I was just naked 5 seconds ago. Time to ramble here. Everyone, happy festival of lights. For those of you who don’t know what this mean, I’m about to tell you so sit down and grab a Twix. On Feb 20th, 2005, we played our first show. We were known as ATP (The letters didn’t stand for anything but I used to tell people it stood for “A Tiny Penis.”) Anyways, We played a four song set that actually changed my life. The songs sucked, but we were awesome live. The energy and emotion was there. It was the first time I ever played my guitar in front of people. The line up wasn’t the same line up most of you are familiar with. The line up with Jeremy, Me, Joe Milano (Bass), Rick McLaughlin (Drums), and Mike Saltriagga (Vocals). We were a shitty high school band who knew how to put on a good show. Still proud of that. Every year we try to get whoever was involved in ATP/Avenida and on this glorious holiday that only means something to us. It was the start of amazing friendships that still burn brighter than most today.

That was six years ago. It’s been a long ride. We really didn’t take our band seriously until 2009, so until then we were just having fun playing music in our youth and that’s what it’s about. Most bands today are so focused on being rockstars or in it for money or girls. Fuck that. We are in this because we love music. We have always kept our integrity. We are also friends, best friends, family. I consider myself lucky to have the ability to do what I do and to do it with the people who I am doing it with.

What does the future hold for Avenida? We took about half a year off. We needed it. It was natural. Doing things natural is key for me. Well whats natural now is that we are getting back into auditioning for new members and writing new music. We are so close to coming back stronger than we ever have. It’s going to be an exciting new chapter. Until next time, happy festival of lights.

Jon // Avenida

PS: Here is a video of our band during that first show weekend. I apologize in advance. It shows you have far we have come though, and I think that’s awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHXlxF-jw8w&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fresults%3Fsearch_query%3Din%2Bevery%2Bcorner%2Bavenida%26aq%3Df&has_verified=1