A Year in Review

We started New Years Eve 2010 off with a Shinedown show in Edmonton at 100.3 the Bear's New Year's Eve bash at the Shaw Conference Centre!  A highlight of the night was when they performed their version of Lynyrd Skynards' "Simple Man" as a tribute to Dimebag Darrell. 

We also saw the rock opera 'Jesus Christ Superstar' with Ted Neely who was the original Jesus in the 1973 film!

In mid-January we were ecstatic to attend the NAMM convention in Anaheim with our friends.  We had the pleasure of meeting some of our faves such as Slash, George Lynch, Ratt, Phil Varone, Steven Adler, Joe Satriani, Rikki Rockett, Andy Timmons and many more.  In the evening, we attended the Guitar Players Ball 5 with George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), Chris Holmes (WASP), Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot, Ratt) and Brent Fitz (Union, Alice Cooper, Vince Neil and currently Slash) on drums!  Gilby Clarke (Guns N Roses) was supposed to play as well, but he was in a motorcycle accident and unable to attend. 

Also as part of NAMM, we saw Ratt at the House of Blues in Anaheim!  It was packed to the rafters and we were pleasantly surprised to see Stephen Pearcy on vocals. He had been playing some solo shows so we assumed he wouldn't be fronting Ratt that night!  We had alot of fun (and drinks) hanging out with Steve Brown and PJ Farley from Trixter!

After a fabulous day of shopping on Melrose; we took in the Steel Panther show Monday night in LA at the House of Blues on Sunset.  Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray) got up on stage and jammed with them.  We were surprised to see Pearl opening up for them.  Pearl Aday is Meatloaf’s daughter; and Scott Ian’s (from Anthrax) wife.  Scott Ian was playing with the band!

We attended the Motley Crue shows in Vancouver and Edmonton for the Dead of Winter Tour.  Although they played a bare bones type show with way less theatrics than the last couple of tours; they were still spectacular!  The Joe Perry Project opened up for them.  It's just not the same seeing Joe up on stage without Steven Tyler singing and grooving beside him.

We saw Megadeth with Testament in March at the Shaw Conference Centre, in Edmonton.  It was historic to see Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson playing on stage together again.  Dave and Dave were two of the musicians we had the pleasure of meeting earlier in the year at NAMM.

In April, the Gruesome Twosome Tour came to town!  Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper both put on very entertaining shows.  Rob Zombie showed movie clips on the huge screen behind him and Alice Cooper entertained with his Rock N Roll horror show!  Alice was recently inducted in to the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame!

We took a much needed trip to Las Vegas to celebrate Lor's birthday.  We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel for the first time, and loved it! We checked in at the front desk as the sweet sounds of Poison's "Talk Dirty To Me" billowed throughout the hotel! It felt like home. We saw Benji Madden get escorted through the hotel on his way to fight Riki Rachtman in a sold-out match which Benji won. We also saw Drowning Pool play at Wasted Space!

Our trip also included watching our friends the Spazmatics play a couple of shows while enjoying big Vegas drinks. We also went to the Steel Panther show at the House of Blues.  We saw the new Cirque De Soleil show "Viva Elvis" on our last night in Sin City!  It was a short but enjoyable trip!

In May we saw Slaughter at Century Casino in Edmonton. We talked to Mark, Dana, and Blando and told them how excited we were to see them again at Rock N America in July!  In May, we also saw The Trews and Buckcherry at the Rainmaker Rodeo!  There was a massive snow storm, but Buckcherry put on such an amazing live show, they're worth it!

In June we saw the legendary Iron Maiden.  They played a lot of new songs and Eddie looked a little different than normal; but they still rocked Rexall Place as usual. 

In June, we went to Toronto for NXNE and got to hang out with some old friends Johnny Rude & Lydia, Stacy Stray, Joy and Sammy. We shopped alot and checked out various gigs at bars including Tattoo Rock Parlour, The Hideout, Cherry Cola Rock & Rolla, Bovine, and Oh Boy.  We also saw the rock/jukebox musical "Rock of Ages" and had seats in front of the first row! While in Toronto, we saw Iggy Pop and the Stooges play Dundas Square which was jammed pack with unbelievable amounts of people.  We also saw the New York Dolls at the Burlington Sound of Music!  It was a mind-blowing weekend!

July was an exciting month.  First show was Fear Factory at the Starlite Room!  Next up was Bon Jovi with Kid Rock at the Stadium!  We also saw our friend Tommy Mac and his band Hedley play to tons of screaming fans at Capital Ex.

July 23-25 we attended Rock N America Music Festival in Oklahoma City!  The days were unbelievable, so were the after-parties at the Garden of Evil!    

On Thursday at RN'A we saw: Sweet, Bulletboys, Trixter, Faster Pussycat, Great White, a Tribute to Dio, and Twisted Sister.

Friday at RN'A brought us: Steelheart, John Corabi, Firehouse, Pretty Boy Floyd, Michael Schenker, LA Guns, Cinderella, and Scorpions.

On Saturday at RN'A we saw: Warrant, Texas Hippie Coalition, Slaughter (with a special appearance from Vince Neil), Lillian Axe, Lita Ford, Gilby Clarke, Dokken, Lynch Mob, and Ratt.

August was another great month!  We saw Keith Urban at the Big Valley Jamboree, and one of the Scorpions final shows in Canada. 

We saw Blondie for the first time ever. Deborah Harry she looked and sounded amazing!  We were also elated to see Buckcherry again, this time at Edmonton Event Centre.  We attended a meet n' greet before hand at Bourbon Street at West Edmonton Mall.  We finally got to meet Josh Todd! Yay! They were all so nice!  It was a much better show, indoors - with no snow!  :)

We were happy to see our friend's Killinger play Edmonton Event Centre with Lynch Mob.  The vivacious Marq Torien (Bulletboys) was on vocals and James Lomenzo (White Lion and Megadeth) was on bass.  George Lynch is a Guitar God. It was such a fun night! We ran into friends we hadn't seen in many years!

In September we saw the Aerosmith 40^th Anniversary show!  We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Aerosmith!  Joan Jett opened the show, and played a lot of songs from her days with the "Runaways"! 

We also caught a couple of Slash shows in Calgary and Edmonton and were proud to see long time friends Todd Kerns & Brent Fitz up on stage with the Guitar Legend.  (see earlier blog for review on Aerosmith as well as Slash).

In October we saw Collective Soul play at River Cree Casino! We were also ecstatic to see one of our faves,  Bret Michaels, headline the Halloween Howler.  (see earlier blogs for reviews of both Collective Soul and Bret).

The November Grey Cup festivities in Edmonton were fun-filled.  We saw Helix, Bif Naked, Ian Thornley with Big Wreck, Fozzy with Chris Jericho, Trooper, and Big Sugar.  All Canadian, All weekend!  (see earlier blog). 

The last show of the year was Keith Urban at West Edmonton Mall.  It was intimate and interactive (see earlier blog)! 

Can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us! 

Brent Fitz - All Access Music Tour - Edmonton, AB

We were happy to hear our good friend Brent Fitz was coming to town to speak (and play a bit of drums) at Long & McQuade's new South location. Brent was there as part of the "All Access Music Tour" which allows successful Canadian working musicians to speak and share their experiences with the public. Brent told stories and shared pictures of various experiences throughout the years of him being a drummer.

Some of the highlights of the evening:

-Brent showed the crowd a picture of young version of him with Gregg Bisonette at a drum clinic when he was younger.

-He showed a picture of him as a teen with Tommy Lee.  He explained that when he was a young teen and his parents suggested he get a job, he answered an add to teach drums at a music store (instead of working at somewhere like a fast food place). He said this allowed him the opportunity to meet some of his influences like for example when the store needed someone to deliver drum equipment to Tommy Lee (when Motley Crue was in Winnipeg playing a show that night) he volunteered!

-He displayed a very polite rejection letter from Ozzy Osbourne that he received in the early 90s after sending in a package to audition to be his drummer.  The humbling experience taught him that you have to put in you 10,000 hours and work your way into the circle before any acceptance and success can be achieved.

-He showed a clip of playing with Vince Neil, Kerri Kelli and Jason Hook.

-He talked about playing with Union, Alice Cooper, The Guess Who, Theory of a Deadman, Econoline Crush, and Harlequin. And how important it is to always be prepared, and explained how he prepares with short notice. 

-He showed an awesome montage 'Back from Cali' video of the Slash shows in Europe this summer.

-He talked about getting out of his comfort zone and the importance of being a well rounded musician to achieve success.  He filled in for our friend Todd Kerns playing bass when he had to fly home from Moscow to have emergency surgery as his retina had detached.  He only had a few hours to rehearse and they played in front of thousands of people.  The drum tech filled in for Brent.

-He played drums along to songs by bands he's played with such as Slash, Harlequin, Econoline Crush and the Guess Who.

Brent was a very entertaining and inspirational.

Brent's official page:
http://www.brentfitz.com

Check out Slash's page for upcoming tour dates with Ozzy!
http://slash.ultimate-guitar.com/

http://www.long-mcquade.com/page/eventshome/

Grease

We were pleasantly surprised to see Eddie Mekka 'Carmine' from Laverne & Shirley take the stage and warm up the crowd.  We didn't know he was in the musical. He sang and announced that next year is the 40th anniversary of Grease. The show is timeless and we were ecstatic to finally see the musical version of Grease!

For the most part, the scenes were very close to the movie. The first scene featured the theme song 'Grease' with the whole cast including T-Birds & Pink Ladies. Second scene was 'Summer Nights' which introduced us to Danny and Sandy at Rydell High.

The 'Greased Lightning' scene featured a rocking red convertible with flames on it which the T-Birds restored on stage. However, (unlike the movie), the song was lead by Kenickie instead of Danny. The choreography was spectacular and exceeded our expectations.

Eddie Mekka played two characters. The first was Vince Fontaine from the WAXX radio station at the dance as well as the Teen Angel who sang ‘Beauty School Drop Out’ to Frenchie (with pink hair). Our favorite cast member was Rizzo. She had Stockard Channing's character traits of a bad-girl down pat. She exuded attitude as she sang ‘Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee’ and ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’.

The musical ended similar to the movie with Sandy getting a fabulous makeover by Frenchie to the ‘Tell me about it…stud’.  Like the movie Sandy and Danny and everyone are together in the end. The final two songs were 'You're the One that I Want' and 'We Go Together'.  They received a standing ovation.

Keith Urban

Keith Urban performed a free concert at West Edmonton Mall to promote his new album “Get Closer”.  It was the only Canadian promotional show.  There were 3,000 people in attendance and a lot of screaming women.  He joked that the last time he did a free show in 2001, only four people showed up; he was glad more showed up this time!  He had his acoustic guitar and a drum machine; not everyone is talented enough to pull that off.

He played 7 songs.  His set list included ‘Days Go By’, his new single ‘Put You In a Song’, ‘Making Memories of Us’, ‘Kiss a Girl, (where he brought up a teenage fan to come up and do a duet with him), ‘Stupid Boy’, a cover of ‘The Joker’ by Steve Miller band, and ‘Somebody Like You’.  He was supposed to do 5 songs, and said twice, “This is my last song”.

He did a meet and greet after the show for the 200 fans that went to buy his new album the day before at HMV.  Some loyal fans stayed overnight just to have the chance to meet him.  His upcoming Canadian September 2011 tour was announced for shows in Ottawa, Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.  Tickets go on sale March 4 at 10:00 am.

http://www.keithurban.net/

Hard Core Logo Live

We saw the musical Hard Core Logo Live at the Roxy.  It is a stage adaptation of the 1996 Canadian cult-classic mockumentory that is based on the book by Michael Turner, ‘Hard Core Logo’.  The movie was loosely based on the punk band D.O.A from Vancouver; it starred Hugh Dillon (the former lead singer of the Headstones).  The movie had cameo appearances by Joe ‘Shithead’ Keithley of D.O.A, Art Bergmann, and Joey Ramone.

The musical started with a “Punkerland Who’s Who” featuring Joe Keithley, ‘the Godfather of Canadian punk’.  The musical is very similar to the movie.  A punk rock band ‘Hard Core Logo’ – Joe Dick, Billy Tallent, John Oxenberger, and Pipefitter reunite to do a fundraiser for their friend who has been shot; and it turns into an eventful tour across Western Canada.  There is a lot of live music and they included the song ‘Who the Hell Do You Think You Are?’ which won a Genie Award for ‘Best Achievement in Music – Original Song’.  The Musical Directors of the play were Joe “Shithead’ Keithley and Corinne Kessel.

The Director of the movie Bruce McDonald has stated that there is a Hard Core Logo sequel in the works!  Until then, the punk opera is in Edmonton until December 5. 

http://www.theatrenetwork.ca/

Canadian Music at the Grey Cup 2010 Festivities

The City of Edmonton built a stage for Canadian bands to play on for the 2010 Grey Cup Festival.  There was Canadian music all over the city all weekend outdoors and at all of the parties. 

The first band we saw at the Huddledome was Helix.  Brian Vollmer said they just about didn’t make the show as their plane was late, the door wouldn’t open, their vehicle didn’t arrive on time, and they got lost and the GPS didn’t work!  They were happy they made it to be able to take part of the festivities!  They played a lot of new songs; but still played favorites like ‘Make Me Do Anything You Want’, and ‘Rock You’!  They also played ‘Heavy Metal Love’ which was the wedding song played for Ricky in the Trailer Park Boys Movie.  They were filming for their new Helix-based reality TV series. 

http://planethelix.com/ 

The second band we saw was Bif Naked.  She is one of the best female talents of Canada.  She has an amazing voice and has such star quality.  She sang some of our favorites like ‘Space Man’, ‘Moment of Weakness’, and ‘Lucky’.  Before she started ‘Tango Shoes’ she said that her tango shoes are now in the Bata Shoe Museum in downtown Toronto!  Bif finished the set with ‘I Love Myself Today’.  She was excited to be part of the celebration!

http://www.bifnaked.com/

The third band we saw was Ian Thornley with Big Wreck.  This was part of a reunion tour!  They played some solo Thornley songs ‘Come Again’ and ‘Make Believe’, and played Big Wreck songs ‘That Song’ and ‘The Oaf’.  Ian laughed when some girls asked him to ‘take it off’, it was too cold; but he said he loved the Rock Winter!  They finished the set with an ‘Oh Canada’ guitar solo.

http://thornleymusic.com/

We went to see Dave Navarro & DJ Skribble at the Underground Huddle.  Dave played guitar while the DJ played songs, it was similar to when we saw Tommy Lee DJ and play drums.  It was rock mixed in with some dance.  Dave played guitar along to Rush, Black Sabbath, Queen, etc. but surprisingly; no Red Hot Chili Peppers or Jane’s Addiction.  He has a very cool stage presence; he has mind-blowing talent with his guitar playing.

The fourth band we saw was Fozzy with Chris Jericho.  We actually only got to see a couple of songs as we had to stand in line to go zip lining.  We could hear people screaming Fozzy!  Fozzy! as we were zip lining across the Huddledome and we saw Fozzy with Chris Jericho on the stage 90 feet below!  

http://fozzyrock.com/

The fifth band we saw was Trooper.  They are a staple of Canadian music; they have been playing music for 35 years.  They are very entertaining on stage and Ra McGuire is hysterically funny.  They did a great many songs that every Canadian knows like ‘Raise a Little Hell’, ‘We’re Here For a Good Time, (Not a Long Time)’, and ‘Hand Grenade’.

http://www.trooper.com/

The final band we saw was Big Sugar.  They have been ‘on a break’ for 6 years, so everyone was excited to see this Canadian blues-rock band perform again.  Gordie Johnson came out with a double neck guitar with a Canadian flag on the back and started with ‘Red Rover - Brothers and Sisters, Are You Ready?’ and they played all of their hits including ‘Diggin a Hole’, and ‘Dear Mr. Fantasy’.

http://www.bigsugar.com/index.php

Other Canadian bands that played around the city and for the parties were Matt Good, Theory of a Deadman, Streetheart, Tom Cochrane, Wide Mouth Mason and The Trews.  We had to pick and choose who we wanted to see as it was all packed in one weekend for the Grey Cup 2010!

Halloween Howler with Bret Michaels

We attended local rock radio station (100.3 fm) the Bear’s 18th Halloween Howler on October 29.  It was held at the Shaw Conference Center (Edmonton, AB) and featured performances by Bret Michaels and Hail the Villain.  We have been to almost all of the Howler’s in the past (unless we were in Las Vegas or LA) and always have an amazing time.  The prizes (for best costumes) are huge and the costumes are always mind-blowing!  This year was by far the best Howler yet, and there were a great many Bret Michaels and Slash look alikes at the party. Bret was definitely the most popular costume choice this year and there were wigs and bandanas everywhere you looked! It was awesome!

This year there were 12 of us girls dressed up as Bret's Rock of Love girls. We all wore matching Rock of Love backstage passes.  We were front row center and had an amazing time!  Bret started the show with ‘Nothin’ But a Good Time’ and played many of our Poison favorites such as ‘Fallen Angel’ and ‘Talk Dirty to Me’.  We haven’t seen him play solo since Rocklahoma 2008 (we also saw Bret play with Poison at Rocklahoma 2007 as well as in Las Vegas in Sept 2009)! Did we mention we love Bret? :)

We were hoping that he would play some of his solo songs like ‘Bittersweet’ or ‘Driven’, but he opted for more party-orientated rock cover songs like “Rock N Roll All Night’ by Kiss and "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynard Skynard.  Either way (as usual), Bret rocked our world! 

We visited the merch booth after the show where Bret offered a post-show meet and greet for a $200.00 donation to juvenile diabetes. Check out the link on BretMichaels.com:  http://www.bretmichaels.com/2010/diabetes_files/diabetes.htm        

Us at the Howler! (Lor and Cin) :)