september 27, 2002:

tonight the clarendon hills will cut loose and celebrate two years of broken strings, off key singing, out of control dancing, drum kit smashing, and random costume wearing with their 50th show! in commemoration of this startling milestone, the c-hills (with newfound partners in crime fighting knulla roofs) will be ambushing tan hall and latimer hall on UC berkeley campus for a return performance of their first show ever. as is the tradition, it will be a short but sweet guerilla-style affair. show up before the UCPD arrive and enjoy the noise, mayhem, and cake.

the past two weeks have been a blur.

christine and pepito attended and then walked out midway through the US premiere screening of "sociology is a martial art." pierre bourdieu was a fascinating genius and profound public intellectual, yet the documentary fell flat as it seemed unfocused, poorly developed, and with few moments of inspiration. despite its direction by notorious french documentary-maker pierre carles, the movie was sadly mediocre at best.

two saturdays ago, the clarendon hills motored down south for a humble performance at the bliss cafe in milpitas. its always a little miracle to see a tiny, quiet space suddenly transformed into a lively room brimming with kids and music for a few hours, and then back once again to an empty, unassuming cafe when its all over. thanks to everyone who came out. afterwards, the clarendon hills and the skyflakes and a few friends hit the town for a taste of some milpitas night life. we settled for some late night chinese eats at a strip mall, then it was back to ron and trish's house for a midnight viewing of "top secret" (arguably, val kilmer's greatest movie ever.)

late last week, pepito was shoulder-deep in hipsters, scene trash, and wannabe tastemakers at the soldout and breathlessly anticipated interpol show at bottom of the hill. adorned in their signature black shirt and ties, interpol receives an A+ for dapper dressing and rock star posturing, but a D+ for bad vidal sassoon hair, and a C+ for an earnest but ultimately sterile live performance. pepito still likes the record though. another disappointing show was call and response at the bear's lair. sparsely attended (although adrian tomine was seen sulking in the corner), call and response self-indulgently played all new material (except for "california floating in space") none of which seemed as immediately endearing as their earlier work. its as if c.a.r. has suddenly fallen into a trap of artistic solipsism: less infectiously bubbly, more self-consciously retro and 60s cheezy. sometimes too much kudos can kill a band.. why else would they so brazenly deny an encore despite the enthusiastic applause of the few dozen in attendance?

photos by antares

the following weekend, the c-hills caught charmin at cafe eclectica and then made yet another trip to milpitas-- this time bringing mimi and hellen en tow. it was ron's birthday slumberparty and in celebration, much food, drink, and illicit consumerables were partaken, as well as a late night double feature of the hong kong pop cinematic masterpiece "shaolin soccer" and the always bloody, always entertaining japanese-slasher-meets-beverly-hills-90210-lord-of-the-flies epic "battle royale." the next morning, the c-hills and s'flakes played DDR, sat in the hot tub, and ironically swapped gross out stories regarding flatulence and fecal matter. beware the stain-inducing social perils of "over-farting."

meanwhile: christine landed a new job at the non-profit unity council of oakland doing community development work. elbert just returned from an expense-paid trip to monterey where he attended nerd workshop upon nerd workshop dealing with such riveting topics as DNA damage response, yeast, and lab technique. pepito underwent a root canal and was back eating candy the next day. the c-hills minivan literally died on 880 south last wednesday night causing a nasty 11pm traffic jam that made the radio.

september 9, 2002:

before the show, jesse brought vegan chocolate chip cookies and a copy of his out-of-print old school compilation of Filipino hardcore bands circa 1989. miya was pepito's patron saint of last minute bass strings, as he broke one just hours before the show.
chris w. got into the hero act too by valiantly rescuing the c-hills minivan with an emergency jumpstart, as it lay dead on bancroft avenue. elbert nearly killed us all by incorrectly connecting the clearly marked jumper cables.

at the show, the c-hills got to meet jane's mom who was visiting from japan. cooler still, jane's mom said she really liked the c-hills! meanwhile, pepito and jane ignored everyone and played advance wars on their gameboy advances. up and coming comic book artist extraordinare, hellen, brought two friends to the show, one of whom recognized elbert from "the lab next door" down at stanford. crazy!

mimi returned from her 60 day sojourn through china and mongolia and took photos for the c-hills. mimi also gave the c-hills a copy of shaolin soccer on DVD and demanded the return of her cellphone. teresa showed up with a dazzling set of newly pedicured and bejewelled toes.

jason snickered and told christine funny stories about dealership. ollie left early to go get his groove on at samantha's party. kendra presented pepito with a brand new carton of their mutual candy addiction.

the following afternoon, a most excellent show at cloyne court transpired. knulla roofs are like the second coming of the blastrocks!!!, but better! the mallrats play rock n roll the c-hills only dream of. and not only were the manges all the way from fucking italy, but they had jughead from screeching weasel tearin' it up on 2nd guitar.

*** SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14th @ the bliss cafe, 1679 n milpitas blvd. all ages. 8pm. free. ***
this acoustic show is down south in milpitas with our friends the skyflakes, sputterdoll, and superproxy.

*** FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th @ uc berkeley campus in between tan and latimer hall. 6:30pm. free. ***
september 27th will mark 2 ridiculous years for the clarendon hills. more fittingly, it also just so happens to be our 50th performance ever! in celebration, the c-hills return to the site of their 1st show for a flashback-hit-and-run-guerilla-style show. we will be setting our shit up and playing until the UCPD show up. come, riot.