Long-Overdue Update: Elviss Simmons

I have gone far too long without updating this journal, and definitely want to catch up with it before my whirlwind traveling summer kicks in (much of which is music-related) and I'm bouncing back and forth between this blog and my travel blog. I'll be as succinct as my long-winded writing style will allow.

The biggest reason I haven't updated this blog is because I've been putting off writing about ELVISS, and didn't want to forge any further ahead until I'd properly done it justice. I don't think that will ever happen now, though, so I'd better just update you all on what's happened. We officially disbanded in February, but haven't actually played a show since August 6th. Here are some photos from that last show:

ELVISS at Harper's in Tarzana, August 6th, 2011

Bernie. <3

 Horn section! L-R Stefan (the legendary pirate returned from the East Coast for this show!), Loren, Matt, Ali, and myself.

Ali and I rocking our saxes up front, with a great shot including Bernie <3.

The ladies.

A little alto for some ska action.

I really like this shot.

Mid-air guitar.

 Bernie and Gary <3.

On August 14th, we lost our guitarist Bernie Corrigan to a freak accident, and instead of playing our next show on August 19, we went to his funeral. It was a beautiful service on a beautiful day, and we managed to scrounge up enough video footage from our wild shenanigans and half-finished music videos to put together a great montage for everyone to laugh and remember him - I was next to Ali, another horn player in the band, and we were both laughing and crying so hard it was impossible to tell which we were doing. His wife Beth (also in the band) was amazing - poised, strong, full of love and determination. He left so much good behind him. We all miss him terribly.

 

Bernie Corrigan, guitar extraordinaire.

Santa Monica Soulstice show.

Backstage at the Hollywood (Sunset Strip) House of Blues.

Loren and Bernie at weekly rehearsal, summer 2011.

 

What a freaking badass.

After a few months, we started to attempt to piece our band back together, but were continually hit with a barrage of new complications including additional members moving away (our bassist Davis and his wife Jesse, another singer - and, eventually, Beth - moved to Vegas) and employment complications that eventually lead to it being impossible to keep the group together.

Just before the accident, we'd had contact with a serious contractor in Vegas. It's crazy to think that right now, I could be weekending in Sin City in a successful rock band... but it wasn't meant to be.

Some more photos of my more personal experience in the band:

 Bucket List dream item fulfilled: perform a rock show at the House of Blues.

 House of Blues, Sunset Strip, Hollywood.

 Our awesome poster.

My lithograph - we hung our individual banners at a few shows.

Probably the BriXton in Redondo Beach - they had us play quite frequently.

I got to share this ridiculous experience with my ridiculous boyfriend. We are a ridiculous couple.

"In The Ghetto" rock flute solo. Because why not?

 Our first show ever - at the famous Whiskey A Go Go on the Sunset Strip, Hollywood, CA

I will never be completely happy with how this entry turns out, but I need to just get it out there, so, here goes nothing, I'm finally just posting it.

We did sort of have one more show - the BriXton in Redondo Beach, where we played many a dive show, gave us their 2nd stage to host a Memorial Bender for Bernie. There is far too much going on in this entry already, but here is the Flickr album from that night: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtashalocke/sets/72157627889653714/ It was nice to see everyone, and felt good to play together again.

Here are some fun videos to close out this amazing chapter of my life. Gary, I cannot thank you enough for welcoming me into this ridiculous world of yours. I will treasure these last few years with you and every other solidly fantastic human being I've had the pleasure of playing some pretty damn kick-ass music with forever.

ELVISS SIMMONS, THE MOVIE (The Who, What, Where, When, and Why of ELVISS)

Studio recording of our go-to show opener, "Rock and Roll All Night" (recorded before I joined the band)

"Cold Gin" at the Anaheim House of Blues, March 2011. Great video of on-stage dynamics.

 

"Burning Love", complete with typical "shtick" banter beforehand. Love Bernie sososo much. The band sounds great in this video.

One of my favorite videos, of "God of Thunder" at the Santa Monica Soulfest June 2011 - the sound quality is absolutely god-awful (you can't even hear the bass), but you can hear me rocking the bari pretty hard, and I'm right next to Bernie. And you can see Elviss's silly antics. And my friends Laura and Kelsea make a cameo appearance dancing near the end.

Our typical show closer, "Memphis Rock City" - at a Galaxy show, opening for Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo tribute)... song actually starts at 1:25. You can hear/see me pretty clearly, bouncing back and forth between the horn section and Davis (bass). And, Bernie comes over at the end to rock out on his guitar solo on our side of the stage, and just looks badass in general as always.