My first live performance in over six months: Squirtgun to play a benefit concert
This is one of the longest stretches I have ever gone in my life without playing a live show -- but the cause that is bringing me back onto the stage is a good one: Squirtgun will be doing a one-off show as a benefit to raise money for a Purdue University graduate student (Laura Poggi, of Florence, Italy) whose recent medical difficulties resulted in a $40k-plus medical bill. Severe pain in her stomach area sent her to the emergency room, and what began as a suspected appendicitis turned out to be a much more severe congenital intestinal-colonic defect. Her University-supplied insurance guaranteed her through her role as a Spanish Language TA only covered 80% of the bill, and she was left responsible to cover the shortfall (as well as technically being required to arrange her own teaching substitutions). Fortunately, an outpouring of generosity from staff and teaching assistants within the department was able to fully arrange for alternate instructors for all of the sessions she had to miss. However, she still cannot afford to cover the remaining balance, and her medical complications continue to incur more expense. The members of Squirtgun decided to do the show in an effort to put a dent in the debt.

The line-up so far is as follows: Squirtgun, Jorge Orillac (emo-punk from Panama), 7 Speed Vortex, Color By Numbers (Fort Wayne, IN), Pat McClimans Group, and CounterActive. It will take place at the University Church in West Lafayette, IN (very near the Student Union) on November 19 at 7pm. The cover charge will be a $5 minimum donation, but all showgoers are encouraged to give as much as they can comfortably spare above that amount. The actual workings of the concert are being taken care of by the Purdue Underground Student Concert Committee, and the Purdue Club Italiano will be helping in the promotion of the event. Relating more to the broad topic of pop-punk, this will Squirtgun's first US appearance in two years, and will feature original drummer Dan Lumley for this show only -- since we are playing his hometown. He has no plans to come out of "retirement," so this may well be the only chance to ever see him play (for those not in the know, Lumley has played drums for not only Squirtgun, but also spent 7 years in Screeching Weasel, was the drummer of Common Rider, was the drummer in the final line-up of the Riverdales, and guested on albums or concerts for the Queers, the Lillingtons, the Teen Idols, among others