8th Annual Johnny Ramone Tribute – at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery – Los Angeles, CA

Most people spend Sunday at church or in the backyard barbecuing up burgers with family before resting the night away. And then there are people like you and I who opted to spend a Sunday at Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the 8th annual Johnny Ramone fest! Yes, you read that correctly, and in case you were not in the know and missed out on Sundays fun, then know you missed out on one hell of a celebration that wont happen again until this time next year. Luckily for you unfortunate souls Big Wheel was there and captured all that went down under the stars that night.

Much like previous celebrations, the 2012 Johnny Ramone Fest was a night to remember as hundreds of dedicated fans flocked to the beautiful Hollywood Forever Cemetery for a night of endless fun amongst the stars in attendance and of course those buried not far from the viewing area. Some fans brought beer to drink, few brought snacks to eat, while many brought books and records to get autographed by the many celebrity guests at the signing tent.


   Enjoy this video overview of the 8th Annual Johnny Ramone Tribute


All in all hundreds showed up to help make this one of the best fests in recent memory and of course help to raise proceeds to battle prostate cancer, a disease that unfortunately took the life of the man we were all there to celebrate and honor, Johnny Ramone.


Tommy Ramone; original drummer and sole survivor of the original band posed for photos and signed autographs all night with fans of all ages. For those wishing to pose with Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee there was a life size cardboard cutout for photo opportunities not far from the official merch booth that sold original t shirts, pins, the book Commando and even a Johnny Ramone Army throw blanket!

In the VIP area where special guests from legendary Punk bands and cult movie stars were there mingling amongst each other catching up on weird tales of the Ramones and related topics. Famed street artist Shepard Fairey was even in attendance sporting the classic presidential seal Ramones shirt as he mingled with Steve Jones, guitarist of the Sex Pistols and LA radio personality.

Henry Rollins of Black Flag was a fan favorite of the night as was one of the worlds most famous rock wives of all time, miss Priscilla Presley. In fact Linda Ramone and Priscilla were seen backstage chatting together right before Priscilla made her way to the podium to introduce the nights film, an Elvis film, and all time favorite of Johnny’s, the 1958 black and white big screen classic, King Creole.

Priscilla seemed a bit nervous at first but began to open up and become comfortable in front of the large audience who held on to her every word throughout her speech. She shared her daughters relationship with the Ramone family and how Johnny and Linda have always been very important to Lisa Marie (who was scheduled to make an appearance but was not seen Sunday at the event). Priscilla discussed the circumstances surrounding the making of King Creole and how production was able to continue filming as The US Army allowed Elvis an extension before he was drafted into the army, making this his last film for a few years. It was a role that he took very serious as he was a fan of James Dean and wished to portray a character that had a depth seen in Dean films of the 50’s.


A special shootout needs to go to John Cafiero who puts together the entire Johnny Ramone Tribute along with Linda Ramone each year. John edited the book "Commando: the Autobiography of Johnny Ramone" which is a must has for all Ramones fans and music aficionados. John also manages Johnny Ramone and Dee Dee Ramone's Estates, The Ramones, The Misfits, and is also known as the singer in Osaka Popstar, so you can tell he has a very full plate.


Priscilla , Jerry Schilling (a close friend of Elvis and member of the Memphis Mafia) then viewed the film seated near other stars such as Dita Von Teese, Stan Lee (Dickies), Billy Zoom (X), Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats) PJ Soles (Actress), Joe Escalante (Vandals), London May (Samhain), Howie Pyro (D Generation), Rose McGowan (actress) Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Tommy Ramone and of course Linda Ramone. The masses of fans seated on blankets nearby laughed, drank, ate and clapped in unison at moments throughout the film and especially its dramatic ending where Elvis triumphantly sings at the King Creole club.

There really isn’t any other similar movie experience like one at Hollywood Forever when surrounded by Punk rockers with beer and food. All enjoyed themselves whether they were the most obsessed Ramones fan (we met more than a handful) to the casual Ramones fan. We even met a few die hard Elvis fans who had flown all the way from Elvis hometown of Memphis Tennessee for this very special once in a life time event.

Sunday night at Johnny Ramone Fest proved to be a surreal in so many ways and the experience of watching one of Elvis’s best films surrounded by people close to him and fans of all ages of both the king and kings of Punk was just too awesome!

As the night wrapped up just after midnight, the near empty cemetery appeared to be perhaps the most peaceful place in all Hollywood despite it being a full fledged rock and roll celebration just a mere hour beforehand.

Before exiting we made our way to Dee Dee’s memorial and admired the extra décor surrounding the bass gods grave stone before walking over to Johnny’s neatly decorated and very illuminated statue as we paid respects to a godfather of Punk rock. Johnny was a man who left an impact on music and the world that is still felt today and will forever live on. There is no denying it and one must truly recognize the impact his playing has had on rock music for the better. Our hats were off to Johnny that night as we celebrated his lasting legacy.

The yearly celebration at Hollywood Forever is an event we’re so grateful to experience and share with you readers all over the world, so do yourselves a favor and make sure to attend next summer. The event gets bigger and better with every year and any celebration benefiting the fight against prostate cancer is a cause worth your support. Stay in touch with all things Johnny Ramone and join the mailing list so that you will know about the events they throw  www.johnnyramone.com

We’ll see you all next year at the 9th annual Johnny Ramone fest, until next time ....

              More photos of the event can be seen HERE

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Journalist

 

 

 

 

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Sunset Strip Music Festival 2012 – West Hollywood, CA – August 16-18, 2012

The 2012 Sunset Strip Music Festival kicked off Thursday night with an epic variety of guests paying tribute to the 2012 honorees; LA’s first notorious bad boys of rock, The Doors. Jim Ladd of KLOS as well as shock rocker Marilyn Manson and John Doe of X led introductions and had choice words for describing the impact The Doors had on their musical careers as well as the LA scene and rock landscape globally.

Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman shared his tale of discovering The Doors while they were a house band on the sunset strip some 45 years prior and how in the bands short career they were able to change music forever. Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger and pianist Ray Manzarek then received The Elmer Valentine Award and a Plaque proclaiming August 16th 2012 Doors Day in the city of West Hollywood.  The two had permanent smiles fixed to their faces as they appeared to be on cloud nine all night on stage.

Things then began to take off as the all star jam got underway featuring backing from Camp Freddy. Vocals were handled in a honorary way by a number of guests, though all attention seemed to focus on both Robbie and Ray as their chemistry on stage was beyond electrifying and more than magnificent to watch from such a close proximity. In true 60’s fashion the band advocated the usage of mind altering drugs to open the doors of perception and to find your own personal Axis Mundi, they’re quite the thinkers those two, they gave more than just a concert but somewhat of a mini lecture! 

We caught Peter Murphy a short while later over at The Roxy Theatre where he performed before a packed house where legions of fans were pressed up at the stage and as far back as the bar area. Peter being the astounding performer that he is exploded onto the stage with a Bauhaus classic as his set opener which really lit the crowd on fire and caused the dance floor to get moving very quickly. It wasn’t long before he belted out a number of solo tracks that rocked the crowd in a Bowie esque kind of way. His newest addition to the band is a bassist who also doubles as a violinist which was heavily useful during “A Strange Kind of Love”; a love ballad which then bled into the ever classic “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” which once again struck a chord with the Goth heavy crowd. The highlight of the set did come at the very end with a cover of Ziggy Stardust which ultimately reminded so many fans of the short Bauhaus reunion of 7 years ago at The Wiltern theatre. Dramatic rock had never looked or sounded so good as it did at The Roxy that night.

Night 2 of the SSMF continued on with a special performance by one of our favorite hometown heroes, the and only X.  The crowd at the Roxy on this particular night happened to be a bit more ferocious and stir crazy than the previous nights audience and it was most apparent as the band kicked into the opening track of their debut album Los Angeles. The energy in the venue continued to build up as the four some steam rolled through the albums songs in the same running order as the record and proves that fans really do enjoy when a great band plays a great album in its entirety. The legendary punks managed to take things to a whole new level when they kicked into their 2nd album Wild Gift much to the crowds approval; X performing their first two albums in their entirety back to back, EPIC!

Only adding to the sheer epic-ness was the amazing Ray Manzarek of The Doors joining the band a number of times on stage with his keyboard for a bunch of songs through out the 2 hour set. The temperature in the venue had only risen as the set progressed and was beyond hellish and more humid than a south Florida beach party, but the fans kept a dancing and the band kept playing at the top notch level they have always been known for.

All in all it ended up being the raddest X concert in recent years by far and from what I overheard a security guard say after the crowd had left “That was the best show I’ve seen in all the years I’ve worked here!” It seems both fans and security can share the same viewpoints from time to time.

As Saturday’s street fest began It became clear that there would have to be lots of running around (much like every years fest) to try and catch a bit of what was going on at every stage and venue. There wasn’t a venue on the strip that we did not hit up yesterday in hopes of discovering new musical treats or bands we already had loved. The best thing about the Sunset Strip Music Fest is there is always a ton of bands from so many musical backgrounds that there truly is something for everybody. I’ll admit that of course there are going to be bands that I don’t care for but I give the fest’s organizers credit for assembling a festival with more variety than any other local fest in LA or OC. One of the bands that seemed to get the early audience pumped was Dead Sara, a band you’ve likely been hearing about non stop this summer since they’ve been killing it on the vans warped tour and burning ears on 98.7 fm. On the opposite side of the rock spectrum was electronica and hip hop favorites bringing their flavor to the east side stage. Steve Aoki, Leif Garret and De La Soul brought their A game and got the rave crowd dancing every minute of their sets. All the while southern metal gods Black Label Society destroyed the main stage with help from their arena rock multi stack Marshall amplifier stage setup, it was loud as fuck!

Leave it to LA Punks Bad Religion to prove that you can have a minimalist stage production and still out play bands with fancy expensive gear. Greg Graffin and co.’s primarily super high paced set blew away BLS and got the crowd moving for the first time that day and was a reassuring notion that short and sweet songs that remain straight to the point are usually proffered over technical virtuoso crunchiness. Much to the audiences liking Bad Religion played a variety of their back catalog never focusing too long on any one of their albums selection of hits. Bad Religion were the first band to get the crowd to circle pit as well, something that would be non stop during The Offspring’s stellar set that came right after.

A large number of fans made their way to the far end of the festival grounds and packed into the Whiskey A Go Go just in time to catch the legendary 45 Grave play their brand of Goth punk to old and new fans alike. Tracks off their new release Pick your Poison went over really well and seamlessly flowed back and forth between their classics. Matt Skiba of Alkaline Trio fame got the same reaction from fans over at the Roxy where he performed an acoustic solo set.

The Offspring took the main stage as the sun began to set and easily made everybody else look and sound so elementary in comparison to their high energy and primarily old school set. The boys from Huntington Beach played so incredibly tight and worked the perfect amount of fan favorite and radio hits that their set seemed like greatest hits album played at a party where everyone got along in unison. It was festive and it was grand as the entire crowd knew every word and sang along to anthems such as “Gotta Get Away”, “Come out and Play’, “The Kids Aren’t Alright”, and the set closer ultra sing a long “Self Esteem”

Following The Offspring’s perfect set would be hard for any band and it most certainly proved to be for Marilyn Manson who appeared to most definitely be under the influence. As a result his set seemed really loose despite the cinematic productions put forth by his road crew as his stage set up looked amazing and probably expensive. All the stage fog and props helped to distract from the slurred speech in between his 90’s jams that went over pretty well though not at the level at which The Offspring’s crowd reacted. There were redeeming moments through out his time on stage last night and those were during his songs that put him on the map like “Dope Show”, “Disposable Teens”  and “Rock Is Dead”. His new stuff even seemed to get the crowd moving, but nothing he could dish out of his own material seemed to match the response from his Depeche Mode cover of “Personal Jesus” and ultra 80’s hit “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This” by The Eurthymics. His set went up a notch when surprise guests Robbie Krieger and Ray Manzarek of The Doors (who were honored at SSMF) joined the shock rocker for a number of Doors classics. People Are Strange, Love me Two Times and Five to One were played back to back with each song bringing out the performer in Manson that people had come to know 15 years prior, he became a maniac on stage and resembled a wild lizard king by the name of Jim Morrison as he similarly rolled around the floor screaming at the top of his dark lungs.

The encore of Antichrist Superstar and Beautiful People closed out his set before a confetti burst that rained hard down on Sunset blvd; where one could only imagine a clean up crew is still sweeping up debris at this very moment leftover from last nights show. Not to be punk rock biased, but I imagine many would have preferred The Offspring to head headline over Manson as Dexter and crews set got the crowd moving and singing all night while they performed like a well oiled machine compared to a band where the front man seemed to struggle from song to song. Its hard to imagine that Manson has sold more records than The Offspring or has gathered more buzz lately, whatever the case, The Offspring stole the show with very little effort.

To wrap up what we learned this year at SSMF is that younger bands are learning a thing of two from the bands that paved the blvd at how to rock crowds and do it genuinely, ala Dead Sara. Older bands like Bad Religion, 45 Grave and The Offspring as well as members of The Doors are still kicking ass decades after their first shows on that very same strip. And last but most certainly not least is that doing lots of drugs can diminish your performance capabilities and lessen your status as a badass rock god. Two terms I heard through out the night was “coke bloat” and “washed up“, sadly it didn’t take long for me to realize who and what the audience were referring to.

I ask myself this on the way home from every SSMF; “Who will they honor next year and who will headline?” I suppose we shall find out by spring of 2013 if mankinds existence hasn’t come to an end by mid December 2012! If we are all still here then we will most definitely be seeing you at the 6th annual 2013 SSMF!

                             More photos of day1 can be seen HERE

                                                                          Day 2 HERE

                                                                           Day 3 HERE

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Journalist 

 

 

 

 

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Interview with Sam Soto from The Viva Vampira Art Show – at Kat Von D’s Wonderland Gallery – West Hollywood, CA

Interview by Louie Bones
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 

With the aid of technology good news happens to travel faster than ever and with that said the news of an exhibit dedicated solely to Vampira was something we at Bigwheel had to get the scoop on. The good people over at Wonderland Gallery with the help of Johnny Coffin have really outdone themselves with the Viva Vampira art show; their biggest and most popular show to date at the gallery.



 

 

 

We wanted to know more so we went down and had a chat with head curator Sam Soto (who’s best known for his bass playing in Exene Cervenka's Original Sinners, Mercy Killers, & Fangs on Fur)
Below is our conversation - Enjoy!


We are here today at Kat Von D’s Wonderland Gallery, there are a ton of Vampira photos and memorabilia on display, how did all this come to be here at the gallery?
We have a show here happening at Wonderland, it’s called Viva Vampira, it’s a collection of Johnny Coffins (of Coffin Case fame) Vampira collection, it’s photos and memorabilia, some of the photos have never ever been seen before though some of them have, and we have her classic bat glasses on display in that case right over there. What we’re trying to do is put on a respectful Vampira exhibition.

This seems to showcase the character that is Vampira but there are also photos of her dressed down self, Maila Nurmi.
The image of Vampira and who she was as a person adds to the character because it was her character that she developed herself, it was her style, she was a true rebel long before it was cool to be a rebel. If you look at these photos from 1955 you’ll see her with a shaved head and stuff, this was still totally not “cool” to have or to do that kind of stuff or have that kind of confidence. It’s such a solid idea. It was all very unique, especially for the time. She made and designed her own jewelry too.

 It’s like she had a D.I.Y. ethic…
Oh yeah! Most definitely! Totally, she designed her original dress. Eventually she worked with Liberace; he helped her when she was starting to get her career going again, just like he helped Elvis with the sparkle jumpsuit.

If you look at these pieces over here, this is real early on the set of the Vampira show, you can see how she did her dress herself, she modified it, she actually wore a dress backwards because they didn’t have low plunging dress back then, so she flipped it around and shredded it, she knew how to work it, it’s really cool how she did everything..

She was very fashionably original…
She had an idea of the image she wanted to have as a character, she had a full idea. She’d take notes and make drawings of how she wanted things to be and how things should look; she didn’t take any shit at all.

Can you tell us about the opening night of Viva Vampira?
Sure! It was a full night! We have a capacity of 110 people in here at a time, we kept letting em in! The line was wrapped around the building all night, it was totally packed! We had a live stream camera where we did interviews in here for Vampira fans online, we had 110,000 viewers, it was our biggest show ever. This is actually only our 3rd show ever too. Viva Vampira runs till Halloween, and we are open everyday. Our next show opens on Dia De Los Muertos.

Would you say that the casual Vampira fan to the most obsessive fan would get a kick out of this show?
Oh most definitely! Vampira’s niece and her family came down and she was beside herself. She said it was the most respectful exhibition for Maila and she wishes she could be alive to see this, she said this is how it should be done and that nothing like this had ever been done before for Maila. So hearing that from the family really meant a lot to me because we worked really hard on this and presenting it in a truthful respectful way where it wouldn’t come off as just camp. Sure there is camp, but there are levels of camp, like there is Divine eating dog shit, and then there is Vampira, two totally separate levels of camp. This is way beyond any of that, Vampira got in trouble for some of the things she would say, she’d go off script on set and say things into the camera like “Hey kiddies, go kill your parents!”

That’s pretty fucking morbid!
Yeah! And she was the first one to ever do anything like that, the first horror hostess.

We heard from a reliable source that the family of Bela Lugosi were in attendance and have checked out the show. Is there truth to the rumor?
Yeah they were! The Lugosi family! They were really cool, they loved the show! In fact they are interested in doing a show here. I did a card set for the Viva Vampira show and I’m probably going to do a card show for them as well.

There are postcards made from collections of the show, all limited edition in sets of 8. Just like the photos hanging in the gallery they will be available online very soon, and once they’re gone they’re gone! Everything here except for the bat sunglasses are for sale, we even sale the photos with our custom frames or without.

There are vintage televisions under the photos. Maila’s niece said that she used to watch Vampira on the same kind of TV back when she was younger. It’s all part of the vibe since she was more than just a photographic image.

(The Televisions play non stop static lending an eeriness appropriate for such a spooky show)
You’ll notice we even have photos of her dressed out of costume on display as well. She used to do beauty shots too. We have a shot from her life magazine shoot; it’s one of my favorites. She and James Dean were friends and they hung out together, they were part of the same crew when they were all coming up as actors. We have a page from one of her diaries where she mentions how much she loves James Dean. Right next to it is a drawing of Maila with her shaved head done on a napkin by James Dean at their favorite coffee shop Googies.

You and your wife both work here at Wonderland; can you tell us how all the pieces fell into place in order for the Viva Vampira show to open?
Johnny Coffin first contacted the gallery because there was a movie that was made called “Vampira and Me” and he wanted to have a collaboration, like a Vampira weekend where they’d open the film on one day and we’d open the exhibit the next day. Kat loved the idea so it really started as that. The curator who was in charge at the time had moved on, and it was kind of up for grabs, so I stepped in and ran with it, Kat said she couldn’t think of anyone better for this.

Would it be fair to assume that Kat is influenced by Vampira’s style, she too has black hair, pale skin and wears a lot of dark clothing, sort of vampy in a way…
Oh yes she loves Vampira and is a big fan, in fact she told me “You can do this exhibit, but don’t fuck it up because she (Vampira) means a lot to me!”
Her knowledge of Vampira is very deep; she has lots of really cool interests and allows this all to happen here, it makes this all better with her support. It’s all very natural when you have a boss who you don’t have to go against. She wants people to be exposed to and know about Vampira and her legacy, her influence is long lasting and important.

A lot of this has never been seen before so it’s very cool that we get to put this on display for free for fans. As a fan I’m seeing a lot of these for the first time too.

Big Wheel would like to thank Sam and Lacy Soto for their time and personal tour of the very impressive gallery exhibit.

Kat Von D’s Wonderland Gallery is located just south of Sunset Blvd at -
1257 N. La Brea Blvd, West Hollywood, CA.
(Corner of La Brea and Fountain Ave)

As a horror movie fan, especially of Vampira, I was blown away by the amount of cool photos and priceless memorabilia on display. The good people over at Wonderland have really paid the ultimate respect to Vampira and it must be noted that what they are doing is nothing short of honest and admirable.

Do yourself a favor and pay a visit before the show wraps up on Halloween. Make sure to say hello to Sam, he is the pale punk rocker behind the counter!

 

 

 

 

 

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Slash Hollywood Blvd Star Ceremony and Acoustic Set – at The Hard Rock Café – Hollywood, CA

Just two years after being given the key to the city of West Hollywood; Slash, who is best known as the Les Paul slinging former axe-man of Guns N’ Roses (the only era that matters) was presented a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

It’s not everyday someone of true rock and roll credibility is presented with such an honor, so we at Big Wheel had to be there to capture the moment, and what a time it was!

Of all places to be given a star, Slash’s was appropriately placed right out front of the Hard Rock Café, which some of you may know is in the heart of Hollywood. Hundreds of fans showed up and lined the blvd on both sides of traffic to witness this joyous occasion alongside each other despite the unbearable heat.

Film producer Robert Evans was one of the celebrity guests to speak at the podium as was fellow film industry hero Charlie Sheen. Charlie’s speech may be best remembered as he slammed GN’R vocalist Axl Rose and even mentioned how Slash’s star will get walked on more than all the “coke” they did together in the 80’s. The crowd let out a roar of approval after Charlies speech, he sure is a fan favorite!

Following the star ceremony Slash and vocalist Myles Kennedy performed an intimate acoustic show for fans that were fortunate enough to gain free admission via a radio held contest. The duo performed new tracks from Slash’s solo albums before kicking into a memorable version of Sweet Child O’ Mine featuring former Guns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler.

After their short but sweet set Slash signed autographs for every fan who stuck around. The event was really unique and one of those special occurrences that could only take place in our hometown of Los Angeles. Best of all it was a free event for music fans to cherish. As residents of LA we are very lucky to live in a city that celebrates music as publicly as it does and honors musicians who have really made an impact on the scene.We want to congratulate Slash on his accomplishments and his star on Hollywood Blvd.

 

         

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Journalist

 

 

 

 

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Dita Von Teese presents Strip Strip Hooray – at The House of Blues – Los Angeles, CA

The Queen of tease made her triumphant return to the sunset strip over Mothers day weekend where she and her all-star cast of performers blew the roof off the House of Blues for 3 sold out performances.
Yes, Dita Von Teese has once again graced Hollywood with her seductive Strip Strip Hooray revue! If you were fortunate enough to catch her multiple nights stand at the Roxy in 2010/11 you certainly recall her top notch stage production featuring only the best props and designs, they’re back! In true Dita fashion she brought out only the best and put on a 90 minute show that left crowds captivated all night.

Hosting the show was none other than familiar MC Murray Hill. You may remember Murray as the hardest working middle aged man in show business, a title he definitely lives up to as Murray is perhaps the most entertaining drag king alive today. His witty humor on stage helped fire up the crowd just in time for Dita’s opening number, the infamous Martini Glass sponge Bath, the wettest performance in town!

Following Dita was an array of burlesque performers of all backgrounds and sizes, quite the visual buffet. The Saturday night crowd got a taste of Russia with a magnificent performance by Lada who worked the stage and chairs like a seductive dominatrix. A hefty performer by the name of Dirty Martini dazzled crowds with her tassel twirling bit, a craft she has perfected as she is able to twirl both in opposite directions with a smile on her face. The curvy Pearl Noire’s bit reminded us all of a voodoo ceremony in the middle of the sexually heated jungle, she is the queen of New Orleans. Rob Halford of Judas Priest does not even ride a motorcycle on stage with the same grace of mini performer Selene Luna who strips and smokes like its nobodies business but her own. There is even a male performer to round out the revue as Monsieur Romeo stuns the female population of the crowd into near orgasm status. Catherine Delish becomes a black widow of sorts as she climbs a spider web in a manner than could cause a man to spin a web of his own.

Photo courtesy of Ditas management

The night belongs to Queen Dita as her 4 acts throughout the night frenzy the crowd like only she can. Her sexy Powder Compact bit, Cowgirl Mechanical Bull Duel and Oriental themed Opium Den run the show and without a doubt own the eyes and minds of everyone in attendance. The number of those in attendance whether they be gay, straight, bi, fancy or casually dressed all adore Dita every second she‘s under the spotlight on stage. She attracts a crowd of many different backgrounds yet they all feel the same way when it comes to Miss Dita. The glamorous style she brings forth borders on classy madam to seductive temptress, something she fits into so naturally and effortlessly.

Queen Dita’s productions are second to none and judging by how she manages to sell out venues night after night its no wonder she is still on top of the burlesque world’s throne. Like a vampress who turns helpless victims into lustful slaves, Dita owns like none before or after, she is queen and her Strip Strip Hooray revue is proof enough that all should bow down for Miss Von Teese.
Do yourselves a favor and catch Strip Strip Hooray as it swings through a town near you this spring.

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

           

 

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7th Annual Smash Party with a performance by Battleflask – Hollywood, CA

Los Angeles is the one city in America where one can always look forward to finding something new and exciting occurring almost daily in and around our own backyard. Whether it be hundreds of cyclists storming the streets and parading down a closed off blvd or going on a city wide scavenger hunt searching for abnormal items, there’s always something out of the norm taking place just around the corner. Take this example for instance, a mass of invited guests willingly destroyed once precious televisions and other fragile belongings with the help of a trusty baseball bat, and my personal favorite; an all American sledge hammer! Yes you read that last sentence correctly, and for those invited to the Titmouse Animation Studios annual Smash Party, they witnessed an event like no other.

Let us take you inside the event to get a glimpse of what went down.

Every year the folks over at Titmouse (responsible for Metalacolypse) throw their annual company party, and believe me, it ain't your father's company picnic you remember from your youth. This instead is a free for all where guests are encouraged to bring forth fragile objects and destroy them with a weapon of their choice in a closed off batting cage like structure. It was a bit like American gladiators, just without sissy spandex uniforms, cheesy music or plastic weaponry. Catering was provided by none other than the very popular Grill Em All’ truck and best of all there was very huge open bar where guests enjoyed mixed cocktails all the way to Pabst Blue Ribbon to Newcastle.

Because of the nature of the event everyone entering the party would have to sign a waiver, how many partys have you signed a waiver to get in, which speaks the madness all attending would be in for. Lab coats and butcher aprons were very popular as were protective eye goggles and painters masks.

The batting cages were also equipped with screens to minimize damage from flying shards of glass and to prevent unhealthy inhalation of toxic particles from TV tubes. In many instances where the television met its demise it created a boom that could be heard from blocks away, it was fucking beautiful!

One of my favorite electronic appliances to meet its maker was what seemed to be a brand new iMac computer; it was destroyed with one swing! It was then that someone in the stands “yelled fuck Steve Jobs!” what a sight to witness! As you will see and hear in the accompanying video the crowd loved every minute of the destruction.

   Enjoy this 15 minute video overview of the destruction and performance by Battleflask

It’s only fitting that Battleflask would be invited to play this special event. Having a Punk band perform all the while guests destroyed valuable objects immediately reminded us of The Damned and their classic single appropriately titled “Smash It Up” , perhaps they will be invited to play next year’s event, we would like that! This being Battleflask's first performance in 6 months, performing a blistering set of a dozen plus songs that maintained the tightness and energy this band is known for.



Certainly one of the BEST partys we have been to in a long time and we appreciated the invite to come cover the event.

-Louie Bones-
Big Wheel Staff Reporter

 
             More photos of the 7th Annual Smash Party can be seen HERE

 

 

 

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