21 Gun Salute; A tribute to Randy Rhoads and The 21st Saloon.

Hello everyone and welcome to HAIR IN THE AIR, The Official Blog of 3D In Your Face.  I would like to start out by thanking each and everyone of you for helping make last weeks birthday bash one of the best birthdays I can remember.  I am overwhelmed by the out pouring of love that I received, not only on this blog and on the internet but at our shows in Omaha and Des Moines.  I don't have words to describe how special you made me feel.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart and a special thank you to the guys in my band for proving why we truly are The Nation's Number One 80's Show.  One last thank you goes out to Sniper, my best buddy, for penning a very beautiful and touching edition of HAIR IN THE AIR last week.

Enough of the mushy stuff.  Let's get down to it.  This is a very special week for two reasons.  The first being that our spring tour has started and we will begin traveling soon.  But for all you die-hards we are still playing at The 21st Saloon every Friday until Memorial Day. I thought a lot about what I wanted to write this week and I just kept coming back to The 21st Saloon.  Our run with this now legendary Omaha bar hasn't been a smooth one.  Being a house band is more difficult than I had imagined when I signed up for this last year.  But all the heart ache and stress we have been through is finally starting to prove fruitful.  The 21st Saloon/3D In Your Face relationship started a few years back.  We were hired on to play an 80's costume contest at a relatively unknown bar in the rock circuit in Omaha.  I didn't think to much about it that first night but when we showed up and started playing people started flooding in and not just our normal fans but random people we had never seen.  The atmosphere was there, the stage was there, and the people where there.  The best story from our first night at The 21st Saloon happened to me.  I was still a tech at the time and I got up to play Thunderstruck like usual.  The song started and I began running around the bar like an Olympic sprinter.  This in itself was not uncommon.  I stopped by the stage and climbed up on a chair to try and impress the crowd below me.  When the moment hit I did a jump kick off the chair but didn't realize that the chair I was standing on had wheels on it.  The chair flew back I fell onto a near by table holding 100 cupcakes and cocktails for a birthday party.  I hit the ground, my guitar hit the ground, and everyone of those cupcakes hit the ground.  There was frosting everywhere.  I was covered.  I swiftly got back up like it was all part of the show, but the damage had been done.  Now there were no cupcakes and the birthday girl was crying.  Great job SPADE you ruined someones birthday.  New rule NEVER STAND ON ROLLY CHAIRS.

I figured we would never play there again.  A year or so later we started our residency at The 21st Saloon and I was mortified to be returning to The Cupcake Incident.  We played out our first residency which was 16 Fridays to a lukewarm response.  People were excited but the crowds just weren't there.  Hot Rod just kept telling me, "Hold on.  Keep at it.  This is going to be the biggest party in Omaha."  Naturally I didn't believe him but we persisted.  For our second residency we decided that we would invite sponsors to come and be apart of the show.  We would have a different sponsor and a different theme every week.  Our goal was two fold, first we wanted to help promote local organizations that we fully believed in.  Secondly we wanted to cross promote with these organizations and reach new fans we might not reach and in turn our sponsors would reach potential new clients through our fans.  This was all well and good.  At the beginning the crowds were good but something changed.  Over the last few months each show has been a blow out.  I mean people out the door ready to get wild.  A new person has come into our circle who believes in what we are doing and has the drive and determination to make this residency successful for everyone.  Scott, the new bar manager came in like a flash of light and has turned The 21st Saloon into what I believe to be the most best bar in the entire city of Omaha.  Now you may disagree with me on this but I stand firm in my proclamation.  Scott has taken The 21st Saloon and given it the class it so desperately needed.  He has made this place not only into somewhere for people to hang out and be entertained but somewhere that people will return week after week.  It's not only a place where you can grab a beer and watch live music it's become a destination bar in Omaha.  I should know I have been playing there every Friday for almost a year and a half.  You mark my words, The 21st Saloon is the best bar in the entire city of Omaha.

Sorry my rant went a little long there.  I also wanted to quickly touch upon another very memorable thing that happened this week.  March 19th marks the anniversary of the death of one of the most influential guitar players of all time.  31 years ago today we lost Randy Rhoads.  Rhoads was perhaps best known for his work with Ozzy Osbourne and Quiet Riot.  Rhoads practically rewrote the book on guitar playing.  His style and talent were beyond anything heard at the time.  I myself was not old enough to experience Randy Rhoads first had but I can tell you that his influence was not lost on me at all.  I remember first coming across Ozzy when I was in 8th grade.  A teacher played a video for the class that was trying to link satanism and heavy metal music together.  The songs that came from that video shaped my entire future.  Not that I am obsessed with the devil or satanism but the power of Rock N Roll and Heavy Metal struck me that day like a locomotive.  A few years later when I began my vinyl collection, one of the first records I ever got was The Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads Tribute album.  I can still remember sitting in my parents house with those giant head phones on waiting for that needle to drop.  As soon as the record started it was all over.  Randy's guitar tone has never been duplicated.  You can always listen to an Ozzy song and go, "Yep that is Randy playing".  He changed the world of guitar playing and he changed the world of Rock N Roll.  Most of all he changed my life.  Thank you Randy Rhoads you will never be forgotten.

This Friday March 22nd we are back in action at The 21st Saloon.  We are bringing Spotlight Entertainment and DJ Steve back for another round of 80's karaoke.  You get the chance to sing whatever you want (as long as it was from the 80's) on our stage with our lights in front of our crowd.  Excited yet?  We will still be playing three sets of kick ass-ball crushing Rock N Roll but on our breaks you will get the chance to be the star.  Dress the part and start practicing those high notes.

ALWAYS LOUD
FOREVER PROUD

HAIR IN THE AIR
SPADE