King Khan & BBQ Show Played Santos Party House w/ Bloodshot Bill

Last night I went over to Santos Party House to check out King Khan & BBQ Show with Bloodshot Bill. I showed up right before Bloodshot Bill was scheduled to go on and the place was packed. Bloodshot came out in his trademark pajamas and went straight into his Tazmanian devil act. The snortin', gruntin', spittin' one-man show wowed the crowd, as he always does.

I've seen Bloodshot Bill many times but it's always been to crowds that already knew and loved him. This time was different as it was very clear that most of the crowd had no idea who this madman was. After a couple of songs he clearly had won them over and a few people in the crowd started dancing. Then he hooked them in with his singalongs.

After Bill cleared the stage, and I grabbed a fresh beer, the room filled in even more. I don't think I've ever seen Santos Party House so packed before. While Bill was on stage there was a 9-foot high totem pole looking object covered in sheets. Prior to the headliners coming on King Khan came on stage and revealed what was under the cloth - a giant disco dick! You heard me right, not a disco ball, a disco dick. It was a glorious sight to behold.

A little bit later BBQ came on stage dressed in his crazed genie outfit. Then they started jamming - BBQ singing the sweet stuff and King Khan growling like rabid wolf. It was at this point that, despite seeing many King Khan shows and one or two Mark Sultan shows, that I realized I never saw the two together before.

As soon as they started all Hell broke loose. People were crowd surfing, there was a mini mosh pit going, girls were dancing on the side of the stage, beer was spraying all over the crowd - it was pure madness. If you hit mute and just looked at the crowd you would have thought it was a punk rock show. In reality it was dirty ass rock n' roll played by two masters of the genre. It was one of the best pure rock n' roll shows I've ever experienced. I'm a huge Bloodshot Bill fan and I always feel bad for whoever has to follow that dude but King Khan & BBQ did quite the job. Hot damn, what a night!

Spirit Family Reunion Played Bowery Ballroom

On Saturday night Spirit Family Reunion played Bowery Ballroom. I know most of the band so I was super excited for them. If any band deserves to play the big stage it's Spirit Family. Not only did they play but they managed to sell the place out, which is incredible!

The first act up that night was Blind Boy Paxton, who is a 24 year old kid from Watts, Los Angeles. Somehow in that urban jungle he discovered blues, Americana, ragtime and bluegrass and he dedicated his life to it. The man is fantastic! He plays several instruments - banjo, guitar, fiddle and more - and plays them all very well. Seeing him play is like getting into a time machine and transporting yourself to the Mississippi Delta in the 1920's. Not only is he an awesome musician but he has a great stage presence, getting laughs throughout the set.

The next act was out of place on the bill. Something just didn't click so I headed downstairs and sucked down some brews to kill the time.

As I headed back up I ran into to Stephen from SFR. He came over, said hello and we caught up a bit. I asked him what it felt like to sell out Bowery Ballroom and he very sincerely answered, "I'm freaked out, man".

A few minutes later they took the stage to a packed house and started up. The set was made up of quite a few tunes that I haven't heard them play before. They sound absolutely amazing and the enthusiasm they showed was contagious. They absolutely owned that stage and I can honestly say it was one of the best shows I've ever seen at Bowery Ballroom.

They closed with "When My Name Is Spoken" which is one of my favorites and also a favorite of the crowd. Everyone was singing along and dancing around. Then went off stage for a few minutes and came back for an encore. They asked the sound man to kill all the mics except the main one and then the whole band gathered around for a stunning rendition of "I'll Find A Way". The whole band took turns on vocal duty and then Nick stepped forward in front of the stage and shouted a sing-along with the crowd. Every single person there joined in. It was so loud that you could barely hear the band.

Before the song started Stephen came over to the mic and told the crowd how he was at a show at Bowery Ballroom a few weeks earlier and texted his manager saying, "I don't think we can do this, man" - well, they did it and they did it better than anyone I've seen do it there before.

VICE's New HBO Series Premieres Tonight

Last night I went to the screening party for VICE's new series which premieres tonight on HBO. It's very similar to the travel guides and the MTV series but it seems a little more journalistic and edgy. The episodes we were shown last night included interviews with the head of the Taliban in Afghanistan, child suicide bombers, North Korean escapees (still en-route to freedom) and more wild shit like that.

VICE goes where no other news outlet has the balls to go. Whether you can call them "news" is questionable, I suppose, but either way it's interesting. Say what you will about VICE the magazine but the TV programming they've been creating recently is fantastic.