Can you believe it's already July? I can't. But here we are July 1st in lovely downtown Detroit at the uber cool Lager House. This time our Detroit pals the Grande Nationals joined us on the bill with a group from Nashville called the Pink Spiders. The spiders were up first and with no delay, the band quickly burst into a pop punk fury belting out hook after hook of high energy pop rock. Cool stuff from those boys in pink and black! Squeezed right in the middle were the Grande Nationals who have come a helluva long way since their incarnation just about a year or so ago. They're a well oiled machine with greasy rock n' roll bits and catchy detroit sounding tunes. Plus Scotty has the best taste in music so it's always a blast to get lost in rock n' roll wonderland talking to him. Once da broadz hit the stage, a fierce pit of sex and rock n' roll filled the front of the stage with hip shaking girls and rock hungry dudes. The end of the set found several bits of the crowd climbing onto the stage and a big old rock celebration was had. Always a pleasure at the Lager and Adrienne is the best bar tender around!

Next up was Mac's Bar in Lansing July 10th with Bit and Millenary. Millenary were up first and features Sarah, one half of the Ladyfest Lansing dynamic duo of Sarah and Latricia. Cool dreamy and pissed off pop sounds from them. Sadly Sarah is leaving town so that may have been our last chance to see them. Bit were up in the middle, featuring a tattooed, blonde-dreaded lead screamer chick, fronting a band of dudes. Their music is angry punk coupled with a bit (pun intended) of sugar. And finally, we make our return to Mac's - we haven't been back there since we were shut down ¾ of the way through our set when Kimmy blew fire. They didn't like that but allowed us to come back again provided we douse the flame routine. So we rocked it, sans flame, and still set the place on fire!! Always a barn burner at Mac's!

Back in old Hamtramck at the new New Dodge. Yes that's two "new's" as in, it just moved and it's cooler! On this night we were supposed to share the stage with rock dogs the Kingsnakes. Half way through the day, I get a phone call that Kris, Tommy's wife (bassist) went into labor and as a result the snakes would not be able to perform. Yikes!! So we let Tommy be with Kris and meanwhile the rest of the fellas came down to the show to hang. In search of an opening band, we quickly recruited Dylan Dunbar and Jack Schneider from Long Black Sedan to join Kingsnakes howler Tom Mann for a trio of frontporch blues and backyard rock n'roll. Tom, played harp and sang while Dylan and Jack threw down the beats. Most of the stuff was off-the-cuff and came off sounding as if it had been rehearsed over and over. It was one of those things that was really cool to see talented folks like that get up there and throw down at the blink of an eye. We owe them a big THANKS for stepping up to the plate.

Then it was time for the Broadz to make some noise. It's safe to say we were probably the loudest band to have ever pumped some rock n'roll blood into the New Dodge veins or even better, you can say we popped the New Dodge's rock n' roll cherry and kicked out the jams. We had lots of friends in the house so it felt like one big party with all of our friends. Good times. But the show didn't stop there. I noticed that local guitar hipster Brett Lucas was in the house and I quickly encouraged him to grab my Les Paul while Jack stepped behind the drums again, Tom Mann came up to sing and Dylan jumped on the bass. Again, another on the spot jam ensued and a one-time only rock show was underway. Very cool night. Thanks to Cathy at the New Dodge and Dylan, Jack, Tom and Brett for throwing down with us. And rock n' roll blessings to baby Brendan Diaz who was born the following morning!

Back in the screamin' demon we head towards Akron Ohio to the Lime Spider. Upon our arrival, we hit the streets looking for some grub and unsuccessful, we head back to the venue where a pizza delivery saves the day. We shared the stage with Detroit band the Betty Fords and Akron rockers Missletoe. The BF's were up first and gave us a nice dose of rockabilly punk rock n' roll stuff. They also get my vote for having the coolest band logo/art. Look 'em up and chem. 'em out. We took the stage next and shook the rafters a little. Gave the place some rock to stuff in their pipe and smoke. Had a few friends from the Broadzilla messageboard come out to meet us and that's always a treat. Wrapping up the evening, (pun intended) were Missletoe. And as you may have guessed from the name, they played rocked up versions of Christmas tunes and threw in a few 80's era rock covers as well. Hilarious stuff from those guys. Afterwards we head back to Jeni Zilla's hotel where we invited ourselves to crash and shower!

The next morning we wake and hit the local breakfast joint for some grub before heading off to Indianapolis. We arrive in Indy, on the rough side of town to a quaint little punk joint called the Melody Inn. We're immediately greeted and welcomed to the club where the beer is flowing and music is the priority. We chill out back in former garage converted into a lounge, very hip digs, and then head in to check out the bands. We're last this evening and 3 bands are to play in front of us. For some reason, the evening is a blur and I can't remember the names of the bands that we performed with. I remember catching the second band of the night and they were a righteous dose of punk rock complete with an abnoxious singer who ended up finding himself kicked out of the venue by the end of the night. It wasn't really a surprise though to see his ass out on the curb. The first thing he said to me when being introduced prior to the show was, 'Wow, you have really big tits." I knew he was going to be a handful for the evening. The third band to play were a mix of chicks and dudes, I believe they were from Minneapolis but again, my memory is jarred. They were a cool punk based band with nice rock riffs.

By the time we took the stage, there were fights and beer being thrown, I remember thinking, this crowd is going to either love us or totally hate us, thankfully, they loved us and a massive pit broke out and loads of dudes were up front slamming while the cute punk rock girls stood close by hoisting beers in the air. During our set there were several fights and from the stage I could see what looked like a scene from a movie taking place outside with drunk bar patrons, police and bar bouncers. It was quite a site and quite a nite. We loved it and can't wait to go back and stir up the juice!

It's July 30 and we're headed for Dayton, home of Mike Durian (broadzillaman) whom we hope to catch at the show this evening. We arrive at Elbo's part restaurant part nightclub and I unfortunately missed the first band, always happens when you're grabbing a late dinner. Sorry guys! The second band up was the Luxury Pushers who totally rocked. It's like Johnny Thunders meets the Stones. The venue had a nice crowd, we even met some folks outside prior to the show who came down to catch our set and drop off their CD for us to listen to. We hit the stage and dished out the rock. We saw Mike for a few minutes but then he mysteriously disappeared. It was nice to see him though and I wish we could've talked longer and hung out a bit more, I miss the old days.

Afterwards, we head back to Ben Cramers hotel to crash the place, he's in town from Pennsylvania for a weekend of BZ rockw, so in Broadzilla fashion, we head to his hotel to crash his room. Up early, showered and off to Columbus.

We arrive in Columbus a bit early in the day, so with time to spare, we head up to High Street to catch up with my friend TJ. We go way back and I haven't seen him in ages. Of course, he must work this evening so he won't be able to make the show but we find our way to his cool store and browse around while TJ and I catch up. We continue walking and window shopping and before you know it, we have our first casualty of the day. It's not even 3 p.m. yet and I've taken a dive on the Columbus sidewalks. Don't ask, I don't know how it happened, before you know it, I'm on the ground. I guess there was some silly sidewalk brick that got up and walked away and I happened to put my foot in the whole without looking and BOOM, I hit the ground. It's almost a month later as I write this and I still am bruised and sore. I probably should see a doctor but I'm being way too rock n' roll for that.

At any rate, we grab a starbucks coffee and head back to the venue where I ice up my knee. Inside the club is small and dingy but screams tons of rock n' roll. It's the kind of dirty rock dive bar perfect for unleashing some rock n' roll fury. We get some bar food, which by the way was supreme! Falafel sandwiches at Bourbon Street in Columbus. Dig it! Soon after Grafton takes the stage and begins to tear shit up. They were a cool rock/metal band with a nice stoner vibe. I really dug those guys and hope we can catch up and do some more shows in the future.

And then comes the Broadz. The room filled up quickly and was nice and warm causing the Broadz to drip sweat in our first song, but it's rock n 'roll so who cares, we laid it down loud and proud and proud and loud before bidding farewell and heading back to Detroit rock city! See you next month.