CHERRI…BOMB?
We couldn’t help but notice this billboard on the Roxy‘s side wall because it kind of made us laugh…and then wonder: Why would anyone want to listen a watered down Runaways rip-off when the real Queens of Noise are as accessible as iTunes?
ANOTHER CHANCE OF ‘RAIN’
We’ve come across plenty of cool clips of Guns N’ Roses fans covering the L.A. band’s classics, but this one by Scottish singer-songwriter Sandi Thom is one of our current faves. Check out her awesome acoustic take on “November Rain.”
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SUNSET SHOT O’ THE DAY: JULY 21, 2012
The Doors overlook Sunset from the roof of the Rainbow Bar & Grill via a new billboard hyping the upcoming SSMF tribute to the legendary L.A. band.
REVIEW: VIPER ROOM’S APPETITE TRIBUTE SATIATES GN’R FANS
Last night, it felt like the Viper Room froze July 1987 in time. The GN’R tribute show was far superior to the show Axl Rose and his GN’R Part Deux gave at the Forum a few months back. The Room rocked with a great house band, the awesome Lonely Drunks Club Band (right) and six different singers from L.A.’s hottest local bands.
It was also very cool to spot members of our favorite L.A. band, Warner Drive, including frontman Jonny Law and bassist Elvis James, checking out the show.
In addition to the kick-ass Lonely Drunks Club Band, Brando’s Island (left) really stood out in the night’s multiband lineup and had the place groovin’ to a fantastic set of original tunes before frontman Brandon Wardell later grabbed the mic during the GN’R tribute for a couple more powerhouse performances.
Throughout the tight set of spot-on covers of classics like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” Wardell and the various singers chatted between songs about how GN’R’s major label debut changed their lives, including one who said he was 10 when the album dropped! Another mentioned that he was 12 when Appetite debuted! Doh!
Despite how great all of the Axl imitators were, it’s doubtful anyone on stage can remember what Rose looked like before the Botox and cornrows.
But they all perfectly captured W.A.R.’s vocal inflections, held the mic the same way, whipped their hair back and forth like him and, of course, when the band did “Paradise City,” the ENTIRE ROOM broke into the serpentine dance. It was a very cool, fun Spinal Tap-like experience.
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VIPER ROOM CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
If you’re a fan of the original Guns N’ Roses — you know from the Appetite for Destruction/Sunset strip days, when they were awesome — then there is nowhere else to be tonight, July 20, than the Viper Room! The iconic club is hosting a multi-band lineup to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Appetite! Yep, it’s been 25 years since Axl and the guys launched their superstar career from the Sunset Strip.
Tonight’s Viper Room lineup includes Inside the Black, Coma, Brando’s Island and, performing Appetite in its entirety, the Lonely Drunks Club Band. Plus, there will be special surprise guests. We’re crossing our skull-ringed fingers that at least one of those guests is either Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy or Steven! (OK, hell, we’d even be happy to see Matt and/or Dizzy. But please, no lame GN’R newbies!)
Guns N’ Roses’ full-length studio album debut actually dropped on July 21, 1987, but with the Lonely Drunks Club Band likely rocking past the midnight hour, it’s all good!
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and cover is a cheap-o $15 at the door. Tonight is gonna rock for sure.
And if you’re an L.A.-based diehard GN’R fan but don’t plan on being at the Viper Room tonight, well, you’re crazy, hey, hey. You know you’re crazy, oh my! You’re f**kin’ crazy, oh child. You know you’re crazy Ay,ay,ay,ay,ay,ay,ah,ah,ah,oooh, yeah!
ROCKIN’ O.C. HIT-MAKERS RETURN TO FORM WITH MERCILESSLY MELODIC ‘SETTLE DOWN’ SINGLE
It’s been a helluva looooooong wait but O.C. rockers No Doubt are back and better than ever! Get enamored with Gwen Stefani and the guys all over again by cranking up the band’s newly released kick-off single, “Settle Down,” from Push and Shove, their first new album in more than a decade, which drops September 25.
Check out the making of the “Settle Down” video below.
DAVID LEE ROTH AND EDDIE VAN HALEN HINT AT — BUT WON’T CONFIRM — SUPER BOWL XLVII GIG
If you read between the lines of a recent posting by David Lee Roth to a fan site and an interview with Eddie Van Halen in USA Today, it looks like Van Halen may be rocking the Super Bowl next year!
The iconic Pasadena band has been tied to recent rumors that the hard-rockin’ hit-makers are the NFL’s first choice to take the center stage spotlight in New Orleans next February as Super Bowl XLVII’s half-time show. The gossip is unconfirmed, but…Eddie revealed a cryptic clue in an interview with USA Today earlier this month.
“In the new year we’ll possibly do something special, but I can’t talk about it,” EVH said about his namesake band, which, following an unexpected hiatus after last month’s show in New Orleans, continues its A Different Kind of Truth tour in November in Japan.
Coincidentally, Roth addressed the Super Bowl rumors last week, posting an open letter to fans on the blog Van Halen News Desk, writing: “…First of all let me say this — be still my pigskin heart. That honor has not been bestowed upon us at this time though it is one we would accept in a NY minute.”
Diamond Dave’s choice of words are suspect. He mentions twice in the letter that an offer has not yet been made “at this time.” Considering that the NFL doesn’t generally announce its upcoming Super Bowl half-time act until much closer to the event, we’re thinking – and hoping – that the band is being coy until the contract is signed. Then, after, they get the go-ahead from Super Bowl publicists, Van Halen will confirm what will undoubtedly be the greatest show the Big Game ever hosted.
WLet’s just hope there’s no nip slip of any kind!
Here’s D-Ro’s full commentary:
An Open Letter
I’m compelled to address the now-rampant rumors that Van Halen is playing the Superbowl. First of all let me say this — be still my pigskin heart. That honor has not been bestowed upon us at this time though it is one we would accept in a NY minute.
Having heard VH blaring through stadium speakers on any given Sunday – more like every given Sunday, the idea of playing there live would be like – ‘okay, now we’re in the game’.
Van Halen’s collective memories are – and with all due respect to each and every one of these memories, teeming with been-theres and done-that’s, but none include playing at the Superbowl. Playing at the Superbowl is a veritable holy grail of musical recognition, a highly prized rite of passage for (game-changing) artists. Not a spiritual rite with snake pits or Hebrew school or anything, but it’s up there.
We are not on Commissioner Goodell’s dance card at this time, but we would be most honored to dance the halftime away in New Orleans.
It’s an honor to be considered and for that we would like to thank the rumormongers all over the World Wide Web.
– D-Ro
MOTLEY CRUE TO DROP ‘SEX’ ON JULY 17
Summer is about to get a whole lot louder beginning July 17, when Motley Crue releases its titillating new single, “Sex.” The new track drops three days before the Hollywood band kicks off a co-headlining summer tour with KISS on July 20.
Although this is great news for fans, unfortunately, “Sex” is just a random one-off release to hype the tour, but the band has no plans to release a new album anytime soon. In other words, “Sex” is kind of a one-night stand as far as new Crue music goes.
TOMMY LEE BLASTS OVERZEALOUS FANS ON FACEBOOK
Bad news for Motley Crue fans: It seems Tommy Lee has major issues with fans showing the love! Well, at least, showing the love at times Lee deems inappropriate.
Motley’s mega-talented drummer took to the Crue’s Facebook page recently to lash out at fans – you know, those folks that have helped to make the L.A. band the biggest thing in rock music for nearly 30 years – who have the gall to ask for a photo should they have the awesome once-in-a-lifetime fortune of running across Lee in public and want a cherished memento of one of their heavy metal heroes.
“I f–king LOVE my fans!” Lee asserts before kicking off his pitch for privacy. “…What I have a problem with is…Taking pictures! I hate it! Irritates the f–k out of me when people say…you owe it to your fans, they put you where you are, etc etc! I certainly dont owe anybody anything! ..wtf people? You dont admire something so that it can give back… You just cherish it! And to those who say..you should be grateful that people wanna take your picture maybe one day they wont want it!…. That day cant come soon enough! BTW..I’m not here to take pictures with you, I’m here to entertain you!”
Now, it’s understandable that Lee wants to enjoy his private time when he’s out in public having lunch with his family, or, as he reminds us in his Facebook rant, when he’s taking a whizz at a urinal. That’s not an issue, and he deserves that respect. But…his rant is rather harsh, and it would have been a bit more respectable to his fans if he tossed in a footnote about when he might be a bit more open to chats with fans and allow a photo should someone who has worshipped Crue for decades crosses paths with one of the band’s members in public – at the beach, the Venice boardwalk, shopping at Guitar Center Sunset?
To his credit, the “Home Sweet Home” songwriter does mention that he’s OK with fans saying hello – just don’t even think about whipping out that evil cell phone camera.
“The fastest way to get me to leave is whip out a camera!” he writes “Maybe just say hello and I’ll probably take ya home with me! Well I’d have to ask my girlfriend first! Hah!” ads the self-professed “Picture Taker Hater!”
Lee’s cranky open letter to his “fans” won’t deter us at SunsetandClark from continuing to support and go to see one of our favorite bands in concert whenever they’re in town. But as longtime die-hard Crue fanatics, we were a bit disheartened by the random rant and hope Lee loosens up a bit when it comes to interacting with fans.
THE ART OF REBELLION
A thrash-lovin’ graffiti artist has covered a wall in Venice, California with a mural tribute to iconic Venice hardcore band Suicidal Tendencies. We think Mike Muir would approve of the awesome tagging.
‘HISTORY OF HEAVY METAL’ ROCKS L.A.’S GRAMMY MUSEUM
Downtown Los Angeles’ Grammy Museum is hosting its first-ever heavy metal exhibit, “Golden Gods: The History of Heavy Metal.” The interactive showcase includes everything from a 15-foot tall fiberglass statue of Eddie from Iron Maiden’s “Somewhere in Time Tour” to guitars from every rock god on the planet, including EDDIE VAN HALEN and DOKKEN‘S GEORGE LYNCH. The exhibit runs through February 2013.
SILVER LAKE SALUTE
Here’s a view from a Riverside Drive bridge on the edge of Silver Lake, the cool East Hollywood ‘hood that was once the old stomping grounds of iconic L.A. rockers like Henry Rollins, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Concrete Blonde and Johnette Napolitano and countless other influential artists.
HOLLYWOOD GIVES A HOLLA TO LATE RAP-ROCKER ‘MCA’
Hollywood honors the memory of late Beastie Boys badass bassist-vocalist Adam “MCA” Yauch with a billboard at Vine Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, just down the street from the trio’s former label, Capitol Records. It’s almost as groovin’ as the Atwater Village memorial across town.
O.C. ROCKERS SPARK PRE-SSMF BUZZ WITH SUNSET PRESENCE
It’s the mid-’90s all over again on Sunset Boulevard — and we like it! In advertising, placement is everything, and Huntington Beach hard rockers 
The Offspring took that adage to mind and are plastered in a hard-to-miss historic spot on the Strip – on the shell of the old Tower Video. Seeing the band back on the Strip brings us back to the ’90s, when The Offspring were rockin’ future classics like “Keep ‘Em Separated” and “Come Out and Play,” and Tower Video’s famous red and yellow sign was casting a groovy glow over the corner of Sunset and Larrabee.
The Offspring poster is advertising the band’s new album, Days Go By. They’re certain to rock new tunes like the title track and, our current fave, “Cruising California (Bumpin’ In My Trunk)” when The Offspring rock the main stage of the Sunset Strip Music Festival in August!
SUNSET STRIP LEGENDS LONDON & TUFF HEADLINE 11TH ANNUAL CRUEFEST AT THE WHISKY, JULY 28
L.A. local legends London — Nikki Sixx‘s pre-Motley Crue band whose earlier lineups included every metal superstar from Blackie Lawless to Slash — is headlining the 11th Annual Cruefest Hollywood at WeHo’s Whisky A Go-Go on July 28. Fellow Sunset Strip refugees Tuff are also on the bill, along with DC4, SkinMask, Stonebreed, Alterna-Chicks and Gutter Boys.
The yearly charity rock event was launched in 2001 by Crue fans and benefits the Skylar Neil Foundation, which was founded in honor of Vince Neil’s daughter, who died of cancer in 1995. The Foundation raises funds for organizations working to find cures for cancer, AIDS and other diseases.
Cruefest is not only a great night of rock for a cool Crue-approved cause, it also always draws out some very cool guests. Ratt‘s Stephen Pearcy, original GN’R drummer Steven Adler and L.A. Guns‘ Tracii Guns made it to last year’s event. Plus, Cruefest also offers a chance to collect some cool rock gear via auctions and raffles, including signed Crue art.
Admission is $25. Or get pre-sale tix for $20 here.
SUNSETandCLARK.blog 