Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Bogota! The Rundown

On February 18, 2012 the Adolescents played on their second trip to South America. The first had been 18 months back when the band played in Brazil. On that fateful trip Steve lost part of his thumb in an accident where a window had slammed shut and crushed his left thumb. This current trip to Colombia had begun in the summer of 2011 when Laura had approached the band in London where she was on location for a pulishing company and had seen the band. She and her husband Robert have a booking company and rehearsal studio in Bogota called Alto Voltaje. As we had never been to Colombia, we were very excited and began the planning through our European agent to begin planning our weekend in Bogota. Unfortunately, we had not researched the terrain too well, and approximately ten days before the trip we realized that the altitude of Bogota was close to two times the height of Denver, Colorado, and that posed a health risk for both Steve and myself. 


After consulting with our physicians, it was determined that I could do the trip with medicaton, but it was not advised for Steve to make the trip. We were stuck with a problem that has rarely come up as a possibility- and that was that the band would need to perform without Steve. This problem had surfaced in Brazil on the night that Steve was injured, and once in 1980 when we were kids and Steve's parents had insisted on his attending a church camp retreat. It became necessary to either locate a fill-in, or to cancel the show. We felt that it was too late to cancel the show givent the circustances and the amount of promotion that had been done. To cancel may have caused difficulty for the promoters, and we felt that it wasn't possible to do that. Steve made a couple of phone calls, and we were lucky to find that Joe Harrison, who has been a member of the band for seven years, but who currently attends Berkely College in Boston, would be able to fly in to Colombia to play bass. 


The flight to Bogota was pretty long, and began with leaving to the airport at 4AM PST for an international flight. I began taking medication on Thursday to help with my breathing (I have significant asthma) and outside of my usual insomnia, I was rested and ready to go. After the usual LAX airport monkey business- which usually involves me being randomly screened very closely, emptying my bags, and being x-rayed twice- we finally boarded for Miami International. Now, theoretically, people are chosen at random for screening, but I find that I am randomly chosen about 25% of the time. In any event, we got to Miami and hd to kill a couple of hours. Miami is a wonderful airport as far as killing time, and as far as I know, the only one that openly encourages patrons to take complimentary shots of rum. We passed on the 2PM booze boosterism, but I am still scratching my head about that. We are on our way to Bogota by 5PM SST, and landed in Bogota at about 8PM CST. Mando, Dan, Mike, and I would meet with Joe and the promoters when we arrived at El Dorado Airport.


dan's







joe

joe

joe

joe

joe


joe


joe



joe

mike


dan


dan








Something Weird Video

Thursday, July 5, 2012

ADOLESCENTS 2012 EURO TOUR

12.07.12 GER-Berlin, Wild at Heart
13.07.12 CZE-Tabor, Mighty Sounds
14.07.12 GBR-London, The Jamm
15.07.12 GBR-Basingstoke, Sanctuary
16.07.12 GBR-Newport, Le Pub
17.07.12 GBR-Manchester, Star and Garter
18.07.12 NED-Eindhoven, The Rambler
19.07.12 GER-Glaubitz, Back to Future
20.07.12 GER-Frankfurt, Au
21.07.12 GER-Oberhausen, Devilside Festival
21.07.12 GER-Münster, Volcom Bergfest 2012
22.07.12 GER-Saarbrücken, Garage
23.07.12 GER-München, Feierwerk (Zero Boys & Avengers)
24.07.12 AUT-Wien, Arena (& Zero Boys & Avengers)
25.07.12 ITA-Cuneo, Campo Sportivo Caramagna
26.07.12 FRA-Toulouse, Saint des Seins
27.07.12 ESP-Badalona, Estrapero Club
28.07.12 ESP-Torrelavega, Takio Fest
29.07.12 FRA-Bordeaux, Heretic
30.07.12 FRA-Lyon, Warm Audio
31.07.12 SUI-Luzern, Sedel (& Zero Boys)
01.08.12 GER-Karlsruhe, Alte Hackerei
02.08.12 CZE-Moravska Trebova, Pod Parou Festival
03.08.12 POL-Warschau, Punkt & Radio Luxembourg
04.08.12 LIT-Ratnieki, Laba Daba Festival
05.08.12 FIN- Tampere, Klubi
06.08.12 FIN-Turku, Klubi
07.08.12 FIN-Helsinki, Bar Loose
09.08.12 SWE-Göteborg, Way Out West Festival
10.08.12 DEN-Kopenhagen, Stengade
11.08.12 GER-Verden, JZ Dampfmühle Festival
12.08.12 GER-Hamburg, Hafenklang (& Zero Boys)
13.08.12 GER-Hannover, Bei Chez Heinz
14.08.12 BEL-Tongeren, Rockcafe Sodom
15.08.12 TBA. Secret bar show
16.08.12 SLO-Tolmin, Punk Rock Holiday
17.08.12 FRA-Le Havre, Mac Daids
18.08.12 FRA-Theix, Motocultor Festival

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Sister Goddamn

Sometime around 1991 or so I was approached by Amy Wichman (formerly of the band KAOS- remember "Alcoholiday"?) to join her new project- as their singer; they would later become the Mini Skirt Mob. We began tracking some demos (the woderful Elmo Jackson and the Starfish Six cassette) with Bruce Duff, while Amy's band politely rehearsed without me (I suspect that Amy hadn't gotten a group consensus on my participation).


Both Amy and Bruce had played in the Jeff Dahl Group on the "Scratch Up Some Action" and "Vomit Wet Kiss" LPs (as well as on the later released live album) and after Jeff went solo they were both outjamming with other musicians. I was without a band, everything I was working on kinda fizzled out.


The demos Bruce, Amy, and I recorded eventually morphed into a band with Mat Young who had played drums in the Flower Leperds, Pinups, and Abandoned with me. The band would eventually become Sister Goddamn, named after a variation-combination of  the Velvet Underground's Sister Ray and the Bette Davis's book Mother Goddamn. 


We would end up playing together for five years, recording two albums (Portrait in Crayon, and Folk Songs of the Spanish Inquisition) for Triple X and Bitzcore, and then morphing into ADZ around 1996. By the time the second Sister goddamn CD was recorded Amy lefte the band (She recorded three songs before she moved on.) Three women finished out the album, with only the awesome Sylvia LaCroix actually seeing the band through to the end. In the summer of 1995 I went to Europe for the first time, doing double vocal duties with both ADZ and Sister Goddamn. We recorded both bands' sets at the Melkweg in Amsterdamn for an album that was never released.


I was watching this video, somehow recorded on a budget of zero by a guy that usually made videos for the Flaming Lips. How Bruce figured this one out is anyone's guess. I saw it posted, and it made me smile. Amy had such a joy de vivre. She would always peer over he cat eye glasses and say , "Indeed" like a snobby old battle  axe, and the Starfish 6 joke, which revolved around the mysterious disappearance of  the elder Elmo Jackson (thus reducing the Jackson 6 to the Jackson 5) combined with our absolute conviction that Bruce (Brooooooooose) was really Jacque Cousteau in hiding- was endless hours of uncontrolled laughter, while Bruce patiently stared at us and wondered if we'd both lost our minds..... 


I really miss her. 


To you, Amy. 









(These photos were taken at the sessions for Portrait in Crayon circa 1992 at Pendragon Studios, El Segundo, California. In the pics are Bruce, Amy, Mat, myseldf, and engineer Wild Bill Krodel. These photos most likely were taken on Bruce's camera.)

Thursday, June 21, 2012

ADOLESCENTS TOUR UPDATE

ADOLESCENTS (USA)
Concrete Jungle
12.07.12 GER-Berlin, Wild at Heart
13.07.12 CZE-Tabor, Mighty Sounds
14.07.12 GBR-London, The Jamm
15.07.12 GBR-Falmouth, The Fish Factory Arts Space
16.07.12 GBR-Newport, Le Pub
17.07.12 GBR-Manchester, Star and Garter
18.07.12 NED-Eindhoven, The Rambler
19.07.12 GER-Glaubitz, Back to Future
20.07.12 GER-Frankfurt, Au
21.07.12 GER-Oberhausen, Devilside Festival
21.07.12 GER-Münster, Volcom Bergfest 2012
22.07.12 GER-Saarbrücken, Garage
23.07.12 GER-München, Feierwerk (& Zero Boys & Avengers)
24.07.12 AUT-Wien, Arena (& Zero Boys & Avengers)
25.07.12 ITA-Cuneo, Campo Sportivo Caramagna
26.07.12 FRA-Toulouse, Saint des Seins
27.07.12 ESP-Badalona, Estrapero Club
28.07.12 ESP-Torrelavega, Takio Fest
29.07.12 FRA-Bordeaux, Heretic
30.07.12 FRA-Lyon, Warm Audio
31.07.12 SUI-Luzern, Sedel (& Zero Boys)
01.08.12 GER-Karlsruhe, Alte Hackerei
02.08.12 CZE-Moravska Trebova, Pod Parou Festival
03.08.12 POL-Warschau, Punkt & Radio Luxembourg
04.08.12 LIT-Ratnieki, Laba Daba Festival
05.08.12 FIN- Tampere, Klubi
06.08.12 FIN-Turku, Klubi
07.08.12 FIN-Helsinki, Bar Loose
08.08.12 off day / ferry
09.08.12 SWE-Göteborg, Way Out West Festival
10.08.12 DEN-Kopenhagen, Stengade
11.08.12 GER-Verden, JZ Dampfmühle Festival
12.08.12 GER-Hamburg, Hafenklang (& Zero Boys)
13.08.12 GER-Hannover, Bei Chez Heinz
14.08.12 BEL-Tongeren, Rockcafe Sodom
15.08.12 GER-Aachen, tba
16.08.12 SLO-Tolmin, Punk Rock Holiday
17.08.12 FRA-Le Havre, Mac Daids

18.08.12 FRA-Theix, Motocultor Festival

präsentiert von: Ox-Fanzine, Livegigs.de, Slam, Fuze, In-Your-Face.de, byteFM

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Joey Ramone (b.May 19, 1951 d. April 15, 2001)

Today is the birthdate of Joey Ramone. Where ever you are, we miss you.


The songs you provided were the soundtrack of our lives.



They gave us a place to go, something to do, and somewhere the freaks could belong.


There will never be another band that can touch the soul that is the Ramones, and never will there be a voice like yours.


Long live the Ramones, and Happy Birthday, Joey.


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

ADOLESCENTS TOUR



UNITED STATES MAY-JUNE, 2012
25.05.12 Las Vegas, NV- Punk Rock Bowling Festival
09.06.12 Long Beach, CA- Ink-n-Iron Festival


EUROPE JULY 12- AUGUST 19, 2012
Concrete Jungle/ Weird World
  
12.07.12 GER-Berlin, Wild at Heart
13.07.12 CZE-Tabor, Mighty Sounds
14.07.12 GBR-London, The Jamm
15.07.12 GBR-Falmouth, The Fish Factory Arts Space
16.07.12 GBR-Newport, Le Pub
17.07.12 GBR-Manchester, Star and Garter

18.07.12 NL or BEL
19.07.12 GER-Glaubitz, Back to Future
20.07.12 GER- Frankfurt, AU
21.07.12 GER-Oberhausen, Devilside Festival
22.07.12 GER-Saarbrücken, Garage
23.07.12 GER-München, Feierwerk
 (+ Zero Boys & Avengers)
24.07.12 AUT-Wien, Arena (+ Zero Boys & Avengers)
25.07.12 IT- Mailand
26.07.12 FRA
27.07.12 FRA
28.07.12 ESP-Torrelavega, Takio Fest
29.07.12 FRA
30.07.12 FRA-Lyon, Warm Audio (+ The Generators)
31.07.12 SUI-Luzern, Sedel 
(+ Zero Boys & The Generators)
01.08.12 GER-Karlsruhe, Alte Hackere
02.08.12 CZE-Moravska Trebova, Pod Parou Festival
03.08.12 POL-Warschau, Punkt & Radio Luxembourg
04.08.12 LIT-Ratnieki, Laba Daba Festival  

05.08.12 
FIN- Tampere, Klub
06.08.12
FIN-Helsinki, Bar Loose

07.08.12 FIN-Helsinki, Bar Loose 
08.08.12
09.08.12 SWE-Göteborg, Way Out West Festival
10.08.12 DEN-Kopenhagen, Stengade
11.08.12 GER-Verden, JZ Dampfmühle Festival
12.08.12 GER-Hamburg, Hafenklang 
(+ Zero Boys & Generators)
13.08.12 GER-Hannover, Bei Chez Heinz (+ The Generators)
14.08.12 BEL-Tongeren, Rockcafe Sodom  
15.08.12 NL or BEL
16.08.12 
SLO-Tolmin, Punk Rock Holiday 
17.08.12 FRA-Le Havre, Mac Daids
18.08.12 FRA-Theix, Motocultor Festival
präsentiert von: Ox-Fanzine, Livegigs.de, Slam, Fuze, In-Your-Face.de, byteFM