Sometimes you've just gotta get out with friends when there's no destination. Such was last night for me. Andrea and I fully intended to head to the Casbah for the Melvins, but everything else seemed a little more enticing than a sold out Casbah show.
The night started for me at the Jewel Box, where I had parked my car, had a cocktail, and was picked up by my mom to head to December Nights. We ditched the idea of riding the tram, and instead parked in the northernmost point of the San Diego High lot, crossed the walking bridge and were in Balboa Park in no time at all. It was crowded, which was to be expected, but whoever it is that plans the whole thing, particularly the "Taste of San Diego" area, should be fired immediately. How many freaking years do they have to do this to get it right? The lines were insane, people waited in line for food not realizing they had to buy tickets, and the vendors gave choices, leaving people retarded as they decided what they wanted. If I had it my way, every vendor would have one plate, like L&L Hawaiian Barbeque, with a sampling of their food and you walk up and grab what you need, give your ticket and are on your way. Vendors of merch would be spaced with the food vendors and the lines wouldn't collide. Ushers would be mobilized to make sure assholes weren't creating their own second line as they were at almost every line, but especially Pampas Argentinian Grill. Ricockulous.
I hung out with Dave and Adam for a bit in that area, then met back with my family and headed to the Natural History Museum, which was already closed by 9 pm. Again, lame. Andrea met us there, we hung out with some friends, then headed back to the cars.
Andrea and I ended up checking out some art thing which I won't really mention because the art did nothing for me and the pretentious crowd was like an indie crowd who read 944 like it's the bible. Barf. There was some party next door but we felt out of place and headed on.
We stopped in at Laurel to see Sweet Will behind the bar. We had a couple drinks, some free fries since they'd run out of the appetizer Andrea ordered, and listened to the faux riche talk about their fabulous lives. "Did I tell you were taking the helicopter to LA next week?" Still, it was a nice atmosphere and we scored some free champagne that would've gone flat overnight and had to be poured. People left, leaving 3/4 full bottles of Voss and half full bottles of wine. Must be nice, I guess.
From there, time was creeping up, so at 11:30-ish, we headed to the secret bar which I am not to name here. Kelly Duley was serving and despite the Steely Dan on the jukebox, it was a good time. It was pretty packed, which is easy to do since it probably has like a 20 person capacity, but by 1, I was ready to get back to my neighborhood so I could be walking distance from home.
I said goodbye and made the Ken Club for last call. The bands were over but I had a good talk with Brett about bands and the local scene. He believes there need to be more large drawing "headliner" local bands. He considers GOP and Transfer, but that's pretty much it. So tell me, San Diego, is that true? Or are there local bands that you see that always pull a crowd? I wanna hear what you think about it all.
Anyway, Shiloh and Jason met me at the bar and we came to my house and drank cheap vodka and watched a movie until I decided to crawl into bed and they were on their way. A good night in San Diego, albeit without live music...and sometimes you just need that.
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