Fiberglass Jacket

 I once thought of interviews as some sort of cliff notes; I thought that the questions answered from the author would save my time of reading the actual book. As an adult I now look at that as moronic, but hey...things change, I changed. This was over 15 years ago, but I have learned a lot since then.  At the time I was in my early teens, and even though I loved music I really didn't love reading yet. In my experience books that were of no interest to me often felt 'forced' on me. I look back at it as normal books everyone has read at the same age, and I just wasn't into it. Reading books for young Becca was like pulling teeth, and I had to force myself to read assigned books for many years.  At this same time I was rock n roll obsessed and started to accumulate rock books, mostly ones with pictures. But my love of rock also pushed me to get into reading books, but for some reason it was a huge uphill battle. I was newly in love with The Who and bought a bo...

  The Killer Queens  are an all female Queen tribute band. The lead singer "Frederica Mercury" wears accurate Freddie inspired outfits like the black and white checkered leotard. They all wear snazzy outfits and look like they just stepped out of the salon. The guitarist "Brianna May" has a guitar *just* like Brian's Red Special . They had a really great set list, hitting all the Queen songs everybody loves and the more obscure. These ladies bring it in every way, not only do they master the look but they have the musical talent to match. They are a real treat and simply can't be missed if you're a Queen fan. When I last saw their awesome show at The Night Light I wanted to stay and chat up with these cool chicks. Being an obvious Queen fan, I am thrilled to finally found a KILLER Queen tribute band in the area! Sadly, I had to go get the last bus home so I wasn't stranded out in Oakland. The Killer Queens do shows on a regular basis , with their...

  The Fashion Slaves is a girl fronted punk rock band  birthed when Emily Jayne, the band's creator, broke her arm at an Iggy Pop concert. Her music is a delicious mix of energetic pop and creative rock with Gwen Stefani style vocals. Truth be told Emily has a lot of range and talent, previously singing and rocking out in the ska band The Uptones . But in her latest album "Go Insane" you can hear the ska and punk influence put perfectly together. Live TFS bring the rock and roll and that celebrated rock star presence. Shows begin with Emily tied up in a straight jacket, and as the show progresses she changes down to sparkly fashionable outfits.  The Fashion Slaves latest EP features a cover or re-vision of Chelsea the punk band's song "Your Toy" . After she was sexually harassed by a dickwad on BART with no help from BART staff , she was brave enough to come forward. Emily went to the local news to say "Hey, this isn't right!" On th...

Prologue  When I first moved up to the San Francisco Bay Area I was blown away by all the culture. All the events, live concerts, protests, there was always something happening in the Bay Area. (Especially compared to where I grew up). One of the early things I did was go to an event called "Oakstock" at the Oakland Museum in 2004. It featured an exhibit from the Vietnam War along with an after live show with Country Joe MacDonald and Shanna Morrison . At the time I had also just started college courses up here and was taking a music history course. I LOVED that class, I had a ton of fun and made solid friends. One of my assignments was to write a Band Critique after interviewing the band or a band member. I asked Shanna after she set if she could set aside some time to be interviewed by me, so politely obliged. I loved hearing what she had to say. This would have marked my first Music Interview. I was still getting over my shyness at the time, so I never really did ...

 One of my long time internet friends and not to mention Ramones and rock and roll fan Randi Marx once shared with me questionnaires she got filled out by the Ramones. I remmebered reading them and finding them very funny and informative. Especially being a Joey Ramone fan, I found his particularly funny and interesting...and different from the other guys. My friend was nice enough to re-scan the original questionnaires and write about her experience meeting The Ramones. She originally had this posted on her site ArcaneHarvest.com but when I recalled how much I liked them she sent them my way. Please do not use the images without permission. They aren't mine, and I got permission to use them. Just had to put that out there! "I first saw the Ramones with The Runaways.  I can't remember the exact year.  Seems like it was 1978 or 79.  I saw them in Atlanta.  It was so exciting, and I knew they would be my favorite band, along...

 I rarely care to talk about my personal life in my mostly music blog. But since my 'coming out' of being transgender recently has sparked a lot of questions from friends. Most of the questions I get are totally understandable ones, but I also get more than enough stupid questions. You wont believe some of the things people have assumed or wondered. I'm not going to be shy, I'm going to put it on the table. I'd rather have a conversation about something and actually address it than deny it and pretend like it doesn't exist.  One of the things I actually do like about my generation is these days it is much easier to discuss things like sexuality, instead of denying what is. I call it "The Talk Show Generation." No matter how you feel about Oprah and the rest, they did open up the world to a discussion. This is for the clarification of all, and for me to continue to be honest about who I am, not to mention proud. How I feel about gender, or more i...