My head hurts. I mean, really hurts. My back too. I can hardly move or lift my arms, and there isn't a sink in my house that doesn't have vomit in it. I've been pissing blood for 7 days now and I really don't care. These past few days have been soooooooo worth it, and to end it yesterday at Casa de Amoroso, sitting poolside amongst Friends and Family, was just the perfect ending for a good run of days. A really, good run of days. :-)

Bad Brains gig? Rats. I was gonna go, I really was. I was on the Guest List and everything (Thanks Tyson!), but I had Loud Pipes practice, so I decided to play music with my friends as opposed to watching my friends play music. Once I was finished practicing, I was in no condition to go to the gig so I decided to head home and watch Game 4. We killed them 6-3. :-) I only ran into 3 people who said the Bad Brains were good. Everyone else said they sucked, or that it wasn't worth the $35 to get in. I don't blame them. Last time I saw the Bad Brains it cost me $15 to get in, and they were opening up for the Ramones at the Hollywood Palladium.

The Manic Hispanic / Loud Pipes gig on Friday was in-fucking-amazing! LOL Whoever said that Diablo's sucked needs to be kicked in the vaa-jay-jay. That place was rad! It was weird being treated like Kings, with an endless supply of Food and Booze being foisted upon us, but I got used to it after like 2 or 3 minutes or so. ;-) Great to see so many Friends there, and weird not seeing Hank or the Captain there when we played. Shame on you 2! Manic Hispanic were fantastic, playing a great mix of the Classics (Big Heinas, Uncle Chato's Garden, Wasted, Rudy Cholo) and some unreleased songs I haven't heard them play in years, covers of songs from bands like the Bad Brains and the Ramones. Just an incredible set from them, as usual. They deliver nothing less each and every time they play. It was great seeing Gabby up on stage with the band. Almost didn't think I'd ever see that again. Afterwards it was off to Viva were, well, let me put it this way. I have never seen such a massive gathering of Mediocrity, Lameness and Douchebaggery in my Life. Just areas full of Tools and Sheep and Poseurs, all trying to out Happy Days each other. Ghey. I had to see it to verify it myself, but Viva sucks. It's just pathetic now. Gawd Damn. What happened to that thing?

Sat. had me heading up the mountain to converse with the Tibetan Monks to be told what a bad person I am, all after getting virtually no sleep the night before. I tried going to the Car Show at Viva, but after nearly having a heart attack at how much they wanted to get in there, I passed on checking it out. Elvira was there giving away autographed head shots, but I was waaaaay too drunk/hungover to be standing in a 5 mile long line to get one of those, so I left. I spent the best part of the afternoon with a friend at the bar she works at, drinking beers and eating pizza, having girl talk and gossiping. :-) I went home to watch the Sharks game, fully planning on going to the Anti-Viva gig @ Meathead's right afterwords, but I passed out in the middle of the first period. Good thing too, as we got slaughtered by the Kings. SLAUGHTERED. Glad I missed it.

Easter Sunday I woke up mid-afternoon and raced down to Jesse and Roxie's to partake in Birthday celebrations for one of my favorite people, Miss Roxie. Walking into a home filled with Friends and Family was just the cure I needed for my mental and physical recovery. Beer and Cake are one of the best combinations EVER!. That's one of the many things Roxie and I have bonded with over the years, and spending the day with her and everyone else was just the perfect ending to a great run of mind numbing, physically draining, drunken, drugged out debauchery. I also heard the new Pigasus recordings (wowsers!) while I was there and heard of the new Unfair Fight recording. Both are guaranteed to blow minds. Gawd damn it's gonna be a great year. :-)

Everything's updated. Game 6 is about to begin, and my phone is blowing up with shit talking Kings fans. I'm hoping that the Sharks can wrap this up so we can move on to Round 2. I'm not too optimistic that's gonna happen, but I remain forever optimistic. GO SHARKS!!

 
 
The CJ Ramone gig was fun but not for the obvious reasons. Hanging out with a bunch of your friends, some of who I haven't seen in like, forever, like Louie The Letch, who always has a smile on his face, was the best part of the night. CJ Ramone had the shittiest drummer ever behind him, and I had to fight the urge to push that fuckwad off of the drum stool and show him how Ramones songs are supposed to be played - Hard, Fast and LOUD!! . I hate cymbal pushers. You know, guys who play so softly and hit so lightly that it looks like they're just pushing the cymbal, as opposed to bashing the ever loving shit out of it like I do... hee hee hee. CJ's coming back in Aug., so if you missed him this time around, you can redeem yourself next time round. He played all the expected hits, a few unexpected tunes, like Listen To My Heart, What's Your Game and Wart Hog, which he rightfully dedicated to Dee Dee, and not enough of the tunes he sang lead vocals for on Acid Eaters. My Back Pages was just not enough! Daniel Rey sang lead on Pet Semetary, which made Jeremy happy, and some drunk 90's Lollapalooza dude from the audience sporting a very nice Dead Milkmen shirt sang I Wanna Be Sedated. It was fun. Daniel Rey and CJ were both playing Mosrite Guitars (American made right here in Las Vegas!) and they were both killing it, but man, I wanted to kill that drummer sooooo badly. I didn't like him when he chose Turbo's drum set over mine... hee hee hee. Showed he didn't have a clue about anything as far as I was concerned, because my kit was so loud it over powered everything, as it always does. Turbo's new shiny chrome Pearl kit was nice, but over a Vistalite? No way mang! Yeah, I'm a drum snob. Sue me. The Vermin were good as always, and I think we played a good set. People dug it. Drunk guys with Mohawks were singing along off key. Chicks were paying us compliments. All was good in downtown Las Vegas. I recorded the gig with my trusty recorder, and you can listen to it if you want to by clicking right here.

Speaking of downtown Vegas, the LVCS is a pretty damn cool place. When I played there with Infestshit many moons ago, it was just a big empty space with nothing in it, and now it's got bars, bathrooms, a kick ass stage with a sound system that can't go over 97 decibels for some Legal reason and some cool UFO shape lighting rig above the stage, complete with a dry ice machine floating around somewhere around the back. Oh, and did I mention that the place has a mechanical bull? LOL Yeah, we were all gonna ride the bull at one time but forgot about it because we were too busy drinking to remember to give it a go. well, that's my story anyways and I'm sticking to it! LOL Yeah, the LVCS is a cool place to hang out and see some bands play on an actual stage with a killer PA in a very chillaxing environment. This place comes highly recommended. If you know where the free parking is downtown then you got nothing to bitch about. Great stuff coming up too. That Mapes / Maxies / No Bunny gig there next week is gonna be pretty fucking great. Same with that Dead Lazlo's Place / Symbol Six / Social Task gig happening there @ the end of the month. The LVCS represents the next step in Roxie's quest for world domination, and I wish her the best of Luck with it. Can't wait to see how this ride's gonna end. :-)

Hey! Did you hear that? That sound of a collective of Norwegian music fans (and maybe a few million others worldwide) shooting themselves in the head after hearing that Hank had quit Turbonegro. Yeah, Scientology claims another one. Apparently, Hank's latest trip into rehab convinced him to quit the band, a band that he says he had no friends in. Boo fucking hoo. Suck it up, collect your check and STFU. The last, oh, dare I say, 3 Turbonegro albums sucked ass, and the band that had started out as a parody and became a revolution went full circle and became a parody once again. Going through the motions. If you saw any of the last Turbonegro outings then you know what I'm talking about. Fun, but never all that, like it used to be. Anyways, another great one bites the dust. Maybe the band will consider our American Hank to replace their Norwegian Hank, like a spy swap or something. I think it could work.

It was Senor N.J. Pete's birthday last Sat. (Yaaayy!) and he celebrated it at the Double Down (Booooooooooo!) where his band Unfair Fight played that night. Many many many happy returns to ya Sir! I am in debt to you for at least a few rounds of something good to drink. Me, you and George - Let's do it! Unfair Fight is also playing the Total Gay Ass gig @ 702 Skatepark with the Limp Pipe Shitters, so I might have to write them off for a bit, at least Live anyways, or at least until they stop playing diseased cesspools or lame ass gigs with douche bag poseur bands. This is not gonna be an ongoing thing, is it? I thought you guys were gonna be one of the Local bands here with Standards, Morals and Beliefs? I'm worried... heh heh

Spain won the World Cup, and guess what - Nobody cared. A game that is a Religion else where in the world barely makes a ripple in anything over here. Blind Patriotism? Yuck. The faux enthusiasm some of you Team America fans exhibited during the Cup was a bit embarrassing, to say the least. Any excuse to hang out in a bar and get drunk, right? hee hee hee Well, the good thing is, I won't have to see or hear about it for another 4 years.

Who is Lebron James and why should I give a fuck. Is it Hockey season yet? LOL I don't care about Basketball, don't care about Cleveland, don't care about Miami, and I especially don't care about where Lebron James is going to play this year. Who gives a fuck? Who cares?

Speaking of things that nobody cares about, the Arts District blew up yesterday. A couple of bums got injured, because they're the only ones who frequent the area. LOL Give it up Vegas. You ain't gonna establish an Arts district here in this Anti-Creativity cesspool we all call home. The City and their Government don't want it here. It's bad for business. It keeps people away from the Casinos. And besides, even if you did, it would just get gentrified by rich yuppie fucks who would then move in and take over, raising property values and rent prices through the roof, and then you'll be bitching about how cool the Arts District used to be while you're looking for a new place to live. Happened in NY, SF, LA, etc. When will you learn? Me personally, I think it's Hipster Sabotage. I think the people from the Attic blew up the Opportunity Village in order to eliminate their direct (as in across the street) competition. Just a thought.

Man, I've been blabbering here for a bit. I'm missing out on Stern, so I'm gonna go. I finally beat Red Dead Redemption the other day, so hopefully I can start catching up on the stuff I've been slacking on. New stuff everywhere. If you don't find it, just ask. I'm not as big of an asshole as you might think I am. Oh wait, I forgot... hahaha The King and the Prince of Vegas drummers are going to San Jose next year to watch our Hockey teams fight to the Death like rabid dogs - anyone else down for a Punk Rock Hockey weekend in the Bay area? <3
 
 
To even attempt to begin to tell you what an influence the Ramones were on my life is a waste of energy. It wasn't like Johnny's passing is a shock, but to contemplate the thought that there's only 1 original member left of this groundbreaking band is sure to make you feel even older than you already are. So pour yourself a drink, slap on your favorite Ramones album and just remember... don't mourn the loss, but rather celebrate the gift we were given. I've been getting a great response from people who read my last posting here. I don't really post on myspace.com anymore, since Jesse gets all "macho insecurity" on me whenever Devon tells him what I wrote. At least if they come here to read what I wrote I get counter hits! LOL But yeah, lots of people have been writing / asking questions about what happened between me and The Loud Pipes, and I thank all of you for even giving a fuck. It just trips me out that all of this vicious legal stuff has to happen. Oh well. But anyways, enough of my Drama, let's talk about some killer shows with By Death's Design @ Gameworks tonight and The Dirty Babies @ The Double Down this weekend. Check out the Gig Listings page for more info on all the things coming up here in town (as always). Nothing new posted, nothing much to say. I'm in a funk over Johnny's passing, and I'll probably be that way for awhile. Oh yeah, I heard a few things about the D.I. / T.S.O.L. show last night... and the funny part is that I'm sure it's all true... slow, sloppy and shitty... heh heh heh