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September 29, 2006
SOCIAL COMMENTARY
UPDATE: Last nights Camp Freddy Radio show is available as usual on the CFR Podcasts page of this site. However, if you want to automatically have the podcasts delivered to your I-Tunes every week, the easiest thing to do is subscribe to this blog by clicking the "Subscribe To I Tunes" button on the right. That way, the V-Blogs and Podcasts will appear straight away in your Podcasts folder in I-Tunes. Pretty nifty, right? And don't forget to leave a comment on I-Tunes for me. Alternatively you can CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST.
Thought I would check in here today, as its Friday .... the end of the week, the beginning of the weekend, the two days of R+R that we all deserve. Except I don't understand how it works in LA - Hollywood in particular. It really does seem like the weekend doesn't exist. I mean, the concept of two days off, from the hard work of the week doesn't apply around here. You can find yourself (as I did) attending huge red carpet blowout openings and parties on a Wednesday and a Thursday, and then working (again, like I often do) on a Saturday night, or maybe an early Sunday morning call time. I think thats what I really love about the business - its that there are no set hours, that the weekend really doesn't exist, that it can be a 22 hour work day on a Sunday, followed by three days of nothing. Kinda keeps me on my toes.
Wednesday was a Stuff Magazine party on the roof of the Arclight on Sunset Blvd. A great party, with the Eagles Of Death Metal performing on the rooftop at midnight, and all the wonderful people swanning around being ..... well, wonderful!! Me? Jen and I found the oldschool video games, and she played Tetris, while I spent WAY too long on the old TRON video game - I used to kill it back then ..... not so hot these days! I couldnt remember all the tricks, but it was crazy to play that game again. Lots of food, lots of friends ..... good times.
Then the next night (last night) was the grand opening of the new Brent Bolthouse space in Hollywood. Its called Area, its absolutely amazing, and as usual (probably because he manages camp Freddy and loves us!!) Brent took really great care of us, made sure we all had a good table, and all in all, it was a very cool night out. The beautiful people were again out in full force (I have to figure out how most of these people do it - I mean they are at an event EVERY night of the week!! When do they have time to do anything???) - and as usual, they were all extremely beautiful, dahling!!!! Thanks Brent for a great night and congrats on a fucking awesome new spot. I shall be attending again, sir!
Dont forget - next Thursday sees Camp Freddy performing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno - and we can promise you a surprise or two. My feeling is that you really should tune in and check it out - you never know what you might see. And also, the Circus Diablo show at The Viper Room is getting VERY full. If you havent got your tickets yet, I STRONGLY advise that you do so by clicking on the link below. The club is very small, and we are expecting a very intimate evening. The Bangkok 5 are again with us, so get there early, and catch them too - trust me, they ROCK!! CLICK HERE FOR CIRCUS DIABLO TICKETS. Oh yeah - and please excuse the gratuitous pics today. The Camp Freddy one has appeared here already a couple of times, but just so you know ...... McGrath, Navarro, DeMartini, Chaney, Sorum..... and Morrison - HELL YEAH!!!! And the one of me and Jennifer? Well, excuse me!! She's my wife, I love her, and its my blog!!!!
John - Yes, I listen to Steve whenever I can. Of course it should be syndicated!! So should Camp Freddy Radio. They are both VERY inovative radio shows - but what can you do? People like to play it safe sometimes. And yes - Jonesy is joining us in Frisco.
Peebs - Well..... I would say that considering I have four websites, the MySpace CD profile, and five computers running at all times in my house, it would be safe to say that the virtual medium is something that interests me!! The Morrison Media Network is ready and waiting for the right investor to come along and donate a few hundred thousand to the cause!!!
Wingman - No, my nose wasn't really itchy. I was scratching it for dramatic effect. ?? !!
SonicGeisha - I KNOW!!! Someone who reads this blog regularly MUST know Adam, and NEEDS to drop him a hint. Circus Diablo's first internet release was Ants Invasion, and Navarro and Morrison are HUGE Ant fans. What do we need to do here? I mean, let me go on record RIGHT NOW - this is an OFFICAL invite to Adam, to join Camp Freddy onstage at ANY show. We will fly him out here, and take care of things. Someone prove that the web is that powerful and lets get Adam AND Marco on a plane over to LA to play with Freddy.
Digger - Ha!! Love the Keith video. And I would say that all self-respecting rockers have pulled that one at least once. I know I have busted that move once or twice myself.
OK folks - I just wanted to post and let you all know I am still here, still enjoying life, and still smoke-free. Now THAT is pretty cool. I mean, I have stopped a few things in my life, and changed shit up more than once, but the cigarette thing? That has been a really tough one. But so far so good. Three weeks and counting. We'll see - the big test is doing a show, and the Camp Freddy weekend next week of Leno and Frisco will be the telling time for me. Until next time, dont forget that tomorrow is an all-new CFR with Dave and myself. Tune in at 6.00pm on Indie 103.1FM, or check it out online at www.indie1031.fm. See ya.
Billy
(CLOSED)
Posted by vivelerock at 11:12 AM | Comments (20)
September 26, 2006
LAID BACK
Please note that this is a large file size. A high speed connection is preferred.
Not a lot to say in todays post .... cos its all in the long V-Blog I just posted!! I answered most of the questions and realized that the video was nearly six minutes!! Whatever - if you wanna hear me drone on in a very laid back, Sunday afternoon type way, watch it. If you don't ..... then don't! I did edit in a Duffy solo from the Key Club that I love - its from a song called Hello Goodbye, one of my favorites, and I just figured it sounded good, so why not!!. The rest of the blog is just my Q+A, as promised. Not much else to tell. This week, I'll be going to a couple of events ..... the Stuff Magazine party tomorrow, and a club opening the next night. I have some bits and pieces to deal with - gotta watch the first edit of that video project that they were shooting last month, and I have a couple of meetings, but all in all, its a nice quiet week. Next week, it'll kick into gear, so for now, enjoy the calm, Mr Morrison. See you all later. Have a great day.
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 09:10 AM | Comments (10)
September 20, 2006
PREMIER NIGHT
EXTRA: CHECK OUT THE VIDEO. Thanks to Paul, we can now all share in this wonderful video. I think its absolutely awesome!! Whoever she is should be contacting Camp Freddy for a job!!!!!
Well, that was a first. The first time I actually attended a movie premier that I actually had something to do with!!! I mean, a real five star Hollywood premier. I know that I attended the Tripping Forward thing and that was just as cool, cos I was actually in that film. But last night was at the world famous Manns Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd, with the whole nine yards going on outside. Barricades, screaming kids looking for Jessica to arrive, Limo's, sunglasses after dark, air kisses on both cheeks ..... all rather wonderful darling!! It was a little much actually! Donovan and I stayed out of the way quite a bit and watched the proceedings with much amusement. It was nice to be invited however, and the movie really is very funny! The soundtrack album (hard copy in the stores and digital version online) is now available, and has both Surrender and the cover of Twentieth Century Boy on it. You know what to do.......
Beth - Talking of Tripping Forward, I think that it will be released next year. As far as I can tell, they are doing all the Film Festivals this year (its doing really well, winning Best Of Fest at Calgary, and now entered into a bunch more) and then after all that, they throw it out for release. I dont understand how it all works, but they'll tell me when it gets a general release. And then I will tell you. And the cigarette thing has been pretty easy - not chewing on any weird substances, or wearing 18 patches at once. I basically didnt light up one morning .... and carried on not lighting up.
Glad you all seem to like the new MySpace track. Its pretty storming for a 'straight off the board' live mix. I was happy with it, so we figured we would share it with everyone. The MySpace page is looking good (thanks Chris!!) and we are looking forward to getting into rehearsals when Billy gets back, and getting onto the stage again at The Viper.
I'm going to pop out tonight to catch a couple of shows by some friends bands. First stop will be The House Of Anything But Blues, to see Cisco and Alex in Whitestarr, doing their southern rock thing. And then its over to Boardners on Cherokee to watch my friend Rich and his band, Mighty Six Ninety. They are a MySpace band to watch and I advise you strongly to 'catch em now'. And thats it. I would imagine another V-Blog is in order soon. So here's what we'll do. Get your questions in, and I will save em all up and do a Q+A V-Blog at the weekend. Seems like a good idea ..... so have fun, take care, be nice and in the immortal words of The Chiefs Of Relief ....."I'll meet you at the weekend".
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 08:39 AM | Comments (30)
September 17, 2006
A FACE MADE FOR RADIO!
UPDATE: NEW CIRCUS DIABLO LIVE TRACK AVAILABLE ON MYSPACE.COM. Check out the bands MySpace profile and hear a live version of 1970 from the recent Key Club show.CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE NEW LIVE TRACK.
So the return of Navarro to CFR after his summer of TPC/Supernova showed me that I do really love doing radio. When its on, it really is on, and I come away from two hours of Camp Freddy Radio feeling much the same as after a live show! - tired, but happy, adreneline levels up ..... strange that radio can do that. Anyway, we had a laugh last night, and our friend Paul captured the magic for us as usual. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE PODCAST.And thank you to Nancy for the nice pic I used today from the Scottsdale show.
Paul - now THATS funny. "I was gonna stop smoking, but I'm not a quitter!!!" Ha!! And yeah - I would close this blog down if it got like that - I wanna be able to actually relate to all you guys.
Robin - Gotta tell you, it was HARD!! Watching Dave smoke (and hearing that ubiquitous 'Bic' crack every five minutes!) was tough - but I have never been that guy to say dont do it. Dave was completely respectful and asked if I minded if he smoked, and of COURSE I said no. And I dont. How can I quit if I have to be in smoke free environments??? I play rock and roll for a living!!!!
ZenTam - YEAH!!! Go Raiders. Just try not to embarrass your fans TOO much this year!! But we'll love you anyway!
MB - No plans for Diablo right now, until our manager gets back from Europe and we start the 2007 plan. We know we are doing the Viper and we will probably do something else towards the end of the year.
And thank you SO MUCH to all of you for your non-smoking encouragements. I mean, really, how can I fail with all you lot spurring me on.
Nothing much else to tell you today. Its Sunday, I have a nice relaxing day in front of me - got a friend over from the UK so we'll be going shooting later today. Funny how the fascination with guns is SO much greater in people from countries that don't have em at all. And I'm gonna have a butchers at moviefone ....(butchers hook - LOOK!!) ..... and see if there is a film that both myself AND my wife would like to see. Recently its been ... "I wanna go see Silent Hill ..... No WAY!! I wanna see Devil Wears Prada!!!" .... so maybe there's a flick we can agree on today!! Back during the week. Have a great day everyone.
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 08:08 AM | Comments (18)
September 15, 2006
THE RETURN OF THE O.G.
Now you know how things sometimes never go as planned in this business, right?? So don't hold me to it, but it seems as if this Saturday's CFR will be a return to the O.G. - the Batman and Robin, Mick and Keef, the Laurel and Hardy ...(ok, I'm going too far, but you get my point!). Appears that not only will I be making a return after a couple of weeks off, but Dave will be back as my partner after his summer of madness. Hopefully nothing will get in the way and the Morrison/Navarro partnership will be back in full force tomorrow. Check your dial at 6.00pm Saturday and see - Indie 103.1FM. Personally, I hope we both get it together cos I've missed Dave, and its about time we got back in business!
I can tell you that I have had a beautifully quiet week. Voice rest, along with quitting smoking, has meant that I have kept my head WAY under the radar, not answering the phone, minimizing my human contact, and generally watching WAY too much television in one week. Let me see....... Season One of Prison Break, Season Four of Alias, Some Kinda Monster, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Sentinal, The Matador, Silent Hill, Final Destination 3 ..... and a bunch of Cops, Rock Star Supernova and Vanished, all on the Tivo. Thats just one weeks worth of viewing!!! As you can see, I really needed to stay out of my own way, while I quit cigarettes. And its been 7 days now. Its still hard, but the physical cravings are gone, and its ALL in my head now. Perfect - just where I like my addictions to live ..... !!!
We can tell you that Camp Freddy will be appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, on Thursday October 5th. We will be performing the single, Surrender, and then jumping on a plane to go up to Frisco for our show there the following day. Check it out on NBC, October 5th at 11.30pm PST. And don't forget that Circus Diablo will be playing at The Viper Room in Los Angeles on October 14th - its a very small club, its a Saturday night, and it will be absolutely packed .... so please, if you are thinking of coming to the show, buy your tickets now. I cant stress enough that you will not be able to walk up to this show.
Wow - I see a lot of disgust for my choice of football team!! You know what? I am gonna do something I never do, and follow my fathers advice!! He told me NEVER to discuss Politics, Religion or Football. Now he meant soccer, but whatever ..... I am now going to implement that ban here, before it all turns nasty!! No more sport talk - even from me. I will watch the Raiders mess it up AGAIN .... in complete silence ... and then we can all remain friends!
Scott - Contrary to popular belief, clothes are very hard to write off as a tax expense, even for a musician. Its easier not to try, as proof is needed that they are ONLY for stage, and do not get worn at any other point. Trust me, I dont even bother.
Daniel - Hilarious!! Quitting smokings easy - my mates done it hundreds of times!!! Love it!!
Sugartaste - Thanks for the kind words.
Martin - Welcome to our online family. Glad you posted. Regarding a biography, I really should do one, right? Let me see what I can whip up. And regarding the quitting smoking? ..... I just began fronting Circus Diablo, and take my job as a singer very seriously. So as opposed to singing BV's in Freddy or Doheny, where I can do it with a cigarette in my mouth, this is different. I needed to be able to give it the best I could. And that is not with a lungful of smoke.
Ylais - Get better soon. Ive been on all o that shit - rest up and take it easy, and do what the Doc says.
Thats it from me - looking forward to tomorrows radio show. And its great to be feeling a little less crazy now - the last week has been a bitch! I'll post again soon, and I know that we have the big Premier for Employee Of The Month next week, but for now, I want to wish all of you a great weekend. Have fun, try and be nice to someone you don't know (try it, it works) and see you all next time.
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 06:49 AM | Comments (22)
September 11, 2006
GOING CRAZY!!
A VERY quick post, just to let you know I'm still here. I am currently staring vacantly at an abysmal performance by the Raiders, at home against the Chargers. Oakland are getting stomped, they don't seem to know what to do with the ball when they get it, and to top it all off ......... I am trying to quit smoking and haven't had a cigarette in four days!!!! You can imagine the mood I am in tonight!
Leon - No thoughts on Supernova really. I think Lucas suits those guys, and I also think Dave has been great on the occasion that I've watched it. Love all the drama surrounding the show, though!!!
Daniel - Seems you've figured out the V-Blog thing (subscribe to I-Tunes is the easiest fix), but just to let you know I haven't changed the way I do them. They just got bigger!! Which means they take WAY longer to download!! Sorry!!
I intend to enjoy the quiet time right now, cos next month will be full of the usual fun and games. So I seem to be hanging out, buying way too much shit from Ebay (check out the pic of all the Vivienne Westwood purchases I've made recently ..... HAVE to stop that NOW!!) and watching movies. Paul keeps emailing me links to other squiggle tops, and I keep bidding on them!! Still waiting for two more to arrive from this weeks purchases - anyone spying these kind of shirts knows who to call. (no, not Ghostbusters ..... ME!!!) Also been playing video games - Black on PS2 and Saints Row on X-Box 360. Thats it from me - cannot believe that this season has started just like last years ended ..... RUBBISH!!!
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 09:25 PM | Comments (22)
September 07, 2006
ARIZONA AFTERNOONS
Please note that this is a large file size. A high speed connection is preferred.
I'm back again with a brand new V-Blog from our little two day trip out to Arizona and the Martini Ranch show. A couple of warnings - first of all, its nearly 5 minutes long, so make sure you have a decent connection speed. And secondly - if the word F#@K offends you, do NOT bother to watch it. Right - warnings over. It was a real laugh to get on a bus with these guys. It was a taste of what we have coming when we release the album and get out there for real in the first quarter of 2007. And all I can say is .... I cant wait! Everyone had a really good time, and despite it being a mild Arizona day (only about 110 degrees!!) we had a great trip. The one problem for me was that my In Ear monitors got left behind in Los Angeles. Now that wouldn't be too much drama on an arena stage, where the wedges can cope with a loud rock n roll band. But in a small club, it's a big obstacle, because no matter what we did, the little onstage monitors couldn't get my vocals up above the din of the band. I eventually opted to use some generic Sony Walkman headphones in my ears - Big Mistake!!
By the time the second song was on me, the sweat was pouring inside my ears, and the headphones were hanging around my shoulders - they wouldn't stay in my ears. Which meant that I had zero monitors. None. No way of hearing myself sing!! I muscled through the set, basically just guessing what notes I was singing, so while the band had a great time, I was pretty miserable up there!! The audience were great though - digging all the new music we were playing. That is REALLY encouraging, and we have experienced that at every show. When an audience has to listen to a bunch of brand new music, and actually get into it, even though they have never heard it before, its a really good sign.
So the show was, for me, hot, sweaty, loud and a bit of a mess. But it was great to get a good reaction, and I loved the actual club. Everyone was really cool to us, and I am sure we will be back there next year. Thanks to everyone who came out. And thanks to Nancy for giving us a bunch of great pics that night. Check out this one - the three of them look awesome in it!! And keep checking WWW.CIRCUSDIABLO.COM for new pics, vids and news.
So now we move into a few weeks of inactivity - October will be a busy month for me, with some Camp Freddy shows, and a Circus Diablo show at The Viper Room in Los Angeles on October 14th. For now, I intend to do some work at home on the sites, and on those new Diablo tunes that have been sitting in my computer for months. I also plan to get a video edited and up on the MySpace page and the Diablo website from the Key Club show. We got given a DVD of the show that came out really good, so we wanna get one of those songs up on the web for everyone. I'll have a few weeks to just dick around on the sites and tweak to my hearts content - I hope to get the whole Diablo merch page up and running too. We do have shirts and I am trying to figure out getting a Paypal thing happening. Its a little more complicated than a standard Paypal account, cos its classed as a business account. But I am trying to wrap my head around it, so we can get the tees up there for everyone.
All questions will now be answered. Matt was asking how possible it would be to get a picture with Camp Freddy. The answer is - I dont know!! Theoretically, it would be easy. We dont mind at all. But getting everyone in the same room is the tough part! I suppose if someone was in a soundcheck when we were all there, then a pic would be no problem. So all you gotta do is find out when we are playing, blag your way into the soundcheck, bribe the tour manager to get him to tell us you are there ...... and you got it!!!!
Finally, it seems that the I-Tunes single, Surrender, is a worldwide release. So its good to see you all downloading it. I think it came out sounding great, and I'm really proud that we finally got a track released! Now all we have to do is finish that album and get that out!! Who knows when that will happen, but one of these days, we'll get to it. Thanks to everyone for all the love and support - I love being a part of this whole extended web community, and I cant wait to get out there with Diablo next year and meet you all. Gotta dash, so for now, have a great day, be nice to people, and I'll see ya soon.
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 12:12 PM | Comments (22)
September 04, 2006
PHOENIX RISING
Well, Scottsdale, AZ, actually ..... but whatever! We leave tonight on an overnight to tomorrows show. Movies for the bus include Poseidon, 16 Blocks and The Sentinel. Main news for today is that we have decided to do another Los Angeles show in October - this time at the Viper Room. Our schedules are busy, with Freddy having a busy October and The Cult being on the road around that time, but we are all having a blast in Circus Diablo, and that weekend is free for all of us. So why not, right? I advise people strongly to get their tickets in advance, as the club is WAY smaller that The Key Club. More details as I get them.
I also want to officially thank Wendybird for all the great pics from these shows recently - we all appreciate the documentation of our initial outings, and the pics are fantastic. What more could we want? I hope you are all enjoying her pics, both here, and on WWW.CIRCUSDIABLO.COM.
Dont forget that tomorrow is the release date for Camp Freddy's debut single on I-Tunes. Surrender will be available exclusively on the I-Tunes website for two weeks, and I will make sure that we have direct links from the sites once the link in the Music Store is active. As far as the questions about if it will be available on UK or European I-Tunes ..... I really have no idea. And I don't really know how to find out. I suppose we all just have to take a look tomorrow, and if its up there ..... BUY IT!!!
Hope everyone has a nice, relaxing Labor Day here in the US, and for everyone else around the world ..... well, its not a holiday for you lot, but have a great day anyway!! A V-Blog is a possibility from Arizona - I have the camera with me. Now all I have to do is actually remember to turn it on occasionally!! I'll be back midweek - till then .....
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 10:30 AM | Comments (9)
September 01, 2006
LAS VEGAS AGAIN
Today is the Circus Diablo Las Vegas show, upstairs at The House Of Blues at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. By all accounts, the venue is a strange one. James Brown is playing in the main room, but apparently The House Of Blues now has an alternative venue, upstairs, that holds 500 people. The stage is small and round, and from what I've seen, will hold our drumkit .... MAYBE!!! So who knows what the gig will be like! The Bangkok Five and The Glitterati will be with us again, so three rock bands, with three lots of gear, will be attempting to fit on a stage the size of a postage stamp!! Should be amusing! But we get a chance to rock again, so who cares, right??!! As usual, Vegas is a mixed blessing for me - LOVE the vibe, the taste, the smell ..... for about 20 minutes. Then I am bored, over it, ready to return. We play at about 1.30am - how does that town exist? I mean who goes ON stage at 1.30am in the morning??? Only in Las Vegas!!
The week has been a weird one for me - some personal issues that need to be taken care of have been getting in the way of my usual madness, but it seems that I can have it all resolved by the end of next week, so fingers crossed that after that, my world will settle back down again. The big news for this blog is that the Camp Freddy single, SURRENDER, will be an exclusive on I Tunes from September 5th - NEXT WEEK!! And it will only be an exclusive for two weeks - so get in there and buy the tune! Lets have a success for the first Camp Freddy song to make it out there. The usual banners, links and build up will be appearing on all sites, making it VERY easy for you guys to go spend your 99 cents!
Thats all I got for you this morning. A long ride out to the desert is in my immediate future, so I need to pack a bag, get all my techie stuff together (never leave the house without a laptop, I-Pod, PSP and some juicy Bose headphones!!) and of course ...... consume the caffeine!! If you havent seen it yet, check out the Ants Invasion teaser video on the Circus Diablo home page.SEE THE DIABLO TEASER VIDEO HERE. I knocked it up yesterday for something to do and it came out ok. Thanks to all who sent pics from the Key Club - the lighting looked great and you all got some great pics. Heres a couple from Mike D for ya.
I believe Matt and Dono are doing CFR tomorrow, so I will be back after the Vegas gig with a report and pics as usual.
Peace
Billy
Posted by vivelerock at 05:55 AM | Comments (15)