[unedited so far]
San Antonio rock band Girl in a Coma kicked off CineFestival 2012 by playing their 10 year anniversary gig on 2-25-12 and I was there ! All the way from LA-for that purpose. To tie the attraction between myself and the band to film, recall Como Agua Para Chocolate,* basically I had to go.
Let me explain. I went on a 30 day tear selling eBay stuff and came up with enough to cover airfare, hotels, car rental and tickets; in the end, what sounds like a rich guy thing to do was in fact indie or DIY.
Let me explain. I went on a 30 day tear selling eBay stuff and came up with enough to cover airfare, hotels, car rental and tickets; in the end, what sounds like a rich guy thing to do was in fact indie or DIY.
As soon as I walked toward the front entrance the girls exited a stretch limo and sauntered by me on the sidewalk of Guadalupe St. Damn! Not at the ready with the iPhone-the only camera I brought. Not that I've done it before but I would say it is difficult to not saunter after stepping out of a limo.
The documentary titled Jammin' was 10 times more than I thought it would be. If you think you've seen something like it on Si TV-that's it. Personally I never have so it was all new despite being five years since Jim Mendiola (Echo Park via San Antonio) directed this sorta reality girls bare their souls sorta show. The camera stays with the girls early in their struggle and culminates with the cursory stages of them signing to Blackheart Records, which, for all intents, is later in their struggle. There's some laugh out loud funny moments, some shared frustration /anxiety and eventually some Blackheart bliss.
Just unearthed this 2007 link from SiTV. Click on the GIAC link on that page.
Just unearthed this 2007 link from SiTV. Click on the GIAC link on that page.
There was a question and answer headed by Jim Beal Jr. from the San Antonio Express that touched on some of what the movie showed. Two questions were allowed from the peanut gallery and I got mine in. In retrospect, I think it might have sounded like a staged question but-not so. I asked about how it was playing in front of the huge crowd at Polish Woodstock. Inversely, Jammin' showed them nervously rehearsing in front of Kenny Laguna and Joan Jett.
The girls were animated and funny as they shared the foibles of playing for the first time in front of an estimated crowd size between 300,000 and 500,000. (I read both accounts too). From that point they were aglow as they recounted being the only female performers, the only dark haired and lost without a language to get a few words across. I will forever be known as The Guy From L.A. Who Asked the Polish Woodstock Question at the Documentary. I'm good with that.
The girls were animated and funny as they shared the foibles of playing for the first time in front of an estimated crowd size between 300,000 and 500,000. (I read both accounts too). From that point they were aglow as they recounted being the only female performers, the only dark haired and lost without a language to get a few words across. I will forever be known as The Guy From L.A. Who Asked the Polish Woodstock Question at the Documentary. I'm good with that.
The previous night I was at the Rodeo / Joan Jett show and at one point they brought to center stage a small herd of cattle. The lights were dimmed and they were led around the ring with an overhead spotlight. The announcer stated that it was important to let the cattle be seen in their true element. I thought at that point what a striking metaphor of how I would, the following night, see GIAC in their natural surroundings (San Antonio). I'd much rather be known as the guy in the previous paragraph than the one that compared them to cattle.
Following the documentary in the theater of the Guadalupe Cultural Center, we were escorted to the front railing where the girls would eventually play later that night. The concert only goers were held at bay until the VIPs were in place. Austin guitarist and friend of the band David (dah-veed) Garza opened with a hot little three piece that covered basically any ground they wanted to from psych rockish blues to funk, and wrapped it with a Flaco Jimenez Tejano tribute closing number. According to David, his GIAC connection was that Phannie was once his make-up artist.
The concert that followed was scorching, although the weather was quite the contrary. I was positioned off to the Nina's right on the rail mentioned previously. (see image below-far right, arms crossed) I took out my iPhone every once in a while and jotted down the playlist the best I knew. Coffee and Tea, an iTunes only Exits... outtake song was performed to perfection (for the first time?) as were about a dozen others from all of their releases.
In writing the Girl in a Coma story, as with any punk rooted band, it somehow seems appropriate to write that they rose from the ashes of broken homes on the hard streets of San Antonio to lash out at the establishment. Not so. Not at all. These girls came from loving, nurturing homes and from a town where people just seem to be good. When I search for the answer to the question that burns inside me, Why is this band so good? The answer that results from this trip is that they are up to their elbows in goodness; all they had to do was find a way to cut it into their music and I'll be damned if they didn't do it.
The details of how Phanie and Jenn were out to form a band and thirteen year old Nina offered her wares are well documented. A year ago, before we'd ever heard of GIAC, my wife and youngest daughter and I visited SA to see our son's basic training graduation ceremony from nearby Lackland Air Force base. As part of this trip we visited Market Square near downtown. There were two or three young girls performing traditional Spanish language music to a recorded track in quincenera or prom attire. I prayed Nina never had to bare this indignity and was pleased to find she didn't.
In writing the Girl in a Coma story, as with any punk rooted band, it somehow seems appropriate to write that they rose from the ashes of broken homes on the hard streets of San Antonio to lash out at the establishment. Not so. Not at all. These girls came from loving, nurturing homes and from a town where people just seem to be good. When I search for the answer to the question that burns inside me, Why is this band so good? The answer that results from this trip is that they are up to their elbows in goodness; all they had to do was find a way to cut it into their music and I'll be damned if they didn't do it.
The details of how Phanie and Jenn were out to form a band and thirteen year old Nina offered her wares are well documented. A year ago, before we'd ever heard of GIAC, my wife and youngest daughter and I visited SA to see our son's basic training graduation ceremony from nearby Lackland Air Force base. As part of this trip we visited Market Square near downtown. There were two or three young girls performing traditional Spanish language music to a recorded track in quincenera or prom attire. I prayed Nina never had to bare this indignity and was pleased to find she didn't.
I had twenty or so pages of notes of the journey that I eventually left on the Flyaway bus. My boss said something like this would happen. It will turn up when they clean it, I checked the lost and found but remain faithful tomorrow will see it surface. Once I locate these notes I have some GIAC insights to share from Loy at Hogwild Records, a friend Phil guitar mgr at a local shop and Nina (2) former manager of the band, specifically during the whole 2007 Morrissey thing. A day later I recovered it.
[Saturday morning of CineFest] Phanie set the course via facebook messaging as I took the GIAC/San Antonio Historical Tour covering the record store mentioned above, the site of the now boarded up Sin 13 where they played gig #1, the former Basement now hosting Ru Paul night, swung by El Monte street and shared a few pints plus toasted Johnny Cash's 80th would be birthday with the locals at Martini Ranch where Nina hosts an open mic night when not on tour.
Wrapping this little weekend up is a bittersweet affair. The people of San Antonio were what I wish my native
Los Angelenos all were: kind, considerate, professional and downright nice. From the homeboy looking kid working the gate at AT&T Center to the cowboys I sat near at the rodeo. From the owner of Lisa's Mexican restaurant to the waitress at Henry's Puffy Taco and on and on.
I should add a detail here about the trip. I had to go but my wife certainly didn't and personally I don't think she'd of appreciate it if I'd dragged her along. I think I worded it, "They're sending me to Texas" somehow implying my work was sending me.
To further explain, I saw a documentary at the CineFest titled Granillos:How to Nail a Dictator. One of the underlying stories within the story showed a young Guatemalan girl that went to the rallies with her mother to protest the fact that her father was one of many missing. She grew to be a driven woman, became a lawyer and ultimately prosecuted the men responsible for her father's disappearance. My wife is Guatemalan. Upon my return she asked why I'd gone and I quipped- "To have fun".
It is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
Wrapping this little weekend up is a bittersweet affair. The people of San Antonio were what I wish my native
Los Angelenos all were: kind, considerate, professional and downright nice. From the homeboy looking kid working the gate at AT&T Center to the cowboys I sat near at the rodeo. From the owner of Lisa's Mexican restaurant to the waitress at Henry's Puffy Taco and on and on.
I should add a detail here about the trip. I had to go but my wife certainly didn't and personally I don't think she'd of appreciate it if I'd dragged her along. I think I worded it, "They're sending me to Texas" somehow implying my work was sending me.
To further explain, I saw a documentary at the CineFest titled Granillos:How to Nail a Dictator. One of the underlying stories within the story showed a young Guatemalan girl that went to the rallies with her mother to protest the fact that her father was one of many missing. She grew to be a driven woman, became a lawyer and ultimately prosecuted the men responsible for her father's disappearance. My wife is Guatemalan. Upon my return she asked why I'd gone and I quipped- "To have fun".
It is better to ask for forgiveness than for permission.
Scarcliff Photography has some scorching images on Flicker
The definitive Flicker link. Click on one of the GIAC links within for the compiled group of photos.
The definitive Flicker link. Click on one of the GIAC links within for the compiled group of photos.
* see the iMDB link for six degrees of GIAC separation (Robert Rodriguez)
