#Festivals

Celebrate Brooklyn Festival + Cibo Matto Returns & More (July/2011)

Celebrate Brooklyn Festival w/ Raekwon – Prospect Park – July 9th – Brooklyn, NY

The Prospect Park Bandshell is probably the best place to catch a hip-hop show in the New York City summer. Yes, you’re going to have to stand in a line that stretches beyond the park’s BBQs and jugglers to get a metal detector wand waved in front of you, but well worth it.

 

 

 

 

Raekwon‘s hourlong headlining set, however, made no concessions to anybody—
The night went essentially like this: one verse, one chorus, annoying explosion sound, flighty banter—repeat approximately 22 times in a mere hour His DJ dropped manic fragments of old-school rap songs as Rae blurred past his 90-second rhyme sprees, burning through song after song after song—new ones, old ones, shit off Immobility that you totally forgot existed, he had even more that he wanted to do until he was cut off by the 10:30 curfew.

At one point, he asked the crowd if they liked where hip-hop was going, which was received with a resounding “boooooo.” Thankfully, he assured us all, “Rae ain’t going nowhere. Rae right here with a new pair of sneakers.”

Set list:

C.R.E.A.M.
Can It Be All So Simple?
Da Mystery Of Chessboxin’
Glaciers Of Ice
Ice Cream
Surgical Gloves
Gihad
Criminology
Verbal Intercourse
Shimmy Shimmy Ya
Your Beef Is Mine
Heaven & Hell
Rainy Dayz
10 Bricks
About Me
Yae Yo
Broken Safety
Rock N Roll
Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta Fuck Wit
Shaolin Vs. Wu-Tang
Incarcerated Scarfaces
Triumph

A great relaxing day in the sun – I had been telling her about the park, and showed her aroundand we walked around and ate at one of the great sidewalk cafés’ in the neighborhood.
Since Brooklyn was the theme of the day, I suggested we check out this party in Brooklyn, Nancoteque that I’ve hearing so much about.
We managed to have a good time, but I wouldn’t go back. Got raked over the coals by the door-chick and it just wasn’t what they were advertising and all in all pretty lame.

Cibo Matto – Brooklyn Bowl – July 12th – Brooklyn, NY

One of the best nights of my life, we had just come from eating at the Dressler, which was one of the best meals/experiences of her being here, and I couldn’t begin to exaggerate my anticipation for this show. I’ve been waiting so long for this.
I was fortunate to see a pair of “soft” reunions within days of each other earlier this year to benefit the relief efforts in Japan after a devastating earthquake, where they quickly assembled a played 3-4 songs as a part of a revue. But tonight was going to be the real deal and I didn’t get to see Cibo Matto back in the day, and in the 12 years since they broke up, I think I’ve listen to their music every single day, I’m an obsessed crazy fan of theirs and I love it.
I wasn’t the only one excited, the air was tense with excitement and though Erin didn’t know anything about them previously other than what I had been schooling her on, she’s real good about feeding off of and supporting my excitement.
While Miho Hitori addressed the showgoers, it was apparent that these folks were already keyed in and ready to have a good time.

 

 

   They began their set with Beef Jerky as the audience and I sang along with every word and truly began to groove out. I was fully losing it the whole time and especially when I heard the opening notes to Sugar Water. Miho’s voice was instantly hypnotic as the sway and bounce of the track dripped effortlessly throughout the performance. The sweetly alluring performance of Moonchild with Miho’s vocals backed by surprise guest Sean Lennon.

Miho and Yuka performed two new songs as well, Tenth Floor Ghost Girl and Check-In. Considering that both tracks are indicative of the future of Cibo Matto and their new sound, they were surprisingly quite modern without the loss of the duo’s edge, which is exciting about their upcoming album. After almost an hour of play, they attempted to close out their set only to return for an encore after a most raucous and spirited bout of applause and cheers – and Miho is still so freaking hot.

Setlist:

Beef Jerky
Le Pain Perdu
Sugar Water
Spoon
BBQ
Moonchild (with Sean Lennon)
Tenth Floor Ghost Girl
Sci-Fi Wasabi
Check In
Birthday Cake

Encore:

Blue Train
Know Your Chicken

SXSW 2011: The Parties – Perez Hilton, Village Voice, Fader, Spin & Vice Bring the Noise

So now getting into my fourth day at SXSW and its usually around this time that I’ve only slept for a few hours a day and surviving on free bbq and beer, and with constant ringing in my ear, my ability to absorb much more becomes a bit cynical haha.

 

Perez Hilton One Night In Austin

Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton drew a huge crowd for his annual SXSW show at the new ACL Live venue Saturday night.
I was here for one reason only & that was to se Taylor Momsen & the Pretty Reckless. I had caught her live a few times already and she is the real deal. Forget all that shit about her being an actress that is trying to sing, this is where she belongs & will be so from now on.

Taylor Momsen

Village Voice Showcase – Austin Music Hall

I got there pretty early (around 7pm) and the place was already a madhouse of people swarming to get in. This was one of the most anticipated showcases of the entire festival. I go up and get my credentials that thankfully (and I don’t care about being pampered and all that shit) gave me access to a private room with a nice bathroom, couches, earplugs and free booze, cause this place was like the fraternity in Animal House.

After taking advantage of that situation I went out to the main room to check out Wild Flag that couldn’t possible have lived up to their hype. The band is made up of key members of Sleater-Kinney and the Jicks, and while I’m a fan of both of those bands, and clearly I’m not the only one feeling the absence of SK, but you would think that Led Zeppelin had re-formed with the press they have been getting. So, either their following was far more dedicated than I realized, or they have a killer PR team – and with singer Carrie Brownstein post SK foray into journalism, I’m thinking that she knows just how to get it done.
Regardless, they were pretty good and exactly what you think it would sound like, the songs that Brownstein sung for SK, not an antithesis of Black Flag.

Wild Flag

 

–  Fishbone who was up next (and probably the act I was looking the most to seeing)  probably played for less time than it took to set up all their horns and the Theramin-in-a-suitcase. Lead singer Angelo Moore, was behind the stacks wearing an Andy Warhol wig and practicing his cartwheels, so this was gonna be as nuts as he is and I was getting excited but were taking forever. 
With the crowd getting antsy, they sent out comedian Donald Glover (who I had just seen last night host the MTVu Woodie Awards) to do a brief set as his rapper alter ego, Childish Gambino – it felt planned, but it gave the party an awesome burst of spontaneity and he was super entertaining that you had already forgotten the shittiness of the previous two acts and did exactly what it was designed to do, get you hyped and keep you entertained.

Fishbone finally takes the stage and shit gets real weird/awesome real quick –

Their shit was so great, how are you gonna top that? Well again I’m a hip-hop fanatic and a huge Wu-Tang Clan fan, but if you have read this blog or had the misfortune of trying to see any of them in concert, individually or collectively in the last 5 years, you don’t know what to  expect, which is half the fun/misery, but I’ve learned sadly, not to expect much.
Having said that, they still managed to greatly disappoint with their shenanigans they just keeps lowering their stock and legacy, who but me will still keep putting up with their shit?
Their was literally over 90 mins after Fishbone finished before they finally got their asses onstage – and during that time, I had personally seen two dudes piss themselves, three get escorted out of the music hall, and the bartenders had basically given up trying to keep service in order. It was that kind of party – As always, when its billed as Wu-Tang, their shit is so dysfunctional, the thing you do is try to guess/hope who is actually going to show up. For those who have been down this road a few times, you know to automatically dismiss the notion of the RZA and while your at Method-Man. It’s like you have to go “Ok, which ones’ career is suffering the most right now?” and that’s how you can guess accurately of who your gonna get.
After all that wait, only four of the nine members showed –
The GZA
U-God
Inspectah Deck
..and surprisingly – Ghostface Killah

They did their run of the “classics” with irritating mic problems the whole show (hey guys, with all the people onstage with wireless mics, that might be your problem?) that lasted about an hour. The best thing about the show was their joined by Erykah Badu for the last couple of tunes. Even with the feedback problems she still sounded great as always.
Around 2 a.m., Wu-Tang Clan called it a night and turned the party over to Badu, who switched to her other identity, DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown and played a great set of vintage dance tunes and modern hip hop for the stragglers who had made it through the night.

Next Day….

Spin Magazine Party – Stubb’s BBQ
   We get down there around 4pm and get checking in and take time to say hello to some of the staff that are friends of mine before heading toward the stage. The Spin Magazine party used to be the premier party during SXSW before turning into a day thing at Stubb’s a few years ago, and its still cool and always one to look forward to. One of the things you survive on during this festival is the free boze/soda/food – and its almost always not what your first choice would be, as anything free usually isn’t. It’s most likely something you have never tried/seen before because the sponsors use the festival as a test market, so you will find yourself drinking chocolate flavored water and chewing fish flavored gum.
Today, we each grabbed a tall can of this lemonade drink – that’s kinda like Sparks – and though I know I’m a serious lightweight when it comes to drinking and it was early in the day, I swear we both were shitfaced after three sips of this poison.
With my new drunk induced inflated ego, I seriously almost punched this total asshole that was being insufferable as the Killls were starting their set.
They were having serious sound issues – so much so that I thought they were actually doing a soundcheck onstage, because they were stopping and starting literally dozens of times – it wasn’t until singer Alison Moyer – finally relented and quietly made a few apologies.
I can’t make my mind up about her – I like the Kills and I’m all about the Dead Weather, her voice and image and super-cool swagger is totally hot. However sometimes I see pictures of her and I’m kinda like – meh – and sometimes she seems a little too cool. But hey she probably is – they finally got it together and turned in a decent set.As always they had DJ’s playing between sets and between these two acts, Skrillex (didn’t I tell you this guy was freaking everywhere) doing a set –  His extremely punchable hipster face is enough to make me want to take him out, but holding him responsible for the rise of dubstep is truly worthy of ball-kicking trespass –
Up next was TV on the Radio who has just attacked this festival – usually a band with their visibility comes here to do one high-profile show and doesn’t really have to slog through multiple-show days like the smaller bands unless they just want to, but TVOTR I think had like 8 gigs this week. Like I said earlier, Jah from The Death Set is playing drums for them now and he couldn’t have been more excited.
(Check out the awesome Clutch sticker hanging there in the back)

This show was really good and they are an incredible live band – sadly however this was one of the last performances with bassist Gerard Smith as he died just a few weeks later of lung cancer.

 The Fader Fort Party –

After TV on the Radio finished at Stubb’s we ran across the freeway over to the Fader Fort (running from show to show is a time honored tradition at SXSW) As a testament of how busy I’ve been this week, this was my first (and only) sojourn over to the Fort this year. This place is usually a destination for me and last year I practically lived there all week. Where else in the world let alone at SXSW can you go to a place for free, drink free booze and soda all day, get fed, free clothes, free internet, free magazines and get entertained by the best at that time? – The place is a goddamn utopia and my greatest dream of a totalitarian state come to life, and this year didn’t disappoint either.
Remember my earlier post about open RSVPs? – The Fader Fort is the most popular of them , (see above description as to why) and if you just do the open RSVP you have little or no chance of getting in – those public wristbands are worthless, you gotta go the extra mile if you wanna get in – thankfully I had an advantage – and we were ushered right in – I’m not talking about some elitist, velvet rope Studio 54 bullshit, I’m just giving a tip, that its best to contact someone involved ahead of time so that you don’t waste your time standing in line when you could be doing other rad shit.

As we are heading backstage, we are finally seeing Odd Future and what all the hype is about as they are causing a literal riot with them as the aggressors. Various members would either flat out threaten photographers in the photo pit and others would challenge the entire crowd to a water bottle fight. Debris, empty bottles, clothing and other general garbage started flying during every song –

Near the end of their set, the group prompted the entire audience to chant “Fuck tha police!” – Together, they are truly aggressive to the point of intimidation. Though I appreciate how youthful and overflowing with energy they are, I have to admit, instead of just having some good fun, it really seemed like they are assholes, going out of their way to be bigger assholes.

Speaking of overflowing energy, (but used for something COMPLETELY different) it was after 7pm and somehow I had gone all day without seeing Matt & Kim (something I had yet to do all week) so here they come and the crowd greeted them ecstatically.
Toward the end of their set, making her second cameo of the festival,  they were briefly joined by Erykah Badu who I saw strolling around backstage.
…and not to be outdone by the previous antics of Odd Future, what is normally a staple of their live show, this time Kim’s bootie dance atop the crowd seemed to have an added interference.

The Vice Party –

The Vice Party has replaced what the Spin Magazine party used to be: a last night of the festival blowout in some hidden/non-obvious location that you wouldn’t think/know about till the night of, where doors don’t even open till midnight and it goes all night, way past 2am and this one was listed as going till 6am.
This time it was at the Starr Building, some non-descript place you would imagine holding law firms not some crazy party and the bands that were set to play were Keith Morris’ (Black Flag, Circle Jerks) new band Off! and one last detonation from Odd Future who has literally stunned this festival. You couldn’t go anywhere without people talking about them and having some story involving carnage in their wake. I personally have already seen two partial performances this week and I think tonight was something like their 12th show of the week, (and third of the day).

We get there and of course the entry to get in looks like Tienanmen Square – just complete and utter chaos. You would think people’s infant children were trapped inside the way they were rabid to get in. The hype of Odd Future plus the exclusivity and free booze in an environment that craves such things? It was 1984 and this was the only place that had Cabbage Patch Dolls.
I’ve been around this stuff for over 10 years and it even frightened me a bit, and poor Erin has never seen shit like this before, but suddenly a knight in shining armor arrived.
Eric and Kim Castillo, a couple from Houston that are good friends of mine and who I stay with when I have the misfortune of being in Houston, arrive.
Eric is a professional DJ, who goes by Ceeplus Badknives and has been on the scene for a long time, and we have done gigs together in Houston and during SXSW for the last several years. His wife Kim is the salt of the earth and one of my favorite peoples.
Though we all had invites they were at capacity but Eric had the juice and got us in no problem and ironically said that they had just been talking about me and was hoping to see me. Boy were we glad to see them.

We get in and the four of us grab some of the free booze and this place just looks dangerous – like total lawlessness.
Perfect for a punk legend to fuck shit up – and that’s exactly what Off! proceeded to do:

They were crazy, unreal loud – and it had that feel that it should – volatile punk band playing at 2 in the morning in some abandoned building. Totally brown –
Outside I could only imagine what people were dealing with to get in to catch the Odd Future 3am slot – the hype was off the charts – this was their last show of the festival and given the late hour probably the last show of the festival, its 3am and its gotta top all of the other ones, so this was the one to catch according to the hype. Matt was texting me from outside so I told him to go around back and I had security let him in.

Going from Hardcore Punk to Hardcore Rap seamlessly is what makes an event like this so memorable and fun to attend. It’s 3am and here comes Odd Future:

Their show was as violent as the punk of Off! but I have to say I was more impressed with the intensity as well as the crowd as compared to any real musical gratification. In fact I would have to say, it was so super sloppy, it never seemed like the show ever actually started. It just seemed like Tyler the Creator and company, came out, got the crowd worked up, complained/cursed alot, and seemed to go out of their way to be destructive assholes.

Now I’m not exactly old, just a bit older, but I will be the first to admit, that this probably has something to do with why I just simply can’t relate to these guys. In a generation of constant self-promotion and being ruthlessly crass breeds huge rewards by your peers, that’s something I will never identify with. But as a life-long student of Hip-Hop, it really wasn’t that good – I was super excited about seeming them, and I loved their story. Totally all about their DIY punk ambition and did all of it themselves. Some young guys looking like the next Wu-Tang Clan, but I just didn’t get it. They def got some talent, but instead of showcasing that, or even having some knucklehead fun a la Beastie Boys cira License to Ill era, instead that appear as actual dickheads.

I didn’t sweat it though, the spectacle still provided weird entertainment on what had to be one of the weirdest nights of my life.

After they played, the whole place turned into a dance party, with these two DJs playing all this great 60s garage soul music that was fantastic and it 4am in the morning.

We shook our asses in celebration of a long week, and a day that felt just as long, and I just couldn’t leave – I just had to keep going somehow. Finally after the clock struck 5am, people really started to clear out and we danced the last song, to finally put this year’s SXSW to rest.

 

Photos –

Roy Turner
Nate “Igor” Smith
Brenna Rushing
Todd Seelie
Heather Browne
Joe Gall
Max Blau
Samantha Marble

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.
 

Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival 2010

So the fun weekend continued after returning from Jones Beach as well as the Hip Hop. On Sunday, my new Spanish Ladyfare and I went out to Prospect Park for some fun. We started out at the Prospect Park Zoo, which I also had never been to and wanted to check out. I hadn’t realized how freaking huge this park was as I couldn’t find the Zoo and nobody could tell me the right way. We finally get there, and had a nice day. The zoo is small but unique and intimate and bit more interactive.

Then we walked over the Bandshell for a highly anticipated Hip-Hop show that kinda capped off this great week of celebrating Hip-Hop and Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival – The J Dilla Seminar – July 6th

     So I was excited that I had been hired by AOL to cover the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival. As a life-long fan of hip hop and being hired to write about it, in the city of its birth was nothing but exhilarating for me. Today was the first day of the festival and the event that I chose to cover today was a seminar lead by Q-Tip about the life of J Dilla. Held in a library in Cobble Hill by my old apartment, The seminar started with a group called the J Dilla Ensemble, which was lead by a young-ish music teacher/superfan and his students from Boston, doing Dilla pieces via keys, drums, bass, guitar, and a few horns. And this hopelessly white girl would occasionaly sing, and she was good.
I think I benefited from the fact that it was advertised in two sections and the first was to feature a few lesser known panelists and then the later one with Q-Tip and Dilla’s mom, Ma Dukes, but when I got there they had switched it, so not alot of people were there for the first section, and then a ton of people showed up after realizing that they had missed Q-Tip. Since I got there early and wanted to cover the whole thing I sat in the front row about 3 feet from Tip. He was very intense, and spoke very carefully and thoughtfully. You could tell that the pain of the loss of Dilla was still very real and obvious to Q-Tip. He told alot of first-hand stories that I had never heard before, and as the enigma that is J Dilla, its so largely undocumented, so I was inspired and happy that this was being held. It was largely to promote the J Dilla Foundation that supplies inner-city kids with music education.
The second half was another panel after a short film. This time Ma Dukes again, but with a few guys from Slum Village and then the teacher from before. You could tell that the teacher, was like a Star Wars geek standing next to George Lucas. He held it together okay, but you could tell he wanted to break out haha.
The seminar was done well, with a great reception of food/beer and it was an incredibly inspirational day.Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival – Salute the DJ w/ Rob Swift – Music Hall of Williamsburg – July 8th

Another event I was covering for the Festival, and one I was much anticipating. As a DJ myself, I was excited about the focus and loved the idea of a DJ-cenntric event, not to mention but one of my all time heroes, Rob Swift was gonna bless the 1s and 2s. I get there and I’m hanging out with the crew from Brooklyn Bodega who are producing the festival. Great group of people, a smarter, more ambitious and passionate lot your not likely to find, especially about Hip-Hop. They have been gracious to have me on their radio program a few times in the last couple of years. So I’m enjoying talking with them, but this is not only my least favorite venue in Brooklyn, its one of my least fave in the entire fucking world. Between their aggressive, asshole security out front, you have to deal with the smug, elitist that work the Will Call window. I usually feel sorry for the people that work that gig, but here they seem to enjoy telling people that shows are sold out, or that their tickets are not there etc. Its always a hassle here, and this time was no exception. Not only were they giving the freaking producers of the event, they were even blocking some performers from entering! – What is it with these fucks?
I finally get it settled and get in, and in time to see Rhettmatic from the Beat Junkies getting down.

 

 

The place is packed and their is such a good vibe here. Their is nothing like a good Hip-Hop show. You will see every race, gender, creed etc. all dancing together, laughing and having a great time. I’m not there 10 mins when two older black women are dragging me, a skinny white boy, out on the floor. Just the real deal in every way and such a good time.
And then here comes my man Rob Swift – This cat is one of my biggest influences and inspirations and really my introdcution into turntabilsim. If you see him rawk hardcore, you will know why. It’s mind-boggling and its happening right in front of you. 

 

 

 The show ends at 2am and I thank all of the staff at Brooklyn Bodega and got invited to after-hours but I had been in meetings all day and was exhausted so I called it a night.OkayAfrica w/ The Roots and Talib Kweli – Prospect Park – Brooklyn, NY – July 11th

The Roots headlined the OkayAfrica World Cup 2010 Finals party to celebrate the first time in its 80-year history the tournament will take place on African soil. With a kick-off by Sahr Ngaujah, the star of the hit Broadway musical Fela!, the show featured performances by artists from all corners of the Diaspora, including host Talib Kweli (Brooklyn), Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew (Sierra Leone) former Trickykid Alumni-  Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana), and many others. Musically omnivorous hip-hop icons The Roots honor the fresh music of Africa by jamming throughout the whole day with surprise guests and capping it all off with a killer closing set.

    

We had a blast, and it was such a great environment, let alone the show. Their was a suggested donation but it was basically a free show and something like lover 10k showed up, just droves of people everywhere. Their was such a mix of diversity in performers and in the audience and a proud moment for the people of Africa. They had food tents set up everywhere, and instead of like hot dogs and pretzels, we ended up buying a whole roasted chicken, salad and dessert haha. Good meal and unforgettable music. After the show we walked around the park some more, and ended up just falling asleep in the grass under a tree. A wonderful day.    Private Screening of Basquiat: The Radiant Child hosted by DJ Spooky – Salt Space – NYC – July 12th

 

    So since our phones didn’t work, and because of the language barrier anyway, talking on the phone or texting wasn’t an option for me and the Spanish Armada.
Its so interesting to me that her and I for two weeks, never once communicated by phone, we just set everything up via email, the day before, and we never had one misstep, where as people that I communicate with all the time by means of phone and text, we miscommunicate all the time. So she actually finds in on the street this time, surprising me from behind. A few blocks from a private art gallery that I had received an invite to. Tonight’s event was a private, advance screening of a documentary that Mike D‘s wife, Tamra Davis had made about Basquiat called The Radiant Child, hosted by my friend and whom sent me the invite, DJ Spooky.
We get inside, and the Gallery is really small and only able to seat about 40 people. Now a quick disclaimer, I don’t claim to know really anything about art, art history or really anything about the business of art and its movers and shakers. I do know what I like however, and I’ve never been one to hold Basquiat in any higher esteem than anyone else. I’ve also never subscribed to the sexiness of his legend nor really understood its warrant. Having said that, it was a real trip to be in the same room with all of these people that were a part of that late 1970’s/early 1980’s downtown music/art scene of NYC. Since they were all interviewed or featured in the documentary, it was a reunion of sorts and suddenly the place was moving like a Studio 54 thirty-year reunion.
DJ Spooky did a brief set and introduced the film and moderated a Q&A after the film with Tamra and a few of the other cast members.

 

The film was done very well, and I enjoyed it, but it only confused me more as to the appeal of this guy and wonder if he were still alive if we would be talking about him at all. I know this sounds terribly dismissive, but based on the film, it really seemed like he was just this manipulative, druggie loser, that was able to dupe people that were so full of their own shit, that they wanted to be near what was happening so they enabled him. Ultimately his own demons caught up with him, so instead of his early death seen as this tragedy, it really seemed like the imminent result of that kind of lifestyle.
Afterwards we went and got some Chinese takeout and ate in that little park right off 23rd St. While walking to the subway, we saw all the kids in Iron Maiden shirts coming from their show at Madison Square Garden across town. Maybe one day I will actually see that band.

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