What an eventful week. Big ass meteors hitting the Earth, I had emergency surgery on my toofuses that had me hospitalized again, Clay got his cancerous kidney removed (Dr.s reported that it tested at 80 proof) and I spent the most wonderful Valentine's Day with a girl that will always and forever have my Heart and Soul, and she knows it - oh, and of course, Bob was there, my faithful Gunga Din like manservant and sexual confidante. I lost a few acquaintances too, including a girl that I had not seen for years, since like before the Infestshit days, and she passed away but I'm glad I got to see her before she went. When I saw her, I thought to myself, I know that girl from somewhere. She had grown up, gotten healthy, and was looking Happy and not as Punk Rock as she used to look. "Helloooo Gillll-buuuurrrt" she yelled at me, and I laughed because the way she said my name made me instantly recognize who she was. We hugged, we chatted about the old days, all the Drama that went down, had a beer, some laughs, and then we split, promising to add each other on Facebook and all that BS. Never did, and now she's gone. That fucking sucks. Another girl I know passed away this morning, the day after Valentine's Day. Her Facebook page is full of well wishes and naughty E-cards, chock full of her funny, smart ass comments, and now she too is gone. Both of these girls were in their early 20's, much too fucking young to be over and done. I hurt for their Family and Friends who have to deal with this shit way too soon. I hate sounding like a broken record but seriously, don't take anything for granted. Let people know how you feel about them. You just never fucking know...

OK. Calm before the storm. Nothing much going on this weekend except for that White Kaps gig on Sat.. I'm afraid to go for fear of running into someone else I haven't seen in a while and having them pass away from me too soon as well. Whatever. The funk I'm in will pass. Life is Beautiful. I'm listening to the Cure. It reminds me of Her, and all the others like her who have passed in and out of my Life. I will miss you. I love you all.

Wow. I had soooooo much fun this weekend. The past week as well. The practices with S.F.T. are coming along nicely, although they're already saying I'm playing the songs too fast, which is pretty much what every band I've ever been in has said to me. Go figure, right? :-) I didn't make it to the Mapes gig @ the Motor City Cafe on Friday because I threw my back out after band practice, but luckily I have an amazingly rad chick who's a Masseuse as a Friend, so I told her I had an emergency and she fixed me. Straightened me out and worked me out and because of her I was able to make it to the gigs on Saturday. Thanx Babe! XOXO I owe ya one! ;-)

And the gigs on Saturday? FUN!!! Going back and forth from the inside lobby area to the pool area outside to check out some diverse bands was cool. There wasn't any drink specials at the bar, which sucked, because the booze was waaaayyy over priced, but it didn't matter, because they were letting everyone walk in with whatever they had stashed in their car in the parking lot. Security didn't seem to mind the smoke sessions out there either, which is always a plus in my book. The Sound dudes were on the ball, everything sounded great, and with the weirdly eclectic turnout of people for this event, which was for the 107.9 radio station Birthday party, gave the place a nice chill vibe and people were just hanging out and walking around like it was a backyard kegger party or something. Very fucking cool. And the Bands? Oh, the Bands were killer! Well, most of them were anyways. ;-) The People's Whiskey just blew me the fuck away with their set, just fucking amazing shit. Am I the only one hyped on this band right now or what? They're so exceptional as to what's going on out there right now in the Vegas scene and I just dig their sound, I dunno. Ministry Of Love were easily the most entertaining band that I saw. They have this kid Ryan who's like a monkey on speed when he plays, throwing his guitar around with reckless abandon, jumping on top of everything he possibly could and shredding away on it, and doing complete back flips in the middle of a song. Seriously. And, of course, he jumped in the pool after the band ended their set. Pulsar and Meg followed him right in. Rad. :-) I saw this band called The Lips who were really fucking Ace, playing this infectious Indy Pop New Wave music that was really New Order / Cure like, and I dug the shit out of it. Really impressive stuff. They were like the Killers if the Killers didn't suck. :-) And Guilty By Association played their second to last gig ever with Bingo Billy behind the drum kit. And it was definitely something to see... hahahaha I'll save the details for the Show Review I wanna write about it. ;-)

After Guilty By Association finished up their set, I made a beeline for Yayo Taco for a carnitas taco plate and tequila shots. Yummmmm! The place was packed with the dinner crowd, and the wooden tables were sitting out, not to be moved the entire night. Whatever. Permanent Failure played a set full of Punk Rock tunes that sounded like every Punk band you liked when you were 16! LOL So fun to watch, but I had to leave when they played that Bad Religion cover mid way through their set. Is it too much to ask a band to play their covers at the end of the set, like Guilty By Association did @ the Royal Resort with that Billy Joel song? Is it also too much to ask a band to KNOW their cover before they play it? LOL Awwwww... It was Permanent Failure's last gig, and it was a good way to go out. People dug them, and they showed all us old guys in the room what being Young and Punk Rock was all about! Surrounded by Thieves have turned into a MONSTER with Brandon from Betting On Tomorrow on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. They sounded soooooooo fucking good it was frightening. They have this, 'don't give a fuck - let's just play and rock out and have fun' attitude that's contagious to everyone in the room. The songs are outstanding, and Brandon is the perfect fit for Surrounded By Thieves. They just rocked the salsa out of Yayo Taco, and it was the Guitar player Andy's Birthday too, and there were chocolate and vanilla cupcakes being handed out to everyone who wanted one. I took 3. :-) And, of course, you know what happens when you give a room full of drunk Punx stuff to abuse or throw around - a cupcake fight broke out, with everyone in the place getting pelted and marked with sickly sticky sugary frosting. Yeah, it was that kind of night. Anyways, check out Surrounded By Thieves each and every time you can. You won't be disappointed.

The touring band from Reno, Machine Gun Vendetta, were pretty fucking good. They had that sound that reminded me of like, every band that was on any of those Maximumrockandroll compilations from the 1980's, and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible! LOL Lightning fast Punk Rockage that was pretty cool stuff. After their set they were handing out business cards with a Link to a free download of some slamscene.com compilation album they were on, which is always good. Bands - download cards are the new way to get your music into the hands of the fans. Just saying. ;-) And Guilty By Association ended the event by playing their 2nd set of the night, and Officially their last one with Bingo Billy. I took video of the last song they played, and I'll post it up on here sometime soon. It was a melancholy way to end the evening, that's for sure.

Speaking of video, here's one I forgot to post up on here from the night of Vandalism @ the Cheyenne Saloon. :-) It's blurry, shaky, off centered and hard to see, but I think it suits the music well. It's Dead Neon performing Advisory (Go To The Boneyard), Downwinder and Cratered. They were soooooooooooooo fucking on that night. Their music makes me wanna give up on the world and just head out to the desert and grow my hair out while waiting for the Apocalypse to come. Yeah, it's that moving... to me anyways.

I got more Videos to post, but I need to get a hold of the Bands to ask them what the Hell the song is called that I filmed! hahaha Keep your eyes on the Videos page to see whats what. Everything is updated. Yeah, I added the Pictures of the Happy Campers and Ministry Of Love from that Royal Resort gig, and as soon as I finish writing this shit up I'm gonna head out to more S.F.T. band practice and maybe to Artifice for a night cap. Who knows. What's everyone doing for Labor Day? Me? I'm heading Home... <3