Best Vending Machine at a Rehearsal Studio in NYC

Funkadelic Studios. This makes me proud of them.

* I posted this a couple days ago and discovered that many of my male friends did not know what that was. They thought it was a cigar or something (...mostly male friends who haven't been married..). Or I just took a BAD PICTURE. So just to be sure its clear, its a TAMPON in the vending machine, available along with guitar strings, picks, metronomes, earplugs, and every thing else a musician might need. Another guy friend said he's put a tampon under guitar strings to make it sound banjo-ish so maybe thats what its for..... Ha! Nah....

Lets lighten things up...

Here's a picture of my dog Django in McCarren park, Brooklyn, during the 'snowstorm'. Added a lil' touch from the new Cat Paint app on my iphone..

Last days of CBGB's

Been thinking lately about the last days of CBGB's..... So here's some pics for nostalgia sake. I have SO many more, including images of the MOB of people staring in at me on the last night before the doors opened and Patti Smith played.... I can't believe I was the SAME person as when I worked there/made it our stomping ground! So much has changed since then... I often hear the phrase "people don't change" and I have to disagree. Some people change slower than others, and in different ways, thats all.... The closing of this place was a SAD but inevitable change that influenced a lot of people in different ways. We tried to keep it as a museum as it should have been. Instead there are just pictures and memories.... Anyway, I heart Cb's!

When the place got emptied out at the end, the mural behind the second bar appeared again. Here it is... wow...! It was always SOOO dark behind the bar, we never knew what this painting was. That and the fact that boxes of beer endlessly piled the floor in front of it, up to the ceiling. Only on a SUPER busy night when the boxes starting coming down as we ran through beer could we see our old friend here peeking through...that comforting drunken expression....: -)

Genya Ravan

(Words from her website): Being part of the first successful all-girl band, Goldie and the Gingerbreads, she paved the way for bands like Fanny, The Go-Go’s and The Bangles. She went on to front the powerful horn band Ten Wheel Drive, and she has many production credits, including Ronnie Spector and The Dead Boys, and she started her own record label.


ARTICLE about GENYA RAVAN

Genya Ravan early on with Goldie and the Gingerbreads

Turtles, Tanks, and Teeth...

Took a break from band-coaching the FIERCE teen-band THE AWKWARD TURTLES last week, cause' I was feeling a lil' queasy, and went to rest next to a lil' friend here in the school's science room. Nothing says "your school's science room" like a gurgling fish tank, a hamster that bites, and the smell of the heat-lamped lizard cage. Aww...

But all the while "resting" I hear drums POUNDING, distorted guitars, and screaming "giggles of chaos" ("G.O.C."?) from the girls' practice room while they played rocknroll cover-snippets at full volume during their lil' break.

To hear original songs from this inimitable and awesome teen girl band, simply click here: THE AWKWARD TURTLES

Westminster Dog Show, the supermodels

Just taking another detour from writing about WOMEN and GUITARS to report on the Westminster Dog Show and a few other things that happened yesterday. First...I tried to storm the Bryant Park fashion week tents and....they LET ME IN. HUH... I told the bored security at the door that I didn't have an invite. They thought about it, then shrugged and moved aside...wow. I guess I had that little sumpthin sumpthin which made me immediately feel better about myself, especially since I had met the 6'4", 105 lb "Shalom" model the night before at the Jonathan Richman concert and felt like a 5'6", 120 sumpthin lb chunky dwarf. But she was SO SWEET and I quickly recognized that no matter how much one fights stereotypes in magazines and episodes of the "Millionaire Matchmaker", sometimes that conditioning still sneaks in and makes ya feel insecure. Anyway, NEXT year I hope to get a real ticket to the runway shows.

Then we went to the Westminster Dog Show and even more surprisingly I was able to WALK IN with a full Starbucks Latte. The security guard even gave me the quick hand pass and made everyone else dump theirs out! I really DO have that little sumpthin sumpthin tonight! Madison Square Garden won't even let you buy a bottled water THERE with a cap on it. At this point I was feeling...pretty GOOD...

Here's some pictures from the Dog Show. During the judging of "Best In Show" at the end, a PETA member stormed the floor and stood on the platform in the center holding a sign up. As one woman was being taken a way, a second woman PETA member came out and did the same. Unfortunately they hadn't planned well enough to show the sign to more than ONE side of MSG so I couldn't read it from our side and couldn't get a worthy picture... The one below of "MUTTS RULE" is from an online site. The rest of the photos show the REAL SUPERMODELS of the world, these dogs. I saw one share steak and potatoes from the same fork as its owner. They sleep, are pampered, eat and live better than me, and come out once a year or more to strut their stuff... Off stage they acted just like the dogs they are....AWW.

MUTTS RULE.... They do. Ask my mutt dog and two mutt pussycats sitting here next to me.

And the owners tend to look and dress like their dogs... (wait...do I?)

Rockin with my boys

I have no idea what year this was. Guys can be fun to play with too :-)

"You cannot deconstruct unless you know how to construct." - Alexander McQueen

So very sad. He was absurdly creative.

CLICK LINK HERE to an article about Alexander McQueen

Rock Camp for Girls Benefit Auction

The Fourth Annual Rock N Roll Auction will be held Tuesday February 9th, 8 pm at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn!

http://www.williemaerockcamp.org/auction.html

I'll be auctioning off a Gift Certificate of 4 free lessons, guitar, bass, or drums. Fun!

"Roller Derby Saved My Soul"

This is my old band Uncle Leon & the Alibi's. I'm the drummer on this track as well as the whole album. I heard my intro drumming has been made into a ring tone. Cool!!

A couple summers ago we toured the U.S. playing at roller derby events...




Here's the rest of the album - cowpunk, rockabilly, with some sweet soulful ballads http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/uncleleonalibis2