Takin' A Ride

So much going on, so I may as well start off at the beginning.

Tiki Oasis happened August 5th through the 9th. Tiki Oasis is basically Comic Con, but instead of Comics, Film, and Science Fiction, it’s just about Polynesian culture, rum, and parties. Also rum. And parties. And rum. So there were a lot of parties off site, on site, official, and unofficial. One of the best ones is at the Headhunter (a friend’s private home bar) and they had a series of rotating bartenders, catered food, and Deke Dickerson and the Whipper-Snappers playing! Deke and the Whipper-Snappers play rock ‘n roll on the rockabilly side and were great to watch, especially at a special home party like this. They even had El Vez come up for an impromptu song (the Whipper-Snappers have been Mr Vez’s backup band for his past couple Christmas shows). For the final song, they all switched instruments around (several times) while each took turns soloing. Here are some pictures:

The next night, August 6th, Bali Hai had their mug release party for their new Jade Goof mug. Tiki Oasis used to have their kickoff nights here and they were EPIC, but unfortunately for reasons I’m not going to get into here, Bali Hai just said “we’ll just have to have our own party” and it’s also a great time. The Hang Zeros opened the show and played fast paced rockin’ surf rock:

Then Creepxotica, which is basically Bali Hai’s house band for big events like this, played yet another great set. Three dancers this time! I always want to record the bassist’s in-between song banter and put together a comedy album compilation, but I can never time things right. Maybe I’ll start on it some time. Because he can be really hilarious. These are about the only good pictures I could’ve taken, because there were a lot of people there.

On Sunday August 9th, Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds played an early show with the Film Company opening. This was at least my fourth time seeing The Film Company and they are getting better and better! High powerful energetic alternative type of rock ‘n roll with some intense wailing solos. Almost along the lines of the Schizophonics, but different. If the Schizophonics are more like the MC5 and all of the Stooges on crack, The Film Company is like The Strokes and the Eagles Of Death Metal on crystal meth.

Kid Congo played to a big crowd and was great. This legendary guitarist was in the Gun Club and the Cramps and returned to the Casbah to play his sometimes punk, sometimes blues, sometimes psychedelia, sometimes all at the same time music. He told some stories in between songs, and seemed to be having a great time, along with the crowd.

Back to the Casbah again on a Tuesday night, 8/11. The Overdrives and Dark Alley Dogs played. The Overdrives play Johnny Thunders influenced rock and are a lot of fun.

This was at least my fourth time seeing the Dark Alley Dogs and they certainly didn’t disappoint. They stormed through a set of rockin’ punk with some tinges of country (the kick-ass variety). Very Replacements influenced and they hit all the checkboxes for a good rockin’ band. Wailing guitars, kick ass songs, heartfelt lyrics and songs, and included a friend coming up to sing, some humorous in between song banter and some ballbusting. A bunch of covers too including “You May Be Right” by Billy Joel and not only “I.O.U.” from the Replacements, but also “Can’t Hardly Wait”. Whoa!

Sorry if most of these pictures aren’t coming out as well as usual. I’m getting some practice using a “real” camera because I have some big shows coming up that I want to shoot. But the “real” camera just doesn’t seem to do as good as a job as my simple cel phone. But it is what it is.

I got more to write about (playlists, music to check out, etc…), but that will have to wait for another post. Stay tuned!