Traci Michaelz of Peppermint Creeps Dead

Traci Michaelz of the Peppermint Creeps has died while on tour in Texas. No other information is available at this time.

The Peppermint Creeps kept Glam going on the Sunset Strip throughout the 90s. Instead of just black eye liner and spandex, the Peppermint Creeps created an out-of-this-world persona, donning wild stage clothes to match an even bigger spectacle of a show.  

Michaelz also performed with Heart Throb Mob, Candy Apple Queenz, and the Glamvestite Vampires. Traci Michaelz was just 34 years old.

Farewell Tours?

I don't know about you, but I often find my mind wandering to odd thoughts during the day. Yesterday I was leaving work when the thought of Aerosmith doing a farewell tour crossed my mind. I swear - this is no exaggeration - I teared up a little. I truly worked myself into a tizzy over the thought of Aerosmith calling it quits. Then, I found myself wondering how many of the shows I'd attend on the farewell tour. As I (narrowly) avoided hitting a gaggle of geese in the company parking lot, I ran over the emotions I'd feel: excitement, sadness and longing.

Yeah, I'm nuts.

After I'd made it safely out of the lot (give me a break -- I work at a giant company so we have a huge parking area)  I started thinking about actual farewell tours. The ones that come to mind off the top of my head are Cher (who didn't actually retire), KISS (who didn't actually retire) and the Eagles (who didn't actually retire).

2008 brings a host of farewell tours. Some of the biggest goodbyes are for President Bush (yea!), George Michael (I'll be there!) and Paul McCartney (I'm skeptical this is his last go' round). Apparently AC/DC are planning a lavish farewell jaunt that will take them to all ends of the globe. When - and if - that happens, count me in!

I think farewell tours are more marketing gimmick than actual goodbye. Think about it: fans buy tickets for a "last chance" to see musical heroes rehash old tunes. I'm not so certain legacy acts, like Van Halen, Aerosmith or the Rolling Stones need farewell tours. They've been around for so long, true fans have likely had plenty of chances to catch them live. Since none of us knows when we're checking out, I suppose we should approach each day like our own personal farewell tour. Thoughts?

Here's Kiss performing "Beth" on their 2000 farewell tour.

Cinderella Cancels Tour

I was waiting for official word before posting and now it seems the bad news is true: Cinderella has canceled their summer tour. Singer Tom Keifer has a hemorrhaged vocal cord and therefore cannot perform. Warrant, Lynch Mob and Lynam are a part of this package.

Of course this means Cinderella is out of Rocklahoma. This is especially problematic as Cinderella signed on as the Saturday headliner.Warrant is still playing Rocklahoma and I presume the same about Lynch Mob, but I don't know about Lynam. I've got an email into Lynam's lead singer to see about getting some answers. At this point, Warrant is apparently trying to rebook shows on their own. We'll see what happens I guess.  

Update on Friday, June 13, 2008 at 08:57AM by Allyson B. Crawford

I just heard back from Jacob Bunton and Lynam will still be at Rocklahoma, so at least that's a little good news. He also says he doesn't have any more information on the tour, but promises an update after some decisions are made.

12 Days and Counting

There's only 12 days until Motley Crue's new album Saints of Los Angeles hits store shelves. I was promised an advanced copy so I could review here for you early - but now I'm getting a little nervous. I mean - it's just over a week away!?!

Next Thursday night, Motley Crue will guest on Larry King Live. I'll be live blogging that event. Well, provided my cable is fixed by then. My cable/DVR box hasn't worked in three days. When I called to complain (for the third day in a row) I was told a tech could come look at the line...next Thursday. As in, a week from now. Hopefully the cable software will work itself out and my DVR will magically work again on its own. I mean, how else am I supposed to record Metal Mania on Saturday night?

Let's Organize a Trip to Sweden Rock 2009

The videos are flying in from Sweden Rock 2008. I swear, I must go to this fest next year. I'm pretty sure if I don't go my life will be drastically incomplete. The lineup for this year's Sweden Rock was killer: Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Poison, Ratt, Airbourne...and that's just a few!

Here's Poison performing "I Want Action"

Here's Poison performing "Unskinny Bop"

Here's Def Leppard performing both "Pour Some Sugar on Me" and "Photograph." *The quality sort of sucks, but the pictures are good.

Ok, so you've watched the clips. I think we should organize a Bring Back Glam! excursion to Sweden Rock 2009 - and I'm being dead serious here. Sweden is not a cheap trip, especially for those of us coming from America. When I was pricing the trip a couple months or so ago, my calculations pretty much landed at five grand for a week for two people. Granted I don't camp -- the Glam mistress doesn't camp -- and my husband is a picky traveler, so maybe you could knock off a couple hundred bucks. Still, I'm dead serious about going next year and I think a Bring Back Glam! contingent would be oh-so-fabulous. Just think, you've got an entire year to save five thousand dollars: that's a little over $400 a month, or just over a hundred a week...Ok, so it's still a lot of money, but we're talking about the trip of a lifetime here. Maybe if there's enough of us, we can get a group rate?! Here's hoping...

Anyway, if you want to go, send me an email. I'll keep the messages in a separate folder, and maybe we can make plans a little bit closer to the event.

Big Hair: Interactive Winner

Last week I asked you send me photos of you with big hair. Here are the submissions below:

Here's our friend Eddie Long Hair:  

*Disclaimer: Eddie tells me this was for a Halloween party. I'm not so sure he doesn't look this Glam every day of the year.  

Here's our friend Christian:

*Disclaimer: this was 1989. Isn't Christian cute? This photo makes me want to give him a big hug. Still Metal all these years later.  

Here's our friend Kenny Ozz: 

 

*Disclaimer: Kenny seriously looks like this everyday - and not just when he's singing lead vocals with Drugstore Valentine. Seriously.  Glam. Seriously.

Here's our friend Valentine:

 

*Disclaimer: Ok, this was a few years ago during a Tonight You Rock gig. You know this photo is hot. True Glam in all its glory.

Here's our friend Danny:

*Disclaimer: This was taken in 2006 during the national finals of an air guitar competition. Danny got 7th place...with a broken arm!

So who wins? If we're going on sheer hair volume here - and shouldn't we always - I say that Eddie takes the prize. That's some big hair.  Very impressive.

This wasn't an easy decision. 

Now, speaking of big hair...Bring Back Glam! loyal reader Dai Raion tipped me off to a Japanese Glam band with massive hair. Oh man, this clip is awesome. It doesn't even matter that the words are in Japanese!

Here's the band X Japan performing "Anarchy in the U.K."

Urban Dictionary

Does anyone here ever read Urban Dictionary? You know, it's a website less credible than Wikipedia -- if that's even possible to comprehend. Somehow I stumbled across Urban Dictionary over the weekend and was appalled at the entry for Glam Metal:  

 
GLAM METAL: Sucked ass and deserved to die. The worst type of rock ever. Metal is not supposed to be happy or about girls and getting laid. I am glad grunge killed that suck ass piece of shit glam metal because they were all a bunch of cross-dressing faggots from L.A. Grunge and Thrash is so much better and I am glad they killed off faggy glam metal. Nirvana and Alice in Chains are so much better and I am sad they both have deceased frontmen, and because of them glam metal is DEAD. Now its trying to make a come back with fucking that faggot from Poison and his gay reality dating show "Rock of Love" and the guy from Motley Crue with his Sixx AM. I cant even see how people could have like it back in the eighties. Glam Metal is for queers.

 
Clearly I didn't edit any of that post. I mean, really, is this what people truly think of Glam? Is it? I would never go on Urban Dictionary and write a similar post about Grunge. Never. Good grammar skills notwithstanding, I just couldn't stoop that low and dare look so...uneducated. The thing is, Urban Dictionary has an option where you can rate the post and edit. I did neither. I do my fair share of rating Glam here everyday and, while I could totally own every single person on that substandard website Oxford English Dictionary style, I chose to rise above. I decided that would be the Glam thing to do.

The link to the article is here. It's up to you to personally decide to rate or edit.