ELDOPA (1332)

ElDopa (1332) - full set from the 2006 December Bastards B-day Bash, which took place in January of 2007 at the Chop Shop (West Oakland). We did two B-day Bash shows that year because of a scheduling conflict with Gilman’s 20th Anniversary weekend the month before. Happy birthday to all the December Bastards out there!

NOISEAR

Noisear - full set from the 2007 UGZ Speed Trials at 924 Gilman

VON IVA

I stumbled across these photos of Von Iva playing a show we booked for them at Gilman in 2007, and it was a reminder that as much as some folks would try to pigeon hole us as grind bookers or doom metal bookers, and maybe most ridiculous of all - 'tough guy hardcore' bookers, UGZ was always about bringing diversity to Gilman's event calendar, and the same went for any other club that allowed us to set up shop for an extended period of time.  

By the way, Von Iva played to a packed house that night, and stole the show!

photos by romorosso

Time Warp: 2007

Check out this short video (very short) from the biggest Gilman show of 2007. It was my first time booking Joel's annual birthday weekend, which I did for a couple of years before handing it off to a fellow booker at some point.  This wasn't even the headliner, it's the last song (a cover) from our co-headliner that night, the Groovie Ghoulies.  Joel and I worked out a good system where he micromanaged one night, and I booked a more over the top version of his show the next night. This was the 'next night', headlined by Gravy Train.

Gilman's 20th Anniversary weekend took place a month prior to this, and the second show of that weekend turned out to be the biggest show of 2006 (at Gilman).  In a very short period of time, Gilman went from a club that was so unwilling to change that volunteers would often make statments at monthly membership meetings like, 'I'd rather we closed our doors for good than raise door prices', or 'If Gilman can't survive having 50 person shows, then maybe it's time to let it die', to a collective that was constantly looking forward, and eager to approve any changes that would allow Gilman to continue on long after most of us had moved on.