At the beginning of this month, money grubbing Clear Channel decided to not renew the contract of Dave, Shelly and Chainsaw show which has been one if not the most popular morning show here in San Diego for over 20 years. The show was currently being hosted by radio station KGB 101.5. My personal view is that this is the best morning show I have ever heard in the country, including syndicated shows, because it was truly funny and didn't insult my intelligence.

I have written KGB and will soon write Clear Channel and I advise all DSC fans to do the same. I also invite you to join my boycott of all Clear Channel stations in San Diego (list below)... actually I'm not listening to radio at all since most of it totally sucks besides this show.

Clear Channel Stations

• KGB-FM
• KHTS-FM (CHANNEL 933)
• KIOZ-FM (ROCK 105.3)
• KLSD-AM (XTRA SPORTS)
• KMYI-FM (STAR 94.1)
• KOGO-AM (AM 600 KOGO)
• KUSS-FM (NEW COUNTRY 95.7)
  

If you know of any others or any news about the DSC show, please enter a comment below.

As a last minute decision, I headed down to The Belly Up on a cool December 16th evening to check out one of my favorite guitarist, Gary Hoey and his Rockin’ Holiday Tour. If you have ever checked out one of his Ho Ho Hoey albums that features holiday music for our generation, then you can imagine how great this show was.

Starting out with one of his rock injected Christmas songs, he instantly got the crowd jumping and in the holiday spirit! He then mixed in every other song one of his cover or original tunes that everyone seemed to know and went wild over. He even did a few tunes off his new album due out early next year. The crowd instantly liked them all. One titled “Something’s Going On” he dedicated to Tiger Woods and if you heard the lyrics, you would know why.

Even though Gary plays in San Diego often and he says it is one of his favorite cities to come to (even recorded his live album at The Belly Up), I’ve only seen him a handful of times. I am not sure if it was the holiday season, but he was having a blast on the stage. Smiling all the time, telling the crowd stories between songs, playing to the crowd every chance he got and interacting with his drummer and bass player. This of course got everyone rocking and in the holiday spirit!

After the show, he came out, signed autographs, and took pictures with fans. Not many headlining acts do this anymore unless you pay for a VIP package. Gary is truly a gifted musician and all around nice person. I recommend checking him out the next time he comes around, which should be soon since he has a new album out in 2010.

Here are 25 great ideas from Gibson to get great guitar tone:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/25-secret-ways-to-get-the/

The super group Chickenfoot who’s members are Michael Anthony (bass, Van Halen), Sammy Hagar (vocals), 
Joe Satriani (guitar), Chad Smith (drums, Red Hot Chili Peppers) played at Harrah’s Rincon Casino in Valley View, California (east of Escondido) on a hot summer night on September, 26 2009. While I have not seen Sammy Hagar since the 80’s, my interest in the group was Joe Satriani since he is my favorite guitarist. As far as I know this is the only group he has played with in recent times besides his own.


Because of my meet & greet passes for Queensryche I missed the first 5 or more songs of the Chickenfoot set. I did see the show start and I could have sworn Sammy was so drunk he could not remember the lyrics for the opening song and ran over laughing and maybe for some guidance from Joe. The rest of their set was pretty good. Sammy seemed to be talking a lot between songs mostly how much he loved the band and how they got together and wrote the songs. I think this was because this was the next to last show of the tour. Guess he didn’t want it to end.
The set ended with Sammy helping Chad to take apart the drum set while the crowd went wild. Guess there won’t be any more encores after that!

Chickenfoot VIP Experience

Not long after this show went on sale, I went to Ticketmaster to check out getting a ticket. I found out that I could not sit in the first 5 or more rows unless I purchased their VIP experience tickets. This really bummed me out so I didn’t get a ticket until I got meet & greet passes for Queensryche. So while waiting for my passes, I meet some of the people that did purchase the VIP experience waiting to take a tour of the back stage. One of these people I knew. Another one I talked to said he paid $400 for this and got a 2nd row seat. I asked if they got to meet the band and no one knew.

So first of all I could not believe the $400 price tag for this experience! In the recession we are in I could not fathom that this bad was gouging their fans like this. So, I did some digging and this is what their web site said you get for $400:

• One ticket in the first 5 rows
• Early entry into the venue
• Exclusive Chickenfoot Concert Shirt
• Collectible Autographed Chickenfoot Tour Poster (limited edition, numbered)
• Exclusive Chickenfoot Magic 8 Ball
• $25 voucher to the official Chickenfoot on-line store
• Limited availability. Will call only. 2 ticket limit. VIP items will be distributed the night of the show.


That’s it for $400? You have got to be kidding me! So, after you paid your $400 for this package, this is what you rec’d in your email box about the back stage tour:

• The backstage tour does not include a meet and greet.
• Fans are encouraged to bring a camera on the tour and take their own photos.
• Fans are not allowed to bring gifts for the band.
• The band will not autography any items.
• The backstage tour will be unique based on the venues capabilities. Not two backstage tours will be alike.

Really? I get to go backstage and look at equipment… how exciting! I checked with my friend who bought one of these VIP experiences and he said all they got to do was walk around the stage and take pictures. He said for the money they got “short changed”. Contrast that what I got with my meet & greet passes (for free, well the price of a fan club membership) for Queensryche (see below).

Queensryche

One of my favorite bands, Queensryche, opened for Chickenfoot and they did something that most opening groups don’t do… get the audience excited! Let me clarify… even though they are currently touring to promote their latest album “American Solider”, they only played one song from that album. The rest of the songs were Queensryche hits and/ or favorites that the crowd loved. This is what opening bands are supposed to do. I hate it when you go to a show and the band plays a lot of songs from the new album. We are there to here the songs we love with a “few” new ones sprinkled in.


After some miss-communication when those of use that had passes were supposed to go backstage, we got to go and meet the band when Chickenfoot started their set. All of the guys in the band were very nice and autographed the pictures I took the last time I saw them. I also brought extra copies for each member, which they really liked. I also got pictures with the members too (see below). The funniest part of this experience was when the drummer Scott came up to me and said “Where the hell are we”? Before I could answer he said “We are in the middle of fucking nowhere!”. Which I totally agreed and said the same thing to a friend of mine when I got to Harrah’s. He went on telling me about his feeling when their tour buss was coming into the valley where the casino is located.


The show was opened by Davey Knowles who is an excellent young blues player. I thing we will be hearing more from this performer in the future!

Queensryche will be opening for the new band Chickenfoot (Michael Anthony (bass), Sammy Hagar (vocals),
Joe Satriani (guitar), Chad Smith (drums)) this Saturday 9/26 at Harrah's Rincon Casino. Tickets are still available by clicking here.

I'm sure Chickenfoot will be awesome with the four rock veterans in this band! But you also need to arrive early to see Queensryche! I have seen their "American Soldier" tour 3 times already this year and it's just purly amazing. The band is tight, awesome backing videos and the lead singers daughter even sings live on one of the songs (voted #1 on their web site from their latest album).


Click on the picture above to check out pictures I took of them this May in Flagstaff, AZ. Look for me at the show this Saturday... I'll be wearing a Queensryche t-shirt and a very cool Queensryche Army jacket.

For a number of years now I've been skipping concerts purely due to the cost. Do I really need to see Kiss for $140 or take a date to Def Leppard for $350? Heck no! But maybe I'm getting old, but now I have to make a decision based on when the concert will end because of work the next day. Because I can't afford to go to the big arena shows, I have been mostly going to local clubs, House of Blues etc. The problem is that when these shows don't even start until 9 or 10pm Sunday - Thursday I have to make a call based on what's going on the next day at work.

For example, Sunday I saw my favorite band from L.A. called Killola at Dream Street in O.B. and did not get home until almost 1am! Tonight a band I've always wanted to see, Living Colour is playing at Canes. The show does not start until 9pm (if it's on time) with one opening act. This means I will get home at midnight if I'm lucky. I'm not sure if I will go.


I think local clubs and venues should start shows no later than 8pm on work nights, earlier if there is more than two bands. I think this is plenty of time for people to get home, eat and drop the kids off.

Just my two cents. What do you think?

The local Led Zeppelin tribute band Dazed and Confused won 2009 San Diego Music Award for "Best Cover or Tribute Band". Congratulations guys!

For more info on the band, click here. For pictures of the band, click on the picture above.

The band I use to work for back in the 80's and was the #1 heavy metal band in San Diego, Assassin is going to release a CD (the first) of their songs next month through Deep Shag Records. They were also featured in an article in the San Diego Reader this week.

I did a lot of their photography, click on the picture below to view what I have scanned and uploaded so far.

Queuensryche premiered today their latest video from their "American Soldier" album titled "Home Again". This song was voted the number one song from the album by fans on their web site. To read my post about the song, go to: Geoff Tate Sings with Daughter on Tour. The video mixes video shot from their latest tour and military "homecoming" pictures sent in by fans. To view the video, click below.