Nice people visiting my disabled horse Indy at his boarding stable and playing with canines Karis and Sarahbelle there, Waddy and Annie Wachtel, owners of their own deerhound pup Calahan. Social animals confab with all pictured below.
Revving up for a June/July 2012 tour of Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, Little Caesar hit the ground rocking
with an album release party for their newest cd/download "American Dream," at Brixton's, South Bay CA on June 2nd.
Pictured here from top,
Little Caesar are--
Ron Young, lead vocals; Joey Brasler, guitar, vocals; Fidel Paniagua, bass, vocals; Loren Molinare, guitar, vocals; Tom Morris, drums
Heroic, sweaty hardrockheavysoul performed with metal-esque power and panache plus intelligent lyrics remains their game, always nailed and delivered live. They're impressively better than their salad days two
decades ago when they outrocked their Golden Era of Hair Metal contemporaries (most of whom wax pitifully in comparison today.) Title track "American Dream" and "Hard Rock Hell" are still looping in my mind. Really great sound on great material...
His own best promoter, Ron Young commented on Little Caesar's storied 23-year roller coaster history in response to Michael Brandvold Marketing's blog/video "Artists You Buy Blindly Because of Devotion – Dropping The Needle Podcast" in his typically enthusiastic while erudite manner:
"For a band like us that had so much hype and promise from some of the most powerful people in the industry, the simple fact that we still get to do it together means riches for us. We never asked for any of that hype…we WERE excited about it, but it was almost secondary. For us, being in a band with other guys that adore music as it’s own entity, was a bond that is priceless.
Some guys go to work and save up to take a fishing trip, or go golfing in an exotic location. We do that with music. We save up and go into a recording studio. The gifts we receive, the deepening of our connection to collectively build sounds, energy and tones is a safari for us. To attempt to create something that moves us in the way that our heroes music moves us, is our muse… and sole reward.
We look at bands that get to make music all the time with envy. What makes their music more profitable than ours? Why can’t we do it? We came so close. Many of our difficulties were based in business, power struggles between giants, some bad series of events that occurred in the narrow window that a band gets to either perform or be banished to obscurity.
It took me many years to separate commercial success and making credible music. Its very hard for a musician to not place his self worth in unit sales… especially when making music is your life’s blood."
Last but not least, we hear from Loren Molinare, also guitarist/lead vocalist for The Dogs. When complimented on how great both new releases respectively sounded, he replied "Dogs and LC albums in the first half of this year: I am almost feel like a Mormon, I am married to two hot wives. . ."
You can obtain American Dream by Little Caesar and other worthy, previous releases at their site LINK.
Additional PHOTO OPS: Left, guitar hotshot Gilby Clarke (formerly of Guns N'Roses) played after Little Caesar. Below, Christine and Dire McCain, Editor of Paraphilia Magazine hit the serious moonlight beach showers outside of Brixton's.
Below, someone's audience video from the gig. Not their typical jet-propeled number, but dig that bayou groove!
NOTE: link directly back to http://fastfilm1.blogspot.comif all elements such as photo layouts or videos aren't here.
Last night Mr. Twister and I were treated to watching a widescreen Blu-Ray of "The Music Man," the greatest musical ever about outright lying and love. Its subversion in same remains far more insidious than that of Brecht-Weill's entire canon because of the star-spangled Americana of "The Music Man's" gift wrapping. Pensives: Robert Preston almost wasn't hired becausethe studios deemed him too old, unhealthy and uninsurable: after this obvious triumph, he worked continually for another twentyyears. Meredith Willson took eight full years writing and refining this musical and it shows: every song's a winner, most of them became classics. The Beatles even recorded "'Till There Was You" on their first American LP (second U.K. LP,) reputedly the demo song that convinced George Martin to take them on. "The Music Man's"'s opening song "Rock Island" was popular music's first rap, date of birth 1958 (those who can, rap along with it. Very doable!) Replaced byShirley Jones in the film, Preston's first leading lady/Broadway role originator Barbara Cook persevered through bad times andmaintains her singing career to this day, recently honored at the Kennedy Center. She even undertook one of my own obsessions, reflection upon long careers in the arts (one's own or that of others) with this incredibly brave duet with her younger self, the two parts recorded fifty years apart:
LINK for Barbara Cook in the original "The Music Man"
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The Hailers live at Molly Malone's, West Hollywood 5.19.12. They turned out to be great!
Singer/songwriter/guitarist/Welshperson Robert Mills had formed The Hailers in his native U.K. circa 1994, recording there with RIchie Galloni. WIth Robert's geographic moves the band has since evolved to this L.A.ensemble that includes bassist/songwriter April Carson, known for her presence in The Wild Hairs.
They sort of slid the best elements of '70s classic rock under the door into our modern times; i.e., the context of Gerry Rafferty with the sass of Boz Scaggs if both had actually been huge fans of Mick Taylor's stint in the Rolling Stones and then had amassed a considerable reggae and C&W collection while eating gumbo.
Despite my disastrously mixed metaphors above, The Hailers present a fun, pro sound both live and in the studio. Robert has a great rock and roll voice as well. Many notables choose to work with this band: click The Hailers own site LINK.
The Hailers personnel: Robert Mills, guitar, vocals; April Carson, bass, vocals; Tod Jasmin, keyboards, guitar; Oren Halmut, drums.
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Above, my better half Mr. Twister and I go a-photoing at a classic cars concourse at Bob's Big Boy, Burbank. The retro-burgerhaus built in 1949 (paleolithically ancient for L.A.) celebrates oldskool Southern California car culture with Vintage Vehicle Night every single Friday late afternoon/early evening of the year in the popular restaurant's ample parking lot. 'Not to be sniffed at: celebrated talk show host/local car collector Jay Leno frequents this weekly event every so oft.
Themes can be extreme...
...but the cars are restored beautifully. Many are for sale there.
Above, automotive expert Twister espies a '50s Mercedes coup, but is more intent on selling his own recently inherited 1965 one-owner (his mother!) "Honey Gold" Mustang that we drove there as seen below. (Interested parties can contact me.) Below left, looky-loos went way beyond kicking its tires, while I, uncharacteristic for a Southern Californian, sun-protection fanatic that I am, admired the visor on this woodie (slang appellation of the surf music-celebrated, wood-paneled station wagons that were built the U.S. from the '30s to the 'late '50s,) seen below right.
Tattooed young ladies in lowered vehicle make new friends above, as does the motorcycle club, below.
Non-SoCal residents and green uber-extremists might not associate oldskool car collecting/restoring as the wholesome activity it remains (besides tuning so-called "gross polluters" into great working vehicles again.) Below, we met Jon Nikas and his '53 Austin Healey restored for one purpose, to draw awareness to worthy cause Drive Away Cancer.You can read the story of its history, purpose and charitable good deeds herein:LINK . Back home after car show, handsome and healthy!Car may be sold, cross your fingers...
P.S. rest in peace Carroll Shelby, January 11, 1923 – May 10, 2012, so important to the automotive world of design and innovation.
Powerful punk threesome DENIZ TEK & The Golden Breed (Deniz: guitar, vocals; Art Godoy: bass, vocals; Steve Godoy: drums, vocals) rocked The Blue Cafe, Long Beach, Calif. to the bone a week ago on April 27th.
Deniz Tek performances have proved stronger than ever since his participation with Iggy and The Stooges at the Tribute to Ron Ashetona year ago in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Once famed for his work in seminal 1970s Australian punk band Radio Birdman to whom he brought his native Detroit-style hard-coreness on guitar (and for other rather significant accomplishments,*) Tek has found his perfect partners in crime with the rhythm section of identical twins Art and Steve Godoy. They cook live!
Standouts in their punk canon (see set list below) were "Hand Of Law" and "Working Man," forcefully wailed, played with super-intensity. Long Beach punk afficianados were duly impressed to see the real deal in action! The Godoys (formerly of SoCal's The Exploding Fuckdolls) have worked with Tek on and off since 1994.
The Godoy twins also share notoriety in the professional skateboarding and tattoo artistry worlds. I was told a poignant anecdote by them about their ink work for cancer survivors who underwent mastectomies. The Godoys tattoo trompe l'oeil nipples and surrounding colors for these patients who couldn't afford complete plastic surgery reconstructions. If you've ever seen their famous photo-realism LINK that's just as expert as their more tat-trad wildstyle work, you well can imagine how happy these patients were with the results.Hearing that, I like these guys even more.
~~PHOTO OPS~~
My stalwart co-adventurers were Jimmy Recca (bassist: the Ron Asheton/Machine Gun Thompson New Order, the Mach 1971 Stooges) and Paraphilia Magazine co-editor Dire McCain, seen above flanking Deniz Tek. Jimmy previously had graced my photo session (LINK) with Deniz and the Godoys when the band name was Last of the Badmen (session overtures arranged by Retrokimmer LINK.) Dire is pictured below happily sandwiched betwixt twins Art and Steve Godoy.
Left, Dire and Jimmy stroll the noir streets of Long Beach; right, worthy photographer Anne Laurent (a close, personal friend of Deniz) helms the swag table featuring not only DT & Golden Breed t-shirts et cetera but Tek's "Citadel Years" double-CD and assorted Radio Birdman items.
Master of his percussion domain, Steve Godoy, below, post-gig.
Looking like size-variable Alice in Wonderland below, Dire perches atop the club's surreal, giant piano bench...
...and reflects while looking gloriously if deceptively angelic, particularly for a literary titan, albeit one in black patent leather. *Beside being a punk rock legend, Tek is also an E.R. surgeon as well as former U.S. Navy "top gun" jet fighter pilot. Really.
Below, not from the gig in question, but fun and representative video nonetheless:
NOTE: link directly back to http://fastfilm1.blogspot.comif all elements such as photo layouts or videos aren't here.
The Beastie Boys circa 1989 on top of the Capitol Records building in Hollywood Calif. with a soupcon of showbiz panache courtesy of the Broadway sign behind them. They look like babies! It was nice, soft light considering it was an outdoor rooftop photo op. Rest in peace, Adam MCA Yauch, May 4, 2012.
Another desperate romantic: the ranch peacock 5.1.12. It was drizzling with no sunlight to set off his feathers' iridescence, so I used fill flash (telephoto on my purse camera, so he wasn't disturbed by flash on his perch in a horse's stall to get out of the rain) hence extreme colors. His honey the peahen was close by. A living Maxfield Parrish tableau!
Additional PHOTO OPS: Left, guitar hotshot Gilby Clarke (formerly of Guns N'Roses) played after Little Caesar. Below, Christine and Dire McCain, Editor of Paraphilia Magazine hit the serious moonlight beach showers outside of Brixton's.
Themes can be extreme...
...but the cars are restored beautifully.
Above, automotive expert Twister espies a '50s Mercedes coup, but is more intent on selling his own recently inherited 1965 one-owner (his mother!) "Honey Gold" Mustang that we drove there as seen below. (Interested parties can contact me.) 
Below left, looky-loos went way beyond kicking its tires, while
Back home after car show, handsome and healthy! Car may be sold, cross your fingers...
...and reflects while looking gloriously if deceptively angelic, particularly for a literary titan, albeit one in black patent leather.
