The Delta Bombers and the Lucky Cheats at the Sand Dollar, Friday July 29, 2016

The Sand Dollar celebrated their 40th anniversary with a week's worth of cool shows ranging from traditional blues, rock'n'roll and this evening's festivities of punk rockers playing rockabilly'n'blues with an edge.

The Delta Bombers are fresh from a couple month European tour and packed the place to the proverbial rafters with fans welcoming them back. They got everyone up dancin'n'shoutin', drinkin'n'carousin'! Their sound has evolved from a more'r'less traditional rockabilly combo to a rock'n'roll quartet mixing bands like The Gun Club, the Cramps (I heard a snippet of "Can't Hardly Stand It" in one song), CCR (they do "Run Through the Jungle"), Bo Diddley (they use "his" beat on a call'n'answer song that everyone joined in on) and lots more. Leader growler Chris can truly sing when he wants, channels Howlin' Wolf at times and truly commands the audience to an extent that you rarely see these days. The crowd wouldn't let 'em go after their regular set and they did a three song encore (including their take on "Smokestack Lightnin') that brought down the house and shook up the beer! Truly the best time that I've ever seen these cats - they were on fire!

Unfortunately, we were both a bit under the weather (I ended up in bed the entire next day) and couldn't stay for all of my favorite band in town, the Lucky Cheats' two sets. What we saw sounded amazing, as always - super-charged blues by some of the best musicians in the city. I've ranted'n'raved about them more times than I can count, but they don't play as often as they once did so I was super disappointed that we couldn't stick around. Hopefully, they will be back out there soon!

The Essential Janis Joplin

Still on a Janis kick and this compilation is one that I simply copied from our local library so I'm not sure what extras it has other than the music, but it is a cool comp covering her career.

Opening with early Big Brother studio cuts like "Down on Me", "Women Is Losers" and "Bye Bye Baby", "Roadblock" (which are not nearly as powerful as their liver counterparts but give another dimension to the band) as well a great one that I was not familiar with "Coo Coo". A live "Ball and Chain" is, of course, fantastic and is not the usual (incredible) Monterrey take. The studio take of "Piece of my Heart" is still smokin', "Misery'n" has some demonic fuzz guitar work and fine blues singing, ya gotta love "I Need A Man To Love" (the guitar interaction - and the reverb and fuzz - are pretty phenomenal, especially for studio recordings) and speaking of guitar interaction, some of the best dual guitar work ever occurs in their incredible, definitive take on "Summertime". A handful of live songs follow and, again, since I don't have the booklet, I"m not sure where these are from, but "Flower in the Sun" has more psychotic/psychedelic/noise guitar, as does "Farewell Song" and Joplin is in fine form on both. The remaining live cuts are later work, with the more polished group (not sure if it's the Fult Tilt Boogie or Kozmic Blues Band) using horns for the soul classics "Raise Your Hand" and "To Love Somebody" as well as their own soulful "Kozmic Blues".

Disc 2, logically, has more of her later r'n'b-ish, horn-driven work, starting with the wailin' "Try" and "Maybe", and then we get the slide guitar blues of "One Good Man" and gospel blues in "Little Girl Blue" and "Work Me, Lord". The live "Tell Mama" is positively frantic and "Move Over" is her stab at hard rock and is blazingly dynamic - one of my faves - maybe due to Slade's perfect take on it! The  organ-fueled, ballad-y "Cry Baby" is probably one of her better known later numbers, I hear hints of tunes like "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" in the soulful "A Woman Left Lonely" and "Half Moon" is excellent and dynamic, with its ebbs'n'flows, "My Baby" is a sweet ballad, and. of course, Kris Kristofferson's "Me and Bobby McGee" is her huge, posthumous hit. I've always loved the goofy, acapella "Mercedes Benz" (a regular sing-along at family functions to this day) and for the last couple of numbers there's the gospel-ish "Trust Me" and "Get It While You Can".

I truly adore the insane, anarchistic, psych/ rock'n'roll of Big Brother but have learned to appreciate the well-done r'n'b of her later bands as a different but still groovy style. Good overview here but not much to surprise real fans.

recommended gigs

Thursday July 28 - The Mapes, 1/2 Ast, Burlesque, DJs and more at the Double Down

Friday July 29 - The Swamp Gospel with the Lucky Cheats and the Delta Bombers at the Sand Dollar 40th anniversary party!

Monday August 1 - the Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday August 3 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down
Wednesday August 3 - the Melvins at Triple B

Friday August 5 - Melanie and the Midnite Marauders, Franks'n'Deans, Bogtrotters Union at Backstage Bar and Billiards
John Armstrong's birthday bash at the Double Down with the Bitters and the Negative Nancys
Friday Aug 5 - Punks in Vegas anniversary show at 11th Street Records with Alan Six, Last Call, Illicitor, Bee Master and Kate Kalling
Friday Aug 5 - The Curly Wolf, The Rhyolite Sound, the All Togethers at the Dive Bar

Saturday Aug 6 - the Unwieldies appearing at Catfish John's annual Jerry Garcia Memorial Celebration at Brooklyn Bowl

Saturday Aug 6 - 1:00pm - live recording for the All Togethers at Saddles'n'Spurs

Sunday Aug 7 - Howlin' King Crawdad at Saddles'n'Spurs

Wednesday August 10 - the Maxies and the Ataris at the House of Blues Las Vegas

Friday August 12 - Shooter Jennings backed by Waylon's Band with the Rhyolite Sound at Fremont Country Club
Friday August 12 - the Weirdos, Scoundrels, and the Civilians at the Dive Bar

Saturday August 13 - Unwieldies at the Dillinger

Saturday August 13 - The Swamp Gospel, Thee Faded Pyctures (from Phoenix, featuring Jamie from the Dirty Babies), and more at the Double Down

Wednesday August 17 - the Ataires and the Who Generation at the House of Blues
Wednesday August 17 - The Phantom Four at the Golden Tiki

Friday August 19 - Psyatics CD Release Party at the Double Down with Tito Mojito and the New Conquerors, Pluralses and Swamp Pussy

Sunday Aug 21 - David Allen Coe at the LV Country Saloon
Sunday Aug 21 - the Pine Hill Haints, the Unwieldies, Slow Motion Cowboys at the German American Social Club 2pm - 5pm

Saturday Aug 27 - D Generation at the Beauty Bar

Saturday Sept 10 - Unwieldies at the Dillinger

Saturday Oct 1 - Nikki Ruffling's birthday bash with Melanie and the Midnite Marauders, The Legendary Boilermakers, Water Landing and the Psyatics!

Friday Oct 21 - the Psyatics and the Vibrators at the Double Down

Tuesday Oct 25 - Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band with the Supersuckers at Triple B

What have I forgotten? Lemme know

RIP Mistress Barb aka Duchess DeSade

She was a pierced, tattoo'd, S&M wildwoman of the LA scene but she was always a true sweetheart. So sad that she is gone so young.

RIP Jack Davis

Mad Magazine And EC Comics Artist Jack Davis Dies At 91 
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Obviously, not a rock'n'roller, but Mad Magazine was a major pop culture treasure throughout the 60's and 70's and Davis' artwork appeared in a wide variety of places - magazine, record covers, newspapers, and - I just found out - as an artist for a sports team! An incredible talent has left us.

Jesika von Rabbit and Demon Lung at the Bunkhouse, Tuesday July 26, 2016

It's not easy to get out mid-week for this old man, but every once in a while I manage to do it and am rewarded with a fun night. This evening promised to be an early show and my old pal Lee Joseph (Yard Trauma, the Unclaimed, The Tommyknockers, Outsideinside and innumerable other bands) was playing so I had to make the effort.

Although the festivities did not start quite as early as was (ambitiously) advertised, we got there in time to catch the openers, Demon Lung. I wasn't familiar with this heavy metal combo, but they laid down a loud'n'heavy foundation for the female singer to wail over. I can't say that I am a connoisseur of modern doom metal, but the players and vocalist were all strong and this led to an interestingly different beginning for the evening.

Lee is now in a duo with Jesika von Rabbit (Gram Rabbit), using her name for the project name, continuing with the new(ish) Joshua Tree experimental/psych/electropop/what-have-you movement. Here Jesika plays keys/drum machine/samples and sings while Lee adds a noisy low end with his fuzz bass. I'm not sure what the preferred musical label would be (if there is one) for their style of electro-noise-pop, but there are multiple layers to the sounds, though usually backed with a techno-dance beat.

There is a strong performance art direction to the group, with two female dancers who would appear in various outfits throughout the set. Of course, Jesika is a dynamic front person with a wild dress-sense, as well, and even when it is just her and Lee on stage, they manage fill out the space. The set was mostly original but with fun covers of the Dickies "You Drive Me Ape" (hence the gorilla/banana outfits) and a Garth Brooks (!) song - "I Got Friends in Low Places". While the club wasn't packed - it was Tuesday in Las Vegas, after all - the crowd dug the show and danced'n'shouted throughout the set. A wild show, to be certain!

We did not manage to stay up'n'out for the headliner, Spindrift, but a big thanks to the Dirty Rock'n'Roll Dance Party and the Bunkhouse for this wacky night of varied sounds!

RIP Sandy Pearlman

Producer Sandy Pearlman Dies at 72
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Obviously, known for his collaboration and production of great such as Blue Oyster Cult (probably where he first became known), The Dictators and the Clash. Once again, way too young...

Pat Todd and the Rankoutsiders - Blood and Treasure

I know that I've written about Pat and his projects (The Lazy Cowgirls as well as the Rank Outsiders) at length, as I've known the man for several decades now and have always dug and respected his r'n'r soul. Having just seen the Rankoutsiders do a terrific set at Cafe Nela in LA, I picked up this, their latest effort. I think this is one of his better recent releases, with a variety of sounds - all within Todd's country/r'n'r/ r'n'b/punk stylings, of course - and a cool booklet with a little info on each of the tunes.

Starting out with a patented Pat rocker, "This Counterfeit World", the band then moves into a couple cool, r'n'b/early r'n'r numbers by Lazy Lester, "Sugar Coated Love"/"I Hear You Knockin'" with hot-shot guitar work from Nick'n'Kevin. They slow it down a bit for a country-ish ballad, "West of Your Last Chance" (dig the C&W guitar licks in this one), and then do a fantastic bluegrass/blues with "The Fast Kendall County Blues", an older number than includes ex-Cowgirl Michael Leigh on on acoustic slide guitar, producer Earle Mankey on bass and banjo and "Stanley" on mandolin. Love this one! Back with a kinda Slade-ish hand-clappin', foot-stompin', sing-along rocker in "My Own Way" and a couple of highly melodic Pat high-energy numbers, "Don't Be Sellin' Emptiness To Me" and "Tell Me Now" (how does he always get the same kind of nasal backing vocals no matter who is in his band?). A bit slower, "Ole Fortune & Fame" is a sadder song of these elusive traits, and "Stand Up & Sass Back" has Mankey again on bass and Brian Irving on drums (instead of regular, ex-Creamer Bob Deagle) for a stripped-down pop tune while "Just Another Broken Day" adds some bluesy harp work by Jeremy White. Johnny Thunders-ish guitar work highlights the upbeat "Gone Are the Days", "Some Days You Eat the Bear" is energetic and harmony-driven, "Play'n In the Dirt" is a sad'n'slow, well-written ballad and, somewhat appropriately titled for a closer, "Tomorrow's On It's Way" is a fast'n'furious rock'n'roller.

Really solid effort with a great balance of rock'n'roll, blues, bluegrass, country and whatever else they decide to throw into the mix! Great job, Outsiders!

P.P. Arnold - The First Cut

Pat Arnold grew up in Watts as part of a church-going, gospel-singing family. After a short, abusive marriage, she was lucky enough to join the Ike and Tina Turner Review as one of the Ikettes, touring the country and eventually opening for the Rolling Stones. Of course, the Stones loved the Ikettes and Pat and Mick apparently hit it off to the point that when Pat said she wanted to leave the Ikettes, Jagger got her signed as a solo artist on Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate Records. A couple of British hits followed but, even with Andrew encouraging her to write her own material and with her obvious talent, the momentum didn't continue.

This CD collection of her Immediate recordings, complete with a lovely, fold-out booklet that outlines her career and includes a selection of photos of this beauty, shows her to have a strong, soul voice that interprets other people's material well and ranges from crooning ballads to groovy dance numbers.

The title cut, "The First Cut Is the Deepest" was her biggest hit, but for me the upbeat soul of "Speak To Me", "If You See What I Mean", "Am I Still Dreaming?" and "Treat Me Like a Lady" is even more powerful. "The Time Has Come" gives her a chance to explore her range, "(If You Think You're) Groovy" sounds almost like her work with the Small Faces (other good friends of hers), "Though It Hurts Me Badly" and "Something Beautiful Happens" has fine production and kinda mixes all kinds of things - hints of the Stones, bits of Petula Clark, maybe a little Laura Nyro - and songs like "Born To Be Together" and "Would You Believe" have some of the big production values of Oldham's mentor, Phil Spector. She does a good job with covers such as "Angel of the Morning" (Much better than Juice Newton), "Elanor Rigby" and "Yesterday" (kinda influenced by Ray Charles, I'd say), "God Only Knows", "As Tears Go By" and "To Love Somebody", giving them her own soul twist.

Sweet stuff, all well-done. I would have liked a bit more of the upbeat, swingin' soul, but dig the low-key, poppier stuff, as well. Nice slice of 60's sounds.

Cash'd Out, The Rhyolite Sound, The Swamp Gospel, More Than Bone at Backstage Bar and Billiards Thursday July 21, 2016

The Swamp Gospel was happy to be added to this bill and had a great time at BBB! Cool crew, nice stage, real soundman (Thanks Dave!) and an excellent crowd! We were added on somewhat late so didn't get to promote as much as usual, so thank you to everyone who came out and supported all of the bands!

Opening was More Than Bone, featuring Michael, who also plays guitar in the All Togethers, on acoustic guitar, vocals and songwriting. This new project has a fine lead guitarist, bass, drums and a cat who plays keys and sax. The sound is somewhat alt-country, for lack of a better term, and the crowd certainly seemed to dig their set!

The Swamp Gospel was up next and we had a terrific time preachin' to plenty of new sinners looking for salvation! The place was fairly packed by the time we went on and we got a good responce! Good times! (Once again, thank you Nikki Ruffling for the photos - even got Brother Lenny back on the drums!)

I've written about Las Vegas' premier honky tonk band, the Rhyolite Sound, many, many times - often before they rebranded themselves, back when they were still Eddy Bear and the Cubs - and always dig their excellent C&W covers and originals. Superb vocals, amazing playing (I've lauded guitarist Wade so many times that it's almost embarrassing) and a good-time show. If you're looking for some country-styled fun, be sure to check them out!

Cash'd Out sounded better than ever this evening - good set of Cash tunes done with solid musicianship and great vocals and presence by lead Cash-man, Douglas. By this time I was pretty wiped out and was socializing with old friends so I didn't take notes, but the group was totally on and kept the audience asking for more!

Thank you again to the Triple B for a fun Thursday night!

recommended gigs

Thursday July 21 - The Swamp Gospel with Cashed Out, the Rhyolite Sound, More Than Bone at Triple B

Friday July 22 - Eagles of Death Metal at the Hard Rock
Friday July 22 - Frankie and the Witchfingers, with the Acid Sisters at the Griffin

Saturday July 23 - Franks'n'Deans at Vinyl
Saturday July 23 - The Chicken Shack at the Bunkhouse

Sunday July 24 - Tartar Control, Jerk, Time Crashers, the Quitters at the Dive Bar

Sunday July 24 - Bob Log III at the Golden Tiki

Monday July 25 - the Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday July 26 - Jesika von Rabbit and Spindrift at the Bunkhouse

Thursday July 28 - The Mapes, 1/2 Ast, Burlesque, DJs and more at the Double Down

Friday July 29 - The Swamp Gospel with the Lucky Cheats and the Delta Bombers at the Sand Dollar 40th anniversary party!

Monday August 1 - the Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday August 3 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down
Wednesday August 3 - the Melvins at Triple B

Friday August 5 - Melanie and the Midnite Marauders, Franks'n'Deans, Bogtrotters Union at Backstage Bar and Billiards
John Armstrong's birthday bash at the Double Down with the Bitters and the Negative Nancys
Friday Aug 5 - Punks in Vegas anniversary show at 11th Street Records with Alan Six, Last Call, Illicitor, Bee Master and Kate Kalling
Friday Aug 5 - The Curly Wolf, The Rhyolite Sound, the All Togethers at the Dive Bar

Saturday Aug 6 - the Unwieldies appearing at Catfish John's annual Jerry Garcia Memorial Celebration at Brooklyn Bowl

Saturday Aug 6 - 1:00pm - live recording for the All Togethers at Saddles'n'Spurs

Sunday Aug 7 - Howlin' King Crawdad at Saddles'n'Spurs

Wednesday August 10 - the Maxies and the Ataris at the House of Blues Las Vegas

Friday August 12 - Shooter Jennings backed by Waylon's Band with the Rhyolite Sound at Fremont Country Club
Friday August 12 - the Weirdos, Scoundrels, and the Civilians at the Dive Bar

Saturday August 13 - Unwieldies at the Dillinger

Saturday August 13 - The Swamp Gospel, Thee Faded Pyctures (from Phoenix, featuring Jamie from the Dirty Babies), and more at the Double Down

Wednesday August 17 - the Ataires and the Who Generation at the House of Blues

Friday August 19 - Psyatics CD Release Party at the Double Down with Tito Mojito and the New Conquerors, Pluralses and Swamp Pussy

Sunday Aug 21 - David Allen Coe at the LV Country Saloon

Saturday Aug 27 - D Generation at the Beauty Bar

Saturday Sept 10 - Unwieldies at the Dillinger

Saturday Oct 1 - Nikki Ruffling's birthday bash with Melanie and the Midnite Marauders, The Legendary Boilermakers, Water Landing and the Psyatics!

Friday Oct 21 - the Psyatics and the Vibrators at the Double Down

Tuesday Oct 25 - Rev Peyton's Big Damn Band with the Supersuckers at Triple B

What have I forgotten? Lemme know

Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band Loco Live 1976

Willie "Loco" Alexander has been a stalwart of the Boston scene since his days in the 60's garage band the Lost, and he has yet to stop rockin'! The Boom Boom Band was a hot-shot piece of smokin' pre-punk rock'n'roll featuring Willie on guitar and vocals, the monstrous guitar work of Billy Loosigian and the stompin' rhythm section of Severin Grossman (bass) and David McLean (drums). Willie's unique vocals stylings mix melodies with scat-singing, whoops, oohs'n'ahs behind his pumpin' piano, while Billy dishes out power chords combined with sweet, dulcet leads while Severin and David boom-boom behind them.

I have been on the lookout for a release of a live tape that I once owned from this band that was an incredible show and while this didn't turn out to be that elusive release, it is still a terrific comp of two shows with the band at their height.

Opening the CD is a set from Boston's legendary club, The Rat, which gave us the two songs that appeared on the Live at the Rat compilation - the 50's-ish rocker "At the Rat" and the wacky'n'somewhat lewd glossolalia of the dynamically hypnotic "Pup Tune". Besides those numbers, we get the punky "Dirty Eddie" (a song left off of his MCA albums), the slower classic "Kerouac", his lovely "You Looked So Pretty When" (love Billy's highly sustained guitar here), and the heavy "Hit Her Wid de Axe".

Following this, we get 8 songs from an earlier (by a few months) show at The Club in Cambridge, MA. Some of these did not appear on either of his MCA albums, such as "For Old Times Sake", a cool Willie rocker, "Garbage Man" (a radically different version surfaced on the tape I was talking about - much more of a guitar-fueled garage stomper than this, which sounds more like a jam that eventually became a song), and "Gin", with its melodic guitar licks,

We also get a much rawer "Gourmet Baby" (without the "censored" lyrics of the LP) and an earlier "Rock & Roll 78" (here titled Rock'n'Roll Lick #76) where Willie encourages his fans to bootleg his shows while he describes the local scene and Billy switches between his heavy chords and cool riffs. "Rhythm A Baby" is also an embryonic variant of a later tune, "Mass Ave." is a bit heavier here than on the studio recordings, and "Melinda" is positively, massively forceful.

The last couple of cuts are a studio take of "Dirty Eddy" (yes, the spelling changed) and his white-boy-reggae "She Wanted Me", both from a Somor Records single - the production isn't as strong as the album, but still pretty terrific.

I love the Loco man and this is a great collection of live takes, even if it isn't what I was hoping for, it's still awesome, boom-boom rock'n'roll!

The Monks - The Early Years 1964 - 1965

The Monks came onto my radar via the wacky videos of the band's German TV performances that circulated throughout the 80's Garage scene. These American GI's, AWOL from the Army in Germany, created some of the craziest, pre-psychedelic percussive stomp music you've ever heard! And, the had a wild look, as they all dressed in black with nooses around their necks and monks' tonsure haircuts, just as all the rest of the bands were letting their hair grow long! So far ahead of their time that the rest of us still haven't caught up!

This CD - with an extensive booklet - is a collection of demos for the songs that eventually appeared on their one album, Black Monk Time (which I am shocked to see that I haven't written about here). Without doing a side-by-side comparison, I think that all of these made it onto the record, but is different forms - sometimes dramatically different. It's all still great, and I really dig hearing their formative versions of "Monk Time", "Boys are Boys", "Space Age" (even more primitive and noisy!), "I Hate You", "Pretty Suzanne" (wonderfully twisted guitar work here) "Oh, How To Do Now" and more!

There are also a couple of tunes that were released as a single by the pre-Monks band, the 5 Torquays, which are still pretty Monks-ish - "Boys Are Boys" and "There She Walks". But, without the banjo and with a slightly more "normal" arrangement, they don't sound quite as insane, though it is pretty unique.

I think my biggest "problem" with the Monks was that there was only one record, but now that's been rectified! Yes, the songs are familiar but with enough variation to be fresh and interesting. Well worth it!

The B Movie Rats reunion show with the Humpers, The Crazy Squeeze and the Resolutions at Alex's Bar, Long Beach, CA, Saturday July 16, 2016

A second great night of rock'n'roll for the B Movie Rats' reunion weekend, this time in Long Beach, CA. Again, we had never been to this dive bar, but it was a good size (I was told a capacity of 300), with a real stage and sound man - and a full bar (the drawback for me at Cafe Nela)! Definitely a cool place to see good bands!

Opening were the Resolutions, with guitarist Hans from the Hellbenders, who were r'n'r brothers to the Rats back in the day. This combo had a similar style to his previous group, highlighted by Hans' guitar work, with plenty of chant-along songs. I wasn't familiar with their tunes, but they were tight'n'powerful and a good start to the night.

Up next were The Crazy Squeeze with Hollywood rocker Johnny Witmer on guitar'n'vocals, along with Frankie Delmane, Dat Ngo and Ian Harrower. The sound was a bit more glam/pop, with nods to groups like the Boys and the Rezillos, along with the mandatory Johnny Thunders references.

Then the Rats hit the stage and, if anything, were even wilder'n'more rockin' than the night before! I think the sound was dialed in a bit better (at least from my side of the stage) and the boys had a bit more room to roam, which they took advantage of! I loved Curt's guitar sound'n'antics (truly one of my favorite players'n'showmen), Derek seemed to appreciate the space and twirled'n'tossed the mic stand around, while Bill's fluid runs and Rick's snappy drums kept it all movin'. The place was packed for their set and, in fact, Curt mentioned that this might have been the biggest crowd that they ever played for (which is kind of a sin, but...). Absolutely amazing rock'n'roll and essentially the same set list as Cafe Nela, natch, although they had several numbers cut from their set - they one serious bummer of the night. Otherwise, everyone had an absolute blast and the Rats renewed everyone's faith in the healing powers of r'n'r!

Hometown boys the Humpers headlined and jammed the place for their brand of chanting punk rock. We've seen a number of their shows where they were a little more than...loose...but this time they had the proper balance of tight'n'loose and put on a cool show while blasting out their classics like "Hey Shadow" and "Space Station Love". I didn't brave the crowds to get up close for them, so no good pix of the band, but here is the crowd rockin' to the rafters! Obviously, as headliners they were entitled, but they played for an exceptionally long time - even hard core fans mentioned this - which made it doubly a bummer that the Rats were cut short - what can ya do?

Thanks to Alex's Bar for hosting this evening of fine, fun-time rock'n'roll! I had never really explored Long Beach and really enjoyed what I saw, so a multi-purpose trip! Let's do it again!