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BLUES BOUND

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social-d

SOCIAL DISTORTION HEADLINES H.O.B. 

Fullerton-launched rockers Social Distortion are bringing the band’s crankin’ collection of hard-rock hits to the Sunset Strip’s House of Blues next week, headlining sold out shows December 13 through 15.

HOBSocial D returns to the Strip again for three nights of sold-out shows December 27 through 29.

L.A. fans that couldn’t get tix to any of the December shows can still catch Mike Ness and crew rocking their hits alongside future-classics from Social D’s latest release, Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes,at the band’s January 20 H.o.B. show. Unlike their January 19 concert, fans can still get tix to the January 20 gig via House of Blues’ website.

The band’s series of House of Blues shows is being presented by KROQ, the legendary L.A. radio station that championed the O.C. band back in the day long before the sold-out international tours.

Wow! For those keeping score at home, that’s eight mostly sold-out shows at House of Blues! We’d like to see Bieber try to accomplish that s#%t!

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Maiden L.A.

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di-la

PAUL DI’ANNO, THE ‘KILLER’ VOICE THAT LAUNCHED IRON MAIDEN, IS SET TO COVER THE ICONIC METAL BAND’S EARLY CLASSICS AT THE WHISKY JAN. 20

killersIf you were too stoned in the late ’70s/early ’80s or are one of those youngins who didn’t know that iconic British metal band Iron Maiden had a badass frontman before Bruce Dickinson, you should make a New Year’s resolution now to check out Paul Di’Anno at the Sunset Strip’s world-famous Whisky A Go Go on January 20.

Before Dickinson first rocked the mic for Maiden on 1982’s groundbreaking heavy metal masterpiece The Number of the Beast, and just after the band’s first two vocalists, Paul Day and Dennis Wilcock, bailed, Di’Anno fronted Maiden from 1978 through 1981 and managed to crank out a small but awesomely impressive collection of albums. Before rock and roll debauchery and personality conflicts within Maiden led to Di’Anno and the band parting ways, he set the foundation for Iron Maiden’s success with the now-classic albums Iron Maiden and Killers and the live EP Maiden Japan.

beast-singing-with-iron-maiden-drugs-groupies-whole-paul-dianno-paperback-cover-artDi’Anno released his memoir, The Beast, in 2010 and has forged ahead as a solo artist as well as a frontman for various hard-rock bands, including Praying Mantis, Battlezone and Killers.

More recently, Di’Anno has signed on as a special guest vocalist on ex-Ozzy Osbourne Band shredder Jake E. Lee‘s upcoming solo album, due in 2013.

Aside from Lee’s project, the singer hasn’t released new material since Battlezone’s 2001 album Cessation of Hostilities. Di’Anno did, however, release a cool compilation of his early work with his famous former band on the 2010 collection The Early Iron Maiden Songbook.

All things considered, it sounds like Di’Anno’s Whisky show on January 20, which is part of his worldwide “Running Free Again Tour,” is going to be a very loud and awesome sonic stroll down memory lane during his Iron Maiden years.

We can’t think of a more rockin’ way to reminisce. Get details on the Whisky show here.

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L.A. Woman

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Becca

STREET ARTIST BECCA MIDWOOD ART-BOMBS WEHO & LEAVES BEHIND SEXY HIPPIE CHICKS READY FOR THEIR CLOSE UP

Austin-based artist Becca Midwood has been busy over the past few months art-bombing her way across the country, gifting cities with some very cool original art, including the large, colorful painting above, which we discovered recently in West Hollywood. The colorful life-size foxy lady covers a door on a shop across the street from the legendary Troubadour, near Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny.

SAMSUNGWe spotted another original piece by Becca earlier in the summer, when we posted about her smokin’-hot hand-painted art that still adorns the side wall of the Sunset Strip’s Viper Room. Other work — both street art and murals commissioned by the Viper Room — have covered the wall on Larrabee Street over the past few months, but Becca’s sexy image of a scantily clad rocker chick and her tattooed pink pal have remained untouched. Today, it sits beneath a huge mural of ex-Viper Room owner Johnny Depp. Check it out below.

See more of Becca’s L.A. area creations at Unearth Street Art and check out her interview with The Hundreds for the stories that influenced her hip and sexy pop art.

Viper Room

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Sunset People

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Roxy

‘I LOVE THIS CITY’: WEHO’S ROXY THEATRE GETS COLORFUL WITH BADASS NEW CANVAS BY L.A. ARTIST ANNIE PREECE

The Sunset Strip continues to champion the electric and eclectic work of cool local artists with the latest addition to its ever-changing roster of urban art that dots the world-famous Boulevard.

Los Angeles artist Annie Preece, a San Francisco transplant, explores the esoteric and bizarre side of the City of Angeles in a wild and wonderfully offbeat painting that’s currently rockin’ a wall of The Roxy. See more of Annie’s awesome art here.

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Fully Loaded

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Warner Drive

WARNER DRIVE DEBUTS NEW SONG, ‘KING OF SWING,’ WHILE GIVING HOUSE OF BLUES A CRASH COURSE IN HOW TO ROCK

Never say Monday nights in L.A. are boring because local buzz band Warner Drive proved that it just ain’t so. The five-piece power-rock band shook the amps at the Sunset Strip’s House of Blues on December 3 with a spectacular set from their arsenal of original arena-ready rock songs. The band also premiered an awesome new track from WD’s upcoming third studio album, due out in early 2013.

Jonny LawFrontman Jonny Law, sporting a NOFX T-shirt, set things off with the melodic rocker “Ok K-Go” from WD’s latest release, K-Go!, and immediately had the packed venue moving and grooving with a frenzied fervor of rock and roll ecstasy that would make Fat Mike proud.

Confident that they have the chops to keep the crowd amped for the band’s entire set, Warner Drive choose to crank up its signature song, “The Scarecrow,” early in its set, and judging by the audience’s enthusiastic reaction and sing-along, it was apparent that most of the crowd was here for WD, which was opening for Steel Panther.

kgoWarner Drive rounded out its set with nearly a half-dozen tracks from K-Go! and a few more from the band’s 2005 debut, Fully Loaded, before showcasing a rockin’ new tune, “King of Swing,” which Law penned as a tribute to his dad, who, he mentioned, recently passed away from leukemia.

“But this isn’t a sad song,” Law said before launching into the anthemic rock jam whose chorus promises that “everything is gonna be alright” and proves that Warner Drive – which also includes bassist Elvis James, drummer Jonny U and guitarists Ryan Harris and Candice Levinson —  is only getting more awesome with each gig.

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Warner Drive’s ‘House’ Party

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Warner-Drive

SUNSET STRIP FAVES WARNER DRIVE TO ROCK H.O.B. WITH SURPRISE SHOW & PRE-PARTY WITH FANS, DEC. 3

Great news for L.A. music fans looking for something a bit more exciting than sitting around listening to stale Christmas carols and re-watching It’s A Wonderful Life for the zillionth time on Monday night. Instead, why not get your face rocked off by some full-throttle, straight-forward original rock and roll by local faves, Sunset Strip refugees Warner Drive?

261178_391071537639587_588980207_nFrontman Jonny Law and the band have just confirmed a last-minute gig filling in as the opener for Steel Panther at West Hollywood’s House of Blues on Monday, December 3. Warner Drive is slated to rock the main stage at around 9:30 p.m.

Fresh off its first European tour, the L.A. band is working on its third studio album and will be showcasing some new tunes from the 2013 release! (Although, we’ll never get tired of hearing “The Scarecrow” or “OK K-Go” from WD’s latest album, K-Go, and the badbass ballad “Broken” and “Viper Room” from their debut, Fully Loaded!)

Plus…it gets better! The House of Blues is hosting a pre-party for Warner Drive in the club’s upstairs VIP lounge, the Foundation Room. Fans can inquire about the pre-party when they show up and will be directed to the WD bash. Doors open around 8 p.m.

Check out Warner Drive’s Facebook page for all the details. See you at the show!

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Johnny, Are You There?

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Depp

VIPER ROOM ATTEMPTS TO LURE JOHNNY DEPP BACK TO SUNSET WITH FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN & ROCKIN’ RETRO MURAL

West Hollywood’s world-famous rock joint Viper Room is turning — wait for it…20 years old next year! Two decades! In L.A., 20 years practically qualifies you for the senior special at the local Denny’s. Where did the time ago?!

DeppTo celebrate the 2013 milestone, the Viper Room team is hoping to lure back the hot spot’s famous former co-owner Johnny Depp to partake in festivities and possibly break some strings again jamming on the VR stage.

Expectedly, a “Bring Johnny Back” Facebook campaign has been launched in hopes of getting the superstar actor-musician back on the Strip.

“The goal of this page is to bring back our beloved founder for a special ceremony honoring the Viper Room’s continuing legacy,” writes the VR crew on the page, where they promise “to celebrate with a year’s worth of amazing shows and special events highlighting the best of the best bands and artists who have graced our stage.”

As of Nov. 30, the Facebook page had approximately 750 likes, including SunsetandClark’s. Let’s hope it happens!

Check out Depp and opening night headliner Tom Petty talking about the Viper Room’s 1993 debut on the Sunset Strip, below.

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GN’R Return to Sunset…Sorta

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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!

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Sun Sets on Tower Video

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Tower Video - 2012

SUNSET STRIP LANDMARK & EARLY GN’R HAUNT BECOMES RUBBLE

Axl Rose - SlashIconic Sunset Strip landmark Tower Video, the timeless neon-lit hub of hipster activity that was the main spot to head to for concert tickets and music videos, has become a pile of rocks. Earlier this month crews began to deconstruct the famous spot that once employed a pre-rock star Axl Rose as its night manager and Guns N’ Roses bandmate Slash as a counter clerk.

In the fall of 2006, as Internet music piracy and iTunes began to claim their stake on the Net, Towers’ chain of music and video stores filed for bankruptcy after 46 years as the go-to place for discovering exciting new bands and picking up tickets to L.A.’s hottest shows.

Tower Sunset Video Parking LotTower Video was located at 8844 Sunset at Larrabee, across the street from the defunct Tower Records. The split-level video store also served as a concert ticket venue, classical music annex and sold rock novelties. The store’s small back parking lot, where the photo on the left, of Tower Video rubble, was snapped, is the infamous location where Rose once challenged Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil to a fight over some trash talk. The incident sparked the singers’ well-publicized, longstanding feud.

R.I.P. Tower Video.

Check out what remains of the landmark location as it becomes rock and roll rubble.

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Rolling Stones Get Plastered

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STONED ON SUNSET

A local guerilla has artist plastered L.A. — including a Sunset Strip power box in front of the old Virgin Sunset —  with one of the best pieces of rock art we’ve seen in a helluva long time. Mick Jagger (and Andy Warol) would be proud. And we like it so much that we’re forgiving the artist for omitting Keith Richards.