#41 Downtown L.A. on 8-12-2010

This show was supposed to be at an artspace downtown. The night before the show we were informed that the building owner did not want a show to occur, so lots of scrambling took place to have it moved.

The new place was the bottom floor of another building, one that already had its own art and vendors. So, the 'stage' was located just inside the door, and art was squeezed in wherever it could fit. If I'm correct there were 3 separate fresh-baked cookie vendors, which is probably 2 too many for one small cramped location. There was no power to most of the building, and the one working outlet was behind the DJ, and we were told not to use it. Instead, we got our power from a gas-powered generator, rented from Home Depot. There were 2 people who were in charge of the event, but it was difficult to get things answered resolutely. I decided to assume the 'stage manager' role, just to make sure everything went well, at least regarding the live music.

We had parked a couple blocks from the venue, so we had to roll our gear down the street.

The first band was Stepfather, and I made sure things were set up as well as possible, with monitors, etc. I was reminded how long setting up sound equipment takes. Stepfather were in the middle of what might have been their 3rd song when one of the coordinators said the music had to stop. Apparently a man playing acoustic Spanish guitar had to play NOW. Bands would be permitted to resume after 9:30, and could "play as long as they want." I rushed in to tell the singer before they started up again, and he was less than pleased. He yelled into the mic, "We're done, come see us at a real venue. Fuck you." And then he stormed out. I was bummed.

So, Spanish guitar man played his set in front of the DJ table, and it was time for us to play.

We were in the middle of our set and a trio of colorful dancers came to the front and danced for a song or two. It was amusing at first, but I started to worry that they were going to dance between us and the audience for the rest of the show. They didn't.

After us was Vanaprasta, who we invited to be a part of the show. They started to play, and were stopped almost immediately by the coordinator, the one who made Stepfather stop. She was worried about the noise and cops, as it was now after 10 pm. I was outside for this, but when I found out I was pretty annoyed. We were told playing wouldn't be an issue after 9:30. So, we closed the doors, and this coordinator went on and on about the complications of having moved the show, and running the event, and worrying about the cops coming any minute. Michael and I did our best to continue talking to her so Vanaprasta could finish. We succeeded.

I was quite relieved, and had pulled of some kind of show. In fact, I must have handled something somewhat correctly, as the singer from Stepfather has invited us to play a show at his gallery. And another guy who saw us play offerred us a show as well.