The Porter Method

So I received a sales e-mail tonight from the musical instrument website Musician’s Friend (great store by the way, highly recommend them) and one of the 6 just for Tuesday only sales items they are highlighting is this:

How To Master Spinning Drumsticks

So I just have to wonder, is a full book (and DVD) really needed to learn how to spin drumsticks. Maybe there are secret techniques I’m unaware of. Could it be that the art of spinning drumsticks is like Chinese Kung Fu and can only be passed down from a Master to a Student under strict supervision? If so is this author of this book risking his life by divulging the ancient secrets of this black art? If we hear of a drummer being killed by drumstick impalation (is that even a word?), then we will know the answer.

Oh, and notice the top of the book.. Once you master these techniques, you will be a certified master of…….Spinology. Now that is rock and roll!! Spin On!

Any of you that read this space or know me are familiar with one of my favorite musicians, Butch Walker. Unfortunately tragedy has struck him out in California.

I just saw this from Butch Walker’s MySpace Blog and this news article from MTV http://www.mtv.ca/news/article.jhtml?id=5523:

From his blog:

“hey all. i just want to say thanks for anyone and everyone who sent their wishes to me about the fire (yeah our house burned down in the california wildfires last week). it’s pretty crazy to lose everything you owned. but note that i said “owned” not “had”. there is a big difference. you can be sad about losing everything you worked hard to buy, and everything you inherited from late relatives, etc… but you have to be happy that you didn’t lose anyBODY. i am very thankful, in a screwed up sorta way, that i get to start anew and begin a new chapter in my life. i’m not gonna write some long-ass diatribe here about becoming spiritual and realizing what’s important because, trust me, if this happens to you then you will already feel the same way i am now… i’m just going to say “thank you”. friendship was always underestimated in my book… until now.

i’m gonna play a little show in LA at the Hotel Cafe with a bunch of friends on Dec. the 17th at 8pm sharp. we are going to raise some money to pay for some of the things that MY FRIENDS lost in the fire at my house. i want them to at least get back the things that they let me borrow, use, or just may have left over there when they were too drunk to remember to take it with them on the way home.. tickets will go on sale tonight on the Hotel Cafe website at

www.hotelcafe.com/tickets

so come out and have some fun for a good cause.

happy holidays….

Butch”

From the article:

“In a tragic turn of events, it has come to light that the rental home owned by Flea that burned in the Malibu, California, wildfires over the weekend was being occupied by Avril Lavigne producer Butch Walker - and he lost everything in the blaze.

Walker was touring New York at the time of the incident, and “had just consolidated my entire recording studio and house from Atlanta into the one house in Malibu,” the songwriter/producer, who has also worked with Pink, Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is…, Tommy Lee and others, said in a press release. “I lost everything I’ve ever owned. Every master of every song I’ve ever recorded, every piece of recording equipment, guitars, drums and things I’ve collected over the years, cars, motorcycles, every family memorial, heirloom, picture, and document we ever had. … Gone. I feel like I finally know the difference between ‘going back’ and ‘going home.’ ”

Over the weekend, Flea said in a text message obtained by the Los Angeles Times that his $4.8 million home in Corral Canyon was “burnt to a crisp” by the fires on Saturday morning. According to TMZ.com, a second, $10 million Malibu home owned by Flea - the one in which he currently resides - did not burn. The one that did was a $4.8 million house that the bassist had been renting - most recently to Walker - and currently has up for sale, the site reports.

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose also had a close call when the fires burned his roof and singed some of his property. According to a report on KCAL-TV, Rose’s assistant said the rocker “was with the hose everywhere” on his property, fighting to save his home.

The fires, which have largely been contained, were the worst in Malibu in years, according to the Times. In late October, another series of fires forced evacuations in the area but hit the San Diego area much harder. ”

—————-

Sadly this reminds me of many of my friends’ experiences after Hurricane Katrina. Be strong Butch.

Recently Casey and I (along with Brian, Vicki, Kasey, and Kenny) headed over to New Orleans to see Better Than Ezra play at the House of Blues. I’ll write up the concert another time, but what I wanted to write about was the opening band that night. The opener was a band out of Houma, Louisiana called Sons of William. They are a 3 piece consisting of Joe Stark on guitar and lead vocals, his brother Dave Stark on drums, and Jen Janet on bass. Their name stems from the two Stark brothers’ father Bill. He was responsibile for their early musical education so the name Sons of William seemed a fitting tribute to him.

Normally opening bands are very hit or miss at shows, but these guys put on a great performance. Their songs have a great rock feel with some infectiously catchy melodies and beats. Joe Stark demonstrated that in addition to singing well, he is a very talented guitar player. Not overly flashy but able to deliver just what a song needs.

Prior to forming Sons of William, Joe released albums and toured as a solo artist and had been offered gigs playing guitar with very talented musicians such as Marc Broussard, Will Hoge, Rock Star INXS and even one of my favorites Butch Walker.

After their set I was able to chat with Joe at the upstairs bar for a bit while he ordered (and paid for, no freebies from HOB for the performers it seems) drinks for himself and the rest of the band. He was a super nice guy and very excited about all the shows they have been playing recently and the things they have scheduled in the future. He mentioned that they will be starting a residency soon at the Hard Rock Casino in Biloxi, MS in the Hard Rock Cafe. A residency is a string of gigs at the casino that are free to the public. I guess it is kind of like being the house band but getting to play your own original stuff.

This past week I ordered and received their album What Hides Inside,

and it did not disappoint. If you like a nice variety of rock and roll then you should really check it out. If I had to sub-genre it I would say Southern Rock, but it is definitely more Will Hoge than Lynyrd Skynyrd. There are rocking guitar driven tracks, some piano driven tracks that are very soulful, 2 and 3 part harmonies, and really great backing vocals from bass player Jen Janet. All in all a great album from this talented group. I will definitely be ordering their EP and self-titled first album to get some more tunes from these guys.

I look forward to catching them in Biloxi at the Hard Rock and here in Mobile next time they pass through. Give them a listen at their myspace page or pick up the album, and let me know what you think.

Updated to add youtube videos:

Performing Independence Day at Monsoon’s in Mobile, AL

Performing Breaking My Back

Performing Easy To Love (youtube won’t allow this one to be embedded)

As any of you that have been to a concert with me recently have seen, I have become something of a hearing protection fanatic. Back in my younger days I would go to rock shows, leave with ringing ears, be fine by the next morning, and think nothing of it. Unfortunately these days I have realized that anytime my ears end up ringing it takes much longer for it to go away.

This was highlighted last April when Casey, Teddy, and I went up to Atlanta to see the Butch Walker show at The Tabernacle. The show was great, around 3 1/2 hours of entertainment from 3 different bands. Butch Walker put on an amazing show (as always), but the sound was way too loud (and not a great mix either for us in the balcony, but I have heard since that this is pretty common at the Tabernacle). After we left, everyone had ringing ears (medically known as tinnitis). The ears of the two kids (Casey and Teddy) were fine by lunchtime the next day. For me, the ringing did not go away until the afternoon of the day after the day after. So 12 hours to recover for the kids, 36 hours for grandpa (me).

In addition to my steady string of concert experiences, I have also been playing with some friends in a loud rock band once a month. With all of these potential assaults on my ears, you can see how I might start getting a bit more concerned with my longterm hearing.

Now when it comes to hearing protection for use at concerts there are usually two options that people turn to. There are the squishy, disposable foam earplugs and the reusable latex earplugs.

The foam earplugs are handy because they are super cheap (purchased in bulk they can be as little as $0.06 per pair) and are disposable. So you use them, toss them, grab another set. The average foam earplug will reduce the volume by 20-30 decibels which is fantastic and fits well with loud rocks shows. The problem with these in regard to music is that they cut much more drastically the higher frequencies than the lower ones. So you could put in your foam earplugs and then no longer be able to hear the singer or the blazing guitar solos.

Reusable earplugs (such as the Etymotic ER-20’s pictured here)

much more faithfully maintain the frequency response by evenly reducing the overall volume (usually around 20 decibels). The downside is that they are more expensive ($12/pair when bought in low quantities, but as low as $6.50/pair in quantities of twenty-five or more), and you must remember not to lose or misplace them. But if you take a look at the frequency response curve you can see they are much more well suited than foam for use when listening to loud music at concerts.

If you attend very many concerts a year or are frequently in a loud setting, I highly recommend picking up the Etymotic ER-20’s. I can vouch first hand that they do a great job and make the concert experience much more enjoyable. They even make a smaller size (the baby blues) for use in smaller ears. Remember, once you have lost hearing it never comes back, so prevention is the only answer.

If you see me out at a show, I will probably have a little baggy filled with foam earplugs (since they are cheap) that I am always glad to share, just ask. But remember it will hinder your concert going experience slightly (because of them cutting out too much of the high frequencies). I would love to keep a stock of the reusable earplugs on hand to give away, but the higher cost prevents this.

It is much more preferable to have earplugs and not need them than to need them and not have them.

Which begs the question, why don’t the music venues provide or make available hearing protection at low or no cost? With the low cost of the foam earplugs, it is inexcusable for a venue to not have a quantity on hand for patrons (and a big sign letting everyone know they are there). Even if they didn’t give them away but sold them for $1/pair at least people would have the option. Now those that want the best of both worlds would really prefer the reusable over the foam earplugs, so whey not have a venue also sell the reusable ones too (only $6.50/pair when bought in large quantities). Maybe sell them for $7/pair. A smaller number of patrons would purchase them, but at least they would have the option. I also wonder if a reason for not having them available is that providing earplugs opens the venue up to potential lawsuits related to the volume of their shows (your honor, why would the venue provide earplugs unless they knew beforehand that the show was being performed at an unsafe volume, etc., etc.).

So how sure am I that the message about hearing protection needs to be screamed from the highest mountain tops? So sure that I try to spread the word to anyone that will listen and so sure that I am gathering information to make a case with my local Mobile, AL music venues and try to convince them to make one or both types of earplugs available free or very cheaply to their patrons.

One of my favorite bands from the mid 90’s is reuniting for the first time in 8 years to play the House of Blues in New Orleans, LA this Saturday, July 28, 2007. I’m talking about the one and only Deadeye Dick. You may remember them from their song “New Age Girl” (iTunes Link) off of the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack. I first saw them back in 1995 or 1996 (can’t recall which) at Bayfest in Mobile, AL. They put on an absolutely rocking performance (it was the first live Rock show I ever saw and it definitely left its mark). I purchased their album (they were touring in support of their second album “Whirl” (iTunes Link)) and saw them a couple of more times over the next couple of years as they would pass through the city on tour.

Unfortunately after their second album did not match the sales of their first album that came from being included on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack, they split up. Most of the guys continued working on various projects in the New Orleans area.

So it was with great pleasure that I noticed them on the lineup for House of Blues this Saturday on July 28, 2007. They also have a Myspace page up with some additional info here: Deadeye Dick Myspace page. From their page I found out they actually wrote and recorded, but never released a third album called “In Effect Groovy” that can be purchased from their Myspace page (the Myspace song purchasing interface is terrible, but if you persevere you can eventually buy it). It has a great sound that fits their traditional rock and roll type feel. I recommend checking it out. And if you were a fan from the old days, head over to New Orleans and catch the show. Tickets are $13.50 available through Evil Ticketmaster (which probably means they are about $20 after junk fees). Here is the direct link.

Hope to see you there.

Update:
Ticket Price: $13.50
Convenience Charge: $6.65 (doesn’t feel very convenient to me)
Building Facility Charge: $1.50
Order Processing Charge: $1.67

So, the grand total for a $13.50 ticket is $23.32 or to put it differently, a 72% markup!!

I hate you TicketMaster

We headed out to the B.B. King show tonight at the Mobile Saenger Theater. I had never experienced The King before and the Saenger was the perfect venue for the show. If you have never been to an event at the Saenger, I highly recommend it. It has great old architecture, the sound quality is great, and there are no bad seats in the house.

Back when tickets went on sale months ago, we were poised on the Evil Ticketmaster site clicking refresh repeatedly waiting for tickets to go on sale and trying to get the best seats possible. Even with two of us at work simultaneously trying to get tickets the best we could manage was row N (which is not a bad seat but we were hoping for maybe second row). We wondered how one got those good seats up front and we found out tonight at the show. The new director of the Saenger mentioned that by contributing $100 to their foundation (Centre for the Living Arts you get to purchase tickets one week early. I will be joining their foundation shortly, so let me know if you want me to try and get you tickets for any upcoming shows that have not gone on sale yet.

The opening band for B.B. was the Wes Jeans Band led by Wes Jeans who hails out of Marshall, TX. This 26 year old really wails on the guitar. He put on a great show and really got the crowd good and warmed up. I look foward to catching him solo some time in the future and picking up his latest album. He and his trio of musicians played a great 30 minute set.

Next up was the B.B. King Orchestra to prepare us for the King’s entrance. They are a great band and play super tight. You can tell these guys have been together for a long time and really know each other’s playing styles. They played around 20 minutes to get us ready and once the King came out the real magic began. His performance is a mixture of songs interspersed with stories about growing up in Mississippi and adventures he has had in his life. He played an hour and a half and had the crowd eating out of hand by the end of it. His skill and performance would be impressive for someone in their 30’s but at 81 what B.B. King does is absolutely unbelievable. I pray I still have the dexterity in my hands and a booming voice like his when I reach that age. All in all an amazing show. You must go check him out if you get the chance.

The only downer of the night had to do with some seating issues. For about the first 30 minutes of B.B. King’s performance the entire row in front of us was empty. Unusual since these were $70 seats and it was a sold out show, but nonetheless it was what it was (and it gave us a great unobstructed view from our row). About that time a guy and his girlfriend decide to upgrade their seats to that row. This fella decides that his unoccupied, unpurchased, unassigned seat of choice is the one right in front of me. This would not normally bother me, but this guy had a seriously gargantuan head. As he sat down, stage right disappeared entirely. Now obviously these were not their seats, but since B.B. was off center towards stage left, I figured I would not worry. Then the girl went off to fetch another of their friends (another sign these were not their seats, in addition to her constant nervous looking around).

Well anyone that has shared seats in a venue knows that everyone comes up with a placement of their head and then leaves it there so the person behind them can see in between people’s heads. Well after a while, Mr. Caveman head decided to slowly lean to his left obscuring my view of the King. Now I thought about fetching the usher but at this point I figured we had about 20 minutes left in the show so I would try and be mellow. So to let Mr. Potato Head know what was up, I decided to start lightly kicking his seat. He turned around to ask me to stop (you know, disturbing his enjoyment of his $40 upgraded to $70 seat) so I felt compelled to ask if those were his assigned seats and if he had a ticket that could prove it. He of course claimed they were so I left it at that since he straightened his head and body up restoring my view of the great one and his guitar Lucille.

Now I wouldn’t bring him and this experience up except that after the show was over, as everyone was leaving, he decides to turn around and give me the evil stare down the whole way as he exits. Now I ask what kind of stupid, macho guy attitude makes you stare down the person that decided not to report you to the usher and get you kicked from your usurped seats? He should have been very thankful that I didn’t, and he got to enjoy a great view (while inconveniencing others in the process) but somewhere in his head he felt like he had been wronged by me calling him on it. I’ve seen this before and this is a huge problem with the youth these days not thinking or taking responsibility for their actions. Always someone else picking on them. (Yeah, don’t I sound like the mean old man yelling at the kids in his yard). Oh well next time, I’ll just report them straight away if they annoy me.

This kind of thing happened to Casey and I when we saw Three Doors Down and Lynyrd Skynyrd in Biloxi last year. We had a guy upgrade his seat to right in front of us and he smelled absolutely awful. It was really repulsive and unbearable. I had to tap him on the shoulder and tell him he had to move or I was going to fetch the usher. He persisted in wanting to know why I wouldn’t let him stay and I had to let him know that his B.O. was about to make my girlfriend sick. But instead of getting kicked by the usher he decided to move on his own. Much happier ending than my interaction with this Cro-Magnon loser.

So it has been some time since I railed against the audacity of the Evil Ticketmaster organization through this blog. While every interaction I have had with them since has left me with the same amount of disdain as in that post, this is the first time I have been moved to write about them again.

Dwyer, Ryan, and I were planning on attending the Foghat / Blue Oyster Cult concert this past Saturday night. While not a tremendous fan of either groups I do appreciate their contribution to rock and roll and enjoy quite a few of their hits. So that in mind, I was really looking forward to the show.

Dwyer, Ryan, and I had some dinner down at Heroes Sports Bar and were planning on walking over to the venue to enjoy the show. As we were walking over, we noticed there really weren’t many people downtown like one would expect for a show. As we approached the venue it seemed strange that it would be completely dark with no people going in or out. Sure enough we walked up to the door and saw that the show had been canceled. Bummer.

Now, where my gripe with Ticketmaster comes in is that they did not send any kind of e-mail notification that the concert had been canceled. Apparently it was announced two days prior that it was canceled but we did not hear about it on the radio or TV.

Now if you have purchased any tickets from Ticketmaster you know the drill:

* Confirmation E-mail after you purchase them.
* Follow up e-mail telling you the tickets have been printed and are on their way.
* Then numerous marketing type e-mails trying to alert you to upcoming shows and convince you to buy more tickets.

But a canceled show (which was posted as canceled on their site Saturday night), no messages whatsoever. Where the evil comes in is that I’m sure the reason they do not send out notification of cancellation is that they are hoping someone will lose their original tickets and then be denied a refund. Now that is just bad customer service all the way around. But from Ticketmaster that is their normal way of doing business.

Remember if you have the option of buying tickets through any other mechanism than Ticketmaster, do it. They consistently sell out their customers to make themselves more money. Yep, Ticketmaster is Still Evil, but unfortunately they have cornered the ticket market so completely that often it is the only option.

The South By Southwest Music Festival is coming up in Austin, TX March 14-18. I would love to make it out to this festival one year. I have heard really great things about it. Unfortunately this doesn’t look like it will be the year. But though I can’t make it, I can sample many of the bands they will have appearing via a torrent file available on their site.

3.1Gb of music. 739 mp3’s in all. You can download it here:
SXSW 2007 Showcasing Artists Torrent

It goes pretty fast too. I was getting around 350kb/s on the download. You will need a bitTorrent client to download it. I recommend uTorrent.

Enjoy.

Last Tuesday night Brian and I headed down to the Soul Kitchen to check out the Yonder Mountain String Band. Though I despise country music in almost all manifestations, I do have a strange fascination with bluegrass.

I had never heard of YMSB but a friend mentioned that they were coming down and I decided to check it out. Being a bootleg friendly band, I was able to pull down some of their live performances to check out their sound. Here is a link to their page at the free music archive: http://www.archive.org/details/YonderMountainStringBand and here is a link to a zip file of mp3’s of their New Year’s Eve performance at the House of Blues

Now never having been to a bluegrass show I had a certain expectation about the kind of crowd that would be there. Mostly I was expecting guys that look like my dad and a fair amount of overalls and cowboy hats. Much to my amazement as we walked up to buy tickets we had to wade through a sea of tie-dye and dreadlocks. I’ll repeat, tie-dye and dreadlocks!! Apparently unbeknownst to me, Bluegrass = Stoners. Who Knew?

So as we waited for the band to begin, I noticed a sign that made me think I actually might get to go home without reeking of smoke (and already made me like the band).

I had very high hopes that the staff would enforce this rule, but unfortunately the crowd only followed the rules for the band’s first set and the facility staff didn’t really seem to care.

The band came on and from the beginning they were amazing. Their sound was incredible. Their stage presence and crowd interaction really got the audience riled up and into the show. The reaction the band was getting actually caught them off guard. There were probably somewhere between 300-500 people attending the show. Here’s a peek at part of the crowd.

This was the band’s first trip to Mobile and they were worried that a Tuesday night show would have them playing to only the bartenders and doormen. They spent the entire night thanking everyone for coming out. I think we will see them coming through again real soon after the reception they received.

The band’s lineup is Jeff Austin on Mandolin and primary vocals, Ben Kaufmann on upright bass, Dave Johnston on banjo, and Adam Aijala on guitar. I can’t say enough about the talent and musicianship of these guys. Their mastery of their instruments is incredible. Jeff plays amazingly fast runs on his mandolin while also using it as a means to add a percussive effect to their sound.

Ben really rocks his upright bass.

He spent much of the show laying low providing support to the rest of the band, but towards the end he really let go with some amazing solo work. He even broke out the bow at one point and played one of the first songs he ever wrote. Dave on the banjo blew me away. I’m pretty much always in amazement with banjo players. Their ability to pluck the strings so precisely and rapidly always has my jaw hitting the floor (considering I’m a picker on my guitar, no fingerstyle for me). And last but not least Adam on the guitar. All I can say is WOW. He played the acoustic like it was an electric. The incredibly fast solo lead style riffs he pulled off on the acoustic had me scratching my head in amazement. I can’t believe he is able to play that fast. I’ve really got some practicing to do to get to that level.

Now while the band was awesome, the crowd at times left something to be desired. Like I said earlier, the crowd was mostly stoners (and me and Brian looking a wee bit out of place). So for much of the night my view of the person in front of me looked like this:

Nasty, nasty dreadlocks (oh and some tie-dye too, imagine that). Must really cut the time it takes her to get ready in the mornings but definitely not for me. Here’s another shot where you can see another set of nasty dreads in the lower left of the shot.

What is wild is that many of the attendees with their nappy hair and full beards bore a striking resemblance to the GEICO caveman in their latest round of commercials. GEICO should hire these guys. They would save a fortune in make-up since these guys wouldn’t need any. Another thing Brian and I noticed about our nappy-headed friends is that Bluegrass + Stoners = Guys Being Really, Really Affectionate To Each Other. Something about the music (and probably lots of illegal substances) moved these guys to spend a lot of time in tender embraces with their comrades.

This leads to two gripes about the facility and their security. Their appeared to be alot of individuals in the crowd smoking pot in plain sight. So while the smell of cigarette smoke was not there, the horrible smell of marijuana was. Not a pleasant smell for us non-stoners. The security really should have done a better (or any) job of taking care of this. The other gripe was that of the many shows I have been to at the Soul Kitchen, this was the first one in which a fight broke out. But this fight was different. It was between a bartender and a customer. Not sure what he did, but the bartender was not pleased, nor was security when they came over. So metal band GWAR doesn’t incite violence in the crowd, but the happy bluegrass music mixed with mellow, peace-loving stoners equals violence. Again, who knew?

The band peformed a first set for 1 hour and then took a 30 minute break. After they came back they played for another hour and a half giving us a total of 2 1/2 hours of music for the bargain price of $18. I highly recommend checking them out if you get the chance. And notice my pictures turned out much better this time. I was closer and changed some of the settings on the cam and the results came out much better. Of course the band also had a better light show than most of the bands I’ve seen there which probably didn’t hurt.

I also got some videos of their performance for your listening enjoyment, but first a video of my favorite stoner. This guy danced the entire show. That is 2 1/2 hours of non-stop dancing. Lots of calories burned I imagine.

(Link To Video)

And here are the clips of the band rocking out. No bass drum so the sound came out much better.

(Link To Video)

(Link To Video)

(Link To Video)

This past Friday I (along with Casey, Matt, and Josh) headed down to the Soul Kitchen to take in a double billing of 80’s rock flashbacks. First on the bill were Hollyweird, a Poison tribute band. Now if you have never seen a tribute band they are much more than just a cover band that plays only songs from one band. They take it to the extreme. They work on capturing the look, feel, and theatrics of their patron band in addition to just the music. Hollyweird was no exception (here is a link to pics of them in costume.

Their singer captured Bret Michaels perfectly. His voice was almost identical to the Poison front man and he looked the part physically and definitely looked the part wardrobe-wise. The other three guys were not as convincing as their front man though. The drummer was a substitute due to their Rikki Rockett persona being unable to make it. But he brought the beat just fine even if he did not look the part. The bass player was an adequate standin for good old Bobby Dall and had an awesome neon green bass guitar that was very reminiscent of those 80’s hair metal days. Then we move on to C.C. Devile. C.C. is a pretty animated guitarist but this guy took it a bit overboard. His facial expressions during lead riffs and solo parts reminded me a bit of a mime or a clown. They were just a bit too overdone to look natural. He did though have the music down perfectly. Lots of ooey-gooey pinched harmonic and whammy bar goodness that took you back to a time gone by.

Sorry for the quality of the pics but I’m still learning how to work my new camera.

Hello white fur coat

And is that Axl Rose getting in on the action

And also an apology on the video quality here. The clip distorts from the bass drum hits but you can get a feel for their sound.

Here is a clip of Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Link To Video)

After the 45 minute set there was a very short break and then came the main event. Appetite For Destruction is a Guns N Roses tribute band. These guys were the real deal all the way around. Their singer looked just like Axl and his voice was an absolutely perfect match. They had Izzy, Slash, Duff, and Steven all pegged one hundred percent.

Musically their sound was super tight and captured all of the nuance and expression of the real GnR. They also had the advantage that the catalog of hits with GnR is much, much larger than the Poison catalog of hits. So almost every song was an instant fan favorite with lots of cheering and singing along. I definitely cannot say enough good things about these guys’ performance. You could live without seeing Hollyweird, but if you are a GnR fan you must see Appetite for Destruction if you get a chance. It is probably better than seeing the real band (especially these days). They showed up, they played, they had identical look and sound, and it was only $7 at the door .

Their set lasted about 1.5 hours and touched on all of the major hits. They played off of the Appetite album, Lies (Patience, Used To Love Her), and even broke into some Use Your Illusion (Live and Let Die, Knockin on Heaven’s Door, Civil War, Pretty Tied Up, Don’t Cry). The encore was an awesome rendition of Paradise City.

What a great way to spend an evening and relive the good old days. Even ran into three former high school classmates. 80’s rock was enough to make them get baby sitters and head out to the club .

The pics are ok but not great. I really have to figure out this camera.

Call me Axl

Duet with Bret Michaels on Pretty Tied Up

Axl and some dude’s fist since he couldn’t refrain from toasting Axl until after I finished my picture.

And again videos, but the sound distorts when the bass hits.

Clip of You’re Crazy (off Appetite) (Link to Video)

Clip of Civil War (off Use Your Illusion II) (Link to Video)

So there you have it. A fun time was had by all. Over 2 hours of rock and roll for the bargain price of $7. I’m sure they will be back through again, you really must go check them out if you have the chance.