Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Tuesday Recap: Rocky Votolato & Langhorne Slim

I made sure to demand that my mechanic have my car complete by 5:30 so that I could make it in time to see Rocky Votolato at M-Theory. Speaking of M-Theory, you know they've got a label now, right? If you've been under a rock, it's called Hi-Speed Soul. They just re-released the "Karmic" ep from Nada Surf and the new disc from from Swervedriver frontman Adam Franklin. Adam is playing an in-store show on July 18 before his show later that night at the Casbah. Do not sleep on it.

Anyway, Rocky was a little late (a little birdie told me he forget all about it and it wasn't until Eric called from the store that he packed up his guitar and made his way to the store). It didn't really matter, he was there and as usual, he gave the crowd a smattering of new songs from The Brag & Cuss with a couple older ones at the request of people in the audience.

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At the past few in-store appearances in San Diego (he almost always does one when he plays here) he had played solo with his electric guitar. This time it was lovely to hear his newer "country-er" songs on the acoustic.



He played about 8 songs and the crowd seemed pleased. Especially that little girl you can see in the video who earlier was pestering her mom if they were gonna see Rocky Votolato. And she said his name right.

A couple hours later, I was on my way back to the Casbah for the show. Usually I'm a little disappointed when there are only two acts on a bill there but in this case it worked out better for me because it meant a longer Rocky set.

Andrea and I had been trying to remember when Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles had performed here before, and the second they hit the stage, I remembered. They opened for Two Gallants last year. It was the first show after the bar brawl that happened in Houston a few days before that landed Tyson from Two Gallants in the slammer and resulted in the breaking of Paul's heirloom bass. They were just as good this night as before...same high energy, quick playing on the bass and guitar, and seemed to be enjoying themselves on the tour. I like the kinda folky & outlaw country kinda sound.

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It was also nice to find out that both bands had not only arrived on Monday, but that they didn't have to leave until today and they still have the day off aside from an instore by Rocky. It makes such a difference if a band can liquor up and enjoy themselves instead of having to behave and drive off to their next city immediately after a show. I talked to Rocky a little before they played. He asked me what I wanted to hear but since he plays a good selection from his albums, I didn't have an answer. He told me just call out to him later if something came to me. I'm only pointing that out because it came up later.

There really isn't anything I can say about Rocky that I haven't said before...and since I'm SuperFan it's all just gushing anyway but his songs just speak to me. What can I say? Sad music makes me happy.

Anyway, I lagged at getting up front and two tall dudes created a wall in front of me so I did my best to peek over them during the first part of the show. But then one of their girlfriends took off her sweater inadvertantly knocking half my drink all over my chest. I swear I'm gonna start travelling with a damn sippy cup from now on. And of course it happened on a night when I was hoodie free. Anyway, I used it to my advantage and asked if she'd let me in front for a couple songs. So big thanks to her.

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I gave her back her spot and kept moving around trying to shimmy into a better viewing position. There was a guy about 8 feet tall up front, but he went to the bar so I maneuvered forward.
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When he returned I offered him his spot but he said he could see over me just fine. "Yell for Montana, though." So Rocky is nearing the end of his set, I called to him to play "Montana" and he says ok, then someone else yells for him to play "Tinfoil Hats," which he takes as a better suggestion and played instead. The song finished, the mic stand knocked over, he tossed down his harmonica, and tells us he's only gonna play one more because "I'm fucking drunk". While it could've seemed like an asshole thing to do, he was so honest and everyone kept buying him shots throughout the show, so it was endearing that he just came out with it. He also said how he loved playing San Diego and called us the best city to play in, which maybe wasn't 100% true, but when a date gets drunk and tells you he loves you, it's still nice to hear, right?

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So since he cut it short, he skipped The Old Holland and Silver Trees, inserted Tin Foil Hats in their place, then closed the show with Makers.

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Rocky Votolato Setlist, 7/10/07, Casbah

After the show, the bands hung out and I chatted with Paul from Langhorne Slim again and also with Chad for a bit. There was no shortage of "San Diago" and "Whale's Vagina" references going around. I took some pictures with Rocky and Chad (that I will NOT be posting), and Rocky let me take a picture of his new tattoo.

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Ted kicked everone out pretty quickly, so I said my goodbyes and called it a night. Or kinda called it a night. I did stop by the Ken for Karaoke. But really, that's as good as home and calling it a night, right?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hi, i was searching for Rocky Votolato tattoos on google images and stumbled across your page - Rocky's new tattoo, "we kissed a shot of kentucky straight" did he happen to mention if it's from a Jawbreaker song? i love Jawbreaker and Rocky. thanks!