THE SA ROCKS BLOG: Girl In A Coma's 10th Anniversary Show, Saturday Feb. 25th

THE SA ROCKS BLOG: Girl In A Coma's 10th Anniversary Show, Saturday Feb. 25th

Girl In A Coma: Just A Band

Yeah right.
I just returned from the Echoplex in Echo Park and sit here trying to convince myself that I didn't just see the best rock and roll band in my 53 years. Somewhere in these pages is an incomplete list of bands/artists I've seen and I don't recall seeing any three times (Levitt Pavilion, open for Go-Gos and this). Right now I'm scratching my head wondering why everyone else doesn't get it.

The new record, Exits and All the Rest is a stunning piece of work worthy of a certain award whose nominees were recently posted. The set they performed covered about 85% of Exits and they didn't disappoint with a few from their previous releases. I small talked with a friend of the band at the swag table and she confided the set list has been adhered to for the entire tour. Songs have a way or morphing when a band takes them on the road but in their case most were true to the recording. The lone exception, Adjust may have taken a few steps toward becoming more bluesy.

Mini highlight of the night I got to chat for a few with bassist Jenn prior to going on. She was personable and appreciative, I confessed to her that I thought was  as excited about the future of this band as I expected she was. If it were another topic it would be safe to say I was on fire about the band. 

Funny story, I went with my eighteen year old and two friends of hers who never heard the band before. We drove from the Valley to the site and stepping out of the car I asked my daughter, You have the tickets-right? A few choice expletives later we were back in the car speeding home. Grab the tickets, back in the car after a stretch and zip to the concert. We missed the Blackheart Records label mate opener but saw the Dead Ships and another B-52's / Pearl Harbor and the Explosions like band that had me pacing.

The crowd was as mixed as one might see in Los Angeles at a typical 18 + night spot. We all packed toward the stage when the headliners came on.  Bobbing and swaying to song after song as well as an occasional group jump when the song warranted it.  Phannie and Jenn provided a killer back beat for Nina to perform her vocal assaults and  her guitar work was superb as well.

I'm afraid this is the last small venue performance I will see of these girls. I laugh when I see the ticket prices at less than the price of a cup of beer at a Dodger game. They play tomorrow night in Santa Ana which just might be about as far as the there and back X's 2 trip we did for this show. The sound system played an early Police song when the show was over that made me recall a time in 1979 when I saw them at the Palladium prior to their mass appeal. 

These are my grand daughters working it to Adjust. I commented at one point on the GIAC fb page (along with the video) that these girls, due to the fact their biological father is an idiot and deadbeat dad, are growing up without him in their lives. They went through a period where they wondered if he'd come to visit that weekend and be obviously periled when he didn't. Well, they've Adjusted. I think that's what the song is about??

Some great images captured here.

2011 San Fernando Valley Veterans Day Parade

Knowing first hand that it is difficult to take  pictures of a parade when you are in it, here are many I took from my vantage point just south of  Richie Valens Park:

This next shot has my friend Frank (Desert Storm) centered unbeknownst to him.

On the spot ad libbing the announcers dubbed this, "a vet in a 'Vette"

Previously mentioned my friend across the street- looks like he made me in the following shot

Under the canopy across the street were the announcers for this area; as volunteers you say stuff like "Bless their hearts-they're trying." I almost swallowed my tongue when one of them said "Corpse-men" and called a cargo plane an "aircraft carrier". The other funny thing was the Dodgers Dream Foundation will open the freshly made over fields behind where the pictures are being taken. There will be a children's fundamentals clinic. The announcers said, "There's going to be a clinic too-come get yourself checked out."