I also found my first Ace autograph in a storage box. I had it in an old, dirty frame with two Kiss trading cards, of which I have both sets still stored somewhere. Anyway, I ditched the frame and scanned them all together.
In the late 80's I met a friend who had run into all 4 members of Frehley's Comet outside their hotel, I forget which city. He realized how big of an Ace fan I was and gifted me this autograph, though he wouldn't part with the other band members'. A few years later he moved to Colorado and I haven't heard from him since, but I still have this.
This also seems an appropriate time to share the first Kiss poster again, original post here. I also have the aforementioned trading cards, Kiss On Tour board game, all 4 puzzles, die cast toy cars, tons of magazines and posters, several of all of their albums including rare releases, plus some t-shirts, pins, patches, hats, bandanas and more.
Well, things go in threes, so thank you for attending my Ace Frehley tribute posts this weekend. We did some more cleanup in the back yard so I'm delaying pictures of that until sometime this week. For now, here is Ace's biggest hit performed during his last live concert.
It was the summer of 1994 when I first saw Ace Frehley and his solo band live at a club in Chicago. I was coming into town to visit a friend and heard an ad for the show on the radio. When I got to my friend's house I let him know exactly what we were going to be doing the next night. Thankfully, he agreed.
At that show I met a woman who knew Ace, and though I had been drinking quite a bit she seemed to like me a lot and took me backstage to meet him after the show. It was brief, and I was drunk and starstruck. We kept in touch and eventually she invited me down for a Kiss convention in November that year as Ace was the featured guest. It was there I met Ace for the second time, an even more brief meeting as, because of my woman friend, I was allowed to cut the line to get a picture with him as he was about to greet everyone.
This is the only picture I have of Ace and me. It was a Kodak 110 Instamatic camera with a flash bar, but even the archaic camera could not be blamed for the poor picture she took.
This picture was taken right after as attendees started moving through the line. I have that same shirt he's wearing as I bought it at that earlier club show. Very cool shirt and I still have it, but it's way too small for me now.
All just memories I've had for decades by now, but a youthful, fun experience that I will hold on to forever. Thank you, Ace.
Ace Frehley is my all-time favorite rock star, and has been for almost all of my life. If you've been under a rock recently, he died yesterday at 74 years old.
I had the pleasure to meet Ace twice, both times in the early to mid 90's I think, and I was completely drunk the first time and totally starstruck dumb the second time. But I've also been lucky enough to see him perform live several times with Kiss and solo twice, up close in clubs. I can't say much more than I've already written now or have written before. Ace has been a constant in my life, and will continue to be.
Apparently, this checklist has been trending on social media of some sort, I read about it on a website. Similar to the '50 Bands I've Seen Live' trend that I posted back in the first year of this blog, I felt the urge to give my two cents on this one.
First concert: Dio (w/ Dokken)
Last concert: ZZ Top
Worst concert: Tesla
Loudest concert: Ace Frehley
Best concert: Pink Floyd
Seen the most: Kiss
Most surprising: Beck
Next concert: ??
Wish I could've seen: The original Kiss in the seventies
Those are my answers. It's hard to recollect them all, and now I've seen so many online it's hard to separate them from in-person sometimes. At my age and after the pandemic now, I expect most of my live concerts to be online. I'm not saying I won't go out to a show, just that it's going to take a lot to get me to do it. Livestreams are easier, cheaper, more options and just more comfortable.
I can't remember the last time I bought a ticket and saw a band play live, but it may have been Alice Cooper in July 2019. That's over 3 years ago. Now, I've not gone out to see bands as much the last several years (as I've been getting older), then the pandemic kept me away even when shows still happened during the last few years, until now. ZZ Top has been around since 1969 so time is running out, for them and many of the great bands that have been the soundtrack to our lives.
I was almost late as I was thinking it started at 9 p.m. but it actually started at 8, so the first band was playing when I got there. I jumped in line right away to get a t-shirt, and by the time I got to my seat the opening band was pretty much done. That's okay, I couldn't tell you the name of the band now without looking it up. The show, at the Sylvee here in Madison, was not sold out, but was a decent size crowd even with much of the standing room upstairs pretty empty. And the demographics were similar to Alice Cooper, fans from 8 to 80 (or so). The changeover between bands was pretty quick as ZZ Top has a pretty simple stage setup, and they started playing right about 9 o'clock.
Their set was pretty efficient, and the same 16 songs they've been playing for at least the last few shows. A lot of catchy tunes from the first album through their 80's heyday hits and more. (My video for Sharp Dressed Man & Legs is here.)
It was an expensive evening, for sure, but I'm still glad I went to see another band that I haven't seen yet and may not get another chance. They played for about 80 minutes, whereas I would expect a bit more from a headliner normally, but again, they've been around for quite some time. The show was tight, efficient, and pretty much no-frills as I would expect from ZZ Top. I left halfway through their last song, La Grange, so I didn't get to see the confetti (or what ever was in the tubes behind the speakers) go off for the finale. I had to park on the top floor of the ramp and wanted to beat the rush rather than wait in line to leave. Also, I did have to work early in the morning, after all. But overall, a good night and I'm glad I went. Hopefully more shows will come through town soon that I'll want to see.
I can't remember exactly where or when I first learned of The Warning, but it was about 2 or 3 months ago and probably while in some Youtube rabbit hole. They are the Villarreal sisters from Monterrey, Mexico. Yes, sisters - Daniela, Paulina and Alejandra - and surprisingly young when you see some of their earlier videos as kids, but even then you could see the talent.
I found they first got some popularity from an early cover of Metallica's song Enter Sandman back in 2014, and they actually collaborated on that song for Metallica's Blacklist album that came out last year. They've been writing their own music now for a while and have a couple releases out there, and a new song coming out next Friday called Money. And they do seem to have lots of fans already, with several Youtube channels posting all sorts of videos with and about them, even livestreams of their shows.
There's a 5 minute documentary video they released a few days ago and shows their charm and growth, musical and otherwise, including talking with the parents. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't look like they allow embedding so you can see it here, I recommend it.
What seemed to catch me first was the voice. I like a strong, female rock voice (think Lzzy Hale or Liv Sin). Then to see her play guitar and sing live was impressive, while the younger sisters were no slouches, either. Plus, I must admit, I was intrigued by the novelty of what were young kids playing good songs well. They've grown up a bit now and play tight and loud and have some very good songs out. I think the best is their most recent EP, Mayday, but that's to be expected as its the first I heard. I have one earlier album from 2018, Queen of the Murder Scene, that is also very good and a little more diverse.
If they continue their current trajectory I think we'll all be hearing more of them in the future. They're just about there, and I think one 'hit' song just might break it wide open for them. Maybe I shouldn't have predicted that, I just know what I like and find interesting to listen to and lately this has been at the top of my list. It's always fun when I find my next latest-greatest!
Shortly after finding and really liking their music I wrote an LLP Bonus post about them. At the time, they only had 7 songs out and I felt they needed to do more to merit a full LLP post. That was in February, and now, after several months of their music being at the top of my mental playlist, I just can't deny how much I've been enjoying their music ever since - and they have two new songs out since then, so they have been active. Ladies and gentlemen, number 38, Wargasm UK!
There's not a whole lot more I can say about them than what I did before. But live shows have started up again, so they're getting their chops by playing out more, at least one festival from what I've seen with more dates scheduled soon. And this make me happy because more live shows means more live concert videos to watch. Always my preference.
Watching this live video reminds me how content I am these days to watch from afar, but they sure bring the energy and the crowd gives it right back. I may be too old to be right down front anymore, but I still enjoy it lots. Keep it coming, Sam and Milkie!
This year has been terrible for the music industry. Live shows and tours have been postponed, rescheduled, and now are starting to be postponed yet again. And with digital music being consumed practically for free, live shows are how most musical artists survive. Yet time moves ever forward so albums still get released, videos still get made, and many artists have turned to the internet to put food on the table. Code Orange is one such band, having released their latest album, Underneath, early this year in March, just in time for the rest of their plans for the year to get cancelled.
But this band has moved forward as best they can, and have put some good livestream shows together over the course of the year. First, in March, they played their first livestream show, Last Ones Left: In Fear of the End, and it was very good. Later, at the end of July, they had another, but this time it was set up like an old MTV Unplugged show. Under the Skin got rave reviews from fans and critics alike as their music translated to acoustic better than one would have thought. Then on Halloween they did it again, back to a full heavy concert feel with Back Inside the Glass (a paid livestream, no link available). A truly enjoyable show and happily a very different setlist.
I was lucky enough to see all those shows, and I look forward to more. But enough of the acoustic, here is the title song from the album Underneath. A tune I find very catchy, indeed.
Now, I didn't know a whole lot about Code Orange (formerly Code Orange Kids) before this year, but I've been learning. What I find really interesting is how this young band has evolved over time. One guitarist used to be the bass player. The keyboards and electronics guy used to be on guitar. And the frontman used to be the drummer, might still be for the studio as they list the current drummer as a session musician.
The band does have what I find to be quite a different style and sound, yet I like it and find it refreshing and a bit unpredictable as sometimes it seems hard to catch the rhythm but it always turns up in an interesting way. Vocals are shared by the female guitarist, frontman and keyboardist, a mix of clean singing and growls. I never find my next favorite band when I'm looking for it, it just shows up when it wants. I'm happy Code Orange showed up, and continues to be active in these times. I also look forward to what this band does next and will be there to support them, whatever that may be.
Not normally what I listen to, but there hasn't really seemed to be a 'normal' for me in quite some time. And that's really pretty good, actually. Poppy's made the music news the last few months, which initially got my attention, and now I'm really liking her new album, I Disagree. This is her third album, and while the first two are, well, pop-py, this album has a distinct heavier edge that still fits nicely with her character.
Yes, Poppy is a character, her real name is Moriah Pereira. As I understand it, she started making videos for YouTube and it just grew from there. She makes very interesting and somewhat eccentric or odd videos, which is part of the appeal for me. Her character is just off the wall cutesy, soft and odd. The "Kids React" channel on YouTube has featured her several times and the kid's reactions to her are just priceless. There's a playlist of those episodes here.
There's also been a lot of talk of her and her creative partner separating before this album. That sounds like a messed up relationship, with him having a history of controlling and abusive behavior. I won't go into it here, you can look it up if you like. But it may explain a few things...
And though her music videos can be elaborate I've watched a few concerts of hers from earlier this year before everything was cancelled and enjoyed the live show as well. Enough so that if she did play in town here sometime I would definitely make an effort to be at that show.
It's hard to say why I've not seen Alice Cooper live before now. He does tour a lot, so perhaps I always thought there would be a next time. In fact, there almost wasn't a this time. Alice Cooper played Wednesday night at The Sylvee here in Madison, but I had tickets for a show I especially wanted to see on Friday, two days later. That show was cancelled a few weeks ago so I decided this was the time to see Alice Cooper. After all, he is 71 years old now, how many more tours can there be?
Not wanting to stand and jockey for a good view I bought one of the seats that surrounds the balcony, giving me an unhindered view of the night's show. More expensive, but at my age I can afford these comforts when available. I wound up on stage right, front row, second from the end farthest from the stage. I still had a bit of taller rail in front of me since I was by the end and the stairs, but the rail that separates the seats from a forty foot fall seemed so low, and there is nothing but a short cable tray that runs below it to stop anyone from falling. Me, being tall and clumsy, definitely made a note of that for future.
There was no opening band and the show started a little after 8, so I knew it wasn't going to be a terribly late night but I still took off the next day from work. The stage was impressive with a castle-like structure that was used to its utmost. The songs were mostly all classics with 14 of the 20 songs being from the 1970's, many of the hits. The band, featuring three guitarists including the acclaimed Nita Strauss, was tight and entertaining. And the special effects were limited to lights and fog, but there were several fun props used during the show including a giant Frankenstein, a giant baby and, of course, the guillotine. He does a dramatic show with these little playlets that make things lighthearted and fun to go with the music, as you will see in the video below.
I'm disappointed that my original plans this week were cancelled, but I am very glad I went to see Alice Cooper. Now to see what's next!
In keeping with my resolve since I turned 50 to get out and see more live music from touring acts that I would enjoy, I went out Tuesday night to the Majestic Theater to see Buckethead perform. Buckethead is a very respected guitar player who has made several lists such as top ten shredders and top 25 weirdest guitarists, among others. He has performed with many other acts but is probably best known as being a guitar player in Guns and Roses from 2000 to 2004, and his work was also on their 2008 album, Chinese Democracy. He is also famous for wearing a white mask on his face and a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket on his head.
He performed with no opening act and no backing band, but played to a track most of the two hour show utilizing lots of effects most of the time, but did play pretty clean guitar at times as well. I have some of his releases, but I don't listen to them enough to recognize any of his all-instrumental songs. And he is a very prolific guitarist, having released 307 albums overall. I had decided to go to this show due to the lack of other shows coming that I wanted to see. I do enjoy his style of play and I am glad I went, but I also came down with a miserable cold starting Friday that I probably got from someone in that crowd.
Overall it was a good show, though. Aside from his guitar playing he also does a mean 'robot' and even performed with nunchucks at one point before handing out what looked like dollar-store gifts to the fans in front. Always handing them out carefully, never tossing or throwing into the crowd. (That video is here, and a there's a couple more on my YouTube channel.) Even as he left the stage before and after the encore it was with just a little wave as he was led off by his roadie. His odd behavior reminded me of autism, but I've not read a word about him being autistic so I gather it's just another part of his act.
I'll be back at the 600-person capacity Majestic in July for a show that I'm really looking forward to - Diamante is coming as opener for the band New Years Day. (There's a third band playing first that I'll have to look into later.) I like both, but I'm a much bigger fan of Diamante. Enough so that I even bought an opera box for the show. Now I could just use a friend who likes the same kind of music to go to shows with!
*This post was flagged today, 3/27/2023, for violating Blogger's Malware and Viruses policy. I'm not sure why, but I removed all links to sites other than my own and my youtube and will be requesting review to keep this post on my site. If you see this, I was successful.
It snowed most of the day on Sunday, but had slowed by the evening with only an inch or two having fallen. No. this is not another weather update post, I actually have something else to write about for a change. The fact that we are presently getting another 8-plus inches and having to stay home for another snow day is totally beside the point except that it gives me the time to write this post sooner rather than later.
Now, back to Sunday, Sunday evening actually, when Marty Friedman came to town to play for a few hundred people at the High Noon Saloon here in Madison. A friend and I arrived a bit late hoping to miss the first band, a local act, only to find they pushed the start time back some because Marty and his opening band had not yet arrived - probably due to the snow. As if on cue, as that set ended crew started bringing in gear as the bus and trailer had arrived.
The opening band, Immortal Guardian, was pretty good, but something was bugging me about them. They play with a prerecorded tape and, as far as I could tell, the only reason was because the guitarist liked to play keyboards with his right hand as he finger-tapped on his guitar with the left. Yes, it can look impressive, but he is the only guitar player in the band and there was obviously chords being strummed. Check out my video of them here and make up your own mind.
Marty Friedman became well known as a guitarist in the band Megadeth from 1990 until 2000. He then left America and has been living in Japan for over 15 years, still putting out solo albums and touring all over. This month he is touring to support his latest release, One Bad M.F. Live. He said during the show that this was his first time in Madison, but in 10 years of Megadeth he may have been here with them, or maybe he just meant as a solo artist. I saw Megadeth on the Peace Sells tour in the late eighties here in Madison, but that was before he joined them.
He has a good backing band and put on an enjoyable, instrumental show. There was one microphone that was only brought out only for him to speak in between songs and the bassist (Kyoshi) and other guitarist (Jordan Ziff) did minimal singing on two songs. The 600-person capacity High Noon Saloon was probably half or more full, just about my perfect size and density. I'd like to see all bands in the same atmosphere, but I don't get to call those shots. My friend got a good spot leaning on the end of the bar near the stage and that's where we camped for the show. I took a lot of pictures that hardly any turned out unfortunately, and I got a lot of good video that I've been re-watching the last couple days. You can see all my videos on my YouTube channel here, also listed in the right column.
Marty Friedman - Ashes / Forbidden / Tornado
I took more videos than usual this show - 6, plus one of the opening band - for a few reasons. First of all, I like to watch them. Simple as that. Also, there was no one behind me but bartenders and the camera was dimly lit and in front of my face - I watched the show over the camera but still able to control the camera (except for the shaking - I was still rocking out, after all!). But mostly, I'm just not terribly familiar with all of his music and an accurate, recent setlist was not found online for me to know when to look out for the parts I wanted to get on video. Still, even with 6 songs recorded I spent much more time with the phone in my pocket enjoying the show.
Here's one that I'm sure was added to the set due to the popularity of Queen recently:
Marty Friedman (w/Jordan Ziff) - Bohemian Rhapsody
That's my latest live music fix, now to look for the next. I've not seen any upcoming shows that are to my taste yet, but I'll always keep looking!
Last year I heard Scum of the Earth's 2012 release, The Devil Made Me Do It. I had no idea who they were, and though I liked it I was very much listening to otherthings at the time. Late last fall I listened to it again and really liked what I heard so I dove in head first to learn more about them and would up getting everything else they've released as well. Even now I am still very much listening and enjoying it all, thus they are my latest listening pleasure!
Scum of the Earth, or SotE, is essentially guitarist and reluctant singer Mike Riggs. Riggs was the guitarist in Rob Zombie's first solo band after White Zombie and before Zombie took a break to make some movies. The resemblance is certainly there, musically and visually. SotE is kind of like a poor man's Rob Zombie. SotE may be a little darker where Rob Zombie is a little more cartoonish. That's the best, briefest description I can give. It's just the heavy guitar riffs, dark lyrics and industrial, sometimes electronic sound that seems to appeal to me here. Greatly.
Riggs and SotE have released 3 full length CDs, in 2004, 2007 and 2012, with just a single released in late 2017 (aside from the streaming-only Munsters theme song, also released late 2017). Not as much as I want, but the heavy grooves and chug-chug-chug guitars make me want to Death Stomp, despite my age and the fact I would get killed in a mosh pit these days.
I don't know how active a band SotE ever was, and they don't seem very active now, touring or otherwise. And I know I've delved into the past on this one, but there's not a ton of stuff about them on Youtube to find. Well, I'm very aware of Riggs and SotE now, so if they come up with anything new I will find it. Rock on, Riggs.
For some time now I've been lamenting the lack of shows coming to Madison that interest me. I see tour announcements often, and I rarely see Madison on the list of dates (yet Grand Rapids, Michigan, a smaller city, seems to get a lot of shows). Maybe that will change with another good Madison venue, The Sylvee, that just opened this fall. Months ago I was scanning the upcoming shows and saw this show coming up. Surprisingly, my wife agreed to go with me so as tickets were relatively cheap we went out to see Steel Panther and check out The Sylvee on Friday night.
Steel Panther, if you haven't heard of them before, is a band that spoofs 80's hair metal. They perform classic metal songs and their own music, all the while performing satire of sex, drugs and rock and roll. Definitely not safe for work, nothing seems to be off limits and being in on the joke is much of the fun. It does surprise me, however, that so many women like the band in this #meetoo time we live in, considering how they objectify and make fun of them in their songs and banter. But it's all in good fun and in the name of heavy metal.
I posted this holiday song when it was new a few years ago, here it is live - The Stocking Song:
It was cold that night - in the mid teens (ºF) - but a new parking ramp just opened up right next door to the venue so that was very convenient. As usual, I bought a shirt first, probably the only one for sale that I could actually wear to work as the others had innuendo that someone would take exception to, I'm sure. We walked around the crowd a bit but took a spot in the balcony. The balcony has a couple rows of seats around the front but the rest is all general admission. When a band comes that I really want to see I think I'd spring for the seats. The first band, Wilson, was forgettable. Steel Panther ran through their set like a well oiled machine, despite having a fill-in bassist for this stretch of dates. We left before they came out for the encore, so we missed a song or two but I'm okay with that. We beat the crowd and were home and warm minutes later.
Steel Panther performing a cover of a Motley Crue song, Shout At The Devil, with some fun at the beginning:
I hadn't seen Steel Panther before even though they've played Madison several times over the last decade or so, and if I had been to a good show recently I may not have gone this time, but I'm glad we got to check out The Sylvee and the band was pretty entertaining. If I sound a little underwhelmed, well, I guess I am. I'll keep my eye on the upcoming shows and maybe something will come up that will get me a bit more excited.
Diamante is a performer that just over a month ago I saw the album cover and song titles with a two word description - Alt Metal, but I was intrigued so I looked her up on Youtube and I've been playing her CD constantly ever since. This is how I find out about a lot of new music, and I still haven't seen any reference to her on any of the music sites I visit daily. Well, here's your notice, because I think you may be hearing more about her soon. I hope so, anyway, because I really enjoy her voice and music.
Coming In Hot is her debut album, just out last month, June 15, but she has put out a few EPs of earlier material and then songs off the album leading up to the release. She is a self proclaimed 80's metal fan despite her very young age so that may explain why I find the music appealing, but judge for yourself. There is a series of short videos of her giving some background, the first of which is here. She is the daughter of an Italian father and Mexican mother, born in Boston, Mass. That's interesting right there. Below is her video for the upbeat and fun title track, but she also has videos for the songs Haunted, Had Enough, and the ballad I'm Sorry as well as several lyric videos and even a collaboration with current tourmates Bad Wolves. That's a lot of videos for an artist's debut album, She is obviously well-backed by someone who believes in her, or she's already six figures in debt at age 21.
Diamante - Coming In Hot
(I like that she includes us older guys in the video. They still like to rock, too!)
And the ballad, I'm Sorry, is a very good song, but one thing bothers me about it. She sings 'I wanna say I'm sorry' several times, but never actually says it. She just says that she wants to say it, that's it, and that's not an apology. Okay, I'm sorry, my OCD must be acting up...
And if you know me and my OCD then you know I love the live stuff. When I found her website I saw that she played here in Madison a few weeks before the album came out and before I knew anything about her. Bummer. I did find one video of her full half hour set from a few weeks ago, and I've enjoyed it a few times. Remember the name, I think she may get bigger soon. Now play the show!
I'm over 50, married and child-free. My wife and I have a home not far from downtown Madison, Wisconsin, since 2009. I like music, taking pictures and good humor - plus writing about it all here. I am still not on farcebook or other social media, only Blogger and YouTube. Email me at scoakatsblog@gmail.com. I check it every so often.
