UNIVERSAL BAR GRILL, Universal City

SATURDAY, APRIL, 25, 2009

Well, where do I begin? First off, this show was a birthday celebration for JEROME BRUNER (owner/operator of BURNING TREE RECORDS) and myself as we share the same birthday on April 27th. We wanted to treat this event like an open party, which I'm now thinking wasn't a good idea! I'll explain more on that later. Anyway, I showed up at the club around 9pm with RONDA and CHEYANNE and two of their friends. As I arrived there were a few people hanging outside waiting for me so I felt like the evening was off to a great start. I set up the merch booth, which had our CD's and Ronda's "Lazlo" cupcakes for sale. Ronda was trying to generate some money for her tuition to movie make-up school so I advised her that she could sell her cupcakes from our booth.

The Lazlo "(L)" cupcakes made my Ronda

Now, the show started out slow as G.F.I. (from Oceanside) got caught in traffic and some of their members were about an hour late. The show that was supposed to start at 9pm but didn't get going until 10pm. At the request of my friend MIKE SINISTER, his new band THE BLOODY CUNTS opened the show with a 4-song set. They played for about 10 minutes, which was the longest 10 minutes of my life. Everyone in the band seemed to be drunk as hell and they were really loud and not tight at all. I was a little annoyed but whatever, it's a party... right?

Anyway, they used G.F.I.'s gear so the change over was quick. G.F.I. hit the stage at around 10:30pm to a packed house. I was really surprised to see that many people in that club. A lot of my co-workers and friends were there to help celebrate so I felt really good that we were going to have a great time. During the middle of G.F.I.'s set a fight started inside the club that was quickly moved outside. I went outside to try to calm one of my "friends" but he couldn't even look at me as he was trying to lunge at his opponent. What started out as a fight between two drunken idiots became a huge free-for-all brawl on Lankershim Blvd. Just when I thought the fights were coming to an end a few guys showed up with 2x4's and started swinging on anyone with a shaved head. I saw one guy go down who I eventually was told was another friend's brother. I also saw the guitarist from G.F.I. take a 2x4 away from one the guys swinging lumber and was almost pummeled by four other guys in the middle of Lankershim Blvd. Yes, the middle of the street, not on the sidewalk!!! We were told the cops were coming so I was dragged inside where I started gathering my things to leave. The bartender and few other's told me to stick around and let the riff-raff leave so we could continue the show. XL and I agreed so we did stay to support THE CORRUPTORS.

G.F.I. (from San Diego)

After the melee outside The Corruptors set up their gear and continued the show with their brand of Beer Rock. Since REF SANCHEZ (bassist) is an L.A.-native and we went to the same high school, there were a lot of people from our past at the show to support us. I'm glad they stayed after the fights. I was pretty much bummed out and stayed at the booth and watched the band talking to friends in between songs. MATT and BARRY are two of the best guitarist I've seen in a long time. They're shredders without the ego! From what I understand Barry has played with R.K.L. and GWAR to name a few. The undercover rock star of the band, I'm told! HAHAHAHA...

THE CORRUPTORS (from San Francisco)

My lovely friend MICHELLE BAKER showed up with a some gifts and a card for me so as I stood their unwrapping my stuff we talked and hugged as the band played. She bought me a birthday beer and we went back to the booth where she helped sell cupcakes as Ronda had left with the remainder of my out-of-control drunken "friends" and co-workers.

Gizz and Michelle at UBG

I also hung out with NIKI (the beautiful and talented drummer of KRASH KARMA) for a while talking with her and Michelle. Niki bought me a shot and said I should just forget about what happened and just enjoy the rest of the evening. Good advice from a great new friend! Mike and his wife Karen (they are the one's who donated the Burger King outfit for the "Carbomb" video) brought their friend Cheryl who I ended up chatting with for a while right before DLP played. Cheryl has been a huge DLP supporter for many years but we'd never had the chance to actually talk at length so that was the highlight of my evening.

At about 12:30am DEAD LAZLO'S PLACE finally hit the stage to a rather subdued crowd. We played around 15 out of 20 songs from our set debuting several new songs. The crowd really seemed to enjoy the new stuff so I was really happy with their reaction. Toward the end of our set I started catching my groove and by that time we were ready to end our evening.

Gizz Lazlo & Seedy Spitz on stage at UBG

1:30am came and KRASH KARMA got on stage and used DLP's gear to play a quick 5-song set. I really enjoyed them for their brief time they rocked it. RALF, ZAK and Niki really know their shit as even with a tiny crowd played like it was the Forum! Thanks for showing up, staying and playing! As we started unloading our gear, DAVID WAYNE JONES (my brother for going beyond the call of duty) helped carry all of my gear out to his car and driving me home.

L.A. Thrash Rockers, KRASH KARMA

All in all I guess the evening ended up being cool but wasn't as much fun as I was expecting. Thanks for everyone who DID making it special. I love each and every one of you!!! Cheers!!

RELAX BAR, Hollywood

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009

It was quite a long day for me. Meeting after meeting and lots of preparing for tonight's show. We found out yesterday evening at rehearsal that our lead guitarist, SEEDY SPITZ was not going to make tonight's show so we had to gather songs we could play as a 4-piece, which wasn't hard but was a pain in the ass!

Anyway, XPLOSTEVO came by the 6122 office to pick my ass up and we headed to Hollywood. We found "free" parking up the street from the club so we were happy. We were met by my brother LEO and his lovely wife, ANNE where we greeted each other and made some plans to get very lit tonight! HAHAHA...

As we entered the club, I was met by my old friend and former FLIPSIDE writer/reviewer and current RAZORCAKE reviewer, DON OF THE DEAD with his camera in hand. He told me that he's been writing for PROFANE and that he'd reviewed us for their upcoming issues so I was pretty stoked on that. I went outside to the patio to let XL and DON in so they could set up their gear and relax but as I was doing so I ran into my old high school buddy and THE CORRUPTORS bassist, REF SANCHEZ. We talk for a brief moment and he let me know that a band had cancelled and that we could take their spot, which was way earlier than the spot we were given.

We took the stage at 10:30pm to a pretty packed room. The entire crowd was mostly members of TURBOJUGEND LOS ANGELES so I felt at home with hardcore fans of one of my favorite bands. I spoke with BIG HUREO, one of their members and we joked around a bit before I hit the stage (or lack thereof). We played for about 30 minutes hitting on our more hardcore songs and some newer melodic ones. The crowd reaction was very positive and they cheered the entire time. We had lots of fun up there and the crowd could tell.

Stealing a photo op from XL once again

After we finished our set we hung outside with some people who hadn't come out to see us in years, which was nice to hear. A lot of older fans were really excited to see us and we made a few new ones. I spoke with a recent D.C. transplant who really enjoyed us. LISA HOUSTON and I got along famously as we spoke about music and Budweiser. It's very cool when you meet a female who ONLY drinks the good stuff!! HAHAHAHA...

Out in the crowd posing for a picture with our newest supporter, Lisa

We all went back in to support our friend's from the north, THE CORRUPTORS. The opened with a QUIET RIOT into and then went into their set. I hadn't had the chance to see them live before so I was quite excited to witness the sound of Northern Punk Rock 'n Roll and I was not disappointed! REF and the boys blew through their set and thoroughly enticed the crowd leaving all if us wanting more! I was really jazzed since we're playing with them again tonight.

A little after midnight XPLO was ready to hit the road and make the trek back home so we did after a few fond farewells.

The night was a complete success as I was expecting a disastrous evening so I was quite surprised and very happy at the end of the night. I even got my fill of free beer, which is always the icing on the drunken cake!!!

I'd like to apologize to FITZ OF DEPRESSION for not sticking around to see them but Friday night's are always tiring evenings to party all night especially when you have a big show the next night. So my apologies to you all!