I hate that I missed this on Friday. Fucking HATE IT!! :-( Deadhand @ the Royal House playing that Nirvana tribute thing.
Yeah, I missed out on that awesomeness because I was at band practice. Another day, another band apparently. The count is now up to 5. Yeah, I think American Buckshot is back and ready to Bring The Thunder © like we used to do, which is awesome. Another set of songs to learn. I think my left hip is deteriorating at a much more rapid pace than it should be, because it has been in constant pain as of late but oh well. I'm having fun. LOL Saturday I had band practice before playing my debut gig with Pigasus @ the Bar & Bistro for Bobby Frank's Birthday get together (I never saw Mr. Franks all evening), and I think we did pretty good, based on what everyone was telling me after we were finished playing. I was nervous, broke a couple of sticks in half from bashing them too hard on the drums and I made a few mistakes and miscounts but I think I did OK overall. Besides the 'you sounded good' sentiment that was being shared by alot of the attendees, I think just as many people were tripping on me playing at a much slower pace than they're used to seeing me play! LOL Hey man - I'm versatile, I swear! There was too many fantastic people at the place for me to focus on anyone in particular (yeah right), and I Thank all of you who made the effort and came out, especially Dean, fresh from his trip somewhere overseas doing something he probably shouldn't of been doing somewhere he shouldn't of been. Good to have you back Brother. You have no idea of how good it is to see you. XOXO
Shit. While I'm thinking about it, I never shared this Madness video I shot with my trusty iPhone when they played here a few weeks ago. It's for one of my favorite songs off of their debut album, Bed And Breakfast Man.
I also forgot to bring up the fact that Sham 69 had cancelled out of their appearance at Punk Rock Bowling this year, due to Jimmy Pursey's father deteriorating health, so instead, the Cockney Rejects will be taking their place. Now I had heard that the Cockney Rejects were the 'Secret' band playing that Civilians / Youth Brigade gig, so does that mean that there will be a new secret band taking their place? Who knows? The last time I saw the Cockney Rejects was back in the 90's and they were just dog shit terrible. The time before that was sometime in the mid 80's after they went Metal and gawd, they were just fucking horrible then as well, but every time before that, they were fucking incredible, playing most of the songs from their brilliantly titled first album Greatest Hits, Vol. 1. The band is supposed to have a documentary film and a new album out this year called East End Babylon, but I don't know what's up with that. I'm sure they'll be playing few, if any, songs from that album though. I'm sure they've smartened up by now and realized that people only wanna hear the 'Hits' and they'll play just that and all the little tossers can run to the merch booth and buy the swag and post on Facebook how they just saw the Cockney Rejects and me being the old dude that I am will correct them by saying No, you did not see the real Cockney Rejects, much like seeing a Danzig / Doyle thing is not seeing the real Misfits. What you will get at Punk Rock Bowling is the Geggus' brothers latest musical project, and if it was anywhere else, like at a club, I probably would of checked it out, because I'm a HUGE Cockney Rejects fan, but it's not worth just standing around like cattle in a pen tolerating all the shitty bands just to see the ones you like, and therein lies the crux of why the whole Punk Rock Bowling thing sucks shit balls. Oh well. Everything is updated. I added a bunch of simply fucking AMAZING gigs to the Gig Calendar page, including the almighty Freddie McGregor's return to Las Vegas, as well as a return visit from Don Carlos himself. Oh, I am sooooooooo at both of those gigs. You have no idea. There's some other good one's coming up too, but I forget what they are. I'm just spazzing out on Freddie McGregor and Don Carlos. Wow. <3 I posted those Pictures of The Lost playing at the Double Clown Saloon up last week, so click here to check them out if you're so inclined. I'm gonna go play some Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 and work on winning a Tournament. :-)
Year End Lists - you know I love them! ;-) Seems like everybody and their Mothers were putting out lists, either about the best musical releases of 2011 or the best gigs they saw that year or the biggest shits they took or whatever, and after reading the Las Vegas Weekly's pathetic attempt at year end lists (which you can read by clicking here) I was inspired to attempt my own lists, so here they are! Top Ten Best Releases of 2011:1. Jesus Lizard - ClubOne of the most frightening live shows ever recorded. All killer no filler. The sound quality on this is phenomenal! Nothing released this year even comes close to how powerful and amazing this record is. Nothing. 2. Deadhand - DeadhandThe song writing, musicianship and emotions on display in this release still give me the chills. Scary good, and it still makes the hair on the back on my neck stand up every time a song off of this comes up on shuffle on my iPhone. 3. P.J. Harvey - Let England ShakeSimply astounding in it's musical brilliance. The best thing she's done since Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. The woman is a genius. 4. Naked City Romeos - Naked City RomeosIf this CD came out in the classic Punk Rock era of yesteryear, it would be considered a legendary record alongside other releases by the Sex Pistols, 999, The Dictators and the Damned. Yeah, it's that fucking good. 5. Unfair Fight - A Constant StruggleAgain, if this CD came out in the classic Punk Rock eras of yesteryear, it would be considered an essential part of any Hardcore music collection alongside other releases by Agnostic Front, SSD, or the Cro-Mags. This release is incredible - enough said. 6. The Dwarves - The Dwarves Are Born AgainThe fact that the Dwarves are still around is to be commended. The fact that they put out this CD full of such kick ass music is just icing on the cake. A great release that gives you exactly what you'd expect and deserve from this seminal band. 7. Jane's Addiction - The Great Escape ArtistGoing back to their Nothing's Shocking drawing board, the band juggled bass players while coming together to create what is undoubtedly the best thing they've done in a long, long time. 8. The People's Whiskey - Eight Tracks And Dub SacksThis CD came straight out of Hendertucky to hit a home run with this raw, melodic presentation of some of the better songs the band has been playing around live for a while now. The impassioned vocals and musical stylings on here are just fantastic. 9. Faith - Subject To Change Plus First DemoThis often overlooked classic band finally gets the recognition they deserve by having all of their material remixed and remastered, and it sounds better than it ever did. For this material to come out this year is a godsend. 10. Napalm Raid - Trail Of The WorldOne of the heaviest, crustiest recordings to come out this year. This 4 song EP highlights the bands musical muscle in short, brutal blasts of fiery anger. Amazing stuff. And while I'm in the mood for it, here's another one: Top 10 Best Gigs of 2011:1. Melt Banana @ The BunkhouseIf you were there, then you know why this gig was the best one to go down this year. How amazing was the band? And the crowd?? Wowsers!! Definitely in my Top 10 list for the best gigs I've ever seen in my Life. Seriously. 2. Shellac @ The Beauty BarI don't know why they played, but I'm glad I was there! I stood directly in front of the band with my mouth agape in bewilderment as they just pummeled the crowd with one incredible song after another. This gig was soul cleansing. Fucking brilliant.3. Freddie McGregor @ Reggae In The DesertWowsers. I still can't believe I witnessed the King of Lover's Rock deliver a set of musical brilliance to an amorous and appreciative audience, who were hanging on every note the Man sung. 4. Deadhand @ Hypnotic LoungeThe band played a residency at this pool hall in September that highlighted their just released self titled EP, and to be able to see them perform live every weekend was a mind blowing treat. 5. Barrington Levy @ The Bunkhouse To watch this dance hall Legend up close and personal in this downtown dive bar, 2 days in a row no less, was akin to seeing Peter Tosh at the Double Down. Just. Fucking. Incredible. 6. Manic Hispanic @ Diablo'sTo see Jefe, fresh out of the hospital, lead El Hoakie Loco and their primos through a blistering set of old and new material was incredible. One of the best bands to play live you'll ever see.7. Zeke @ The LVCSThe high revving, nitrous burning Rock N Roll machine known as Zeke just fucking slayed everyone in the place when they played here, leaving no doubt that these guys are no one to fuck with when they play. Sheer genius. 8. Napalm Raid @ Yayo Taco These crusty Canadians played the most brutal set of D-Beat Noise Not Music that Vegas ever witnessed, and there wasn't more than 10 people in the room when they did it, and the intensity level was through the roof. Fuck yeah!!! 9. Descendents @ Punk Rock Bowling I only watched a little bit of it from the outside, because I wasn't stupid enough to pay to get in, but what I saw was pretty impressive. Not from the band, who have definitely lost a few steps along the way, but more from the crowd, who just showered the band with nothing but Love L-U-V while they played nearly every song that the people wanted to hear. Pretty great to see. 10. The People's Whiskey @ The Royal ResortI love these guys, and on this particular day they delivered a set of songs that was so fucking punk rocking, so memorable, that it was stuck in my mind for months afterwards. It was like seeing Nirvana when they played Al's Bar to like, nobody. This was one for the History books. Yeah, that's pretty good for off the top of my head. :-) While I'm reminiscing about the last month of the year, lemme publicly acknowledge one of the worst kept secrets in all of the Las Vegas Music Scene by Congratulating Ministry Of Love on their signing to Negative Progression Records. The band certainly deserves it, and I look forward to hearing their tales of no label support, no money, shitty touring situations and all the fun, fun times they're gonna have. :-) Their debut for the label, Party Animals, will be released in February. Again, Congratulations to Ministry Of Love for finally getting signed. Gives me hope that a record label out there might actually 'get it'. Yeah, First Friday tonight. I'm thinking about going down to see Pigasus and The Dirty Somethings tear shit up, but I dunno if that's gonna happen. Obligations, ya know? ;-) Tomorrow night it's all about The People's Whiskey / The Dirty Panties / The Quitters @ the Motor City Cafe, after I take care of some personal business in the morning. I don't have anything to do on Sundays now that football is over for me. :-( I was gonna go to a birthday party but it got cancelled, so, anyone wanna hang out and jam on Sunday? heh heh heh Everything is updated, I finished off all the Pictures for 2011, with the last sets being from The People's Whiskey, The Mapes and the Naked City Romeos. You can find them all to the side here. I also added all the photos to the Me And My Me And My Me And My Me And My Me And My Friends page as well as the Vegas - The City I Live In page too, which is weird, because those pages get a lot of views for some reason. I can't imagine why. ;-)
To all you Haters and Nosy Fucks out there - I had a blast in Seattle! ;-)
Yeah, nothing makes you appreciate being back Home than visiting someplace that you don't like. Love the Company I'm with, but Hate the City, if that makes any sense. Anyways, after getting back to reality I was surprised to see so many people giving a shit about Ryan Dunn passing away. I mean, really? Who gives a fuck? The way some of my friends were carrying on about him on Facebook was disgusting, calling him a "Hero" and an "Inspiration to me when I was a kid" and other shit like that? Again, really? In case you missed my summation of it on Facebook, I present it to you here:
Rich guy drunk as fuck gets into his Porsche and drives off and kills himself and his friend... boo fucking hoo. I guess he's well Dunn now, huh?
Which I guess is true, since TMZ.com is reporting that he was sort of alive while the fire was burning what was left of his car. Some reports say he was found half in/out of the door, possibly indicating he was trying to climb out, but when you consider that the damn engine of the car was found 50 feet further ahead of the wreckage, then I'd like to believe that there was no way in Hell those 2 fools knew what the fuck was going on. Breathing, maybe, Alive, not a snowballs chance in you know where. And yeah, I called them fools. Drunk driving, late night country road, going about 130 mph. Somehow, that just doesn't sound like a good combination to me... heh Oh well. Live Fast, Die Young, Leave a Pretty Corpse, right? Yeah, whatever with that noise. He was neither young nor pretty when he made a bad decision that cost him his Life. Phooey. And the stuff they're selling about him on ebay is just ridiculous. Click here to see for yourself. iPhone covers? Zippo lighters? ::BARF::
Yeah, it's a slow news week, so what? LOL I'm still suffering from this weekends past shenanigans, and band practice isn't helping. I think I'm gonna go pass out now. The Queers are playing @ the Divebar tomorrow tonight, and you should all go! I think I might. Everything is updated. A shitload of new gigs were added to the Gig Calendar page, and the Videos page has been updated with all the links working now, and pretty much everything I have is posted up there. And with that, I leave you with 1 of the last 3 Freddie McGregor videos from Reggae In The Desert 2011 I just posted on my YouTube page. It's his cover of that classic 70's Main Ingredients song Just Don't Want To Be Lonely. It was his 1st encore. This song rules. Praise Jah! and all of that malarkey. See you at the gigs this week! Zombie Prom! Woo Hoo!
Rastafari! Haile Selassie! Praise Jah! :-) It's Tuesday, which just means more videos from Reggae In The Desert this past weekend! Woo hoo! Here's Mykal Rose performing the Black Uhuru classic Shine Eye Gal. The Man is smoooooooooooth personified.
And here's another one from Freddie McGregor, performing a medley of some of his classic hits Let Him Try, Loving Pauper, and I Was Born A Leader.
This is the Legendary Don Carlos performing Rude Boy (Go Easy). The Man still has some dance moves! ;-) The annoying bitch screaming couldn't be avoided. She was standing right next to me.
My photo camera is broken, which is why I've been shooting nothing but video lately. I gotta find a place here in town that fixes cameras, although I'm really getting burned out on taking them. The limits of the format are getting to me. As of now, I like doing video more. It's a simpler, easily shareable, more accessible format that really allows you to get a feel of how the gig was and what it was all about. I bought a Sony HD Webbie camera back in 2009 and it sat unopened in a box on a shelf for over a year before I touched it. I have no idea why. My Brother Victor gave me a Flip camera for Christmas, telling me the website needed more videos on it, and I'm starting to embrace the idea. We'll see how long it lasts.
Andy from Surrounded By Thieves sent me this flyer for his upcoming gig, and I post it up here to make a point. Bands, you need to promote! I hate turning down invites to gigs that I get sent 24 hours beforehand, usually because I've already made plans days or weeks ahead. And I definitely ain't gonna track down flyers to promote your gigs on my own time, so get off your apathetic asses and send that flyer you took a whole 3 minutes putting together out! LOL Facebook invites aren't the only way to spread the word about your upcoming gig. Stop being lazy. Promote! And go to this gig @ Yayo Taco next month with Surrounded By Thieves. ;-)
 Cows on drugs, something I can get definitely support! Just like yesterday, I'm gonna leave you with a video I've been sitting on for a while now, shot @ Jake's Bar in Lake Havasu when 3 Las Vegas bands invaded that place for a night of drunken shenanigans last month. Here's the Happy Campers doing a song called Buried Alive, and Thanx to Mr. Charisma himself Chad for telling me the name of it. <3 And The Heroine and The People's Whiskey are playing @ the Divebar tonight! Should be a fun gig. See ya there!
You know it's a good Birthday when you get so wasted that you have to leave your own Birthday party because you're too drunk to party! hahahaha Yeah, Mel's B-Day @ the Bunkhouse this past Sat. was a fucking blast! Six Shooters To The Sky killed it, Stereohigh fucking played for about an hour and a half too long, and the Vegascendents thrashed our way through an almost impressive set. New songs were played, and old songs were forgotten - it was great! LOL And Kudos! to whoever kept screaming at me to get naked... LOL It was a ruff ride for me after what I had been through at Reggae In The Desert earlier that day though. Wowsers. Drinking in the bright sunshine sure is draining!
First off, anyone who tells you that the Indians don't rule the front stage area of Reggae In The Desert is a bald faced liar! LOL It's getting so bad now that we all are starting to remember each others names. ;-) And how they're able to get full bottles of booze into the place undetected is beyond me - hahaha The searches this year were terrible - I almost didn't get all of my drugs in! LOL And, they served Guinness there this year! Woo Hoo! It was Heavenly! And the Music, oh the Music was glorious! Don Carlos was incredible, and Mykal Rose just fucking killed it, leading the crowd in a hair raising version of Natty Dreadlocks that was just awesome to see and hear. And Freddie McGregor, the King of Lover's Rock, just OWNED the place with a waaaaaay too short set of hits including Bobby Babylon, Just Don't Want To Be Lonely, Big Ship, Africa and If You Want To Go. He even did a few of his Brother Dennis Brown's songs mid-set, which was just sick as fuck. Ending the night with a couple of old school Ska songs, which had him High Steppin' and Skanking and out-dancing guys in his band who were 30 years younger than him! hahaha It was great to see. I tried to dance but my back and legs weren't having it... LOL Reggae In The Desert 2011 was the shit! Rastafari! Praise Jah! King of Kings! Lord of Lords! Lion of Judah! hahaha That was for Jeremy, because he loves that stuff. :-)
Deadhand are my new favorite band. Seriously. They're fucking incredible. <3 I saw a tiny bit of video, heard some glowing reports from a few people who's musical opinion I value, and I used to share a rehearsal space with them, so I know about what I speak of! LOL Congrats on a spectacular CD release show. I fucking wish I could of been there. :-(
Everything's updated. Butthole Surfers are coming to town. Go to the Gig Calendar page to read all about it. While uploading the videos I took this weekend, I found this S.F.T. video I never posted before, so I thought I would leave you with that. It was taken last month @ the Divebar, and I think the song is called D.U.I., but I'm not sure. Enjoy!
I forgot most of what I wanted to say. I thought I had posted about it earlier in the week, but when I realized I didn't, I just let it go. Something about Drama, the Hurricane wrecking the Mighty Diamonds gig, or Hank being a fag. Oh well. I'm sure it was shit. Per usual. ;-)
She told me about Gutterballs, and I wish that she hadn't, although watching a Tranny get face fucked with a bowling pin was interesting, to say the least. LOL Check it out if your a fan of Grade Z horror flicks.
So let's talk about the weekend, shall we? In typical Vegas fashion there's tons of things going on this weekend, leaving you to either plan accordingly or just pick one place to go and blow it up. I mean, you got Reggae In The Desert with Freddie McGregor (who I last saw @ the Huntridge back in 1993), the Deadhand CD release party @ the Divebar, Mel's Birthday Party with the Vegascendents @ the Bunkhouse on Saturday, the Turbo A.C.'s @ Meatheads, Dead Neon's playing on Friday, and there's some other shit going on that I can't remember right now. Check out the Gig Calendar page for all the latest. It's a gorgeous day outside. I think I'm gonna make some cookies and go on an adventure. See you at the gigs.  Gotta luv Diamond Dave!
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