I just got to see the most punk show I’ve ever seen. This past weekend I saw the Murder Junkies at The Foundry in Lakewood, OH (just outside of Cleveland).

We took our time getting to the club—there were 6 opening bands. The Murder Junkies merch table was right inside the door, and Merle Allin was there working it like a boss. I went up and shook his hand, told him that I appreciate him, and that it was my first Murder Junkies show. I’ve been talking with him and buying stuff from him on Facebook for a while now, and he recognized who I was. He was very cool. Here’s the thing about Merle: he’s really nice, and surprisingly normal. Why is it so surprising? He’s the brother of GG Allin . . . enough said, haha.

We ordered burgers from the bar (which were amazing), had some beers and sat through the opening bands. I went up to the bar to get another beer, and there was Murder Junkies drummer Dino Sex. I went up next to him and said, “Dino!” I shook his hand, and he smiled at me. I offered to buy him a beer, but he said, “No, I play sober, or else I’d f**k everything up.” I felt like I could have talked to him for a while, but I didn’t want to interrupt what seemed to be a very peaceful moment for the man.

We hung out for hours, and finally the final opening band finished. That’s when I really started getting excited. During the final opening band, Dino was pacing around the room nonstop. We went up closer to the stage and enjoyed the insanity of the Murder Junkies. They were the best sounding band of the night, and also had the most talent and obvious tenure in the scene.

I was initially surprised that Dino didn’t perform naked@mdash;he was in boxers. But then I realized it was an all-ages show, and there were at least two girls there who might have been 12 years old at the most. I’m sure legal considerations were discussed. However, at the end of the show, the young girls were hurried out as Dino performed his traditional end-of-show antics. If you don’t know what they are, I’m not going to tell you. Look it up.

I can’t wait to see them again.

I shot a couple pics and videos on my phone, but I really wasn’t concerned with doing that kind of thing. Most of the night, I was just enjoying the show. Check out what I got: a pic of the full band, and a pic of Dino during his end-of-set drum solo (which rocked). I also posted a video with a couple clips: a snippet of their opening song “17 Dead,” and a few minutes of the aforementioned drum solo.

Last Saturday, I got to see Michale Graves with my friends Misfitboy and Thera at Peabody’s in Cleveland. As usual, I shot lots of video. First of all, you’ll see a fantastic young death metal band Silver Skull perform on the Pirate’s Cove stage; then you’ll see the great Pittsburgh punk band The Cheats; and finally, you’ll see Michale Graves with his new sweet lineup. Enjoy.

I shot these clips on three different devices . . . a GoPro Hero2, a Nikon CoolPix, and my Droid X2 phone. The sound quality varies among the different clips because of this.

It was my second show in the past week at Stage AE, and the crowd was completely different than the Megadeth/Rob Zombie one. I’ve seen Primus/Les Claypool many, many times, and the performance was fantastic as always. I was surprised to hear “Wynona” again — they surprised me with that song in the encore of their show here last October — but there were no big surprises with any of the other songs they played. One of the things I did like is that Les played “Over the Falls” on his Michael Kelly Bayou 4 Resonator Bass, as opposed to the upright he normally uses.

The opening bands were fantastic! The Dead Kenny G’s (the first two pictures below) went on first, and sounded great. The saxophonist, Skerik, is always amazing, and it was a crazy beautiful creative sound experience. I had never heard of the next band, Gogol Bordello. Wow, were they a lot of fun, with amazing energy and presence. They’re described as Gypsy Punk, which is completely fitting. They threw an amazing party. I’m now a fan.

Again, video and photos I took on my point-and-shoot.

On May 16, 2012, I was one of those lucky people to get to go see the Megadeth – Rob Zombie show in Pittsburgh. It’s the first time that I’ve been to the outdoor stage at Stage AE (I went to see Primus on their indoor stage last October). While I’ve seen Rob Zombie countless times — both as White Zombie and Rob Zombie — this is the first time I’ve seen Megadeth, and I’m glad I did.

The only weak part of the show was the opening band, Lacuna Coil. I couldn’t have cared less about them, and their music was very bland. Then Dave Mustaine brought up the girl who sings for a duet rendition of Et Tu Le Monde, which would have been much better without her.

Other than that, the show rocked. I shot videos on my point-and-shoot camera, and also took a ton of pictures. Enjoy.