Viva Las Vegas
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I would say that my first Las Vegas experience was memorable, but everything is a little hazy. Not because I was drunk the whole time, but because the 48 hours whizzed by like a weird Jack (Black) Daniels-flavored Rockabilly dream. The Gore Gore Girls were scheduled to play the Las Vegas Rockaround on Saturday night, but we were fortunate enough to arrive the night before. We had originally planned on just going to sleep and starting fresh the next day, but once we saw the bright lights and heard the cha-ching of the slot machines, we knew we were in for the long haul.
Amy and I put on our best vintage (or vintage-looking) threads and headed out to the lobby where all the casino action was taking place (our drummer, Nicky Styxx was smart and opted to sleep since she had driven all the night before from Cincinnati where she played with her other band). The first of many gorgeous painted ladies we saw was the one and only Sparkly Devil (a.k.a. Sarah Klein)! This budding burlesque diva from Detroit had already performed her main act and was teetering around the casino with her teddy bear of a boyfriend, Jamie from Detroit’s Haf/Life. After, Amy and I grabbed our wristbands we headed up stairs to the golden gates of Rockabilly heaven.
Now, I’ve never been a huge fan of Rockabilly music. Like all genres, some of it is better than others, but I find a lot of it to be predicable (I’ll never forget the day one Detroit music journalist dubbed it “predicabilly”). But the whole culture surrounding the music is what I find interesting. I love the punk-rock spin on the pompadour, and the lovely ladies all dressed to the nines. We looked around a bit at the people and caught some of the Polecats’ set. We waited around before we saw what we had stayed up late for: the Cynics. This band has been around since I was in diapers, but I’ve only just recently discovered them in the past few years. The Cynics’ guitar player is Gretch-lover Greg Kostelich, who also heads Get Hip Records (our label) along with his lovely goddess of a wife, Barbara. The whole band rules, and why wouldn’t they? The Cynics have been adored for years all over the world. Check out their latest “Living is the Best Revenge” on Get Hip Records, naturally.
As we were walking around the fest we ran into two Coolgrrrls! Kitty Kowalski and Alisha Amnesia! We had partied many times before with Ms. Kowalski, but this was the first time I had ever met Alisha…what a babe! The rest of the night was a blur of black jack, roulette, cheap slots and drinking liquor out of a boot.
Saturday morning (okay, late afternoon) we awoke fresh and ready for fun. At sound check we crossed paths with The Dragons from San Diego. They sounded good, but we had no idea they were fucking awesome until we saw them later on that night. During the day Saturday we mostly just hung around the games and relaxed. I got to do something that I almost never get to do, ever…play Bingo! Wheeee! No, I didn’t win.
The evening rolled around and we got in our brand spankin’ new Gore Gore outfits and we ready to rock the Rockaround. We had a great introduction by the one and only DJ Del Villarreal. Despite the obligatory technical difficulties, I think our Vegas performance was one of our best in months. The crowd was much like the Cramps’ crowds were – energetic, adoring and rockabilly. We just gave it all we had and walked off stage a sweaty mess.
We spent a good hour after our set signing autographs, taking photos and hanging out with people. We hung out at watch headliner Andre Williams’ set. I’ve never heard anyone use the word “pussy” so many times inside of 30 minutes. His back up band was great. I think they were called Blue Flame. The Oil Pan Sluts on back up vocals were divine: two bleach-blonde voluptuous beauties in short shiny red dresses! (The next morning it was found out that Mr. Williams expressed an interest in having a certain all girl band from Detroit back up for his big New Year’s Eve show in Chicago, but it’s all gossip as of now…nothing has been confirmed!) After Andre Williams we caught the Dragons. These guys tore the place apart! They put on a great show and their lead guitar player is killer! The rest of the night we partied with our Get Hip family, Kitty, and all our new friends. It was a great weekend, we hope we get invited back next year!
Our next mission is short but incredibly sweet. We’ll be opening up for the Cramps again, this time in Ventura, CA and San Diego, CA (on Nov. 1 and 2, respectively). We’ll also be in attendance at the big Queens of the Stone Age and Cramps show at the Greek Theatre in L.A. on Halloween night. So it looks like after six years of writing for Coolgrrrls I finally get to meet the one and only FRANK! Yay! Also coming up…a week in Spain, a weekend in Mexico City and a big hometown holiday bash.
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