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Before last night, the last time I saw BRAD was the two shows the band did at the Troubadour in 2002 or 2003. As you're no doubt aware of, Brad is made up of Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, drummer Regan Hagar of Malfunkshun, singer Shawn Smith of Pigeonhed and
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Around Christmas last year I received a group message on Facebook from my high school band director's daughter. She was putting together a present for her dad in the form of memories from former students. One of my closest friends during my time at Woodway High School was Steve
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So, they cut me open and saddled me. I came out of the surgery and recovery quite well. Looking back now, it seems almost comical that one of my first worries was whether I could rehabilitate my abdomen muscles in time to play two sets I had committed to
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The doctor had some tests she'd need to do on Monday before she could find out if the cancer had spread. That is a very surreal sentence to hear someone directing at you. There was nothing else to do. They brought my wife in. I told her what they had
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My son was born in Santa Monica, California. It was a sunny February day. Three months later, to the day, I packed all of our belongings into eight cubic feet of IBF moving tractor trailer - dropped it off in front of our apartment on E Kensington. Joe Bass and I
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I never got the chance to see Mother Love Bone. I met the bass player, Jeff (Ament), one time at the Alice in Chains Pain in the Grass show in the summer of 1989. Al Tompkins from my first band, Sledge, introduced us. We hung out for a second -
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I found a 2112 cassette tape in my P.E. locker midway through seventh-grade. I got home and put it in my mom's shoebox-sized player recorder - the kind with the little toggle switch. Just play, stop and forward. The tape was already rewound to the beginning of side one. "Overture/Temple of
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We woke up at Shelly's place. The boy wanted to go swimming - again - and his Godmother's daughter lived two blocks away with an amazing pool. He got even more daring this time out, doing bobs in water just over his head with little to no assistance. The
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We left Tuesday morning. It was raining at Sea-Tac. It was the boy's first plane ride (that he'll remember) and I was ready with the sickness bags in case he took after his old man. Every time I flew before the age of 20 I would throw up on take
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The first time I moved away from Southern California I was 7 years old. It was the middle of second-grade, Christmas break 1975. Up until then I was a resident of Huntington Beach, Calif. Ed Reading was an editor, and when the cushy gig at Road & Track evaporated, the next gig
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In 1991 I was working in Lynnwood, living in the U-District, and thoroughly wrapped up in the local music comings and goings, or at least as much as I could be while playing in a band(s) that had - for the most part - missed the first train leaving Grunge Station headed
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In May of 1997, after a successful tryout, I joined my first ever "signed" band. The roller coaster ride up Rock Mountain had begun. I was hired, fully outfitted to be tour ready: new cymbals, cymbal stands, drum throne, pedals and cases, and a custom drum set of my own design. Then
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The Seattle Center Coliseum, as I've said, was where I saw almost all of the rock shows in my teens and early 20s. I am thankful I got into the habit of going to see concerts when I did and quite bummed I didn't start earlier. I missed some great
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This week is my sister's birthday. Soooooooo... Happy birthday, Jessica. Thanks for the life contributions. The Seattle Center, and what used to be the Coliseum, is where I saw most of the rock concerts attended during my formative years. The first show I ever saw was at the hands of
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To Mike Squires, Zakk Wylde is a true guitar hero - as much as any living player. This was Mike's first trip to Japan, and he had only been playing in Loaded for a few months - there hadn't been an abundance of run-ins with the likes of a Zakk
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This was going to be a two part story, but the events leading up to - and just after - Mike Squires' life fearing flight from the Rock Rock bar in Japan are worth a third part epilogue. I went up to Seattle today and got the story straight from
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There are a lot of places in the world I have yet to see. Japan is not one of them. Long before last June, the first time I set foot in most countries of the European Union, I had already been to Japan five times - with three different bands.
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My first band was called Sledge. Sledge had stickers from Kinko's and a couple one color shirts made up before they had even found a drummer. We played together from 1989 until sometime in 1991. It's hard to remember exactly. It's hard to convey what a different time it was.
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In 2002, while Duff, Slash, Matt and Dave were trying out every human possible to front their as yet unnamed rock n' roll extravaganza that would become Velvet Revolver, I was playing next door in the same three room complex (called MATES) in a band consisting of myself, Christian (the
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In 1999 the band I was playing with - New American Shame - was selected by the Cult to be the support act on a tour of The States. This will be the first of many stories from those 10 weeks - and spill over encounters that continue to this
