I've gone a little blonde for the summer.
My stylist has been suggesting this change for a while. I resisted
until he reeled me in with a can't lose proposition, the first one is
free. Sounds like a come on from a smack dealer, but it worked.
The reviews have been all favorable and although this pic from my web cam
doesn't show all the highlights, it gives enough of a look to tease
you guys back east. I'm gonna break this in this weekend in LA.
Latest Ushering gig was for
Alexis and I started the evening as ushers on the banquet floor and finished the evening with all access security badges. Read the review and report from sfgate.com.
Steve from Smash Mouth crashes Sammy Hagar's set
Goldie and Alexis
Joe Satiani
Ronnie Montrose (I checked...)
Nostalgia
plays well at California Music Awards
Young bands win, but veterans steal show
James Sullivan, Chronicle
Pop Culture Critic
Ex-boxer Sammy Hagar was one of the featured attractions at the first Bammies awards, in 1977. On Saturday at Oakland's Henry J. Kaiser Arena, the singer -- ex-Montrose, ex-Van Halen and excitable as ever -- helped close out the show's 25th anniversary celebration with a typically punch-drunk all-star finale.
The former Bay Area music awards show, expanded in recent years to the California Music Awards, has come a long way, and not so far at all. On Saturday, co-host Jack Blades (ex-Night Ranger, ex-Damn Yankees) joked about the longevity.
Some of the musicians on hand, he noted, "were not even born 25 years ago. Others have haircuts that have been around longer."
The younger bands, only a few of them actually under 25, took the awards -- Train had three, including outstanding album; Smash Mouth, Alien Ant Farm and the alternative supergroup Gorillaz took home two apiece.
But the older musicians stole the show, such as it was. Campy nostalgia for hard rock's hair-band period may be at an all-time high, and Saturday's show made that clear.
Ronnie Montrose and Y&T's Dave Meniketti joined guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani for a "Guitar Army" segment. Hagar introduced a punishing new side project, Planet Us, featuring Journey's Neal Schon and Van Halen's Michael Anthony. And Hagar and Anthony joined Smash Mouth and others for the unruly finale, Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love."
At the California Music Awards, the mood is always a strange mix of frivolity and utter inconsequence. Since public voting determines the awards, many of the musicians who show up do so out of a sense of duty to their fans.
On Saturday the balcony was scattered with a vocal if underwhelming contingent, while the guest-of-honor tables on the auditorium floor were filled with desultory industry types in evening wear, rock-star sunglasses and at least one psychedelic top hat.
Backstage, members of the performing and nominated bands, including Papa Roach, the K.G.B., Call and Response and Alien Ant Farm, milled around with the Bay City Bombers roller derby team. Actor Robert Hays, a co-host, cheerfully recited lines from his comic masterwork, "Airplane," for anyone who asked.
The most popular invitee had to be Oakland A's pitcher Barry Zito, who helped present an early award. In a huge collar as severe as his curveball, he towered over the admiring crowd.
Onstage, San Jose success story Smash Mouth kicked off the fist-pumping nostalgia with its customary version of Van Halen's "Runnin' With the Devil." "Everybody up on your feet right now," commanded burly singer Steve Harwell, and the reluctant audience obliged.
Vacaville's Papa Roach debuted two songs from its forthcoming album, "Lovehatetragedy." On their final note, hot-blooded singer Coby Dick tossed his microphone high in the air and shouted, "Viva la cucaracha!"
Bob Weir accepted this year's Arthur M. Sohcot Public Service award on behalf of the Grateful Dead's Rex Foundation. "From the start, the Dead did more benefits than any band around," said Dennis Erokan, publisher of the defunct BAM magazine, the awards show's originator.
Weir noted that Jay Lane, his band mate in Ratdog, was honored as drummer of the year. "Thanks a lot," he joked. "He's gonna be looking for a raise now."
A few minutes earlier, a member of Alien Ant Farm took the stage to present another award. "I remember BAM," he said. "Does anybody remember BAM?"
Then he quoted Bob Marley. "One good thing about music," he said. "When it hits -- well, you know the rest."
When it hits, Marley said, you feel no pain. At the California Music Awards,
that about sums it up.