What if...Festival Edition

Since festivals are all the rage these days...I was wondering: what if a festival promised non-stop music for, say, three or four days?

I'm not quite certain how many bands that would be, but we're talking about 24 hours of music. That means nite owls could enjoy some Metal at 4 a.m. and early birds can rock out at 8 a.m. I highly doubt both groups were ever intersect because, well, humans need sleep.

The prospect of paying for a ticket and enjoying live music at any moment of the day is quite intoxicating. Still, there would be lots of questions: if the music is non-stop, when do the headliners play? Who plays at 3 a.m.? 9 a.m.? How do you have enough staff to support such an event?

My guess is that headliners could still play around 11 p.m. and smaller or more obscure bands could play in the true dead of night.

Here are some bands I think could, ahem, "set the night on fire."

Here's Stars from Mars

Here's Pretty Boy Floyd

Here's W.A.S.P.

So what do you think of my band choices to play in the "dead of night?" More importantly, do you think a 24/7 festival is possible? I think it sounds both fun and downright exhausting. I await your comments.

Rock the Bayou?

You probably already know about Rocklahoma and South Texas Rock Fest (both in just 13 days!) but what about Rock the Bayou?

The inaugural Rock the Bayou fest is slated for Labor Day weekend of this year in Houston, Texas. So far, some Internet searches reveal Sammy Hagar and Warrant are confirmed for the event. A little more sleuthing leads me to believe that Queensryche, Ratt, Skid Row, Y&T, Firehouse, Gilby Clarke, Jetboy, Dokken, Great White, Enuff Znuff, Bulletboys w/ Steve Adler, Britny Fox, Little Ceasar, Alice Cooper,  Yngwie Malmsteen, Slaughter, Pretty Boy Floyd, Lizzy Borden, Black N Blue, Broken Teeth, Bret Michaels, Twisted Sister, Dangerous Toys, Lynch Mob, Tora Tora and more.

Random postings on ticket broker sites seem to point that tickets will go on-sale July 5th. To me, that is incredibly risky because festival organizers are only giving patrons a little over six weeks to buy. This could also mean the line-up is incredibly strong and ticket prices very reasonable.

The official website is Rock the Bayou and that domain is registered to the president of Online Tickets. Also visit the official Myspace page.  

I'm really excited about this festival - even without an "official" lineup. I think fate intervened and kept me from booking another vacation (Cabo and Jamaica were the front runners) but now I have my heart set on Houston. Glam goodness I love festivals.

Speaking of Band Tattoos...

The other day I asked about your band tattoos. Well, BBG! reader Rich went the extra mile and sent me a photo of his Poison tat. As you can tell, this is the cover of the greatest hits album.

My girl Vicky just sent me her very cool Motley Crue tattoo. Check it out!

 

If you'd like to share your band tattoo photos, I'd be happy to post them here.  

In the Name of Glam...

I'll be the first to admit I do some really quirky things in the name of Glam. I'm sure some find these "quirks" endearing while others can't be bothered with my insanity.

A list of my biggest (and most recent) Glam quirks:

01. I had my toenails painted Poison green. It's hard to tell by the adjacent photo, but please believe, the green is definitely of the Poison variety. I'm pretty sure even the nail salon owners were impressed (amused?) by my color choice. Shock of shocks, the bottle of polish was completely full as if I was the first person to ever want Poison green toes...

02. Speaking of Poison green...I forced my husband to paint our newly renovated basement this color. Ok, so I cut the color with a tamer lime and used the Poison green as an accent, but still: I have a Poison green bar. In my basement. So Glam.

03. I spent 45 minutes the other day looking at vanity plates for my car. Glam was taken (damnit!) but I'm pretty sure I can come up with a suitable variation for my little car. It's the time of year when I have to renew a tag *and* get a new license, so I might as well get a vanity plate while I'm enjoying conversation with the pleasant people at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

04. My husband just built me a writer's office. When it came time to paint, he asked what I wanted and I said "Bring Back Glam!" pink. Guess what? That's the exact color I've got. Like Poison, I believe in sticking with your brand and boy am I dedicated to pink.

05. I wear rhinestone skull earrings to work. This tends to (still) confuse quite a lot of people. From far away it appears I'm wearing boring old earrings. A closer look reveals an angry skull and crossbones. The earrings say "Yeah, buddy in cubicle 4356, I'm looking at you and I don't mess around." On days when subtly alludes me I wear giant hoop skull earrings and some sort of rhinestone top.

06. I quote random Glam lyrics in normal work conversation. This humors me to no end. Naturally no one usually understands the joke, but that's alright. I am a fan of cheap entertainment and I'm easily amused. "No boss, the other team didn't get that report done and we're not gonna take it!" I giggle to myself and all is right with the world.

07. I try to play songs way out of my league on my bass because damnit, I'm a Glam musician! The practice sessions usually end with me completely frustrated and then returning to the homework assigned by my bass teacher. Is it so wrong that I want to play a little Megadeth at the end of a long day? The really quirky part is that I have a tendency to pick the hardest songs of a band's catalog to learn. I get frustrated, my husband gets frustrated, chaos ensues and I never learn the damn song. The next morning, I wake up and think "Today I'll play 'Primal Scream' on the first try."

08. Quirky is my middle name when it comes to sweets. You see, I am a junk food lover. Pass, I'm an addict. I'll admit it. My name is Allyson and I am addicted to junk food. Often, when I'm standing in front of the long freezers at the grocery, I stare blankly at the ice cream cartons and think "these flavors should have Glammer names." Like Quiet Nut Riot Sundae or Lynam Licorice or Stairway to Rocky Road Heaven. You get the idea.

09. I make up false words and phrases in the name of Glam. I did it above with "Glammer." Or at least I think I did. As in, which of these bands is Glammer? Or, "Glam gracious" or "Glam goodness."

10. At random times of the day I'll think "I wonder what David Coverdale is doing right now."

Yeah. I'm certifiable. Please tell me you also do quirky things in the name of Glam.  

Listen While You Work?

You've heard of whistling while your work...but what about listening?

While I was slowly dying, er...sitting, in my cubicle at work yesterday it dawned on me that I could hear several different radio stations at one time.  The administrative assistant assigned to my corner of the floor was listening to country on a local station and the woman across the way was listening to a CD through her computer. The noise wasn't loud. In fact, I find it sort of normalizing. I don't trust office spaces that are quiet. I truly believe there must be at least a little noise as proof work is actually happening.

Looking back on my career path, I can safely say that listening to music was allowed at every job I've ever held. Of course, I didn't ask about the music policy upfront, I've always just pulled out my headphones and listened. 

I've noticed a pattern when I'm listening to my iPod at work: I tend to pick one album in the morning and just listen on repeat all day. I can't explain this, except that at this point the music really is just background noise because I'm concentrating on work and the stuff I write at my day job is about as far away from Glam as you can get.

My work listening goes in moods, too. Toward the end of my time at the TV station, I was listening to the Heroin Diaries soundtrack for about five hours each day. I love the Heroin Diaries and think it's one of the best albums of this decade...but man, it can be a downer if you're already depressed!

Here lately I've been listening to Avenged Sevenfold's Waking the Fallen a lot at work for the aggressive tempo and kick ass guitar work. Saints of Los Angeles is now at the top of the rotation to help me shut out corporate life.

Here's a funny aside: one of my coworkers who is quite high-up the food chain came to me for some help writing a communication. I had in my earbuds and iPod and the coworker leaned over to see what I was listening to, which happened to be "Dr. Feelgood." His remark "Don't you think you're a little young for Motley Crue?" I cackled a little and said "You have no idea." He looked confused. I digress.

Anyway, I think music really does motivate at work. I can understand if an employer has a headphones only policy, as too many different types of music blaring can create office confusion. Still, giving employees a little music during their day can surely boost morale.

Hell, even Milton Waddams is allowed two hours of music in the morning while collating at Initech. 

Do you listen to music while you work?

Speaking of Milton Waddams, here's my favorite scene from Office Space.

Saints of Los Angeles: The Bring Back Glam! Album Review

Motley Crue are back with their first album featuring all the original members in over a decade. Saints of Los Angeles (Motley/Eleven Seven Records)  features 13 tracks loosely aligned to the 2001 band autobiography The Dirt and tells the story of Motley's rise (and fall) in the L.A. Glam scene. Track list:

L.A.M.F.
Face Down in the Dirt
What's It Gonna Take
Down at the Whisky
Saints of Los Angeles
Muther Fucker of the Year
The Animal in Me
Welcome to the Machine
Just Another Psycho
Chicks = Trouble
This Ain't a Love Song
White Trash Circus
Goin' Out Swingin'

Saints of Los Angeles (henceforth SOLA) is a mixed bag, but overall the hits outweigh the misses.

The album opens with "L.A.M.F.," a spoken word dialogue courtesy Vince Neil in the same vein as "In the Beginning" from Shout at the Devil. Here the introduction is less than effective and actually falls in the annoying category. Deleting this track would probably make the album stronger.

The first half of the album is fairly strong, chronicling the band's struggle to rise from gutter trash to multi millionaires.  "Face Down in the Dirt" is  decent and "Saints of Los Angeles" is fabulous.  Quite frankly, "Saints of Los Angeles" is in an entirely different league when compared to the rest of the songs the new album. There's something sonically different about this track. The sound is so rich, so strong and so Motley. The guitar work coupled with superior lyrics make "Saints of Los Angeles" one of the best songs in Motley's deep catalog.

"What's It Gonna Take" and  "Down at the Whisky" are fairly weak compared to some of the other songs on SOLA. Next to "Saints of Los Angeles" my favorite new track is "Muther Fucker of the Year." I can't quite explain why I love this song so much, but it probably has something to do with the repetitive chorus or Vince's nasally whine. Whatever the case, I listened to this song about 17 times on repeat. It's true, I can't get enough! I also really dig "Welcome to the Machine,"  "Just Another Psycho" and "This Ain't a Love Song."

While SOLA has some damn strong tracks, there are plenty of stinkers. "Chicks = Trouble" is pretty bad. In fact, it's my least favorite track on SOLA. I listened to the album from start to finish three times before making any real judgements, but after that time I found myself skipping "Chicks = Trouble." The lyrics make me cringe and the actual music is pretty bad too. Also a downer is "White Trash Circus." The lyrics are not as heinous as "Chicks = Trouble" but the track lacks anything special. If there's nothing special about the song, there's no reason to listen.

There's no true ballad here and I think that's a wise move. "The Animal in Me" has a slower tempo and thus provides a natural thematic break between songs.

Is SOLA Motley Crue's best effort? No, but it does have a certain sound quality that is reminiscent of the Dr. Feelgood era. Some of the lyrics on SOLA are just a little strained and that comes out pretty clear. The difference is that this time, Nikki Sixx and company are looking back on history instead of writing in the moment. History and memories change our perception. Struggling financially at the time is pretty tough but can seem a little romantic after a certain level of success is achieved. I suspect Nikki looked back on his early Sunset Strip days with a hazy fondness and wrote what came to his mind which of course is sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

The downlow? Buy this album. Even with a couple bad tracks, it's a strong effort from a classic Glam band.

The Cost of Free Downloads

Downloading (or file sharing or whatever) is a hot topic among music fans these days. I know a lot of people that use Torrents to grab tracks and even whole albums, but I am just really against illegal downloads.

I won't lie: the thought of downloading leaked tracks for free and before an official release is downright intoxicating. I didn't illegally download Motley Crue's Saints of Los Angeles even though it's been on the Internet for about a month. I think there is something truly special about waiting until the day of a big release, going to the store, buying the physical album and then letting the music blast all the way home. I know many of you can attest to my honesty here: a lot of you have sent me download links or asked my opinion of the album and my response was always "wait until the day of the release." I'll review Motley Crue's new one right here tomorrow, after listening to my advance copy (and yeah, I pre-ordered a copy too, so Motley got my money).

I know kids like to download because 1) it's free and 2) it's quick. The problem is, Torrents and the like are basically stealing. No, you're not throwing a brick through a big glass window at the bank and robbing the safe, but you're still hurting the artist and everyone else who worked on producing an album.

There is no way in HELL that I would work without getting paid, so how can I rob someone else of their salary? Yes, bands like Motley Crue, Aerosmith, Guns n' Roses, Metallica, The Rolling Stones...are filthy rich, but that doesn't make file sharing acceptable. Producers, sound engineers, publicists, managers, writers, gear techs - not to mention distributors and and your local music store - all get a piece of the pie when a band records an album. When sales fall off - sometimes due to downloads or a million other reasons - everyone involved suffers. Problem is, that lost revenue comes right back to you and me. Promoters set ticket prices for tours, but with the sky high cost of just about everything, bands need a surefire way to guarantee money. It's a vicious cycle because kids think they'll download an album, then spend their money on the concert. The only problem is, if not enough people buy an album, it's kind of hard to generate hype and that can hurt shows, too.

The music industry is fatally flawed, there's no doubt about that. I'm also not judging people for downloading songs without payment, but I felt it was important for you to know my stance on the issue. I've always been "choosy" when it comes to purchasing albums. When I was in high school, I bought nearly all my own CDs, so I couldn't go to the mall and pick up five or ten discs at a time. My rule was one CD a week, so I made sure I really wanted the album before I plunked down my 15 bucks. Now, I have more money but I'm still the same way: I think about my music purchases and I buy used if I can meaning I can get more in one trip. I can't say what position I'd take on downloading if I was 16 again. Like I said, the thought of immediate, free music is very intoxicating.

What is your opinion on the matter?