Favorite Live Shows

U2 Zoo TV Tour. 2 shows, arena tour with Pixies opening (loud!), Outside tour with Sugarcubes and Public Enemy opening.

Depeche 101 Pasadena Rosebowl, World Violation Tour (2 shows), Devotional Tour (4 shows). Also saw first leg of Music For Masses tour, Singles Tour and Ultra tour.

Duran Duran Strange Behaviour, 87. First concert, Erasure opened the show. Saw them in 89, Big Thing tour, and 2008, Red Carpet Massacre tour.

Midnight Oil SDSU, didn't know much about them, liked "Beds Are Burning." They were awesome live. saw them again years later at 4th and B San Diego, still great.

James Brown, Camp Pendleton, mid 90s. AMAZING show, shooks his hand after!

Ramones, saw them twice, Lollapalooza and opening for Pearl Jam as a surprise guest.

AC/DC - Play what the people want to hear, the hits!

Iron Maiden/DIo/Moterhead. Great bill, great show, all access passes, got to wacth Maiden from behind the soundboard.

Morrissey - Saw his first solo US show, SD Sports Arena. Crowd was so crazy they had to sto the show and turn the lights on. Loved the rockabilly backing band. Seen him 2 other times.

Rocket From the Crypt and Lucy's Fur Coat - My two favorite San Diego bands. Always put on great shows, brings me back to a fun time going to a lot of local shows.

The Cult, always kick out the jams. Seen them at SDSU twice, Casbah reunion show, Coors Ampitheatre.

Iggy Pop, amazing show from a guy who is 50 and ROCKs! The guy is insane, explosive.

The Cramps - Seen the Cramps several times, some good, some bad. Best shows were HOB Sunset Strip, Hootenanny and at on Flamejob tour.

Oingo Boingo - Many shows at SDSU. Still miss the Halloween shows, got to see their last show at Universal Amp. Played more than 3 hours! They were still playing as Universal crew started to break down the stage!

Nine Inch Nails, saw them in Tijuana after first album came out in a small legendary club called Iguana's. LOUDEST show ever. Amazing. Universal Amp with Jim Rose Circus and Marilyn Manson for Downward Spiral tour, amazing! Also saw them on Fragile tour.

INXS on the Kick tour, really impressive.

Tom Petty - Ex GF got cheap tix, I didn't want to go but was really surprised.

Steel Dan - Another show with an ex I didn't want to go to, but they were really good. SUPER TIGHT band.

Metallica at Hootenanny were much better than I expected.

Violent Femmes - Saw several INSANE VF shows in the early 90s.

Social D- I've prob seen them 20 something times. Good and bad shows. Favs include shows at Casbah, Vegas, SOMA and Mike Ness first solo shows.

Rev Heat - Also prob seen them nearly 20 times. Good memories of upfront Belly Up shows. The same shtick got boring after a while though.

Supersuckers - Another bunch of great Belly Up shows, also somewhere near 20 times on them. At their peak during the Sacrilicious shows.

Eric Clapton - Played Dodger Stadium and managed to make it fell like he wasn't playing Dodger Stadium. Giant video screens help.

Bowie - Sound and Vision tour. Not the best venue, Dodger Stadium, not the best show, but great visuals and stage show, and awesome to see Bowie.

Biggest show regrets - Not seeing Johhny Cash one of the two times I had the chance, not seeing Nirvana one of the two times I had the chance, never seeing Duran Duran with the full original line-up, early years or 00 reunion years, not seeing Joe Strummer play the Hootenanny the year or two before he died, not talking to Johnny Ramone as we literally bumped into each other coming out of the bathroom at HOB Sunset Strip.

Bands I've Seen Live

First concert was Duran Duran, Erasure opened.

This list isn't complete, mostly off the top of my head, with some help from my incomplete ticket stub book!

duran
erasure
depeche
the farm
nizter ebb
ned's atomic dustbin
midnight oil
iggy pop
b52s
cramps
ziggy marley
de la soul
pil
new order
sugarcubes
u2
pixies
public enemy
inxs
eric clapton
bowie
lenny kravitz
thomas dolby
omd
wire
james brown
hank III
social d
rev heat
supersuckers
tenderloin
jesse dayton
metallica
ramones
pearl jam
bad religion
rancid
rocket from crypt
lucy's fur coat
deadbolt
aminiature
drip tank
contra guerra
fluf
uncle joe's big ole driver
creedle
cadillac tramps
x
pennywise
nofx
no doubt
blink 182
agent orange
damned
circle jerks
sex pistols
cult
circle jerks
village people
the fixx
brian setzer
tito and tarantula
oingo boingo
eric clapton
elton john
sting
mike ness
dick dale
rem
el vez
ac/dc
iron maiden
dio
motorhead
queensryche
rob halford
buck o nine
nine inch nails
marilyn manson
violent femmes
morrissey
tom petty
blondie
stevie nicks
alanis morrisette
fear
the paladins
big sandy
robert gordon
link wray
morphine
steely dan
face to face
rugburns
steve poltz
soundgarden
screaming trees
tsol
deftones
collective soul
offspring
guttermouth
beat farmers
pink
blue man group
amazing royal crowns
big bad voodoo daddy
royal crown revue
exploited
gbh
distillers
buzzcocks
joan jett
public enemy
dave wakeling
dave vanian
gene vincent's blue caps
scotty moore

My 39 Year Dental Saga

I’m nearly 40, and I’ve had braces for nearly 9 years. Now that’s some jacked up teeth. Always a point of suffering for me, terrible overbite. Teased since I was a little kid. I say “since” because I’ve even gotten teased about my teeth as an adult by adults. Kids teasing kids I’ll give you. I even have gotten teased by kids as an adult.

Almost as bad is being a pseudo “dental wonder.” A dentist tip is bad enough for a little kid, but when one dentist calls another in and they lean over you to see how bad your overbite is, they might as well be teasing you. Just recently as and adult I had to got thru the same thing. I’ve got some weird bone in my mouth that’s apparently bigger than normal. Two nurses had to come in and poke their fingers in my mouth, just to see.

Braces suck period. My parents got me started on getting my teeth fixed when I was a teenager. Eventually I broke my headgear. My parents asked me if I wanted to continue or not. What was I going to say? That shit hurt, and it looked ridiculous. PLUS, I had to wear it to school now and again. You think kids tease you for buck teeth? Try wearing headgear.

The thing about getting braces when you’re young, is that you’ll have sweet teeth when it matters, high school and college. Plus, Mom and Dad can over them. That’s shit’s not cheap.

It’s always amazed me too how people think you’re a halfbreed or missing a chromosome if you have dental issues. They seem shocked when you can speak.

Another interesting thing about braces, is you can store food in them, and not usually by choice. You’ll be walking around and find an onion piece suddenly in your mouth. Wow, I haven’t had onions for like a week! You’re like a pissed of chipmunk in winter.

My orthodontist’s office is geared towards kids, because that’s probably about 95 percent of his clientele. Another couple percent are adults who got their teeth fixed but didn’t wear their retainers so now they’re back for more. Then there’s me. My orthodontist says I’m the patient he’s had the longest, and I need to get done soon, before he retires. They don’t even CHARGE me for visits anymore. They should give me a damn key.

So the ortho office is decorated with all this superhero and comic book shit. When you get started you get to pick whether you get a “before” photo with Superman or the Fantastic Four. I wanted my photo with four of the hot dental assistants. They don’t have to worry about little kids staring at their boobs, just me, patient zero.

It’s also a tough one when your orthodontist looks like he needs to make an appointment with himself. He’s supposed to be an expert on my mouth, but apparently has had all the mirrors in his house covered or removed.

Now, it’s all so structured. They put you in the chair, “put you back” and then blind you with the prison escape light. The dental assistants do most of the work, then the orthodontist comes over and pretends he’s looking, pokes you with a hook and send you on your way. Most of the girls wear a little something, like a mask, or glasses or something. One girl practically wears a welding suit. There are a couple of girls who don’t wear any facial protection. They must like to get splashed with saliva from people they barely know.

It’s like a throwback to the old dental days. Used to be no one cared. Blood and spit would be spraying everywhere, the patient’s, doctor’s and the assistant’s. Still had the same bloody hooks though, that hasn’t changed.

They’ll always have you “help” by holding your lips open…instead of a speculum, they give you a lip seperator, basically a…speculum. They have you stretch your lips and then ask if you're comfortable.

I also hate getting my teeth cleaned. It always hurts. I have nerves close to the surface of my teeth I’ve been told. I always have to get plaque scraped off, and something done to my gums that makes them bleed. The hygienist tells me my gums are bleeding “due to excessive plaque buildup.” No, my gums are bleeding because you are peeling them back and poking them with a metal prod. When I came in, my mouth had plaque build up and wasn’t bleeding. When I went to bed last night, my mouth had plaque build up. They didn’t start bleeding until someone started scraping teeth and probing gums.

You have to get your braces tightened all the time with new wires. They always ask you if anything is uncomfortable, poking or hurts. Ya, how about the 5K of orthodontia in my mouth? ALL of it is uncomfortable, poking and hurts.

One of my issues was that there was not a lot of room in my mouth, so they had to make room. So they wire in this thing called an expander. Looks like a mechanical spider they put in your mouth. I was supposed to give it a crank every other night, to spread its “legs” and these spread my mouth. It’s like attached to brackets in my mouth, seemingly permanent.

So my mouth expands in like record time, and they decide the spider can come out. This happened because my wife who was my girlfriend at the time, decided if one crank every other night was good, three every night would be better. Just about put me thru the roof each time, but sped things up. So this thing is done and needs to come out. They go in with bolt cutters like the Jaws of Life, like we’re on the side of the freeway in horrible twisted wreckage. They’re digging in here like a concentration camp trying to cut thru barbed wire to freedom. Finally they break loose.

Then there’s these “impressions.” They take this crap and put it in your mouth, and it hardens and makes a model of your teeth and jaws. I’ve had more of these done of my mouth than Bigfoot has had casts of his footprints. They always get stuck, or gag me with the plates or the cement. But these nearly 100 casts of my mouth are SOMEWHERE I suppose. Probably in some museum of the bizarre.

So the final step is jaw surgery. They break my lower jaw and move it forward. Then my mouth and jaw are banded shut for 6 weeks. Despite the obvious weight loss advantage, it’s going to suck. I can’t even use a straw for a while. I have to squeeze a feed back into my piehole for nutrients.

The jaw surgery should help my sleep apnea, TMJ, chewing alignment, and all that. I’m a catch, ladies!

Everyone tells me how different I am going to look after the surgery. Maybe I can fake my death and start anew, who knows? I’d like them to wrap my head in bandages until I heal, and when they unwrap them, a completely different actor can be playing my character.

Insurance was no help. Told me time after time, the surgery was not a medical necessity. Until the time I told them the court costs and settlement cost from me suing them would be much less than simply paying for the surgery. Thank god I didn’t need a lung or new heart. Suddenly it was “Congratulations, we’ve approved your procedure!”

After 39 years. I’ll finally have straight teeth and a jawline. Hopefully not Jay Leno’s jawline. Hopefully I’ll drop about 20 LBS. Watch out ladies!