In this tough economy, many clubs are hanging on financially by the skin of their teeth, and some venerable ones such as Moz Buddha Lounge have had to close shop. This has reduced the number of gigs available to bands, and put substantial pressure on them to draw huge, free-spending crowds. Rather than get stressed out about it, we'd prefer to have fun playing gigs and in pursuit of our favorite hobby. Going forward, the band will spread out its gigs at the various venues, return to some of its earlier dive bar haunts, and hopefully reconnect with the fans who found some venues too expensive for a night out. Who can turn down a bucket of beers for a few dollars?

Also, going forward, the band will explore whether it makes sense to add a 4th member. The current three members have been playing the VC cover band scene for a decade and, despite always adding new material, the band is thinking it may be time for a change. There are many great songs that can't adequately be covered with just guitar, bass and drums, and so over the next few months the band plans to explore whether an additional vocalist/keyboard player would add enough value to the band to add a 4th member to its well-oiled machinery. It's difficult for any band to get along; many end within a year of being started.  So IRM is understandably wary about introducing a potentially divisive element into the trio, but if it makes for a more fun gig, then it would be worthwhile. Keep an eye out in the next few months as the band experiments with other performers and see where that leads. Finally, if anyone reading this knows of a talented male tenor or other dynamic potential front person that might be interested in a few fun gigs a month, have the person contact the band through this website.

IRM continues to enjoy the opportunity to perform at great venues for people who are looking for a fun time. Downtown Ventura continues to be a happening hotspot for party people and, as long as a band can string a few good tunes together, it's difficult to have a bad night playing at W2O or Good Bar. Carp continues to be a fun little excursion for the band, who by this point, knows many of the townies who show up at the every other month gigs. Finally, Camarillo is slowly coming to life and IRM has recently enjoyed a few decent gigs at JJ Brewskys.

Anyone who has ever played an instrument knows that it's easy to start a band. All you need is to find some others to fill out the band and then determine what tunes to play. The difficult part occurs after the initial success of playing your first few gigs in front of friends and family. Can you generate a crowd after your friends and family have seen quite enough of you? Can you get along with your bandmates over the long term? IRM has seen it's share of bands arrive on the local music scene with a big splash, generating a big crowd or two for initial gigs. Then, 99 times out of 100, the band doesn't survive past 6-12 months with the original lineup, if they survive at all. In this regard, IRM is extremely grateful that they have been able to stick by each other for more than 10 years of sweaty rehearsals, good/bad gigs, repetitive load ins & tired load outs, turnover of venue personnel/ownership, media hostility to "cover bands", conflict over repertoire, chipped teeth from mic stands being knocked by flailing dancers, intoxicated patrons requesting songs as band members sing, lame one liners and rim shots, Scott's unwavering conviction that he alone is always right, Maggi's unwavering conviction that she must inform Ruben/Scott about everything they need to improve, and Ruben's unwavering conviction that the band should dress in matching attire. (Ruben must have been a mariachi in a past life). But mostly, IRM is extremely grateful to all of the people who have filled gig venues, spending their hard-earned cash while enjoying a few timely tunes for those with the textured taste. Really, don't you all have something better to do? Well, we are very glad that you apparently don't and look forward to raising a glass with you again.

The next week IRM headed back to It's All Good in downtown Ventura. This monthly gig has been getting better-and-better as the crowd has been filling the venue earlier and staying late. No dancing midget this time but IRM's #1 fan danced up a storm regardless and kept the crowd entertained almost as much. If you haven't checked out the expressive dancing that sometimes occurs at IRM gigs at Good, you haven't seen anything yet. IRM's next gig at Good should be a great one, the annual Halloween party. Plan your costume now and party the night before the little kids go trick-or-treating on Sunday.

The final gig of the triple-bagger was at Watermark's W20. The place was packed from the first song forward as many people who had attended the earlier Beer Festival in downtown Ventura were still in the mood to party. IRM handed out at least 4 pairs of signature thong underwear to women celebrating their birthdays and serenaded them with the Bday song. IRM's next gig at W2O will be sometime in November.

Three things in particular made Saturday night one to remember but we can't talk about one of them in a family publication. The two that we can talk about is the midget who burst into the club with a posse of attractive blondes and proceeded to put on a break-dancing show on Good's dance floor. It's good to see someone so comfortable with themselves and up for having the best time possible. We're not going to say that he is the most talented breakdancer that we've seen at a gig but he was hands-down the most entertaining. IRM would like to hire this guy to appear at all of it's gigs! A bunch of people were taking video of the scene and, if you are reading this and have some video, please send it to the band so we can post on this site. The second thing that was great was the quantity of beautiful young people ("eye candy" for the married folk) in attendance at the gig. In particular, there were a few young ladies that were interesting to look at and one in particular had a spectacular blue dress and more-than-a-handful bosom. It was enough to distract Ruben's wandering eyes and inspire his dreams about motor-boating the pair like in "Wedding Crashers."

The Saturday night gig at The Palms was a little different. The place was already packed when the band was setting up and the crowd was prepped for a good time. As soon as IRM belted out a few songs, the "dinner set music" idea went out the window and patrons crowded the dance floor to get their boogie on. The crowd stayed large and IRM stayed in charge over the hours until finally closing down the last of the drunks at 1:15am. We're not going to mention the unfortunate incident involving a young lady who consumed too much alcohol and eventually sent it back out of the hole that it entered her body. Luckily, IRM was on a break during it's second and third set and didn't see the projectile enter the purse and cover the shoes. That cleared out the dance floor for a while, but the club quickly cleaned things up and shortly thereafter a new bar patron sat exactly where the incident occurred and had no idea. Carp is a fun town and IRM looks forward to playing at The Palms every few months or so.

To the jerk(s) who broke into Ruben's garage last week and stole his drum equipment and Bose sound system, all we can say is a pox on you. If you are a male, or males, we hope your scrotum gets inflamed with infectious disease until your penis turns black and has to be surgically removed. If you a female, let's be honest, some jerk male probably put you up to the minor crime spree (you broke into 5 garages that night) and we hope the foregoing happens to him as well. For everyone else, if you see a gray drumset with IRM's bass drum logo (come on, most petty thieves are not high school graduates and can be much dumber than portrayed on TV) please alert any member of IRM so we can recover the stolen property. Same goes for our world class $3000 Bose soundsystem. If you see someone who doesn't look like they can afford a high tech Bose system, they probably can't and we would like to have an opportunity to talk to the person.