Festivals

SXSW 2011 w/ Jack White, QOTSA & more

March 16th (Wed) – The official start of the music

So after a long morning of meetings and filling out endless forms, by noon I was already sick of the biz aspect, and decided to walk down Congress and get something to eat. I hadn’t walked 100 ft, when I turn the corner to see a sizable crowd forming around this yellow truck, that if I hadn’t looked twice, I would have mistaken for a school bus. What got my attention besides the crowd was a logo that I’m very familiar with, (and have flirted with the idea of it being my next tattoo) the Third Man Records logo – As a subscriber to its Vault Series, and dedicated fan of everything Jack White blesses, you could say it had my undivided attention.
As I got closer, before the crowd really started to build, I recognize two people right by the door of the bus, Alison Mosshart (the Kills/Dead Weather) –

Something is about to go down, you could feel that everyone was waiting on who was coming off this fucking bus next, and I had heard about a rolling record store, so this must be what I had been hearing about. Then the bus door flies open, and the Captain himself, Jack White steps off, sets up a microphone, and immediately goes into Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground –
Right there, out of nowhere, in a freaking parking lot at noon on a Wed, one of the most memorable, musical moments of my life just went down. If you know anything about Jack White and his style, then you have heard about during the White Stripes days, where they would do impromptu shows on city buses etc. and here it was happening to me, so completely unexpectedly.
He did one more song, Buddy Holly‘s Not Fade Away – before making a short announcement about the record store and introducing the next singer. Had I been hungry 5 mins later, I would have someone telling me this story instead getting to experience it firsthand.
Not a bad way, to start the first official day of music.

I get there early before the insanity, and I go around back and the first person I see is Hutch, Queens’ long-time soundman. The jokes start immediately and he walks me in so I don’t have to deal with the bullshit around front. I let him get back to work, and when I walk into the backstage bar area, that is doubling as a interview/photo op for Rolling Stone  (they were the hosts of the party)- I approach the bar, and suddenly I’m surrounded by one of the most surreal scenes I can ever remember. I take my beer and sit down at the only seat available, and its at round table that is being occupied by, Duff Mckagan, J Mascis (who had just performed) Dale Earnhardt Jr., a few members of the Strokes and someone’s grandmother. I heard Jack White was hanging around too, but I didn’t see him till near the end of the show, standing behind the soundboard.

Shortly after midnight, the show starts and you could feel the anticipation in the air. I heard that the line outside was stretched for six blocks.

First U.S. gig in three years What better way to remind people who you are, than playing your debut LP in it’s entirety, during the week of it’s re-release?
Of the current QOTSA line-up, Josh Homme is the only one who played on the debut. Drummer Joey Castillo has now been in QOTSA since 2002, and is a totally solid drummer in his own right, but former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez’s style really gave that first record its unique shape, so I was interested in seeing how this would be duplicated.
Josh looks as if he has bounced back from his recent health scare, guzzling Ketel One onstage and smoking cigs during and in between songs. He was his usual sarcastic and randy self with the crowd, at one point remarking that the band had “the only Mexican drummer in town.” He also swatted down the stringent “no photos” rule at the door,
halfway through the show

Setlist –

the Self-Titled LP

Regular John
Avon
If Only
Walkin’ on the Sidewalks
You Would Know
How to Handle a Rope
Mexicola
Hispanic Impressions
The Bronze
Give the Mule What He Wants
I Was a Teenage Hand Model
You Can’t Quit Me Baby

ENCORE –

Turnin’ On The Screw
Misfit Love
Make It Wit Chu
Little Sister
Tangled Up In Plaid
Go With The Flow

March 17th
We finally find the Ginger Man, only to be told that we had missed Mike Watt by a couple of hours and now we had like two hours to kill before their was something worthy of us walking all the way back to 6th St for. So we just chilled at the place and relaxed for a little over an hour before heading back down.
We get to this shithole, appropriately named the Dirty Dog, for what promised to be a double-bill of crushing metal with Saint Vitus and Helmet. I figured we would catch the last half of Saint Vitus and be all primed for Helmet, one of my all-time favorite bands.
When we got there, they had switched set-times with Saint Vitus and were already 40 mins into their hour long time slot. While I was reading Field and Stream in a mock-speakeasy, they were well into doing all of Aftertaste.
Damn the luck, first Watt, now this? My only reprieve is that the sound was so incredibly shitty that if this is what it sounded like the whole time, I may have done us a favor.

SXSW 2011: Foo Fighters premier Back & Forth w/ Secret Show

March 15th (Tues)

After a full day of meetings, filling out forms, permits etc – I took a break to have lunch right off Congress Ave.  I check to see what’s going on – and I had heard the rumblings of this since I got here so it didn’t come as a complete surprise, but the Foo Fighters were in town to attend the premier of a new documentary on them called The Foo Fighters: Back and Forth – (keep in mind this is still the film period as music doesn’t officially start till tomorrow) – ok, so with all of the Foos in town, to promote a movie and a new record called Wasting Light, you know these dudes are gonna do a show, the only thing is finding out when/where/how to get in – a band that big I would think Stubb’s would be the logical choice – so I checked to see if their was any of that SXSW-TBA-“secret guest” action going on at Stubb’s that night, and sure enough there was,so I called by buddy that works there and he confirmed it.
When this sorta thing happens, the entire festival goes into Lord of the Flies mode, as even non- Foo Fighters fans couldn’t bare, not getting into something so exclusive – so everyone freaks out.
But I stayed calm – and first the premier –
So I hear that the premier of the movie is happening in like 15 mins about 3 blocks away – their is no way I’m gonna get in – I don’t even have a music badge, let alone a film one – and the line must be around the corner by now right?
But since I was so close I had to go have a look – and as I turned the corner, out front of the Paramount Theater, I saw the limo with the FF logo on the side (for the first single, White Limo, the video features a funny car chase with limo driver being Lemmy respectively) –

 And yes, the line was almost to the goddamn freeway, but remember what I said about staying calm? – I don’t know what came over me – but I just walked up to the front, in the opposite direction of the line, walked into the front door, past security, past the ticket takers and up the stairs I went – nobody asked me shit, I had no credentials of any kind around my neck, nothing – either I just looked like I belonged, or they were too busy to notice, but I got my ass out there and quickly found a seat.

The Foos did a quick introduction with the director before the show started and then the film began.  I loved it, I thought it was excellent and very well made. It picks up right after the death of Kurt Cobain, and covers literally everything, no matter how insignificant from that fateful day in 1994, till the present day if it involved the life of Dave Grohl – (except oddly, for a film that clearly prides itself on completest, for some reason, the Them Crooked Vultures project featuring Josh Homme and John Paul Jones was omitted entirely, weird) – even if you are not a fan of the Foos/Nirvana or whatever, and I admittedly really haven’t kept up that much since the first record came out, way back when, but this movie is done so well, its easy to enjoy. Not to mention the perfect thing to get you pumped up a little bit, knowing your gonna see them in a few hours in a venue that is about a fifth of the size that they could sell out.

So, after the movie, and since I already ate, I thought it would be best to just get over to Stubb’s and get my ass in there.
When I got there, word had spread pretty quickly that the “special guest” was the Foo Fighters and a significant line had already formed but no one was allowed in yet.
Thankfully Stubb’s staff recognize me & quickly escort me in, always grateful for their hospitality.
I couldn’t resist eating again at Stubb’s, so I got a to-go order, ate it outside and shortly after the show started. I didn’t realize that the blue wrist band they gave me would actually allow me to watch side-stage, until I saw some people up there with them on, so I quickly jumped up there as the show was starting.

 

It was cool seeing them in such a smaller venue than the last few times I’ve seen them, but keep in mind, they were here to play you the entire new record – that’s 11 songs in a row, that you have never heard, that you are about to hear for the first time in a packed live setting. So that can be taxing, but people do it with the hopes that after the agenda has been reached, all bets will be off and they can launch into whatever song they are hoping to hear.
And lucky for them, Grohl, is one of the coolest people there is, and he knows this, so after playing the entire new record – they came back out and did a second greatest hits sets of 10 more songs –

Setlist – 

Wasting Light –

Bridge Burning
Rope
Dear Rosemary
White Limo
Arlandria
These Days
Back & Forth
A Matter of Time
Miss The Misery
I Should Have Known
Walk

Encore:

All My Life
Times Like These
My Hero
Learn to Fly
The Pretender
Stacked Actors
Monkey Wrench
Everlong
Best of You
This is a Call

..

The NAMM Show 2011

The NAMM Show – Anaheim Convention Center – Anaheim, CA – January 14th-15th

I had a massive undertaking of meetings all day, and performances all night. I was greatly excited for this as this was my first NAMM Show, and felt it was the next logical step in the evolution of my business, not to mention getting to see and do alot of really cool shit.

Day 1 – January 14th

Ok so I wake up and head out to Anaheim, it was a perfect day for a long drive and I felt a bit guilty as it was January and gorgeous here while all my friends are freezing their asses off back home, and I’m literally going to Disneyland. The parking situation was kind of a nightmare, but once I got that squared away, I was on my way. The girl who parked next to me was very nice and had some great tips that proved very helpful. The convention center was about 400 yards away and once I got sight of it, I turned a corner and the first person I see (apparently leaving the site) is Henry Rollins. A helpful local and Hank the Tank? Not a a bad start:

So my first meeting of the day was with Ampeg Amps, and I was very excited to learn that one of my all-time favorite bands, King’s X was showcasing for them in their booth. They were doing two performances, and sadly by the time I got there, the first one was at capacity, so I made sure I was able to make the next one. Even in such a sterile, corporate environment, their music is still so powerful.

 

 

 

So I firmly believe in both of their talents and them as people, so obviously I want to help them in anyway that I can. They both started jamming with this guy and a drummer just a few weeks ago to form the band, and were now coming to out here to perform at the NAMM Show and already had financial backing from a management firm. Cool I thought, so since I was gonna be here too, we had discussed pooling our resources to get the band in front of as many of the right people as possible. I had even booked them several high-profile gigs around town, to showcase them in the right environment, and to take advantage of such a large percentage of the music industry all being in town at once.
So Neil and the singer come over to the Ampeg booth were King’s X is wrapping up and Neil introduces me to him and I learn that his name is Remington. We proceeded to head over to meet up with the rest of the band/management so I could meet them all and coordinate a strategy of stuff that they had already set up along with things I can contribute. Along the way we run into a girl they had all met earlier that day, that joins our group. I quickly learn that she is very talented in her own right. She can sing, dance, as well as an exceptional graphic artist, she is drop-dead gorgeous and her father is a name producer, with an impressive resume.
I’m introduced to their manager and her associate, and I immediately learn that their manager is Remington’s mother..
We quickly discuss a strategy before the band has to head back to L.A. for a gig at the Viper Room.They leave for their show in L.A. and I stay behind as my day was really just getting started. After a dizzying series of meetings that culminated with meeting with Taylor Guitars, whom was one of the companies I was after to get an endorsement for Neil, it ended with a performance by Night Ranger. Now here is the interesting thing about this band – this band should be and often is the butt of the rock and roll joke. A band so dramatic, silly, and overproduced, and responsible for one of the worst, dated, cliques of the genre, the power ballad, sung by the drummer, staple with Sister Christian. That was almost thirty years ago so what the fuck were they doing here?
Here is the reality: – This band is firing on all cylinders – a fact that was clearly on display when we saw them at Rockalhoma in 2009.
I was never a dedicated Night Ranger fan and have no real nostalgic value for the band, but that night in Tulsa while most of the rest of their peers performing that weekend were in pieces, they put on the strongest, most consistent and perfectly executed performance during the whole thing. I was totally impressed.
Here we are now two years later in this small, hopelessly corporate environment in the middle of the day and nothing has changed. They were just as consistent and impressive.

I’m not a big drinker but their was free alcohol it seemed in every meeting I attended and I didn’t wanna be rude but I hadn’t eaten lunch yet so while waiting for the band to setup I could tell I was good and buzzed. I was impressed that this group of young geeks standing next to me:
a) Knew who Night Ranger was and was exciting to see them instead of mere curiosity
b) They had girls with them who had just as much if not more of an invested excitement.One of them asked me what time it was, and I responded that I didn’t have a watch (and my phone had died) the girl standing closest to me, gave off this vibe that she thought I was a creeper for even speaking. She was cute, nerdy, and was actually quite sexy in a way (or maybe I was more buzzed than I thought haha) and maybe out of spite, boredom or drunkenness but I couldn’t help fucking with her relentlessly. She gave it right back and it seemed like she was equally angry/turned on by the whole thing. Like any second we were gonna come to blows, or start making out. Neither happened and that was that.Back to Night Ranger –  So again, in this little room, that was only designed to showcase the equipment would they really turn on the skating rink themes? And if they do isn’t it gonna be as embarrassing as the songs themselves? They did and it wasn’t, and the reason  is the great divide between total and utter lack of self-awareness, and being completely in-tune with who/what you are, what you represent, your place and being not only ok with it, but totally own it and excited to perpetuate it. When you see anyone own who they are they always impress. Having said that I still didn’t think they would/should do Sister Christian in such an atmosphere but they did believe it or not, and it was great. The easy camaraderie amongst the guys was infectious and if you can’t sing along to Rock in America than you have no soul.

Night 1

Ok so after Night Ranger, the festival was wrapping up for the day. That means I had a few hours before the after-parties started. Like any good music conference, they take advantage of everyone being here to put on some great one-of-a-kind type performances while hawking their wares. It creates a frenzy amongst everyone, to hear about the parties, where they are, how to get in etc.
We were a co-sponsor of easily the biggest one of the night for Dean Guitars –

So I had time to eat, find out how to get over there, and relax for a bit before a night of madness started. Ironically, when I was walking to the car to put all of my stuff up, the girl parked next to me was walking back to, and I thanked her for the helpful tips and gave her some cds of the bands I’m working with. I found a place to eat, and got directions while I was there. It was just a little over a mile away, which meant it was too far to walk and too close to call a cab. I hate cabs and it was a beautiful night to walk around so I made the trek over to the Grove of Anaheim.
When I get there, I’m impressed as I heard this was a cool place for a long time and was excited to finally be seeing a show here. Apparently I wasn’t the only one as their was line wrapped twice around the building.
Thankfully I was able to bypass all that – as I walked in Hell Yeah were already on stage. Now being from Texas, I do feel a responsibility to represent whenever I’m not in Texas and tonight was no exception, however this band is really not that good. I’m glad that Vinnie Paul is still kicking ass and continuing to do music and happy living his life doing what he loves, but even without the inevitable Pantera comparisons, the band is just so generic, and at times, embarrassingly so.

     Up next was a fashion show/burlesque act by one of the sponsors – Coffin Cases.  A company that creates coffin shaped guitar cases and related products with a macabre theme. The company is owned by Jonny Coffin, a member of the band The Death Riders. If this all sounds rather douchy than you would be right. Coffin shaped guitar cases made by a guy named Jonny Coffin sounds like a complete and utter lack of self-awareness marketed as toys for the Hot Topic rock set.

One thing that was a little strange, was that I had been in this corporate bubble all day (and now night) and this show was not open to the public, so they had these tables setup reserved for the sponsors, that gave it like a school talent show feel, which was simultaneously charming/weird.

Now it was time for the main event, with Megadeth set to rock the fuck out of this place. I went backstage and was welcomed by the Dean Guitars people very warmly. They are also a brand I’m interested in having Neil endorse, so I wanted some face-to-face time.
After a short while I find myself sitting in a small room with just one other person when Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine walks in and sits down across from me. Here we go I thought as we have all heard the tales of his legendary asshole-ness and I have met him a few times in passing but nothing as intimate as this. I was prepared for the worst, but it actually never came and we had a nice, candid conversation. Guess my man is mellowing out, but only offstage, because when they came on, they fucking killed. 

The snarl returned instantly, as Mustaine’s first address to the crowd was: ” When I walked in here just now I saw a line of people still wrapped around the building, so to the all the people that are still outside…”- and now you think he’s gonna say something nice like “sorry you are not here” – but the real Mustaine had returned and he finishes the sentiment in his most dickish taunting chuckle “heh heh heh…suckers”. It was totally unexpected and perfect.Setlist:

Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
Hangar 18
Wake Up Dead
In My Darkest Hour
She-Wolf
How the Story Ends
Head Crusher
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells (with Holy Wars Reprise)

So after all I had done today, drove 2 hrs to Anaheim (and would soon be driving back to LA, only to drive back here tomorrow) been at the NAMM Show all day and the NAMM Jamm at night, you would think I would be done right? – Wrong – As Hunter S. Thompson would say, “Once you get locked into something seriously, the tendency is to take it as far as I can.” So what’s next? How about a reputable Van Halen tribute band called Hot For Teacher playing a late night party at the Hilton across from the convention center? Ok, let’s go!

Though I hate cabs I wasn’t walking the 1.5 miles back so I grabbed one with a nice couple that were going there anyway, perfect.
We get there and the band is all already onstage and kicking serious ass. To know me is to know that Van Halen is my all-time favorite band and this was clearly the David Lee Roth version of the band.

It was such a party atmosphere as the show was literally in the lobby of the hotel and everyone was there. The band didn’t do much in the way of trying to look too much like VH but they sure did a good job of sounding like them. To enforce this as well as their legitimacy, they were joined for a few songs by one time David Lee Roth bassist/all around bass badass Billy Sheehan, who quipped after he played that “this seemed so real, I expected you to yell at me afterwords” pointing at the singer, obviously referencing his time with DLR.

This was a good time, and it was wild and a perfect end to such an incredible, unforgettable day, and now I had a long drive back just to get up and do it all over again tomorrow.

Day 2 – January 15th

 Ok so on only just a few hours sleep I head back to Anaheim from L.A. for (my) Day 2 of the NAMM show. I had only one meeting in the first part of the day and after I was finished with that I went over to speak with my rep from Sonor and right next to that was a booth for Lanikai, a Hawaiian guitar manufacturer, when I spot Cherie Currie, the fucking Cherry Bomb herself, and nearly shit myself. If I had to list the top people I’ve admired my entire life that I’ve always wanted to meet, Cherie ranks very high on the list. Their are other people that have influenced me deeply, but some of those people you really don’t wanna meet, but I’ve always thought she was smart and someone I would love to have a conversation with. My Sonor rep, clearly noticing my distraction, says “Hey do you know Cherie?” and I shook my head no, and he says “We work together cmon and I’ll introduce you”. My heart about exploded out of my fucking chest haha, and it felt so good to be a fan again. Speaking of fans, I was so grateful to see that she had a line about 200 deep to meet her. I’m sure the recent The Runaways movie helped boost this number as I saw alot of Twilight shirts in that line (Kristin Stewart and Dakota Fanning from those shitty movies, play Joan and Cherie in the movie…and well I might add). But hey as long as they were getting exposed to her awesomeness, all the better. She was taking a quick break when Sonor guy gets her attention and introduces us. I kept it brief and she told me she’s getting back into music (with the help of Matt Sorum apparently) which is great news. I was cool and she was the fucking coolest, but I had to get a picture (I NEVER do this so fuck it).

 

 After that ended I had some time to kill so it was time to be a fan again. I wanted to check out Mick Mars, one of my all-time faves in Rock N Roll. I know my man has been having a hard time with his health so I wanted to go say hi. Thought it was going to be a demonstration based on the size of his insane line that I was grateful for him for, but when I realized it was just a signing appearance, I just snapped a quick photo for posterity and got out of his way:

Felt a little silly about it but I wanted a first-hand update of his health, and I must admit that my man looked pretty rough and I applaud his courage for getting up there. Even sillier was behind me I recognized this 4 foot tall hot mess:

Went over to speak with Aaron (P-Nut) from 311 who I met and became friends with last summer, but I had just missed him. Now for the  final meeting of the day I went over to the drum room to meet with Vic Firth (sticks) and Bosphorus (cymbals) to secure endorsements for one of my clients. I identify as a drummer so this was the part I was looking forward to the most and when I got to the showroom it was percussion heaven. Between meetings I spotted a little pow wow worth mentioning – imagine the scene of Mike Bordin (Faith No More) and Rikki Rockett (Poison) nerding out together over a new line of drums – (just goes to show you kids, once your in the game, your a member, regardless of how the press plays it).

Night # 2

Ok so like last night, I had a few hours to chill before heading back to the Grove for Night 2 of the private performances. I was really excited as tonight was the Schecter Guitar party that Cheap Trick was headlining. I was taking Steve and Neil to this one as I didn’t want them to have to play this evening and have a night to schmooze and make contacts. They were staying across the street so I went to meet them for dinner first. When I get to their hotel I immediately spot an older, 50-ish gentlemen in their room wearing a Cheap Trick hat and he is equally staring at the CT laminate around my neck. He’s is an off-duty cop from Dallas working “security” for stage-mom. Hey, he was cool enough, and he liked Cheap Trick obviously and I assumed the extra pass was for him so I gave him one and I’m into his excitement.
I’m then introduced to another one of the students- an attractive singer from South Africa named Jordana (and professionally that’s all she goes by-as in Elvis/Madonna/Prince– or in today’s market of Pink/Rhianna/Usher )– she was really cool, funny (alot of the pictures you are enjoying are hers) And like a better looking Griswold’s‘, we all head to dinner.

We are easily the most obnoxious people here but apparently not as much as they were the previous night as our entry was debatable on the forgiving nature of the management. Good times regardless – we get back to the hotel – Neil decided he just wants to chill and explore the new pedal he just received (this is why he’s so good) So its Steve and I, the cop and Billy the drummer and we head to the Grove for free booze and Cheap Trick.

This was a good time – I never drink but we were all getting loaded off the free booze and man I fucking love Cheap Trick. I had just seen them about a month ago in Fort Worth, and they came out and fucking ruled:

Setlist:Way of the World
California Man (The Move cover)
Hot Love
On Top of the World
I Want You to Want Me
She’s Tight
High Roller
These Days
The House Is Rockin’ (With Domestic Problems)
Ballad of TV Violence
Baby Loves To Rock
Sick Man of Europe
Closer, The Ballad of Burt and Linda
SurrenderEncore:

Clock Strikes Ten
Dream Police
Gonna Raise Hell
Goodnight No

Like last night, you would think this would all have been more than enough – and it was but we kept going. We as in Steve and I, as Billy and the cop called it a night after Cheap Trick played, but Steve, bless him, had other plans for us, which was fine by me as finally somebody else was leading the charge. We ran into this band that he was in back in the 90’s (that they played with at the Viper Room on Friday and who’s drumset I needed to secure for a gig I had them booked at tomorrow night at Kim Fowley’s place downtown) ,  then these dudes he’s knows from the band Julian K, and The Last Vegas (who just put out a record produced by Nikki Sixx) who had a freaking limo waiting outside. I never indulge in that kinda rock star shit, but fuck it man, we were in California, I had been working my ass off, I thought it would be piss take if nothing else.
Where were we going? – to a benefit for Chi Cheng (Deftones bassist) out in Fullerton (about 20 mins away) that was supposedly gonna feature some surprise sets from some pretty big names.

I went to find the crew as P.O.D. was starting – Now I normally could give two shits about this band, but I could certainly appreciate that this band normally plays for big money in places 20 times this size and never out in the sticks like this, so the specialness of it was not lost on me. It was for a good cause and I enjoyed the show.

The place closes and we all pile back into the limo and all good and buzzed. Their’s like 20 of us and it becomes the who’s getting dropped off in what order game (complete with shouting and opposing opinions). We get to the hotel nearest to Steve’s and I suggest a cab for the rest of the way. We finally get to Steve’s room and my man who is normally not a big drinker like me is fucking wasted haha. I get him to his room, its after 3am, I still have half a mile to get to my car and then drive back to L.A. It should have been easy to find my rental car as I’m sure at this hour I was the only one left, but so much time (and events and drinks) had happened that I couldn’t find it to the point I was convinced and in sheer panic it had been towed or something. I literally walked around this thing across 5 levels for 45 mins (I’m not kidding) until almost in fucking tears I finally found it. Got back to L.A. after 6am and ka-rashed.
Danced with a porn star and rode around in a limo after getting shitfaced on free booze at a private Cheap Trick show – Good freaking times.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Rick Kosick
Tank Top Diaries

Jagermeister Music Tour 2010 w/ Slayer, Megadeth & Anthrax

Exodus – The Prophet Bar – Dallas, TX – September 7th

So on a day off between the Amandla and The Moistboyz tours,  Ryan and I thought we would have some fun and go see Exodus. I personally hadn’t seen them since my senior year of High School, and Ryan, who has kept up with their output for most of that time, had been really excited about their new sound. He played me their last two records in full and I would have to say I agree that they really evolved into something that’s kept them alive and exciting, instead of dormant and repetitive. That mixed with some good ol nostalgia was enough to get us to go. Ryan has become increasingly choosy, so when he’s excited about a show, it’s hard not to be as well.
I hadn’t been here I think since it was the Prophet Bar, I remember coming here when it was the Gypsy Tea Room, but the staff here now are really hard to take. It seemed like everyone in line in front of us their was a problem with something, and then when we get up there its no different. I just went and found Eric, my good friend and Exodus’ Tour Manager and he straightened everything out.
Not a big crowd (probably less than 200 people) and the first person I see is Fred Flintstone (from the Rock N America entry) it was his birthday, so I get him a quick shot and then Ryan and I take our spot.
Now this band has been together for almost 30 years and has survived the death of two singers, and a few other lineup changes, but had a great mixture of the old sound with the new.

…and speaking of nostalgia, one of the first concerts I ever went to was the Headbanger’s Ball Tour w/ Exodus/Helloween/Anthrax (and John Tempesta’s first night on the drums) with my childhood friend Steve. The show was at the Fair Park Coliseum, so being around the Cotton Bowl and the Fairgrounds, and I remember my sister dropping us off. Well this was at the height of slam dancing at shows that was now referred to as moshing and the creation of a mosh pit. Like at that age, getting the t-shirt is as much if not more important than seeing the band, it seemed creating and participating in one of these mosh pits was just as crucial. We had seen it on TV and talked shit about how when its our turn we were gonna fuck shit up.
Secretly I was terrified of this, and never really thought for some reason that I would have to face that, or maybe thought that Steve also harbored some fears about it. However the minute we arrived he spots the pit in full swing, and makes a beeline for it. I was shitting myself, thinking “how the fuck am I gonna get out of this without looking like a total pussy?”.
Exodus had a hit song at the time called the Toxic Waltz (as everyone at the time seemingly was trying to claim this practice as their own by re-naming it).
Steve was a intimidating force and wasn’t a small kid, where as, I barely weighed 100 lbs at the time, and was kinda the target of alot of his outbursts because of it, so I had no choice to jump in.
When I did, I realized that, sure it was pretty violent, but not nearly as horrifying as I had feared and was pretty communal. I went on to spend quite a few nights in this type of environment eagerly as well, but since have grown a bit weary (and older) of the real violence that its kinda become.
But on this night, even though along time has passed I was wondering if they were gonna play it as the hit. And sure enough they did, and I have no idea what came over me, because now I would be the last person to do this, but as the first notes hit, I took of my glasses and handed them and my wallet to Ryan, who looked simultaneously shocked/supportive of this and into the pit I went.
Now because of the lack of attendance, it was one of those really lame ones, where only like 4 people are participating, but just to get myself to do it was enough for me (and enough to leave with a bleeding foot). Good times.

Megadeth/Slayer/Anthrax – Starplex Amphitheater – Dallas, TX – September 24th 

Ok so this was three days of seeing shows in a row, and quite a diverse mix. I had been greatly anticipating this show for a number of reasons. One other the obvious, was as I mentioned in the Exodus post, that when I was a teenager, the Thrash Metal movement was my freaking life. When I was 15, back when the only way to hear about upcoming shows was via radio announcement, our jaws hit the ground when we heard that a tour was gonna start in Dallas called Clash of the Titans – that featured Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth (and a little unknown band at the time called Alice in Chains)
The only band that was missing was Metallica as people were already referring to this elite group as the Big Four. Metallica had moved way ahead of the pack and was set for world domination with the upcoming Black Album and really had nothing to gain by making the collective association (and as time would tell with Nirvana’s Nevermind coming out later that year) and everything to lose. Though the other three bands were at the height of their popularity and at the top of their game they had not reached the ability to play venues this large individually, but collectively it was a not-to-miss event. A friend and I even camped out for tickets and got us and our whole crew front row seats.
The fact that this exact same concert (sans Alice in Chains naturally) was happening again in the exact same location and city as the first time around was enough to get me in the building. Not to mention to add to the festivities, Slayer was gonna do arguably their best LP Seasons in the Abyss in its entirety. as well as Megadeth giving the same treatment to their Rust in Peace LP. Also, Anthrax, who had barely toured with the Joey Belladonna reunited lineup in 2005 (and skipped Texas altogether) were now back with Joey after several severe missteps.
It wasn’t without some brouhaha however – after all this time, why can’t we get all four of the Big Four? – This tour was born after some obscenely large, nostalgia fueled offers were made to do a Big Four tour of festivals in Eastern Europe, were the four bands actually performed all in one show for 7 dates. The Bulgaria date was even simulcasted where you could see it via closed circuit at a local theater (and Ryan and I did exactly that…see April 2010 entry). 
Make no mistake about it this was a Metallica production and I’m sure a hedged bet to see if would be a good idea to bring this tour Stateside, and the film’s ticket receipts would be the proverbial proof pudding. Apparently it didn’t do that well, cause Metallica decided not to pursue it any further, but the other 3 bands, fueled by all the new interest and high-profile activity, brought the tour stateside with just the three of them as the Jagermeister Tour.It was an early start time and I was meeting singer-dude at the show and I was running late. I couldn’t find parking anywhere but thankfully when I did, as I was crossing the street, he saw me and picked me up. We still missed the first two songs from Anthrax but if he hadn’t seen me we would have missed most of them and they were the main band I wanted to see since Joey was back and I’ve seen the other two bands probably 20 times each since I was a teenager.

It was sad to see how much peer-ship Anthrax has lost over the years. Though they will always be apart of this legendary club, they are really only riding a residual wave, as they have been treading water for years, through a series of poor lineup changes, mediocre albums and down-right baffling career choices. At the first Clash of the Titans the bands went in this order:

Slayer
Anthrax
Megadeth

with all bands having basically equal stage time and production. This time around, Anthrax’s backline was pushed all the way to the front
and might as well have been playing a small club with how much stage room they were given. Their name wasn’t even printed on the tickets, their logo pushed into almost obscurity under the tours namesake and now that guitarist/face-of-the-band Scott Ian is a professional poker player, they had to wear Ultimate Bet gear, likely just to pay for the tour, fucking sad for sure.
But they made good with the short time they had, and if nothing else, it was really great to see them and Joey again.

 Setlist –

Caught in a Mosh
Got the Time (Joe Jackson cover)
Madhouse
Antisocial
Indians
Only
Metal Thrashing Mad
I Am the Law

Next up was Megadeth, who I loved as a kid and seem to still see every couple of years, however haven’t owned anything they have released since Countdown to Extinction. Leader Dave Mustaine who is known for a being difficult to work with and am sure was a long-holdout for any Big Four type of event due to his long, over-stated issues with Metallica, always seem to have a new lineup every couple of years. You don’t even really pay attention anymore, and if you had your choice bassist Dave Elefson will be there too, but as long as Mustaine walks out, its a Megadeth show. And let me tell you something, as much as you wanna hate Mustaine, and as much as you want to hear that in-spite of Elefson’s presence that they walked out there with two other faceless jobbers and embarrassed themselves, its the exact opposite. They stole this show, and this new lineup is their best in the band’s 25 + year history.
They fucking killed – Just walked out and played so intensely, and spot on, with zero bullshit. Even their newer, lesser known material did nothing to stop their momentum that just took off as they started the show with Rust in Peace from start to finish.

Setlist –

Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
Hangar 18
Take No Prisoners
Five Magics
Poison Was the Cure
Lucretia
Tornado of Souls
Dawn Patrol
Rust in Peace… Polaris

 Encore:

Trust
Head Crusher
A Tout Le Monde
Symphony of Destruction
Peace Sells

Next up is the indefatigable Slayer – who I also tend to see about once a year or so. Now, nothing can be said that can detract from the sheer brutality of this band, but the last few times I have seen them, it seemed to be a bit phoned it (as much as this band is capable of such a thing). But tonight we were benefiting, if nothing else, from perhaps maybe a little bit of competitiveness, cause after Megadeth blew things wide open, here comes Slayer with both barrels.
They did just two numbers, both off their newest record World Painted Blood before Tom Araya, asks the crowd in his most sadistic voice “Are you ready?” as we all knew that signaled that the entire Seasons in the Abyss LP was about to begin.

 Setlist –

World Painted Blood
Hate Worldwide
War Ensemble
Blood Red
Spirit in Black
Expendable Youth
Dead Skin Mask
Hallowed Point
Skeletons of Society
Temptation
Born of Fire
Seasons in the Abyss

Encore: 

 South of Heaven
Raining Blood
Aggressive Perfector
Angel of Death

Between Megadeth and Slayer, I walked out to the lawn area to see Ryan, who was sitting out there by himself (by choice, my man is very specific about his comfort) and shared our excitement, and were texting each other a bunch during Slayer’s set. Maybe one day the States will get to see all four of the Big Four together?

Rock In America Festival (2010)

Now this little adventure started out very hectic and dysfunctional.  The first day of the festival wasn’t until Friday, but I flew into Dallas for a pre-party with Ratt and the Scorpions. The plan was to leave for OKC the next day but things didn’t go quite as planned. What started out as a Rocklahoma-revisited idea turned into something else entirely. If you have read some of the other posts you know that I’ve got a little crew or musicians and we have made two very successful jaunts to Tulsa the last two years for their Rocklahoma spectacle. Well instead of having to wait a whole other year, here was this thing called Rock N America that promised a more 80s centric lineup than this past years updated Rocklahoma and it was closer being in OKC. So let’s rawk right? Well..sorta.

Pre-Party w/ The Scorpions and RATT – Verizon Theater – Dallas, TX – July 21st

   If I have a flight first thing in the morning, I can’t sleep so I just stay up cause I’m a night person by nature. So on the morning of July 21st as I was leaving NYC at 10am I had already been awake for 24hrs. Between the subway ride from my apt in Brooklyn to Laguardia Airport, to several delays, flying to DFW, taking buses and trains to get home was another 8 hrs. I walked in the door at 5pm and hadn’t eaten and I was there 10mins before my crew was honking outside to take me to the concert. Hungry and tired as fuck I wasn’t quite ready to rock but once we got there I soon got over that. Now with all respect to my crew their were some headaches to get over. Bass-dude, my normal johnny-on-the-spot (and who picked me up) wasn’t gonna make it to OKC this weekend because of work and it was also undetermined if his wife was gonna make it to the pre-party due to illness. That’s fine, he let me know plenty of time in advance he wasn’t making it to OKC and obviously his wife couldn’t for-see her health issues.
Now singer-dude, who is impossible not to love, however has the most unreliable and infuriating judgment and is incapable of any sense of urgency was pushing it. I got 4 comp tkts to the show and was originally taking Singer/Bass dudes and bass dudes’ wife (originally as a kind of get-out-jail-free card so he could go to OKC in the first place). When word got out that she wasn’t gonna make it Singer-Dude took it upon himself to offer the tkt to anyone that was gonna do something for him (namely drive him and pay for drinks/parking) so his selfishness kinda put me in a position.
So me and bass-dude meet up with singer and his uninvited chauffeur. I give everyone their tickets and we go in. Chauffeur guy is fucking insufferable. A guy with less self-awareness you will be hard pressed to find. Just a walking caricature of all that is super not cool. I give this guy a 3rd row seat for free and when the gesture was made by bass-dude to reward me with a beer he actually threw a tantrum. This tantrum lasted the whole evening, he literally complained the whole time.
We get to our seats and look for drummer-dude who rounds out our Rocklahoma crew, just in time as RATT is starting

Now it should be that I could say that I’ve haven’t seen RATT since I was a kid but this coming Sunday in OKC will have been my 4th RATT show in a year haha. And THIS performance was easily the worst, (and in the running for one of the worst I’ve ever seen by anyone). Their wasn’t an ounce of camaraderie among them, not even with good ol’ Carlos Cavazo now on board. It felt like you had just walked in on your parents fighting and them trying to act like everything is cool. Just the most uninspired thing ever from a band that is known for turning in half-baked performances. What’s wrong with this band? Why can’t they ever get it together? Do it right or give it up.
In-spite of their sucky-ness and the Chauffeur’s complaints, their is just something happens when we are all together, and we were laughing our asses off and generally having a good time. Doesn’t my face seem to say “Does this asshole EVER stop complaining?”:

 

Up next was the Scorpions who I’ve never really seen. I saw the end of Rock You Like a Hurricane when they opened for Motley Crue over 10 years ago but that was it. Not necessarily one of my faves, but in the name of Rock, necessary just the same.
The Scorps come out and dude, its immediately obvious why this band has lasted as long as they have, they were so surprisingly spectacular, and my jaw was on the ground. Just so top notch, and everything was executed so flawlessly. I had wondered how they had fared since losing their long-time drummer Herman Rarebell, and hell his replacement, James Kottak, was the highlight of the show!
Promoted as the final tour of their long, storied career, what a way to go out and totally on top of their game at the height of their command of their powers. I was crazy impressed:

 

 So now with the show over, the plan was the Singer-Dude was gonna get me back home, and of course naturally, when something is left to his charge, things don’t quite pan out exactly. Bass-Dude was my link to the sane world, and now I’m in the car with complainer Chauffeur, who of course drives a Hummer. A symbol of over-compensation if I ever did see one. We were plotting what we wanted to do as I was to Ft. Worth and they are in Dallas. Going to a party or a bar was on the table but this life-sucker actually expected me to sleep on his couch and get home anyway I could the next day depending on the geography of where we decided to after-party. I was all about saying fuck-off to both and going home. We ended up at a bar and had an ok time, except that the Chauffeur was scheming to leave us there. Where does he find these primates?

Rock In America Festival – Day 1 (sorta) – Oklahoma City, OK – July 23rd

Ok so the dysfunction continues…as Singer-Dude was responsible for us getting there (we have a deal, I take care of the tickets/laminates etc, they take care of the lodging) and this has worked for the past two festivals in Tulsa. What I didn’t know was that it was because Bass-dude was in charge of it all and now that he was no longer on board, I was on a sinking ship.
I was pissed because I had flown all the way from NYC for this and was told that it was all taken care of and nothing had been done. In fact now he wasn’t even going. I told him that my transportation and accommodations were still his responsibility. He parlayed that into some Facebook contest that made it sound like the laminates were HIS and the winners would have to take me too per the fine print.
Can you fucking believe this dude? – I was clueless to all this and thought the people I was going with were friends of his, they had a ride and no tickets, I had tickets and no ride so the barter system was in our favor right? Wrong – they were leaving right after the Scorpions show from Dallas on Wed. Remember when I went to bed that night I had been up for over 42 hrs, no way after that I was hopping into a car with total strangers to go to OKC 2 days early.
So I wanted to leave on Fri per the original plan, and told him that he would have to pay for a bus/train tkt after all I had been put out. He fought me on this, continued this ridiculous FB contest to make himself look connected and at the zero hour finally relented and bought me a one way train tkt, that when I got there I found wasn’t all the way to OKC and I had to pay 20 more bucks to extend it. A scammer down to the last detail.
So thanks to this arrangement I didn’t reach OKC till almost 10pm as the last band of the day, Twisted Sister had already taken stage. I still had to get from the train station to the festival hotel to meet the people I was gonna be staying with and riding back with. I used my brain and called the hotel and told them I was with the performers and they sent a shuttle for me (saving me a $50 cab ride).
Though I missed all the bands the first day that’s not to say that I didn’t have fun, because the party was just about to get started and I had NO idea haha.

I’m at the hotel waiting by the indoor pool talking to some of the bands when my hosts finally arrive. We meet and they tell me about the day. To further the complications, the couple we will call Barney and Betty, who I thought I was staying with, it actually turns out that I’m staying with their friends Fred and Wilma, who in turn are actually staying as guests of Bert and Ernie. So I guess this makes me the Grouch.
It was a bit after 11pm when we all hooked up and what should have turned into an hour (2 max) and then retire to our rooms to get ready for a big day tomorrow, turned into a clusterfuck odyssey of total madness that stretched till 6am, that if I hadn’t been so entertained by what I’m about to unfold, I would have lost my mind completely.
First and one thing I thought was really cool that can’t happen at Rocklahoma (at least on the campgrounds) was that since all the bands are staying here and their is a tiny little convention room, it allows itself for late night jams/shows scheduled or otherwise.
So though I missed the entire first day and had no prior knowledge of this suddenly I’m in this tiny little room where you would expect toddler pageants to be held, watching L.A. Guns

 

After they played their drummer, Chad Stewart, (who apparently is in most of the bands this weekend….is their a shortage of drummers?) stayed behind the drumset as he was in also in the next band that played, Motochrist, who were pretty good. Their songs where real quick and fast like punk songs, but with a certain sleaze factor, they almost reminded me of the Dwarves (more on this later).

 

 

Come to find out, we weren’t even staying in this hotel and what took so long was that were waiting for Wilma to find Fred, who had the keys to the car, that was our transportation to our actual hotel. How did I get myself into this mess? haha – The nights ends with Wilma staggering naked thru the halls until she finds Fred and we finally make it to our hotel as the sun is coming up, and I find a corner of this roach trap while Fred is still raging loudly well past 9am.

Rock In America Festival – Day 2 – Oklahoma City, OK – July 24th

Ok so on almost no sleep I head to the campgrounds with Bert and Ernie to get an early start to see all the bands and to make up for what I missed yesterday. This might have been a bit misguided as the first band of the day, Steelheart, were just gawd awful.

 

I was pretty super unimpressed with the set-up, as I know that this was 80s Metal in Oklahoma, but even by those standards, this had a real back-yard feel (which was actually kind of cool). The place held approx 5k people all on a hill facing downward, amphitheater style.
One of the things that I also enjoy at these things is seeing the old 80s Hair bands, still trying to get that old look together and see how it holds up, and I equally love it when they abandon it completely where you would not know what band was playing just by looking at them (wait is THAT Cinderella?). A good example of this was up next was Firehouse. By the time they were doing their thing back when I was waist deep in the bloodletting of Slayer, so I only know a few of their radio hits, but by the looks of them you would think you were watching your dad singing karaoke at the family picnic.

 

They actually were not too bad at all, they still had their sound, the singer still carried the notes and they seemed like they were in pretty good touring shape. Next, I had a bunch of press to do so I headed over to the press tent, that was actually just an area blocked off by Port-A-Shitters. The first band to come in was that band Motochrist (featuring the drummer of L.A. Guns AND Faster Pussycat) that I had seen last night at the hotel after-party. Remember how I said that oddly they reminded me of the Dwarves? Well ironically, Chad Stewart was wearing a freaking Dwarves shirt today haha, so I went up to him to tell him the story and the odd coincidence when he informs me that its actually no coincidence because Marc Diamond of the Dwarves is in the band! Some reporter I am eh? Really did my research this time. We talked for a bit as we have some of the same friends. Dave Catching really does know everyone.

Next the guys from Cinderella come in – now I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but I will always have a special place for this band as they were the first band I ever saw live. Opening for David Lee Roth when I was 12, the memories of that night still influence me. I had just seen them at Rocklahoma and they were ok despite some sound issues and I was looking forward to seeing them later today.
Singer Tom Keifer was either profoundly stoned or is just a space cadet by nature He came stumbling in, and from the waist up he had his rock gear on. But he was wearing jogging sweats and Keds on his lower half and could barely hold the microphone. This is going to be interesting I thought.

 

Next up was something I thought rather silly. As impressed as I was by their performance the other night in Dallas, the Scorpions press event was kinda ridiculous. You would have the thought the fucking president was coming in. The fact that it was lost on everyone but me that they had security detail 12 people deep to lead them into a corral encased by portable toilets is about as perfect of a description as I can give you of the madness that surrounded me.

 

I bailed on this horseshit almost immediately, and I wanted to see the Michael Schenker Group, whom I’ve never seen.  And I made the right choice too, because when they hit stage the place really started to come alive, and for good reason because they were so freaking good and the best performance I saw all weekend. He ran thru a bunch of the UFO stuff and he had Carmine Appice on drums. Its a rarity that he was even in America so that was cool and the band I was looking most forward to seeing.

 

Now it was time for Cinderella and I was hoping that Keifer’s buzz from earlier had finally worn off so they could rawk. This was a good set from them and much better than the sound-problem riddled show from Rocklahoma a few months back. Eric Brittingham was so unrecognizable, I wasn’t sure that it was him. I guess he gained some self-awareness over the years haha.

 

Now time for the headliners’ the Scorpions. Though they duplicated the show I saw just a few days ago, it was a real pleasure to see it again. Something really special happened, that I felt unworthy of, as I appreciated it, it didn’t mean a fraction to me of what this would have meant to some Finnish rock historian and even some of the fans around me who looked to be in tears. What caused this reaction was that for a brief few songs, Michael Schenker joined his brother onstage as did Herman Rarebell on drums, reuniting them all for the first time onstage together in 30 years.

 

Now it was time to find Bert and Ernie where we would most likely meet up with Fred and Wilma back at the Rock Hotel. We get everyone together and when we get to the Garden Hotel, it looks like the scene in Rockstar where he rides the motorcycle down the hallway. People and debauch just everywhere. We go into the little conference room again tonight for the after-party performances to check out this band that Barney and Betty, my original suitors were actually there working with, whom I had met last night called Dirty Penny.
They were freaking awesome! Totally what I dig, that real nasty, sleazy vibe, but these were young dudes (who were attracting the hottest girls) so they put a fresh, fun spin on it and totally fucking rawked. Probably the best time I had all weekend was during this show. Even John Corabi who was watching sidestage came out and did a song with them. I’m always interested in the bands that the girls wanna fuck.

 

I had met a ton of new people today and was having a great time talking with everyone.  I’m by no means a heavy drinker, but I don’t know if someone raided several mini-bars but somehow about 5 mini-bottles of Jack Daniels made their way into my pockets. A band I had hung out with last night and now tonight too were these crazy Italians (from Italy, not Jersey) called Rising Wind. Don’t see alot of metalers from Italy and they were really cool guys. So I’m having fun with the RW guys when one of them borrowed my phone and somehow my phone found its way into the hands of Meth Face.
At the time I discovered this, I was talking with some friends of Fred and Wilma, who in an act of total spontaneity had just arrived from Dallas at 3:30am. Wilma gave me the heads up they were coming because it was going to be my ability to get them into the festival tomorrow that was going to secure their passage from Dallas to here. I assured her I could, and was anticipating their arrival.
I stopped my attempts of retrieving my phone for a bit to greet them when they arrived.  Nothing against my present company but I wasn’t prepared. I was expecting Thelma and Louise and what I got was Paris and Nicole.
Had it not been for Paris, all eyes would have been on Nicole, as they are both stunning girls.
However instead of being as bitchy as she was hot, she was actually even cooler, and something of a kindred spirit as we became instant friends and had a great time laughing and making jokes that seemed lost on everyone else. So you can imagine my embarrassment when I had to excuse myself to retrieve my phone from an insane, naked meth addict.
The party raged again till close to 6am when we finally made it back to our hotel.

Rock In America Festival – Day 3 – Oklahoma City, OK – July 25th

Ok so I’m used to hustling hard, but it was really starting to catch up to me and I don’t normally drink alot at all and probably drank more whiskey the previous evening than I did for most of the 1990s combined. I was hurting, just in that mode where you are awake and nothing is gonna help you but more sleep. Due to Ernie’s passiveness he was unable to secure a late checkout, so as early as 11am I found myself back at the Rock Hotel barely able to stand. We are in the foyer and its pretty quiet with places to sit and chill so I take full advantage. Paris and Nicole made their way down and the five of us are just hanging for a bit before I fell asleep right there in the chair.
When I woke up, it was just me and Ernie and I had that feeling that I might have slept alot longer than I had intended but that wasn’t the case. He told me that they all had to get over to the festival early as they were working with Dirty Penny who were the first band on the sidestage today. We still had a few hours and I wished I had used them to get even more sleep.
Then something even more crazy coincidental happened. I’m having a nice talk with Ernie and we are kinda bonding over some of our guilty pleasures. He’s a nice guy and I enjoyed him, but he has no self-awareness for just how nerdy he is, so our conversation was frequently paused, so he could get a quick picture with what was seemingly everyone that walked by at a ratio of a pic about every 5 mins. The punchline to this is that everytime he did it I wasn’t involved but as we were leaving to go he ran into the guys in Lizzy Borden  and was pissing himself for me to take a photo with his camera, and he hands me this like wind-up 35mm fossil with no flash, and it was even unwound haha! Go into your mom’s kitchen right now, she has 3 of these in a junk drawer somewhere.
The fact that this camera belonged in a fucking museum was not lost on these dudes and I was super embarrassed.
On the way to festival we are having a good time talking and somehow the conversation turns to professional wrestling when this dude literally loses his shit. I mean he looks like a wrestling fan but this dude is fanatical and that I have given him a forum to talk about his favorite thing in the world is the equivalent of a stampede coming my way. While he was kicking my ass relentlessly with this incredibly long story about the Freebirds (he was so into it, that he managed to get us lost more than once on the way to the festival that was less than 3 miles away, for being unable to concentrate on anything else) suddenly it hit me – Aha! – He had said something that sounded verbatim to something that one of my oldest friends has said to me many times. In the annals of my old friend’s storytelling, their is one fave he likes to tell (and I enjoy hearing no matter how many times I’ve heard it) and so I’ve heard this story dozens of times during our 15 years as friends. In my friend’s story he unfolds this tale about this dude he once knew whose acts of nerdom revolving around professional wrestling, were so extreme, that they bared the repeatings I’ve enjoyed so many times over the years and have become legend. In all the times this story has come up, he never mentioned the dude’s name, when it hits me – ERNIE IS THE GUY FROM MY FREIND’S STORY!!! It has to be him! I snuck away to the bathroom to call him and sure enough he confirmed that indeed this was the guy!!
So we finally get to the campgrounds and thankfully I have no press today, so I’m just gonna relax and enjoy the spoils of backstage and have a great time. I had missed Dirty Penny because of the rain, and the first band of the day on the main stage was Warrant. The rain had really kept the people away as when they went on their were seriously less than 100 people there. I was never a Warrant fan, and you would think with a different singer that it would reek of illegitimacy, and I wouldn’t know this if I hadn’t seen them at Rocklahoma but the new singer, Robert Mason is waaaay better than the other dude.

 

Up next was Slaughter, who I only saw a few songs of. It was chow time in the artist mess hall, and of course I love Up All Night and Fly to the Angels but the rain was a real damper and the dining hall was the perfect escape. So I took Paris and Nicole over there with me to eat. It was fun as these two seemingly like girls as much as I do, so it was like sitting around with a bunch of dudes totally objectifying the rawker girls walking by, except it was with two of the hottest girls there. Good times.

 

 

After we got our beers we were gonna head to the mainstage to see Lita Ford. I’d never seen Lita before and I’m a Runaways fanatic so I wanted to get that one in. Something happened on the way over that I feel was a direct result of something I as just talking with Trunk about. Now in defense of the security in this place, the girls didn’t have backstage clearance, they just had the media passes I’d given them (and Nicole had already lost hers as well) but it was the last day, it was raining, the place was kind of a joke to begin with, and these girls are smoldering hot, and nothing against the girls but in their limited 19 yrs they had already grown accustom to the benefits of such. So it was with that confidence that I told them not to worry and I would handle it if we got stopped.
Before I got those words out of my mouth, they are being worked over by some very unreasonable security that made it instantly out of my hands.

So I hit the beer truck one more time (remember beer in OK has HALF the alcohol content as anywhere else) and go check out Lita Ford.
I was glad to be there and having a great time, but it was not because of Lita, who was having an off night and seemed like she knew it too. A bunch of funny stuff happened as I looked over and low and behold, not even scheduled to perform at anytime this weekend was Vince Neil like a foot in front of me. It was cartoonish as he was standing there with a blond bombshell on each arm, like this is how you would find Vince on any given Sunday.

I stuck around and had a funny chat with Herman Rarebell, the old Scorpions drummer.
Now up next came what turned out to be the worst thing I saw all weekend and one of the most embarassing things ever. I assumed this dubious honor would fall to RATT after their series of atrocities, but Dokken beat them all in the stink nugget dept. I was a huge Dokken fan back in the day and hadn’t seen them in over 10 years so I was ready to rawk. I mean this dude really can no longer sing, like at all, and have no idea why he chooses to embarrass himself like this. I guess he made some really bad business decisions back in their heyday and he has to forge on for the cash, but this is freaking joke. Even lamer is that somehow because he admits he can’t sing he get this pass for being honorable and everyone seems ok with it. Dude if you can’t perform, I don’t give a shit what your intentions are.
He also has to have the worst between song banter on record. It’s like he doesn’t know what to say so he goes on these long cringe-inducing tangents.Even more interesting was the former guitarist George Lynch was standing next to me as his band the Lynch Mob was going on the sidestage next, fueling rumors of a one-time reunion. That shit never came and I don’t blame Lynch for not wanting to be onstage with this dude.

 

Was it time for RATT, the final act of the festival already? – I was in such sleep dep mode that I was incapable of retaining anymore music and mentally this had been over an hour ago when RATT started.  Believe it or not, they were not that bad (for them) and certainly nowhere near as hideous as they were in Dallas last week. I realized that I had been backstage this whole time and wanted to peruse the crowd and see some of the stuff on the grounds I hadn’t had the chance to see yet, so I used this time as I could still see and hear RATT.

 

Ernie made an earlier departure so I now had to find Fred and Wilma and get our plan together and ended up watching the last few songs of RATT with them before we headed back to the Rock Hotel for the final after party.
We get there and I’m partially wondering if we will see any debauch this evening but mainly too tired to care. I’m hanging with Jessica again when I see Paris and Nicole, and we all go inside for the after-party. Those Italian guys Rising Wind, I’ve been hanging with all weekend were playing in that little conference room. These guys were so cool, I really hoped they would be good and they were. They did kind of a douche move in the beginning as the singer made some silly late dramatic entrance and wearing a white belt and the latest from Hot Topic, but they quickly made me forget about that and totally fucking rocked. Kind of an Iron Maiden sound that kicked ass.
Barney came out and even sang on one song with them.

 

It’s about half way through the Rising Wind set that rumors start flying around about a secret late-night slot. First it’s said to be Don Dokken (who I actually already saw retire to his room) then it comes down that its gonna be George Lynch.
Now THIS was so the real deal – It was interesting to see Lynch in such a candid environment and attire. You could tell that this guy was probably never the flashy rocker type as he looked more like a jock that could play guitar really freaking well. What made it so special
other than the spontaneity, intimate setting and late hour, was just how it really was just 3 dudes who just wanted to play and a feverish crowd that appreciated it.

 

It was truly a jam session and everyone wanted in – this was not rehearsed, and they were just doing covers that they thought of just seconds before they played them. Bobby Blotzer of RATT eagerly jumped on the drums and getting to see this from behind the stage was really cool. Jessica and I just kept kinda looking at each other like “Holy Shit!” Sadly all good things must come to an end, because not only did all the musicians want in, but when it was made kinda clear that they would let just about anyone from the crowd sing as well, this horde of drunks were not shy and passive about sharing the stage with one of their heroes, and that was the show’s undoing. Just belligerent drunk guys with zero touch of reality and had seen the movie Rockstar way too many times got up there not realizing its not gonna go down like it does in your dreams. One guy was just all over Lynch trying to live out some fantasy and he was tripping all over his rig until Lynch’s tech finally had to toss the guy. After about the fifth time with five singers doing this to him, and then frat boys literally fighting over the mic, Lynch had enough and called it an evening. Sucks that people couldn’t let something this cool go on longer.
They did get thru Ain’t Talking ‘Bout Love, N.I.B. and Into the Fire before all was said and done.
It was now close to 4am and their was yet another band about to go on, but we had all had it and were still planning on driving back to Dallas shortly. I slept almost the whole way home as I rode with Fred and Wilma who graciously made sure I got home safe.
All in all it was a crazy fucking weekend I won’t soon forget.

The Siren Festival at Coney Island (Summer/2010)

The Siren Festival w/ Matt & Kim – July 17th – Coney Island, NY
   
My love Ana & I took the loooong subway ride out to Coney Island for our last weekend before she sadly returns back to Spain.
I wanted to show her CI and I usually attend the Siren Festival every year and its always a good time and Coney Island in the Summer time is the best.
However today was not only the hottest freaking day of the year, it may have been in the running for one of the hottest ever. Freaking stroke inducing.
We get off the subway and into the heat, and their is no cover anywhere, and are trying to enjoy the street performers and sidewalk fare on our way to see our first band of the day: The band Ponytail who are part of that wave of awesome talent that’s been coming out of Baltimore as of late.
 

We check them out for a bit but its not long before Spanish Eyes maintains her motif of constant hunger, and hello we were 10 yards from Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and we were at Coney Island, so is their more of an obvious choice? – Nathan’s is the very spirit of CI and the site of the World’s Hot Dog Eating Competition (that ironically took place just the previous weekend). So we step out of 98 degree weather and into a kitchen that had to be over 100 degrees. First their were sooo many people packed into this sweat locker, and with the grill and steam it was stifling in there. Normally this has an adverse effect on me (as I NEVER drink water) but other than just being a bit warm, I was fine. My Spanish companion however..? – Not so much – I can laugh about this now, (and it was funny) but as it was happening I was more concerned than entertained. I had alot to carry with two LARGE lemonades and our food so I went to give her the drink and go back for the rest. When I came back, as funny as this looked haha, she was dizzy and stumbling like a drunk person and falling fast. Before I could say “Hey, are you alright?” – down she went! – The normal apathetic New York public even looked on with a little concern as I rushed to keep some napkins to swipe the condensation from our drinks and apply it to her forehead and neck. My memory of this is largely hilarious, and made for the joke of the day and the next.

So what’s the natural next step from coming this close to a pukey heat stroke? Walk 10 more yards to one of the most famous rollercoasters in the world and the jewel of Coney Island – The Cyclone.

Now to know, you will know that I am not afraid of shit, but you also can’t miss my historic stomach issues and hyper-sensitivity to motion sickness. However I wasn’t gonna let any of that get in the way of us having the fun you are supposed to be having at Coney Island. So onward we march and conquer that sucker. An odd occurrence happened while in line. An especially douchbagger from last Summer says hello to me – whom I previously had envisioned would come to blows if I ever saw this fucker again – oddly the person that introduced us, I ran into her at Monotonix just the night before and she said that they were having a party soon for said douchbag and that jokingly, I should come. So today I see him and also mentions the party, and non-chalantly tells me that the party is designed as condolence as he’s been recently diagnosed with Lyme Disease. Fucking weird and couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

So after I nearly puke off the side of this safety hazard we head to the mainstage right next to us to see the always fun Matt & Kim.
These two live down the street from me so I see them often and I would never be in the mood to listen to their music outside of the live setting, but in concert, what a blast. It could be said that alot of people came just for the festival, but it seemed everyone was there to see them and look how many came!
 


 So what does one do after a long and super hot and sweaty day? – Go to another concert! Before we had met, the senorita had already planned to attend and purchased a ticket to tonight’s after-party at the Music Hall of Williamsburg with We Are Scientists. I didn’t have a ticket, but I can usually get around these things. We get there and I have blogged and lamented at length my feelings towards the entire staff of elitist rabble that run this place and tonight the problems only increased. I really didn’t give a shit anyway, so I told her to go on and I went next door and had a beer and checked email for the duration of their just over an hour performance.

So a few days later on our final night, a la Before Sunrise we had a gorgeous day and evening. We spent the whole day at one of my fave places in NYC, the Natual History Musuem and to hit a few other places I wanted her to see. At dusk we hit a perfect sunset while riding the Staten Island Ferry.
 


     I took her to Rockafeller Plaza afterwards and we just sat in the fountain and talked until it was time to part. The notion that we may never see each other ever again, but with the promise of doing our best, but also just simply enjoying the moment. Whatever may be, a Summer love affair with a beautiful European girl is something we all deserve and one I won’t soon forget.
 

Rocklahoma 2010

Well it was THAT time again, as my buddies in Red Leather and I has such an amazing time last year that we talked about it in the year since and despite the severely lacking desirable lineup this year, we realized that we were going more for us and the time that we would share that no band come close to competing with. As much as we had last year, financially, this festival took a hit, so to try to remedy that, they laid off the steady diet of Hair Bands and tried to even things out. I for one much prefer the 80s excess, but the people that care about that stuff for the most part are white trash, that don’t have the money to support something like this.
What started out as a joke we suspected we had taken too far last year just by simply going became a much anticipated adventure that again was not the destination of seeing any bands rather than the bands would be a mere backdrop to our comedy act regardless of who was playing. Literally for a year when I would see these guys we would reference some inside joke that shaped last year’s laugh-a-thon and looked forward to what this year would bring.

May 28th 2010 – Day 1

So this much anticipated day had finally arrived and I made it to Dallas where drummer Paul picked me up and his authentic, spastic, energy already set the tone before we even met up with the other guys. Paul is one of those guys that you can’t help but like, he will exhaust you with his lust for life and have you pissing your pants with his spot on impressions (this year’s obsession was his uncanny ability to perform any of Jack Black‘s dialog from Nacho LIbre on command).
We meet up with ringleader Chaz and Mr. Johnny on the Spot himself, our unofficial Tour Manager Steve, who had secured a totally righteous RV for us in addition to the van we rode in last year. If you have read the entry from last year you know that much to my surprise and benefit that this guy has his shit together like no other and last year  made us the envy of every camper there by providing us with every convenience you could want in those conditions. He was out to step his game up this year and boy did her ever. It wasn’t enough that we had (shared) beds and air conditioning last year, this year my man got us a fucking apartment on wheels. Our own bathroom with shower and sink, our own bunks and fully functional kitchen and dining area. Our shit was stacked.
My face was already sore from laughing so hard for the entire 5 hour ride from Dallas to Tulsa, when we pulled into the campgrounds around 6pm. We all got to work immediately in our roles. Steve and Chaz do camp setup while Paul plays DJ and get high, and I as the Producer by getting us checked in, securing our laminates and taking care of all the business needs that ensure that we are taken care of all weekend.
We could hear Buckcherry doing their stripper anthem Crazy Bitch as we were  getting it together and we all smiled at each other with a knowing look of the significance that this song takes on in this environment.  I came back from production with our laminates as they were finished with setup and now we were ready for some free booze and to hear some music. We make our way to the backstage catering tent for the beer and proceed to mainstage. I’ll be honest, the band that was playing, Three Days Grace, I had never heard of, and then I heard their hit, that I’m sure I’ve heard at least once. To be honest with you, I could care less, as they didn’t interest me in the least but it didn’t stop us from still carrying on the laughter, and the excitement of just being there and being together was more than enough.

So after they finished, like last year we would spend the hour in between going to the Artist Catering Tent right of the stage to load up on more beer/food etc. I didn’t want to eat anything else because I was sure the next band was gonna make me barf. I’m not a snob (hello? look where I am at) but you know how some bands just irritate you to the point of exhaustion? , well I really hate the band Godsmack.
They are the perfect example of derivative and flaccid swill that is perfect for mass consumption, yet I’m still surprised at their level of popularity. Well I wasn’t here to complain so I stuck it out, but this band is just freaking painful.
After their set mercifully came to a close, so did the music for the first day of the festival. As typical that’s when the crazy fun on the campgrounds begins (or not haha). For all its emoting, Rocklahoma isn’t really all that big, and you will have no problem finding someone if you lose them. Their’s only two seated sections and one main aisle and less than 3k people any one given time. As we headed back to camp we ran into one half of our Bermuda Crew we met last year. Sadly, her other half (and mine) wasn’t able to attend this year. She joined us back to camp but not without bearing a gift that would soon become legend.
She presents us with this special bottle of Black Seal Rum only made in Bermuda, and the shit is not only expensive, but deadly. Like its almost 200 Proof!!
We thanked her for the gift and put it away for now, though it was a long day of driving, getting setup, then rawking, I still wanted to have a walk around the campsite to see what was going on and what mischief I could get into.
I found that Jagermeister was having a little late night thing in the vendors campgrounds so I checked that out solo for a bit, then headed back to camp Red Leather. When I returned the gang was wrapping up for the night so to propose a toast to our first night and making it there safely, we whipped out the Bermuda poison. Keep in mind it was wrapped in a way that we didn’t know yet its proof or its lethality.
I’m not a drinker at all so you can imagine my horror when I went we decided to shoot this stuff and I swear it was like I had swallowed gasoline. Chaz, that sneaky fucker, only held his to his mouth and was waiting to see what I would do and hadn’t drank his like I had.
Stop, drop, and roll.May 29th 2010 – Day 2
  So now today was gonna be our first day in the sun as we didn’t really get out there tilll dark last night. Their still really wasn’t any band that I gave a real shit about. I had always wanted to see ZZ Top so I was up for that, but it still wasn’t that important to me.
We get it going and really enjoying this tour bus accommodations. Having my own bed and us having our own bathroom freaking ruled.
After sleeping in, we finally make it to the catering tent for a late lunch, and I fell asleep after in the air conditioning.We had time to see walked around the grounds to see what else was going on. That’s something that we didn’t do last year, we usually were escorted via gold cart backstage and never left so I was determined to see this thing and get a feel of the people and take a few photos of the crowd this year. One of them decided to take a pic of us.:

I have no idea what we are looking at but since its a rock show I’ll just pretend its the line from Girls Girls Girls :“Hey Paul, check that out man!  Paul: – “Where Roy where?!” – “Right there!”

We finally decide we should try to see some bands as its after 6pm and we hadn’t done anything but sleep, eat and drink. We get over to the main stage to see this horrific thing called Saliva. I remembered them for their super annoying song about the click and the boom on the radio or something, but it was pathetic to see a band like this that never should have mattered trying to hold on. You could smell embarrassment on their faces from their phoned-in performance.
Thank gawd that was over quickly, it was so hot anyway that most anything would have been tough but they were unbearable.
Next up was Cinderella, a band that holds a special place for me as my first concert when I was 12 was seeing them open for the mighty David Lee Roth and I can’t recall, but I don’t think I’ve seen them since then.
I know they have had their problems over the years. I didn’t even recognize bassist Eric Brittingham as he looked more like Green Day than the dude on the poster from my childhood bedroom.

. Cinderella was always one of the better glam/rock bands of its era, mixing a touch of Stones-like rock and blues into its riff-driven hard rock sound. Guitarist Jeff Labar still looks like he hasn’t slept since the show I saw as a kid. The only noticeable thing that was off was during the song Push, Push was that the backup vocals were louder than Keifer’s lead but I’m sure it was just an oversight from the soundboard.
We had a quite a bit of time to kill before ZZ Top so we did the usual of going to the catering tent, where we met back up with our Bermudian friend. Now, she is a gracious, lovely girl, but like last year, she had decided to fixate on a member of our crew in a bizarre and unhealthy way. I say this because it was disturbing to see an older woman, literally cry in public over a complete stranger, half her age. I wanted to comfort her, but the only conclusion I could come up with, is that she is having a hard time aging and securing the affection of a much younger man, in her mind, had become her self-worth. So when the affection was not returned, she just had a freaking meltdown. Totally weird.
So up next was ZZ Top, a band that I’ve always wanted to see, but also one of those bands that for whatever reason you just don’t prioritize. So I was happy that they were here because otherwise, I probably would never make the effort to see them solo.
But not anymore, as now after seeing them I will do my best to do so again, because they were really awesome and fun.

Steve and I were debating if during a few songs if Billy Gibbons was using a tracked vocal. Can’t say for sure but I the show sounded album perfect at times, but others it was clear that real singing was going on. Whatever the case, Legs, and Sharp Dressed Man got the crowd going after extended blues interludes had slowed things down. They ended with an odd choice of a Viva Las Vegas/La Grange medley.
So that concluded the music for Day 2,
After talking with them for a bit and laughing alot we decided to head back to camp, and at this point I was really starting to feel the effects of the punch.
We make it back and we are not there 10 mins before Tina is calling me (I gave her my card about some upcoming business in town)
saying that the party had got broken up, so I invited them over to our campsite and the funniest thing was that we were on the far opposite side, and at point I had to use the stripper pole as a reference point when giving directions. Now where else would that happen?
They arrive: Stephanie is very butch and loud, but funny, Tina was the cheerleader in school that you never hooked up with, and Mary was just a freak of nature and the one I spoke with the most once they got there.
Chaz is loading everyone up on the punch and its not long before our site is the place to be so we attracted a few stragglers along the way. Mary was cracking me up as she was so over the top with her jokes that I mention it because she had some lines that were repeated for the rest of the weekend.May 30th 2010 – Day 3

  So we wake up the next day and I don’t normally drink alot and I still didn’t but that Black Seal was like Black Death. We all had our determinations of the day: Paul has been talking about seeing Sevendust since we left Dallas, as its apparently his favorite band. Now, nothing against those guys, but the last I knew of them was I got to be real friendly with their singer Lajon and guitarist John like a thousand years ago while working a record label, but I certainly didn’t know they had the ability to obtain fve band status of anyone.

Sevendust didn’t really fit to be honest, and were way too heavy and got a really bad time slot. If they had played one of the smaller stages later tonight it would have been a blowout, but to ask people to listen to music that heavy, that early, when it was that hot, is asking alot. Didn’t stop Paul though, in fact he was so vocal of his adoration that band members heard him from the stage and he was making them smile and laugh in acknowledgment.

TWEETS

 “Tesla is from the meth capital of the world. It only shows a little.”

“a night of unspeakable debauchery. When giving directions to my campsite i had 2 tell 3 girls to take a left at the wet-tshirt contest.”

“1st band I ever saw was Cinderella when I was 12. Last night I saw them 4 the 1st time since. ALOT has changed.”

“Woke to the sound of busmates quoting Nacho Libre and girls in booty shorts playing Frisbee outside my window.

“meth must be a hell of a drug. Meet me by the port-a-shitter.”

“just landed in Tulsa, OK here comes 4 days of hillbilly foolishness freaking 80s style.”

  Now we had eaten and got full of weak beer again and had a slight interest in seeing Lacuna Coil. I knew nothing of them other than my friend Ryan crushes on their female singer all the time and I also wanted to see something at one of the other stages.
Alot of people were there to see them and they came out guns-a-blazing, Christina Scabbia looked great, sounded great, the whole bit. But here was something that I didn’t know, was that they have a male co-vocalist, that is completely unnecessary and only serves to take away from what she is laying down. It makes no sense, as usual the singer is the focus, and when your singer looks like that, what’s the problem? why share that with someone, who can’t sing at all and when he does his thing it just shits all over what she’s doing. It made me feel like this guy is in the band because they don’t have the heart to tell him he sucks. Completely made no sense to me.
Right before they started we ran into the Oklahoma Trio again from the night before and Mary and I picked up right where we left off with the jokes, she was now sober, and still really fun and funny. We weren’t gonna stay for the whole set as we were gonna go see the last band of the weekend, Tesla. A band that I wouldn’t mind seeing but again never have, and wouldn’t make any grand effort to do so.
Barely had taken advantage of our credentials, we decided to do it right and all of us went to the very front. Like if we had been any closer, we would have been Tesla.

They came out like this was just the Tulsa stop on their current tour and didn’t really play up the whole festival atmosphere. But I can’t fuck with them as they sounded really good, and for the singer’s complete and utter lack of self-awareness, he was hitting all the notes.
Maybe not since the diabolical Ron Keel of last year have I seen someone so embarrassing in their emoting. This guy was so high on meth/cocaine or whatever that he had that constant twitch and we were so close we could see him grinding his teeth. Their were alot of technical shit that was falling apart that I’m not sure that the fans caught if you weren’t so close, but again they still kicked ass and I probably enjoyed their set the most. We were so dehydrated and exhausted by this time that though I tried to sing outloud, nothing would barely come out haha. It was a great way to end the music as we hung tight all weekend but almost never were all four of us in the same place so I’m glad that happened at the end.

The gang headed back to camp and I was in desperate need to hit the showers. When I returned to camp Steve was nowhere to be found (later to be discovered sleeping in the van) and Chaz and Paul were entertaining our next door neighbors from Kansas, who had been coming over to steal our beer all weekend. Feeling good from the shower, I decided we should go out with a blast. Chaz had been bugging me about hearing one of my mixtapes from my DJ gigs, so I put one on. Chaz plays bartender and suddenly theirs half naked fat chicks from Kansas dancing on our bus. Does the comedy ever stop? Until next year….

Photographers:

Roy Turner
Bill Narum
Mike Long

Wildflower Arts and Music Festival 2010

18th Annual Wildflower Arts and Music Festival – Richardson, TX – May 14th
   So some new friends and I decided to check out this festival. It’s one of those low-rent, city specific affairs that you see across America, that usually start with Taste of (insert name of suburb of major city here) that are usually very charming in their accessibility and dirt-mall like qualities. It’s like a mini Fair without the bullshit, and a mini music festival without the high cost and travel. What also usually rounds out these things is the lineup is almost always a hodgepodge of washed up, yet universally liked acts, even by the darkest skeptic. That one band that you feel you need to see but would never make any real effort to do so, will be there and they often prove irresistible. I finally saw The Go-Go’s , The Black Crowes, and Cheap Trick and many others at things like this over the years.
We got there late the first night, just in time to see, speaking of universally liked, the B-52’s, (cause if you don’t like them, than your just being a dickhead.)
Before we could see them however, their was a last minute addition, as one of the finalist for this year’s American Idol, was a local dude named Casey James (who ironically had played my sister’s birthday party the year prior) and apparently its custom on the show that the third to the last week is Homecoming Week for the final three and this was that week. So this dude was everywhere, making like five stops to do a few songs in some key places all over Dallas/Ft. Worth. This being the biggest gathering of people tonight, it only made sense to squeeze him in to do a few songs.
To those people that don’t care, its hard to imagine or take the show’s influence seriously, as like it doesn’t have any influence, (or better yet shouldn’t) so how would this minor/local pseudo-celebrity-at-best- affect this modest festival as far as attendance goes? How many people would even go out to Richardson to hear this dude play what was advertised as one song? Answer = A bunch :

   So that was pretty annoying when we got there and had to deal with that shit, but at the same time, my mom/sisters love that shit and I know that they were rooting for him, so like the good son that I am, I made sure to see it and take a few pics for them.

I know its cynical, but if you look at it objectively, its just so strange, why were these legends from Athens being pushed back so this painfully mediocre dude that can’t play and can barely sing, can get top billing and do a brief set of karaoke? When you manufacture something, it will dupe enmasse.
The cool thing was after he did his best Bryan Adams imitation, 75% of the crowd left so we walked to the front to see the B-52’s.
Now I had only seen the B-52’s once before in High School during their Love Shack heyday and I have no recollection of it, as it was the one and only time I’d ever taken Ecstasy, which ended up being anything but that, and historically one of the worst nights of my life.
Once the B52s came on stage everyone was in party mode.There is nothing complex in what the B52s do – its just fun, dance music. Even the songs which I didn’t know – which was most of them – were catchy enough to keep the crowd moving. How can you not love this band?

 One of the things I love about them is, just tell me what other band could Fred Schneider possibly be in? They finished the main set with Love Shack – and the girls can still hit those notes – which lit the place up. But for me the highlight was definitely their encore ending Rock Lobster. Fun night.

18th Annual Wildflower Arts and Music Festival (Day 2) – Richardson, TX – May 15th

   So we got an earlier start the second day, and it was the perfect weather for it, just an amazingly gorgeous day. Wanted to see what the festival was offering other than music as we got here at the end last night. I’ve been to this festival before and others like it many times and always enjoy it, no matter how embarrassing it might be haha.
After looking at arts and crafts and being asked to change my long distance carrier, it was time to grab a beer and see some music. I had always wanted to see the Sweet and they were up next.
Now again, I would never make any real effort to see this band especially in their current incarnation, but they totally kicked ass! and were perfect in their time slot of a late afternoon thing.
Now, not that anybody should really give a shit, but for clarity sakes, due to whatever bad business decisions this band has made over the years, it has allowed or produced two current versions of the Sweet. (it only really matters if you played on Desolation Boulevard).
Steve Priest’s American version and Andy Scott’s U.K. version. – Today was the American version.
As you can see Mr. Priest has packed on some pounds but singer Joe Retta was a dead ringer for Chris Cornell and looked and sounded great. Of course they ended with Ballroom Blitz, and yes it was totally worth it.
Up next was something I have great interest in, and couldn’t be more suited for a low-rent festival like this, but I couldn’t exaggerate just how horrible Vince Neil is live. I already knew this from seeing him a few times before and he’s so bad he has a reputation for being a turd live. It’s hard (for me) to not want to care because here is the voice of Motley Crue, the soundtrack to my youth, but he is so embarrassing its painful.
If you know anything about him, than I really have nothing to add here that you haven’t heard before. He looked bloated, and ridiculous with absolute zero self-awareness, and he “sang” about every third lyric, sometimes letting the crowd sing entire passages or skipping over them entirely.

  At least the songs choices started out cool, as he attempted to get on my good side with the early Crue stuff like Piece of Your Action  and Livewire. But things went from bad, to strange, to incomprehensible. He was only scheduled to do an hour, like I said was barely singing, and actually had to take a 15 minute break mid-show while his band just jammed without him on this extended Led Zeppelin instrumental medley. Freaking terrible.
Afterward, my buddy Gabe, one of the promoters invited us to the PM Nightlife Lounge beneath the Joule hotel. This shit was silly swank, and not my scene at all, but it was fun as an observer. I saw Vince Neil talking with that dude Chace Crawford from Gossip Girl (who is from Plano and was just arrested recently for marijuana possession) maybe they were trading lawyer tips?

Coachella 2010 (April/2010)

Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival – April 17th-18th – Empire Polo Fields – Indio, CA

Day 1  

So Sam and I got up and got it together to take the long drive out to Indio and the Coachella Valley for the festival. With no traffic it would still be just under two hours, but with LA traffic and that of the hordes going to the festival, I knew it was gonna be a haul. I was super excited as besides the one-two punch of Prince and Portishead of 2007, in my opinion, today was going to be the single best day lineup in the festival’s history as far as my tastes are concerned, with Faith No More, the Dead Weather and Devo to look forward to. Usually you have to pick and choose as alot of your faves will be on at the same time, but these three had lined up perfectly for me. Pulling in I had no regrets about missing the first day yesterday, and I soon learned just what a good idea that was.
This was my 7th year at this festival, so I know my way around it very well, and I know it grows every year, but when we pulled up, something was truly amiss.
We didn’t even get there till almost 7pm and there were more people outside the festival, than I had seen inside the previous years. We started hearing stories about total chaos, the night before and people already calling it Clusterfuckchella. Apparently, they were way understaffed this year, and the ticket scanners were not working, so shades of Woodstock, for a brief time last night, the festival was free to get into. I think those outside got wind of this, and those without tickets thought it would happen again tonight. Parking was a logistical nightmare, and that was just the beginning of our problems. Once we were on foot headed to the grounds, to go to, like I always have, the Will Call window, to claim our credentials, the trouble really started. Nobody knew anything. The Will Call tent was not where it had been in previous years and not one staff member could tell me a thing. I finally find this makeshift building by the parking lots and they spill some bad news. This year, and no one had told me, they came up with the brilliant idea to have Will Call off-site, as in not in walking distance, at a hotel over 5 miles away.
Faith No More, our whole reason for taking this on, were going on in an hour – what the fuck do we do? – I tried to stay cool, because fuck just being some jerk off fan trying to see a band, this was a major inconvenience, regardless of the capacity. So we walked over a mile to the nearest cab stand and had him take us over to this hotel. Since it was late in the day and on the second day, things when we got there were in total disarray.
Of course they couldn’t find our wristbands, and it wasn’t without trying, as I can’t complain about so nice they were to us, and apologizing and getting us stuff to drink while we waited. You are gonna think by reading this that I’m a total celeb-whore, but I’m just trying to tell the story and make it fun, so while we were standing there feeling like losers, Sam looks at me and says “hey check it out, American Pie girl” – and to our left was Shannon Elizabeth, apparently in the same predicament we were in:

 I honestly wouldn’t have recognized her if Sam hadn’t pointed her out to me. One of the skinniest people I have ever seen. So that was fun, and then we waited, and waited, and keep in mind the cab driver is still waiting to take us back. Our spirits started to diminish as Faith No More’s start time came and went, as we knew even if we had left that second it would take us most of their set to get back and get settled. So literally after waiting for over an hour, they found our wristbands, gave us a premium parking pass and apologized profusely. NOW we were golden,but how much was this cab gonna cost? In NYC it would have been over 200 bucks easily and I was prepared for the worst, when we find out that this gentlemen was so kind to us that he turned the meter off when we got there and the fare was under 40 bucks! Sam tipped the man very well and he dropped us off behind the main stage and we used our All Access passes to catch the end of their set.
We only got to hear about 4 songs, and I felt most sad for Sam as I had just seen them and knew I’d be seeing them again this Summer, but Sam had never seen them.
Still a great fucking show – they killed, and oddly alot of people had no idea who they were.
Here’s the setlist -Reunited (Peaches and Herb cover)
From Out of Nowhere
Caffeine
We Care Alot
Last Cup of Sorrow
Ben (Michael Jackson cover)
Surprise your Dead
The Gentle Art of Making Enemies
Midlife Crisis (- this is where we came in at)
Epic
Ashes to Ashes
Just a ManSo, yes, quite disappointed, but totally fucking relieved to be inside the festival and the place was our oyster with our access passes. So we said fuck it, hopped on one of the golf carts and headed to a side stage to see Major Lazer. If you are unfamiliar, its Diplo‘s new project with a crazy reggae singer/dancer with his troupe of backup singers in booties shorts. As far as a visual it did not disappoint, and the tent they played was freaking packed.
It was nuts, with these giant Chinese New Year dragons, and the dancers were flying through the air. At point, she even climbed up this ladder and jumped into a freaking kiddie pool onstage. One of the more what the fuck moments of the festival (but their would be more).
So after that settled down, Sam and I were lamenting the events of the day and having a good time, and we are standing side-stage waiting for Les Claypool to come on. Sam works in film and knows that I am huge fan of the Police, and was telling me about his experiences working on a recent documentary on Andy Summers, when as if we had somehow summoned him, a tall figure with easy to identify, full head of gray hair walks right by us, and Sam and I look at each other like “Damn that looked like Stewart Copeland right there ironically!” – So again, I guess I was in fanboy mode on this trip as I would normally never commit what I was about to do. Having no real confidence that it was actually him, I just strolled over to where he was sitting and lo and behold, there he was. One of my biggest idols and the reason I started playing drums and was ever in a band, Stewart Fucking Copeland. As big of a dork as I could have been, I was actually alright. It felt good to be excited again and even a bit nervous. Doing what I do, you can get used to this stuff and I don’t want that. I always want to retain that feeling of excitement or otherwise I’ll just do something else. So I made some bullshit small talk, and when that ended I broke my cardinal rule and asked for a photograph and he obliged. He was sitting there with his young daughters, can you believe that I was wearing that offensive Les Savy Fav shirt?
I had forgotten for a second that he was in a band, Oysterhead, briefly was Les Claypool, to explain his attendance. The plan was to watch 30 mins of Les Claypool and his new project, the Fancy Band before heading over to the other stage to see the Dead Weather.
Les was cool, I hadn’t seen him in awhile, and his new band was as weird as you would expect. I didn’t recognize any of the songs, but what I heard was good.
Now it was time to hop back on one of the golf carts and get over to the Outdoor Theater for the Dead Weather.  To know me, is to know of my adoration for all things Jack White. I had seen this band several times already, but I was excited to see what they would do here, as most bands make this appearance unique.
The driver dropped us off behind the stage, and that was cool as I can’t complain that I’m 3 feet from Jack White’s drum set, but that’s all I could see. We try to squeeze in on this tiny ledge to the side of the stage and that’s when I learn that these bands were pulling that shit I experienced at Lollapalooza last year, where the band’s have their own stage passes, making anyone else’s worthless as far as watching side-stage. I thought that kinda shit would be below someone like Jack White, but you never know if he was even aware of it. While we were squeezing in, I saw another familiar face/drummer as I looked over and Tommy Lee was next to me, talking to Perry Farrell and his wife, and some chick with the grossest and clearly botched boob-job I’ve ever seen without the presence of mind to not be proud of them and not show them off. I don’t know if she was him or not but check this out:
Isn’t that dark? – I spoke to him briefly and I hadn’t realized that he had performed the night before as the drummer for deadmau5, until he told me.
So the show starts and I decide I wanna go out front so I can see the show proper. It was the perfect time of the night, when everyone is in full swing and the vibe is there and the Dead Weather came out and just killed. Oddly, the wind and the palm trees proved to be a perfect setting for the band and did nothing to offset their gloominess and only gave it a better place to flourish. Think about all that we had seen already and what the crowd had witnessed over the past two days, and it was understood that this was the real deal. Playing most of their debut, Whorehound and a few off their new record, their set was flawless.
During their set and while I was talking to Tommy Lee, Sam went to find his friend Nicole, who had come out from Texas for the festival, and I met back up with them towards the end of the Dead Weather. We snuck her backstage and hopped on a golf cart to go, and finally see – Devo.
I have waited a long time for this. I’ve seen tons of shows and so its not often that I get to see a band that I love for the first time, and for whatever reason, Devo had eluded me for too long. So this was my time – again, we can’t complain but we had that standing behind the stage issue again, but still happy to be there at all.
I had waited a long time for this, and it was freaking awesome! Their about as smart and as funny as you would expect. Updating their look did everything to re-establish this:

 and only made it that more awesome when they came out for the encore in their old outfits. A couple of funny things happened in between. When they were on, there was a small child asleep right by my feet (we were standing behind the drumkit) and when they came back to change into the old outfits, the guitarists was checking on the kid. When they returned after the encore, the kid was gone, and he looks at me as says “Have you seen my son?” – half joking/half serious. I told him I think his mom rescued him from the noise.

The other thing was, its become common knowledge that for whatever reason, actor Danny Devito is a fan of this type of music, namely he’s been seen at any project Mike Patton is involved in, even appearing in a Peeping Tom video, so spotting him at Coachella, is like spotting David Byrne on his bicycle if you live in NYC, its just bound to happen, and its no less a little entertaining each time. This time in particular, as he and Patton and FNM’s Tour Manager, Tim Sweetwood, were watching and grooving behind the stage next to us.
I would have liked to have seen a bit of Die Antwoord, as I just recently been turned on to them, and I saw them backstage and they looked like total freaks, but that was the only scheduling problem I had. Let’s hope tomorrow goes as smoothly. As we were leaving, Nicole takes a pic of Sam and I, and I know we were tired, but this might be the worst pic of me yet:

   We still had to get back to our original parking spot and we knew it would be hours before we could even move. We sat and and laughed for about an hour until I had remembered from being there so many times, and easier way out. We were gonna stay with some friends nearby, so that we wouldn’t have the long drive back, just to drive right back here a few hours later, but we lost touch with them. I think Sam was eager to get back too, so I hit the back way, and about two hours later we were back in Los Angeles around 4am.

Day 2

  So Sam decided not to go today as he had a bunch of stuff to do before starting the work week. He called his friend Nicole and offered her the wristband I gave him, and I was to meet her at the festival. Thank goodness, I already had my wristband, parking pass, knew the score, and all I had to do was just get back out there. Sadly, again their really weren’t any bands playing that would have really warranted this effort in my opinion, other than maybe Sly Stone, but with his reputation, I wasn’t even sure if he would show, but after all I had been through yesterday, I was going to go and enjoy the day and the pampering of the credentials. I get there and I’m parked and inside by 4pm, easy breezy. I would have liked to have seen a bit of Mayer Hawthorne after getting turned on to them at SXSW last month, but I just missed them, but I was in time to see De La Soul.
Freaking 23 years into a career that’s outlasted everybody, they rawked the main stage, showing that they’re not only showing no signs of slowing down, but that they’re in peak form. A perfect time slot for their sunny, throw-your-hands-in-the-air- vibe, MCs Kelvin (“Plug One”) Mercer and David Jude (“Plug Two”) Jolicoeur effectively played half the crowd (“Say hip-hop!”) against the other (“Say par-ty!”), dropped their hits (“Me, Myself and I”), covered Run-D.M.C., and proved an inspired choice for a Sunday Coachella afternoon.

  After they were done, I walked over to one of the side tents to see this fun couple (who actually live around the corner from me in Brooklyn) Matt &Kim, who always put on a fun show. Their music is silly and almost circus like, not anything I would ever listen to at home, but live they are always a blast. They had a huge crowd, mostly of the younger, hipster variety, but a good time was had by all:

   This is where I was to meet Nicole as well, as she had text me to let me know she had arrived right after they were done. We meet and I give her the wristband so you can come backstage, and I was starving and thankfully, the catering tent for Artists was not on the other side, but right behind the stage we were already at. A nice spread by anyone’s standards – amid hardly anyone was in there, so it was a blessing to be in the shade and comfort of a private tent having a great meal and with all the beverages we could consume. I knew this would probably be the only meal of the day so I stocked up.
Thankfully, the next three acts I wanted to see were all at that same side tent right across from the catering tent. Flagging down a backstage shuttle got to be a bit taxing the night before and I was happy to not have to do it as often. Still the big question still lingered: Would Sly Stone show up at all, and if he does, what condition will he be in? –
After eating we walked over and caught a bit of Charlotte Gainsbourg – I got her record this year, and in spite of her famous father and all the privileges she’s been given, I think she is quite talented, and to-die-for gorgeous:
I enjoyed her set way more than I thought I would. I bet it would be better in a dark night club at like 1am however. Now clearly the producers of the festival had the same amount of confidence as I did sadly about Sly Stone’s arrival – Based on his contributions, he could easily headline the mainstage, but based on his reputation, for a cracked-out no-show, they put him in a side-tent at 7pm, scheduled right after Gainsbourg. So we waited…and waited…until an announcement was made that he wouldn’t go on before anyone and would be going on after Little Boots. Here we go, I thought – so we had some time to kill, so we headed over to the backstage compound behind the mainstage. It is literally paradise back there, with sculpted grounds, a man-made lake and a swimming hole and a nature walk. Just the thing to literally get away from it all. How spoiled are these fuckers? but that’s why playing here has the prestige that it does. I show Nicole around a bit, and they were consistently out of beer. I made a joke openly about it and after everyone laughed this guy kept bugging me to take my picture. I didn’t mind so I have no idea why I look so pissed here:
     We waited…and waited…and waited. Until now another announcement was made that “Sly didn’t like this stage and insisted on playing in the tent adjacent to this one” – whatever, this is getting browner by the minute. I waited another 45mins and during that time was when we lost her friend, and then briefly I lost her. When she returned we went over to the stage where Sly Stone had supposedly switched to and their was no sign of him. We still had an hour before Gorillaz were going on, and I did want to see Plastikman, and we were at the stage where he was about to begin.
These DJ’s have really upped their game to make it a visual experience and really give people something to look at:

 Which is important because unless the DJ is someone like Rob Swift, or a turntablist doing tricks, their really isn’t much to look at. This one was exceptional, as in like pioneering so. The giant cage opens and with the visuals it starts to look like its transforming into a monster’s mouth – opening and closing. I was cold sober and it was freaking me out, Nicole’s troublesome friend, had taken god-knows-what earlier and was clearly overwhelmed.
We left the set just a bit early so we could get a beer and get in position for Gorillaz. As you may know they have this rule that you can’t drink outside the designated areas in the general population. I could have just gone backstage, but I actually hadn’t walked the grounds yet and it was the last band on the last day and I felt like I was being snobby and missing the atmosphere. We grabbed drinks as they started and we were in the beer garden next to the stage, so we just said fuck it and stayed there as that was probably the best view we were gonna get. To be honest, though I find the Gorillaz to be interesting, I really couldn’t have cared less. Our obstructed view kinda cost us the visual element that is so important to their performances, but we had a good time and it was a good show. I only know the singles, and I know that one features De La Soul, so I had a good mind to think that we would get something special and hear that song performed live and with De La. And that’s exactly what happened:

…and that was just the beginning – of course this festival is famous and carries the prestige that it does because bands will make their appearances here legendary (unless your the Cure) and though I had previously underestimated this show, this proved to be one of the most epic in the festival’s history.  I learned that their set was marked by a lot of firsts. It was their first live performance in five years, the first time they had the Clash’s Mick Jones and Paul Simonon (in sailor suits, too) on stage with them and the first time they didn’t perform backlit behind a giant screen. Then out-came freaking Bobby Womack!

Little Dragon’s Swedish-Japanese vocalist Yukimi Nagano crept up onstage during Empire Ants also marking her first live performance with the band. I even saw Flea, who performed with Thom Yorke an hour prior, rocking out in front of us. Just an awesome, unbelievable show. I always thought Damon Albarn was overrated, now I’m not so sure 🙂
After they played I started hearing stories about what actually happened with Sly Stone – and this story got national attention so you may have heard about it, but in case you didn’t – what I am about to unfold is seriously the brownest shit I’ve ever heard. Keep in mind, I didn’t see any of it (their was a Twitter update saying Sly Stone – Mojave Tent 10:45pm – but I was getting zero service out there) as per the story I had given up on Stone, but I saw the Youtube video so it can’t be disputed. Like you knew that if he showed at all, it could have been dark, but no one could have predicted just how much this person has no business walking around unassisted in regular society, let alone performing on one of the biggest stages in the world. I blame his handlers for being greedy to push him out there, and it was sad and downright disturbing to see the video and hear what had gone down. Between the video and stories I heard here is what happened:” He came out in a blonde-and-black streaked wig and a navy cop’s outfit (complete with badge) and black sequined smoking jacket.
He then launched into a diatribe about a lawsuit against his former manager, Jerry Goldstein, saying, “I didn’t know I was being stolen from,” as well as something about now being able to buy his own shoes. Then he sat down on the edge of the stage and sang a preview of a new song – which ended when he rolled back and laid down on the stage.
Things started looking up when he got through most of “Dance to the Music.” Then his keyboard when awry. The band immediately kicked into “I Want to Take You Higher.” Then he walked to the front of the stage and fell on his face into the photo pit and was carried out after less than 30 mins.”
And that was that – another Coachella down, this one seemed to go by super fast. I said goodbye to Nicole and her intoxicated friend and headed for the car and back to Los Angeles. Maybe I’ll make it number 8 next year 🙂
Photographers:

Roy Turner

SXSW 2010 w/ Man or Astroman? Les Savy Fav, Andrew W.K. & more (March/2010)

Sun: March 14th –

No rest for the wicked as they say, after recovering from the Flaming Lips blowout just the night before in Denton, I was now on my way to Austin. Now normally I don’t go quite this early as the music part of the conference doesn’t officially begin till this Wednesday and that’s when I normally get here. However their’s always stuff going on throughout and my reason for coming this early was: If you had to ask me out of all the bands I love that have broken up who would I most cherish see getting back together (within reason) who would it be? Well I have been very blessed in the last few years as the impossible happened with the Police reuniting and then the ultimate hell freezing over of Van Halen reuniting with David Lee Roth. So who’s left? Well, if the Pixies can do it, so can anyone right (except probably the Talking Heads). Well one of my all-time faves and perhaps my favorite band of the 1990s, Man or Astroman were reforming and even though they were scheduled to play two more times, I didn’t wanna miss the first (or any) show.
Besides a few warmup shows in their hometown of Birmingham, AL this was their first shows as MOA since the legendary Day of All Human Reckoning event they staged ironically here in Austin almost ten years ago (I attended that shit too)
So I don’t know the reason behind the reunion other than maybe just a desire to play, but didn’t really care as this was a chance to be a fan for once and have a good time.
I finally roll into town and am starving so I park next to the Mohawk where the show is happening and walk to find some food (and I see a line already forming around the building) and go to the burrito truck next to the Red-Eyed Fly. I grab some food and sit at the picnic table and immediately start chatting with the dude sitting next to me. As fate would have it, he was Kurt from Flosstradamus, we knew some of the same people and he was performing at the Mohawk right after MOA. We became fast friends and he walked me in so I wouldn’t have to deal with the line (thanks Kurt).

Austin’s The Octopus Project were opening, and they are pretty interesting. Their singer, who’s babe-ship has clearly come in, her act seemed persnickety and contrived however. I was ready to flame out fucking fanboy style for the Astro as I had already bought a t-shirt before they even came on.
The show starts and I’m clearly not the only one that was anticipating this, this much.

 I was freaking out and the crowd was right with it. The brought up the before-mentioned singer for the Octopus Project and Coco joked about being upstaged by her till he did this:

I was pissing myself, it was so awesome! So glad to have them back. One criticism I could offer however is that they said it was the original lineup, but I don’t remember what Birdstuff (drummer) looked like, nor do I remember him doing this: – this show was awesome but about every third song the drummer would come out from the kit, totally break character, commandeer the mic from the singer (much to the singer’s surprise and seemingly embarrassment) and launch into some pompous, mean-spirited blip directed at anybody’s guess, that sounded like two dude’s at Pitchfork arguing over who is more vegan. Sometimes it was funny but overall he just looked like a dickhead begging for attention.
Kurt from earlier was so cool, that though I was tired and had a long week ahead, I was totally gonna check his show out, and I’m glad I did. I have my own little DJ act and so I’m interested regardless and felt like I learned alot by watching. These guys were incredible.
Afterwards I was still pretty wired so I walked over to the Geobash and to familiarize myself with this year’s Pure Volume House. I may look back one day on the flyer below and regret not staying but for now, I had already had a long weekend, a long day, and one hell of a week to come.

Wed Mar 17th –

So I sleep pretty late when I should have got up earlier to hit registration. After leaving the Convention Center I swung by Emo’s to check out the first of many Brooklyn Vegan parties, this one with Fucked Up and the GZA. As I mentioned in a previous blog about my previous trials with the GZA this was yet another entry as their was a sign on the door saying “GZA has canceled”. Their was still a line out the door but now I was annoyed and a bit hungry. I hook up with Sarah as I had an invite to something that contained to of my deepest passions: crawfish and hip-hop – It was a free crawfish boil that was hosted by J Boogie (DJ-The Jungle Brothers). And I was in a hip-hop vibe in anticipation for the GZA before his bullshit canceled. It was a bit far, we had to drive, so we head on over and the shit was on. In maybe not the most practical locations but the food was fantastic and J was rawking some deep reggae stuff and their was some local micro-brewery getting everbody green beer (it was St. Patrick’s Day). It was a blast, we left with our ears ringing and a good late afternoon beer buzz, but what we didn’t leave with was our stomachs full, as good as the food was their wasn’t enough of it, so we were still hungry and hungry for more of the same.
Luckily we were in Austin as I’ve written before a destination for me that I try to hit on every visit to Austin is the Boiling Pot on 6th St right by I35. The shit is to die for! So I said let’s finish what we started and we went and ate till we could barely walk!
I knew I was missing a little mini 80’s hair metal festival (you know how I love those) up the street with Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns, and the Lynch Mob – but I had a feeling I would see those bands again (more on this later 🙂 but I wanted to get there in time to see Razr 13. I would have totally overlooked the name and might have even left if I had gone earlier after the Lynch Mob, only to kick myself later as I was reading in the Austin Chronicle that Razr 13 was the new project from Doug Pinnick from King’s X. Doug is one of my all-time inspirations so I was eager to check this out, so we finally finished eating and headed over there.
This was part of a week-long thing called the Texas Rockfest that I had also booked some Trickykid bands to play as well the next day so I also wanted to check out the grounds.
We get there after they had already started and keep in mind I knew nothing about this band other than Doug was in the band. The songs weren’t bad if a bit amateurish as compared to the musicianship one normally equates with Pinnick, but even more striking was the how they looked. I didn’t get the greatest shot but one dude looks like he just got out of the penn after 30 years, covered in scary biker tattoos and one other dude looked like a rocker version of King Kong Bundy.
The sound was more of an updated neu-metal sound that wasn’t bad but seemed like a step back for Doug instead of step forward.

  It was around this time I was informed that I had just missed Motorhead again. They were playing about two miles away and normally I am on top of these things but how could I have let this slip by? I knew that they shows were in promotion on a documentary about their infamous singer, simply titled Lemmy. 
This was also one of those nights were, no matter what you do or who you are, their will be one night during SXSW where you just can’t get into anything.
Sadly this was the first night and it seemed like this was gonna be one of those nights. Their was a killer showcase at Stubb’s with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings and Broken Bells – no dice – then we wandered over to Red 7 to see the comedian Brian Posehn and Voivod – same shit.
Its not like this a dead town or a dead festival, usually you have to choose between awesome stuff, and this was no exception as we headed to the IAMSound Records party for a great show with Salem and Sleigh Bells, as well as Little Boots was DJ’n. This is always one of the better parties and I try not to miss it each year. I have been wanting to see Salem for two years, after I stumbled upon their album in a record store in Canada, it was called Yes, I Smoke Crack – Clearly the band for me. And they did not disappoint, just so fucking weird and dark. It reminded me of this dude Odd Nosdam, that Mike Patton collaborated with recently.

For me, besides business, the real deal is to catch the newer, younger bands. Its cool, going to see your favorites but I would rather gamble on going to see some bands I haven’t seen yet, and this one paid off. Both bands were really great and I wanted to try to catch them again during the festival. Afterwards we swung by the Pure Volume House since we were close to find out who the “Special 3am Guest” was. It looked like a warzone by the door and someone said the guest was Jakob Dylan – all this for that dude? Didn’t something happen? Did he come out or something? Was he gonna do a duet with Lance Bass? I wasn’t sticking around to find out so if my predictions came true, please email me to tell me that I am truly a prophet.Thurs Mar 18th – Day 5

So after another full morning of meetings on no sleep, my usual prioritizing of food over music was taking hold once again. However I wasn’t gonna miss Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings again, so I opted to go to Kabobalicious or whatever its called and actually while standing in line to see them at the Mohawk. How’s that for multi-tasking? – Sharon and the gang were the shit as usual – who cares that it was 3pm and like 1000 degrees outside, she brings it everytime, just the real deal in every sense.

  I had taken refuge like I usually do at the Levi’s Fader Fort. Sucks that its been across the freeway the last few years, but its worth the walk as you can depend on it as a place where you can sit down, grab a free beer, use the bathroom in reasonable time, and they even have a free internet café and reading room with obviously free copies of the Fader. When you have all of this going on, this is a god-send that I take full advantage of every year.
After these two sets I grabbed a beer and sat down and checked email for a bit when holy shit, sitting right across from me was Doug Pinnick. As I previously mentioned I had seen Razr 13 just the night before and he and I spoke briefly (he and I have been friendly over the years, but I’m still a total King’s X fag). I never fan-out and still didn’t this time but it was so cool to be able to speak with someone you have admired so highly for so long and be very frank and candid with them. We even talked business and the possibility of King’s X doing some shows with one of our bands, I was literally shitting myself. He informed me that their was another Razr 13 show that night and personally invited me. For me that’s about as cool as it gets.
I leave the Fort and walk across the street to the Sweet Leaf Party as the GZA was scheduled to go on at 7pm. I knew this idiot was gonna be late and I don’t even know why I bother with this clown, and frankly since it was across the street was probably what got me there.
I get over there and 7pm becomes 8pm and then we start hearing that he had canceled another show at the Iheartcomix Party earlier that day. Is this loser even in Austin? That’s two cancellations so far, but the guy over the PA is assuring us that he is coming. While I’m waiting I also learn that the surprise guest at the IFC House is the Sword and I’m fucking missing them yet again! It would have taken too long to get over there and since I had already waited an hour for the GZA I was determined to see it through.
Finally after a 90 min. delay, the hypemen come out to start the show. However one of them is plugging some solo LP of his coming out and he was straight up whack, just awful. How dare the GZA after all he just put us through make us sit thru a 3-song set of this trash? I was gonna shit in my hand and sling it at this guy. Finally the GZA walks out and starts with Life of a Drug Dealer and the place goes off. However, again the energy peaked around this first song. I guess since this was a free show, (I’m sure HE was still getting paid) he just didn’t give a fuck. He would rhyme a couple of lines and then go hang by the DJ while the hypemen (who sucked) would lead the show, you could even see him back there checking his Blackberry, during the songs!
One cool thing happened was I was at least fortunate to be standing side-stage and I look over and out to the crowd and realize that Bill Murray has been standing next to me this whole time. I’m not one of those Wes Anderson fags, but Bill Murray is still rad and despite already knowing of their pairing in Coffee and Cigarettes how cool is this that he’s checking this out? Would you expect anything less from him? I wonder if he was thinking that this was the worst performance he’s ever seen as well?

So how do I follow that up? By going to see Man or Astroman again – That’s what’s so great about this festival, its just the best of everything, and I love having a few days where the only real decisions that I have that are pressing is BBQ or music? – Do I wanna dance or do I wanna rawk? – Onward.
I get over to Club Deville which is right next door to the Mohawk where it sounded like the GZA was taking his next bow of shame followed by the most hyped band of the conference; the XX. Everytime I turned around their they were – they were everywhere! So the line stretched into the line I was in for MOA.
I finally get inside and after several delays – the transmission begins –
This show had a completely different feel to it than Sunday’s. This one was dirty – I don’t know if it was the crowd or the venue or the late hour (almost 1am) but it was just rowdy- violent almost. Their were several stop-starts, and system malfunctions. They never lost the crowd but these people just seemed to be looking for a fight, that was only exacerbated by once again the drummer, frequently coming out behind the drums to talk shit (about whom was unclear) only to leave their singer to disclaim with apologies right after. Still a great performance and I loved every second of it, but after I felt like I had just seen the Ramones, instead of Man or Astroman.
So now with the late hour approaching everybody was looking for the party. You could feel it in the air, not so much the need to see a specific band as much as a need just to keep the party going (at all costs). Prime example would be that when I got to the Pure Volume House, you would have thought that the Smiths had reformed and the only thing was inside was freaking Andrew W.K. (who..let’s be fair throws quite the party as I was soon to find out…which is perfect for people…like I said..that were looking to party).
I’m not kidding, I had never seen such chaos, apparently their was some confusion with which passes were good for which night, that the door people didn’t even know so the bouncers were just letting the girls they liked in. Just total clusterfuck. I didn’t care enough so I walked down the alley looking for something else, when I see an old acquaintance who is actually working the show (lucky break) and he’s walking Walter Schrefels from Rival Schools (who are about to go on and my reason for going there) in through the back and waves me over to join. Nice one Hank- Much appreciated.
So I poke my head out from the little make-shift backstage thing and see there’s no one really at the party and that’s when I hear the story that explains why soooo many people were outside: Apparently dude from Gym Class Heroes was DJ’n on stage and invited a bunch of people to come dance and the stage collapsed and so they had to evacuate. I’m a lucky dude for missing all that shit, but like I said earlier, their was something hostile in the air all night everywhere.
So Rival School just said fuck it and played on the floor while the drummer and the amps were still on the broken parts:

  That hostile vibe was still rawking – maybe it was the free Taco Bell? – but I went out to the side patio to have a smoke and I run into my buddy Nate, and as we are talking, the table next to us is being overturned by some huge fight that just broke out – what the fuck is going on tonight??
We needed some positivity, we needed to get a party started, conveniently, Andrew W.K. came to our rescue.

Fri Mar 19th – Day 6

I had some time to kill and didn’t feel like walking back across and again my beloved Fader Fort was next door, so I went over there where I could get something to drink and better phone reception. I was undertaking the task of securing equipment for my Ween hermano Claude Coleman Jr, in time for his impending arrival with his solo outfit, Trickykid artists – Amandla, in a few days. While there I got to check out a bit of Marina & the Diamonds, who I actually really enjoyed. (and not just because she is like crazy, stupid, oh my gawd hot).

They were running waaay behind so I decided to go ahead and check out what was sure to be the cluster of all fucks of the conference, as every year (usually on the Friday) they always have a hugely popular band play at Stubb’s (last year they had Metallica for christsakes) and this year it was Muse.
And I see Mischa Barton.

 Headed back across the freeway for my third Man or Astroman show of the week. This was the best of the three. I guess they hit a stride from playing all week and/or wanted to go out with a bang as it were, but this was the most inspired of the three. It still didn’t exclude the pudgy drummer from trying to derail things with his silly, confrontational rants. If this tub of shit came at me I would just hurl powdered donuts at him:

But the other guys came to play and put on a great show, and when it ended I felt sad, now not having the comfort of knowing if and when I would see them again.
So this long day was believe it or not still had about eight more hours to go and it was after 10pm already. The endurance trial that is SXSW, but think of all I’ve already seen and now the countdown to Les Savy Fav later that night was just beginning. I still had some time and since I’ve been kinda staying at one place most of the week, this was my night to bounce around.
Then I shot over to where the old Fader Fort used to be to catch the end of particularly rowdy set from the Death Set. There shows are always nuts, just a great bunch of young guys that don’t give a fuck. They kinda hit my anti-hipster buttons at times, but they are so raw and have been consistently good everytime I’ve seen them.
And nowwww, it was time to get serious – seriously fucking crazy, it was time for the mighty Les Savy Fav and of course of all the venues in Austin, they were befittingly playing this seedy back patio joint that you had to enter through this gross alley to get to. For me, the anticipation was high, I should have felt burnt out by the events of the day, but I was totally energized and I wasn’t alone. You could feel the buildup as people started making their way to the front, and pretty soon, you couldn’t even move your feet and this was before they had even played a note. Now, you probably know the drill, or have seen the band, or if you read this blog heard me lament their legendary live show time and again, and its always this: How are they gonna top that shit I saw last time? – and the answer in its simplest form is that it always does and it usually reveals itself in the first ten minutes. The pressure is so large and looming you actually feel it yourself and are convinced that frontman Tim Harrington must be feeling it too, and if he is, he uses it as motivation because I’ve seen them alot of times and this was, even by their standards one of their most unique shows. I’m certain that Harrington hadn’t planned any of this it just fucking happens, and it happens everytime.
Harrington came out to check his microphone and wound up staying on stage to just chat with the audience. At first he told us how his dad suggested a joke to open the set with: “down here you guys have longhorns (makes UT hand sign), but up in NYC we have a unicorn (flips off audience).” Then he poked fun at the industry-nature of SXSW by rattling off a list of fake places they were going to play later in the week and imploring us to come see them again because they felt certain they were “really about to break.” After a few more minutes of poking fun at everything from himself to the long list of sponsors on the SXSW banner (“We’re really thrilled to have Chevy involved in this…”) he launches into the opening parts of In these Woods and then the band kicks in and the place fucking EXPLODES!!
Harrington was all over the place as usual, and fucking with anything that came in his path, and really the only thing there was to fuck with was the lights that flanked each side of the stage. It didn’t take long for him to realize that they could be easily unplugged and that’s when inspiration truly struck. He was fending off his bandmates who were looking on in horror telling them to “relax..let’s take our time, I have a mood to create” haha
Things were about to get really crazy – Once the lights were out, a few fans threw glow sticks on stage, which Tim promptly picked them up, tore them open with his mouth and naturally dumped its contents all over himself – he could NOT have planned this!

They made it through a few more songs, including new material from the their forthcoming new LP Root for Ruin, as well as a Silver Jews cover. From memory I remember:

In these Woods
Pills
The Equestrian
Patty Lee
Raging in the Plague Age
Yawn Yawn Yawn

And as if shit couldn’t get any crazier (or weirder) it takes the lights off again, this time leaving the place in total darkness to finish with the most fuck-shit-up version of The Sweat Descends. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face and just had to rely on the energy of the movement and the insanity that was happening on stage. One of the wildest and weirdest nights from one of the wildest and weirdest bands.

You would think that would be the end, but Harrington comes back out (its now like five minutes to 2am) and tries to get something going but the venue cuts his mic, so he improvises by leading the crowd in an accapella version of One Way Window before it seemed like everyone (including the band) was asked to leave. Just fucking epic.
Ok, so now if you are reading this, are you like “Roy, go the fuck home already” ? I would be too, but alas I was in the mood to take it as far as I could.
As I had mentioned earlier, as this time of the night people are dying to get there hands on anything to keep the party going and they also seek exclusivity. It seems to make them feel special somehow, like everyone else has to follow the 2am curfew but we however are cool enough to be above that. So if you throw something exclusive, after-hours and reputable at them? Holy shit, you will have a riot on your hands, and that’s just what I was walking into.
First of all, I was so hyped from the Les Savy Fav show, I had the bright idea to walk the 15 or so blocks over to the campus where this party was happening at some hippie co-op joint that could only exist in Austin, that was promising an unthinkable 3am set from Andrew W.K.
Fuck it, let’s do it – I wish I had better photos of this because I can’t even begin to illustrate the carnage that besieged this apartment complex. Apparently there was this recreational style room upstairs that could hold about 400 people and that’s where the show was gonna go down. All it did was just illuminate the inner narcissist of everyone there. People were fighting, scraping, even taking huge safety risks in scaling this building to get up there…all not to see the show, but to be able to say they saw the show. It was ridiculous and they only thing I can think of as to why I stuck around was because I had walked so far and was mesmerized by the shallowness. There is alot more to say as people were at serious risk, as there were fights everywhere, and people throwing beer bottles down on to the people below. Those few that lived there that deemed themselves in charge were just as laughable. Just like the cop that’s never had any authority was now gonna abuse it. This coming from these silly hippies that would be the first to tell you how much they hate cops were acting just like one by getting off on telling people who could come up and who couldn’t like some velvet rope for Hare Krishnas.

I’m embarrassed to tell you that one of these fucks actually recognized me from being part of the Ween crew and welcomed me with open arms and started singing Ocean Man loudly in my ear. How fucking embarrassing –  I just smiled and said thanks as I breezed past these people that were literally begging me to take me with them upstairs.
3am became 4am and finally as I was gonna leave around 430am here comes Andrew W.K. – I can’t even tell you how weird, but yet awesome this was. This was the real deal, off the beaten path and legit as fuck. The sound was about as shitty as if they were playing the toy aisle with equipment they sold there at Toys R Us, and also maybe because I think that this was like Andrew’s freaking fifth show that day – but he didn’t show any signs of fatigue, nor did the crowd as they lost their shit, and their was a vibe of “I’m at the party everyone will be talking about tomorrow feel”. I could give a shit about stuff like that but I was feeding of the crowd and how liberating the whole thing felt. But I was still smart to hang in the back 🙂

 The set was only 30 mins but that was more than enough, it was like a firecracker that keep exploding for thirty straight minutes. This time I wised up, grabbed a cab and headed to my hotel.

Sat Mar 20th –

So after the unmatched insanity of last night, I slept as long as I could. I had some more things to do to get ready for Trickykid Day at Cheapodiscs the next day so I kinda ran out of the shower and off I went. Now, when I left I noticed that it felt significantly colder than it did just yesterday or what it would normally be. Usually its already sweltering, and so naturally I didn’t pack anything that would really combat this issue. By the time I got downtown, I was freezing, and I noticed something that I have never seen in Austin, TX before: snow and ice – can you believe it? In Austin, in March? Apparently it had snowed that morning and it was around 4pm and the temperature had dropped to 19 degrees. Now I know I live in NYC, but I HATE cold, despise it with every fiber in my being. And if my hotel wasn’t so far away, I would have just gone back to bed and said fuck it. Sucks that this was happening on the last day of the festival. Even more depressing was that everything I had planned for the day was outside – there was no escape from it.
After my meetings the first thing I did was go over to Rachael Ray‘s party – to accomplish two things: a) to eat that good food – b) to be just another dork there to gawk at Zooey Deschanel and her band She & Him. I DJ’d Rachael’s party a few years back and I know that if you want to eat you gotta get there early, but the cold had a hand in the attendance so there was plenty of food for me when I got there.
Poor Zooey, you could tell that she wasn’t (like me) prepared for this unbearable cold and she would candidly between songs say “My god, its freezing”
Hey at least she looked good:)

…and sadly that’s all she could do, and thank goodness she has her acting and modeling career, and good for her for trying, but music just isn’t gonna be her thing. It was probably exactly what you were expecting – high profile actress using her connections to play a huge venue to sensitive indie-rock guys and girls that quote Rushmore that will claim the music was brilliant. It was not brilliant – it was as about as flaccid and uninteresting as it could be. She sings nice, and it’s a pleasant affair, but its nothing anyone should take seriously. It will get way more attention that it deserves and for all the wrong reasons.
So I leave there and it looks like I’m basically following Andrew W.K. around or vice versa (and not with much luck so its good that I wasn’t) cause I just missed him before She & Him and as I walk back across the freeway I just missed him again. This guy was everywhere.
The main thing I was missing was my jacket and pretty soon my will to live, it was so cold! – I’m not ashamed to admit this but there was nowhere to hide so I went into survival mode and actually took a couple of long spells hiding in the Port-a-Shitters just to stay warm and to block the wind. Yes, I would rather smell copious amounts of other people’s shit than be this cold.
I should have just gone back to the hotel…and what? miss GWAR? Not a chance – Like this week couldn’t have gotten any crazier 🙂 I haven’t seen GWAR since I was a teenager, and its a great show, but for me, it gets old quick. Like the fourth time I’m hit with fake blood, I’ve had my fill, but who can’t get it up for GWAR? I know I can.
I just wish they were passing out blankets and cocoa, instead of fake dismemberments. It really is a site that even if you have seen it before is still pretty staggering to see, not to mention freaking awesome.
It was funny because as they were pummeling the crowd with the music and the blood the wind would sweep through and blow the blood back on to them.
They did the bit about making fun of the music industry (naturally) that ended with the sacrifice of Lady Gaga. It really had to be seen to be believed.

 

So I think by choosing this over the Perez Hilton party (like there was any doubt) I believe I made the right choice haha. This was confirmed as after this I walked by that party and the line seemed to stretch to Louisiana. I was on my way to something that I had been anticipating all week (and sadly it was outside too, and it was actually getting COLDER). The Red Bull Hip-Hop party with some of my all-time favorite DJ’s and MCs. I get there in time to see the end of the Juan Maclean
and up next is Cut Chemist from the J5 crew. Straight up, I’m a total hip-hop guy, surely not of the baggy pants, sports jersey, pimp swagger foolishness, but I love this shit and primarily the old school guys and the real deal DJs. CC is an amazing performer and his set was mind-boggling. I was so cold, I wanted to dance to warm up, but I could barely move. They had this great projection screen setup with super close camera angles so you could really see what he was doing, and with these kinda DJs that’s what you want really.

 

Up next was one of the baddest DJs to ever to do it and one of the main reasons why I started, DJ Jazzy Jeff. Cmon..you know this dude, you could sing the theme to Fresh Prince of Bel Air right now, no problem. Jeff is the man, in my mind he, Kool Herc and Jam-Master-Jay started turntablism. So I was super pumped about getting to see him in action. My man was so cold, he kept rubbing his hands together between scratches to stay warm. This was a full-on party. He played all the old school joints you wanted to hear and presented them in an entirely new way. Exactly what a DJ is supposed to do.

 

I went to the back in hopes that the bodies in front of me would block the deadly wind. It was fucking freezing, but it really was a beautiful night, and Jazzy was so great I actually forgot I was cold for a sec and took in the scene.

 

   Now another amazing DJ, Z-Trip was supposed to close and I know that he had to cancel so I thought that Jazzy was the last to go on, but then we realize that Z-Trip’s replacement is freaking Mos Def. This guy has a swagger that is his, and his alone. I’ve had many candid experiences with Mos Def in recent years and he’s always on, always funny, and has an air of confidence that is piercing. Not douchy like Kanye, more like Ali, with not as much bragging.
From the opening line of the way he spoke-not shouted “How yall feeling this evening?” it was suddenly his show. In recent years he’s becoming as known for his humor as much as his music, and you could tell this was very last minute, off-the-cuff style as it just seemed like he found an hour ago that he was gonna be performing, but instead of looking or seeming unprofessional or unprepared, the spontaneity was the charm of the show. He talked alot, and fucked with the crowd a bunch, and mainly stuck to recent songs, but it felt intimate and was really fun.

 

It was now after 1am and what you ask, what could you possibly have let to do sir? Well it was technically the last night so would there be a better way to go out with a bang than to head to Vice‘s annual conference closing party, headlined by Les Savy Fav (and did I mention it was indoors, and only two blocks away?).
I get there and the line is already formed and its not moving. You never know at this party who is going on when, so I just wanted to get in and get settled. The cold made me impatient, so I became one of those leeches that just kinda hangs by the front door, thinking this is gonna get you in faster, and I would never endorse this, but my friend from Vice spots me (and she wouldn’t have in my previous location) whispers in my ear that they are at capacity and not letting anyone else in, probably for the rest of the night, and to follow her. Perfect timing cause as soon as I grabbed a drink and went to the bathroom the Fav were setting up.
Now I knew that this was not their show, so it would be an abbreviated version, but we are taking about Les Savy Fav, hell the Dwarves can accomplish in 15 mins what most bands can’t in two hours.
Tim Harrington comes out wearing an evil-grinning rabbit mask, which, he explained, belonged to the US government and had been given to him by a guy from NASA who was interviewing rock bands about the moon, as the band launches into Pills. This show got rowdy in a hurry – the set was almost identical as last night’s except a new song Let’s Get Out of Here – and this time they played their legendary show-closing anthem Who Rocks the Party? and as you can imagine, the place totally lost their shit, as I did right along with them. Harrington losing the mic after the first verse, then dragging a table into the crowd and singing from atop it with the crowd a total dancing shouting mess at this point. And like last night, he led the crowd to the opening rap of One Way Window before they cut his mic. Just freaking incredible.

 

Between sets this great DJ, Jason Toubin, was spinning all these great obscure soul jams from an impressive collection of 45s he had, that turned the place into a dancing speakeasy right out of Dirty Dancing. I stayed and danced for a bit, but it was now close to 4am so I head for the door. Something funny happened as I was waiting for a cab (they are not easy to catch at 4am like they are in NYC…I was about to co-miserate this fact with some familiar faces) as I’m standing there I can hear voices behind me and realize that Tim and the gang are now competing with me for a cab. I thought I was having trouble, Tim is not only a portly, balding weirdo, but he’s wearing this hideous (on purpose) all-over shaw that even he can barely keep a straight face while wearing. I concede as the next cab pulls up as their are five of them and one of I, but not before we all had some fun, lamenting the lack of public transportation in this town.