CrueFest 2007
Whisky A Go-Go
Hollywood, CA
July 28, 2007
Fabrications & Pixs by Lucky
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)
SugarBuzz Magazine
The statute of limitations has passed and therefore I can now pass on the fifth (the amendment, not the bottle) and get right down to the real nitty gritty of the debauchery that is CrueFest Hollywood.
This year I will spare you the long explanation of how CruefFest is an annual event that raises money for the Skylar Neil Foundation. How the Skylar Neil Foundation continues to do battle in the front line trenches of the war against children's cancer. How CrueFest is the greatest fucking charity event on this or any other planet. How CrueFest totally kicks ass. Oh well, too late.
Once again, this year’s event had an un-Godly early start time of like 2:30pm. And as a true supporter and sponsor of CrueFest (like 6 years running) I was there prior to the start to drop off our annual donation basket, this year stuffed with various rock tee-shirts, CD's, a fucking awesome Motley Crue watch and ball cap, a free hair cut from a Vogue magazine hair stylist, AC/DC ashtray, Kiss shot glass and the highly prized and sought after Guns and Roses air freshener. There was more stuff too, but I can't remember just what. Thanks to all you fuckers that donated stuff so SugarBuzz looks good.
The heat was on, but thank God it was not any where near as brutal as last year. Good thing. Plus I got smart and came in shorts and tee for the first half of the long day and night ahead. The rock duds were on stand by for later, as well as various devices of lore.
So gather around my people, grab a cold one and spark it up, for the time has come once again to tell the tale, after a 365 day wait, CrueFest 2007 was about to happen. And happen it did.
The initial thrust that started the delirium to come was instigated or initiated as Kelly Fairchild took the stage to an impressive eager audience of young sexy spandex and leather clad sexlings. Hailing from the land of Duda, more commonly know as Canada, Kelly and his band broke out the sure fire hits from his now available CD entitled Starland.
Catchy storytelling songs with damn clever subject matters. Stuff like "1969", "Pamela Anderson" and "Let's Rock" reflect a heavy passion in the vein of Marvelous 3 and Cheap Trick. No doom and gloom or whoa is me going on here. Kelly's vocals were clear as a bell which enhanced the storyteller’s portion of the experience. Uplifting scenarios to kick off what was promising to be an uplifting rock-a-thon ahead. So far so good. Freaky scenarios ahead.
A bumpy road lie ahead as Innocent Rosie took the stage. All the way from Sweden, these longhair rock fucks hijacked a Learjet to bring their brand of kicks to the legendary stage. Full of street smart swagger, Innocent Rosie took a swig and passed it around. The party was kicking.
The obligatory Motley cover was delivered in high fashion, only to be semi victim of some real world rock and roll obstacles. Guitarist Skid La' Russo’s axe was a tad off tune, which was ok. “Check guitars before you go, close enough for rock and roll.” (OK what song did I jack that from?). And it was close enough for me. Poor Skid, then the first of several amp or guitar cord snafus occurred (this happened several times throughout the night). After a brief hit of frustration, Skid showed his true professionalism by hanging tough till the roadie got it cranking again.
Up and running the band slugged out an array of its bona fide sewer serenades that had the vastly filling room foaming at the mouth. Lead vocalist, O’Shannahan, defiantly deals his underhanded deck while he unapologetically illuminates a young blood Axl Rose vocal approach. Down and dirty.
And speaking of, Jack Viper hitched a ride all the way from London, England to spill their brand of high octane petrol all over the strip and over anyone whom dared to stand in the way. This band has already seen some SugarBuzz action and I laid in wait for them to show their faces. Odd, those fuckers didn’t seem to know exactly who the hell I was at first. Straighten their asses out right off. Ha ha ha ha!
Taking hold, Jack Viper set the trap with the masher, “Spider to the Fly”. Holy shit, damn near blasted me back to the B of A. “Hey beer man!” Quick stepping fucking fury sans restraint. The band was primed and ready, and glad to be on early, as consumption of all things Hollywood was on a later menu.
Hold the phone a minute, “0800 Fuck You” shed new light on boy have I got a wrong number. But then again, maybe not. Ok, where did this guy Eddie Shredder come from? Shredder is a dangerous handle to carry if you suck, but Eddie and his Jackson guitar live up to the name and way then some. Really nice scale runs ornamented by killer licks not to be called cliché.
Mister Kiss, don’t even think about it, shook the room to the very foundation with the bass gone wild in “Devil May Care”. Plays well with others too as slam nation Ferlanger can attest. Then there is that Jay R. dude. Conceived when Satan humped Jim Dandy, I could swear this guy was from a deep southern honky-tonk, but alas somehow ended up across the pond. A rocker’s rocker in the true sense of the word. Big whisky.
Motley time as Jack Viper enticed with “Rattle Snake Shake”, a fitting choice for this band, and summed up all parts with what has become a 21st century anthem, “Go Fuck Yourself.” The verdict is in and Jack Viper kills.
Up next, was history in the making, plain and simple. This was to be what I believe was the second to last ever performance from the now put to rest, Scarlet Rose. How fitting that they should once again play CrueFest. The band had a great 5 year run and now it has been mutually decided that it is time to grow and move on to something new. But the boys sure gave it their all for the Cruefest crowd.
Scarlet Rose sports two of the most talented rock guitarists around the scene, Roxy and Lizzy. These two together were one of the reasons that Scarlet Rose had such a great run and drew such a great following. They play well together, bouncing ideas, taunts and flaunts enhancing each others light.
Of course the crowd loves lead vox man Connor, whom undoubtedly will be a fixture on the rock scene for years to come. Talent just exudes of every fucking pore. He always kind of reminded me of a young Anthony Kiedis, not so much the vocals, but the look and presence.
They played their hits. And I was damn glad to get to hear these great songs live for one last time, especially my utmost top pick, “Hollywood”. Partial to the home town references.
After Scarlet Rose’s set, the Whisky cleared out. It was the strangest thing. Panic in the streets of Sunset ensued as I thought to myself that maybe they had booked all the big draws early and the rest of the night might be in trouble. Boy was I wrong. But I did take this time to take a break for pizza and a shower at an undisclosed secret location. I would go into more details of this period of the day, but I value my life and my nuts.
Upon my return, Elegantly Wasted was about to take the stage. The crowd was returning as well, but a different sort of crowd. The big kids had arrived. Now if you have been paying attention here at SugarBuzz, you know that Elegantly Wasted is a favorite amongst staffers and editors alike. So I must say I was pretty fucking excited. Adding to this rush was the fact that the band had just released their new CD entitled “Desolation Row” and this would be the first time I’d get to hear some of the tracks live. Elegantly Wasted just about annihilated the scored with fucking killer blasts of “Sickhead”, “Fly” and other choice picks. I was ecstatic. Awesome performance of top notchers.
So now we began the CrueFest mainstay portion of the show. First up was Sabrina Korva. God how I love this young lady. Regulars at CrueFest Hollywood feel as if we have watched Sabrina grow up before our eyes. Shit when I first met her she was just a young girl and this year I actually found myself lusting. God forgive me!! But that’s what happened when she hits the stage and puts on a hell bent show now laced with innuendo. I just know that Sabrina is going to shatter all rock records one day and we may loose our babe to the masses.
Sabrina’s back up band was really in rare form this year and stand out was the CrueFest organizer himself, Kirk October. Every body loves that fucker. And Sabrina wowed us with not only rockers that rocked, but a stand out acoustic session as well. Can you say rock star?
And Sabrina’s show each year shines with more confidence, attitude and charisma. She is on a path that will lead to fame. Can't wait to see you again next year Sabrina.
OK so hear is where things got fuzzy. You know when you rock all day and carry on into the night; things get a little out of hand. At least in my world. I started to make a lot of “quick” trips to The Rainbow Bar and Grill, as well as The Cat Club and The Viper Room. I have a lot of friends in a lot of places.
So I seemed to have got mixed up a bit. Somewhere in the CrueFest line-up was a band called Juice that seemed to deliver some excellent power mad pop rock, but when I got home and experienced a full recovery, I seemed to have blacked them out. Sorry Guys.
But what I do remember quite vividly is the scorching Motley Crue cover set from Neil Wharton’s Rock and Roll Junkies. This like what the zillionth time they have played CrueFest and I swear honest to God, Neil gets 300% better each time I see them.
(Oh yeah, Neil is Vince Neil’s son by the way.) The band cranked out every Motley Crue song you’d ever want to fucking hear. Neil has also developed this insane stage presence.
What the hell has this boy been eating for breakfast? His Wheaties?
Neil also stunned the entire rock community, no the entire rock world by announcing this would be the last time they would be doing Motley covers. They were going to start writing and recording all original material and the they proceeded to kick our sorry asses with a couple of original slayers. Bad ass my brothers!
The world awaits some recorded material and a world wide tour from you fuckers. Get it done!
OK, two more to go, if I didn’t black out any more bands. Next up was a wickedly disaster filled performance from New York’s The Erotics. All day long I had seen Mike Trash bellied up to the downstairs bar wetting his whistle. All day fuckers. So needless to say Mike was fucking trashed (he sure lived up to his name) when he finally took the stage. Mike barley could play his guitar and mumbled the lyrics, at least the ones he could remember. Mike would stop the songs midway, to ramble into the mic about how he was so fucked up and that he could. Or something like that. It was a mess and his band mates were pissed. It was fucking GREAT!
The Erotics set was truly one of the best rock spectaculars I have ever witnessed! Bravo. Next time this band comes to your town be sure to get Mike liquored up for a night you will never forget. The Erotics stole the show tonight that’s for sure.
My legs wobbled, my feet hurt, my mind dreamed about comfy pillows and big tits. I couldn’t wait to go back to the mansion on the hill. But there was one more act to go. Dirty Penny, formally Antidote who played last year as well, strutted onto the Whisky a Go-Go stage to send once last bolt of energy though my spine. I staggered and spinned, and got rocked and rolled by these kick ass heavy duty glamsters. Power chord delights and thunderous bottom ends kept me going till the going was done.
I said it before and I will say it again, Dirty Penny has an aura about them that reminds me of Motley Crue back in The Starwood days.
Time to make my annual goodbyes, and congratulate the winner of the SugarBuzz donation. This year it was the totally awesome babe, Jodie. What a hottie! Way to go girl Seems our buddy Nick (love ya Nick!) was in on the galaxy of prizes as well. You rock Nick!
Thanks, homage and love go out to Kirk October who has kept the CrueFest light shining after the departure of original CrueFest Hollywood organizer Tom. Miss you Inkslinger!
Kirk and his gang did a great job and I can’t wait till 2008 so we can start all over again. (Editor’s Note: that is going to be July 26, 2008).
I wandered out into the street and headed for the ride home where I slept like a rock all the next day. Till next year fuckers!