By Lisa Burke
April 26th 2016, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: The Ultimate Jam night which started out at Lucky Strike Live weekly on Wednesday nights has recently moved over to the Whisky-A-Go-Go for weekly performances on Tuesday nights with no cover charge, and some very well-known surprise guests were in attendance, as was I, on April 26th, 2016.
The opening band on this night was rock power trio and rockabilly band Bash who I was unable to see but are worthy of a mention and a future viewing as well. Then, because this was the first jam since Prince had passed, the night was dedicated to his songs and appropriately started out with Purple Rain sung with female vocals. In fact most but not all Prince songs were done with female vocalists and majority of the time it worked out well, as it somehow eases the burden and breathes new life into the songs. Later in the evening, after intermission was when most Prince songs occurred and a fun highlight of that was Eric Dover from Jellyfish singing Prince’s ‘Little Red Corvette’. Other Prince songs we were privileged to reminisce with were ‘Kiss’ and a great version of ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ with Monte Pittman (Madonna) on guitar that ended exactly the way a jam should end, with some wild guitar and excitement on all fronts. Monte Pittman stole the show every time he was on stage and I’m extremely OK with that. For some strange reason, they decided to throw in ‘Purple Rain’ again at the end with the people on stage multiplying to a very jam packed amount for the finale. I personally would have loved to hear ‘1999’ at the end, but I enjoyed both ‘Purple Rain’ versions despite the obvious choice, repetitiveness, and tons of other classics that are far better than that song.
What was interesting in how this night was presented was that they opened with Prince and then it wasn’t until after intermission that we got more, which was actually refreshing in my mind because it took it away from a typical “let’s cash in on honoring our newest member of the dead rock star club” and actually gave it an edge. Not only that but this night was guest hosted by Jesse Blaze Snider who is none other than Dee Snider from Twisted Sister’s oldest son. Before I get more into that, I want to mention a few highlights from the first half that were not Prince songs, such as a rendition of Johnny Cash’s song ‘Ring Of Fire’, and two Led Zeppelin songs which were very well done, ‘Whole Lotta Love’ and ‘Immigrant Song’. Vocalist highlights were from Matt Starr (Mr. Big), Militia, and Chas West (Foreigner), but number one vocalist was the biggest surprise of the night, Dee Snider who sang together with his son and guest host replacing Paulie Z who normally is the funny man and glue holding the night together. They sang ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ (Twisted Sister) and the national heavy metal anthem of AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’, and the best part was the joke Dee made before he sang which was that he tried out for AC/DC to be their new singer but got turned down because he was too tall. Apparently the sense of humor genes end with Dee, because as sad as I am to say, there were a couple of very awkward not-so-funny jokes told by Jesse, including one where he joked about saying he thought Prince was murdered. He’s got the spunk, the loud and the charisma of a great host but a comedian he’s not. He’s a pretty fine singer as well and Dee should be proud regardless as I can tell he is. I’ve never seen Dee Snider perform live before ever, and I wasn’t sure I ever would get the opportunity, so thank you Ultimate Jam Night for this ultimate experience that won’t be forgotten. I have the upmost respect for this man and all the really great lessons he’s taught to society, and how he continues to advocate staying true to yourself and your rights on this planet.
I recently attended a screening of a Twisted Sister documentary called ‘We Are Twisted Fucking Sister’ all about the early years of this band and its struggle to success where Dee himself was in attendance to discuss it, and it was a pretty fantastic time. This Twisted Sister jam was the icing on the cake for me and he can definitely pull off some AC/DC as well. Also, Gilby Clarke was involved in this night and channel 2 news interviewed him outside about it, but even though he’s Gilby Clarke who was in Guns N’ Roses for years, he always disappears into the shadows and I must say he’s a very average singer who doesn’t stand out in a spotlight too much. Still, he’s everywhere these days and not seeming to be retiring from music anytime soon, so I commend his determination and persistence. Another exciting and unusual act of this night was right after the intermission where Suzie Malone performed her burlesque magic which consisted of a red leotard and shoving swords into a box and then removing them and waving a curtain to reveal yet another girl with a red leotard who supposedly was in the box the whole time. It was unique for this kind of event, or at least I’d never seen a magic show at the Whisky before, so I thought it was a nice touch to throw in to the mix.
For my first viewing of Ultimate Jam Night at the Whisky, I must say it has made numerous improvements from the Lucky Strike Live days and I believe I prefer this more intimate setting as long as we can all breathe in there, but considering the Whisky-A-Go-Go always complies to fire code regulations, I believe we will not have that issue. This night was packed but not ridiculous, and of course there was one fight that broke out during Dee Snider’s ‘We’re Not Gonna Take It’ because some guy lifted a girl on his shoulders to see better and I believe he was told to put her down, so instead of doing it gracefully he tried to punch the bouncers and got forcefully escorted out because there’s never a dull moment in rock ‘n roll. Also, on a final note, I did hear a couple of complaints about there not being enough Prince songs on this Prince tribute night, however that was before intermission and I personally respected the amount they put on and only wish I heard ‘1999’, but it would have become too monotonous and contrived if they only played Prince, so this structure had an appropriate method to its madness.
I recommend checking out this night whenever you can, but arrive early before 9 PM so you don’t risk not getting in due to first come first serve and its growing popularity, as well as catching some great opening bands. I was skeptical in the beginning about attending a show with all covers with a multitude of obscure members of popular bands performing weekly, and yet the surprises I’ve seen every time I’ve attended have been worth it alone, not to mention the regular show is always new and most performances are of top notch quality and not to be missed.
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