So it's Thursday, right? Lots of stuff going on tonight, like that Jimmy Cliff gig @ the Hard Rock with openers One Pin Short. $35 is a bit stiff for Mr. Cliff, so I'm staying away from this gig, although the set I saw him play @ Coachella was nothing short of brilliant. I hope he makes it back to Vegas sometime soon and doesn't pull a Dick Dale on us. On the other side of the spectrum there's this crazy Punk gig happening at the Bunkhouse tonight, with Nests, Retox, Clinging To The Trees Of A Forest Fire and God's America AKA The Seeds Of Rape. I don't know anything about any of the bands playing, except for Nests, who are one of the coolest bands I've seen in a while and definitely worth the price of admission alone, and, of course, Retox, who play some short and sweet bursts of some harsh, unsettling, Sci-Fi sounding Hardcore math rock that's pretty damn good. They're not the Locust, but much better. If you don't believe me you can just check out the band's latest video for their song Thirty Cents Shy Of A Quarter. If I didn't already have plans with my Family for tonight I would definitely be at this gig. Hell, I still may try to get my ass down there hopefully before the last band is finished. It's gonna be intense! :-) Fucking Retox and Nests. Wow!

Tomorrow night it's all about Primus @ the Joint. Fishbone is opening. Do I need to explain to you how amazing Primus is? I seriously hope not. I heart Primus. Like there's anywhere else I'm gonna be that night. :-) But, if you don't feel like paying $35 to see those 2 amazing bands, there is a heavier, less expensive gig for you to attend - 2 of them, actually. The first one is this sick gig with Demon Lung, Dead Neon, Author & Punisher and Black Elk, which is sure to shatter your eardrums and get you banging your head while being overwhelmed by the heaviness of all the bands playing. I'm sure they're gonna be asking for donations for the touring bands at the door, so if you're on some sort of budget or are even a bit of a cheap bastard, then you could go see the Seriouslys, the Gashers and Stagnetti's Cock at the Motor City Cafe. I don't think any bands will be asking for money at that gig. I think both the Seriouslys and the Gashers have new albums coming out sometime soon, so this is gonna be a good chance to hear some of their new songs before everyone else does. I don't know a thing about Stagnetti's Cock, but they may have a new album coming out soon too, so who knows? LOL Friday night is definitely not a night to be staying in and playing World of Warcraft or some shit like that. Friday night is the night to get off your ass and Support Live Music!  

And Saturday... well, if you're not at Hank's Beaumont Bunker Presents An Unfocused Rowdy Party Dog Production: Summer Time Pool Bash!, (click here to read all about that event) which is going to be nothing short of incredible, then I guess you could come out to see the Vegascendents play with Three Chord Radio out in Hendertucky if you're feeling brave. Yeah, I know it's in Hendertucky, and yeah, I know it's at the Gold Mine Tavern, but still, I hear that it's a cool place to hang out at, and someone told me that Three Chord Radio are pretty good, so yeah, I'm looking forward to this little gig on Sat. Of course, I'm not driving out there, because I'm not stupid, but my Lawyer says he might show up there, so if I get in trouble, he's gonna be a short distance away! LOL I can't wait to see him show me how he used to slam in the mosh pit like he did at some Pearl Jam Lollapalooza performance zillions of years ago... ha ha ha Fun is where you make it, so I'm looking forward to having some fun on Sat. If it's a good night, I'll make it home and sleep in my own bed. If it's a great night, I'll either end up in jail or at some $6 a night mobile home motel on Boulder Highway! ;-) Everything is updated. Looks like it's going to be an interesting weekend... Hopefully! 

I am soooooooooo in Love with Squeeze right now - even more than I ever was, if that's possible. They were incredible last night, basically playing everything from the Singles - 45's And Under release, with a few obscure songs that were definitely treats for us fans, stuff like In Quintessence, If I Didn't Love You, Heaven and Bang Bang from their very first album. My fucking jaw dropped as I haven't heard them play that song in like 30 years. Fucking Wow!!! In the early days, sure, but now, not really, as the band pretty much sticks to a give-the-people-what-they-want aspect of playing the Hits, although the band gets to stretch it's musical muscle on some newer, latter day material that's almost jam band, Rolling Stones like shit, but I forgave them for that little hippy-ish indiscretion. The crowd was tame, but the waitress service was fun, with the old folks in the crowd standing in nicely organized rows, allowing the waitresses to keep bringing me those splendid 32oz. drafts without any trouble. The more I drank, the better the band sounded. Go figure, right? ha ha ha There I was, a big dude in a Sharks jersey, jumping around and rocking out to Squeeze, singing along to almost every gawd damn song they played and just having the time of my Life in a crowd where there was seriously no one under the age of 30 in the place. Ha Ha Ha Ha I did not give a FUCK because sometimes it's good to be an old dude because you can appreciate the songwriting Genius of Mr's Difford and Tilbrook and the Music that they have created. The band was incredible. It was the same line up of players that I saw when Squeeze played the Crown Theater inside the Rio a few years ago (click here to see the photos I took that night) and like a fine wine, they've only gotten better with age. <3 Gawd damn do I love me some Squeeze. I bought all kinds of swag as I left the place. It was gaudy and all over-priced and I didn't care. :-)

Right before the gig I was watching the live feed on YouTube of Coachella 2012, and I gotta say, it was pretty sweet. I watched Jimmy Cliff's set, which was fantastic, despite the presence of that dooshbag Tim Armstrong in Mr. Cliff's backing band. It took me a while to recognize that Jimmy Cliff was doing a Rancid cover, but once I did... BARF!! ha ha ha I Can See Clearly Now was great, with the storm clouds off in the distance over the mountains, and, of course, The Harder They Fall, which is a Spiritual fucking classic. The set ended too quickly for me. The crowd seemed to dig it though, so that was good. And then came Madness. They sounded a bit ruff during the opener One Step Beyond, and they were missing Bedders on bass, but I gotta say, they sounded GREAT!! Suggs voice was in fine form, Woody is always on the beat, Chrissy Boy was playing Johnny Thunders riffs in between songs, Mike was pounding the keyboards in the back and Lee is just a madman, coming out dressed like some Chinese citizen from 1792 and just acting like the lunatic that he is, jumping around and up on the monitors, and mugging for the camera whenever possible. Best line of the night came from Chas, who said "I'm too old for this shit." LOL Second best was Lee asking the crowd "Does anyone have any drugs?" ;-) The highlight of the set was when they did Night Boat To Cairo, with the dual horn intro that sounded SICK, and that fucking crazy kid in the audience who was dressed up like the band were in the video for the song, crowd surfing with the biggest smile on his face while Madness played. That's what going to gigs is all about - having FUN!!! Oh my gawd I cannot wait to see Madness tonight. <3

If you're not going to the Madness gig tonight (I can't imagine why you're not though) there's other stuff going on. I had the date wrong about the Seriouslys gig @ the Motor City Cafe. It's tonight, not yesterday. If you're not going to that you should go to the Ignite / Guilty By Association / The Happy Campers / N.E. Last Words gig at the Aruba. Deadhand dropped off the gig because they don't do Pay to Play. Good for them. I couldn't be prouder. :-) And oh, I lost that video I shot of them doing Singing For You @ the Double Clown on Thurs. My iPhone took a shit, and when I took it down to the Apple store for them to fix it, they said they didn't know what was wrong with it, because it didn't show any signs of abuse/damage. It just couldn't be accessed, so I lost everything on it. Oh well. I got a brand new iPhone out of it, which will be majorly used tonight at Madness. I got Pigasus practice beforehand, so I'm gonna go try and get some sleep. These past few days have been AMAZING, and tonight is just going to be the capper of it all. It's always good seeing your old Friends. :-) Have a great weekend everyone. I know I am! Oh, and go see The People's Whiskey and the Hard Pipe Hitters tomorrow night @ the Bunkhouse!