…am I dreaming?

I’ve lived in Los Angeles for many years, and spent hundreds of nights at The Mint on Pico Blvd. This night was, perhaps, the craziest, most sold-out, mash-up of a show I’ve ever seen, much less performed in. By the time it was over, I was exhausted, thrilled, and confused.

Marquee at The Mint

Who knows how these bills come together? Lowen and Navarro opened the show with a nice long set. L&N are an acoustic duo who got their start in the 1980’s writing great songs. As most of you know, Eric Lowen has A.L.S. and uses a rather sophisticated wheel chair to move onto the stage. The venue was already packed with fans - a number of which also appeared to be dealing with A.L.S. and using elaborate computer communication systems. The vibe and soul in the room was overwhelming…and they closed their set with the monster hit they penned for Pat Benatar, We Belong . Not a dry eye in the house.

Then local heros Stonehoney did their set of expertly crafted country rock. Shawn, Dave, Phil and the rest of the guys have decided to make a move to Texas, so the show was a goodbye to LA of sorts. It is so rare to find bands with one guy who can really sing, and they have 4 strong voices. They are, to my knowledge, the only band working the west coast today who commits to 3 and 4 part harmony in almost every song. It’s smooth, classy and a joy to behold.

Next it was me, GL and The Supermodels. I had decided to hold off doing any live dates until the new record was finished. This opportunity fell in our laps, and we couldn’t turn it down…but let’s just say we have our studio legs these days and not our live legs. The band was tight, and Tony, Larry, and Josh did an knock-out job. The problem was with me.

I went to Spain in December, then to London and got sick with some sort of sinus infection. Came home, thought I kicked it and boom - got sick again with another sort of head cold. Needless to say, this DESTROYS your voice. In fact, there is a 3 or 4 day lag effect. When you first feel bad you can sing like a bird. Then after you’ve recovered physically your voice is still dealing with the swelling from the drainage.

Too much detail for you?

Anywho, we rocked, we got through without incident and a good time was had by all.

Finally Relentless7 came up - Ben Harper’s new band/sideproject. I’ve been a fan of his usual music for some time, and always had great respect for him as a player.

He is, in fact, one of the best lap steel players working today. This band is also full of some MOFO musicians. Most notably the drummer, Jordan Richardson is worth the price of admission.The music is harder than Ben’s solo stuff…driving, frantic, very close to hard rock. This band is really making a go of it, with East coast dates and a trip to Australia. Check it out.

Needless to say. Quite a night for us… Here’s hoping we have many more just like it!