Thursday, July 30, 2015

recommended gigs

Friday July 31 - Super Zeros Ethan 103, Perfect Sense at the Double Down
Friday July 31 - the Psyatics at the House of Wonk 6:00 pm

Sunday August 2 - Pussyrama at the Bunkhouse

Tuesday August 4 - Dr Phobic at the Dive Bar

Wednesday August 5 - Franks and Dean's Weenie Roast with Clydesdale at the Double Down

Friday August 7 - Big Daddy's Hayride with Eddy Bear and the Cubs, Clydesdale, Kim Lenz, Big Sandy and James Intveld at Backstage Bar and Billiards
Friday August 7 - Super Zeroes and Analog Law at the Double Down

Saturday August 8 - Symbol 6 at the Dive Bar with the Freeze
Saturday August 8 - The Psyatics at the Double Down with Upinatem, Three Rounds and Death Whistle

Sunday August 9 - The Cry at the Bunkhouse

Tuesday August 11 - Svetlanas and Time Crashers at the Dive Bar

Friday August 14 - Barbwire Dolls with Alan Six at the Dive Bar

Friday Aug 21 - Motorhead at House of Blues

Saturday Aug 22 - the Unwieldies at the Dillinger

Sunday Aug 23 - The Gentlemen of Four Outs at the Double Down

Saturday August 29 - The Swamp Gospel at the Huntridge Tavern
Saturday August 29 - the All Togethers at the Pioneer Saloon

Friday Sept 4 - Water Landing record release show at the Double Down with the All Togethers, 3d6 and Steady Extras

Sundat Sept 27 - Shannon and the Clams at the Beauty Bar

Friday Oct 9 - Cashed Out at the Beauty Bar

Sunday Oct 11 - the Riverboat Gamblers at the Beauty Bar

Saturday Oct 17 - Goddam Gallows and the Scoundrels at the Dive Bar

Wednesday Oct 28 - The Swamp Gospel at HellKat Car Club's Trunk or Treat

Saturday Oct 31 - Wanda Jackson with the Delta Bombers, Eddy Bear and the Cubs and the Yawpers at Triple B

What have I forgotten? Lemme know!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

recommended gigs

Wednesday July 22 - Adolescents and Weirdos at the Triple B

Friday July 24 - The Association, Grass Roots, Buckinghams, Cowsills - Golden Nugget
Friday July 24 - Swamp Pussy at Babes

Saturday July 25 - Shanda and the Howlers - Adrenaline
Saturday July 25 - Gamblers Mark and the Legendary Boilermakers at LVCS

Friday July 31 - Super Zeros Ethan 103, Perfect Sense at the Double Down
Friday July 31 - the Psyatics at the House of Wonk 6:00 pm

Sunday August 2 - Pussyrama at the Bunkhouse

Tuesday August 4 - Dr Phobic at the Dive Bar

Wednesday August 5 - Franks and Dean's Weenie Roast with Clydesdale at the Double Down

Friday August 7 - Big Daddy's Hayride with Eddy Bear and the Cubs, Clydesdale, Kim Lenz, Big Sandy and James Intveld at Backstage Bar and Billiards
Friday August 7 - Super Zeroes and Analog Law at the Double Down

Saturday August 8 - Symbol 6 at the Dive Bar

Sunday August 9 - The Cry at the Bunkhouse

Friday August 14 - Barbwire Dolls with Alan Six at the Dive Bar

Friday Aug 21 - Motorhead at House of Blues

Sunday Aug 23 - The Gentlemen of Four Outs at the Double Down

Saturday August 29 - The Swamp Gospel at the Huntridge Tavern
Saturday August 29 - the All Togethers at the Pioneer Saloon

Friday Sept 4 - Water Landing record release show at the Double Down with the All Togethers, 3d6 and Steady Extras

Friday Oct 9 - Cashed Out at the Beauty Bar

Sunday Oct 11 - the Riverboat Gamblers at the Beauty Bar

Saturday Oct 17 - Goddam Gallows and the Scoundrels at the Dive Bar

Wednesday Oct 28 - The Swamp Gospel at HellKat Car Club's Trunk or Treat

Saturday Oct 31 - Wanda Jackson with the Delta Bombers, Eddy Bear and the Cubs and the Yawpers at Triple B

What have I forgotten? Lemme know!

RIP Steve Rodriguez from the Dragons



I don't know any details, but Steve, the bassist for San Diego's The Dragons passed away last night. A warm and wonderful human being and a terrific musician and showman. We shared stages together innumerable times and it was always a party. He will be missed by everyone who cared about rock'n'roll.

Mario (lead vocals/guitar) posted a video for him here.

Let's all lift a Jack'n'Coke to him.

More from NBCSanDiego:

Family, Friends Mourn Passing of Dragons' Bassist 
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Thursday, July 16, 2015

Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs! My Adventures in the Alice Cooper Group by Dennis Dunaway with Chris Hodenfield

Anyone who knows me knows that the Alice Cooper band is one of my all-time favorite groups and
one of the most influential on my musical career, such as it is. I was never able to take things quite to the extreme that they did, but their style – musically and visually – was always in my mind. Dunaway was the band’s incredible bassist, whose moving, melodic lines helped propel their songs, which he helped to write and arrange. Here he tells the story of the group, starting with their teenage years (I assume his childhood was reasonably normal) where he met Vince Furnier (later to be named Alice) and formed the bands that would eventually become Alice Cooper.

I always love hearing/reading the stories of the early days when the bands are just figuring out what they are doing, from what instrument they decide to play to what type of music and what bands influenced them (there’s a funny tale of opening for the Yardbirds and doing all of their material before the British band’s set – which, naturally, was mind-boggling and humbling) and what kind of places they play and on & on. These pre-stardom days are the days that all of use struggling musicians can relate to and I am fascinated by how they handled it and what they went through.

And Dennis certainly has stories galore! Tales of band members coming and going, vans crashing and somersaulting, girls (the GTO’s were important in their Los Angeles career), other bands (Doors, Love, Buffalo Springfield, just to name a few) and on and on. Of course he goes through variations of fables told before by others, with his point of view being just a bit different , as he talks of the time spent on Zappa’s Bizarre/Straight Records (Pretties For You and Easy Action), chickens, feather pillows, festivals, meeting Bob Ezrin, tightening up the sound and having a smash hit with “Eighteen” and then “School’s Out” and then the dissolution that started to take place during the recording of the Billion Dollar Babies album.

He doesn’t dwell on the post-superstardom days, but does give an overview of the ensuing years and talks of the musical projects he has done, including his current group, Blue Coupe, with the Bouchard brothers from Blue Oyster Cult. The induction of the Alice Cooper band into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame is the final chapter, fittingly so.


Dunaway and Holdenfield do a terrific job of bringing these exciting r’n’r times back to life – Dennis is obviously intelligent as well as talented and has a gift for remembering details. An excellent telling of a wild adventure!

recommended gigs

Friday July 17th the Peccadilloes at the Double Down

Saturday July 18 - Clydesdale at the Chicken Shack at the Bunkhouse

Sunday July 19 - Unwieldies at UNLV with Roy Zimmerman

Wednesday July 22 - Adolescents and Weirdos at the Triple B

Friday July 24 - The Association, Grass Roots, Buckinghams, Cowsills - Golden Nugget
Friday July 24 - Swamp Pussy at Babes

Saturday July 25 - Shanda and the Howlers - Adrenaline
Saturday July 25 - Gamblers Mark and the Legendary Boilermakers at LVCS

Friday July 31 - Super Zeros Ethan 103, Perfect Sense at the Double Down

Sunday August 2 - Pussyrama at the Bunkhouse

Tuesday August 4 - Dr Phobic at the Dive Bar

Friday August 7 - Eddy Bear and the Cubs with Clydesdale, Kim Lenz and James Intveld at Backstage Bar and Billiards
Friday August 7 - Super Zeroes and Analog Law at the Double Down

Saturday August 8 - Symbol 6 at the Dive Bar

Sunday August 9 - The Cry at the Bunkhouse

Friday Aug 21 - Motorhead at House of Blues

Sunday Aug 23 - The Gentlemen of Four Outs at the Double Down

Saturday August 29 - The Swamp Gospel at the Huntridge Tavern
Saturday August 29 - the All Togethers at the Pioneer Saloon

Friday Sept 4 - Water Landing record release show at the Double Down with the All Togethers, 3d6 and Steady Extras

Friday Oct 9 - Cashed Out at the Beauty Bar

Saturday Oct 17 - Goddam Gallows and the Scoundrels at the Dive Bar

Wednesday Oct 28 - The Swamp Gospel at HellKat Car Club's Trunk or Treat

What have I forgotten? Lemme know!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Gizmos World Tour 2015 - Mutant Fest, Bloomington Indiana, Saturday July 11, 2015

The Gizmos needed some recuperation after the traveling, practice and show the night before, so we took it easy on Saturday morning and slowly arranged for everyone to get to Bloomington. I met a group of my family members in B-ton and relaxed with them a while before heading over to see the mania at Mutant Fest.

Got there in time for the Girls from Columbus, Ohio, a punk/new wave combo with guys on guitar, bass, drums and keys (adding some extra interest to the sound), along with a female singer/guitarist who could truly sing and a second singer/percussionist. Hard to really describe their sound, but dug them musically and visually and am bummed I didn't get around to getting their record. Absolutely worth checking out!




Next up were the legendary Panics, one of the original mid-west punk/new-wave bands, that performed with the Gizmos Mach II back in the day. Guitarist Ian Brewer, bassist Yara Cluver, drummer Michael Ost and manic singer John Barge appropriately mangled plenty of rock'n'roll like "C'mon Everybody", "Roadrunner" (the Modern Lovers tune), "All Day and All of the Night", "Substitute", "No Feelings" and garage classic "Night of the Sadist" (cool garage leads from Ian on this one) along with originals like "Tortured Artist", "I Wanna Kill My Mom", "Best Band" and "Drugs Are For Thugs". Ian could have been a bit louder, but the there was a great bass sound, pounding drums and Barge only stopped moving long enough to catch his breath and cool himself off by dumping water on his head! Super fun set!












The Hemingers did some trash/garage in sorta-matching outfits with no bassist but groovy, out-of-control covers of songs like "Little Green Men", Poison Ivy" and "Little GTO" as well as originals like "Fucking Your Daughters and Pissing on Your Lawns", which gives you an idea of their stage attitude.


The Chives were a four piece performing intense, high energy rock'n'roll - kinda reminding me of Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hot Rod" in the power department - with insistent beats and interestingly clever leads loaded with effects. Not exactly sing-along tunes, but different and quite hip.


Brothers Gross played with the Gizmos last year in Indianapolis and it was great seeing them again, even just as a two piece (despite contacting 4 [!] bass players, no one could make this gig). Unfortunately, guitarist Tim was having an off night for a reason I could never discern, but the crowd still dug their punk-influenced power -pop with lots of genetic harmonies. For their closer they brought up Krazee Ken Highland from the Gizmos to do spot-on versions of the Stooges "TV Eye" and "No Fun" - just like we used to do back in our basements in 1976!



I only caught a small portion of Detroit-based Timmy's Organism's Dead Boys-styled punk'n'roll, but they definitely gave a fine high energy performance! And Timmy made it downstairs in order to introduce the Gizmos!


The Gizmos set was another fun-filled bit of mayhem, with plenty of noise and chaos and lots of singing-along from the audience! Right after we concluded "We're Gonna Rumble" a fight broke out in the crowd but fairly quickly dissipated. For this evening Kyle from Brothers Gross sat in on the drums for "Pumpin' to Playboy" while Kelsey flailed at her Stratocaster and we even got Eric Weddle to appear on saxophone for "Hey Beat Mon" and "Final Solution". Fine times, indeed!






We didn't hang out long as the next day we were set to get to Magnetic South Studio as early as possible in order to record a new EP! That turned out to be about noon, but rock stars Sam, Kelsey and Craig, along with engineer John Dawson had everything set up, tuned up and ready to go by the time the rest of the Gizmos appeared. We blasted through 5 songs in less than four hours and everyone walked away happy with the results! Can't wait to spring it on the world!

Thank you, Indiana, for once again welcoming the Gizmos and supported the world's oldest teenage band! Hope to see eveyone again soon!

Gizmos World Tour 2015 - State Street Pub, Indianapolis Indiana Friday July 10, 2015

After a few months' hiatus, the Gizmos returned to the scene of the original crime, Indiana, for a couple summer shows and a recording session! Given that our rhythm section - the infamous Craig Bell (Rocket From the Tombs, X_____X, Deezen, the Down Fi and much more) on bass, Kelsey Simpson on drums and Sam Murphy on guitar - all live in Indy and perform in Deezen, we set up a "warm-up" show for the night of our arrival in town and had the terrific Deezen open up.


Most of the out-of-towners arrived late afternoon/early evening and we immediately went down to the secret Deezen practice cave to run through our set, along with the songs that we would be recording on Sunday. Everything went surprisingly (to me, at least!) well and we headed off to the State Street Pub.

Piling in our gear, we took over the bar and stage and the Deezen-Gizmos members were joined by keyboardist Rippy and singer Kerry and they jumped into their set of garage/punk rockers. Opening with the appropriately titled original "Rock'n'Roll", they sounded in top form, with some tight harmonies and plenty of energy. String popping was the theme for the night - I broke one at practice, Sam busted one during Deezen's set and Craig busted a bass string (!) as he was setting up for the Gizmos - but that didn't deter the rock. Cool garage/psych/Monks-ish number with tremelo'd guitar and Mo Tucker drums, a fast punker ("Hot Dog"), heavy reverb on a mid-tempo dynamic garage rocker "Wrong Kind of Love" and plenty more! Really superior set from this hot-shot group!










The Gizmos ran through everything in a comparatively quick set (another band, Wet Heave, who would also be playing the next night at Mutant Fest, went on after us) but we played all of our tunes, with Kerry Miller joining us on drums so that Kelsey could move to guitar for "Pumpin' to Playboy" and including a couple of new numbers that we would be recording, along with Rocket From the Tombs' classic "Final Solution". Fun time all around and off for some rest for the next day's festivities.










Thursday, July 09, 2015

recommended gigs

Thursday July 9 - Psyatics with Hub City Stompers and the Civilians at the Dive Bar

Friday July 10 - Tiki Bandits, Time Crashers, Super Zeros and Rude Kings at the Dive Bar

Friday July 10 - the All Togethers at the Bunkhouse
Friday July 10 - Time Crashers and Tiki Bandits at the Dive Bar

Saturday July 11 - the All Togethers at the Dillinger with Thomas Gardner Jr
Saturday July 11 - 3 Bad Jacks, the Legendary Boilermakers, Dead at Midnight at the Dive Bar

Tuesday July 14 - Psyatics at the Bunkhouse with Numb Bats and Pet Tigers

Friday July 17th the Peccadilloes at the Double Down

Saturday July 18 - Clydesdale at the Chicken Shack at the Bunkhouse

Sunday July 19 - Unwieldies at UNLV with Roy Zimmerman

Wednesday July 22 - Adolescents and Weirdos at the Triple B

Friday July 24 - The Association, Grass Roots, Buckinghams, Cowsills - Golden Nugget

Friday July 31 - Super Zeros Ethan 103, Perfect Sense at the Double Down

Tuesday August 4 - Dr Phobic at the Dive Bar

Friday August 7 - Eddy Bear and the Cubs with Clydesdale, Kim Lenz and James Intveld at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday August 8 - Symbol 6 in Las Vegas (venue TBA)

Sunday August 9 - The Cry at the Bunkhouse

Friday Aug 21 - Motorhead at House of Blues

Saturday August 29 - the All Togethers at the Pioneer Saloon

Friday Sept 4 - Water Landing record release show at the Double Down with the All Togethers, 3d6 and Steady Extras

Friday Oct 9 - Cashed Out at the Beauty Bar

What have I forgotten? Lemme know!

Monday, July 06, 2015

Woman With Guitar – Memphis Minnie’s Blues – Paul and Beth Garon

Memphis Minnie is legitimately legendary as one of the early woman blues guitarists and singers who recorded over 200 songs and who collaborated with numerous men and who influenced artists as diverse as Big Bill Broonzy, Big Mam Thornton, Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin ("When the Levee Breaks" was originally a MM tune, though they changed it radically) and Chuck Berry (who "borrowed" her "Me and My Chauffeur Blues" for his "I Want to be Your Driver").

Her story is told via interviews and whatever reports the Garons could find and there are lots of conflicting information that they discover, which makes the account of Minnie’s life a little vague and indecisive. So, a lot of the chapters on her life revolve more around the basic blues scene of the time and whatever recollections and rumors they could find.

But there is no doubt as to her talent at playing guitar – many say that she could “cut” her male competitors (Big Bill Broonzy, Muddy Waters, etc.) at any of the competitions in Chicago – her attractiveness (that she was not afraid to flaunt, although she does not talk it up in her songs), and the heavy drinking and just plain toughness (something that was certainly needed at the time).


After reviewing her life as best as they could, the Garons move on to dissect Minnie’s songs. They can get a bit too clinical here at times and sometimes miss – or at least omit – some obvious sexual metaphors, which is odd considering that Minnie allegedly did work as a prostitute at times. This can get a bit dry at times, though they do make some interesting points as they go along.

Not as compelling as I would have thought, considering the subject matter, but there is just not enough known to give a complete life's tale. Interesting but certainly not essential.

Thursday, July 02, 2015

recommended gigs

Friday July 3 - the Vermin's last show ever at Triple B

Saturday July 4 - the Heiz at the Double Down with the Psyatics

Wednesday July 8 - Eddy Bear and the Cubs at the Griffin

Thursday July 9 - Psyatics at the Dive Bar

Friday July 10 - Tiki Bandits, Time Crashers, Super Zeros and Rude Kings at the Dive Bar

Friday July 10 - the All Togethers at the Bunkhouse
Friday July 10 - Time Crashers and Tiki Bandits at the Dive Bar

Saturday July 11 - the All Togethers at the Dillinger with Thomas Gardner Jr
Saturday July 11 - 3 Bad Jacks, the Legendary Boilermakers, Dead at Midnight at the Dive Bar

Tuesday July 14 - Psyatics at the Bunkhouse with Numb Bats and Pet Tigers

Friday July 17th the Peccadilloes at the Double Down

Sunday July 19 - Unwieldies at UNLV with Roy Zimmerman

Wednesday July 22 - Adolescents and Weirdos at the Triple B

Friday July 24 - The Association, Grass Roots, Buckinghams, Cowsills - Golden Nugget

Friday July 31 - Super Zeros Ethan 103, Perfect Sense at the Double Down

Tuesday August 4 - Dr Phobic at the Dive Bar

Sunday August 9 - The Cry at the Bunkhouse

Friday Aug 21 - Motorhead at House of Blues

Saturday August 29 - the All Togethers at the Pioneer Saloon

What have I forgotten? Lemme know!

Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Rolling Stones - Rock and Roll Circus

I'd be surprised if anyone reading this blog didn't already know about and own this bit of classic 60's
r'n'r history. The Stones attempted a circus-themed TV special with some of their r'n'r friends, but in the end, due to extremely late hours, decided that their own performance was lackluster and shelved the project. Of course, multitudes of bootlegs appeared over the years (with extras that do not appear here) and the demand was so overwhelming that they finally relented and released this as both a CD and DVD.

This CD has all of the incidental music, which was merely background music for entrances and interludes, but the actually performances are all pretty stellar. Jethro Tull was an early fave among many British r'n'r groups and here they give a fine, bluesy rendition of "Song for Jeffrey" with none other than Tony Iommi (who was contemplating leaving Black Sabbath) on guitar! The Who's "A Quite One" was deservedly legendary and is one of the best things - musically and visually - that they have ever done - certainly the best take on this number ever. "Ain't That a Lot of Love" by Taj Mahal is similarly one of his finest - a swingin', soulful, insistent groove that can't be matched.

Marianne Faithfull's "Something Better" is a lovely ballad and then Jagger and John Lennon joke around a bit before Lennon performs "Yer Blues" with a super group consisting of Keith Richards on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums and Eric Clapton on lead guitar! The blues jam that follows is not quite as successful, with a violinist and Yoko joining in, which doesn't really work in this context.

Lennon introduces the Stones segment which begins with a slow version of "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (not bad, just not very energetic) but the follow-up of the bluesy "Parachute Woman" works a lot better, with some cool piano (Nicky Hopkins), harp and stinging leads by Keith. Brian's slide and Hopkins piano are spot-on in "No Expectations" - highlights of the night, in fact - as is Jones' rhythm on "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (the rest of the guys are actually pretty shaky when they come in, though Mick is entertaining as he flirts with the girls). With the additional percussion, "Sympathy For the Devil" comes off pretty damn well, with Richards giving a damn excellent solo and, although you obviously can't tell on the CD, Jagger gets pretty theatrical, as well. Although exhausted, the finale is "Salt of the Earth", with Mick, the guests and audience singing along to the record's backing track.

Definitely a piece of history and something that should be owned.