Blizzard,Yo

About 6 years ago at Chicago hardcore fest the headliner was supposed to 25 Ta Life. I had not caught that band before but I had seen Comin’ Correct at the Fireside, so I knew Rick’s presence and appreciated it. While I dug CC, I much preferred the songs from 25 Ta Life so I was pretty excited about this show. If I remember correctly it was most of the reason I even went to the fest (Envy from Buffalo was the other one I believe). The band wasn’t on tour so the plan was to drive straight from NYC to Chicago. It being winter and all the chance for tough weather certainly was omnipresent. As it happened, a big snowstorm hit NYC about 4 hours before the band was to go on in Chicago, but strangely enough this snowstorm shot out of the northeastern seaboard. The point is that 25 Ta Life would have cleverly dodged the snow by being on the road extremely early Saturday morning or even Friday night, which were the times they would have needed to leave anyway. It was a random snowstorm and an even more random way to dodge it. Talking with the promoter at the door he told me Rick and co. were not coming due to the weather. His frustrating conversation from that afternoon went like this:

“Hey, where are you calling me from? Are you on the road?”

“Blizzard, yo.”

“You’re still in New York? Did you try to leave? You would have dodged it.”

“Blizzard, yo.”

“You’re my headliner.”

“Yo, sorry but this is a straight up blizzard.”

I saw them a year or so later and the show delivered and they were cool guys. Rick’s merch/flea market is something to behold. Every time I am in the middle of a big snowstorm I endlessly hear ‘Blizzard, yo’ looping through my head in a New York accent.