v/a - 20 years of dischord

label: dischord
released: 2002

you already know what this is.
so all i'm going to say is this: there comes a time where "indefinite hiatus" takes on another meaning. yeah. i'm looking at you,fugazi.

i'm also going to dedicate this post to someone. her name is amanda. if it weren't for her i probably wouldn't even know what a "dischord records" is. well. maybe i would've found out eventually. we'll never know....

fugazi are one of the bands that helped to expand my musical vocabulary outside of the metallicas and the slayers and the cannibal corpses.

it was the early 90s and i was staying in denison,ia. i was attending job corps. you know what job corps is,yeah? it's a trade school. i'd been sent there because i didn't really have any direction in my life. i'd been living with my aunt. and apparently she could only come home to the kick-ass buildings i'd constructed out of lincoln logs and popsicle sticks so many times. but i know what was going on. she was jealous. she'd get up at 4:00am and be at work all day and i'd roll out of bed at the crack of noon and start building (while watching tv and eating of course). what a sucker,man! she was just jealous of my art! everyone was!

but i digress....

i was in job corps.
i was going to work on getting my GoodEnoughDiploma.
i was going to do some bricklaying as that was the next logical step beyond lincoln logs.
and then it hit me....
this was me.
this was me working with cement and bricks.
not so much.
so i went into the culinary arts.
there just wasn't a future in that sort of thing.
you can't eat bricks,bro.
i mean....
you can if'n you'd like.
don't let me step all over your dreams.
that's not who i am.
so i remained practicing the culinary arts for the remainder of my time there.
and that led to me seeing a fairly decent pair of breasts.
but that's another story for another time.
as i was-
oh?
you want to hear that story?
fair enough.
who am i to deny you a story about boobs.....
seeing as how i was in the culinary arts program i was given entry to the kitchen area. and then there was this girl. i don't remember what her name was. she'd approached me one day in the cafeteria and asked me if i were in the culinary class. i told her that i was. and then a deal was struck. if i were to bring her a bag of the m&ms that were used in the baking of cookies or whatnot she'd show me the tattoo of a mouse that was on her chest. she pointed at the left side. she'd barely gotten the request out of her mouth before i gave her an answer. duh! i'd made a promise to myself at the age of 5 to see as many breasts as possible. so the deal was made. the next day we'd meet in the stairwell just off of the cafeteria. the next day we met in the stairwell. i was there with the bag of m&ms. she was there with her...er...bags. the exchange was made and i took a few steps back. i wanted to take all of it in. she set the bag down at her feet and gave me a look. "ready?" she asked. i nodded my head. she gripped the bottom of her shirt. she gripped the bottom of her bra. and up they went. and there they were. and there was.....

there was nothing. no tattoo. just bare skin. just boobs.
"oops! i guess my pussy ate it!"
and i just stared back at her through squinted eyes.
admittedly they were nice to look at.
a solid c cup.
but i was expecting to see a mouse as i'd never seen an actual real life mouse tattoo.
and now i'd been robbed of that chance.
"you,madam,are a scoundrel and i shan't be recommending you to my friends! good day!"
and then i exited the stairwell.

that may or may not have actually happened.
you weren't in that stairwell.
you'll never know.
for all you know i could've just stood bashful-like and been all like "oh garsh!".
yeah.

but i digress....

job corps.
i'd had 3 roommates.
one of the roommates was named james.
james was the only one in the room with a girlfriend.
you guessed it.
amanda.
she was a punk rock girl. had the armpit hair and everything. at the time i hadn't been exposed to such things. i was intrigued. i was smitten. and once i was able to move past the "um...yeah...hi" phase we were able to have some good talks. during one of these talks i randomly asked her to loan me one of her tapes. didn't matter which. she brought me something that had someone standing on their head on its cover. "fugazi,eh?". she told me to trust her. so i listened to it. i couldn't really get into it at first. where was the double bass? where were the fast guitars? where was the screaming? but then the basslines made their way into my head. and then it was the drumming. and then i started to listen to it more and more. i'd been hooked. things changed. i suddenly felt that it was going to be ok to be wearing a slayer t-shirt while in the "indie" part of the music store. and now no one likes venturing into music stores with me.

so all of this goes out to amanda.
wherever she is nowadays.
perhaps she's driving her kids around in a minivan and they're all singing along to that very same fugazi album.
SITTIN' IN THE MINIVAN!
OOOOOOOH!

yeah.

the listing of the tracks: here

LINKS FIXED: 10.25

DISC 1

DISC 2

DISC 3