Monday 1.24.2011

One of the aspects of L.A. life which was totally new to me was the concept of food trucks. I have yet to venture to one, but some of the most popular seem to be Kogi's (Korean BBQ tacos/burritos), Coolhaus (ice cream sandwiches), Sweetcakes (cupcakes on the go) and a grilled cheese truck (known for one with macaroni n' cheese and bbq rib meat). They aren't for the faint of heart! (or health conscious) You follow them on twitter and whenever they reach a new location, they update their coordinates. Still a very new (but interesting) concept....I might have to venture to one soon for fun!

Yesterday I found out about a show at the Whiskey-A-Go Go on the Sunset strip.  This famous venue is known for being the birthplace of many bands. The Doors were once the house band. Many British bands played their first shows in the area here including Led Zeppelin, Cream and the Monkees.  I found that they were having a show for a band called Camp Freddy. This band is a conglomeration of members from different bands (Dave Navarro of Red Hot Chili Peppers/Jane's Addiction, Chris Chaney of Jane's Addiction, Matt Sorum of Guns n' Roses, etc) They only play locally and often invite other famous musicians to cover each other's songs.  The only way to get tickets were to go down and pick them up at the Whiskey.

After a run around Silver Lake I ventured down to Hollywood. You had to go up to the offices above the venue which was neat -- lots of music history happened up there. I got my ticket. While I was in the area I decided to explore Book Soup, a local bookstore I had seen. I always like to have an independent bookstore that I enjoy to go browse. In Lexington, I have Joseph-Beth. In Denver, I have the Boulder Bookstore and the Tattered Cover. Now, in Hollywood, I have Book Soup.  They had quite a wide variety in the store itself, as well as 1000s of magazines outside on the newstand. I'll definitely be back! I also ventured to Amoeba Records to browse a bit more. They're the largest independent record store in the world, carrying 250,000 titles at any given time (heaven!) They were setting up for an in-store performance from Iron & Wine.  I ventured home to have dinner and get ready for the show.

The show was really fun. Definitely the loudest/hardest rocking show I've been to since I got to LA. There were only maybe 200 people there (between the two floors) which was neat. I've been really impressed at the intimacy of some of these really famous venues in Hollywood. Definitely a nice environment to see bands. The venues also tend to be very nice and clean (compared to some in Denver that were more run-down). There were two opening bands.

Headcat finally started which I was looking forward to. Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead sings. He's good friends with Dave Grohl and has performed with him. He also played with Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats) and Danny B Harvey.  They're known as a rockabilly supergroup and were really fun. They played some original songs, songs from each of their respective groups and some covers including "Not Fade Away" and "Crossroads."

Then Camp Freddy came out.  They played a lot of covers including "War Pigs," "Whole Lotta Love," and "Highway to Hell."Some of their guests including Jason Bonham (John Bonham's son who played with LedZep during their reunion show), Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row), and B. Real of Cypress Hill. In the past they've had Ozzy Osbourne, members of the Stones, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, etc.