Bitching with Brett

I'm on the twitter

2010-10-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

Im on the twitter as bretticus22. I also have a you tube page as mrbrettroman. My media empire is slowly coming back from the ashes.

2006-06-11T05:07:00.000-07:00

I’m just going to throw this out there as a general warning and opportunity to take heed. Next person I meet that doesn’t like Elvis, I am going to kick their fucking ass. No warning, no one is going to see it coming, I will just start bashing their head in with my fist, that is all.

A postcard for you

2006-04-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hey what’s up? Not much here, I have been on vacation from work this week, and they are paying me at the same time, I love this country! Despite my plans to do actual things, I haven’t left the house in days. On the plus side I have been saving money on gas by not driving. The highlight of my week has been my 1 trip to Walgreens; I purchesed a gallon of milk and 3 big boxes of Gobstopper candy. My buddy Steve is coming over Saturday morning to watch the NFL draft and I have a huge bag of chicken quarters that need to be grilled before they expire. Will they go rancid before I cook them Saturday? Who knows! Like the mystery of the Holy Ghost, the destiny of the chicken will be fulfilled. If I don’t die from salmonella poisoning I will be gigging @ 516 Soundstage Sunday morning a quarter hour past midnight, maybe I will see ya then.
Love,
Saint Bretticus of Caddo Heights.

Traveling headstones..I just don’t get it.

2006-04-20T07:03:00.000-07:00

I am troubled by the trend of having death announcements on cars tinted windows. It seems morbid to me, I really don’t care to see the birth and death dates of your ex boyfriend who overdosed on crystal meth while I am behind you at a red light. Am I wrong for not caring? What’s next? Can I put a tribute to my dead cat on the back window of my Monte Carlo? “In loving memory of Scruffy 3/7/2001- 6/12/ 2005 your litter box is in a better place.”

And don’t even get me started about the Dale Earnhart tributes on the back of SUV’s. “In loving memory of #3, the left turn never ends in heaven.”

Wal-Mart and God go hand in hand

2006-04-20T06:50:00.000-07:00

Wal-Mart and God go hand in hand

From the Shreveport Times :

MANSFIELD -- A shout of "hallelujah" followed by loud applause greeted the unanimous vote of the Mansfield Planning/Zoning Commission late Wednesday afternoon as members granted a rezoning request that likely will lead to the construction of a "small-town" Wal-Mart Super center on the city's northeast side

As for the troubling traffic numbers, commission member A.J. Williams Jr. had a simple solution: "Ask God to bless us with a crowd and with some traffic problems."

Do these people know that with a Wal-mart comes the availability of Brokeback Mountain on DVD? Does the small town of Mansfield really want a movie about gay cowboys being sold in their backyards? Gay cowboys threatens the manhood of every red neck in Mansfield, just think, the same place where you can buy a shotgun and get a fishing license also sells Brockback Mountain, God please help us all indeed.

Brett Roman music bio from myspace.com

2006-04-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

BR in drag
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

This is old news to some, but here is a reprint of the official Brett Roman musical bio form my myspace.com site. The theme of myspace.com seems to be bragging and self importance, so it is the perfect place for it. In it I try to remeber all of the musicians that I have played with ect. the list is still growing

1989-Today I started playing bass as a freshman in high school with an outfit that we called Chemical Youth, lineup included Brandon Meshell, Jackie Brock and Scott Ford. We played all Sex Pistols and Metallica covers. This was my first and last band that did all covers. From there I went on to play in a “thrash metal” band that was known as Flesh Wund. Wanting to do more in the area of punk before the term “alternative” was even a term; I started an outfit called Back Alley Allah with David Crook and Micah Harold. We had a drummer by the last name of Johnson but I don’t remember his first name (sorry dude).

By this time I was a high school drop out but was waiting to get into tech school, I joined a new band called Tank Farm with Tommy Johnson, Brent Mullens, Billy Framer and Steve Stubblefield. We went on to record a demo and played a couple of shows before Steve left to devote full time attention to his band and local indie rock legends The Roadside Monuments. Tank Farm endured a few more shows in and outside of Shreveport before calling it quits. Billy Farmer and I stuck together and recruited K.C. gates on the drums for a new band called Slowburn. We played a number of shows and received a lot of media press (at the time) for our work at a club called Cellblock. Both Tank farm and Slowburn played many many shows at a room that was called Jeff’s Building. We got the honor to open up for some great acts during the grunge movement including Gas Huffer.

After some regional shows we decided to split up and I was officially burnt out. During most of this period I was a Dj at KSCL radio in Shreveport LA, the station was the collage station for Centenary Collage. It was here that I met my wife Monica. I went to tech school for 2 years and worked another 3 before Mr. Farmer and I reunited in 2002 with new drummer Jeffery Pratt who was in the Air Force. We used the old Slowburn name for a couple of gigs before going with Vegas Incident. We had decent success and recorded a studio demo before Jeffery got called out to move to Japan. Rather then keeping the project going, Billy and I mutually decided to hang it up once again as real life issues became more important then salvaging the band. The exact night that Vegas Incident broke up was the night that Monica and I conceived our first child Monica and I had a baby boy who is named Judah Roman Stampley, and she was pregnant with our second son Jonah Charles when Josh Coker, Chadwick J and I formed Mars Vegas in June 2004.

In July of 2005 Mars Vegas changed it's name to Ghost Town Flood and soon after recording our 3rd ep Chadwick and the band parted ways after a year long run. Josh and I kept the band moving forward and added Just Jeff to play the drums. We are currently working on new songs and playing shows preparing for another studio session.

American Family Association protest Brokeback in Wal-marts.

2006-04-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

I write a few more blog post then I actually publish, Sometimes when you may wonder why I’m not writing anymore, I actually am, but I am just not happy with it for whatever reason. Today’s is borderline but I decided to throw it out there anyway.

From contactmusic.com

Wal-Mart has turned aside a massive letter-writing campaign by the American Family Association. urging the retailer to refuse to stock Brokeback Mountain, being distributed by Universal Home Entertainment. The group, which has successfully campaigned against what it considers to be broadcast indecency launched the campaign last week after ads for the film began being displayed prominently in the retailer's 3,900 stores. In an interview with today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times, the AFA's Randy Sharp, accused Wal-Mart of helping to push the "gay agenda" by "trying to help normalize homosexuality in society." He added, "But how many copies are they going to have to sell to [recoup] the losses of customers who they've offended and will no longer shop at Wal-Mart?" But a Wal-Mart spokeswoman replied, ""The fact that we are offering the movie is not an endorsement of the content of the movie or any specific belief. ...We simply offer the latest titles that consumers want."

Can’t these people find anything better to bitch about? I have not seen Brokeback Mountain, but I seriously doubt that if I had that I would turn gay. I have insight into these “Christians”; these people are the ones that actually think that everyone is going to hell except themselves. And even then that’s not enough, you have to tithe properly so that the preacher can afford payments on his wife’s BMW.

This is taking homophobe to a new level of ridiculousness. It’s just a damn movie; I have seen no evidence that it’s pushing a certain agenda. The gap between these morons and the Muslim countries that legally murder gay people is closing rapidly. And what’s makes me angrier is this gives sensible pot smoking right wingers a bad name.

Kudos to Wal-Mart for standing up for freedom of speech and commerce. Now if they will only carry Plumpers of Sundance Spa…

Basic Instinct 2 bombs at box office, Director shows ignorance.

2006-04-03T14:22:00.000-07:00

basic crap
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Turns out that soft porn thrillers are not a big money maker in today’s entertainment market, Dutch director Paul Verhoeven was asked about the decline in popularity of the genre.

From Reuters:

Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

I usually stay away from entertainment bitching, but I just can’t let this one go. This dude claims that "Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States”. This is the dumbest quote I have seen this year. Hey idiot, have you ever seen internet porn?? Banned? Hell, porn is second nature in today society for better or worse, just because no one wants to pay money to see Sharon Stones b cub tit doesn’t mean that “erotica” is banned in America. Has this idiot even been to the USA? We are the erotica kings! Ever seen Real Sex on HBO? It’s full of American’s doing it freely. The reason Basic Instinct made money so long ago was because it was a big deal for a women to spread her legs in a mainstream movie. Now days it’s common practice to see muffs, why would anyone pay good money for something that can be downloaded in 3.2 seconds?

I guess that the bottom line is that I am sick of Hollywood types talking out of their ass when they fail, and they try to blame Christian values when their crappy movies flop. Styles come and go and American’s are not shocked anymore to see bare vaginas. The problem is actually the opposite, we are just numb to it and we don’t care. Further proof that the Hollywood elite are way out of touch with the real America. Me on the other hand, I am in touch with America and myself at this very moment.

Thief debuts on FX

2006-03-29T12:16:00.000-08:00

thief on fx!
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

OK, I DVRed Thief last night and haven’t had a chance to review it. For those that have seen or want a review with spoilers then read Alexander Kent’s article here. You can also share your thoughts there as well.

I plan on watching it as soon as I can and will read Alex’s review. I look forward to hopefully disagreeing with him. Why? Because I am a jack ass.

I really like the direction of the Shreveport Times where we the reader can engage the writers. Perhaps this is a way for newspapers to keep up with the high speed information super highway. I also really enjoy the Times sport free for all blog. Once again it’s way to engage the writers and read about their real passion. Turns out that their real passion is Women’s collage basketball, nothing gets a Shreveport sports writer more pissed off then debating NCAA women’s basketball.

Tramp Stamp

2006-03-27T11:35:00.000-08:00

I call the butt crack tattoos on girls, “White Trash Birthmark”, that is a Brett Roman original. But my buddy Steve told me a new one that he heard that is better then mine. “TRAMP STAMP” hahahahahaha

Still around

2006-03-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

Haven’t been doing much blogging lately, duh!

All creative energies have been steering toward new GTF music, which is coming along nicely. I am excited about the new material and can’t wait to get a good recording and going public with it. It’s really a left turn form our previous work and it will defiantly make an impact on the scene.

Was it Theodore Roosevelt that said “Speak softly and carry a big stick”?

Sex Pistols tell Rock Roll hall of fame to have sex with itself.

2006-02-24T15:34:00.000-08:00

congrat1
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

You will have to pay $25,000 a table to attend this years Rock n Roll hall of fame induction shin dig. But The Sex Pistols are not coming to their own party. Citing ridicules table prices and utter hate for the music industry, The Sex Pistols disrespectfully declined their invitation to attend the ceremony in which they will honored. In a written letter by someone who never saw a big chief notebook as a child, the Pistols use such words as “urine”, “piss” and “shit-stem” to decline their invention and give another middle finger to the industry that they have swindled and manipulated for 30 years.

This is an excellent career move at a time when the back catalog may be slowing down due to having not recorded new studio material in 28 years. But perhaps they can re-re-re-re-re-re-re-release more Goodman tapes or bootleg prison gigs and cash in a bit. But perhaps the Pistol really does care about their product and are sticking to their guns as ridicules as it looks. With Joey Strummer and 3 Ramones dead, the legends of punk are wearing thin and I think that it’s refreshing to see someone giving a good cussing to a bunch of wankers trying to have a party.

Click here to read the handwritten note directly off of the bands web site.

NO comment so far from other 2006 inductees, Black Sabbath, Blondie, Miles Davis, and remains of Lynyrd Skynyrd

Editorial from Daniel Prime

2006-02-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

Longtime Shreveport music supporter and Louisiana National Guardsman Daniel Prime recently had an editorial published in the Shreveport Times. Take the time to read this account from a real soldier as opposed to any crap from an “anonymous” soldier which is often faked and used for propaganda purposes.
May God protect all of our Louisiana soldiers serving in the Middle East, we need to support our brothers and wish them a safe return home.

click here for article

Sometimes you gotta kick it old school

2006-02-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

492765014_m
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Only 2 more shows for “The Return of Ghost Town Flood”. Tonight 2/17 at Mia’s and Saturday 2/18 at Lil Joes. Now that the mission of breaking Jeff into the band has been accomplished we can take a month off to write new material. Our reintroduction into the local music scene has been good, we did have 1 bomb, and that was our first show at LIl Joes playing before Ronster Monster. That set was fucking horrible and was the worst outing I have ever had with a band. I was actually on stage thinking to myself, “God, I wish this would get over with, I wonder if we can become a studio only band like the Beatles” And this was during the 3rd song! Absolutely horrible, good thing not many people were there.

Our second outing was much improved, we still had a couple of rough spots but Josh and I was so wasted and we jumped around so much that no one noticed. We actually had people up front jumping up and down with us which is a rarity in this town (unless you’re Dirtfoot, but they are a whole different genre). The 3rd show at Mia’s was good the next week, and the 4th at Einstein’s in El Dorado was great too. I felt a little out of place at Einstein’s , the crowed was older and playing in front of the veteran musicians in All Night Records was a little intimidating at first, but I really enjoyed it overall, it’s a pleasure to play at a nice venue with a top notch PA system.

I am really pleased about jamming with a bunch of great bands on our string of dates. I really enjoy The Barstool Prophets, I like the way that John gets everyone going on bass leading the jam with an amazing group of musicians. They had Dirty Red with them that night and his talent is immeasurable, it’s just a pleasure to see him do his thing.

The Hoodlum Circus is a fine act and they are getting really tight, I like the old school punk attitude even though it’s sort of weird seeing them with brooms cleaning up as soon as they are done playing. I hope that they can keep it going throughout the New Year.

The Situation is a pleasant surprise, not only are they nice guys, but good musicians to boot. They have a very bright future ahead of them and they also will be going places this year. I know what it is like to be in a startup band and I am more then happy to help them get a few gigs to get rolling. They are all taller then I and that is my only complaint.

It was an honor to be invited to jam with All Night Records, I wrote about them before and they once again proved that they know how to bring the rock. They have a great sound and some great original songs. Brian (the front man, lead vocalist) has the energy to ignite the entire band they obviously enjoy it. They may be older, but not that old. If I can rock like that in 15 years then I will be very proud.

Tomorrow at Lil Joes will be the first time that I have shared the same stage as long time rocker Chris Alexander. I really look forward to it, Chris has been a lot more consistent in his musical career then I have been, mostly due to his do it yourself attitude and determination. We both come from the same scene from the early nineties and we have a lot of similar memories. Who else in town that is still playing remembers Ed Hall from Austin playing at the Cell Block with neon paint all over their bodies? No one, I don’t know what happened to all of those people from that scene, but Chris is still kicking it and doing it his way. If I could go back and do it all over again I would follow his footsteps and never quit playing. Hopefully Chris and I will do more stuff in the future.
As you can see I not only enjoy my own band, that’s a large part of it, but I also enjoy the camaraderie of the other bands in town that have a similar goal. Next show will be April 1 back at Mia’s (yeah Mia’s again, what can I say? They like GTF and they treat us well.) I am already working on jamming with some different bands in April so stay tuned.

And of course with our return will be a whole batch of new songs, leading up to the new recording session and new ep this summer. Got to keep rolling, that’s what old school is all about.

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

2006-02-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

From the news desk of Brett Roman

From Reuters
Disney World visitor hit, hurt by pirate ship
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2006-02-15T175635Z_01_N15257338_RTRUKOC_0_US-LEISURE-DISNEY.xml&rpc=22

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - A 71-year-old man visiting Disney World with his wife and granddaughter fell off a moving walkway leading to a Peter Pan ride and was pinned under a pirate ship that carries passengers through the attraction, an official with emergency services said on Wednesday.

He fell between two slow-moving pirate ships and was hit and pinned under one of them before the ride was stopped by a Disney employee who activated an emergency switch.

Hmmm, could this 71 year old man be a member of the Shreveport City Council that voted to cut SRAC’s budget? Could this be the Peter Pan threat that has come true? The plot thickens…

From Breitbart

Britain has new weapon against loitering youths -- Sonic Teenager Deterrent

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/15/060215133756.3rq2yx5p.html

Shopkeepers in central England have been trying out a new device that emits an uncomfortable high-pitched noise designed to disperse young loiterers outside their stores without bothering adults.

"The noise can normally only be heard by those between 12 and 22 and it makes the listener feel uncomfortable," she added.
Once in their early 20s, people lose their capacity to hear sounds at such a high pitch.

What? You mean that people between the ages of 12-22 can hear high pitched sounds that a mature adult can’t? Oh man this explains a lot, like all the horrible music that kids listen to, like boy bands and bad metal. I wouldn’t doubt that the record companies are putting subliminal messages in their music in frequencies that only young people can hear, like:”You love Ashlee Simpson, Shop at the Gap, Eat fruit Roll Ups”
The plot thickens…

From Breitbart

Young Canadians prefer 'virtual sex': survey
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/14/060214202406.jhahap3b.html

Young Canadians are digitizing their sex lives, embracing computer screens and touching keyboards ever so gently in lieu of person to person contact, according to a new survey.

Aren’t they touching something else ever so gently?

"We were very surprised that the number was so high," said Noah Gurza of Toronto-based online dating service CampusKiss.com, which commissioned the Kiss and Tell survey.
"It's a testament that the Internet has spawned a new sexual revolution."

Sexual revolution? I hate to break this to you, but there is nothing new or revolutionary about masturbation.

For some who feel more comfortable approaching people online than at a bar "it's a social lubricant," while others prefer the anonymity "to explore sex in ways they wouldn't in real life," he added.

Social Lubricant? Who is writing this? Howard Stern? Only a Canadian can use a phrase like”social lubricant” when writing about beating off.

Fifty-one percent of respondents were female and 49 percent were male. Of these, 53 percent of students had sex over instant messenger while 44 percent made love to a partner via webcam or telephone.

Alright, that’s the last straw, beating off while talking dirty on the phone or on the computer is not ”making love:” We have to keep some things sacred in these troublesome days, claiming that whacking off is making love is going over the edge of reality. Now if you want to say that you make love to yourself then that’s cool and more accurate. Stupid Canadians.

Oh, and 1 more statistic:

"Ninety-three percent have masturbated"

They should put a disclaimer at the end of the article that reads “7 percent of those surveyed have lied while taking this survey.

Last straw

2006-02-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

pak006
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Alright motherfuckers, you don’t jack with the Colonel and get away with it.

Giant sperm invades Winter Olympics!

2006-02-10T12:35:00.000-08:00

giant sperm
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Wondering why no one cares about the winter Olympics? Ok, you may not be, but many are in corporate offices at NBC. Maybe it’s the blur and fine line between art and crap. Here we see what appears to be giant sperm invading the opening ceremony. Come on sport fans! Let’s get siked! Who needs the NFL when we have this display of crap? It’s all about the world coming together, after the Olympics are over we can all go back and bash the USA for being rich while everyone starves in Africa, never mind that the sperm costumes probably cost 150 grand a shot. (pun intended)

Payola is the way of life in commercial radio

2006-02-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

Alan Freed
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Just what is Payola? Wikipedia says

“In the music industry, the illegal practice of record companies paying money for the broadcast of records on music radio is called payola, if the song is presented as being part of the normal day's broadcast.”

Read here for the full explanation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola

Ever listen to the radio and say to yourself “this song absolutely sucks, why are they playing this on the radio?’

I am sure that you have, most hardcore music lovers and musicians have given up on commercial radio years ago, those that care have found alternative ways to get their music like the internet , satellite radio or digital cable radio. Some have resorted to flat out stealing music with peer to peer software which makes music easy to steal but hard to trace. Legendary DJ and rock n roll pioneer Alan Freed almost had his career ruined because of payola, but that was in the past, now days payola is so rampant that no body gives a crap any more, it’s just the way the music industry is and the FCC has been turning a blind eye for decades.

For the latest news about the payola investigation read here:
http://www.broward.com/mld/mercurynews/business/13828084.htm?source=rss&channel=mercurynews_business

Sony and Warner have already agreed to settle their end of the investigation, they have been caught red handed, and all it took was a DA with the balls to do the paper work to bring up some guilty admissions. Payola is so rampant that a 5 year old could prosecute and get what is chump change to the major record labels to pay up.

I am afraid that despite the current publicity and effort to clean up the radio industry, there is no turning back. Commercial radio is so corrupt that it is lost forever, they only cater to women in cubicles who want to hear ‘what’s love go to do with it’ by Tina Turner for the 5009th straight day in their life.

That’s why it is so important to support collage radio or non profit radio like KSCL and KDAQ on the FM dial. Unfortunately I am still waiting for KSCL to get a new tower so that it can be relevant to Shreveport’s culture outside of Highland. Then the task will be to find students to DJ the station who actually has an understanding and passion for independent music. Nothing makes me want to puke like turning on KSCL and hearing the same crap they play on commercial radio, it totally misses the point and opportunity.

10 years of editorials on KSLA did have a purpose after all, Bradley throws hat in mayors race.

2006-02-08T13:45:00.000-08:00

In 1995 when Ed Bradley took over the station manager job at Shreveport CBS affiliate KSLA he soon stated a series of “editorials “during the nightly news titles “the way we see it”. Usually the topics were soft and non controversial, I admit that it took me a while to understand what he was saying but I watched with an open mind.

I did find it odd that a TV station manger whose background was in sales and marketing would have free air time to give his personal opinions at least once a week. But we are all entitled to our opinions and despite the Islamic fascists that are trying to take over the world, this is America and I do love my free speech.

So Ed’s commentary became part of the way of life for someone trying to watch news at 10 on KSLA, it isn’t like he is running for office or anything, maybe the guy just cares about the community and has something to say.

And then this week, lo and behold! He is running for mayor, wow, who would have thought! Welcome to Louisiana politics Mr. Bradley, you already fit right in.

For background on Ed Bradley please visit his own web page for his bio
http://www.edbradley06.com/about.php

Where we find this important paragraph:

“Under Bradley’s direction KSLA has become a model for diversity and equal opportunity within the local broadcast community - promoting an African-American female as news director and hiring the area’s first female sportscaster. He has ensured diversity at KSLA by hiring all minorities to represent every aspect of the station’s operations.”

Bradley’s web site brags about the fact that he hired a black women as news director and a female (we assume is white because she doesn’t have any additional titles tacked on) sportscaster. Not really ground breaking, many markets across the country have hired pretty white female sportscasters to keep men up at night (pun alert!) and I have no doubt that an African American female could do a fine job as news director. But the last part is truly groundbreaking,

“He has ensured diversity at KSLA by hiring all minorities to represent every aspect of the station’s operations.”

What does this mean? So he won’t hire a white male? Every aspect of the stations operation is run by minority? So is a female a minority? WTF WTF WTF , my mind is going to explode, too much political correct garbage talk, why not just come out and say what you mean, we won’t hire white men, what else can it mean?

I’m not condemning the man, I’ll chew ass on everyone just the same. His platform of fighting crime and saving money are pluses in my book, but I don’t understand googledy gook race talk. Visit his web site which I linked to and make up your own mind.

I don’t live in Shreveport anymore so I won’t be voting. Good luck on your campaign Mr. Bradley, I hope that the 10 year head start of free air time works out for ya. And that’s the way I see it.

Ron Capone

2006-02-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

Read Dan Garners tribute to Louisiana native and Stax Records engineer Ron Capone who has sadly passed away this week. http://dangarner.blogspot.com

Shreveport's first punk band

2006-01-31T06:25:00.000-08:00

Read about Shreveport’s First punk band The Wedgeheads at Chris x Browns Live journal. Chris is a musical sleuth and underground detective. He is becoming a cultural curator of a new generation. Read about The Wedgeheads and much more of Chris’s work.

Congratulations to Dirtfoot, winner of the first Shreveport Times Battle of the Bands.

2006-01-30T11:14:00.000-08:00

I was unable to attend the event at the municipal auditorium due to work matters, but I am pleased that a worthy band won the “competition”. All bands that played were winner in getting to the second round and the chance to play on the infamous stage at municipal is an honor in its own right. I doubt that anyone of the 5 bands that didn’t get the top prize is complaining. If they are then they suck and need to get their head examined for inflated ego.

I talked to Matt Hazleton briefly last week at Joes and I told him that I thought that they would win and good things would come from it. I am right on my first prediction and the second is a no brainier. Dirtfoot has earned their stripes in keeping the project together for many years, building up their fan base and providing top notch musicianship all the time. They are one of these “musicians’ bands” which I believe is the highest honor. A musician’s band is a favorite band of other musician’s in town, a band that has total respect from their peers. Dirtfoot deserves all of the accolades and media attention that they get from being the winner, only those jealous will complain. Dirtfoot is a testament to hard work and keeping a band alive through tough times. Perhaps Dirtfoot has reached the light at the end of the tunnel, where all of the crappy gigs and crappy paydays at dives finally pay off. It’s nice to see Dirtfoot finally receive that mainstream attention that they deserve and it’s time for Shreveport to take notice. Dirtfoot is an inspiration to stick with your guns and that if you take yourself seriously, others will soon follow. I hope that Dirtfoots success will influence more bands to take a chance on something out of the ordinary and it also serves notice to the rest of the local music scene that they music world doesn’t revolve around casino’s and the same 3 bars on the river front. It amazes me that so many people haven’t seen what the underground indie scene can do; most have not even seen Dirtfoot before the BOTB. Dirtfoot’s victory is one for the underground and the grass roots indie scene in this town, and proof that the time has come for everyone else to take notice.

The last thing I need is drama

2006-01-27T09:14:00.000-08:00

The kids were wide awake at 3 am this morning. They decided that they wanted to jump around on the bed; Monica and I were struggling to calm them down so that we could get our own rest. As I lay there restless myself, I decided to go outside, grab a smoke and check shreveporttimes.com and see the “hot ticket” article about the Ghost Town show tonight and our new drummer Jeff.
After reading it I went back to the bedroom, Monica was still stirring and she asked me what I was doing. I said “I grabbed a smoke and read the Times article.” “How was it” she asked. The only thing I could reply with was “oh shit”. And with that I went back to bed.

In article I am quoted as saying:

Bass guitarist Brett Roman Stampley is happy to add Singleton to the trio, which also includes frontman Josh Coker. "(Jeff) is actually a trained drummer and he's got real timing. He brings a lot of technical expertise to it that we've never had before. It's really going to have the biggest impact on the songwriting,"

For the full article click here

At first glance it may appear to some for this sentence to be a diss on Chadwick, but it is taken out from context from a longer conversation I had with the reporter about the differences between Chadwick’s and Jeff’s styles. During which I praised both of their styles, Chadwick is what I describe as a natural drummer, and he has only been playing a few years and hasn’t had any formal training. Yet he has a natural talent and bashing style which is just great and well suited for The Big Positive and Ghost Town Flood. Could he sit on blues jam with Jerry Beach? He may have some problems there, but you know what? I couldn’t do it either, I myself have just a little bit of formal training and I bash the same way but with a different instrument. If Jerry Beach (and I use jerry just as an example because of his talent and legendary blues jams) asked me to play a blues scale in F with ¾ time, I would barley know what the fuck to do. So in no way am I meaning to diss Chadwick, not only is he a family friend and like a brother to me, I would be a fool to act like I myself am a more high and mighty musician. (Ok, I may be higher, but that’s not the point).

The point of that part of a conversation was that Jeff brings knowledge that we didn’t have before in songwriting which is interesting to me. I am sure that Chadwick enjoys things about The Big Positive that GTF didn’t have, and that’s totally cool, I want everyone in the scene to enjoy the music they make and to get a creative satisfaction from it.

I hope that no one reads this interview the wrong way, the story is very short and I know that it is a challenge to make a story fit a small area of newspaper (the article is only ¼ of a page, and that includes the photo which is bigger then the story in the text.)

I love Chadwick, Michael, Carter, John of the Big Positive, those guys have been supportive of GTF before Chadwick joined their group and I think that GTF was equally supportive of them in the past. I hope that this doesn’t raise a big stink and I look forward to working on shows and having more good times with them.

SRAC takes another hit part 2

2006-01-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

Please read part 1 of this rant before continuing. It can be found below.

I come into this debate about SRAC from an outsider’s point of view; I am a part time musician with a full time job, wife and 2 kids. Unfortunately I don’t have to make my lively hood from my art of original songs and bass lines. But what about those that do? There is an old saying “don’t bite the hand that feeds you”. Are local artist afraid to speak out about SRAC’s wastefulness because they don’t want repercussions from SRAC that may jeopardize their good standing in the arts community? Well the time is drawing near where everyone is going to lose if the city of Shreveport’s generosity towards the arts turns into a bigger scandal. The key is that in this post Katrina state Billy Joe Shreveport is not going to stand for SRAC having a 3 million dollar budget when the crime rate in Shreveport is going through the roof. The average citizen just doesn’t care about the arts, I hate to say. Now this is not a good thing and lord knows that Shreveport could use more culture.

Another saying is “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going”. Is it time for the artist of Shreveport to take a stand and form a new organization by the artist and for the artist that can go to the Shreveport city council and tell them that they can put the city’s money to better use? Maybe, I don’t know. But you the reader might.

Now may be the time for a new generation of artist to take control of their own destiny. Now may be the time for the underground to become the mainstream. Sort of like a musical movement, it takes time for the rest of the industry to take notice and to change course for the newer and better product. It’s the natural progression of art, for the new to take charge and rule the scene. We have this great underground art scene and the old guard is ruining the reputation of city subsidized art. I KNOW that there are people who can run SRAC or a new organization more efficiently without childish political threats when their panties get in a wad or their budget takes a hit. SRAC’s going got tough and instead of adjusting, they are taking their toys and going home, pouting the entire time. It’s embarrassing…and now Billy Joe Shreveport is noticing. I am sure that the current SRAC leadership are not evil people, but sort of like a rock band that sells out to disco, they may have lost their way. Don’t let this happen to the scene. Besides, if there is no scene, who is Judah Roman (age 2) going to knock off one day?

SRAC takes another hit part 1

2006-01-26T10:52:00.000-08:00

In today’s Shreveport Times humorist Teddy Allen writes a column entitled ‘Vinnie van Gogh lops off ear, donates proceeds to SRAC’.
The article is a fake letter written by a fictional character named Manfred Hoover who pleas to the council not to cut funding to SRAC for a lot of humorous reasons. Read the full article by clicking the above link for a good chuckle.

While I enjoy the piece and I always find Teddy’s humor enlighting, is this what SRAC has become? A laughing stock to the average Blly Joe Shreveport? The recent budget cuts and subsequent political threats do not look good to a Louisiana public who after hurricane Katrina looks at government spending and grants in a more serious light.
From my limited research and conversations with people in the know about what SRAC does with their money, one common theme always comes up. Wasteful spending on parties and other assorted crap. Shouldn’t the majority of SRAC money go to local artist to survive finically while they fine tune their craft and work to bring Shreveport respect to a national art scene? Shreveport’s art scene is going through a golden age, yet bad publicity and wasteful spending by SRAC is threatening to overshadow all of the positive moves and progress.
The Shreveport art scene is at a crossroads of opportunity with the talent in the scene and movie industry opportunity. This is a chance that Shreveport artist have been waiting for..At least the ones that haven’t moved yet. Is this chance going to be blown because Art Space is being held hostage (as 2 of my readers put it) and the public outcry has put SRAC’s financial records in the public eye? This is a new state we live in, sort of like post 9/11 USA, we now live in post Katrina Louisiana, and the days of wasteful state government spending is coming to a close. When word gets out to the public about SRAC spending, the 200k that SRAC lost this year will be a drop in the bucket compared to the cuts that will come when Billy Joe Shreveport gets pissed off. Trust me; this is not good news for those that need grants to survive and to finish projects.

The Bizarre world of SRAC

2006-01-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

Mr. green
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

In today’s Shreveport Times, Don Walker brings us behind the scenes in what is becoming a bizarre political battle between the Shreveport city council and SRAC (Shreveport Regional Arts Council) that stems from a big budget cut from the Shreveport city council. Let’s take a look..

"In a letter to Councilwoman Cynthia Robertson, Jeffrey Kallenberg says he is working to find a political challenger to run against her in the fall election.

"I must tell you, I have been most impressed with the quantity and quality of the individuals, thanks to your position on the Arts and Education, Art Break and the importance of the arts in our community, willing to run against you," said Kallenberg, whose wife, Sandi Kallenberg, is chairwoman of SRAC's board of directors.

So SRAC’s chairwomen’s husband is sending nasty grams to city council members threaten political backlash against council members, and he is threatening to find opponents to this particular city Council member to challenge their seat. OK, I can live with that, even though I would like to see a regular citizen take up this campaign instead of someone who has a financial interest in the SRAC’s budget, like the Chairwomen’s husband, it sort of reeks of cronyism but the letter then gets plain weird.

"You know the story," Jeffrey Kallenberg's letter to Robertson states. "You've read or seen Peter Pan. Think of yourself as the infamous Capt. Hook. Think of me as the crocodile. Tick, tick, tick."

What the fuck is that about? What is this ticking shit? So now the chairwomen of SRAC’s board of directors husband is threatening to eat Shreveport Council women Cynthia Robertson!? What’s up with the vague Peter Pan references, has this guy been hanging out with Michael Jackson? Tick,tick tick?? The story continues..

Tuesday, Green suspended the rules to read SRAC-related financial statistics into the record. According to Green:

SRAC was appropriated $440,000 by the city this year.

The agency has a $3.4 million budget.

The city provides SRAC free office space.

The city pays $15,508 in utility fees for SRAC.

The city paid more than $7,000 for security at last year's Art Break event, including providing SRAC free lease of Expo Hall.

"It's not like we're mistreating them," Green said. "We're giving them more than any organization in this city. If you can't find something in a $3.4 million budget for children, then there's something wrong with your budget."

Hmm “Green” has a point there, why do I just call him or her Green? Because the newspaper article fails to tell us who this person is, one paragraph it’s about Peter Pan and the next is a long list of figures from the mysterious Green. Could this be the same Mr. Green from Clue?

Councilman Theron Jackson said he recently returned from an out-of-town trip and his son asked him, "Daddy, tell me again why you canceled Art Break?"

What SRAC does with its city appropriation is SRAC's decision. The arts organization has said that ArtBreak may be unable to continue without city support.

Jackson said that he hasn't lost an ounce of sleep over the SRAC cuts and that there's a "nonsensical street debate" over why the cuts were made and the implications.

"We have unlimited needs and limited resources. Nobody decided to pick on SRAC."

Hmm. So SRAC has to make some budget cuts, you would think that they would cut something low profile to give the impression that everything is ok in SRAC land, but no, they cut money from Art Break , the moist visible thing they do. Why? So that all the parents will get pissed off and bitch at the city council. What better way to get citizens on your side then to cut a high profile event for Kids? Right here and now I am questioning whether Art Break really had to take a huge cut or did they decide to use Art break as a soft target to prove a point and to raise a stink with every parent in the city. I just don’t buy it.

Jackson also noted that in its application for city funding, SRAC indicated its personnel payroll is $600,000.

$600,000!!!! Holy shit that’s a lot of money, how many people do they employ? I only know one, and she is a princess, but wow, does the SRAC board of Directors roll in Cadillac SUV’s? Man, I want in on that. No wonder that women’s husband is pissed, he probably has to cut down on gas for the family yacht. I would be pissed too, you know my wife was laid off , maybe I should write a letter to the Cox Communications manager and tell him that he is the scissors and I am the rock (cause I rock, you see..)

"We're getting calls, e-mails from people making a real attempt to support the arts," said Councilman Monty Walford. He and Councilman Thomas Carmody voted against cutting SRAC's appropriations, yet they're also receiving negative citizen feedback.

Pam Atchison, SRAC executive director, has indicated the group plans to return to the council as early as next month to request additional funding.

Walford said he is unaware that anything is planned by the council to reconsider SRAC funding or amend its financial assistance from the city.

"My hope is that SRAC can work to bring us Art Break, even if it's on a scaled-down basis, if that's where the cut has to be made. I'd love to see it done using our new pavilion at Festival Plaza and Convention Hall next to Civic Theater. That's what I'd like to see."

This whole thing reeks of something fishy. I know for a fact that SRAC helps a lot of people out and I have even been a recipient of a check from them one time myself, but a 3.4 million budget? And they are cutting Art Break? It just seems too political to me to have a storybook writing campaign by SRAC family members, it is bizarre, and I am sure that there is more to it behind the scenes.

Return of Ghost Town Flood

2006-01-23T08:35:00.000-08:00

Ghost Town Flood
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Back by somewhat popular demand I am blogging again at BWB. I have been spending all of my free time getting ready for The Return of Ghost Town Flood, coming to a dive near you.
We kick things off Opening up for karaoke Ronster Monster style @ Lil Joes on Tuesday. Yes, you heard me, opening for karaoke. Apparently people snicker at Josh when he tells people that we are playing before Ronster Monster’s Tuesday karaoke. But that doesn’t bother Josh; he thinks outside the box and enjoys doing odd gigs just as much as I do. What some people don’t realize is that Ronster’s crowed are intelligent music fans, which enjoy a good variety of styles. They have a passion about music; why else would they get in front of everyone in a bar, have a goofy TV. in front of them and try to hit all of the high notes to Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. These people love music and that’s the kind of people I want to play for. So if you look at it in that way it makes total sense to jam before Ronster. I just hope that enough people know that we are playing and come by earlier then usual.

Next up is the Big Show on the 27th with The Barstool Prophets and The Hoodlum Circus at Mia’s (around Centenary and Stoner….across from the video store where you rent porn..Yeah that place). This show will be a lot of fun, with 3 diverse acts and hopefully a good crowed. GTF should have something in the preview section that day in the Shreveport Times. So pick up a copy for goodness sakes. After that we play in El Dorado and on 2/18 we are putting together something very weird for Mardi Gras with my fellow old school rocker Chris Alexander. Details to be exposed at a later date.

NFL Playoff predictions divisional round

2006-01-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Will Mark Brunell be able to keep up with the explosive Seahawk Offense?
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

NFL playoffs 2006

Predictions

I know it’s a week late, but I was 3-1 with my predictions last week. The one that got me was the Pittsburg/Cincinnati game. I predicted a Bengal’s win before the game, but that was before Bengal’s QB Carson Palmer tore his ACL on the second play from scrimmage. This weekend coming up is the best NFL weekend of the year with 2 games on Saturday and Sunday each in the divisional round. So here is how I see things working out.

Redskins @ Seahawks-I give the edge to the Seahawks. Mark Brunell looked horrible last week in the Redskins win over the Bucs. The Redskins were lucky that young Bucs QB Chris Simms is a year or 2 away from being a big time passing threat. I see the Seahawks scoring too many points for the Skins to keep up. Winner Seahawks

Panthers @ Bears-The Bears offence is truly offensive, while the defense has carried the team to its impressive record, I don’t see the Bears getting past Jake Delhome and the Panthers. I’ll be rooting for the Bears, but I expect the Panthers to win. Panthers are the hottest team in the NFC; they are peaking at the right time. Winner Panthers

Steelers @ Colts-Wow this game is going to rock. If Pittsburg were in the NFC I would have them going at least to the championship game, but the AFC is tough as nails at this point. Will the Colts choke? Maybe, but I predict a big day from Payton Manning with the homefield advantage and the Colts to advance. Winner Colts

Patriots @ Broncos-Another great game from the AFC. The Patriots are playing some great ball, sort of like the Panthers they are peaking at the right time. This is a really close one, but I have to give the edge to the playoff experience of the Patriots. Winner Pats

News Flash

2006-01-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

news flash from thr News Desk
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

From the highly rated shrevporttimes.com

City of Shreveport sued over hens zoning issue

"A Shreveport City Council vote that denied a family in the Highland neighborhood the right to keep hens as pets in their back yard has prompted a lawsuit.

Fairfield Avenue residents Ralph and Mary Baucum filed the suit in Caddo District Court against the city and members of the City Council. The suit asks the court to uphold a decision by the Metropolitan Planning Commission that allows spot zoning to the Baucums for raising three to four hens.

"In November, the City Council voted 4-3 to deny the spot zoning approval in a move the Baucum’s lawsuit claims was “wrong, arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion.”

Enough with the freaking hens already. This crap was on the front page of Shreveport Times twice and now the battle will never end. I say screw the hens, this is the city, deal with it or move. Just like the stupid neighbors of mine from Tennessee who insist on keeping a damn giant hound dog in their back yard. I can’t even take my boys outside to play on the swing set without the idiot dog going apeshit and running into our privacy fence trying to get to us. You ever heard how loud a hound dog is? Freaking ridiculas. All hours of the night it goes on. I’ll be catching a smoke on my back patio and the dogs go crazy if they hear a peep. So I can sympathize with these people in highland keeping the barnyard animals out of the city, we live too close together for Old McDonald to run a farm in a city neighborhood.

cough cough

2006-01-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates around the holidays. I have been sick since the day after Christmas with that same crud that you probably have. The change of weather during the day makes it worse, cold, hot, cold hot. I usually start coughing badly around 3 in the morning and after sunset.

All 3 members of GTF including new drummer The Jeff have been sick, but being the rock n roll warriors that we are, we have yet to miss a practice. Look for our debut in late January in a special engagement with Ronster Monster @ Lil Joes. We will be playing the standard classics as well as a couple of new tunes.

I stole this picture from Robert Trudeau

2005-12-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

Tipitina'sMarsVegas
Originally uploaded by trudeau.

what a great pic, it was sooo freaking hot, thats me in the back with the hat.

Battle Of The Bands

2005-12-22T10:50:00.000-08:00

BOTB
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

This Battle OF The Bands on Shreveporttimes.com is still going on. In what seems like forever the online voting is still going on till the end of the year. I’m finding it hard to get too excited about this thing because it is basically a popularity contest. Now after the online portion is over the top 5 will be judged by actual judges of some type, so that part will be legitimate with me. But by the time you get to that point the entire contest is already tainted. It will be impossible to say whether the top 5 bands make it out of first round. A more accurate statement will be the 5 most popular bands will make it out of the first round. Which is still fine with me, the event is still a very positive thing for all involved, but it won’t mean much to me whether Ghost Town Flood makes it to the next round or not. The BOTB’s that we participated in at El Dorado was very cool because they had actual judges from the get go, so I enjoyed that.

There are more positives about the BOTB on shreveportimes.com then negative, and I’ll enter again if asked. I do enjoy that you have around 20 local bands available to check out in the same place. The people involved did a great job in making it happen and giving some exposure to us poor ass musicians. I also think that they should have a separate category for the cover bands. I have nothing personal against cover bands or anything as there are some truly great musicians in town who only play covers. But it’s sort of like comparing apples and oranges. It also may be a little confusing to people not familiar with a band to know whether they are playing a cover on their song or not. I think that 2 categories would do justice to both styles.

So please vote for your favorite and the best, vote often, everyone else is!

3 Deep thoughts that are sure to offend

2005-12-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

Why do half of the grown men in Shreveport feel the need to wear some kind of camouflage when in the city? Are they being prepared in case a deer jumps out on Kings Highway? Are they trying to blend in to foliage while shopping at Wal-Mart? I know bad fashion when I see it, just say no.

I use to enjoy NASCAR, but I can’t watch it because every commercial during the race features a driver doing something really fast, no matter how stupid and absurd. The driver will be going really fast through the drive through at Mc Donald’s. The Driver will be talking on his cell phone really fast while going down the road if he is endorsed by a cell phone company. Har har har, yeah, we get it. Thank God that the NFL doesn’t follow the same corporate bullshit as NASCAR, could you imagine a Popeye’s Chicken logo on the helmet of the Saints?

It’s so easy to pick up married women, most are dissatisfied with their marriage, bored out of their minds and are thrilled when a man comes by and gives them the attention that they don’t get at home. Here is a clue for all of you young single women out there. Don’t marry the first redneck that asks you. Most rednecks they have little knowledge about how to treat a women, so don’t be surprised when your husband would rather beat off at the deer camp with his buddies instead of taking you out to a movie.

Deep Thoughts

2005-12-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

I always come away with profound social commentary after shopping at Wal-Mart. Maybe it’s the clientele of the store, or the falling prices. I just feel smarter then everyone else there.

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

2005-12-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

News Desk
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

500-Pound Man Accused Of Fast-Food Scam

National news today from Seminole County, Fla. previous home of many Native Americans. From Central Florida’s leading news team, WKMG channel 6.

"A 500-pound man in Seminole County, Fla., was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of scamming fast-food restaurants out of large amounts of milk shakes and tacos, according to a Local 6 News report.

Investigators said George Jolicoeur, 33, would visit fast-food businesses and order food.

Jolicoeur would then call or visit the restaurants posing as a police officer or a firefighter and ask for a refund because there was a hair in his food, according to the report.
"He would come back and say, 'Oh, there is something wrong with it,'" Seminole County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Olson said. "There was a hair in my shake or there was a hair in my tacos. And, then he wants his money back."

First off, who would be dumb enough to believe that this guy is a 500 pound police officer? Or firefighter? Could you imagine dude trying to come in and out of doorways of a burning building? And how much food has this guy “stolen” to warrant a full investigation with press conferences from a police spokesman? We must be talking about thousands upon thousands of lost fast food revenue for these business owners.

"Jolicoeur was captured after he went to a Steak N' Shake restaurant near Oviedo and Taco Bell in Central Florida and allegedly tried to get money back for the food he ordered."

What the hell is Steak N’ Shake? I don’t know, but it sure sounds good… what could be better then a fat rib eye washed down with a large choclet milkshake. Hmmm. No wonder dude was 500 pounds, he probably ate steak n’ shakes twice a day. Hell, I might weigh 500 pounds if there was a Steak N’ Shake within a 30 mile radius of my house.

Local 6 News reported that Jolicoeur has been arrested more than 24 times on charges of burglary, drugs and domestic problems, Local 6 News reported.
"Jolicoeur's rap sheet is as thick as a book," Local 6 reporter Chris Trenkmann said. "When he was first checked into the jail in 1991, he weighed 360 pounds. This morning, the jail weighed him at 500 pounds."

Well I think that we can rule out crystal meth the drug of choice for this guy. When I was in tech school there was guy that was probably around 500 pounds in my class, during the 15 min morning break he would pull out an entire head of lettuce and eat the whole damn thing right there in the classroom. “Tiny” as we called him, would say that it took a lot of food to keep him going. God bless him, I heard that he passed away a few months later.

WWJLD?

2005-12-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

JL
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of John Lennon’s death, I would rather celebrate his birthday as a day to remember him, but they do the same thing to Elvis, marking his death as a day of remembrance instead of his birthday. During my younger years I studied the life of John Lennon extensively, reading many books on his personal life and the Beatles music and songwriting in general.

The horrible thing about the death of Lennon is that it left so many unanswered questions about what could have been. John was always on the cutting edge of popular music and influenced it greatly. When John was taken away from the world the entire course of popular music also changed because one of the great pop songwriters was not there to influence the rest of the musical community.

At the time of his death the album Double Fantasy was just released. Double Fantasy was sort of collaboration with Yoko and its concept was like a love story told from a male and female perceptive on rotating songs. John would sing a song and Yoko would answer back with her own. So that leads to the question, what musical direction was John headed in at the time of his death. Much like the Beatles, Johns post Beatles work changed styles every few years. I believe that Double Fantasy was the album that spear headed what we now call ‘adult contemporary’. The music had a post disco influence and listening to it you can guess that it was created in the early eighties. You can also hear a reggae influence, John was very much into reggae music in his last couple of years, it is said that there is a lost album that was completed and was for the most part a reggae album. The story is that he wanted to take the masters tapes home one evening to review the material but left them in the cab. They have been missing since. I believe that some of the material was redone on the John Lennon anthology box set, but the originals are gone forever.

I believe that John Lennon would have probably released another album in the same vein as Double Fantasy, following in the same ‘adult contemporary’ style. But after that all bets are off. There is no doubt that The Beatles and John Lennon’s work was cutting edge and also was quite often a sign of the times. What I mean by that is they were influenced by other popular music as much as they influenced other popular music. In many studio sessions, particularly around the ‘Let It Be’ era, the Beatles would often jam on the hits of the day, sort of remaking them for fun. Some of this material was released on the Beatles Anthology box set. I think that John would have embraced electronic “new wave” music in the mid-eighties, of course the songs would be in his own style with his recognizable hooks, but the music would have featured a lot of Keyboard/Synthesizers. It should also be noted that the Synthesizers on the Beatles lp Abby Road was some of the first recorded and released in a pop music environment so there is no doubt that John would have been open minded to the idea. George Harrison went this rout as well in the mid-eighties but that can be another subject on another day.

I have no doubt that John Lennon would have loved the grunge movement. I’ll say that John Lennon’s work on his first real solo release “Plastic Ono Band” is just as influential to grunge as any of the “grandfather of grunge” Neil Young’s work. Plastic Ono Band is my favorite John Lennon solo release by the way.

It is great to imagine John perhaps going on tour or jamming with the likes of Nirvana or Mudhoney, I really think that he would have done it.
Much like Jimmy Hendrix, we are left to wonder what could have been, when a powerful musician and musical force is taken away from the world, their influence is taken away as well. There is no doubt that if John had not died that pop music would not be the same as it is today, we are left to wonder what if…

In the end John Lennon died signing autographs for his fans. Could you imagine one of the most famous people in the world stopping outside their apartment with no security signing autographs for random fans on a cold December night in NYC? Can you imagine today’s so called superstars doing the same? We should never forget that part of John, just a guy heading to his house after work, stopping in the cold to make someone else happy by shaking hands and signing autographs. In the end it was a fatal mistake, but I also suspect that if he had to do it all over again, he would still take his chances.

news flash from the News Desk

2005-12-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

news flash from thr News Desk
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

A follow-up to the story about the jogger who was bitten by a pit bull. From ktbs.com:

Owner of Pit Bull involved in attack comes forward

Good news for the jogger who was bitten by a pit bull. The animal does not have rabies. That means, Bob Lindsey, will not have to endure the painful series of shots.

According to our staff expert, the rabies shot is not painful, and it is only a small prick. But I suspect that the media must say that it’s painful, other wise the sentence would read like this “That means, Bob Lindsey, will not have to endure small pricks”. This is always a good thing.

Lindsey was training for a marathon near the Stoner Boat Launch when the pit bull jumped up and bit him in the chest. The dog's owner grabbed the dog and drove off. After the story aired on KTBS 3 News, the owner turned himself and his dog into animal services. Authorities kept the animal and gave the owner three tickets for allowing his dog to run loose, no vaccination records, and interfering with police.

We will have more this breaking story and more animal attacks next week at the News Desk.

A loss in the family

2005-11-30T11:54:00.000-08:00

I hate to announce that Chadwick Vegas and GTF has partied ways. This is one of those things that is shitty about being in a band. Losing a band mate and brother totally sucks but it is a necessary thing to do to keep both Ghost Town Flood and Chadwick moving in a progressive direction.

It is often said that being in a band is like being married to 3 other guys (in our case 2) and that statement is very much true. Like a marriage, passion plays an important role in a relationship and when the passion is gone and you are just going through the motions it can indeed get boring and stale. I think that this is the best way to describe “what happened” with the situation.

Mars Vegas/GTF always tried to do things the right and decent way. And with this change in lineup that philosophy is not going to change. There isn’t going to be any shit talking or bad mouthing. When you are in a band as long as we have been together you become brothers for life, and Chadwick will always be my brother and I love him dearly.

I am often envious of painters and other artist that can do their work solo and still find the creative medium that satisfies them as an artist. Playing a 30 min bass solo may be a funny idea in theory but practically it would be horribly boring for me and the audience. So as a musician you try to find a magical match with others that share your vision or something close to it. For some oddball reason Josh, Chadwick and myself found that perfect match for a long time and it was great to be a part of.

As my best friend Steve described, it’s just evolution that we part ways, all 3 of us have changed drastically since the first time we got together and jammed. Being the younger 2 members of the band Josh and Chadwick have changed the most and both have developed from decent musicians to great musicians in my opinion.

I am tempted to go over some of the highlights of Chads tenure with the band, but it still saddens me to do so, I’ll just say that I am very proud of the work we have done and the impact we have made.

What’s next?

I assume that Chadwick is going to continue to play with The Big Positive and devote time to his lovely lady Heather. Josh and I are working out new drummers starting immediately. (We still have gigs on the books) So if anyone of you know of a drummer that might want to become a full creative partner with GTF then gimmie a holler. I am really not going public with the search at this time since we already have a few leads. We are very anxious to get to work so the search won’t last too long, so the sooner the better.

As always I’ll keep things updated here. With news and commentary.

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

2005-11-25T07:53:00.000-08:00

News Desk
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

From ktbs in Shreveport
Jogger attacked by pit bull
posted: 11-22-2005

The search is on for a pit bill that attacked a jogger. It happened along Clyde Fant Parkway Sunday morning. Bob Lindsey was training for a marathon near Stoner Boat Launch when he saw a man and his pit bull. The pit bull, which was not on a leash, ran up and bit Lindsey in the chest. After the attack, the dog's owner drove off with the animal. If the dog isn't found in the next eight days, Lindsey will have to get a series of rabies shots.

Sorry pit bull lovers, I put you in the same category as trailers, crystal meth, American Chopper merchandise and Motley Crue. Enough already with the stupid fucking attack dogs. Hopefully the dog is found and jogger dude won’t have to get painful rabies shots. And hopefully the dog owner will get a hefty fine, that dog could have killed a child. I have had it with random violence.

CRAWFORD, Texas - A dozen war protesters including Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, were arrested Wednesday for setting up camp near President Bush’s ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside camping and parking.
About four hours after the group pitched six tents and huddled in sleeping bags and blankets, McLennan County sheriff’s deputies arrested them for criminal trespassing

Why is this national news? 12 people showed up and they get national news? Hell, I had 3 times that many at the last Ghost Town Flood gig and I didn’t get a peep from the Associated Press. Just another reason I hate the mainstream media, they are so full of shit.

OTTAWA, CANADA (PRWEB) November 24, 2005
On September 25, 2005, in a startling speech at the University of Toronto that caught the attention of mainstream newspapers and magazines, Paul Hellyer, Canada’s Defence Minister from 1963-67 under Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prime Minister Lester Pearson, publicly stated: "UFOs, are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head."
Mr. Hellyer went on to say, "I'm so concerned about what the consequences might be of starting an intergalactic war, that I just think I had to say something."
Hellyer warned, "The United States military are preparing weapons which could be used against the aliens, and they could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning. He stated, "The Bush administration has finally agreed to let the military build a forward base on the moon, which will put them in a better position to keep track of the goings and comings of the visitors from space, and to shoot at them, if they so decide."

Damn, now Bush is being blamed for starting a war with fucking aliens, talk about paranoia. I will say this, if we are building weapons to fight off aliens I say Bravo! What is this asshole in Canada going to do? Shoot rubber bands at the alien space craft? Damn right the USA will have the fire power to kick some E.T. ass. I might even sign up for that war. Pussy ass Canadians, if only they were as pro active on their military affairs as they are on legalizing pot I might move up there. Hey Gordon Lightfoot...Don’t come crying to the U.S.A. when you E.T. shoves his finger up your ass to see how what’s inside of you. We will be too busy defending the human race.

Black Friday

2005-11-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

2 years ago I participated in black Friday. The biggest retail day of the year, only becuse the stores have great sales, usually starting at 5 am. There was a monitor at Circuit City that I wanted, I had the day off of work (unlike today) so I went to Youree Drive at the butt crack of dawn and stood in line. I found the experience fun and at the same time degrading. It’s like a cruel joke that the retailers put on people, sort of like revenge for the hell you give them the rest of the year. They decide to put all of their hottest items (usually electronics) on sale at once at an insane time in the morning so that they can sit in the store all laugh at the fools out in the cold. Waiting in line sucks, especially with a bunch of soccer moms and their massive SUVS hogging up 2 parking spaces at a time.

The stores run out of their best items 10 min after the sale. Then you are stuck with your cock in your hand and no merchandise at 5 in the morning. Doesn’t sound like much fun, but that’s the chance you take with these fire sales.

I do recommend that everyone try it once, some people may find it exhilarating, but me, I would rather take my chances that I get a slow day at work.

All Night Records

2005-11-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

All Night Records/musicfest 2005
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

All Night Records

When GTF first played in El Dorado Arkansas it was for a BOTB event (which we got a runner up prize and a gig out of the deal). Following us was All Night Records, a local band of 40 something dudes who played all original rock n roll. I immediately digged these guys, not only do they only play their own stuff, but it is authentic, sort of like if a band from the early sixties was put in a time capsule and re emerged in 2005. The story of ANR is that they begin jamming together in the late 70’s. The drummer bought an old radio station studio in downtown El Dorado around this time and they have been jamming and recording their ever since. ANR really liked our set and we were invited to check out the place and I was amazed that the studio is pretty much in the same shape as it was apparently in from the 1940’s (minus a few sound panels that had fallen down with age) when the studio was used to record, produce and broadcast radio shows.

What I like most about theses guys is their refusal to play rock n roll covers, why should they when they can write their own songs that are just as good. Considering the talent these guys have, I am sure that they could cover any song that they like but they are content and happy being original artist.

There are not many rock n roll bands with this authentic sound around any more, one day it’s going to be a generation lost but not forgotten, sort of like the WWII era vets who are getting more scarce day by day. I am most pleased that after months of trying, GTF and ANR will be combining forces to play a gig together @ Einstein’s in El Dorado in early February. Hopefully I can convince them to come to Shreveport to play a show or two. I’m not really sure how I can pull that off, they need to play nicer place then little Joes, but of course I have a few connections that can hook them up.

ANR is also going entered in the Shreveport Times BOTB along with everyone else. . I’ll be posting more about the event and let everyone know how it works out from my perspective as needed.

A few notes

2005-11-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

GTF had a good show last Saturday night, a better then expected crowed and a solid performance from the Rock Popes made this a nice evening. This week is thanksgiving (duh) and the holidays are soon to be here.

The Shreveport Times Battle of the Bands will kick off around early December, GTF, Dirtfoot and probably around 20 other original and cover bands will be entered. Hopefully the thing will go off without any drama but my bet is that it won’t. If drama does break out I promise that it won’t come from me, because I just don’t give a shit enough to have band vs. band drama. While the grand prize is lacking IMHO, the top 5 get to play @ the municipal so that will be just awesome to be involved in that.

The Forum is doing a cover story on local original bands and Chadwick and Josh gave an interview for it last week. 7 other bands will be featured and it’s an honor to be mentioned in this article. Word is that they are going to do a new photo shoot for us so I am looking forward to that.

My man Dan Garner has a short write up in last week’s forum, I had no idea his first real band back in 77 was a punk band. I also learned that he went to Southwood High School like me. I really like that guy; I wish I had time to be able to chat with him more often. His son Paul wants GTF to jam with his band The Noids soon, I am all for it, I wish I had his e-mail. The Garners are a great family of smart artist.

baby bigfoot in NY?

2005-11-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

nybabyicon-credit to the BFRO
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

You may or may not know this but I am becoming quite a big foot enthusiast. I follow the latest sightings from the Big Foot Field Researchers org, and the Texas Bigfoot org.

There is some new footage that I have been studying. A guy in NY State took some camcorder footage of his buddies camping around dusk back in 97. While the gentleman was transferring the footage from his 8mm film to VHS recently he was watching the play back on his big screen TV. His wife glanced at the footage and noticed in the background these ape creatures climbing a tree in the back ground. The guy never noticed it before and rewound the tape over and over to see what it could possibly be.

Somehow the footage got sent to the BFRO and it was enhanced somewhat to make out what the creatures were. You can watch the raw footage online and clearly see 2 ape like creatures in a tree some 100 yards away. From the distance they creatures don’t look that big , but considering the distance and size of the tree in the back ground, it has been determined to be much larger then a chimpanzee for example. The picture you see is a still of the footage and doesn’t really do much. An enhanced version is being made for DVD that will lighten up the area of interest.

You can download the entire footage from www.bfro.net and see for yourself, it is mainly unedited and the figures are mostly seen as only a silhouette. Because the footage is raw there seems to be a lot of chatter going on and the “sighting” only last a total of 45 seconds.

If that doesn’t impress you then you can read the sightings reports which are a lot of fun and interesting.

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

2005-11-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

News Desk
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

I’m going to go in a new direction today, if it’s fun and people like it I guess that I can do more of it. So please leave comments

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

Don’t mess with our dominoes bitch

First story of the day is from the country where everything is legal...except knocking down dominoes.

From www.breitbart.com/news
Bird Nearly Ruins Dominoes Record Attempt

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands
"A sparrow knocked over 23,000 dominoes in the Netherlands, nearly ruining a world record attempt before it was shot to death Monday, the state news agency reported.
The bird was shot by an exterminator with an air rifle while cowering in a corner."

Man, sort of rough treatment there. They don’t bother to catch the bird while it was in the corner, they would rather kill it as a example to other birds who purposely try to ruin the pride of Amsterdam.

And the last story of the day is:

Cool Mom has her day in court.

"Cool Mom" sentenced to 30 years in prison
GOLDEN – “n Arvada mother tearfully apologized Monday and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for hosting sex-and-alcohol parties for teenagers.

Prosecutors said between 2003 and 2004, Johnson held 15 to 20 parties at her home and gave teens alcohol, marijuana and methamphetamines. She also confessed to having sex with two of the teenage boys.”

Alright, weed..check, alcohol..check…orgies with a 41 year old mom..check, Meth??? Ya know, I can almost understand items 1 2 and 3 , but crystal meth??? What is she a biker too? And how can they have 15-20 of these parties without word getting out to someone’ parents? I couldn’t even successfully keep a stash of porn in my bedroom when I was in high school, but these kids are having 20 drug and sex parties with a middle age mom. How are they getting away with this? I would be jealous but I saw a picture of the lady and I don’t think any amount of crystal meth would lead me to sleep with that women.

But the story doesn’t stop there…

“Johnson was to have been sentenced September 26th, but that hearing had to be postponed after a serious traffic accident a day earlier. She and three children were hurt when the SUV they were riding in rolled down an embankment along Interstate 25.
A 14-year-old girl was behind the wheel, and one of the other children inside was Johnson's son. “

First she gives the kids alcohol, weed and meth, then she lets a 14 year old take the wheel of an SUV. There were 3 kids in the vehicle; one was her son, so who were these other two kids? After all of the publicity and media coverage, what kind of parent would let their kid hang out with “cool mom”?

“In a taped police interview, Johnson admitted inviting underage students to her home for the parties because she wanted her daughter's friends to think of her as a "the cool mom."”

Why didn’t I know any cool moms in high school? The coolest mom I had in high school was my girl friends, and that’s only because she would sometimes let us close the bedroom door and we would get our necking on.

Till next time, good night

Escape from Cedar Grove

2005-11-09T07:09:00.000-08:00

Escape
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

So there was a nation wide manhunt for an escape killer that was on death row. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, NY Times. The entire media world is watching to see if the fugitive can be caught. Well they found him, hanging out in front of a liquor store in Cedar Grove. WTF?? Big props to dude for managing to escape prison, sure it wasn’t very exciting like Clint Eastwood in Escape from Alcatraz, but somewhat impressive I guess. But dude gets an F in trying to avoid the police. The last thing you want to do if avoiding the police is to be a white guy stumbling around drunk in front of a liquor store in Cedar Grove in the middle of the night. The truth is that if even I was hanging out drunk in front of a liquor store in Cedar Grove, the cops will stop in a heartbeat, you sort of stick out like a sore thumb.

If I was in his position I would try some other evasive measures…like trying to get out of the Country or hide in some woods around broadmore. Anything but hang out in the hood. But I guess dude needed his fix and got busted. So there ya have it, may I suggest some Colt 45 for his last meal request.

Squashing the rumors

2005-11-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, I changed my mind, I will post an update.

As I mentioned before I really enjoyed the Show @ Body Electric last Friday w/ Dirtfoot and The Big Positive. With that in mind I do have some rumors to squash..

1.Ghost Town Flood is not breaking up. Chadwick is indeed playing with the Big Positive but that will not affect GTF. Now it is true that we are sort of bored/burnt out with GTF to an extent. But we have been together for over a year and this is not uncommon as anyone who has been in a longstanding band will tell you. We don’t have a record deal, we all 3 have jobs/school; I have kids and a wife so our life’s are hectic in general. Longetivity is an important thing with a band and I am very proud to have come this far along. And I am especially proud of the impact Mars Vegas/GTF has made on the local scene.

1.5 The GTF Cd is still full steam ahead, we are delaying the release for a month or 2 at the most, but I think that the recording is incredible and everyone who has had heard it tells me they like it..Alot.

1.7If your band has been around for over a year and doesn’t bicker then your band must suck and you should break up. GTF’s band fights are lame, no punches are ever thrown and they end with a whimper, not a bang. We had a big falling out yesterday; I’m still not sure what it was about. But after a few cold ones and some rocking jams, all problems are solved.

2.I was not mad that GTF didn’t get to play @ The Body Electric party; I would not have showed up if I was. Did I want to play? Of course I wanted to, it was a great party! Who the hell wouldn’t want to play? So no, not mad about it, that just the way it goes. Besides we did get to play last time and I love Chris and Sizer. If I did have tattoos then the Body Electric would be the place I would get it done, it’s a no brainier.

3.I absolutely love Dirtfoot. They are the kings of the scene and hopefully their impact will go further. I have known Matt for a long time and we were both miserable @ Shreve Systems where we both worked together for a couple of years. It’s so awesome that both of us have good bands and are doing well with our music. The rest of the guys? They are simply the best musicians in town. Lane, Scott, Eric, Jay, Aaron, what a freaking lineup, and top notch guys to boot. I can’t count the number of times that I looked into the crowed while playing a show and seen my friends from Dirtfoot representing. They are the most original and best band in town, bar none. And they raise the bar for all of us.

So there ya have it. It’s all good in the hood. There are numerous great bands in town and the scene is stronger then ever.

Vacation

2005-11-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

I am on vacation this week from work and life in general, so probably not any udates this week. I enjoyed the Dirtfoot Show last Friday @ The Body Electric and a big thanks to all of my friends that hung out with me in my time of boredom.
Especially Matt, Chris Alexander, Lane, Chris Skinner, Jackie, blah blah. love you all

Will this shirt make you burn in hell?

2005-10-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Will this shirt make you burn in hell?
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

As Judah Roman is going through his terrible 2’s, he is starting to imitate other people’s words. From this I see a clash in my family’s future.
For example, Judah was playing with some sunglasses and when he put them on he had a strikingly resemblance to Elton John. Monica and I thought it was quite funny, but my mom (who is going to class to become an ordained minister) declared, “That’s not funny, Elton John is gay”. She was like offended by the whole thing. What are they teaching her in this supposed Christian church?
I remember back when I was a kid I was really into the Flash Gordon movie and soundtrack by Queen, Freddy Mercury wore a white and yellow Flash Gordon T-shirt that I thought was pretty damn cool. I made a comment that I wanted one as well. My Step-dad told me “don’t get that shirt, that guy is gay, you don’t want to dress up like a gay guy”. I said “oh”, and I really didn’t understand what the problem was, even as a child I thought that it was silly to not wear a shirt because some “gay” guy was wearing one too. I’m not sure that I really understood what gay even meant at the time. But the thought was planted in my mind that something must be wrong with being gay because it’s frowned upon to even wear the same t-shirt as a gay person.
This brings me to my point. I’m just not going to stand for my kids to be told that someone is evil or wrong just because of a lifestyle choice people make. It’s not my place to judge others, and it’s certainly not a Christian thing to do. There are many examples in the bible of Jesus loving and accepting the wicked and outcast of his society. This included prostitutes, the greedy, and the people carrying diseases. Why do these supposed Christian’s teach the exact opposite of Jesus’ actions? I was brought up Catholic and they always were very tolerant of people’s vices and lifestyles. More so then the cult that my mom is now a part of. I thought that it was very cool to see the priest at Holy Rosary playing the slot machines at one of the boats after it was opened. But this new wave of Protestants only selectively follows Jesus, just the parts that they agree with.

And another thing that probably deserves it’s own column, the shit is going to hit the fan when someone in my house or my in-laws in south Texas say nigger in front of my boys, I’m just not going to stand for it. Why teach children that word and attitude? It’s coming…very soon, I’m just waiting for the thanksgiving dinner when I pull my boys up and I leave because I don’t want my boys using that language or having negative thoughts in their head just from a person’s skin color. I guess that I will cross that bridge when I get to it. All good parents’ goal is for their children to have a better life then they had, well this also includes mental states and attitude. I don’t want my children to have blind hate like I was brought up to have. I have made a decision they are not going to have a closed mind while growing up. A child’s mind is like an open ended canvas, why put negative attitudes and thoughts in them that will limit the scope of that open canvas in the future? A real Christian will teach their children that god loves them all unconditionally, and that they should love everyone just the same. What would Jesus do? That’s what Jesus would do.

Too damn early for cowboy hats

2005-10-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Originally uploaded by brettroman.

I live 2 blocks from the Wal-Mart on Airline in B.C. City (Prince coined the term B.C. City during his concert here last year; he kept yelling “put your hands in the air B.C City!!” Of course that would mean that I live in Bossier City City, but whatever Prince says has to be cooler then anything I can come up with). So despite my liking Albertson’s (too expansive for “big” shopping) and Kroger’s (the B.C. City Kroger’s is too ghetto for my taste and they only have 2 checkouts open at once) I usually hit the Wal-Mart when I have to do big grocery shopping. But I am no fool; the best time to hit Wal-Mart is the earliest as possible to avoid the crowds. I have met many a co-stoner at 3 am or 5 am at the Wal-Mart and I usually enjoy that. We always give each other a nod in the aisle like saying “yeah, I’m high too”.
But in the last few months I have been hitting the Wal-Mart on the weekends before 9 am, it’s just hard to be a stoner at 3 am with 2 kids and sleep is at a premium. But lately I have noticed a disturbing trend. Last thing I need to see at 7 am and before I even had my morning coffee is a dude in a big ass white cowboy hat. A cowboy hat at 7 am? WTF is that about. I always thought that people wore cowboy hats in the evening or when they were going out getting ready to kick some shit. It just disturbs me to see big ass cowboy hats and belt buckles first thing in the morning in the cereal aisle. What’s even worse is seeing a teenager wearing a monster hat that early, is there some contest or something to see who can wear the biggest, most obnoxious hat first? I have lived in Shreveport my whole life so I am use to the big ass cowboy hat, but they shouldn’t bust that shit out till at least noon. It gives me a headache

Waterfall of snot

2005-10-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

280_90403DA1
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Geeze, will it ever stop?
I am walking around work (at a hospital no less) and snot is free dripping down my face, Yuk.
I don’t want to take any sinus medicine because the regular makes me tired and cranky, the “non drowsy” speeds me up so much that it feels like ants are all in my hair. Both ruin my appetite and both get in the way other mild sedatives from the earth that I enjoy.
What’s a boy to do?
I certainly need more molestation in my life, why doesn’t anyone want to touch me?

who's hot..who's not

2005-10-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

who's hot..who's not
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

By my calculations, the 10/21 GTF gig will be our 30th one. This is certainly the longest and most productive band I have ever been a part of. We have lost our status as the flavor of the month that we held throughout the summer. The band is sort of stuck in some weird limbo that can only come with trying to make it in Shreveport. We are too heavy for the pretentious hippie kids, same goes for the art rock scene. Too melodic for the metal scene, not enough southern rock and no covers for the mainstream Shreveport scene. Yet we pull a few fans from all of these genres to give us our core fan base.
Whenever we didn’t get invited to play at The Body Electric tattoo Halloween party is when it really opened my eyes. Along with Dirtfoot we opened the place up with a memorable double header back in the spring. Now we are getting the big ole snub.

Matter of fact there are plenty of gigs that we are not getting invited to play. Dirtfoot never. ever, ever invite us to jam with them. I basically gave up trying to book anything with them months ago when they stopped answering my phone calls. Of course now there are a few indie rock bands around town to fill the slots. The Big Positive (whom Chadwick is filling in drums for and did get invited to pay the Halloween party), Brown who is back from New Orleans, The Infinite Division, Ember Ember Fire as well. I am sure that I missed some indie rock bands in this short list, but the point is that there are now more then 2 which wasn’t the case when Mars Vegas played our debut gig before 2 death metal bands in January.

Truth be told I am a little bitter about being forgotten about so fast, but even if isn’t true; I do use it for motivation. Whatever angle gets us going is fine with me. The new cd is totally kick ass, I am convinced of that. Whether anyone cares to listen is another question, but either way I am artistically happy with it. At least the ole crappy Vidrines still likes us…for now.

Hmmmmmmmm

2005-10-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmmmmm
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Hmmm I really like catfish…and chicken.

Coming back

2005-09-28T11:08:00.000-07:00

mvpromobw
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Yay,
New Ghost Town Flood cd is almost finished, titled A Collection of Hits. It will be a while before we get them pressed and officially release them (November?) but I will be sending the hell out of some advance copies. I feel that getting the music out there is more important then making a few bucks off of merch sales at this point. The band is really proud of the project and I am sure that the studio is as well.

I am about ready to end my exodus from the rock scene and come back in a big way. First show is at Lil Joes Thursday night Sept 29th. A couple of weeks later we have a big gig in El Dorado @ Musicfest. On 10/21 I will celebrate my birthday with a GTF show @ Lil Joes with Jalapeno and Infinite Division. Also some other band will play , I have no idea who they are , but they got put on the bill anyway. Should be a great time, with fun had by all.

Hello again

2005-09-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

kat
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

What can I say? Since the last time I updated my blog the entire world was turned on its head from the Katrina disaster and the clusterfuck that ensued. I actually feel guilty writing about myself during the crisis and have kept my thoughts pretty much to myself. So much happened in that span of time, I guess that it will be easier to go point by point.

-The band decided on changing its name to Ghost Town Flood. GTF is our creation of sorts and all of the pieces fell into place. After thinking about it for a number of days, it was officially decided on a Thursday. 2 days later the announcement was made on the news that cat 5 hurricane Katrina was going to smash New Orleans and evacuations were ordered. After the entire world had to sit in their living rooms watching poor people literally starve to death on live TV, we decided to hold off on the name change announcement, worried that someone would think that we were trying to cash in on disaster. To make matters worse after the city was finally evacuated the newspaper headlines from around the country said “Ghost Town” with pictures of an empty New Orleans. Just fucking wonderful.

-We were asked to play a benefit at 516 Soundstage to raise money for displaced musicians and other relief efforts. It was a wonderful event, SRAC was there with a silent auction and all of the local cliques came together to make the event the most successful benefit that I have ever been a part of. The house was busy throughout the day and there was a nice crowed by the time we performed. Josh had a nasty case of laryngitis and lost his voice that morning. When he arrived at 516 soundstage everyone kept giving him advice on how to get his voice back before out time slot. Some folks had the lovely idea that drinking shots of jeger would heal him up and people started buying him shots. By the time we went on stage Josh was stinking drunk and our show was mostly a confused mess. Billy Vidrine saved the day by doing some improvising and introduced the band. We played a short set for josh’s voice and also to give some time to The Big Positive to play a short set since they missed their slot earlier. Despite everything, most people said that the set went off well. Highlight of the show was Chadwick’s report that Robert Trudeau was laughing behind the stage at our antics. During the set I was quite embarrassed to be putting on our “bar show” during a benefit for the disaster in front of our peers in the music and art community. But I was relived when old pal Billy Farmer told me “Hey man, it’s alright, that was a rock n roll show”. So if people were laughing and having a good time during our “performance art” then I won’t complain. Josh has since vowed to not get drunk before any more shows.

-The band laid down 6 base tracks last Saturday for the new ep. We went back to Sandbox Studio in Highland where we cut Mars Vegas, Ghost Town Flood. We are really taking our time on this project and so far had 2 sessions. Josh still has to lay down a couple more vocal tracks next week and I am hoping that the project will be finished in 3 weeks time. Both Josh and Chadwick did a really good job in the studio and I am very proud of both of them. This new ep is really going to turn some heads, it’s very diverse and at time very emotional. I’ll comment more on the recordings at a later date, but I will say that the music is very honest and it’s just us. We don’t have any preconceived notions about how we sound; we just go in and do our thing. If it’s commercial or punk or whatever, the sounds you will hear will be our own. We don’t want to be limited in our creativity by worrying about selling out or not. It is what it is and it’s what we sound like.

-And last but not least the family celebrated Jonah Stampley’s 1rst birthday over Labor Day weekend. I really love both of my little guys and they are the highlight of my life. For those that don’t have kids it may be hard to imagine loving someone so much that you would willingly and gladly sacrifice your own life for someone else. But that is what it’s like for me.

-C-ya next time and remember..Go Saints!

Re Launch

2005-08-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

DE_launch
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

The rumors are true, Mars Vegas is no more. Its not really important as to why we are changing our name, most people can figure it out and I am all about looking forward instead of looking back. Not only will the band have a new name, but it is going to coincide with the release of a new ep. and eventually a rebuilt web site. The whole thing is a lot to take in at once for me, but the thing that keeps me going is the new material that we are going to record. I really look forward to the reaction from our dedicated fans and supporters.
The album is going to have some trademark rockers along with some emotionally charged ballads that’s going to be the icing on the cake. Our first rehearsal for the studio project went great; all 3 of us are really into it and in 3 weeks when we start laying down the tracks we will be really tight and ready to roar. There is a lot of work to be done in the meantime in trying to put together the name of the band, and concept for the album, but the music is coming along very well and that’s what is most important to me. Everything else is secondary and will fall into place on its own.

We Want Curb

2005-08-08T13:40:00.000-07:00

larrydavid
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

I don’t watch TV much at all, at least by comparison to most in my age group. Let me put it another way, the TV is on, but I don’t watch it much. If it’s not Sesame Street for the boys then it’s the news. I do watch boxing every chance I get, and I follow it on the internet regularly. I am also a New Orleans Saints fanatic, but I’ll discuss that some other day. My favorite show by far is Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm. Monica seems to think that I like it so much because she claims that Larry and I are both neurotic and that our personalities are very common. But not common in a good way, she states that we both just love to bitch about stupid shit. Either way, I can watch episodes over and over again on reruns; I’ll crack up laughing just hearing the theme music. A lot of things that irritate me also gets on David’s nerves on the show, like Dr’s telling you to be there at a certin time, yet they let walk in patients go ahead of you if they sign in first. Whats the point of even having appointments? Do Dr’s think that they are the only ones who are busy and that we all must wait for them? Small items that piss me off are turned into entire Curb episodes. I’ll be watching an episode and I’ll think “hey, I thought that I was the only one that found that odd, Larry is so cool”
While it’s a pleasure for me, it gets on Monica’s last nerve; I guess that it’s better to be like Larry David then having to live with him. I am hearing that the new season starts in September, I can’t wait, I gotta have my Curb.

Don't you think this outlaw bit's done got out of hand

2005-08-04T16:04:00.000-07:00

jennings_portrait
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

As I mentioned on my previous blog, the fabulous DeArmond band is set to open up for the Brain Surgeons. Just to give you some background, Michael is an original guitarist/songwriter here in town, he has been doing it for a number of years, and truly one of the nice guys in the local music scene. His guitar player Leighton gives guitar lessons at the local music store and I believe that he is the top player in town. The band has great respect for those guys.

Well, apparently at some point early in the week someone defaced/tore down the promotion posters for the Brain Surgeons show that Michael paid for and had made, they were on the wall at Lil Joes Tavern. Also someone wrote some nasty stuff on the bathroom wall about him, and they also did the same on the outside of the building.

Well, guess who got blamed for it? You guessed it, Chadwick and I, or some other combination of Mars Vegas, not really sure. Apparently the word on the street is that we were seen doing it, not sure how since I have not been to Lil Joes since before the Dallas trip. I got word that Michael was pissed so I called him to see what was up. Apparently when he was at the club last night, everyone started telling him about MV tearing up his posters and writing crap on the wall. After talking to him we got most of it straitened out. I knew that I wasn’t involved so I immediately called Chadwick. I asked him straight up if he did this and he was furious. Chadwick stated that of course he didn’t and insisted that I give him Michaels phone number to call him personally. To make a long story short, we were cleared of the charges, either someone was jacking with DeArmond and we got caught in the middle, or someone was trying to frame MV.

Now I can’t complain about having the reputation of being the bad boys of rock n roll, but this is ridiculouss. If I am going to break the law, I would do something better then that, like marry my 13 year old cousin or something.

“Don’t you think this outlaw bit done got out of hand?”
This is a famous line/song from Waylon Jennings back from his prime, Waylon along with the other Nashville Outlaws were so successful in their gimmick of being bad boys that the FEDS were targeting them, they finally busted ole Walloon, for having some coke in the recording studio, the whole thing inspired the song. Now I sort of know what he was going through.
Shreveportrocks.com was full of the drama over the whole incident. Words of wisdom came from Michael DeArmond himself. “Man, as long as they are talking about Mars Vegas and DeArmond, let them have at it” Amen brother.

Cock blocked by a cowbell

2005-08-02T11:16:00.000-07:00

snl_blue_oyster_cowbell
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Ahh, the good ole double book, nothing is sadder then a grown man/venue who doesn’t know how to keep a calendar. So the Squint vs. Mars Vegas show is cancelled to make way for the drummer of Blue Oyster Cult’s new cover band. Apparently riding the popularity of the cowbell SNL skit where Will Farrell plays the cowbell to “Don’t Fear the Reaper” NO, I am not making up the fact that he is riding that wave! I saw their promo pack; it actually says that since that skit his career has been rejuvenated! Best of luck to dude, maybe one day I can have a SNL skit making fun of me so that I can go on tour and play some classic rock, hopefully I can bump some younger bands gigs in the process. Of course it isn’t the bands fault when a double booking occurs, and I certainly don’t wish any ill will toward the fabulous Michael DeArmond who is opening the show. Its just one of those things that happens in Rock N Roll, the shitty side I might add. At least the Squint/Mars Vegas tour will be hitting El Dorado this Saturday, should be fun to play at a professional venue for a change. BAH!

New Orleans is the front runner for next Mars Vegas recording

2005-07-25T10:26:00.000-07:00

JacksonSquare
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Well I have certainly been enjoying my vacation from all of my musical related activities this past week. Even though I am still going to work everyday, and doing all of my domestic related living, being away from Mars Vegas for a week has done wonders for my outlook. I believe that this is the longest amount of time that Mars Vegas has not jammed since the band was formed over a year ago, which is quite impressive, I didn’t realize that we worked so hard because its all that we knew.

Mars Vegas is also taking a different direction in operations till the end of the year as we work on new material. After a double header with Squint on 8/5 and 8/6, we won’t be playing a live show till October. And we won’t be playing Shreveport again till 10/22 for my birthday bash. Of course this is all subject to change. It’s so hard to decline shows, especially when it might help out friends, but we just have to bite the bullet and say no, or else we will never have the quality songs that we want to record.

I have been researching recording studios in New Orleans and Austin to decide where we will record our sophomore release. There is still a chance we might do it in Shreveport, but New Orleans then Austin are the front runners.

I like Chicken

2005-07-21T09:22:00.001-07:00

spicy%20fried%20chicken
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Man, I sure enjoy fried chicken, my favorite chains are in this order, KFC, Popeye’s, and Churches. I enjoy all 3, my favorite local chain is Mr. Jims, but since they moved out of the Bossier location I have not had any, I am not going to risk my life trying to get a “steal meal” from the location off of Youree Drive.

Dallas-Meet Mars Vegas

2005-07-11T11:02:00.000-07:00

Dallas%20County%20-%20Dallas%20-%20Retired
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

This week Mars Vegas heads to Dallas Texas to attend/perform at the XMG Music Conference. Apparently this XMG Company holds these things a few times a year for different regions, the actual conference and workshops are going to take place at the Hard Rock Café, with the performances taking place at the Hard Rock and The What Bar. The Mars Vegas “showcase” will take place on July 16th @ 7:30 pm at the What Bar, in attendance will be A&R Reps from Columbia, Capital, and Koch records. Actual performance will only last 10 min or so, and as soon as we leave the stage we will go to a table with the A&R reps and they get to chew our ass and tell us their opinion on the band. Stay tuned for the results.

Picture is of the old Courthouse in Downtown Dallas, one of the many beautiful architectural sights to view there.

Clear Channel can suck it!

2005-07-08T06:39:00.000-07:00

clearchannel
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

I'm not a big anit-buisness hippie or anything close to that, but I sure the hell love sticking it to Clear Channel, my baby show "Mars Vegas & Friends" @ 516 Soundstage got the front page coverage featuring The Vidrines instead of the cookie cutter national acts @ The Strand that cost $20. The turd fest is sponsored and presented by cock rock radio ktux, by the way. The only bright light on their lineup are veteran local rockers The American Tragedy who are opening the show, I say that they should be headlining, they are the real draw in this town, not some posers corporate puppets. Thanks to The Vidrines for working to get the story about the Soundstage show, I love you guys, maybe there is hope for us starving original artist after all in this town.

I'm so lonley I could die

2005-07-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

sadclown
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

My wife and baby boys have been out of town a lot so far this summer, at first it’s sort of cool to be able to do social things without having to worry about the family being neglected or safe, but now its turning into pure suck mode. I am feeling sort of rough over some issues that I hope don't get any bigger, and now is the time that I need Monica the most, not to mention my raging hormones. Oh well, at least my oldest friend Steve is going hang out with me tonight and I can laugh again!

Happy Birthday

2005-06-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

product_detail_popice_photo
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

Happy Birthday Mars Vegas.

Miss Shreveport from Ruston wins Miss Louisiana in Monroe

2005-06-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

bilde
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

From the Shreveport Times June 19th
"Miss Shreveport Molly Causey, 22, of Ruston is the new Miss Louisiana. The 22-year-old Ruston resident, whose platform was Konnect 2 Kids, was crowned Saturday night during the finals of the three-day pageant in the Monroe Civic Center Theater. "

No comment, you would think that The Times would include a summery of the obvious question, but they don't, they assume that pageant watching is as popular as the NFL and Nascar. "hey, Boudrouex! Who do you have on your Miss America pageant fantasy team?"

Slim Whitman is going to kick my ass

2005-06-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

slimwhitman_illtakeyouhomeagainkathleen
Originally uploaded by brettroman.

I went to the west edge yesterday and talked to Dan Garner at Tipitina’s. This guy is a walking encyclopedia of Louisiana music (I guess that’s why he’s called Louisiana Dan) and I could pick his brain all day. Subjects included Slim Whitman, Stan Lewis, and John Fred among others. John Fred (reached #1 with his hit Judy In Disguise on Stan Lewis’s Paula label in the 60’s) recently passed away which really sucks. When the subject of Slim Whitman came up I could have sworn that he also passed away a couple of years ago. So here I am telling Dan Garner that Slim Whitman was dead and he was like “really?” I am such an idiot, Slim isn’t dead, I hope that Dan doesn’t call up dude to check on him, Slim Whitman is going to kick my ass.

While I was at Tipitina’s I ran into Chris Alexander. He was up there putting some final touches on his new cd and he let me have a sneak preview. One track in particular was recorded by old friend Steve Stubblefield, I was really impressed with the vocals on the track, it was very mysterious sounding to me.
I still love Billy Vidrine despite his efforts at not answer my phone calls. Hes suppose to come into town for the Mars Vegas dance party next Saturday. Speaking of the dance party…where in the fuck is the street team? It’s bad enough that I have to do everything, and now the street team is MIA. Well, it’s under a week to the show and we don’t have flyer number #1. bah..fuck…bahfuck!

2005-06-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

No matter how old you are you always learn new lessons, and if you don’t learn a lesson, then you keep getting bit in the ass over and over. So what lesson did I get reminded of recently over and over again in the last 3 months?
Brett Roman Life Lesson #36:
People always take things the worst possible way.

Trust me, if there can be a negative angle on anything that you do, then someone will find that angle and run with it. Maybe its human nature, maybe its people being overly dramatic, but whatever the case it always happens that way to me. So what can you do? Nothing, if you live life scared to act anything besides yourself then the only one being fooled is you. I don’t even know if that makes sense.

In other news, Mars Vegas is very excited for the opportunity to play an acoustic set for Robert Trudeau’s art show @ Cool Space this weekend, we have never done anything in an acoustic style before and it’s a nice change of pace. We will be bringing the rock on April 16th @ lil Joes opening for The Teeth, and the week after we have the return of the Mars Vegas Dance party w/Jalapeno Sutton and King Hippo. Lots of fun coming up, stay tuned!

also check out www.myspace.com/marsvegas
and www.mayspace.com/brettroman for a lighter side of me. me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me , its all about ME!

bleh...blah

2005-05-25T15:51:00.000-07:00

Do I really have to update this thing? Honestly, nothing much is going on, been working on 3 new Mars Vegas tunes for the last week, I guess that they are pretty much done except for the dynamics, which will be worked out over time. Plans are in the works for a short Mars Vegas film, plans are in the works for some sort of weekend tours in August. Its really hard to not be playing shows , even though its only been 3 weekends, it seems like 3 months. I might be in a funk of some sorts because of it, I’m not really sure yet. I’m just feeling sort of bleh and uninspired. I did enjoy the shows this past weekend, The Vidrines, Stadanko Brothers, and some other dude played Saturday night. Its really cool that Monroe has an actual underground comedy scene of sorts, I wonder why there is no one in Shreveport doing that? Is Shreveport so depressing that it would be impossible for a comedy act to originate from here? I’ll have to look into it.

Mars Vegas & The Vidrines to start trial tours?

2005-05-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

So what have I been doing since my last mysterious post? Trying to wind down and enjoy the few weeks without any shows. But behind the scenes the scheming never stops, Mars Vegas’s road map is planned through July, and I am now thinking about the very important month of August, which will include a slew of out of town shows. Towns I would like to visit in the month: Monroe, Little Rock, El Dorado, Texarkana. Yeah, it’s not a world tour, but a little regional action will do us some good before hitting the studio again in early September. The idea has been thrown about, and having The Vidrines going with us on a co-headliner tour seems like a fun idea. The idea behind a co-headliner tour is that the bands take turns playing last, so that way Billy Vidrine won't throw a hissy fit. Maybe we can make it happen.

Steady

2005-05-12T15:20:00.000-07:00

Things are sort of quite around the band front, we have some cool stuff coming up in July. Its sort of being kept an insiders secret right now, I'm sure that it will all come out from word of mouth, and that fine. My whole attitude about it is that you only live once. Yeah, the first blog I wrote on this site sucks ass, I knew it did when I did it, I was just playing around seeing how this all works. No shows for Mars Vegas for a month, gotta meet Josh in a few to work on new songs, I guess that when the credits come out for "Meet Mars Vegas" it will say all songs written by Josh Coker/Brett Stampley. Everyone stay cool and keep a steady head.

Mars Vegas places @ Battle of the Bands

2005-05-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Update from previous post.
Mars Vegas was the 2nd runner up at the Battle of the Bands event in El Dorado. For our efforts we are guaranteed a premium slot on the "south stage" at this year’s music fest. So out of 8 great bands we got 1 of the 3 prizes which is very cool. While 2nd runner up is not winning, I am very proud of what we did. 6 of the 8 bands that participated are from the area or play in El Dorado on a regular basis, so considering that we have never set foot in the town, played in the first half of the show, didn't have a fan base in the town to support us, and had to drive in from 2 hours away, we had an uphill battle to get one of the prizes. I am very thankful to our Shreveport brothers Out OF Body for their support; OOB had the first slot of the day and had more of an uphill battle then us to get one of the slots. We desperately tired to get out of town to get see them perform in time, but just could not get out of Bossier City traffic for various reasons. I feel that OOB should have gotten a better slot since they, like us had the longest drive of any of the bands (over 2 hours). But they did do very well for themselves, they made some new fans and I think that they sold more cds then we did, which is fine with me. So yeah, for a dark horse like Mars Vegas to go into a town where maybe 15 people have even heard of us and was able to grab one of the slots from some great bands that had a fan base, I am very pleased. El Dorado is what you would call a "music town”, they love their music and I love the place, I can't wait to go back.

El Dorado, Meet Mars Vegas

2005-05-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

I have been playing in and out of bands for a good 12 years , and I never have joined a "battle of the bands" event. Competition between artist always seem to bring out the worst in people, for obvious reasons. Most battle of the bands events have a cheering contest or something, to me it just seems like a way for whatever bar is hosting it to get free music and have all the bands bring in friends to spend money and root for whomever. Well times have changed, and after researching the battle of the bands event taking place in El Dorado, I decided maybe I should give this one a chance. The first person to sell me on this was the guy putting it together, David Forte. He is very organized and seemed genuinely interested in Mars Vegas's music. I sent him a burnt copy of Ghost Town Flood and I guess he liked it, he was persistent in making sure that we entered in before the deadline, when someone goes out of their way to book Mars Vegas then that impresses me and I can't pass up genuine interest. Also the "competition" won't be based on how many friends and relatives you bring, there are going to be actual judges and they gave their criteria for what they are looking for before hand which is nice. This really helps out of town bands like mine who won't be able to pull in a ton of folks, it sort of evens the playing field. The prize is not cash or anything but a great slot during the 2 day El Dorado Music Fest in October, last year the headliner were Eddie Money and Lee Greenwood, could you imagine Mars Vegas playing a show before Lee Greenwood? That would be just too funny.

So yeah, when a Battle of the Bands is put together right and with fair rules by organized people then the concept can be pretty cool. Now I'm not going in the thing hell bent on winning, I just want the band to get some exposure, sell some cds and build up a fan base in a cool little town. And most importantly , have a good time and enjoy the southern spring weather, before the heat takes over and going outside is unbearable.

How will we do? Stay tuned to find out. -B

How burnt am I?

2005-05-04T10:12:00.000-07:00

I look forward to seeing the news at night to forget about my own problems, watching Bill O'Reily actually relaxes me, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Things looking brighter in Shreveport

2005-05-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

The scene is moving in ole Shreveport, 2 great Saturday nights in a row @ Lil Joes, some out of town bands coming later in the next 2 months, things are certainly looking good. Through hard work and networking by many that care, indie rock has been officially taken off of life support in Shreveport. Next goal: get the kids involved, Lil Joes is great but we can't reach the kiddies in a bar, so Soundstage is the next beacon of hope, July 8th, its going to go down.

Not many updates coming

2005-04-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to keep “Bitching with Brett” updated at least once a week with a new essay. But with the recent exposure that Mars Vegas has been receiving lately, handing the band’s business affairs has become even more time consuming then before. Add to that a full time job, family, and music, I don’t know how I will find the time to keep the site updated like I would want to. So that being said, there are tons of blogs covering the Shreveport/Bossier area’s art and music scene. I like to contribute to those as well in the form of comments and general harassment, so I’ll see you around regardless.

Who are you trying to fool Nashville?

2005-04-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

I don’t believe in Alt-Country, sort of like I don’t believe in Santa Clause or the Easter Bunny, it’s just not real. Remember the “America’s hot new country” crap they shoved down out throats so many years ago? It was nothing more than pop music with a redneck twang in the vocals, and Nashville made millions on it. You could take any Madonna song; find a girl in a trailer park in Alabama to sing it and whamo! Its Hot New Country! Well apparently the younger kids don’t care for the pop country like they use to so now they had to come up with a new gimmick to sell the generation x ers and y ers on. So they invented Alt-Country, maybe they can fool us into thinking that it’s like Alternative Rock, sort of like Punk-Country! Yeah that’s the ticket! But there is one problem; it’s the same pop crap from years ago, just with a new label. Now there is nothing wrong with country music, it’s as American as apple pie and just as legitimate as rock, hip-hop, and classical. But why water it down for the the masses and the lowest common denominator? Maybe there is a real music genre of Alt Country that I don’t know about, if there is I wish someone would point me to the right place, besides, what do I know? I’m just a dude hanging out.

Bitching with Brett

I'm on the twitter

A postcard for you

Traveling headstones..I just don’t get it.

Wal-Mart and God go hand in hand

Brett Roman music bio from myspace.com

American Family Association protest Brokeback in Wal-marts.

Basic Instinct 2 bombs at box office, Director shows ignorance.

Thief debuts on FX

Tramp Stamp

Still around

Sex Pistols tell Rock Roll hall of fame to have sex with itself.

Editorial from Daniel Prime

Sometimes you gotta kick it old school

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

Last straw

Giant sperm invades Winter Olympics!

Payola is the way of life in commercial radio

10 years of editorials on KSLA did have a purpose after all, Bradley throws hat in mayors race.

Ron Capone

Shreveport's first punk band

Congratulations to Dirtfoot, winner of the first Shreveport Times Battle of the Bands.

The last thing I need is drama

SRAC takes another hit part 2

SRAC takes another hit part 1

The Bizarre world of SRAC

Return of Ghost Town Flood

NFL Playoff predictions divisional round

News Flash

**cough cough**

I stole this picture from Robert Trudeau

Battle Of The Bands

3 Deep thoughts that are sure to offend

Deep Thoughts

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

WWJLD?

news flash from the News Desk

A loss in the family

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

Black Friday

All Night Records

A few notes

baby bigfoot in NY?

From the News Desk of Brett Roman

Escape from Cedar Grove

Squashing the rumors

Vacation

Will this shirt make you burn in hell?

Too damn early for cowboy hats

Waterfall of snot

who's hot..who's not

Hmmmmmmmm

Coming back

Hello again

Re Launch

We Want Curb

Don't you think this outlaw bit's done got out of hand

Cock blocked by a cowbell

New Orleans is the front runner for next Mars Vegas recording

I like Chicken

Dallas-Meet Mars Vegas

Clear Channel can suck it!

I'm so lonley I could die

Happy Birthday

Miss Shreveport from Ruston wins Miss Louisiana in Monroe

Slim Whitman is going to kick my ass

bleh...blah

Mars Vegas & The Vidrines to start trial tours?

Steady

Mars Vegas places @ Battle of the Bands

El Dorado, Meet Mars Vegas

How burnt am I?

Things looking brighter in Shreveport

Not many updates coming

Who are you trying to fool Nashville?

cough cough