LA Shakedown Sat Feb 15th and Sunday Feb 16th: Review by Alisha Amnesia Anyway enough of my personal nonsense. I didn't say anything about the LA Shakedown. That is mainly because I was trying to be nice! That was an organizational nightmare! (I'm not saying I could've done it better, I would never take on a nightmarish task like booking 60 bands for a weekender.) But I have to say that the fans really suffered. First of all, the venue changed the night before the event, which threw a wrench in everyone's plans. It was originally supposed to take place at one venue, but changed so that the first day of it was taking place simultaneously at two different venues. Then, the check-in process was a (I can't think of a better word) complete nightmare because the people who had pre-paid through the website had to wait in line for 3 hours, while people who were paying cash got to go right on in. Not Fair! (I have to thank our Coolgrrrls editor Frank, who I finally met in person for the first time after years of speaking with him on the phone. He got my friend and I in the back door so we didn't have to wait in that 3 hour line, which was great because I would have missed The Applicators for sure, and possibly the Makers and Duane Peters and the Hunns.) Then once inside the venue where the check-in was, there were no ins and outs. There was a shuttle going back and forth between the 2 venues, but if you went to the 2nd venue, you couldn't come back in to the first! And there was no food available, so once you were inside, you were shit outta luck if you were hungry. My friend Ken and I went in at 3pm and by about 10pm we were starved. We were told we could not walk across the street and go to Subway and come back inside because there were no ins and outs. And water cost $4, as did beer. Which do you think I chose? Anyway, at least most of the bands showed up (except the Dwarves and the Supersuckers who I was told cancelled that night without warning. Don't know if the promoter knew ahead of time and didn't alert the fans, or if it was a last minute cancellation. Either way, fans were disappointed.) The first day, the standout bands were as follows. The Applicators, an all girl band from Austin TX whose vocalist has a strong cool voice and a drummer who takes no prisoners. Duane Peters and the Hunns whose female bass player (Formerly of Nashville Pussy) blew fire Toilet Boys style, freaked out someone, and the Fire Marshall came and fucked everything up for about half an hour. That was annoying. But the band had great energy and gave it their all, and I like Dwayne Peters because I think he's crazy! He looks like a punk rock monkey who may have been hit in the head a few too many times. The first time I ever saw him a few years ago he was missing his front two teeth and repeatedly fell on his face on stage. Then later that evening, I went backstage and he was lying on the floor but still drinking. The next standout band was The Briefs, but that will come as no surprise to anyone who's ever seen them. I think their drummer Chris is so adorable. I want to put him in my pocket and carry him around! (A girl can dream her harmless little dreams.) The Briefs had to wait a while to go on after the Hunns because the fire marshall wouldn't let them play when they were ready, so the fans got to watch them stand on stage for a few minutes waiting for the go ahead. That was stupid, but easily forgettable once they got going. They were so good that I bought a shirt and their new album. It has a very clever song on it called "Looking Through Gary Glitter's eyes," obviously loosely covering The Adverts song "Gary Gilmore's eyes" and poking fun at Gary Glitters child pornography troubles. I also really loved Seattle's The Makers. Their singer had an androgynous NY Dolls vibe about him, and they just played good, straight up rock and roll. Their singer put on a great show with all his rock and roll posing, which seemed natural for him, and I spoke to him afterwards and thought he was very cool and down to earth for someone who acts like such a star on stage. The next standout was the Necromantix. That was probably my 3rd or 4th time seeing them, but this was the first time I was actually impressed. My theory is because the other times I saw them was with all Psychobilly bands, and as far as Psychobilly goes, I (personally) don't think the Necromantix are one of the best. But seeing them after a day of all punk bands, they were a welcome change and I enjoyed them a lot more. Or, it's possible that they have just gotten better than the other times I've seen them. I have always thought that their front man's standup bass is one of the coolest one's I've ever seen. It's shaped like a coffin. Okay, now on to my favorite of the night: Demented are GO! They were great. They played at the 2nd venue, so I took off and missed the Rezillos who I would have liked to see again and could have if they were playing at the same venue. I guess it was worth it because Demented seem to get better every time I see them. I love them! The psychobilly boys were going wild in the pit, and I was a s close to the stage as I could cram, but not close enough because they kept hitting me in the back with their elbows and the like. Occupational hazard, I guess. For a while there was this guy kind of guarding my back which was nice. Then I went to get another beer, and saw who he was when I tried to get back in front of him. It was none other that Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys. I said, "Hey, I know you!" and we ended up talking a bit throughout the night. (I mooned him years ago when he MCed a spelling bee at an event called "Live Nude Bands" where bands had to compete playing games and the losers had to play nude. I was go-go dancing for a band called Bite, and I'm a good speller, so I competed for them and I won the spelling bee. He remembered the mooning.) During Demented, some of the psycho boys got in a fight, and it was difficult to extricate myself from the fight due to the tight crowd. I edged my way to a steep ledge by the wall and climbed up on it to avoid the melee'. Jello came over and said, "Protect me!" so I pulled him up on the ledge with me. The buddy system works well at shows. I wish I could have seen more of the bands that played at the 2nd venue. I missed Los Creepers, The Hyperions, Black Cat Music, and Nine Pound Hammer among others. The second day was pretty easy to get in the door, and the shows were all at that one place. The upstairs of the club was open this day and it was a cool place, but the sound was terrible. Bands who I normally love like the Dragons played in there, but I didn't enjoy them as much as I have in the past with better sound. My favorite NEW band of the weekend, meaning it was the first time I knew they existed, was The Upper Crust from Boston. They all dressed up like Amedaeus. White powder wigs, Colonial clothing, the works- all while playing rock and roll. It was sheer brilliance! I hope they come out to SF to play sometime. My favorite band of the 2nd day was the Epoxies. They are so fun. Silly new wave style, complete with a keyboard guitar. I just love them. I also enjoyed Texas Terri, who did some heavy mooning at the end of her show (which I always enjoy). Pants down, running across the stage back and forth like a wild woman. My kind of gal! I like looking at Guitar Wolf because they amuse me as the quintessential Japanese rockers, but I don't think the music is great. It was my 2nd time seeing them and they just don't excite me, and unfortunately they played in the room with the bad sound. I also really enjoyed the Candy Snatchers who were high energy, good rock n roll, and ANTiSEEN, who look like a bunch of ass-backward rednecks, but are really funny and good. I also love the Stitches, but this was my least favorite performance of the many times I've seen them. This event dragged on and on, as I drank beer for 10 hours a day without eating, and I am sick of thinking about the Shakedown, so I'm going to stop here. BOOOO overall, even though I managed to have an all right time. I just hate feeling trapped at a venue for long periods of time, which also happened a while back at Holidays in the Sun. It's like being in Rock n Roll Jail. It's the new millennium's version of Jailhouse Rock. XOXO- Alisha Amnesia The Weaklings Photo by Kastle Custom Made Scare Photo by Kastle Texas Terri Photo by Frank Cool Grrrls Kastle & Alisha Photo by Frank The Dragons Photo by Kastle Throw Rag Photo by Kastle Shakedown Crowd Photo by Frank The Super Bees Photo by Kastle The Hangmen Photo by Kastle Flash Express Photo by Frank