Sunday!

Went to a matinée this afternoon with the Mrs Lucas.... Smokin' Aces. Holy Shite! What a kick ass flick. It started in 3rd gear and by the time the big ending came, you were going 170 mph while you were wondering how the hell you got there with no pants on! Jeremy Piven and the whole cast including *mrrowww* Alicia Keys did a fantastic job! We were trying to figure out when the last time we were in a theater was. For the life of me, I could only think of the last Star Wars that came out was the last time.

Afterwards, we went to a frame shop and I got a little shadow box. I have been wanting to display some of the music memorabilia I have amassed over the years and it seemed like a nice time to get that project started.

Then came the decision for dinner. It was a no brainer; H O O T E R S!!!
20 wings to go. Came home and watched the Apprentice and finished packing for Round 2 of the California Tour!!

Currently rockin' the funk outta me is Devil's Got A New Disguise by Aerosmith. Typer and Perry are just too good together:

"If you see Kay, tell her I love her
She did me in but I'll recover
She said love was her desire
All that she touched she set on fire
She was so diss - I couldn't slay her
She blew a kiss - I threw the dagger"

ok y'all.....be good this week.......

~LATE~

~W

Almost home!

Wow...this trip has been a rollercoaster ride. I haven't seen this many hotel rooms since Julia Roberts was trying to bone Richard Gere for a week *oh shut up and laugh, you know that was funny*
I need to get a map of california and plot out all the places I was this week and will be next week. All joking aside, the hotels have been AMAZING *with the exception of Ontario where I got hammered and was having difficulty finding my room*
Grey's Anatomy was awesome tonight.....
I can't wait to get some of my pictures posted.........

well well.....the front line managers are in the bar downstairs and insist I have some drinks with them......

....wish me luck.......LOL

California Tour 2007

So here I am. Day 2 of the big work meetings. Last night was a night to drink with the big boys. I had more than quite a few cocktails....some red beers, some Johnnie Walker & soda's, something with orange Absolute and lemondade...some kamikazee's and a shot of Cabo Wabo (thanks Denis). Needless to say, the stomach was just a bit on the queezy side (even when waking up @ 3am to try to remember where I was). The main highlight of the night? Meeting Phil Angeledis (the guy who ran against Arnold for Govenor) I got a cell phone pic with him too....

So now I am in Carlsbad. The Hilton here is right on the ocean. When I get a chance, I will try to post one here.....

Time for some room service and bed early tonight.....

~LATER~

Who am I ?

Me? Well you already know who I am. I'm the toastmaster general of the immoral majority.....I've been places with my face you wouldn't go with a pistol......I'm the Wizard in the land of Oz.......how 'bout a little fire scarecrow?

(I can't take full credit........D.L.Roth actually said it first.....but I like it)

Grey's Anatomy....

....was about George losing his dad.....

"....I don't know how to live in a world without my dad...."



Dad, I love you so much....thank you for making me who I am today....hope to see you soon.

~Wade~
1/18/07

The Conclusion of…. 7 Hours In San Francisco…..

It was about 3:00pm now. The line had grown to at least 100-150 people. They were all lined up behind Scott and his friend, me, and the Paul Stanley Paradise gals. The rain was at a definite torrential downpour status at this point. I held my umbrella as best as I could to try to accommodate those around me.

About now, a large econo-van pulling a trailer pulls up. A bunch of musician-types step out and begin unloading. PSParadise girl #2 says to me “That is Slunt! They are the opening band!” I had heard of them from my cousin Rob who is an equally big KISS fan as I am. He said that they would NOT disappoint. The collective group of us all “whoooo-hoooooo” and “rock on’d” them as they brought their equipment into the venue. The excitement had just hit a new peak….and was fixing to hit another about 45 minutes later.

A large black not-quite-limousine and not-quite-sedan pulls up. VIRGIN1 was the license plate. It had to be from Virgin Records which led us to believe that, YES, the man of the day was in there. A smattering of us, me included, sort of made our way to the car. Which in just of quick of time, we were “politely persuaded” to move back. 2 bodyguards/doormen approached the back door with an umbrella. The door opened and Paul got out, did a quick wave to us and was whisked away to the load in door of the Fillmore. The time was getting close!

A small group of radio contest winners were escorted inside for the aforementioned meet and greet. They must have been treated to sound check because we heard the opening chords of “Got To Choose” (one of my all time favorite songs by KISS). We also heard “Deuce” and “Live to Win”. The group returns to the line. They are all excited and say that this is going to be a great show. (no shit Sherlock? Thanks for the preview)

7:00. Seven hours of waiting has now come down to this. The 4-5 door staff waves us in. The rush of people was amazing. It was comparable to a big arena show. I get to the doors after a dead sprint while trying to keep my footing on the rain-soaked street. The first 2 yahoo’s are at the first two entry ways. I spot the third spot, free and open. The PSParadise gals are stopping behind the 2 yahoo’s. I grab one and say “Come here, it is going to be faster” How do I know this? Because one of them was going to try to bring in a bottle and I KNEW it would hinder them getting in very fast! As I start to present my ticket; I think to myself that not a chance do I want to lug around that umbrella. So I see a homeless guy (different that the 2 we had encountered earlier) and say “yo man…you need this more than I do” and toss it his way and I am in!

This place has such an air of history about it. But, no time to dwell on the past…..I am on a mission! I make my way up the stairs and through some of the turns. I make my way to the “auditorium” (it reminded me of someone very cool and hip had decorated in deep reds and blacks, a high school auditorium for a prom. That SOUNDS so not as cool as it was. If I come up with a better analogy, I will let you know). My Puma-like skills of speed and direction get me to the best freakin’ spot in the room. DEAD Center in front of Paul Stanley’s microphone!! I can’t believe it. I revert to the excitement I got when I was a kid getting my KISS Alive II album.

The crowd is relatively subdued. No major pushing or clawing for spots at the front. It was me in dead center. To my left, a big guy and his girlfriend. To my right, 2 guys who had already been in when I got there. Neither sets of people looked as if they were giving up any room from their vantage point; nor neither was I.

The front-of-stage crew was an eclectic group. You had the biker, turned family man who was doing this as some extra pocket change. You had this short man of what I believe was Mexican descent; but I wasn’t sure. I was more surprised that a guy that looked like he was 16 and wasn’t very menacing at all, was doing as a front of stage worker. Then there was the “Lifer”. He had been doing shows for about 20 some years, and he had the looks to show it. Lots of miles of road looked like it had come across his face. I am not being judgmental, mind you, good reader, just a vehicle of information upon which I am your driver. He had done a Tool show the night before, then was scheduled to do GWAR the next night after this show. “I hate doing their shows. They always have their stage animal spew gunk on me” If you don’t know what GWAR is, look it up or follow this link

It’s 8:05; Time to rock *tip of the hat to Drew* …

Bottom line, SLUNT rocks! GET A LOAD OF THIS is a great CD, but ONE NIGHT STAND is a really kickin’ CD. You should check it out. The drummer was a MADMAN. At the end of their far too short set, I looked at him and yelled “you kick ass duuuuuude” and he came over and tossed me a drumstick…..how cool am I!!!?

The stage hands strip the stage and begin to set up for Paul’s set. We wait with antici……..pation.
The house lights go down and the crowd erupts! Like just some ordinary schmoe off the street, he walks onto the stage. No huge fanfare, no intro music or effects, no pyro; nothing. Just him and the band. Explaining as such he come up to the front and I immediately get a high five (as well as others of us in front) “This is going to be a lot of fun! No big deal just you me and the music” The Crowd cheers in approval and delight!

My vantage point:



The band is tight. They are the house band for the show ROCKSTAR: Supernova. They held very true to the music. Paul was in great form. Vocals were right on the money. You would never have guessed he had been doing this the better part of 30 years.

2 – 3 songs into the show, Paul stops to talk to the crowd. From behind me, just short of shoulder height, I hear at the top of her lungs, in a voice shrill to none I had heard in my life I hear “Pauuuuuuuuuuulllllllllllll STaaaaaaaaaaaannnleyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” this is repeated about 5-10 times during his in-between song patter. To give you a better point of view, find a chalkboard, put a microphone next to it and set it at 10 then rake your nails over it. It is then, you will get about 1/100th of the shrillness of this youngling. How do you just DO that? Ignoring what the MAN on STAGE with the microphone is saying!!? I just don’t get it.

He worked the stage with the magic only he knows how. KISS has always been about the SHOW; and Paul Stanley was always the catalyst. Pyro or not, he just knows how to make a rock show an experience.

I wish I could recall the song, but at one point he is working the crowd and I reach my hand up to high five him again. He looks and gives a smile and a head nod and slaps me some skin…..and in my hand appears a coveted guitar pic! I am stoked. This was just too cool.

The show runs for a solid 2 hours I am guessing. And the set list is awesome:

Live To Win
Hide Your Heart
A Million To One
Got To Choose
Move On
Bulletproof
Tonight, You Belong To Me
Lick It Up
Wouldn’t You Like To Know Me
Magic Touch
I Still Love You
Strutter
Every Time I See You Around
Do You Love Me
I Want You
Love Gun
Lift
Detroit Rock City
Goodbye

After the encore or Goodbye, house lights come up and I resist the urge to throttle the screaming munchkin. I make my way to the lobby (my first chance to go to the bathroom since long before 7 pm) The merchandise booth is slammin’, but I see the members of Slunt there, beers and Jack Daniels in hand signing stuff and taking pictures. I get myself a T shirt and both Slunt CDs. The drummer and lead singer are right there and tell me how kick ass of me it is to get the CDs. I have them all sign and ask the lead singer, Jhen, for a picture. I fumble like a little school boy on his first date to try to get my cell phone to work. I am nervous and it takes 3 tries to finally end up with this:

I make my way to the parking garage again and get in the SUV. I sigh and smile. I crank up the Paul Stanley CD and turn on the GPS on the cell phone and back to Sacramento I go..........

Part Deux - 7 Hours in San Francisco

here is part 2.......I have my notes and realize this is getting long.....but its a look back on a journey that was very cool to me......I hope I can finish this in one more posting......

~Lucas~

So...where were we.....ahh yes.....the Neanderthal doorman......so I oblige him. Albeit in a bit of reluctance, but I did not want to risk getting bounced before even getting in the door. I see two guys sitting on the ledge of the post office. Smoking cigarettes and just looking like they have had no sign of shower in about a solid 2 weeks....the smell? PUNGENT! "You guys in line?" I ask. "Yep, this is it...we are the first ones here" ....and so the waiting begins. By now, the weather is REALLY not wanting to cooperate, and I am so very thankful for my purchase of the umbrella. Scott, the 'dirtier' of the two, is talkative. He has a story and a 'been there, done that' for every scenario we speak of....with the exception of this is his first concert.....EVER. Yes, you read that correctly....E V E R. Now I have been to my fair share of concerts, but to make this one your first, I do give him a little credit for that.
As we are sitting there, he makes little comments about the passing women. "Dude, look at that dog" etc etc.......and I was about one blond away from saying "Yo DUDE....you look like a retarded Skreech with a crack problem" (would that be redundant?...LOL) He's bagging on women and saying the most disparaging of things and yet he looks like a half a nit wit himself...I will never understand people.....
After a bit of time, 2 young gals come up and ask if this is the line. I say "Yep...Welcome aboard!" The 5 of us get to talking and I come to find out that these two gals are DIE HARD fans. I mean, I really think of myself as a true fan, but when these 2 came up, I was truly bested. Why you ask? Apparently, this is the 6th show they had seen on this tour.....yes...6 shows....

11/05/06	Mount Clemens, MI	Emerald Theatre
11/06/06	Chicago, IL	House Of Blues
11/07/06	Minneapolis, MN	Myth
11/10/06	Seattle, WA	Showbox
11/11/06	Portland, OR	Aladdin Theater
11/13/06	San Francisco, CA	The Fillmore

They had gone to ALL of these shows.....one of them being from Michigan. I can't recall where the other one flew in from to meet her. But they packed up their things and had gotten flights and hotels and had been following him. I asked once how they bankrolled this and they were kind of aloof and standoffish so I just let it go. After some more talking (which we had a LOT of time to do) they let us know that they run a Paul Stanley Fanzine called Paul Stanley's Paradise
They knew of people that subscribed to the fanzine who were planning on coming to this show too.....a few all the way from friggin JAPAN! They both were great to meet and made the time there more bearable....considering I could only handle Scott's machismo for so long.

Many onlookers stopped and asked what show we were waiting for. And for everyone of them, we had people saying how nuts we were to be waiting in the rain. We even had some wisdom from some panhandlers. One, insisted that he was going to die tomorrow and needed to find out about his SSI check....and another, clad in a leather jacket, no shirt, his glasses were on upside down and just soaked. He stood and laughed out loud to himself or his voices in his head or something.....Scott....offers his a cigarette.....*head swivel on a stick moment for me* I am like...What the F*&# are you doing?....Leather jacket guy hangs around for about 30 minutes just talking nonsense.

"But what did you do for a bathroom" you may be asking yourself by now. Well...by the good graces of god and indoor plumbing....a Starbucks around the block from us, was happy to oblige with our plight. We, in turn, gave them a little business by getting coffee and hot chocolate to keep warm.

The time rolls and there is a very good full line starting to form behind us. The main PSParadise gal leans over to me at one point and says, "you realize this will be pandemonium when they start to let us in?" I smile and reply "Oh ya...don't ya love it!" In actuality, I knew it was going to suck balls, but the adrenaline charge you get by just being there will surpass anything.

For those of you who fly Southwest...

A mother and her very young son were flying Southwest Airlines from Dallas to Chicago.
The little boy (who had been looking out the window) turned to his mother and asked, "If big dogs have baby dogs, and big cats have baby cats, why don't big airplanes have baby airplanes?"
The mother (who couldn't think of an answer) told her son to ask the stewardess.

So the boy went down the aisle and asked the stewardess.

The stewardess, who was very busy at the time, smiled and said,
"Did your Mom tell you to ask me?
"The boy said, "yes she did."
"Well then, you go and tell your mother that there are no baby airplanes because Southwest always pulls out on time. Have your Mom explain that to you."

Testing mobile blogging again!

Testing mobile blogging again!

Day 3?

Well, I am still having it on top of mind to post something here....unfortunately I can't think of some of the things I wanted to mention......so I here is my lame ass promoting my friends in The Cartwright Brothers. They are some great friends of mine from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This picture was taken in Okoboji, Iowa.

New Year....Newe Resolutions

Well hello.....here it is, January 2......Yes, I am going to try to post here more often. As well as work on my Podcast.

The Drunken Whore that left me a voicemail did a thing on her blog where she made a South Park Character of herself.......go check her shit out....it's tight, yo.

and I did a South Park of me....whattya think?

My Weekend....

Was spent very relaxing ... for the most part. Ashley and I went to Fry's and to IKEA. At Fry's, I saw this kid playing Guitar Hero 2. He couldn't have been more than 14 or 15 years old. He was playing Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas; and just SHREDDING it! (Dad, "shredding" is a good term.....) I sat just in awe. I couldn't believe how cool it was that this kid was just tearin' into this song like he had written it himself. By the time he finished, a small crowd of about 5-6 of us had gathered. When he finished, cheers and light applause was met with instant embarrassment on his part. Another young, would-be axe-master, takes the guitar and the first kid grabs his jacket and kind of steps back to just blend in.
I step up to him, because I am nosey like that, and say "Wow, man! Kick ass Job! Had you heard of that song before you played it on Guitar Hero?"
"No" he said rather coyly, but with a bit of a smile. "I come here and just kind of play"
I said "You come here just to play this?" "yeah" he replied.

Now I know that you have to be thinking some of the same things I did. 1)Just comes to an Electronic store to play video games? and 2)I really miss arcades!

I didn't want to go all "you know latch key kids are blah blah blah blah" I just rolled with it and said "Are there a lot of good songs on this one?" "yeah....I like that one, Surrender, and Strutter".....do you hear that KISS fans....STRUTTER......so friggin cool that this kid was turning his back on the pre programmed poppashango K-Fed crap for REAL F-ing ROCK!
[side note....the new GH2 comes with the ability to play with a buddy which leads me to.....]

The other kid that had played after (and sucked monkey balls at it) relinquished and left. I say to him "wanna try a co-op song?", the Wayward Son says "sure!" and excitement takes over any shyness that had taken over him" I say to him "which one you wanna play" He ponders for a moment....."Surrender" [a song by Cheap Trick, dad]. I say cool......I offer to play bass (I do not tell him of my musical background or the fact I have worked in bands, wrote my own music, listened to Cheap Trick even before he was just a thought in the backseat of his daddy's car on prom night....or....that I had played Guitar Hero 1 already)

You get to pick your character as well as the guitar he uses and the skill level. I pick Lars Umlaut. A KISS-esque character (naturally). As we get to the skill level menu, he says to me "just choose easy. It will be good for you to start out with."
I said to him that I like this song and I will give it a shot on Medium setting.

And we crank out Surrender like it was our bitch! What a great time I had....

The feeling I get, when a young person experiences and digs some of that great music that inspired me to love music, is such a powerful feeling.......


As Ashley and I drove off, I almost had a little tear in my eye.......I thought to myself that I hoped someone loves him and gives him all the opportunity in the world to pursue music if that is his choice. Or video game maker....or butcher, baker or candle stick maker......and that not too many of his days were spent riding his bike to the electronics store.....

"I'm Drunk In Oakdale"

Imagine my joy when this is what I brought in 2007 with!

Drunk in Oakdale