Saturday (April 4) was a mellow day. I kicked around the neighborhood, ate at Ponce's, talked to my parents who celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary. By nightfall, I was ready for a big night. I have to admit, I was slightly nervous about seeing The Pheromones at 710 Beach Club. It was their CD release party and it was my first time ever at the bar. There's a whole comfort zone thing that happens when you go to the same places over and over; you become accustomed to door guys giving a hug instead of inspecting I.D., you get used to bartenders knowing your drink and actually being friendly. I don't like to leave the comfort zone very often.
The other part is that I met Craig, bassist for the Pheromones, a while back when Jake invited him to my house for a little after hours hanging out. We have become friends and keep in touch here and there. We went to the G.O.P. show at the Beauty Bar together and he gave me an advance of The Pheromones CD. That was an enlightening night because I said I don't like soul or funk and this was blasphemy to Craig. Being wise beyond his years, he recommended some bands and forced me out of my aural comfort zone. Not only did he open my eyes and ears, but when it came time to listen to The Pheromones CD, I totally got it. Still, I prefer to make nice with bands AFTER I'm sure that I like their music because otherwise it can just be weird.
Jake and I made our way to PB, circled for parking, and marvelled at our surroundings. I honestly don't know if I've ever been to P.B. on a Saturday night. Ever. That seems totally crazy to me, but it's true. There was a huge line at 710 when we got there, with probably 75 people waiting to get in, and another line with about a dozen people who were guestlisted, also waiting to get in. The bar was at capacity and they had to move out a bunch of tables and barstools to allow more people. That took about 20 minutes or so, in which time we made contact with Craig. When they finally allowed the lines to move, Craig walked us in ahead of both lines and made me experience a total rock star moment. It's the little things that get me giddy.
Since it was my first time at 710, the first thing I had to do was assess drink prices and then the stage and lighting. A Corona & shot of Cazadores was $13. youch. I went up toward the front as a band was wrapping up their set. I don't know who they were but they had a Jason Mraz thing going on, even down to the fedora. Jake and I were there for a hit and run, however, so we planned on only sticking around for The Pheromones.
One thing can be said, whatever 710 is doing, they know their crowd. These are people who want to rock out, drink heavily, and dance to a live band. And that they did. The stage is pretty small but it seems to work. I guess my overall verdict is that it would take some serious arm twisting for me to go back there but I appreciate what they're doing for P.B. which isn't exactly known as a hub of live music.
As for The Pheromones, the boys know how to bring it and oh, was it broughten. I was taking pictures, but between constantly flashing lights, getting pushed by Hollywood Tan spokesmodels, and having beers splashed all over me, these were the best I could do.
All in all it was a good night. Like I said, I'm not convinced I'll be back at 710 anytime soon, but to a more important point, I HIGHLY recommend that bands play there to diversify their audience a little bit. The people are there to party (as a verb), the Bros talk smack about bros, and a lot of them are walking home so they are there to get piss drunk, and they have money to burn on drinks & merch.
The next morning I was picked up early in the a.m. and headed out to Las Vegas with my family. A couple things happened along the way. First, they told me we were staying at The Flamingo on the Strip instead of Main Street in Downtown, so I was a little bummed by that because Main Street has a free wi-fi lobby. The other thing was that I was going Twitter happy and about half-way to Vegas, I dropped my phone in the console between the driver & passenger seat and it just stopped working. I was freaking out that I would spend 3 days in Vegas with no phone or internet. Someone shoot me.
I really can't complain, however. We did some shopping, our room was really nice, and I got to spend more time with my niece than I have before. I gave in and paid for wi-fi in the room for a 24 hour period, and that was enough for Johanna and I to watch Wow Wow Wubbzy about 100 times, and also to send the SOS that I would need a new phone. I know people love Vegas, but I'm not really one of them, so I made the best of the time with my family and couldn't wait to get home.
I thought I would chill out when I got back, but on Thursday Todd suggested we hit the Padres day game. I have yet to attend a game this season...in fact, I think I skipped last season entirely, so why not? Unfortunately we had the same plan as other people and by the first pitch, we were told it would still take 45 minutes to reach the ticket office from where we were in line. Lame. Pretty sad, too, considering the attendance that day was around 27,000 people. I wonder how many other people left because of the box office logjam.
We wandered around downtown and decided to see if Abraham was working at The Corner, and thankfully he was. We grubbed. The Corner has got a killer bar menu, so I took some pics of our bucket of fried pickles and the bucket of tater tots:
That was just appetizers...I had the ahi burger which was fresh and delicious and had mountains of diced ahi with just enough kick to require a couple beers to wash it down. From there we wandered to Tivoli for a couple beers, then bussed back to Kensington for some margaritas at Ponce's and called it a day.
Friday rolled around and I realized I had quasi-planned a BBQ with Denver band The Knew. I stocked up on supplies at Costco but by the time 7pm rolled around, everyone was doing different things and it ended up just being a couple friends, the band, and me. The Knew were awesome guys and we headed to The Ken where they were playing with Writer and Tape Deck Mountain. It was a good show with bad lighting, so I just took a few photos of The Knew and I really look forward to getting these guys back in town.
Saturday I decided to have a laid back day in the neighborhood and got a call from Petro that they were hanging out at his place, so I hung out there for the afternoon, then went to Toronado to meet Devin. That night ended up being a bit of a marathon night because after Toronado we went to Bar Pink which was packed way before El Ten Eleven even started. Not feeling the crowd, I suggested Soda Bar where we chilled in a booth while NY Rifles, Lady Vain, and Says Rally played. I don't know which band was which, but this guy was just too awesome to not take a picture of.
And required booth shots with my friends:
Devin took off and I finished the night at the Ken where I caught Incomplete Neighbor and wrapped up another fine week of San Diego livin. I took the next two nights off from music and got some work done, caught up on Hulu, got on a new project and tried to make some steps closer to this big website upgrade we're slowly but surely working on. Next diary I'll pick up from where I've left off.
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