Click here to read my debut piece for Pacific SD Magazine

My friend and reknowned illustrator, Jay Allen Sanford, was doodling to avoid deadlines and came up with Barzilla’s older meaner brother. Pretty cool huh?

So the Speakeasy show on Saturday featuring The Burning of Rome lived up to its name and got shut down by the police. But it moved to a hidden location deep in the bowels of the venue, where the band played their guts out.

The Speakeasy Studios is an Oceanside truck-repair shop by day and a rehearsal studio and performance venue at night. Both are co-owned by The Burning of Rome drummer Lee Williams and his father.

On the east side of the repair shop is a large parking lot, where they had a DJ setup, a bar, a small spoken-word stage and, behind and to the right of it, the main stage. When you enter the building (the truck-repair garage), the halls become an art-gallery maze leading you through and around the innards of the garage and into what I would call your standard “rock and roll loitering room”—with comfy couches, a bar, a fridge, a beer tap and rock posters hanging on the walls. On the back side of the room is a door that leads into a rehearsal room, a large, air-conditioned studio decorated with art, skulls, old gramma lamps on old gramma nightstands, Old Glory, various musical instruments and a giant, shiny bronze Buddha on a perch overlooking the entire space as if to give it his blessing and ward off the fuzz.

(more…)

See, the thing is – and here comes my inner nerd spilling all over the place – I’m a bit starstruck over these guys. Their tunes are so powerful and mesmerizing, their performances so electric, I became an instant fan upon seeing them two years ago, at the SoCo Music Experience, downtown San Diego. I have seen them several times since and I just keep liking them better and better. The Burning of Rome is my NFB (New Favorite Band) and to be permitted to sit in their rehearsal studio for a semi-private jam session was, well, if I were a total, unabashed gushing rock-nerd, would say it was, “A dream come true.”

Instead I will maintain my journalistic composure and report that the  performance was a visually and aurally pleasing experience: aurally speaking, it was unlike most concerts, where the band faces the crowd and blasts their music at you. Instead, the performers were all around us, saturating us with music rather than bludgeoning.

And visually, well, to be so close – to be able to watch every nuance of every performer; to observe the muscles on their necks loosen and tighten, the beads of sweat form and drop, the complex relationship between finger and keyboard, finger and fret, and mostly, to watch the smiles that span their faces as they do the thing they love to do best, then watch those smiles turn to tight-lipped grimaces when the music became dark, and foreboding, as TBoR’s music often does – there is no substitute for this type of musical experience. (more…)

I took my nephew Noah, and honorary nephew Kelton, to the Comic-Con today. What a blast! I know I wouldn’t have had nearly as good of a time if it were not having two youngsters with me just freaking out as we turned every corner.

engage!

It started off with a bang. The minute we walked in we saw the Star Trek Captain’s chair and a group of Halo fighters walking around. Then some little girl walked by with a light saber and it was all over. Noah and Kelton went nuts.

Must.

Have.

Light.

Saber.

(more…)

Click here to read Reader story

Well, it looks like that harpie, Lisa Silverman won the battle to ixnay reggae music at the Fair.

Reggae fans, musicians feel slighted by the fair.

Read my original article about her campaign to stop reggae, cuz of, you know, marijuana

Dudes, it was awesome.! An 11-week cover band contest for a total of 32 thousand dollars in prizes all came to a conclusion last night with the winners being an amazing Rolling Stones tribute band called Rolling the Stones.

I know a lot of you out there are a skeptical of cover bands, but really, you should check this thing out next year – it’s a blast. I’m one of the judges and we do it American Idol style, with judges comments after each band. Can’t tell you how much fun it is. Click here to read my Judge’s Blog.

Well, it’s that time again. Time for the Ultimate Music Challenge at Viejas’ Dream Catcher Lounge. We just completed Week 1 and it was a blast. Click here to read my Judges’ Blog about it.

[Full Disclosure Part 1: Decker is currently on staff with the Southern California Writers' Conference. Take that into account when he blubbers on and on about how great it is. See end of article for special discount offer.]

About 25 million years ago, when monkeys ruled the earth, I wrote a novel. That book – which I furiously banged out on a Brother word processor, day and night, until the carpal tunnel spread to my neck, spine and colon – was a giant kettle of crap. And I don’t mean the kind of crap that most first time novelists produce due to inexperience, rather, the kind of crap that exists within the writer’s DNA, the kind of crap that no amount of experience or workshopping can ever flush – this crap was the kind of crap about which the Mother of All Craps could be proud.
“That’s my boy!” the Mother of All Craps was often heard saying about this novel.
Not having a predilection toward delusions of grandeur, I permanently shelved the tome and sought a career in journalism. This way, I could still be an author without having to write, or revisit, or even think about – ugh - books.

(more…)

I saw this image on Fox News tonight of a couple of Arabs burning the U.S. flag while holding it upside down. Of course, the talking heads were getting all freaked out about such an image, but the first thing I thought was, Hmm. Doesn’t that cancel itself out?

Sure, when Americans fly the flag upside-down it’s supposed to be a distress call, but when protesters fly it upside-down they are saying, “Down with America!” Same goes for burning the flag, which means you hate what that flag currently stands for.
But what does it mean when you burn a flag that is upside down. Seems to me you are saying, “I hate what the upside down flag stands for.” And since the upside down flag stands for “Down with America,” when you are burning it, aren’t you really saying, “Up with America!”?

I’m just saying.