Heather Luttrell

I first heard her voice on the Lynyrd Skynyrd cruise in 2008 and she floored me. She is by far one of the most talented, amazing female singers I've ever heard and she is completely underrated. I'm thankful I didn't see her on Rock Star INXS; that wasn't her true self and if you see her live today, you'd know it instantly.

Heather is venturing out to my town of Columbus, Ohio on July 10th & 11th to perform in a local bar, and she was kind enough to answer a few questions for me. And by the way, she is super sweet, kind and free spirited; there's no doubt you're going to have a good time when this sweet pea is around.

What were the early stages of your musical development like and how did your father and his music influence you?

Well, I was raised in a Bluegrass band called Possumtrot, so there was definitely a large influence from that. My Dad also makes resonator guitars so I grew up with him playing those which is a very distinct sound that in turn I try to work into all of my songs. I learned to harmonize when I worked at Dante’s Down the Hatch as a busser and server. My father and a few of my uncles (from Possumtrot) performed in the solo acoustic section of the restaurant and I would sing along with them as I worked and got better and better at it. Eventually that establishment would be my first gig! My mother raised me on all kinds of music. Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, the Beatles… all types of seventies music. One of my favorite things was to look through all my parents albums at the artwork… oh how I miss vinyl 78s!

What was Heathergrrrl and the Hungover like? What type of music? Anything similar to what you're playing now?

That was my first band. They were terribly talented and totally spoiled me as far as having a back up band. Sean Mcmorris on bass and Mike Roberts on drums. We drank way too much, thus the name. We were a little more rock back then than I am now. Funny thing is I just started working with my first drummer again, Mike Roberts, and he is now my drummer once again!

Who's currently in your band now?

Ralph Luttrell – Resonator Guitar aka Dobro
Walter Hinton – Mandolin, Violin, Viola
Charlie Wooton - Bass
Mike Roberts – Drums

What's it like to be in a band with your father?

It is amazing! We have a genetic harmony that cannot be duplicated. I know whatever I play he is going to completely bring it to another level with what he does. I never have to worry about my Dad because he is simply that good! We do great traveling together. It is so special to have the bond of music that we do! I am the luckiest daughter in the world!

What made you decide to do Rock Star INXS? Was it worth it and did you learn anything?

Um, it was more that I couldn’t believe they wanted me. I think I was one of the few musicians that had a clean background check. It really changed so much; I had to drop of out music for a while to make people forget that I was on it because it made me famous for something I don’t do! I am just now rebuilding. I did learn that music and television don’t mix very well, and what I thought I wanted…I didn’t. I now seek a level of fame that is more comfortable for me. I don’t necessarily want to be some HUGE star. I am just like every other American in that I just want to pay my bills, live humbly and reasonably well by doing what I love and am good at!

If you would have won, do you think it would have been right career move for you?
NO!!!!

Do you keep in contact with any of the contestants?

Yes I went out to visit Ty and Jordis last year in L.A. and I still talk to Suzie now and then. We became a strange little family. Branden and I did some shows together and Mig came to visit me down here in Atlanta.

What other people/muscians/things influence your music?

I am influenced by everthing, from the sound of a ceiling fan to a night out drinkin in a blues bar. I love sounds from nature and situations I tend to get myself into. Life is an amzing thing and you can always find something to draw from.

You've played on the Skynyrd Cruise and the Rock Boat. How did you get hooked up with these gigs? Is there one you prefer? And what do you like most about performing on the cruises?

Well they called me… it was right after Rock Star and might be the only good thing I ever got out of it! I am in love with the Skynyrd Cruise! It is something I look forward to all year long! I love the cruises because you get to be so personal with the fans, and the music is wonderful! Plus, it is a huge party on a boat full of music fans! What could be better! I also have performed on the Cayamo Singer-songwriter cruise.

Any new projects on the horizon?

Always. I am working on the new album, Possumdiva, which should be ready by January 2010!
I am working with some really talented people right now that are bringing out the best in me. And of course I am working hard on my paintings as well!
Work Work Work - that’s me!

Heather will be performing at the High Beck Tavern in Columbus, Ohio on July 10th & 11th from 9pm-11pm both nights. There's no cover! So come on out and come listen to Heather do what she does best! You most certainly won't be disappointed. For more information on Heather or to check out her music, go to http://www.heatherluttrell.com/ or www.myspace.com/heatherluttrell.

Eddie Van Halen Marries

In a ceremony in his backyard on Saturday night, Eddie Van Halen married his long time girlfriend, Janie Liszewski. She walked down the aisle to a string quartet version of Van Halen's "When It's Love." Big Bro, Alex Van Halen, officiated (he's an ordained minister) and son Wolfgang was the best man. Even Valerie Bertinelli was in attendance.

Eddie had a pretty long run the first time around. Here's hoping the second time is even longer.

Congrats!

Don't Hit Your Head on A Ferrari

Although it's old news by now, I still think it's interesting nonetheless. I recently found out that Brad Whitford, guitarist for Aerosmith, was going to miss the first few dates on the Aerosmith tour due to surgery. With the band having a string of bad luck as far as illnesses are concerned, I was saddened to hear this...until I heard why he was having surgery: He hit his head getting out of his Ferrari.

Who knew Ferrari's were made well enough to cause internal bleeding in someone's head? I suppose for the money your paying, it damn well better be made well! Although I'm sad that Whitford was hurt, it kind of made me giggle a little that it was a Ferrari (of all things) that caused his injury. Luckily, the bump didn't knock any sense out of him because he knew to get his head checked once he started having severe headaches. I feel awful that he was hurt so badly from this and I hope Mr. Whitford's surgery went well and hope that he has a speedy recovery so he can get back on tour.

Speaking of Aerosmith, I heard a rumor that they'll be playing all of Toys in the Attic...except for You See Me Crying. Why? Because Steven Tyler can't hit all those notes anymore. Boo. I suppose I respect that decision, if it's true. At least he's not trying to do something he can't. Steven Tyler still kicks ass no matter what.

I'm A Turd

Sorry folks. I'm a turd. I haven't been writing and I apologize. This wedding is consuming every moment of my life right now. The closer it gets...the less time I have to do anything. It's insanity. But it is going to be the biggest, baddest most rock & roll wedding you've ever seen, so I'll have much to report when it's over. You can always check out my rock wedding updates at My Wedding Rocks (not that it's been updated recently, but I'm working on it!).

Also, check out my new post at Hard Rock Hideout about Gene Simmons' stupid urinal cakes. I've lost almost all respect for him after this marketing scheme.

I'm REALLY going to try to update this soon. Until then, enjoy a couple of pics from my 80's rock themed bachelorette party. And yes, I'm wearing a Trixter shirt and I know they're not from the 80's. It was the only concert shirt that I owned that matched my hot pink 4" heels, so shut up. And I love Trixter.

Aerosmith...Phony?

Check out my new post at HardRockHideout!

Jane's Addiction

Technology is a crazy thing. Myspace, Facebook, Twitter...all things I never would have imagined that would connect me to lost friends, family and rock stars. The evolution from one thing to the next has been quite an adventure in itself. First it was Friendster. Then it was the big move to Myspace, and this is when I was introduced to blogs. From there, I discovered Wordpress and then set up shop on Blogger. I heard rumblings about Facebook but was determined not to give into it. But once my friends were on Facebook, I buckled under peer pressure. Then there was all this talk about Twitter, and I said to myself, "That is ridiculous. There is no way I'm going to add another networking site to my list. Nope." But curiosity got the best of me and I had to check it out. I was enthralled by it. I could actually keep up to date on what total and complete strangers were doing. Then I discovered that there were tons of celebrities and rock stars on Twitter and I was hooked. I follow Slash, Sebastian Bach, Ace Frehley, Gene Simmons, Dave Navarro, Ron Jeremy's penis (who's hysterical by the way), along with other comedians, celebrities and other blog writers.

This past Friday, I was sitting in my cubicle in corporate America full of lack of concentration and an extreme urge to check out for the week. To pass some time, I decided to see what was going on in the world of Twitter. I noticed a tweet from Dave Navarro that said, "Columbus? Anyone? Bueller?" Columbus? I live Columbus. What's he talking about? I scrolled down to see what was up, "Giving 2 tickets for the Columbus Jane's show... NOW, first reply goes + a guest." I replied IMMEDIATELY. His next tweet was a reply to me, "DM me your name and I will put you on the list + 1." HOLY SHIT! Dave Navarro just gave me free tickets to his show! Woohoo!!!!!!!!!! Next...find someone to go with me. My fiance couldn't escort me because he had a gig, so I called on my trusty pal Susan to come along for the ride.

The evening started off with pre-drinks at Susan's house along with Susan serenading me with Be My Plus One by an old Hollywood band, Coyote Shivers. Then it was off to the show! Parking was a disaster since there was an event at the hockey arena, a baseball game at the new stadium and this show. As we were making the trek to the venue from our parking spot about 100 miles away, Susan says to me, "I have a feeling about tonight. We're going to have a Susan moment. I can feel it." If anyone knows Susan, they know that the strangest and most random happenings always befall her. Good or bad, I was ready for the Susan moment and the lovely night of good music that was ahead of us.

As we approached will call, I ran into my good friend Amy, the marketing director at the venue. She hooked us up with VIP wristbands, so we could sit inside and chill before the show. I got up to the will call window and slid my ID under the glass partition to retrieve my tickets given to me by Dave Navarro, thank you very much. The attendant slid two tickets and something else back to me. I grabbed everything up and as I'm walking away I noticed the extra: two backstage passes. Susan's intuition was right! Color this girl stunned because if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all; things like this don't happen to me. We giggled like school girls and skipped off to tell Amy and our friends.

Finally, it was show time! Immediately you could feel the power and the excitement rushing through the crowd. Jane's Addiction hasn't toured in years and I never got a chance to see them live, so I didn't know what we were in store for. Honestly, I was so captivated that I can't even tell you what song they opened with. Perry Farrell busted out on stage in a gold lamé suit with a voice that was so dead on that I could swear he was lip synching to an album. Fear not faithful readers, he was absolutely not lip synching; he just sounded that good. Farrell's stage presence is unstoppable and only comparable to Freddy Mercury or Mick Jagger. He's just got a swagger that can't be touched.

The band pounded through their hits, each one making me reminisce about my high school days. I never realized how many amazing bass lines their songs contained until that night, and Dave Navarro's guitar playing was on fire. The show was incredible and impressive. They ended the set with Jane Says (of course), and as the song was ending, it started to rain, which prompted Perry Farrel to say, "We made it rain!" To wait out the downpour, we rushed to the indoor VIP section.

With backstage passes in hand, Susan and I waited with anticipation to see what would happen next in our concert adventure. Amy hooked us up with Jane's Addiction's tour manager, Pete, who was kind enough to get us drinks to keep us hydrated...or get us drunk; I opted for H20 since I was the designated driver. It wasn't too long before Pete brought back two other girls to wait for the after show festivities. Drummer Stephen Perkins rushed in to greet the other two girls and to freak out about a random guy who happened to be on their bus. Dave Navarro entered and headed straight for the other two girls and they all started walking outside. Pete turned and said to us, "Go with them to the bus." I followed orders and started walking with Susan behind me being the good angel on my shoulder, "Ummm...we can't go on the bus." I assured her that I had the situation handled; we're getting on the bus, getting our shot and we're out.

As we entered the world of the Jane's Addiction tour bus, Dave headed directly to the back of the bus with one of the girls. Girl #2 was M.I.A. Meanwhile, Susan and I were left in the front of the bus with Stephen Perkins. We ended up chatting for a while, but things felt a bit awkward, perhaps because we were totally out of place and I couldn't get Dave's attention to save my life. Eventually, Stephen left to get beer and Susan and I were left by ourselves to contemplate how to get the shot and leave the bus.

Dave walked up and entered the bathroom. He came out and went to his bunk and then the girl went into the bathroom. Susan and I locked eyes in a non verbal exchange of words and we both knew what had to be done. I stood up and walked to Dave to introduce myself. Apparently he was trying to change, so I went up front to wait out his wardrobe change. He asked me my name and as I turned around and looked at him, he was standing in his underwear (they were black bikinis if you're wondering) waiting for my answer, "Uhhhh...Christine. Christine Sixx. I won the tickets on Twitter." He finally recalled his little contest from earlier in the day and proceeded to ask me a couple of other questions that I promised to keep between the three of us: me, Susan and Dave. By this time, Dave had made his way over to us to take a picture with me but suddenly, the girl stumbled out of the bathroom. Dave walked over to help her and while his back was turned, Susan snapped a shot that only tabloid paparazzi dream of. I'm frozen in terror that the two may have noticed the flash but they were too busy to care. Dave got her back into the bathroom and walked over to us. Susan took the picture of us and Dave grabbed the camera for approval. As he's telling me that we look great, the girl pops out of the bathroom and starts pulling Dave away to the back of the bus. He waved and told me that he was glad I won the tickets. I pointed to him and told him thanks and have a good time. Then, they disappeared.

Susan and I just stood there and stared at each other in complete and total disbelief. What the hell just happened? What was that whirlwind of insanity? Susan said, "We got the shot." I nodded and said, "Let's get the hell off of this bus." And wouldn't you know it, we couldn't get the damn door open. As we struggled in desperation, Susan found the lights to the driver's area of the bus and at that exact moment I figured out how to unlock the door and we were out like a fat kid in dodge ball. I immediately texted Amy to come get us. On my drive home at 1AM, I got a text. It was from Twitter letting me know that I received a direct message from Dave Navarro, "Good to meet you hun! Glad you made it. XOXO." Needless to say, I almost crapped my pants that I actually got a message from Dave. I responded with, "Thanks SO much. Had a blast. Hope you had a good time. You guys kicked ass!" And Dave replied, "Great to meet you and glad you had fun." Yeah, Dave Navarro sent me messages. How f-ing crazy is that?

That night was probably one of the most exciting and most bizarre rock and roll nights of my entire life. I cannot divulge everything from the evening because I would not want to destroy the journalistic code of ethics...if there even is such a thing. Dave Navarro will surely never read my blog, but I'd hate for him to read it and see his laundry, dirty or clean, posted up all over it. The events of the evening aren't nearly as bad as you're envisioning in your dirty little heads, but they were very interesting to say the least.

Thank you Twitter for a most unusual and eventful evening full of good friends, good music, hot rock stars and interesting stories. Whoever said Twitter was stupid never won free tickets and backstage passes from Dave Navarro. And thanks @DaveNavaroo6767 for hooking this girl up with a night of fun!

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years

Thanks to MetalInjection.net, you can now watch The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years for FREE. That's right...I said FREE. If you haven't seen this movie you MUST watch it now. It's a 80's rock documentary from 1988 by Penelope Spheeris with interviews from Ozzy, Chris Holmes (one of my most favorite parts), Lemmy and MANY others. If you love 80's rock as much as I do, then you must watch this movie. It's f-ing amazing. I only wish I owned a copy.