I retreated back to suburban New Jersey for the holidays, spending some quality time with my family, friends, and little nephew. While the time with my friends was spent under a haze of alcohol and cigarette smoke, my time with my nephew was spent in agonizing torture, in our attempt to build a gingerbread house together.

How many 25 year old college graduates does it take to build a gingerbread house? Well, possibly several, because I sure as hell couldn’t do it. Curse you, Brothers Grimm!

When purchasing a gingerbread house, do not be fooled by the unassuming, seemingly cute box, that promises a merry little home of candy and cookie. It is a box of lies.

Those tasty looking jellybeans on the rooftop? They aren’t jellybeans. They are jawbreakers. I learned this after chomping down on one, nearly chipping a tooth, to which my nephew replied, “that’s what you get for stealing the candy.”

This is the look he gave me while saying that, complete with his hands on his hips. Three year olds these days can be quite cheeky.

Perhaps the worst part about the gingerbread house kit, were the instructions included. Completely misleading and totally off, the directions were positively useless, especially when it came to mixing the icing. Please note the look of utter confusion on both our faces.

See, mixing the icing was very much like mixing cement, and hardened just as fast. The directions called for four tablespoons of water to mix inside this giant bag of powdered sugar, and we ended up dumping at least eight in there. While the icing oozed out of the plastic bag onto the gingerbread cookie walls, it turned to solid rock the minute it hit the air. The icing bag itself was made of incredibly thin plastic, which continued to break and burst, sending globs of gooey white icing all over everything.

My nephew and I both grew progressively angrier, and opted to go play with some toy trains instead.

Behold, the finished product.

… hope everyone had a good holiday!

Christmas is here. Yes, that is my Christmas tree here in Philadelphia, being dwarfed by my roommate’s cat. Even though Josh Groban has this year’s number one holiday album, that does not mean you should be listening to it. Seriously. He was awesome in Ally McBeal. That was it.

For Christmas, I’ve gathered up a small collection of Holiday songs written by different indie / punk / emo / etc bands. Some are friends of mine, some aren’t. You’ll be able to download them off their respective purevolume / absolutepunk / myspace sites that they are linked to.

As Tall As Lions - O’ Holy Night
Copeland - A Merry Little Christmas
David Melillo - All I Want For Christmas
Echo Screen - It Just Isn’t XMas At All
The Fold - O’ Holy Night
Homegrown - Feliz Navidad
Ludo - A Very Ludo Christmas
Kind of Like Spitting - Last Christmas in Portland
Kiss Kiss - Frosty The Puddleman
The New Frontiers - Christmas Time Is Here
The Secret Handshake - Christmas in Cali

As Tall As Lions, Copeland, and The Fold are three of my favorites groups. I went on tour with David back on the Cute Is What We Aim For tour, and I handled a lot of Echo Screen’s press images. I love all these bands, and you will too.

You can’t download The Reign of Kindo’s cover of O’ Holy Night, but it’s a BEAUTIFULLY done song from the remaining members of one of my favorite groups, This Day & Age. Give it a stream off their Purevolume site. The Reign of Kindo - O Holy Night. Also, Foreverinmotion’s cover of Bluest of Christmas is a great stream to listen to.

Yes, I realize that there are three instances of O’ Holy Night on here, but whatever. Deal with it, and have a safe, happy holiday.

So my first year of graduate school is officially over. I’ve managed not to fail out despite uprooting myself to a new city, moving three times in the span of four months, going on a tour, and working a full time job. Surprisingly, my girlfriend hasn’t broken up with me yet.

Just one more semester and a summer class, and I’m finished. I can’t wait. Then maybe it’ll be time for a break from school before I start my PhD in English. I’ve been in classrooms non-stop since I was… what, 10? When do kids go to kindergarten? At 25, I’m ready to take a break from those uncomfortable desks.

Right now, I’m ready to spend a week playing XBox 360 (I need to beat Just Cause), watching South Park episodes, eating bad food, and then cutting lose with my family and close friends in New Jersey this weekend. Christmas holiday mixtape to follow shortly.

And yes, admire my Photoshop skills with that LOLbunny I just made. Ashlee goes to the vet again in January to get fixed and have some blood work done (she has some swollen glands, poor thing), and Mittens the chinchilla has his first visit in February. My babies are growing up!

Recently, one of my favorite unsigned bands, Melmac, decided to get back together and start playing some shows around the area. My old band played with these guys a lot, and although our bands both split up and we moved on to real jobs and real lives, a lot of us kept in touch.

I’m excited to see my old friends hit the stage again. They’ll be playing the Grammercy Theatre in NYC in the middle of January. These guys were adored by their extremely loyal Staten Island fanbase, often playing insanely packed, sold out shows in venues through out the area. They did a couple of tours, shot an absolutely amazing music video, and really left a lasting impact in the ska community before their departure. Heck, they even have a brief Wikipedia mention.

Anthony, the trombone player, put their entire first album, EP, B-Sides EP, and even their music video up on Virb for free download. Hit it up, and get some great tunes for free. For fans of bands like Less Than Jake or Face First. My songs of choice? Angel, Too Little Too Late, Answers To The Wind, To You & Your Short Fuse, and George Bailey vs. The World.

Enjoy, and have a safe weekend.

Melmac on Virb
http://www.virb.com/melmac34

Yes, bunnies can go to the veterinarian.

This past week, I took the bun to the Ryan Veterinary Hospital here in Philadelphia. It’s the only small animal hospital in the area, and let me tell you, there are some really wonderful people there. While sitting in the waiting room, a lot of curious pet owners asked me what kind of cat I had inside my animal bag. They commented on how large and fluffy it looked through the screen mesh window. When I laughed and revealed the bunny, about half a dozen elderly people came over to pet her and take photos. It was a nice moment.

The patient rooms really weren’t what I expected. I felt like I was in a patient room for a person, and not a small animal. The doctors there also treated the bunny like she was a person, keeping her in a blanket so she wouldn’t get cold, holding her after checking her ears, teeth, etc (buns don’t like that), etc.

She goes back tomorrow for an overnight stay. She’s getting spayed (ouch!) and having some blood work done, since she has some swollen glands on the side of her neck. The vets were impressed with how well behaved she was though, and they all can’t wait til I bring the chinchilla in for his first check up.

Vet visits are fun. It’s like, a trial run for when you have children. Except vet visits probably cost a little less, and old people won’t come over to pet your children. If they do, you need to find a new doctor. Seriously.

It’s a little known (and those who do know hardly remember) fact that I played in a band for a long time. Junior year of high school through sophomore year of college, I was jamming in ska bands. We opened for lots of huge groups, went on some ill-fated tours, and sometimes I found myself filling in on saxophone for some of my favorite bands. There was a point where we had songs topping the MP3.com charts above groups like the RX Bandits and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

You know, I could name drop forever, but really, who cares. It was a really fun time in my life.

The silly picture you see above features four of the guys I played in a ska band with. Their new band, Team Hudson, is a really dancy-pop-punk project that has some serious potential. Feels a lot like Hit The Lights mixed with electro-beat sensibilities of Baumer.

We took a lot of fun pictures, but I have to admit, we were all incredibly drunk. In fact, I’m not even sure how I managed to put the lights up and take them down without burning myself or setting something/someone on fire.

Without these crazy guys, I wouldn’t have started taking photos in the first place. It’s because of them an entire chain of events occured that led to me going on tour with signed bands and working with some of my favorite artists.

I’m looking forward to their songs being released online. Til then, give my old ska band a listen. It really isn’t that bad, and I’m still proud of what we managed to accomplish in our short time playing ska.

You know, I really can’t even to begin to address how talented Josh Hofer is. I love this dude. So I’m encouraging people to vote for him in a Ceer!us Apparel sponsorship contest.

I met Josh while on tour with Just Surrender, Tourmaline, and Socratic. The show at The Brewery in North Carolina was one of the major highlights of the tour. Not just because a ton of kids came out, not just because I learned how to take a shower outside of a tour van underneath a hose, but because I met this guy. We talk pretty much everyday, and a majority of our IMs consist of making fun of each other, even after not seeing one another for a solid 2 years.

There’s a reason why major recording artists like Fall Out Boy (above), New Found Glory, and +44, featuring Mark (at the top) and Travis of Blink182, trust a guy like Josh. The same reason why you should vote for him to be sponsored by Ceer!us Apparel, a pretty sweet clothing line that works with all kinds of artists, like Across Five Aprils and Love & Reverie.

I know, Ceer!us have a horribly ugly website, but they make some sweet clothes. Take the time to vote for Josh following this link. It’s just one click, nothing to fill out, and you’re helping out a talented dude score some free threads.

VOTE FOR JOSH HOFER @ CEER!US APPAREL
http://ceerius.com/survey/survey.php?s_id=15

Future FAQ:

Q. But Eric, why are you helping out another photographer?
A. Cause he’s awesome.

Q. Won’t highlighting another music photographer take away from YOUR work?
A. Nope. He’s a total n00b.

Good luck Josh!