Las Vegas - days 15 - 18

Day #15
I think it’s a Monday! Catch my flight from SD to Vegas no problems, and it’s a quick one, although very very bumpy. Jump in a cab and its off to the HOOTERS CASINO HOTEL, my base for the week, to meet up with my best mate Lisa who flew out to join me for the week.

So Vegas – what I didn’t know (or didn’t realise). Its reeeeeeeeeeally bloody hot. The Vegas Strip is MASSIVE (something not mentioned in any tour guides I bought), and old Vegas is totally separate and miles away from new Vegas. There are no clocks, so you never know what time it is and its always later than you thought, esp after all the walking through casinos. The main casinos are ridiculously huge, and you get lost in them easily – the Lonely Planet guides should have maps of the casinos, not the strip!

I really liked the Hooters hotel, esp after seeing the MGM, Excalibur or Mandalay Bay (the neighbouring hotels). Its small, has enough machines to keep you occupied, has cheap Black Jack and Roulette, and you can find the lifts, the bar and the pool easily. One day it took us nearly an hour to exit the MGM. That’s just ridiculous!

First night I basically hung out with Lisa, getting my mind blown by insanity that is Vegas. It’s a lot to take in, even though I only stayed down the bottom section of the Strip. We had a buffet at The Excalibur (the only one we had), which was great, and learnt how to play roulette. Then we played roulette. And lost.

Day #16
Started with our free Hooters breakfast (where the serving fella referred to us as “gentlemen” the whole week, much to our amusement), then we headed off to the Vegas Gun Store to shoot guns. Didn’t realise how long the walk was, and after nearly dying in the 100+ degree heat, we finally managed to catch a cab down there. We blew $150 each on taking the Zombie package once we got there (they obviously knew we were coming – how could we resist), where you get to shoot all the guns you’d use in Left 4 Dead (cunning!). Kitted out with our ear shields and eye guards, we headed into the range and began shooting the guns. First was the .45, then the HK33 rifle, then a 12 gauge shotgun, and finally an Uzi 9mm. We were excited, but nervous at the same time. Especially when the guys next to us on the premium package kept letting off a S.A.W. (I’d shit myself, then laugh uncontrollably). The .45 handgun was prob the worst. It was like letting off an explosion in your hands. The kickback was insane, esp coming from something so small. Scary stuff. The other guns were nowhere near as bad (surprisingly). The HK33 was a heavy bugger to lift, but had barely any recoil and was easy and accurate to use. My fave gun to shoot, but would be utterly useless in a zombie holocaust for me as I couldn’t lift it. The shotgun was a tad scary as I couldn’t pull the trigger at first – and when I did, the thing basically flew out of my hands. Once I got used to it, it was cool, but no way can you use a shotgun like people do in films. Like the Uzi. Again, a great little gun to shoot, but if you held your finger on the trigger too long, it bounced out of control. Short bursts is what you need to maintain some kind of accuracy. This was an amazing experience, as its something I’d NEVER do. I’d do it again, no question. It definitely gives you perspective on something you have no idea about coming from the UK. Scary stuff, but brilliant.

That evening we went to see Rancid and H20 at the House Of Blues. Or House Of Rules And No Fun, as we christened it. Gig was utterly sterile and boring. And $12 beers. Rancid started off well, but decided to play 40 songs, including an acoustic segment. Got old very quickly. YAWN!!! Matt Freeman is still the man though, and remained the coolest band member throughout.

The day ended with more wandering through the MGM, which got utterly tedious. So me and Lisa ran off to Hooters, gambled what spending money we had left and called it a night.

Day #17
Up early and off to the Valley Of Fire in a lovely bright pink 10 seater 4WD jeep! Valley Of Fire was incredible, and was so cool to be out of the flashing lights and bleeping noise of Vegas. First stop was a mad Indian Truck Stop that had slot machines, crappy gifts and masses of fireworks. Lisa wanted to stay and gamble, but luckily I managed to drag her away. Valley Of Fire was wicked. On entering the park, we were treated to playing on big sandstone rock structures – which unfortunately didn’t last long as we got dragged off to see more mad shit. Lots of insane rock structures, cliff faces, all bizarre colours, indian petroglyphs. Was an incredible place, especially as the scale of it was pretty huge. There was nothing there for miles, just loads of mental coloured rock faces. We had lunch, then as it started to get really hot, we came back to Vegas. Where I had my first dip in a hotel pool. Which was bloody freezing. Then I fancied a beer at the pool bar, but had no money and no ID (a mega no-no in Vegas). Christ knows why Jenny the Hooters barmaid felt the need to let me off, but I got two beers charged to the room, without an ID, and got treated to listening to the most disgusting and rudest americans I’ve ever met. These Hooters girls put up with a lot!

In the eve, we all descended on the Doubledown Saloon – which during the day was like the scariest punk rock dive bar EVER. Totally dark, and populated by some very dodgy looking people. Who as it turned out were all ok, esp the barman who was a total riot the minute we sat down. Jukebox had some awesome punk rock stuff on it (we blasted The Methodones, RTFC, Radio Birdman, Descendents, Black Flag while we were there), and was a nice place to hang out in the end. As the evening progressed, we got involved in the Punk Rock Bingo – which I can only describe as being like a punk rock version of a Vegas show. The huge tattooed bingo caller read out numbers and abused the square tourists throughout the eve (she was cool with us), while a freak show performed in the intervals. One guy bent an iron bar in his mouth, then sat on a chair of nails while a bowling ball was thrown on his chest. Then he wrestled a midget lady. The midget lady was part of a bunch of regulars that included the hottest tattooed one armed lady I’ve ever seen, It was all a bit much to take in. Me, Lisa and Tom were lapping it up, but didn’t think Alex was too impressed. Eventually it all got a bit too David Lynch for everyone, so we headed back to Hooters for a final gamble, and a so called early night (3am???)

Day #18
Woken up at 5am by an alarm call for our Grand Canyon trip. Now, the Grand Canyon was AMAZING. But the trip was horrendous. 4 hours there and back, mainly due to all the faffing around. Change one coach, then another coach, then get on a shitty coach to the canyon (cos they don’t wanna mess up the posh coach) which was scary as shit as the driver was a lunatic. Going there was vaguely bearable. Coming back was INTOLERABLE. We stopped at the Hoover Dam, but that was a mega disappointment. I’ve wanted to see this place for years, and although we did see it and got a great view, we were nowhere near it, so you didn’t get an idea of the scale. Considering what a mega piece of engineering this place is (and its prominence in Xbox’s Fallout: New Vegas), I was disappointed we could only see it from a distance. But onto the canyon. First was a drive through the isolated redneck town Dolan Springs, where me and Lisa want to go for a holiday one year. Then we got dumped at the base of the West Rim, where we caught buses to the different points within the area.

The Canyon is simply AWESOME. As in the proper use of the word. You can’t even really gauge the scale of it, its so huge, especially when you look down into the Canyon and realise the grass you are looking at below are 20ft high trees, and that dot flying through the Canyon is a helicopter. It makes being up the Hancock Tower or Rockafeller Centre a bit redundant. Maybe its cos your brain has never seen anything like it. Its hard to take it all in to be honest, but is incredible to actually stand on the edge of the thing (ignoring all the other spazzy tourists that could trip up and knock you into a 3000ft drop at any minute!). Our favourite place was Guano Point (or Bat Shit Point as we named it). We spent ages there. Had an amazing lunch served by the Indian fellas (stripped beef and mash!), which we ate surrounded by the Canyon. Then we walked around the basin, which had a 360 degree view of the area. It blew my mind – even though I spent the whole time freaking out cos Lisa kept going to near the edge.
I’d love to go back – but I’d definitely spend more money on a smaller tour, and maybe look into getting a helicopter and a boat. For info the Pink Jeep Tour people (who did Valley Of Fire) go here as well, and I reckon its gotta be at least an hour and half quicker to get to the Canyon rather than on the coaches.

Once back, me and Lisa headed to Fremont Street to experience the retarded cheaper side of Vegas. Fremont St is full of old couples and rednecks with no teeth from middle America. And was amazing. Lost lots of cash on the electronic roulette in Fremont St casino, then watched a Kiss display on the neon roof that covers the area, and got treated to a cheesy glam rock band playing in the street. Either side of the band were Golden Gate and Glitter Gulch casinos – that made Hooters look classy.

Evening ended with a trip back to Excalibur where we met up with Lisas tattooist and their friends from Liverpool. And what a fab bunch of people they were. Was so cool to catch up with them.

Day #19 deserves an entry all to itself….

Awesome Fest part 2 - day #14

Day #14 – final day in San Diego and final day of Awesome Fest

I dunno about the other guys (Tim and Tom) but I was out-banded. Most of the bands I wanted to see had played already and I really couldn’t be arsed today. So the three of us took it easy.
When we finally dragged Tim from bed, we headed back to Toronado for more pulled pork burgers and groovy beers – and stayed there until we could be arsed to go and check Iron Chic at The Office (a little gutted I missed Underground Railroad To Candyland at the same time instead, but whatever). Iron Chic were – ok. I guess if you knew the songs they probably are a lot better. But from what I could tell, they were a post Latterman copy band, where everyone that knows them ends up onstage with the singer. The songs are pretty anthemic, they have an amazing drummer, and the singer does his job, blaring out his vocals with total apathy to the chaos around him (which is kinda cool). I liked them, but couldn’t not think about a hundred Latterman copyists I’ve heard before. These guys kicked arse, but I wish they were the only band that sounded like them.

Then it was back to Toronado. Was funny to find out the cute tattooed barladies were all in a newpaper article about the pub. I must check out the SF branch to see if the staff is similar. Dead To Me sat behind us, which was kinda bizarre.

Eventually we dragged our sorry tired arses back to the final few bands. Big Kids sounded like a punk rock Sebadoah and stood out as being one of the more intresting bands of the weekend, Unfun barely managed to complete a full set (what i heard was ace, but it wasn't much!), and M.O.T.O blew everyone else away, and ended the Fest on a high. Playing a set of songs that any drunk person could sing, M.O.T.O proved once again that being punk rock and awesome didn’t mean you had to be clever and intellectual. Repeating the song “ I Hate My Job” proved that, and made me and Tom grin like utter tits. Add to the fact that Paul (main M.O.T.O) is the nicest guy on the planet, and you have a winner.

One final point – I loved San Diego, but didn’t really like the punk scene there. Everyone in our gang expected the Fest to be like a mini Gainsville Fest, with lots of cool people hi-fiving in the street. Instead it seemed to be a lot of HELL YEAH guys, except hidden behind beards and checked shirts. 90% of them were utter morons. Apart from the Awesome Fest organisers, who were brilliant throughout the entire weekend, Dave from Taaang Records, and Bonnie, the barmaid from U31, who hung out with us on Sunday night and proved not everyone in San Diego was a cliquey wanker. She ruled, big time.

Late night, early morning – and off to Vegas…

Awesomefest Part #1 - days 11 - 13

Day #11 - #13
So – onto Awesomefest…

Thursday we spent the day shopping, mainly back at the Vans store in Downtown. Then it was onto the Awesomefest Happy Hour at the Livewire Bar, where we got mega cheap happy hour beers and was treated to DJing by AF organiser Marty playing AF bands on the stereo. Tom and Alex smashed some pool balls around, while Tim and Kelly played “at being wasted” and took it easy for a couple of hours.

Then it was onto Bar Eleven and Soda Bar for part one of Awesomefest. Bar Eleven was small, but did great beer and had a well sorted gig area (capacity around 100?). Soda Bar was bigger, but did shitty beer and had a weird slanty stage that didn’t fit the venue – I guess capacity was 100+ if you could deal with standing in a crappy place with no view of the band!

The gigs were pretty empty – but we saw Lipstick Homicide, New Creases, Fake Boys, Eddie Murphys Law and The Anchor. The Anchor had a metalhead dude as the lead singer/bassist and played fast punk rock with glammy tunes. Great fun. Fake Boys were like a hardcore Weezer. Eddie Murphys Law were your basic pop punk thing and they spent the entire weekend going nuts to every band in the audience. Lipstick Homicide (4 young kids from Iowa doing mega pop punk via the Fastbacks) and New Creases blew my nuts off, and went on to re-blow-my-mind the following day. Was pleased I’d found two new bands that kicked my arse already. Final band of the night were Stymie – a band Kelly and Alex wanted to see. They sounded like – every other fest type band that listen to Dillinger Four. A bit yawnsville if you ask me – heard this stuff a million times, over and over again.

Friday daytime was spent swapping hotels to the Fest hotel in Highview (the Gay village of SD). Once we checked in, we registered for the festival and joined a few friends for beers by the pool. Then it was back to Eleven and Soda for Awesomefest part 1. Spent most of night 1 in Soda, as my line up for preferred bands were playing there. God Damn Doo Wop Band were first, who did a grungy 4-part girl-harmony doo-wop thing (like The Pipettes, but dirty) followed by Lipstick Homicide, who were as ridiculously ace as the previous day (these guys and girls don’t know how great they are). Then it was Gateway District and New Creases. Gateway District included a Soviettes member, and did the girlie pop punk thing brilliantly, including enough sass in frontwoman Carrie to remind me of early Blondie and lots of other old random girl bands, and they were also brilliant to watch. New Creases kicked arse for a second night in a row. They’re a girl/boy vocal three piece fronted by a crusty metalhead geezer bassist and a cute Joan Jett-alike guitarist. They play breakneck speed punk rock, like a mix between ThIs Is My Fist and The Distillers, with full on vocals, and ridiculously complicated guitar riffs. The Soviettes finished the evening, and were a total let down. The inclusion of Mikey Erg on drums (the US punk equivalent of a rent-a-punk) meant the band didn’t play any of the third album-male vocalled tracks, and drunkenly crashed through a set of early stuff they’d barely rehearsed. Vocalist Marens voice had blown during Gateway Districts set, so she was a write off, which left the bass player to be the entertaining band member of the eve, shouting at the audience and downing tequila shots. Well sloppy. Mega disappointment of the weekend.

Waking up late on Saturday, we headed straight to U31 for the second days day-section of Awesomefest, and dived straight into the beers to liven us up. Me, Tim and Tom headed next door to The Office to watch The Anchor and Fake Boys open up the proceedings. The Office was a weird venue – its obviously normally a little hip hop type club, and it felt like it had wandered into the venue line up by accident. Good stage and good view though. Terrible beer. Both bands played really well – Fake Boys did what they did the previous night, whereas The Anchor added a few more hardcore type songs into their glammy pop punk set. We then moved over to U31 for the rest of the afternoon. U31 was definitely the venue of the weekend, and should have been used for the evening instead of Soda. Big room, stage could be seen from all directions, fairly good sound, and excellent barstaff. We hadn’t been there for a week, but on entering, the bargirl – who we found out was called Bonnie, and who was also at Awesomefest – remembered the round from last time. Next up was The Steve Adamyk Band. I’d been wanting to see these guys since Chicago (they’d pulled out of Weaselfest), and had been playing the album a lot for the past few months. They were amazing. On record, they are like an 80s power pop type thing. Live they were more garagey, much faster and more aggressive, and tight as anything. They also possessed a horrendously drunk bass player who was thoroughly entertaining, and they ended the set with a cover of NOFXs “Bob”. Definitely one of the bands of the weekend for me, was blown away. Following them was Toys That Kill. I’d been aware of this band for a while, but never heard anything before. They were also bloody great, and also very weird. Again, they were on the face of it an old school pop punk band, but with some bizarre differences. Their songs didn’t seem to have any endings – they’d just stop as soon as they got going. They played repetitive riffs, and were quite heavy with the bass and tribal drumming (like early Wire?). The singer sang in a totally different key (on purpose). Absolutely loved them! Final band of the night were Scared Of Chaka. They were good, but I don’t really know what to say about them. Apparently they influenced most of the bands on the Awesomefest bill and it was a reunion show. I couldn’t hear the similarities at all…maybe someone else can explain?

There was a gap between sessions so we headed to a bar called Toronado, round the corner from the Office. It was a cool place that did mega beers, great food, and was staffed by cute tattooed barmaids. I settled for an awesome pulled pork sandwich with mac’n’cheese on the side, and a pint of some ace german beer. Was a cool place to hang out and we’d be heading here again.

Evening session was back to Soda. Turned up during Vacation Bible School, that I can only describe as being a skinhead oi pop punk band (US version). Next up were Be My Doppleganger and The Creeps. BMD are a band I’ve seen before and really enjoyed. They kind of have that beardy fest thing going on, but are far more rock’n’roll than those kinda bands and have some great tunes. The only trouble was, Mikey Erg obviously felt he was being left out today and spent the whole show being “annoying punk guy that has to prove he knows the band better than everyone else”. He was fucking annoying throughout the gig, trying to get onstage, hitting the bass while it was being played, and distracted the focus of the band onto him. Get a life dude. The Ergs don’t even exist anymore and you’re not even that well known. Get over it.

The Creeps were a mix between the Misfits and Alkaline trio, and were a great surprise. The drummer played perfect fast 4-4 speedy drums like the Ramones or the Buzzcocks, and lyrically, they were as weird and miserable as Alk3. It was a great mix and I’m surprised no one else does this so obviously as these guys.

Final band for me were White Wires. I watched half the set but buggered off to the hotel totally knackered. Three piece 60s power pop type thing with a girl drummer. Very poppy garage type thing, clean guitars, big choruses, kinda like what the Marked Men do but less punky. Really liked em, but was flagging. I knew tomorrow was gonna be a slog, so gave up and crashed back at the hotel.

Part 2 and more insights into the San Diego punk scene next...

San Diego - days 7 - 10

Day #7 – Day #10
One of reasons why I wanted to do this blog was to provide details and links of places to go/places to stay for anyone searching online. I searched loads of travel blogs before I started this one, and links of places to stay are few and far between. Maybe people are keeping the details to themselves! Anyway, I’ll post an update of all the US hotels another time. In the meantime, on with San Diego. I’m gonna write up the first week as a block rather than a day-by-day account, as we pretty much did the same thing every day.

So, first of all, its hot in San Diego. Really hot. And not humid. And really sunny. Every day. This is awesome! Another awesome thing was actually having Kelly, Alex and Tom joining us for the next part of the trip, as it meant I had people to go to breakfast with (and could leave Tim in bed). The days we did manage breakfast, we either ate at the hotel or The Broken Yolk in downtown. The hotel was a bit expensive and could be a struggle as no one understood my accent (for example, I ordered a tomato juice and got the check!!), and we didn’t really understand the people serving us. It was a bit of a palava. The Broken Yolk on the other hand was amazing. I was happy as I could get a really basic breakfast of a couple of eggs and toast, and the others were happy with their very yummy Mexican style omelettes. On the first trip there, we got served by a beefy tattooed ponytailed guy called NAILS who was a bit of a character. Tom decided to take the Iron Man challenge – 8lbs of omelette and home fries. Eat it within an hour, and its free (and you get a tshirt and go on the wall of fame). When the gigantic portion arrived, Nails announced the challenge to the whole restaurant, and Tom tucked in. He managed to eat half of it – which was a valiant effort considering the size (it was four inches thick in the middle).

First day, Alex wanted to go record shop shopping, and we wanted to check out some of the Awesome Fest bars ahead of the following weekend, so Tim lead us off on one of his walks. On the map everything looked quite close. In reality, it ended up being a three hour hardcore TREK to North Park, first through the gay village of Hillcrest, then through blocks and blocks of nothing! Managed to pick up a good bunch of stuff at the first stop Taang Records (that had rare Misfits 7”s on sale for $900), then we all pitched up at a cool Mexican restaurant called Jimmy Carters for Sunday lunch. Another great thing about San Diego – full of excellent Mexican restaurants, far better than what I’ve been used to eating elsewhere. Final stop of the day was a bar called U31, which is where all the daytime Awesome Fest shows would be, and would come into play the following weekend. Everyone was so tired from the walking, we all just dropped ourselves into a booth and stayed there drinking – until a Dancehall Reggae Party started and we decided to leave!

Tourist trail wise, we went to San Diego Zoo and the Old Town. The Zoo was cracking, and absolutely massive. Usual mad array of creatures, in varying sizes of compound – was weird that you’d see a lion in a small cage looking pissed off, yet the Orang Utans and Gorillas had MASSIVE open enclosures. There was also a very underwhelming Panda exhibit, where the little buggers had all managed to hide for the afternoon. A couple of highlights included Tim managing to stroke a giraffe (that took one smell of him and wandered off from the crowd of people, obviously pleased to find out that humans do indeed smell of cider), and seeing a zookeeper taking a leopard (or was it a cheetah) for a walk. Tom was disappointed cos he wanted to give it a cuddle, but he was warned off. Prob the best idea seeing as the keepers were literally feeding the thing meat every few steps.

San Diego Old Town is a historic village (or town?) just north of downtown. Its populated by Mexican restaurants and gift shops, all set in authentic old style buildings. It felt a bit like walking into the Mexican segment of Red Dead Redemption. I kept expecting a bunch of cowboys to appear and stage a mock-lynching, but luckily we were spared the cheesy actor exhibition. Ate in town fantastic restaurants, Coyote Café and Fiesta De Reyes that did incredible margaritas, which went down very well the day we went there for breakfast. This place also included an insane mariachi band that did covers of the Doors, Led Zepplin and Lynyrd Skynyrd. One of the gift shops was an incredible hot sauce place, where the shop keeper would hold tasting sessions for all the different sauces. We could have easily stayed here all day, as Tim happily kept proving that the hotter the sauce, the less impressed he was. Some of these sauces were insanely hot, almost like eating napalm. While we were all choking and coughing, Tim just stood there grinning.

Most evenings ended up with us heading to Gaslamp District, and moving between three pubs. The first was Stout, an irish bar, that had a 5 hour happy hour and served strongbow (much to Tom and Tims delight). I really liked this bar. It was always empty, there was plenty of room to sit, and the barstaff were all really friendly and helpful. Next we’d move onto The Hopping Pig, where by the last couple of day in Downtown, the barman was getting the round ready before we’d even asked for it (2 ciders and a hieneken right?). This bar did excellent burgers, was weirdly quiet considering how busy the area was that surrounded it, and had an extensive beer list – not all of which were as drinkable as they made out. Poor Kelly spent one night grimacing through a 7% IPA that they’d described as “drinkable”. Kelly thought it was more like “drinking an arse”. Once we’d exhausted the beer possibilities here, then it was time for Tim and Toms favourite pub of the holiday, Patricks. This was a tatty irish bar that had live blues and r&b bands every night, did strongbow, and attracted lots of mental single middle aged (and probably married) women on the prowl. There was a businesswomans convention when we were in SD, and every night in Patricks, another lot of drunk middle aged women would show up and shake their arses to the band. Tom insisted making friends with these nutters – these included Margarita Monster, a 70 year old biddy in a baseball cap that would flirtily lick the salt off her margarita glass at you, a soccer mom that lived in San Fran and was an ex-punk rocker and used to follow MDC, and a chauffeur lady that tried to fix me up with her daughter, and actually phoned her from the pub to try and get her to come down to meet me! The guys got to know the bouncers quite well, including a tattooed skinhead type, who didn’t ID me cos he was far too excited that I had Bouncing Souls tattoos!

Oh yeah, we also hit up the San Diego Hooters, which I loved. It was a much bigger, more touristy Hooters than NY or Chicagos was (the restrooms were called restrooms rather than "crappers"), and was pretty busy with holiday makers. Had my usual wings and fries, and finally picked up the classic black Hooters shirt at last. It kinda reminded me of th Hooters you get in Orlando, and is up there with one of my fave Hooters restaurants.

I guess that’s about it…5 days of tourist downtown San Diego. On the Thursday, it was gonna be time to change hotels, move districts and head for Awesome Fest. So far I really liked San Diego – I could definitely live here, and already have a groovy business idea for the downtown area that they are seriously lacking!

New York to San Diego - days 4 - 6

Day #4
Oh shit, its raining. BIG BLOODY AMERICAN RAIN!!! Wait till it subsides slightly (and its still bloody hot out), and me and Tim go our separate ways to do some random bits and pieces. I head down to the Smithsonian museum back down by the Staten Island Ferry. Mainly because NOFX mention it one of their songs. Museum is cool, lots of native indian stuff on display, but its not very big, so am out within the hour. Theres a funny security guard there that likes my accent. This was mentioned a lot, and its funny – how on earth does my grating south London barking sound “ nice”!?

Its stopped raining enough for some outside stuff, so get back on the subway and head up to Central Park. First stop is the Dakota Building and the Imagine Mosaic (John Lennons apartment building where he was killed, and the memorial for him). Took some pictures, but found it funny the amount of people taking smiley happy pictures outside the Dakota. Hey, heres a happy picure of us in New York at the site where John Lennon got shot. Weird. I guess it’s the kind of thing my friend Shaun would do…but then he’s a bastard. ;-)

Central Park is cool, but only really get to check out a small part of it. Walk round the small lake taking pictures and realise you can’t hear any traffic – its so quiet there! Its cool that theres such a massive patch of green in the middle of this city, just a shame I didn’t come along when it was sunny and dry!

Wandered back down to Time Square, but it was getting scary busy again. Jumped back on the subway and headed back to Manitobas in the East Village in time for Happy Hour. Had a few beers and chatted to the groovy barmaid and waited for Tim (who was late!). He managed to get one cider in happy hour, then headed south to an irish bar for some food.

Day #5
Woke up and was pleased to see it was sunny again, but news of Hurricane Irene was getting more and more heavy and we were getting concerned about what was gonna happen on Saturday.

Got up and headed to Times Square again so Tim could look round Toys R Us – which is a bit of a nightmare, cos I love toys and always wanna buy loads of random shit I’ve never seen before. Latest obsession is a range of horror-based high school dolls – based on Dracula, Frankenstein, Creature From The Black Lagoon etc, but look like 50s style pin up girls. ARGH!!! Luckily I can’t fit them in my rucksack. (for info, see Monster High!)

Decided to hit Tims favourite chain restaurant for lunch, so off we went to Bubba Gumps in Times Square. Had another comment about our accents from the seater guy in Bubbas, who did a pretty good impression of us. After lunch, we figured we should prob go back to the hotel to see what was going on with the hurricane. Luckily we did cos the shit hit the fan.

NY was gonna shut down at midday on Saturday. Both our flights to San Diego from JFK had been cancelled, so we spent the whole afternoon trying to get out of NY. I’m pleased to say American Airlines were brilliant, and I got sorted pretty quickly, although I was gonna have a three flight 10 hour journey to SD – although I was gonna arrive there earlier than originally planned. Tim had more problems and his escape plan was more complicated, but he also managed to get out the following day.

Once sorted, I headed off to Greenwich Village for a beer. It was so wicked round there, and was a bit gutted that we hadn’t got to spend much time in this part of town. Had an Anchor Steam in the Peculiar Pub on Bleeker St, then headed to the City Winery to see Juliana Hatfield do an acoustic gig. Venue was nuts – a very posh and refined wine tasting room, with lots of tables and chairs. Got a seat close to the stage and had some food delivered, along with some Mad Jamaican IPA. This beer was amazing, although it was 7% - after two I was suitably wooly, and decided I wouldn’t go and have a final beer in the Village after the gig after all.

Juliana was great. I haven’t seen her play live for over 15 years, so was excited to see she was playing in NY. She really doesn’t look any older, and personality-wise hasn’t changed a bit. Still ridiculously shy and amateurish (she restarted at least two songs from scratch) andchanged the set around as she went along, but her voice sounded great and she played a cracking set of old and new songs (including Ride with Me by The Lemonheads). Was so chuffed I got to see her.

Went back to the hotel and crashed out with a fuzzy head. Tim had sorted hi escape plan and was off at 3am. I was leaving at 5am. Got some shut eye and waited for the madness to come!

Day #6
Up at 4.45am, packed and headed to the airport. JFK was heaving and I was a bit worried I wouldn’t get on my flight, however, this was when I realised how brilliant AA were gonna be. I checked in almost immediately and was through security within half an hour of arriving.

Flight to Miami was awesome, as I had been put in first class! So I had a full reclining seat and loads of movies to watch. Laid the seat flat and settled down to watch Bridesmaids, which was bloody hilarious.

Arrived in Miami and headed over to my next flight to Dallas, which was less than an hour to take off. This plane was a little smaller, and was the longest of the three flights. Slept for most of this flight and landed in Dallas ahead of schedule.

Jumped on the Dallas -> San Diego flight and had a whole row to myself. Spent the whole flight looking out of the window gobsmacked. I wish I’d taken my camera out as the view was insane. There is NOTHING between Dallas and SD other than farms and desert and mountains. Was mental. Even when we came in to land there was nothing – until the houses came into view and you realised you were landing in the middle of town! Then came the biggest surprise. My bags turned up. I was sure after three flights, this wasn’t gonna happen. YAY. Left the airport, grabbed a shuttle and headed to the hotel.

I was the first of the UK people to arrive there, and I couldn’t check in cos Tim needed to do it. Luckily, Kelly and Alex from Australia had arrived, so I dumped my bag in their room and we headed out for some food and drink.

For this part of the SD trip, we are staying in the Gaslamp Quarter, which during the evening is a bit like being in a hip hop video, especially during Saturday and Sunday night. The main drag is full of bars and clubs playing banging hip hop and club-type music, and everyone is hanging out outside the bars and on the street, it chaos. Eventually we managed to sniff out a grungy looking bar on the main drag called The Hopping Pig, that did ace burgers and had an extensive beer list, which suited us fine.

Eventually we were joined by Tim and Tom who arrived about 10pm, but after one more beer I was dozing off in my chair in the pub cos of the 5am start. Christ knows how Tim was still awake. So I left them to it and went back to the hotel to crash out and get some well needed sleep – just in case Tim took us on one of his “walks” the following day…

New York - days 1 - 3

Holiday got off to a great start. Arrived at Heathrow and found BA couldn’t fit me on the plane. WTF??? After a minor strop, by the time I got through security they’d sorted it out, so that was a relief. Flight was cool, usual BA. Spent the whole trip watching cheese on the TV – No Strings Attached (with Natalie Portman) and Forest Gump, which I never realised was so great!

Day #1
Got off the plane and had a record run through immigration. Only took half an hour, and the immigration man didn’t even speak to me. Made a big change from the Chicago grilling last time. Hopped in a cab with my huge backpack and took the trip to our hotel in Chinatown.

Staying at Hotel 91 on East Broadway. It’s a niceish hotel, good for the money we paid (cheap), however it is in the biggest Chinatown I’ve ever seen. There is NOTHING apart from Chinese restaurants and supermarkets for umpteen blocks in every direction – which is great for me as I hate Chinese food! Anyway, checked in easily, unpacked then ran out to find a bar and wait for Tim. After getting lost and seeming like ages, I eventually made my way into the Lower East Side. First bar I found was dark and had skulls on the windows. Promising! Peeked inside – Elvis Costellos Armed Forces on the stereo, Sierra Nevada on tap and a hot barmaid. Sold. This was Motor City Bar, and we’d be back here the following night. Had a couple of beers, but still not heard from Tim, so consulted the guide book and headed to Arlenes Grocery round the corner. Another place with great music on the stereo and tattooed bar staff. Started to get hungry, so left Arlenes and pitched up round the corner at a groovy little burger bar, Mikeys Burgers (on Ludlow St for info). Still no sign of Tim, so decided to go back to the hotel and chill out, as was knackered from the flight, and a little pie eyed from the beer. Tim arrived an hour or so later, and I passed out!

Day #2
Yep, we decided we’d WALK all over NY to get out bearings. Heading out of our hotel, we walked the length of Broadway from Chinatown to above Time Square, 56 plus blocks! Weather was immense, 75 degrees plus. First stop was Joey Ramone Place, where we had the most expensive breakfast ever, which consisted of toast and a muffin. Next we had a look round Generation Records, which was an awesome shop but am being wary not to blow all my cash on CDs before I get to SF. Rest of the walk took in Union Square and Times Square, which made my head hurt. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, with all the people and the flashing lights. NUTS. Was ace being able to see the Empire State Building slowly coming into view as we walked up Broadway. By the time we passed Times Square it was late afternoon, so we headed for our first Hooters of the holiday. As usual, the wings and shrimp didn’t disappoint, although it was pretty quiet in there for a Hooters. But we had a cool waitress which was good, and although the merch staff and seater girl were pretty attitudey (which seems like an NY trait), we had fun.

Stuffed, we decided it was time to be proper tourists. Thanks to the advice from friends, we headed to the Rockefeller Centre for a high rise view of NY. It was AWESOME – not only did you get the best views of the Empire State and Central Park, but the highest level on the viewing platform was open to the elements, so you didn’t have anything obscuring your view. Highly recommended!

No way was I walking back though. Headed into the subway and was surprised to find how easy it is to negotiate! I used to get very confused with using other countries subway systems , and it always worried me slightly. After Berlin, Vienna and Chicago, I’m kinda getting used to it. NYs system is also pretty straight forward, esp when you consider how insane their subway map is! Headed back to the hotel ready for the evenings shenanigans. I was getting hungry again, so pitched up at The Meatball Shop on Stanton St. This place was AMAZING, and I def wanna go back if I can. Had to wait for a seat at the bar for a while as it was so busy, but once seated, was treated to an awesome pint of IPA (Bengal Tiger I think it was) and four spicey meatballs. YUM! After that, headed back to the Motor City Bar, where a mate of Tims was DJing a load of punk rock records. Was a great night – music was kicking, and Tims mate and his friends were cool people.

Day #3
Time to walk SOUTH down Broadway instead! After stopping for a breakfast Subway (yeah I know, but its keeping the holiday cheap so far), we headed to the WTC site to see what was going on. Lots of building work was the answer. Not much to see apart from cranes and half a new building, but was weird to see where they stood and what surrounded them – its hard to imagine what a mess this area of NY would have been back in 2001. And I know saying that is a total understatement!

Next up, the Staten island Ferry. Headed south down Broadway in the blistering sunshine and hit the ferry terminal – and got straight on a ferry! I love the fact its free, and the ferry is full of tourists (and the odd very grumbly local!). Awesome views of Brooklyn and Governers Island and other places that I have no idea what they are. I think Hoboken might have been one side, but I’m not sure. We took hoodies for the boat trip cos we thought it would be cold. No such luck, the wind is hot is NY. Love it! Get to Staten Island, take photos to prove we got there and use the loo – then back on the next ferry to Manhattan – and get amazing views of the skyline and the Statue Of Liberty (Tim: Bitch With The Stick). On docking, we head to Battery Park for a sit down after all that walking. Then Tim decides we haven’t walked enough, and we head for the Brooklyn Bridge.

We don’t have bridges like this in London. I’m sure Americans must refer to our bridges as “walkways” out of earshot when they are in London. The Brooklyn Bridge is a BRIDGE. You can see why they always destroy it in every Hollywood disaster movie set in NY! We head over the bridge and go straight to Grimaldis Pizza, which Tim assures me is incredible. Judging by the queue to get in, everyone else thinks so too! After 20 mins wait we were in, and proceeded to order and eat the biggest flippin pizza I’ve ever seen. Tim ate the whole of his, it was pretty impressive. By the time we left, the queue to get in was bigger than most gigs we go to, and we headed down to the river for a view of Manhattan from the other side. Stayed there for a while taking photos as the sun set. The view was Gobsmacking.

We were knackered by the time we got back to the hotel, so Tim decided to call it a night, as heaving his pizza belly around was killing him. I fancied a tipple, as drinking water all day had got a bit dull, so I jumped in a cab and headed to Manitobas in the East Village. Another punk rocknroll bar, this place is owned by Handsome Dick Manitoba from The Dictators. Friendly barstaff, great punk/rnr/60s garage jukebox, and awesome beer selection. Had a couple of quiet beers – Goose Island IPA, yum – and then headed back to the hotel and crashed out. Will be dragging Tim back here before the end of the week if I can, as they have Hardcore Cider on tap!

For All The Unheard

The Bouncing Souls have been doing a bunch of shows over the last month or so where they play all their albums, in order, over 4 nights. The last two weeks saw them pitch up in London and Vienna – and as i couldn’t attend all four dates in London, i managed to do all four dates split over two locations: the first two nights (albums 1 – 4) in London, and the last two nights (albums 5 – 8) in Vienna.

Night #1 - Good The Bad And The Argyle and Maniacal Laughter.

This was gonna be an interesting show as far as I was concerned and came away blown away. Firstly, GBA hasn’t been one of my fave albums and wasn’t sure how it would come across live. Secondly ML is one of my fave Souls albums and couldn’t wait to see it. Thirdly, this show was in the smaller Islington Bar Academy venue, a far superior gig venue than the crappy downstairs main Academy, and also the smallest show i’ve ever seen the Souls do. As the show kicked in, the band were using a “Rocky/Boxing” type theme for introducing each of the albums, including the Rocky music, cheesy boxing announcer man, and a “ring girl” parading the album thats due to be played – this instance being a cute tattooed alterno-model. Once the band hit the stage and kicked into “I Like Your Mom”, i realised how great this set was gonna be. As i said, GBA isn’t an album i’m terribly familiar with, but they totally killed it. I guess its because most of these songs haven’t been played live for years (with the exception of Joe Lies).

When the set was over, i was left gobsmacked – i never expected this album to come across so brilliantly.

Highlights: Fist bumping Bryan in the first song, Inspection Station (a song i never expected them to play), and a particularly crushing Old School.

Once GBA was over, the band disappeared for 5 mins while the announcer and ring girl started again for Maniacal Laughter – then they were back out. I’d been looking forward to seeing these songs as ML is my second fave Souls album, and was gutted i’d never seen them play this set for the ML anniversary shows a few years back. Theres not much more to add really – once the gig was over (both albums in less than an hour), i was totally blown away and was happy to have seen the guys play such a mad set of rare songs.

After a quick chat with Kate (manager) and Pete (guitarist), it was off to the pub and was looking forward to Night #2, which unfortunately was in the bigger downstairs venue.

Highlights: Freaks, Nerds And Romantics, Lamar Vannoy and No Rules

Night #2 – Self Titled and Hopeless Romantic

Onto the shittier main Academy venue, and it was obvious from the outset someone had ballsed up. Obviously the 2nd night had sold out for upstairs – but they’d only sold a few more extra tickets, and the gig was quite sparsely populated, which was a shame. Self Titled is a bit of a peculiar album – apart from the first few tracks, its full of quite a lot of filler (band admitted!) tracks, and i was intrigued to see how it would come off. I didn’t expect the band to completely bludgeon the record into submission to get onto Hopeless Romantic!The first few tracks ruled, but by the time they hit The Toilet Song things were flagging. A couple of songs were then dropped, and they were gone after 20 minutes, after a breakneck Shark Attack. As much as the opening of the show was ace, i definitely felt this was the worst session of the 4 gigs i saw – but it was kind of expected.

Highlights: Cracked, Kate Is Great, Say Anything, East Coast Fuck You

Another 5 minute break, and Hopeless Romantic was driving everyone nuts. This was more like it, and they put everything into this set. HR was the first album i got by the guys, so this was always gonna be a bit of a special set, and they pretty much delivered on all counts. A mega version of Bullying The Jukebox made me wonder why they didn’t play this live a lot more often (i’ve never seen them do it before), and Night On Earth was a cracking mid set anthem. Some lucky girl got dragged up to sing on Wish Me Well (we’d met her in the pub earlier and it was her first Souls show). She did a great job, but for the remainder of the set, all you could hear was her screaming hysterically. I guess you couldn’t blame her! Added bonus was the attendance of my mate Jackie, one of my gig going buddies, and a fellow Souls fan who’d done some other multi date trips with me a few years ago. She was gonna be joining me for the Vienna dates, so i was pleased she got a taste of the show in London before we headed out the following week.

Highlights: Bullying The Jukebox, Fight To Live, Kid, Hopeless Romantic

Night #3 – How I Spent My Summer Vacation and Anchors Aweigh

Off to Vienna! After a relatively easy flight and a straightforward negotiation of Viennas subway system (easiest train system ever!), we’d checked into the hotel and were ready for beers – food – gig (in that order). After we had a massive beer in some nice little Vienna beer hall, it was off to The Arena – a place that surprised and impressed us from the off. Seems the Vienna Arena was some kind of squat – its more like a compound that contains 3 venues, an outside pub, an outside stage and accommodation for the staff/bands. It was an incredible place. So the Rocky music kicks in and the next thing, i realise the ring girl for Vienna is the legendary Lamar Vannoy, an old Souls cohort from their early days. It was cool to see him pop up after all these gigs, even though he looked a little uncomfortable onstage (or maybe he was just stoned?). The band then arrive, set off with That Song, and its like its 2001 all over again. Me and Jackie are down the front, shouting the words to every song, while the politest mosh pit kicks off behind us. They play some songs i’d totally forgotten about, and play some songs they NEVER play. The set was amazing, and its obvious to see why this night was the most popular back in London (even though they have just a good other records).

Highlights: Streetlight Serenade, The Something Special, an epic Gone

Anchors Aweigh blasts along next. Its not one of my favourite albums, but am enjoying it all the same, especially with Jackie shouting in my face. Makes the whole thing more interactive. The sets a good one, but unfortunately they don't do The Day I Turned My Back On You, which is my fave song off the album. I've never heard them play this live.

Highlights: a very kicking, full band version of Nightrain, I Get Lost, Kids N Heroes

The show ended and me and Jackie headed out into the courtyard. Theres a film being shown on the main outside stage about a band called The Gits, so we watch that for a bit while we finish our beers. Then we bump into Pete, who tells us to head over to the outside bar as everyone will be hanging out after the show.

I expected a round of quick and polite “hellos” with everyone (even though i’ve had some mad nights with the band in the past), but this didn’t happen. Within the hour we were sitting at the Souls table, chewing the fat and downing the beers with Pete, Bryan, Lamar, Brian Downey (another old school Souls cohort), DJ the roadie, and Michael (McDermott, drummer). A fun night was had by all, and by the time me and Jackie had staggered off (at about 2am), she’d been signed up to do ring girl duties for the following night, and i’d been roped in to do ranting/shouting on “The Mental Bits” from the last album. Lamar seemed pleased to NOT have to do the ring girl thing the following night – he admitted to us that it meant he got to watch the show instead of being involved in it. Bryan had also said he’d sort us backstage passes and to come back early tomorrow so we could all hang out. This was a surprise to us, and due to

the amount of booze and weed consumed by various people, was something we weren’t sure was gonna happen. Not that we minded. Me and Jackie were happy to be at the shows, and we’d just had a great night with the band - we aren't the kind of people you'd class as "liggers", and hanging out backstage and stalking band members isn't something we do. Surely things can’t get any better?

Night #4 – The Gold Record and Ghosts On The Boardwalk

Hangovers sorted, me and Jack headed out for a day of sightseeing, to see as much of Vienna as we could in one afternoon. We saw a palace gardens, some mad shops at the Museum Quarter, and lots of tube trains. Then we decided we should prob get to the gig, a little earlier than we did the night before. Surprise of the day was the Bryan HAD facebooked me, and said to get our passes from the door. We were very excited! We turned up and immediately bumped into Lamar and Downey from the previous night. Had a chat about our respective sightseeing, then the guys told us we should find the band, as they were looking for us. Yeah right, we thought. We picked up our passes with no issues and headed into the venue, grabbed a beer and then wondered what was best to do. I saw Kate wander off in the direction of the coaches so i suggested to Jack that we go backstage quickly to see whats what and show our faces, and then get out of the way of the band and leave them to it.

This didn’t happen. We got backstage and met up with Bryan and Pete. Immediately, Jackie was reminded she WAS doing ring girl for the night, and i WAS doing the mental bits on The Mental Bits. Apparently everyone was into the idea. This was a shock and both of us immediately felt sick AND nervous.

We're offered food and beer, and even though we try to leave the band to it, they won’t let us leave.

Its quite bizarre watching the band get ready, stretching and doing pre gig excercises while chatting away. We were definitely seeing something people don’t normally see. Then its showtime and we are dragged to the side of the stage. WTF???

Me and Jackie are called over with the rest of the band, Lamar, and Lukas, the other “guest” of the night (sax on The Pizza Song) and his girlfriend, into the band pre-gig huddle. MADNESS!!! I then run down the front of the gig with my camera to watch Jackie do ring girl, which she pulls off with the biggest grin i've ever seen. Shes a natural, haha!

Once The Gold Song kicks off, Jacks back down the front with me, and once again, we’re shouting our heads off for the entire show. The Gold Record is my favourite Souls album, and it was so great to see them play the whole thing live, even though some of these songs are mainstays of the regular Souls set. We nearly lose our shit when they play the incredibly upbeat Better Things (a Kinks cover) – it

was what we needed after all the shit going down in the UK at the start of the week. This is definitely up there as one of the sets of the 4 nights.

Highlights: the band huddle, Jackie the ring girl, So Jersey, Better Things, For All The Unheard.

After the show, we run backstage and hang back, letting the band do their thing. Jackie persuades Lamar that he should join her for ring girl on the last set, and DJ explains the deal with The Mental Bits – what mike i’ll be using and when to go on stage. Before the next set kicks off, Bryan and Pete suggest we watch the show from the side of the stage. This was an amazing treat, and something that prob won’t be repeated.

And as much as i wanted to watch Ghosts On The Boardwalk from the audience, it was a cool way to end the Souls final set. And it also sounded better onstage, randomly enough.

Jackie and Lamar do their thing, and get a massive cheer, then the guys go out and tear Vienna a new one.

These are the newest songs they’ve got and they don’t hold back. They refrain from doing the slow songs off the album (which is a shame as Like The Sun is one of my faves) and hammer along playing the rest of the album.

I’ve heard people in London left before this set – those people are MUGS as far as I’m concerned, as they totally nailed this set. Some of the tracks on the last album are among their best, esp tracks like Gasoline and Dubs Says True.

Track 7 pitches up and its time for me for me to do my bit. I saunter onto the stage behind Pete, and start my ranting. Greg looks round and laughs as i

shout my best “Play THE BLOODY SONG”, totally in the right place and in time. Yeah, i play in a band too, i know what i’m doing. The song kicks off, and i feel less self conscious as things go on. People seem to be enjoying it. Pete and Bryan keep laughing everytime i shout something. The “Scenery” line gets a cheer. People are taking photos. Then its over and i saunter off, while Bryan shouts a massive “thank you”. That was totally bizarre, and an honour to be onstage with my favourite band.

This is the first show that the band do an encore – and its a cracker. I feel sorry for anyone that missed this. They do Punks in Vegas, No Security and Bryans Lament from the split EP. They do Hybrid Moments by the Misfits. And end with a massive version of Hot Water Musics Wayfarer, where everyone in the building joined in with the woahs in the chorus. It was deafening. Gig ends, and the first person to collar me before they’ve even hit backstage is Greg, who thanks me for doing my stuff. Its the most Gregs ever said to me at this point!

Highlights: The whole encore, Dubs Says True, Gasoline, Badass, Ghosts On The Boardwalk, being onstage with my fave band.

Things just get more insane though. Me and Jackie are stunned at this point and head off to the outside bar for a quiet drink. Next thing, Lamar has dragged us off to the afterparty in the smaller venue, where all the band are hanging out chatting to the fans. Lamar ends up chatting with me and Jackie, as he “speaks to those assholes

(the band/crew/etc) all the time”, then starts to DJ. His ipod only has hardcore Dancehall Reggae on it, which he plays for the entire night. An impromptu dance party kicks off, punks and band alike zumba-ing along with each other. Me and Jackie finally catch a break and get to chat to Greg and his wife Shanti, who turn out to be the nicest people ever. It was amazing finally getting to speak to Greg properly – and i think this was mainly thanks to his wife!

Everything gets vague the more alcohol gets drunk. Jackie is dancing with Lamar and Michael. I can’t believe my eyes, its hysterical. Everyones having such a brilliant time. By the time we leave, the crowds thinned out. We say goodbye to those we can find, then catch up with Bryan sitting quietly outside the small bar. He’s chucking around sentances with words like “friends” and “family” and “always welcome in my house” in them, and i can’t believe what i’m hearing.

When we say goodbye, it appears i’ve managed to organise a trip to New Jersey for a tattooing from the bassist. Again – utter madness.

Me and Jackie get back to the hotel, jump around excitedly for a couple of minutes, then eventually pass out around 3am. Next day is just a total daze with what we did the night before – a daze that’s still going on nearly a week later.

Lamar said to me that life can be pretty amazing sometimes. This weekend was one of those weekends. We never expected anything like these last two days to happen (we just expected two gigs and a quick chat with the band, in a nice city), and it’ll be something i won’t forget in a hurry.

What a start to my mega holiday....