What a perfect weekend! :-)

Friday night @ the Sand Dollar Blues Lounge was great! I played both sets without any problems, and my band mates almost had me feeling accomplished! LOL I don't know why we practice as long as we do, just to get up on stage and forget the basic fundamentals that we worked so hard on perfecting, but such is Life in a band. Technical difficulties and booze were definitely factors in every bands performance that night. Opening band The Nasty were a train wreck!  The band is comprised of Rich and Ryan from Six Shooters To The Sky and 2 other dudes and the technical difficulties and piss poor sound made watching their set MAJORLY awkward. The silence after each song was deafening. Their performance wasn't very good. I don't think anyone in the place liked their playing, and that's being polite about it. Then American Buckshot played. Mistakes were made is all I'm saying. Then these lame ass attention whores, who were dressed up like zombies and whatnot, got up on stage and acted like they knew how to work the cat walk. It was awkward watching them also. Then the Vegascendents played. Again, mistakes were made! LOL Then Horror Business played and I was stunned stupid and silent. They were horrible. The drummer was playing the songs all wrong, they were playing the songs all slow and lethargic, they were missing the changes from verse to chorus, and I think they even played a few songs in the wrong key! I'm a Misfits fan - I know! LOL But all of that didn't matter, because everybody in the place loved them, and I was ashamed to see a few of my band mates enjoying them as well. Booze makes everything better, right? ha ha ha Oh, it was a fun time despite it all, and I really, really had a splendid night. Thanx to Danielle @ Nevermore Productions for putting it all together, and Thanx to Hawaiian Hot Dog for the delicious grub afterwords.

Then Saturday, it was all about the Voodoo Glow Skulls @ the Bunkhouse. Whodovoodoowedo? FUCK YOU!!! ha ha ha They were pretty good once they got warmed up and used to playing outside in the cold Las Vegas night air. They were playing everything a little bit slow, but maybe that's just me. Playing slow worked for some songs, like Left For Dead, but really didn't for songs like El Coo Coi and Insubordination. And oh my gawd - they played Closet Monster! I haven't heard them play that song in a long ass time. I was giddy! It reminded me of how far these guys have come from their salad days, and I've proudly been there with them every step of the way. The Voodoo Glow Skulls are always a good time. Always. :-) The opening bands were an ecclectic lot, that's for sure. You had us, Aluminum Falcon play, and even though our set's momentum was killed by technical difficulties, I think we did OK. Time Crashers were in interesting concept but really bad musically. Travelers through time like Nikolai Tesla and Leonardo DaVinci form a band. Whatever. Burning Agrestic were really good, in a Taking Back Sunday / No Use For A Name kind of way. Shotguns N Gasoline might of been good, but you couldn't tell because of the shitty sound the soundman gave them. Their canned stage banter between songs schtick should go though. You don't need to remind the crowd every chance you get as to who you are. Some other really pro sounding band played after Shotguns N Gasoline, but they were too mellow and laid back sounding for me to dig though. Didn't catch their name. And then the Voodoo Glow Skulls brought it all down to a close, playing a pretty sweet set dressed up as the Village People. They didn't do the Y.M.C.A. dance though... boooooooooo. Ha Ha Ha They played a great set and I was glad to see 'em. Thanx to all the new friends I made that night, and to the old friends I caught up with, and fuck off to the Haters who were just making me el oh el.  :-) 

And then there was this. That's a picture of the Captain flogging some chick with a whip while the Vermin played. Don't ask. Since my band mates were in no mood to go home yet, after the Voodoo gig they dragged me to the Double Clown, where the Vermin were holding court and where Pussykat Tattoos were celebrating their 50th Anniversary by throwing a Halloween party. As I walked in the Vermin were using the old ploy of 'Show us your tits and we'll give you a tee shirt' on the drunken girls in the crowd, and the sad part is that it was working. No where was that old cliche about Halloween just being an excuse for stupid girls to dress up like sluts more evident than at this cesspool on a Sat. night. Gawd I fucking hate this place. If it wasn't for the awesomely cool people I know who were there like Sarah and Jen and Darran and Shawn and Jesse and Tess, I probably would of been miserable. The Vermin were drunk and messing up songs left and right, covers included, and if it wasn't for a pretty funny drunken girl fight, involving Marianne from the Luv Taps, if you can believe that, then I think the Double Clown experience would of been a total bust... LOL Life's Torment, who had played with Phobia earlier @ East Side Joe's, were setting up their gear to play another set for whomever was still standing, but the guys and I left to go grub at Felipito's before calling it a night. Thanx to all my Friends and the new faces I became acquainted with in the parking lot, and again, fuck off to the Haters who were in full effect at that dump of a place. I'm Teflon people. The fact that you think I give a fuck about you is the funniest thing ever. I wasn't gonna let any of you pathetic fucks ruin my excellent weekend - Nope! :-)

Shit. In all my spazzing out about Madness I forgot to mention the gheyness of the club shows for Punk Rock Bowling that were just announced last Sunday. How silly of me! Well, where to start? Hmmm... Youth Brigade reunion of all 3 original Stern Bros., ehhhh. Whatever. Last time I saw a reunion of all 3 Stern Bros. it was a drunken mess. Dr. Know reunion with Kyle - that just happened in Ventura a few months ago. Municipal Waste just friggin' played here, same with Agent Orange and the English Beat, and the rest of the bands play here all the time, like the Dwarves or the Adolescents. Good Riddance is cool, but opening up for No Use For A Name? GHEY That line up should definitely be reversed. Union 13, cool, same with the Aggrolites but again, nothing to brag about really. The club shows are just as lame as the big shows, and the scheduling of it all is terrible. You're gonna have to commit to one gig per night really, as trying to bounce from place to place is gonna be a logistical nightmare. Choose wisely and good luck. Unlike a few other jealous assholes that I know, I'm happy that a few Local bands made some of the opening spots. Congratulations to the Vermin, the Seriouslys and the Civilians for representing Vegas in all of this. No offense to you all, but I'm not gonna go see any of the gigs you're playing during PRB weekend. I'd just rather see you when you play your regular gigs here in town when there's a lot less drunken assholes and Poseurs around... heh

Hey! Do you have a beard? Do you think Punk music sounds good played through acoustic guitars? Well, if you answered 'Yes' to both of those questions, then do I have a show for you to attend - it's the Punks In Vegas 1 Year Anniversary party being held at Alternate Reality Comics on Maryland / Flamingo tomorrow night. A collection of Local Singer / Songwriters, not quite as rocking as Jim Croce, but a little more rocking than John Denver will be there pulling at your heartstrings with tales of Woe and Love Lost and being unaccepted by Society. Bring your hankies and make sure to Congratulate the bearded clan of Punks In Vegas for doing a job well done and making it for a year. May your next year be just as fruitful as this one was. Cheers! And buy some comics while you're there, you cheap bastards!

Band practice as of late has been killing me, but it's coming along nicely. Everything is updated, and everything is great here in Las Vegas. Ya know, I think the reason why something as lame as Punk Rock Bowling thrives here is because all these Tools and Sheep that come here by the plane full and car load are coming here for that Vegas thing, that thing of Debauchery and Drunkenness. It's kind of a cliche, but it's also very true to a certain extent. Those of us that live here get to do the Vegas thing 24-7, for 365 days a year. We're Professionals at this shit! LOL This town is our town.  It is so glamorous. I bet you'd live here if you could and be one of us... ;-) Punk Rock Bowling... fuck off.