reconciliation Blog and Journals

Now playing on A Week with My Father : Webisode 5 : I still got it!, watch it at www.aweekwithmyfather.com or click here. enjoy

I am officially no longer mad at Just Surrender or those associated with the band.
Thanks to their knack for ending up on tours with bands that I like, I've seen them more times than I've wanted to, resolved my issues on being gypped in the first place, and started to like their music again.

Some of you may have no idea what I'm talking about, so lets take it back.

In the summer of '06 a friend and I went to see the guys in Forgive Durden play in my home town. These boys were on tour with Just Surrender and The Audition (and somebody else, I think... but I don't remember). They were phenomenal, we were two of the only people who were up front singing along, and it was great. Then we headed back to the bar to get some soda while the next band set up since we'd already seen who we came for. Just Surrender played, and while we weren't up front (since we didn't know them), we did pay attention and we were rockin' out to the tunes by the end of the set. The Audition don't have much to do with this story, sadly. They were astounding, of course, but that's neither here nor there.
After the show I went to Just Surrender's merch table and bought the CD. All was well, I went to the bar and talked to Danny for a few minutes, and went home. Then I went to rip the CD to my laptop. There wasn't any cellophane on it, but I shrugged that off since the sticker was still on the top... but when I opened it, there was no CD. At all. I'd payed ten dollars for an empty case that only contained the liner notes. Joy.

I messaged the band online and John (their manager/merch dude) contacted me and got my address, telling me that the next time they had down time they'd ship one to me. A month or so later, I messaged him again since I still hadn't gotten the CD. He said the same thing. Another month or two passed and I got pissed. They weren't on a tour at that point and there was really no excuse. So I just decided to not like the band since they screwed me out of my money.

Fast forward to early October of this year when they came back with Farewell, Scenes From A Movie, and June (I really adore two of those bands). Irv pointed me at John, I talked to him, and he gave me the CD I payed for as well as the new CD and a poster. I was still a little irked, but I shrugged it off and chilled with my guys in Farewell or just reminiced with some of the old-school members of SFAM.

Then, there was tonight. Irv talked me into going to Mac's to see Quietdrive (the big seller being that they were playing with My American Heart). Just Surrender happened to be on the tour as well. So, I decided that tonight, I'd give them a fresh slate. I'd stop being mad and just act as if I'd never seen them before (which was hard to do since John was the first person to ask me if I was okay when I was sitting outside trying not to pass-out or puke... and I was wearing one of the shirts I'd bought from The Audition on the night that the whole fiasco started). I'm happy to report that I'm once again kind of digging their music again, and their live show is pretty sweet!





PS - If you haven't seen My American Heart or Quietdrive live... you absolutely have to do so. The boys in MAH are total sweethearts, and Quietdrive is simply amazing!