2000
March 28thish Passive Shadows opened for Froglodge at the Waynesburg Elks Club. My girlfriend, April secretly stayed over my house that night.
April 11th I went to Walt Disney World
April 20th I went to Wet N Wild
April 29th I went to Universal Studios
April 30th I started my first job at Pizza Hut as a cook
July 18th I went to the Vans Warped Tour at the IC Light Amphitheatre
July 19th Passive Shadows played at the Jacktown Fair Battle of Bands. Froglodge won the show which was no surprise. Optical Illusion and MRC also played.
July 29th I went with Josh and Jimi to see Froglodge play at the Rainday Festival in Waynesburg. They played and won in the battle of bands.
I started working at McDonald's. Wendy gave me an interview. She didn't care I had blue hair. Jimi was working there already. We got one free meal per shift and a discount up to so much whenever.
November 11th Passive Shadows became Almost Cool officially at Club Laga for Exposure Battle of the bands by ROR concerts.
December 7th was the Waynesburg High School Winter Choral Concert where I performed in the classic show choir. They put my brother's name in the flyer instead of mine.
December 29th Almost Cool hosted a Holiday Bash at the Waynesburg VFW. Even though Froglodge was bigger and better they agreed to open to help us out. 3 Miles Down from Pittsburgh also agreed to come down and join the bill.
2001
January 27th Almost Cool played Joker Productions Battle of bands at Club Laga. 16 bands competed, we got 8th place.
March 18th Almost Cool had a Fundraiser Buffet at the Waynesburg Pizza Hut.
March 30th Almost Cool hosted a show at the Waynesburg VFW. Punchline was headlining with Almost Cool and Despite Best Intentions opening the show. The Waynesburg College paper did an article on the show. Josh got in a fight with his brother, he threw his guitar off mid set and fought him. This is recorded on audio cassette.
March 31st Almost Cool played in the championship round of the Pancake battle of the bands which had been going on for months. Josh was grounded so even though I didn’t really know how to play guitar, I tried so we could play and make the $500 for 2nd place. We would have won the whole thing if Josh didn’t get grounded. My friend Jeff Hartley played drums and we put together a quick set.
April 1st Community Outlook at Washington County paper did an article on Almost Cool.
June me, Woody, Matt Rogers and maybe others stole an orange road barrel from the road. It was very heavy and wasn't easy lading it in the car. We then put it in the woods and never did anything with it again.
July
July 19th Almost Cool played the Jacktown Fair Battle of bands and lost to Optical Illusion
July 29th Almost Cool played the Rain Day Battle of the Bands and lost to Optical Illusion.
August 2nd I went to the Vans Warped tour for the 3rd year in a row. I went with Jimi and Josh again. It was at the IC Light Amphitheatre. I saw Jimmy Eat World play a full set for the first time. Bleed American had just been released. I also watched the sets of The Bouncing Souls, The Dropkick Murphys, Fenix TX, Less Than Jake, The Ataris, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Alien Ant Farm, The Vandals, and Thursday.
August Almost Cool has our CD Release show at the Waynesburg VFW with Punchline, A Week in July, and Treephort.
September 11th I was in my Senior English class when on September 11th 2 planes flew into the world trade center buildings in New York. A plane also crashed into the pentagon and one crashed a couple hours east of Waynesburg. Everyone was in a panic and I remember telling my friends that we didn’t have to worry because we lived in the rural country. Our school nurse had a son that worked at the WTCs and one that worked at the pentagon. I remember being worried for her. They stopped school and turned on the televisions for everyone to watch the news, it was the only time they ever did that. After school my dad was helping me fix something on a car when we saw a plane fly over. This was significant because the air travel was banned except for military/ government. It was most likely Air Force One heading to camp david.
The Buckwheat Festival and Bands of America were both cancelled due to 911
Almost Cool played at a 911 benefit show at the Brentwood VFW.
October 1st Almost Cool played a battle of the bands at Waynesburg College. Funkalicious also played
October 12th I went to the Punchline CD release show at Club Laga in Oakland.
October 15th my great grandma who had immigrated from Greece, Mary K. Romanakis died at the age of 95.
December 2nd a day before my birthday, my friends gave me a surprise birthday party for my 18th birthday.
December 21st Almost Cool played at the Waynesburg VFW with Despite Best Intentions and Funkalicious.
2002
January 6th ish I drove April, Bill, and Meredith to the south hills of Pittsburgh where we went ice skating.
March 22nd Almost Cool played at the Waynesburg VFW with Punchline, Funkalicious, and Despite Best Intentions.
I performed with WVU in an African Drum & Dance ensemble. Dozens of musicians and spiritual leaders were brought to West Virginia University to bring their cultures to the campus. They had different high school students come in to perform with them. It was one of the bigger crowds I ever performed in front of. No one was allowed to video tape or take pictures of the performance, for it was against their culture. I was told taking pictures or videoing the arts would bring death to them. A couple of the African leaders would laugh at me when I was trying to learn one of their dances and called me "hot dog" They were very nice and very talented. The drum patterns were much harder than most music I had played in my life.
April 13th Almost Cool performed in Joker Productions guitar center rock off at Club Laga. There were 15 bands. We got 5th place overall. 2nd in stage presence, 3rd in industry potential, musical content, and crowd response. It was this show where we met Pat and After Curfew.
April The high school band went Virginia Beach for a competition
May my parents bought me my first car for $900, a 1987 blue Chevy Nova.
At the end of the year band banquet I won Best overall senior and the percussion awards
May I graduated from Waynesburg High School
May 18th Almost Cool played at Valera Horton's birthday at the Bauerstown Hall with Punchline, SF Firehydrant, and Heroes for Today. This was the first time driving to Pittsburgh and I got lost and ended up turning around where I ended up buying my house on Geyer Road (almost 8 years later)
I received a scholarship to play percussion at Waynesburg College. This was the deciding factor to attend Waynesburg vs. WVU
June I had a graduation party at my house, it was the biggest party I ever had while living at home. I had many friends and family stop by and I had a fire and roasted food over it.
July Almost Cool won the Jacktown Fair Battle of the Bands
July I was walking to work at McDonalds in the early hours and I knocked off the "c" with a stick for the word "closers" on the bright yellow McDonald's sign that read " Now Hiring Closers" It then read "Now Hiring Losers" It remained that way for most of the day. While I worked that shift there was another coworker that said he was friends with the person that did it and was trying to take claim of the prank. I never said anything, but I knew he was lying because it was me.
July I was working the opening shift at the Waynesburg McDonalds and I didn't want to be late so I would drive down to the Long John Silvers parking lot across the street, where the staff would go meet before opening. (for safety reasons) I went down to the parking lot much earlier than 4am and put a sleeping bag out and slept on pavement. Some point after I fell asleep I woke up the police surrounding me telling me to put my hands where they could see them. I had a cell phone in my sleeping bag and they were weird about me reaching for it. They sked what I was doing so I told them the truth and they told me I was going to get ran over and to never do it again.
July 29th Almost Cool played at the Rainday Festival Battle of bands in Waynesburg and took first place! Jarod Edgreen and Tim Hill also played with us on a couple songs.
July Almost Cool had a show and Jen and Meredith got in a fight in the back of the van. Bill and Meredith left and Bill quit the band to back his girlfriend. We played the show as a 3 piece. I remember telling Pat the gossip of the fight and how everyone thought it was crazy.
August 13th I went to the Vans Warped Tour for 4th year in a row. Once again with Jimi and Josh. This time at The Post gazette Pavilion since the tour had grown a lot in popularity. I watched the sets of New Found Glory, Something Corporate, Simple Plan, Allister, Bad Religion, Punchline, Reel Big Fish, Alkaline Trio, Thursday, and Finch.
August 16th I went to see Brand New at Club Laga (Joker Prod show)
August 19th I went to see 311 and Wyclef Jean at WVU's Fall Fest Concert
On the first day of college, driving to class my car broke down for the first time. The campus was only 6 minutes away, so I was only a few minutes from home.
September 16th The Greene County Messenger released an article of Almost Cool with our picture on the front page. We met the interviewer at Bill’s work place called Mel’s. I was eating french fries while they were taking our picture.
October 13th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV with Punchline, Tri Polar, and King Adam
Me and Josh started going to West Virginia and hanging out with Laura and Erin.
Some time in October Jimi reached out to Derek to also be in Almost Cool, Derek said yes. I remember not sure how to feel about it. I was excited to have Derek play with us, but knew Pat and others might be bitter, rightfully so. Derek started jamming with us immediately.
December 8th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV with Punchline, All Jokes Aside, and After Curfew. Derek played with both bands. There was a snow storm this night and After Curfew stayed in Morgantown.
2003
February 1st Almost Cool was recording “Nothing to Say” at Silent Wing Audio with Dan Festog in Bobtown, PA.
February 9th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with Short Arm Trick and My Wasted Luck
March 2nd Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with All Jokes Aside and After Curfew.
March 9th Almost Cool opened Wakefield at Club Laga it was originally suppose to be Home Grown
March 30th Almost Cool played at the Waynesburg VFW with Punchline and Despite Best Intentions.
April 19th the night before Easter I got my first speeding ticket on Ohio River Blvd. While going to hang out with Sarah, a girl I met from playing at AMC.
May 4th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with Shindig, Cryptorchid Chipmunk, Spencer, and Nivlem.
May 18th was the Listen Now Productions Battle of the Bands at 123 Pleasant Street. Listen Now Productions was Jimi and he had got a bunch of prizes together to give away. Each band sold tickets and we used the money to pay for recording cost.
Almost Cool was heading to the studio, on the way up we took a stop at fast food place for food and to jerk off to porn in the restroom.
Almost Cool was going to New York to record. Leah Zwerver offered for us to stay at her grandparents, Ethel & George. Ethel made us delicious big breakfasts. Dave, Leah's dad took us around New York City. We went Times Square and into Virgin Records where we found a Punchline cd.
May Almost Cool went to Nada Studios in New York and recorded "XOXO" and "Miss You"
While up in New York Almost Cool ate at a pizza hut where we didn't have enough money for the food so we decided to ditch out. Jimi and Josh left first, no problem. Then when me and Derek started to leave the employees questioned us and would only let Derek leave. I saw on a bench waiting for I don't know what, but the one employee told me I had bad friends to leave me there. Shortly after I could see Derek in the door window to pointing to a sign they had that said "Book it" from the book it club they had. I jumped up and booked it, a cook tried to grab me, but i stiff armed him and made it out. I quickly ran with Derek to the van where Jimi was ready for the getaway. We got away and told John the producer when we got back. He was like why didn't you just buy the pizza?
On the way back from the studio I placed a grocery cart in the middle of a road and then watched as a car smashed into it creating sparks.
June 1st Almost Cool played the first Playr’ Productions show at the Charleroi VFW with SF Firehydrant, Nothing Unexpected, Honin, Michael Faryna, and special guests, The dirty garbage men (punchline.)
The first week of June I decided to go to Ocean City, Maryland with Jimi, Jen, Leah, Natalie Monas, Amy Zimmerman, and Kristen Cario. They offered and I declined because I had work, but decided McDonalds was stupid and it was a better idea to have fun. Josh agreed to go, we both called McDonalds to tell them the news and we left immediately without any maps. I drove east and figured we would find our way. I remember stopping in Baltimore, not knowing where we were at so we stopped at a gas station and it was closed. After realizing it was closed I saw this is bullshit out loud. Out of no where a bum appeared and said "this is double bullshit"
June the paperboy pranks were gearing up as Josh hit Derek with my car in front of his house and I ran across the street naked wearing a cowboy hat.
June 21st I went to see Thursday at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. They played with Murder by Death, This Day Forward, and Rival Schools. It was insanely packed and hot. I could barely breathe and almost passed out. A kid crowd surfed by running on top of the closely tight people and then jumped off the wall into the ceiling and then back down. It was crazy!
June 16th Josh got dumped by his girlfriend Megan Johnson.
June 23rd Almost Cool opened for The RX Bandits and No Motiv at Club Laga.
July 6th Almost Cool played our 2nd Playr Production show at the Charleroi VFW, but this time headlining. The Spacepimps, Distant Future, and Every Second Sunday also played. (shopping cart)
Destuction runs were going at full force and there was a night with the baseball bat.
July 20th The Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote an article on Almost Cool about release our EP and playing warped tour.
July 22nd Almost Cool played our 3rd Playr Production show at the Charleroi VFW with The Victory Year, Wings of Azrael, Cobra High, Clearview, and Running from Romance.
July 30th was the Almost Cool / Second Before the Crash CD Release show at Club Laga. This was the only show we headlined at Club Laga. SF Firehydrant, Nothing Unexpected, and Thought Deposit were also on the bill.
August 6th was a dream come true, Almost Cool played at the Post gazette Pavilion for the Vans Warped Tour through the Ernie Ball Contest. Besides playing I got to watch the sets of The Spacepimps, Punchline, Motion City Soundtrack, Brand New, The All American Rejects, The Ataris, Rancid, and The Starting Line.
October 4rth Almost Cool and Playr Productions held had a show at the Waynesburg VFW. Punchline, A Week in July, Ritter, and Punchbox also played.
October 18th Almost Cool headlined the Uptown Theatre in Washington, PA. The Spacepimps, Three Sided Circle, and Sick of Solitude also played.
October 31st Almost Cool went to New York and recorded at Nada Studios
November 16th Almost Cool played at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown, WV. We played with All Jokes Aside, The Spacepimps, Thought Deposit, and Stolen Element. It was this show Derek gave Rishi a talk and Jarod and Mike D from Thought Deposit almost got in a fight.
November 28th Almost Cool played at the Charleroi VFW with Punchline, SF Firehydrant, A Week in July, and Greg Wood.
November 29th I went to see Fallout Boy at Club Laga. I met Pete Wence, the bass player outside the venue while talking to Chris Fafalios of Punchline.
December 3rd Jess Bock got me the Jimmy Eat World dvd for my birthday.
December 12th Almost Cool headlined The Upstage. This was our first and only Playr Production show at this venue. SF Firehydrant, Thought Deposit, Runner Up, and Clearview also played. We closed the set with Sorry But You’re Not a Winner and I got off the drums and aggressively played a slide whistle. This was also the night that Big Eugene hustled me for some money by loading my equipment, even though I didn’t want help.
December 20thish Almost Cool played at a Roller Rink in the Tarentum area. Derek was very late to the show and had a cigarette hanging out of his lip when he walked in. This ended up being our last show with Derek.
Late December Derek had a party at his mom's house and he got kicked out and had to move to Florida. We had a band meeting in my bedroom and I suggested that I move to guitar and singing and Pat would play drums. Playing drums was my favorite thing, but Pat had proven to be a good friend at that point and wasn't bitter about Derek going to Almost Cool. It felt like the right thing to do. I remember Jimi asking me if I could even play. I picked my crappy acoustic guitar and strummed some chords pretty badly. Even though it wasn't good, it was good enough to know it was going to work.
2004
Jan 20thish Almost Cool played at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, PA. We opened for Punchline and it was my first show on guitar. I remember PJ from punchline telling me afterwards, he liked me on guitar better. This was a little confusing, I was never sure if he was just being nice or if he didn't like my drumming.
February 14th Almost Cool had a show (The rock club?) I went to pick up Jess Bock who I was dating and she was very angry that I wouldn't cancel the show. She took a cake she had made with strawberries on it and threw it away while throwing a fit. I drove her in my shitty blue nova to the show. During the set in between some songs I wished her happy valentines day and she gave me the double bird and yelled "fuck you" to me. It was a bit awkward for a moment, but then we carried on. I drove her back afterwards and we got pizza hut.
March 4th I went to see Punchline and Catch 22 play at 123 Pleasant street in Morgantown, WV. with Cryptorchid Chipmunk and Hello Cantaloupe
March 20th Almost Cool played Playr Production show at the Charleroi VFW. We headlined with Tel Star, One Left Standing, and Thought Deposit also on the bill.
June 7th Almost Cool opened for Riddlin Kids and Auto Pilot Off at Mr Smalls theatre.
June 16th Almost Cool traded in the HellRider and got Champion the Van. We also drained our band account. Pat's dad also contributed money to the van which was in better shape and safe to tour with. We got Champion from Ombre Auto Sales in Ambridge, PA from John Ombres.
June 17th Almost Cool started a Northeast tour in Meadville, Pa.
June 18th Almost Cool played at Xtreme Wheels in Buffalo, NY. 356 Hertel Ave, Buffalo, NY 14207
June 20th I met Jenny at a show Almost Cool played at Club Drifters in Nashua, NH.
June 24th Almost Cool played at Bloomfield Ave. Cafe in Montclair, NJ.
June 25th Almost Cool played at Hamilton Street Cafe in Bound Brooke, NJ.
June ? - Almost Cool played the Nancy Reagan in Richmond, VA.
July 3rd Almost Cool finished our tour at the Hopewell VFD #2 in Hopewell, PA.
July 7th I went to see Dodgeball at the Washington Crown Center
July 11th I went to see Anchorman at the Washington Crown Center
July 26th Almost Cool played a Playr Production show at the Charleroi Italian Club with Transition, Gametime, Afterdrama, Right Mind Insomnia, ian Cicco, and Echojade
July 27th I went to see Midtown play with The Lost Prophets at the Rock Club in Station Square.
August 3rd Almost Cool opened for Head Automatica at Mr Smalls Theatre
August 5th was the Vans Warped Tour
August Almost Cool went on another North East Tour
August Almost Cool started the tour off playing in Clarion, PA. We stayed at another band members apartment.
August Almost Cool played at The Puppet House Theatre in Stoney Creek, CT
August Almost Cool played at All About Records in Massachustettes
August Almost Cool played at Club Drifters in Nashua, NH
August Almost Cool played at the Hamilton Street Cafe, in Hamilton, NJ
August Almost Cool played in York, PA
August Almost Cool played at Xtreme Wheels in Buffalo, NY. 356 Hertel Ave, Buffalo, NY 14207
October 1st Almost Cool played a Playr Production show at The Rhythm House in Nridgeville, PA. We played with Audio Karate, Clearview, Nothing Unexpected, and The Eventide.
November 6th Almost Cool headlined at Playr Producte. ion show at Monessen Civic Center with Wings of Azrael, Isadora, Molly Jade Coneybeer, and Ian Cicco. Portugal the Man was suppose to play this show, but cancelled.
November 11th I went to see Jimmy Eat World at the Rock Club in station square with Shayna
November 19th I became the head Jr High boys basketball coach for West Greene school district
November 20th Almost Cool played at the 885 Skate Park with Thought Deposit, Nivlem, Hope on a Rope, and Running from Romance
December 3rd My 21st birthday Almost Cool opened for Chronic Future at Mr Smalls Theatre. Antoon stole a case of coors light from backstage. I drank a can on stage. The next night I rode with Nichelle to Antoon’s for a party in Oakland. I drank some whiskey and chased it with coke out of a santa clause cup Nichelle had.
At the end of the year Josh decided he didn’t want to play anymore and Ben joined.
2005
January 14th Almost Cool headlined and organized a benefit show at Mr Smalls Theatre for Donald and Playr Productions. Nothing Unexpected, Afterdrama, Second Before the Crash, and Nivlem also played.
January 24th two of my players got in a scuffle
January 25th a parent accused me of laughing at her son when he he jumped and tried to stand on a basketball, but slipped and fell. My response was that I was already laughing before he fell. The mom looked like she was on heroin and was also upset that her son who skipped practice regularly and was clearly the least skilled wasn't playing.
April 26th Victory Lane had a CD release show at the Waynesburg Armory. This was Josh's last show. Fast Eddie also played.
May 7th I went to see Midtown, The Plain White t's, Action Action, and Gatsby's American Dream at Mr Smalls theatre. Gabe, the singer of Midtown gave me and Victory Lane a personal shoutout which was awesome.
May 15th I was walking with Nichelle outside of Josh's house and we found Friend the cat. She was tiny and appeared to be pregnant. Friend followed us to my house and I fed her some pepperoni. We took friend to the Wal Mart in Washington where got it some food. Friend pooped all over the back of Nichelle's car. I continued to feed Friend so she hung around our house. She would even sleep in my room with me. One day after class my mom warned me of a cat that has been hanging around so then I told her about Friend and she let me keep her.
May 28th Victory Lane opened for Nothing Unexpected for their CD release show at the Level Green Community Building. Afterdrama and The Reflections Lie also played the show.
June 7th Victory Lane Headlined at Mr Smalls Theatre as playr production show. This was split cd release show for Victory Lane and Clearview Kills. Also on the bill was Afterdrama, Five Feet Ahead, and Me Just Being Me. There was issues with Me Just Being Me, but I can’t even remember what they were.
June 19thish Victory Lane went on tour with josh and clint.
June 19thish Victory Lane played a block party in Ohio to kickoff our tour. It was our best paying gig of the tour and it was because it was Ben's Uncle.
June 20th Victory Lane played at the Williamstown VFW in Williamstown, NJ. There wasn’t many people at the show, but we had a really good response and the promoter invited us back the next night so we could play in front of a bigger crowd. We stayed at his house for the night and we slept on his floor. He said he knew Richard from Drive Thru Records and that he thought Richard would like us.
June 21st Victory Lane played at the Wiliamstown VFW in NJ again and the show was much bigger and we made a lot of new fans. Jeff, from The Early November was there and said he liked our set. That was pretty amazing in itself.
Victory Lane played in Exeter, NH at venue that use to be a church. It was super hot, I remember going to get ice with Clint.
Victory Lane played at Club Drifters in Nashua, NH.
June 29th We had the night off so we went to see Punchline and Reel Big Fish in Rhode Island.
Victory Lane played at The Icon in Buffalo, NY. 39 Ellicott St. Buffalo, NY
I went to Cape May in NJ to stay with Ben's family at the beach. While we were out there Jimi informed us that Richard from Drive Thru Records wanted to meet with us and we were going to do so in a few days.
We met with Richard in Princeton, NJ at a hotel. He bought us food and he listened to our songs.
August 1st Victory Lane played the Vans Warped Tour at The Post Gazette Pavilion and Ben got an underage drinking fine. We weren’t scheduled to play, but that didn’t stop us.
August 10th Victory Lane played at The Hangout in Edinboro, PA. We played with Punchline, Isadora, and Signal Home.
September Victory Lane headlined at Mr Smalls Theatre. Socratic, Nothing Unexpected, and Feeding Zeus opened the show. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette put a small article in the paper.
October Victory Lane played at Fright Farms
December 10th Victory Lane headlined at Mr Smalls Theatre. Mark This Day, The Elderly, Zander, & The Lie opened the show.
2006
