Tuesday 18 March 2008

I just watched this show about rock stars' parents on BBC 1 and laughed...

I just watched this show on UK tv called Help! My kid's a rock star! and what a laugh it was! Typical that one of the parents interviewed was Courtney Love's estranged father Hank Harrison who has made plenty of money from selling his side of the story to various media sources about his wayward daughter. I have to agree with him on the cosmetic surgery he openly admitted Courtney's had over the years!

Anthony Kiedis's hippy dad John Kiedis (a.k.a. "Blackie Dammett") spoke out about how he was cool to set up his only son with one of his sexy LA girlfriends and let him lose his virginity 'at a younger age than his schoolfriends'. Yeah, but I do have to agree that having sex at thirteen is just a little too young! They say like father, like son. Seems like Anthony gets older, but his girlfriends have got much younger. His current partner and mother of his only son, Everly, is a model called Heather Christie who he met when she was just 17 and she is still only 22 and Anthony will be 46 this year!

On another subject, one of my friends checked into a luxury hotel in Manchester last night and was in utter despair when faced with the unfortunate situation that she was sharing the same hotel as Westlife. The worst thing wasn't the fact that Westlife were in the same hotel, but the fact that she was staying in town to see Velvet Revolver and they were staying at another rival hotel in the city centre that is actally less expensive. Shit happens!

Panic at the Disco short acoustic set last night in London









Last night, I went to HMV on Oxford Street to watch a short acoustic performance by Panic at the Disco. There was also a CD signing for wristband wearers after the show, but I wasn't one of the many people who waited from 6am to get one of those!

I had to take photos from in the crowd and my camera battery was dying out, so I didn't get many good shots, but I got a few okay photos which is better than none at all. I didn't see Jon Walker at all, because this fucking annoying poll was in the way, so I only got pictures of Brendon, Ryan and Spencer. Typical, because Jon has always been my favourite. Probably because every time I've met the band, all of the guys are great, but Jon is very talkative and cool and older than the others. Coincidentally, the Panic at the Disco crew were staying in the same hotel as I was with my friends last night, but I saw no sign of the band, so our guess was that they were elsewhere or were just out.

Saturday 15 March 2008

I hate hearing stories about people getting swindled by eBay and other websites when buying concert tickets

I heard yesterday that one of my friends paid £60 for a concert ticket to see Velvet Revolver in Leeds and she never received the ticket on time and this kind of thing has really angered me for ages. This is just another typical internet scam that happens to people all the time, but as well know, sold-out concert and other event tickets are bought-out by greedy scalpers (or touts as they are called in the UK) and people desperate to make a profit by selling them to fans online, but a lot of the time the tickets never even arrive on time for the buyer to attend the event they paid to go to in the first place.

Online marketplaces like eBay have increased their security and have been trying to stop fraud the best they can, but these scams still happen and I can't stand hearing about genuine fans of bands being ripped-off by these selfish bastards. Shows only sell-out because so many of the tickets are bought by touts to sell off at a profit on the internet or on the day of the event and it makes me sick.

My best advice is to only buy from reliable ticket agencies and when there is a show that is supposedly sold out that you want to go to, still go to the venue on the day of the show, but be sure to arrive a few hours early and ask any other fans waiting around whether they have a spare ticket before even thinking of handing your cash to one of the touts outside offering to buy or sell any spares. I always find that there are fans waiting around before shows whose friends can't attend and are desperate to sell a spare ticket to somebody who is not just there to make a profit. In the UK, the ticket touts hanging around before the shows even start are almost always the bootleg merchandise sellers you see afterwards and they all work in gangs, so they're best avoided unless there happens to be one of them offering to sell a ticket at face value once the doors open, because once the support bands are on, they're not going to sell the spare tickets for a profit and will be satisfied to get anything back for them.

I just hope my friend gets her £60 paid back if she never received what she paid for, because that it what I call shit customer service and I would be very annoyed if somebody stopped me from seeing Scott, Slash, Duff and Matt live again!

Friday 14 March 2008

My other links

I have created another MySpace for the bands photos which is separate to the original MySpace page I had for my clothing, accessories and jewellery designs. It got too confusing, so here are the links:

www.myspace.com/ontheguestlistbiz

www.myspace.com/toxicglamourdesigns

You Tube for videos of live performances and that kind of thing:

www.youtube.com/sophiecalifornia

These are currently the only webpages I have, apart from this and the archives website which is:

http://www.ontheguestlist.net/

There are errors on that site and it was put together by a friend of mine who has been away, so she is corrrecting and updating old info. and try to sort out problems with the photos on there when she gets the time, because some of them are showing as red Xs and we don't know why.
I am going to probably try and continue with that website and change it all when I get any time to do it, as it's a shame to leave it and forget about it. I will have to change a lot of things on there, but it will be worth it.

It's here - my new rock 'n roll blog!

Yes, this is Brendon Urie of Panic at the Disco. I took this shot just as he was laughing with people outside the venue where the Kerrang! magazine music awards took place in August 2007.

I was supposed to go and see this band live last Monday, but the shit British wet weather was bad enough to put me off stepping foot outside. Luckily the guys are performing live at a record store in central London this Monday. I am going to try and get some decent photos if I can. As it's a weekday, there shouldn't be as many fans around as for normal shows.

Panic at the Disco's new record, Pretty. Odd is out this week. I am not all that impressed with the first single release, Nine in the Afternoon. These guys are incredibly talented musicians and I expected a lot more of the typical Panic at the Disco eccentricity in there. but I guess there is more to come on the album.

OH MY GOD!!!

I've just heard on the BBC news that the London Astoria theatre will not be saved and will be demolished, despite all the protests and and attempts to save the venue, which is my favourite live venue in London and the only good size live venue in central London. Fucking assholes are only interested in building an extra underground station entrance in time for 2012 the Olympic Games.

I honestly couldn't give a shit about the London Olympics and why should one of our best loved (and most popular) music venues be torn down just for an event that lasts for just two weeks out of the year...? I am so disgusted right now. That will leave just the Hammersmith Apollo (which I hate), Shepherd's Bush Empire, Brixton Academy and the small Camden venues as the venues for non-arena shows. I hate Wembley and the O2 Arena, way too big!

It will be a sad day for everyone when that place closes. Rather like when they got rid of CBGBs in New York City. Our legendary venues are disappearing and it's just so sad.