Some Stuff to Dust Off

Was just going through some things in a search to throw stuff out. Came across a disc of old files from my UW-Oshkosh days. Here's a little sampling.
________________________________________________________

Jim Gessay

A picture I made for a flier

My friend Jason did this for a t-shirt we had made. This is the original color version of what he gave us.

I missed practice in 1998 because I was hanging out at a girlfriends house.

___________________________________________________

I also found a journal that I was keeping at the time. Here's an entry from 4/15/02

2002-04-15 02:55:05 (GMT)

Guilty Pleasure

This weekend was more eventful than most.  Fridays show 

went "alright".  I wouldn't really say it went spectacular 

or anything.  Tony and I got to the coffee house and Tony 

wasn't to into playing there off the bat.  We went inside 

and saw the area that we were going to be playing in.  It 

was smaller than we were hoping.  We were afraid that we 

were going to blow everyones ears out.  We started to load 

stuff in and Tom got there and started to help out as 

well.  Adam got there pretty early.  While Adam and I were 

standing outside, a girl drove by listening to rap music.  

We went inside and in came Carrie.  Turns out that the girl 

was her.  There was a good crowd of mostly younger people 

there.  A handful of people from work came including, 

Jason W., Yvonne, Melanie S., Jenn, Mike W. and Christy.  

It was supposed to be a free show but the owner was trying 

to enforce his one drink minimum.  Around 8:00 we started 

to play.  We opened with Smooth Moves.  The P.A. wasn't 

really working and you couldn't hear the vocals.  Finally 

after playing around with it for a bit it magically started 

working again.  While playing I saw Andrea arrive.  

Isabelle and a few others got there later as well.  We 

played a pretty unenergetic set.  A lot of the younger 

people that were sitting in the back cleared out.  One of 

the kids yelled out a Captain Morgan slogan and Tony took 

it as if he was making fun out of his singing.  He bitched 

about that over the mic and was still bitching about it the 

next day.  After we finished playing we started to rip down 

and haul out.  The owner came up to me and gave me $40.00 

and asked us if we'd come back a bunch more times.  When he 

slipped me the money my first comment was "no, you don't 

have to pay us."  Internally I was yelling "no, take the 

money you stupid fucking idiot!!".  He gave me the money 

and that was that.  It was kind of nice to get paid for a 

show we expected to get nothing for.  I sort of felt guilty 

though because I don't think that we played well to deserve 

it.  After everything was packed up Adam, Andrea, Tony, 

Clarissa, and I went to a bar next door to meet two people 

that Tony used to work with.  We played pool there and 

Carrie left.  Tony and Clarissa wanted to leave so Andrea, 

Adam and I went to Appleton.  It was alright.  I drove to 

Adam's house and then to Appleton with Andrea.  I can't 

remember the music she was listening to on her mini disc but 

it was pretty good.  Buffalo something.  It's so refreshing 

to be one on one with someone you don't know that well.  

I've been finding myself so bored with all the same old 

people lately.  It's like everything is a repeat episode of 

Seinfeld or something.  It's still fun sometimes but you 

know what's going to happen.  Sometimes I wonder if people 

just keep friendships out of routine.  I know that I'm 

comfortable around my friends because I don't feel like I 

have to prove anything to them.  At the same time I think 

that can shut your mind down.  Anyways...the night was 

alright.  At times it was semi-boring.  I just didn't 

really feel like being at a bar that night.  The next day I 

woke up to Tony and Opy's voices.  They were talking in 

Tony's room.  I got up and went in there.  Opy left after a 

while and Adam came over and Adam, Tony, Tom and I went to 

Stockbridge and shot some hoops.  Chris came over later and 

he drove with us to Fond du Lac.  We got my car from 

Grandpa and Grandma's house and then we went to the Caddy 

Shack.  I was a little nervous about playing there.  The 

atmosphere was just strange.  Again we had a P.A. problem.  

Lots of family and friends were there.  Our first bunch of 

songs didn't turn out that good.  Opening song was "Guilty 

Pleasure".  I hate starting with that one.  Tony and Tom 

had been arguing over the shirts they were wearing.  Tom 

was wearing one of Tony's shirts that he wanted to wear.  I 

let Tom wear the Turdlehead shirt I was wearing and I put 

on the Union Jack shirt I had worn under my grey shirt the 

night before.  Anyways...during our first bunch of songs 

Tom made the comment that we were playing sloppy and I 

pointed out that Tony had been screwing up over and over 

and he should practice more.  He got defensive and said 

fuck you a bunch of times.  We took a break and came back 

stronger.  Interest in the show was lackluster.  A lot of 

the people stayed in the bar.  We still had a lot of people 

out there but that volleyball court was so huge it dwarfed 

everyone.  I had been handing out Pudge stickers and a lot 

of the girls were wearing them on their chests and ass'.  

It was pretty flattering I guess.  I wanted to get some 

pictures but was too busy playing.  We loosened up after a 

while and played a fairly decent show.  Afterwards, before 

I even had a chance to walk off the stage, a girl came up 

to me and wanted me to play a song that her sister could 

sing.  She fed me all this crap about her sister didn't 

have the confidence to get up and sing in front of people 

so I was supposed to get her up there so that everyone 

could hear how great she was.  She eventually got her 

sister over by me and had her sing for me.  I wasn't really 

impressed but acted as if I was.  That whole incident took 

about 10-15 minutes.  They weren't bad looking but they 

weren't very bright either.  Major turn off.  One of them 

spilled beer on Tom's bass drum and he wasn't to happy.  We 

got paid $100.00 for the show which is pretty good compared 

to usual.  We hung around the bar for a while and Tony and 

Clarissa left.  Chris, Tom and I stayed there until bar 

close and then headed home.  I was pretty tired today.  

After analyzing the show I realized that we need some more 

songs that are energetic.  Even the ones that used to seem 

energetic have lost their power and seem like pieces of 

sludge now.  I think the shows were a good tool to pinpoint 

these problems.  Oh well.  I want to register for classes 

but everything is messed up again.  Chris' birthday is 

tomorrow and a bunch of people are going out.  I'd like to 

as well after I get out of work.  Hopefully it's a good 

time.

2002-04-15 16:33:42 (GMT)