The becky site has been updated with several tracks (thanks Keanuette!) of songs that still credit Keanu on bass, so definitely go check them out.

I picked up a Korg rack tuner today, so my mind was already on Keanu's bass how much I love to watch him play. I try not to think about the fact that I don't know when I'll ever get to again. I know that I've been luckier than many to have had the chance to see him rock. These tracks are a real gift to all the fans.

By the way, he still has a bit of a presence at the official becky site, even though they've added the new members. It gives me hope that maybe, possibly once his schedule allows he'll be thumping the rock stage again.

The Roxy website has becky on their calendar for shows on Jan. 13 and 20th. Also the 27th according to the becky site.

Thanks to Wanda for these pictures from last night!

Update: More pictures from Wanda can be seen HERE, Thanks!

Thanks to Janice for this news from the official site...

"becky" is pleased to officially announce an upcoming show in the Los Angeles area. Next Thursday (the 9th of December) "becky" will play The Roxy (once again) at 9:45pm. Once again we are asking for all of your support and are hopeful that those who were not able to attend last time will make it next week.

Hope to see you there!

- becky

A few video clip links...

Here's a 30-second demo of Vanishing at ScottSill.com.

Club Keanu has a clip made by a fan of the Ridgefest show

At your request, Wanda sends a peek at the autograph she got at last week's Roxy gig...

From last night's becky show at The Roxy...

Thanks Wanda!

It's no secret that Keanu was a considerable influence when I decided to start playing bass. And so far it's been one of the best decisions of my life.

Just last night, my band played a show at a great venue. This place has a real stage, lights, a sound guy (The Guy! We LOVE having a Guy) and it's just very real when we play there as opposed to some of the other rinky-dink places, which sometimes seem like glorified rehearsals. Anyway, last night, on the last song of our set I came forward a little bit while I played and found myself in light. I saw the halo glow around the edges of my bangs changing colors and the sparkle of my machines and frets.

For the very first time since we started playing out, I felt like a fucking rockstar and it was awesome. I'll remember it for the rest of my life and I pretty much have Keanu Reeves to thank for it.

When people ask me who my favorite bassist is, I say his name without hesitation and if they ask, I tell them why. Bottom line? He loves to play and that's what matters.

When it was announced that the Spaceland and Roxy becky shows would have a guest bassist, I admit it made the choice easy whether to go or not. It would have meant taking time off from work and missing sleep the day before a gig of my own. And even though it's now been reported that he was in the audience and a few lucky and faithful fans and becky supporters had a chance at a little of his time and attention, I don't regret skipping the show at all. While I have always loved watching HIM play bass, the last few times I've gone to shows, it has been to see him PLAY BASS. And I feel that his bass playing is an integral part of the becky music that I love.

Which makes the current buzz that he's possibly going to be permanently replaced as becky's bassplayer pretty disheartening.

Like many others, I've assumed that the substitute bassist was a temporary thing, that maybe Keanu's been busy or had other commitments of some sort. Of course, him just hanging out at Spaceland on Wednesday night makes it a little unclear. There's also a message from Rob (thanks CK and Mee) at the official becky board that uses the phrase "new line up" which makes what's going on even harder to nail down.

For now, it's all just speculation. It does seem that becky is agressively trying to land a record deal, the importance of crowd turnout at the upcoming Roxy show has been stressed at the official site so we may assume that they want to gauge the interest in the band without the famous bassist. My opinion is that a contract should be given based on the music, not on how well you pack a bar on the Sunset Strip, but that's just me. The music industry probably begs to differ, which is why my band isn't rich and famous yet, either.

Whatever the situation is (and I don't expect we'll ever know exactly what the story is), I can't imagine that Keanu will give up playing bass.

It's in him, he's a fucking rockstar and it shows. He'll always be able to get a gig.

Hell, I'd be happy to take a night off so he can sit in with The Vibemerchants. I'll even take a night or two to teach him my parts.

According to the Spaceland website, becky is scheduled to play next Wednesday, November 10.

I'm still waiting for confirmation from the becky site before I try and find a way to rationalize trying to make this mid-week show.

Oh, and I will.

Thanks to Club-Keanu for the tip.

UPDATE: This show and one on the 18th at The Roxy have been confirmed by Paulie. Unfortunately, due to Keanu's schedule right now there will be a "special guest" bassist for these shows.

Thanks Janice

It's no longer Monday, so even though real news is scarce I feel compelled to put something here (of course, like an idiot I put "Tuesday" in today's title so I won't be able to slide tomorrow, either. Gah).

Let's see.....the official becky site has a message board up. It's different from the previous incarnation but already hopping with activity.

Hopefully there will be some new shows soon!

One thing the new site doesn't have is audio, something I know a lot of fans miss, especially new ones that weren't around when Paulie was doling out mp3's like candy on the very first becky site. Fortunately, you can still listen to Oblivious, Vanishing and Evangeline over at becky's MySpace profile page.

(also, you can add The Vibemerchants to your MySpace friends as well!)

The official becky website has a shiny new URL: www.beckymusic.com and a great new look as well. I LURVE the background image of Keanu's bass head on the front page.

Along with some newsy stuff (demo is done, hopefully a new disc by year-end and the whiff of some possible upcoming LA shows) there's a merch page (t-shirts and tanks) and a hip new photo section too.

And don't miss the "10 things becky wants you to know about Keanu" page.

Hee!

Check the other band member's lists by clicking their polaroids on the main page.

So update your bookmarks and um.....rawk!

The Chicago Ridge community website has pictures from Ridgefest up, including some great shots of becky onstage and of Keanu with fans. The pictures are HUGE, so any of you (like me) on dialup can plan on spending some time, but believe me, they are WORTH IT. Especially those BIG brown eyes in this one. Thanks to Jane for the link!

While you're waiting for the pictures to download, you can go read Renie's story of her adventure at Ridgefest. I just think it's awesome that he took the time to give so many people a special memory and experience.

I'll say it again.

Keanu Reeves is a great guy.

The rest of Jena's Ridgefest pics are now up, check them out.

Thanks to Jena for letting keanuvision host her pics from Ridgefest. She has so many photos to share that I'm going to do two album pages. You can see the first one, including some very special ones of her and Keanu (eeeee!) HERE.

Another Angel is back from Chicago and has her Ridgefest story and some magnificent photos up at KeanuFan.com

Thank you to Jena and Melissa for letting keanuvision host their pictures from Saturday night's becky show at Ridgefest.

Melissa's photos are here, and Jena's will be up later today (hopefully).

While you're waiting for those, Some more shots at the beckyboard, via Keanuholic and also some more over at Keanu Soul's blog.

oh good lord

Pictures from Ridgefest to be seen at Keanufan.com & Club-Keanu.

Also, you can go read Keanu_Soul's report at her blog. Lots of memorable encounters!

I talked to Jena a little while ago and I could hear becky sound-checking in the background. She said Keanu took time out a little while ago for pictures and autographs with some lucky fans. It sounds like everyone at the Ridgefest show is having a great time and it just keeps on getting better.

Club-Keanu already has some pictures thanks to Another Angel :)

No word on the petting zoo, but I hope no one throws any goats there.

\m/

*Thank you* to Audy for sending me these pictures from last night to share here at keanuvision. See more over at Club-Keanu.

I can't think straight at ALL. I'm not hung over, just exhausted. Still, I will attempt to summarize my adventures even though some of them are a bit fuzzy, seeing as how I was drunk.

Actually, "I was drunk" is a pretty good summary in itself and will also be my defense for any number of things that may or may not have happened. The day started out being stuck for over an hour just 60 miles out of Vegas on I-15 and by the time I was gypped out of the pad thai that I so wanted for dinner, I was fucking ready for that martini with Marcie and Alan before the show. I only had the one with them, but as soon as we got to 1650 (where I was flatteringly carded) I ordered another.

This made meeting new people and trying to remember names ever so challenging. It was great seeing some familiar faces from other shows and meeting some new faces to put with the names I knew from online. I also almost made a new friend of some strange guy who looks nothing like Roi, yet I mistoook for him anyway just because he was wearing black. So, forgive me. I'm not going to rattle off who I saw/met for fear of forgetting someone.

OK, fast forward. krix drinks, smokes and quite possibly embarasses herself but has a good time. Good bands play (check out thepaige.com) and the crowd fills the first few rows in front of the stage waiting for becky to come on.

Which they did, at a little after 10:30. I have no idea of the set list, but I know they played Disco, Shut It Off and One Thing. They didn't do Oblivious or Evangeline (which Roi really wanted to hear). Even though the set seemed to be short, everything sounded great. Keanu kicked ass, even Roi remarked at how good his playing was. I know there were several points when I was just awestruck.

I also know that I should have put my camera away after taking just a few shots and just enjoyed the show. I'm really annoyed at myself for doing this instead of just watching him play and won't even be bringing my camera next time.

Aside from that (which is all my own fault and yes, I'll still be uploading the pics I wasted my focus with later tonight), I have to say that it was worth the complete crap I feel like today.

Oh, what the hell. How bad can closing my office in the middle of the week be, really?

Roi and I are leaving at the asscrack of dawn tomorrow for LA to see becky at Club Sixteen Fifty.

It's kind of last minute, but we're burning CDs and taking some stickers and calling it a business trip.

Heh.

Wednesday, July 21st - becky Live at Club Sixteen-Fifty!

Club Sixteen-Fifty
1650 Schrader Blvd.
Hollywood, California 90028

Corner of Hollywood Blvd and Schrader Blvd.

Doors open at 6pm.

Tickets - $10 -

Ooooh, tempting....

I'll be trying to force my band to learn Higher Ground in your honor tonight!

I couldn't help myself.

Spotted over at KeanuA-Z, I had to buy this print of a Scrojo poster for last September's becky show at the Belly Up Tavern. Especially since I was at that one.

Even though in principle, we hate the "featuring keanu reeves" part (what about promoting the whole band?), the image rawks. It looks like it was based on a DeChristo photo.

Looks like Scrojo is the official Belly Up flyer arteest, and I really like his work. I'm in love with the Elliott Smith and Frank Black prints, and the one for the Bacon Brothers is hilarious.

Damn, now I want The Vibemerchants to play there just so we can get a Scrojo poster.

Thanks to Angel of KeanuFan.com for finding more details on the event that becky is scheduled to perform at in July...

Ridgefest '04!

It's a good thing I wasn't planning on going as I see there's a petting zoo.

I still have issues from a childhood llama trauma.

It's been posted at the beckyboard that becky will be playing Freedom Park in Chicago Ridge on July 24. More details as they come.

-Thanks to Keanuette for the tip.

Thanks to KeanuA-Z for the tip that photographer Aaron Settipane has updated MyracleWorks.com with more yummy becky goodness.

Photographer Aaron Settipane has updated his becky gallery with images from The Viper Room, Spaceland and Green Valley shows. Check it out.

-via a Keanuholic

• KeanuWeb reports that Lou Taylor Pucci's site reports that:

  Lou [..] was reshooting scenes For "Thumbsucker" with Director Mike Mills, Keanu Reeves, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Tilda Swinton, in fact he said he felt like he was in "The Matrix" as he was shooting scenes in the daytime with Keanu and at night with Carrie-Anne Moss [who just joined the cast of Lou's newest project, titled "The Chumscrubber"]...

• USA Today (and a bunch of other sources) reports that Keanu will be honored for his work in action movies at the upcoming Taurus World Stunt Awards, which are scheduled to air on May 26 on SpikeTV.

  The awards, which recognize the men and women who put their lives at risk to make fights, explosions and tall-building falls on TV shows and movies look more realistic, will be presented May 16.

  The 39-year-old Reeves will receive an honorary trophy for best action movie star. His films include The Matrix trilogy, Speed and Chain Reaction.

  "Keanu's work with The Matrix trilogy was some of the best from an actor of his generation," said Gernot Friedhuber, executive producer of the show. "He has consistently shown an ability to learn from the stunt teams on his many films and has expressed a genuine interest in the field of stunt work."

  
  
• becky's Paulie will be tending goal at two charity hockey games this weekend in Calgary and Vancouver. See HollywoodCelebrityHockey.com for details.
  
• Keanu co-star Diane Keaton makes People Magazine's 50 Most Beautiful list. The man himself is overlooked once again, which is fine as it allows me to keep up the tradition of NEVER, EVER buying People Magazine.
  
• Vibemerchants officially have a new drummer, and she has a rad haircut (which allows me to usurp her old one, glee!) and completely rocks. Expect gigs as soon as July.
  
• Red Bull comes in handy to carry 4-packs now. Be still my heart......no, really.
  

Keanuette tells all about last night's Roxy gig!

Augh! He shaved! And I missed his baby face!!!!!!

Unless a couple hundred bucks, a case of red bull and the ability to manipulate time fall into my lap sometime between now and 6pm (when I get off work) I'll be missing tonight's becky show at The Roxy in Hollywood.

Keanuette will be there. So to her and everyone else going, have a great time :)

By the way, go check out her blog for some special becky goodness from Green Valley.

Want to know how to rock like Reeves?

Well, here's Keanu's bass rig config. It's a start.....

Up top, with the red glowy thing, is a rack mounted tuner. After a lucky google image search, I figured out that it's a KORG DTR1.

Beneath that is the heart of the rig, the amp.
Keanu plays through a Gallien-Krueger 800RB head.

"Designed twenty years ago, the 800RB has become a standard of the industry. In an era where most bass amps came in bulky wooden cases, had three knob passive EQ, and weighed a ton, the 800RB stood alone. A 400W Bi-Amp head in a rack mountable metal case, with four bands of active EQ, three voicing filters, and weighing only 23lbs. It was an instant hit! Today it is still the choice of countless players, touring bands, and back line companies, and is the foundation upon which all GK bass amplifiers are built." - Gallien-Krueger.com

If you'll look closely at Keanu's GK 800RB, you'll see that there's a piece of tape below the controls. I'm pretty sure it has his settings written on it.

The Musician's Friend website says: "You can't go wrong with the 800RB, as long as you have some speakers. "

So what speakers does Keanu use?

SWR Workingman's Series 4x10T speakers.

These puppies weigh 97 pounds each and Keanu uses two of them.

They get good reviews at Music123.com and Harmony Central, reliable with great sound and affordable. Even his rumble is humble. You've got to love him.

The GK 800RB has footswitchable boost and that requires....a footswitch!

Reeves uses a Boss FS-5U non-latching footswitch. It's a "momentary"-type switch that only engages the effect when those pigeon-toes are actually standing on it. I'm really going to pay attention at the next show I go to as to when he hits the boost.

If the amp is the heart of the setup, then the bass is its soul.

Keanu's played quite a few basses over the years, including a Fender Precision. These days, his basses are custom made by Dan Ransom of Ransom Guitars in San Fransisco.

He seems to favor this one recently. I can't blame him. It's gorgeous and has great sound as well. I'd love to hold it almost as much as I'd like to hold him. I've actually dreamt about this bass. Someday, hopefully I'll have my own Ransom.

Now, I'm not ready to go out and invest in this kind of rig for myself yet, but when I do you can be sure I'll be trying some of these components out, especially the GK 800RB. I don't know about those 97 pound speakers, though. I'll need someone strong to carry those for me.

I'm having some technical difficulties but want to get this posted before I take a bat to my intarweb....

The becky show at The Roxy has been confirmed at the becky board. Tickets are ten bucks and are available at the club box office or through ticketbastard.

For more info, check the The Roxy site.

It's been mentioned that this may be the last gig for a a bit since the bass player is going to be heading to Austin, Texas to begin filming A Scanner Darkly.

The venue on Friday night was gorgeous. A great setting for a rock show. The crowd was huge, the sound was good. Palm trees and movie stars and beautiful redheads, what more could you ask for ? Well for one thing, I wished I was triplets because there were so many people that I wanted to see and spend time with. I got to the resort early and peeked in at the restaurant where I knew some beckyfans were supposed to be meeting up. I only meant to pop in and say hi, but ended up hanging out and meeting some very cool girls. Aretha, Fortunado, Sharon and Nancy [*due to some emails I've received I want to point out that this is not the Nancy that is known on some of the boards, this was a friend of one of the other girls] it was nice to meet you :) and Tyler! So great to finally meet you. I hope you had a good time. The food was lovely, but I still think we should have thrown a tenspot on the table and hit the bar. I probably came off as really cheap and apologize for that, but they totally should have told us how much that appetizer platter was going to be.

Anyway, afterward I ended up running into Tess (who is my frequent roadtrip buddy and was going to be coming home and staying with me) and her friend Renee in the bathroom so I broke off from the first group. We headed for the Whisky Bar, where I thought we were going to be able to hang out and wait for Brittany but it didn't work out like that because you needed your ticket to get to the bar and I had Brit's. While we were waiting we got to say Hi to Rebecca in the hallway. She was as sweet and friendly as ever. She was carrying a bag of coughdrops and a bottle of throat spray which makes me appreciate her performance that night even more. I finally hooked up with Brittany and we headed for Whiskey Beach.

The good news is we didn't have to wait in line, the bad news is that the people who waited in line were 4 people deep in front of the stage. But it really didn't matter, I was drinking and mingling and schmoozing with Brit. I did fianlly get to see Keanuette who was looking gorgeous (and had a b-day pressie for me, yummy Valentino parfume...Thank you!) and Keana. Roi and Dave showed up and it was very cool to have them there.

The band finally hit the stage around 8:20 or so. Rob walked out with big strides and a bottle of (mostly consumed) wine in his hand. Paulie bounced across the stage in his shocking red mohawk and Keanu....erm....keanu-ed out and strapped on his bass to the squeals screams and hoots of the crowd. Last onstage was Rebecca, with her hands full of assorted liquids to soothe her "Vegas voice".

I didn't see a set list and my memory is redbull-addled but I know that they played some of my favorites including One Thing and Oblivious. I was impressed with the sound because aside from some muddy drums at the start (which was corrected), the sound was great for an outdoor venue.

Keanu's bass playing was strong and steady, not as flashy as I remember from the Spaceland show (could have been my perspective, I was much farther away this tiime). He loosened up as the night went on (once the crowd got more into the music instead of gawking at the movie star there was less chance of his every move upstaging Rebecca). He played with a pick most of the night but did use his fingers on at least one song. I actually noticed that he tends to use just his index finger at times rather than alternating, which is really bad form but when I think about how strong that finger must be....um....the muscles in my thighs twitch. Which has nothing to do with bass playing.

Once again, Keanu sang along (not mic'ed) with a song called Grace. He riffed a little Joy Division in between songs, and in another break he went off on his own little riff. Sweet. Rebecca even commented on it. At the end of another song he stood feet apart, head down and still wagging for a half a minute or more, lost in something I recognized. No sound was coming out and his hands were still, but I nudged Brit and said "look...he's still playing."

Bass and drums took a break and Paulie picked up the accoustic and Rebecca sang I Adore You. Because of her tired throat, she sang the chorus in a whisper. I could hear some of the crowd that knew the song singing along and I suddenly really wished that there were enough of us that could sing it with her, back to her. A whole crowd of becky fans singing "I adore you" to support her angelic whisper would have been a perfect moment.

The set was nice and long (there was no opening act) and they even did a cover of INXS' Don't Change which is much better without those cheesy 80's keyboards.

They ended with the song called Debaser, which is growing on me in spite of the Pixie-blaspheming aspect of it. It's bittersweet though, because like Dogstar's Denial, when I hear it I know it's the end of the show.

When Brit (who really liked the show)
and I finally found Dave and Roi, Roi was all, "Let's go jam."

So we did.

And next time becky comes to town hopefully they'll have a kickass opening act.

...because I've still got company and no time to blog.

This will have to tide you over.

I just got home. Really fun night. And I'm exhausted. I got a few pictures with the regular camera, most of then aren't so good but I will post the best of what I have sometime tomorrow. I really like this one though.

good night....

I'm insanely excited about tonight.

Not only do I get to see becky in my own backyard, but I'm going to get to hook up with some great friends and fans - some I haven't seen in ages and some I'll be pressing the flesh with for the first time.

AIEEEEE!

The cherry on top of it all is that Roi and Dave and (hopefully) Brittney* will be there as well so it has all the potential of a historic "becky meets the vibemerchants" moment. (See, the short term vibemerchant goal is to open for becky. Long term is them opening for us.) I've tried to subtley suggest that Roi seek Keanu out and thank him for inspiring me to play bass, but I'm pretty sure he's going to be too distracted by Rebecca. I can't wait to see what 6-string virtuoso-Dave thinks of Paulie's shredding, and I'm hoping to get Brittney to absorb some of Rob's greatness by osmisis.

By the way, big bold print on the tickets says NO CAMERAS so don't hold your breath for shots from the show, but I will have the camfone just in case.

Of course there will be drunken audblogging.

*OK, Brittney is the girl drummer that we audtioned the night I came back from the last becky show and she isn't actually a Vibemerchant, yet. But I'm going to work on it. It seems to me that even though she's a beginnner (drum-wise anyway. She's a freaking jazz guitarist so I KNOW she's got musical talent), if we had spent the month of waiting for drummers to SHOW UP working with her and teaching her the songs we'd be done with drummerquest. And frankly, I like her a lot and want to work with her in some capacity. Maybe an all-girl Dogstar cover band?

I could bring some order to this mess
live a life less hideous
in my palace of distress
I won't be so oblivious

don't leave me here today so fragile and so frayed
I don't wanna play if you're not here to stay
you're changing what you say please don't go away

I don't care what they yell at me
I don't hear
it's what you do that's compelling me
oh...you're always selling me

in the valley we kiss goodnight
sitting there you're sitting tight
if I lie down where you lie
what would it take to steal another try

don't leave me here today so fragile and so frayed
I don't wanna play if you're not here to stay
you're changing what you say please don't go away

I don't care what they yell at me
I dont' hear
it's what you do that's compelling me
oh....you're always selling me

I don't care what they yell at me
I don't hear
it's what you do that's compelling me
oh...you're always selling me out
you're always selling me out

becky - Oblivious

I've decided that I'm completely envious of Keanu and the fact that he gets to play with such a kickass drummer.

Is it Friday yet?

OK, I've had a lot of people email or ask about information on the April 16th becky show at Green Valley Ranch. I will tell you what I know and what I hope to find out.

First, don't let the term "Ranch" fool you, this is a posh resort. It is a hotel and if you're spending the money to come out for this show, I recommend going ahead and springing for a room. It makes sense, if you factor in cab fare if you stayed elsewhere and who knows, maybe you'll bump into someone in the elevator. I don't even know if there's any less expensive hotels close by.

I would like to recommend that maybe someone should start a thread over at the beckyboard for room and ride sharing. I know a few people are going to LA for the HOB show and then coming here the next day. Maybe people can get together and rent a car or something. I really don't recommend taking the bus. Seriously. If there isn't anyone skeevy actually on the bus, there will be plenty of scary people at the station when you arrive. Plus, it's not close to Green Valley and what you'll end up paying in cabfare might make up the difference between a bus and a plane ticket. If you are planning on staying at Green Valley Ranch, when you make the reservation don't tell them your coming in for the becky show, make a separate call for any questions you have for that. Tell them your coming in for a "girls weekend" or something. Make them think you're going to gamble, it will grease the wheels and you can ask them about airport shuttle service and such.

OK, the venue - Whiskey Beach. How very Vegas, no? I've never been there and I really can't tell anything from the website. In fact this is the only picture they have, so I'm assuming we're all going hang out in a big bed in a box with becky band (hee!). Pillow Fight!

Seriously, I have no idea what this venue is like. I may try and go there in the next week or so just to check it out, but even so I think there will be a special setup for performances.

By the way, according to the announcement on the beckyband main page, both this and the HOB show are all ages. I would call and confirm to be sure.

Lastly, I will actually be working until 6pm on that Friday and will just be coming straight to the show so I can't play hostess or driver for anyone but I will be available to have drinks bought for me during and afterward.

[Read part 1 here]
[Read part 2 here]
[Read part 3 here]

Until about halfway through Once's set, I was one of the few people at the edge of the stage. The singer had called to the crowd to come forward rather than sitting at the edges of the dance floor. By the time the set was over, the floor was pretty full and the spaces next to me filled in with other bassplayer fans. I think Rob was the first becky bandmember to come out on stage and work on setting up. I did notice when Keanu's bass case came out. It had a blue "becky" bumpersticker on it. I think I was turned around and futzing with my phone or my camera when someone called my attention to turn around. There was Keanu, setting up his amp.

Something in my chest twitched and I felt a little bit of a rush. Again, I hoped I wasn't succumbing to the predictions of the 7-11 clerk.

There's just something about him being right there. You don't want to take your eyes off of him, but you don't want to gawk either. So you end up taking him in in glances.

He's wearing the boots. He's scruffy. He's moving his stack forward, grabbing it by one corner and tugging, and then moving to the other. It's the sexiest thing I've ever seen and I may die. Right here. Right now. Watching him shove his amp around onstage.

Keanu put his set list on stage toward the front. As others have reported he did indeed say something to the effect of don't take this, looking at us like the bad little girls that we are. Not that we would...at least not before the show. They're nice to have when writing a report like this though, so I took a picture of it , for journalistic purposes.

Songs played by becky, March 20, 2004
Spaceland Gig

Vanishing
Sally
Higher Ground
Evangeline
Sr. Prom
Disco
Shut it Off
Broken Track
Miles
Stv
Grace
Interloper
Make Some Room
Oblivious
Debaser

There.

Then he continued to set up, tune up.
God, that burgundy Ransom is gorgeous.

I can't remember exactly when Keanu doffed the Panama hat but as peculiar as it is, I have to say I didn't really mind it. Added a little character and also an interesting contrast to Paulie's dapper suit and matching mohawk. Of course, the man can pretty much wear anything and make it work for him.

Finally, the whole band hit the stage and launched into Vanishing.

Rebecca started out the night in a long black jacket, which came off pretty quickly. Then a couple songs into the set (I think, my timeline may be skewed), she suprised everyone by removing the black top she had on and did the rest of the show in a sheer white lacey top over a fancy bra. Not revealing at all, but very cute and sexy. Rob's a lucky man.

I think I spent about half of Evangeline cursing the fates and trying to make my camera take pictures with no power, and then deleting some of the pictures on my phone to make room to try and get some better shots. Eventually I just gave up and decided to pay attention to what was going on in front of me than worrying about it.

As you can tell from the set list, most of the songs are new, or at least ones that can only be heard at the shows as opposed to ones available at the beckyband site. So it was kind of hard for me to follow which song was what once we got to the middle of the set. There were certainly none that were bad, and there were a couple that really stood out as great, including one that Keanu mouthed the words along with.

Of course watching Keanu play that close up is amazing. His hands are so fast. He played both with a pick and without, mostly with. He stomped and jumped around. He has so much energy and so much fun, he's just mesmerizing. He played "at" me once or twice which was as good as a wave or a wink to me.

I should probably apologize to everyone behind me because I am tall, and I know that I'm not the easiest person to see around. I promise I won't plant myself at his feet at every show I make it to. I just really wanted to watch him play closely this time. This show really was like one extended bass solo in my mind in some ways. I hoped I would learn something and I did. It wasn't a song though, he's too fast to follow for that, especially when most of the songs are unfamiliar. But I did learn something about playing what you love, the way you want to do it. And that's something I hope to carry into my own playing as I go along.

I knew the night was nearly over when they started Oblivious (which along with Higher Ground is one of my favorite songs. They both sounded great live).

I half expected for the band to come out for one more song when they left the stage after the last song but that was it. Once that fact was clear, people started thinning out. I talked and said goodbye to some people and listened to my ears ring. Eventually, across the bar the band members could be seen in the crowd. The Panama hat was like a beacon and Keanu was pretty much surrounded for a while. When I saw Rebecca out in the crowd, I decided to go over to her. Roi had asked for an autograph so I dug out the only paper I could find, a dollar bill, and asked her to sign it for him. We talked for a minute and Rebecca is very sweet, and very smart. When we were done, I told her that I'd see them in Vegas and went to walk away and she grabbed me and hugged me and kissed me on the cheek. It was so cute and so now I have a little het-girlcrush on her.

And lastly, once the crowd had thinned out and Keanu no longer had someone draped around his neck having a picture taken I decided to see if I could have a moment of his time. I did, and all I will say is what most of you already know.

He's a really great guy.

And that was it. I said more goodbyes, thanked Lomara for meeting me and planned on doing it again sometime. Then I went outside so my phone would work and I uploaded the buzznet pictures.

I walked on air to the car and wondered if I would find my way back to Santa Monica.

I took the 101 to the 110 to the 10.

I went to sleep with my ears ringing, and my heart solidly thumping and my fingers playing along with the beat.

[Read part 1 here]
[Read part 2 here]

Finally the first band came on. I found out later, talking to the bass player that they weren't "Exist" as touted on the Spaceland website. They were called in at the last minute and were The Drama, which is as good a name as any, although "The Dispair", "The Angst" or "The I Am So Very Dark and Broody, See? Look at my Hair, It's so Black Because of The Darkness of My Pain" would have also worked. They did five songs, or it could have been one long song with some breaks for sulking in between. I'm not sure. They ended their short set with the singer throwing down his mic and storming/skulking offstage. When they become famous, I expect that fans will throw Prozac intstead of panties at the stage. They did have a girl drummer and she kicked major ass. I told her so as she walked around, and then again in the bathroom afterward. In retrospect that was probably a little creepy of me.

The next band - Once - began setting up their gear. And when I say gear....check out the pedals. Luckily I snapped a picture of Once's bassplayer for my collection (did I mention I'm collecting bassplayers? I am.) while he was setting up because pedal boy blocked him from my view for the entire set, which sucked because I really wanted to watch him play.

Once was good, very good. The lead singer was energetic and alluring, he actually sang to me a couple times, (which was quite a thrill, that sort of thing doesn't happen to me) and the music was lovely. Strong, beautiful and moving yet still rocking as well.
At the end of the set, I scribbled a note to send me their site info on the back of a blogcard and handed it to him. Later on, a girl came up to me and gave me an advance copy of their CD (which I listened to on the drive home and love). It's good to be a webmistress.

...to be continued

[Read part 1 here]

Recovering from a blinding series of rapid flashbacks of being taunted for my glasses by blondes such as these in my school days, I steadied myself on the newsrack. I looked closely at the smallest of the three pretties, the one I had singled out to be overpowered easily and used as a human shield against the others should it get ugly. Then a funny warmth came over me. I hoped it wasn't the impending stroke that I had been warned about earlier that day.

"Suzy?" I said with a raised eyebrow, drawing the "y" sound out a little longer than I needed to. She looked at me as if I'd just made dolphin noises.

I took a step forward and said my name.

There were many squeals.

We hugged, I breathed relief. The only time I see Suzy is at shows and she gets more beautiful each time. I was so happy to have someone to talk to since it was at least another hour and a half before the doors opened. She introduced me to S. and L. (I'm not sure if they want their names blogged or not - let me know if you read this, girls) and we began to talk and dish and reminisce and everything. There would be no catfight on Silver Lake Boulevard on this night.

Slowly people started showing up, mostly females. We waited. We chatted. There were pictures to look at and share (Suzy! Don't forget to send me the one with the hand). Lomara got there and intros were made again. Time passed, pee-pee dances were done and eventually we got in. We got drinks and hung out at the first table in front of the left side.

Wow, The silver and blue backdrop was glorious and tacky all at the same time.

After one Vodka Bull I was getting anxious, I hoped the bands would come on soon.

....to be continued

I had no idea how long it would take me to get there from Santa Monica, so I snarfed my crabroll, told my crashpad host not to wait up for me and set off for Silverlake. I called Lomara from the freeway once I saw the sea of red brakelights ahead of me. As it turned out, she was running late as well. After a few minutes of panic and thinking "My god, am I nuts? I'm out here on an LA freeway alone at night, all hopped up on red bull, only half sure of where I'm going. Maybe if I turn up the music that honking noise will go away," the flow returned to the road.

The 10 to the 110 to the 101. How very binary.

"OK then, there's my turn off. Please let me over, Mr. BMW. I'm from out of town."

It only took three trips around the block and one illegal U-turn to find a good spot on the street to park on. I was early, very early and solo. I crinkled my forehead in the rearview mirror and saw the word "dork" appear in the creases.

To pass the time, I made a couple calls and then wandered across the street to 7-11 for another red bull.

I watched people go in and out of the club door, most of them turned out to be in the other bands and assorted staff. Finally, a threesome of blondes arrived signaling the official start of "the line". I figured I might as well wander over, because if one is going to dork out and get there early, one might as well get a good spot for the festivities, right?

As I took a phonecam picture (that I had to delete before uploading to make space later in the night,) of a becky bumpersticker on a newspaper stand in front of the club, I felt the "sizing-up" glances of the blondes. I looked up at them. Individually, I might be able to take them, but all at once?? I was dead meat.

.....to be continued

If anyone at the club last night found my little blue plastic cardwallet with my blogcards in it please email me (it's on the card) because the only thing of value in it was a dollar that Rebecca had signed to Roi. I swear it was in my pocket. I feel really badly because I told him I had it and now I can't find it anywhere.

Suck.

Anyway, I'm home, I made good time because I have to get to the studio because we're trying out the new drummer tonight and I wanted to be there.

I will catch up on emails and everything later tonight or tomorrow. For now, here's one of the two pictures I managed to get, Keanu setting up his gear, before my camera died.

Rock on.

Oi, good morning.
I just woke up.
Last night rocked in eight different ways.
I had some technical difficulties, not the least of which was the fact that my fucking camera batteries weren't charged and I only got a couple pictures.
Oh well, I enjoyed the show a lot more not looking through a lens the whole time, and luckily Lomara knows how to keep a charge.

Damn, can that boy play.

Anyway, more later.
I'm off for pancakes.

Well, I'm off in a couple hours...but first, there's THIS (thanks to Janice for the heads up):

Two new becky shows sheduled for April-

Yeah, baby.

So, yes...I'm pretty excited to be going to see becky tomorrow, especially to watch the bass player with a whole new perspective. My teacher suggested that I go up to Keanu and talk bass with him, and I'm all, "um....no."
Two months of lessons does not qualify me to do anything other than make a complete fool of myself. I suppose it's better than asking him to sign my boobs*, but still....

Anyway, I'll be posting from the road with the camphone to buzznet. I'm also going to take my regular camera, so I hope I can get some fun shots at the show as well.

*I never ever did that, but one time I was loaded enough to be considering it. Damned red bull and vodka.

Club Keanu has some more pictures from Spaceland.

Oh. Thump. Me.......

I have an extra ticket waiting at will-call for Saturday night's becky show.

Yay, Lomara's going!

Who wants to hook up?

Japanese fansite - Love Becky has some photos from last week's Spaceland show

Check 'em out

-via Club Keanu

Paulie sez:

Hello Boys and Girls -
Here's your chance to catch becky up close and personal!

becky - LIVE and IN-COLOR
Club Spaceland - Los Angeles
Saturday
March 20th
11pm

Come on down and pack out the house!

Yay, this works with my schedule.
I just hope I'm better by then.

I thought the Sharon show came on at 5:30, but it came on at four!

The shovel lady scares me.

The band sounded good in spite of the iffy TV mix.

Rob's funny.

I think my fever is returning.

Or could just be that the bass player is teh HOTNESS.

Don't forget becky rocks at Spaceland tonight.

Between gas prices, time constraints and the fact that whatever it was I thought I was over this weekend is back full force *cough*, I've decided not to make the trip.

To anyone going, have fun!

Word is that becky is taping an ep of the Sharon Osbourne Show tonight at 7pm.

Never mind. The show taped yesterday. (thanks Joz)

The show will air on the 10th. Check your listings.

"becky will be rocking in their own neighborhood in Silverlake at Club Spaceland Tuesday March 9th!

becky hits the stage at 11:15pm!

becky hopes everyone is sure to make what will be one killer sell out event!

(Club Spaceland is located at 1717 Silver Lake Blvd. Los Angeles)"

Man, I'd really like to go to this one. I know that according to this interview that the band's debut at Spaceland is kinda special to Rebecca.

Augh! a tuesday. How am I going to get out of work?

Thanks Toriane :)
Speaking of Viper Room becky shows, becky will be playing this Friday.
From Paulie at the beckyboard:

"hi everyone!
becky is back at the viper room friday night feb. 27th at 10pm!
c'mon down and check it out!
it's sure to be a great time!
get there early!
paulie : ) "

Oh snap, that's like three days from now.

I'm going to have to miss it, I can't get off work early enough to make it in time.

Plus, Catz is coming to town this weekend and...well, I've seen becky.

Catz has posted her Viper report from last night's becky concert, go check it out....

Check out Club-Keanu for the first reports of last night's becky at the Viper Room show.

And keep an eye on the Official becky message board as well.

Sounds like it rocked!

I can't wait to hear from Catz.

Update: The set list has been posted at the beckyboard :) thanks Rob!

Don't forget that tomorrow night you can see becky (featuring our favorite bass player) at The Viper Room, a club so intimate that if you stand in the right spot there's a good chance of getting sweat flung into your ten dollar Vanilla Stoli n'Coke.

The show starts at 10 pm. Get there early, trust me.

I've done the math and there's no way I'm making this one......dammit.

Oh well, I have a lesson tomorrow night anyway and I didn't learn Paperback Writer this week for nothing.

But if you go, tell him I said "Hi"......

A message posted by Rob over at the beckybandboard sounds like things are moving forward toward the production of the bands debut CD.

happy new year everyone.

this year is looking to be our year. after loads of hard work, demo recording, shows and with the help of our fine web team, the word is out and people are listening and showing the love. our fan base is building and we thank you all for your understanding and patience.
the band would also like to thank our agent, keith, at w. morris for introducing us to jeff rabhan. we also like to thank jeff for introducing us to producer josh abraham. if all goes well we will start pre- production with josh on our first offical recording in febuary. (if he still likes us by then) we feel blessed to be in such company.
we will re- record some of the tunes that were up on the site, adding the new ones, and writing some more. we hope to deliver the best possible record that we can. we are done fooling around. its time to kick some butt.
we will also try to book a few live gigs next month.so see you soon.
we miss you all. be kind to one another.
love and good health, the band.

Maybe some gigs on the horizon as well? Groovy.
I'm so ready to see Keanu play bass again with my new peerspective (Bwahahaha! shyeah, right....*sniff*).

Seriously. I want to watch his hands.

Thanks, Wry for this December Hit Parader magazine article/interview with becky members Rebecca and Paulie.

This month, Lyrically Speaking found ourselves in a dilemma searching for an answer to a few of life's more complex problems.

So, with this being said, and, us being in the word business, Lyrically Speaking stumbled upon a couple of songwriters who's honest approach to the craft is refreshing, and in one songwriter, her words could "shine" a bright light on lyrical sense all together!

We recently caught up with Rebecca Lord, lead vocals/songwriter, and, Paulie, guitarist/music arranger from the Southern California band, Becky in the recording studio working feverishly on their DVD/CD tentatively titled Studio/Live.

At press time, Paulie assures us that this musical masterpiece will be out by Christmas, and this compilation of the band's favorite studio sessions will be cut together with numerous live shows!

We couldn't resist asking the dynamic (songwriting) duo about the story behind their single Shine, and talk shop about their heart-stopping lyric writing and musical creations!

"Emotionally speaking, I guess my favorite song would have to be Shine," confesses Rebecca. "It's a simple message about love. We live in a world where people tend to focus on the bleak, but love is the key for getting rid of the darkness. Love heals, so it's nice to remind people about that every once in a while."

So, Paulie, how did the band Becky come together? "Rob and I play ice hockey together." He reveals, "We always talked about music, recording, and our favorite bands. Rob invited me over to his home to jam a little. It sounded great from the first chord progression. Rob is an amazing drummer with a great feel for all types of music especially, the upbeat stuff, which I love! We played for about an hour or so, and Rebecca joined in (Rob and Rebecca are dating, so they are always together!)."

He continues, "Right away, she started working her vocals into music I was playing. Her lyrics just fit into the music like a glove! I think we wrote about five or six songs that day! It sounded so unbelievable we decided to get a bass player and start a band. Since Rob has played with Keanu (Reeves) for over 10 years, it was a natural fit from the time we all first played together--and--that's how 'Becky' was formed! "

Speaking of storytelling, Rebecca, how do you bring a musical tale to life? "It's a really natural progression. I let myself run with a melody and the emotion the sound evokes brings the story. I don't go in with preconceived notions about what I want to say. The song tells me what to say- it makes writing flow a lot better, and the song ends up being a lot more honest."

Paulie interjects, "I like to write with tension in mind. in a good way, I like each section of the song to work off each other, so that one part will play off the other. I like to create a little song within the song with each progression should flow whether it's one part or five. It's very important to me with the style that I play that the music works perfect with the beat and Rob can really make it work. He is an excellent drummer who plays right on the money with the chord progressions that I play. That's why his nickname is 'Swatch Mono.' Swatch from the watch and mono from monophonic." (A cliff note: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary says that monophonic means relating to sound transmission, record-ing, or reproduction involving a single transmission path!).

Rebecca, do tell, is there a secret on making the words sound right in revealing a part of your soul? "I definitely have favorite words- all my lyrics begin as stream of consciousness, but as I listen back, I notice a few words always pop up! I am in love with language-words have so much effect, if they are used in the right way. First, the emotion has to come through, if I don't feel that, I don't know how I could even begin to try to write lyrics. It's all about flow."

Paulie, describe your song writing process? "I write the music (guitar parts and arrangements), and Rebecca will sing along and come up with melody and lyrics. Keanu will add his bass parts, while Rob locks down the beat! "

Pssst... where do you listen for lyrics, Rebecca? "What inspires me in lyrics? I would have to say honesty. I love subtlety, and I love when artist show instead of tell. I am not a fan or really obvious messages. I like songs to be a little obscure, so people have room to interpret. Everyone has a different experience, so it is nice to allow people the ability, to take what they wish from a song. My idea is most likely a really personal emotion, so to understand exactly what I mean would be virtually impossible. I like people to have the freedom to interpret."

First off, Paulie, are you a lyrics or a music man? "Music, I am always jamming guitar chords. Rebecca just flows right into them with ease, Keanu, too! He is always writing the coolest little ditty- we call them! I love to use those and write songs around them! He is a very, very melodic bass player! "

On a personal note from Paulie to you: "I would like to say thank you, oh so very much, for this wonderful opportunity to make music that our fans enjoy! Without you, the fans- none of this would be possible! Thank you... Thank you... Thank you!"

For more information on Becky, please visit them on the web at: www.beckyband.com.

becky's Paulie will be playing goal in an upcoming All Star Celebrity Hockey Game.

Universal Studios and the LA King Alumni present 3 on 3 Thanksgiving Pond Hockey Game, November 28th at Universal Studios CityWalk.

The game will once again feature LA King Alumni and a host of celebrities in 'hockey action' at CityWalk's outdoor ice rink.

The lead guitarist of the famed new band, "becky!", will be ripping up the ice the same way he rips up the frets onstage with his band. This will be one goalie to reckon with!

The game will feature two 25-minute periods with a 10 minute break. The opening festivities will commence at 11:00 am, followed by the one-hour game and post game meal.

Alumni Celebrity Allstars assist worthwhile Los Angeles based charities, represented by the LA King Alumni and the LA Kings Hockey team.

www.allstarshockey.com

Hope to see you there!

This actually sounds like a fun way to spend the day after Thanksgiving.
If you're in the area, check it out.

becky! now has a new design at the official site! a new message board! and apparently a new exclamation point that is now a part of the band's name....

Go check it out

The official becky website has a lot of new photographs from the last four shows on the main page and also a new message board.

No word on any new shows.

hello! ... big news! ... "becky" will be airing on 95.5 KLOS in los angeles on sunday october 26th at 11:00pm on the "local licks" program! ... they will be playing songs from the new cd that is to be released soon as a dvd/cd! ... thanks for everything! paulie www.beckyband.com

Someone let me know if this web radio link works, please....
(it won't for me, my connection sucks)
It doesn't.
If anyone hears of a source for a webcast, please drop us a note, eh?

The HOB show on the 26th is being rescheduled, so don't book your flights just yet. Paulie's sure to let us know of the new date when available.

Tomorrow night's Viper Room show is still on so if you can, be sure to hit the strip (get there early! trust me) to rock with becky.

Club Keanu has some pics which may or may not be from a gig.

Also, not many bands have fan sites before they even release a CD, but the rules do not apply to becky now, do they?.

Check out Bia's becky site. Blog-driven and nice design :)

Oh, one other thing.
You can now get the live action series The Tick on DVD.
Why is this in a becky post?
Well, drummer Rob Mailhouse appeared in episode six as a character called "Sonic Boom" according to his IMDB page.
Heh.

I'm not sure if I made it clear in my drunken audblogs, but I did have the greatest time seeing becky play at the Belly Up Tavern.

In my stupor of both Reeves and Stoli, I met a lovely girl who had traveled very very far to see the show that night, Carolyn. Carolyn was brave and took some great pictures (while yours truly chicken-heartedly kept my camera in my purse, got liquored up and fantasized about asking Keanu to sign my boobs....What!? it didn't happen!! I'm a coward, I tell you!.......plus they wouldn't fit through the chainlink)

Anyway, Carolyn made it safely back to the east coast and was kind enough to give the OK for me to share her pictures here.

So big love and lemur kisses to Carolyn!

saturday october 11, 2003 10:15pm

"becky" live at the viper room!

sunday october 26, 2003 9:15pm

"becky" live at the house of blues los angeles!

Thanks to Paulie for the news.

Thanks to Paulie

"becky" live at the galaxy theater!
this show is an "ALL AGES" event!
"ALL AGES" ... c'mon down!

saturday october 4th
the galaxy theater show time 9:30pm ... don't be late!
3503 S Harbor Blvd in Santa Ana, CA
Telephone: (714) 957-0600 Fax: (714) 957-6605

From The Los Angeles Area:
Take the 405 south and exit at Harbor Blvd; Turn left. Go up five lights to
Lake Center and turn right. Turn left into the second driveway.

From South Orange County and San Diego:
Take the 5 north to the 405 north and exit at Harbor Blvd; Turn right. Go up
four lights to Lake Center and turn right. Turn left into the second
driveway.

From Riverside and San Bernadino Counties:
Take the 91 Freeway West to the 55 Freeway South. Take the 55 to the 405
Freeway North (towards Long Beach). Exit at Harbor Blvd. Turn right. Go up
4 lights to Lake Center and turn right. Turn left into the second driveway.

Either I'm suffering from the worst case of Reeves withdrawal yet or I caught something this weekend because I feel like hell.

So take these links and I'll see you in the morning.

Pics and report from the show over at Club-Keanu

Bid on Paulie's autographed game-worn SCORE jersey for a good cause.

I have about twenty minutes before I have to leave for the airport to pick up Tess. We're driving to Solana Beach in the morning to go see becky tomorrow night. Sunday we are going to catch the Suburban Legends guys at the Pier in Oceanside. It's going to be a fun weekend. I'm not going to let the Dogstar site setback get me down, even though the nostalgia will be compounded since Tess and I will be together. Our friendship was borne out of a love for and desire to see that band. We saw our first show together, we went to the Avi (Dogstar's last stateside show) together.

But we've seen becky together a few times, too and tomorrow will be another memory to create and cherish and relive in phone calls and emails and private jokes forever.

It's time for something new and it's gonna be alright with me.

I'm bummed about the end of the Dogstar thing, but it's not like someone died.
It's not like there will be no more music. In fact, once Bret releases his solo CD and tours to support it, there will be even more music and trips and good times with good friends, old and new.

And the important part is that there is music being made, and as a fan of Keanu's, I'm happy that he is playing and enjoying himself.

Rock on Keanu.
Rock on Bret.
Rock on Robert and Rebecca.
Rock on Paulie.

Rock on Dogstar Fans.
Rock on becky fans.

Rock.

Becky will be playing at The Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana, CA. on Saturday October 4.

Go to the Galaxy's site for location info and directions.

Thanks always to Paulie for the news.

from Paulie in email:

" hi! ... Friday Night September 19th, 2003 at 6:00pm ... Art Show opening featuring the paintings of Kirtland Ash with the newly added listening party featuring the new 9 song cd from "becky"! ... "BYOWAC" ... Bring your own wine and cheese! ... C'mon down and see the most incredible paintings and listen to the sounds of the new "becky" cd! ... It is going to be a great time so we'll see ya there! ... : )

Congrats to the band and have fun to everyone lucky enough to attend.
Buy some art!

I'm going to Utah this weekend. Bah.

...freak

Anyway, I'm watching the second airing of Sharon Osbourne right now.
Augh, becky's bass player is so freaking adorable, I could just die.

I tried to take some pictures of the teevee, but it just wasn't working out.

Thankfully Club-Keanu has some screen grabs over in their gallery, so go check them out.

Don't forget that becky will appear on the Sharon Osbourne show tomorrow, and be sure to double check your listings. I guess it's going to air at 11 AM, (that's AM as in - before noon - kids) in the LA area.

I watched the show last night, the set is HUGE!

She seems like a great lady, but I can't take her voice at all.

Thanks to Paulie for the heads up on that LA air time.

The Sharon Osbourne Show on which becky appears should air next Wednesday, Sept 17th (thanks, Tammy).
It's a syndicated program so you'll have to check your local listings.

It's showing on our freaky little UPN channel KTUD (K-'tude, bwah) Ch. 25 UHF, here in Vegas.

I better dig out the coat hanger and tin foil.

While we're on the subject of becky, here's a new interview with Rebecca (-via Club-Keanu) .

Yay! Suburban Legends, a great ska band that many of us fell in love with when they played with becky at last June's Musician's Institute show, will be playing here in Vegas this Sunday night.

Jillian's - Support the Scene
Suburban Legends, Melee, Solemite
Sunday, September 14, 2003
6pm - 9:00pm
Location: Jillian's, 450 Fremont Street
Las Vegas, NV

I'm so there.

AND for those of you that are going to see becky in Solana Beach on the 27th, the Legends will be playing at the Vans Triple Crown of Skateboarding event in Oceanside on the 28th.

The Pier
Oceanside, CA
Van's Triple Crown of Skateboarding
www.vans.com

That's like right next door to Solana Beach so if you're making a weekend of it you might want to check them out. Plus, there will be a bunch of hot little sk8er bois running around if you're into that sort of thing.

Don't forget, tonight is becky's television debut on The Orlando Jones Show on FX.
If you don't have anyone to watch it with, you might check the beckyband egroup, especially those of you in the WeHo area *wink wink*...

There's also going to be a show on Saturday, Sept 27 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach. I may actually make it to this one, even if I have to sleep in the Station Wagon on the beach. Which sorta sounds like fun, actually.

And lastly, keep your eye on the official site for a new becky merchandise section.

I won't do it for every movie, but since Keanu has the title role, I decided to go ahead and create a category especially for Constantine.

Also, becky now has a seperate category as well, rather than lumping all the beckyband news in it wahs which is getting full of my inane babble as it is.

Speaking of becky, there is a new picture of the band over at the official becky site, and don't forget to set your VCR for the Orlando Jones show tomorrow on FX. Roi's going to tape it for me....yay, Roi.

And I think that becky is probably in the studio taping the Sharon Osbourne show right now.

If anyone goes to either of these tapings, please drop by and let us know how it went, eh?

Thanks.

• becky at the Troubador pics, at settico.com

~very nice pics and design.

• Yahoo reports that Reloaded has made a buttload of money this summer. Duh.

• There's a little Matrix-centric interview with a nice picture of Keanu here at the bookLA website. I have to say that I think Keanu would be the dorkiest dork in dorkville if he actually went as Neo for Halloween. That's so cheating.

• Tilda Swinton, who is in Thumbsucker as Justin's mom is also joining the cast of Constantine, SciFi Wire reports. Lou Pucci is also supposed to get a part on the film. Like a big happy thumbsucking family, these actors are.

• becky is supposed to tape appearances for the Sharon Osbourne Show on Wednesday (which won't air until September sometime) [ticket info] and The Orlando Jones Show on Thursday [ticket info] this week.

  Good grief, they'll give anyone a talk show, won't they?
  (Actually, I [heart] Orlando Jones, but I don't have cable so I won't be watching either of these.)
  

Thank you, please drive thru....

So, I was lucky enough to attend the game on Sunday and got to check off "see Keanu play hockey" from my list, where it was nestled between "kiss a kiwi guitarist" (checked) and "learn to make pistachio soufflé" (unchecked).

We got to the Health South Center fairly early, which was good because we got to be in the shade while we stood in line and got to see people arrive. I watched Keanu from afar, but did manage to dork out, hop a rail and scream to becky's guitarist, Paulie Kosta that he should "kick some ass out there today". Of course, at that time I didn't realize that he was the enemy and I should have wished him a leg cramp or something.

We eventually got in and got seated not too far from where becky members Robert and Rebecca were, figuring they would sit closest to the end where Keanu would be goaltending. This was a good call and minutes after we sat down, the players were on the ice doing their warm-up. Keanu did some stretches (sigh) and then positioned himself in front of the net and proceeded to block a good many of the practice shots on him.

Meanwhile, poor Wendy was freaking out because the fancy laser beam autofocus took a liking to the netting that was stretched between the fans and the ice from rail to ceiling. It was a tense time and I really would have risked a puck in the face for clearer shots at that point.

Naturally, once warm-up is over and she figures out how to trick the autofocus, Keanu is mopping off.

Ahh, that's better.

We then all stood up for a minute of silence and then for a somewhat strange accoustic version of the national anthem sung by Luc Robitaille's wife.
They should have had Rebecca do it.

The teams were announced and I then realized that it wasn't really NHL vs. Hollywood because both teams had a few of each type of player, which was good and made for a more balanced game. It was then I noticed that the green jersey'ed "Visitors" team had Paulie for goalie. Scandalous!

OK, first period?
Keanu. Kicked. Ass.
Nothing got past him.
The puck bounced off his shins, his skates, his chest. He was snatching them out of the air. He denied them entry to the net as though they were midwestern tourists made of black rubber and he was a bouncer at Skybar with a big stick for a velvet rope.
It was glorious.
I was so proud and impressed and my inner thighs were tingling.

The white-jersey'ed Home team scored 2 goals in the first period. I wonder if Keanu razzed Paulie in the locker room.

I should mention that throughout the game, while Keanu stood there in front of the net, he would repeatedly bring up his gloved left hand hand to hit himself in the chest. Wendy thought he may have been moving his chest pad, but I think it was something more. I think he was psyching himself up. He would pound his chest and sometimes shake his head a little and tap his stick to the ice. The effect was not unlike a giant silverback ape posturing and being all Alpha. I could imagine him ggrrrrr-ing and growling behind the mask and pondered him scentmarking the crease before doing a little headshake of my own to snap out of it.

Second period

The teams switched sides on the ice so Keanu was down at the far end and Paulie was close to us.

Paulie struck a pretty big and intimidating posture of his own in front of the net.

He's also pretty quick with the stick and had no hesitation about throwing himself down to block a point, or even doing some splits.

Keanu played really well in the first half of the second period, too.

Then I don't know what happened.

I never saw the first goal scored against him. I heard a commotion and looked down to his end and couldn't see him because he was so far out of the crease. I then saw a goal scored and looked up at the board and there were TWO points registered, so either they popped him one after another or there were some special points awarded on general goalie dumbassery.

With about eight minutes to go in the second period, the Visitors team cranked it up. Those first two points either made Keanu lose a little focus or revealed a weakness in his game and they ran with it. A lot of action on that end during this period. At one point, Keanu pounced on the puck like a cat to stop a goal.

Paulie seemed a little too amused watching the action on the other end of the ice at times. I think the villainous D.B. Sweeney had been influencing him.

A couple more points were scored. Everyone looked a little more tired.

Third Period
I should have taken pictures of the scoreboard throughout the game, because I'm not totally sure what the score was going into the third period. I think the home team was still ahead at 4-2, but I'm not 100% sure.

Sigh, I had hoped that at some point Keanu would skate over to where his beckyband mates and their group were (since that was near where we were) so I could have offered (re:shouted) some words of wisdom, "Stay in the crease, creampuff! - Don't let Alan Thicke fool you, he's like 70 years old but he's fast! - D.B. Sweeney is the DEVIL!"....but he didn't skate by.

Anyway, this last period was even more action packed. They worked The Wall over pretty good. They had him diving and on his knees to protect the goal.
He's still pretty damn limber, by the way...rwowrrrr.
I wish I had gotten more shots when there was action but I was just so busy watching!

Keanu blocked a lot of shots on goal but let a few in as well. He was typically contrite after the more egregious mistakes.

As the seconds ticked away, both teams played more agressively and roughly.
D.B. Sweeney even knocked Keanu off his feet and into the net! Evil! So yes, I now dub Sweeney to be a "mean baddie" and will be fast-forwarding through all his scenes in Hardball.

I looked at the clock with 3:11 left to go and got a little sad because I knew the game was almost over. The score was tied, and then the Visitors scored again. Keanu was pretty worn out.

It was up to the offense to turn it around now. I hoped that the Home team would pull it out in the final minute. They pulled Keanu from the net so they could put another man on offense but to no avail.

The good news is, that no points were scored on the empty net.

Nothing changed in the last nine seconds of the game and Keanu's team lost, 5 to 6. But it was a fun game to watch and I think it was very good for SCORE, which really was the whole point. (By the way, I believe it was announced in the middle of the first break that Keanu generously donated his jersey to the silent auction which ended between the 2nd and 3rd periods. I have no idea how much it went for, but I bet it reeked - in a good way)

And even this smiley boy knows that winning isn't everything, it's the fun of playing a good game with good friends and players to an enthusiastic crowd.
And these smiles from him were worth the trip and price of admission in themselves.

I had the best time.

Thank you to all the players and organizers for a great game.

I plan on being there next year.

I hope everyone had a great weekend.

While I was slacking off, it seems that there was a possible becky show announced for the 19th at the Viper Room. That's two days after the hockey game. On a Tuesday night. I won't be staying for it, but as always I recommend going if you are in the area.

Also, FilmJerk reports that the Nancy Meyers Project may finally have a title.
"Something's Gotta Give", after the old Johnny Mercer song whose lyrics include "When an irresistable force / such as you / meets an old immovable object like me / you can bet as sure as you live." Um, I think the next line is probably the title line. You get the idea.
And apparently it does not have anything to do with "Something's Got to Give" Marilyn Monroe's unfinished final project, which had me all worked up until I said to myself "it's a movie title, krix, get over yourself" and in appreciation for my own good advice I treated myself to a nice drink.

Having a cocktail in me, I toyed with the idea of writing a little parody on why Keanu, not Arnold, should be elected governor of California. However, it turned into so much stupid yammering and was trashed as soon as I sobered up. Like the guy has the time anyway, right? But if it came down to ass, we all know who would sweep the popular vote, right?

Oh, the picture up there? It was my payoff for being woken up by a nightmare this morning and not being able to go back to sleep. I'm a sucker for buy-it-now, and it will go quite nicely in the black-and-white collection I intend to get together.

He's just stunning. I'd vote for him.

SCORE (Spinal Cord Opportunities for Rehabilitation Endowment) has its roots in hockey. The organization was founded in March 1999, when Sean Gjos was injured while playing for the UCLA club ice hockey team. In response to his injury, Sean's friends created SCORE to assist Sean and others like him who suffered spinal cord injuries.

SCORE fills a unique space in the spinal cord injury community by focusing its grants and activities on young athletes who incur a spinal cord injury while participating in sports and by funding emerging researchers involved with innovative studies in the search for a cure for paralysis.

Learn more about SCORE at www.scorefund.org

SCORE may not realize it, but on top of helping these injured atheletes and funding research, they are making one of my dreams come true....

Watching Keanu Reeves play hockey.

NHL vs. Hollywood

SCORE's

3rd Annual Celebrity Hockey Game

Sunday, August 17, 2003

4:30 - 7:30 pm

Health South Arena, El Segundo

Paulie Kosta, guitarist for becky is also playing and it's actually thanks to him that I know about this event. When I saw the news in my email as I checked it at Wendy's, I may have squealed. I know I bounced into the kitchen and informed her that she was going with me (and what the hell- bring the hubby and kid along, too). I knew she'd be into it...look at the line up.

Anyway, so yes, I'm pretty excited about going. To be able to see him on the ice has been a wish of mine, and one that I figured wouldn't happen. No, I didn't get the VIP tickets (which are now sold out) so I won't be rubbing elbows with Luc, Lex and Angel (nor Keanu and Paulie). I'm hoping that Fran will be willing to take some good photos with his nice camera. I'll get what pictures I can manage. I am sorry to say that I don't have a video camera so I won't be getting any footage of the game, but I'm sure if it's allowed someone will.

So, is anyone else in the area going?

wasted daisy
and
I adore you

--I'm a little annoyed at becky at the moment. They play a song live called "Debaser", which when I saw it on the set list from when I saw them I figured either they re-did a cover of the Pixies song enough that I didn't recognize it in my drunken state, or they just didn't have time to play it. But at the most recent show someone asked and found out that it isn't a Pixies cover, but their own song called Debaser.

For some reason this just irritates the hell out of me.

It's like writing a song and calling it Hey Jude.

It's just wrong.

And I haven't listened to 'wasted daisy' enough to really decide yet, but I think I may also hate the Sweet Jane bit at the end. On general principles.

And while I'm bitchy, I need you is just bad.

becky plays the Viper Room tonight at 10:30

Those of you in the LA area should go check out becky at the Viper Room tonight even if the regular bass player is still in Paris filming because it's still gonna rawk.

Keanuette has posted her photos and clips from June's becky concerts, go check them out.

ALSO, thanks 'ette for the heads up that there is a new becky song up at the backyband site.

Word is that the bass player has a filming schedule conflict and won't be playing with becky on the 14th. They will have a guest bassist and the show will go on, however.

Would someone go to the becky site and watch the new "Oblivious" video and come back and tell me all about it? I don't have media or sound on my work machine.

Thanks.

Listed on the Viper Room's schedule page is becky at 11:30 Monday, July 14.

Thanks to club-keanu for the heads up.

Waiting for confirmation from Paulie or the becky site....

UPDATE - confirmation from Paulie:
"hi everyone! ... july 14th 11:30pm at the viper room in west hollywood
california ... becky live! ... hope to see you there!"
www.beckyband.com

I have no idea if I can make this one or not.

The Viper Room's Club Camaro page has got its gallery for May finally up.
There's a bunch of pictures of people with questionable hairdos and morals having what looks to be a really good time.

There's also a couple of this one bass player that I'd really like to fuck....

What? I never said I had any morals. I do have great hair though.

So keep your eye on the Club Camaro page, hopefully the June Gallery will be up before the end of July.
Speaking of July, word is that there may be some upcoming L.A. shows next month and that the CD is done, I'll keep you posted if I hear any details. Also, keep an eye on the official becky site for some new song samples.

Oh, and I'll bet three Rolling Rocks that this is Bunsen.

Even having the best of intentions on the LA trip, "Oooh, were going to see becky for the first time, oooooh we're supporting the band, oooooh good friends! good times!!.....", once the freaking bass player comes out showing off a cantaloupe wedge-sized peek of his fleshy underside it's really hard to focus on the music.

Here's audio proof of the effect of ripped jeans on me on the voicemonkey from that night, in case you missed it.

Of course, I wept for Ass Friday, knowing I didn't bring a camera and was not going to be able to preserve his peekaboo posterior for posterity.

But then, glee! Someone had captured the holey grail of ass, and she had it up over at the darkroom at casafeliz.net. And the coolest part is, when I wrote Shelly for permission to use the pic, I found out that we had actually met that night while waiting in line!

I love when things like that happen. It's ass-karma, that's what it is.

Well, not really.
But it was kind of neat.

At some point in my evolution as a Keanu Reeves fan, I decided that there was no way I was going to be part of a throng of people hovering and vying for his attention, or part of a line of "meet and greeters" shuffling cattle-like past a folding table, either. If I happened to ever be at the right place at the right time- groovy, if not - it wasn't meant to be. I don't go to shows with an expectation of anything other than seeing the band on stage and having fun with my friends. Anything beyond that is just icing on a big loud Stoli-Vanilla flavored cake.

But, like many fans, I have spent at least a few idle moments devoting daydreams thinking about what I might say to Keanu if I ever did get the chance to meet him. Basically, I just didn't want to say anything stupid.

So, on Monday night, after becky was finished playing and I was talking to a girl near the front of the stage I realized that Mr. Reeves would probably be walking down the steps I was near so I decided to wait and see. But there wasn't a lot of people around so then I pretty much assumed that since the other band members came out this side of the stage, that he had slipped out the other side and went out the door on Sunset. I figured he was outside having a cigarette and once again I was at the wrong place at the right time.

Then, he did come out and was being led by a very large security guy down the stairs off the stage and about to go right past me.

What did I say? What came out of my mouth after mentally rehearsing this moment for the past couple years?

"Hi."

Yep. Brilliant huh? Didn't even say his name.

Then someone on the other side of me gave him something. I don't know if it was a book or what, but let me offer this bit of advice as someone who saw his face as he held whatever this was in his hand....

Don't give him things. It looked like it made him uncomfortable.

Of course, I could see that our Mister Reeves needed to be rescued from this awkward situation so I stepped up and said the magic word "Hi", again.

He looked at me and I offered my hand and he took it and I said the only thing that I could think of that he hadn't already heard a bajillion times, "my name is krix" and shook his hand. It was a pretty average handshake. No electricity surged through me. It wasn't light, it wasn't firm...it just was.

As we shook hands he said, "Hi krix, thanks for coming out."

I said something back to him. I have no idea what.
See, everything was cool until this point, but then it gets blurry.

When Keanu Reeves has hold of your hand, is looking you in the eyes and says your name everything else, including the words coming out of your own mouth, sounds pretty much like white noise.

I'm pretty sure I said something complimentary about the show. I fear I may have used the word "awesome" but really can't remember. All I know is at least I didn't throw the goat and blurt out "You RAWK, Dood!".

Then the moment was over and he was gone.

Which was fine, because I really needed a cigarette.

From Paulie (whom I now lurve, due to his abuse of the elipse...):

"hi everyone ... 1st ... Friday June 6th ... becky will be playing the
Troubadour at 9:00pm www.troubadour.com ... and as everyone already knows we will be playing the Musicians Institute on Saturday June 7th at 9:00pm ...
Also becky will be playing the Viper Room ... www.viperroom.com on Monday
June 9th at 11:00pm ... that's all for now ... talk to you soon ... "

OK, now I'm really rethinking opting to stay home this weekend.

Dammit.

Who wants a houseguest?

This pic is the front and back cover design I made to submit for consideration for use on their (hopefully soon) upcoming becky demo CD. Paulie, becky's guitarist, made the request to the beckyband egroup to submit designs. After I did this one, the outline of what was wanted was made clearer and more specific (what they ultimately wanted was more of a logo, no photographs) so this one not only didn't make the cut, it never got to the audition. But I thought it turned out nice so I wanted to show it off.

All of the submissions that were sent in from becky fans are now displayed on the beckyband.com page.

Yes, there's a few of mine in there, but I won't tell you which ones.

Go check them all out, lots of talented fans out there.

Oh! And the dandelion image is one of Jon Sullivan's photographs.

The Official Becky Website can now be found at WWW.BECKYBAND.COM

The BECKY official site has been updated with more pictures from Monday night's show at the Viper Room and the Lyrics to Oblivious
(bonus points if you can NAME THAT FONT! hint:there's a reason I recognize it)

Oooh, he's all shiny.

Thanks for the heads up, Chianti!

The BECKY website has been updated with pics from Monday night's show.

Go check them out.

If you have an interest in how last night's gig went, you're probably already a member of the BECKY band Yahoo group.
If not, go join now as some of the members went to the show and have tales and possibly pictures to share at some point today.

---update:
Thanks to Rachel for posting a report on the DMB

This photo of Keanu and his bass from the BECKY band website is now one of my most favoritest pictures of him ever.

And don't forget, BECKY will be playing tonight around 11 o'clock at the Viper Room in West Hollywood.

...the becky website has been updated to include some photos of the band.

NOTE: This entry has been updated to reflect the new site www.beckyband.com

Report/Review of last night's BECKY show over at Reeves Drive's message board.

Thanks to Rhonda for the link.

I finally got the chance to sit and give all the Becky songs a good listen.

I actually kinda sorta dig it.

Now I wish I'd gone....

*checks watch, counts on fingers*

Nope.

I'd really like to know if that is Reeves on bass on these tracks, because whoever it is makes me all creamy inside.

FUCK, I really didn't want to like this band.

I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I guess because I wonder what it means for Dogstar. But I support and enjoy Bret in his solo efforts so I guess the same can apply here. And official word is that this is just a side project.

I guess I'll just be happy that there is music being made.

From DogstarFans egroup:

We, dogstarfans-owners, received an email today from one of the band members, directing us to a website for a new band that includes Rob and Keanu.

Before I say anything else, we were assured, by this same band member, that Dogstar is NOT splitting up. This is just a new project that is in addition to Dogstar.

The band is called Becky, and the website URL is...

www.beckyband.com

Be sure and click on the audio icon at the bottom of the page so you can hear one of the band's songs.

The band is playing tomorrow night at The Roxy on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood. If anyone from this group is able to attend the show, please let us know how the show goes! ;~)

Wow.

Yes, I'm already trying to figure out if I could/should make this trip or not.

I'm listening to the track - "Oblivious" - right now and it's not bad...

*UPDATE 3/29, noonish: There are now eight tracks on the BECKY website to listen to, so go check them out.