Saturday, September 9th
Nebula, High on Fire and The Heads
Live at the The Troubadour in Hollywood, California
 Well, as mentioned above we totally missed seeing The Heads at this show. We walked in just as High on Fire was starting their 3rd song, which I think was �Last�. Immediately the atmosphere seemed completely different than the two previous times I�d seen High on Fire. Matt Pike seemed really content and relaxed and was being very personable with the crowd, even asking them what song they wanted to hear next. Which of course was 10,000 Years (what else?) � which was probably on the set list anyways, but it was cool that we got the option! The rest of their set was very well executed, but loose and relaxed at the same time. I think this was the best I�ve ever seen them, except that I would have loved to hear a few more songs.
 The Troubadour was absolutely packed solid for this show and big portions of the crowd were made up of well-known band members and prominent people of the scene. In between shows I caught up with Greg Anderson (of Goatsnake, Sunn and SouthernLord Recordings) but he was way too wasted to maintain a conversation of any kind, and I was feeling a little tipsy myself so we accomplished nothing. As I walked in from having a smoke (they�re evil about smoking in L.A. � remember this if you plan to see a show there, NO SMOKING INSIDE WHATSOEVER!!) I saw John Garcia being hauled out by security with two blondes hanging off him. But in reality I think the security guard was his friend and so were the two blondes and there was no actual �hauling� involved. But whatever, it�s all how you interpret things eh?? Hehe � I also talked to the guitarist for Unida, who said that the writing and recording of their new album is going great. He said that they�re extremely proud of the new stuff and they�re happier with it than anything else they�ve ever done! Now I�m even more eager to hear the new Unida. Sounds like it�s gonna be good?!? I also caught up with a bunch of different StonerRock.com Community Members at this show (while out smoking) but besides John of �People Like You Records� I can�t remember who they all were (hehe).. I got some cool photos of the Unida guitarist (Fuck, I just can�t remember his name right now?) stockpiling Corona�s for the Nebula set which was up next. (Click the photo to your right)
 And boy did they put on a good show on this night. Again it was pretty much the same set as the last 3 times I�d seen them but they did mix it up a little bit again. I was sitting right on the right side of the stage where there was a set of stairs and I had the best angle for watching the show and for taking lots of photos. Although, I didn�t realize till the next night that there was a mezzanine that I could have gotten some even better shots from. Oh well. Enough about Nebula already, their set smoked (pun intended) and they ended it by playing �Fly On� instead of saving it for the encore. Which there wasn�t any, which was very dissappointing. I guess since it�s their hometown the crowd has seen them enough or something, but I wanted an encore! Dammit!
Sunday, September 10th
Natas, Crisis, Lost Goat and Gammera
Live at the The Troubadour in Hollywood, California
 This night I got to The Troubadour early just to make sure I didn�t miss any of Gammera�s set. Which I didn�t, but man was it a poor turn out crowd-wise. Gammera laid down a blazing and heavy slab of sludge-rock for about 20 people, including some members of other bands. What a shame! Especially compared to the turn out the night before for High on Fire and Nebula. Oh well. It was a damn fine set and it was cool to get up close and personal for photo ops.
 Up next was Lost Goat and they played to only a slightly larger crowd of maybe 40 people. I think their set was delayed a little bit too because Tina (drummer) wanted to wait till her sister arrived to watch them play. Well what the fuck, even though very few people were there Lost Goat gave it their all, as usual. One benefit to The Troubadour is the high stage and the mezzanine which all made for very good photo taking angles with no �heads� in the frame. This wasn�t their most incredible set ever but they were obviously having fun and jamming out a bit which was just fine by me. Once again, The Goat delivered the goods!
 Who are Crisis? And why did they play after Lost Goat instead of before Gammera? In my slightly blurred state of being they came across as a cross between In Living Color, Bad Brains and Fu Manchu and it wasn�t too bad either. But Natas were up next so I spent most of this set outside smoking and in the bar getting �primed� for their set. Which was very fucking cool!! From my limited knowledge of the Natas repertoire it sounded like they played mostly songs off of Ciudad Du Brahman and very little of their older stuff. But I�m not exactly sure. Whatever the songs were, they were played perfectly. Almost like they were coming straight off the albums, but of course, they obviously weren�t. Natas were definitely tight though, and they�ve got their songs down pat. A little bit mathy here and there, and great mezmerizing vocals but it was the tripped out kyuss-style jams that made them so good. These guys are up from Argentina for a month long tour with Gammera. At the time of this writing (September 24, 2000) they�ve got at least one more show in San Francisco, so don�t miss em if you can help it!
Monday, September 11th
Biblical Proof of U.F.Os, Fu Manchu, Supagroup, Fireball Ministry and The Unband
Live at the The Whiskey in Hollywood, California
 This show was only $3.00 for 5 bands and the tickets weren�t on sale until the doors opened. So you bet you�re bottom dollar that I was there early and right when I got there I ran into Rev. Jim Rota and the lovely Emily Burton from Fireball Ministry. And of course they were both totally cool. Emily is a tall blonde that�s gorgeous in that �I�m not worthy� Wayne�s World kinda way! (hehe) Then I slipped inside past the bouncer trying to find out where I could get tickets and I came face to face with Scott Hill � cool! John from �People Like You Records� was also there again, handing out sampler discs and giving me the �Devil Horns� hand signal all night like he was crazy! I also got to meet some more StonerRock.com Community Members while waiting for this show to get underway. I swear the main chick from The Blair Witch Project was there too, I wonder who she was there to see exactly? I bet Fu Manchu, but you never know. At least I got to see one movie-star while I was in Hollywood (whatever!) hehe.
 Up first was The Unband who were extremely energetic and put on a full-on set even though it was to a small crowd. Although their stage antics like leaning backwards over the monitors while still playing were impressive, their songs didn�t compare. Right after The Unband was a band that I was really looking forward to seeing live for the first time: Fireball Ministry. I really love these guys� CD and I was very pleased to see and hear all the great songs from it performed live along with a bunch of new ones that I hadn�t heard before. I assume these will be on their upcoming album on Small Stone Records? Emily looked damn cool with her bright red SG and her orange stack and the guitar sound was nearly as warm and fuzzy as it is on their album. But not LOUD enough!! The lighting at The Whiskey was amazing and the band had set up plywood flames cut-outs on either side of the stage. Fireball Ministry sounded almost as good live as they do on CD, but not quite, it was just a little bit flat I found. But extremely enjoyable just the same.
 Filling the third slot for the night was Supagroup who I think used to be an AC/DC cover band? Anyways their set was actually really, really cool. It all sounded very much like AC/DC stuff, but they were actually playing their own songs. I thoroughly enjoyed these guys though, they put on a really fun show. But nothing could have compared to Fu Manchu on this night. MAN!! This was only my second time seeing them and they blew their last performance to pieces with this one, and the first time I saw them I was blown away! A combination of the amazing lighting at The Whiskey, the great stage (with Brant Bjork higher than the band on another platform) and the fact that they played a totally different set than their standard made this a very special evening indeed. They played Freedom of Choice and their Circle Jerks cover (can�t remember what it�s called) and they also pulled out some oldies that they hadn�t even practiced for this show, including Ojo Rojo. King of the Road, Weird Beard and Brant Bjork�s drum solo were also serious highlights of this show. They were sooooooo goooooood but they didn�t do an encore, unfortunately. I guess there was another band up after them called �Biblical Proof of UFOs� but there was no way that I was sticking around for another band after such a great Fu Manchu set, after seeing 3 shows in 3 nights and NOT BEING ABLE TO SMOKE INSIDE!!! Hehehe..
Wednesday, September 13th
Spirit Caravan, Men of Porn, Witch Mountain
Live at the The Satyricon in Portland, Oregon.
We took the scenic coast road (the 101 freeway) from San Francisco up to Coos Bay and then up through Eugene to Portland on the I-5. I plan on taking the 101 every time I drive down south from now on cuz it was amazingly beautiful! It beats the shitty, boring I-5 any day. Isis ended up landing a job back in Houston that she had to get back for right away so this ended up being another mad dash from Gold Beach to Portland to make a flight at 2:30pm the day of this show. Which we ended up making, with less than 10 minutes to spare! Not bad timing for a 7 hour drive to the airport! So that was the last I saw of Isis, my StonerRock.com Roadtrip Co-pilot. And man, did she miss out on a good farking show!
 Like I said in the intro to �Roadtrip 2000 � Part 1� this was by far the best show of the trip. All 3 bands were awesome!! Up first was some punk rock band from the Middle East somewhere I think? I can�t remember their name and I didn�t actually catch their set cuz I was outside drinking on the sidewalk tables with Robwrong, Nate Mountain and his girlfriend, oatmeal steve, Mr Red, carson27 and the coolest rock �n� roll dude on the planet: Sherman from Spirit Caravan. Hahah � Man was this guy a riot. He talked for about an hour and we all just listened to his stories about previous shows and how Wino �Is a god!!!�. What a blast and what a funny dude. I bet he could have talked all night if we�d let him but we had to break it up to go see Witch Mountain perform.
 I had come to this show with Robwrong immediately after watching their pre-show practice session. I had my own private little Witch Mountain show and it was very groovy seeing them play their newest songs close up. I also helped Robwrong pack an Orange cabinet, a Marshal cabinet, two Marshall heads, his guitar case and various other things all into his car. Which we thought was very impressive, it�s a lot of shit to get into one car! And back to the story already in progress�
 Witch Mountain hit the stage while I was (still) chatting with (listening to) Sherman. They started the set off with my favourite of their new songs. A song where Kip and Robwrong trade off vocals and do some really gnarly melodies and it ends off with a very Skynardish improv solo by Rob. This song is very indicative of the new direction that the Witch Mountain sound is heading. Totally fresh and different than anything else I�ve heard. Stay tuned for a review of ��Come the Mountain� on StonerRock.com very soon. Robwrong was admittedly a little nervous knowing that they were playing in front of the almighty Wino and Co. - but they pulled it off in style. Sherman was even going �Holy Fuck Dude!� to me over and over during their set, he was seriously impressed. They closed their set with an extended jam version of �Scientist�s Confession� (also from the upcoming new album) which was long and totally psyched-out. Just as it started to get a little tiresome they stopped. Perfect timing! Awesome stuff fellas!
 Then along came The Men of Porn themselves, in the flesh, on stage, right in front of me. I fucking love these guys� album �Porn American Style� and I was simply dying (hehe) to see them live! I had had my fair share of the old amber fluid by this time too so I was primed in every way for this set. Right off the bat Tim Moss had all the effects cranked on (and up) on his guitar and the craziness began. The Men of Porn are one of those truly unique bands that are unlike anything else and they�re fucking LOUD too! This was the first show of all the ones on the roadtrip where I actually considered the need for earplugs � but fuck that man � earplugs are not rock �n� roll. And Tim�s insanely distorted and creative slide guitar effects would have been muffled. And that would have been a tragedy beyond redemption. I loved it! I bought a Men of Porn t-shirt that I�m wearing right now, and I even tried to convince them to play their D-Set (they only play Coming Home � one song for the whole set!!) after Spirit Caravan (because Rob works at the place I thought I had a chance of actually pulling this off (hhehee)) � but they said their new drummer hadn�t got the D-Set down yet. Bummer. The Men of Porn Rule!
 Earlier in the night Robwrong introduced me to Wino out front of The Satyricon and I pulled one of those �dumbfounded� maneuvers where I couldn�t speak and I just said �uhh.. Hi.. uhhh.. I�m Dan.. uhhh� � (Hehehe) Hey it�s Wino and he�s a guitar god, how would you react? But Robwrong saved me by telling him that I am responsible for StonerRock.com and we chatted about that for a while. Man, I couldn�t believe just how down-to-earth this guy was. 20 years in the music biz pluggin away playing music that few people appreciate and he was perfectly natural and friendly. Totally not jaded, no chip on his shoulder and there was no trace of a rockstar ego at all. This is what makes a great musician a god, remember that kiddies! Also, around the middle of The Men of Porn set �spacecakes� (from the forums) himself handed me one of his world-famous spacecakes which I ate immediately. YUM!
 I had no idea what to expect from Spirit Caravan. I�d never seen Spirit Caravan, St. Vitus or The Obsessed in my time on this Earth and let me tell you that I could not believe my eyes. No shit! Wino can fucking well play guitar like a legend and Sherman and Gary aren�t far behind him talent wise. Spirit Caravan live up to the hype that surrounds them and I am saddened by the fact that they put on this mind-blowing performance to about 70 people!!! FUCK!! Not good, but I guess since it was their first time out to the west coast that was to be expected.. But man, it was still shocking. Somewhere during their performance Wino thanked Men of Porn and Witch Mountain and said that they were the two best bands he�s played with on their current tour so far. Spirit Caravan then closed their set and left the stage and the 40 or so of us that were left were all die-hard fans and we were all chanting madly for an encore. And boy-oh-boy did we fuckin� get it baby! They played two more songs, one of which was an astonishingly well executed cover of Black Sabbath�s �Wicked World�. Wow! I say WOW!! If you have a chance to see Spirit Caravan and you choose not to, you�re an asshole!
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