The Van Halen show in Atlanta was incredible. The band was tight. Alex Van Halen was a monster on drums, David Lee was fantastic (though he does look a bit like a space alien or something with that big plastic smile of his)
I was most impressed with Eddie Van Halen.
The guy played some of the most difficult guitar parts (at least for me) and did it EFFORTLESSLY. I’m talking some bad ass lead parts….super fast picking, impossible false harmonics, tapping…and he would just throw his head back, smile and rip them out like nothing.
It was also real interesting to watch his hands. They had lots of closeups of his hands while he played on the big screen and what caught my attention was the fact that on several parts that I THOUGHT were tapped, he actually just did these HUGE impossible spreads across the fingerboard and played them "normal".  That was just amazing to me.
It was a very cool thing to hear all those old songs raised back up and played again. I was a junior in high school when that very first Van Halen album came out. And I admit that I was just a little bit teary eyed as I watched them play.
The "newest" music that was played was from the album "1984", but damn it all sounded fresh to me. I guess because it’s been over 24 years since David Lee Roth has been onstage with Eddie Van Halen to do it right.
I’m hoping that they do a new album after this tour is finally over.

Hey gang! Just got back from 3 days in Las Vegas.
"What were you doing in Vegas Robbie?" , you may ask. 
I was house hunting! Put in an offer on a fat house with a pool that is just incredible. Big slide, grotto, waterfall…swwwweeeeettttt.
And yes, that means that I am leaving South Carolina very soon. I miss the nightlife of a bigger city. I first came to South Carolina from Ft. Lauderdale/Miami…and boy was that a culture shock! LOL!
Then I moved to Atlanta for a while before ending back up in South Caroina.
But at the beginning of this year I realized that I’m wasting my life sitting around here watching the Kudzu grow. I’m not getting any younger and I need to fulfill whatever destiny I have.
Plus I got sick and fucking tired of never having anywhere to go when I wanted to go out and have a good time. And that doesn’t even count the fact that in South Carolina….Jesus doesn’t like us to drink on Sunday. What a joke!
So I decided to move to Vegas baby! 24 hours, 7 days a week. Entertainment can be had everywhere. Crowds are everywhere. You can do as you please. It’s almost like having freedom or something.
Now here’s some other news…this weekend on May 11th I’ll be shooting down to Atlanta to check out Van Halen! YES!!!!!
I can’t wait! This is gonna be a blast!
Oh well, I’ve written enough.
When we finally get the closing on our house in Vegas we’ll be taking off into the sunset. I’m handing the keys to South Carolina over to my friend Kenny Swanger. Kenny, be sure to shut the lights off when you leave buddy.

The town of Clover, SC will never be the same again!  After playing the club Friday and Saturday April 25 & 26th we stirred up controversy…changed a few guys lives, and just had a great time. Big crowd showed up on Friday night all waiting to see Claudia. Jess, the owner of the club had told me that people were going nuts for us to get there as soon as he put out the pictures.
Seems like everybody wanted to see two very big things…I wonder what? LOL!
On Saturday, the club had a big cancer benefit. We came in and did a 3 p.m. show for free to donate our time to a good cause.
Saturday night was completely off the hook.
Drinking, music, boobies, and everybody having a great time.
Thanks Jess & Theresa for having us out.
It was a lot of fun. And Claudia and I practiced everyday for a week ahead of time as it was our first gig as a 2 piece unit. The practice was very boring as always, but the good thing that came out of it was it got both of our voices in top shape and we both sang better than we ever have in TPT.
The crowd response was just phenomenal as well. Surprised me, as I was unsure if we were going to sound good and/or be accepted as a two-piece.
We actually ended up sounding better and tighter. With all the practice ahead of time and both of us determined to kick some ass, I guess we had the motivation to do it right.
I think I’m gonna do some more gigs as a two-piece now. It was great fun and felt good.

Get ready! Cause here we come!
Just like the Phoenix rising from the ashes…Trailer Park Trash rises up to do it ONE MORE TIME baby!
Friday and Saturday nights April 25th and 26th are gonna be BIG in Clover S.C.    Claudia’s BIG boobs are gonna hold court, Robbie’s BIG guitar sound is gonna wail….

So come on out. I’m excited! Are you?

Hey everybody. There is a cool "rockumentary" coming out of The Stones playing the Beacon Theater in N.Y.C. at a special concert for Bill Clinton’s birthday party. It’s directed by Martin Scorcese, who as far as I know hasn’t filmed a live band since he directed "The Last Waltz"   This looks pretty good! Here is the trailer:    http://www.rollingstones.com/shinealight/

Well…I’ve spent countless days with the damn flu.  Yes, I took a flu shot to make sure this wouldn’t happen. And of course this years flu mutated right before it got to the U.S. and the shot was useless.
Bottom line is we won’t be playing at Chris’s Bar & Grill on the 22nd after all. Sorry.

Well…it’s the end of an era. And we took it out in style. We had a HUGE crowd both Friday and Saturday nights at Under The Moon! Biggest crowds I’ve ever played for at that club. It was sweet!
Matter of fact our last 3 gigs had the biggest crowds we’ve drawn at Chris’s, Rascals, and now Under The Moon.
Tony is now off to play on a cruise ship and open a new chapter in his life. Congrats to Tony.
Tony and I first started playing together 13 years ago. My friend Mike Shaw brought him out to see me playing in The Oath at a Greenville nightclub called DeWalkers. I hired him on as our keyboardist as we were moving away from playing mostly metal to playing more commercial style rock music that required keys.
In a bit of irony…Mike Shaw is also the person who is "taking him away"   LOL!  Mike has been playing on cruise ships for the last couple of years.
I would love to go with them too. But I have too many business and personal responsibilities to do so. So my friend Joey Jackson got the nod and IF he can stay out of jail, he might be able to do something with what’s left of his life. Maybe. If he can break the pattern of losing.
Maybe this will be his turning point as well.
Good luck Tony! We’ll always be brothers.
In the next couple of days I hope to put up some video footage of our final performance with Tony right here on the site. So watch for it.

Well, we left Laurens after playing for the biggest crowd we have drawn at Rascals.  Both Friday and Saturday nights were packed and Al and Kathy treated us like gold as always.
The people in attendance were witness to the historic event of what may possibly have been the last performance ever of Tony Gardo in Laurens, SC   And what a weekend it was!
Friday night we were scared to death. We had a big crowd and it just kept getting bigger. Unfortunately, Claudia had people buying her shot after shot and by the time we started our second set she was wasted! After the end of the set Claudia informed me that she was too drunk to continue and wasn’t gonna be able to even walk out of the joint, much less perform!
Things were looking bad for us. Meanwhile the club just kept packing in more people! I found myself in the double-edged sword position of drawing our biggest crowd in Laurens…and at the same time facing the prospect of Claudia not being able to perform with half the night still to go.
It was time for "tough love". And after some screaming and yelling in the dressing room…and several big glasses of hot coffee…Claudia rose up, sobered up and we kicked ass! Even Claudia was surprised. She didn’t think it could be done, but as I’ve often told her: She is capable of a LOT more than she realizes.
Saturday night we went to the club on a mission. A mission to see just how good we could sing, play, and entertain. The drinking was moved to the back burner. And I can honestly say we played and performed better than ever before. It felt real, real good. And normally Saturday nights are real slow at Rascals. But we had a big crowd from the first set. And by closing time they were having to throw people out as quickly as they could to avoid legal trouble with being open too late.
Next up?
Friday and Saturday nights Feb. 1st and 2nd at Under The Moon on Wade Hampton Blvd.  These will be the FINAL shows with the legendary Tony Gardo on saxophone and keyboards so don’t miss your last chance!

The Countdown Is On!  Tony Gardo is only a couple of weeks away from leaving the upstate and heading down to Ft. Lauderdale to board a cruise ship and head out on the open seas! 4 more nights of actually being onstage with TPT here in the upstate.
So get your asses out and see THE MAN in person before he sails away to find fame and fortune!
This weekend…RASCALS BAR & GRILL in Laurens  Friday and Saturday nights.  Quite possibly the last time that the long-haired, keyboard playing, saxophone blowing legend will be in the big city of Laurens, SC  So don’t miss this historical weekend!

Wow! We had the biggest crowd that we’ve ever had at Chris’ Bar & Grill on Friday Jan. 18th.  Gotta admit I was exhausted though. I flew in from Las Vegas on Wed. night right into a snowstorm and had to rent a car in Atlanta and drive through the snow at night because the connecting flight from Atlanta to GSP was cancelled because of the weather.

Next up is Rascals Bar & Grill in Laurens, SC on Friday and Sat. Jan. 25 & 26     So come on out and see us!

Now for some big news: I’ve kept this under my hat for 2 months now, and I alluded to it in an earlier post. All the affected parties have now been informed so there is no longer any need for me to keep this secret:
Tony will be leaving at the beginning of Feb. to play 8 weeks onboard a cruise ship!  I’m excited for him and proud of him too. It’s gonna be a great experience and a much-needed  bit of good luck and just plain old fun. Tony has had it pretty rough for a few years now and he’s gonna have a blast doing this as well as make a lot of money. He deserves both.

Of course when Tony comes back we’ll still be here if he wants to play. But I’m hoping that he is able to turn this into a permanent thing for himself. Playing on a cruise ship seven days a week and going to exotic ports and making good money is TEN THOUSAND times better than playing little clubs in S.C. on the weekends and making next to nothing.

So come on out over the next two weeks and get to see Tony Gardo in what may be his final S.C. dates for a long time.