User Posts : Bakersfield.com

AKA at Amigos Cantina 9 1 07

I must say right off, this band is very pro, They know what it is they're doing. From the moment I first saw them I knew they have been around, And the musicianship was apparent, and they shined, like a Diamond in a dark cave. All the songs were great, in tune, no mistakes, and they had a great banter with the people watching, Yes they are good and if ever get a chance to see them do it, just for me.

Being together now for 5 years, we have Sharon Gleason on everything, guitar, lead voice, keys, she even dances with people as she plays and sings, then there's Jim Robinson, a very talented pro player on guitar and lead voice, they're all pro, Dan Topping on lead guitar and he cooks, Roger Holnacki on drums and he sings as well and even finds the time to run the mixer, and Mark Bazzini on bass, One of the best bass players I think I've seen for a long time, They gell like grape jelly. They shouldn't be missed.

They showed great professionalism,, With simply great bass playing, Great singing, with great harmonies, most bands, if you get one guy singing it's a good thing but these guys have the vocal part done very well.They also have a great stage show with jokes and they even talk to the audience, I liked that, In fact I looked down at my drink and when I looked up, the lead guitarist was in front of me riffing to me, it was really good. , A great set of songs, a great Rhym section and leads, make this band one of the best in recent memory for me and I really enjoyed them.

The songs I really dug were, Gold Dust Woman , Sledge Hammer, Evil Ways cooked, Don't Speak, Stelly Dan's, Peg was great, Use Me Up, was also excellent. this band gets kudos from me. if you can, try to see them, if you like nice music and a good party band. The beer was good too. Angie was there serving up drinks and she had her hands full, make sure to tip her cuz she does a great job!

Well, see you next week

Vincent

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=1197163

www.myspace.com/vincentleedsmusic

Prisoners of Love at Amigos Cantina 8 18 07

Amigos Cantina District and Gosford 398 1300

Well, I gotta say this is probably the most pro band I've ever seen at Amigos, Man they sounded good, their sound mix was wonderful, Every player was truly pro. A great band, no two ways about it, yes, I'd see them anytime. Truly great!

With Jerry Carbajal, on percussion, Dan Mablot, on guitar, Nano Hernandez , on keys, Tim Murray ,the great singer, Art Carbajal, played the fat soundin'' bass, and Eddy Tevino, on drums.

People I can't say enough...on how good this band is! they play a mix of songs from Rancheras to Tower of Power music with great expertise. Had everyone there jumpin' in their seats, The singer is truly a great singer, interfaced with the audience so very well, The girls dancin' weren't fallin' on him!, as he claimed!! A lot of singers just say the words, Tim sings with a great vibrato and in tune and has a funny attitude in his performance that shines thru, although he doesn't like beer signs shinin' on him when he sings, but that's besides the point. he puts out, man!

For 11 years this band has been jammin' round town, they're from East Bakersfield. The standout songs included, Miss You, Get Your Back Against The Wall, Smooth, BiBiBomBom, Best of My Love, Santana's, Twisted and I think that was Samba Por Ti, and, So Very Hard To Know, Low Rider, and Brick House, but every song they played was simply great, with a bottom so thick one could walk on it ,and vocals so clear you could hear them thru the clickin' glasses, and the harmonies as well. A guitar player that sounded as good as Carlos Santana, and the keys of an angel, This band could be the NBC band on Jay Leno.

Tim is a great blues singer, They must have a lot of experience cuz it shows in how good they sound. and I'm not just makin' this up, you should have been there. "There may have been better songs played by different bands there, but never a song played better" That's what I say and it's true, I speak Spanish for a garbacho, so I dug the Spanish songs they played during the sets, My god their 1st set was 55 minutes long, from 7;30pm to about 12am they completely took over the place. I look forward to seeing this band again. Guess I'm tryin' to say they, ROCK!

Vincent Leeds

The Spazzmanians at Amigos Cantina 8 11 07

Well, I had fun there , They jammed and gelled, The group with the unique name, the Spazzmanian's, sound like an Armenian Restaurant, don't they? but in reality, are a rather tight Classic rock outfit.

Scott Lopez on guitar, keyboards and even sang some songs very well, Rick Hudgens on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Jones on bass, and David on drums and he even sang a few tunes.

The group had its 1st set jitters as all bands do but by the 4 th song, they sounded really good, I'd recommend anyone to see this group, as they are a good sight n sound musical group,

Being together about 2 years, the band plays many different styles and genres, all very well, From Duran Duran to the Beatles they give off a nice glow if you're into havin a good time and dancing or relaxing to a good band. We had excellent playing from all, but Scott Lopez was a bit out there, playin and singin, even doubling on keyboards, He did a kick ass job on it too.

The standout songs were, I Saw Her Standin There, by the Beatles, and Behind Blue Eyes, White Wedding, Surrender, one of my favs, Young Lust by The Pink Floyd, they shone like a diamond, Brown Eyed Girl also cooked last night as they played from 7;30 pm to after 11pm, Go see them Im tellin you, it's worth it and there was no cover charge last night! Cool

Vincent Leeds

The War in Iraq

Just think, if Saddam was so bad, now as Bush n company try to pull sway there, more people have died in the last year than in all the years that Saddam was in power so who's the greater evil?, We seem to be worse!

Wars, every one of them are about money, makin money and so many corporations here are makin tons of money, I understand that if a new truck gets a flat tire they throw it away and buy another one cuz Halliburton makes a ton of money on this war, and they moved to Dubai, so the US couldn't see what there doing,. Its sickening, all the young American boys that had to die so they could take our money, and all the poor Iraqis that's have died, they wont even tell us the true number, I'm guessing it's over 80k and over 200,00 Iraqis wounded and they're not our enemy, Just think, Al Quaidia doesn't even have an army, were fighting a street gang really, I'd say if we cant stop the Bloods or Cripts here, that kill over 10,000 Americans in America every year, not to mention the robbing and raping, how do we, the supposed most powerful country in the world , ever think we could win against a smaller street gang in Iraq, the answer is, were not tryin to win, were tryin to keep the war going on as long as possible as to make more money for the companies that supply the armies, That's just sick, When we 1st went into Iraq, we didn't go to the museums 1st ,or the banks, to secure them, the 1st target was the oil pipe lines and oil producing facilities, So don't ever say its about freedom, cuz it isn't, its about money, My god there wasn't even any Al Quaidia in Iraq until we got here. We have completely wrecked that country, The Iraqi's were never our enemies, they were never a threat and now it seems we have completely forgotten about Bin Laden, what on earth is going on, well Im a fool and even I can see what happening.

I love this country ,the people, and the beautiful countryside, the cities, but look what's going on before its too late and bush declares martial law!

What country comes to mind when I say these following statements, its a country that can take any citizen to jail forever without trial or a phone call, can hold them forever with a charge, can torture them, can tap our phones and computers, suspended habeas corpus, took the freedom of press and the freedom of speech away, and all the other countries in the world hate them, no its not , Nazi Germany, The USSR, or Cuba, or Red China, its the good old USA, now I expect the storm troopers to come at 3am tonight and take me away to Spain and torture me for the next 40 years, Is this Nazi America? God please I hope not, and our forefathers fought to preserve this? I think not. Bush took the country over in a military coup, but the people cant even see that,

tell me Im wrong

Vincent

The voodoDogs Rock Amigos Cantina 8 4 07

The 'Voodo Dogs' Rock, yea they do, They transfixed the crowd at Amigos Last night, And rock they surely did. from the moment I got there and Angie asked me what I was drinkin, to when i had to go I really had a good time, Kudos to jermeny for Bringing in such a fine group. he realy did us alla favor.

On vocals we had, Richard Lee, Bass was provided by, Rick Fox, Slamming drums by, Tom Baratta, and the great, John Sanchez on electric guitar. They were to start at 7;30pm and they did, how often do ya see that happening. they right into song and from the get go, they howled n rocked all night. They have been together 8years hails from parts unknown, but they said they're from Ventura. Nice town, i like it there, for one thing it's cooler there! These guys are total pros all the way, I heard only one thing that werent perfect, but im not going to mention it. Just a lil thing that nobody elese probally notised.

From 7;30pm to afyter 11pm they jammed and rocked the place. Much to the joy of those who were there, people danced and sang along, everyone had a grand time, even me.

Their best songs to me were, 'Miss You','Purple Rain', that was very good, 'Sweet Emotion', The Pink Floyd song, 'Time' and the Led Zep medley that they played, drove everyone there nutz, John on guitar shone like a Diamond, playing as close to Jimmy Page as anyone I've ever heard, The crowd went limp after he played a perfect copy of Jimmie's immortal lead solos on 3 songs. I loved it, They also did well on 'Bowie's, 'Fame" and "Feel Like Makin Love". This group is so very pro, from one song to the next without a break, no tuning up, no bull, just full throttle rock n roll old school, and they played the songs their way and it was good, 'Life in the Fast Lane" was cooking, "Man in a Box" was also a stand out. These guys don't just jam, they are consummate pros and they play songs, music, for those of us who dig this sort of old school stuff, But I still say how can Led Zep ever go out of style, Simply great. Hope they come around again.

Richard Lee on vocals drove all the points home with nary a bad note, his high energy out put was insane, It even tired me out to see how much he was putting out!, Rick Fox on bass and B/g voices really impressed me as his background vocals were spot on and his bass lines were in the pocket, he jammed like glass. Tom Baratta on drums laid down the most perfect drum beats, every roll was right on and he played his heart out, These guys earned every cent of whatever they got paid, if you ever get a chance to see them, check 'em out. They don't disappoint, They rock!

Vincent Leeds

http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fGroupID=2223

www.myspace.com/vincentleedsmusic

The Noel Emmett Experence at Amigos Cantina, Index at Gosford, 7 28 07

The Noel Emmett Experence at The Amigos Cantina Gosford and Index,

Bakersfield , 398 1300, Friday Night 7 28 07

Noel Emmett.., "There will be Noel Emmett !", Clever hey?! I think So! This countyfried Rock group rocked the place! Sure they had problems in the 1st set, Who doesn't? Seems their sound man came a bit late, Took some time to tune up Emmett's voice and get it all to gel, but gel it did, they tried 2 different PA systems and finally got it good, The house speakers, to me are pointed the wrong way, they Don't point at the audience but back to the band, so they didn't cut thru. But they did come up with a good vocal sound.

We have Noel Emmett on Guitar, playing a beautiful Taylor jazz guitar with F holes instead of a sound hole. and Lead vocals, Derrick Rains on lead guitar, Mark Bazzini on bass, and Dean Tackett playin those electronic drums which they say is the last time, as they've bought a new acoustic set but the electronic drums sounded ok, except when they went off and started playin notes no one wanted to hear, but even that didn't take away from the song they were singin'.

I have to say Derrick Rains played some quite excellent guitar riffs, I don't think I heard a singe error on his part. Everyone was quite good at what they were doing.

No, I enjoyed them and the almost full house did as well, People danced to Noel's songs, and he even played an original song, "Minimum Wage" which was very good, Derrick shined on guitar, playing Led Zep and Aerosmith during the breaks between the songs, much to the annoyance of Mr. Emmett, I must add. One time, Derrick started playin and even sung, I think a Kiss song and the whole group joined in as Noel tuned his guitar, He is a very affable person, Noel, Telling very clever jokes in between the songs, and he reminded me allot of Mike Rowe of "Dirty Jobs" , he has that kinda of self deprecating kinda humor going for him. Dean was without a mistake on drums and Mark on bass provided the proper bed to lie the songs in. Very pro all 'round. I thought it was good entertainment. So did allot of the people in Amigo's. By the way, Amigos Cantina is such a great place to see local bands. They give people a chance to be heard. I like them for that and they have a good tortilla chip, light n crispy with a great salsa, but I digress.

From 7;30 PM to about 11;15 PM Noel and Company played charming folk and country and songs, even some rock songs, with much flair, and emotion, 'Sweet Home Alabama' was a stand out. Each song was unique thou, even when Noel forgot a word or a chord, it was still great. This band is true Americana. And very tight despite he lil problems during the 1st set. I would recommend anyone to see the, 'Noel Emmett Experience', as they are a cool, semi original Country Band. Don't miss them They have a web site, so google them for more info, Noel, Send me your CD! Please!?

thanx again!

Vincent Leeds evrdman@aol.com

http://www.lulu.com/content/1054821

The Token Oakies at Amigos Cantina last night 7 21 07

Gosford at Index 398 1300

BTW No I don't work there I just like music

The Token Oakies rocked this place last night to throngs of dancing people who all had a great time, I did as well, I was really impressed by the guitarist, he's a real guitar player, old school and knew how to rock and he well did, I liked his guitars too. When I 1st saw him, he looked rather sad, long side burns, a frown. I thought to meself, now this lad is depressed, but then when he started playin, he smiled came alive and even jumped into the dance floor and danced with the 15 girls who danced almost every song. Along with that very old and cool gentleman, dressed in black with a gold amulet 'round his neck, who I've seen there 2 nights running, See even when we are old we can still rock, as he well does!

this band does a rockabilly good, the singer is on key and a funny guy, the bass player was having fun allot of it, sippin something out of a giant Thermos jug, One can only guess what it was. The drummer on time but very hard for me to see. I really had a good time last night n I do recommend The Token Oakie to all. Very tight and very inspiring

Vincent Leeds

The Beagles

The Beagles At Amigos Cantina

July 14th 2007 starting at 7;30

Gosford at Index, Bakersfield 398 1300

The Beagles say they are they only Beatles tribute band in Bakersfield and they may be. Do you know any others? I don't. Note there's only one letter difference between the two names, This band is made up of 4 Latinos, Two great front men, the lead singer and the one guitarist, Both engaged the audience with much professionalism. This band has tons of experience, and talent.

Well, Im a Beatle freak, I must say I know every chord and lead line and all the words to every song, So I was extra weary of them, thinking I was going to see a cheap imitation, I was rewarded with a great true to the Beatles band, that even Ringo would be proud of !

The Beatles remain a very popular group, still one of the best selling groups on earth even thou they broke up 38 years ago, imagine that! Name one other group that can boast that!

The performance was excellent, every note was perfect, every line sung in tune and with gusto and much fun resulted, Everyone in the audience sang every song with them, including me. It was allot of fun and very entertaining. The 1st set were all Beatles songs, good ones too, the ones we remember best, the drums were right on and the bass as well, One could tell they were having fun on stage and told jokes to us. The lead singer also played key boards as well, with much aplomb , I must say, These men have talent.

During the 2nd set and then on, different they played songs from the 60's and early 70's to the all aged people dancing and singing,

They didn't play a bad song, Even when they played, "Birthday" By the Beatles, (really a Paul song) every one was thrilled, and they played it well, even though they didn't play it exactly the same as the Beatles but they played it good and everyone enjoyed the Beagles that night including me.

I'd recommend this band to anyone who wants a good clear exciting night out, I give 'em 4 out of 5 stars.

Vincent Leeds

Elevation 406

Elevation 406 At Amigos Cantina

July 14th 2007 starting at 7;30

Gosford at Index, Bakersfield 398 1300

This blues band packed the room last night, They look the part on stage, with a larger than life lead singer and 2 guitars, a bass and drums. There was much anticipation before they played and one could feel excitement in the air. I wore my cowboy hat and was glad to see lots of others donning the same head

gear. So I fit right in. I even had a hard time to find a seat even thou I came 20 minutes early.

When the Band started 15 minutes late, the 1st song wasn't as tight as it could be, as they didn't have sound man ( as far as I could see) they had the bass player, who was cordless walk around and see how it sounded in different parts of the room.

The mix to me was off just a bit, The great lead guitarist, who played a blue guitar and had a great looking Epiphone Amp, which I admired, but wasn't loud enough to cut thru, to me where I was sitting, Im sure if one was sitting on e the other side he was loud enough. On my side the rhym guitarist was too loud and was out of tune allot, He tried to keep it in tune by tuning every song break, he wasn't that much out. The drummer was right on and mixed good, The singer, to me was behind a 50's sheen of echo, One that reverberated 3 or 4 times on each word, He needed more treble, he just couldn't cut thru the wall of sound. Maybe it was just where I was sitting. He did a great job singing and was in tune all the time, and was backed up by the bassist and rhym guitarist in chorus. By the 3rd song they had tightened up pretty well, except for the mixing. The crowd didn't mind as many couples were dancing on the dance floor, the stand out being a extremely old gentleman, dressed in all black wearing a amulet around his neck, Girls were going up to him and asking him to dance, I swear, he looked 85 years old if he was a day.

I tapped my toes and banged my fists on the table with the music, this band is a great party band.

By the 2nd set they were much tighter and less self conscience of them self's. They jammed the house down. Everyone had a grand time. I liked the group. They played songs from the 60's to the 90's. I enjoyed everyone despite the troubles they were having at 1st. The lead guitarist never did turn up, but it was ok, no one can mix a band in such a odd shaped room like that. The free taco chips and salsa went well with the beer and a grand time was had by all, I recommend this group, they do rock...

I'd give them a 3.5 out of 5

Vincent Leeds