worth it for a wednesday

I took the day off work to help a friend set up for a show that I'll go to check out tonight. It's been months of helping her nitpick design aspects and setting up the space at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. I spent the morning doing laundry and having good conversation. Reluctantly concluding that I meandered to the west side and set up the booth. That took a couple hours of tweaking details then over to Shutters Hotel on the beach for noshes and expensive scotch while staring at a mostly empty beach on a sunny warm day.

CA Boom 3 - The West Coast Independent Design Show!

Setting up that booth was an exercise that my mind hasn't done in a while. I'm almost gay when it comes to interior design. I have an eye for it. I was getting tiny details worked out with it and we moved things endlessly as theres alot of money to be made. and it was mentally, really stimulating. not many things better for me than sitting and talking design with other designers.

Bounced back to the valley to fold laundry and walk the dog and wait for oyie to roll home so we could go try to get into king king smack in the heart of hollywood. We got there with a smallish crowd before 9pm with no tickets in pocket. There were two lines and we got at the end of a shortish "i gots no ticket line." The drummer for Earlimart came out and we chatted it up with him about general playing and how they did at south by southwest in austin. Asked him to put us on the guest list and he stared at me giving me neither a hell no or a hell yes. Cool guy, he looks like jesus. really he does kinda. We got into the line and over the next hour and 45 mins we watched the moron (at this time) of a bouncer bungle admittance for tons of people. There seemed to be about a thousand people on "the list." Thats the thing about hollywood is theres this list. I've never actually seen one, it's usually just a couple promoters that wave, point and talk on the their treo's. But every good hipster, bad art fag, dirty musician, and homeless elves seemed to be on this "list" and zipped right by us. People gave up as the ticketless line kept growing and so did the list line but it got to us at the front of the former for about 25 minutes and finally when Penn Gillette (bouncer) kinda organized the line, he looked and us and let us in. Scene was packed. The venue was the size of a car mechanics garage and tastefully set up and open. We grabbed a drink and i got a cup of knob creek with a shot of coke. it was gasoline served by one of the best looking female bartenders I have ever seen. And the Band of Horses came on. Heard a couple tracks oyie sent me and they were good. Live, they were excellent. Excellent. We saw a ton of writers getting in rolling stone to industry insiders and apparently they were there to see them. Lead singer had some of the most beautiful guitars I had ever seen. Big as whale of a Gretsch. I love those guitars and someday when i have the a small fortune to blow on a sick guitar I'll be in the market for one. They really really did kick ass, enough for me to buy the album at the venue. People watching between songs oyie looks to our left and who's standing about 10 ft from us is Meg FREAKIN White!!! I said god damn god damn! Mighta been the drummer for the yeah yeah yeahs with her with a nasty long pubic cat stevens beard, but i can't be sure cause that beard was nasty. But A) she's plain, B)she's tall, C)She's very graceful, and D) her boobs are pretty damn big. For the most part she was left alone and i wasn't gonna be the fanboy and go bug her. She's the type of person that wants to go out and see a good band and get out of there, and thats exactly what she did. I think I commented on the vibe of this show a few times during. One of the strangest feelings i've had musically but it was a damn good feeling knowing that we got in without ever going presale. Earlimart came on at about 1120-ish and played a damn loud and energetic set which is different as not all their music is that pulsing, but it was. The crowd thinned out after midnight and the other band mingled and people were smashed hammered drunk as evident by the couple behind us that just as well mighta been playing drinking jenga and been on round 15 of it. it ended we bounced quick, grabbed some of the del taco and got home to rip the album for the pod as quick as possible. Friggin awesome day. awesome. Priviledged in every aspect of it even the fuckin laundry.

Tonight I go to the caboom show for free ($40 ticket) and open bar and gnoshes. There is going to be some obscenely sick amounts of money and contracts given at this thing as it's one of the biggest interior design shows on the west coast with some of the best designers, so i'm jazzed. I need a 4 pak of redbull as 3.25 hours of sleep may not cut it.

Did i also mention that was my 4th show in 9 days? First really good one tho, so streak is broken. And stereolab is Tuesday at the Fonda!!! Might check out another one this weekend if the sister keeps avoiding me and I don't go up there. So fellow music junkies I'm lacking in seeing the same people at all these shows, what the fuck!?! Get out there!