Monsters of Rock Cruise 2016 – Monsterwood

by Erik Tweedy
– Columnist —

Back in 2012, the fine folks at Chelsey Productions, began the Monsters of Rock cruise series with a great lineup based around some of the more popular, and still touring, bands from the ‘80s such as Tesla, Cinderella, Firehouse, Stryper, Y&T and many more. Fast forward to October 2016 and we are already on the 6th incarnation of this massive fan friendly event. Now being produced by On the Blue Productions, Monsterwood, as it is affectionately known, brought out another stellar lineup featuring a ship ton of Glam and Sunset Strip sleaze as it sailed out of the Los Angeles California harbor.

With over 35 bands/artists performing on the ship and at multiple pre-cruise parties before and after the cruise, the casual music fan may have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of shows. I am sure you are familiar with the term “Survival of the Fittest.” That’s what a Rock and Roll vacation is like on one of these Monsters of Rock cruises. It’s all about pacing. Most of the bands play at least twice and this year there were, even more, bands playing with additional shows after the cruise as the legendary Hollywood hotspot the Cathouse tied in their promotion of their 30th anniversary with the Monsterwood cruise.

Our motley crew of 10 touched down in Hollywood on Wednesday afternoon with eyes wide open and ready for reckless abandon. What’s the first thing to do when kicking off a rock and roll vacation in Hollywood? Hit Canter’s Deli on Fairfax of course. This hometown delicatessen has been around for over 50 years and is the landmark diner where the boys from Guns and Roses used to hang out in the early years and is still a great place to catch the strip bands grabbing a bite, and the Reuben is the shizzle. After spending our first night chillaxing by the pool with a few drinks and some more great food at a friend’s house in the Hollywood Hills, it was time to kick things up a notch as the first pre-cruise party was set to sail Thursday night at the Lucky Strike Bowling Alley. Yes, nothing says Rock and Roll like a good game of bowling. The Lucky Strike is really a rock club that has a bowling alley or maybe it is a bowling alley with a rock club. Either way, it was a great party. With a very limited number of tickets available, the cruisers that were lucky enough to get in were treated to performances by Paradise Kitty (GNR tribute), The London Quireboys and Ack, an all-star tribute to Ace Frehley. The tie in with the bowling alley was used as a fundraiser where cruisers could donate to a charity and bowl with musicians and other musical celebrities such as the one and only Eddie Trunk, who is not a good bowler. This was a lot of fun and a great way for some of the fans to mingle up close with the musicians and just hangout in a great atmosphere. As always, the London Quireboys were awesome and the ACK band had too many members to mention them all, but it was pretty much a who’s who of Sunset Strip survivors in the L.A. area such as Izzy Presley, Gilby Clarke, Howie Simon, Sean McNabb, Ace Von Johnson, Johnny Martin, Chad Stewart, Jacob Bunton and many more all paying tribute to Ace Frehley as they ripped through 90 minutes of Kiss classics and songs from Frehley’s numerous solo efforts.