Difficult few months
Hey Readers! Belated Happy New Year! Again, it has been too long since I wrote anything new. I have a hell of an excuse this time though. My life has been turned upside down. The first week of December, I got the news that my father had died by falling off a 3rd story balcony while hanging Christmas decorations. Needless to say, this was the biggest shock of my life. To top off a horrible situation, my boss at the bar I’d been working at fired me 3 days after my Dad died. What an asshole, huh? I was too busy with personal obligations to devote much energy into hating the boss man, but I did wish ill will on him and already heard it came to pass. In a few short months, he had an affair, is getting divorced, and the bar is up for sale. Sounds like a nightmare. Well, I know what that’s like. I actually inherited a gay piano cabaret bar in Dallas, which I am trying to unload as fast as I can.
Anyway, I am a truly strong human being and am doing fine, but since I’m an only child and the only close living relative of my father, I have had to take care of everything. I had to actually move back to Dallas for the months of Jan and Feb. It was very weird, and I had a lot of work to do. Lucky for me, I do still have a few amazing friends left in Dallas, and I even managed to catch a few great bands.
In Dallas, there were only 3 venues still putting on shows I’m into: The Darkside Lounge www.darksidelounge.com, Bar of Soap www.barofsoap.net, and the Double Wide www.double-wide.com. If you’re ever in Dallas, I’d say those are the places to go (or play if you’re in a band) if you’re into punk and rock and roll. I ended up at the Darkside a lot, and even saw a San Francisco band that came through town called The Lucky Stiffs. They were good, and if they come to your town, you should check them out. I had not seen them in about 4 years and am not familiar with their music, but they put on a great high-energy set despite the bad turnout that night. I’m always impressed when a band has that kind of energy even if the crowd is lacking.
The same night, old school UK punk band, The Blitz played at Bar of Soap. I was there earlier that night and saw the band hanging out, but ended up missing their set. Unfortunately, it turned out the Blitz headed to Houston or San Antonio the next night and the guitar player was hit by a truck and killed! I can’t believe I missed an old legendary punk band while supporting my fellow SF peeps! Timing is everything, and life can be over in a split second. I’ve really become painfully aware of it recently. It’s crazy. I was in the same room with this guy 24 hours before this happened. www.nidgeblitz.com, myspace.com/blitzwarriors
I discovered the best place for me to act a fool while in Dallas: the weekly Goth/ new wave night called The Church, every Sunday night at a club called the Lizard Lounge. I LOVED it. The music was always fun, the crowd had an ‘anything goes’ vibe, ripe with hilarious Dallas Goth club kids (who seemed about 10 years behind California in club fashion), and regular people coexisting. There were two rooms with different DJs, bars and dance floors, and I always liked what the DJs were playing. I saw a funny sight there- a girl riding a guy with a saddle! Going there on Sunday nights was just the therapy I needed during a traumatic, stressful time in my life. It really was my Church! www.thelizardlounge.com
One of my favorite bands of the moment from LA played at The Church my last weekend in Dallas: Dirty Sanchez! This band is hilarious, talented, clever, and outrageous. Fronted by Drag Queen comedienne Jackie Beat and Mario Diaz (who hosts his own club “Hot Dog” in LA among other things), Dirty Sanchez is new wave electro synth pop with bitingly clever lyrics and themes. They are humorous, catchy and charming. Some of the gems they played that night were: ‘Fucking on the Dance Floor,’ ‘Really Rich Italian Satanists,’ ‘Youth in Asia,’ and a cover of Prince and Sheena Eason’s ‘You’ve Got the Look.’ (Another favorite they didn’t play is ‘Dinner Party.’) If you like new wave and electro, check out Dirty Sanchez! I talked my way backstage and took a few photos before they went on that night, dressed as new wave cave-people, kind of like the Flintstones… hilarious. wearedirtysanchez.com, myspace.com/dirtysanchezla
Two amazingly talented bands who came through Dallas on tour as well were The Mansfields, and The Heart Attacks. I missed The Mansfields, but got their CD, which is really awesome. It’s hard, fast, loud, catchy punk and roll done right. There is a definite Ramones influence, and maybe a little Stiv Bators/ Lords of the New Church feel on occasion. www.mansfieldsusa.com
The Heart Attacks were really amazing too. They are young rock gods already. They performed like pros, and sounded tight and really rocked the place. I bought their CD, ‘Hellbound and Heartless,’ which was produced by Lars Fredricksen of Rancid. Both of these bands come highly recommended by me, so go see them if they come through your city. myspace.com/theheartattacks
I’ve been back in San Francisco for a few weeks, and am still very busy dealing with my father’s messy Estate. I’m in the middle of a crazy tornado, and I am doing my best to try and get it to slow to a halt at some point. I’m in a truly overwhelming spot. I came back to SF just in time to pick up a weekly bar shift at The Elbo Room, working the Tuesday Happy Hour shift from 5 to 9:30. The Elbo Room is a cool bar in the Mission District that has shows upstairs nightly, and a cool downstairs bar with a neighborhood feel. Their drink prices are very reasonable and the clientele is a wide variety of non-pretentious people elbo.com. I hope to end up as part of the family there when my personal affairs calm down a bit and maybe I can work more shifts and get into a more normal place in my life again. (None of you creeps better come down there to stalk me! Friendly non-weirdos are welcome to come and over tip me anytime though!)
I discovered a brand new bar in the Tenderloin, on Geary around Jones and Leavenworth, called The Ambassador. I hear it’s been open about 6 weeks. It is a beautiful bar in the middle of a seedier neighborhood. There are 31 chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, padded booths with phones attached to each that has a very old-school 40s and 50s feel to it that reminds me of the old hotspots I’ve read about in Hollywood and NYC, like Ciro’s, Macambo, the Brown Derby, and places in that time period of glamour and style. I would love to have a private party there someday.
The most incredible nightclub I’ve been to in ages was March’s Bootie at DNA lounge. There were a thousand people, great energy, an interesting variety of people, and fun music. I’ve mentioned the monthly club Bootie before, as some old friends of mine, Adrian and the Mysterious D are the promoters, hosts and DJ’s, and they also have a monthly Bootie in Los Angeles and one starting in NYC. They’ve played Paris and London, and may be doing another Paris gig this spring. The club is the only all mash-up club in the states. Every month, they have dancers, drag queens, the band Smashup Derby plays, and there are 2 rooms full of partiers dancing their asses off. It’s always fun. For photos, dates, to download a CD and more info, visit www.bootiesf.com
One other fairly new club I had to go check out is called Slide, located in Union Square. They actually have a big slide that you can ride down into the club, or the less daring can just walk down some stairs. I, of course, rode the slide. The crowd was a bit fancier and yuppie-ish than most of the places I feel most at home, but I still enjoyed a night there. It was one of those things I just needed to see and do.
That sums up what I’ve been doing for the last 4 months basically. I can’t wait to see what 2007 has in store for me. This is a very big year of change for me, and I am doing my best to embrace life, enjoy all that the world has to offer me and to recognize who and what are really important. Even during a tumultuous time, I was again reminded just how important music is to me in my life. With out one of my all time favorite bands, The Cult, I never would have had the strength to scatter my father’s ashes all by myself. Listening to them made me get the nerve to make it happen. Without Aretha Franklin, I would have had a harder time breaking up with the only man I’ve ever truly loved, and without Sigue Sigue Sputnik, I don’t know if I would have the amazing sense of humor that I have about myself and life in general.
Coming up: The Stooges are coming to San Francisco for 2 shows, Thurs. April 19 and Sat. April 21. I can’t wait. I’ve never seen them, and it will be mostly the original line-up. I already bought tickets for both shows!
Best Wishes to everyone for 2007.
XXXOOO Alisha Amnesia
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