The panic text messages went out early on Saturday night. The Brother of the Promoter was letting everybody know that the Promoter took all the money made from the appropriately named Las Vegas Shakedown and left town with it, heading off to hide in Los Angeles with his tail firmly ensconced between his cowardly legs. The Brother of the Promoter was spreading the word that nobody was getting paid - not the Bands, not the Stage Hands, not Security, not the Staff - Nobody - and that he was officially washing his hands of all responsibility associated with the shady Shakedown festival. Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, it was every man for themselves. Bands played for free, and most of the workers simply walked off the job, and I don't blame them. I would too if I knew I wasn't going to get paid! LOL And with that chickenshit move, the Shakedown came to an anti-climactic end, and I say good riddance to bad rubbish. The lineup was terrible, but that was because quite a few bands didn't even wanna work with the Promoter, because of past experiences and stuff they had heard about him. The promotion for the festival was terrible too. Nobody knew anything about what was going on, and the gigs all definitely had a Poseur slant to them. All I saw when I was down there on Fremont Street was Rockasilly faggots walking around with their Chubby Page girlfriends. If it wasn't for Zeke, Custom Made Scare, Flexx Bronco and a few others, there wasn't a Punk band to be found anywhere. Phooey. I hope that the words 'Las Vegas' and 'Shakedown' never come together ever again, and if they do, I hope people aren't stupid enough to support it, and that bands aren't stupid enough to play it.
 And what was I doing down on Fremont Street on Saturday? Why, attending the Occupy Las Vegas protest, of course! LOL I got there @ 4 pm, right when it was supposed to start, and there was nobody there. I checked the website and it said to meet in front of the big pint glass at Hennessey's, and so I grabbed a pint, ordered some grub and took a seat at a table outside of Hennessey's to watch the festivities. There were NHP bikes all lined up along the streets, film crews from Local TV stations were standing around looking stupid, and undercover police officers walked around talking into their lapels, but there was no crowd whatsoever. A few stragglers showed up, some idiot kids were walking around with anonymous Vendetta type face masks on the top of their heads, leaving their faces fully exposed, and a VW van kept driving around the area, with a poster board full of Anti-Big Business slogans and rhetoric scrawled on it, prominently affixed to the side of the van for all the world to see.
Yes, the driver of this van was wearing a Tye-dyed Grateful Dead shirt. :-)
After 15 minutes the Cops started clearing out, the TV crews started breaking their gear down, and the 4 or 5 people who bothered to show up for the Protest just kind of congregated around looking foolish while the Tourists just milled about doing whatever it is they do. I paid up my tab and took a stroll up and down Neonopolis, thinking that maybe I had missed out on it, or maybe the gathering had moved, but I found nothing. I heard someone speaking on a megaphone, but when I followed it to the source all I found was a guy selling and demonstrating toys. After about an hour I gave up and called it a day. As I was crossing the street to leave I turned around and snapped a picture of the Protestors, just for documentations sake. I don't know why nobody showed up, but after this piss poor example of how everybody talks a good game on Facebook, but nobody ever follows through with what they say, I think I'm officially done with all this silliness. This whole Occupy thing might be working in other places but here in Vegas, it's a fucking joke.
The striped pants are a nice touch, don't ya think? ;-)
Jason Campbell... broken collar bone... fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck... Is this the end of our Season? Gawd I hope not. With the Sharks craptacular start this year, Football is the only thing I got going to cheer for! LOL Bring in Pryor! hahaha
I started the 2 a day practice sessions early last week. I'm building up my endurance as well as familiarizing myself with the material... the new material that is. Songs like Ode To Darby and Oki Dog I know like the back of my hand from playing them so much back in the day. If Ena shows up it will be an almost full classic line up reunion, but if not, it's still gonna be an amazingly fun time. Youth Gone Mad @ Rookie's in La Mirada (of course) this Sat. It's a benefit for the Wolf, one of the guys responsible for turning me onto the whole Punk Rock thing when I was a wee lad, and there's no way in Hell that I would miss out on this. No way. Lots of old Friends will show up, and lots of Pictures will be taken. I can't wait. :-)
Everything is updated. New stuff added, old stuff being worked on. Shellac on Weds. @ the Beauty Bar is gonna be AMAZING! See ya there!
 2 hours. 2 fucking hours I sat inside of Yayo Taco, waiting for something, anything to happen. I was starting to get irritated at last nights Coke Bust gig @ Yayo Taco.
The reason why me, and all 5 bands who were scheduled to play, were sitting around looking stupid was because there was no P.A. available. Yeah, you read that right. Whatever dumbass promoter was responsible for the gig apparently thought that Yayo Taco was a venue and not a taco shop and thought that a P.A. would be provided. Just. Fucking. Great. So an hour after the gig was supposed to start all that the bands could come up with was 2 little ass P.A. speakers - no cables, no microphones, not even 2 stands to hold these little ass speakers up - it was pathetic, and once we heard the bands bitching about playing time and who was playing in what slot I called it a night and gave up on the gig. Sorry Coke Bust. I really wanted to see you play but apparently it wasn't meant to be. Oh well. I also really wanted to see all my Friends on Facebook who said they were gonna be there, but, in a perfect example of it, I guess it's easier to do things on Facebook than in real life, like how people keep posting all that Occupy Wall Street shit, or Occupy Vegas or whatever, and then they don't even bother to show up. Hypocrites. Phooey.
I believe it was Gandhi who said First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win in regards to peaceful protesting, and all I can say to that is that you couldn't be more wrong if you tried! LOL The Govt. is cracking down tomorrow on all that shit, with the big show down coming at sunrise with the Occupy Wall Street crew. Fuhrer Bloomberg and his Gestapo stormtroopers are taking back that park, and there ain't a thing that peaceful protesting is gonna do to stop it. Talk - Action = Zero. As the MC5 said, It's time to kick out the Jams Motherfucker!! And before you think to yourself that if you were there, you'd be right there on the front line fighting it out against the Police, just stop it, because you wouldn't. You're a Hypocrite arm chair rebel who watches what's going on from safe behind your computer screen. Just quit it. I wouldn't be there because it's not a cause that I believe in fighting for. Sorry. I support the Fight but won't fight for it, if that makes any sense. Politics. Phooey.
Zeke / Custom Made Scare @ the LVCS tomorrow - Who's going besides me??? :-)
 Equinox movie... NICE!! Yeah, the Las Vegas Shakedown is a joke. They should just call it what it is, and that's Viva Las Vegas without the car show. It's also pretty stupid that a lot of the bands are playing at other venues around town for Free, so why would you pay the ridiculously high price to see the headliner? In the case of Zeke it's worth it, but the rest of the gigs? Fuck off. And I hate that there aren't enough Local bands on the fucking bills. How the Fremonts got that opening slot at the Zeke gig is beyond me (wink wink), but since it starts at 4 o'clock, I doubt that anyone of the 21 and over crowd that Zeke fans are made of will be there. I know I won't. Enjoy playing to that empty room guys. And Flexx Bronco again? Really? Weren't they just here like 2 months ago? LOL They're an OK band but come on. Why couldn't The People's Whiskey play that gig in that spot? :-) Might guarantee that some Locals get there early, but that makes too much sense, so I'll just stop now. And I guess they didn't need to advertise either. Oh well. Deadbolt is playing the Opening Night kickoff tonight, and hardly anybody knows about it. Good job there Ralph. Go cater to that Las Vegas Weekly crowd some more, and lemme know how that works out, OK? Thanx! Everything is updated. You know the drill. See you somewhere soon. :-)
Where the Fuck have I been? Where the FUCK have YOU been? hahaha This time, it wasn't killing Zombies that have kept me at bay, but it was a damn cold! Go figure! Apparently, it hit Vegas pretty hard, with a lot of people I know either getting slowed up by it or completely shut down because of it, so I think I'm in good company. Good to catch it now and get it out of the way, right? Now I can get back to the website, catching up on all the shit I've been lagging on. At least that's my excuse. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Anyways, all sorts of things going on here, with lots of good gigs happening and some coming up that potentially look interesting. I was hyped on tonight's gig @ the Divebar with the Queers, but after hearing about what happened there last Friday at the Agent Orange gig and then on Sat. with the D.I. gig, I think I'll be staying home. Drama and Drunken Fools Fighting just bores me to tears. Nice to know nothing changes there, despite what they're telling people, huh? What? You didn't know Agent Orange and D.I. played @ the Divebar this past weekend? Yeah, neither did a lot of people apparently. Promoters, Bars, Clubs, whatever, try getting the info out to people and, surprise surprise!, people might show up to the gigs. A strange concept I know. And BTW, Myspace is dead. If you're posting show flyers and gig information through that fucked up beyond belief vehicle, don't forget to post the same info on Friendster too. Having been on Myspace for over 6 years now, it's been a long strange trip watching them fuck themselves up into the unworkable mediocrity spam filled machine that it currently is. Promoters - get a Facebook page. Everyone you know is on there, and if you wanna entice people to get out and check out some of the bands you have playing your venue, that's the way to do it. That, and maybe send me the info beforehand, so I can put it on my Gig Calendar page and let all 9 people who read this website know what's coming up and what's going on. Yup.Happy Birthday Talitha!! XOXOXO times a zillion!! Me wuv you! <3
Pitt is coming to town for Thanksgiving. Just to grub with his family, and not to play a surprise reunion gig @ the Double Down with the Loud Pipes this weekend. Remember, you did NOT hear that from me. ;-) Pek was spinning through the channels and saw Jesse on Pawn Stars last night, fixing up some old Gibson ukulele that some shnook brought in. Pek's daughter seemed hyped that she had been playing and hanging out at a 'TV Star's" house. LOL Kids. You gotta love 'em. Me, I don't even hang out with Jesse in his "TV Star" house as much as I do Gibson, his precious beautiful baby boy. I just hang with him on the couch drinking Slurpees and watching football. Between watching him and watching Tony running around with Jesse's other boys playing football in the street, I'm fully entertained every Sunday afternoon. Yeah, that Tony. Grandpa Spooky. The Prince of Pinche Darkness. He came back from the South healthy and vibrant. Weird. It was a bit unsettling at first, but now I'm used to it. Tony's outlived his usefulness as mine and Jesse's Raiders good luck charm though, the bastard. After our drubbing by Pittsburgh yesterday, I'm convinced our good luck well has run dry. Looks like we'll have to rely on our backup rookie Receiver and backup Pollack Quarterback to get us that wild card spot in the playoffs. hee hee hee I've been catching up on my Hockey watching as of late, and man, the Sharks look wobbly as fuck this year. Inconsistent play and a giant clusterfuck at the Goalie position has them looking real, real bad. **sigh** Oh well. It's early, right? It's gonna be an interesting Season, that's for sure. Yeah, I know. Who cares, right? You wanna hear about the Drama! The trip to California. Upper deckers. Garage parties. Breaking shit. The whole Jack and Pigasus thing. Hank's party. The Flexx Bronco / Last Night's Heroes gig. What happened @ the Divebar. What happened at the Beauty Bar. Brookelyn finally leaving Las Vegas and her talking shit on Facebook about people and band mates she left behind. All of that stuff, right? Well too bad. I got better things to do, and I'm gonna get to doing them right now. Everything is updated. Yada yada yada.
Did you have a good weekend? Me too! Nursing a sick friend is always it's own reward. ;-) Plus the drunken Hookers trying to get back to Boulder Highway are always fun to see.
The Show Review for Day 1 of the Shake Down, featuring the Zeros and the Rip Offs and the Lords Of Altamont, is up and live, so click here to give it a read if you're so inclined. It's not as good as what Laura Davis wrote, but then again, I ain't no 'Professional Journalist', so yeah... hee hee hee. Day 2 Show Review is right around the corner. I just gotta get all the Pictures done. The Flexx Bronco photos are done as you can see, leaving only the Dragons ones to finish. Oh, and the Clorox Girls. They were so rad. I'm gonna post up those 2 songs I recorded by them soon. This video of the Rip Offs in action from that weekend just makes me smile. All the videos I've seen on YouTube for the gig are all shot at the beginning, before cameras got damaged and soaked with flying liquids, nothing from the end. Fucking pussies. Shane White spit a mouthful of vodka all over me and my camera, and I didn't even blink... hahaha Yeah, things are going good on every front imaginable. Hello to all the Perpetrators and the Haters who still read this website and then pass along what's written on here in a personally biased and slanted view. It's great that you people waste so much time on me - I'm flattered, really, but come on - don't you have anything better to do? Oh, that's right, you don't. I forgot, sorry. Well, I got lots and lots of better things to do, like enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather we've been having here in Vegas, and having fun. TheCore and The Anchor are playing @ the Divebar tonight, but I won't be there. You should be though. Both bands are great, but it's just a shame that it's happening at such a shitty, shitty place. ::sigh:: Everything's updated! See ya at the Gigs. :-)
 Betting On Tomorrow is unfortunately, not playing...
OK, I'm coming out of the coma that the Shake Down put me into, and looking back on the Pictures I took and listening to the Recordings I made and suffering through the bumps and the bruises and the black eyes I received, I can honestly say that it was all worth it. Shame a few of you out there missed it, or only bothered to show up on the last day, when everything was winding out, and people were more about Recovering than Rocking. If I hear one more person referring to the Shake Down as a Rockabilly event I may puke. Yeah, some ghey ass Rockabilly bands played, and that fact was definitely more advertised in the papers and the websites more than anything else, but still, Punk Bands ruled the land. Did you see the Humpers? Fucking life affirming. The Clorox Girls? Mind blowing. The Rip Offs? Historical. The Dragons? Rocking like fuck. The Zodiac Killers? Face melting. Add to that the Mau Maus and Flexx Bronco and the Bourbon Saints and you got an ass kicking infusion of Punk Rock and Roll of the highest accord. I mean, look, it's days later and I'm still raving about it. This shit was great! It couldn't of been more fun. A lot of Local faces were definitely missing though. Like Hank. Hank, I hate you. :-)
This weekend has Unfair Fight playing @ the LVCS, a gig that NJ Pete promises will be a sloppy, mistake filled fun time! LOL Sic Waiting and End Reverse are playing too, so come on out Saturday night and count Pete's mistakes. The Over-Under is 10. ;-) Dead Lazlo's Place are playing at the Double Down Sat., and of course, the Ataris @ the Cheyenne Saloon is gonna be pretty fun that night too. Holding On To Sound and Battle Born are @ the Bunkhouse Saturday night as well, so choose wisely. Why are all the gigs happening on Saturday night? Bad planning or what?
Everything is updated. The Squeeze / Beat / Skooners Show Review is up and running, and you can click here to read it if you're so inclined. The 1/2 Ast photos from the LVCS are up, as well as the Black Jetts @ the Brass Lounge pictures too. I saw that Roy found them already, as he shared them on the bands Facebook page, giving me and 'Shitty Bob' credit for them... hee hee hee I wish it would rain already. The humidity is reminding me of FLA., and I'm missing that 'I'm in Miami, BITCH' mentality. Pretty Lady, come and save me! :-)
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