Monday, September 29, 2008
New Generation....
I can't feel my toes. (At least I couldn't a month ago when I wrote this!!)
The reason for this is a combination of some kick-a$$ shoes that I wore to the Skid Row/Firehouse show on Friday night (Aug 15th) and the fact that a giant security guard wearing some serious cowboy boots stepped on me twice in his rush to stop a fight in the crowd.
But my toes were a small price to pay for the night that Christina & I had.
Christina runs the "For Davee G Fans" site on MySpace and does a fabulous job "representing the home team" as Davee Gara, the man himself, told her in an email. DG is the most personable, sweet rock star that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He's the drummer for Skid Row, the latest and greatest in a long line of bashers. I hope he stays with the group forever - he's an amazing player.
But! The point of my story is this: We got to the Grizzly Rose Friday amid a crazy rain storm that still hadn't abated as I wrote this. Davee wandered into the back parking lot to smoke and Christina hollered at him. He came right over and talked with her, texting the tour manager right there to put her and her "plus one" (that would be ME!) on the guest list. He also said that if the place didn't allow cameras to talk to Chip (the aforementioned tour manager) and he would hook us up with photo passes.
Throughout the afternoon, DG came back to the car 3 times just to chat with Christina, introducing us to his drum tech Richie, who was really cool!
The show started at 8 with a local band whom I completely blocked out while watching the men's volleyball tourney on the big screen TV. Christina & I were about 3 rows back for Firehouse who still sound amazing! While waiting for Firehouse to come out, DG and Richie came out, saw us and Davee ran over to make sure we got in all right and if we were doing okay!
By the time Firehouse was done we had made our way to the front row. There was a space of about 3 feet seperating the stage and the cowboy rope that held us back - the perfect place to stand! There was a couple next to Christina who were in their 40's, I'd say; the quintessential rock couple. He was tall with long curly black hair and she was skinny and wasted with crimped blonde hair. During Firehouse, she and her man were all over each other. Then she drunkly turned and planted a monster kiss on this 60 year old dude behind her. When she was done with him, she moved in on the young girl next to her. If that wasn't fun enough to watch, before Skid Row got out, she went down on her man in front of everyone! Crazy, I tell you...
Anyway!
Skid Row finally hit the stage, opening with Makin' A Mess, one of my favorites oldies to sing along with. They still put on a great show; very energetic and raw. Johnny Solinger's voice in practically unmatchable! Davee made eye contact and pointed out Christina a few times during the show and afterwards when everyone was clamoring for a drumstick from him, he looked at Christina and showed her the stick. She nodded enthusiastically and held out her hands. He tried his best from his position on the stage to throw it to her but it went too low and bounced off her fingertips, causing a frenzy of bodies stretching over the rope to get it. Now DG threw that at MY friend and I wasn't about to let anyone else get their grubby mitts on it. I leaned over farther than I ever thought possible and snagged it away from everyone's greedy fingers. My uterus was sore for about an hour after that but she got what was hers so it was worth it!
Here's how close we were:
We went out back after the show where it was still raining. I quickly took off the evil shoes of toe-pinching death and slipped into my comfy tan flats. By this point, I didn't care that tan and black didn't match. All I cared about was getting the feeling back in my toes. At the back door they had metal barriers set up and a handful of us waited behind those to see the boys. Davee came out first and headed straight for Christina, wrapping her in a huge hug and asking if she got the drumstick. "I tried to angle it but it was too low. I'm sorry, baby," he laughed. He posed for a picture with her the ran back inside. He came out 3 more times that night and every time it was a beeline for Christina first. He was amazing!
Christina got her picture with DG & Rachel Bolan & Scotti Hill while I got mine with Scotti, Snake and Brett Pirozzi, Kreep's lead singer and Snake's guitar tech. Brett was so cool - he came around the barriers to say hi to Christina & I and give us hugs. He's a giant teddy bear of a man! Scotti was super cool, making sure he made his way back to me when our first picture attempt was thwarted by the batteries dying. He hugged me tight, smushed his head against mine and then afterwards when I thanked him he grabbed my hands and squeezed while he smiled. SO sweet!
Christina & her man, Davee G!!
Rachel Bolan & Christina
Christina with my man Scotti....
Me & Snake Sabo - aww!
The always cool Brett Pirozzi of Kreep & me
My favorite picture ever - me & Scotti Fucking Hill!!
One more note - while we were waiting for the guys to come out, one of their roadies sidled up to me and whispered, "The party's at 50th & I-25." "Okay," I replied and he nodded and walked away. Nothing else was said about it by anyone and he didn't tell anyone else. We weren't sure quite what to make of that invite so we, being tired giddy girls, simply went home.
Yeah. It was FUN! :D
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The reason for this is a combination of some kick-a$$ shoes that I wore to the Skid Row/Firehouse show on Friday night (Aug 15th) and the fact that a giant security guard wearing some serious cowboy boots stepped on me twice in his rush to stop a fight in the crowd.
But my toes were a small price to pay for the night that Christina & I had.
Christina runs the "For Davee G Fans" site on MySpace and does a fabulous job "representing the home team" as Davee Gara, the man himself, told her in an email. DG is the most personable, sweet rock star that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He's the drummer for Skid Row, the latest and greatest in a long line of bashers. I hope he stays with the group forever - he's an amazing player.
But! The point of my story is this: We got to the Grizzly Rose Friday amid a crazy rain storm that still hadn't abated as I wrote this. Davee wandered into the back parking lot to smoke and Christina hollered at him. He came right over and talked with her, texting the tour manager right there to put her and her "plus one" (that would be ME!) on the guest list. He also said that if the place didn't allow cameras to talk to Chip (the aforementioned tour manager) and he would hook us up with photo passes.
Throughout the afternoon, DG came back to the car 3 times just to chat with Christina, introducing us to his drum tech Richie, who was really cool!
The show started at 8 with a local band whom I completely blocked out while watching the men's volleyball tourney on the big screen TV. Christina & I were about 3 rows back for Firehouse who still sound amazing! While waiting for Firehouse to come out, DG and Richie came out, saw us and Davee ran over to make sure we got in all right and if we were doing okay!
By the time Firehouse was done we had made our way to the front row. There was a space of about 3 feet seperating the stage and the cowboy rope that held us back - the perfect place to stand! There was a couple next to Christina who were in their 40's, I'd say; the quintessential rock couple. He was tall with long curly black hair and she was skinny and wasted with crimped blonde hair. During Firehouse, she and her man were all over each other. Then she drunkly turned and planted a monster kiss on this 60 year old dude behind her. When she was done with him, she moved in on the young girl next to her. If that wasn't fun enough to watch, before Skid Row got out, she went down on her man in front of everyone! Crazy, I tell you...
Anyway!
Skid Row finally hit the stage, opening with Makin' A Mess, one of my favorites oldies to sing along with. They still put on a great show; very energetic and raw. Johnny Solinger's voice in practically unmatchable! Davee made eye contact and pointed out Christina a few times during the show and afterwards when everyone was clamoring for a drumstick from him, he looked at Christina and showed her the stick. She nodded enthusiastically and held out her hands. He tried his best from his position on the stage to throw it to her but it went too low and bounced off her fingertips, causing a frenzy of bodies stretching over the rope to get it. Now DG threw that at MY friend and I wasn't about to let anyone else get their grubby mitts on it. I leaned over farther than I ever thought possible and snagged it away from everyone's greedy fingers. My uterus was sore for about an hour after that but she got what was hers so it was worth it!
Here's how close we were:
We went out back after the show where it was still raining. I quickly took off the evil shoes of toe-pinching death and slipped into my comfy tan flats. By this point, I didn't care that tan and black didn't match. All I cared about was getting the feeling back in my toes. At the back door they had metal barriers set up and a handful of us waited behind those to see the boys. Davee came out first and headed straight for Christina, wrapping her in a huge hug and asking if she got the drumstick. "I tried to angle it but it was too low. I'm sorry, baby," he laughed. He posed for a picture with her the ran back inside. He came out 3 more times that night and every time it was a beeline for Christina first. He was amazing!
Christina got her picture with DG & Rachel Bolan & Scotti Hill while I got mine with Scotti, Snake and Brett Pirozzi, Kreep's lead singer and Snake's guitar tech. Brett was so cool - he came around the barriers to say hi to Christina & I and give us hugs. He's a giant teddy bear of a man! Scotti was super cool, making sure he made his way back to me when our first picture attempt was thwarted by the batteries dying. He hugged me tight, smushed his head against mine and then afterwards when I thanked him he grabbed my hands and squeezed while he smiled. SO sweet!
Christina & her man, Davee G!!
Rachel Bolan & Christina
Christina with my man Scotti....
Me & Snake Sabo - aww!
The always cool Brett Pirozzi of Kreep & me
My favorite picture ever - me & Scotti Fucking Hill!!
One more note - while we were waiting for the guys to come out, one of their roadies sidled up to me and whispered, "The party's at 50th & I-25." "Okay," I replied and he nodded and walked away. Nothing else was said about it by anyone and he didn't tell anyone else. We weren't sure quite what to make of that invite so we, being tired giddy girls, simply went home.
Yeah. It was FUN! :D
Labels: concert, Pictures, skid row
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// posted by Heather @ 8:01 AM 
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Metal Mania
So...last weekend, Christina & I traveled down to Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico for Metal Mania at the Sky City Casino/Hotel. The mania consisted of Quiet Riot and Skid Row. It was a 6 hour drive, give or take 30 minutes and as we pulled into the parking lot, who do we see but Dave Gara, Skid Row's latest (and in my opinion, BEST) drummer. He was friendly and talkative and took the time to take a picture with Christina. When she reached out to shake his hand, he grabbed her and said, "Give me a hug!"
Now this hotel/casino was pretty small and it was awesome to sit in the lobby and watch these rock stars saunter by. The concert was great and loud - we were in the front row right by the speakers so we were incredibly deaf by the end. But! Our position meant great pictures! We'll start with Quiet Riot:
New guitarist Alex Grossi on the left and original lead singer Kevin DuBrow on the right. That man can still sing - I was never a big Quiet Riot fan but he really impressed me! Now I know you're looking at his suit and saying, is that velvet leopard print? Well.....
Yes, it is! How 80's is he still? And sometimes I felt like I was watching Rod Stewart...it's the hair.
One good story from the QR show - in the front row center was a huge man and when the show started and everyone was throwing metal horns around, this guy started flipping the band off with both fingers. He continued it throughout the first 3 songs and finally security told him to knock it off. He replied, 'It's called free speech!' Whatever...he kept doing it so at the end of the 4th or 5th song, drummer Frankie Banali got out from behind his kit with a $20 in his hand, grabbed the mic and told the guy "Here's your ticket money back, get the fuck outta here!" It was great - but this guy was so big (easily 6'5", 250) that it took 4 guards to drag him off!!
Now! On to the reason for our trip: Skid Row!!!!
Bassist Rachel Bolan - he was on the opposite side of the stage as I was, hence the crookedness.
Snake Sabo - my favorite. He was right in front of me so I got a lot of shots of him throughout the night. This is my best shot of him, I think....
Johnny Solinger on lead vocals. A MySpace friend told me this was my "money shot."
But this is what I consider my best shot. Scotti Hill on lead guitars...on fire!!!
So that's the show...afterwards in the hotel we got to talk to all of the band members with the exception of Kevin DuBrow (he walked by us numerous times but looked so untouchable that I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him) and Snake & Scotti (they just never came down). But all the other guys, including Snake's guitar tech Brett who moonlights as the singer for Kreep, were awesome and took time to talk to us and take pictures. If you wanna see more, go to my MySpace and click on "pics" under my picture.
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Now this hotel/casino was pretty small and it was awesome to sit in the lobby and watch these rock stars saunter by. The concert was great and loud - we were in the front row right by the speakers so we were incredibly deaf by the end. But! Our position meant great pictures! We'll start with Quiet Riot:
New guitarist Alex Grossi on the left and original lead singer Kevin DuBrow on the right. That man can still sing - I was never a big Quiet Riot fan but he really impressed me! Now I know you're looking at his suit and saying, is that velvet leopard print? Well.....
Yes, it is! How 80's is he still? And sometimes I felt like I was watching Rod Stewart...it's the hair.
One good story from the QR show - in the front row center was a huge man and when the show started and everyone was throwing metal horns around, this guy started flipping the band off with both fingers. He continued it throughout the first 3 songs and finally security told him to knock it off. He replied, 'It's called free speech!' Whatever...he kept doing it so at the end of the 4th or 5th song, drummer Frankie Banali got out from behind his kit with a $20 in his hand, grabbed the mic and told the guy "Here's your ticket money back, get the fuck outta here!" It was great - but this guy was so big (easily 6'5", 250) that it took 4 guards to drag him off!!
Now! On to the reason for our trip: Skid Row!!!!
Bassist Rachel Bolan - he was on the opposite side of the stage as I was, hence the crookedness.
Snake Sabo - my favorite. He was right in front of me so I got a lot of shots of him throughout the night. This is my best shot of him, I think....
Johnny Solinger on lead vocals. A MySpace friend told me this was my "money shot."
But this is what I consider my best shot. Scotti Hill on lead guitars...on fire!!!
So that's the show...afterwards in the hotel we got to talk to all of the band members with the exception of Kevin DuBrow (he walked by us numerous times but looked so untouchable that I couldn't bring myself to say anything to him) and Snake & Scotti (they just never came down). But all the other guys, including Snake's guitar tech Brett who moonlights as the singer for Kreep, were awesome and took time to talk to us and take pictures. If you wanna see more, go to my MySpace and click on "pics" under my picture.
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// posted by Heather @ 3:22 PM
