Saturday's trip out to Newberry Springs, CA for the Spring Jam At The Ranch thingy was fun! The weather was gorgeous, it was only a little over an hours drive away, and the turnout was pretty good, and just showed in a positive way how ready people are to put this pandemic BS behind us and get back to seeing bands play live, and whether that's a good thing or not will soon to be seen as the death toll rises or falls. It was great seeing so many familiar and happy faces again, there were all sorts of cool and interesting vendors selling all sorts of shit, everything from cinnamon buns to greasy ass tacos to skate/punk clothing, sort of like a swapmeet setting but with skating involved, and bands raging full on in the background while everything was going on. The music was sounding good too, with a pro sound guy running things for the bands and a DJ spinning 70's Punk tunes from pretty colored vinyl in between band sets. I wasn't paying any of it much attention though, instead focusing on talking to everyone who was there that I hadn't seen in years (ouch) and just catching up with what everyone has been up to as of late, but band wise The Runts were really good, reminding me of Circle One for some reason, and Guilty By Association played a set that showed they need to practice more before a gig! hahahahah It wasn't that they were making mistakes, it was just that they were... forgetting things. You know how old guys are. 😁 Oh who fucking cares! It was a great time, cool vibes, like the old desert gigs were back in the days in the middle of nowhere or up in the caves, and I had fun. Cheers! to Dan and the guys in Since We Were Kids for putting it all together and making it happen. It was a cool way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and I'd definitely do it again. 

     Dammit! Now I'm gonna have to go back to updating this thing I call a web 'zine in a timely manner now that the petri dish known as the Las Vegas Punk Scene is coming out of hibernation and starting to do things again. 😁 The numbers be damned!! People need their egos massaged and adored, so everything's opening up again. People gotta eat right? Is that what this is all about? 
     I added a few of the gigs I know about to the Gig Calendar page, and I'll be at this thing on the left here in California on Saturday called Spring Jam At The Ranch! to check out Guilty By Association and  bunch of bands I know nothing about, eat some tacos, watch some skaters, take some pics (hopefully) and just chillax with dat green Cali vibe mon. I got a brand new car, might as well get my money's worth out of it. 😎 Everything's updated, sort of, browse around, check shit out. I forget what I've done on here. Slacking I know, and I'll get better. I'm curious to see how this whole "opening back up" thing plays out here locally. Should be interesting. Oh, and Congratulations! to Gravy from the Dive for opening up his new spot called Gravy Train Saloon. It's a Country / Rockabilly themed place that should be doing live band gigs there pretty soon from what I hear... heh

     HooooOOOOOoooolllllyyyyyyy dog shit!! To say that a Legendary Rock God died today is the understatement of all time. Eddie Van Halen... wow. It was probably one of the worst kept secrets in Music at this point (He had been flying to Germany for cancer treatment for years now), and David Lee Roth kind-of let the cat out of the bag about what was going on with Eddie's health while promoting his shitty residence here in Vegas, but still, when looking at a rockstars mortality in black and white on a computer screen, it all just makes you think about the precious gift of Life that we all take for granted day in and day out. Happy or sad, rich or poor, when it's your time to go it's your time to go, and there ain't nothing anybody on this big blue marble spinning around the sun can do about that. Death and Taxes. Both are inevitable. Man, what a loss. 
     Many is the hour I spent blitzed out of my skull hanging out on the sidewalk outside of the Ticketron office next to the Sears at the Stonewood Mall in Downey all night long, waiting along with an equally inebriated mob of buffoons for the chance to buy tickets to what was always the concert of the year, the local Van Halen gig. That was the only Ticketron office in the area that allowed overnight line ups before tickets went on sale at 10 am the next day. Oh the stories I could tell about those particular nights! 😆 Sometimes I got to see Van Halen twice in one year (I was there when they parachuted into Anaheim Stadium in '78!!) but one thing's for sure, Van Halen concerts were LIT! One of the best live bands to ever tour the Earth. Whether from the nosebleed seats to the 3rd row on the floor, it was always a good fucking time watching the band ripping shit up for me. I'm not even a guitar guy per se, but I loved watching Eddie Van Halen play live in concert, in his element, living out his dream, all while making the most glorious sounding noises from pieces of hacked up and chopped up wood and strings and jerry rigged electronics, all highlighted and marked up with spray paint and tape, I mean, that has to be a blessing of some sorts, right? LOL I mean, I kind of knew I was in a 'presence of greatness' thing, watching my generations Jimi Hendrix, so to hear of his passing, officially, just hit a raw nerve. What a tragedy. What a loss. I only saw the guy offstage once, while hanging out in front of the Coconut Teaszer club in Hollywood waiting to get into a Butt Trumpet gig. The people in line were yelling at him as he drove by in a sick red Lamborghini, telling him to come in and check out the gig. He made a monster of an illegal u turn and pulled up alongside the sidewalk and asked who was playing and when he heard the name "Butt Trumpet" he started laughing, shaking his head 'no' and speeding off. He seemed like such a normal guy, not rockstarish at all, even though he was sitting in a car that was worth more than my parents house! My condolences to his family and friends and everyone that knew him. The world is a much sadder place without him. This fucking sucks. Call me sentimental but I liked the last Van Halen album. I was looking forward to hearing more new music from the band, and now the only way that's gonna happen is by flogging a dead horse and scraping the bottom of the barrel for detritus. Lame.
     Today is one for the history books. Crank that shit up loud and say the magic words that the brothers in Pantera used to say when getting their party on: Eddie Van Halen!!!  This date will forever be etched in time and celebrated over the years, much like the birth of Jesus Christ or the day that Kennedy was assassinated by his own government. The guy lived the life of a thousand men, and existence here on Earth just got a little less interesting and a lot less fun that's for sure. RIP Eddie Van Halen. Gawd knows you earned it and deserve it. Cheers! 🍻

I always said if you wrote a blog on a website I would read it, and since I did a podcast myself a while ago, I feel it's only fair to tell you about a local podcast that talks about all things local music related, as well as whatever the hell else pops in their head or what they feel like talking about that I've been listening to lately. The podcast is called Can We Say That?, and it's run by Jimbo, drummer extraordinaire from IDFI who currently plays with Punk Rock Jones in Kapitol Punishment. It's basically a bunch of friends just sitting around, having fun, talking shit, and just keeping things interesting while talking about anything and everything they feel like talking about. Pretty good stuff. The Local Bands episode was really fucking good. Them talking about how Mike from Guilty By Association's singing is live was spot on! LOL He's always got that damn beer bottle in his hand! 🤣 They've also had episodes testing out new equipment, conspiracy talking, breaking in new hosts, the #metoo movement, and fixing up their cars and other manly stuff. There's 3 guys doing the podcast, and besides Jimbo I'm not sure who the other 2 guys are, but they're funny, insightful, and a real easy listen on the ears. I dig it. If you're feeling cooped in from all this shutdown shit, and miss hanging out and bullshitting with your friends at bars, talking about what's going on locally band wise and whatnot, then check out the  Can We Say That? podcast and see what you think of it. I'm betting that you'll dig it. 😎

While in the process of cleaning out the skeletons from my closet recently I found a DVD labelled 'Website 2004' with a plethora of stuff I thought I had lost forever. Pics, gig/show reviews, y todo! It was quite the trip down memory lane going through it all to say the least. 16 years ago... what a trip heh I'm slowly in the process of putting everything on there back up on the website, since there's not much going on locally that I'm interested in promoting or talking about. So click here to read about Thunderfist and Sloka rocking the Double Clown one Thursday night, or you can click here to see the photos I added to the Agent Orange / D.I. / Guilty By Association / Sloka @The Boston gig review. I also added a whole bunch of pics, mostly from the year 2003, so if you were around then or might be interested in pics of the Las Vegas scene from 17 years ago than you can go here as a jump off point to check all those out if you're so inclined... heh