Tagged: The Atomic Punks

February 9, 2020

MORC – Day 1 (Monsters Of Rock Cruise 2020)

MORC – Day 1:

Took the shuttle from my hotel to the cruise port, sharing with a bunch of people who were going on other cruises.
When we pulled in to pier 29, it was crystal clear which cruise THAT was. :D
People with long, black hair, piercings, tattoos and band t-shirts everywhere…there was no doubt about it. The old folks turned to me going: “There’s your cruise! Looks like fun! We should go on that one!”

The check-in was a dream, I breezed right through. I wish it was like that at the airport! And I was once again reminded that people in the US love my hair…! :D

The staff opened the doors to my deck, said we were welcome to go to our cabins now. Still so breezy I could barely believe it. Last year we had to wait for hours for our cabins to be ready. “My” attendant knocked on the door and was pissed that I was already in the cabin but I told him they actually let us in. He said that the door was open, which means that they are about to clean it. Okay, yell at your colleague who let us in, not me, angry little man.

I took a walk around the ship, met people I knew, just enjoyed the vibe. :) These are my people, this is my music, this is my trip. Soon we will be far away from the real world rockin’ out to our favorite music for days and I love it!

The first band was supposed to be the “secret sail-off band”. I already knew who it was but I wanted some good footage so I stayed – and they were horribly late. Nobody informed us about what was going on, and time just dragged on as if we were waiting for freaking Axl Rose or something. Unfortunately, it killed the vibe. You sail off, the ship starts moving, people waving, the loud horn honks as we’re leaving the port – and you’re in the right mood for some music action! But…there is none.

It got dark before anything happened and by then most people were already at the bar or doing something else. The secret band was a reunited BulletBoys, which to me wasn’t of much interest. I was tired, my party-vibe was gone so I just thought…fuck it. I’m going back to my cabin.

I couldn’t wait to just chill. I had barely taken two steps inside my cabin when the angry little attendant knocked on the door. He didn’t say what he wanted and just almost pushed his way in, going “can I come in?“.

It was so creepy. I got scared to be honest. He had already cleaned the room so what was he doing in here now? It was dark outside and there had been no people in the corridor, so it felt quite uncomfortable, to say the least.

“I’ll make your bed comfortable!” he said and pulled out the tucked in corners. I was still standing there wondering WTF?
He finally left with a fake smile and handed me his business card.

I’m one of those weird people who considers a hotel room or a cabin my home away from home, and as such, I value ONE thing, and one thing only – and that’s my privacy.

I hate people coming in when I have my private belongings in the room, I hate people knocking on the door when I want to sleep or when I just want to be left alone. So this morning I put the “DO NOT DISTURB“-sign on the door and that’s staying there for the rest of the cruise. The annoying little man better not try to talk to me for the rest of this journey, and he better stay out of my cabin too unless I need toilet paper or whatever. Geez. They want their tips, but that was a very blunt way to go about it.

Anyway, today will be a busy day. :) Joel Hoekstra, Rick Allen, Y&T documentary movie on pool deck and then the band starts playing right after.
British Lion w Steve Harris. “Photo experience” with Steve Harris. The Atomic Punks. Doro. And I have to see Paradise Kitty of course lol!

My PT would have been proud of me by the way, I took the stairs from the 4th floor up to 11th yesterday and decided I won’t take the elevator on this cruise unless I’m in a hurry. So I did the same this morning when I went for breakfast. Stairs.

Been eating healthy too. Salad, veggies and a chickpea Indian stew yesterday, scrambled eggs and oatmeal for breakfast… I’m doing okay so far! :D
We’re in the middle of nowhere, just ocean everywhere I look. This is relaxation alright! <3

March 31, 2012

The unmasking of Steel Panther

I spent almost two full days just clicking my way through Steel Panther history. I wasn’t really looking for anything to begin with, but as I started finding stuff, one interesting fact lead to another and it became an obsession…!

I mentioned to my friend Mari that many people have found my blog by searching for terms like “Lexxi without wig” or “Steel panther no wigs” or “Does Satchel wear a wig?“.

I can’t believe they haven’t already found all this stuff! Her only response was: “Most people don’t have the patience for that sort of thing. It’s the journalist in you that comes out“. Maybe.
I truly get a kick from this stuff. Who ARE these guys?

It’s like Kiss back in the day – everybody wanted to know what they looked like before 1983. The mystery would drive people crazy.
Well, since the Steel Panther-guys are basically always in character during their interviews, you won’t get anything out of them. So if you want to know what lies behind the wigs, the spandex and the jokes, you’ve got to find out for yourself.

I’ve visited some pretty godforsaken, forgotten places on the Internet Graveyard today.
MySpace proved to be an underrated museum of interesting stuff. There were old blogs from 2004 that invited fans of The Thornbirds (also named The Ducks) to gigs for free or to five or ten bucks at the door. Little did they know, I’m sure, that tickets to their future band Steel Panther would go for 40 bucks a piece in the UK eight years later.

There were all these old home-made homepages that people used to create before there was any social media out there – even before the days of MySpace or Facebook. It’s been an interesting journey today! I still don’t have ALL the pieces of the puzzle, lots of things I still don’t get. Like whether or not there is an affinity between the band’s manager Glen Parrish and Russ Parrish (aka Satchel).

They sure look a lot alike if you compare photos – it’s the same jawline. Just speculating – I don’t know, but I’m sure there are people out there who DO know. I just haven’t stumbled upon anything yet that would confirm it, so I’ll just save that for another rainy day. :-)

[Steel Panther manager Glen Parrish – family or just pure coincidence…?]

I started at Twitter, clicked on an interesting name, which took me to a personal webpage, which took me to a personal Facebook-account – which took me to….everywhere…!
Next thing I know, I’m looking at family- and vacation photos and old band-videos, photos, MySpace stories and blogs and old webpages and cool stuff on YouTube!

So….. This is not even half of it, but who knows, maybe there will be a “Part two” in the future. For now, if you ever wondered what Steel Panther looks like “incognito” – here you go!
Still very cool guys -wigs or no wigs!

STEEL PANTHER – UNMASKED
Travis Haley – Russ Parrish – Ralph Saenz and Darren Leader.
Better known as… Lexxi -Satchel – Michael and Stix

This is what they looked like then this whole thing began….

And sounded like this (Love Rocket):

LEXXI:

SATCHEL:

STIX:

MIX OF PIX – click your way through them all – live pix of Satchel’s and Stix’ former band The Thornbirds and more. This first pic is of Travis and Russ (Lexxi and Satchel):

See the full gallery on Posterous

There was plenty of info on Satchel’s musical past, in the form of videos and old interviews, yet he is the only one I haven’t found on any social media sites. So, if you’re digging for personal stuff on him, good luck – it’s not exactly under your nose if you’re looking for it.
Seems like he really prefers his privacy when he’s offstage, respect to that.
But if you’re curious of his “old sins” music wise – here’s some old shit for you to enjoy…! :-)

The Atomic Punks (Van Halen-tribute band that included Michael Starr as “David Lee”) at the Velvet Jones, Santa Barbara, CA – October 22, 2005. Includes former guitarist Russ Parrish – tuning problems with his Frankenstrat.

THE ELECTRIC FENCE – with PAUL GILBERT (around 1991)
The Electric Fence – Paul Gilbert, Russ Parrish, Jeff Martin

Notice at 0.49 where Lexxi’s future “hair flip” probably originates from! ;)
This also includes Billy Sheehanwalking out on stage with a birthday-PIE. :-) Great stuff, I LOVE Paul Gilbert!!