Monday Night Casbah: People Like Free Shit

I was floored last night by the Camel promotion at the Casbah. Doors opened at 9pm, a line wrapped down the block while people were given a free ticket to The Faint show on Dec 6 at 4th and B. If you are a smoker, you were also given a pack of cigarettes. (Is that really still legal?) Unfortunately, even non-smokers were taking packs for friends which involves about 3 minutes of the vendors scanning your license, asking questions, e-mail addy, etc. This did not make the line go faster.

Andrea and I arrived at 9:26 not expecting the turnout to be so high. We got in line and hung out, with probably 50 people ahead of us. I figured if I motivated to leave the house, use the gas to get there, I'm at least gonna catch a free show. Andrew, the security guard informed the line at around 10 that the club was at capacity, as people left we would be let in but no tickets or cigs were guaranteed. Many people left the line at that point, but we stuck it out. A friend who works there let us jump the line just to get into the show but we found Lyn Chickrawker in the ticket/cig line who let us cut. Let me say, I have a problem with cutting, I don't do it and don't let people do it with me under most circumstances. However, once we were merged in line, it became apparent that part of the logistical problem was that people were getting tickets and then jumping back in line to get a second ticket, and bragging about it. The Camel girls only had 2 license scanners and the line wound through the smoking area so it was chaos.

We completely missed Buddy Akai. We escaped to the Atari Lounge where there was space and oxygen and chilled there for a while. Tender Buttons were onstage and showing on the closed circuit television at the back bar, but since it was black and white, I couldn't make out what I was looking at, so I went to the front to check out the band. There's a guy with a black mask over his eyes and a girl. I have no idea what instruments were being played vs what was coming from a computer or synthesizer, I just couldn't see...but it was noisy, industrial, screechy and not my thing at all. Later we saw Jason and he said they were the first band he ever saw at the Casbah and he loves them, so go figure...even among my best friends what we like is a million miles apart.

Finally Grand Ole Party started. At first it was a little loud but brought down enough to tolerable by the second song. I forgot to mention that a couple weeks ago Andrea and I went to the opening of the press shop in North Park (and got there awkwardly early when it was only family and close friends of the owners) but had a chance to talk to Kristen and John Paul of GOP who convinced us to stay and have some beers and food, even though we couldn't stay for the performance (because I had friends in town). They told us that they decided on moving to San Diego from San Francisco because of the lively local scene here, that it's near impossible to get gigs in SF if you're not on a label, and that it was close and logistically relatively easy to do. I'm glad they're a part of the scene here and I have to credit them with good marketing strategy...holding out for good shows, playing only once or twice a month, giving CDs out when they're reaching a new audience. If they get signed, which seems inevitable to me, it will not be solely their talent but the legwork they are doing to make an impact in this town. Congrats to them for getting the opening slot this weekend at the Troubadour with the Elected and Margot and the Nuclear So and So's.

We lasted until 11:30 or so and then I raced home to see Michael Richards' apology about his racist rant on the Late Show. If any lesson can be learned (besides NOT being publicly bigotted) is that at anytime, anywhere, someone could be taking pictures, video, writing about anything ANYBODY does. So stop picking your nose in public and keep your racist rants to yourself.