THE MEAN JEANS!!!!!

A couple of summers ago we got some new neighbors. They seemed like a pretty good crew of 2 dudes and 1 girl. We exchanged neighborly politeness on several occasions. One day while drinking a beer on my porch I saw them all heading out in the car. "Hey, what are you guys up to?"
"We're going to a show."
"Really, who you going to see?"
With some hesitation the reply came. "We're going to see the Queers."
"Bring on the beers, cuz we are the Queers!" I said.
I think after that exchange was when I really started to pay attention to the musical sounds welling from the basement next to my house on a daily basis. I really started looking forward to the evenings after work where I would kick it in the backyard with my lady and some beers and be serenaded by what was then a Mean Jeans 2 piece.
Fast forward a couple of years, a couple of 7 inches, and an additional band member later and those creeps from next door are releasing their first full length album. The last 2 7 inches have photos of mine adorning the covers, so I can only hope they've scooped another for the 12 inch record sleeve.
All of that aside, they are playing a show to commemorate the new release this Thursday in Portland at Ground Control. I want to encourage everyone to show up and scream the name of their favorite song for the guys to play - my favorite is Bogus Memories even though they never play it for me. And to sweeten the pot the Portland Mercury has declared this to be Mean Jeans week!
The point to all of this is come to the show Thursday and buy the new record because I know these guys need rent money!

Bonfires burning bright, pumpkin faces in the night, I remember halloween

Tight Whip.

Pumpkin carving.

Jonny came up in 3s.

Lover's quarrel with Colin and Micah.

Portland People Eaters!

Cow Lard repping. I mean Lowcard.

Here's how you go to the bar on a budget.

Couldn't resist capturing this horrible tattoo.

Old Hallow's Eve.
These guys were winning at CeeLo.

This girl went as Derek for Halloween.

Taxi Driver X 2.

Again with no mic stand. Dan fills in as Kyle rocks out as a cock.

Didn't take long for these guys to get tagged.

This one is for the MB.

This is my favorite shot of the night.

Awesome thumbgun face.

Silas as a Peruvian flute player.

Sunday skating.

toledo, oh toledo

In light of myself and other barn dudes having been born and bred in the rusty old town of toledo, ohio, and as well several readers of this blog, I have decided to post some pics from my just recent trip there. And for all you Montana kids and New York kids and Portland kids and Maryland kids and everyone else who has had to sit and listen to our tales of yore, most notably about skate spots, here are some visual aids. let the nostalgic tour begin...

a main stay. portside. the stage. the edge used to be all angle iron.

obligatory river front shot.

edison plaza. second stage.

bump to ledge.

O-I. best ledge spot hands down.

Kevin likes hot dogs.

Now, having seen those spots, which are pretty great, you must realize that the place we went the most was media play, which is essentially just a parking lot and two small manuel pads. but it's still my favorite spot.

really? oh wait, hell yes. many good times had. just ask derek. mopey's switch flip nose wheelie fakie flip out was pretty mid 90's epic.

speaking of nostalgia, my mom's yard in fall is pretty great.
and i got to rake the leaves.

the end.

East Coast Reppin'

Fun things happen here in Brooklyn, such as this beer bong contest. Dude Barn would have killed it.



Speaking of Brew Barn, Brandon came out for a short visit.


And of course its World Series time. Sorry Johnny, we got god on our side.

Saturday in the Hate Truck.

Having Dave posting to the blog with me must have made me lazy. It's been a while since I've made a good, long post. I also went to Arizona to see the family so that took some time away from blogging and internetting. Bummer. Anyway, here are some photos for you.

If you find yourself in Phoenix, make it a point to go to Joe's NY Pizza. My friend Jody's mom runs the joint and makes some amazing food.

These are all the wild beasts (minus Joey, the cat) that live at my mom and sister's house.

We spent a day at Out of Africa and got to see some amazing animals.
Mackenzie got to feed the tiger.

These Hyenas wanted to eat every little kid that walked by their enclosure.

Arctic Wolf.

Cougar.

Baby grizzly bears.

Here's the whole family.

Back to Portland...
Verg is back and we rode bikes to a Mean Jeans house show.

Howie has a great mustache right now.

What to do when the mic stand breaks? Have this dude hold it for you.

Hegarty has been doing a lot of driving us around for skating. We've named his truck the Hate Truck because we end up talking tons of shit while riding around in it. This Saturday was no exception.

Here, Koerner gets shifty.

And here he almost did a melon grab.

Mark kickflipped.

And Healy tweaked this out for style points.

After skating food and drinks lead us inevitably to the Bye and Bye. The Hate Truck was parked out front so the hating continued. It took the form of torturing your friends. Mark said he would buy Derek a drink and shot but only if Mark got to choose what they were. Fernet and some cocktail in a mason jar was what he got.

Not sure if Derek really liked his first Fernet shot.

Hate Truck at night.

Listened to this classic before skating to Lovejoy's house.

The scene at Lovejoy's looked like this.

The torture your friends game continued. First, with money on the line for Derek to drink a whole 2 liter of coke. He declined the money and the coke. Then we wanted him to eat one of these onions. There was $5 more on the big onion. Again, Derek refused. But just to spite Derek, Jonny stepped up and ate almost an entire onion.

And just because we're idiots let's see who can snort some Emergen-c.

Ryan was foaming from this nose. But the morning after he said that nostril has never felt so clear.

You know the night is over when Lovejoy starts looking like this.

The new improved dudebarn blog.

Welcome to the new world of the dudebarn blog. I had an idea to let the other dudes of the dudebarn post here. And after a vote it was decided that they should have access. As you can see in the post below Dave has started in with his first post. Derek, Brandon, and Nait may soon join in. Pat has requested access as well.

Giving these guys access will give you, the reader, more awesome photos, videos, and randomness than I alone could provide. Also, the dudebarn is more than just me so the rest of the crew should have a voice in this. I hope everyone enjoys the new path of the blog.

Now with more dudes! AND videos (but first you'll have to read through my inaugural post).

Yes indeed, the blog has been opened up. So I will commence with my first post. And following said post, you will find the first ever dude barn video episode to accompany the blog. I suppose it's our attempt in careless fashion to somewhat document the ridiculousness of our lives as grown up children. Or maybe my lack of work since moving to Portland has made me incredibly bored.

But as noted, before the video, find another weekend, and another rousing of suspicions and temptations and mostly as per usual, plenty of drinking and laughing. Things began with Cynthia's birthday celebration on Friday night.

Started things off at, of course, the Bye and Bye.

Headed to Tiga for the birthday...Is Koerner
ever happy???

Steve and the Cynthia the birthday girl.

We all know how much Derek loves candy. Tonight
was no exception.

In fact, he went to the market for seconds.

Note Lovejoy's creepiness in the background.

Mark got real tired of me taking photos.

At some point Ben and Steve felt it was a great idea to
arm wrestle. It has been confirmed that the words,
"over the top" were said emphatically by Steve.

Mellow Saturday night at the Slammer. Juke box
battles were in effect.

Joe hearts Portland.

A rather rainy weekend made Sunday skating at the
Tigard spot somewhat of a challenge.

And now the long awaited premiere of our first video
episode, if you can call it that. Find it in the link
below, and check back soon (long-shot) for
episode two.

DUDE BARN EPISODE ONE. from Dude Barn. on Vimeo.

DUDE BARN EPISODE ONE.