MOG - Tony Scalzo's Posts

Peru Rocks 2008

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:05:11 GMT

Fastball without Miles and featuring Brien McVernon on lead guitar above Cuzco, Peru at the foot of El Christo Blanco, Oct 8th 2008

I recently posted a mog about Everest Rocks which occured back in 2007 and featured Mike peters of the Alarm and Glen Tilbrook of Squeeze as they climbed to one of the base camps atop Mount Everest to perform the highest concert ever on land. Little did I realize Fastball and I would soon be hanging out with Mike in the Andes as we did this past week. We raised awareness and money to provide mobile diagnostic and treatment services to rural peruvians. We also had a hell of a good time.

Also along for the trip: Mr Cy Curnin, lead singer of The Fixx, Aussie rockabilly hero, Brien McVernon and musical genious Mr Nick Harper. We started on our 4 day hike up the Inca Trail hoping for good weather and we got it. It rained only about 5 minutes on the second day. It was a miracle as this is the beginning of the wet season in the Andes. We were all prepared for shitty conditions but got nothing but the sweetest weather.

As we progressed we all got to know each other and started playing music together. I have always been a fan of the Alarm since 1983 when they came to OC to play. I did not realize I knew so many Fixx songs, however. Fastball got to play our own songs but we also got to back up these other guys and it was super fun to play, 68 Guns, Red Skies At Night, One Thing Leads To Another, etc.

Brien McVernon with new friend

After arriving in Machu Picchu to take in the awesomeness of it all we headed down to our well desrved hotels in the small mountain town of Aguas Calientes. We ate and drank and played a concert for the citizens and were even honered by the alcalde of the town. They don't get alot of 80's british rock or 90's alternative pop up there in AC!

Brien McVernon, Miles Zuniga, Me, joey Shuffield, Mike Peters, Nick Harper live at the plaza de Almas, Aguas Calientes, Peru

So that's what's been up with me. Very happy to be back home in Austin. Getting geared up for a Fastball US tour in nov. Check our website for dates, also check out Perurocks.com for details and awesome video of the different stops on the trek and live music footage.

Cool For Cats

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:13:21 GMT

l-r Miles Zuniga, Chris Difford and Me!-Dallas Texas, 9/6/08

Fastball got the opportunity of a lifetime earlier in the week by opening up for Squeeze on their Texas dates. I used to get up every morning for school and put on Eastside Story, they were my faves along with Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson. I got to see 'em twice plus hang out after the shows. They are extremely tight and played all the songs I'd hoped they'd play. I'm definitely on a Squeeze bender.

This is a recent performance on the Al Murray Show and you MUST see it through to the end for a very special surprise cover song.

The Highest Gig (On Land) Ever Played

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:12:08 GMT

Here's Mike Peters, Cy Curnin, Slim Jim Phantom, Nick Harper and Glenn Tilbrook performing at base camp A just below the summit of Mount Everest. It was filmed for a doco called "Everest Rocks" which airs this week on MHD tv.

Mike Peters of the Alarm is the force behind LOVE-STRENGTH-HOPE, a foundation formed to help get cancer wards and medical equipment to hospitals in third world countries.

His latest project is a similar adventure, though slightly less hard-core; a 4-day trek up the Inca Trail in Peru, walking from Mollepata to Machu Picchu to perform in the sacred city itself. I am very proud and lucky to have been invited, along with my band, Fastball, to be a part of this very awesome trip.

Please check out the website, perurocks.org and consider making a donation in my name on the "meet the trekkers" page. Thanks

Two Hoots

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 02:46:51 GMT

Since I moved from Southern california to Austin in 1993, I don't think I can recall a local band that has provided a more seamless musical transition for me than the rockabilly, blues, cajun, country, punk stylings of Rick Broussard. Two Hoots and a Holler sort of helped ease me into the very different music climate offered here in the lone star state. Rick is the real deal. Ask Social Distortion's Mike Ness. Or maybe our own Jesse Dayton. Some folks in England believe him to be the bastard brother of Joe Strummer for CHrist's sake!

I got to know Rick straight off the boat (at least he was one of the first people I knew in Austin) and he was so excited that I was from California. He kept asking me about the Dils and the Plugz at this party I went to my first summer in town.

I recall seeing a few 2 hoot's sets where things may have not gone the way Rick wanted and he just took off out the door of the club, into the icey street and didn't come back for 20 minutes. He seemed to frighten a few of my new found Austin friends. I realize now that it's because Rick Broussard is the REAL DEAL. 100% Wild American. A little Jerry Lee Lewis and a little Joe Strummer. Throw in some great songwriting and you've got Rick.

I've had the pleasure of sharing the stage with him more than a few times and it is always a blast! I consider Two Hoots and a Holler a true Texas treasure and you should all check out Rick's music.

Sucking On Chili Dogs, Outside The Tastee Freeze

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 22:51:38 GMT

This snapshot was sent to me by Tammy Fowler, or actually her daughter, from Tustin, Ca. It's from 1982, a year when music was truly at a crossroads. The evidence is here as we go from right to left:

The young man with the That Girl hairstyle was the drummer of a local Van Halen style metal band called Outrage. His name is Pete Kearney, he was a super cool guy, good drummer. He also had a cute sister.

Next with the sexy legs is Fred Gill. Fred liked to have alot of fun and was one of the first guys I knew who was into hardcore punk and then switched over to metal. He eventually became the lead singer of Outrage after a few hair growing months. Note: This is not the Northern Cal extreme metal band also called Outrage. Our Outrage was more like Van Halen meets Motley Crue. Hardcore and/or Punk had sort of become the bandwagon and things got stale and violent as more and more knuckleheads got into it. Our circle of friends didn't seem to dicrimminate one way or the other.

3rd from left is Kerry Brown. He was the drummer of a cool local band called ST Vitus Dance. They were NOT the LA Biker/hard rock band ST Vitus but were more like the Cure than anything else. Now, in 1982 that was not as common as you may think. Maybe in the UK but this is OC we're talking about here. SO kerry was into metal and punk and this sort of gothy tinged british stuff that was creeping in. We went to see Bauhaus at the Roxy around this time. Magic Mountain (now Sick Fags) used to host bigger Kroq-ish bands at the arena there (the same one where Spinal Tap perform Jazz Odyssy in the film). We used to caravan the hour and a half up there to see The Psychedelic Furs and Lords Of The New Church. Very fun times. I see Kerry once in a while, he's a producer and musician who works with Billy Corgan and Courtney Love alot.

Next is Yours Truly with New Romantic hair do acting like Elvis. I must say I'm probably the redneck in this bunch. I dated the girl behind the counter and we hung out here (yes, it's really a Tastee-Freeze) all the time.

To my right is Dan Kauzman. Dan was this older guy (21) who rented a room in Kerry's mom's and drove us all around alot. We would ditch school and ride with him up to Hollywood to buy creepers and colored skinny jeans from FLIP and Poseur on Melrose. He turned me on to a shitload of cool stuff like Joy Division, The Wierdos, Zounds, Black Randy and the Metro Squad, The Screamers, The Dils, The Alley Kats, The Go Go's, The Birthday Party,....just tons of stuff that you really had to hunt for back then. I remember Dan took me and some friends to see the film, "Dance Party" in Hollywood. The movie featured The Specials, Madness, The Selector and Bad Manners and we all danced in front of the screen through the whole thing!

On the end is Jess Bingaman, the guitarist in Tustin's first and for a while, only punk band called Saigon. They put out one 7", 4 song ep. The band's bassist was Ed Bingaman who later played with Adam Maples, Kat and Brian in the awesome hard rock/Punk hybrid band, Legal Weapon.

Back in 1982, little guts like us did not fit in too well. In fact this shot may have been snapped between regular barrages of bottles from passing "hippies" or "jar heads". The radio was all Journey and the B52's and the mainstream sucked, same as it does today. No offense to the B-52's....

Thank You

Feeling California, Looking Minnesota

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:15:19 GMT

Had a wild weekend!We played the Alameda County Fair and then flew to Virginia Beach for a show in Neptune's park. WE LOVE EVERYONE!

Fastball Rocks The Boat

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:35:58 GMT

Looks Like I found a better bit of footage from the NYC Booze Cruise last month. This is a song from the new cd we hope to release on Sept 9th, 2008, and it's called "SOUL RADIO". It's just the second half of the song but the sound and video quality is much better than my previous MOG entry. Hope you like it!

Back In The New York Groove!

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:15:34 GMT

I've just arrived home from a busy weekend with the band out to the east coast. We started off in Poughkeepsie, NY for a friday night gig at chances. Ew. What stink-hole! We're done with that place I'll tell you that much. I've never been so happy to get back to the Best Western. Miles and I were being ignored by the bartender so we partied in the parking lot with a Mexican rock band called los Halucinadors or halucinado or something...perhaps they were an hallucination. Here in Texas it's not rare to encounter Mexicans but it's quite a novelty up in the Hudson Valley. They were very kind to give us some beer. Orale!

Next stop: The Big Apple for a 3 hour cruise around the harbor with Fastball. A great time was indeed had by all with no fatalities, though I fell a few times during the set. The difference between this gig and the Poughkeepsie gig was like day and night. The crowd was right up on us and I was actually worried about spitting on people while I was singing. The crowd seemed to like (and know) the new material, I can tell it's going to be a good year; all we have to do is release the damned album!

Ian McLagan 2008

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:49:41 GMT

The seventh installment of Mile's and I's Moderately Priced Winos weekly podcast is up at modwinos.libsyn.com. Mac was nice enough to invite us round his country home in rural central Texas for a few pints of Guiness and some hearty conversation!

He talks about his days with the Small Faces and the Faces as well as touring with the Stones and fronting his own Bump Band.

We talked and drank in his "pub" parlour; it really is like being in an English pub except the screen door allows a 2 hour Texas sunset to flood the room with pink and orange light. What a great guy!

My SXSW 2008

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:03:54 GMT

I regret that I failed to attend any MOG parties in town, I was out of the loop as I haven't been around for a while. Plus, way too busy juggling family and SXSW Fastball stuff. We did various local TV and radio performances as well as 3 shows which all went very well.

I didn't see any bands at all! I was all business; just got in there, did my thing and went home. I guess that's the beauty of living in Austin after 15 SXSW years. I can turn it all off! There are actually many great shows coming up this month. For us Austinites SXSW just marks the beginning of the spring/summer music season. Loads of road shows to look forward to. Dengue Fever's coming, very excited about that... Anyway, back to the big week; Thursday was our first showcase and we played with some bands I never saw because I was wandering around town on foot having a drink now and then up until the time we were set to play at 1 am. I felt very old and didn't really see anything all that interesting. It was all very Mardi Gras-ish, I was sadly, slightly bored. Perhaps if my friends whom I was supposed to meet up with returned my numerous phone calls, I would've had a better attitude. By the time we played I was rather buzzed and we played a blazing set with what had to be the worst stage sound I have ever experience. It was like trying to play in an aero-dynamics test facility! Luckily no one could tell but us and I certainly wasn't about to be phased by it! The next day we played a party at 4pm for the Austin Music Magazine with Billy Joe Shaver and the Paula Nelson (daughter of Willie)Band. For some reason it was 95 degrees f that day. After the party we did an 8pm gig for Bug Music at Cedar Street that went great. I left straight after so I missed all the great bands. One free gig I caught was by mistake but it was a happy one. The Wombats were playing a party early in the day I checked out a few songs and liked 'em. I missed High on Fire with Motorhead free at stubbs and also The Breeders, also free! What a tool I am! Last but not least, Miles and I got to have a nice chat over a glass of wine with REM bassist, Mike Mills in his suite at the Driskill. Yes, we recorded the whole thing and it will be another installment of our Expensive Winos webcast we produce for our website. We've actually got two new episodes (?) in the bag just going through final editing. You can hear our previous four at FASTBALLTHEBAND.COM. By the way, here's a little sample of new material Fastball will be putting on our new album. Hope you like it! Tony

Welcome New Associate Bruce Hughes

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:12:54 GMT

Fastball is happy to be joined by new bass player, backing vocalist, Bruce Hughes.

Here Bruces' got my back onstage at Antone's , Home Of The Blues, Austin, TX. 2/4/08

Bruce joins us after many years in music; He was the bassist of indie/jam prototype Poi Dog Pondering and now plays with us! In his band the Resentments, Bruce plays alongside Texas music luminaries, "Scrappy" Judd Newcomb, Stephen Bruton and Jon Dee Graham. He has added something to the band we've always wanted but was never ours: three part harmonies live along with a super strong bass presence. Welcome, Mr. Hughes

Obama Lama Ding Dong

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 16:54:10 GMT

First of all, my apologies for the stupid title. Yesterday was very interesting indeed as gigs go. As I said yesterday, we would be playing a set before the Austin appearance of Barak Obama at the Backyard. Well that's just what we did!

No, that's not our high powered manager on the stage with us. That's a secret service agent, I think his name is Darrell. He was very nice and did not smile. I like that. The crowd was very, very calm. Good for security, not so good for a rock band. There were at least 3 people I saw that stood right in front of the stage, no doubt to gain ground for viewing The Senator as he is called by supporters, straight faced with fingers in both ears. He looked like a cartoon character waiting for the imminent explosion!

We got to hang with Barak a bit at our cabin in the Texas Hill country. It's kind of like our clubhouse, we play poker and drink tequila, stuff like that... Jenga.. l-r , my girl Jenn, Harmony, Scalzo, Suze, Barak, Joey, Miles

Fastball Too Busy For Tony To Mog!

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 16:10:46 GMT

FASTBALL LIVE IN LAREDO, TX, 10/5/07 Today, Sat, 11/17/07 at 3 pm, Fastball will play a set before the Austin appearance of Democratic Presidential candidate, Barak Obama. I'm not sure yet whom I'll be voting for but I sure am not a hater of Barak! I have already seen him speak with my girlfriend and my daughter last year along with 20,000 others. It should be a hoot! Yes, we've been quite busy working on new Fastball material and playing shows. As some of you may know, Miles Zuniga and myself have been producing a weekly podcast about rock and booze we like to call:

In our latest and 4th episode we visit an Austin wine store with Dandy Warhols singer, Courtney Taylor-Taylor.

Fastball fans, Dandy Warhols' fans, alchoholics (both practicing and recovering) will enjoy the drunken afternoon ramblings of these lovable idiots along with some new tunes by the artists themselves.

South Austin Music

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:51:32 GMT

So there's this fantastic mural on south Lamar in ATX and it features the likenesses of thirty or so Austin Musicians. As a 15 year resident of Austin, I have gotten familiar with alot of them. I decided to test myself by naming them all. I was stumped by a couple of them. Top row, l-r: 1. Lloyd Maines 2. ? 3. Kevin Fowler 4. Guy Forsythe 5. Casper Rawls 6. John D Graham 7. Speedy Sparks? 8. Charlie Sexton 9. Kacy Crowley 10.Eliza Gilkyson 11.Alejandro Escovedo 12.Patrice Pike 13.Kim Wilson 14.Ray Wylie Hubbard 14.Omar Dykes 15.Papa Mali 16.? Bottom row, l-r: 17.Joe Ely 18.WC Clarke 19.Carolyn Wonderland 20.Kelley Willis 21.Bruce Robison 22."Scrappy" Judd Newcomb 23.Butch Hancock 24.Jimmy LaFave 25.Jason McMasters 26.Stephan Bruton 27.James McMurtry 28.Redd Volkert 29.Monte Montgomery I don't know the address but it's in the same shopping center on South Lamar where The Saxon Pub sits. Just north of Oltorf. The mural was concieved and painted by a brilliant, young local artist by the name of Aaron Sacco. Aaron was an animator for the film A Scanner Darkly. Visit his website aaronsacco.com Roger, over and out!

The Moderately Priced Winos

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:59:37 GMT

Finally back to use my Mog account to further my mad ambition! Miles Zuniga and I have begun producing a weekly podcast to be heard on the Fastball website. Special guests so far have included the fabulous Mike McCarthy (producer of killer records for bands like Spoon, ...Trail Of Dead and Fastball) and David Brown (former reporter for NPR's Marketplace and currently host of Texas Music Matters on KUT radion, Austin Texas)

It's called The Moderately Priced Winos for now and so far it's been alot of fun. The reason for the name is the fact that the two of us are quite mad for wine! We just love a good drop, so at the beginning of each show we set aside a few minutes to chat about the requisite bottle of the week. So if you give a shit about wine or not but love music, check it out at FASTBALLTHEBAND.com

This week (#2) finds the winos getting into it over Radiohead's new album downloadable now from their website.

Streets Of Laredo

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:13:18 GMT

Fastball played in the hometown of singer Miles Zuniga this past weekend. We had a wonderful time hanging out with A Flock Of Seagulls and La Gunns. The people were so friendly and really treated us like royalty, putting us up at La Posada Inn. We actually had a press conference with Flock of Seagulls at the hotel friday afternoon! We also signed many autographs and took photos with locals luminaries like Marguerite-Ann Garza, Miss Belliza Latina.

Fastball In The Studio

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 17:38:54 GMT

We're back at the Aerie Studio in Austin recording new songs for upcoming album. Things are going well, this photo is from last week at my house working out the details. I love the stuff we're doing and it feels like this is an important moment in my life!

Tony, Joey, Miles

Tony Scalzo Machine 7/28/07 ATX

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 01:59:38 GMT

The Hole In The Wall. Thanks to all who showed up for the odd solo, (I use the term loosely) gig. Saturday night at the Hole In The Wall Austin, TX. It ain't the House Of Blues but it sure feels like home!

Up on the stage Left to right (as usual) Tony Scalzo, Joey Shuffield and Corey Glazer. This photo comes courtesy of MS Wendy from Fort Worth, Tx. Thanks, Wendy!

Meanwhile, Fastball to rock much harder and for longer durations in the near future...3 new songs recorded last week alone. New album will be a reality much sooner than later! Plus look out for us in your neck of the woods as touring is on our horizon, Nashville, Tn and Laredo, Tx, this applies to you. That's it for now, Tony Scalzo

Yet Another Recording Studio

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:21:19 GMT

Now we're in Austin, out in the country, really, at Mark addison's Aerie Studio. Making more Fastball songs.

None of this stuff belongs to me; I love to play other people's guitars and hate to load in my own gear! The Aerie provides me with full service; the engineer is a much better musician than I, so sometimes, after a glass of wine or two I can get him to play guitar solos and invent keyboard parts.

Joey couldn't photograph himself playing drums. More to come...

Santa Barbara really was a gas!

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 23:46:19 GMT

Miles Zuniga and I went back to Ben Margulies' Montecito, CA studio to write some more songs for a new Fastball album. It was a fruitful venture and an enjoyable experience all around.

We were also taped for VH1 last week for the upcoming 100 Best Songs Of The 90's that should air in the fall. We will be recording and touring again in the next few months.

I think I wrecked Ben's copy of Sgt. Pepper! Sorry, Buddy!

Wish You Were ??Wish You Were Here??

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 21:37:03 GMT

This is the one for me. I love everything about it. The fact that it is a dedication to a wayward friend and comrade, it's broad musical range that joined blues and rock with modern synth music and pop, there's even some funky stuff! I love the cover art by the Hypgnosis team of graphic artists that the Floyd employed during this period. The photo of the diver and the surrealism of the Mono Lake photos from California. If you think you can't sit through a long, long song, give Shine On.. a try. Here's to a band that never played ball with the rest of them yet always put out brilliance with every release.

My Kid's In A Band

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:35:39 GMT

Claudia is my 9 year old daughter and she's been at Rock camp for the last 2 weeks. The hard work paid off today as they played their first live show at the world famous Antone's, home of the blues, up in the ATX! They rocked hard on songs like Kids In America and Beat On The Brat. The show stopper was Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in which her keyboard mastery provided the entire horn arrangement for the Beatles classic! The word proud does not fully express my feeling on this day. MY parents didn't exactly think it was ok to play rock music when I was her age. Times they have a changed!

The band that ruled my 5th grade experience

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:25:22 GMT

The first band I loved was the Beatles. They broke up after I was hip to them and I was left wanting more. I really liked that esoteric sort of 'thing' they were doing towards the end. It was then that I discovered this other band from England that was actually current called simply, Yes. I felt their music much more deeply than the stuff that was on the radio at the time. Bands like Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods, and Suzi Quattro. I thought they were like, continuing where the Beatles left off...anyway , I felt that way then. Today I have more important things to ponder, like a good cardio workout whilst jamming to Yes.

So there's a few configurations of Yes that you might be speaking of when the subject comes up...there's the traditional lineup, Professor Dingus on lead Guitar and 'Lil Jon Anderson on vocals, Bill "The Booty" Bruford on drums, and on bass, Chris Squire. Squire is an amazing bass player to listen to. His parts remind me of Lars Ulrich's drumming: unpredictable, yet right on the money. Always the right hits at the right time.

I've been getting into the Yes:MarkII era featuring lead vocals and lead guitar by Trevor Rabin. I didn't prefer this version of Yes until just recently. These days I love to be out running and occasionally recieve a blast of energy by way of Owner Of A Lonely Heart or It Can Happen.

All the guys in Yes are great musicians. Some are bigger dufuses than others, this dingus still loves 'em. Steve Howe 1974

Steve Howe 2002

Fastball the band

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 14:52:27 GMT

Some of you may know about my career as a rock singer in the band Fastball. We started in Austin, Tx in 1994 when Miles Zuniga, Joey Shuffield and myself formed after Miles moved back to town from Berkley, Ca. Things moved super fast for us in that final decade of music industry decadence. We performed the goat dance for the label and for radio and it really paid off. Had a couple of hits. Got to travel around the world and hang out with some of our heroes. We were able to make use of recources others only dream of. Ever had Billy Preston play piano on one of your records? We have. Brian Setzer came around to play some guitar on a track as well. Very cool life I've had, indeed.

Anyway, it's been a few years since Fastball's put out any new stuff, (2004 to be exact; Keep Your Wig On RykoDisc) and we've been thinking that it was time to start up the machine again and take it for a spin. My songwriting partner Miles and I have been writing new songs and working with a coalition of the willing to devise a strategy....ummm I mean plan to release new material. We will also be playing a handful of acoustic dates together to get a feel for the material.

So you may get alot more Fastball related Mogging from me in the near future. I will try and put up a few tunes here and there so look out! Tony Scalzo, Miles Zuniga, Joey Shuffield

Nugent For Nissan

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:36:05 GMT

I loved Ted Nugent when I was 12 years old! I sat in the back of my friends Camaro with the cassette machine cranked listening to Stranglehold. I learned all those licks and they color my guitar playing even today. I have not always agreed with The Nuge's philosphies on politics and what not, but I've always agreed with his rock and roll! I just found it slightly puzzling when I saw a recent ad on tv for Nissan cars from such a hardcore Michigan rocker.

What a week!

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 02:52:27 GMT

Just got back from an incredible journey to Santa Barbara wine country for the semi-annual Durango Songwriter's Expo. It's the third one I've attended now and it gets funner every time. This weekend I was joined by my main songwriting partner and fellow Fastball member Miles Zuniga. Miles and I performed at the big saturday final concert and were joined onstage by truly great writers.

The lineup: Chuck Cannon-writer for Toby Keith Matt Scannell-Vertical Horizon Big Al Anderson-NRBQ, see my past posts about Al Ben Margulies-Writer for Mariah Carey Miles and I-Fastball Bill Champlin-Sons of Champlin, writer of After the Love Is Gone by Earth, Wind and Fire and the greatest song ever: Masquerade To be flanked by such huge talent was indeed a powerful experience for both Miles and myself. We both worked with others this time around, he with LA singer and writer, Alissa Moreno, I with Mariah Carey hitmaker, Ben Margulies.

Ben, Natalie, Miles and Alissa This photo was taken by Yours Truly at Ben's Montecito, Ca studio where we all did a bit of work after the expo.

May Madness with Tony

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 26 May 2007 22:43:11 GMT

First I did a Fastball show opening for Soul Asylum and Better Than Ezra. Dan Murphy bought me a shot of Jagermeister and that sealed the deal for my flight the next day to New Mexico. Hangovers and flying are a bad combo! I spoke on a panel about making a living as a musician and then had dinner with Efren, aka Pedro from Napolean Dynamite, who was in town to spin records at a party. Yes, He's a dj, aren't we all?

Next I played a solo acoustic set at a place that had me inside and a band outside, couldn't hear a thing..but I did stay for a while and saw a great band from Las Vegas called The day after...I loved 'em and I danced in front of the stage for the whole set...

My post is going to end now because I can't upload photos for some reason, only the Pedro photo got through! Sorry.

Rocking on a weekly basis.

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 10 May 2007 02:20:19 GMT

I've been keeping busy writing songs, playing live shows in my home state of Texas and doing family stuff. I love mog and I wish I had time to get up in here more often. Here's what I did last saturday:

That's me in the center with my band Fastball. We played in a small town called Waxahachie at their town square theater and had a great time. I also got a dog the other day! He's a blue healer I call Wylie and I love him. He's 4 months old and cool as they come.

Texacala Winehouse

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:29:03 GMT

Amy Winehouse reminds me of Texacala Jones. Has Amy Winehouse ever heard of Tex and the Horseheads? Have you? I gotta tell ya, both of these artists do little for me. By the way, maybe li'l Amy should go to rehab before she becomes Texacala Jones. PS Tex, I love you, please don't have me killed!

Best Song about booze ever?

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 21:21:14 GMT

geeze i love spike jones

Now that's what I call music!

My Wednesday nights in Austin

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 15:15:42 GMT

I've been going down to this great little beer joint in Travis County on Wednesday evenings to play with my friend Ramsay Midwood. He's this dude I've known about 5 years or so, we met when Miles Zuniga and I went out to tour as an acoustic duo. He opened about 15 or so shows and I got to hear him alot. His music is very soulful yet understated. He's also very old timey, rural sounding without aping old timey bluesmen. His band is made up of some great players from Austin. Landis Armstrong, Mike Nicholai and Stephen Belans. I get to play keys and hang out while guest artists like Kevin Russell from the Gourds or Tony Gilkyson sit in. I would tell everyone to show up for this awesome evening of regular and local live sounds but I'd hate to ruin the vibe of it. It's just too damn cool to wreck. There's only a few pretty ladies to go around!

Midwood, Scalzo, Nicholai, Armstrong and Belans The pretty ladies.

My Favorite Album.....Ever.

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:28:07 GMT

I got my first copy of this in1975. I was 11 and by then, Dream On was all over the FM Rock radio and Aerosmith was about to release their 3rd album, Toys In The Attic, wich everyone knows is a classic. Not alot of people seem to know about this gem of a first album. It was recorded after they signed a $100,000 deal from Columbia at Intermedia Studios in a little over a week. Produced by Adrian Barber, it showcases the brilliant and soulful guitars of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. Very bluesey and killer tone from Les Pauls, Teles and Strats cranked up loud. Great drum sounds and insane vocals and lyrics from new rock and roll freak, Steven Tyler. The New Mick he was called by some. Drugs got the better of their Mark I career but they got it together again by 1989 with Permanent Vacation. I think Aerosmith is one of the best American rock bands but I remember 'em before they were known as "elder statesmen"...when they were the meanest and dirtiest blues rock band I'd heard to date. Ya'll must check out this song, One Way Street! It's their greatest recording ever in my book! I doubt they've played it live in a few years.

I'm Going To This Show

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 18:17:28 GMT

I bought tickets a bit late so I'm way stage left, but I think it'll be okay. Megadeth opens, haven't seen them since '84 with Motorhead at the Santa Monica Civic. It's a great night for heavy metal/hard rock because Machine Head fit's in nicely between Black Sabbath (yes I call it fucking Black Sabbath!) and Dave Mustaine's umpteenth configuration of Megadeth. Should be a hoot for all us older fellas! Bonus: It's a TUESDAY NIGHT! I love living in central Texas!

Shameless Self Promotion

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:42:55 GMT

I know I'm treating MOG like myspace but I'm really hoping people of your quality would want to come hear my new band. Joey Shuffield, Harmonie Kelley, Billy Cassis and myself. This will actually be our first show as Tony Scalzo Machine so I want to try and fill this rather tiny upstairs venue. Shouldn't be too hard, right? If you have friends in Austin, please tell 'em to come on down to the gig friday night. That's LAMBERT's downtown, 10pm FRI 3/23!

SXSW is over and I was out of town the whole time!

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:19:35 GMT

Well it's been a crazy two weeks here in Austin and I wasn't even around for most of it! That's cool, I've been to 12 SXSW's now and it was kind of cool not to worry about what I was missing. My band Fastball played a few out of town gigs. One in the Memphis area at a Casino in Tunica, MS and the other at a cool venue in the Hill Country of central Texas. A German restaurant called The Auslander in Fredericksburg. It was fun as hell and the place was packed. The show was broadcast live on Rebel Radio (I know this is all starting to sound a bit scary, German restaurants, rebels, etc., but it was a great time for all!) We had to practice quite a bit last week. Here's us at practice at my house! Handsome, aren't we? We looked cooler at the shows.

Miles and Harmonie Me Joey and possible set list. Well the year is off to a great start. My solo band, Tony Scalzo Machine is playing this Fri, 3/23 at Lambert's in downtown Austin. It's really my big local debut so I'm stoked, see some of you there, I hope!

New Song

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 18:10:15 GMT

Big Al used to be in the great NRBQ and has written some great songs you all know. Titles like Get Rhythm, or the wonderful All You Ever Do Is Bring Me Down for The Mavericks. I've had the the pleasure of sharing a stage with him last June and during the day, writing a song with him and Dan Wilson. We basically sat around a tape recorder (Dan's) and started coming up with lines about animals. The hotel was in the Santa Inez Valley in central Ca, near Santa Barbara, out in the sticks.My room was faceing this nice hill across the road and through the window, I noticed lots of animals and birds. After about an hour of compiling animal lines, we ate lunch down the road and got to know each other. We returned to print all the lyrics out in the business center and that was the last I heard of the song. That is until Al phoned a few weeks ago to get my publishing info so he could release his new CD Pawn Shop Guitars. Our song made the cd! It also features songs composed by Al with other writers like Jeffrey Steele and Bob DiPiero. I was stunned and elated when I heard Animals. It's actually quite a poignant observational piece. Here's the song, hope you like it!

New Feeling

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:25:24 GMT

Here's a picture of The Pogo's with Kathy Valentine of the GoGo's. Kathy and some of her friends are writing songs for them to play and I've done one with her as well! It's called New Feeling and the head of the project passed on this one so I get to share it with all of YOU! WARNING: This music is not intended for listeners with "musical diabetes"!

Jumpin' Jack Flashback Weekend

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 14:29:34 GMT

Just thought I'd bust out the old photo album and share some memories with all the children of MOG. Here's a shot of me playing Kevin McKinney's guitar.

Yes, that guy with the funny shades. He's the singer of Austin band SOULHAT.

This is Miles Zuniga, my songwriteing partner in Fastball, we had this suit made from two suits. It's like that movie with the conjoined twins who rock the guitar with two brains. This is circa 2004. Here's another shot with Miles and Dave Allen from Gang of Four. What the hell happened to Dave? He was an early Mogger but he just bailed right when it started getting good here. Come back, Davey!

Hippies

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:20:40 GMT

About June 1998 I visit my parents home briefly during the whirlwind that was The Way... Dad: I was going through a copy of Billboard the other day... Me: What in thee hell were you doing with a copy of Billboard?! Dad: I like to see how "the single" is doing. Me: You mean The Way? So how's it doing? Dad: Well, it looks like Closing Time is closing in on The Way!

...and so it was that Semisonic's wonderful ode to the American Tavern became number 1 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart! That was quite a while ago.

Congratulations Dixies! 3 Grammies!

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:32:52 GMT

Here's Gary Louris and I in Atlanta, a few years back. Gary wrote some of the songs with the Dixie Chicks for there current CD that won at least 3 Grammies this year.

Dan Wilson, Chuck Cannon and I last June at the Durango Songwriter's Expo. Dan wrote Not Ready To Make Nice with the Dixie Chicks. It won song of the year last night! Way to go Dan! Dan was in Trip Shakespeare and back in the day, Fastball played many a show with his other band Semisonic. Chuck is a great songwriter who has written quite a few huge country hits like How Do You Like Me Now? by Toby Kieth. I don't look so good in this photo. I weigh about 15 more lbs now! I would also like to congratulate Hillary Lindsay and Brett James for their Grammies for country song of the year with Carrie Underwood! I would have loved to be there! Best grammies show I've seen in ages. Beyonce was amazing as well as Carrie Underwood. I don't know about Rascal Flats' version of Hotel California though! Lots of guitar flubs and marginal singing! HA HA!

New Music from....ME

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 08:00:01 GMT

This is Lambert's in downtown Austin. It's a new venue for live music. My band, The Tony Scalzo Machine, is playing there on March 23rd. It's our first gig of the year and also our first since I stopped taking anti viral meds for hep c, which was a success by the way! Virus free over six months! Get tested or you might die! I've been working on recording and organizing things for the past 2 weeks since I came home. The Tony Scalzo Machine consists of:

Joey Shuffield

Harmoni Kelley; I'll see what I can do about that, Harmoni! Harmoni's a fellow Mogger from Austin!

Billy Cassis

....and your's truly, Tony Scalzo I am still going full on and will hopefully have a full length cd finished by the end of April. The Kathy Valentine collab is going well too. We've written 2 songs so far and will do more soon. Have a nice day! Any way, I want to put up some new songs but they all run slow and I just don't sound like that. I will investigate....

Back from California

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 23:56:16 GMT

This is Alissa Moreno, a singer songwriter from New Mexico now based in LA. She recently wrote a song that will be featured on the new Rascal Flats LP. This is the kind of success you go for if you are a songwriter writing for other artists. I am very happy for her. Way to go Alissa!

This dude is Ted Russell Kamp, from NY now based in LA. He plays with Shooter Jennings. We hit it off right away when he came down to the studio to help sing with me. Alissa and him sang great background vocals on my new songs. They did it just like in the olden days, together in front of a big microphone and it was stunning.

Also on board, Dayna Layne from Costa Mesa. She provided excellent brownies with nuts in them. Delectable! Thanks Dayna, maybe you'll actually get to sing next time!

I can't forget my fabulous sister Carmela, a fellow MOGGER, came by and played violin and it was fantastic! She doesn't really look like this, she's being Doris Day (long story, go to her mog). We only had a short time to get all these tracks recorded and it came out great. When there's a mix, I will let you MOGGERs hear them! Cory Gash recorded the songs and played drums too. His patience and enthusiasm never wavered and I very much want to continue working with him.I played the bass, guitars, keys, lead vocals,ect. Johnny Wickersham's played brilliant lead guitar on Hold Me Up, the song we wrote together. More guerilla recording on the fly from your humble troubadour, Tony Scalzo.

Let's Roll!

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 18:56:04 GMT

Here's Kathy Valentine from the GoGo's. We've been writing together this week after we met at a New Years Eve party in Austin. She's got somegood ideas and we want to make some music and record a little in the next 2 weeks before I go to LA. I'm going to drive there on the 16th or so to play a show with my old friends The Goods in OC. That show is set for Jan 25th at the Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa. The band Includes:

Nick Sjobeck (Dodge Dart, ECA)

and Jamie Reidling (Cadillac Tramps, ECA, US Bombs)

Besides the gig, I plan to record some songs with Corey Gash in Santa Ana at his studio. One song I want to do is something I wrote with my old buddy Mr. Johnny Wickersham (Cadillac Tramps, Social Distortion).

He's 2nd from right in this photo. I posted something about Johnny's visit a couple of months back when SD was in town. In between all this I plan on writing, dialoging and recording with someone I've been working with on and off for the past 8 years. Franz Stahl. Franz was the guitarist in the Foo Fighters and was a founding member of legendary DC hardcore band SCREAM.

Don't let this sad photo of him fool you; Franz is a rock monster!

I hope I can stay on task and do all these things and make it back home by the end of the month. Fastball has one show booked for March in Fredericksberg, TX of all places! Miles and I plan to write at least a few songs and bring the band into the studio for new Fastball tracks. Wish me luck. I will try to make good things to listen to! Hope your 2007 is swimming!

He's Feargalicious!

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:00:30 GMT

I dreamed it. Sorry folks, had to be done! Happy New Year!

Revolver By Klaus

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 04:59:30 GMT

I know it's hard to see but this comic is Klaus' story, in his words, as to how the Grammy winning album cover art for the Beatles' Revolver came into existence. There is an amazing man named Froederich, a photographer I met in Germany. His studio was full of genuine Beatlemania and it soon became clear the he had some very inside connections. This arrived in my mailbox a few months down the line (around 2000) along with these other two peices, prints signed byKlaus himself! This is a painting by Klaus depicting the Beatles on a visit to Elvis'. Ringo is attempting to shoot the 8 ball while Elvis amusedly points out the q ball. Very fine photo-realistic drawing technique, to a quite surreal effect.

Brothers of the Head

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 03:04:02 GMT

I thought I'd utilize my pay per view movie feature this evening and I noticed a title that did not look familier. I was curious; was this some High Times type stoner movie? Fortunately a trailor was provided for me to check out. Well it's about conjoined rockstar twins who fall in love with a music journalist. The trailor was as far as I dared proceed. Anybody out there willing to take this one all the way?

What did I finally decide on for my viewing pleasure this winter's night?

Factotum... Not bad. Matt Dillon's Henry Chinaski is alot more low key than Mickey Roark's in Barfly. Matt Dillon's version just doesn't drink nearly as much. Plus he doesn't fight as much and less bloody messes than Barfly. It's like a pay per view Barfly. Oh well, back to normal.

Famous Mog(g)s

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 01:09:52 GMT

Here are a couple of guys I know named Mogg. This is Phil Mogg the legendary lead singer of UFO, seen here around '86. White boots! WHooo!!

This guy is his nephew, the good Nigel Mogg. Nigel's been in the Quireboys and LA GUns as well as a recent stint in the band at the Roxy's Hedwig and the Angry Inch tribute on Sunday nights this last summer with Donovan Leich. This was at a rock and roll kids birthday party for our mutual friend Franz Stahl's son. It was a good year I'm glad it's over! It's almost 2012!

Fastball in Spain

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 01:31:32 GMT

Here's a photo from a show we did in Spain exactly 1 year ago. Since then we have changed bass players from this guy, Jeff Groves, to our new bassist, Harmoni Kelley. This was a mod festival in Leon that featured two of my all time favorite bands, the Zombies and The Undertones! The Spanish idea of what 'mod' is eludes me but it sure was a blast! Thought I'd post this photo I don't know the photographer but thanks to him for such a purple photo of Fastball at Purple Weekend 2005!

Altar Boyz

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 21:22:48 GMT

OOPS! OK I'm an idiot. AGAIN. Altar Boyz is a satire that makes FUN of the Christian music industry! I LOVE THAT idea and I believe God would agree! I did a check up and I should investigate things further before I get all negative on something. Shit, I may even go to this! Christian Rock still sucks! Hail SATAN!!!

Alter Boys

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 18:57:06 GMT

Can you believe it? The Alter Boys...in my town! Anyone out there from Nashville will know what I'm talking about, but I wonder if the rest of the world knows that besides mainstream country music, Nashville ,TN is the capital of Christian Pop! It is a massive industry and it makes a lot of money for the people who work in it. I don't even know if the Alter Boys are from Nashville at all but I know I've seen their posters in the window of the Christian Entertainment store on 10th and Broadway! I do know that DC Talk, one of the best known Christian Rock bands of the last 20 years, is based there too. I'm sorry, but I have to be honest and say that THIS SHIT MAKES ME WANT TO VOMIT!!!! I guess I'm just too far down the Highway to Hell, but you're never going to make me believe that if there's a god, He would actually like this crapola! I also think maybe He gets a bit sick of all the Bach, too.

My God listens to Jimi Hendrix. Sometimes.

The Beast that waits below.

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:54:36 GMT

This is the bass amp I dreamed I would one day own. I didn't just get it, I've had it for 10 years now. It's loud and proud and a breeze to transport because it lives in it's own little house! It's a house that's on wheels and it scoots all around! If it fell on you it would hurt. The head in it's case weighs 105 lbs. Isn't that stupid? No, it's not...the beast sounds good. Even at low volumes it is clear and warm and the bottom is tight. I've been playing alot of guitar lately so not much from the beast these last few years.

Anyway, it's holiday time in my neck of the woods and I just want to wish ya'll a good time, all the time. I've been having a great time on mog lately. It really is fun to meet all you folks out in the world from my computer. I've been exposed to alot of music and have reconnected with old favorite, forgotten stuff. Thanks for being here to remind me that there's a world out there that's rich and plentiful. So many positive things to focus on now rather than the negs. Peace

The Record Collection

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 17:39:29 GMT

I just grabbed a handful of albums from my stacks and laid them out on the floor. Even though this collection is based heavily in the 70's with a bit of 60's and the odd 80's lp in there (Imperial Bedroom), all of these were obtained second hand. The Scorpions live lp is a new aquisition and is something that I've missed for 2 decades from the old highschool days. The Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison is actually my ex-wife's, but she has no turntable and so I am the guardian of the vinyl. I don't want to just skip over Elvis Costello. Elvis is one of those artists I really turned on to right from the start. My friends, the Koskinen's up the street had the first two albums and I bought those. I have those songs stuck in my brain forever and sometimes the lyrical ideas seep into my own songs. First it was The Beatles, then Costello, then Dylan in that chronologic order as main songwriting influences (so far) on me. As I write this, Carmelina by Warren Zevon comes on my iTunes and so I'll mention him briefly. Zevon's recent passing, in my opinion, barely went by above radar. This particular lp is very early and one should check out a WZ anthology to get a grasp of his absolute brilliance. He was just sort of hard to pidgeonhole because he was real. After one great run with radio hit, Werewolves of London, he backed out of the limelight but continued to write an awesome body of work. How about some late seventies Alice Cooper? Goes To Hell is featured here and it's not the heavy metal sledgehammer the cover may imply. There are some very hooky pop gems on this and...even a bunch of riff-heavy rock on it. Frank Marino of Mahogony Rush was said to have emerged from a coma on the day Hendrix died. He was eclipsed by time (and a few guitarists like Robin Trower and Ritchie Blackmore) but is an awesome guitar hero from the mid seventies. His first 2 studio lps are insane Hendrix extensions with medieval imagery... if you like that kind of thing. I do. Jethro Tull, Dolly Parton, Dylan's Slow Train Coming, a killer Hendrix postumous release that I've treasured for 25 years. This stuff is heavy. I mean it weighs alot and is bulky too! Yet I carry it around with me all my life and when it gets lost or cats pee on them I mourn and hunt to replace them. I am mad, it's true; mad about music!

MOG CRIBS

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:30:38 GMT

HEY, how's it goin'?

I'm Tony Scalzo, welcome to MOG CRIBS! Come on in 'cause this is it! This is my home in beautiful North Austin, TX.

Here we have my front room. The first room in the house is like a buffer zone to the rest of the place so... not much here...a comfy chair for reading or vegging out with the idiot box. That's a painting of flowers by my friend and local luminary Ethan Azarian. The White Stripes poster is from a gig I did when I was in Young Heart Attack a few years back.

Hi Stella! Stella, say grrrr to MOG CRIBS! She's my girlfriend's little dog. She's not a poodle, she's a Punk Maltese!

Come on in and check out my custom kitchen. Not alot goin' on in here...

Let's go into the family room with the "entertainment center". Notice the wall blingage! (new hip term, pick up on it!) In house laundry! I actually write songs in here sometimes. That is real wood panel-age! Imitation crown moulding. Middle Ages style curtains!

Here's where all the magic happens! Oh yeah, baby!.......Hey I know it isn't much but it's nice and COZY! My girlfriend is super, smokin' hot from Oklahoma so look out!

Work station/entertainment center/eye irritant..boring!!! Hey let's go check out the music room!

So here's where you can come over and make music with me in my special workshop. I hesitate to call it a studio. I tend to tinker aimlessly here and sometimes something good comes out of it! Notice more wall blingage. Now check out my wheels!

My 2001 Acura MDX. I've got 154,000 miles on this baby. You KNOW you've seen me around town!

My son's Ferarri...

And don't forget the burned out camper in the backyard!

Anyhoo...thanks for stoppin' by! I hope you enjoyed our little tour of Casa D' Scalzo but now you must get away fast. To those of you who hate me now 'cause you had to scroll and scroll, I am deeply sorry.

From Victoria, BC It's...

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 22:52:05 GMT

There once was this incredible band from Canada called No Meaans No. A three piece of 30-40 something hardcore masters who delivered shows that went for 2 hours at full throttle. Loud as hell with great songs that were obviously inspired by prog rock as well as hardcore. Also, they were really smart and nice guys.

What ever happened to them? Go find out! Do I have to do everything?

Another night on the town

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 14:10:04 GMT

Jennifer and I went to see Social Distortion at Stubb's the other night. I forgot my camera so these pirated images will have to suffice. Had a good time hanging with both bands. Being a transplant from Socal, it was not my first hardcore hoedown but it was Jenn's! She grew up in Oklahoma so she had fun up in the catwalk looking down at the carnage below! The opener's were my good friends from KC, Blackpool lights whose new guitarist is one of my oldest and best friends, from the Belles, Chris Tolle.

!http://mog.com/images/users/8161/1162648727.jpeg! During SocialD's day off I got to hang out with my old buddy from Costa Mesa, Mr. Johnny Wickersham. We ate and drove around a bit on a nice fall day. Then, we went to my house and wrote a country song called "Hold me up...So I can Hold It Down" then had a vegetarian dinner. It's so great to live in Austin because, as I've said before, we get those weekday roadshows coming through. I always get in free 'cause I'm an "SIP" (semi important person!). My life rules!

What about......

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 14:44:09 GMT

Bored and channel surfing, I clicked on Vh1Classic and saw that Urgh a music War was showing. I had owned the cassette box set for years but I never saw the film. I had already missed a few faves like Echo and the Bunnymen when I tuned in, although I will have to brag and say I saw them on 1980 Crocodiles Tour at Reseda Country Club (on acid). Carla and the Textones opened! (That's crazyhttp://mog.com/images/users/8161/1162304724.jpeg! Here is Gang of Four very small. I did get to see Gang of Four at Magic Mountain (Six Flags) play 2 sets! THAT was killer! Hey moggers, what happened to Dave Allen? He bailed! Devo, Magazine, X, UB40, The Fleshtones, Police, Gary Numan!!! Wow! There's a great LA band I used to go see alot called The Alley Cats and they were in it to. I thought it was wierd to, in 2006, look up at my TV and see this band I used to hear back in 1980! By the way, it's real tough to finf info on the Alley Cats on the net. I was proud to have grown up in Socal after seeing the couple of cool bands from there like X and the Alley cats. I got on Billy Zoom's site today and the noastalgia just engulfed me!

Old Favorite

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 15:44:59 GMT

I used to love this band! In 1989 on May 9th, my band Electric Cool Aide, got to open up for NMA in Huntington Beach, Ca at NightMoves! They weren't supposed to be doing the gig (contract conflict of some kind) so they were billed as New Melody Maker! Nevertheless, the show sold out and I discovered there were many fans of this unknown (in US) , great band! They were super nice and amused that there were so many OC wierdo's out to see them! I know they've been active since, but I kind of lost touch. I was going through my 80's vinyl and up jumped Thunder and Consolation. Check it out if you get a chance! T

Is There Any Escape...From Noise?

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 01:04:50 GMT

I knew there was some band in the back of my mind that was urging me to make it a mog subject. It's the Northern California multi-media hacker collective NEGATIVLAND! Brought to life in the 80's when Mark Hosler, Don Joyce and Chris Griegg began hosting "Over Ther Edge" on radio KPFA. They used many forms of pranksterism in their work such as phone calls, ripped off sound bites from famous bands (see U2 Negativland) and rare live shows that inspire stories for one's grandchildren. I will attempt to recount part of a show I witnessed in about '91 at Bogart's in Long Beach, Ca:

Picture 2 card tables on either side of the stage draped with red & white checked table clothes. Atop each table a vintage toaster of the chrome variety. During the song, "Christianity is Stupid", the tables lit up with strobe lights hidden beneath. The lights came through big crosses cut into the cloth. While everyone was being hypnotized by light and sound, we failed to notice that at the beginning of the number, slices of bread had been loaded into each toaster. By the middle of the song the whole club was filled with acrid, burnt toast smoke. Folks ran for their lives in all directions! Smoke alarms went off and I assume it was the end of the show. I can only scratch the surface of the history of this great, super smart and funny "rock" band. Check out the websites. Also SST website. If you like to laugh at how dumb the world is you can do it right along with Negativland.

Happy Birthday to the man who invented it!!!!

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 01:18:16 GMT

Just wanted to give a birthday shout out to my favorite rock and roll/ r&B legend on his happy 80th!!!! 40 more!!!!

The Thermals at Emo's ATX 10/12/06

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 14:07:15 GMT

Saw this band from Portland the other night. They were really fun and had tons of physical and musical energy. The place was full of (employed) young college types who gobbled up The Thermals raw and heavy powerpunk. They seemed alarmed at the positive response from Austin. Everyone thought they were great though. I got the impression they must've played in Houston or Dallas the night before or something. Austin is an island, people! It's where I get to see cool up-and-coming bands on a weeknight as opposed to Cali or NY. The Thermals rocked steady for about 55 minutes and promptly bailed, so did we! Nice early night out if a bit pricey @ $12.00. I hope they're getting paid on this tour. Anyway check 'em out on Subpop website or the Thermals myspace. Great songs. Killers band. Magnetic frontman.

My MAd Face

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:18:54 GMT

My mad face

I am mad because Panic at the damn Disco is first on my list right here! I don't particularliy like that band, actually I don't really know a heck of a lot about em other than they make my 13 yo daughter act kinda funny!

Playing guitar; "The Rain Song"

Tony Scalzo — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 13:39:12 GMT

Alright. I've been playing the guitar for about 35 years. I was a kid in the 70's and I had neighbor friends who had older brothers. We all loved rock and guitars so we all aspired to become guitar players. It was as normal as competition in baseball or football for us. Learning new songs and playing them the way our guitar heroes did was the ultimate thrill. To nail it. That did not happen very often. I remember us being 12 and Richard (neighbor) played "Smoke On the Water" in E (wrong, it's in G) glowing with accomplishment. I knew it didn't sound right but I didn't know why. It never occured to us to just put on the record and check it out! I am now a professional muso and when I go to learn a new song from the annals of popular music, I want to get it right. So imagine my frustration when I google RAIN SONG TUNING and I get a lot of Richard-esque bad information! There's a you-tube of some 13 year old kid who's figured it out (almost) in standard tuning. He struggles and his hands change position a bit too often for it to look comfortable. There's just something askew and I can't tell what until I look at another youtube vid of Led Zeppelin doing it live. It is SO awesome and I can immediately see that Page's hands are way more set in position and relaxed. It's clearly NOT a difficult song for him to play. (Though some footage shows a fairly addled Page struggling to grasp the neck with requisite firmness.) There were three different versions of the so called Rain Song Tuning and I became impatient and confused til I learned that one was wrong, one was the tuning used on the studio lp and one is a LIVE tuning used in the vids of Zep that I saw. It is actually easier (for me, super musician that I am) to figure it out as I listen along with Pagey in the live tuning, which is, by the way, EADADE. So put on some SONG REMAINS THE SAME and play along with Pagey. Oh and young man, listen to the fucking records before you post bogusness!!!!

Robin Trower Live

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:43:13 GMT

Last night I saw Robin Trower at La Zona Rosa! I do believe that if you play the guitar a certain way and perfect your knowledge of the fret-board and perfect your tone and play and play ...for multiple decades...and stay focused...you just get better. Proof: The set by Robin and his band last night here in Austin. He is a man of few words but the guitar speaks/sings through his hands and body and facial expressions. He was once written off as a Hendrix knock off but nobody can say that today! We are very fortunate to still have someone playing the guitar the way Robin does! In the city of SRV, (got a statue of him at Auditorium Shores!) one would expect a receptive audience for Robin's guitar mastery. Indeed the joint was packed full of middle aged bikers, stoners, Blues afficianados, even young apiring guitar players who actually read guitar magazines! Not alot of females. I stood near the front, towards the end of Gene Pool's set (Harmonie's Band) to stake my claim on prime real estate, where the sound would be best and the view clear. I was most impressed by the band (drums, bass and singer) who did not come to mess around. They did their jobs without fanfare but with machine-like minimalism. Trower did a tight-wire ballet dance on top. It was incredible! I was just in Hawaii for like 3 weeks, I was in the ocean every day and am very into the motion of waves and surfing (nalu) and that's all I could think about while the music played. I don't know if Robin Trower music appears in any surf film or video but it's perfect for it! I know there's surfing footage in Rainbow Bridge, the Hendrix film. (Room Full Of Mirrors) I will go on a limb to add that Robin Trower is the closest thing ya'll are ever going to get to a Hendrix show at this point in time. He's a little less raw and a little more precise, but it can be quite transcendant. Maybe there was something in the air but at time's he took on a Norman Fell aura! I totally LOL'ed while rocking!

Leslie & the LY's

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 17:52:28 GMT

Every once in a while something comes along and grabs me by the ears and shakes me hard around the room until I submit. This chick rocks my world. (But I don't want a taste, though I do like the way you roll ,Girl, I got a girlfriend) Check her myspace.com/Leslie & the LY's

What About These Dudes?

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 16:47:56 GMT

I know Mr. Watt would agree, here is one of the coolest bands to ever come out of the So-Cal "hardcore" scene. So much smarter, and insane than all the others. Played on bills with all of 'em like Black Flag and Circle Jerks then occupied the Cathay de Grande and Anti-Club for many years. Spurts of genious on various SST samplers like Blasting Concept among the likes of the Meat Puppets. Plus a few lp's of their own. Creative core comprised of Joe Baiza on guitar and Jack Brewer on vocals they put out a cd as recently as 2003. "The Sinister Rain" from The Great One Is Dead is awesome! What's happening with Saccharine Trust? I remember loving them and my girlfriend Stacey Santos hating their guts!

Lower Puna

Tony Scalzo — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 03:14:12 GMT

Way down south of Hilo, Hi there's a town called Pahoa, and just a few more miles past the giant lava flow that engulfed the beach town of Kalapana, you will find Belly Acres. My girlfriend, Jennifer and I were the guests of Graham Ellis and his lovely family at their sprawling jungle home. Here, Graham and his partners have been developing their plans to help disadvantaged kids in Hawaii through the VOLCANO CIRCUS. They educate through performing arts in a self-supporting environment. Graham's hope of building a large Culteral Arts Center at the property's frontage seems to be soon realized since the foundation was laid a few weeks ago. Graham was happy to take a couple of days off to show us around the area. We visited our first nude beach and saw many middle aged hippie peni! We stayed for just a few minutes, just long enough for me to find a huge joint on the ground! Then off to the black sand beach that's only 13 years old just off the flow at pu'u'o'o. Then swimming in the Champagne Pool. Yes, it's FULL of real champagne. But I didn't drink any, I just swam. We then flew up the Hamakua coast north of Hilo in a 4 seater and I about pissed myself! I held Jenn's hand and squeezed! But what a cool weekend! I'll be back in Austin just as soon as that darn ACL fest blows through town.

Hanging Out In SoCal

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 04:19:35 GMT

So I'm on the road (vacation) so no graphics for ya. Anyhoo, I spent yesterday visiting a few friends in LA. Among them my good friend Jula Bell, who owns DOG CAMP LA in Silverlake. Jula has been in about 15 bands since the mid 80's (Bulemia Banquet, Nip Drivers) and is well known by many as a cool, kick-ass chick with a heart o'gold. I also got to see Mr. Nick Sjobeck for a rare visit, as he was hanging out in the neighborhood waiting for our buddy John K to come home from work. Nick and I were in a band from 89 to 93 (Electric Cool Aide, The Goods) and he now fronts his band Dodge Dart. He has penned some fine tunes, such as "Jesus Ain't My Friend" and "Killing Spree". He said he's been working on new songs. I really wanted to hook up with Franz Stahl, but time closed in fast and I had to take my girlfriend and Stell, her Maltese to my sis's in Long Beach. (Carmela is dogsitting for us while were in Hawaii next week.) Well it was 3 on Friday of Labor Day wknd and we rolled up to her pad in Lakewood at SIX! Jennifer had never been in a traffic jam that big before. (OKLAHOMA) But I got to take her to Melrose for shopping and she got to see Jeff Goldblum buy jeans at Fred Segal. She got very excited and now I have to watch out for that Goldblum! On the way out here we drove through some of the most cool and powerful places in our vicinity. Santa Fe, NM for a night and then 2 nights in Sedona, AZ. Then we hauled ass to my Mom's in OC. We listened to Sirius radio all the way out and she likes LEFT OF CENTER, which is ok, at least they play Sonic Youth. They play Flipper but it's always Sex Bomb. I love it when Camera Obscura comes on or La Rocca. We also love Larry the Cable Guy on BLUE COLLAR COMEDY, he is one funny cracker-ass! Anyway, that's that. I thought I'd write something just to stay current. Peace out, War In

Stoned

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 11:41:51 GMT

I went to Target the other day to get clothes for my kids and I passed through the entertainment Aisle. On display was the UK film Stoned on Dvd for 12 bucks! I had seen the reviews and I STILL bought it! Anyway, I watched the whole thing last night. It seemed to capture the way I thought it looked like at 'THE OLD MILNE PLACE' when Jones was found at the bottom of his pool. However, it dragged on for days, jumping from flashback to present and back again. Plus, I got the Un-rated version with many penises, (no vaginas) up on the screen. Lots of simulated sex with beautiful UK women in 60's hairdos. I must admit that the casting was great and all the female actors were VERY hot (YEAH!, BABY!!!). The Stones look pretty realistic and the original music the film uses, ( Small Faces, Traffic, Jujoukan Master Musician's, etc) makes up for the fake Stones music they use. I don't know why but they use White Stripes' songs in it! I thought it was funny when Frank, Jones' handyman and supposed killer, sprinkled weed into his employer's food as if it would have had a negative affect on him! They make a huge deal showing all the debauched consumption of drugs and alcohol throughout the film and a few grams of shitty 60's grass is going to hurt Brian Jones? I guess it was pcp or something like that, right? All in all, it was worth the money; it was less than it would've cost to see it with my girlfriend, who would've hated it, ("Brian who?") and I could smoke while viewing (a must!).

Jim Dandy to the Rescue

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 22:55:24 GMT

A couple of years ago I was living in Austin with my friend Mark Deutrom. One winter's day we decided to make a road trip up to Memphis to visit our good friend Piper. We got there and her roomate was dating William Eggleston, yes, that William Eggleston, the world famous photographer. He came over and we talked and Mark even took pictures of him which didn't seem to bug him. He was a bit under the weather. But really, that IS another story. Anyhoo, it was COLD and Dark because the other roomate hadn't paid the electricity bill. So William and his "roomate" took off for his house while we were left to crash out in the cold and deal with the problem the next morning. So anyway, Piper is the daughter of Black Oak lead singer, Jim Dandy. Jim's the coolest! He's always been real nice to me everytime we've met. Piper called him and he gave us some money for wine and candles. He offered to spring for a hotel but we opted for the former and he even came over later with his guitar and a doob. He showed me a couple of cool chords on it and we had a great time. So Mark said as we left for home the next morning:"With Piper, it really IS Jim Dandy to the rescue!"

Rocking the Faces of Louisville!

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:24:13 GMT

This is Fastball at the Louisville State Fair opening for Smashmouth Aug 19th, 2006. Largest crowd we've played to since Leon, Spain in Dec. 2005; about 5000 in a baseball (appropriate!) stadium. We had a great time opening for a band we've played with alot over the years! Some even confuse us with them as well as Semi-Sonic and Vertical Horizon! But we are not them!! Anyway, the guys we're all cool as hell and have a new album coming out soon called SUMMER GIRL. As for Fastball, we will play at Antone's in Austin, TX on Sept 30th. Things are lookin really good and the band is tightening up well with new bass player Harmony Kelley holding it down with Joey. Joey, Miles and Myself will most likely do recording for new FB CD in the Fall. I have absolutely NO IDEA What, Where, How it'll sound or get done; Only Why: because it's been over 2 years...and only a rough idea of when. We do know it will be done, like our last one, by us and for us. We know that only if it's done this way will it be an album we can put out to the people! Maybe I'll have some hair by the time it comes out! I did get to meet new mog-ite DizzyMissLizzy with her friend at the show. There whereothers there who seemed to know who we were, too!

Here's what we do while waiting to go onstage! We have very cool indie rock lower 3rds, do ya'll not agree?

Black Sabbath

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:17:43 GMT

I love all kinds of music. My friends down the street in 1979, well, they did not. I felt lucky that I could really get into whatever was around and listen to my "secret" music in private. As hard as I tried , I could not persuade my friends to like Elvis Costello or X RAy Specs. It wasn't gonna happen! So I was more public about hard rock bands with hair than any of the other stuff I liked. I needed to live another day, what can I say? All those dudes are dead or machinists and insurance salesmen or in jail, STILL! We all loved Sabbath!After Never Say Die album Ozzy bailed out of Sabbath and everyone was pissed off and things would never be the same. Incidently, I didn't see any of the shows as I was a little shit, but I saw a video of them years later, opening with Symptom of the Universe and it is an insanely killer show! Seek it out and own it. It makes you wonder...why was the band unhappy when they were so good? So Heaven and Hell comes out with ex-Rainbow singer Ronnie James Dio and not ONE of us batted an eye. We knew it would be killer! It's not like when Hagar joined Van Halen. It wasn't even like when Bon Scott died. We were all Rainbow fans because of Dio (and Blackmore). For him to go to Sabbath was a great idea! Yeah, and Rainbow started sucking it hard once Dio split. We got into that record right away and to me, it's one of the greatest hard rock or metal records ever. If you get Rainbow's Long Live Rock and Roll and ON STAGE you can easily see how DIO directed those projects and dominated them. It was easy to see what he could bring to Sabbath. They even played it on the radio. I heard Lonely is the World about 100 times while camping at the Colorado river one summer. Bill Ward has taken alot of flack for NO reason by fans and fellow band members alike. He is so good on H&H! Mob Rules is great to with Carmine but H&H rules to me. People make fun of DIO but when I hear that voice I get chills. He's the best rock singer I've ever heard. You can't do that shit without years of dedication and devotion to your craft. No disrespect to Ozzy, I own all the Black Sabbath albums but Heaven and Hell is what I listen to every week for 25 yrs! Where was I? I can't play or sing like that so I do what I do. But I still rock out to that shit all the time!

I LOVE NEW YORK

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 04:08:39 GMT

I just got in from a gnarly 10 hour flying journey from the capital City, Albany, NY to Austin. As you know, we reached a code red this morning on the alert for terrorist activity. The weather also was UN cooperative. Fastball opened up for none other than Lou Grammatico, legendary vocalist of dominant Rock band Foreigner. We played a strong set, I think, of 70 minutes and despite a bumblebee sting on my left FU finger the day went off without a hitch! After my job was done I got to relax an enjoy at least 15 songs in a row that I knew all the words to! We actually had to leave before the show was over. Lou did a killer job despite recent health problems and seemed to really dig the scene! I ran into him in the hotel lobby this morning and said hello and he was very nice. Below is a photo from behind the stage. The photo of us is from last Sunday at Waterloo Park in Austin. This was our first gig with new bass player Harmoni Kelly. I know, I look like a school teacher! It was taken by a little girl named Wendy. I chose it because she's a great fan and it's got all of us in the frame. Next week it's Smahmouth and 2 state fairs. MO an KY! See you there! ha, yeah right!! Jaded moggers!

Aurthur Lee Dead at 61

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 04:00:09 GMT

So I grew up in California and they played "Little Red Book" alot on K-Earth 101 and I didn't really know too much beyond that . Until high school, which was for me 78-82, when I finally got the Rhino Best of Love lp. I fell in LOVE with that record right away. I realized that this was a secret of rock,these brilliant recordings of such imaginative songs by the forgotten Aurthur Lee. RIP I'm thinking about you!

Concert for Bangladesh

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 05:28:39 GMT

Dear Diary, my Dad is a total dork! He dragged me to this lame-ass concert at Threadgill's tonight. What's up with the most boring show ever? Anyway, at least I have my Panic At The Disco CD to listen to!

Concert For Bangladesh

Tony Scalzo — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 04:50:45 GMT

I just got back from the Austin, Tx, Concert For Bangladesh (Hoot) at Threadgill's. Darin Murphy hosted a cavalcade of Austin musician's as they recreated the entire concert that occured 35 years ago tonight. They did it all note for note. Yes, they even started with local Indian Musicians on Sitar and Tabla ala Ravi Shankar, as well as Bangladeshi folk dancing featured in the film. As for the pop segment of the show, all the bases were covered. Nakia did a rousing version of Billy Preston's "That's The Way God Planned It" Billy Harvey sang "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with great guitar work from Matt McNabb. Four different Bob Dylans: Beaver Nelson, Will Sexton, Mario Matteoli and Matt The Electrician and Three Georges including My own Miles Zuniga from Fastball. Ben from The Real Heroes did Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy", sounding alot better than Starr's ever sung it! Matt Hubbard did the complete "Jumping Jack Flash" complete with the soul preaching of Leon Russell. Very ambitious project pulled off in fine fashion by all involved. It was well attended to and proceeds went to benefit UNICEF.

Listen to this GEM!

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 14:07:25 GMT

So one day, when we were opening for Sugar Ray and the Goo Goo Dolls, in Nashville, I got picked up from the Arena and taken to JWH's recording studio in Franklin to play on this old Steeler's Wheel song. It was an all nighter and I was bleary afterward. Next thing I know, this track is on Wes' album! We toured a few club gigs with him and had a great time. I went to my friend Rob's wedding in New England and Wes was the minister! Yes, he's an ordained minister!

Music is the best..

Tony Scalzo — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 01:40:28 GMT

I just got home from that movie with Johnny Depp in it. I didn't get it! It was sooo long and the theater was cold! Anyway I get home and it's music that gets me back to feeling ok again. Right now, Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden singing the American Trilogy. At least I know what's going on here. Sea monsters raped a bunch of undead pirates and monkeys? 2 1/2 hours and 12 bucks, swindled from me, I'm so glad it was the matinee! Anyhoo, I am going to LA again in a month, I want to try and see Radio Birdman on the 30th of August. Anyone going to see them on their visit to the states? NEW Album on yep rock. Old guys rule! This is a photo I took at 80 mph of someone's golf ball home in the desert. So now I feel better.

The Drags

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:03:26 GMT

When I was a kid my friend Tony Byrum and I used to go with his Dad to the drag races near our home in Orange County. We loved the rocket cars and the rail-cars that'd go like 300mph and were loud as hell! We also liked it when they crashed. We always hoped there'd one day be a demolition derby in our town but that never materialized as anyone in OC could tell you today. One particular night they had live rock and roll music right on the track during an intermission. This band, Flash Cadillac, was the first real band I ever saw that played what you could really call rock and roll. I guess they were sort of regional, and they played mostly covers but they did it up right. Greasy da's, jeans, leather. The singer (Flash, I assume) wore a satin Elvis suit. They were loud and had that special, pounds in your chest, feeling I got addicted to right away. They rocked Jerry Lee, Elvis, Little Richard and Chuck Berry. It was the first time I'd heard Johnny Be Good ever. Tony and I are still friends and there are no more drag races in the OC!

Yes, I'm back!

Tony Scalzo — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 21:21:37 GMT

I got back to Austin last monday. I had a good time with my kids and saw the Grand Canyon. I recorded a new song with my buddy Corey Gash. It's called, "The Last Word" and sounds like a Costa Mesa classic!( Even though it was recorded in Santa Ana) Well Fastball's gearing up for August shows in NY state, (Albany 8/9) MO and KY state Fairs. Should be fun, get to hang with old friends in the Smashmouth organization!

Here's a photo from 1998 of a band that was called the GOODS. We took this photo because we were doing a show that weekend billed as A GOODS reunion show. It's more acurately the line-up of what was the last incarnation of Electric Cool Aide. L-R is Jamie Riedling, Nate Shaw, Nick Sjobeck and ME. I was in ECA from about May '89 until we played a series of "Last Show Ever" 's around '91. It's really foggy but we managed to play a few really cool shows during my run with them. We also did a bit of recording;some of the first songs I had ever written.

I feel like saying something.

Tony Scalzo — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 21:10:58 GMT

Next Sunday, my 8 year old daughter and I will drive from Austin to El Paso on our way to my sister's house in Lakewood, CA. We will get there in time for a nieghborhood block party on 4th of July so Claudia, the child, will definately have something to look forward to at the end of the grueling 1400 mile journey. I will stock the car with puzzle books and dvd's and plenty of music. I've driven everywhere in this country as a traveling musician but I don't know what to ecpect with Claudia. I'm sure it'll be tough to sit for so long but I am looking forward to the one on one with my middle kid. I've got the killer ipod with about a months worth of songs so we'll just hit shuffle and see what comes up! I may do some recording out there in LA or maybe an open mic or two with my trusty acoustic. No plan yet...I may see a band or two as well so I'll write about that if that happens.

Hi

Tony Scalzo — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 18:32:45 GMT