Counting days....

31 Days until I leave for the UK....38 until the Rave:

Blog Shout Out...

If you didn't know, Deke Dickerson now has a blog. It's interesting, at times funny and very informative, if you are interested in long ago musicians and Deke's adventures

....you can check it out here, Muleskinner aka Deke's Blog.

One of my favorite bands of Viva...Jesse and the Orbits

One last bit about Viva!!!

So...the guy who was passed out in the hall....well...

Monday, we stopped at Frankie's Tiki Room so I could buy Imaginary Husband a shirt (his name is Frank). My passed out friend was there! So were Mary and Patrick! We all hugged and Passed Out Guy bought me a Tiki Mug full of diet coke! What a sweetie!

Viva Las Vegas...Sunday...sigh...

Sunday at Viva is always bittersweet....it's the last day, you know you are going to have to leave the next day and return to the real world.

I woke up about 2 P.M....no big surprise since I had been going to sleep around 7 A.M. all weekend. We ordered room service but there was an incident when the food arrived....

The incident that caused the situation

The culprit responsible for the situation

Even though it was late, I still went down to the pool party. We got there about 5, it was windy, we missed everything, and decided to go inside and were only there for half hour. I wasn't that disappointed, aside from missing my friends from the Bay Area who were all at the party.

I forgot to mention that I saw the drunk guy who had been passed out in the hall...more on him later....

I met a really nice guy, Kevin "Jittery Jack", but that may have been on Saturday...I also chatted with a nice fellow from Germany who was hanging out smoking, then decided to go change for the evening. 

I wore a blue velvet cocktail dress I bought on Ebay for about $30 bucks a few months ago. When Jess and I were trolling through the Casino we ran into our friend, Sean Law. He wasn't supposed to come to Viva because he had to work Saturday, but road warrior that he is, he came all the way from Vancouver on Sunday and went to LA for a couple days after. Sean is going to be one of my Chalet mates at the Rave next month.

I wore flats that night cause I was raring to dance, it being the last night. I went to the ball room where records were spinning and had a dance with E and with Holly's man, Oscar. Both are excellent dancers!

First band we watched was Kim Lenz! It was great getting to see her play again. Nick is no longer in her band, but her new guitar player, Mario is a great replacement. 

Next was the Stars of Rockabilly Show....my favorite set of the night. Young Jesse and Roddy Jackson were really amazing. I even bought a Roddy Jackson T-Shirt!

Next we watched the nice guy we met, Kevin, aka "Jittery Jack." He was backed by an all star line-up, Deke Dickerson, Dave Wolfe, and Chris "Sugarballs" Sprague on drums.

Now, onto the last Hop of the weekend. We moved over to the small ballroom and Kim was staying up late bopping with me. I got lots of random photos and stole some from Sean who was there with me to the bitter end. The hop was supposed to end at 5:30, but when no one was leaving the ballroom, James stepped up, took over the decks and spun until 7AM. Afterwards everyone who stayed helped clean up the room for security and staff. It was an amazing end to an amazing weekend!

Three of the Caezars, Hayley and Clare...plus an American at the last hop

 Andy and D Jiving

E and I Jiving (or is that Oscar?)

 The Sureshots were the last men standing with me

 James was our hero when he took over the decks and kept the hop going!

All of us helping clean up

 

Viva Las Vegas....Saturday night!

After the Car Show Jess and I went to eat dinner with Karl and Renee at the Japanese/Chinese restaurant. The food was OK, but not great, in my opinion. I'm not into sushi so I ordered Chinese and it just wasn't as good as my favorite Chinese restaurant at home.

Next we got dressed up to go out. I forgot my camera like a goof, so let me see if I remember what bands we saw...aawwww....who cares...here's some photos from the night:

Me in my fabulous Suzy Perette dress....I paid way too much money for it!

Jess and I being silly

With Bridget and Natalie. 

Now I remember who was playing! The Caezars! Those cute boys I loved so much last year. Here are some photos from their set. They were quite the rockstars that night and the models from Pin-up Girl Clothing were asking me a lot of questions about them. I had the sad task of telling them that most of the boys are in serious relationships. They are such nice lads. 

AJ the singer

 Danny

I had the good fortune of having a Jive with Steve, the bass player. I felt quite smug dancing with the best looking boy in Vegas!

Alas, I didn't get a photo of Mikey playing, in fact, I stole these photos from my friend Mary, and the photos of myself from Jess and Natalie. 

It was another late night at the hops, dancing with any poor sucker who would! I got to dance with someone from Barcelona, and a Londoner. Writing about this is making me look forward to the Rave so much!!!

Viva...Saturday...Car Show and Jerry Lee Lewis!

I had an appointment at noon to have my hair done by T-Bone from His Vintage Touch so I set my alarm for 11. After being up until after 7 AM, I tried to wake up, and ended up calling T and telling him I was having trouble standing and opening my eyes. Lucky for me, he felt the same and was cool with me canceling my appointment.

I laid in bed and dozed and chatted with the girls who were getting up. Dorian was going to work at the Cockgrease booth and had to take off. I ordered room service and got off my butt and got ready for the car show. I finally got down there about 4 and ran into Holly and her man, Oscar outside the car show. We snapped a few photos.

 

I also saw my friend Mary who lives in Colorado. Mary is good friends with the people I am going to visit in Scotland. Mary was talking to a sweet Scottish girl named Cecelia, and we took this photo for our Scottish friends who didn't come to Viva this year.

At the Car show I found Jessica and she told me Hans, one of the Swedish guys had a heart attack! He had been taken away on a gurney. About an hour later, we saw Hans at the car show, beer in one hand and a cigarette in another. We questioned him about the heart attack and he lifted his shirt to show us the electrodes...he told us, "I had a heart attack, but signed myself out....Rock N Roll is gonna kill me, but I'm not missing Jerry Lee!" 

We had to wait around a while, but eventually the Killer emerged after his sister, Linda Gayle sang a few songs.

We watched most of his set, but were getting hungry. We found our San Francisco crew and snapped a few photos. I think I spilled a drink in my camera Friday night, and most of my photos were a little foggy. 

SF Ladies, from Left to right, Me, Jessica, Kim (our 4th roomie), Renee, and Maya

 

 

Jessica and Lola Devlin looking lovely in green

 

Patrick and the SF boys, Scott, Oran and Karl

SF Girls and Bakelite...YES

Gasoline Cowboys!

I want to interrupt my Viva blogs to talk about a vendor that was vending at Booze Broads and Hotrods Saturday. Gasoline Cowboys is a company that contracts with Dehen, who have been consistently producing the highest quality wool motorcycle sweaters since 1920. These are not just reproductions, they are the real deal! Made on the same machines and cut to the same pattern that were produced from the 20s to the 40s. You can click the link above to look at the sweaters and club jackets that they sell.

The following is from their website:

Founded in 1920 by William P. Dehen, who made his mark by making hardy woolen sweaters for the American sports man. Today Dehen is still family owned, now well into it’s third generation. This is in no small part due to their obsession with quality and service.
The Gasoline Cowboy project originated from the desire to bring to the market Dehen’s unique Motorclothes and Raceware. Honoring the original designs for their simplicity and authenticity, these hand made products with trims and specialty embroideries are manufactured from the original Dehen designs of the 1930's and 40’s. This includes the shape and cut of the clothes which is often slimmer and closer fitting than the current contemporary cuts. This authenticity is what gives the Gasoline Cowboys range a different style and feel from mainstream modern clothing.

PRE “WILD ONES” FASHION

Club Sweater “Fort Sutter M.C.” circa 1940 courtesy of Rin Tanaka

Before WWII, Motorcycling was seen as a sport. The A.M.A. (American Motorcycle Association) sanctioned competition racing, hill climbs and recreational events such as the Gypsy tours. Many motorcycle clubs sprang up and each wore it’s own distinctive riding apparel, usually a colorful wool turtlezip sweater complete with decorative name and town embroidered on them. Likewise racers were sponsored by either the motorcycle manufacturer or by local dealers who would outfit their hero in tough sweaters for practical reasons of promotion and easy recognition on the track.
At this time the motorcycle manufacturers aimed their advertising at the outdoors man and the adventurer. The image they presented in their advertising always cast the motorcycling sport in it’s best light. The industry politely ignored the fact there were plenty of badly behaved young men blasting across the countryside raising hell and making as much racket as possible.
As war clouds gathered, racing and motorcycling in general was put on hiatus till hostilities ceased. When peace broke out in 1945, American servicemen were demobed. During the war, they had earned regular pay, but found little to spend it on. Once back home with wallets full of cash many of this generation bought motorcycles.

Club Sweater”Tri City MC” circa 1950 courtesy of Rin Tanaka

The A.M.A. also realized that the war had exposed many Americans to motorcycling; veterans came back with experiences of military Harley Davidsons, Indians and the more sporty British bikes. Also back home, shortages of metals and fuels had encouraged people to ride instead of drive. Eager to keep these new riders, the A.M.A. sanctioned competitions and organized Gypsy Tours with renewed enthusiasm.
Life in the Armed Services, however, was not a particularly good place to acquire social graces. Many felt bored with civilian life after the perilous war years and some chose to seek out other adrenalin junkies. This resulted in the forming of hundreds of small motorcycle clubs with names like the ‘Lucky 13’s’ the 'Top hatters', ‘Ramblers', and the ‘Bombers'. Members wore club sweaters; rode in formation not unlike the bomber squadrons and partied together.
However, these new motorcyclists drank harder, and were more rambunctious than the pre-war riders, this culminated in the infamous July 4th Hollister “riot” made infamous by Hollywood in the film "The Wild Ones”.
As Marlon Brando rode off into the sunset perched on his motorcycle wearing his leather jacket he changed the face of motorcycling forever. Whether his “Johnny” character was true to life or not, it mattered little as his portrayal of the brooding nomad, the outcast, was the perfect tonic for America's exploding youth culture. Motorcycling had always attracted larger than life characters but now it was linked intrinsically with outlaws and rebellion.

Club Sweater “Portland AMA” circa 1938 courtesy of Rin Tanaka

Slowly the motorcycle sweaters were put away as the GI’s grew older to be replaced by cutoff denim and buckskin worn by the younger Easy Rider generation and then later, the biker anti fashions of the 70’s and 80’s.
Throughout this time, Dehen never stopped making these high quality race sweaters which were always a special order item; custom pieces made specifically for individual clubs. At Gasoline Cowboys our mission is to bring this line of Dehens motor clothes to a wider audience with designs available individually as well as serving larger custom orders.
When choosing Gasoline Cowboys you are choosing a rare option – to buy hand made apparel, direct from an American heritage brand - Dehen of Portland.

My hope is that I can get one before my big trip to the UK. That will then require me to buy some motorcycle boots....poor me! 

Viva...Friday :-)

Friday, my task upon waking was to get to a branch of Bank of the West. The night before our departure, I had left my bank card in the cash machine! Yes, when I am getting ready for a fabulous party, I will become all sorts of absent-minded just thinking of the fun I will have. Luckily, there was a branch just shy of two miles away, so I zipped over to withdraw some cash so I would not be begging people to buy me diet cokes all weekend.

Friday day was uneventful to my recollection, except for the discussion I had with the infamous Felicia. Actually, I take that back. I had the good fortune of meeting Cat from The Vintage Housewife . She was a dear and you can click the link to view photos of our meeting. I saw Holly, aka Tempermental Broad who I have gotten to know better this last Vegas. She is adorable and I want to put her in my pocket and take home with me every time I see her.

I picked up a gold confetti lucite yo-yo I had won on ebay for $12 and had shipped to the hotel. It matched my jewelry perfectly so I went upstairs to change after feeling quite sad in the vendors area because I couldn't buy anything. I want to save all my pennies for my UK trip next month.

I decided that Friday would be my "Gold Lame" night.

I didn't really get any good pics and no pics of my yo-yo!

 The top is a Suzy Perette, the skirt I had made with vintage fabric and I carried my gold confetti lucite purse that has seen better days.

The first band I snapped photos of was a great band from the UK, Jesse and the Orbits. I met the lead singer, Natasha, the night before and just loved her. I met quite a few young Londoners and thought they were all adorable and very sweet.

When the band was finished playing, a nice couple approached me and told me they read my blog and that they had followed my band recommendations and had not been disappointed yet! That made me feel quite good to know someone was benefiting from something I wrote.

I missed a couple bands I wanted to see because I was dealing with the situation following the incident with Felicia. "Situation" and "incident" were words that Dorian, Jess, Kim and I used together quite frequently to discuss shenanigans that we witnessed or partook in that weekend. 

The next band up was the Sureshots. I saw them at the second US Rave and enjoyed them. The Bombshells had been negotiating to book them, but it had fallen through. 

Gary from the Sureshots

 Joe from the Sureshots

I went upstairs to change and spent the rest of the night, into the wee hours of the morning at the record hop in the Big Easy. The Big Easy's dance floor was superb. Nice, slick hard wood. Perfect for jiving. 

When I was going back to my room, I came across a guy passed out in the hall. He had fallen asleep, outside his room, a pile of money next to one hand and his room key in his other. I wish I had taken a photo, but I was more concerned that his money would be stolen. I tried to wake him, but he was not opening his eyes. I shoved his money and key in his breast pocket and went back to my room. Sunday I saw him in the hall and told him it was me that put his money in his pocket. He promised to buy me a drink.