VIRTUAL SOAPBOX
RANTS-N-RAVES
The World According to Scott
This is the section of my site that is strictly reserved for my opinions, my beliefs, and whatever I feel like talking about at the moment. It's updated generally on a fairly regular basis, so check back to see what the most recent things on my mind are.
The views and opinions expressed on this page do not reflect that of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department or Cornell University.
_________________________________________________________________________
Snakeoil Salesmen are in the process of recording a demo. Should probably end up being 6 or 7 songs, I'd imagine. More to come soon...
_________________________________________________________________________
Okay, went to The Haunt for the very first time last night. Can't believed I've lived here this long & not been there. Anyway, seemed like a cool place. Very large, good size stage, plenty of room to move around & some excellent graffiti on the bathroom walls - always a sign of a decent rock club in my opinion. I'd called earlier during the day & asked when Hotter Than Hell was going to be onstage & was told they should be playing by about 9:00pm or so. So, we get there early & guess what - the band wasn't even set up yet. We decided to stick around, so we got a round, found a table & some stools & planted ourselves. To be honest, I'm glad we did get there early, because we watched the band set up their own equipment. While this maybe doesn't sound all that cool, it really was because we watched "Gene Simmons," "Peter Criss" & "Paul Stanley" set up all of their stuff. When was the last time that anyone who's seen the real Kiss can say that, huh? For a while, we had to endure some cliché, awful classic rock on the club's system. Then, they decided to play a mix of White Zombie tunes through the club PA. Don't get me wrong, they have their place, but I only enjoy them on an individual song type of basis, not in large doses.
Anyway, the lights go down & over the in corner, we can just see part of "Ace Frehley," as the band was waiting to take the stage. The sound lackey cued the intro music (a loud, bass-like ominous chord) & all four of the band members came up on stage. What should have taken roughly 30 seconds to a minute for them to come out, be introduced ("You wanted the best, you got the best. The hottest band in the world - KISS!!!!") & begin playing their opener, stretched into an awkward 5 or so minutes. Something was wrong with "Gene Simmons'" bass rig. So there's these four guys in full make-up, costumes & 6-inch heels, not knowing what to do with themselves standing on a blackened stage waiting to get the technical glitch fixed. The sound lackey ran back & forth between the stage & his sound board several times, & figured out what the problem & they got started. I give them a lot of credit, because they didn't let it rattle them & they stayed perfectly in character.
The first tune, "Detroit Rock City," was a little stiff, but they worked through it & got better. Overall for the whole night, the mix wasn't exactly the best. The bass cut out sometimes & you couldn't clearly hear the guitar solos for the most part, but all in all, the sound was okay. Now the band on the other hand, they were great. There was NO ONE there last night. I mean the place was dead, something like 50 - 75 people total I think. These four guys played with the same type of enthusiasm as if they were headlining at Madison Square Garden. They didn't care that it was a small crowd, or that they were in Ithaca, NY, they just rocked out & stayed completely in their characters all night.
They played for roughly about 2 hours, including encores. I don't remember the entire set list, but I know they played "Detroit Rock City," "Deuce," "Love Gun," "Firehouse," "Strutter," "Nothin' to Lose," "Shout It Out Loud," "C'mon & Love Me," "Makin' Love," "God of Thunder," "Shock Me," "Beth" (which was the only real weak tune in their set), "Lick It Up" (not sure whey they chose to do a tune from the non-make-up era), "I Want You," "Cold Gin," "Parasite" & of course the last encore (predictably) "Rock-n-Roll All Night." I've been listening to this music since I was 10 years old & know it backwards & forwards. These guys have done their homework. One thing they did here & there that was cool, was when someone from the crowd would yell out a song they wanted to hear that wasn't in their set, they would play bits & pieces of things. That was pretty cool.
They wore the costumes from the '77 Love Gun era (think what they wore in the gatefold sleeve picture from the Kiss Alive II album). Of the four of them, I'd have to say that "Gene Simmons" was by far the best in terms of imitation (or maybe "tribute" is the more correct term). He had all of the moves down pat. He breathed fire at the end of "Firehouse," & he spit blood before "God of Thunder." He made all the same expressions, he stuck out his tongue & waved his crotch around. When someone gets the job of being "Gene Simmons" in a Kiss tribute band, they've got a hard job... "Paul Stanley" had the right hair, he had the shuffle, he shook his ass, he played his guitar behind his head & he even had the rose tattoo on his right shoulder. "Peter Criss" was a very good drummer & probably a better drummer than the real Peter Criss. My only criticism of him, was that the real Peter didn't have a double-bass pedal on his kit, but that's just me being picky. "Ace Frehley" sounded great, he had all the leads down perfectly, but because of the mix, you couldn't hear half of them. Oddly enough, I thought that "Ace" looked just a little too big for his costume. Now, don't get me wrong, because the guy was tall & thin, but when you're wearing pretty much a full body spandex outfit, you really have to be trim to make it work (for example, you'd never see me in spandex - I know my limitations).
Kat said something very telling as we left last night - she said, "You know, if you were a fan of this band early on in your life, it really sort of determines the kind of person you're going to be." She couldn't have been more right. I'd say the average age of the people there last night was probably late thirties, early forties - essentially my demographic. I think the two youngest people there were my brother-in-law Nate & our cousin Phil who came with us. They seemed to really get a kick out of the whole thing & have fun.
Overall, I really enjoyed myself. Unlike the last time we saw them, they didn't use any sort of pyro, bombs or flashpots of any kind. While it would have been cool to see that stuff, it was okay they didn't use it. It occurred to me in a deja-vu sort of way, just how similar the whole situation was to what happened in that bar The Station in Rhode Island with that Great White show. While the four of us laughed a little uneasily at the comparison, I couldn't help myself & said, "Remember where the exits are." It was cool to see that there were others here that reside in Ithaca who appreciated this type of show, although I think they remain in hiding because I never see them.
For my birthday, I got the book "Kiss: Behind the Mask: The Official Authorized Biography" from my Mom. This one of a number of books I've read about Kiss & it was very timely reading it & seeing this show. It just reminded me that the show we saw these four guys do in that club, was exactly what Kiss was doing back in '73 when no one knew who they were & they were struggling to make it playing clubs in New York. They had the same energy, the same (although different) make-up & costumes, & played with the same amount of enthusiasm. Having seen Kiss 5 different times in areas, it was cool to reminded that they used to just be 4 guys who wore crazy costumes & make-up & played in places even smaller than The Haunt, with even smaller audiences in some cases. And that's where it all started.
I'm so glad we went.
_________________________________________________________________________
Thursday 11/10/05 - got what appears to be our first real snow last night of the season. Of course, most of it was gone by this morning, but there it is - winter's coming.
_________________________________________________________________________
Going to see Hotter Than Hell on Thursday 11/10/05 at The Haunt. They are the premier Kiss tribute band. Kat & I saw them at a club in Syracuse back in 1995 & I'm here to tell you - they were SPOT ON in both looks & music in terms of passing themselves off as Kiss. I mean everything - the vocal inflections, the body language, the way they play, the way they sound, the make-up, the costumes & the stage show. When you think of seeing a Kiss show in an arena, you know to expect a huge spectacle. When you see this band in a club, it's the_same_exact_thing, only it's a scaled down version. I've been a Kiss fan for over 28 years now, I've seen them 5 different times, & know plenty about them. This tribute band is the real deal. When we saw them in 9 years ago, they came out dressed in the same costumes that they wore in 1975 for the Alive! album (see below). I was blown away. We're taking my brother-in-law Nate & our cousin Phil to the show & they're pretty psyched as well. Cannot wait.
_________________________________________________________________________
Check
out the list of
Quagmire Quotes. For those of you living under a rock, Quagmire
is one of the funniest characters on the
Family Guy.
Supra-funny stuff. Giggity Giggity Giggity Giggity Gig. Alll
rrriiiiiggghhhttttt...
_________________________________________________________________________
Check out
the introspective jamming pic of one
Paul Schuh. A
good friend, an excellent bass player & the man who holds down the low end of
the rhythm section of
Snakeoil Salesmen.
_________________________________________________________________________
11/04/2005 - Happy Birthday to me. I'm 38 years old today. My beautiful wife is buying me the ultimate gift - a new iMac G5. This is going to be great!!!!!!!! We're picking it up today.
_________________________________________________________________________
HOME] [WORK] [KATHRYN] [RASH] [RANTS-N-RAVES] [PETS] [LINKS] [SOS] [CHEMYSTRY SET]