Give Thanks.

Hello all,

Here’s hoping every one of you is having a fantastic Thanksgiving.

Perhaps you’re gathered with extended family around a large table of delicious food. Maybe you’re with friends or loved ones at a restaurant. You might have your dear ‘ol grandparents over for dinner listening to wonderful stories about earlier times (like myself).

Whatever you may be doing today, I encourage you to look around and appreciate all the blessings in your life.

Maybe you could make a list?

Things and people I’m thankful for today: My beautiful mother, my father (he’s a pretty handsome dude as well), Nick, Hannah, Rebecca, Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma V. My best friends in the world Chad, Kevin, Adam, Jordan. Joshua, my amazing Aunt and Uncle, Chris. My brothers in Native, Touche Amore, Sohns, Victor, Fall of Troy, Thursday. All my new friends, all my old friends, Alyssa, Amy, Kyle, Justin, Eric, Kate, Dan. Good health, a home. A loving community of positive people surrounding me everyday.

Take a moment today to let the important people in your life know that you are thankful for them.

yours,

-Bradley

(See below for Vass’ thanksgiving wishes! He has some great things to say, love you bud!)

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is a day to be thankful for everyone and everything (but mostly everyone) that is making a positive force in your life. I am thankful for my closest friends, my family, my band (you’ll read this i know, i’m away but love you guys) and more. I am currently on tour with Touche Amore having a great time (and somehow making pretty good tips, haha). You can see their tour dates at their myspace page, come say hello to me at one of their upcoming shows in the midwest and heading back to the west coast.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, which is not only an album by Brothers, but the busiest shopping day of the year. If you choose to participate in the financial festivities, please be aware of the products, companies, and industries you choose to support! Products that are typically considered the best purchases on BF are often made overseas under questionable conditions.
I recently ordered new tshirts for our winter touring, and here are the designs:

For the first time, we’ll be printing these on Canvas brand tshirts. I have opted not to continue doing business with American Apparel. The standard tshirts, Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, Hanes and others, come from questionable sources. They are the cheapest blank tshirts usually, other bands and screen printers will testify.  American Apparel’s appeal is not just the fit, but that it is made domestically.

This is a step in the right direction! without a doubt. I also applaud their efforts in campaigns such as Legalize Gay. However, this does not mean they are innocent. Anyone who has seen advertisements for AA must notice their insane amount of sexualizing.  An ad literally exists with the tagline: “Meet Melissa. She won an unofficial wet T-shirt contest held at the American Apparel apartment in Montreal.” The company is no stranger to controversy either, with some sexual advertisements earning bans. You can even read this article comparing AA’s founder Dov Charney to Playboy’s Hugh Hefner. Since nothing has been proven in court, I’ll neglect to mention Charney’s sexual harrassment suits by ex and current employees, but plenty of documentation exists from respectable news sources online if you care to look into it.

I fail to understand how a company can promote the liberation of one group (homosexuals) while oppressing another (women).

I admit I have a few American Apparel shirts in my suitcase and we have sold them for some time. They do make strides in the right direction, but I’ve opted for something that feels just as good to wear, but without the misogyny in advertising. Bella/Canvas also takes pride in their responsible efforts, as posted on their website:

As our industry continues to demand both quality and affordability, we recognize our responsibility to meet these demands by establishing strategic relationships which embody our fundamental values of integrity, honesty, and proper conduct amongst our workplace, customers, and distributors.

We believe it is of our highest priority to provide our workers with a safe working environment which practices excellent workplace standards and complies with all government health, safety, and labor regulations. Just as we are committed to producing only the highest quality garments, we also hold ourselves to maintaining the highest ethical and conscientious standards for our workers and factory conditions.

Black Friday is a very American tradition. Unfortunately, with that comes America’s history of neglect and lack of respect to other groups of people. Be a responsible consumer this day and any given day and research the products you are purchasing.

With all of this being said, Black Friday is a good day to buy records. Last year, I got 12″s of Everytime I Die’s Hot Damn!” and a final show edition of Since By Man’s Pictures from the Hotel Apocalypse from Vinyl Collective. Our record label will be having a sale (not sure what yet, but imagine you’ll be able to get our shirts and/or records for a discount) at No Sleep Store, and the second pressing of Touche Amore’s ;To The Beat of a Dead Horse will be up for preorder at a discounted price from our friends at 6131 Records.

And in an effort to raise morale after a bit of a stern blog, go watch this fine film. Send P’Chaimie my love.

Be good to one another.

-vass

Thanksgiving weekend shows

There are a lot of shows coming up this coming week and rest of the month. I realize that there are also several of these shows that are on the same day and even in the same city on the same night. I’m not going to try and push our own shows any more than any other, but am going to list all the shows in our area I could find; this should be a community, and not a competition. I encourage you to check out the bands listed and decide for yourselves, you really can’t go wrong with any of these shows, and going to a show is much better than not going to a show. If anyone has other local shows I missed, please post. Thanks.

11/19/09 – Corner Record Shop (Kalamazoo)
TOUCHE AMORE, LA DISPUTE, ROTTEN WOOD MOON

11/19/09 – Ugly Mugs (South Bend, IN)
The Radiance Effect, Etna Green, Here Comes Hope (Formerly Oh Donahue!), and I Am Band

11/20/09 – The Metal Frat (Ann Arbor)
TOUCHE AMORE, LA DISPUTE, GOOD TEETH/GOLD TEETH

11/20/09 – The Mixtape (Grand Rapids)
LEGEND, SMASH YOUR ENEMIES, MAKE IT CLEAR, ABOVE IT ALL, LOOK LEFT SWING RIGHT

11/20/09 – 336 Henry (Grand Rapids)
WORMBURNER, DASTERD, YOUNG DEVILRY, PHILLIP-PETRICK

11/21/09 – The DAAC (Grand Rapids)
RELIGIOUS SS DISORDER, CORROSIVE KIDS (tape release), more

11/21/09 – 336 Henry (Grand Rapids)
TOUCHE AMORE, ENDS, CULT OF REASON, DIRE-WOLF, DAMAGES

11/21/09 – Mulligan’s Pub (Grand Rapids) 21+
BROTHERS, VICTOR! FIX THE SUN, CAIN MARKO

11/22/09 – Summer Camp (Chicago)
TOUCHE AMORE, LA DISPUTE, INTO IT. OVER IT., TENSION GENERATION

11/24/09 – The DAAC (Grand Rapids) AA
ROTTEN WOOD MOON, SPIT FOR ATHENA, SCABBURGER

11/27/09 – The DAAC (Grand Rapids) AA
WALDEN (Pond), CLOUD MOUTH (Chicago), KALINE (Grand Rapids), LOUNE (E. Lansing)

11/27/09 – Mac’s Bar (Lansing)
ANNUALS, COMPANY OF THIEVES, and GOOD WEATHER FOR AIRSTRIKES

11/28/09 – MICHIGAN FEST @ The Wesley Foundation (Mt Pleasant)
2pm Vegan potluck, 3pm bands, $5-10 sliding scale this will be a benefit
POSITIVE NOISE (record release), EXTRA VOMIT (record release), SIN ORDEN, BUNNY SKULLS, UNDER ANCHER (record release), DEIR WOLF, TIGER, THEY COME IN WAVES, FACE REALITY, EXPIRE, OVERLOAD, GREAT REVERSALS, DAMAGES

11/29/09 – Lake Station Eagle’s (Lake Station, IN)
NATIVE, GROWN UPS, CASTEVET

I hope this isn’t going against what I just said about pushing our own shows over others, but I do want to make a note of our friends Touche Amore from California, who are coming all the way up to the mitten to hang for a few days. They are an amazing band comprised of amazing people, and we are way excited to be playing with them near our home as they hosted us near their home.

-Chad