Sadie's Bringing the '90s back this Halloween at The Loving Touch

Last month we announced that Sadie from Hip In Detroit would be taking the stage as Courtney Love from Hole with a new lineup of musicians this Halloween. The party is happening this Friday and we wanted to remind all of you to pull out your best '90s gear and head out to The Loving Touch. Broadzilla with Erin Elvis will be performing as L7, Bahamut with Megan Frye from Ciccerelli will be performing as White Zombie, Sadie and Friends will be performing as Hole, and Woodpeckers from Mars will be performing as Faith No More. 

Doors for the show are at 9 p.m., music will start around 9:30, and it is only $5 to get in. If you're having a hard time figuring out what you are going to wear, we wanted to give you some suggestions. Here are some great examples of the super fresh styles that we rocked in the '90s.

Get your costumes together and will see you on Friday!

~S

A Very '90s Halloween at The Loving Touch

Flier Designed by Monster Free Design

I have always been a music fan, but until last year I had never dared to think that I could perform. I have always been a huge Courtney Love fan and dreamed of pretending I was her on stage one day.  When Creepy Cheapy came along a few years ago I started to become obsessed with the idea of performing as Hole during the party and last year Destroy This Place gave me the opportunity to do so. It was by far one of the best days of my life. I have literally been pretending I was Courtney in my mirror since I was in 6th grade, it was surreal to do it in real life. During the set I ripped my dress off, smeared my makeup everywhere and even crowd surfed. The feeling of being on stage is something that I cannot describe. It's harder than I could have ever imagined and more fun than I ever thought it could be. Cover bands are the best way to get a group of people together to mutually reminisce about music that we all love. So, naturally I had to find a way to do it one more time.

I am so excited to announce that this year the '90s will be taking over The Loving Touch for Halloween.  I have gotten together some of the best musicians in town to cover some of the coolest bands from that era. The lineup includes Holes as Hole, Woodpeckers from Mars as Faith No More, Bahamut as White Zombie, and Broadzilla with Erin  Elvis as L7.

Holes is made up of Rachel May from Broadzilla, Bryce Carrol-Coe (guitar god who was formally of Flashclash), Val from My Pal Val, and Sadie from hipindetroit.com. We will be playing with the same lineup as the original Hole, three ladies and one sexy male. Woodpeckers from Mars a.k.a. Faith No More is made up of Jeff Tuttle, Mark Paul, Dan Gillies, Chris McEvoy, Jeff Porter. This tribute band features current members of Old Gods, The Meatmen, and Golden Torso (also former Dillinger Escape Plan, Kylesa, Chapstik). White Zombie will consist of Terry Peake, Matt Moy, and Matt Clark from Bahamut with Megan Frye from Ciccarelli. L7 consists of the ladies of Broadzilla with Detroit bad ass Erin Elvis.

The lineup is solid, the theme is '90s, which means if you do not want to wear a costume just come in your best '90s get up. Think baby doll dresses, plaid, and Doc Martens. We are only charging $5 to get in the door and we  promise that you will have a good time. So, if you would like to see me embarrass myself and channel Courtney Love, here is your chance. I know that I can only do it one more time and I promise that this time will be bigger and better. I am really looking forward to seeing all of these bands and I hope that you will consider taking a step back into the '90s and spending your Halloween with us.

The Loving Touch is located at 22634 Woodward in Ferndale. To keep up with this event you can add it on Facebook here.

~S

See White Shag Unplugged!

Back in the '90s I was obsessed with MTV’s Unplugged. Do you remember watching bands like Nirvana, Hole, The Cure, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Kiss, Alice and Chains, and Oasis strip down and play their hits as raw as possible? I have been finding those performances online and re-watching them. Unplugged was an innovative idea that was ahead of its time. It gave you a chance to look at the music from a different perspective and to be able to see the artists for the songwriters and performers that they truly were.

Local artist Audra Kubat has started inviting bands to come into Union Street and play unplugged versions of their music. She has already had Eddie Baranek of The Sights and Troy Gregory in to perform. This week she has invited rockers White Shag to come on in and perform. Jorge and Laura will be playing an acoustic versions of their songs and some select covers. This will give fans a chance to see the band in a whole new light.

The show starts at 9 p.m. this Tuesday, July 29th. The show goes through midnight and it is FREE to attend the performance. The bar will also be featuring $2 Michigan pints on tap. Union Street is located at 4145 Woodward in Detroit. Very cool idea, we look forward to seeing who else Audra brings in!

~S

Creepy Cheapy

When I was younger I fell in love with a woman named Courtney Love. I fantasized about what it would be like to be her, to be married to Kurt Cobain, singing, writing, and touring on Lollapalooza, and generally being the most badass girl in rock and roll. I sat in my room and screamed out the lyrics to Live Through This on a near daily basis. My brother can literally sing "Miss World" because he heard me sing it so many times, he wouldn't be happy to admit that. I always wondered what it would be like to do my version of Courtney in front of a crowd, but I never dreamed I would get the opportunity to do so.

At Hip In Detroit's one year celebration I got the chance to sing "Violet" with Destroy This Place at the end of their set. It was by far one of the coolest moments I have had since we started this website. Who knew that it would open up the opportunity to actually perform as Hole at this year's Creepy Cheapy at The Crofoot. That's right kids, I will be joining Destroy This Place this Friday, October 25th on the stage and doing a set as my idol. I can't wait to do this, I've been practicing for months. But, there's one thing I need to make this dream a true reality, I need a crowd there screaming along with me! I need everyone of you to bust out Live Through This and give yourself a quick refresher of the lyrics. Let's make this one big 90s tribute to the queen of grunge! But, unfortunately for me the show is not all about me.there's also a lot of other great cover bands playing.

This year's lineup also features members of the Grande Nationals as Motley Crue, Search The City as Jimmy Eat World, Chase Morris as Ludacris, The Hounds Below as Pavement, Lord Scrummage as Ween, Flint Eastwood as The Ramones, El Dee as No Doubt, and many, many more. For a full list of acts go here.

The best part about Creepy Cheapy is that tickets are only $5 for a regular or $10 for the enhanced ticket. The enhanced ticket gets you quicker access to the show. If you've been there before you know that the line can get long very quickly. In fact, I think the show was completely sold out by 10 o'clock last year, so you may want to think about starting your night earlier than you're used to or risk the chance of not being able to get in on the fun. Throw on whatever costume you want get there early and let's party!

~S

Courtney Love - Still the Queen of Rock and Roll

This past Friday the queen of rock 'n roll came to Detroit and played the Motor City Casino. There were no openers, just Courtney Love and five guys you've never seen before playing songs from everything including Live Through This, Celebrity Skin, Pretty on the Inside, and the solo album. Having seen Hole in the past I was not sure what to expect of this solo tour, I figured whether it was a train wreck or a triumph I was in for a treat. The fact that I got to shoot photos only sweetened the experience and fulfilled a childhood dream.


She opened the set with "Miss World", a song I heard for the first time in 6th grade. Her loud wailing scream was just as solid as it was 20 years ago, maybe even stronger. She looked like Courtney Love- older, a little rougher around the edges but just as blonde and red lipped as she ever was. She even changed into a baby doll slip dress for the encore at the end of the night. There is something about her that is frozen in time in the best way. She talked to the crowd a lot and even commented that this was an older group then she is used to performing for. She invited a lot of her fans to sit on stage with her and threw roses out at others. She even smoked cigarettes on stage, which infuriated the security team at the casino. She brought the perfect amount of lady-like charm and punk rock rebellion to the stage and reminded me what so many of the shows I have seen lately are missing- rock stars.
 
Rock stars get on stage and take over a room. They engage their fans and give them a show. They don't need dancers, to spend thousands of dollars on props, or even fancy clothes when they preform. Rock stars get on stage and entertain you with their words, movements and their songs. Courtney Love doesn't need Hole and she doesn't need you. Courtney Love can entertain with very little effort because Courtney Love is a rock star, today, tomorrow and forever. I am very much looking forward to the new single and what the future holds for her.

~S

The Coolest & Most Embarassing Moment of Sadie's Life

There are some moments in life that change you forever. This story is about two of them.

When I was about 10-11 years old, I was walking home with three girls from school and we were talking about music on the radio that we liked. They discussed the quality of Boyz II Men and other popular acts at the time while I listened. I turned to my 'best friend' at the time and said that I heard a cool song on the radio that I liked. I sang her a few words from the song and she turned to me and said, “That is weird music for weird people. Don't listen to that stuff, it will make you a freak.” 

A few weeks later my family moved away from that neighborhood and I started middle school in a new area with new people. I had bought myself three CDs over that summer that included Green Day's Dookie, The Offspring's Smash, and the record that changed my life, Hole's Live Through This.

I sat in my room and screamed out the lyrics with Courtney Love at the top of my lungs. I even learned how to play "Miss World" on the bass and I dreamed of being a blonde on stage in front of people screaming. I wore hand me down fur coats, ripped tights, smeared lipstick and more barrettes than I would like to admit on a daily basis for quite a few years. Courtney Love was my hero. 

That same school year I met a girl named Christie Laabs because we had the same pair of black and white Airwalks on the first week of school. She became my best friend and we spent every day listening to music, going to shows and obsessing over bands. I have essentially spent almost 20 years wondering what it would be like to get on stage and pretend I was Courtney Love for a day. 

Flash forward to February 1, 2013. At the end of Destroy This Place's set, they asked me to come up and perform with them. The drums kicked in, the guitars blared and I got to scream out the words “And the sky was made of amethyst, and all the stars look just like little fish...", at the top of my lungs, officially making myself the weirdo freak that I always wanted to be. 

I share this story and this video with you not because I think I did a great job, in fact this video is embarrassing. I share this with you because I want people to know that you can do anything that you set your mind too. Singing at a show in front of people was a bucket list item that I get to cross off, I cannot thank Destroy This Place enough for asking me to do this with them. I can't thank the audience enough for letting me do this. I want people to know that no matter how big or small your dream is, if you keep wishing, you will get there. You can start a cool website, you can get on stage and sing and you can make your dreams come true. I put on my best baby doll dress, my prettiest fur and I screamed like I had never screamed before.

So without further ado, this is one of the most embarrassing moments of my life and I am so happy to share it with all of you. Thirteen year old, punk rock Sadie, this ones for you.

~S

"Hit So Hard"

The first time I heard the words “I am the girl you know can’t look you in the eye” my life changed I walked home from school and asked a fellow classmate if she liked that song because I had heard it on the radio that morning and she said, “that kind of music is for weird people”. That comment and those lyrics changed my life. Not only did I want to listen to this weird music even more but I needed to learn more about the people behind it.

Hole is my favorite band. Yep really, Hole is my favorite band. The story that surrounds Courtney Love, grunge, Kurt Cobain and the 90’s has always fascinated me. I have watched all of the documentaries, About a Son, Kurt and Courtney, and I have studied MTV Unplugged for a sign of what was behind the man that created so much of the music that I love. I realize now, 20 years later, the story has already been told. Kurt died at 27 years old and Nirvana will live on forever as a symbol of what grunge was to the nineties. But, when he died it did not mean that the era ended. It simply meant that it changed. Those that were around Kurt, including his band mates, friends, and the people he lived with, still had to move on with life and learn to live in a world where grunge became part of pop culture and Kurt became the icon of a generation of confused kids.

Patty Schemel was one of those people in the inner circle during this time in history. She was almost the drummer for Nirvana but instead became the backbone of Hole. She joined the band in 1992, lived with Kurt and Courtney during the birth of their daughter and the writing of "In Utero" and went on the famous "Live Through This" tour with Hole shortly after Kurt’s death. She moved in with her friends late in 1992 and she began filming her life, not for any particular reason, but because she had a little money and thought that carrying a camera around and filming what her and friends did would be fun. She took at home, personal videos of the Cobain’s playing with Francis, of herself high on drugs and of the roller coaster life that it was being a drug addict in a band that was really, really famous. 

"Hit so Hard - The Life & Near Death Story of Patty Schemel" is not a new look at the story of grunge and the Cobain’s, but instead a look at the life of someone who had to pick herself up and move on when one of her best friends killed himself at 27 years old. A life of someone who was asked not to play drums on the live recording of Celebrity Skin and could not deal with the pressure that put on her. The life of a recovering addict who took years to kick the demon’s that haunted her and find her place in this world.

Here is the trailer for the movie:

I really enjoyed this documentary and wanted to share it with you. Put this in your Netflix cue and give it a watch. It made me remember the way I felt when I looked at these people 20 years ago. My heroes were not perfect, but dammit, they changed the world and music as we know it forever. 

~S