october 26, 2002:

the clarendon hills are expecting! after what seemed like an eternal gestation period, the c-hills' full length record is finally off to the pressing plant. corbett is providing the dirt cheap cd-replication. miya put up with pepito at her house until midnight on sunday doing graphic design. and the inexhaustible S.P.A.M. records is graciously releasing it. ron from f.u. records is happy to report that the clarendon hills / skyflakes split 7" is in production. both records will be available in mid-november from S.P.A.M. and f.u. records respectively.

meanwhile, the c-hills were recent victims of a video "documentary" that sought to get to the bottom of where their namesake comes from. also, the c-hills have cajoled hellen of komisches buch fame to do a collaborative split record / comic with them. comics and punk rock are the new milk and cookies. speaking of which, who else saw that lame, sycophantic article on adrian tomine in last week's east bay express? another comic book conflating self-pity as art is "clumsy" by jeffrey brown. the painful honesty of a mundane personality is not brilliance. its painful mundality.

if you havent seen blanche devereaux yet, what the fuck is your problem? two girls on guitar and drums, one boy on tamborine. lots of singing, yelling, and rump shaking to irreverent songs about rad dads, tetris, and "rockin' til we fuckin' die." its like riot grrrl all over again, except without the "riot" or the "grrrl" or the "kathleen" for that matter. in less than two weeks, knulla roofs have gone from playing free shows with the c-hills outside tan hall to opening for mates of state at a nearly soldout oakland metro. rumor has it, that next week they'll be signing a six digit deal with some major label, and then breaking up the week after due to hardcore drugs and creative differences. catch them while you can. mates of states and numbers make the sorta live music that makes the c-hills crazy: crazy with inspiration, and crazy with disbelief and diffidence. snowsuit on the other hand is like the worst elements of atom and his package and at the drive in. the c-hills had the pleasure of playing with the bananas, sexy, and eskapo recently, proving once again, that all three bands rock harder and play tighter piss drunk than the c-hills ever could stone sober. pepito and c-leb randomly caught fat mike and melvin from NOFX playing acoustic in between rap bands on lower sproul plaza. the mix of punks and hip hoppers was surreal.

christine survived midterms with straight A's. she also found time to make the local tv news for her rabid participation at the fruitvale pedestrian safety rally. dont ask. elbert is hard at work on yet another home-made guitar pedal. a spontaneous haircut party broke out at the BFI compound, after which the most boring episode of SNL in recent memories was endured. everyone is busy reading the brilliant "applicant" fanzine. the c-hills have already reserved their copy of grand theft auto: vice city. pepito is totally addicted to kingdom hearts. next weekend is the triple threat birthdays of elbz, c-leb, and ollie (of the skyflakes). scheduled is karoke, dance dance revolution, and vegan food. be there and be square.

*** SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd @ kendra's room (3rd floor. at the end of the hall, room K.) midnight. ***
every year cloyne court co-op (2600 ridge road, berkeley) has a gigantic halloween party with a bunch of bands who don't get to play because all hell breaks loose, and the cops show up. this year the plus ones, fenway park, primitivo are slated to perform. the clarendon hills and knulla roofs, however, were snubbed, so naturally, we decided to throw our own show-- upstairs in kendra's room! the best seats in the house will be on kendra's bed. bring your noxema and sleeping bags.

*** FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22th @ bindlestiff, 185 sixth street, san francisco. all ages. 8pm. $6. ***
come celebrate a "crappy thanksgiving" at bindlestiff with perennial losers: charmin, the skyflakes, knulla roofs, and the librarians. you bring the gravy, we'll supply the cranberry sauce.

october 8, 2002:

a big fat decorated birthday cake, half a dozen packs of halloween marshmallow peeps, a stupendous hand-drawn flyer, homemade t-shirts, alameda county paramedic jumpsuits, tipsy chemistry grad students, curious UC berkeley faculty, handcuffs, whoopee cushions, yo-yos, a fearsome red bottle of bubbly lucozade, a crazy wig worn backwards, you name it, and it was present and accounted for at the clarendon hills' two year anniversary party.
at precisely 6:30pm, the traditionally quiet and unassuming corridor between tan and latimer hall on UC berkeley campus was abruptly transformed into a cacophonous den of punk rock debauchery. smartly clad in the devil's colors of red and black, KALX heroes and cloyne court heart throbs, knulla roofs strode in and got the party started. immediately, as if on cue, orange marshmallow peeps filled the air like mini-projectiles.
as candy rained down, knulla roofs tore through three quick ditties and then jubiantly cried "SWITCH!" and like a high school relay team, the clarendon hills sprinted down the hallway in their brand new, illicitly begotten alameda county paramedic jumpsuits. after some overly sentimental words and corny jokes by pepito, the c-hills proceeded to croon off-key, strike wrong notes, knock themselves out of tune, and unplug themselves repeatedly-- all within the first minute!
with the UCPD nowhere in sight, the c-hills and k-roofs continued the two-song-tag-team style celebration of noise. as the spectacle progressed, more and more kids crowded into the narrow hallway to bear witness, dance like fools, and join the fray. amidst the mayhem, eugenia chan dutifully shot digital video, while erin, tim, and greg made a hit-and-run film short of the show.
the c-hills played the most ear mangling, out of tune, cats in heat rendition of "you and i" ever. everyone graciously pretended not to notice and clapped and warbled along joyously. suddenly, fistfuls of cake began flying and an all-out melee broke out. in the ensuing chaos, ryan and josh banged out a spontaneous version of the "blitzkrieg bop," as pepito, elbert, and kendra mercilessly assailed the crowd with cake causing a literal stampede of kids to flee frantically down the hall in a hail of white and pink frosting.

there were loads of friends of the c-hills involved with and performing at this year's APAture. charmin fever is obviously not limited to bindlestiff and the pinoisepop scene, as charmin was incredible as usual. resident c-hills' artist, hellen jo, took her first step towards fame and fortune, as her newly minted comic, "komisches buch" was seen selling like hotcakes. seeing eskapo play in the middle of the afternoon, in such a well-lit space, and with such sobriety, was an unsual experience. scrabbel has now acquired yet another instrument, this time a beautifuly refurbished hammond organ rescued from a salvation army. finally, pepito got a free lapdance from a big bad chinese mama.

*** FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11th @ the stork club, 2339 telegraph ave, oakland. 21+. 9pm. $5. ***
back again with our guerilla show comrades-in-arms, knulla roofs. but this time, there will actually be a stage (a whole foot and a half high!) and a real PA system. perhaps the east bay's best kept punk rock n roll secret, SPAM records' very own sexy, are playing. the irrepressible and up and coming blanche devereaux are opening! frankly, this is the first time the c-hills are looking forward to playing the stork. yeah, its 21+. but write us, we'll sneak you in.

*** FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18th @ 21 grand, 449B 23rd street, oakland. all ages. 7:30pm. $5. ***
as if that stork club show isnt going to be extraordinary, this too is a monster of a show: the bananas, the librarians, eskapo, the skyflakes, and strangely?! seriously, what are the clarendon hills doing on such a fantastic line-up? we're asking ourselves the same thing! this show is all ages, so you can stop guilt tripping us now.