Social Distortion: Mike Ness

  Mike Ness, from Social Distortion was born in 1962 and is the only original member of the band remaining.  He was kicked out of his father's house at 15 and joined the band Easter. In 1978 Ness founded Social Distortion and released the album "Mommy's Little Monster in 1983 and five years later in 1988 the album Prison Bound  was released while Ness was recovering from drug addiction.
  In 1999 Ness started his solor career and released his first solo album called Cheating at Solitaire which expressed his country influences. Another album he released that was country influenced was Under the Influences in 1992.
  Social Distortion recorded a live dvd in 2003 called, Live in Orange County, released in 2004 along with Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll. These were the first recordings with the line up of Mike Ness with lead guitar and vocals, Jonny Wickersham who replaced Dennis Danell on guitar, and Charlie Quintana on drums.
  In 2009 Ness said that Social Distortion would go back in the recording studio in late 2009 or the beginning of 2010 while in an interview with Tarkany! Bad TV. In May of 2009 Mike Ness and Social Distortion played a benefit concert called Rock to Recovery at the House of Blues in Anaheim, California. Before playing Ball and Chain, Mike Ness' son joined him on stage.
  Mike Ness has a wife, Christine Marie and they have two son's Jullian who's now 20 and Johhny who's 15.

Music Legends

  We all know that there are many music legends. Some of the most famous ones are Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Brad Nowell, Sid Vicious, and many more.
  A lot of the deaths were from over dosing, except Kurt Cobain from Nirvana who shot himself in the head on April 5, 1994. Some people still don't believe that he killed himself even though it's been 18 years. I personally think he shot himself. He was doing heroin and had many stomach problems, probably from the drugs, and had so much things going on in his head, he couldn't handle it. I think if he didn't kill himself and was still alive today, Nirvana would be one of the greatest rock bands, but instead Dave Grohl, the drummer and Krist Novoselic, the bassist, carried on with their music careers. Dave is now the lead vocalist for the Foo Fighter, and Krist has formed Sweet 75 and Eyes adrift.
  Jimi Hendrix was an amazing guitarist. He lived from November 7, 1942 until September 18, 1970 and just recently was the 42 anniversary of his death. His death isn't really confirmed yet, but he was found in his hotel room in London, with alcohol and sleeping pills. Some say his cause of death was overdose and inhalation on vomit. He was part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Band of Gypsy's, and Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Before his music career, he got caught stealing cars and had the choice to go to jail or the army and he chose the army and served for a year in 1961. Not long after that his music career started and ended up getting signed because of his rendition on Hey Joe.
  Brad Nowell was the lead singer of Sublime. He lived from February 22, 1968 through May 25, 1996. Sublime wasn't as famous as they are now, back in the 80's. Brad tried to get Sublime famous in more places but ended up dying of a heroin overdose. He passed right before the self titled album came out and now Sublime is very famous. I'd say Nowell still accomplished getting Sublime famous even if he never got a chance to see how famous they are today.
  Sid Vicious was from the band, Sex Pistols. He lived from May 10, 1957 through February 2, 1979. Vicious was the bassist for the Sex Pistols after replacing the former bassist, Glen Matlock. Vicious wasn't a very good bass player, people said he didn't actually know how to play at all. Vicious was also pretty messed up on drugs. One night in 1978, him and his girlfriend, Nancy, were together and they were doing drugs afterwards Sid was accused of stabbing Nancy to death. Sid doesn't remember doing it but ended up going to prison for two months for assault. In 1979 Vicious ended up overdosing on heroin and dying.
  All of these music legends died really young, before they were thirty and if they were still alive today they'd still be great musicians. 
  

Concerts

  I recently went to a concert and I didn't know any of the bands that were playing there, I just went because some of the money went to charity. There were five bands, Elsewhere Road, 3 Way Ricochet, Signal Ahead, Dime Store Novelist, and Stay Wild.
  The opening act was Elsewhere Road and they were a lead vocalist and a pianist. Their songs were very good and her voice was amazing. She did a cover of My Immortal by Evanescence and she did it absolutely perfect, because she sounded a lot like Amy Lee, vocalist for Evanescence. She also sang this song dedicated to her friend who was a firefighter and had passed away, and it was an amazing song and very sad.
  3 Way Ricochet was the second band and also my favorite performance. They're a psycho/rockabilly band and they were made up of an upright bass, guitar and drums. Tommy, the guitarist was amazing at singing and at playing guitar. also, his guitar, was absolutely stunning. At the begging, Tommy stood on Demonica's, the bassists, bass while she was playing it, laid on it's side and he played his guitar, it was awesome. Towards the end, the drummer, Jimmy, and Demonica were playing the bass together, but Jimmy was playing it with his drum sticks, it was really awesome. My favorite song from them was called Strange Condition and before they played it, Tommy said it was for anyone who's ever dated a psychopath, the lyrics and how he sang them went together just perfectly.
  Signal Ahead was more of a laid back band, made up of a lead vocalist/guitarist, drummer and bassist. I really liked their songs, they were very catchy. My favorite lyric from one of there songs was, "Don't let your guard down, she'll rip your heart out." What I got from that is, it's about girls who date guys for certain things other than because they actually like them, and then afterwards, she brakes his heart.
  Dime Store Novelist, the fourth band, won a contest for Rolling Stone magazine, and after watching them perform, I could see why. They were phenominal. The lead vocalist/guitarist, Charles, also played the harmonica! They put on such a good performance. My favorite lyric from them was, "That's a nice badge there officer, but I got things to do." Everyone in The Dime Store Novelist were completely amazing, no doubt about it. After there last song, they threw out bracelets and shirts, it was so cool!
  The final performance of the night was, Stay wild, and they really were wild! They seemed like more of a peace group like, Rise Against. The first song they played was about girls who have gotten raped and the lead vocalist/bassist, Jahiah said he has actually heard women say, "I remember the first time I got raped." and Jihiah said there should never be a first time, and you could tell from the very begging that the whole band was very serious about it, and I thought that was amazing because you don't see a lot of people speak up about things like that everyday. Out of all the bands, they were the wildest and craziest, which is awsome! I loved all there songs. Their drummer, Robby, was amazing. Honestly, he reminded me of Travis Barker, the drummer for Blink-182. He moved his arms so fast and looked so concentrated, I was blown away. If I could get drum lessons from him, I totally would. The guitarist, Nick, was a really great guitar player, and his guitar was beautiful.
  Everyone from all the bands were really nice, I got to meet most of them and get pictures and it was awesome. I diffinetly recommend seeing all of them in concert if you ever get the chance.

Express yourself

  I recently painted my room and thought it would be a good idea to hang up all of my album covers on my wall, because I love music and my room is one place I get to express myself the most. A really good thing about music is you can use it to express yourself, no matter what. If you're having a bad day you can listen to a sad song or any song that describes how you're feeling at the moment. There's all kinds of different songs to listen to that will fit your mood.
  When you go to a party, you'll hear music that makes you want to dance, because I doubt anyone wants to go to a party that has depressing songs playing the whole time, unless that's your thing, then that's cool, but usually people want music you can dance to. When it's the end of the day and you just feel like crap, you might want to listen to some songs that kind of have a sad tone to them like, I Don't Love You by My Chemical Romance, or It's Been a While by Staind. Sometimes listening to your favorite song, gets you through the toughest of days.
  Another way to express yourself with music is band shirts. Most bands design their band shirts differently, for example, Black Veil Brides has a lot of shirts with a picture of the band members on it. Sublime has shirts with their album covers, 3oh!3 has their logo, and Bring Me the Horizon usually has art they did themselves on their shirts. It just depends on the band.
  A lot of people wear band shirts to show off who they listen to, while other people wear band shirts because the art looks cool. In my honest opinion, I think people should wear band shirts if they've listened to the band and like their style and music, but I guess either way the band is getting publicity, so it's not too bad.
  If you want to express yourself with music, or anything, you should be able to, all the time, in every way without letting anything get in the way.