West Coast Memories: LA

LA was a hard market to break into. The first few times, we played a club called The Troubadour. Cool vibey spot with lots of great history, but the crowd, many years ago, was not impressed with our improvisational style. We got more than a few blank stares. It was hard to get it going when the crowd was not into it.

But all that has changed and now we have a great connection with the fans there. The Hulaween 2002 show was off the hook. It was our “Academummy Awards” that year. We did a “Dead Rock Stars”-themed show. Each band member sang a song from one of the many deceased rock stars in history. I sang “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. I remember searching for the perfect mustard-colored cardigan sweater and trying to get the wig to fit just right. It was fun to try to emulate Kurt’s mumbled lyrics, and standing at the front of stage like all the cool guitar guys was awesome. Overall, as far as theme shows go this was one of our better forays.

But the highlight for me was talking about psychedelics with Rod Roddy, from The Price Is Right, back stage. Sounds like he lived a long and adventurous life. Long live Roddy!

I’m ready to rock LA again. Hope to see ya there.

Kyle