My Christmas vacation started early with a snow storm, which caused me to miss work on the last Friday before the break. Cool with me. I had the extra time off to cover it, so fuck it. That night was the Back in Spades, Gorevette show out at Small's and Alex really wanted me to go with him and hang out. I was all most a party pooper, but ended up going at the last minute. I decided to take my old crappy camera to see if I could capture some Rock 'N' Roll moments in time. I'm glad I did. The show was great. Running With Panthers opened the show with some high energy rock that got the crowd fired up. They reminded me of Electric Frankenstein kind of fired up punk rock.
RWP's fires up the Small's crowd.
During RWP's set I was asked to help a friend dig his car out of a snowbank down the street.
After trying for about 30 minutes we still couldn't get his car unstuck. It doesn't look that bad, but his car was on top of the snowbank and the front wheels had nothing to grip. I felt super bad for him. He was very grateful for the help anyway and to reward me for trying, he hooked me up with an incredible Star Wars collectible. An original Star Wars film reel projector. I had one when I was 4 years old and when he presented it to me I almost shed happy tears because it's so awesome! Here is a photo of me at 4 years of age, totally absorbed watching Star Wars on the little projector. This is pre video/DVD and back then the only to watch Star Wars at home.
Up next was Gorevette. Having Nikki Corvette and Amy Gore team up in a band is a great idea and it shows in the results of their jams. Their song "Fake it Now" is a instant garage rock classic. They put on a really good show and people seemed to really dig them.
Amy Gore rocking out.
Alex King on the drums.
Nikki Gorvette, and Lianna Castillo on bass.
Up Next was the main attraction for the night, Back In Spades. These guys were the shining light of the Future of Detroit Rock music back in 2003-04, but the broke up back then and all hopes were dashed. Thank goodness they decided to bring it back one more time. They put on a great show. They played all the songs people wanted to hear. I was totally amazed by the technical ability of the two guitar players. Watching Jackson Smith casually finger pick his way through amazing guitar solos was very inspiring. It made me want to go home and practice my ass off. Here are some photos. Too bad my camera kind of sucks.
It was a killer show.
On the 23rd I played bass for Devil Elvis at the Magic Stick. It was cool. The Gepetto Files and the Amino Acids performed as well. It was a rocking good time, except for another damn snow storm which scared me into leaving early and missing the Gepetto Files.
Christmas was super laid back. Theresa and I went out to my folks house to spend Christmas morning. After we opened some presents, we decided to watch Crank because my folks hadn't seen it yet, and we need to charge things up a little. Good times. My folks rule. Dad loved Crank.
It might be a new Christmas tradition.
Up next, on Dec 26, I found myself back at Small's when Mazinga opened up for the Meatmen and Chapstik. We had a great time, except I forgot the Mazinga CDs and some other stuff. Then I wigged out on the rest of the band for a minute. Not cool. I was to stressed out. Luckily we had Mr. Greenjeans there to calm us all down. Then everything went smoothly after that. Here are some Mazinga photos Theresa took with her new camera.
After Mazinga slayed, Chapstik came on and laid waste with a sonic wall of devastation. Check out the photos.
Up next, the Meatmen. The legendary Tesco Vee didn't spoil any expectations arriving on stage wearing Santa suit with a gigantic penis and ball sack full of goodies. The band blasted through all their classics from the "You Suck" album. Here is some photos of the mayhem.
After the show the weather turned totally strange and the outdoor temperature shot up to nearly 60 degrees. This caused all the snow to melt extremely fast which resulted in the thickest fog I've ever seen in my life, which of course I had to drive all the way back to Ann Arbor in. Seriously, I didn't feel comfortable going over 25 miles an hour, although that didn't stop other drivers from driving like complete assholes. I couldn't help but wish death on each SUV that barreled past at high rates of speed.
After recovering for a few days it was time for New Year's Eve and the Bang. It was totally rockin' this year. We kept our set up simple and invited two killer bands to perform, Kiddo and the Friendly Foes. They ended up combining forces to make one kick ass band instead of two. I had heard that the Friendly Foes were really good but I had no idea just how much they actually rocked. I was blown away. They did a bunch of covers, including opening with Green Day's "Welcome to Paradise". I've never really liked Green Day, but the Foes made their song quite likable. I can't believe I was suckered into enjoying a Green Day song. The jam of the night was when they played the Kiddo song "This Could Take Forever". The song is simply one of the best, most catchy songs I've ever heard. For real. That song should be HUGE! It's got a great sing-a-long choirs and infectious hook that you can't deny bobbing your head along too.
After the band were all loaded out, the Bang kicked into high gear and the rest of the night is an intoxicated blur. You can check out all the action photos over at the Bang flicker page.
The rest of my Christmas break from reality was spent chilling and house cleaning. My Truck crapped out on me on Saturday night, but I was able to fix it on the cheap thanks to a friendly mechanic who helped me out big time and cut me a huge deal!
Going back to work sucked. Ron Asheton passed away. What a shitty way to start out 2009. Let's hope it only get's better from here on out. I payed tribute to Ron last night by performing with The Hard Lessons over at the Blind Pig. We did the song "No Fun" and it was great! Big thanks to them for inviting me out for that. I love those folks.
I think that about covers it. Hope you enjoyed reading.
Thanks.
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