The movie "Warrior"

I just finished watching the movie "Warrior" with Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte.  This movie is fucking phenomenal. I had initially passed on seeing it in the theater, what a mistake that was! It kicks ass from start to finish. The cast is so good. A part of me says that with the wrong actors this movie could have easily fell into the "straight to DVD" territory, but the script is so good that Jaleel White could have been cast and it probably still would have been great. But seriously Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte absolutely kill it in this movie. Come think of it, Nick Nolte was fucking awesome in "Tropic Thunder" too, this guy is on a role! The characters that this movie created were so inspiring . This is the "Rocky 4" for the new generation. Great music, perfect acting and a killer story. There is so much more to this movie than what the trailer shows. What a fantastic film. You have to see it. And by YOU, I mean the 14 years old in Denmark who found this blog after searching the internet for random Guns N Roses information. (for some reason this blog does very well over seas!)

The NAMM conference in Anaheim.

Me and Jay Schachter went to the NAMM conference in Anaheim this past Saturday and had a blast. Its like "Comicon" for Rock N Roll.  "NAMM" stand for the National Association of Music Merchants.  Similiar to a yearly auto show, the conference showcases the latest and greatest in music technology. But the best part about it is that all of the rock n roll stars go there for meet & greats!  Members of GNR, Slayer, Judas Priest and others were in attendance.

Its an "Industry Only" event but we got the hook up from Taylor Guitars, who got us the passes. 
Here is Taylor's website.
http://www.taylorguitars.com/

Below are some pictures from the show.

Me and Tom Zutaut. Tom is the A&R man who discovered Motley Crue and signed Guns N Roses to Geffen Records.  This guy is a huge part of Rock N Roll History.

Me and Duff McKagan, the original bassist for Guns N Roses. I never know what to say when I meet any GNR band members. I try to play it cool, but I probably come off like a girl in the 60's screaming for "The Beatles." Duff is a great guy who will actually have real conversations with his fans. We did some small talk about the 49ers football game and I'm sure I mumbled something about how he "rules". He signed my Robert John GNR photo book and my "Use Your Illusion II" album.

Me and Warren DeMartini from the band "RATT".   You know the opening guitar riff from the song "Round and Round", this is the guy that does it!

Tom Delonge from "Blink 182" and "Angels & Airwaves."

                                                        Rob Halford from "Judas Priest."

  Matt Sorum, the drummer for Guns N Roses, Velvet Revolver and Camp Freddy. I'd never met him before so that was an awesome surprise.  Matt drummed on GNR songs like "November Rain", "Estranged" and "You Could be Mine".

Steve Stevens the guitarist for Billy Idol.  Steve does all the cool guitar riffs on songs like "White Wedding", "Eyes Without a Face", "Rebel Yell" and "Rock the Cradle of Love." He was also on the VH1 show "Married to Rock" with his wife Josie.

The Niners lost. Calgon take me away!

The San Francisco 49ers had an awesome season this year and it all came to an end when they lost in the NFC Championship last night to a bunch of morons from the "Big crApple", the NY Giants. The Niners defense beat the shit out of Eli Manning all day and would have won the game if it wasn't for a few key mistake plays that favored the Giants.  Luckily they play again next season and It will be time for some revenge!  We had a group of dudes over to the house for the game and Dubin even brought some weird "Magic Lightbulb" that he said would guarantee a Niners victory, but they still ended up losing in Overtime. It sucks that now my NFL games are over, luckily Pro Wrestling doesn't have an off season.
Below are some pictures from our NFL Game Spaghetti dinner that we have every week.

(above) Dubin and Nighthawk show off their weird meat concoction for the Spaghetti. (yes, Dubin is wearing a sleeveless "Ed Hardy" shirt, with the "Magic Lightbulb" hanging around his neck.)

 I come into the kitchen for a snack, while Nighthawk continues to hold the meat pan for some reason.

Some pictures from the Mavrick Comedy Showcase.

Bethany Dwyer hams it up for the camera.

Erik Griffin backstage.

"The Greg Wilson" is always hilarious.

 Griffin hangs out after his set.

Ben Morrison after the show.

Here is a shot of us hanging out after the showcase, Gary Dubin, Myself, Dimo and Chris Wivell aka "Nighthawk".
       *Dubin is showing us the "Two" with his fingers, reminding us always that he was in
         the movie "Jaws 2", check your local listings. (if you have a TV guide from the 70's)

Book Review "Steve-O" Professional Idiot: a memoir

This is a great book.  I always knew that Steve-O must have been a Jackass long before he started doing it on television.  I just had no idea how much of an idiot he was before getting discovered.  He gives a very candid, self-aware look at his life before and after fame.  He's been through alot, bouncing from city to city, being homeless and broke, but having the utmost faith that he will someday become a famous stunt-man. His drug, alcohol and fame addiction are covered throughout the book.  It's got a lot of cool "behind the scenes" stories from the "Jackass" world and its a quick read so definitely check it out.

Comedy Showcase - Wednesday, January 18th 2012 - Comedy Store

It's time for another Comedy Showcase. Tomorrow night, (Wednesday, January 18th) is another Mavrick Artists Comedy Showcase at the Comedy Store on Sunset.  The show is free so come on down. It starts at 7:30pm.  This show rocks and everyone has a great time.

Book Review: Chris Hardwick's "The Nerdist Way"

I used to watch Chris Hardwick on the MTV show "Singled Out" with him and Jenny McCarthy. Then about 4 years ago I noticed he was back on the stand up comedy scene. He had seemed to have given up on his frat boy roots and was performing regularly at many of the "Alternative" rooms in Los Angeles.  These rooms are like Kryptonite to me, with their topical and intellectual humor these "comedy nerds" will shun you unless most of your punch lines reference Ben Franklin or Eli Whitney.  I was a little hurt that my Chris Hardwick, the sarcastic syndicated dating show host had turned to the "dark side." ... but I still decided to read his book because reading autobiographies is the closest I'll ever get to taking people's souls.

The book is actually pretty cool, it's written exclusively for "Nerdists".  A "Nerdist" is someone he describes as a modern day evolution of a stereotypical "Nerd".  Basically anyone who grew up getting picked on for liking stuff like Dungeons and Dragons and not showering. I was never a nerd, but to this day I still obsess over things like, Guns N Roses, Friday the 13th movies, WWE and Bigfoot, so I have some of the qualities of someone who would pay for sex.   The book is for all of these nerds who grew up and weren't able to reach their full "Bill Gates" potential.  It's about taking the focus that was used to excel on things like Video Games and whacking off, and using that same focus for self improvement. 

The book has a lot of helpful way's to start picking yourself up and working towards a better life.  I'll be using a lot of them to help myself reach some goals for 2012 so I'm definitely glad I read it.   Chris seems like a cool dude that is very self aware and is trying to help out some people.  The book is totally worth reading.  Self help books are great because they get people off their asses, even if only for an hour. But I guess anything is better than nothing.   

The book in stores now, and will also be available at the "99 cent store" in the year 2016, right next to the calendars. 

He's Back! Chris Jericho returns to the WWE!

On Tuesday, January 3rd I was laying on my couch at like 8am and decided to catch up on the episode of Monday Night Raw from the night before. I put on the show and after the first few matches I started to fall asleep. I was so fricken tired, I was gonna do that thing where you close your eyes and say "Ill just listen to the tv, and I'll still know what's going on." (that never works) - I fell fast asleep. But about an hour later I was jolted awake when a lightning bolt hit me square in the chest and I heard the words "Break the walls down!" as the return of Chris Jericho was happening on the screen. It jerked me up off the couch. It was awesome and it really happened!

Chris Jericho is back and up to his old tricks again. I like Jericho because he is a great wrestler and he is hilarious. And you can usually see him at the Rainbow Room or at Guns N Roses cover band concerts at "The Whiskey". (see below).  At the 2:50 mark is where I was woken up.

200th Stand up Comedy show of 2011.

My new years resolution for 2011 was to do 200 stand up comedy shows.  I reached that goal on Friday December 30th at the Federal Bar in North Hollywood. Special thanks to T.K and the Federal Bar staff for letting me do the final show of the year there.