Three Stories

In my senior year of High School, all the guys went to El Gordo's Tacos after school one day. This day was a special day that we had talked about all year. T-Bear was to eat, not one, but TWO El Gordo borritos. And that he did. We were very proud. They took a Polaroid to put on the wall, but it didn't turn out so I grabbed it. They took another and put it up there with all the other heavy hitters. T-BEAR will forever be a legend.



Calibretto 13 (2 years before I joined the band) played the underground stage in 2000. There were thousands of people there, and they knew all the songs. The last song of set was High-Five as it always was. As soon as they started it, all our punk rock heroes came out on stage; the Squad 5-0 brothers, members of the Huntingtons, One-21, and Blaster the Rocketman. They used the T&N hands to high-five each other - they were hitting Joe on the head with them - stealing his mic - it was a riot. I was right in the front against the stage smiling from ear to ear. It was a huge moment for us all.



My buddy Nate worked in a factory at Chrysler in Kokomo. He worked all the time and hated it. He was miserable and depressed. The worst part of it was that he couldn't get off work to go to Cornerstone, which at that time (and only at that time), was the greatest place on Earth. We all felt SO bad for him.
About half way through the week, I was asleep early in the morning and heard someone yelling my name from far away. It was Nate. He had driven all night and knew I would be camped out in that general area so he was just yelling my name until I heard him. The story was that he had messed up on the assembly and ruined a whole days work for the factory. They suspended him for 2 weeks, so he drove straight to Cornerstone. He was SO happy! That night, I saw him in the pit at the Blaster the Rocket Man show at the Underground Stage. I have a forever-lasting picture in my mind. Blaster was his all-time favorite band and instead of working in the factory he was there; in a packed crowd, in a tent, drenched in sweat, with a huge smile, big black framed glasses falling off his face, with a pair of legs draped across his shoulders, turned sideways with his eyes clothes and his fists pumped straight in the air. I've never seen anyone so happy.

the Bud

This is the Bud.



We were best friends.



Sleepin' buddies.



Workin' buddies.



He was a peekapoo.



He looked funny as a kid.



He was not like other dogs.



He was sad to see me leave.

30th Birthday

The night before I turned 16 my girlfriend and I did my favorite thing to do. She drove us to West Field, IN (about 30 miles away), which was a big deal to Kokomo people. We went to Goodwill and then we ate at White Castle. That's it. I bought a couple shirts, ate 4 sliders w/cheese, drank a red cream soda, and we went back to Kokomo. About 6am I woke up and barfed. I puked red grease and steamed meat chunks all morning of my sweet 16.
Turning 18 was cool, they had a surprise birthday party for me and my favorite band BLACKSHEEP played and let me be the lead singer. 19, my parents were on vacation, everyone came over, ate my pizza, and left. 20, I was in college and no one knew it was my birthday. 21, I was in Muncie and everyone was at my house celebrating Jon "Crafty" Rogers' birthday because his is the day before mine.
Jump to a few days ago, the night before I turned 30. I was driving back to Bloomington by myself from the north side of Indianapolis where we had band practice. I was drinking coffee and feeling the cold outside and listening to nostalgic music and taking in deep breaths of life. I couldn't help to think about all my past birthdays; at Mcdonalds as a kid, having a group of my soccer buddies over when I was 12 to watch The Pit and the Pendulum, sleeping in a tent in the back yard, and all of the depressing birthdays when I was all alone.
I couldn't help to think about all the goals I set for myself in my early 20s. I was going to have accomplished SO MUCH by the time I was 30: publish graphic novels, be on a big music label and tour the world by myself, own a recording studio and an old house... I wasn't worried about what job I was gonna have or what career I needed to pursue, I didn't need to go to college or learn a trade, because I was going to be a successful artist. I worked harder than ANYONE to be just that. But a slow series of rejections and failures kept me right where I started; just a guy in his room, with shoe boxes of recordings, and binders of graphic novels, working his butt off, beating his head against the wall.
As I was driving home, I felt a little hungry and thought about what to eat, when a great idea came to me. I went to White Castle. And so, as the clock struck 12, October 25th 2011, I sat in my car, by myself, in the parking lot of Kroger in Bloomington, Indiana, eating 4 White Castle sliders w/cheese, feeling depressed and defeated.
Why Kroger parking lot, you ask? Well, after purchasing the sliders I remembered that I had recently ate the last Tums the night before and KNEW that if I were to eat 4 White Castle Sliders that I would have the world's worst acid reflux all night because I can't eat after 9 anymore without being miserable, so I drove to Kroger to get more Tums.
I don't know. Maybe we'll say this is a new beginning. Set my goals for 40. My drive for success has not slowed down in the slightest. To prove it, I saved up money all year so I could quit my job, move to a more artistic culture, and work on art full time for as long as I can. I'm 30, and this is all I care about?? COME ON!
Anyway, I kept the food down this time. Maybe it's a sign.

Serhal Family Video

My grandparents (Sito and Jido) bought an 8mm camera in the early 70s for the sole purpose of filming that year's Christmas. The idea that they would own a camera in the first place is strange. They weren't that type of people. In the 55+ years that they've been married, they never saw a movie together in the theaters. They always seemed to be the last ones to update any sort of technology. They never had a whole lot of money, but they bought a camera and some film in the early 70s.

I remember Jido getting out the reel to reel that sat on several books which sat on top of a TV dinner tray, and setting up the white screen that was pulled from a metal cylinder that had legs. Everyone would settle down. All of us; Sito and Jido and their 4 kids with their 4 spouses and their 8 kids, also included was other great aunts and uncles as well as close second cousins and parents of spouses. Many large and loud relatives in the living room of the house that Jido built. They all found a seat as Jido turned off the lights and turned on the machine. The room was silent except for the calming wave of the reel to reel.

The screen was a time portal. It was only 20 years before the present, in the same exact space of the same house, but everything else was different. Everyone was wearing 60s/70s type clothing, bright colors and with strange textures. The men had fine combed greased hair and the women had beehives and other extravagant doos. The kids (my Dad's generation) were all up to date with polyester bell bottoms and the girls and their dresses. The glasses were sharp and extreme, everything in general was sharp and extreme. I suppose it all made sense in my mind having grown up watching THE WONDER YEARS.

The film was of everyone attending Christmas gathered in a line taking turns kissing JidJid (My Great-Grandfather). It seemed strange to me as a kid, but everything seemed strange and unreal, but after all, I was watching a screen with project light on it, so it was never that real anyway. I never questioned why or when. It was it's own reality and existed there on the screen. One by one, everyone in the house kissed JidJid. It looked to me like they were acting out a play for the camera. As we watched each person kiss him, one or two of the people in the room would quietly say the name of the person doing the kissing; Aunt Booboo, Cousin Tom, Uncle Joe...

It wasn't until the last time I saw it. I was 27. I had stopped by and stayed a night after playing a show in Chicago. I brought up the old movie and all I could remember from it. As I was mentioning it Jido got up and walked to the TV. Under it was a mess of taped VHSes (mostly John Wayne movies). He went through them and found a DVD-R in a clear case. On the top it said, SERHAL FAMILY MOVIES. Jido said in a REALLY loud voice, as if I were the one who was hard of hearing, "David had the tapes put on this. They put music to it, all right there at the place. The music's all wrong though." (it was the Godfather music) It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how to get the DVD player to show up on the TV (they don't watch "those things"). I eventually figured it out and turned off the lights just like we used to. The movie played and Jido sat silently as he always did. This time I didn't have the aunts and uncles to chime in the names of the actors in the play. It didn't quite matter to me because I hardly knew any of them. It became very clear that I was looking at a generation that no longer exists. There was a completely different mindset and even a completely different culture on the screen.

My family is Lebanese. My JidJid, whos first name was Anthony (pronounced Seh-clearthroat-hal) which became his last name, came to America around 1913 with my SitSit. She was 13 and he was 17. Her brother had a job here in a factory in southeast Chicago and sponsored them to come. They told customs that they were married, but they weren't, they got married here in America (that young). SitSit never went to school and JidJid immediately started working. They had many many children and those children had many many children, making Christmas a very big deal. The Lebanese culture was still very strong within the first and 2nd generations. My aunt told me her and her sister would do a belly dance on special occasions as well as sang traditional Lebanese songs. Times were different then, far from the Americanized 3rd and now 4th generations of Serhals.

So, having all this in mind as I watched the movie as an adult, I was still not sure what was going on. Until after watching a few minutes of relatives kissing JidJid as he sat in a chair, Sito quietly said, "JidJid is sad because this was the first Christmas after SitSit had died." It was as if she had opened my eyes. I couldn't believe I never noticed it before. JidJid was sitting in the chair crying because his wife of 60 years passed away and left him behind. Suddenly that movie had a whole new meaning. We had been watching it all those years maybe to keep the memory of where our family comes from, not just to see what everybody looked like when they were young. JidJid died shortly after. My Dad was barely a teen.

The reality of what we were watching was magnified by the obvious reality of what was happening to my Sito and Jido. For the last few year they had constantly been on the brink of death. She had lung cancer, then colon cancer, and digestive problems, he had heart-attacks and fluid in his lungs and had an oxygen tube in his nose. I had never seen them look worse as when I watched the movie with them. I felt like both of them had gotten especially sad when they watch it this time, and of coarse I was barely holding on to losing it. It was a really special moment they shared with just me; somehow the only 3rd generation male bloodline Serhal, Chad Anthony Serhal. The end of the line? I hope not. I hope I have 30 kids lined up to kiss me someday when I'm old.

The James Dean Festival

I went to the James Dean Festival in Fairmount, Indiana. It was my 6th time. It was fun.



I went on the Ferris Wheel. I'm a fan of those.



The Beach Party did not accept armbands.



I got there early to catch the Garfield Run. The little kids race.



This old couple always win the dance contest because they're SO CUTE.



NY Lenny and his partner always win second. He's in the black suit and he had a new girl with him. She was a bit slow in the high heels.



I went this year with my old flame. She was the one who brought me to my first JDF back in 04.



NY Lenny runs the James Dean Gallery.



This drumming group is sweeeeet.



Saw the parade. Girls on horses.



Fire trucks.



Giant concession's with James Dean telling you to buy a giant tenderloin.



R2D2 is a Deaner.



Morrissey makes an appearance on occasion. This is a few pictures of him during his video shoot for Suadhead.



Looked through some James Dean merch. Don't need any more.



This was my pick of 2011. Ignore the flames. The hot rods were looking good to me this year.



The best pet contest was super cute.



Ferris Wheel.



Pick of 2009.



Crazy vampire guy shows up in a hearse type car and blows fire out of the back.



The car James Dean died in. "Little Bastard" 550 Porsche Spyder, the recreation of it. I got this tattooed on me.



Old Fairmount High



Had a gooooood time.