish girls, they actually came down to the bar instead of going to bed at 10. They are from Catalonia and speak Catalonia and Spanish. The Spanish they spoke was different from the Spanish we learned in school and their accent was very thick so it was hard to communicate but we had alot of fun trying. They left for Spain this morning and left us their email so we can contact them in Barelona they also left us a little present under our bed (panties).

We met an aussie named Robert last night. He had just graduated from high school and came to Amsterdam to have some fun. He had never smoked before and wanted to smoke for the first time here (note: this is not the best place to smoke for the first time). He said he had went to a coffee shop and tried some and nothing happened. We informed him that it sometimes takes a bit your first time and that he should hang out with us. We smoked down in the bar and I could tell he was starting to get scared. He then says to me all wobbly "I'm all floaty and can't see mate, is that normal?" I didn't want to scare him and say no so I told him to just relax and drink some water. Lundy was convinced that the dude was gonna keel over right there, he didnt look to well, he was all white. I think his nerves just got him 'cause in like 10 minutes he was fine and singing along to the music. Good times.

I am ready to leave Amsterdam, a week is almost too long in this city, its a little overwhealming. We'll be heading to brussels or antwerp tomorrow. Peace, D.

rollin thru amsterdam

first officers log supplemental.
the captain(mike) and i rented bikes yesterday and rolled around the city. holy shit it was crazy! there are bike lanes on every street in all of the city but the cars are fucking ruthless. we would be riding down the street and a car would blast out from an alley that looked like a sidewalk and the tram would roll down the middle of the street at about 40mph and only give one ring as a warning. the spanish girls are still getting up at 7am and making all of the common girl noise such as whispering, giggling, hair driers etc... also, they are in bed at about 10pm so every time we go to bed, usually 12am-1am, we have to use flashlights and try to be quiet. in amsterdam they call the bathroom a water closet and believe me its for a good reason. just go in your closet, drop draws, squat, and feel that door smash your knees. next, try to turn around to grab toilet paper. it really isnt fun, i guess were just used to space in the u.s. we leave ams. on friday and will proabibly go to brussels to hang for a little. thats all for now.
first officer clover.

Sin Dios

It's amazing how going to a punk show can make me feel so good. Before last night I felt out of place here in Amsterdam; the atmosphere of drugs and partying just doesn't appeal to me anymore at my age.

It was suprisingly easy to take the train to Utrecht and we found the squat in short order. We sat down and the bar and felt immediately at home, smelly kids and girls with black dreads, if it weren't for the Dutch being spoken I would have thought we were in MPLS. Beer was cheap and they had a few records that I wanted to buy but I still have close to three months left and cannot even think of spending money on records. The first band played typical Dutch hardcore, not unlike Seeing Red, though with rougher vocals. The second band played typical hardcore and was pretty boring. Sin Dios played for around two hours and played one of the better sets I've seen all year. They played every song I wanted to hear and their drummer crushed. I took some really great pictures and will post them as soon as I figure it out.

We are staying in Amsterdam for a few more days. I'm not really sure what we are gonna do, it seems we've done all there is to do (or more like, all I would do) in this city. We're gonna meet up with Lundy in a few hours and may check out the Van Gogh museum.

First officers log: That show was the shit! the first band was killer, with alot of jumps and cool hardcore stances. while the the second band played i fell asleep with a cigg in my hand in the middle of the god damn room. that tells you how cool they were. the show space was really cool, with a decent sized bar/merch room and another room about the size of 7th street with pretty good sound to boot. as the captain said, sin dios was fuckin rad. they explainedevery song in english and then more accuratly in espanol. their drummer was by far the most entertaining to watch. the funny thing was that these guys looked older than d4! but i digress. right now we have an interesting sleeping arrangment here at the flying pig. for the first two nights we moved from room to room, but now we are staying in a six person room with eight spanish girls. when they found out that we were staying in the room, all we heard were giggles and whispers in spanish. pretty funny stuff. thats all for now, stay up yall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is much like I remember it, constant comotion and tons of people walking down crowded streets shared with the tram, bikes and cars. Friday was hell, we arrived at 7 in the morning, waited for an hour for the hostel to open only to find that we would be unable to get in. We then had to walk clear accross town to get a room -- it worked out though.

We awoke today and poked around the computer for something to do only to find out that Sin Dios played a show at a squat the day before. Knowing that its unlikely they would be touring America any time soon (they never have), I was extremely bummed to find out that I missed one of my favorite bands. However, we just found out they are playing in Utrecht tomorrow night. It is 40 minutes away by train and costs around 11 euro to get there, there is no way I am missing this show.