Back and forth from NYC – DFW has been taxing but what it takes to get it all done – The fun continued this month with alot of great shows and new projects on the horizon. Saw some old friends and made some new ones, so that’s always good – Here are some of the highlights:
Fu Manchu – April 26th – The Cambridge Room – Dallas, TX
This year marks the 15th anniversary of The Action Is Go, and to celebrate Fu Manchu are playing the album in its entirety.
I hadn’t seen them in over two years when I caught them doing all of the LP that precedes it In Search Of…out in Los Angeles that turned out to be one of their best ever. But now they were bringing my fave LP and doing the whole damn thing as well.
From the serrated edges of Evil Eye to the crunching density of their cover of SSD’s Nothing Done, the album manages to balance massive weight with deft control and is awash with the sort of dirt-infused psychedelic grooves you can’t get enough of.
The audience were in full voice, hurling words back at frontman Scott Hill, shouting along to every word. Hill’s stage presence anchored the whole show and his vocals sounded as good as they did on record in 1997, perfect for these kind of stoner jams.
They did the US version of the record in full (the European Version has two more tracks, Swami’s Last Command & Module Overload that were not played).
How do you follow that? The band reemerges and launches into Led Zeppelin’s Rock ‘n’ Roll before the band halted and Scott Hill asked “What do you want to hear, Mongoose? Alright, this song’s called Hell on Wheels.” As luck would have it,we got both. I love that they revisted this era in their last two tours but I’m also looking forward to a long-awaited follow-up to 2009’s killer Signs of Infinite Power.
Setlist –
Evil Eye Urethane
The Action Is Go
Burning Road
Guardrail
Anodizer
Trackside Hoax
Unknown World
Laserbl’ast
Hogwash
Grendel, Snowman
Strolling Astronomer
Saturn III
Nothing Done (SSD cover)
Encore:
Hell on Wheels
Mongoose
King of the Road
We hung around and spoke with the band for a bit – I’ve been friendly with Brad (bass player) from his side-project with my buddy Neil from Clutch called The Company Band before calling it a night.
Diamond Head – April 12th – St Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY
Their is a special place for Metal Heads up in Greenpoint, one of my fave parts of Brooklyn called St. Vitus – I’m not sure their is really any place like it in the world (anymore) If you have ever watched any documentary on Iron Maiden or just the birth of Heavy Metal and you long to have been hanging in London at the Bandwagon with Neal Kay and are scorned that time passed you by – long no more – head to St. Vitus, that dream is alive and well there.
I’ve been to this place twice before – The first time was to see my buddy Neil who plays in Clutch in a side project called The Company Band, and the second time I accomplished something few will ever do: I saw the band St. Vitus at the club St. Vitus, perform the song St. Vitus, from the album St. Vitus, while consuming St. Vitus the beer.
What can I say? I’ve got Metal in my veins –
Both those times were truly Metal affairs, but NOTHING compared to this show that qualifies as an actual pilgrimage – because headlining was THE band from that era that most people in the States have never seen (myself included) Diamond Head –
The fact that these guys are total unsung heroes and this was their first tour of the States in the bands 35 year history was not lost on anyone here and I gladly slapped down the steep $35 entry fee to get in. A dollar a year the way I see it –
To unpack things a bit, Metallica the biggest Metal band of all time, started out as basically a Diamond Head cover band. Drummer Lars is from Denmark and grew up with European tastes that he applied into a formula that became Metallica’s success. The band has actually recorded covers of literally every song from the Diamond Head’s 1980 debut Lightning to the Nations and a majority of people only know them as Metallica songs.
Not anyone at this club however – they were here to see the originals and you couldn’t ask for a more perfect setting. I was one of the only people not wearing a denim jacket COVERED in band patches and when they bartender put on Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time LP and played the WHOLE thing, the ENTIRE bar sang every note with beer in their hands and arms around their friends – it was fucking magical.
Opening the show was the thrash band Cauldron from Canada –
When they finally did, I immediately recognized the singer as NOT being Sean Harris and was a little bummed, but by the chorus of the first song Play it Loud,
I had nothing to be bummed about – For one this new guy Nick Tart, rules and secondly, he’s not so new, I had no idea that this guy replaced Harris almost ten years ago.
Am I Evil? a million times and about 30 times live – but when Diamond Head played it, I swear it never sounded heavier. Just a great, unforgettable night.
I Feel No Pain
Dead Reckoning
Come Alive
To Heaven From Hell
In the Heat of the Night
Shoot Out the Lights
It’s Electric
Give It to Me
Sucking My Love
Pray for Me
The Prince
Am I Evil?Encore:
Lightning to the Nations
Helpless
Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival – Aug 28th – Gexa Energy Pavillion – Dallas, TX
First act we saw was Danko Jones on the second stage who I’ve been hearing so much about
He was very chatty with the crowd and has that between song/stand-up comedy thing down and the show was really rawking.
It appeared that the side stage bands were made up mostly of different former/current members of Guns and Roses along with singers whom have the impossible task of following legendary members before them.
Starting with the Dead Daisies, (what is this obessions with flowers with these people?) who finished out the small stage with keyboardist Dizzy Reed and and guitarist Richard Fortus, both currently of Guns N’ Roses, along with singer Jon Stevens, who INXS hired to replace fallen lead singer Michael Hutchence.
They were followed by back over at the second stage by Walking Papers, that features bassist Duff Mckagen, who you just can’t help but equate with GNR as an original member, along with Screaming Trees’ drummer Barrett Martin, who also did a record as Mad Season with fallen Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley, who William Duvall will have one of the hardest jobs in Rock and Roll history later this evening to survive comparisons.
The presence of Duff and Barrett is the hook but the voice and songs of Jeff Angell are the focus, and too many of those were too sleepy for mid-afternoon.The presence of Duff and Barrett is the hook but the voice and songs of Jeff Angell are the focus, and too many of those were too sleepy for mid-afternoon.
Walking around the grounds it had the same feel I mentioned (above) at Warped Tour with rows of sponsors & booths giving it a litle Rock and Roll flea market feel.
You could buy any and all paraphanelia that one needs to display a Rock and Roll lifestyle. Bands doing signings, as well as that which is associated such as pinup models and girls lining up to compete in a Miss Uproar contest –
One thing I came across I have to mention is something I feel respite to mention and that’s concerning a tent called the Dimebag Hardware Booth promoting a line of guitar products endorsed by the late great local guitarist Dimebag Darrell of Pantera fame.
The culture surrounding Pantera’s legacy and sadly Dimebag’s passing is a polarizing one as it represents the absolute best and the absolute worst of local tradition, fan dedication and just Southern Culture at large. I love Pantera and carry pride that they were from my hometown – My experiences with Dimebag, though limited, were 100% positive and some of my most cherished memories, and when he was killed it was a heavy to blow to me, my friends and my entire community – geographically and the music/Metal community en masse. And like any noted figure that dies too soon their is an upswell of what I call an “In Memory Of Market”
Leading the charge of this is Rita Haney, Dime’s long-time girlfriend. While personally I have no beef with her and don’t even know her, its difficult not to take exception to her etching out a prolonged fringe-celebrity status especially as it appears her only contribution to Dime’s legacy is that she was just simply his girlfriend.
When something that meant as much as Dimebag did to people is suddenly gone, or a generation that grew up after his passing leaving him as something as a mythical figure that they never got to experience, people desperately want to try and touch it or get near it. People visiting the tent were there largely just to get their picture taken with Rita to try and acheive that.
We then headed over to the main stage that was about to start firing up – We had our second agenda to hook up with my old pal Pete Stahl who is currently tour managing for Coheed & Cambria that were about to go on soon. Pete and his brother Franz were in the D.C. hardcore band Scream with Dave Grohl before the two of them formed Wool in the early 1990’s and made two of my fave records ever. Since then Pete has done alot of great work with the bands Goatsnake and also Earthlings? with my buddy Dave Catching.
I hadn’t seen Pete since I was last on tour with Ween in Los Angeles back in Jan 2011 so we went and found him and got to talk and hang out for a bit before Coheed went on.
The diversity of this band also help add to the overall festival instead of having all the same type bands which helped draw more interest
After watching Coheed sidestage for a bit we were invited to Jane’s Addiction’s Jam Room session – This was a HUGE deal to Jess as she’s never seen Jane’s live or been backstage before, let along getting to sit in on a pre-show jam session. I had heard about Jane’s doing these over the years – Besides the warm-up they are usually designed to entertain contest winners, VIP ticket purchasers, friends and friends of friends etc.
Apparently none of the local radio stations participated in the contest so we were invited I guess mainly to fill the room but when we got over there, their were only four other people waiting like us in front of a door that was marked “Farrell and his dancers”.
The furthest thing from being ungrateful but from an idealistic sense the backstage here is a bit of a letdown. I’m used to it by now from being back here so much but for someone’s first time they might be dissapointed that their isn’t a hint of debacuhery in sight and in fact the industrial atomosphere makes you feel like more like you are in the masonary section at Home Depot rather than backstage at a big rock show.
We could hear the band start to jam a bit and then we were finally invited in as soon as Perry Farrell walks into the room, Dave Navarro mentions a song under his breath. Farrell agrees and the band begins to play.
While they blazed through the song, one of Farrell’s body suspension dancers, who I recognize as local girl Courtney Crave, came into the room with a metal meat hook through her back. Blood stained both ends of the surgical steel, and she looks at one of the handlers and motions for him to help her readjust the clamp holding her skin around the hook.
Three minutes later, the handler’s pushing us out of the room after just one song – OK fine. We headed to check out our actual seats and got there right as the show was starting.
It was even stranger to see them in daylight but soon day fell to night and the band kicked in –
Having two suspension performers, one being the wife of band leader Perry Farrell and the other Courtney Crave, a local burlesque performer hanging high in the air and swinging out over the crowd. It was a true sight and really met the anticipation of the performance head-on. The band was in great shape and firing on all cylinders with hit after hit.
In all the years I’ve seen them, I can’t recall anyone going on after them – they have that epic-ness about them. They are a tough act to follow and speaking of which with Alice in Chains coming up next their singer has one of the toughest acts in history to follow in fallen singer Layne Staley.
Let me be clear: William DuVall is the real deal – Replacing Layne Staley would be an unenviable task for anyone to attempt, but DuVall handled himself perfectly by not trying to be anyone but him. He and founding guitarist Jerry Cantrell create the seamless harmonies so synonymous with the classic sound as if it’s still 1993, so even tracks such as Down in a Hole and Again came off with chilling precision.
I thought of my bff Chris as Alice in Chains were a crucial part of our soundtrack growing up. It was odd to think that as teenagers we came to this very venue for the Clash of the Titans Tour with Megadeth, Anthrax & Slayer and AIC, then almost completely unknown opened the show. They blew us away and Chris bought their record the next day. By the time they returned the following year (same venue) with Ozzy, we were full-on obsessives – Their second record, Dirt, had only been out a week before that Ozzy show and Chris and I knew every lyric. They returned again the following year (again same venue) to headline Lollapalooza and sadly the last we would see of Layne Staley. The following year they were set to open Metallica’s summer tour (yet again, same venue) but as you know Staley’s drug dependency spun so wildly out of control they were forced to cancel. So seeing them at this place in ’91, 92, 93 and should have been ’94, it felt like they were finally making up that gig. It felt triumphant and yet bittersweet. Sean Kinney’s bass drum featured big initials LSMS in dedication to Staley and bassist Mike Starr both of whom have passed away.
Uproar/Mad Decent Block Party + The Melvins & moreSummer Tours 2013: Warped/
Vans Warped Tour – Aug 2nd – Gexa Energy Pavillion – Dallas, TX
I knew it was going to be hot and I prepared as much as one can for this kind of heat. Theirs “hot” and then there’s “Texas in August hot” – How hot you ask? The first thing I saw when I walked up to the makeshift guest list tent to get my stuff was an unfortunate young lady being carried out on a stretcher from heat exhaustion, and that was before I even walked in.
Though the producers of the event have a massive undertaking of staging over 50 bands and close to a hundred vendors, they don’t make it any easier on the patrons by placing the majority of the vendors and all the stages but two, outside the venue in a gated, uncovered part of the parking lot with no shade. A perfectly running venue with shade, running water and bathrooms but 4,500 of the days 5k attendees were standing on concrete, in direct sun, being charged $4 for water. That is just asking for trouble like I saw when I first got here.
It wasn’t all gloom and doom – In its 19th year the Warped Tour still remains a destination among young people eager for an excuse to run around practically naked and have fun. This year focused almost exclusively on newer up and coming acts, with just a few veterans thrown in for good measure.
It’s such a cross-pollination of culture these days – punks, emo kids and the explosion of Electronic Dance Music are all the same mall-party and increasingly difficult to differentiate.
Goldhouse was, hands down, the highlight of the main stage. The first thing their bio says about them is that their music is “not meant for boring people,” and that’s probably the most accurate way to describe them. It’s easier to say that their sound is akin to dancehall techno. These guys ruled, holding a worst dancing fan contest and challenging each other to drum-offs, great fun.
The only other band to come close to this was Boston-based Big D and The Kids Table. A combination of ska and punk, picture the Beastie Boys in their heyday mixed with big band sounds of the swinging ’20s. Quite the combination, but the insane energy of seven guys hopping around on stage with saxophones and a white guy adept at rapping makes it work.
Their Tour Manager is my old pal Dan whom I’ve known for almost 20 years now – He and I worked at opposite record labels in Texas in the 90’s and then both made the sojourn to NYC a few years after that. We used to hang all the time in NYC, but with both of our schedules we usually only run into each other like this. He invited me to come check out the band and hang for a bit, along with another mutual friend Tim who is also a TX-NYC transplant.
After they finished I let Dan get back to his job – I tried to walk around and see as much as I could, but again all of the other stages were in the middle of the parking lot with no shade – I wouldn’t brave/suffer that for bands that I love let alone bands that I’ve never heard of. It was difficult to leave the shaded, air-conditioned, endless supply of hydration backstage but I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied if I didn’t try to see a bit more before heading out.
Walking around in this dangerous, stifiling heat was only made worse by the barrage of advertisers aiming for the teen demographic. Corporate sponsorships made the grounds feel like one product placement opportunity after the next, from beef jerky manufacturers, video game producers, the U.S. armed forces, fast food restaurants and even car companies (a Kia Soul was positioned between the two main stages).
Last up was the band I was really anticipating – The Black Dahlia Murder – One of the heaviest and most genuinely frightening bands I’ve heard as of late. Frontman Trevor Strnad is this burly, keg-bellied dude who looked like a tattooed sack of potatoes. He has the word “Heartburn” tattooed across his stomach – brutal. Their set was as punishing as the heat and one of the most memorable. I would def be interested in seeing them in a much more comfortable environment.
And of course….the fans – Alot of times at these festivals, you will see pathetic creepy dudes advertising their transparent agenda by holding up home made signs that says “Free Hugs” as the only option to get girls to touch them, but oddly this year I saw alot of girls holding those signs –
Hey at least these girls were def of age – As I was finding my way though the backstage lot of buses, I actually saw one of them literally have a bouncer checking I.D.s of the girls like it was a club before letting them on the bus. Finally I had to get out of there – it was so unbearably hot and I had another event to get to, so I skipped the last hour. Also, to the girl who was assigned to work the credentials tent that thought she was so entitled that she didn’t have to be nice to me (or anyone for that matter) regardless of who’s team your on, may all of your seasons be winless.
The Melvins – Aug 10th – Trees – Dallas, TX
A night I had been anticipating greatly – I have special people in my life who I equate with a certain soundtrack and who I couldn’t imagine seeing certain bands live without. For Metallica of course its Ryan, when they were together, my sister Nicki and I would never miss the Violent Femmes together, etc.
For the Melvins I always go with my long-time friend Tony and to an extent our friend Duane, who had to miss this show due to prior touring obligations with the Polyphonic Spree.
Tonight was special for a series of reasons:
A) For one Tony’ entry was my gift to him for his birthday just a few days prior.
B) My buddy & Butthole Surfer Jeff P‘s band Honky was opening.
C) Jeff was also filling in on bass for the Melvins.
D) Melvins drummer Dale Crover was repaying that favor by filling in on drums for Honky.
E) This is the Melvin’s 30th Anninversary tour.
F) Dude, its the Melvins.
Tony and I don’t get to hang that often because of both of our schedules so we always have like one big super hang once or twice a year. It was also important as Tony has had a few personal setbacks as of late and I really wanted to give him a great night. We got to the show early, at 8pm – Though the venue swore the openers were going on at 8pm, I knew it wouldn’t be till at least 9pm. We didn’t mind, it allowed us to park very easily, scan the merch, have a drink and get ready for a good show.
The Melvins are a true rock ‘n’ roll band, without all the conventional trappings of a “rock group” – One need not to look any further than simply their merch booth as proof of this. While one can expect the usual black t-shirt with current LP cover on the front and tour dates on the back, the Melvins always serve up something a little different and while I don’t always have the chance or desire to visit the merch table at every concert I attend, for the Melvins, its a must.
Here’s an example of why: We get to the table to discover among the usual fare (usual for them at least) a gallery of hand written drawings on display all with the running theme of lampooning the current litigation between the dueling Black Flag camps set to various Black Flag and associated acts LP covers (one featured an especially brutal dig at Dave Grohl). Tony and I are mesmerized an he can barely hand the money over fast enough. I help him decide on just two and at $20 a piece these were a steal because when he picked them out the guy didn’t reach under the table and hand him a copy, no these were one of a kind and he handed them to Tony from the rack – then we discover that this guy is the actual artist! – We were sold amazing, original art to enjoy forever by the artist himself – What other band’s merch table offers this?
As I mentioned earlier, Honky was opening with Dale Crover on drums, Crover is one of Tony’s fave drummers (Tony is also a drummer) so this was cool to get to see him & Jeff pull double duty.
Honky looked like a trailer-park version of ZZ Top and sounded like the bastard offspring of Motorhead and Molly Hatchet. Their songs, which are relatively quick and to the pointless (just the way I like them) and leave you very satisfied.
Making a special appearance was Rex Brown of Pantera who joined them for a cover of Pat Travers’ Snortin Whiskey that really brought the house down.
The show ended with Crover faking out the audience by playing the drum intro to Grand Funk’s We’re an American Band before his drumming cohort in the Melvins, Coady Willis, came out to play a song along with the rest of the guys.
The Melvins started their set the way they have for the last few years, with Tony Iommi’s famous coughing intro to Black Sabbath’s Sweet Leaf, extending the coughing for nearly a full minute before the band emerged – in true Melvins style.
King Buzzo wasted no time and began with Hag Me off 1993’s Houdini LP – a song written 20 years ago that exemplifies their signature heavy sound.
The Melvins were once known for Osbourne’s witty banter, but as of late, they’ve been all about filling the space with music, not funny stories. When you have 30 years of material and only a short time frame to play it in, nixing the chatter makes sense.
His guitar tone was intense, filling the room knee-deep in sludge. His preference of playing Electrical Guitar Company all aluminum guitars is another unique choice and it pays off in dividends.
The twin drumming combo of Willis and Crover is definitely a sight to behold. It’s obvious that these two have put a lot of time into perfecting their tandem playing, even going as far as playing a twin kit comprised of two sets fused together, sharing several large toms between them. Willis is left-handed and Crover is a righty, which makes for an interesting, mirror image visual during the performance. The two literally did not stop drumming for the entire set, filling the spaces between songs with drum line precision.
Ending the set fittingly with the Butthole Surfers’ Graveyard the show was so powerful it felt like you couldn’t take much more, yet so good that you didn’t want it to end.
Setlist –
Hag Me (Houdini)
The War on Wisdom (The Bulls & The Bees EP)
We Are Doomed (The Bulls & The Bees EP)
Sweet Willy Rollbar (Stonerwitch)
A Growing Disgust (Freak Puke)
Let It All Be (The Bootlicker)
Your Blessened (Bullhead)
Night Goat (Houdini)
Lizzy (Houdini)
Billy Fish (Nude With Boots)
The Water Glass (The Bride Screamed Murder)
Evil New War God (The Bride Screamed Murder)
Hung Bunny (Lysol)
Roman Dog Bird (Lysol)
Graveyard (Butthole Surfers cover)
After the show, we ran into our friend Jaime who I saw at the Filmage premier, who I hadn’t seen in over 10 years. I wanted to go up and thank Jeff P. for having us but I’m not too keen on the backstage hanger-on scene. Figured it might be different/tolerable with the Melvins and it being Tony’s birthday thought it might be cool to have Jeff introduce him to Dale Crover – We are not, nor have we ever been of the autograph/picture seeking brethren and in my line of work, obviously such a thing would totally compromise my position. However, it felt good to be excited about this and when I asked Tony & Jaime if they wanted to come up, I could tell they were excited too. So we go upstairs and the first person I see is Jeff P. who gives me a hug and immediately starts giving me shit in that lovable way that is his calling card.
He invites us into the dressing room and we catch up a bit – they had just played Austin the night before and hung with Claude and we were discussing his progress (the reason he’s in Austin) on the new Amandla record. Dale joins the coversation and was super cool, he and Claude have known each other a long time, so it was just fun and easy and not that usual horrible backstage thing that I find intolerable. Normally I wouldn’t do this but the night was special and demanded its prosterity secured: Here’s Tony with Dale –
King’s X – May 16th – Trees – Dallas, TX
I love this band down to my very core – They have provided an essential soundtrack to some of my favorite memories and I cherish this band as much as I do any others.
I’m the type of completist that doesn’t miss my favorite bands when they come to town no matter how many times I’ve seen them, but something always seems to happen when it comes to King’s X. I am grateful that I’ve seen them 10 times over the past 20 years but I probably have missed them another 10 times.
I usually see or plan to meet up with my friend Deedle when I go as its something that we bond over and the original root of our friendship and I’ve only seen them a few times without him.
I called to let him know I was in town and was glad that he was available and excited for the show. I’ve been friendly with a few guys in the band over the years and was grateful that their manger invited us.
I meet up with Deedle outside, we claim our tickets and he introduces me to some friends of his that were there.
King’s X takes the stage a short time later to Groove Machine, which has become the band’s standard opener, but not before singer/bassist Dug Pinnick shouts in response to the curtain that surrounds the stage that was still closed when they started – “Open the FUCKING CURTAINS!!” –
Dug, now 62, looks at least two decades younger. He has reached an Iggy Pop like status of rock and roll agelessness. However the band has fell on some hard times as of late. These are the first full shows their drummer Jerry has done since his heart attack (and everything he owned destroyed by Hurricane Sandy) and the root of Dug’s ire coming from a hernia that he would have to have an operation for just a week after this show and postponing the remainder of the tour. (Side Note: The next night’s San Antonio show was cancelled due to a) San Antonio not having their shit together & also due to Dug’s health).
For the most part the band is in fine form, especially Jerry and their a great swell of pride in his recovery with contant chants of “JERRY!, JERRY!” The three go deep into their catalog of songs, all the way back to Gretchen Goes to Nebraska with Pleiades & their heavy reworking of theold spiritual Over My Head.
The crowd instantly recognizes every riff and due to Dug’s condition he let them do alot of the heavy lifting singing wise as would point to the crowd and we would finish the line. At times it was a sloppy mess, but felt special in its presentation – it was somehow simultaneously the worst and one of the best times I’ve seen them.The house is packed with potential Rocklahoma attendees. They are mostly men, around 42 years old, wearing Megadeth and Judas Priest shirts. And, many of them have brought their teenage sons (and daughters). I was delighted to look over and see a girl no more than 15 singing along to every word and even a few I didn’t even know.
The World Around Me
The Big Picture
Pillow
Flies and Blue Skies
(Thinking and Wondering) What I’m Gonna Do
Vegetable
Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something
A Box
Black Like Sunday
Over My Head
Over and Over
Pleiades
We Were Born to Be LovedEncore:
Go Tell Somebody
Dogman
Goldilox
After the show, we hung out and it gave Deedle and I time for some long over-due catching up. I was filling him on all of my comings-and-goings and he was telling me of a very ambitious plan with him and his crew on the verge of releasing their first major film called Filmage – a documentary on the Descendants/ALL. (I have since seen the film and it is freaking awesome and promises to be THE definitive telling of the story of the band. Go see that shit when it comes to your town).
We had a great night bonding over everything from the pratfalls of going from being a fan to knowing your heroes on a personal level and everything in between.
We were waiting on the band to finish doing the signing with the fans so we could go say hello and hang for a bit.
When that promised to go a bit too long, Deedle had to take off – I had a few more minutes before I planned to do the same.
And wouldn’t you know it as soon as I was about to head for the door, Dug spots me as he’s headed up stairs and waves for me to come up.
Despite his grumpiness thoughout the show I still get the Dug hug and the warm welcome. I’m texting Deedle who couldn’t have gotten far to get his ass back to Trees.
Now in the dressing room I spot someone that I think I recognize and soon realize that its Rachel Bolan from Skid Row. I was wondering what brought him to town before remembering that they had long replaced singer Sebastian Bach with local rocker Jonny Solinger.
Dug soon regressed and layed out the details of what was ailing him. Thankfully he was surrounded by friends of his that were also in town so I let him be.
Not long I see Jerry and his wife Judy and we proceeded to laugh non-stop for the next hour about everything. They are so nice and some of my favorite people.
He was telling me about his son’s band Recovery Room who were gonna open the Houston show (where the band is basically from, despite Jerry living in New Jersey and Dug in Los Angeles). Just a great time that I was sorry that Deedle missed – that ended with me helping Jerry and his wife get back to their hotel room safely and without getting lost.
Photos –
Roy Turner
Patrick Collins
James Villa
