Thursday, December 28, 2006

NOT MUCH HAPPENING......




Ah, nothing quite like a picture of the Christmas amp to make you begin the count down till Santa comes again............
Well, o.k not really.

I'm still in the post x-mas daze, a kind of limbo of sorts, before the new years eve fun begins again.

Like most people who work on tour, this is the time of year where you would love to confirm what is happening next year.....hello interpol.....
After thanksgiving, if your not still on the road, you're pretty much done till February.
Personally i'm loving my time off, but i'd like to know how long i'm budgeting for.
I don't need to tell you Christmas wipes out your bank account.
Even if you're having a "Small" Christmas this year...it all adds up!

I'm almost done with my top records/re-issues/dvd's of the year
feel free to send me yours and i'll add them here

You should all check out my friend Henrys website for a guide on how to do a REAL top 10

Until then, i'll leave you with a few more pics

Be safe on new years eve.....
Remember it's Amatuer night....
Ally





Thursday, December 21, 2006

That's that dude right?


What a week, what a week.
more x-mas shopping was done and i had a real game of soccer for the first time in 5 weeks.

yeah, just when you think you've finished with all your x-mas presents.....got one for all the right people.......you realize that your better half is counting on you to chip in with her families stuff too.
ah, joy of joys.....
i've got my cousin davie coming to the zuleta family christmas eve shin-dig, and his family will be in california from the 27th till the early new year.
that means i saved some money on shipping more presents....
it' also means i've not got their presents yet....doh!

after hurting my hip a few weeks back, i had been taking it easy....it was more of a fright than anything.....but last monday decided to get back into some kind of condition to play soccer again.
training is friday nights, and i wanted to see if i was up to it rather than drive for 45 minutes to hurt myself in the warm up like last time.
so i went running with the dog.
sounds simple and as it turns out it actually is after you let the large pit-bull you are with drag you round the first 400 metres or so.
my dog is a big muscle.

anyway, cut a long story short, no problems with my hip and training went well on friday.
we played a game on sunday about 5 minutes from my house and won.
nice.
it was good to get the full 90 minutes under my belt again.
our winter season starts on 21 january, so i'm trying to watch myself over the holiday season.....so far i've watched myself drink every night and eat out at all hours!
the good /bad thing about los angeles is that very few people who live here are born and raised here....so the city empties out from aroud the 21st onward.
this city doesn't do new year very well either, so we're looking to get out for that this year....
last years hogmanay in glasgow will take some beating for many many reasons.

last friday we found a dog outside the brite spot on the corner of sunset and park.
i had to run onto the road as she was walking into on coming traffic.
we took here to the pound and luckily she was chipped, however the owners had not updated there info and had an old address/phone number....
why get your dog chipped if you don't keep on top of the info?
here is a picture of her.



on a different tangent, i went to a show at the silverlake lounge on tuesday night with easy eric.
we went to see a friend of his new band.
the bands name was lion......blah blah blah....i've clearly forgotten.
anyways they were pretty poor,but it was there first gig
the girl is a print model, actress and graduate of USC film school
apparently she has lots of connections.
we're sitting at the bar before they go on, an who walks in?
easy eric is a member of the producers guild and he says...
thats that dude right?
i look and it's david lynch.
seeing him squeeze the ass of his 30 year old girlfriend really does beat seeing him on the street corner in l.a with a cow!
i sooooo wanted to put a mic to his head as he was squeezing....
i'll put money on it sounding like the soundtrack to Dune................

out

Monday, December 11, 2006

it's christmas time and i'm gonna kill your momma

so a wise man once said.
i just shipped my package back to scotland with my christmas presents for my family and friends at home.
it cost me $225.00 for the christmas post......
wow!
anyways, i saw my good friends Alex Grant, Chris Conner and SUPER Dave Waldock last night at spaceland.
they are all on tour with the band JET.
it was great seeing the guys, and was unfortunate they were busy working and had to split straight after the show.
it was some radio show.....
i lasted about 2 songs before heading outside with Alex
Jet is not my cup of tea.....to say the least.
even when they have guests like Slash and Steve Jones playing with them.....
like i said.... good to see the guys.....

now, 2 pictures i've been sent recently ....
enjoy.
life explained.........



Tony and Matt's version of the last supper...in New Orleans.....FEMA trailers and all



cheers

Friday, December 08, 2006

was it only 2 years ago today?

I was a/am a metalhead at heart.
There, i said it!
Growing up in Glasgow, it was never cool to be one.
i did have some of the funnest times of my life going to metal gigs and meeting some pretty cool people.
since the late 80's Glasgow has been a dance music town.not trance/hippy/ fire juggle nonsense, but dark moody hard techno.
part of the beauty of the city is the fact that back then i would go see megadeth on a saturday night,i'd listen to l.f.o and orbital on the way home.nowadays you see all the bands from glasgow in the sub club or the arches smiling like it's 1888 again.
if you have ever been, you'll also know it can be a pretty dangerous place to be on a weekend.
part of the adventure of shows was walking east down argyle street to the barowland. or walking west to the old cathouse.
throw in the fact that i started going to shows with my brother when i was 13, and all the shows back then were over 18, and you've got some pretty exciting times yo!

many gigs stand out from those formative years of going to shows...
faith no more's 4 nights at barrowland on the angel dust tour.
anthrax with john bush
seeing metallica at barrowland
kyuss at the cathouse

blah blah blah.

today one gig stands out more than any other.
it was October 1992 and i had just turned 14.i went with my brother to see megadeth.
i liked them a bit,but was excited just to go to any gig at that point.
i thought the gig would be brilliant.
i didn't expect to see the most violent performances i think i ever saw by any band then or now.
PANTERA kicked my face off.
i remember the singer came on with a folding chair? and smashed it up before he got the his first vocal line.
he looked like a skinhead boxer with some crazy tattoos
the gig is a blur now, but i clearly remember being so fucked after their show i had to watch megadeth from the side....
that and the fact an opening band could be miles better than the headliner.
it's a show that turned into a " i was there moment" between rival metalheads in Glasgow.
did that guitarist have a pink beard?


fucking hostile live 94


needless to say i've had a soft spot for them ever since...

they played the same venues they had just done with megadeth 4 months later on there own.
here is some footage of the 2'nd time i saw them.

live at barrowland 93


Today is the 2'nd anniversary of Dimebag Darrells murder.
I'd like to think of all the fun and laughter i had at his gigs or watching the stupid home movies he did, rhather than the stupidity of his death.
His riffs still make me think about the crowd at that gig in 92, and how i thought i might die that night.
thanks............







by the way, it was a pink beard!

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

fun

Ok-Go(Homo)

I mean no offense to my gay friends,i do however mean offense to the singer from the lame "band" O.k-Go.

I've had a busy last few days with friends coming in to town etc etc.

my old friend john is in town with Lily Allen......a gig is a gig.

but the focus of my piece is seeing the main man....

PUKE

i traveled to Irvine about 45 minutes away with D.S
we drove down in his sweet 1988 white Volvo station wagon.

met up with the Pukester at the bren events center....
here he is in the Melvins shirt i got him the other day.



it was still Soundcheck for the band he's on tour with. but he had set the pair of us up with some sweet chairs.

here is D.S on a chair...he really enjoyed spinning.....



after he was done fine tuning his light show we walked over the road to in-n out burger......
puke told us about a situation involving the band O.k-Go who were opening up for Death Cab, when on the first night of their brief run of shows together O.k-Go over ran by 10 minutes. not cool. puke mentioned this in his blog which he posted the next day.....while calling the band O.k-No. no biggie right?
wrong!.
within 10 minutes of posting his blog the O.k-Go tour manager was in the production office saying someone in the death cab crew was talking shit about his band and they were upset......
turns out the singer spends all his free time google-ing the bands name to see what people are saying about them/him

this is a real picture of this douche.



after seeing this picture, dude, everyone is thinging you, personally are a wank, and your band is a joke that even a "wacky" video couldn't help sell a few records.
if i met you in a bar, i'd break your fingers.

end of blog.
the rest is just to get his attention.....................


O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go
O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go O.k-Go
are shite.

Monday, December 04, 2006

MORE.........


delgados
great vieo, great song, great band.

mogwaihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
my fav mogwai song,live in singapore.....boast boast

mogwai 2
i believe seeing mogwai can be bad for the ears....

aberdeen fans locked in at celtic last saturday
this is footage of the aberdeen fans, after a 1-0 defeat being kept in the stand while the celtic fans get out first...so there is no crowd trouble. the massive guy the camera keeps returning to is actually an injured player....they are trying to get him to sing aberdeen songs.....nice


lets go fucking mental

while i was looking for more aberdeen fan madness, i found this. it's aberdeen fans right after england got put out of the world cup.
these are people you don't want to bump into on a saturday night

what a shite y home support
the aberdeen fans lock in at rangers......classic

Sunday, December 03, 2006

STUFF TO WATCH.

i found some great stuff out there on the evil you tube.
enjoy.

faith no more 1

faith no more 2

tomohawk

melvins

bye
WHAT?

i did something bad to my hip.
i went to football practice on friday night and while i was warming up, hit a divvit? in the grass while passing the ball.
it felt like my hip was dislocated.
i doubt it is, but it's 2 days later,and it's still giving me big problems.
when i took cy for a walk yesterday,i was barley able to make it round the whole lake.
i thought could be a groin strain, as i had a real bad one once before when i was still playing football seriously to a petty high level.
my groin, safe to say, is fine.
could it be my back or something?
i'm going to rest up till thursday and if it's still this bad, go get it looked at.
i'm sorry to todd at sea level for not making the party friday night.
i had a tear in my eye while getting up the steps to my house after training....i was not going to risk going back down.
sorry too to David, i missed the party in echo park saturday for the same reason....
i was hurting.
i'll let youse all know how it goes


p.s......my balls are fine thanks!

Friday, December 01, 2006

A contender for gig of the year?

I know it's getting near to that best of.... time, but last night i swear i saw a contender for gig of the year.
in all honesty there will have to be something pretty special to beat my top gig this year but anyways................
last nights melvins show was amazing!
i tried to take some good shots but they all look poor.
heres the stage set up.



Yes that is a massive gong behind one of the drum kits.
Yes the 2 drum kits are bang front and centre
yes yes yes yes.
altamont played a short opening set ....it seems they are short a drummer. the guy from big business filled in and was pretty horrible
check out this record though,one of the records of 2005







next up were PORN
this is a band featuring Dale from altamont and the melvins and that dude you always see at melvins shows and fantomas show too called Tim. i guess he's a tour manager, but the first time i ever saw him was in norway and he was waring a viking helmet. i thought this was because he was in norway but no, i saw him 3 more time that year alone and he always had on the helmet.
Tim was dressed as santa and Dale was Vegas era Elvis...some other chap with a look that can only be described as "a business man with no trousers" played bass.
they were super heavy and had extended periods of jazz interludes before returning to the RIFF
a great surprise!



Big Business took it up a notch again.
a drummer and a bass player that combined sounded like sabbath and kyuss in there prime.
that dude with the afro has the nastiest bass sound i've heard in years.
this is what you have to play through to sound that good.



to my eyes, thats a suun bass rig, an orange guitar cab powered by a g.k bass head and a keyboard amp strapped together!

they played a few songs before Dale joined them on guitar for 2 more.
they then did another on their own, and then it was time for the king(best rhythm guitarist ever?) and Dale( greatest drummer still alive?) to join them and become some mega transformer called MELVINS.

what can i say?...............
un-be-lievable!!!!!!!!
i took my pal Amy and she had no idea what to expect, having never heard them before.
after the first song she turned round to me and said
"how can bands like metallica exist?"
i'm just glad bands like them are still around.

i bought 2 t shirts(1 for lucas) and this........



all for $30!
they had every c.d they ever put out for $10 each and loads of screen printed posters of that nights show(signed) for $20

this is unheard of in todays fleece the kids touring world.

i met the Bakersfield Turbojugend at the show.
i was sporting the colours...........Glasgow style, they were pretty large, drunk bikers and i was glad they just wanted to say hello and not rumble.


Finally:
on another tangent altogether, my good friend Dr Kiko keeps sending me pictures like these.
the first was with a note saying, "this is what she does when i listen to morrissy"
look for yourself.



the other two?
who knows what he was thinking......
i just hope he didn't do these himself!
bye for now....