The Blog

02.15.2010
Spent Friday and Saturday night hanging out at Damage Control. Friday night was the release party for the latest Club Wars DVD. I advertised that proceeds from the show were being donated to relief efforts in Haiti. The cover charge and the DVDs were $5 each. I'll be writing out a check to the Red Cross for $350 from this event. The bands playing the show and in the DVD were all in the Fall Club Wars Final back in December. I guess some of these guys didn't watch much of that show because a few of them came up to me and said how good they thought the other bands were.
Saturday night at Damage was Bobby Simkins. There's a number of guys around the area that do the Elvis thing. I think Bobby is probably the best one. He joked around quite a bit in his first set. At one point he did the "Pants On The Ground" song from American Idol. But he kept saying it as "Pants On The Floor."
Last night was the Valentine's Jam at the Uptown. The turn out was decent and the bands all did a good job. But, I think I'll stick to doing these kind of things at the Uptown on a Friday or Saturday night.

01.03.2010
It was another big party tonight at the Uptown. There were really a lot more people than last night. The 2nd stage in the Nowhere was packed for most of the show. It seemed to me that the performances in the Nowhere were more intense than those on the main stage. The karaoke stage was again very entertaining. I'm looking forward to the next one.

01.02.2010
Just finished up the first night of the Rock & Metalfest at the Uptown Theater. I had a good time. The only thing that really would have made it better. If it was 40 degrees or warmer. The Karaoke stage was very entertaining. I might have pushed my voice a little to much the 2nd time I sang American Trilogy. For the day after New Year's Eve it went well. I'm thinking tomorrow night could be better.

10.06.2009
The Oktoberfest that I did last Friday at the Uptown, it was a blast. Probably one of the more enjoyable things I've put together in awhile. The stages with the bands flowed smoothly. I didn't really catch more than snippets from most of the bands. I would say that the set by Shudder was probably the one that stands out to me the most. The Hip Hop stage had a little drama attached to it. One of the acts was kicked out of the venue before they performed. Somebody with them or in the act had an issue with one of the other acts. They got kicked out after one of them told the police officer on hand that he had a couple guns in his car. Other than that it went well. I'm thinking of a way to squeeze another stage in for the next one.

08.24.2009
It was last big weekend of the summer for me.

Things kicked off with the Battle For Freaker's Ball on Friday night at VooDoo Lounge. This was like a Battle Royale of a line up and the turn out was the best for a non-final since last year. I thought Seeking Surreal was the best of the bill with Changing Faith a close second. The other judges had Changing Faith as the best with Seeking Surreal in 2nd. It was a close one to say the least.

Saturday night the Battle For Freaker's Ball descended on the Mission Theatre. It was probably the best turn out I've ever had for a show there. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the sound. Shows that I've booked at this venue have been successful. But the sound is always inconsistent and it's never been good. I'm probably going to book something there again. But at this time, I think I'm going to try and book around it.

Last night I did the Elvis Memorial Bash at Knucklehead's. It was the third Elvis Bash I've done this year at Knucklehead's and the first one outside. The turn out wasn't bad, I think it would have been much better if it had been on a Friday or Saturday. Before singing the last song of the night. Tarry Westley announced that this was his last time at an Elvis Bash. He told me afterwards that he felt like he was getting to old for this and it was time to get out. It's kind of a bummer, he's been in every Elvis Bash I've put together. I knew there was going to be a time that he wasn't going to do it anymore. This is just a little sooner than I expected. I said to him that I was still going to call him. I kind of think I can get him to come back and do the Elvis Birthday Bash at VooDoo Lounge in January.

08.21.2009
Went to see the Michael Jackson tribute band Who's Bad last night at the Granada in Lawrence. I found these guys back in January and inquired about booking them. Their agent came back with kind of a high asking price, so I didn't really pursue it. Then when MJ died, I kind of kicked myself for not keeping after them a little more. I e-mailed their agent a couple of days ago and like I figured, they want more money now. Well, if they even got half of what they were asking before, someone lost money on this. The mostly female college age crowd in attendance numbered around 125. They all crowded up to the stage when the band came on. I thought they were OK. It seemed like they were using some tracks for the back up vocals and the horns. One of the horn players looked like he was playing air trumpet. The lead vocalist resembled MJ and he danced and moved around the stage ala the King Of Pop. He also peppered in quite a few of MJ's signature "Woo-Hoo" between and during the songs in their set. My luck with booking tribute bands has been hit and miss. Not sure if I will end up bringing these guys to the VooDoo or not.

08.12.2009
Went to go see the band Chickenfoot last night at the Uptown Theater. I thought they were pretty good. It was about what I was expecting it to be, Sammy Hagar fronting a very kick ass rock band. They played their album and then did a couple of encores. "Bad Motor Scooter" for Sammy and "Highway Star" so Joe Satriani could medley, medley for all of the guitar heads in the crowd. I didn't get to see what the crowd looked like in the balcony but most of the seats on the floor were taken. In addition to running into lots of band guys, I saw Frank from Knucklehead's and Skid Roadie at the show.

08.08.2009
Last night at Aftershock was another Qualifier date in the Battle For Freaker's Ball. There's been a few bands in the Qualifier Round this year that I couldn't wait for them to be finished. Though none of this evenings bands really stood out to me more than the others. I thought each of them had some redeeming qualities. Maybe that's why we had a tie between two of the bands and very easily could have had a 3-way tie.
The opener was a punk band called Rightskill. They played a bunch of short, fast songs including one that was in the 30-40 second range. "That was a song," proclaimed vocalist/guitarist Charlie. He was a very lively frontman who did a good job of getting some reaction out of a crowd that was mostly there for the other bands.
The second band up was Kallust. They're a new metal band on the scene. The band was pretty crunchy. I think their vocalist Jonathon needs to mix those growly vox with some singing parts. Kallust was one of the bands that moved on.
Next up was Auternus. These guys had an interesting sound and I thought they were all really good players. They maybe were a little to laid back though for the Battle For Freaker's Ball. If this would have been the Club Wars Fall-Free-For-All, they probably would've been the band who moved on.
The last band was Mynd Riot, one of the bands who advanced to the next round. They brought a large and mostly partisan crowd. Probably not the tightest band of the night, but I though they brought the rock harder than the other bands on the bill. A girl who told me she was a cousin to one of the band members. Said she would cry if they didn't win. No waterworks this time, but she might want to bring tissues to the next one.

02.22.2008
It's been awhile since I chimed in here.

I finally won the Achiever Of The Year Award at the Heavy Frequency Award Show. After being nominated for it 3 years in a row. And after close to 20 years of handing out awards to local bands and musicians at awards shows I've produced. Someone presented me with an award. It's cool to get one. During my acceptance speech, I mentioned how I would like to see the HFAs go on. Then Heather got up there and said how it was the last awards show and that the HF site was going to be inactive by the end of the year. WelI, I talked to her earlier today. I'm interested in seeing it continue and I think some others have expressed an interest as well. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again next year. On a side note: I haven't picked a date yet for the Banzai Awards Show. I'm getting close to announcing one.

04.20.2007
Here's my 4.20 entry:
Went to see Daughtry at the Voodoo Lounge last night. We got there and he was already onstage with his band. People were singing along with these tunes I had never heard before. I was waiting for the covers. They played "Black" by Pearl Jam and that song they play on American Idol after someone gets kicked off.

There was a ton of people there. When it was over most of the crowd started heading for the exits. It seemed to me like there were lots of eligible girls there trying to make eye contact. It made me think of that episode of Happy Days. The one where Fonzi tells Richie and Potsie that he's going to the train station to catch the Elvis train when it rolls through town. He surmises that there will be lots of heart broken girls there that will need comforting. Well, I don't think any of these girls were heart broken. But this evenings made from TV rock star had them revved and ready.

04.16.2007
I thought it was a pretty good bill I put together at the Beaumont Club on Friday the 13th. It rained during the night and there was snow in the forecast. I think it threw a damper on Westport in general, but I still thought we had a decent turnout. Anna Cole, vocalist for Anvil Chorus, apologized for a bunch of their fans not coming to the show. She told me that their crowd is a bunch of snobs and weren't into the other bands on the bill. Apparently, playing a "Kilroy" show isn't to cool either. Well, it wasn't anywhere near "A Tale Of Two Cliques" because I didn't think much of the rockers clique was there either. Not like they were when Redline Chemistry played at Davey's a few weeks ago.

01.15.2007
Winter weather kind of ruined most of my weekend. Only one of three Metal Wars dates took place. It was Saturday night at the Grand Emporium and we had a good turn out. Helen Hunt took Muffin over to Mike's Tavern after I announced the winner. I hung out at the GE for a little bit and packed up my gear. Then I rode over to Mike's with Susan and her new boyfriend Andy. We got there and Dora Dank was playing. It was pretty frickin' smoky in there. I stepped outside for some fresh air while the Dank guys loaded out. Andy bought Muffin and Susan some shots, then we took off for the Hurricane. There wasn't a big crowd there. Voodoo Kitchin and the Seastrings were kind of sharing gear. They traded off on a set or two before an impromtptu megr of the bands that resulted in a few tunes. I jumped onstage and sang "Breakin' The Law" as the night ended.

01.07.2007
Last night was the Elvis Birthday Bash at the Grand Emporium. This was the third year in a row I've done the Elvis B'day Bash. We had a good crowd. I think the Chiefs game effected the turn out some. There wasn't a back up band this time. All of the Elvi sang with recorded music. It was a little different not having the band but I still thought it went very well. I can't wait to do it again next year.

The Elvis show ended a little after 10 and then I headed over to the Hurricane. I had a beer or two while Cruxed played. You know, the Hurricane closed last summer. Then it reopened with new ownership and they made some subtle changes. But to me it seems the same as it ever was.

01.03.2007
I fell off the wagon with this blog. There's been lots of stuff I was going to comment about here. I guess I got a little distracted. There was even a time last Summer that I thought it would be no problem printing what would have been a 20th Anniversary issue of Banzai by now. Doesn't look like it's going to happen. Well, it's the New Year, time to get back on track.

Went to see Trans Siberian Orchestra last week. It was a bit of a Christmas present. It was my first time seeing this band. After they sold out Kemper Arena last year, I decided I was going to buy some tickets shortly after they went on sale the next time they came back. They put on a very impressive show. Lots of pyrotechnics and tons of lights. It seemed like I spent whole parts of the show with my eyes closed from the glare. I enjoyed it, I would go see them again.

Saturday night I went down to the Record Bar and saw The Pornhuskers play a few tunes. They're a fun band. There was a pretty good crowd. I saw a few people I knew. I think all of their employees formerly worked at the Hurricane.

Sunday was the Chiefs at Arrowhead. It was my favorite kind of weather for a Chiefs game, cold and gray. It even snowed during the game. I ended up going to 6 of the 10 games held at Arrowhead during the season. I can't believe they made the play-offs.

07.28.2006
It was billed as a "Night Of Pure Guitar" at the Grand Emporium. The show took place last night and the headliner was Dave Weiner, a guitarist in Steve Vai's touring band. The guy that promoted it, Todd Strickland, called me about this a month or so back. I've known Todd for awhile and he's always been a bit of an aspiring promoter type. I thought this show might be a sort of a money loser, so I didn't really want to get involved. He was all gung ho about it and booked the show and took it on himself. I offered up whatever advice I could and I thought he did an ok job trying to get the word out. I really expected to see a few more people in attendance. It's too bad there weren't because Dave and his band put on a great show. The guy is a smokin' guitarist, I guess that should be expected since he plays with Vai. Todd had the "I'm losing my ass look" on his face when he told me that most of the 40-50 people in the place got in free. You have to expect this kind of thing if you want to become a promoter. Losing money is no fun, I've been there before. It was bit of a blast from the past when I ran into Dennis Dailey. Dailey was lead guitarist/vocalist of Champion, a band that was on the scene "Back in the day" as it were. He's manufacturing guitar cabinets and amp heads under the name Dailey Guitar Systems. The band had some of the amp heads onstage. He told me that he was wanting to get back out and start playing. He's looking for a drummer.

07.14.2006
I went to Harry T's for the TNT earlier tonight. Red Eye Russ has been booking bands and running sound on Thursday nights at this bar for the past few months. I've seen some bands at the club before, but it was my first Thursday night trip to the place. Muffin and Helen Hunt have gone down there a few times before to check it out. Helen works nights at the NKC Hospital but Thursday is her night off, so it's a good night for them to go out together. Anyway, they had a pretty good turnout for this show. Harry T's is a small club, so 35+ people and it's crowded. I got there just after Pull had finished. I was able to drink a few beers before Mynera took the stage. Since Mynera pulled a good crowd for their Club Wars date at Jerry's, I figured they would do the same here. They plugged their upcoming Club Wars show a few times during the set. They're going to be on the bill with Stonewalk on August 4 at the Grand Emporium. Davy B of Stonewalk came into the club just before Mynera started. He told me that he wanted to check out the competition. I thought the Mynera guys played a decent set. The sound wasn't that great but I think people were having a good time.

07.05.2006
It was 4 straight nights of rock and a day of blowing stuff up.

I started the 4th of July weekend at the Beaumont Club. I had booked a 4 band bill that turned into a 5 band bill the day of the show. The show was headlined by the Architects. This was my first time booking this band. They have attained a great deal of renown on the local scene and I would say deservedly so. They put on a good show and had some loyal fans upfront during their set. Redline Chemistry played before them and they drew the biggest crowd of the night. They sounded really top notch. They're recording an album with Wes West, it's probably a few more months until it's released. I booked Indira to open and Flak to close. The band National Fire Theory jumped on the bill at the last minute when a show for the Hurricane got cancelled. (The Hurricane closed last week and there was supposed to be a farewell party at the Madrid.) It was my first time seeing these guys. I thought they put on a great show. The guitar player Doug is a good showman.

Saturday night saw the Peppermint Creeps from LA onstage at the Bottleneck in Lawrence. I wasn't really to crazy about booking this band. I don't do to well booking bands from out of town. I went ahead and did it though and it might be awhile until I do it again. We had over 375 at the Beaumont the night before. This one might have had over 75. That's including band guys and guests. It was an all ages show, so I threw on a couple of kid bands as openers. They were Reign Of Honor and Black Oxygen. Neither drew much of a crowd. Black Oxygen though, drew some people a few nights later for their Club Wars date at the GE. Swill took the stage before the Creeps. They've played with them before in KC and Phil of Swill was the one that first told me they were looking for a place to play on July 1. Toby is Swill's new drummer. Honestly, I thought Swill was a much better band than the Peppermint Creeps. I think though, that the Creeps are in need of a guitar player. They played this show as a 3 piece and there's 4 guys in the pics. They had some interesting back drops that were pink and neon green. Their music is basically punk rock.

Sunday and Monday it was Club Wars at Jerry's East and the Grand Emporium respectively. Both these shows had pretty good crowds and overall the Summer Club Wars is doing well. There are a handfull of Qualifier dates left before the Semi-Finals start. I've got some radio kicking in to promote the semi's, I think this thing is going to build all the way up to Championship. Once again it's going to be hard to follow this up with the Fall Club Wars. I felt like the Fall was the weakest of the 3 last year. I think it will fare much better this time.

Tuesday was the 4th. Usually my son and I head out to Crazy Joe's and Fireworks City on Holmes Rd. in south KC. Well, we recently moved to Riverside, so we literally live in fireworks city now. The tents went up a few weeks back and we cruised through a number of them checking out the prices. I think I spent a whole lot less this year and got more bang for my buck. That wasn't me that set off that roll of Black Cats outside the door of the GE after Club Wars on Monday night.

06.18.2006
Last night was the show billed as the Westport Meltdown and it took place at the Westport Beach Club. I mainly billed it as the Meltdown because we have a page for it on this new website. I booked this thing outdoors on the Beach Club after soundman Bruce Ward called me up and said he had some new gear and wanted to give it a test run at an outdoor gig. I figured since he was willing to give me a good deal I might as well give the idea of an outdoor show some thought. I've never been into these local band shows at a park. They don't seem to draw well. I figured if we are only going to get 70-80 people at something on a Saturday afternoon why not give the deck of the Beach Club a shot. Well, it turned out to be a 70-80 person crowd for this little rock-n-roll party. It had a definite beach party feel to it. Openers No Cause No Cure played the show in beach clothes and swim trunks. Frontman Erik the Jager God even sported floaties on each arm. "These enhance my ability to rock," he announced to the crowd. The NC/NC guys and their antics set the stage for the more musically intense bands that followed: Seeking Surreal, One Degree Difference and A Cold Day In August. It was my second time seeing ODD with Justin fronting the band. Bassist W2 told me that they would soon be dumping all their old material and play all new stuff at gigs in the next month or two. The show went pretty smoothly and even though it was'nt a huge turnout, I might do it again sometime.

06.12.2006
Saturday was Rock Fest once again at Liberty Memorial. I like the set up they've used there the last two years. I didn't really go out into the crowd, I hung out in The Rock's VIP area for most of the show. We were right next to the main stage and the view of the band wasn't good. The topless chicks on guys shoulders view wasn't bad though. It was a trip to look out over the sea of people that filled the lawn. Rain has affected the last several Rock sponsored events including the last 2 years at Rock Fest and Freaker's Ball. It was mostly dry for this one. It rained a little off an on. It started coming down pretty steady for a time during the closing set by Staind. When I saw some hail hitting the ground I decided it was time to go. All in all, I think it was one of the better Rockfest's in recent memory.

06.10.2006
Alright! Alright! Alright! It's my first entry on the Banzai Blog. It seems like the dawn of a new age. I remember when the Club Wars website first got started. I wanted to have a diary on there were I wrote about the shows. I think it's been something that's had an impact and at times been influential for Club Wars. Now, at long last, I have a blog on the Banzai website. This will be the place where I write about what's going on outside of the world of Club Wars. Of course, Club Wars permeates, so I'm sure word of Club Wars will be here as well. But there are lots of other shows and bands out there to write about. This really could pave the way for me to print an issue of Banzai in the near future.

So, here we go. I got home an hour ago from the Grand Emporium. It was Tribute Jam III. The first of these was at the Beaumont Club and the crowd was close to 200 or more. The second one had about 40 and this one had 75-80. I don't know if I want to do anymore of these shows. I've been thinking about doing another one in August on the 11th at the GE. It's the same day as the Elvis Parade that 99.7 KY promotes every year. It would be an Elvis themed Tribute Jam if I do it. I'm kind of leaning towards punting the idea and just waiting until the first of January to throw down on the Elvis Birthday Bash again. I'm going to probably decide on Monday.

Anyway, the opener was Hemispheres, a Rush tribute band. I think they're a pretty decent act. I would have liked to let them play a little longer. But I found out prior to their set that we had a DJ starting at midnight. I've had a little problem with this before at the Grand Emporium. The last time they wanted us to end much earlier and it was a Club Wars date. This wasn't Club Wars and the time we needed to end was much more manageable. It still kind of stressed me out. I was really planning on this thing rocking until 1am. My 13 year old son Chris came to the show with me. He really wanted to stay at home. He doesn't seem to interested in the local music scene. I told him that I was going to take him home once the second band started. The second band was Sabbath Disciples, the all Black Sabbath cover band. I introduced them and headed out the door. I got back as they were playing their last song. I didn't get any positive vibe on these guys. One guy comes up to me and says, "I wouldn't have these guys at a Tribute Jam again, they suck." I don't know if they suck or not. But I did flip the singer Jonathon some shit over the way he dressed onstage in previous gigs I booked for them. This time he dressed all in black and had a big cross around his neck. Closing it out was Seattle, the dominating tribute to Grunge. Most of the crowd was there to see them. They got cut off during the last song, just a minute or two after midnight. Nobody got pissed off.

Banzai Magazine Online

The Blog