KISS Collectible Of The Day Mar.31st

Today's KISS Collectible is the tour program from the KISS Farewell Tour that came through Edmonton in 2000. I just came across this program the other day. I forgot I even had it. It's a decent program with 65 glossy pages full of cool photos from 1973 to 2000. With each year there is a list of every tour date that they did that year. Damn cool tour program I must say.

Here are a few pictures of the program.

Front Cover.



Some pics of the pages.













Back Cover.



Ticket Stub from the Edmonton show.

A Saturday Afternoon of Acoustic Music 03/17/2012

Saturday afternoon I made my way to The Pawn Shop on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton for some live music. Being St.Paddy's Day the ave was hopping with some bars having line ups at 9 in the morning. Thankfully there was no line up at The Pawn Shop. They had live music starting at noon with the following acts. Starting with Ben Olson followed by James Davies, Ben Sir (Worst Days Down), Ian McIntosh (Owls By Nature) then ending with James Renton (Fire Next Time). I apologize for not knowing whom was on stage and names for the first few acts. I didn't hang there all day,but the acts I did see were great.

Not sure who the first guy I saw was, either Ben Olson or James Davies, but the next act I saw was Ben Sir of "Worst Days Down". I got him mixed up with another local singer songwriter Ben Sures,oops. Anyways, Ben Sir was quite good. A hell of a song writer with a great delivery in his singing. All acts were just solo with an acoustic guitar. Ben Sir had some great stories in his songs and is going to be an up and coming musician to watch for. I got to talk to him after his set. He is a very nice guy and was nice enough to give me a pre-pressing of his new Worst Days Down CD called "Money,God And Other Drugs. Mix Tape 1" and t-shirt of his. The CD is a chronicle of his travels through Central America, stories of characters he come across, and his travel experiences. He did all of this while working with a wildlife organization called ARCAS. Which is an organization for the Rescuing and Conservation of Guatemalan Wildlife.. According to the back of the CD, Ben Sir is working on a book and CD. He will be releasing a series of demos/mixtapes of acoustic songs to get the music out there and drum awareness of the project while he completes the book and album. To read more about Ben Sir, be sure to checkout
these sites. worstdaysdown.org and manateesandjackolanterns. I am looking forward to hearing more of Ben Sir's music and stories.

The last song of Ben's set he brought out James Renton and Ian McIntosh, all three on acoustic guitar to rock out an old punk song. They said it was by a Calgary act, but missed who it was originally done by, whomever it was, it sure kicked ass.

After stepping out to get a hair cut. First one in 9 years, and something I was super nervous about. I think I would almost rather be in a dentist chair. With a few beers in me before the dreaded hair cut, I was alright and managed to get the cut done, and have to say, I am ok with it. It didn't take me long to get out of that barber shop and get back to see some more live music.

Ben Sir, James Renton and Ian McIntosh (I think?).







CD from Ben Sir's "Worst Days Down" project.



T-shirt that Ben Sir gave me. Thanks!!!



I got back in time to catch James Renton's set. James Renton is the lead singer and guitar player in the local band Fire Next Time. This was my second time catching James play solo. I have yet to see him with is full band. But it is no let down seeing him solo. His set this afternoon to a small but appreciative audience, wasn't on stage or with a mic, as there was a band setting up for the evening. So James Renton just played on the floor in front of the bar to a small but enthusiastic crowd. James mentioned he had been drinking since 9am the day before, so we were getting a rough on the fly kind of show. Wow, impressive it was. With his rough whiskey soaked voice and his gritty guitar playing, this was an amazing set. Songs of drinking, songs about the streets, Fort McMurray and some funny entertaining stories in between. He had the crowd singing along and stomping there feet to his songs. Very entertaining and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I wish The Pawn Shop would do these kind of afternoon shows more often. It's a great way to start the day with a little hair of the dog. A fun day. Good times!!!!

James Renton performing.







A little taste of James Renton's music.



In concert news...James Renton's band Fire Next Time will be opening for Big John Bates and Murder By Death show on Saturday March 31st at New City Legion here in Edmonton. This should be an awesome show.

Leeroy Stagger Live at The Pawn Shop 03/15/2012

Thursday night my buddies Buzzard,Hurl and I went to see Leeroy Stagger play at The Pawn Shop here in Edmonton. This was my fourth time seeing Leeroy perform live, and yet again, he blew me away, another stellar performance from him and his band. We missed the opening act and only saw two songs from Sean Brewer with The Switchmen. What surprised me about this show was how few people were in attendance, wow, like maybe 30 people. What a fuckin' joke, Edmonton should be embarrassed about this. We are talking about an awesome singer songwriter and guitarist and only 30 people show up for a rock n' roll show. I thought we were a rock town. Sure it was a Thursday night, suck it up and get out there and support this great Canadian band. You will not be disappointed, guaranteed.

Leeroy Stagger is touring for his newest album "Radiant Land" which comes out in North America on May 1st on Rebeltone Records, it is already available overseas on Blue Rose Records.

On this evening he played about an hour and twenty minute set, opening with a new tune called "Dirty Windshields" which rocked. he played a few other new tunes as well, another song title I recall was a tune called "Maria" again another good one. He really doesn't have a bad song in his repertoire. There were songs from earlier albums "Little Victories", "Everything Is Real" and "Depression River". I was really hoping to hear "Jesus and the Liquor" and "Brother" he didn't play either, but a minor complaint, considering how good the rest of is music is. I was surprised to hear him do the Neil Young song "Cinnamon Girl". He did a great version of it. I think it may have had something to do with the shitty thumping music you could hear from the dance bar downstairs, in which he had complained about. And to think there were more people outside that bar being retards then there were upstairs in The Pawn Shop to see and hear some real music. What the hell is wrong with kids these days.

Leeroy Stagger started the show on the acoustic guitar coming off like a gritty Steve Earle then as the show went on he strapped on the Gibson guitar and got down to some real gritty loud Neil Young like rock n' roll. This was the loudest and most rocking show I have seen Leeroy put on. Playing The Pawn Shop is the first time have seen him actually play a rock club, as the other times were at The Haven, outdoor show and then at the Century Casino opening for Los Lobos.

Leeroy's backing band of Nick Stecz on drums, Tyson Maiko on bass guitar and Matthew Robinson on guitar and mandolin were tight and seemed to be enjoying themselves. Guitar player Matthew Robinson whom is new to the band reminds me a lot of Nels Cline the guitar player for Wilco. All and all a great night of live music from Leeroy Stagger and his band. Just a real shame about the lame turn out for this show. Didn't stop the band from putting on one hell of a show though.As well, the sound was crisp and clear too. A true professional. Good times!!!!









Guitar player Matthew Robinson of Leeroy Stagger's band.



Some live footage I took at the show.





T-shirt.

Puscifer Live In Edmonton 03/10/2012

Saturday night my buddy A-Bomb and I went to see the band Puscifer play at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton ("and ya we dropped for this show :)"). Puscifer is a band led by Maynard James Keenan of Tool and A Perfect Circle fame. This is yet another side project of his. Puscifer are touring for their latest release "Conditions Of My Parole". After listening to some of Puscifer's music, I knew this was a show for A-Bomb and I. After all we like the weird psychedelic stuff. We got we went for that's for sure.

We made our way to the venue a half hour early as I wanted to see the opener Carina Round. Much to my surprise, they were lined up deep outside the Jubilee. I have been to many show at this venue and have never come across this before, usually you can just walk in and away you go. not on this night, they had the full pat down going on and checking for cameras and such. No recording devices or cameras allowed at all. So after hiding what we needed to hide, we made our way in to the line up. Luckily we got in to the venue in time to catch Carina Round's set. She was alright, but didn't really do much for me. Her back up band were a couple of the guys from Puscifer, as well she would be playing with Puscifer too. I did try to take pictures, but after getting off one shot, i had security all over me warning, one more picture and I was out. Ok, time to put the camera away.

After Carina's set, it was a quick exit to the bar down the street for a couple of quick drinks, as that was way faster then putting up with the line up at the venue's bar. We got back in time to catch the short film of Puscifer before they made their way to the the stage. Right from the start, film, and then watching Maynard pull out a couple of trailers, one silver trailer packed with lawn chairs and a bbq, in which he set up like a camp ground, with bottles of wine set up around each chair, then came another trailer with the drum set on it. yes, Maynard was being his own roadie for his own band. This was going to be a weird show. And that is was. It was part campy, part comedic, part psychedelic, part heavy, it was a shit mix of everything. With a screen at the back of the stage showing psychedelic lighting and images, and some weird comedy bits of him in his alter ego Billy D as a hillbilly hick, just some weird ass stuff going on at this show. What I really liked was Carina Round doing background vocals and few leads here and there, her voice is amazing and mixed very well with Maynard's. I think she actually kind of stole the show. For the encore, which was the song "Tumbleweed" the band didn't even leave the stage, they just all sat around the fire in their lawn chairs drinking wine, saying, we are too lazy to leave the stage, so after some applause and shouting to get them to play some more, they polished off their drinks and went back to the instruments and played one last song. All and all, I 'm still not sure what to think of the show, it was good, but strange. I think it may take some time for this one to really sink in. Good times though!!!

The one picture I managed to take during Carina Round's opening set.



T-shirt front.



T-shirt back.

KISS Collectible Of The Day Mar.8th

Today's KISS Collectible is the last in the four part series of Archie Meets KISS comic. Comic number four is titled "Shout It Out Loud" and surprise, surprise Riverdale is saved from the zombies that were going to make Riverdale boring. Again, I thought the comic was rather dull and stupid, but being a collector of KISS shit. I got all four comics.

Archie Meets KISS comic number four.



All four comics in the series.

KISS Collectible Of The Day Mar.4th

Today's KISS Collectible are boxer shorts I got for Xmas. These ones have the "Rock And Roll Over" cover art all over them, very cool, and my favorite KISS album to boot.