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Asshole alert: Glenn Danzig attempts to incite a riot at Austin show
11.07.2011
09:36 pm
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No love for Danzig at Fun Fun Fun Fest. Photo: Mirgun Akyavas.
 
Glenn Danzig makes it so easy to dislike Glenn Danzig. It’s almost as though he’s begging to be hated. This past Friday at Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest Danzig unsuccessfully attempted to start a riot after his band’s power was cut by fest promoters when his show went beyond the city’s curfew. Danzig tried to pin the blame for the aborted performance on the fest organizers when actually it was his fault for going on stage 45 minutes late. His arrogance is legendary and must be related to the fact that he’s roughly the same height as a fire hydrant. He’s Mini-Me in Jim Morrison drag. Or as Scott Evil might put it a “vicious little Chihuahua thing.”

​FFFF Founder Graham Williams of Transmission Entertainment posted the following on the fest’s Facebook page:

Hi. I book the fest. Someone has your money and ripped you off. His name is Glenn. Stop by his house in LA with some kitty litter in trade for your refund, but we still had to pay him and he didn’t deserve it after what he pulled. Here is how it went down…check the timeline:

-glenn flies in this morning and says he has a cold and doesn’t feel like playing the show. he demands french onion soup and vitamins brought to his hotel suite. he wants the soup now and wants it hot. we get it.

-glenn says it’s freezing in austin and he can’t go on. says it’s going to be 28 degrees tonight and he won’t perform (keep in mind, it’s currently 71 and sunny with a night forecast of maybe 50+). he says we have to move the show/festival inside if we want him to play (obviously, that’s not possible).

-we rent stage heaters (no other bands, public enemy, mcd, passion pit, etc need or want heaters on stage…it’s warm up there and not cold out) for glenn per demand, as well as bring in an onsite doctor to make him happy and be there if his cold doesn’t go away.

-agents and managers assure us he’s going to play now.

-glenn’s band/crew arrive before him in the afternoon and load gear. they said it all works, they get up the danzig banner, check lights, are happy.

-glenn arrives at 7:45 (half hour before showtime, they go on at 8:15 exactly and have a 90 min set…park curfew by the city/police is 10pm sharp)...when he arrives, he says he’s not going to play. says he doesn’t like how the banners are hung on stage and doesn’t like the lighting or stage size (all this was advanced in email and phone well in advance and the band/crew loaded in mid day and were happy with it and said it would work…stage wasn’t small at all). he wouldn’t leave his trailer to go look at the stage, though, so the lighting company drew up specs for him to look at of the stage lighting 50 feet from his trailer and brought it to him to look over and prove him wrong.

-in the meantime, glenn’s bodyguard gets pushy (literally) with murder city devils manager and tells them they can’t have their friends watch MCD from stage and wants them to cut their set. kicks them off stage and gets physical with the band and stafff….oh, also danzig says he’s just as big as slayer and slayer is playing a bigger stage on sunday and that’s bullshit and wants to play the same stage slayer is playing…or won’t play. makes him look bad.

-it’s now 8:15 and time for them to go on. the band is ready, corpse make ups done, guitars tunes. glenn says he’s not playing and that it’s too cold outside. he said big stages should have windscreen so wind can’t blow on him from the side. the stage managers then goes and gets tarps and tarp the entire side of the stage so no wind will hit him.

-it’s now 8:40. we explain that it’s cutting into the set and he’s going to have cut the 90 min set if he doesn’t play soon, as park curfew is 10. he says he doesn’t feel like playing. says “i got a deathbug. if i go on stage and get sick, i’ll die. i’m not getting sicker for this show” (NOTE: he totally looks and seems fine…no coughing, no paleness, no vomiting, just some balding and a gut, from what i can tell). we get the Dr and he says he can do a b12 shot or anything he needs if he feels bad…danzig says he only treats illnesses naturally, so won’t do that. we finally get him to agree to play and have already informed his crew that it’s only 60 mins (9pm at this point) and they start cutting some songs from the set list, so they can still do misfits, but obviously didn’t cut enough.

-they went on almost and hour late due to the HANDS DOWN biggest rock star moment we’ve ever dealt with and then he tries to start a riot and blames the fest, the city, the cops and everyone, but himself. goes backstage and tries to fight a few ppl and get in the van and leaves.
the end….

Here’s a video from Friday of Danzig ranting and failing to incite a riot. What a miserable prick.
 

 
On Saturday, in the true spirit of rock and roll and with a wicked sense of humor (check out the wig), Ted Leo and The Pharmacists covered some Misfits songs that Danzig didn’t get around to the night before. Overnight, Danzig had become the laughing stock of the festival. The Damned made some choice cracks about Glenn’s hissy fit during their set.

Hey Glenn, check Ted out. This is how it’s done.
 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.07.2011
09:36 pm
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Global warming fashion statements: Hot couture
11.07.2011
02:15 am
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Texas has been suffering through a drought for what seems like an eternity. The past year has been the driest since 1895, when the state began keeping rainfall records. Not even Rick Perry’s prayers have brought a respite from the desert-like conditions in my neck of the woods, Austin.

In this collection of photos shot by my wife Mirgun Akyavas at this past weekend’s Fun Fun Fun Fest you can see how some folks dealt with the clouds of dust being kicked up by a steady and unrelenting flow of gusty winds. The fans and bands were assaulted all day Saturday by nasty little dust devils and an incessant mouth and nose clogging mineral mist that resulted in some rather stunning fashion statements both utilitarian and expressive.
 

 

 

 

 
Nomadic rockers Tinariwen (The Deserts), who hail from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali, arrived from their homeland well-equipped to deal with the gritty conditions in Austin. They must have felt at home in the swirl of sand and dust. Their performance at FFF Fest was a highlight of the three day gathering - soulful, bluesy and beautiful. Check out the live footage of the band after the jump. And if you’re not familiar with their music, the new album, one my favorites of 2011, Tassili, is an excellent place to start. Watching their performance at FFF Fest, I was once again reminded of how every culture has its blues music and how fundamentally similar they are. The music goes deep into something universal - the heart that hurts.
 
More dust bowl fashion and the deep grooves of Tinawiren after the jump…
 

READ ON
Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.07.2011
02:15 am
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The Damned performing at Fun Fun Fun Fest and a chat with Capt. Sensible
11.07.2011
12:58 am
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This past weekend at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin I met up with Captain Sensible of The Damned for a brief chat followed by filming some of their 35th anniversary show at the festival.

Earlier in the day members of The Damned gathered at the Waterloo Records’ tent to meet their fans. Lead singer Dave Vanian didn’t show up so in a sly bit of punk theater Captain Sensible discreetly grabbed a Vanian look-a-like out of the line of fans and had him fill in for the band’s elusive front-man. Of the hundred or so people who showed up for autographs, only a handful caught on to the ruse. I interviewed the impostor, Jake from Dallas (who was born around the time the band was formed), and as you can see in the video below, he was thrilled to have been Damned for a day.

So, here it is: a bit of Sensible,The Damned performing three of their legendary punk anthems and some faux-Vanian.

Dave Vanian − vocals
Captain Sensible − guitar
Monty Oxy Moron − keyboards
Stu West − bass
Pinch - drums

Shot with my awesomely groovy Sony HDR-XR500.
 

 

Damned for a day.

An interview with Jake from Dallas.
(In case you’re wondering, that’s M83 playing live in the background.)

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.07.2011
12:58 am
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Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010: MGMT, The Hold Steady, Mastodon, Gwar, Nortec Collective, The Dwarves…

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Some of the highlights of this year’s Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin. Performances by MGMT, Big Freedia, Mastodon, The Hold Steady, The Dwarves, Gwar, The Casualties, Nortec Collective, Suicidal Tendencies and The Gories.

I shot the video with a Sony HDR-XR500.

There’s some audio distortion in a few spots, but I don’t think it’s too distracting. Enjoy.
 

 
Previously on DM: the Descendents at Fun Fun Fun Fest.

 

Posted by Marc Campbell
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11.09.2010
04:26 am
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