#LasVegas

Steel Panther Through The Years (NSFW)

 

Steel Panther – House of Blues Dallas – April 9th 2010

So I’ve wanted to write about the Panther of Steel for awhile now, they are so fun and such an interesting phenomenon to me as a contradiction to what our culture deems as significant if its sensibilities are rubbed the right way. Here is what I mean – Steel Panther is, if you don’t already know a satirical musical comedy act lamenting the silliness and fun of 1980’s Hair Metal excess. However, its not a show put on by non-metalers making fun of it to those that want it made fun of – its a note-for-note spot on re-creation of what that experience was back then with a fun hyper sense of self-awareness a la Spinal Tap.
Meaning that the performers can all really play and the singer can really sing and they pull it off like a real functioning band.
Just like professional wrestling, the best way to make it look real, though you know your being entertained is to make it real. And the fans are right there with it, it attracts the same fans of the very bands obviously that they are lamenting cause its the same appeal and even more so with their over the top humor.
However, there are alot of these bands right? I mean in every city is a decent 80s cover band (Dallas’ own Red Leather just to name one) and some bands also kinda have an unofficial-official cover band – (think Destroyer, the Kiss cover band)

What sets Steel Panther apart is not only do they have as many original compositions as they do covers, but its not just the comedy shtick. They are brilliant marketers. They have weekly residencies in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and a less smarter band would be slinging it out in the same dive night after night to the same people receiving as much respect out of the sample population as professional wrestling. Not these guys – their talent speaks for itself and they are funny as hell, but they have reached legitimacy by being culturally savvy. People that you would think would ignore this are showing up in droves, as their Monday night slot in Hollywood has become a destination for celebrities to make appearances at and usually sing with the band.
So what do you do when you decide to tour to places where the celebrity-walk in quotient might not be as high? You have a built-in party host.
Tonight’s host? – None other than Dallas Cowboy maven Tony Romo. Hell they even have Sarah Silverman in their video.
Its this type of strategy that’s making them relevant and people are flocking to their shows just to see who might show up.
Another attraction, other than its just fucking fun, is that since excess is now gone back to being celebrated, its usually also exhibited as well:

 

 

  It was more fun than most legitimate rock shows I’ve seen and the band can play. They brought Tony Romo up there, and now that I’ve seen the act a few times I know the drill that the guest almost always sings Guns and Roses’ Sweet Child ‘O Mine. But between the spontaneity of fucking with the crowd and girls making out onstage and all the humor and rock it was a great time. Definitely see this if you get a chance.

Steel Panther – April 19th & 26th 2010 – House of Blues –  Hollywood, CA

So, I’ve written about Steel Panther twice already this year so you know the score, and if you don’t pull your head out of your ass and go see this band haha. Tonight was gonna be a bit different and special as this was the ideal Panther of Steel experience, being as this is what started the whole thing. They have had a weekly residency somewhere in Hollywood under some name for over ten years, and sometime last year it started to become a destination for celebrities to come sing with the band. Its just become this thing that if you are in town and its Monday, you have to go check out Steel Panther. Its actually become an unscheduled part of the show, and that also attracts alot of people, so I was ready for the Steel Panther Sunset Strip experience. I mean this is the scene they are simultaneously lampooning and embracing. I was excited to see who would show up and would Hollywood do me proud of representing my idea of what MTV has taught me about it.
There are so many people who work in the industry and who are also recognizable faces in this town that they actually have a separate will call office for those people. I was embarrassed because my tickets were at that office, so I had to stand in line with people from reality TV. I get my tickets and head inside and its already awesome. The little one off out of town-ers I’ve seen are cool, but this is the deal. In Hollywood on the Strip, everyone is dressed like 80s Metal to the max.
The band hits stage starting with Death to all but Metal and their is a totally different vibe here. These people are in it to win it, and not fucking around. The stage is immediately besieged with a camera crew, apparently they were filming some live footage tonight. It started wild and just stayed wild.

I had learned that the celebrity-cameo thing usually came around for Guns N Roses’ Sweet Child O Mine – and this time comedian Hal Sparks jumped up and sang it.
…and then out of nowhere Cuba Gooding Jr. jumps out of nowhere and sings Journey‘s Don’t stop believing! – You can’t imagine that Gooding Jr. had even heard of Steel Panther, totally surreal.
and then some other dude sang, that I heard someone say was the lead actor in the movie The Hurt Locker – psssh! whatever :).
Just another fun, wild night with the Panther. Tons of crazy metal girls everywhere in their gear, good times. Not bad for a Monday.
April 26th –

So back again for the second week for Steel Panther at their Monday night residency in Hollywood. If I lived here, I seriously would probably be here every Monday. Sam and I have a mutual friend from Austin, her name is Erin and her and her boyfriend were coming into town today too. Sam couldn’t make the show, but I was meeting them at the venue. Their is like no cell service inside this place but we finally found each other after about a third of the show had started.
Not as crowded or as rowdy as last week’s show had been with the video shoot, but they got some surprising people to come sing with them, and one of the nastiest things in the history of their shows happened.
The come out guns-a-blazing like usual and the was good, just like not as rowdy at first, but man did that ever change. If you have ever been to one of their shows, you know that girls getting on stage is the norm. And its totally harmless, girls usually just dance, take a little teasing from the band, some are there to complete the excessiveness with a little flash here and there, but all in all its just a fun show. Now I know we are in Hollywood, but this shit was so shocking that I learned later that it even shocked the band.
These two girls get up there, and the band tries their usual comedy routine with them, but the girls clearly had a plan they had worked out. One was wearing a really short dress and fishnets, and she reached into her purse and produced a pair of freaking scissors (like I said…planned) and had her friend cut a strategic hole in the crotch of the fishnets, while she sat on the drum riser with her legs spread to purposely have her friend start going down on her. Holy fuck! even the band, not wanting to break character were looking at each other like, “How much trouble are we in right now?” and started playing Eating Ain’t Cheatin haha.

 

 

 It was shortly after this that I found Erin and before she could introduce me to her boyfriend, the first thing she said was “Did you see those two gross sluts?” haha – I’m afraid the answer is yes, yes I did.
Then later he called up Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, to sing two songs. Hawkins sings on their song Party All Night, and then of course they had to bust out The Darkness’ I Believe in a thing called Love. 

 

 

…and he looked like shit – Like you wouldn’t have recognized him at all. Almost like he might have got into acting or something and was looking like that for a role because, he looked awful.
Then for the which celebrity will sing Sweet Child O Mine? moment – here comes comedian Dane Cook. I don’t even really know who Dane Cook is, other than I was impressed because I know that his comedy shows fill arenas, not night clubs (as a statement on the depressing majority of what Americans find funny). The only thing I really know about his guy is that people are polarized on him – meaning either you hate him or you love him – and from what I gather, the experience is that if you love him, you are a date-raping, Ed Hard wearing Neanderthal, and if you hate him, your kinda just as full of shit, but in a pseudo-intellectual latte sort of way.

 

 

All in all it was a good time, Erin and her dude didn’t stay for the whole show and I made my away (again) to the Rainbow after. Hey, its close, I know where it is and its freaking Monday ok? 🙂

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Dallas, TX – May 20th 2010

So how many times have I seen and written about this band already this year? Not sure there is much more to say other than to reiterate just how fun and awesome their shows are. There are bands and then there are entertainers, Steel Panther just happen to be both. Panther originals like Community Property, Asian Hooker, Shocker, Fat Girl and Death To All But Metal are sexual and bold and that’s the way the audience loves it. When you add several topless women it becomes fanatical.
No need for a special host this time around as the band is really taking off, this one was the best one I have seen so far.
Unfortunately one of the greatest rock singers to ever to do it, Ronnie James Dio, had passed away a few days before. There was no way they were not gonna acknowledge it and I was curious as to how they would. They often challenge fans to get up and sing/play and it usually doesn’t end or even start well, but they got his Mexican dude up there and he started singing Dio’s Rainbow in the Dark, to great effect, and the crowd went crazy and then the band, who seemed impressed, cheered him on. It’s these type of spontaneities that make this band and it’s shows so fun.
The bottom line comes down to the basics of Steel Panther. What sets this band apart from the rest is pure talent. Behind the makeup, hair, flashy clothes and the comedy, lies a band that can really play well.

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Dallas, TX – November 10th 2010

Ok so I go to this thinking I might regret not going to see Inspectah Deck instead (who was playing in Denton). I had already seen Steel Panther four times this year alone, and hadn’t seen Deck in five years and when I did, it was one of the best shows I still have ever seen, (despite the bullshit that goes down in Wu Tang land usually). He was playing that same venue tonight, so why wasn’t I going?
The show five years ago didn’t even start till after 1am so I really thought I could catch both. Also this show had a much better promise of seeing rock chicks getting naked and I really didn’t feel like driving to Denton honestly.

The Panther is getting so big, they seemed like they didn’t need the usual gimmick of having a local celebrity host the show or make an appearance and also this show is notable for that they played all originals. So though the shows are very similar, theirs definitely some growth,

New Year’s Eve w/ Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – December 31st 2010

Dubbed Cum on 2011: NYE w/ Steel Panther I knew we were in for a wild one. I’ve written alot about this band, as I saw them twice the last time I was in LA and three other times since, so this was gonna be my sixth show this year, but I knew it promised to be the wildest.

Not sure this was old girls’ thing, but we were having a great time and hey we were in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve with the Panther of Steel, could have been worse I suppose.
The New Year came with a ruckus and a massive balloon drop – it was in the air man, the crowd was just so on fire and so was the band, it just had that feeling your chasing on New Year’s Eve, it was totally there and I was glad that we were there too.

And the fun was just beginning, as this just pushed the crowd over the edge and the band had only been onstage for less than 20 mins so we had the whole night to go. The crowd was red hot the whole time. I wondered, besides the balloon drop how this show was gonna differ from the others (and who really cares if it didn’t) but it had a special energy for the occasion, and we rawked that shit till around 1:30am, before heading upstairs to the Foundation Room for the after-party. Didn’t stay too long, as it had already been a crazy day and it was approaching 3am, so called it a night. A really fun New Year’s Eve!

 

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – January 10th 2011

I took a long nap after dropping Ana off at the airport as I was fucking tired from yesterday’s rock climbing mis-adventure.
I get something to eat and do what I do when I’m in LA on a Monday – go see Steel Panther.
Now I was ready to rawk, but I missed Ana so much already it felt like I just had a rib removed, we were both crying uncontrollably when I dropped her off. I sat in my car sobbing until I finally drove away. So what do I do? I go to the same place her & I just were –  we were just here 10 days ago seeing this very band! so needless to say I felt lost without her. I thought it might take my mind off of it, but all it did was make me miss her more (as if that was even possible).
I get to the venue and get inside, and the crowds at these things usually make for some really great people watching, but tonight (and maybe I was in a bit of a sour mood) the crowd was annoying the shit out of me. This Drew Carey looking motherfucker in front of me, thought of himself as a right comedian, and wouldn’t leave people alone, namely me. I put up with for probably longer than I should have before grabbing and telling him that I will break his fucking arm if he didn’t cool it. He fucked off after that, as the show was starting.

They came out and did their usual comedy shtick, but they were really on tonight and played alot of music and mostly originals. Probably not my favorite show so far. I’ve written about this band so much that they only thing to differentiate the shows, is the girls haha (and most of them are also hard to tell apart).
Their’s always alot of girls at these shows, and crazy wild ones, sometimes sexy, sometimes not, who get up there onstage with the band. This show was memorable as this was now my 7th show and this incredibly fit Hispanic girl gets up there and jaws started dropping. She was like a living Barbie doll – it was almost a little too perfect. Super thin waistline, and cartoonishly large breasts
Trust me, this picture doesn’t do it justice – it was bananas.

I went upstairs to the after-party and I was standing right next to the singer, so I thought I’d strike up a conversation and that was quite naive of me. – it took me about 30 secs to realize that if I didn’t have something he wanted from me, I wasn’t even getting a hi howya doing. The requirements seemed to be that you had to be a hot girl that was DTF, or one of the many celebrity/pseudo-celebrities that flock to their shows that have made their Monday night shows a destination for that crowd. I already knew this, and don’t know why I sound surprised. Fuck ’em, as long as they keep rocking, I don’t need to be friends with them.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Joe Lester

 

Trickykid NAMM After-Party w/ Steel Panther & Remington – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – January 17th 2011

I got there early and prepared the dressing room, got everything in order with the HOB staff, got our passes, set times and scheduled a line-check. The band arrived on time, and were very excited/impressed/grateful for playing such a prestigious venue.

.
It’s finally showtime, and I get them onstage and was excited for them as they were pumped for this. I had made an error to the soundguy when I was discussing stage-plot as we needed another amp for the singer, which I take full responsibility for. With that little speed-bump out the way – time for the lifting of the curtain and for the show to begin –

Neil came to rawk this shit, and he did exactly that. I was very excited for all of them. Their was a real excitement in the air and they were all very pumped to be there and it showed.

Before you know it, their time was up, but it was a decent gig. They really took it seriously, and the crowd responded in kind (especially to Neil as their were tons of guitar enthusiasts in the crowd). Remington even had some self-deprecation and thought he could of done better and was very gracious to me about getting them the gig.

Now it was time for the Panther of Steel to come out and do their thing. I had seen a ton of times before and every week the previous three.

 

I go to our dressing room (which is now completely empty) to get my stuff and when I return the backstage hallway is full of people spilling out of Steel Panther’s dressing room. I go into our bathroom and when I come out their are now several people in our dressing room including Hulk Hogan’s kids, Brooke and Nick.
I was a little startled, as I’m a huge wrestling fan and as a kid Hulk Hogan was my idol, (not to mention Brooke is a total babe).

“I hope you don’t mind” , one of their friends said, “The hallway is so packed and their was no one in here so thought it would be okay to chill”. I assured them it was just fine. I had to shake my head however, as the whole image battle I went through earlier today and with the guest list,  and here it is really happening and sadly they were not there to see it.
What a crazy day.

…one week later…

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – January 24th 2011

Ok so for the fourth monday in a row I make it to HOB Sunset for Steel Panther (hey I’m a completist, and their’s nothing to do on Monday’s anyway :). The crowd was a little thin tonight compared to the past few weeks and the performance was a bit lackluster by comparison or maybe I’m just getting a bit used to the routine.

Though it was a smaller crowd it created a bit of an intimacy, and it seemed like people were motivated by this to go even a bit more wilder. Like hey, no one’s here, let’s go nuts! – And it was by no means dead – just more sparse which seemed to make people more bolder.

Mariah Lynch, (daughter of George Lynch – Dokken/Lynch Mob) – was there celebrating her birthday as well. I had met her at Rock N America last Summer, she’s totally cool and her friends were hilarious. Good times.

 

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – April 25th 2011

Steel Panther tonight in Hollywood
The show starts and the Panther is kicking serious ass –


The show was great,
When we claimed our car from valet, some dude tried to get into the backseat and leave with us, and I ended up having to yank him out and hand him over to security.

 

Steel Panther – April 11th 2012 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX

Not much I can really add that I haven’t already say in the dozen times I’ve seen and wrote about this band. This was my 4th time seeing Steel Panther at this venue alone and when I’m in Los Angeles I have a habit of attending their Monday night residency religiously and have seen at least a dozen shows out there.
Pretty typical fare – but no less fun.
They come out and blast through two strong numbers and then the parade of dick and fart jokes starts –

 

 

 

This is followed by the crudest of humor and the trashiest of girls who don’t mind being insulted in exchange for attention and being onstage. This is where the lines of parody and reality become blurred as suddenly their are actually really slutty girls who are not paid members of the show dancing on stage and getting naked.

 

 

 

 

This is always a good time and really fun – I will say that though I’m happy for them and appreciate that they no longer have to do cover songs, the new material from their most recent record Balls Out is really weak compared to the first record and alot of the songs just didn’t go over well live. And that’s of the few songs that they did play live. One of the drawbacks of this show is that sometimes its 50/50 comedy/music but sometimes the comedy and jokes go so long that it takes up most of the show – and tonight I think they played like a total of 6 songs in an hour and a half. Most of which were the new songs, so this was easily my least fave of all the times I have seen them, but fun just the same and I would totally go again. When the show ended the girls came offstage and this one girl, Amber comes up to me and starts talking – this total blond bombshell – like something out of Baywatch – she will come up again later in this entry.

Steel Panther – December 18th 2015 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX

Steel Panther are a rare case of satirists who have achieved the same stature as the subjects that they parody.  Their attention to detail is prodigious, meaning that the stage is a riot of leather trousers, bullet belts, spandex, scarves, bandanas and industrial-strength wind machines. David Lee Roth-like singer Michael Starr struts across the stage yowling dumb-but-fun songs about partying and nailing groupies; pouting bassist Lexxi Foxx spends much of the night applying lipstick and preening his waist-length locks in a full-length mirror, but make no mistake, it is it’s own stellar Metal assault.

The musicianship is as sleek and streamlined as it needs to be for this take on 1980s hair metal at its most preposterous and priapic to work, and while period-piece misogyny and sexism ooze from every sleazy second of every song being outraged by Steel Panther would be just as futile to taking moral umbrage to
Weird Al.
Of course things do tend to get a bit wild and a bit real but the women climbing on stage to flash their breasts during Death to All but Metal are highly enthusiastic participants, and as Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel once famously inquired, “What’s wrong with being sexy?”  


It’s all preternaturally puerile, right up the point where Starr slaps his heart on his sleeve for the Aerosmith-like encore power ballad Community Property, crooning the words every woman wants to hear: “You’re the only girl that I like to screw, when I’m not on the road.” Steel Panther may only have one joke, but they keep it up all night.

Setlist – 

Eyes of a Panther
Tomorrow Night
Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)
Just Like Tiger Woods
Turn Out the Lights
Asian Hooker
Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World
Ten Strikes You’re Out
The Stocking Song
Dirty Fuckin’ Whore
Girl From Oklahoma
17 Girls in a Row
Gloryhole
Death to All but Metal

Encore:

Community Property
Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

…and of course like at most shows (especially this one) the fans are just as entertaining as the band as their full of fun, enthusiastic young people ready to have a good time.

 

Steel Panther – January 22nd 2016 – House of Blues at Mandalay Bay – Las Vegas, NV

Those that are familiar with me & this site already know that I attend several Steel Panther shows a year and have written about them dozens of times.
So in order to not repeat myself what I do is just give you the take on what happened on this given night.
Again, I’ve seen them all over the country and dozens of times at any one of their LA residencies, each show super fun, always wild and keeps me coming back.
However I had never seen them in Las Vegas (the band usually has alternating residencies between LA & Vegas weekly) and just knew that a Vegas show would somehow be even wilder and boy did I pick the best time for it too. I was in town covering the AVN Awards which if you don’t know is like the Oscars of Porn.
So in Las Vegas on a Friday night anyone can be debaucherous but here we are with a band that has made a career celebrating sleazy excess while the largest Porn Star convention in the world is happening just a few blocks over and the whole town has devolved into one big wet t-shirt contest.
The very first words out of (guitarist) Satchel’s mouth were “Ladies and Gentlemen the AVN Awards are this weekend, raise your hand if your a fucking porn star and get your ass on stage right now!”. The place EXPLODED before they had played one note.
They have a new  EP coming out of them playing new & familiar songs in stripped down fashion (pun intended) Live from Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage and when they performed a few of  those a virtual parade of nudity blessed the stage.


The bespectacled blonde girl above with the perfect tits was so much fun – she wasn’t some drunken stragler, she was present, excited & knew every word to every song.
It’s not an unusual sight to see celebrities get up and sing back up at Steel Panther shows but it always gives the show it’s own spontanaety that makes that gig feel special and sometimes one-of-a-kind especially when it’s someone you couldn’t imagine singing or having any knowledge of this band.
That’s what happened when suddenly they brought out Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars, the proprietor of the Gold & Silver Pawn shop that is now a tourist destination thanks to the show.


When he walked out the whole place just gasped – come to find out, he’s a long-time friend of the band, so much so they they played his wedding last year (to a woman waaaaay out of his league, fame has it’s perks for sure).
That combined with they spotted this clueless Eurotrash tourist they dubbed “the French Bret Michaels” had him up on stage most of the show where his total lack of self-awareness had the jokes writing themselves. Just a wild energy all around and one of my favorite shows of their’s I’ve seen yet (& I’ve seen about 20).

Setlist – 

Eyes of a Panther
Tomorrow Night
Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)
Just Like Tiger Woods
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Poison cover)
Party All Day (Fuck All Night)
Asian Hooker

Acoustic :

Stripper Girl
Girl From Oklahoma
Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
Community Property

Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World
17 Girls in a Row
Death to All but Metal

 

Steel Panther – January 19th 2017 – The Cromwell – Drai’s Nightclub – Las Vegas

Huge fan of Steel Panther & have seen them many times & usually attend their residency multiple times when I’m in Los Angeles.
They played last year appropriately given their explicit content during the AVN Expo at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay (see above) to one of the most rocking & unique shows of the dozens I’ve seen complete with cast members from Pawn Stars.
It was a wild time even for these guys, so I was excited & expecting more of the same even if I was completely unfamiliar with this venue/hotel.

I called ahead of time to find out set times & couldn’t believe it when told they weren’t going on til like 1am (Vegas for real).
Inspired I even showed up in Hair Metal Cosplay from this past Halloween for a character I came up with for a Texas wrestling promotion I work with called Def Halen, I was ready to rock.
Only to discover that they were playing this straight up stuffy nightclub with a faux beach theme (while ironically the uptight staff were refusing those wearing shorts).
Right as I was being basically manhandled by security for should have been a routine security check I see Vinnie Paul (Pantera) & his usual entourage roll up.
I was then lead to an elevator & down three flights of stairs by an escort that probably thought I was a loser since I was here alone & made me re-think my costume (hey it seemed like a fun idea earlier).
This is the kind of place I loathe & refuse to perform at in my alter ego DJ TrickyKid, that obnoxious bottle service, velvet rope Kardashian thing.
That slimy thing you used to only really see in Miami but see everywhere now, Steel Panther was gonna play here?
 this cheesy dance club for assholes?
Yes I was technically at the right place –

…but it was all wrong – in every sense. I honestly don’t blame the band & it was probably just an experiment from the booking agent that hopefully they won’t repeat. It stripped everything a fan of Steel Panther loves: honesty, abandon & hell original songs of their brand of comedy, they wouldn’t even let girls on stage, a staple of any Steel Panther show.
They even reverted back to playing mostly covers & obvious, overplayed covers at that. It was like watching Steel Panther with amnesia & regressing back to 2003 when they were a cover band called Metal Shop.
Super dissapointing.

 

Steel Panther – March 22nd 2018 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX 

There’s not much we can say about Steel Panther that we hasn’thaven’t already said before.
Readers of this site know, we have been covering them since their inception & for several years in LA, we went to their Sunset Strip residency every Monday for weeks at a time. When they first came onto the scene back in 2009 you didn’t know if these guys were for real, or if they were a comedy show. As we all grew to either love them we realized that this was a comedy act playing a part as if they were a modern day Spinal Tap. Their lewd sexual jokes, their lycra trousers, ripped T-shirts and big hair all came as a bit of a shock to today’s pretty boy rock stars. Fast forward 9 years and Michael Starr and co are still churning out great albums of super fun albeit sexually explicit glam metal.

This being said, you don’t exactly go to a Steel Panther show, unless you know what you are going for. You go to the show because you are expecting the sexual deviance, the toilet humor, the bad hair, & juvenille behavior. You get all this in truck loads. Two songs into the set and we are delivered the first of the seemingly rehearsed comic routines between Starr and Satchel, all the whilst Lexxi re applies his lip gloss. There is no denying the musical genius within these four. Starr and Satchel possess enough talent on their own instrument to rival any of the greats throughout rock history. They have put in the miles & deservedly are going to continue to squeeze every moment they can out of their success. And hey, why so serious? Let’s have some fun, as this tour is designed to celebrate the history of very era that they parody/worship. What that means however for the setlist is more covers & less originals which is kinda a drag cause I love their original material. However in showcasing well-known songs, it becomes live karaoke which for them translates that the girls are gonna hear the songs they love & sing them with the band when their invited onstage.

Setlist:

Eyes of a Panther
Goin’ in the Backdoor
Jump (Van Halen cover)
Round and Round (Ratt cover)
Crazy Train  (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
Hot for Teacher  (Van Halen cover) (Fan from audience on drums)
Just Like Tiger Woods
Poontang Boomerang
Girl From Oklahoma
Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Def Leppard cover)
Community Property
Death to All but Metal

Encore:

Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

Steel Panther – October 23rd – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill, Dallas, TX

Early Show

Late Show

Steel Panther – June 24th 2021 – House Of Blues, Dallas, TX

Stuff

Photos –

Roy Turner
Eric Grubbs
François Bouchon

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 40th Anniversary Tour w/ Joe Walsh (April/2017)

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers 40th Anniversary Tour – April 22nd – American Airlines Center – Dallas, TX

A special feeling was in the air – As only night #2 on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers 40th Anniversary Tour celebrating four decades of timeless hits that were about to be played to one of the most appreciative crowds I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve always felt the crowd can equally make a show, no matter how good the band is, I love it when the band is right there with it.

“Hope you paid the babysitter well, ‘cause it’s gonna be a long night!” 
Petty smiled widely & the sold out roared in response. This came after the one-two punch of opener Rockin’ Around (With You) from their first LP to 90’s inescapable Mary Jane’s Last Dance to illustrate the multitude of hits across as many decades.

The cheers were certainly not lost on Petty as he seemed almost stunned by the reaction & voiced his appreciation at every opportunity with sincere, clearly moved gratitude.
He also did this really cool thing, where he had an old fashioned giant trunk, that he used as a prop.
Inside were all the immediately identifiable hats that Petty as worn over the years so are instaneously linked to the music of the period so this trunk served as time machine taking you back over the past 40 years as he would reach into the trunk & remove a hat & you instantly knew what was coming.

A fantastic rawking affair that just had unforgettable written all over it. The band & crowd enjoyed a momentum that lasted all the way throughout the encore implying the insatiable crowd would have been fine if they played all night.

Setlist –

Rockin’ Around (With You)
Mary Jane’s Last Dance
You Don’t Know How It Feels
Forgotten Man
You Got Lucky
I Won’t Back Down
Free Fallin’
Walls
Don’t Come Around Here No More
It’s Good to Be King
Time to Move On
Wildflowers
Learning to Fly
Yer So Bad
I Should Have Known It
Refugee
Runnin’ Down a Dream

Encore: 

You Wreck Me
American Girl

Joe Walsh and company opened the festivities highlighted by a moving cover of The Eagles’ Take It To The Limit dedicated to Walsh’s bandmate, the late Glenn Frey. Walsh is such a badass & could have easily filled this building on his own so having the both him & Petty as a one-two punch made the night just that much more special.


I personally have been on a bit of Walsh tear as of late. While I’m admittedly not the being Eagles consumer, I’ve always loved Joe & his swagger mixed with friendly face & fiery guitar just frames something I really can’t seem to get enough of. I was invited to his pre-tour Vegas residency back in January that mark some of the best shows I’ve ever seen by anyone. So much so that a little over a week while the Petty tour was having a day off, Walsh was doing his own headliner gig and I just couldn’t resist.

 

Joe Walsh – January 18th – Mandalay Bay – House of Blues – Las Vegas

This was night #4 of a six night residency over a ten day period & the first show in 4 days.
Joe Walsh is one of the great gunslingers of any time & proceeded to treat us all to some straight up lawlessness that made the next two hours seem like hanging out with an old friend.
From the opening James Gang number Walk Away longtime fans got the nod with Help Me Through the Night, & that was just the beginning of a night of music that inspired that anything was possible.

He talked about everything from these six House of Blues shows through Jan. 21 to the year just ended (“I didn’t like that so much”) to the one just starting (“The first 100 days are gonna be a hoot”). The title track to his 2012 album Analog Man gave Walsh to put the current insufferable concert ettiquette of playing to a wall of cell phones on blast: “You can have your iPhone pointed at me, and put it on the internet. Or, you can just look up.” 

Solo albums and the James Gang mean Walsh relies less on his work with the Eagles but he performed Take It to the Limit & dedicated to the late Glenn Frey appropriately as today was the one year anniversary of his sudden death last year.
Heater served up Life in the Fast Lane which he co-wrote with Frey and Don Henley, after mock protest that it’s “a real pain in the ass to play.”

As he hit the homestretch with his signature Life’s Been Good, the giant rear screen showed us snapshots of the singer-guitarist with rock’s upper tier of royalty: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Keith Richards and Ron Wood, Pete Townshend, Bruce Springsteen … the list goes on.
And then he played Rocky Mountain Way to send us home. A longtime friend indeed.

Setlist – 

Walk Away (James Gang song)
Ordinary Average Guy
A Life of Illusion
The Confessor
Rosewood Bitters
Analog Man
Take It to the Limit (Eagles song)
One Day at a Time
Mother Says
The Bomber: Closet Queen/Bolero/Cast Your Fate to the Wind (James Gang song)
Turn to Stone
Help Me Through the Night (James Gang)
Life in the Fast Lane (Eagles song)
In the City
Funk #49 (James Gang song)
Life’s Been Good

Encore: 

Rocky Mountain Way

 

 

Scott Ian (DJ set) – January 21st – Circle Bar at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas

One of the fun things about Vegas is the random people, performers, celebrities you run into that are either here on business or just to have fun like you. After being at this hotel all week covering the shows your reading about as well as the AVN Expo & performing as a DJ myself it was fun to see Scott Ian of Anthrax play some tunes for a special DJ set as part of the Circle Bar celebrity DJ series. The AVN Awards held at the Joint inside the casino had just let out so when you exit to enter the casino this is the first thing you see so this was also a bit of an unofficial after-party.
Every major working porn star & rock royalty spinning tunes, what more could you ask for? Only in Vegas.

 

 

 

Joe Walsh – April 30th – Winstar World Casino – Thackerville, Oklahoma

Joe Walsh is a legend and, once again, proved why he has earned that distinction. His performance was flawless and highly entertaining, just as it has been for decades. His witty sense of humor and appreciation for his faithful fans always adds to the great experience of sharing a couple of hours with him.


Walsh had all of the babyboomers out of their seats and rockin for 90 minutes straight. A true entertainer with his small talk between songs and jokes about growing older and the intrusion/confusion of the internet era. Great energy from the stage and the audience. Everything from the Eagles, James Gang and just enough of a smattering of his new stuff. Didn’t want it to end.

Setlist – 

Meadows
Ordinary Average Guy
A Life of Illusion
Everyday People (Sly & The Family Stone cover)
Analog Man
Take It to the Limit (Eagles song)
The Bomber: Closet Queen/Bolero/Cast Your Fate to the Wind (James Gang song)
Turn to Stone
In the City
Funk #49 (James Gang song)
Life in the Fast Lane (Eagles song)
Life’s Been Good
Rocky Mountain Way

 

Britney Spears Piece of Me Vegas + Sheena Easton & More (Jan/2017)

Britney Spears – January 20th – Planet Hollywood – the Axis Theatre – Las Vegas

While I’m a life-long flag bearer of Rock N Roll & Heavy Metal (see above) I also love pop music especially when it’s well done & it’s almost impossible I’ve found to not find Britney Spears endlessly fascinating. I also was out for something else too. In all my years of coming to this crazy city, I realized I had never been to one of the big shows at one of the big casinos.
No Elton, no Wayne, no Celine, not even the Beatles revue (though I did try once).
I was out to change that most importantly & second I thought of the big shows, this would be the one I wanted to see as I love alot of her songs & thought it would be the most fun.

The whole experience of this show at times feels like a commercial – when you get there, they take your picture against a branded wall (only to attempt to sell it to you for FIFTY DOLLARS at show’s end. It’s designed to make you feel like a star and it succeeds until you find out what it cost.
After your own paparazzi moment, the main lobby has artifacts from famous video shoots & other parts of her career enshrined like a museum.

I get to my seat which is ample (shout out to Amy at Will Call) while an unseen DJ is playing free jams while everyone gets seated.
Soon the curtain rises after a countdown & the show begins.

Her show is broken down into seven mini-sets, with different sets, outfits & features racy choreography and elaborate props & at one point straddles a giant guitar

Britney began her Planet Hollywood residency in 2013, was last year named Best Singer/Musician in the Las Vegas Review &
what sums up why its working so well is its not so much something you watch as something you share with your friends.

Between the lip-syncing and the scarcity of live video close-ups, the performer doesn’t resonate, but the songs do & here it’s more like a celebration of the songs, with Britney as head cheerleader & she looks amazing.
At 34, Spears has been around for the entire music-listening life of fans her age and younger. Las Vegas is always fretting about what comes after the baby boomers, and these promoters figured it out; especially when it comes to the lucrative gay male demographic in need of a new Cher.
The show’s detached quality is oddly a plus. The audience is encouraged to get up and dance from the get-go, and no one dances much harder than Britney herself.

That comes after she floats on angel wings amid pink video blossoms and real confetti snow for “Everytime.” And before the luscious green jungle projections frame a physical tree prop, one that lets Spears step out to the edge of a branch and do a bungee Tarzan glide down to the stage for “Toxic.”

Director Baz Halpin keeps the massive space filled with 14 sexy dancers, who take the spotlight for an athletic workout of Missy Elliott hits. But size doesn’t sacrifice detail. For that “Breathe on Me” moment when Britney borrows Lauren Bacall’s line “Just put your lips together and blow,” she cups her hands and blows a cloud of glitter sparkle into the air. But think of her more as a dancer who sings (at least in the studio).
Fun show!

Setlist – 

Act 1 –

Work Bitch
Womanizer
Break the Ice / Piece of Me

Act II 

Radar (Interlude)
Me Against the Music
I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll (The Arrows cover)
Gimme More

Act III

Everytime
Baby One More Time / Oops!… I Did It Again

Act IV

Boys
Do You Wanna Come Over?
Work It / Get Ur Freak On / WTF (Where They From)
(Missy Elliott Break Dance)

Act V

Get Naked (I Got a Plan)
I’m a Slave 4 U
Make Me…
Freakshow
Do Somethin’

Act VI

Circus
If U Seek Amy
Breathe on Me
Slumber Party
Touch of My Hand

Act VII 

Toxic
Stronger
(You Drive Me) Crazy
Till the World Ends

 

Sheena Easton – January 22nd – Suncoast Showroom at the Suncoast Hotel & Casino – Las Vegas 

This might seem random given all that you’ve read in this post as if I’d just really go to any show (& you’d be right) but I was so excited to add to this motley crew of diversity & to spend my last night in Vegas wrapping up this whole adventure with Sheena Easton. I knew nothing of the show until I happened to be randomly reading that week’s travel guide while in bed at my hotel. I LOVE her & was so excited to finally see her live.
However sadly, the fun pretty much stopped there but not in time to keep me from going.

I hauled ass in the rain out to Henderson about 10 miles outside of Vegas proper to the saddest, most geriatric of casinos.
I don’t say that to be mean, just accurate. When I arrive my ticket is not a Will Call & a nice man with debilitating Parkinson’s Disease took pity on me & said he had an extra ticket & invited me to join him.

While I was grateful & enjoyed his company very much, actually meeting him was the best part of the experience as when you hear the stereotype about Vegas residencies, they usually aren’t meant as still high-profile affairs like Miss Spears above, but as a punchline as to where no longer relevant performers “end up” if they want to keep getting paid to perform as a last resort. Even in those instances can remain a dignified later chapter to their career. Then you have the “it is what it is” thing that is dinner theater for centenarians & that’s exactly what this was.

I was easily the youngest person here by 30 years or more & it never occurred to me that Easton was now close to 60 & then I thought “How is she gonna sing the lyrics to Sugar Walls at this age to this crowd?” I was deflated & it was my own naive fault.
To Sheena’s credit, she’s very humble & self-effacing about the whole experience & still looks great.

She stayed in the safest of territories doing mostly well known (at least by this crowd) covers of staples including starting off with the Beatles’ Got to Get You into My Life – There were some certainly advised omissions of lyrics to some of the racier material she wrote with Prince & while I was glad to hear them, it still felt like I was watching a cover band…..at Luby’s.

Thankfully it’s still not her only option as this was the last performance for awhile as she was off to London for a year-long stint in a revival of 42nd Street at the Theatre Royale Drury Lane, the next day.

Setlist – 

Got to Get You Into My Life (The Beatles cover)
Strut
Almost Over You
You’re No Good (Linda Ronstadt cover)
How Deep Is the Ocean
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) (Marvin Gaye cover)
I Wouldn’t Beg for Water
U Got The Look / Sugar Walls ( with The Glamorous Life snippet)
We’ve Got Tonight (Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band cover)
The Lover in Me
When He Shines
(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher (Jackie Wilson cover)
You’re All I Need To Get By / Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (Motown covers medley)
Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)
Morning Train (Nine to Five)
Anyway (Martina McBride cover)
For Your Eyes Only

Photos – 

Roy Turner
Denise Truscello

The Fabulous Destiny Of Ana Cortes

As they are about to get started, and I’m getting everything into place, I look up and standing in the back of the club under this bright light, is the Spanish Girl from the Faith No More show beaming at me.
I had emailed her as promised and told her about the show and gave her the info. I even told Pete about her and skeptically said “I doubt she will show up”.
So I take my Spanish fare and we find a seat up close as the show is starting.

Ana & I said goodbye to everyone as I was anxious to spend time with her, and we had one of those majestic New York nights where you just walk the streets and talk for hours and occasionaly stop and have a drink somewhere. It was so Before Sunrise but again I may have seen too many movies haha.
When laughed and talked well into the night, and when it was finally time to say goodnight, we both were dreading of losing the company of the other.
When I got off the train that night, I was totally dancing and singing all kinds of West Side Story style.

So this was something I was also excited about as I had been wanting to check out Jones Beach since I moved here in 2006, but heard it was a trek.
I had much to be excited about, as I was finally going to Jones Beach, and on the perfect day for it, and my new Spanish Ladyfare had excitedly accepted my invitation to join me. We also were going at the invitation of the band’s manager and their bassist P-Nut, who is a total Ween fanatic, so I invited Claude to come along.  A long way from seeing this band in packed sweaty clubs my Freshman year at College.
Now when they its a trek out to Jones Beach, heed this warning, because its not only a trek its freaking ridiculous. If I wasn’t all hunky dory road trip style with my beautiful European companion I would have been furious. First of all you have to catch the LIRR for about an hour with a possible transfer and then when you arrive you have to take a bus. When we arrived we were informed that the bus out to Nikon, was no longer in service and that you had to take a cab. Then the game begins, as all these fucking predatory cabbies who wanna haggle with you instead of just giving you a straight answer. And then wanting to charge per person etc.
We found two other stranded concert-goers who were riding solo amongst them and so we all packed in and shared the fare. Thankfully, they were of the fun, outgoing 311 fan, instead of the jam-band, nitrous inhaling, shirtless variety that seems to bridge their band and ours.
So round trip train tickets and cab fare was almost 100 dollars, so if you wanna go to a show there, remember thats its at least a hundred bucks on top of the ticket price. But again I was walking on air with this girl on the most beautiful day and was about to actually go on a stroll on the beach.
We go ahead and claim our tickets and passes, and then head for the beach.
 
Thankfully we were missing the opening act, as I could hear the gawd-awful wail of the Offspring as we got closer after beach time.
We get in and the venue is gorgeous, not exxactly Red Rocks, but one of those venues that is as about the place as it is about the show. I hadn’t seen 311 in a long time, so I was interested in seeing how they have evolved over time.
 
The show was decent, not the best sound in the world, which was probably the cause of an open-air venue, by the end of the show it was just the two of us. The band’s manager, was so gracious, he actually knew where our seats were, and came out to greet us, and even escorted us backstage after the show.
At first it was that usual scene that I don’t dig, a bunch of industry people, having that same talk, a few contest winners, radio, retail, etc, that most bands will skip altogether and who can blame them. Then their manager comes in thanks everyone for coming but takes me and her to the side and asks us to follow him.
He leads us way out on the other side of the venue where all the buses are parked and we have a fun time talking. He really wanted me to speak with P-Nut, so he goes to get him and introduces us. We talk at length, mostly about Ween, and this dude is a serious fan. I thought he was cool, very mellow and gracious. He had alot of questions that I did my best to answer. We thanked them for having us, and they were very sincere in thanking us for coming.
We begin the hike back to the city, totally high on the events of the day and all that we had experienced. Train rides, beach walks and dudes named P-Nut haha.
So high in fact that when we get back to Penn Station, we walk all the way up to 59th St. and take a daring late-night stroll thru Central Park, that would normally be totally ill-advised (and can get you arrested) but tonight, we were fearless. One of the best nights I can ever remember.

Ok so after a wonderful Christmas and one of the most eventful Holiday seasons, and overall one of the best years of my life, I was ready to say goodbye to 2010 in Los Angeles. I had business there and a bunch of other things going on but the real reason was to be reunited with Ana, the wonderful, and gorgeous young Spanish girl that I met in NYC
We fell so deeply in love – we talk everyday via Skype, I’ve never done the long-distance relationship thing before and I couldn’t wait to see her We finalized that we would meet on December 30th but the airlines had other plans. Here she was taking a 24 hr odyssey and landing in Philly before finally making to LA and all I had to do was fly from Dallas, and her plane lands on time the evening of the 30th as planned. When I got to DFW that afternoon, my flight had been canceled and United seriously told me that they wouldn’t be able to get me out till Jan 3rd!!
Not only would I miss NYE in LA but this poor girl, who barely speaks English, has never been to LA before and has no ability to drive, not to mention, where was she gonna stay?
She was already in LA and expecting my arrival within the hour. What the fuck was I going to do?
They declared that anyone holding a passport could be re-booked for a flight through Mexico City that wouldn’t arrive till 9pm on Dec 31st. By the time I got there and got anywhere it would be past midnight, not good, but I had to get there ASAP so I signed up for the flight, and grabbed a hotel voucher. Speaking of which I had no idea how I was gonna get ahold of her (her cell-phone didn’t work in the States back in July) and out of desperation I just called it and it actually worked thank goodness. I told her I was booking her a hotel at LAX and that I would be in tomorrow. I go to my hotel at DFW but not before paying a visit to my old friends at American Airlines.
Ran into an old Crew Chief I knew back in the day and he booked me on the first flight out in the morning Non-Stop to LAX.
Here we go:

So after finally landing in LAX, waiting forever for my bags and the shuttle to get to Ana’s hotel, I was pretty nervous when I knocked on her door. We hadn’t seen each other in over 5 months – knowing that she was on the other side of the door before I knocked & that in a few short seconds she would be in front of me was the most exciting feeling in the world, I’ve never even remotely been in love like this before.
She opens the door, beaming at me- it was a great moment and pretty dramatic given all that it took for this moment to happen. Let’s just say that we didn’t leave the hotel anytime soon.

We we finally did leave her hotel in the shuttle back to the airport to catch another shuttle out to the Rental Car dispatches. On the way back to the airport, their was a tense moment as the shuttle was full and being driven by this openly rude, thug of a woman who’s driving was very reckless and making everyone audibly nervous. Their was a thick silent moment, and all you could hear was the radio playing Diana Ross’ Upside Down, and we were in the seats closest to the driver and out of nervousness I just started singing the song and it made everyone (including the driver) laugh, who seemed impressed that this white boy knew the words.
We get the rental car and head out to Sam’s, and old friend, and my buddy in LA, who I stay with when I’m out West. It was after 1pm and the Spanish New Year was at 3pm our time, and she had told me of some (well known) Spanish traditions that I knew nothing of, and was fascinated by, and was determined to help her not only keep her traditions, but was excited to participate in them as well.
What that would require is getting to Studio City, after purchasing some champagne and grapes, greeting Sam’s roommates (Sam was still in Texas for the holidays as well and wouldn’t be there till Jan 4th) plugging in my laptop, and securing the password to get online and find the live feed for the Spanish New Year.
We do all of those things by 2:52 pm but it was a Saturday afternoon and Sam’s roommates were having a little Football watching party and everyone was pretty buzzed when we got there, so it was a little awkward to go:

“

Jan 5th
Went to the legendary buffet at Monte Carlo – let me tell you something, hunger will never be an issue after this meal. It was soooo cold, but we had a good time walking around. She doesn’t drink/smoke/cuss/ (which I super appreciate) and I tried to show her gambling, but she didn’t find any appeal in that (which I also kinda appreciate haha) so after walking around a bunch I thought to catch a show to get out of the cold. I’ve been to Vegas 40 times and have never caught a show. The only one that really interested us was the Beatles Love – Cirque Du Soleil so we went over to check it out to discover, that the only day they DON’T have shows is Wednesdays. But we still had fun checking out the setup etc.

Jan 6th
Drove back and caught up with Sam, and the odd thing is that neither one of us mentioned the nonsense on New Year’s Day and it proved also to not be an elephant in the room. He seemed glad to see me and was very welcoming, so for now I decided to dismiss it as temporary insanity haha

Jan 8th – Jan 9th – Recap:

 

So this was Ana’s last weekend before heading back to the motherland on Monday. I did my best to show her around and give her the experience, and for better or worse I feel like I succeeded. However ill-advised and half-baked my ideas sometimes tend to be. For example: It’s perfectly natural for a tourist to want to see the Hollywood sign, and maybe get as close to it as possible (that’s the baked part) – However EXECUTING that turned what I thought would be a few hours in the sun, into an 8 hour trial of one’s physical and mental endurance. I was convinced we had crossed over into the Twilight Zone, I mean I was wearing a leather jacket for christsakes, do I look like I was prepared to climb a freaking mountain? The only thing that kept us going was no longer the desire to get to the sign, but not so that our pain and suffering would be in vain.
I drive to Griffth Park and park the car, and I seriously thought, it would take about 30 mins up, walk around for another 30, back down, the whole thing in under two hours. We started up this thing and I don’t know where I went wrong but this thing just kept winding and winding and winding around and up to the point I thought I was on drugs. It was funny for the first hour or so and we were enjoying the day, but dread started to set in when we were exhausted and over 3 hours in and no sign of it being over anytime soon (pun intended). Fatigue and dread apparently makes me prone to chronic flatulence, and I’m only admitting to this because this punch-line is so great. This girl barely speaks, let alone complain, and in her disgust, suddenly her English was perfect, like somehow my air pollution transcended any language barrier. Somehow I was gross, universally haha – because she delivered the line that kept us laughing when she said “you fart….ALL DAAAAYY”
At one our desperation to get out of this situation cause us (namely me) to make bad decisions, one was this “short-cut” that would have been impossible with hi-tech repelling equipment, let alone with two dehydrated people who are impractically dressed. We followed this couple up and we almost made it, but as we neared the top it became impossible (and quite scary). The female of the couple actually starting crying and then Ana, had a scary slip, so I pulled the plug on it and we had to trek all the way back down in defeat and disgust. As we did so, her English became perfect again when she said clearly “I….HATE…YOU..” haha.
Finally like a castaway spotting an overhead plane, we made it to the top after almost 5 grueling hours.

Now we had the arduous task of getting the fuck back down, and I was determined to NOT repeat what we had just done. I looked for an alternate route and we head down on the opposite side where the residents were which was kinda cool. We even found a store and asked where we were and it was then that it became clear, just what a fuck-up I had made. We were MILES from the car….but at least here I could call a cab and I did just that. It only took about 15 mins for them to show while we desperately re-hydrated, but the cabbie (who was probably scamming us as all fucking cabbies do) seemed uncertain of where our car was, but then seemed on-point.
30 mins and 15 miles later we are nowhere near anything recognizable and I start to panic and then I make it CLEAR where we are parked. He turns around and goes back and when we finally find the car, it was like less than a mile from the store we called the fucker from! I asked how much, and he says “15 bucks and we will call it even” – I just handed him the money, but almost instantly wished I had said “I’m thinking 5 asshole”.

The next day:

We spend the early part of the afternoon doing some last minute things before I have to take her to the airport. We are both visibly upset about her leaving and I try to console her.  I stayed with her, walking her all the way into the airport and to the security point where I only ticketed passengers could continue. Their was a break in the line and we were instructed to go upstairs though a bunch of turns and twists and right there as we were saying goodbye, a moment of sheer John Hughes’ cinematic bliss shined down on us. Their was a speaker right above us that started pumping out Diana Ross’ Upside Down, just EXACTLY as this trip had begun. Incredible.