Let's Take A Trip Shall We?

A huge hairy hello to all you metal warriors.  It's time for another edition of HAIR IN THE AIR.  Before I get started I want to touch on something from last week that really has made me proud to be in 3D In Your Face.  As most of you know Friday Nov. 30th we did a show with The Glam Gore Girls at the 21st Saloon in Omaha, NE.  For this show we also teamed up with The Food Bank for the Heartland to raise money for the less fortunate in the Omaha metro area.  I just had a conversation with the director of The Food Bank and he let me know that together we raised $174 and 40 lbs. of food.  That's right you crazy Rock N Roll fanatics found it in your heart to donate your hard earned money and make it possible for people to eat during this holiday season.  That much cash and canned food will provide 500 meals to people all over the Omaha area.  Thank you so much to everyone that donated.  Thank you to The Glam Gore Girls for helping us raise this money.  Thank you to our fans for supporting us in every endeavor we throw at you.

With that being said, this week we are doing something very special for our Friday night show at The 21st Saloon.  On Dec. 7th 3D In Your Face will be throwing our first ever Fat Jaks class reunion show.  That's right kiddies, we are figuratively going back to the 80's; with the midwest's premier Rock N Roll club.  Everybody who was anybody was at Fat Jaks.  All the biggest name bands from around the area made a pilgrimage to this holy rock night club to play, drink, and indulge in all forms of pleasure.  Never heard of Fat Jaks?  Well don't be ashamed.  I wasn't old enough to enjoy the magnitude of Rock coming out of this wonderful place.  But, you better believe I have heard my fair share of stories about this place.  "Fat Jaks this".  "Fat Jaks that".  "I got a blow job at Fat Jaks".  It never gets old.  This place was legendary and on Friday Dec. 7th, we will be celebrating all things Fat Jaks and all things 80s Rock N Roll.

As I said earlier I was never old enough to go to Fat Jaks.  But I am a firm believer that every band that tours regularly has a form of their own "Fat Jaks".  So sit back and let me paint you a picture of a legendary punk rock club that I used to frequent a few years back.  When I was 18 I helped to start a punk band named OFFICIALLY TERMINATED in Fremont, NE.  We were always different than most bands and we out grew Fremont real fast.  The band moved to Lincoln and started playing the club scene and touring regionally.  During this time (2007-2009) I was playing lead guitar and the band was playing everywhere that people would let us.  A friend of mine started a production company and started booking bands at the now infamous Saddle Creek Bar in Omaha.  Now kiddies this bar had nothing to do with Saddle Creek Records, quite the opposite.  This bar hosted blues, metal, hardcore, and most of all punk shows.  When you first walked in the place smelled of cheeseburgers (this is usually a good indicator that the club is going to get wild and you are going to have a lot of fun).  The stage was small but had a drum riser and a few lights.  The weirdest thing was, that in the middle of stage left a giant pole stuck out of the stage and went all the way to the ceiling.  I never understood why they just didn't take the pole out (load bearing I would guess).  The sound was amazing for punk shows and the PBR flowed like wine.  But most of all the reason why we loved this club was because they gave us free booze and we were known to indulge quiet heavily.

The Saddle Creek Bar became one of those places that we played religiously every month or so.  We would always load the bill with up and coming bands and get as many drunk punk rockers crammed into the room as possible.  The Shidiots are a band that survived this time period.  If OFFICIALLY TERMINATED and The Shidiots where playing together at The Saddle Creek Bar you better break out the plastic underwear and call yourself a cab.  We played there a ton of times but for the life of me I can only remember one show in particular.  It was a cold day in Dec and my best friend and guitar tech had just purchased a band van so OFFICIALLY TERMINATED could drive in luxury and style.  Little did we know that the $300 dollar Econoline couldn't drive faster than 50 mph.  We loaded up our gear and headed for The Saddle Creek Bar for our show.  After three hours on I-80 we finally made it to Omaha.  We pulled into the bar and the owner (A very cool guy, who loved music, and did great things for the music scene in Omaha) was waiting outside. We jumped out of the van and ran over to shake his hand.  "You guys are late and you are on now".  "Grab your gear and get on stage".  If anyone knows me they know that it takes me a good hour to get dressed for a show.  Not that I am all that concerned with fashion, but between the hair, makeup and tight pants it takes a few minutes to get it all right.  So as my guitar tech started setting our gear up, I ran to the ladies room to get changed.  Get your mind out of the gutters.  All the mirrors had been broken out of the men's restroom.  I open my suitcase and to my surprise, I forgot all of my makeup.  I started to panic.  The people were ready for some nasty punk rock and I had to eye shadow.  Sierra being quite the smart girl picked up a cube of blue pool chalk and handed it to me.  To my surprise it worked and looked pretty cool.  We got on stage and tore the place a new ass hole.  45 minutes of pure ground shaking punk rock fury covered in blue pool chalk.  As I said before we ended up playing The Saddle Creak Bar many times but for some reason all the other times were very blurry.

Fat Jaks.  Saddle Creak Bar.  Every band has this same club and I want to hear about it.  This is me calling you out.  I want to know about that bar you played that you called home.  The bar that brings up a few good memories and lots and lots of blurry ones.   This Friday we have the great pleasure to celebrate Fat Jaks, but you know what, this is going to be more than that.  We are celebrating our history.  We are celebrating Rock N Roll.  Friday night I will look back and remember playing snot-nosed punk rock to a room full of PBR drinking hooligans.  I will remember Dean, standing in the front row drinking Pepsi and loving every minute of it.  I will remember a van with amazing interior lights but couldn't make it up to the speed limit.  I will remember The Shidiots and Noise Junkie Productions.  What will you remember?  What will you be playing for?

HAIR IN THE AIR
SPADE