LA Derby Dolls presents Fight Crew vs Varsity Brawlers – at The Doll Factory – Los Angeles, CA

Back from summer hiatus, Southern California's renowned all-female derby league, LA Derby Dolls, presented a close scoring and brutal brawl between the Fight Crew and newbie team, Varsity Brawlers. The ladies came out with a vengeance putting on one of the best bouts this hard core bank track roller derby fan has seen in recent memory.

Known as having the hardest hitting ladies in the league, veteran team Fight Crew hasn't won a bout the entire season. Headed up by Captains Janis Choplin and Haught Wheels, the team came out with baited breath hoping to take the junior Varsity Brawlers to school. The evening started off well for the team, but the young Varsity Brawlers came screaming back. Led by Captains Long Island Lolita and Razorslut, the team has earned respect holding off one of the best derby teams in the league, the Sirens.

The action all evening was fast and furious and there was blood on the bank track when one of the girls took a skate or an elbow to the head. As I was photographing the bout one of the brawlers got knocked down hard. I swore she was out cold, but she just got back up with a big gash on her head and continued on with the dash. That is business per usual at any LA Derby Doll bout. The ladies are dressed in team uniforms, sporting short skirts, fishnets, some with war paint and all with fantastic names. My favorites from the evening: Apocalyptica, Judy Gloom, Broadzilla, Long Island Lolita, Razorslut, and of course, Pushy Whipped. Varsity Brawlers went on to overtake the Fight Crew in an 85 – 75 win.

This is an absolute must do event in Los Angeles! Never been to a roller derby? Don't worry, they explain the rules before every bout so you will know exactly when to stand up and cheer on your new favorite team.

All Derby Doll events feature live bands at half-time and an ultra cool Vendor Village with local merchants and artists selling jewelry, clothing and other fun stuff. You can even have dinner and a beer while watching the bout. Cash bars are stocked with Teacate beer, the official beer sponsor of the roller derby and Alex’s Bar provides other adult beverages, sodas and water. Food venders include; Garage Pizza, the Hot Dog on a Stick truck and my favorite, Freshly Baked Cookies.

These are some tough, talented ladies, taking skates to the head, knocking into each other at break neck speeds, and nearly flying out of the ring at times! Bank track roller derby is the real deal!

The next bout is Saturday, September 12th, make sure you purchase tickets in advance! The Derby Dolls have sold out every regular season game since moving to their new digs in Filipino town in 2008. The Doll Factory is located at 1910 N. Temple Ave. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. General admission tickets are available at the door for $20, VIP tickets are $40. All events are 21+.

To purchase tickets and for more information visit: www.derbydolls.com/la


 

-Natasha Bishop-
Big Wheel Arts and Lifestyle Correspondent

 

More photos of the event can be seen HERE

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews

 

 

 

 

What else would I be doing …if

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I was obsessed with something other than Punk rock. It would be very convenient if I could apply the same amount of devotion to going to shows and collecting records to something more lucrative, such as accounting or selling real estate. Instead I spend most of my energy on a lifestyle that drains my time and money at a sometimes alarming rate.

When I think about how much I have invested into going to punk shows it actually gets to be pretty pathetic. For example one winter in New England a group of friends and I planned a road trip to go see Bad Brains and Murphy's Law playing in Vermont. As if the six hour drive to the show wasn't going to be a big enough inconvenience we decided that we also should find a camping site and sleep in a tent after the show. It took about a month to organize the show/camping trip and we ended up taking two car loads of people. We got to the show three hours early and walked the streets of Burlington, freezing our asses off. Murphy's Law delivered as always, but of course Bad Brains were just sort of ridiculous at that point in their career. To make matters worse our car broke down and we were stuck in Vermont in the Winter with no idea what to do. We got some sub par assistance from a rookie cop who was obviously a little freaked out by us. Giving up on the idea of camping, we asked him where we could find a cheap hotel and after telling us that the cheapest hotel in the area was fairly sketchy, he reflected, "Well you guys are four big dudes. You could probably do whatever you want." While our friends in the other car headed back to Massachusetts I shared a bed with two other close mail friends. We taped a picture of a naked woman over the bed to protect our heterosexuality. By morning it had fallen down.

The following Winter my band got offered a show in Vermont and we reassembled most of the crew from the first Vermont trip and set out determined to have a successful camping trip after the show. Obviously we were completed out of our minds as anyone who has ever spent a night in Vermont in the Winter could tell you how cold it gets. That night twelve of us crammed into an eight person tent, but we were still cold and miserable. Our friend, Enrique, who grew up in Puerto Rico probably considered suicide. Nevertheless we toughed it out and made it through the night. I woke up in the morning and left the tent to take a pee and a hunter was waiting outside of the tent and pointed his gun at me. He then informed me that we were trespassing in a park since it wasn't camping season and gave me a long speech while I desperately held my pee in. All of this again was just so we could go to a show and be able to say that we camped in Vermont in the Winter.

Story after story, it all just becomes more evident that I chose the wrong obsession. If I had learned to focus in school or on advancing in some kind of well paying career instead of constantly thinking about what band I'm going to see play a twenty minute set I would be living quite a different lifestyle. If I spent money on stock investments rather than hunting down obscure records I might not have to live pay check to pay check, but in the end this is what I love and I don't think that's changing any time soon.

 

-Ditch-
Asst. Editor

 

 

 

Punk Rock Academy Fight Song – Kick It Over

I once kicked the school janitor square in the ass and got away with it! Now I’m not an advocate of random violence and I’m sure as hell not a spoiled brat who gets off on tormenting blue collar working guys. But I must say that I can write this with a mix of pride and disbelief. Pride because I stood up for myself and disbelief because after 20 odd years I can look back at this incident which could have landed me in a ton of hot water and use it to illustrate something positive.

The incident took place way back in 1984 as I was beginning the fourth grade at my new elementary school. In the interest of brevity I’ll spare the details of why I was at a new elementary school (besides that’s a whole ‘nother column) and cut to the chase. I was in the tiny school library looking through the card catalog (look it up kids) when the whole thing went down. The janitor -who had a reputation for being ornery to put it lightly- appeared with his monstrous vacuum and sunny disposition. Apparently I was standing in his path and he couldn’t spare the millisecond it took to utter a simple excuse me or even a “hey kid move” so he shoved me out of the way. Stunned and incredulous I knew I had to respond but how? Then as he bent down to plug the machine into the wall I launched my counter attack and delivered the afore mentioned kick. Nowadays if such an incident occurred the janitor would have been fired and I probably would have been labeled as some kind of troubled youth and sent to therapy or juvenile hall. But all I got back then was a quick meeting with the principal, where I explained that an adult needs to be able to respect kids or something to that affect, and the principal gave me the “lets not have this happen again’” speech. Not even a phone call home or detention. Maybe I got off because the janitor really was a jerk and someone, even a kid needed to put him in his place or maybe my eloquent defense had charmed the principal into overlooking the incident, who knows?

So why does this whole ridiculous incident merit any attention and where the hell is the positively in my ill advised response. Well because it serves to represent a couple of values that I always hold dear and maybe it’s also a metaphor for the way I view the world. It s always been the little kid versus the big angry janitor. Now on to the values, First of all always stand up for yourself and do not tolerate injustice in any way. I knew I was being wronged by someone more powerful than me and I knew that something had to be done. Now this in no way compares to Nelson Mandela fighting against apartheid or any other greats who have rallied against oppression, but the same principle applies. Besides I’m sure they were shaped by similar incidents of their youth. You can’t be complacent or apathetic. You have to be an agent of change and you have to be willing to deal with the consequences. The other half to this equation is that adults aren’t always right. This is something I try to impress on all my students. Just because someone has been sucking oxygen longer than you doesn’t give them the right to treat you badly or discount your feelings and opinions. Adults make errors in judgment, teachers sometimes get their own questions wrong and counselors sometimes put you in the wrong class only its a lot harder for us to admit were wrong but it shouldn’t. As grown ups we should be big enough to say we fucked up and smart enough to realize we don’t have all the answers.

Maybe I’m over analyzing a hazy memory from grade school. Putting too much stock in a fleeting moment in time or maybe it stuck with me because it did have such a huge impact on my view of right and wrong. Maybe that janitor learned you can’t disrespect kids just cause you are in a hurry. All I do know is that I listen to what kids have to say and I haven’t had to kick anyone in the ass in a very longtime.
 

 

-Daniel N-

 

 

 

The Casualties – Krum Bums – Mouth Sewn Shut – Destructive Bastards – Glass House – Pomona, CA

It was 7:10pm when I arrived at the Glasshouse in Pomona and the place was swarmed with people. Many formed a line waiting to get inside, others were walking around trying to get money, and many were just sitting across the street waiting for the show to start or for their friends to arrive. There was another interesting thing that was going on in Second Street that I have never seen before. An inflatable movie screen was set up with a projector and many local residents were set up in their lawn chairs surrounded with munchies waiting to enjoy the feature presentation of the night. Another thing surrounding them were the punks, skins, and all others who were waiting anxiously for the show to begin. Our Feature presentation for the night included Destructive Bastards, Mouth Sewn Shut, The Krum Bums and, the one and only, The Casualties.

8:00 rolled by and a quarter of the crowd has made their way inside. Security was tighter than usual so it took longer than expected for one to get inside.  Unfortunately, I had trouble getting my tickets so I missed Destructive bastards and Mouth Sewn Shut. Although I was not inside, I was able to somewhat hear and see them from the outside. Destructive Bastards was the first band to go up.  This local band hails from the San Gabriel Valley who, prior to this show, had just finished their first west coast tour with The Runts. During their set I was able to see, through a small opening, their two vocalists, Skyler and Melissa singing their lungs out with great energy from their first to last song. From what I heard being outside, their set was awesome.

Second band up was Mouth Sewn Shut. Just like the Krum Bums, this band is also on tour with The Casualties. 9:00pm came by and I was finally able to get my ticket and immediately got into the line which was still long and still growing. It took awhile for me to get inside so I missed out on Mouth Sewn Shuts set except their last song. The pit was large and the crowd was energetic singing aloud “asshole” in unison with the singer. Mouth Sewn Shut rocked the fuck out of the Glasshouse.

Third up was the Krum Bums. The crowd immediately reorganized in front of the stage. By this time, the room was very hot and extremely humid. It felt as if we were in a giant sauna. The Krum Bums began to play and, in a heartbeat, the place went insane. Flying bodies, projectile sweat and spit, erratic movement and behavior; this was just the band, now just imagine how the crowd was in return. They played all their best songs, did a Black Flag cover in which Rick from the Casualties came out and sang along, and they played “Misery” in their encore. Krum Bums highly energetic stage performance has only increase more and more since the first time I saw them in 2006.

The roadies immediately came onto the stage after the Krum Bums finished and set up the gear with lightning speed. Cases of water bottles were also thrown out into dehydrated crowd by the staff. It’s Tough being in the front. Stamina, endurance, and strength determine if one can withstand the scorching body heat and endless pushing while they maintain their spot in the front. It’s always great when the venue throws out water bottles to the crowd.

As soon as The Casualties came onto the stage, a massive human tsunami came unexpectedly from the back to the front of the barricade. Halfway through their set Jake suggested a change for the pit, he wanted the crowd to try the infamous wall of death. To my surprise, the crowd formed two walls and clashed with each other and continued to pit the night away. The Casualties played a song from almost all of their albums they’ve ever released. “For The Punks”, “Ugly Bastards”, “Made in NYC”, “Blitzkrieg Bop”, “Media Control”, “We are All we have”, “Unknown Soldiers”, “Get off my Back”…there’s way too many to list. This was a show that no one should’ve missed. If you missed this show you still have one more chance to see The Casualties at the Cobalt Café In Canoga Park on September 27th, 2009.
 

 

-Rob Nuisance-
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter
 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews
 

 

 

 

Have Heart – Ceremony – Shipwreck – Cruel Hand – Foundation – Bitter End – at Chain Reaction – Anaheim, CA

Chain Reaction has a no reentry policy which can make living conditions pretty brutal at some of their shows, especially during this Summer. This along with the fact that I kept running into old friends in Chain's parking lot ended up meaning that I put off going inside for as long as I could. I saw some bits and pieces of Shipwreck, who were brutal as always. While I'm generally not into the style that they play I can appreciate how heavy they are and they have always put on a good performance.

Ceremony were the first band of the night that I had really been looking forward to seeing. Despite the oppressive heat people were really getting into their set. While Ceremony are sometimes compared to current power violence bands to me their sound is more of a  modern equivalent of gnarly 1980's hardcore bands like Septic Death and Negative FX who pushed boundaries, playing super fast and then slowing things down occasionally to add to the intensity. This sort of song structures lends itself to maximum crowd reactions and people were alternately thrashing in circle pits, slow moshing, bombarding the stage for pile ons and then diving off stage in a synchronized fashion. It was a very organized chaos while Ceremony was playing. I was stoked to see them play their cover of Red C's "Pressure's On" from the "Flex Your Head" comp and "This Is My War," which is my personal favorite Ceremony song. Ceremony's performance was a great example of how intense Punk rock can be.

It kind of bitter sweet to see Have Heart as I knew this would probably be the last time that I was ever going to see them play as this is the band's last tour. However it was really cool to get a chance to see them again and it brought back a lot of memories of seeing them back home in Massachusetts. It was an added bonus that a lot of people from back home were at the show so I had them to share the experience with. The set was a sort of retrospective with songs from all of Have Heart's releases being played. It was so hot and crowded in the room that everyone was literally dripping with sweat and my fingers were pruning from the moisture in the air.

Vocalist, Pat Flynn was in classic form, singing with passion and then in between songs giving very earnest rants about straight edge, hardcore, touring, friendship, family, and trying to be a good person. He made it a point to say that once this tour is over and they have played their last show that he has no interest in doing any reunion shows as feels that it would cheapen the experiences that the band and their fans have shared. In some ways a lot of what he was talking about between songs was pretty standard, almost generic subject matter for a hardcore singer to talk about, but it was unique in that it was clear that none of it had been rehearsed and he was quite literally just saying what was on his mind.

The songs that I enjoyed seeing Have Heart play the most were "Unbreakable," "What Counts," and "Something More Than Ink." It was cool to see that they were still playing songs from their early releases. There were all sorts of guest vocalists jumping on stage, including J.D. from Shipwreck. After Flynn gave a speech about depression they ended their set with "Watch Me Rise," which is probably the band's most intense and uplifting song and almost everyone at Chain Reaction was singing along.

By the end of the night everyone was exhausted and soaking wet from sweat. While it definitely was not the most comfortable atmosphere for a show it is safe to say that most of us were glad that we toughed it out.

 

-Ditch-
Big Wheel Asst. Editor

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews
 

 

 

 

The Mapes – The Peccadilloes – Loud Pipes – The Gerbils V 2.0 – 1/2 Ast – at Boomers – Las Vegas, NV

First up was a local Las Vegas band, The Gerbils V2.0 With only a bass player and a drummer these guys banged out a set you would expect to hear from a full band, with guitars etc. They rocked Boomers. With just a 2 piece band they made it work. Very cool band. I can only imagine how awesome they would sound with a full band. I really liked them, and I highly recommend that if you have a chance to see them definitely don't pass it up.








I have to give an incredible shout out to what I call "THE DYNAMIC DUO" D.J. STARR AND D.J. CHAOS

In-between sets these 2 keep the crowd going with their awesome tunes,  everything from Fear to The Dickies, The Runaways and so on. They got the tunes!!!  Hats OFF to these 2, GREAT STUFF.

UP NEXT WAS LOCAL FAVORITES 1/2 AST.  I ve seen these guys a few times and am never disappointed. They know how to play  Punk Rock!! They always give 100% and Friday night was no different.  One Kick Ass set. I always look forward to seeing these guys perform. They are High energy fast paced, ANOTHER BAND I RECOMMEND IF YOU LIKE PUNK ROCK. I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

Next up was a surprise for me !!  2 weeks ago I saw a band called "Pigasus"  Well Friday night was a special set by "THE LOUDPIPES" They were formed and then called it quits,  and Pigasus was born. Well lead singer Tony who is moving to Florida was on hand and The Loudpipes did a quick 20 to 30 minute reunion set,  with Jesse and Jack on Guitars, Gilbert on drums, Roxie on bass and Tony Belting out lead vocals. All I can say is INCREDIBLE !!!   This band raised the roof of Boomers!! What an incredible line up of musicians. I can't say enough about the set they performed, They were amazing, Gilbert is an incredible drummer,  Jesse and Jack shred on guitars, and Roxie is just as amazing on bass, then you throw in Tony’s' vocals. A Masterpiece of musicians. It is a shame they are no more.  But you can always go see Pigasus they too are one totally KICK ASS BAND. The Loudpipes were a hard act to follow.

So the next band to play is a Las Vegas band called The Peccadilloes. What intrigued me most about this band was SAN-D on vocals.  I mean this in the most respectful way, She is such a tiny girl, but get her on the microphone and her vocals make her 10 feet tall. With songs like Psykill, Liquid Cheer, Sad Sack and so on. They played about 40 minutes, and it was non stop Rock and roll. I was reminded of the Old School Punk Bands from Los Angeles. Like” The Eyes" "The Go-Gos" when they first started. and one of my favorite L.A. Bands  "THE HEATERS" They play around Vegas quit a bit, Please check them out of you can.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, "THE MAPES". They hit the stage wearing masks like you would find on Mexican Wrestlers. And a guitar player dressed like a Cub Scout. I wasn't sure what to expect being Halloween is a month away. They kicked out a 45 minute or so set, The most interesting person was The drummer, at point he left the stage to get a drink as i was standing there taking photos i felt something poke me in the rear, and there stood the drummer with his drum sticks. I thought o.k. so as he moved towards the stage he began to put his sticks up my shorts. Being as this was the first time I had seen them I assumed it was part of their show. So then he re-joined the band on stage and these guys continued playing some hard ass punk rock. With their guitar player going into the crowd standing on the tables jamming away!! Needless to say they are a very colorful band and well worth the time to go see.   Another band you won't be disappointed in.

All in all it was a great line up of bands. You can never go wrong at Boomers. If you like live Rock & Roll, Punk, or just to go out and have a good time Boomers is the place to be.

 

Bob Mandoki
Big Wheel Music Scene Reporter

 

More photos of the show can be seen HERE

 
                                          Go HERE to see all the latest show reviews
 

 

 

 

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