I know I'm a little late in posting this, but Sal from TheCore's guitar got stolen a few days ago, and if you happen to see it in a pawn shop somewhere in Hendertucky, or anyplace else for that matter, please let him know ASAP so he can recover it and hopefully beat somebody's ass for stealing it from his home. I would of posted the picture that the other "Punk" website here in town used to identify the guitar, but it was so over Photoshopped and unrealistic looking that I couldn't do so with a straight face. Every time I see one of their photos (or the photos that other young, hipster photographers take nowadays) I'm always kind of shocked that people think that those photos look good. I thought pictures were supposed to look like the things you were taking pictures of, not like an 18th century oil painting, or worse yet, like it was taken with a 70's Polaroid Instamatic... LOL Whatever.

Speaking of Pictures, I finally got all the photos from the Luicidal gig @ the LVCS up and posted, so you can click here to go to the Pictures page and look for them yourself, or you can click here to see the Luicidal ones, or you can click here to see the I.D.F.I. ones, or you can click here to see the American Buckshot ones, which were taken by the lovely Amelia Carr, so Thank You for those dear! :-) And, in case you missed them the first time I talked about them, you can click here to see the Mersa photos I took that night as well. Oh, and the Rule Of Thumb ones can be found by clicking here. And don't laugh at my Simpson's: Tapped Out collectors cards photos on there... I love that game! :-)

There was a bunch more stuff I wanted to talk about, but damn if I can remember any of that right now. The only reason I even have time to update this website right now is because SOMEONE blew up my P.A. head and speakers last night with their constant fucking around with things and buttons they had no reason fucking with, so until SOMEONE fixes or replaces my P.A. stuff, all band practices at my house are finished. Phooey. Oh, and I'm sick of pointing out what a Farce that Punk Rock Posing is to everyone, but it's heartening to know that others out there feel the same way, even though they will never admit it publicly, and even though they're still gonna attend the damn thing because they're well trained money spending automatons, which is all that the Punk Rock Posing festival really cares about - lining their pockets with your money. I mean, really, how much more "Punk Rock" can you get? ;-)

I'm kind of embarrassed that people I know are actually excited about the rumored bands that are playing this years Punk Rock Bowling bullshit. I mean, $wingin' Utter$?  The Damned? Really? I don't recall the last time those bands played here in Vegas, but what the Hell is the draw in seeing bands like that in a huge festival setting on a stage from hundreds of yards away? Yeah, I know I'm spoiled because I saw both of those bands play in places as small and intimate like the Double Clown or Jillian's, but still, I don't understand standing around like sheep in a pen and just watching the band from a distance, bullshitting with your friends, and basically relegating the band to being background noise for your Facebook picture taking. Same with the Sub/Hum/Ans. Last time I saw them play was @ the Canyon Club downtown a few years ago, and that was fucking soooo much fun! The place was packed and everyone in there was losing their minds over every note they were playing. The crowd singing along was louder than the PA. You could feel the sweat dripping off the walls. That's how you're supposed to see Punk bands, in an intimate setting, not on a gigantic stage from yards away. Fuck that. And I'm not even gonna comment on who that band The Flag is rumored to be. If it's true, then it's just pathetic. Le sigh. One can only hope that there will be something much more better, much more interesting and Punk happening in the Club shows this year than the BS over some guy deciding to become a girl that was the big news last year. Can't wait to see how many acoustic bands are playing this year as well. John Denver was a trailblazing Punk. Who knew? ;-)

In all the distress I was going through in the month of Dec., I lost 2 Karl Bakla Music Reviews in the process, and I owe him the biggest apology ever for doing so. I'm sorry Sir, and I hope that my lateness in finally posting them will somehow alleviate your pain and suffering. Well, either that or loads and loads of booze. ;-) Anyways, Karl's review for the latest release from Masked Intruder can be read by clicking here, and his review on some compilation he got from Fest 11 called D.I.Y. 'Til Death, Vol. 1 can be found by clicking here. His stuff is always a good read and again, I'm sorry it took so long in posting it up. :-) And I posted the first Music Review for 2013 from a band called The Moms, and you can click here to read that. Or you can just go to the Music Reviews page by clicking here and seeing what you missed out on. I got lots more stuff that needs reviewing if anyone is interested... hint hint.

I've been rocking these 3 songs from The Civilians lately, which were recorded live @ the Bunkhouse the last time the band played there. The sound quality is great and the material is top notch. The songs are Let Go, I'm So Happy and Doin' Time, and you can go to the bands Reverb Nation page (www.reverbnation.com/thecivilianslv) by clicking here to listen to them. They're really good tunes and I wish more bands here in town would do stuff like this.

Everything is updated. There's some cool gigs going on this weekend with Fortunate Youth, Lady Reiko And The Sin City Prophets, Rule Of Thumb, Unfair Fight, The Fat Dukes Of Fuck, The Seriouslys, Xomby, 3D6 and a bunch more bands and DJ's and stuff that I'm not remembering right now. Go to the Gig Calendar page by clicking here to see what's going on this weekend. Plus, Dan is having some of his amazing artwork showcased at that Unfair Fight gig @ the Artifice on Saturday, so bring some extra money to that because you're gonna wanna buy something from him once you see what he's got for sale - I guarantee it. So yeah, this weekend isn't one to be sitting 'round at home / watching the pictures go - no, this is a weekend to get off your ass and do something. Be More Than A Witness. Yeah. ;-) See you at the gigs!

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

-Robert Frost

Yeah, there's not much to be festive about around here. Death comes ripping at me around Christmas time (again) and I think I re-injured my leg playing that Luicidal gig, which was pretty fucking fun, by the way, and just to make everything a bit more interesting, I'm walking around trying to get things done with a fantastic case of pneumonia. Just my luck, of course. No Rest for the Wicked. That which does not kill me...

Being depressed and sick as a dog on Friday night kept me away from the Sand Dollar to partake in the festivities going down for the Dirty Panties 7th Annual Toy Drive, which, according to everyone in attendance, was one Hell of a time! Lots of cash an unwrapped toys were collected, and because of that, some kids are going to have a very Merry Christmas indeed. I heard that every band brought their A game to the stage and just rocked the fuck out of the place, and I'm very jealous that I wasn't there to witness it all. Rusty and Dean, after their little stint guesting on the Double Clown Radio show, where they kept calling me and trying to get me on air with them for some reason, were in attendance and I think one of them is giving the gig a write up. Rusty gave me a bunch of photos and a few videos of the nights events, and once I go through it all I'll post it all up here post haste. Motivation is a hard asset to come by lately, but I'm trying real hard...

Just like I was trying real hard to get motivated for that Luicidal gig on Sat. After being up puking my guts out and sweating like a slave on the bathroom floor all night, I almost had doubts that I was going to make the gig, but I woke up that morning feeling pretty good - good enough to head down to Winchester park to help out Bob and Hektor with their skate competition they had going on. It was fun checking out the kids skating, and I got some pretty good pictures of a few of them. I could of done without the Drama that followed me there though. Oh well. It didn't follow me to the LVCS, so it was all good. The gig went surprisingly well, although the attendance could of been better. That band Mersa was pretty sick, and even though they were a man short, I.D.F.I. still fucking killed it, just like they always do. Tim from 702 asked me if Luicidal could use my drum set, and said if I did let them use it, we would play right before Luicidal did, so I agreed, because nobody can do more damage to my set than I can, but for some reason, Rule Of Thumb got to play right before them instead, which was a shame, because they lost all the momentum that we, American Buckshot, had built up. Oh well. After seeing the crappy drum set the guy from Rule Of Thumb was using, I don't blame the guy from Luicidal for not using it... heh heh Anyways, Luicidal were pretty good - much better than I thought they would be, and the pit action was fast and furious for every song they played. People obviously had songs they wanted to hear that they didn't play (for me, it was You Got, I Want, for Bob it was Possessed, and for Dean it was Join The Army), but overall, they did pretty good. They played the "hits" and everyone seemed to dig it.  It was a fun gig to say the least. Shame if you missed out on it.

And now I got this funeral to deal with... fuck. I hate Christmas, I really do. Too many people I loved have passed away this month, and it brings me no Joy - only the Horror of what I used to have in my Life that I don't have no. Phooey. Christmas can suck it as far as I'm concerned. Later.

I guess if creating a dialog amongst the Locals was the aspiration, then this Squid Hat Records showcase thing has done it's job! LOL Loads of people are talking about it, everyone's got an opinion as to who the 6 bands to be chosen are, but the majority of them don't wanna go on record as to which bands they think should play, for fear of offending their 'Friends' for whatever reason. Cowards... hahaha So, with that in mind, I presented some Local people in the know about the music scene here in Las fucking Vegas this question:

If a Record Label rep were to ask you to recommend 6 Local bands to consider him to check out to sign to their label, who would you name off? Any genre.

The answers were interesting in bands named and bands not named. After reading the answers, and conversing with the individuals who came up with them, I even more so wanted to attach names to lists, but I told them I wouldn't, and if anything, I am a man of my word, so I won't, because being anonymous behind your words on the Internet is the cool thing to do nowadays, and nobody wants to cause Drama or Trouble or Controversy on the Internet, right? Yeah right... hahaha Anyways, here's the lists people turned in. I got some free D.I. tickets for their gig next week @ the LVCS to the first 5 people who can guess who's list is who. Possible suspects include a Writer, a Drug Mule, a Shit Talker, a Bassist, a Judge of Musical Talent, another Bassist and a Curmudgeon. First come, first served gets the tickets - post your guesses in the comments and make sure you leave a way for me to get a hold of you in case your guess is correct. I'll give you a hint - one of the lists is fake... heh heh

OK, well, since I have to go to American Buckshot band practice in like 5 minutes, because of my insecure band mates arriving early, and a bratty, oversexed girl that keeps me up all night (literally and figuratively), I gotta cut this short. Before I go I wanna remind you of this amazeballs gig happening mañana at the Sand Dollar (not the Bikini Bar) for Tony Batz, aka Grandpa Spooky, aka the Prince of pinche Darkness. He's ancient even for a Vampire and tomorrow night is when we're all gathering together to play a gig and hopefully have some cake and ice cream for him but yeah, I doubt it! LOL I'm just hoping the Hawaiian Hot Dog Lady (or, as Rusty refers to her as, his future wife) is there so I can get my grub on after I play my set. And yeah, I know there's something called 'Thrashgiving' going on at the Bunkhouse with D.R.I. headlining, but looking at the bands opening it up, I'm almost willing to bet that not one of them plays real 'Thrash', ala Napalm Death or Cryptic Slaughter or some shit. Matter of fact, there's 2 loser bands playing that gig that shouldn't be allowed to play anywhere, period! ha ha ha Fucking shit talking losers - crawl off to the desert and die like the diseased rats that you are, and quit polluting our Music Scene with your Drama and Bullshit. Fucking tweekers, I swear. I hate them. Anyways, tomorrow night, you can come to a great Local show with some cool bands playing, or you could go stand around outside and wait to see a band who's long past their prime, playing with some bands you shouldn't support in any way, shape or form. The choice is yours. See you at the Sand Dollar. :-)

Art Art Art!! It's First Friday mañana, which means there's lots to do mucking about in the Art scene here in Vegas, what there is of it anyways. I've got 2 near and dear Friends having exhibits of their Art going on tomorrow, and I wanna bring them both to your attention. First off there's Raf, ex-American Buckshot guitarist and gnar skateboard shredder and doggy babysitter extraordinaire, putting some of his artwork up as part of that Bring The Noise group show going on @ 916 Studios, so stop by there if you're in the area, and then there's another ex-band mate of mine, Dan, currently the Vokillist of Unfair Fight and one of the nicest dudes I've ever met, he's having an exhibit at the Josephine Skaught hair salon, right next to the Artifice, so again, if you're in the area for First Friday festivities, stop by and check out their incredible artwork. They're both some talented motherfuckers and worthy of all your support. Go.

Also, Congratulations to mi compadres Jamie Jackson and Rob Ruckus for signing some big to do record contracts this week. I'm not sure just what that entails nowadays but still, it's a big deal and again, Congrats to both of ya old bastards! Let the weekly stipends and apartments in LES NYC be in your immediate future like they were after I signed my first record contract way, Way, WAAAAY back in the daze! LOL And about the scuttlebutt that arose because of these signings, I say to you both to ignore it and let the Haters hate. Pettiness and Jealousy is a motherfucker, believe me, I know. ;-) Let the shit talkers say whatever, because they'll never say it to your face and besides, it's only the Internet, which has nothing to do with the real world, right? Right!

Another thing I forgot to mention in passing is this very notable and worthy gig for an excellent cause going down this Saturday, so if you're not at the gig @ the Bikini Bar you should definitely be in attendance at this little get together going down at the Cheyenne Saloon. Yeah, yeah, I know... let it go. It's a benefit show for a little girls fight against cancer, because fighting cancer is majorly expensive, and the show is appropriately named 'Fuck Cancer'. That sentiment is both near and dear to my heart, and something I can definitely get behind 100%. Those of you who know me personally know why that is. But anyways, there's some good people involved with supporting this, and there's some good bands playing too, like Rule Of Thumb, Last Rites, Roid Rage and a few other bands I know nothing about, and all these bands are playing to help out with a little girls fight against cancer, so if you're in the area you should stop by and support a good cause and check out some cool bands. Who knows, you may even make a friend while you're there, or have an friend of your ex monitoring your every move and texting all the juicy details to your ex... heh heh heh Gawd I love this city. :-)

So I'm sitting at a good taco shop for lunch - not those poisonous, over-priced taco shops that Turbo eats at - and I'm reading Vegas Rocks! magazine while eating my taco plate, and I just burst into spontaneous laughter while doing so. This magazine is sooooooooo fucking shitty! I was reading her Editorial about that stoooopid "Awards Show" she just did, with her crying about how 'it's not fixed' and that 'every vote was counted' and 'the best bands won' and all that shit. Really? Do I have to be the one to say it? We all know it, right? That by 'vote', she means 'dollar', because that's what that whole things is about. Money. Paying for shit. You can buy your award, just like you have to buy your way into the category you wish to be nominated in, and just like you have to buy your table at the Awards ceremony, and just like you have to buy ad space just to even be considered for the stupid thing. For her to act and say differently just shows what an air headed idiot she really is. Fucking 80's Sunset Strip trash. I forgot to mention that I saw her when I was @ the Bikini Bar for that Tinglerz / Babilos / Six Shooters To The Sky gig. She was there with her "personal assistant" and just sucked the energy out of the room. Thankfully she left just as quickly as she came, and as soon as she did things went back to normal. It's like when you're talking shit about someone, and then they walk in the room. It's a bit awkward until they leave, then it goes back to normal, ya know? LOL Sally Steele (her real name I'm sure) has a story in the back of her magazine about the night she hung out with Tommy Lee back in the day. Yeah, you and 2,843 other blond haired ho-bags Honey. ;-)

It was while I was sitting there enjoying said taco plate when I got a message from a Friend with the tantalizing opening line of "hahahaha guess who doesn't own the cheyenne saloon!!!! Guess who's getting fired from there this week"... hahaha Needless to say, I wiped the grease and salsa and cheese off of my hands and responded immediately, wanting to know just what the Hell this was all about. And after he gave me all the details about it, I think I shit my pants just a little bit from laughing so hard. That's called Karma motherfucker! LOL Why is it every where I go I gotta hear ANOTHER story about this Mark Hornsby dude, always in the Negative or to Ridicule him, from someone who used to work with him at the many places around town he was fired from. Oh well. Guess he can just add the Cheyenne Saloon to his prestigious list of failures - that is, if he doesn't come through on what he said he was going to do, and we all know he's a man that sticks to his word when it comes to that, right? hahahahaha Fucking idiot. 48 hours - Good Luck! You'll need it! And oh yeah - the guy who actually owns the Cheyenne Saloon wants to make sure everyone knows that Mark Hornsby does NOT own the Cheyenne Saloon, no matter what he tells you, and no matter what it says on the Facebook page... heh heh

Here's another video I just got all the info for. It's from Rule Of Thumb, a really good Punk Rock  / Hardcore / whatever trio from right here in Vegas. I recorded this a looong time ago and just forgot to upload it until recently. Sorry guys! This is a cool song called As One, and it's from their upcoming release that they're working on as we speak. It's an onethirtyeight.org Exclusive! hahahaha Now I sound like Steven from Punks In Vegas!  LOL But at least there's no acoustic guitars in this video! ;-)

And this is another video I uploaded recently. It's the Tinglerz playing @ Vamp'd like a month ago, doing a song that was called Fever when I was in the band playing it! LOL The Tinglerz are hugely under appreciated here in town and I have no idea why that is, but I love this song regardless. :-)

So yeah, got lots of stuff planned for this weekend, which starts tomorrow at that Misfits gig @ the Hard Rock Cafe. Ghey, but at least Guilty By Association is opening it. Tomorrow night it's all about Christy's Birthday Party @ the Motor City Cafe with The People's Whiskey / Tinglerz / The Seriouslys and the Grand Debut of The Civilians, a new band made up of a bunch of old guys playing music they love. Hopefully. It's gonna be a great night of some kick ass Local music and a Celebration Bitches! for one of the raddest chicks I know. Happy Birthday Christy! XOXO

Saturday - forget about it!! Blondie @ Mandalay bay Pool, and then after that I'm running to the House of Boooooo's to catch O.M.D.! It's gonna be 80's flashback night! hahahaha It is going to be soooooooo much FUN!! Now if only the girls I am interested in weren't wasting their time on junky dooshbag scenester fucks, then I could share this awesomeness with someone! Oh well. Just call me Han Solo! Never take sand to the beach, right? Maybe I'll get lucky. Stranger things have happened. ;-)

Everything is updated. New Stuff added, yada yada yada. The Raiders WILL beat the Texans this Sunday - I'm gonna stick my neck out right now and say that! hahahaha And Thank Gawd Hockey Season is here! GO SHARKS!! FUCK THE DUCKS! hahahaha And so it begins! hahahahhaha Have a great weekend - I know I will. :-)

I had a pretty good weekend planned out. I really did. I was gonna start Friday night out by heading down to the Cheyenne Saloon to catch my Nephew DJ Chis opening up for Sen Dogg from Cypress Hill there, and then after that was finished I was gonna head to Vamp'd to catch Green Jelly and the Vermin, which I had been hyping my friends about all week. Problem was, a certain band I wanted nothing to do with was opening the gig, a fact that I only found out about when the flyer was finally made available to the public 2 days before the gig. Yeah, I know. Don't get me started. So I told my friends I wouldn't be at the gig, and they tried to talk me into going anyways, but I stood my ground and stayed away. After over sleeping and missing out on my Nephews set, I decided to pursue other non-musical endeavors that evening. Totally worth it too. :-)

Saturday was my plan was all about Football and seeing Nick Razor and G.F.I. @ the Cheyenne Saloon that night, who were playing with Guilty By Association and Rule Of Thumb, I think. Anyways, just like before, a few days before the gig I find out that another band I want nothing to do with are playing the gig that night, and even though they are notorious for booking gigs and not showing up to them, I again decided to stay away and avoid the possibility of any Drama. Again, I got better things to do. Like eat, drink and be merry! :-) So I started the day out with Jeremy testing out some bass pedals he picked up from Cowtown Guitars, and then it was off to Jesse & Roxie's to watch the game. After watching the Raiders lose to the 40-Whiners I went home with a belly full of enchiladas and a better disposition to deal with the Drama I had waiting for me there. And to do laundry. Yup. Fun stuff.

Speaking of fun stuff,  think this pretty much says it all. I love the title of the email - reads like a newspaper headline! hee hee hee This Gilbert Astrada dude is in serious trouble! ;-) And please note that he sent a copy of the email to "702cop112", but yet tells me if I don't comply with his wishes he will turn the matter over to Metro when, apparently, he already has. Cute.


GILBERT ASTRADA CAUGHT VANDALIZING LOCAL BUSINESS

Mark Hornsby xxxxxxxxxxxxx@yahoo.com to ge138, 702cop112
show details Sunday August 21 11:31 PM (15 minutes ago)

Hi Gilbert Astrada~

My name is Mark and I have you on video surveillance tagging my club up with your stickers. In the real world that's called VANDALISM and it's against the law. You obviously didn't look up at any of the 15 cameras I have in my bar. The date was on Sunday, August 14  2011. I suggest you come in and explain why this happened to me or this will be turned over to metro and you can explain to them. You have 48 hours to get this handled or it will be dealt with legally.

Truly.
*M

Mark Hornsby
MHC (LLC)

Yeah, I don't think I'll be supporting the Cheyenne Saloon anytime in the future, to say the least, which is just fine. I got better things to do and if he's serious about pursuing this legally, then I guess we'll go that route. He told his Cop friend. I told my Lawyer. We'll see how this plays out. :-)

Ahhhhhhh, such a beautiful Monday morning. I think I'll go out and enjoy it and see what kind of mischief I can get into. Pretty quiet week musically, with the weekend having only one must see gig, that being the Mapes / Maxies gig @ the Motor City Cafe. If you're feeling brave you can venture out to Hendertucky to see the Tinglerz, but I wouldn't advise it, and neither does my Lawyer. :-) There's some Thrash shows @ the Sanctuary, Yayo, the Bunkhouse, whatever, happening this weekend, and you can check out the Gig Calendar page for all the info, and then there's that Butthole Surfers gig happening @ the Palms on Sunday, which, I dunno, just bums me out to no end. The last time I saw the Butthole Surfers, they were playing a big stage, during their MTV Alternative Nation moment in the sun, and they seemed kind of lost up there, and it definitely didn't feel like a Butthole Surfers gig from where I was standing. Good but not Essential like it used to be. I can't imagine it will be any different at the Palms. Oh well. Could just be the 'Old Guy' in me, but I'd rather not see it. Have fun if you're going though. :-) Everything's updated, all the Pictures from the Pentagram / Pigasus / Dead Neon / Demon Lung / 21 Strong gig @ the Cheyenne are up, and hopefully they won't be the last pictures I take there but if they are, oh well. :-) I got some video from that night too, and I'll upload that later.