While we were waiting for the event  to being video messages were shown on the big screen. These were messages from: Jimmy Page, Brian May, Lemmy, Green Day, Dream Theater, Anthrax, Death Angel, Aerosmith, Slayer, Hatebreed, Dillinger Escape Plan, Lamb of God, Wolfmother, Mastodon, The Scorpions, MSG, actor Peter Coyote  and several sports stars as well.  One of the funniest clips was from U2 – in a group therapy session, spoofing Metallica’s documentary movie Some Kind of Monster.

So check this out, the first opening band was The Soul Rebels  - a New Orleans brass-band who came in blasting their arrangement of  Enter Sandman!   The came walking in from behind the audience from the lobby.  The followed it up with Battery and ended with The Memory Remains.  This one was actually my favorite. They took the main riff and turned it into what would be great intro-music for a boxer or for some kind of sporting event!

Metallica walked onto the stage to welcome us all and then to introduce the host for the evening comedian Jim Breuer. He was hilarious telling jokes, impersonating  Lars and James, Ozzy & Sharon Osbourne and Brian Johnson of AC/DC.  He also did a little game show where 3 audience members came up to test their Metallica trivia knowledge.

The band took the stage again to introduce the opening act,  a band called  Lääz Rockit.   The were on stage for about 30 minutes before Metallica got on stage to work. Here is the evening’s setlist:

Suicide & Redemption

Master of Puppets

…And Justice for All

Of Wolf and Man

Fade to Black

The Thing That Should Not Be

I Disappear

The Outlaw Torn

Hell and Back

Blitzkrieg performed with Joseph Guariglia – an audience member who played rhythm guitar perfectly with  James.

For Whom the Bell Tolls with Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains!

Nothing Else Matters – also with Jerry Cantrell.

So What! with Anti-Nowhere League’s Animal (Nick Culmer).

Tuesday’s Gone with  Gary Rossington (Lynrd Skynrd), Pepper Keenen (Corrosion of Conformity/ Down), Jerry Cantrell, and Jim Martin (Faith no More).

After the stage cleared,  James said to the audience, “You know he’s here…So let’s just bring Jason out here now.”  At this point everyone in the house went crazy as former bassist Jason Newstead walked out towards the center of the stage. Hugs were exchanged as the audience was chanting his name for something like 2 minutes!  He strapped on a bass, stood next to current bassist Rob Trujillo as  James Hetfield barked out the opening words to Fuel!

Jason stuck around to play Fight Fire with Fire.

Next Glenn Danzig (Misfits/Danzig) walks out and performs Die, Die My Darling and Green Hell.

As if the evening couldn’t have been any more amazing, James addresses us again saying,” Our next guest is a heavy metal icon… and the weirdest thing is that the older he gets – the better he sounds.  Ladies and gentlemen…  Mr. Rob Halford!” Yes, Rob Halford of Judas Priest – that Rob Halford!  He came out and rocked the song Rapid Fire.

Finally, to close the show, Metallica asked everyone who was on stage earlier to come out and join them for their classic Seek and Destroy.  We’re talking everyone: Laaz Rockit, Jason, Jerry, Pepper, Jim, Danzig, Animal  - and the Soul Rebels brass band.  They all took the stage and practically brought the house down.  Near the end of the song a couple hundred balloons were dropped along with confetti.

Simply put it may have been the most amazing concert I’ve been to so far!  Here are all the photos I took that night (plus a few i added from Metallica’s site):

Last Thursday night (July 22nd)  Brent and I got some yummy Japanese food (Nara Sushi) and then went to see one of the biggest bands of the last 20 years – Soundgarden!  Back in ’97 it was a big deal for hard rock/metal/grunge and alternative plans to hear that this influential Seattle band had called it quits.   It was great news to hear that the band decided to get back together and tour!   They played a 2 hour set of amazing ear-bleeding rock and roll.

I’m so glad I got to see this show with Brent!

Here are some youtube videos from the night:

I wanted to introduce you to the newest member of my arsenal:  My Res-O-Glas Valco Airline “JB Hutto” reproduction.  It’s angular futuristic appearance led to some players calling it the Jetsons guitar!

A few months ago I wrote about the guitar I was designing from parts. (http://mrsidslounge.com/archives/948)

Then, a few weeks ago I posted a photo of my current guitar collection.  (http://mrsidslounge.com/archives/1001)

I picked up this beauty on February 12th, and since then I’ve been playing it practically everyday.  I figured maybe it’s time to finish this story!  This is my reproduction of the classic Valco Airline  fiberglass guitar built between 1958-1968.   Valco also sold these guitars under the brand names of National and Supro.  I ordered most  of the parts online and had guitar building and repairing GENIUS Keith Holland put this together for me after I was referred to his Guitar Hospital in Los Gatos, California.

Parts:

• Res-O-Glas body kit from Guitar Kits USA (you can arrange the electronics as you see fit & use almost any neck or pickups!)
• Eastwood Airline Neck (fcustom Corian nut and frets filed down)
• Acoustic Rosewood Bridge base with roller bridge on top
• Tone Pro tuners
• Bigsby vintage-style tremolo (TP 3643-001)
• neck pickup: GFS  Power Rails Humbucker
• brigde pickup: GFS Crunchy Rails Humbucker
• electronics: 3-way pickup selector switch, coil-tapped humbucking pickups controlled by 2 push-pull volume knobs

This guitar is simply amazing!  I can play everything from Surf and Jazz to Thrash Metal.    The guitar’s fiberglass hollow body gives a rich full sound.  I play through a Line 6 digital amp modeler running through my Roland Jazz-Chorus 120 amp – allowing me to have a vast array of sounds to play with.   Tapping the neck pickup allows me to play fantastic sounding surf and rockabilly and when I’m playing Hendrix-style stuff the tone I get sounds better to me than my Stratocaster!   Using the bridge pickup alone can get me some serious hard rock and brutal heavy metal tones depending on the amp models I select.   I’m just starting to play with odd tapped and non-tapped  combinations of both pickups, but this is the first guitar I’ve owned that sounded wonderful regardless of amp or effects settings or whatever style I felt like playing.

It’s even cooler knowing this guitar is one-of-a-kind.   I might even  get around to posting some video of me playing this thing!

My Guitars (from left to right):

1. Agile Valkyrie (Gibson SG copy)
2. Agile AL-3000 “Rootbeer” (Gibson Les Paul copy)
3. Res-O-Glas Valco reproduction (custom built)
4. 2000 Gretsch 6120- Brian Setzer Signature model (1st edition)
5. 1994 Fender ’62 Reissue Stratocaster
6. 2007 SX-SJM 62

Last night Kristen came along with me to San Jose’s HP Pavillion, also known as the Shark Tank to see Metallica’s final show of the year.
It was a night of glorious, ear and earth-shattering, face-melting, shaking the pillars of heaven heavy metal! We missed opening band Volbeat’s set, but caught the last 3 songs by San Jose’s own Machine Head. Then after 30 minutes or so of anitcipation the lights all went down. The audience started screaming.

Then the moment we were waiting for came… Ennio Morricone’s “Ecstacy of Gold” started playing. (If you don’t know this dramatic piece of music…this is the music played before the final gunfight in the movie “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”) When this ended, crazy laser lights were all over the place as they played through “This Was Just Your Life” – the first track off of their latest album, Death Magnetic.

Overall, they played a set of 2 hours of music… and most of it was heavy including half  songs from Death Magnetic, songs off of Ride the Lightning, and of course fan favorites “Enter Sandman” and “Master of Puppets”. During their encore they played some cover songs by Diamond Head before ending the night by requesting that the audience be prepared to sing 3 words at the right time and for the venue’s lighting guy to turn all the house lights up so that the bad could see all of us. They then ripped into the classic “Seek and Destroy” off of their first album, Kill ‘Em All.

The show was an amazing spectacle. Lights and lasers, 4 giant white coffins hanging over the stage were moving up and down, and yes, there were bursts of fire! The band has not lost their edge and sound aggressive, brutal and in my opinion HEAVIER than when they released their first album. It was an awesome night of music with many diverse groups of people coming together as one as they sang together, screamed together, and of course head banged and threw out the devil horns together! I can’t wait to see them again.

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It was a cold Wednesday night in San Francisco… but that’s ok because The Donnas came back to warm us up with some hard and loud rock and roll!
Everytime they return to SF, I’m usually there in the audience to cheer them on. Drummer, Torry Castellano didn’t play that night. Instead she was replaced with the kick-ass Amy Cesari. I found out later on wikipedia that Torry had injured her shoulder. I hope she recovers soon!

Thanks to Alan, Keith, Michael, Mark and Larry for coming out to the show with me!

Behold! This is the humble beginning of my next guitar. (Guitar number 6 for those keeping score.) I’m taking to “Doc” Keith Holland at the Guitar Hospital tomorrow.

Some details:
Body: Res-O-Glas fiberglass in the Valco Supro Airline style by Guitar Kits USA
Neck: Eastwood Guitars Airline reproduction
Pickups: 2 GFS Humbuckers from Guitar Fetish dot com

This axe is going to be a serious Rock ‘n Roll machine! I’m going for a modern minimalist look with only 2 knobs (volume) and a 3-way pickup selector.
Though I’m doing a modern take on this vintage design in general, I’m opting for a retro Bigsby-style tremolo system. On the electronics side of things, I’m skipping tone knobs entirely. More importantly I’m getting these humbucker pickups coil-tapped. I’ll have a wider spectrum of sounds available as I can switch from single-coil to double-coil pickup sounds on a whim.

Here’s a preview of how I want this guitar to be:

Stay tuned for progress on this project…

Ha! It was Los Straitjackets back at Slim’s in San Francisco.

Kristen and I hooked up with James and Mark for food, drinks and one of our favorite bands. This time it was pure Straitjackets…. the boys weren’t touring with any guest vocalists or burlesque dancers. Yet, they still rocked the house with their instrumental rock and roll pulling from surf, blues, rockabilly, spy among their various influences.

After their set, Southern Culture on the Skids took the stage and rocked! I’d never seen them live before and was quite impressed. Also during the Southern Culture set Los Straitjackets guitarist Daddy-O Grande was walking through the bar – still wearing his Mexican wrestling mask and suit. I got to shake his hand! Check out both bands if you have the chance to see them. Hopefully Los Straitjackets will be back again soon.

Les Paul - the master, the originator

He passed away yesterday at the age of 94. This is one of those few times in recent memory where I find myself actually emotionally affected by a celebrity’s death. I’m actually a bit sad. You probably already have heard the highlights of his life and career: inventor of the solid body electric guitar, inventor of multi-track recording, over-dubbing, various delays, and phasing, virtuoso guitarist and composer, and top 40 recording artist from the 1940s – 1960s.

I’ve been playing electric guitar for 20 years and for a few years before that as a kid I wanted to learn how to play…simply because the electric guitar was so damn cool. As a musician I feel immense gratitude to the man who really made the guitar become a “hero” of instruments..no longer relegated to the background but really becoming the lead instrument. Without him modern music simply wouldn’t exist.

Some friends and I had this plan to fly out to New York City for a day just to see Les Paul play at the Irridium jazz club to catch his weekly gig. Now I really feel bad for not making it happen.

Anyway, my guitars and amp seem a bit more precious this morning. We lost a friend, a hero, a teacher and a great explorer. I’ve heard and read various accounts saying that the man was also a genuine nice guy. If you play guitar strum a little over the weekend. I will be.

RIP Les Paul…. you will be missed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul

Last night we met up with Lisa and Tommy for a fantastic night of cocktails, music and comedy at San Francisco’s famous Bimbos 365 Club!   Opening band Project: Pimento supplied 60s spy/lounge/jazz/rock music that could’ve been an alternate soundtrack to the Connery-era  James Bond films.

Then after a short break, the headliners Richard Cheese & Lounge Against the Machine rocked the main stage.   If you’ve never heard of them, you’re in for a treat.  They take popular rock,rap,metal, and top 40 songs and turn them into swinging lounge music.  Richard Cheese is also a sharp-tongued quick witted comedian who seems to actually feed off  random interrruptions from hecklers in the audience.  He actually told one guy he’d never get a dat making the dolphin noises he was yelling… and then got him to tell us his facebook screen name so that we could all take out our phones and add him as a friend because… there was no other way he’d have any friends.  If you ever have a chance to see them live, please do so! You won’t be dissappointed.

He was there in the beginning of it all with guys like Chuck berry, LIttle Richard, Buddy Holly, etc. The man was an innovator in terms of rock rhythms and in terms of guitar technique and sounds. He used to build his unique rectangular guitars and played with a lot of fuzz, reverb and host of other sounds. His use of innovative guitars and effects, and his brand of bragging lyrics about himself have labelled him the creator of psychadelic rock and as the precursor of rap music.

Kristen and I had an opportunity to see him perform a few years ago, and it was one fo the best shows I’d ever seen. The man was a master showman coming from an era where a performer actually made you feel good as an audience member. He would remind us all that he was there to work for us. People give the Rolling Stones flak for being in their 60s and still performing. We saw him live and he was about 71 and rocking hard!

As a guitarist, it makes me sad he’s gone. A lot of us have gone through that phase where we learn Chuck Berry and Bo Diddly riffs. Fun as hell to play! Thankfully the music is still here. I’m listening to his “Who Do You Love” right now.

RIP sir.

Donnas at 1015 Folsom

We began our evening at The Chieftan, a very nice Irish Pub. It was my first time there and I was relieved to learn that they served dinner. Fish & chips and Bangers & mash filled our stomachs, and prepared us for the Guiness, whiskey, and gin & tonics that we knew would be coming our way throughout the night.

Standing outside the 1015 Folsom club was fun, even though we were drenched by the time we got inside. 1015 is a dance club, so going to see a live band, much less a rock band here was going to be a weird night for all. We walk into the darkness to find a crazy layout with each large room bathed in a solid color light. This first level was a dull blue. Mirrors on the walls and the rhythmic shots of the strobe lights made the scene seem more chaotic than it really was. It was hard to figure out where the stage was and where we were supposed to go.

Eventually we found the dance floor with the stage, and killed time while the 2 opening bands played their sets. Alan and I have a debate over gin & tonics going – which has lasted for a decade. I prefer Bombay Sapphire while he is a Tanqueray man. Brent stayed neutral with his Maker’s & Ginger. As the 2nd band was tearing down their equipment and the Donna’s roadies were getting their stuff ready we staked out our place on the floor.

The house sound system was playing random rock songs for awhile. The 3 of us sang along to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls”… and then it started. The house lights went down, and green and red lights flared up behind the drum kit. Tori – the drummer was the first to hit the stage. She was quickly followed by Maya (bass) and Allison (guitar) as they started playing the mostly instrumental song “Bitchin’” (which happens to be the intro and title track to their current album). It was a heavy metal march as the guitars and bass crunched along in unison. the last chord fades out… And as Allison starts playing a new riff high up on her guitar’s neck Brett ran up to the mic. They dive into the 2nd half of the song and as Brett sings fists and devil horns went up int he air as the crowd began to scream and cheer. And thus began roughly 90 minutes of some heavy rock and roll fun.

I’ve seen The Donnas live several times and it’s always a treat to see these Bay Area (Palo Alto) girls come home. The Donna’s sound has evolved a bit. The basic formula of AC/DC meets The Ramones is now more of the 80s Glam Metal sound heavily spiced with influences of The Cult, Ratt, Motley Crue, Metallica, Van Halen , Joan Jett, and The Runaways.

Sadly, there aren’t enough girl-groups that are actual BANDS… you know, writing their own material and actually playing their own instruments. It’s precisely that reason why The Donnas rock – not only do they ROCK, but they don’t have much competition in that department. I say it’s a shame. I like the confident female lyrics and vocals over what is typically thought of as a male-centric music. So if you get a chance to see them live, please do so. You won’t be disappointed. These ladies are beautiful, clever, sexy, fun and and most importantly excellent musicians who can strut, swagger and bring the rock as good as any of the guys.

After the show we hit the Encore Karaoke Lounge to hang with some of our coworkers. We stayed through closing and Danny joined us an early breakfast at the Lucky Penny.

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The Donnas got a lot of love from the San Francisco audience especially because they’re originally from the area (Palo Alto). Having last seen them live 2 years ago, one thing was obvious from the beginning of their set – The Donnas are a much heavier band now!

These beautiful ladies not only have the hard rock attitude but they’ve got the chops to back it up. The riffs are heavier, bass and drums tighter and the result was an evening of kick-ass hard rock. One of the best songs of the night was a cover of Ratt’s “Round and Round” during the encore. That was one fo the best shows for me this year, and I can’t wait for The Donnas to return.

Oh yeah, pick up the new album “Bitchin’” – because it uh… rocks.

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On this tour they are supporting their new album: Rock En Espanol, vol 1. – a collection of covers of old school rock and roll as reworked by Mexican bands and Mexican-American bands from Los Angeles. The show rocked! Every year the masked men return to SF, they bring an all new rock and roll spectacle. This is one band that shouldn’t be missed.

Here’s a video of Big Sandy and Los Straitjackets performing Tallahassee Lassee aka Chica Alboratada.

Do not miss a chance to see this band!

Kristen and I walked down the street and got ourselves some brunch at Darla’s. We then strolled into Golden Gate Park. Our destination was the Conservatory of Flowers and the Butterfly exhibit therein. Though we’ve lived in the neighborhood for 8 years or so, we’d never gone inside the Conservatory before. I believe it was originally built in 1896 for some kind of fair. Inside there are plants from tropical areas of the world. The butterfly exhibit was neat! there were all sorts of butterflies flying around us going about their business going from flower to flower, plant to plant to drink nectar and polinate.

As we walked back outdoors we heard loud music. It was Gnarls Barkely’s hit “Crazy”. It sounded live. Turned out a local radio station was doing a concert and festival. We rushed over, found ourselves a spot on the hill next to Speedway Meadow and watched the band perform the last 15 minutes of their set. A little while later the B-52’s hit the stage. So we stuck around and watched a good portion of the set. How cool was that? Free concert!

Later that evening we hung out with Kristen’s cousin Curtis, back froma year of studying and adventuring in Beijing. You can check him out at www.djloo.com/blog

Back in the 80s, San Francisco was the world’s capital for thrash metal. Bay Area bands leading the scene included Testament, Exodus, the world famous Metallica and this band of young guns known as Death Angel. These 5 guys had a few things that made them unique. All members of the band are Filipino-American, all cousins, were much younger than the other bands and incidentally went to my highschool. Drummer Andy Galleon was 14 when the band was touring the world with Metallica…can you imagine that? I actually rode the bus home with Andy for the first two years of highschool.

Anyway, they disbanded in 1992 and after teaming up in various incarnations and side projects they reformed at a benefit concert in 2003. Since then they have continued onward, recording their first new album in 14 years and touring almost nonstop around the world.

It was a 1st-class-amazing show. Funny thing is, that Monday Kristen subbed a 2nd grade class and the drummer, Andy Galleon’s daughter was in class writing in her journal about what she did this summer. She wrote about watching her dad’s band play at the club and that it was very loud!

It was Tuesday night, June 6th. I met up with my coworkers: John, Joey, David and Kevin at the legendary Filmore. We were also joined by my cousin Ken and his date as well as my friend Fernando. After the openning act (a Scottish folksinger-songwriter) finished… the Steven Seagal band hit the stage!

Steve can play! And he can sing! And i hate to admit this but he ROCKED. Yes, you read it correctly – Steven Segal ROCKED!!!
Now I’m not about to buy his CDs, but I would actually go back and watch him live again.

After the show we bought some Seagal junk and stood in line to get his autograph. The man was silent barely saying 2 words. Somehow David got the best autograph. It read: “To David, love Steven Seagal”. We’re jealous – he just looked at us and quickly signed his name.

Needless to say it was a night we’ll never forget.

Kristen and I discovered Taiwanese musician Jay Chou last night while we were eating at one of our favorite restaurants: Spices II.  Enjoy!

Yes, that is Kung Fu master Jet Li featured throughout the video. Yeah it’s on the soundtrack for Jet Li’s film “Huo Yuan Jia” or “Fearless” as it’s being called for international release. Looks like this one is Jet Li’s final historical martial arts epic. He’ll be doing more contemporary films I guess.

I’ll just say it. I hate Christmas and i hate this B.S. holiday season. So why would I even go to a Christmas pageant?
3 reasons:
Rock and Roll, burlesque and booze!

Kristen and I met up with Alan and we hit Slim’s to see the Los Straitjackets Christmas Pageant featuring the World Famous Pontani Sisters and singer/emcee Kaiser George from Scotland.

Yes, Los Straitjackets perform some kick-ass surf and instrumental rock wearing Mexican Wrestling masks. Infact guitarist Daddy-O Grande only speaks to the audience in rapid-fire Spanish. Amplifiers were covered in shiny gift wrapping paper, and there were cheesy little artificial trees everywhere. And throughout the show (while performing their own surf tunes and twisted and creative surf-covers of standard Christmas songs) the Pontani Sisters performed their cute yet sexy dance numbers. Round it out with Kaiser George singing an occasional song about love, joy, holidays and cynicism… it was a fantastical night of Rock n’ Roll genius.

check out these video clips!

Rocking with the Pontani Sisters, and Kaiser George on the mic:

and here’s one of their videos: