IGGY and THE STOOGES, live at the Queen Mary, Long Beach, Paraphilia Magazine photofeature link

 Have you always wanted even more current shots of these Stooges live onstage? Trundle over to Paraphilia Magazine, clicking LINK for my photofeature on Iggy and The Stooges' gig at the Queen Mary, Long Beach, California at the beginning of their 2013 summer tour! I counted at least 29 of 'em, plus my review of the show and pertinent quotations by assorted colleagues, fans and friends of the band.

  

 

And exclusively for FastFilmBlog readers, here's a shot at the gig not in the aforementioned photofeature, backstage left to right: original "Kill City" back cover model Evita Corby, lovely Linda Williamson, Stooges' guitarist James Williamson and FastFilm's friend Rico Cardinale, Beverly Hills A-list hairdresser to several of my photo sessions with James. 

KIBITZING with THE DOGS at CANTER'S

Inspired by guitarist/singer Loren Dog's gig with his other band Little Caesar at The Kibitz Room at Canter's Deli (see LINK,) THE DOGS pulled out all the punk stops and pulled the punk crowd into same. At top, Canter's habitue and Mayor of the Sunset Strip, Rodney Bingenheimer joins THE DOGS, who were the very first band played on the influential DJ's debut Rodney on the ROQ radio show, August, 1976.

Loren spent

a great

deal of the

set above the

ground or

showing

the Holy

Grail Guitar to

the enraptured masses with their tech devices at 

The Kibitz Room. As a new fan noted,"they do almost entirely different sets each performance," easy with their 40 years worth of material. Below, Paul L'Esperance of Shock leapt onstage to join in a rousing chorus of "John Rock And Roll Sinclair" during the encore.  

Ever the rebels, they
wish us to endeavor, as soon 
as humanly possible, to 
Free Pussy Riot!!
THE DOGS remain:
Loren Molinare, guitar, vocals
Mary Kay, bass, vocals
Tony Matteucci, drums, vocals

MORE PHOTO OPS:

Above, reunion for the Class of '77, with amongst others, Loren and Mary of THE DOGS, Paul L'Esperance of Shock, who often played with The Dogs, Vanilla, an original fan, and Tom Morris of Little Caesar.

 

Also above, O.G. Dogs cohort Stan Gullo with his brand new THE DOGS tattoo, Krista Wood (original Dogs' drummer Ron Wood's first wife,) and Ray Perez, sound guy extraordinaire for the Dogs since back in the day. Above right, Mary Dog, Al Temen and Leslie Knauer, who fronted Kanary, another of Mary's onetime bands. Below left, Kim Yee and Brian Zabawski, ardent new Dogs fans; and right, Eve Reynolds, ?, ?, Brenda Starr Light, Jamielle Stanley, Tony Matteucci.

MARY KAY of THE DOGS, stylin' for Violet Moon

(We photographed this the week Mary was in town for THE DOGS' gig at the Kibitz Room, 8.16.12, see next blog LINK, and I fashioned this copy for Violet Moon, which makes excellent quality, high end guitar straps as well see LINK.) 

MARY KAY, renowned bassist of the legendary Detroit/Los Angeles band THE DOGS, loves her Violet Moon bracelet cuff made by Dana Campbell, saying, "It's just exactly my style." 

Her music (and style) history: THE DOGS wrote their own original songs from the get-go in Detroit in the 1960s, and opened for the likes of MC5, The Stooges, Amboy Dukes with Ted Nugent, SRC etc. In the mid 1970s THE DOGS moved to NYC opening for Kiss, The Stilettos (proto-Blondie,) Television, Ramones and all manner of punks watchful of THE DOGS' pared-down but hardcore Detroit rock performed in their own torn jeans and leather jackets. "Our normal street clothes because," laughs Mary, "we couldn't afford stage clothes." In their Los Angeles relocation original punks era, THE DOGS' mighty "Slash Your Face" became one of SPIN magazine's all-time Top Ten punk singles. 

In the 1980s they performed with Van Halen, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses and, well, everybody, then sabbatical-ed in separate directions. But then the amazing occurred. The classic Detroit sound was vindicated though hundreds of thousands of fans and bands continuing to this very second. And THE DOGS' reputation via the emerging internet accelerated into its present, deserved status of bona fide, singular, committed, hardest rock/power trio/punk rock true legends. Europeans paid outlandish sums for long ago 45 rpm singles on THE DOGS' self-released Detroit Records. The Midwest reclaimed THE DOGS as native sons (and daughter) of Relevance, and brand new bookings, dvds, cds and tours of Japan, Canada and all across the USA ensued for the band. 

Thankfully, THE DOGS remain a touring and music-releasing band to this very day, forty years later with all commensurate energies plus tightest-playing, hardcore rock proficiencies intact!

MEDICINE LIVE at the Echo 8.11.13

 

 Medicine reunited for their first gig in 18 years at The Echo, 8.11.13! Medicine are a much beloved West Coast band that released music on Rick Rubin's American Recordings and Creation Records in the U.K. They toured abroad with Spiritualized and the Jesus and Mary Chain, and garnered much U.S. college and alternative radio airplay for their distinctive shoegaze with improbably catchy guitar noise and wistful but strong femme vocals. Brad Laner, whom I photographed 20 years ago in his nascent version of the band (Debt of Nature, see photo at bottom) performs the former and lovely Beth Thompson is their comely and graceful dancing chanteuse alongside Jim Goodall on drums since the beginning, and Dale Jennings, bassist.

 

  Above, 20 years ago in my studio, Debt of Nature: Brad Laner, Marianne Grubbs, Eddie Ruscha. Brad arrived with a firm sense of what he wanted to convey, and we all nailed the session on this very first shot (rare.)

R.I.P. ELMORE LEONARD

Rest in peace Elmore Leonard,acclaimed, popular, successful and quite prolific writer (forty-five novels) who died today at age 87 in his Bloomfield Hills, Michigan home. He began writing Westerns in the 1950s, then Leonard refined and modernized crime fiction for our lifetime.  Above is an original  book cover of his source material for one of my alltime favorite films, Jackie Brown. Although many elements were changed by screenwriters Roger Avary and Quentin Tarantino (also Brown's director,) according to Wikipedia, Leonard loved its screenplay, considering it the very best of the twenty-six screen adaptations of his novels and short stories.

AHAB/REHAB LIVE at Paladino's: wish granted!

Have you ever wished that bands who cover classic rock chose better songs or even just played better? Wish granted, and then some! Ahab/Rehab (and sometimes 3Hab: they have several variants of themselves, much as George Clinton has done with Parliament/Funkadelic) play great hard rock choices not limited to radio/tv/video heavy rotation with the expertise of the lifelong music pros that they are.

 Ahab/Rehab reprised their good taste and their precise Saturday night looseness at Paladino's, 8.2.13. More info on this great, FUN band and their pedigrees, click LINK and LINK.

James Apache Hawkins: "We're guitar players who sing..." (as does drummer Tony Mattuecci.)

PHOTO OPS, family reunions edition:

Above, Danny Isaacs and Tracy Marshall Isaacs, proud parents taking the night off from their adorable little daughters to see friends rock out. Danny was known as "Danny De Muff" when he was in The Dogs (Tony Matteucci of Ahab/Rehab remains the Dogs' drummer as well.)

Comely duo, singer Meritt Morgan and her mother Beth enjoyed the gig as well. Meritt is a former spouse of Loren Dog of The Dogs.