DCXX hits the pages of Revolver Magazine

Cover of December 2008 issue of Revolver Magazine

Thanks to Livewire board poster and former One Up frontman, Greg Polard, it was brought to our attention that Double Cross had been mentioned in the latest issue of Revolver Magazine. As quickly as I heard the news, I jumped in my car and headed to the nearest Barnes and Noble book store to check it out. Thirteen pages into the December 2008 issue, past the Metallica ads and Deftone articles, I found a section titled Hardcore News. All the way to the right on that page, taking up about 1/4 of the page, is a short article about Double Cross. I was psyched to see a small screen grab of the page and who ever wrote the article did a pretty good job, even though he left out any mention of Gordo's participation. Either way it was a very cool and unexpected surprise to be thrown at us on this Sunday afternoon. Although we definitely don't do DCXX for the notoriety, it is nice to be noticed and praised for your efforts and time.

Below I scanned the article out of Revolver in case you were interested in checking it out. Feel free to run off to your local grocery store or book store to buy an actual copy if you want. The cover above is what you'll want to look for in the case that you want to buy the magazine. I will admit, being an avid fan of horror movies, it was kinda cool that we ended up in the issue that had Freddy, Pinhead, Jason and Michael Myers on the cover.

-Tim DCXX


Said article... thanks Revolver!

Favorite Danzig fronted band results

Misfits - 221
Danzig - 37
Samhain - 24

In my opinion you can't really go wrong with any of these choices. Love him or hate him, the guy has one hell of an impressive resume. I honestly had a tough time deciding just which band I personally liked more. Misfits would probably be the easy answer (as it proved to be for most), but the first four Danzig records are pretty much flawless in my book. I know, I know, most of you wrote him off after Danzig II, "Lucifuge", but if you've never heard Danzig IV, you're doing yourself a great disservice. Sure the album cover may suck, but when you tear into the first track, "Brand New God", forget about it... Danzig at his best.

A few years ago I stumbled upon this Danzig video on YouTube. It's from September 16th, 1994 in San Jose California and he's doing "Brand New God". Although the quality isn't perfect and you have to have a few seconds of patience at the very start of the video due to some bodies in the way, the energy and sound captured in this particular video is pretty damn impressive. Check it out... all hail Danzig. -Tim DCXX

RELEASE - NEW JERS.E.Y

Release in DC, Photo: Tim Owen

Late 1988, New Jersey seemed to be a hotbed for great up and coming straight edge hardcore. You had the Turning Point demo, the ENUF demo and the Release demo all being released around the same time. All three of these demos had their own style and packed their own punch and all three bands were really starting to make a strong name for themselves. Although New Jersey didn't have the reputation of the scenes in New York City or Connecticut, Turning Point, ENUF, Release and bands like Vision and Hogan's Heroes were definitely doing their part to put New Jersey on the map.

Around the same time that I received a copy of the ENUF demo, I also received a copy of the Release demo. Tony and I were just starting Common Sense fanzine and records and demos were flowing in for review. Just as Common Sense was a brand new fanzine, Release was a brand new band. Some how or another Tony and I hit it off with Release bassist Greg Shafer. In those early Release days, Greg was our go to Release member. I believe it was Greg that hooked Tony and I up with the demos. I remember hearing the Release demo for the first time while I was over at Tony's house. At the time they reminded me of a straight edge version of Breakdown. Mosh part after mosh part and in your face style straight edge lyrics. The combination worked perfectly for me and right off the bat I was sold. The demos first song, "Hand In Hand" starts off with, "I don't do drugs, I never will, live my life for me and not for you, won't let life pass me by, why do you need such an artificial high?"... as simple as that is, in 1988 it's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Eventually, down the line, Tony and I met more of the Release guys, caught a couple of their shows and snagged vocal man Rob Fish for a quick interview that in 1990 would appear in Common Sense issue two. I thought it would be a cool idea to drop in some of the highlights from that interview, mix it up with a few cool Release photos and hopefully kick off what will be the start of much more Release content to come. Set you fuckin' straight! -Tim DCXX

PS: As a side note, although these days Rob doesn't exactly look back fondly on his days with Release, I will say that to me personally, the guy was nothing less than an inspiration. His relentless, unapologetic, unwavering attitude in the down years of the early 90s, when it came to straight edge, was second to none. When everyone else had dropped off, dropped out and moved on, Rob was there and just as in your face about straight edge as he was when it was all the rage. There's no question that some of what he was saying and doing was a direct influence on what I was doing with Mouthpiece.


Release at The Anthrax, Photo: Joe Snow

Ok, Let's start with a history of Release...

Well, Release started with members including me (Rob), Chris Cap, Greg Shafer and Joe Coia. After being together for about two months, we started playing out and got ourselves a second guitarist (Chris Zusi). We released a demo in the winter of 1988, started playing out a lot in February of 1989. We then got a 7" offer from Axtion Packed, recorded for it and that record was released in July of 1989. We did a short two week tour all over, came back, practiced a lot, recorded a new 7 song tape, 5 songs went to a new 7" on Inner Journey, 2 songs went to a split 7" we did with Courage. Greg got kicked out and we brought this kid named Tony in on bass. After awhile Tony got moved up to guitar and Greg came back on bass. Now that Courage has broken up, Chris has left and we've added Dale on guitar. We're now working on some new songs, trying to get tight and I'm starting to book shows now. Hopefully we'll do a full length record.

How would the new stuff differ from the stuff on the 7" or demo?

Well its way different. We have a very, very metalish sound now, but it's the right amount of metal. A lot of our newer songs are off timing, very different. Vocals have matured, especially the lyrics, We have this new song called "Unscene", which is about all the rumors in the scene and everybody talking, especially with Chain Of Strength, people saying they do this and do that, but it's their word against theirs. It's just music and it's gotten so out of hand, everybody's out to put each other down. We have a song called "Shadows Of The Past", which is about old friendships that you want to get away from and realize that it's over.

Release is pretty much known as a straight edge band. Do you see yourselves as just being straight edge people in a band, or is it a full on thing?

It matters what everybody in the bands interpretation is and how they feel about it. Release started as a straight edge band and it's going to end a straight edge band. We don't preach it or anything, but on some occasions we speak about it because it's something we feel strongly about. That's one of the reasons we're doing "Bring It Back", the Release / Courage split 7". When straight edge was trendy, everyone got into it and now that it's not so trendy, everyone has left it. What we're saying is bring back the ideas, the philosophy. We don't want to be known as JUST a straight edge band, but we are and always will be.


Zusi in this classic Release "The Pain Inside" 7" photo

How did you become friends with Turning Point?

We played a show in Pennsylvania and Judge didn't show up until late. Turning Point was there and they asked us to play. We exchanged numbers and started playing shows together.

I hear you got some flack when you played in NYC?

Yeah, the Combat Stance guys, they're a bunch of dorks. They were giving us shit inside, pushing at us and pushing at us, like they wanted to fight us and Courage. It got to a point where we were all sick of them, Roger (Courage vocalist) and I came up and said, "You gotta fuckin' problem?" They said, "No, we were just joking around". Then they apologized. Then they went on to talk shit about us in their zine. It really doesn't matter, it doesn't bother me. They're just a bunch of idiots. I remember three or four years ago when they wanted to be Ray Cappo, running around with their Nikes, their Champions and now they're putting it down. I get along with the guy from In Memory Of Zine, I think he's a really cool guy. I thought the Combat Stance guys were cool, I met them at a show, it wasn't a Release show. Now they think they have to put up this big image.

Do you ever see the straight edge scene coming back?

It's dead, I can't think of anymore straight edge bands left. Turning Point, Up Front, Insted of course. I don't think Judge consider themselves a straight edge band anymore now that Lars is in the band. I know Gorilla Biscuits don't consider themselves a straight edge band anymore. Everyone is gone. I think it's really cool that kids aren't into straight edge anymore because now you know who the fakes were. I've been through all this shit, before it was trendy, while it was trendy and I'm still straight edge and my beliefs haven't changed. I haven't lightened up, if anything it has made me stronger.


Chris Cap, Greg Shafer, Chris Zusi, Joe Coia and Rob Fish in Rob's driveway getting ready to leave for their '89 tour

Bart Van Mulders - THE BELGIAN STRAIGHT EDGE

Cappo on the Youth Of Today 1989 European tour, Photo: Bart Van Mulders

Bart is a familiar name to many as a dude from Belgium who has been around a long time. Here he recaps some early HC memories, and seeing YOT and Project X come to Belgium. Flame Still Burns...

-DCXX

In early September 1986 I was a 17 year old getting into hardcore in Belgium. On September 21, I saw my first show with Toxic Reasons headlining. After this I was buying records, reading zines, learning about the punk HC lifestyle. I was highly motivated in taking a stand against all that is wrong in this society/world. Getting interested in something obscure but positive: straight edge, after reading an interview with a Dutch band called Lärm. I wrote the bands they mentioned on a note and gave it, along with a blank tape to the dude at school who invited me to come to that first show I went to. He had a friend who had records of all the bands Lärm mentioned in the interview I had read: Crippled Youth, Straight Ahead, Violent Children, Unity, Uniform Choice and Youth Of Today. He would make sure I got the tape back with requested bands on it.

When me and my sister got the tape we were blown away! This music was incredible! Different than the bands we've already seen, obscure, but super positive. It was like an extension to the values and goals of the Punk HC lifestyle and the whole idea was that if you really want to change something, you will need to change yourself first . That made a lot of sense to us. Somehow I felt this was so pure, so genuine that since that moment, I decided to become straight edge. Being straight edge at that time wasn't like a natural thing to do. Not one of my friends at school ever heard of it, or even understood what it all meant. It was like I was a nerd in a weird kind of way, an outcast.


Sammy gets a cake on his 16th birthday in Aalst Belgium

It was 1987 already and I was able to get/order some of the records from that mix tape I've talked about. I still remember the moment when I got the Crippled Youth 7" a friend sold me. I was walking downtown and ran into a friend. You have to know first that in my close area there were people who were into this whole straight edge thing for several years. I had at least five friends who all owned Unity, Crippled Youth and YOT seven inches and shirts, and had a ton of info and contacts around the globe. Long story short: this dude I am talking about is willing to sell me his Crippled Youth 7". Why? He has gotten into rap music. Beastie Boys had their monster hit '(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right...' Anyway, he was telling me he was getting into rap and selling his records for that reason. I got the Crippled Youth 7" and I was like the happiest man on this planet! AWESOME!

This was also the time we read in a punk magazine MRR about this new label who put out a seven inch by a band called 'War Zone' and a sampler called 'NYC HC Together.' The friend who made the mix tape told us if we ordered it we had to wait like only two weeks to get it. The sampler was great he told us, because it had a new Bold song on it (they switched their name form CY to Bold) and also had some other cool bands on it. Also the YOT song was great he told us. When we got it in the mail it was like something magic (it took like 3 weeks to get it.) I guess it must have been one of the first orders we got from the United States of America. Home of the many great SE bands we listened to. Totally unreal!


Gorilla Biscuits at Alkmaar, Holland, 11/11/1989, Photo: Francoise Lepers

It was a great thing back in those days that Belgium had this really caring, strong and friendly scene. We went to shows as much as we could. My sister must have been one of the first SE girls around. We learned a lot about new bands and all those new records on that label 'Revelation Records' were pure gold! I would daydream about those crowd shots from overseas shows that I saw in fanzines, bands like YOT, UC, Wide Awake, Bold, Up Front...and I'd listen to live sets on cassette tapes that friends taped of Straight Ahead, Bold, YOT, UC. It made me think how great it must be living in NYC or CA with the ability to see all those bands playing live.

Over here we saw bands from the States, the UK, Germany, Holland and other parts of Europe. I once wrote them all down on a list marking how many times I had seen those bands playing live, wishing I never lost that paper. It would be great to look at it now.

But there weren't straight edge bands playing over here back in those days. The scene was cross over and metal influenced. Heck, some people I've talked to could not understand having fun without alcohol. Seeing Lärm playing live or bands that contained members who were like me, drug free, was like one of the greatest things back in those days. It must have been late 1988 since the rumours started being spread around: YOT would come to Europe. Oh boy...if this were true this would be the highlight of our HC existence. Seeing them finally! I was speechless.

We got their second record and were totally blown away by it. This was going to be huge, seeing them live. We marked our calender and started counting down to the date they would play in the city we lived in. How incredible was that? We would see them live at the venue where we saw so many punk/HC bands already. It had a huge stage and even a rug on the floor. We would walk to the venue from our home, yes, that is right, walking distance. YOT would play at a 10 minutes walking distance from our home!

You would think we would have been the first to get to the venue. Not true. We were late that day. I guess we were late because we had waited on all of our friends to show up at our parents house and then walk together to the venue. I will never forget when we took the turn and walked down the narrow street where the club was. A ton of kids were hanging out in the street as usual. I thought it felt different though. There would be a lot of like-minded people, people like us, people who shared the same positive thoughts, lifestyle...people who cared, kids like us. I was fired up! A ton of people showed up, this was going to be a great show, no doubt about that.

My sister and I had this idea of interviewing the band because we wanted to do a fanzine. So together with some friends we did the interview. Ray was like a really friendly, open minded cool dude. He was like really interested in us too, he asked a lot of stuff about us too. He even said he loved us. How cool was that?


Youth Of Today in Europe 1989

Then something mind blowing came to our ears. The other band they toured with got kicked off the tour and Project X would be playing instead. Can you believe this? I mean come on, after not seeing a single straight edge band from the States, this night we would see two? And one of the bands would be the legendary Project X? Jaw dropping! Speechless. Too good to be true!

Man, PX started playing and all hell broke loose! People were already singing along: 'I'm as straight as the line...' It was unreal! After that YOT got on the stage and man, this was better that I ever could have imagined. The crowd was totally into it. There was a fight with some kid who was more like the drunk HC kind of dude, but looking back, I thought that this was a minor incident. The whole show ruled, the Belgian and Euro HC kids ruled, YOT and Project X ruled. I swear, I will never forget this. This was the best time of my life!

After the show a kid from my class came up to me. He was like more into speed metal and some HC too. He had seen some major bands playing, but he told me that this show was one of the best he had ever been to. Like I said, the SE kids ruled the night. This was indeed a time we'll remember.

PS : A personal highlight for me was that the picture of Ray I took would during the interview would appear on their final 7", but that is a whole other story.


Bart and his twin sister

Tony Erba - Cleveland Hardcore

Tony Erba, Face Value reunion

The man, the myth, the legend, Cleveland's own... Tony Erba. Maybe you know him from Face Value, maybe you know him from his most recent band Cheap Tragedies, maybe you know him for the handful of bands in between. Either way, Erba has definitely made a name for himself in this hardcore scene and he makes for one hell of an interview. This is part one of many more to come. -Tim DCXX

Origins of the SE scene in Cleveland: who, what, where, when, and how did you or did you not fit in?

I was a suburban punker from the cultural backwoods of the Southwest suburb of Parma, OH. I loved hard rock, heavy metal (thrash metal was just coming into its own), punk, especially the bands on 'Punk And Disorderly' like Asta-Kask, but I was drawn to the wilder, faster, less fashion-conscious hardcore. I was in 9th grade at Valley Forge and came across an issue of 'Ripper' fanzine out of S.F. in drafting class. I was like 'Holy FUCK! There's a goddamm band called Millions Of Dead Cops! This shit I GOTTA see!' Then I found out about Minor Threat, Seven Seconds, Final Conflict, SNFU, U.C., Second Wind etc.

I was always a pussy who hated drinking and was scared of the drugged-out, gnarly, insane downtown O.G. punx in Clevo - those dudes from the Plague were fuckin' HEAVY--and the cats from the Floyd Band, Hyper As Hell, Knifedance, Guns, and Violent Suburban Marriage were older and just crazy 'Suburbia' punk-types whose bands kicked ass but lived lifestyles that I couldn't hang with. They were living downtown in the Back House and going to the Plasma Alliance twice a week, HEAVY, man.

Then I became aware of a small SXE scene in Clevo, based out of the East Side, centered around Mentor and Cleveland Heights kids, who made an area of town called Coventry their stomping grounds. This was a stretch of road that was Clevo's East Village. Confront was new, as were Outface, False Hope, and out in Kent you had Hyper As Hell, D.I.M (Pat RIP) and Sockeye. Here on the West Side, our GODS were DOMESTIC CRISIS, what a great band! They were the new breed and they kept it hard and fast and youthful and energetic.


The Clevo crew on their way to see Project X

I had my band, LEK, ('85-'88, featured Jim Konya on drums, that a-hole, my longest and oldest pal, he's played in a million crazy metal bands like Nunslaughter and even did two stints in Nine Shocks Terror, and Chris Pellow, who went on to play in Ringworm (first demo and LP) and then the Darvocets for 13 years, and I just recently replaced him in the Darvocets! Clevo's fuckin incestous) that was heavily influenced by two bands in particular: Cryptic Slaughter and Dayglo Abortions. Also Minor Threat, Napalm Death, Misfits and Flag. We were playing backyard ragers, basement rippers and the occasional legit gig. Domestic Crisis was our big brother band, even though no one took us seriously and the skater bettys that hung out with us, or at least our guitarist. I was disgusting even back then. They hated me and thought I was a maniac. Which I was. I didn't party, just guzzled Dairymens Fruit Punch by the gallon, shredded the quarterpipe on my GJS Freestyler (Goddamm I miss that bike--ripped off in front of my eyes by a Puerto Rican outside of Burger King across from Parma Schwinn) and used to go insane at band practice, carving my chest open like Darby, getting us kicked out of first Chris Pellow's mom's house then his Grandma's.

Our biggest show was opening for WARZONE, Confront and Domestic Crisis at September's in Bedford Hts in August '87. There was a room in the back that was the owner's taxidermy trophy room. Warzone apparently trashed it, we got the blame, and that was it for ever getting booked THERE again. Also at that show, some skin was picking on Jay Kuebler, the most posi, sweet kid you'd ever wanna meet, drummer from Confront that weighed 90 lbs soaking wet. Steve Murad AKA 'Mean Steve' put his motorcycle helmet on and headbutted the skin and destroyed him.

Anyhow after LEK broke up I moved to Coventry to be with my Straight Edge peoples. I soon came to see that a LOT of those kids were awesome but mostly from well-to-do families and although they were cool to me, especially Steve Murad and all of Confront and Charlie and Frank from Outface and especially Scum, Spike and David Araca from False Hope, they all kinda looked at me as a working-class hillbilly from Parma. Fuck, my Mom was on welfare and my Dad carried a gun in his boot at all times...so I guess I'm a redneck from Parma. Wheee. They would always break my balls about my geeky glasses (fuck, Dick Lucas from the Subhumans wore them, and he was punk as fuck), wearing flared jeans (hey man, they fit you waaay better than those stupid-ass Bugle Boys they all wore then - real men who work on cars and play Rickenbackers wear flares - Fuck off) and wearing X's drawn with like the wrong color marker or whatever, and still digging on Sabbath, Black Oak Arkansas, Hawkwind, Heep etc. Like I was going to just forget about those influences? It was kind of a subtle 'social classism' thing going on. I definitely wasn't cool then, and guess what? I still don't sit at the Cool Kids table now.


Face Value 1990 promo photo

Jeff Banks on Dave Mello of Uniform Choice

Last week I received an email from Jeff Banks of Southern California's Visual Discrimination / Chorus Of Disapproval. Jeff has been religiously following Double Cross and was eager to contribute. This is Jeff's first contribution, but expect plenty more in the near future. -Tim DCXX

In the later 80s Visual Discrimination days I worked part-time for Big Frank Harrison and Pacific Concerts as a doorman, security, bouncer and go-fer. When it was larger shows like Y&T or Guns 'n Roses in Pasadena, I was moving and loading equipment and taking towels to the laundry for the bands. But when it was Sunset Strip and Hollywood-type shows, it was a 3-man crew consisting of Frank, me and Dave Mello.

This was a few years after Screaming for Change. I don't think he ever really knew what a UC fanatic I was, and when I told him he was always very humble. He had long forgotten that we had played shows together years before. My first conversation with him was cathartic in the sense that I have always felt that the UC demo was a far better listening experience than any of their other material.

"I'll take Maynez with that maple top Les Paul using a Boss Heavy Metal Pedal over that white Jackson through a non-modified Marshall any day," was the first thing I think I said to him. Then it was on to "Who on God's green earth in Hardcore plays a Gibson Thunderbird?" When he laughed and said he owned 4, it was immediately clear that Mello would cough up the old identification card.

It was outside the Roxy after a Foster and Lloyd show where the Mello gave me 2 expired licenses for the collection. He was a little reserved, but it is amazing the things people will give to you when you maintain awkward eye contact for 15 to 20 seconds. Twenty minutes later Big Frank, Mello and I are in the drive-thru at Jack-in-the-Box. "The next band that needs to be started is the three of us, and we need to rip off these guys." I was blaring "Wreckage in Flesh" by Dr. Know in my mom's Jetta.

More with Jordan Cooper of Revelation Records

Gorilla Biscuits at the Safari Club in DC, Photo: Tim Owen

Here's the latest installment of our Revelation Q&A with head honcho Jordan Cooper.

-Gordo DCXX

A lot of numbers have been thrown around over the years regarding which Rev releases have sold the most. Of the early releases (1-25), can you say what the biggest "sellers" were and how many "units" have sold for those particular records? I've always heard it was Start Today that has been the biggest.

Definitely GB Start Today has sold the most over the years. There was a time when Inside Out had overtaken it, but in the years after Rage split up, Start Today took the lead again. I'd have to look at the numbers for all the other early records but most of them were pretty popular. The first few records we did were usually pressings of 500-2000 at first and then we'd order more when those ran out. After the first six releases, our initial pressings were usually between 10 and 15 thousand from what I remember and most records had more than one pressing.

There were a couple of records that only had one pressing - Slipknot and Supertouch - but each of those were still pretty big first pressings compared to the first six records we put out. As far as total units, I'd have to do some research to look all those up, but without going through everything in detail, I'd say that Start Today is probably over 100,000 copies by now.

If you could pick for one defunct HC band to get back together, record a great album, and release it on Rev, who would you want it to be?

Too many to pick one, but, the first one that comes to mind is Violent Children. They were what hardcore was about to me probably because they were the first band I got to see a lot and got to know personally.

What did you think of the GB reunion and the band's reformed status? What are some good memories you recall with the band both back then and today?

It's been great. When they did that CB's benefit, everyone called me to tell me that it was the best show they'd been to in years. The tour out here has been incredible. They played a show out here that was as big as any show I'd ever been to of theirs. It's cool, they get together and play when they have time and feel like it. The band definitely ended too soon so it's good to see them having a good time playing. It gives kids a chance to see them who never did back in the day, but it also gets all the old timers to come out of the woodwork who otherwise rarely go to shows (like me).

Some of the best times I've ever had were on tour with bands and one of those was the first GB tour in Europe. It was a great time. The band had a great sense of humor and even though there was always the chance that they'd get denied entry to any given country since no one had working papers (this was in the days when there were checkpoints between countries), they'd always just make jokes about it and hope for the best.


Statue at Spanky's in Riverside, Cali, Photo: Boiling Point

Rev took a lof of criticism for the bands it signed and released into the early and mid-nineties. Who were some of your favorite bands on the label during this time period, and what releases stand out a decade later?

The early to mid 90's was probably the time I was most personally active in picking the bands because Ray had left the label to do Shelter, focus on his religion and start EVR. Porcell helped out for a few months in '91, but ended up moving back to NY pretty quickly. He was the one who talked to Into Another so that was a big deal for us obviously. I really love pretty much every band we put out during that time. Farside, Iceburn, Statue, Underdog, Sense Field, Shades Apart, Engine Kid, Whirlpool. I spent time with at least a couple of people in all of those bands even if it was just working on their artwork so they all mean something to me. I still put on all of those records somewhat regularly so to me they stand out. Sales wise, most of early 90's releases aren't at the top of the charts these days, but that's the way things work. Not every great record gets appreciated when it's released or remembered later even if it does.

Revelation will be releasing the Mouthpiece discography by the end of the year hopefully. What was your awareness of the band over the years, and what are your feelings on putting this record out on Revelation?

I heard a lot of stuff about all the New Age and Conversion bands because Dennis (Conversion Records) lived in the warehouse and Mike (New Age) worked here and spent a lot of time here as well. To me it looked like Mouthpiece and a lot of the other bands that those guys put out were the hardcore scene of that time at that point. Meanwhilem we were putting out bands like Iceburn, Farside and other bands that came from hardcore but were trying different things musically, so it was cool to have a connection with the younger scene even if it wasn't so direct. Tim has been friends with a lot of people I know over the years but it's been great getting to talk to him and work on their discography. They've put a lot of time and effort into it and the songs sound great and the artwork frames it all really well. I really appreciate the way they've handled everything...they want people to have a great record, but more importantly they want it to be something that documents their music the way they see it themselves.


Mouthpiece at Middlesex County College, Edison NJ