Afternoon ñ The Spin Magazine Party at Stubbís. As I arrived The Killers were on their last two songs, not enough to give a report. Next up was The Von Bondies who played fun, rhythmic, bordering on monotonous rock. For all the hype surrounding The Von Bondies and for all the involuntary bouncing that I did during their set, I could not remember a single song or melody or chorus after they left the stage.

The highlight of the afternoon party set was The Hives, who do live up to all the monumental hype. On this hot and muggy afternoon, in the backyard of Stubbís BBQ, Swedenís golden boys were dressed in white suits with black button up shirts and white country bow ties. The Hives were fun, sassy, peppy, and dressed to kill or least dressed for a good heat stroke. Where their fellow countrymen, T(I)NC, are overly political, The Hives play kick ass, catchy rockíníroll all the while jokingly injecting politics into the mix. Ha! And you just thought the Scandinavian Invasion was just about lots of great hard rock bands? Ha! They love themselves a whole lot of politics, too.

All jokes about the Dr. Weapons of Mass Destruction and his too long bass solo in the middle of ìI Wannaî aside, The Hives did a damned fine job and are a damned fine band.

5pm ñ The Spits at Beerland ñ free show. The Spits are good punk from Seattle in the same vein as the Briefs. How come Seattle and the Northwest gets all those great bands and we only have the Stitches? The Pervz need to move to LA...

7pm ñ Dinner at Louieís 106 with Wanda, Alex, Mike Coyle, and Adaline. Excellent food and excellent company. Huge thanks to Mike.

9pm ñ Emoís Jr. ñ Pistol Grip ñ Pomonaís contribution to street punk/oi! consistently plays good shows and never fail to please the crowd. As usual, all the cute girls were plastered up against the stage to ogle the singer. The Texans were a bit timid to start a pit until the Unseen guys decided to do it for them.

10pm ñ Throw Rag ñ Rock up close and personal. Throw Rag puts the Pyscho in pyschobilly, even though they are not pyschobilly, but more punk(abilly) at its best. They one up the Cramps at 165 m.p.h.

The perils of being a reporter at a Throw Rag showÖas I was taking the above notes during the show, washboard & spoons player, Craig, noticed I was writing, he took offense. He demanded to know what I was writing which I did not hear. So, he demanded again more loudly into to the microphone, ìWhat are you writing? Stop that!î I shook my head, which I donít remember doing but Julie Wanda insists that I did, and then Craig dragged me up on stage protesting all the way. He took off the washboard and put it on me so that I could play it during ìPlease Donít Touch.î I tried to escape twice, but Craig would not let me go. At all. I made the best of it by *attempting* to shimmy during the chorus and play the spoons along the washboard with the drummer. Yikes!

11pm ñ Emoís Jr ñ The Briefs ñ Seattleís punk rock finest have signed with BYO. This showcase was particularly punk and thrashy. Unfortunately, I had to leave 3 songs into it to trot across the street to Emoís Annex for Flogging Molly.

Flogging Molly was so packed out that not even badges were getting into the show, so Blue got Steve and Steve walked Alex and I into the show via the backstage and drum riser as the band was playing. We stood on the accordion playerís side of the stage and Alex commandeered my camera to get lots of photos.

Flogging Molly was excellent. The crowd of fans and music industry folk went wild for their brand of Irish/Celtic rock/punk. The highlight of the set was ìDrunken Lullabies,î which has been getting quite a bit of radio airplay here in SoCal.

12am ñ Emoís Jr. ñ Manic Hispanic - Gabby and the boys hit it hard, hit it often, and hit in on the head of the nail. Punk rock cholo style was well received by all.

1am ñ Club Deville ñ Flametrick Subs ñ I lasted 2 songs before I pooped out.