WHISKY A GO GO, Hollywood

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2009

Tonight's show was done as a favor to our friends, THE BOURBON SAINTS. It's their CD Release Party and they asked us help them celebrate the release of their debut CD. A few week's earlier we were told we needed to sell tickets so we agreed with no intention of sell any tickets. We ended up selling a few to some friends who showed up late but none of us made an effort to sell tickets for this "infamous" Hollywood sham of a club.

When we got to the venue we loaded in our gear and then I went to Mikey's Tattoo Shop to hang out before the doors opened. XL, Xplo, and Don met me over there so we just smoked and talked while we waited... and waited... and waited.

Our old friends JAKEYL was up first and did their Hollywood-by-way-of-Ireland Rock 'n' Roll. They sound a lot like an American Iron Maiden, which isn't a bad thing.

Next up were THE HELLIONS who are part of the TURBOJUGEND Palm Desert Chapter. Nice guys who play some kick-ass Rock 'n' Roll. Some of their fans and members remembered us from the old days when we played in Riverside with SDI and Das Klown. Now that's some history!!

We were up next and played for a healthy crowd that became larger as we played. Tonight's set was the first time we decided to open with a different song. We began our set with what will be the first song on THIS BLOOD'S FOR YOU titled "ALWAYS BROKEN" and it came out without a hitch. We actually ended up playing about 70% new songs with some older ones thrown in. It was a great show for us.

After we finished our set THE BOURBON SAINTS went up and did their thing. To be quite honest it had been a couple years since I've seen them and their line-up has definitely changed. The core remains but it seems to have taken its toll on Arturo's voice. What used to be a great Hollywood sounding voice has changed into a screech and breaking voice, half of what I heard when I played with them in 2006. I wasn't disappointed but I expected more. Chuck and Noel did their thing flawlessly, which made me smile and happy that they were still doing it! At the end of their set our mutual friend Lightnin' Bill Woodcock went up as a guest to play some harp on their last song and did a phenomenal job!!

Next up was THE HOWLERS but by this time I was drinking with a whole slew of new fans and some friends who came out to support like my bandmate Dave Diamond of SOUL TRASH and Paddy Mack of DUANE PETERS GUNFIGHT.

Thanks to everyone who came out and to Alexa and Molly for driving me home. Oh... and FUCK THE WHISKY AND HOLLYWOOD!!!!