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How to get up close, backstage and even meet the band! My back story  I love the experience of a live show, they are always bright spots in my life. As soon as I started going, my obvious goal was to get close to the performer. My very first concert was The Monkees in 2001 in San Diego California. I was brought into the rock and roll world by Davy Jones, who serenaded me during the show. After that it was endless amounts of interesting luck and fun experiences. Check out my list of all the concerts I've been to. Along the way during my desperate teenage attempts to meet famous people I learned a bunch of useful things. I'd like to pass on this random but helpful knowledge to future generations of new young concert goers. This page is a guide to getting the most at concerts. I've been to plenty and found out the successful strategies you can take! Ya know what the biggest lesson I learned was that I can tell you right now? ASK if you can go back stage, ask if y...

 Sometimes spontaneous and amazing things happen and more often than not for me they are connected to music. On March 9th 2019 I was invited to a Muse concert by a neighbor I pet sit for. Apparently her son works with the band Muse! This is how I ended up with VIP tickets. The opening band had just ended (we got there late). So there I was at the packed Oracle Arena, the atmosphere (in terms of lighting and sound) felt akin to a John Carpenter movie. I could tell we were in for something special and the ending result was YOU HAVE NO IDEA . Part of why this blog has taken so long to write is because I don't know how to truly articulate what I experienced. This is probably one of the first or few of the concerts that I've been to that was an experience . Let me explain... The band came on stage to an enthusiastic crowd opening with some of their new music from "Simulation Theory." Unfortunately for me I haven't kept up with Muse's music and am only real...

"Last night we bought tickets to see Elbow (British band) in November. Tickets could either be printed immediately at home, or for an extra $2.50 we could have the tickets mailed. I paid the $2.50. Anyone else feel like the ticket stub is an important part of the experience? A sheet of printer paper doesn't have the same feeling." a post from a friend. This facebook post got me thinking about the differences between the two. For one a printed ticket doesn't look as good, and is of course printed on paper instead of card stock. The feel of it both physically and literally is different despite the fact that in the end they are the same thing. I've realized I look at a ticket as a concert memento and I want hang on to it. Mailed tickets are simply nicer looking and sturdier. The Pros of a printed ticket: You have the ticket instantly. You don't have to pay for it to be mailed. If the show is soon you don't have to worry about it arriving on time. T...

 Preface: This is a story I only recently realized I have never told. I used to be pretty terrible at remembering to take pictures and write down my memories of what happened at shows. I do that now but didn't start with this tradition until I was over a dozen concerts in. It's a shame I never wrote about this concert before because it was really incredible and mind blowing performance. Since it's been 10 years I can't remember is as well as I used to be able to but I'll be doing my best. ---------------------  Iggy Pop and The Stooges played at The Warfield in San Francisco on April 19th, 2007 with Sistas in the Pit as openers. This was my first Iggy/Stooges show and I was very excited. I took this guy I dated at the time who loved the Stooges. We both happened to have matching red mohawks which later came in handy when we needed to locate each other. The audience was filled with the usual suspects; adults from their 20's to their 50's donning leat...

 I recently cataloged my rock music collections and turned them into mini videos. This one features my tour books from concerts and tickets from concerts. Rock Tours - Touring is never boring! These rock artists are currently on the road! Locations vary, please click on the artist to go to their touring schedule! Tips & Info for new concert goers - How to get up close, backstage and even meet the band.

Bite-the-dust.com Photo Gallery It was long over due, but I finally made my own gallery to store all my pictures! I ended up reducing down the gallery size to focus on the main parts of my picture collections. They are pictures from 2003 to 2017.  ...Gallery details... Scans - Articles and photos from books and magazines. Rock Star Pics - Images of rock stars together. Rock Fashion - Rock t-shirts, purses and other groovy clothing. Joey Ramone - Pictures that show his eyes. Digital Art - Art I created in adobe photoshop and illustrator. Concerts - Photos from live shows, including signage and concert goodies. Art - Pieces that I drew or painted. If you have any pictures to add to my collection (namely the Joey and Rock pics albums) please send them my way. You may also contact me  to report duplicate images. The Gallery will be updated on a regular basis.    Photo Gallery Disclaimer

  I haven't been able to document all the concerts and musician encounters I've had over the years. This entry will be an ongoing picture editorial of random concert photos and more. 

 Typically on May 19th you can find me thinking about Joey Ramone. But this May 19th was all about Pete Townshend. Although Joey and Pete share birthdays, a Who concert at Oracle Arena really made for a unique night. The show was initially supposed to happen in December but Roger was having throat issues. Joan Jett was also the opener but the concert delay changed things up. Thankfully I've seen Joan Jett twice and this was my first time seeing The Who.    A pretty cool group called the Slydigs opened for The Who. They had a solid rock sound, a good vibe and a lot of talent. They were a good pairing with the Who. When they hit the stage we were still in the club eating dinner. I knew it couldn't possibly be the Who on already but I swore I was hearing Roger singing. I shoved that sandwich in my mouth faster than I'd like to admit and high tailed it to the seating. It was not the Who on already, it was just me being over zealous I guess! *sigh*   After the...

The Gits performed their first show in 20+ years this December 4th 2015!  They performed with Visqueen singer Rachel Flotard for a Benefit For James Atkins. The show featured: Hammerbox (Carrie and Harris of Hammerbox) // The Gits feat. Rachel Flotard (Of Visqueen) // Selene Vigil (of 7 Year Bitch) // Alcohol Funnycar // Coffin Break, STAG // Gretta Harley at Chop Suey December 4th at 7:00PM. A second show was added for December 5th at 1:30PM. I wasn't able to make it to Seattle for what I know was an awesome show with cool bands! But I still wanted to put together the pictures, footage and more that I heard and received after the show happened.   Pictures from the show! "The only person for the job. And she out performed all expectations."  - Steve Moriarty  "Rachel, Matt, Andy and me on drums. The Gits resurrected for a friend. Thanks to everybody who sold it out and the other bands. Rachel was brilliant on vocals....

Poster from Bone Bash 2015  On September 19th 2015, I went to my 3rd Bone Bash! This year the traffic was unreal, which made us late and miss Tesla play. I've honestly never seen so much traffic in my entire life. We even had to park away from the venue because there were so many people. Walking just down the street from Google towards the venue distant "Wooooo!"s were being heard. It kind of personified the energy of the night. I quickly entered the Shoreline so we didn't miss anymore of the show. A random guy stopped me after seeing my outfit and said "What has nine arms and still sucks!?" I said I didn't know, even though it was obvious where the joke was going "DEF LEPPARD" he loudly retorted.   As we arrived to the Shoreline Amphitheater in San Jose Styx was hitting the stage. There set looked like inside a space ship, which reminded me of how Boston's stage looks . Plumes of smoke were already ready the night sky as ...

 On May 23rd my good friend and music lover Richard invited me and my boyfriend to a Byran Adams show at the Shoreline Amphitheater in San Jose (not SF). Although I am familiar with all the Bryan Adams hits of the 80's and 90's... I was in for a bigger treat at his show then I was expecting. I've always thought of Bryan Adams as a great all American song writer...which is funny because he's from Canada. So let's just go with "great song writer." He personified the rock song that blazed through the late 80's and early 90's. I remember being a flower girl in wedding's in the 90's and the song the couple danced to was "Everything I do." He's written some of the most popular contemporary love songs.  Apart from hearing all the hits and some more obscure Bryan Adams material, I learned a lot more about him. For example, he performed with Tina Turner on the song "It's Only Love" and dedicated the song to her...

 On October 2nd I was surprised with a last minute ticket to an Elton John show. I gotta tell ya, I never thought I'd get to see Elton John...for two main reasons I realized. Firstly...it's SIR ELTON JOHN, I just never thought I'd be so lucky. I figured it would be like being in the presence of royalty, which is really was. And second, Elton John tickets aint cheap. Thankfully my friend won them, so he didn't have to shell out the money. I HEART winning concert tickets. I won my first concert tickets at the age of 15 (maybe 14) with front and center seats to see the Monkees. Anyhow, yesterday afternoon I found myself headed to San Jose. It felt like a mini vacation. The Silicon Valley is quite different from my East Bay Oakland-Berkeley nest. Thing is, I wasn't all that far from home.  San Jose's SAP arena was huge and the stage was fitted with something that looked like a moving chandelier.  By the end of the night, Elton John made that huge arena feel ...

 Bone Bash this year on August 2nd was quite a different experience from the last. The line up changed last minute, from Steppenwolf to Don Felder. I may have eaten something that disagreed with me because I had a rumbling stomach. We got caught in traffic and got there at the end of Don Felder's set. We literally could hear "Hotel California" as we drove in. Little did we know, but this concert we'd also deal with a huge douche bag in the audience.   Even when I feel like crap, its hard to not try to make the best of it at a good rock show. The Doobie Brother's hit the stage and like clockwork the doobies were lit in the audience. Good ol' Bay Area. They opened with "Jesus is just alright" which makes me automatically think of martyrs dancing around mockingly in Bill Maher's  "Religulous" . You gotta admit, this song delivers a killer beat. By the way they had two full drum sets with two drummers. Their show reminded me of ho...

Went to the charming Book Passage shop and cafe on Saturday July 26th in Corte Madera for a book signing with Rick Springfield ! His new book is called "Magnificent Vibration" and I can't wait to start reading it. He put on a mini show before the signing, and when he took of his jacket to play guitar the ladies in the room went nuts . He performed two songs, forgot the first one but he did play "Jesse's Girl."