What a night. <3

The gig at the Beauty Bar was the shit. Thanks to Frank, Eddie, Jorge Voodoo Glow Skulls for being the righteous guys they've always been for the over 25 years I've known them. Thanks to Mike and everyone else in Guilty By Association for just killing it and being our brothers in arms (us old guys gotta stick together), and Thanks to Lavin and The Pluralses for the crazy stories and for playing such an amazing set of songs in which every one was a true story. There were a shitload of people there, a great fucking vibe, and I hated leaving early, but I had to go play another gig across town at the Dive bar for Punk Mock Bowling.

Nothing but Love L-U-V at the Dive. The guys from War Called Home were hanging around outside either dressed up like nerds, or dressed up like the nerds that they are, I cant tell. Jodi's Agenda were on stage and they sounded pretty good, despite ol' funny face on drums. They had a saxophone player and a sick, artsy riff playing guitarist, and with Joni on vocals, they had a heavy X-Ray Spex vibe to them. I stopped paying attention when they broke into a painfully bad Blondie cover. Ugh. The Mock Sparrer thing came off flawless, with none of the dreaded mistakes we were fearing showing their ugly head during our set, which was comprised mostly of material from the Argy Bargy release and a few other Cock Sparrer gems. Matt killed it on vocals during a few songs, and people were taking the mic and singing along and having fun with it, which was the whole point of the evenings set. Thanx to everyone for coming out. Playing 2 gigs, 2 different sets, at 2 different places was draining but fun!

Tonight's the night! This is where the payoff for all the hard work comes to fruition.

There's some sort of corporate rip off type of event going on this weekend, and the fact that my counter culturally inclined "Punk" friends participate in said event willy nilly and without shame is both disgusting and sad to me, as it is every year, but the good thing that comes from this is an alternative, a counter revolution to the Hot Topic brand of nostalgic Anarchy that's being forced down your throat this weekend. You got gigs like these 2, happening tonight, something Local to do that's worth supporting, something that's not designed to separate you from your money by greedy old Punk has-beens, something that's more Locally slanted and oriented. Start your night off at the Beauty Bar, where the Voodoo Glow Skulls / Guilty By Association / The Civilians / The Pluralses will be kicking things off in the punkiest of styles. THEN, head immediately to The Dive bar to see the Punk Mock Bowling event, featuring Mock Sparrer (which is The Civilians doing Cock Sparrer covers), No Effects (which is War Called Home doing NOFX covers), Lambs To Lions, and Joni's Agenda. Locals Only Braaaahh! hahahahaha

2 gigs at 2 different places with 2 different bands? No problem! I got this! ha ha See you at the gigs!! :-)

OhmerhGAWD!! There is soooo much going on around here that my heart can't stand it!! LOL

Besides all the usual stress / aggravation with trying to put together a set list of covers for a gig less than 24 hours away, I've also been dealing with little shit talking hairy armed Downtown Trolls looking for validation to their pathetic existence. Look, I know you old trolls once had a future as bright as the semen that covered your faces nightly @ the Beauty Bar (when it was cool to hang out there, right?) but now? You're just sad and ugly and forgotten. Sure, you can hashtag Twitter and Instagram snarky stuff to your panty sniffing sycophants like you're relevant, like you matter, but you don't. You know you don't. You go out of your way to create "controversy" with your femiNazi agenda, your borderline threats you label as wishes, stirring the pot, looking for someone to play along with you and your BS and guess what?

It's not me.

I got waaaaayyy better things to do, waaaaayyyy bigger cunts than you un-merry old trolls to fry, and you aren't gonna drag me down to your level of silly pettiness. I live in the real world, not the delusional Downtown fish bowl, PC pussy world you all immerse yourself in. Go back under your bridge ugly little trolls. You 2 "girls" are like a pathetic before and after weight loss picture. I wish bad things to happen to both of you, which is OK, because wishing isn't threatening, right? ;)

It's Friday the 13th. And there's a full moon out tonight. Be scared.

There's lots going on this weekend, the Macro-Fi Reunion show, the Alan Six gig @ 11th Street Records, the return of the Battered Midgets @ the Double Clown, but really, seriously, this Saturday night's gig @ the Dive is the only one you need to concern yourself with. This, my friends, is the only place to be on Saturday, and I'll tell you why - Residuels. The Acid Sisters. No mystery band because they were just too mysterious to be on the bill... ha ha ha

That handsome in a gay sort of way face on that flyer is my beloved friend Pitt. Mr. Pittney Rosenthal, Esq. is his official title nowadays. After moving back East, he's reimagined himself as some sort of Hipster Roky Erickson, and his band Residuels, currently on Tour with the Buzzcocks, if you can believe that shit, are playing the Dive on Sat. I can't tell you what his new band Residuels sounds like, or maybe I'm scared to tell you what I think they sound like, I dunno, but here's the bands new single. Check it out yourself and see what you think, and if you like it, it will be available at the gig! :-)

And as if that's not enough reason to be at the Dive on Sat., then there's also on the bill The Acid Sisters, a group of Downtown artists making a swampy, psychedelic noise as of late. Featuring Elayna and Nick on vocals and guitars respectively, I'm curious as to what they're gonna sound like live. I can't think of a better way to spend the day than watching your friends new musical endeavors. See you there!!

I got something to say...

And that is who fucking cares? Seriously? Who. Fucking. Cares. Look, I get it if you're hyped, because not a lot of people have seen the Misfits before, "The Original Misfits", whatever that means. Jerry Only wasn't in "The Original Misfits". Neither was Doyle. The original line up was Danzig, Diane, Jimmy, and Manny. That's "The Original Misfits" lineup. Depending on what drummer they end up using (I'd love to see Robo called back in), this should be billed as Lineup #5, #6, or #7, i dunno, but that's not gonna get everyone's panties in an uproar like announcing that "The Original Misfits" are getting back together, now would it?

BRING BACK GOOGY!! hahahaha

No matter what, I think the point that's being missed in all this cash in musical nostalgia selling mediocrity to the masses is that you're never gonna recapture what some of us were lucky to experience. You're never gonna see the band you saw in old, grainy YouTube footage, terrifying a club full of people with their loud as fuck Horror Business music. You're never gonna recreate that feeling of being someplace you shouldn't be, watching a band you shouldn't be watching and really know little about, playing songs that will forever change your Life, for better or worse. You can delude yourself by saying "Well, this is the best I'm ever gonna get, because I wasn't even born yet when they were originally a band", but that's just settling for mediocrity, isn't it? That's just accepting what you're given and liking it, which was something that Punk used to be against, but with the advent of these big cash cow sell out festivals, it seems that accepting mediocrity has become the norm.

How boring and sad.

And yeah... as for that OTHER thing that all my friends are all up in arms about.. look, we've all known that that whore has had mental problems for years. Daddy issues much? Drunken drug doll much? What was once cute is now just pathetic and sad in an older girl like her. She's gonna get burned by all of this, badly, and it's gonna be a painful lesson for her to learn. Does anybody still like her or tolerate her shit anymore? Gawd I hope not. That thought depresses the shit out of me. That skanky has-been / never was, hairy armed Troll, takes a kind of retarded pride in her social irrelevance and troll like ability, and she goes out of her way to promote dissension among her own friends, because her self loathing / hatred restricts her ability to maintain real friendship or to be happy for others. She's a shit talking narcissistic piece of cray-cray that is painfully and obviously off of her mental meds. THOT. Let's hope all her big talk of suing everyone and getting lawyers involved in all of this (like her pussy boyfriend does) actually comes to fruition. I'd love to have my lawyer subpoena some of her ex-friends as character witnesses. LOL I hope someone is screen grabbing all of her shenanigans, before she deletes it all or blocks us from replying to her bullshit. It would look great in court! ;)

Reno was awesome. So was Lake Tahoe. Why do I live in Vegas??

It felt great to get away from the city for a bit and head up North where they have these awesome colors called 'nature' and 'seasons' that are just glorious to see in their natural pristine state. Hippy shit I know, but after riding in a van all day with some funny motherfuckers, I was just feeling the love everywhere I went.

We played a gig on Fri. at a place called Shea's Tavern, or as I call it, Meth's Tavern. I, of course, stopped partaking in drugs years ago, but to see it openly sold, snorted, shared at this place, was a bit too much for me. Skinheads on meth are never a good thing. Never. Other than that though, it was a cool place! LOL The Damnit Jims were good, but some meth'd out jabroni who claimed he was friends with Bill Stevenson kept bumping into me while I was standing there taking pictures, so I left. Vegas Threat were interesting, and Tyson nearly threw his back out jumping off the 4 foot high stage mid-set, but as I stood there taking pictures of them playing, I suddenly thought to myself Why am I taking pictures of a cover band? and quickly stopped. I sat at the merch table and laughed as people called out for them to play various Fugazi songs. Vegascendents were good despite the fact that Paolo was hammered and out of phase with his bass cabinet or some lame ass shit like that. It felt good to be playing with these guys again. That feeling went away about 8 minutes later... hahahaha Reno, We Have A Problem were brilliant in the fact that they had a public meltdown / fight on stage and broke up immediately after their set. Sometimes you gotta know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run.

High point of the day was waiting 2 hours for hamburgers and fries at a place called Ryan's Saloon & Broiler, and then watching as the kitchen caught fire while Johnny Cash' Ring Of Fire played eerily in the background. We never got our food, BTW. The low point of the day was eating cashews and drinking warm red punch for dinner after the gig while my band mates feasted on Denny's, which I had been trying to get them to go eat at for hours. Selfish shits.

Saturday it was all about the El Bowlritto Tres skate event that went down in Lake Tahoe at Skatehouse Skate Park. There was a steady drizzle all during the event, and water had to be poked out of the tops of every canopy cover in the place every half hour or so to prevent liquid build up. There were tacos for sale, loads and loads of booze everywhere, and everyone was smoking weed. Everyone. Besides the Skate Pistols, a group of rubbery small children who were skating the shit out of anything and everything that wasn't moving, and talking all day to random people about the upcoming Sharks game (we were in Sharks territory. Everyone was a fan), the high point of the day was watching M Section, an amazingly tight, energetic and entertaining band of Punk Rock musician types just fuck shit up and play an impressive set of music that had me buying everything they were selling immediately after their set was done. Check that band out the second you can by clicking here and see what you think. I told everybody they were the Nor-Cal version of The Quitters. Lots of them agreed with me. :-) Vegas Threat had the unfortunate distinction of opening up the event at 11 in the morning, and let's just say it wasn't one of their better shiny moments. Vegascendents played better than they did the night before, but the bone chilling cold weather made it hard to play the drums. The rolls like on songs like Coolidge and Suburban Home were just falling flat, and thankfully we cut our set short. The Damnit Jims played immediately after us and played almost the exact same set they did the night before, even with the 'How do you get a dog to stop licking your face?" joke, with the answer being "you suck his dick". ;-)

After the gig was over we went to grub some amazing BBQ food at a place called Sonney's BBQ Shack and laugh about all the craziness that had gone on in the past 24 hours. We stuffed our faces full of charred flesh covered in sticky sweet sauce until we could barely stand up, and while everyone else crashed out while the sun was still out, I stayed up and watched the Sharks whup some Predators ass and then took a beautiful leisurely stroll in the chilly night air of Lake Tahoe, where I found an authentic looking taqueria in the middle of nowhere. I walked in and had the nicest elderly lady tell me the place was closed. When I begged her for a burrito full of anything she had left over she explained the grill was off and cleaned and everything was put away. I didn't even care really. I thanked her and went back to the hotel room and crashed out, which was a good thing, because everyone was well rested and ready to head back to Vegas real bright and early in the morning. Bastards.