July 20th

 

My ticket stub and concert ad and handbill from the time I saw Canadian rockers Goddo play People's Pub in Edmonton on July 20th 1992.

June 16th

 

My autographed ticket stub from the time I saw Hank Williams III play at the Starlite Room in Edmonton. I actually had to leave the Tom Petty concert that same night early in order to see Hank in concert. That was a tough call but the right one. Luckily I had seen Tom a few times live already, so I had to do it.

March 1st

  It was on this day March 1st, 2016 that I saw the British blues rock band The Temperance Movement play Union Hall in Edmonton opening for Monster Truck. I had no interest in seeing the headliner, I was just there for The Temperance Movement. After their set I went outside the venue and met the guys. Super nice guys, easy to talk with and they were nice enough to autograph my record.

February 20th

  It was on February 20th, 2016 that I saw the all 80's metal female triple bill of Lita Ford headlining with openers Vixen and Femme Fatale at the River Cree Casino in Edmonton. A very good show, and after the show I got my ticket autographed by all the members of Vixen. Super cool!

November 24th

  The gig poster from the November 24th, 2010 guitar clinic I saw Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar and Grady fame do in Edmonton. This clinic was originally supposed to be at Avenue Guitars but was moved to a conference room at the Varscona Hotel just a few doors down. This was super cool to see Gordie Johnson in such an intimate setting as a small ballroom with maybe a dozen people in attendance. Was neat see him play sitting on a chair within a few feet and getting to ask him questions and get his autograph. Good times!!!

July 23rd

  

On July 23rd, 1994 I saw the band Cry Of Love from Raleigh, North Carolina play Peoples Pub in Edmonton. You might remember Cry Of Love for the song "Peace Pipe" that was big hit on the radio in 1993. If I remember correctly I looked after their merchandise table at this show, hence no ticket stub for this show. Also got a couple of autographs from the band members.

July 22nd

  

 On July 22nd, 1993 I saw The Tea Party play The Bronx in Edmonton. What was super cool about this show was getting to see British folk/blues man Roy Harper open the show. I got to chat with Roy Harper after his opening set and got his autograph.

April 6th

  

 On April 6th, 2017 I saw this awesome bill of The Bronx headlining with Dave Hause & The Mermaid opening. This show was in Edmonton at The Needle Vinyl Tavern. Good times!!!

April 4th

 

 April 4th, 1992 was a busy day. After lining up all night at Bonnie Doon Mall the night before to buy Metallica tickets, and as always the line-ups back in the day involved a lot of drinking through out the night. So an all niter then going to Sam The Record Man at West Edmonton Mall for The Four Horsemen autograph session, and then that same evening going to The Four Horsemen and Wheat Chiefs concert at Dinwoodie Lounge. What a fun 24 hours, a great concert! Good times!!!

March 9th

 

 On March 9th, 1998 I saw Steve Earle & The Dukes in concert on their El Corazon tour. This show was at the Winspear Centre in Edmonton with Buddy & Julie Miller opening. Originally it was supposed to be the V-Rots opening, but that didn't happen which is too bad, I'd loved to have seen them live.

February 26th

 It was on February 26th, 2000 that I saw Sloan on their Between The Bridges Tour at the Golden Garter in Edmonton. Opening the show was Danko Jones who actually stole the show.

I met Danko after his opening set and bough his CD and got his autograph.

February 24th

 

This show on February 24th, 1990 is still one of the top ten shows  have ever been to. L.A. Guns with local bands Killing Time and Mary Prankster at The Metro in Edmonton. Holy shit between the booze, weed, hash, mushrooms, acid and blow going around at this show it's a wonder any of us remember it. L.A. Guns were touring for their sophomore album Locked & Loaded which was a great follow up to their debut album. The afternoon of this show the band L.A. Guns did an autograph session at HMV in West Edmonton Mall in which myself a few buddies attended. Got my album autographed and met the guys. This was one hell of a day and night. Good times!!!

L.A. Guns Autographed Jacket

Well look what I found in my closet a while ago. My old jean jacket from the late 80's. It is my L.A. Guns jacket, I drew this logo as a teen on the back of my jacket using felt pens. I got it autographed back in 1990 when L.A. Guns did an autograph session at HMV in West Edmonton Mall before playing a headlining show at The Metro when they were touring for their Cocked & Loaded album. I loved this jacket and wore it with pride, just couldn't wear it if it was raining, as the ink would have run. I thought this was lost, so happy to have found it.

Book Review (Live at the Commodore)

I recently finished reading a book that my brother had bought me for Christmas. The book is wrote by Aaron Chapman and is called Live at the Commodore, The Story Of Vancouver's Historic Ballroom. And just like the title says, it a story about the history of this famous Vancouver concert venue.

The Commodore has been around since 1929 and is still thriving today in the same location in downtown Vancouver on Granville Street. It did close down for three years 1996-1999. But is again up and running hosting concerts on an almost daily schedule.

This book is well written, and tells many a stories about the early days of being a ballroom hosting dances and such, and of course stories of the many bands that have played shows there, including bands such as Nirvana, KISS, Pearl Jam, U2, James Brown, Ween, Tagically Hip and just about every band you could possibly think of. It's a perfect midsize venue holding about a thousand people.

I myself have only seen a handful of shows there myself, which were Steel Panther, Drive-By Truckers and Ween twice. And I have to say it is one of the best venues I have seen a show at, not that I have seen shows in to many places, but yes, it is a great venue. If your not from Vancouver and have a chance to see a show there, do it.

A great book and well worth picking up. The author Aaron Chapman also has another book out about another great club in Vancouver. That book is called "Liquor, Lust and the Law" which is about the Penthouse Nghtclub which is a great strip bar on Vancouver.

A great surprise for me with this book which I didn't realize until I started reading it, is that its an autographed copy. Thanks Bro!!!

Old School Album Of The Week For Feb.4th-9th

Old school album of the week is the debut release by Canadian metal band Killer Dwarfs from 1983. The band was led by singer Russ Dwarf, with Darrell Dwarf on drums and guitarists Ange and Bryce Dwarf rounding out the band. This is an album I had forgotten all about til just recently after going through the record collection looking for something to listen to. I had to give it a spin, and am glad I did. It's a fun album to listen to, it's got all the old school 80's metal cliches in it. It's not meant to be ground breaking, or political, just fun metal. It even has the requisite ballad, the last song of the record "Fire In Your Eyes", which is awful, worst song on the album. The stand out songs are,the opening song "Are You Ready" with it's classic metal riff and Geddy Lee (Rush) like voice, followed by the song "Can't Lose" with the opening lyrics "hard times and a bottle of jack, night train goin' off the track, I lost my money, got no fans, hard times come around again" how 80's metal does that sound. Side one end with the biggest song from this album "Heavy Mental Breakdown". I think every Canadian metal head from the 80's will recall hearing this song or seeing this video at one time or another. I remember this song being on the compilation album "Metal For Breakfast". All and all this album is a classic eighties metal album.



Killer Dwarfs were a fun band to see live as well, with lead singer Russ Dwarf being known to ride a tri-cycle around stage while performing.

My favorite memory of this album is the time back in 1987 when I was working as a dish pig at the restaurant Billy Budd's here in Edmonton, I was going to the front of the restaurant to get dishes when I spotted the drummer Darrell Dwarf and lead singer Russ Dwarf having dinner. The band was playing in town that evening at a bar, in which I wasn't old enough to get into at the time. I went back to the kitchen and called my Dad and asked him to go through my record collection and find my Killer Dwarfs record. If that's not funny enough, thinking of my Dad looking for a Killer Dwarfs album. I then asked him if he would be kind enough to bring me the record to my work as I wanted to try and catch them before they left to see if I could get my album autographed. Well, my Dad came through as he always does, but he brought me the record only, no album sleeve just the record. Oh well. I caught the guys just after they finished eating and asked them if they would autograph the record. Which they did, I had the chance to talk a bit with the guys, whom were both really nice. They were going to give me tickets for the show, but as I said earlier, I wasn't old enough to go. Nice gesture though nonetheless. I'm sure the guys left the restaurant wondering what the hell I was doing with a Killer Dwarfs album and the vinyl only in the kitchen. Good times!!!

Autographed Memorabilia

Thought I would show off a few autographed items I have purchased over the past few months. All three titles are albums I bought through pre-orders on the bands website. Unfortunately, I am not all that impressed with any of them.

The first one is Ryan Bingham's latest album called "Tomorrowland" that was released in September. The album is alright, but not near as good as his previous release "Junky Star" that came out in 2010. Ryan released "Tomorrowland" on his own record label Axster Bingham Records which is available through Ryan Bingham's website.

Here are a few tracks from the album "Tomorrowland". The first track in which I included the video is called "Guess Who's Knocking" I find the song to be pretty cheesy, sounds like something Kid Rock would do. The next song which is audio only is more like what I would expect from Ryan Bingham, this tune is called "The Road I'm On", now that's more like it.



The Road I'm On.

The second album is by Jeff Keith who is the lead singer in the rock band Tesla, a band that had some success in the late 80's and early 90's. I have always been a big fan of the band Tesla, so when I saw that Jeff was going to do a country album I was very intrigued to have a listen. Tesla were one of the first rock bands to do the unpugged thing, even before the unplugged sessions of the MTV era. Tesla released their live unplugged album called "The Five Man Acoustical Jam" in 1990 which was incredible, something I still listen to once in a while to this day.

The EP Jeff Keith just released is called "Jeff Keith and Country Music Friends" and was released on his own as well. The EP consists of six songs and some interviews at the end of the album. This is a straight up country album, not what I was expecting to be honest. This is no alt-country thing at all, this is old school country. What I did find interesting is the interviews at the end of the EP. Sounds like this whole project got started here in Edmonton,Alberta at West Edmonton Mall when Tesla played here back in 2005. Checkout the interview to understand what I am talking about.

I have included my favorite track "Life On The Road" from the EP and the interview.

Life On The Road.



The interview.

The last autographed album I am writing about today is the live album from Canadian reggae rockers Big Sugar. This is the first full length live album and DVD that Big Sugar has released. The album is called "Eliminate Ya Live" and just came out in the last month. It was recorded in Winnipeg, Manitoba at the Burton Cummings Theatre in November of 2011.

I am a huge fan of Gordie Johnson lead singer and guitar player of Big Sugar and his other band Grady. I have been following his music projects since the early 90's and have seen him many a times. And have got his autograph previously in person a few times. This album comes with both a CD and DVD, the DVD includes seven bonus tracks that are not on the CD. While I still enjoy Big Sugar, I do miss the bite and rocking blues that Big Sugar played in their earlier years. The DVD is just over a couple of hours long and is pretty damn good. I didn't much care for it the first time I watched it, but after seeing it a second time I appreciated it that much more. Highlights for me was the song "All Hell For A Basement", how could I not, it is after all about Alberta, also some of the old shit still rocks, songs like "Wild Ox Moan" and "Ride Like Hell". I just wish Big Sugar would play "I'm A Ram" live a little more often,I have always loved that song, and to me is what Big Sugar was about back in the day. I have included a track from the CD, the song "If Santa Don't Bring You No Funk" to get into the festive spirit.

If Santa Don't Bring You No Funk.



Now I plead with you Gordie Johnson for some new Grady music,PLEASE!!!

Black Keys Trifecta

My Black Keys "El Camino" vinyl collection finally came together last week. On Friday November 25th known as Black Friday in the United States, has also become another Record Store Day, where there are special vinyl releases. On this day, which has swept in to Canada now as well. There was a Black Keys 12 inch single release of the new Black Keys single "Lonely Boy" backed with "Run Right Back" from there upcoming new album "El Camino" that was to be released on December 6th. I picked up the limited edition "Lonely Boy" single release. What is cool about this single is that it plays in reverse groove, meaning it plays from the end of the record to the start, hence in reverse.



12 inch single of "Lonely Boy" by The Black Keys.



With a purchase of this release or any Black Keys product on Record Store Day at an independent record store in Canada (Permanent Records for me) you were entered to win an autographed test pressing of the new album "El Camino". Much to my surprise, a few weeks ago I got a call from Warner Records with the news that I had won a copy of the test pressing. I finally received the record last week. The test pressing was done by Furnace Manufacturing.

Test Pressing vinyl photos.







On December 6th the full length album "El Camino" was released on Nonesuch Records. I picked this up on vinyl as well. It is another great album by The Black Keys, well worth buying.

Official release.



Poster that came with album.





In concert news...The Black Keys will be playing in Edmonton for the second time within a year at Rexall Place on Saturday May 12th with openers Arctic Monkeys.