The Vintage Housewife's Giveaway!

I know I have not been blogging, mostly because I am so busy trying to buy this house! Thats news for another day.....

Anyway, I have some good news today! I love giveaways, and The Vintage Housewife had the best one I have ever seen! She is offering up multiple dresses in different sizes and a cute pink purse! Yippy! I want that pink purse soooooo bad!!! This is me whining.....I  sure hope I win! Go her blog and check it out!

http://thevintagehousewifescloset.blogspot.com/

XOXO

James Intveld

On Sunday we went to the OC Marketplace to see James Intveld. The winner of the West Coast Rockabilly Showdown, Blue Collar Combo, was opening up for him. Unfortunately, I have a head cold and wasn’t feeling so great, but I tried not to let that get in the way. I have really grown to love the OC marketplace in the time I have spent there. The staff, show promoters, and audience are so friendly! I have made so many new friends and fans there, it seems like we were getting stopped every few minutes with people wanting to talk to us and take our picture. I swear they are trying to make my head big! Ha ha. Before Blue Collar Combo went on we all had a mini photo shoot for promo of next years Rockabilly Showdown. The pictures came out really cute, and it was a lot of fun.

I'm taking these boys for a ride!

With the boys

Then Blue Collar Combo went on. What else can I say about them? Except that everyone loved them as always! I got out on the dance floor as much as possible, even though I was not feeling well, and I inspired some other ladies to do the same. We had a good time dancing out there. At the end the crowd demanded an encore and we squeezed one more song out of them! Then we got some yummy lunch and sat backstage to watch James Intveld. He opened up with “Ring of Fire”, from the big daddy himself, in honor of father’s day. Then he brought his own father on stage to sing a song or two. His dad Frank Intveld is in his 70s, but man did he have a great voice! Now I know where James gets it from. Frank did a few Elvis tunes, including “Teddy Bear” and “Its Now or Never”. Elvis is not easy to imitate, but he did a great job. You could tell James really loves him and it was nice to see the softer side of James. Then James did one of his earlier tunes and dedicated it to Blue Collar Combo. That was really a nice thing to do, and a big honor to the boys. James did a really nice long set, about an hour and a half, and did all of my favorites like “One Sweet Letter,” “All The Way from Memphis,” and “Modern Don Juan”. It really was a very special intimate show, good spirited, and all American family fun for Fathers Day. If you missed this free show, you missed out!

Bopping to the Blue Collar Combo!

Untill next time!

XOXO

Dollie

Will this be our first home?

We have been on the market for a home off and on for the last 2 and a half years. In 2008 we were looking at condos. We could live with that for a few years, but we really wanted a single family home so we could have a yard for gardening and could get a dog. But there were no single family homes in our area in our price range at the time. Luckily for us, the condo we were looking at fell through, so we stayed in our apartment. This year we noticed that the prices in our area had dropped even more, making 1980’s modular homes available in our price range. Better, but still not great. They were really squished and looked cheaply built. We toured one of these houses (a foreclosure) a few weeks ago. We could tell the roof was leaking because there was a nasty blue tarp on the roof. One of the closets smelled like mold. One of the rooms had holes punched in the walls, doors, and a broken window (that must have been one angry kid in that room). Then while walking down the hallway my foot fell into a hole. We lifted up the carpet and there was a hole in the floor. Ick. Needless to say, we were about to give up hope.
Then this little gem of a house came on the market. It’s a 1954 cottage home on a nice plot of land. This caught me by surprise because our area is so new, this is actually the oldest house I have seen listed. It is individual; there is not another one exactly like it. Its in a more rural area outside of town, but still only 8 mins via city streets from our work. It’s a small house, at 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, but it’s enough for us, and they used the space well back then. It’s a very charming house. I can totally see roses and a picket fence in the front yard. The inside is clean, bright and smells nice. It has new paint, new pergo floors in the living room and hallway, new carpet in the bedroom, and new tile in the kitchen, and bathroom. It has AC and heat, new 7 pane wood doors throughout, and double pane windows.

It has a huge backyard with patio, grass, shady trees, garden area and a storage shed.

My favorite part of the house is the original Youngstown sink with steel cabinet base.

If you don’t know about them, here is a quote from retro renovation: “Immediately after WWII, a lot of homemakers would just buy this unit, a sink base with integral drainboard sink. The idea was that you could add the additional pieces later. The porcelain double drainboard sink is very desirable today — you have to find them vintage, currently there are no reproductions that I know of.” Yes, this is a very desirable feature for me!

This vintage advertisement sums it up for me.

We know we would appreciate and conserve the original integrity of the home like no one else would. Although it is move-in ready, and their upgrades like new tile are nice, we want to restore it to its original 1954 glory. This is a dream house for us. We still cant believe it is so close to work, in our price range, and a 50s house in perfect condition. So, we went for it! We negotiated on it for about a week, accepted their final offer, and just entered escrow. The home inspection is next weekend, and then we have to get the home appraised, and finish the loan approval. It’s a stressful time, and we are using every penny we have for closing costs, but it is totally worth it if we can get this house. We HAVE to get this house. Our furniture will look perfect in it and we already have the paint colors picked out. Mint shake cabinets anyone? :)

“Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true”-Leon J. Suenes

XOXO

Dollie

Ink-N-Iron 2010

This past weekend was Ink N Iron. This is a pretty big annual event in SoCal, but this our first time going. In the past I thought it was mostly people just into the tattoos, cars, and pinup girls, and not really about the music. This year the lineup was really good and we knew a ton of people going, so we decided to check it out for the first time. We chose to buy a Saturday only ticket, instead of the weekend pass. Saturday had the bands we wanted to see most, and we didn’t know if we would like it enough to want to stay the whole weekend. We live a little over an hour away from Long Beach, so we didn’t have to get a hotel room. They do have rooms on the Queen Mary, and that would be cool though. The gates open at 2pm Saturday, and we got there about 3:30. Unfortunately, we spend about an hour being routed around the parking areas, and were forced to park in The Pike parking garage a mile or two away from the Queen Mary. The cost for parking was outrageous! $25! That’s more than Disneyland! They did have a bus that took us to the Queen Mary, so that was nice. Then we had to wait in another line to have them look through our bags. Then there was another line for will call, and yet another for 21+ ID check. Because of the horrible parking situation, line for the bus, and lines for tickets, we missed one of our friend’s band we came to see. I was greeted with a foot long margarita from Derek, so that helped. The vendors were all lined up on the concrete outside the ship. It was mostly car show junk, but Nick was there with some vintage clothing and stuff, and there was one CD/record vendor. There were two stages outside, one big one on the concrete and one small one on the grass with a tiki theme. There was a huge dome where all the cars were on display with fancy lighting and stuff. The first fun thing I encountered was a free photo-booth. Alana and I got in there and took some funny pictures. Then Zack and I took some kissey-face pictures. They came out really well for a photo-booth! They print ones for you to take home, and they also put them on the website for you to share. When they are uploaded I will post them. Next door to that was Livemags. They had a little redcarpet photo booth set up where they grab people and take pics, then post them on their website.

On the red carpet.

That and shopping entertained us for about 20 mins. Ha ha. So we decided to go eat dinner before the bands started. We ate at the Promenade Café on the Queen Mary. It’s a cute little restaurant that has an entire wall of windows looking out to the bay. It was really nice. The service was dreadfully slow though. You can tell they were not prepared to have that many people on the ship. Because the service was so slow we missed another friend’s band we had come to see. After dinner we went to get another drink in the bar down in the ballroom. I think we had to wait about 30 mins for a $7 bottle of beer. We all got two just to avoid that line a little longer. The “Sin Alley” stage was in this fairly large ballroom on the ship. It had a huge parkay dance floor, giant wood beams, and beautiful art deco wood throughout. The porthole windows still function too, so we got to play with them a little. The entire ship is art deco and extremely beautiful and grand. The elevators were brilliantly detailed and gold. They had display cases throughout the ship displaying antique artifacts from the ship, including original art deco soap and tooth brush holders from the suites, pictures of celebrities and politicians on the ship, and even the first issue of Playboy with Marilyn Monroe in it (it was for sale in one of the many gift shops). The ship was surprisingly quiet considering the amount of people on board and the live music and all. It does have that eternally quiet and creepy ghost feel to it. But that just adds to the history and charm in my opinion. The first band we got to see was Paul Ansell. He was really good, and I enjoyed watching his set. After that they had a Carnival Cabaret with a singing ring master equipped with twirly mustache, girls swallowing swords, burlesque….all sorts of crazy stuff.

The ring master

Then they had some international pole performers, which were a big hit with the crowd. They did athletic and acrobatic moves on a 15 foot tall pole wearing bikinis. I have to admit that these were some strong muscular broads to do the things they did up there!

Pole preformer

The next act on for the night was the one we came to see: Rusty and the Dragstrip Trio all the way from Australia! They are one of my favorite bands, but have been on hiatus for a few years (while Rusty was doing another band called the Rusty Pinto Combo). I guess they are back together now and working on a new CD. Their set was amazing! You could tell there were a lot of fans in the house, because it seemed like everyone knew all the words to every song. They did all of their “hits” like “I Ain’t Ready”, “Mama She’s Red Hot”, and “Rock all Night”. They also did a few Elvis covers and a new original which sounded a little different then what they had done it the past, but I really dug it. We got to do a little bopping and a little jiving, and it was a blast. I was so happy to see them again after all this time.

Rusty and The Drapstrip Trio

Rusty and I after the show.

There was a DJ between all of the acts, and he was really good, but I didn’t catch his name. He played a lot of typical stuff, but sometimes its nice to dance to songs you know well and love. And lets face it, with rockabilly, how often does a DJ play a song you have never heard before and don’t already own? Never. It was nice to stroll, bop and jive in such a nice ballroom. It was a shame that people didn’t treat it that way though. People have no respect for history anymore. People kept throwing all their beer cans, cocktail cups, and trash on the dance floor. It’s not nice to the dancers or the fragile aging wood floors. The last band on for the night was Ray Collins Hot Club. I couldn’t think of a better band to fit the style and period of the Queen Mary. The band members were all wearing matching suits and all had their hair slicked up nice. The dance floor got packed with swingers and lindy hoppers. I think the ghosts on the ship liked what was happening here. Ha ha. The band played until the very last possible second before the place closed at 2am.

Ray Collins' Hot Club!

Overall it was a fun event, but it would take a killer lineup to get me there again. I would rather go see the Queen Mary another time, when there are not so many people there. Especially people that don’t respect and appreciate the history of the ship. I did get to check something off my bucket list though: Dance to Bacon Fat to a live band in an art deco ballroom on the Queen Mary. CHECK! We ran into Tom Ingram and he was checking the place out too. Don’t worry Tom, this event aint got shit on VLV. Ha ha.

Bobby, Amber, Tom and Zack

Ahoy Sailors! On the top deck for cocktails.

 

With the Go Getters. What a blast!

XOXO
Dollie

Hump Day: Looking Forward to the Weekend!

This upcoming weekend is another action packed one in the LA area!
Rockabilly Friday Night at Weber’s:

Omar and the Stringpopper, Blue Denim with Lil Mo.
Also appearing Betsey Bosen Burlesque
19312 Vanowen St
Reseda, CA 91335

* This show was supposed to have Blue Collar Combo, but apparently the promoter has double booked it. Sorry that I provided incorrect information to everyone.

Also this weekend is Ink N Iron. Ink N Iron is a kustom kulture event that takes place on the Queen Mary in Long Beach. It is part tattoo convention, part car show, and part music weekender. It has a little rockabilly, a little county, and a little psychobilly. There are a ton of tattoo artists on site doing tattoos, vendors, and a pinup contest. There are DJs, live bands, and burlesque acts inside the ship at night. I have not attended this event before, as its not exactly my scene, but will be attending on Saturday to supports some friends’ bands and to see one of my favorite bands…….Rusty and the Dragstrip Trio! They are coming all the way from Australia and this is their only US appearance!

Ink n Iron Band Line Up Schedule

Friday June 11:

Observation Bar Soirée
Paul Ansell #9 12am-1am
After Party (Sin Alley)
Mariachi El Bronx …....12:25-2am
Vertigirls-DJ……...12:00-12:25am
Radio Moscow..............11-12:00am

MAIN Stage:
Merle Haggard……….10-11:30pm
Rev. Horton Heat…....8:45-9:30pm
Wayne Hancock.…….7:45-8:30pm
The Southerners..........6:45-7:30pm
DJ Satoki……………....4pm-10pm
DJiPod………………....11am-4pm
Tiki Drive-In Stage
Movie/Untamed Youth...8:30-10:30pm
DJ iPod……...8am-8:30pm

Sin Alley:
IPPS………………………..10-11pm
Carnal Cabaret……………….9-10pm
King David Royal Music……..8-9pm
Crown City Bombers …..6:45-7:45pm
Truly Lover Trio………..5:30-6:30pm
DJ/iPod………………..............2-5pm
Queens Salon-Promenade Deck
Tattoo Contest…………6:00-7:30
Best Tribal
Best Traditional
Best Japanese
Best of Day Friday………9:00-10:00pm
Sailor Jerry Movie Premiere-Hori Smoku….10pm

Saturday June 12:

MAIN Stage:
X………….………….10:10-11:30pm
Stiff Little Fingers ……..9:05-9:50pm
Hepcat………….………….8-8:45pm
Swingn’ Utters…….........6:55-7:40pm
Bronx…………………....5:50-6:35pm
Aggrolites ……………....4:45-5:30pm
Dreadnoughts...……........3:40-4:25pm
Bug Girl…........................2:40-3:25pm
Knockout……………………2-2:30pm
DJ Satoki………………...........2-10pm
Tiki Drive-In Stage
Movie/........8:30-10:30pm
DJiPod……………………….5-8:30pm
Almon Loos & the
Hoop Hollers…………………4:00-5pm
Riff Raffs…….....................3:00-3:45pm
Adams Dagger …………….....2-2:45pm
Devils Rose ……………….....1-1:45pm
Lowclass…………………...12-12:45pm

Sin Alley:
Ray Collins
Hot Club….………...12:50-2am
Rusty & the
Drag Strip Trio...11:15-12:25pm
IPPS…................10:15-11:15pm
Cabaret…………………9-10pm
Paul Ansell #9…...............8-9pm
Phil Friendly Trio.........7-7:45pm
IPPS………………...........6-7pm
Carnal Cabaret…………...5-6pm
The Wiseguys ……………4-5pm
King David Royal Music..3:00-3:45pm
Rumble King.................2-2:45pm
Pine Box Boys...............1-1:45pm
DJ/iPod…………….........11-1pm
Queens Salon-Promenade Deck
Sailor Jerry Movie Showcase-Hori Smoku…2pm shownig
Stop Staring! Fashion Show…..4-5pm
Tattoo Contest………….5:00-7:00pm
Best Black & Gray-SML, Best Black & Gray-LRG, Best Arm/Leg Sleeve
Best Portrait Black & Gray, Best Portrait Color
Sailor Jerry Movie Showcase-Hori Smoku…8pm showing
Best of Day Saturday……10pm

Sunday June 13:

MAIN Stage:
Mad Sin…………………...8:30-10pm
Restless………………….7:25-8:10pm
Klingonz…………………6:25-7:10pm
Go Getters………….........5:25-6:10pm
Pin Up Pageant…..............4:30-5:10pm
Silver Shine……………...3:50-4:30pm
Nine Lives……………….2:55-3:35pm
Psycho Charger…..................2-2:40pm
DJ Satoki…………….....11am-8:30pm
Tiki Drive-In Stage
The Returners ……………...3-3:45pm
Reach around
Rodeo Clowns ……………...2-2:45pm
Embalmers.............................1-1:45pm
Pine Box Boys …………...12-12:45pm
Sin Alley
IPPS…..........................................7-8pm
Carnal Cabaret…..........................6-7pm
Rays Collins
Hot Club...................................4:50-6pm
King David Royal Music…3:45-4:30pm
Stompy Jones……………..2:45-3:30pm
Queens Salon-Promenade Deck
Sailor Jerry Movie Premiere-Hori Smoku…3pm
Tattoo Contest…………….4:30-6:30pm
Best Back/Chest Panel, Best Color – SM, Best Color - LG
Best Overall Male, Best Overall Female
Best of Day & Best of Show…………………..7:30-8:30pm

Tics are $80 for all 3 days, or $35 for one day. Check out their website for more info and to buy tics: www.ink-n-iron.com. Make sure to say hi if you see me there! Now, what to wear.......

XOXO
Dollie

Blue Collar Combo and Almon Loos at Brunch Americana

This Sunday we went to Hillbilly DJ Jeff’s Brunch Americana at the Redwood Bar and Grill in downtown LA. It was the perfect way to recoup after all that sun on Saturday. A dimly lit bar and a cold beer were right up our alley! Blue Collar Combo (Santa Clarita and Palmdale/Lancaster’s #1 rockabilly band) were celebrating their win at the West Coast Rockabilly Showdown. Beating SoCal’s leading 10 bands is no small feat! So they celebrated with some ice cold beer and some rockin’ good music. Blue Collar Combo went on stage about 1ish and got the party kicked off. They did a nice long set full of their best material. They even did “Blue Days, Black Nights” on request. There was dancing, drinking, and plenty of hootin’ and hollarin’. It was a roaring good time.

Blue Collar Combo in their namesake blue collared shirts

The closer for the afternoon was Almon Loos and the Hoop N Hollars. This was the bands debut show. Almon has been talking up the band for a long time now, so we were looking forward to seeing them. He had Bobby (of Amber Foxx, also her husband) on slap bass, Carlitos (of The Chumbuckets) and drums and Danny on guitar. Almon was the front man and played acoustic guitar. The band didn’t waste any time jumping into the high energy fast paced set. Almon lived up to be the wild front man he claimed to be. They did a lot of classic rockabilly covers and a few of Almon’s originals. At one point Almon left the stage to get a drink while the band did an instrumental. Although he proved to be a male diva when he didn’t come back after the end of the song and left the band hanging. Oh that crazy Almon! They did a standard length set, but left the crowd wanting more at the end. I guess they used all of their material for the set and didn’t have any other songs they had practiced. All and all it was good for a band that only had 3 prior practices and no prior shows. Almon Loos and the Hoop N Hollers are booked this weekend at Ink-N-Iron and also at the upcoming Rhythm Rocker Weekend in Long Beach Oct 15th, 16th and 17th. I look forward to seeing what happens in the future with this band, and I know I am not the only one!

Almon Loos and the Hoop N Hollars

cool guitar

The boppin' machine: Francois Nordmann!!

Alana, Amber and I looking rather summer-y

West Coast Rockabilly Showdown Finals

This Saturday was the West Coast Rockabilly Showdown Finals, and it was HOT HOT HOT! Not just the weather, but the showdown too! It was a friendly competition for sure, but a competition none-the-less. Everyone of the bands brought their A game in hopes of winning the number one spot, a cash prize of $1,000, and the chance to open for James Intveld on Sunday June 20th. You heard it right, Los Angeles’ own JAMES INVELD!

The showdown started promptly at noon with Blue Collar Combo from Santa Clarita/Palmdale. The response from last week’s showdown was overwhelmingly supportive. So the Blue Collar Combo had a ton of new OC fans show up to support them in the contest. The band changed up their set list to keep it fresh and interesting. The crowd really dug the covers like “Cadillac Man” and “Truck Drivin’ Man” that they added to the set. Of course they still did their traditional rockabilly favorites and most of their originals. The crowd was hoopin’, hollarin’ and dancing to show they were digging what they were hearing. The set was short and sweet, but Blue Collar Combo filled every minute with rockin’ tunes and high energy.

Blue Collar Combo on stage

Blue Collar Combo backstage being interviewed by Scott Stewart host of What's Up Orange County

The next band on was Anaheim’s sweetheart Amber Foxx. The support for Amber was also overwhelming, with fans coming from all over. Including modern rockabilly legend Big Sandy. Amber Foxx is never one to disappoint. Unfortunately, the bands drummer Chris “Sugarballs” Sprague was unavailable and could not attend this show, so they had to use a fill in drummer. The fill in drummer (Joe from Big Sandy and The Flyrite Boys) did a great job, but no one can replace Sugarballs. He does duets with Amber a lot, and we really missed him. The band overcame it though and showed what a tight professional band they are. Amber fit her most requested songs into her 30 minute set and left the crowd wanting more. I know I wanted more! Zack and I had a blast dancing to her music, and I know we were not the only ones. I relished in my opportunity to sell their merch and had a blast doing it. Everyone was scooping up her CDs! I couldn’t even take their money fast enough! No one can get enough of that foxy lady!

Miss Amber Foxx

Amber backstage being interviewed

Merch girl for hire!

The third band on in the showdown was The Palaminos from San Diego. They were hot, hot, hot! At least I imagine they were in their matching black western suits. They sure did look good though! The crowd loved their Bakersfield sound and enjoyed the opportunity to do some two stepping.

The Palaminos looked great in front of this barn!

Being interviewed for What's Up Orange County

The last act in the showdown finals was England’s own Karling “The Darling” Abbeygate. Karling has been playing non stop around southern California, and is really building a following here, and this event was no exception. The crowd ate up her sweet county western sound! I think I even saw some line dancing out there! Karling has a great backing band as well, with Wally (from the Lucky Stars) on bass and Tommy (from Amber Foxx) on guitar. I heard someone mention, “they are the band to beat”.

View from backstage of Karling Abbygate preforming

All of the bands rocked, rolled, and brought the house down at the finals of the West Coast Rockabilly Showdown. I really was a great line up, and everyone laid it all out on the stage up there. Picking the winner was going to be a very hard decision to make. I am glad it wasn’t on my shoulders. But, at the end of the afternoon, the results had to be announced.

The 4th place and $250 went to:

The Palaminos!

The 3rd place and $500 went to:

Amber Foxx!

The 2nd place and $750 went to……….

Karling Abbygate!

And that means…….

the grand prize of $1000 cash and the opening spot for James Inveld goes to……

BLUE COLLAR COMBO!!!!!!

"The blue collar band for the blue collar man"

A big congrats to my boys the Blue Collar Combo! They really worked hard and they deserve the recognition. Blue Collar Combo will go on at noon to open for James Inveld on Sunday, June 20. Intveld will perform from 1:30 pm. to 3 p.m.

James Inveld!

Congrats to Karling Abbygate, Amber Foxx and The Palaminos. They all put on great shows and proved to be stiff competition!

Thank you to Jill Lloyd of Zvents, Mark Liddell of the OC Marketplace, Pyramid Breweries, What's Up Orange County and everyone who made this event possible. This really was one of the most enjoyable and best organized events I have every attended. The schedule ran perfect every day (which is a very huge accomplishment in itself), the sound was great, and everyone was just as nice as can be. They treated the bands so well, keeping them well hydrated in the heat and feeding them really well too! I am sure they all appreciated all of your hard work throughout the event.
I can’t wait to see you all on Sunday June 20th for Blue Collar Combo and James Inveld! Entrance is free with a canned food donation. That’s right, FREE!!!! Where else can you see such a great show for free? Nowhere, so that’s why I expect to see you all there!

XOXO
Dollie

Posing with the cars on display

With Robert, AKA Big Sandy

With a new fan!