bullet holes in cemetery walls

today is thursday, october 8.

and i have no internet! so im a tad bit behind. yeah so?

vitoria is proving to be pretty rad. i have located a record store, a vintage store, a book store with an impressive selection of graphic novels in spanish, a 'garage rock' bar, and a bartender who IS joey ramone in disguise. i attended my first show on saturday last. it was at some sort of squat/okupa/radness that technically belongs to the church but has been taken over the youth of euskadi (see below). i happened upon it when i was wondering the medieval section of the city, and there was a flyer on the door for a thrash show. i knew by 'thrash' what they really wanted to say was like, 'metal', and not like 'thrash' as in punk, but eh? what else was i going to do? so i went! all by myself! here are some fotos of my epic first metal show in Basqueland...

The photo in the middle is of me with my new friends, Mar and José María. Jose María was the first to speak to me at the show. He drunkenly came up to me and mumbled something about the camera he was holding. I didn't understand him, so I said "que?". He responding by saying, in an asshole tone of basque voice, "oh, you don't speak basque?". well obviously not jerk, or i would have understood you. and then "well, you dont really speak spanish either, do you?" rad. thanks. josé maría went on to educate me about a few things: basque language is called euskara. basque country is know as euakadi. basque punks are known as assholes. well, that last one was just a little keen observation on my part. so, insults duly noted, i smiled and laughed, and was immediately welcomed into the group, basque or no basque. thats how i met Mar, and then the band you see above, Impalator. José María continued to be a dick to me throughout the evening, but by 4am his true drunken feelings came out. i guess being a total fucking jerk to someone REALLY means that you are in love with them. oh wait, same as back home, huh? anyways, the evening started to wind down at about 10am, and my new friends and i wondered the streets of my precious medieval village, and after one last beer, they were off on the rest of their tour, and out of my life... oh the life of a lonely punk!