I dunno... I thought this was funny. It's a comparison of a dead chicken's ass to Miley Cyrus' ass, asking which one's better. Personally, I think it's the chicken! LOL What is it with that chick and that annoying tongue thing? Are girls that look like guys the in thing now?

And this one, well, while I was beginning the editing the 359 photos of the Mapes that I took a few days ago, I laughed at how this series of pix came out. Reminded me of those Dafuq meme's, and voila! This picture was born. Click on it and see it in it's full size glory to see everyone's expression... LOL

ha ha ha OK, back to work. There's a cool, interesting sounding gig going on tomorrow @ Blackbird Studios with War Called Home, Mercy Music, My First Rodeo and Poke Da Squid, a cool little Ska Punk band from Seattle who are on Tour and who could use your support and who are worth checking out. Blackbird Studios is a cool place to chill, it's Downtown, but not the dooshy part of Downtown, it's an All Ages gig, which means there might be some non-jaded, energetic fucks in attendance dancing around, so if you got nothing better to do, and I'm pretty sure that you don't, unless they're re-running this weeks episode of Breaking Bad or Bad Ink or whatever, in which case I totally understand, but in any other case, come on out and have some fun. :-)

It was like watching superheroes come back to life, donning their costumes once again to save the world. It was like waking up to a Groundhog's Day nightmare, but not one that you would mind reliving over and over and over again. Front and center I found myself last Sat. night at the Dive, witnessing the return of the Mapes, where their chaotic, musical merry-go-round of a show reared it's ugly head once again. It's been over a year since they played, after Captain Whiskey decided to donate a kidney to cancer research, and they played soooooooo fucking good that it was hard to believe they haven't played in that long of a time. The crowd was rabid from the first note of the first song onwards, which was Your Pussy Makes Me Vomit, and after that it was all a drunken flurry of flour, marshmallows, cupcakes, hot dogs, a football pinata filled with something and an onslaught of booze, toilet water and gawd knows what else being sprayed around by water pistols the band handed out mid-set. They played basically every song that they know, except for Pigs In A Blanket, Mouf, or their Mummies cover, and they played a Civic Minded Five cover to end the set (was that the Lavin Lays Pipe song they did?), and they even included a shit load of new songs from some new album they promised is coming out sometime soon. Yeah right. Anyways, the Mapes played spectacularly, and they totally destroyed the stage at the Dive in the process, leaving John The Englishman sound guy yelling to anyone within earshot that he wasn't cleaning that 'fooking' mess up! LOL Fantastic turnout, great show, what a fucking night. I'm pretty sure everyone left the placed covered in flour. My camera was beyond fucked up and I don't care. If you weren't there, you missed out, of course, and it you were there, wasn't that shit fun??? :-) It was good seeing Clay out and about, receiving well wishes and congratulatory words, drink in hand, looking fit and happy. It was even better seeing him behind his dilapidated kit, smiling and having fun. Cheers my friend! That guys gonna be the Mayor of Las Vegas someday, wait and see.

Not to neglect the other bands that played that night, because 2 out of 3 of them were excellent. The Seriouslys killed it in front of a mostly sedate, sober crowd, playing their bouncy Pop Punk to a very appreciative audience, and being able to hear their lyrics clearly for the first time had me grinning from ear to ear like an idiot. They're soooo cute! I'm digging the new drummer. She's really good. They're a totally different band now with her. Fantastic stuff. And Kid Puto, from Tucson, were pretty good too, sounding like a cross between Dirt and Naked Agression, with a dual male/female vocal attack that was brutal and cool to watch. They took forever to set up though, which was a drag. And that other band, King Clone, well, they were just weak, with a singer who spent most of their set facing the drummer and prancing and preening around. Wasn't cool when Jim Morrison did it, and 50 years later, guess what? It's still not cool when you're doing it. Music was pretty mediocre too. Whatever. They were the only misstep in a night full of wonderfulness. The Dive was packed with Friends and Family, lots of familiar faces, a few people who don't like me, some who tried to act invisible and were caught, and lots of laughs and smiles and good feelings. Thanks to everyone for hanging out with me, and special Thanx to the hott redhead for the lesson in gravity and water. :-)

Everything is updated. Lots of stuff coming up this week, and I'm hoping to get it all posted before I head Home to the Pow Wow this weekend. Everything is going great around these parts. Hope they are with you as well.

Well, all good things got to come to an end, sometime, right?

4 same guys in 2 different bands. One guy quitting one band, and another guy quitting the other band, all just to keep things amicable between Friends, which is a good thing. I can only wish that all band decisions went this smoothly. So yeah, the Vegascendents are looking for a bass player, and Aluminum Falcon is looking for a singer. Spread the word. Contact within. I was hoping both bands were going to break up, so I would have more free time to hang out with Karla the Rabbit, who has taken over my house as of late, but alas, it was not meant to be. Le sigh.

Considering it was Jeremy's last gig with the Vegascendents, things went pretty good - much better than anticipated, that's for sure. We sounded good, the crowd was singing along and jumping around, and we literally played every damn song we knew, with the 3 of us sweating our fat old asses off on the stage while Mike was cracking dick jokes in between songs. Yeah, some guy called The Balloon Master had lived up to his promise by filling the Dive up with huge, multicolored, dick shaped balloons, that were being thrown and kicked around while we played. Lots of people came out to wish Angie a Happy Birthday, and we had to play I Like Food as an encore, because she missed it when we first played it somewhere in the set. LOL Yeah, it was a fun time, but there was NO CUPCAKES!!! No free food either, but that's irrelevant, because, dammit, there was no cupcakes no where! Aaaaagghhhh!! ha ha ha Thanx to everyone that came out, hung out, said Hello, etc. I had fun. :-)

Speaking of Fun, this gig going down tonight at the Double Clown should be all that and more. It's the Tour Kick Off Party for Guilty By Association, and it has The Seriouslys and Surrounded By Thieves helping the celebration along. I don't know when Squid Hat Records starting putting on Shows and Tours, but that's not important. What is important is that you come out and give GBA a good send off for their upcoming Tour of the Eastern U.S.A., where they'll be spreading the word about Las Vegas Punk Rock to anyone and everyone in attendance. I'm not gonna be at the gig tonight, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be there! ha ha ha Come out and have some fun! It's gonna be a riot! ;-) And yes, I blacked out a band on the flyer, a band that's just too, too puro Punk Rock to be on this shit talking, 2 faced, piece of shit website... I'm doing them a favor! hee hee hee

Yesterday the Review-Journal ran a piece on Captain Whiskey himself, Clay Heximer of The Mapes, and about his recent battle with Cancer and the triumphant return of the band after a 1 year hiatus. Click here to read it if you haven't already. It was written by Jason Bracelin, who I'm no fan of, but he does a good job with the piece, and makes it an interesting, insightful read. The gig on Saturday night @ the Dive is going to be eclectic, to say the least. If you miss this one you're a Fool. I'm gonna be there front and center, grinning like an idiot and taking pictures like I always do at a Mapes gig. Come on out - it's gonna be FUN!

Everything is updated. New Music Reviews on the latest from Iron Reagan and Fucking Invincible, written by Karl Bakla, and you can click here to read his review of Fucking Invincible, and you can click here to read my review of the Iron Reagan CD. Zack went to Nardstock, or Nardfest, or whatever they were calling it without being sued, last week, and he did a Gig Review for it all, and you can click here to read it. The photos were supplied by Amyxcarla, who is a girl that Zack met while he was out there in Ventura for the gig and he asked her to submit her photos for his review, and she very nicely did. Her photos came out great, and you can click here to check all of them out. I also posted some pix I took of Mersa playing at the Bunkhouse a while back (obviously), and you can click here to see them, and you can click here to see some photos Zack and I took of Peligro when they played @ LVCS months ago. Slowly but surely, things are getting done around here. Just imagine how much better it would be if I had some free time! :-)

ha ha ha OK, so, after a very stiff and sterile band practice, I'm happy to announce that the Vegascendents will be playing Angie's birthday party tonight, which is going down @ the Dive bar, of course. It was a bit worrisome there for a second, but apparently differences will be put aside in order to make this performance happen. It wouldn't be that big of a deal but Angie specifically asked for us to play, so it's kind of a bummer if we flaked out on her birthday party just over some petty band bullshit. According to the Facebook event page, which you can go to by clicking here, there will be free food and booze, dick shaped balloons, drink 'till you puke specials and CUPCAKES!!! <3 That's seriously the only reason I wanted to play this gig! LOL Just kidding. Angie is a cool chick, and if you feel like hanging and banging on a Weds. night with an eclectic crew of Fiends and Malcontents, then stop by the Dive tonight to wish Angie a Happy Birthday and to see what may be the last Vegascendents gig ever - well, with this line up anyways... LOL

:-)

So, uhhhm... yeah...

If you were there you saw it. It was loud, it was public, and it was ugly. I'm pretty sure it was 100% real, and it was definitely a long time coming. Days later and I'm still not sure what was going on, what it was about, whatever, but, if it sticks, which, I'm totally indifferent to either/or, then it looks like I'm gonna have a lot of free time on my hands! LOL Oh silly Band Drama, how I love thee. It's been awhile. I had problems of my own to deal with at the time, so I didn't pay it much attention or get involved, but that guy 'Punk Rock Trash' had no problem getting involved in the fracas! LOL Where did that guy come from anyways? ha ha ha Yeah, I don't know how it's going to play out, or if we're even going to be playing Angie's B-Day bash @ the Dive on Weds., but as soon as I know, then I guess you'll know. :-)

And, oh, about that Facebook thing, from that band bitching that I take their names off of flyers on this website, tough fucking shit. I'll promote the gig, but not your band. It's my website and I can do that, ya know. The other bands who tolerate your musical mediocrity and secretly say bad things about you behind your back shouldn't have to suffer just because they're stuck on a bill with you. Just like it's my prerogative to do what I want on this website, it's your right to bitch about me on Facebook and tell mutual friends what a 2 faced piece of shit I am. The huge difference is, that I really, and truly, don't give a fuck what you think or say about me, while it's painfully obvious you put a lot of meaning and merit into the bullshit I write on here or my opinion of your music. Too funny.

ha ha ha ha I find the backlash against the Bad Ink show on A & E most amusing. The people who have partaken of the Kool-Aid are vehement in their defense of the show, claiming that it's 100% real and that none of the tattoos are fake. I mean, come on, no offense, but there's no way in Hell that tattoo in the photo next to these words is real, and not to mention that this posting from April of this year for the show on SAGActorOnline.com looking for someone with space on their body to "draw in a fake tattoo" pretty much confirms that the show isn't real. But so what? It's television. Nothing on there is real. You think those stupid Ghost Hunters shows are real? Yeah right. You think Pawn Stars isn't totally scripted? Think again. It's TV. It is what it is - fluff, nonsensical bullshit filled with mindless drivel, and while I wish Dirk and Ruckus all the best with this, I just don't see it happening. Hope I'm wrong though. :-)

There's all sorts of stuff going on this weekend. My band Aluminum Falcon is playing @ the Dive tomorrow night, in a gig that was supposed to feature Duane Peter's Gunfight, but they supposedly cancelled due to sickness, even though the rumor was that they were never booked to play in the first place, since they're playing at the LVCS on Sat. with G.F.P., Unit F, and a handful of other Punk bands, IDFI being the best of the bunch, so yeah, if you got nothing better to do tomorrow night, come out to the gig @ the Dive. If you're going to George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic instead though, I totally understand. I was going to go to that gig too before this one came up...  heh heh

Like I said, the G.F.P. gig is going down on Sat.@ the LVCS, but this gig @ Backstage Bar & Billiards, with the Happy Campers and War Called Home, is much better. Plus, it's Rob's birthday, so you know things are gonna get a bit crazed after a bit. Happy Birthday Sir! Have a drink or 2 or 10 for me. :-) And speaking of Birthdays, on Sat., Tiger Sex is playing Lance's backyard birthday bash, sharing the stage with Some Jerk With A Ukelele, but if you didn't get an invite, I don't think you're welcome to attend. Who knows though. Backyard parties are always fun, and birthday gigs are always fun too, so try not to be a dick and just be Happy and carry cake with you every where you go, in case you feel like spreading the Birthday cheer among the rest of your fellow human beings. I'd give you the gig @ Bar 702 as an option to go to as well, but that one band is playing, and I don't like them, so yeah... ;-)

And then on Sunday, a day that even the Lord rested on, shenanigans of the Earth shattering kind will be on display at the Dive as Demon Lung, Wounded Giant, and Dark Earth play that ultra heavy Grind and Doom and Gloom that people with long hair and a good buzz go ape shit over. Demon Lung's The Hundredth Name hasn't left my Summer jams roadtrippin' compilation I've been rocking out to lately, and if you haven't gotten it yet, you're doing yourself a huge injustice, as that release is nothing short of amazing, so get your ass down to the Dive on Sun. to see Demon Lung fuck shit up along with 2 other bands that, well, the only thing I know about them is that they're Loud, Heavy as Fuck, and pretty Hairy, come to think of it, but they're not Beardcore, definitely not Beardcore... ;-) Like I said, it's gonna be a busy weekend. Lots of stuff to do and be seen doing. See ya there!