We all grew up in the small town of Greer, South Carolina. Now you probably have never heard of Greer, but I want to tell it was a Mecca for fashion and quality apparel. Well, except the opposite of that plus warehouse superstores that sold things like a bundle of ten pairs of socks, plus 1 free pair thrown in for $6.99. We were never taught that clothing mattered or that it could be something worth your time and effort. We weren’t poor but we weren’t rich either. Clothing was just a necessity. We were told to wear what our...

I’ve always been pretty OCD when it comes to packing. I will meticulously roll up my shirts until they are almost perfectly shaped cylinders. I generally make sure each type of clothing has it’s own section within my bag. Now, that wasn’t always easy when we were gone for six weeks at a time. I would even have to check a bag at the airport and that’s just silly. On most occasions I had overpacked, allowing myself plenty of options for day wear and show wear, and most always would end up donning about half of what I packed. Of...

When I was in high school, I went into the Sunglass Hut at Haywood mall in Greenville, SC and bought a pair of sunglasses for about fifty bucks. That was the first real pair of sunglasses I had ever owned. They were great. They looked good and I looked good, if I do say so myself. However, I was scared to death that something was gonna happen to them. If they broke, I was out fifty bucks and that ain’t chump change to a high schooler. If my memory serves me correctly, I had those shades for close to a...

I have to have coffee. It’s a must. Living in Seattle did it to me. It’s the delicious way to start the day. But I need GOOD coffee. I used to drink, well, I used to drink shitty coffee. To tell you the truth, it was awful. I just thought you buy the cheapest grounds, throw them in an old coffee pot you bought for twenty nine cents at a garage sale, and voila - delicious coffee. Well that’s what I thought the chain coffee shops in Seattle tasted like. A punch in the face.I thought coffee had to taste...

If my memory serves me correctly, the year was 2003. We (Emery) had been living in Seattle for a couple years and had become big fans of the Tooth and Nail/Solid State rosters, in which Beloved was a part of. The Solid State Tour was coming through town and we decided to go check it out. I remember seeing you guys live for the first time and thinking, holy crap...this band is freakin good. I also remember meeting you guys and felt comfortable talking to you since you were from the south as well. It wasn’t common meeting other southerners...

So if you read the previous story 'The Fireworks Battle', you will remember that we bought a ton of fireworks.  Even after the thirty minute battle, we still had fireworks leftover. When? Where? How could we use the rest? Well, we decided it would be hilarious and fairly safe to light smoke bombs in the van. Turns out that it was really funny. One time, Josh wanted to go find Vegetarian food and dropped us all off at Wendy’s. As we closed the door, we lit an orange smoke bomb, threw it in, and closed the door without him realizing...