The Vans Warped Tour — or "Punk as a commodity" — Oregon stop was last Sunday. The crowd was an interesting mix of punks who dressed old school, shirtless jocks, folks you'd never expect to see at a punk concert, and of course, lots of 'rents in tow (for whom there was an air-conditioned parental oasis tent with free canned water and cherry vanilla sodas). Here are a few bullet items about what I came away with from my day there:

• Two bands I'd never heard of before rawked majorly and mightily: Damone (more hard power pop than punk) and Same Day Service. Damone's website is www.noelletheband.com, and SDS's is www.sdsrocks.com.
• Of the established bands I knew about, Tsunami Bomb, Dropkick Murphys, and Rancid put on really good performances. Unfortunately, every band was limited to a 30-minute set.
• A sunburned face (now turned almost entirely to tan).
• Three free YooHoo samples and three free Kraft EasyMac samples.
• Two bands I hope to never hear or see again: Poison the Well and The Used. This is where the 30-minutes-per-band time limit seemed way too long.

This is the time of the month where I usually catch up on obscure/foreign/art movies, new-music listening, and reading. But spring cleaning, socializing, and www.popcap.com have taken up much of my time. More soon. I hope you all are having fun, and if not, why not?!