On the bill for last night’s show at my local dive was Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders. After I’d finished SXSW rehearsals with KAV for the night I figured I would stop by and check him out as there is rumor we might be sharing a bill outside of LA in the near future (awaiting confirmation). Nearing midnight I was relieved that he hadn’t yet played when I got to my local dive, AKA The World Famous Viper Room on the Sunset Strip. During the day I saw a post on The Viper Room’s Facebook…

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The fashion world has lost it’s most beloved misfit.

I woke up to a text from a friend, letting me know Alexander McQueen was found dead in his house. He was 40 years old. I’m not putting a fucking bio up here, go to Wikipedia for that. Instead, I’ve put together some of my favorite McQueen looks/moments.

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I think it would be a drastic conflict of interest to slurp on a friends band and make an out and out recommendation for you to be into them, so I won’t do that. I’d like to preserve the little bit of integrity I have left so I will instead tell you with absolute honesty that of all of the regular bands that I see on the strip (and I see A LOT of bands on the strip), one of very few that I actually enjoy seeing at least once a month is Lady Sinatra. Their own brand of Rock & Roll is as hard, fast and loud as it is difficult to pin down directly. I sometimes swear that I hear a bit of Motörhead in the backbeat mixed with a bit of that indefinable Sunset Strip sound.  The musicianship is tight and the swagger is loose. If you’ve got a girl that likes to strip then put on “Girl, You’ll Be A Trainwreck Soon” off of their 2nd album Hisses & Kisses and let her do her thing. The band (@LadySinatra) was at one point giving away a free download of the record in exchange for a Tweet, but that offer may have expired. It’s still available through iTunes.

Lead singer and head of Loose Fang Records,  Bunny Holliday recently sat down with evergrowing institution The Real Sunset Strip w/Scheff and The Hawk for the short interview/artist profile above (shot by photographer Andrew Herrold) which should give you a taste of their sound.

But to catch them in action they’ll be playing Monday February 15th at Crazy Girls Gentleman’s Club (Sunset & LaBrea) in West Hollywood with Sink To See and brilliant newcomers Jacuzzis (fb event). Full Disclosure: I’m playing that show, too. But if you haven’t seen Lady Sinatra in on their home turf at The Viper Room then you just haven’t seen them in their destructively natural habitat.
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In L.A. you are encouraged not to acknowledge a celebrity’s existence —certainly don’t say anything to them, that’s what tourists do! It’s understandable why. After all we are all human beings who wish to be rewarded for our deeds but allowed our personal freedoms including the right to peace and privacy. But I’ll have been a citizen of the The City of Angels for 3 years come Valentine’s Day (romantic I know) and I don’t give a fuck what you say, if I want to talk to someone regardless of who they are…I’m gonna. Of course even I have my rules and standards. You never, ever bother a famous person with their kids or at dinner…EVER! And I want it very clear that I’m not trying to bother anyone just because they are famous. It’s ALWAYS about WHAT they do, which is why they are famous to begin with unless they are a non-celebrity like cast members of The Hills*. I’m not going to say something unless I really have something to say. Problem is, you always think of something to say out-of-the-blue 5 minutes later. Fortunately this afternoon. I had just such a 2nd chance.

You should know that I have an EAGLE-EYE for personalities. Some people just have that “glow-of-importance” to them. Maybe I can subconsciously observe their aura. I know that sounds ridiculous.** I have no real explanation for it. When I first moved to California my inner dialog after a quick glance at someone was always, “That person looks a lot like _________.” only to realize at 2nd glance that it most likely was that person, just doing whatever. I’ve learned now to accept that it probably is that person as it proves true more likely than not.

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I may technically live in the city of Los Angeles but OFFICIALLY I am a citizen of West Hollywood, CA which has been it’s own entity since 1984. I think the city planners could forsee that LA was set for collapse or realized eventually Sarah Palin would become president and knew us freaks and wierdos would be herded into internment camps for our deviant lifestyles and decided that we should just have our own city so it would be easier to decide where to put the razor-wire fences. Honestly, I can’t see myself living anywhere else or being stuck with a better group of freaks.

Sometimes the wild nights take a couple of strange turns and the next thing you know you’re devising a way to not only destroy your liver with alcohol and your lungs with smoke but we may have collectively devised the largest timebomb you can possibly send down your gullet. I’ve already told you about The Real Sunset Strip, a show that comes live from that famous WeHo drag via USTREAM hosted by Scheff and The Hawk whom each have their own regular “narrowcast” channels. Here is a clip that was streamed live recently where the hosts along with myself and photographer Andrew Herrold took a trip to Duke’s Coffee Shop* (between The Whisky A Go-Go and The Cat Club) and had them bring to reality an epicurean idea hatched next to a “street meat” cart in front of The Roxy minutes before the stream began.

The Real Sunset Dog:
1/4lb. Hot Dog wrapped in Bacon, Dipped in Batter and fried (w/Bun).
Optional Condiment Suggestions:  Cholula Hot Sauce, Ketchup, Mustard
Estimated Calories: 700-1,000+

*Sunset Strip History: The current site of Duke’s Coffee Shop used to be a club called The London Fog, which is where The Doors had their first regular gigs in West Hollywood before becoming the house band next door at The Whisky A Go-Go. Jim Morrison in his later years would probably have eaten The Real Sunset Dog without flinching. He was The Lizard King, he would probably eat anything!

Hey! I’m back in my homestate somewhere in middle America and I’ve been hanging out with a lot of people who really want to come visit me on the coast but with money tight don’t really have that luxury. Behold a solution (of sorts)! Lauren Scheff and The Hawk host a show via UStream called The Real Sunset Strip LIVE from The Roxy Theatre. It’s a great chance to see what goes on during a typical Saturday night in the musical heart of West Hollywood that spawned bands like  The Doors, Van Halen, Motley Crue and Guns N Roses.

Speaking of which, former GNR/Velvet Revolver/The Cult drummer Matt Sorum, a regular fixture of the strip, even stopped by a few weeks ago to chat with the guys about the glory days of The Strip (video below). Other recent guests have been Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray), Harry Perry, B-Real from Cypress Hill and Tattooed Millionaire to name very few. Other regular guests and skits from Scheff & The Hawk include bartenders, managers, drunks and misfits from various other Sunset Strip institutions like The Viper Room and The Comedy Store. You’ll probably see me pop-up there every now and then.

Check out the show! Join the Ustream chat sometime and make Twitter and Facebook friends with The Real Sunset Strip!

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I’m the one taking pictures at the crime scene.

I consider myself a pretty big Butch Walker fan. After meeting him after a festival with The Marvelous 3 in 1999 I’ve followed his career intensely. All the while mystified because for the life of me I just can’t understand how this guy isn’t bigger than all of the artists he writes & produces for?

Butch is in the midst of a series of shows in LA, NYC, Chicago and hometown Atlanta where he’s dedicated each night to one of his specific solo records. During his November residency at The Hotel Cafe in LA I caught the first night where he played the 2004′s Letters (still my favorite BW solo effort) with his entire biker gang in tow.

February 2, Butch will release his 5th solo album, Groundhog Day: The Album I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart on VINYL! With a regular CD/Download dropping Feb 23…but you should probably get a record player anyway.

He’s calling his new band The Black Widows which seems a bit forced in an Is-Ryan-Adams-Starting-A-Death-Metal-band? kind of way. But I’d imagine it opens up a lot of possibilities for his graphic designer. Butch can do no wrong by me, bring it!

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On the last night of a month-long tour, Esser and DATAROCK (and KAV for the West Coast) were playing a venue in Seattle rhat completely dropped the ball with the show’s production. The sound was terrible and non-existent in the monitors and the promoter was not-to-be-found until about 10pm and booked this terrible hipster rap act that ate up the headliner’s set time and threw water all over the stage (which doesn’t mix well with electronics!). Also, Seattle (and maybe all of Washington) has this bogus law about “No alcoholic beverages onstage”. All in all, it was a weird scene. But we made the best of it until finally the band was asked to stop playing around 1:30 am.

On top of this, the last night of any tour is subject to some ribbing, some hijinks…you know, shenanigans. One camera can’t possible do this night justice but I can hope that this sheds a little light on the situation. A cautionary tale.

Dude, I was literally to the left of the dude wearing the Nebraska hat. In fact, I was facing this chick’s direction as this argument went down. Photo via the Journal Star.

I didn’t even know about the health care rally until my girlfriend mentioned it about thirty minutes before it started. Way to go Obama. Utilize your e-mail list a bit better. Anyway, it was a muggy day and I decided to walk down wearing my They Live tee which garnered a bunch of weird facial reactions from the hippy leftists who weren’t sure whether or not I was with the protesters to said protesters who kept taking pictures of my shirt. Seriously. One dude even got out his camcorder and filmed it. Not me, just the tee. I’m sure this image will be popping up on conservative blogs all over the country with “OBEY” replaced with “OBAMA”. Come to think of it, that’s a pretty clever use…

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Lookie here, a post from AliUptown! AND a post from AliUptown that’s not vampire-related. Well…mostly. For some odd reason, I started thinking about my grade school/early teen crushes the other day. Color me random. I asked a couple friends around the same age about their crushes and got some very interesting and telling answers. Tiffany Amber Thiessen, Johnathon Taylor Thomas, Tom Cruise (Top Gun Tom Cruise) and even Ben Affleck from Chasing Amy. And since I have been so fucking M.I.A. on here, I figure it was a valid enough topic. So here goes, I ‘m putting it all out on the table. I have no shame.

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My pic of the Marquee of The Viper Room (via Twitter taken on my iPhone) was reposted on the LA Times’ entertainment blog: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2009/06/sunset-strip-venues-pay-tribute-to-michael-jackson.html

POP IS OFFICIALLY DEAD.

Best Televised Musical Performance EVER!

Recently, while going through a bunch of boxes in my mom’s basement in preparation for a garage sale that never happened, I came across a big shoe box full of pictures. Nearly all of them band pics from roughly 1998-2002, when just about everyone I knew (including myself) were involved in some sort of local rock band. Grand Island in 1999-2000, specifically, were  golden years. It seemed like every damn kid in G.I.  was in a band and every weekend you could find a show at the Super Bowl or Westside Lanes or The Rock or even Max McGruder’s. There was nothing to do in that town except meth, so any excuse to watch the owner of the Super Bowl move his fake teeth in and out of his mouth if it meant getting to hang out with everyone for a few hours was always worth it.  Of course, everybody sucked, but that didn’t stop us from thinking we were awesome. We painted our fingernails and acted ridiculously cool in the most melodramatic manner possible. T.J. wore his guyliner; I had sparkles in my hair.  We were all going to get signed, after all and we had to look and act the part.  It was only a matter of time…

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MST3K (actually RiffTrax) +VAMPIRES = Wishing AliUptown a good week. She’s been going through some difficult times. Give her your love.

Legalize Shrooms

Here is the Trailer for director Sean Cain’s Silent Night, Zombie Night a Christmas time horror romp that my roommate and I made a zombified appearance in. Makeup by Tom Devlin. Produced by Arson Cuff Entertainment.

0:40 seconds in is when the magic happens.