I remember this as if it were yesterday the year I believe was early 1984. Some friends of mine and I piled into a car and headed off to The Silver Dollar. A few of my friends had been there before but I had not.  I had been to other small town bars with live music before but never anyplace with a reputation this big.  We pulled into the dimly lit rear parking lot passing by a big U-Haul truck parked close to the back door.  No doubt that was the vehicle used to haul all the band’s gear and judging from the size of that U-Haul the band we were about to watch had a lot of gear. 

 

We stepped from the warmth of the car into the dark night’s chilly winter air and walked from the back parking lot towards the front of the building, hands in pockets of course, nobody wore gloves.  My anticipation grew as we rounded the corner to the front of the building and stepped onto its wood planked grand front porch, which spanned the entire front of the building and resembled something out of an old Western movie.  Unlike a porch from an old Western movie this porch was extremely well lit, the whole front of the building was flooded with light making it feel like you were on display (and maybe you were) to all the passer bys on Michigan Ave.  After my eyes adjusted to the sudden wash of bright light I could see just how close we were to the edge of the MSU campus.  The line at the door that night was short so we paid the cover and got right in.  Little did I know my life would never be the same. 

 

Off on the east side of the bar was a big stage flanked on both sides with PA cabinets stacked two wide and two high set right on the edges of the dance floor.   (I would in later years learn why some sound engineers did this was to keep people from sitting on them or setting their drinks on them) Remember we are in the 80’s here and PA cabinets were huge, not like today’s which pack the same punch but in a much smaller more user/roadie friendly package.  One stack of PA cabinets that night were at least 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide, that’s 64 square feet of PA fronts on each side of the stage.  The stage itself was surrounded with PAR 64 cans beaming almost every color of light imaginable and lining the back of the stage were guitar and bass amps and nestled in the middle of those amps was the drum kit, a double kick drum set with as many toms and cymbals as would fit around it.  I don’t remember the name of the band that night but I do remember being blown away by the whole experience.  There would be many more trips to the Silver Dollar Saloon for me in the future. 

 

I the next five or six years I made many a trip out to the Silver Dollar Saloon and saw a great deal of good rock and roll bands from all around the country.  25 cent draft beer in a plastic cup even though I preferred my beer out of a bottle, that was part of the scene.  Yeah the Silver Dollar Saloon had it’s own scene back then after all we were in the big hair/glam metal era back then and grunge was still a few years down the road so spandex, tight jeans, leather jackets, long big hair and even bright colors were in.  I got to know some of the regulars there over time and they became good friends of mine.  

 

There have been some big names in rock and roll that have played at the Silver Dollar Saloon over the years, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Foghat, Bob Seger and Rush to name just a few and in the early 90’s Alice in Chains played there.  I had the privilege of seeing Drivin’ and Cryin’ at the Dollar in the early 90’s. 

 

Then in 1991 sometime the Silver Dollar changed formats to a country music bar and gone was hair/glam metal, rock and roll big bar scene, it had no place to go.  Sure there are many other good established bars with live music close by and they have their own scene, I have frequented them often also but to me back then I always knew what to expect at the Dollar, a good loud rock and roll band wrapped in that Silver Dollar scene of that day and served up with a 25 cent draft beer in a plastic cup.  There were several bars in the area that tried to capture that Silver Dollar rock and roll ambiance and some came close but never close enough.

 

They tore that Silver Dollar building down yesterday Monday, January 5^th 2009.   The first line in The Lansing State Journal’s article about it reads “The music died at the Dollar Nightclub a few year ago”.  For me I think it died there in 1991 but I was reminded of the good times had there every time I saw that landmark building.   Hats off to the Silver Dollar Saloon and thanks for all the good times had there.                                            sources:LSJ and LSJArchives


Alice in Chains at the Silver Dollar Saloon 1991

I realize it has been some time since any of Six Syllable Sin has written anything in here but that doesn't mean the band is up to nothing.   So it's time to blow the dust off the cover of these diaries and make room for another entry.  Hmm, but what to say.
Well a lot has happened in the Sin world in the last few months and we are many steps ahead of where we were at the start of summer.  If you are a regular reader of the Sin sites you know most of all that has been going on.  If you are not then you missed out.  Not that you couldnt catch up though if you really wanted to but that is not what this entry is about. 

It's about two music videos that you may have never seen before much less even heard of the bands.  I like them though.  First one is Atom Smash.  I signed onto the Six Syllable Sin myspac page one day and we had a friend request from these guys.  Glad we did cuz they rock....so check this out.







The next one is from a band from Chicago called Kill Hannah.  No offense to my neice and never mind how I found these guys.  Don't ask cuz I am not telling.  





Hope you enjoyed these little tidbits and add the bands on your myspace if your into that, both are on Six Syllable Sin's. 

There I think the dust is blown off.......

Jeff ............Six Syllable Sin 

Hello Sinners,
    I went to see Petty last night and I gotta say the man still has it.  Lots to be said about him so I'll try to stay focused.  lets start with the concert, Awesome!!!  a set list mixed with old and new performed with precision of a band thats been together for 30 years. barring the jet engine drumming of Steve Ferrone who became a Heartbreaker, I believe, at the time of his Pettys Wildflowers CD. And Bassist Ron Blair who started as the orignal Heartbreaker then quit to open a bikini shop only to return to the fold after the tragic death of Howie Epstein(Mr Brownstone got him).  I was glad to see Petty give a nod to the Traveling Wilburys by playin' "End of the Line".  Some songs I hear on the radio make me reach for the dial to change the station and one of those song is "I Won't Back Down".  However Petty has been "backed up to the gates of hell" a few times fighting with his record label.  He didn't back down and he persevered and to hear the man sing it himself carries alotta weight in this writers opinion.  Some of the standouts were Even the Losers, The Waiting, Saving Grace(Great Live Song) Face in the Crowd,  and of course the pyschedelic tinged Don't Come around Here No More, where all the stops were pulled out by the Stage/Lighting Crew.  The stage design really sets a new high water mark in stage production.  Pink Floyd would've Blushed.  It was described in Grand Rapids Press as a mad scientist erector set, and thats pretty much what it was, truly bad ass.  This is my first time blogging so if I knew how to add pictures i'd do it.  Sorry!  Anyway this is the 4th time I've seen him and I don't know what it was that endears so many people to him, because he really is and has been an unlikely canidate for stardom, must be great songs+great band=success.  Not what would Simon Paula & Randy think.  Could you imagine if a gangly19 year old Petty auditioned for these guys.  I'm sure it go something like this, simon........so..........you think your the next American Idol......you can't sing and your teeth look like a grill for 78 chevy impala. Randy...........Dog what the fucks wrong with your face, Paula......lots pop some pain killers & drink some absolut.   

"Even the Losers....get lucky sometime"


You Wreck Me
Mary Jane's Last Dance
I Won't Back Down
Even The Losers
Free Fallin'
Cabin Down Below
Sweet William
End Of The Line
The Waiting
Saving Grace
Honey Bee
Face In The Crowd
Learning To Fly
Don't Come Around Here No More
Refugee

Runnin' Down A Dream
American Girl


Rudy Sarzo
The Bass Player

So I find myself counting down exactly 1 hour and 58 minutes until I get the beginning of 6 Cortizone injections, to enable me to stand for more than 20 minutes at a time. (Really looking foward to it)...sarcasm implied...

Now, on to the real reason why I'm "Blogging" today (who coined that term anyways???) that'll be on another "blog". I think of it as an "E-Diary", one more syllable, and that might take you to a whole new internet fetish...ewwwww!!!.  Anywho -  please excuse my A.D.D. moments...

So i was born in 1973, the first band i really got into was Kiss, I had "Alive I"  I'm not sure if it was the music or the Circus surrounding the music, doesn't really matter, I was into it.  Next it was Van Halen, then Black Sabbath (Dio) Heaven and Hell.  Was this the beginning of "Hairbands"?  I'm really not sure, they all had hair, and lots of it. I just thought it was normal to be a rocker and have long hair and be in a band.  hmm Hairband anyone???

So I turned 14 and heard Motley Crue's Theatre of pain, saw the video "Home Sweet Home" and said "Uh, I want to do that.  Great music, beautiful women and dudes that have lots of hair.  I'll add here that Aerosmith's song "Dude looks like a lady" is about Vice Neil.  Although i never thought that.

I get my first guitar, learn all the pre-requisites, Smoke on the water, Iron Man, In a Ga-da-da vida (in the garden of eden) with a lisp. and practiced my ass off, hours and hours of practice, to become a reasonably good guitar player.

The bands of my time and that I was into during my journey into "Rockdom" were Tesla, Skid Row, Queensryche, Dokken, Bon Jovi, Extreme, Mr. Big, Warrant, Poison.. you get the picture.  All great bands with better than average musicians, and LOTS of hair! 

The bands I was in, played all of these bands' songs and it was great.  BUT then along came 1991-92, Enter Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and the whole Seattle music scene.  I completly understand musical styles changing along with the generations, it happens about every 10 years.

What I DONT get however, is how the "hairband" era is looked upon.  It's almost to the point where people think its laughable to have liked any of these bands.  So its bad to be great, almost virtuoso musicians?  Its bad to write melodic memorable songs, that you can actually sing along to? Maybe Poison held a glimpse into the future when they wrote " Gotta be bad to be good" 

I guess what I'm really getting at is, who the fuck cares, I loved that music, I still do, and with the success of the "Rocklahoma" music festival each year, it clearly still stands the test of time.  I just saw Britny Fox recently, and they kicked my ass.  I sometimes wonder if people who decide to trash that era, if they really ever heard any of it?  Doesn't really matter to me, so with that I say...

"When in doubt, I whip it out, got me a Rock-n-Roll band, it's a FREE FOR ALL!"


Scott

So my dilema is; I love Stroh's, I mean I LOVE Stroh's. Turns out that I like it so much that i find my waist and ass getting larger by the day. Maybe its just that I'm about to turn 35 and my matabolism is finally saying "fuck you" but I'm having a hard time coming to terms with that. Sooooo... Do I start drinking Milwaukees Best Light AKA "the Beast" and drink twice as much,(and piss twice as much) just to attain the buzz that twelve tasty Strohs can give me in half the time. OR do I just keep on drinking Stroh's and deal with the fact that I will never have a 32" waist again? I'm leaning toward the latter but it would be nice to take a piss and believe that my dick is not getting smaller by being able to see past my ever increasing gut! Moral to the story... It sucks getting old...  Scott (guitar player guy)         It just occured to me that this blog has nothing to do with the band, other than the fact that most of the songs I write are usually written under the influence of the forementioned alcoholic beverage.  I'll try harder next time (tongue firmly planted in cheek) 

Ok, been up for a while , please forgive the hip hop things in this post, but sometimes to prove a point you have to step out of your realm, but if you are like me you listen to different kinds of music anyway so there.  If you would take a listen  to and watch  this video, Soulja Boy, here the drum machine.  Now here is what happens when a real live drummer gets a hold of that song, click here. 

"Feel" the difference?  I would be interested in what you have to say.  Don't be afraid to post a reply.   Not that I have anything against drum machines, wait, i guess I do.  Drum machines are nothing but computers and they run programs, they have no idea what a "groove" is.  The word "improvise" is not in their dictionary.  Plus they cant twirl sticks. 

Jeff-- Six Syllable Sin.... OUT...

Here is a  salute to that heavy metal strut, although technically it could be considered a stance. But I prefer to call it a strut if only just because it sounds better, and much cooler for that matter.  You have to know the "strut" I am talking about.  It was mostly contained to the 80's and on into the 90's but still bleeds it's seeds in some of todays bands guitar players and lead singers just as it did back in the earlier years.  Surely you know the stance I am talking about, the one that looks like they just got off a horse. (no offense, but I can't think of any other way to describe it).

So in honor of the "Heavy Metal Strut" I have prepared my "Top Six" Heavy Metal Strutter's as I see them.  Why Six you ask?  Hmmm....(Syllable Sin)...

Coming in at Number 6. is Monkey Business by Skid Row.  By the first scream Bach is doing the strut, and you can't tell me he walks down the street every day like that.  But non the less a killer band, song and video. 

Coming in at Number 5: Gene Simmons in "Detroit Rock City" by KISS.  There are not too many time when Gene is on camera and he is not doing some version of that stance.  You know I am glad the record didn't skip during that performance, it could have turned into another Milli Vanilli incident.  But wait, this performance would have been before the Milli Vanilli "skip".  Wow that could have really changed history, but probably not. 

At number 4: Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden.  Again here a another guy who spends more time in the stance than out. Check him out in this video.  Yet more proof you that you don't need a guitar to strike classic heavy metal pose. 

And number 3: Blackie Lawless and WASP.  I think being able to do the heavy metal pose was a prerequisite for being in this band.  Classic metal pose taken to the extreme by all the members.

Some may argue here why Gene and Bruce anent further up the list.  But hey its my list, and the two remaining deserve to be there.

Coming in at number 2:  Nikki Sixx, Motley Crue.   Those flaming leather pants are enough to land him in the number two spot on my list.  Those pants must have been hot!  

We are down to the number one spot.  Are you wondering who is left?  

Coming in at number 1: Ronnie James Dio.  Who in my book is the grandfather of this and many other things that are METAL.  

Thats my blast from the past for now.  

Got something you want to say?  Post a comment, or are you scared?

Jeff -- Six Syllable Sin.    

In celebration of Saint Patrick's Day here are some Irish bands that are not U2.  Not that I have anything against U2, I don't.  But ask anyone on the street to name an Irish band and I bet 99.9% of them say U2. 

Thin Lizzy

The Cranberries

Boomtown Rats

So heres a chears for the Irish bands that are not U2.  Heres another chear for all the other Irish bands not listed in this entry.

Here is a video from the movie The Commitments.  A film about a working class Irish band.  I highly recommend watching that movie if you haven't seen it.  So next time your roaming around the video store wondering what to rent, grab "The Commitments" if they have it, you won't regret it. 

In other news, Six Syllable Sin has invaided My Space, check out our page here.  A new song called "A-Minor Infraction" has been added to all of our sites, so take a listen to it and let us know what you think. 

Happy Saint Patricks Day

Jeff - Six Syllable Sin

I heard a song on the radio today that I haven't heard in a while, Led Zeppelin's, "Since I've Been Loving You".  Here is a link to the studio recording of that song I found on the Internet.  Take a listen to it, preferably with headphones on and kind of loud. I put the link to the recording at the bottom of this entry (for some reason it wouldn't let me paste it up here). Did you listen to it closely, I mean really closely?  Did you hear the faint squeaking in the background?  It sounds like a light/faint bird chirping in the background that starts with the second beat after the drums start and continues thru the song but is only audible during the quieter times of the song.  Probably Bonzo's kick drum pedal that just needed a little oil. 

I remember the first time I had noticed that "squeak".  I was probably 16 or 17 years old lying on my parents living room floor listening to Zeppelin with the headphones on loud.  The second I heard that squeak for the first time I sat right up and though "holy sh*t", I had never noticed that squeak before, and for some odd reason I was a little excited about it.

I later had mentioned that newly noticed "squeak" to a few of my other die-hard Zep fan friends of mine.  All who looked at me like I was crazy at the time.  Some even while we where listening to the song and I was going "there, did you hear it that time, it was right there"?  None of them ever heard the "squeak". 

How did that "squeak" get there, didn't anyone in the recording studio, or was the magic that was happening right in front of them just too great to stop at the time.  I guess it really doesn't matter the reason, it's there and I still hear it to this day.  Did you hear it? 

I guess what that "squeak" represents to me is the human side of life and music and no one, no matter who they are is ever really all perfect. 

Jeff -- Six Syllable Sin

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5825896372459081502&q=since+i've+been+loving+you+led+zeppelin&total=389&start=
10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

Six Syllable Sin has invaded ReverbNation.  So check us out there also. That is a site dedicated to bands fans and more.  This all started because I was getting tired of the music player that was posted on our site, it was really temperamental so I decided to search for a different player last Friday and one on Reverb Nation caught my eye so that is the one we are using on our home page now.  I hope you all like it, it has a bunch of different features plus it exposes us to the whole Reverb Nation nation plus an added bonus is a FaceBook page which gets us exposure in that arena.  Since this blog is being fed right into our ReverbNation and FaceBook pages I would like to take a moment here to welcome the people reading this from those sites and tell you to check us out on our home site sixsyllablesin.com, which  is going strong.  Its nice to have our own space.  Soon to come though will be Six Syllable Sin MySpace and GarageBand sites to give us yet more exposure.  Links to those will be posted on our home site when they are up and running. 

If you have not already answered the Six Syllable Sin poll questions posted on the news page you should really do so.  There is only about a week left before they change. 

Jeff - Six Syllable Sin