TheBurg

S queezed in the middle of the sold-out crowd for my favorite band, I knew if one of us were to move we'd all go down like dominoes. e smell of booze reeked throughout the room along with its companion found at any rock concert, marijuana. is didn't bother me, and, for once, intoxicated and drugged fans provided a lovely scenery. Nothing could ruin my enthusiasm for the night ahead. Tonight, Citizen would kick off the second date of the "Juturna Ten Year Anniversary Tour" in celebration of the post-hardcore/alternative rock band Circa Survive's first album, "Juturna." e five guys who comprised Citizen (Mat Kerekes, Jake Duhaime, Ryland Oehlers, Eric Hamm and Nick Hamm) were in second grade when this album dropped, and some hadn't even heard of Circa Survive. Citizen opened with "Cement," the first single off their sophomore album, "Everybody Is Going To Heaven." A steady drumbeat and low bass elements accompanied lead vocalist Mat Kerekes, whose hushed words broadcasted a whisper effect: "If I'm, if I'm flawed, then you're perfect, my only. If I'm, if I'm a liar, then you're blameless, my only. If I'm, if I'm hanging by a thread, then you're infinite. If I'm a saint, then you're heaven, my only." And with a drum roll on the snare, the song blasted into its chorus. Kerekes bellowed, "Cement for all of our teeth. I'll give you myself any day." I wondered what it would be like sitting behind that kit on stage, playing for people who came to hear my music. I asked Jake Duhaime, Citizen's drummer. "Honestly, I don't like playing the drums. ey're expensive. ey bring me a lot of grief. I feel like I have to spend twice the amount of energy as everyone around me. It's stressful," Jake said. "But I have a profound love for them all the same. Everything I know is because of drumming in some form or another." My drum teacher, Wade, gave me the most interesting response about drumming: "I'm a 45-year-old kid, and I hit things for a living. It's fun!" As I watched Citizen, the familiar drumbeat to their song "Stain" rose above the din, a heavy kick drumbeat proceeded by an eerie guitar rift. Kerekes delivered harshed vocals, an assortment of strained and painful screams. e song's hook, similar to Cement's consistent drumbeat, featured a powerful drum roll from the snare that called attention to the chorus. "Let your garden grow, my eyes still twitch for nothing. Loosen your empty hands, my heart still beats for nothing." Jake noted this as his favorite song to play live. "It's no bullshit," Jake said. "It's heavy. It's aggressive. It's hypnotic. I feel like I am proving something whenever we are plowing through that song." I understood Jake's passion, also being able to play "Stain" on my own kit. "Stain" was different from any other song Citizen had previously released, a powerhouse in their set list when performing. Jake wasn't Citizen's first drummer, so how did he join? "I actually met Nick, Citizen's guitarist, when they asked my other band, Freedom, to play the 'Youth' record release show for them. We had a very pleasant/brief encounter that I guess stuck with him. I didn't meet the rest [of the band] until right around my first CATCHiNg up WiTH ALT BAND, CiTizEN bY PAtrICK SChMItt I 'm six hours deep into a late night shift at Giant, working the register, when an old lady approached me. "What's this coupon good for, sir?" she said, eyes signaling her pure sincerity and curiosity. She handed me a small slip of paper, and I looked it over multiple times, confused. It's a picture of a bird. "at's just a picture of a bird, ma'am." I told her. She thanked me, took her picture, and walked away. I work at Giant Food Stores, a titan in the food store industry. Founded in 1953 by David Javitch, the store was originally a two-man butcher shop. Giant, a grocery super store, carrying any food product you want. Some stores even have pharmacies, restaurants and a Starbucks to pick up some coffee before you shop. In addition to that, several services have been added. You can drop your kids off in the Treehouse daycare session, and we'll watch your kids while you shop. Or don't. Stay home, because now, with our new Peapod service, you don't even have to come in! We'll deliver the groceries straight to you. We've certainly come a long way from a butcher shop. Today, there are more than 180 stores. I've worked at Giant for two years now, and I've found cashiering a much more diff icult job than most people would believe it to be. I can still hear my dad telling me on the drive over to my first day of work, "It's not gonna be that hard, bud. You're just taking stuff and sliding it through the scanner," a mentality I'd imagine most Giant shoppers share with my father. If cashiers run into any kind of technical issue on the machine, they're immediately met with eye rolls and deep sighs to make you aware of the customer's frustration. I am always stationed to work in the section of Giant referred to as "the front end." Our main job is to check out your items and make sure you leave the store happy. Managers stress constantly we're the last impression the customer receives when they shop here, so we have to make that interaction with every person count. We have to make them want to return and shop again. ere are multiple jobs available on the front end, the simplest being a bagger. Put the customer's items in bags and tell them to have a nice day. Next is a cashier, ringing up the customer's items and a self-checkout worker, who watches over customers to see if they check out their items correctly. I once talked with a customer about working as a cashier. "I used to be a cashier too, but I had to quit," she told me. After asking why, she explained she couldn't "handle the rudeness of the customers." She continued, "I've had keys thrown at me, I've been screamed at, I just couldn't handle the stress people put me under." What most people aren't aware of is how focused the cashier has to be at all times. A lot of cashiers operate on a system known as IPM—Items Scanned per Minute— where you're judged on how fast you can scan items, so there's always incentive to be nimble. It's also good to be cautious of the candy bars in front of your lane; it's highly likely someone will try to steal some candy. Hundreds of numbers for produce items must be memorized, as those items don't scan. Each piece of produce comes with a specific PLU (price lookup) number that cashiers punch in. You can't forget B.O.B. either (bottom of the basket) to check for additional items a customer might have accidentally (or intentionally) forgotten to take from their cart. Clifford kubiak is a senior at Capital area school for the arts Charter school (Casa). to read the complete essay, visit www.theburgnews.com. A DAy iN rETAiL bY CLIFForD KubIAK practice," Jake said. "ey seemed like nice guys, and that's all I really cared about." Jake's been playing the drums for 15 years, and, at the moment, he's involved in about half-a-dozen projects that range from "casual to serious." "You always have to be creating. It shouldn't be like a job, you want to be doing as much as you can," Jake said. When I asked Wade how many musical projects he'd been involved with, he said he had been professionally playing since he was 13. Right now, he considered himself a "drum for hire," playing for any gig that's in need of a good drummer. patrick schmitt is a freshman at Capital area school for the arts Charter school (Casa). to read the complete essay, visit www.theburgnews.com.

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