recommended gigs

 Friday 4-1-22 - the Souvenairs at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-2-22 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-2-22 - the Hideaway, Damaris, Mojave Sun, Elephante King at Taverna Costera

Monday 4-4-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-4-22 - Goldtop Bob at the Founders Club

Monday 4-4-22 - Holy Wave, the Acid Sisters -at Artifice

Tuesday 4-5-22 - Maximum Doom, Destroyer of Light, Sonolith, Haxa at the Usual Place

Wednesday 4-6-22 - Franks'n'Deans Weenie Roast at the Double Down with the Robert Stokes Band

Friday 4-8-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Double Down with Stagnetti's Cock

Saturday 4-9-22 - Bluegrass Festival at Centennial Hills Park with the Rhyolite Sound, the Unwieldies and tons more 11:00 am to 7:00 pm

Saturday 4-9-22 - Shannon and the Clams with Shanda and the Howlers and the Paranoyds at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 4-9-22 - Nova Babies, Deveros, Jerk, Negative Nancys at the Double Down

Saturday 4-9-22 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 4-10-22 - Murphy's Law at Evel Pie

Monday 4-11-22 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Tuesday 4-12-22 - Babes and Blues at the Usual Places featuring Thee Hypnotiques and a bevy of beautys

Tuesday 4-12-22 - the Hideaway and No Que No and Lady Luck Lexy at Red Dwarf

Thursday 4-14-22 - Mint Field, Viaje Nanual, Orange Eat Creeps at Artifice

Wednesday 4-13-22 - The Delta Bombers, The 40 Acre Mule and Los Malditos at the Space

Wednesday 4-13-22 - Shanda and the Howlers, Frankie Lee and the Infernos, Green Fuzz, Mozzy Dee and Paige Overton at the Sand Dollar

Thursday 4-14-22 - Dirty R'n'R Dance Party presents Mint Field, Viaje Nahual, Orange Eats Creeps at Artifice

Friday 4-15-22 - The Hideaway, Johnny Deadly Trio at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-16-22 -The Unwieldies and Jeff Mix and the Songhearts at the Gold Mine Tavern

Saturday 4-23-22 - The Psyatics and the Electric Ferrets (from LA) and the Scheissters at the Double Down

Saturday 5-7-22 - The Psyatics at Garehime Park - daytime show from noon - 4:00 - come down and skate'n'rock!
Later Saturday 5-7-22- The Psyatics at the Usual Place with Cramps tribute band The Teenage Werewolves and Greg Rip-Offs new band, the Control Freaks! 

Wednesday 6-8-22 - Joe Jackson at the Smith Center

Beyond the Velvet Underground - Dave Thompson

 

This is basically a compendium of quotes from interviews and articles, mostly from the members of the VU, but also friends, colleagues, and critics - funnily, Thompson even quotes himself a number of times! The book is split into subject chapters with quotes varying in time from the 60's through the 80's (when the book was published and when I got it), which does give a good overview of the subject, whether the quip was concurrent with the subject or looking back on it. Of course, everyone has their own perspectives, as well, and there is often no love lost between some of the characters - Cale in particular has some harsh words for Reed, for some reason, even though they obviously worked together later. 

In any case, this was a good reference at a time when there was almost nothing in print on the band, as they were still quite underground and hadn't been name-checked by millions of bands as the huge influence that they were. Other, newer books would be more essential and give more details, but this is interesting in its own right.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at UC Irvine - Sunday March 27, 2022

 

With Melanie's new-found fascination with the banjolele/ukulele - her Covid project - she discovered this combo, an all ukulele orchestra based in her (parent's) homeland of Great Britain. The closest they came to us in LV was in Irvine, California, but that gave us an excuse to visit her mom, as well, so we made a long weekend out of it.

There has been some variation of this combo going on for 40 years (!) now, a fairly remarkable feat, especially seeing as the uke is really just coming into more mainstream vogue now. Of course, members have come'n'gone, but the core remains and every individual, from the oldest to the youngest, is highly talented with their instrument and their voice. These characters have truly created an orchestra, with various styles and sizes of ukuleles, from bass to soprano and everything in between, to give each instrument its own singular sound.  Jonty, the bassist, and Laura, the youngest member, are the rhythm section while the rest round out the different voicings, with Ewan and Ben taking most of the leads on their mandolin-ish and guitar-ish instruments, respectively, while Leisa plays with a fast right hand and the "elders", Dave and Peter, play the highest register, rounding out the sound.

Everyone sings wonderfully, with especially impressive 7 part harmonies and rounds interspersed between everyone's solo spots. Everyone is a comedian, as well, with some particularly corny bits - including a spot of silly dancing and "mouth trombone" (don't ask) - side-by-side with genuinely hilarious moments. The songs are all interpretations of popular numbers from the 60's to the present day, with only one old school bluegrass tune - one that you would expect a ukulele to be playing. There were a couple of Bowie tunes ("Life on Mars" and "Heroes"), a Grace Jones number, something from Lady Gaga, a Cranberries tune and much more. A couple of medleys were especially impressive in that they were able to incorporate the same backing for 7 different songs at once!

I can't even imagine how extensive their repertoire must be after forty years and they didn't play some that we hoped for (Hawkwind's "Silver Machine" comes to mind, but it's doubtful that many others attending would have known that one), but it was a well-rounded, 2 hour (with intermission) show. Funnily, considering how popular the uke has become with younger bands/musicians, the audience here were mostly at least our age or older - something that even the Orchestra noted and commented on. In any case, a fun, somewhat goofy time, was had by all.

Daikaiju and the Nuclear Undead at the Dive Bar Thursday March 24, 2022

 

After hearing about the spectacle that is Daikaiju, Melanie was determined to make it out to see them, even on a weeknight with an early morning awaiting us the next day. But, a spectacle it was and worth it even for the lack of sleep!

Opening the night was the very appropriately placed Nuclear Undead, another instrumental band that has influences from surf to heavy metal with clean tones alternating with highly overdriven bass and guitar, with the bass using as many effects as the guitar! There was even a little (hidden) faux theremin at one point! They use some snippets of horror movies in between numbers, which is also fitting as most of the songs sound like they could be taken from B-Movie soundtracks. These cats are a terrific and reasonably unique new addition to the Vegas rock'n'roll scene!

I know very little about Daikaiju, other than that we are very late to the party regarding this band as people are telling us that they played with them 20 years ago! Apparently, the line-up varies (I believe that there are normally 2 guitarists) but this night they performed as a three piece and certainly didn't need anyone else on stage with them! Their sound is kinda effects-laden, heavy progressive punk/metal - loud, fast and hard with jammy solos. They wear kabuki masks, each with a different pattern that somehow seems fitting for the personalities and are even expressive, although I'm not sure how that was possible. But, they are a constant blur of motion, with plenty of audience participation which culminates at the climax of the set as they move the drums to the floor, with the other two playing while standing on the kit and then lighting the cymbals on fire around them! But, that is hardly the finale as the drummer then has audience members hold up parts of his drums (while the other two keep some noise going) and then brings out a chair which he (wordlessly) instructs the audience to lift up with him on it and he plays several songs held aloft! Mighty trusting! There was crowd surfing galore - this was one of the most packed nights I've seen at the Dive Bar - and eventually other two hand off their instruments to random people (some who could play - including our own Jeff Murphy, and some who had no idea what to do, including a fairly inebriated woman) and the drummer led other audience members outdoors like a demented pied piper, carrying parts of his set, which people continued to play as the band climbed on top of their tour van and lit the top of the van on fire while also dousing their (extra?) guitar and bass in flames and then drove off! Quite the finale! 

Thanks to the Dive Bar for hosting a fairly dangerous but totally fun show!