Pioneertown, California 2006. One of the wildest, most lonesome, and transformative years of my life. Every step I took was one into tumultuous peaks and valleys of what still stand as the absolute best and worst times I’ve ever experienced. I wanted out of the slow rolling lulls of complacency that Virginia dealt. And boy did I ever get it. My heart is still trapped in a vacuum of the ashes in a place called Joshua Tree.
In honor of missing one of my all time favorite artists tonight on his first solo tour in ages because I got fucked out of a requested night off. Although I have had the luxury of seeing him perform with everyone from QOTSA to the Twilight Singers numerous times, including covering his own material with the aforementioned band at House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard, even bumping into him at a Ralph’s in Burbank while buying myself a case of beer because I’d just gotten fired from my job, and last but certainly not least; seeing Joshua Homme and Chris Goss, aka The 5:15’ers, cover a song of his off Bubblegum at the Echplex back in 2006. I was likely standing not three feet from whomever filmed this video, and I keep listening to see if I can hear myself singing along. Because that’s what I did, at full volume. Brilliant goddamned song off a brilliant goddamned record, one of those I tend to wear out during times of great duress, or when I’ve allowed another woman to rip me apart. Salut.
Tonight @ Jewish Mother Backstage in Norfolk:
The Mirrors
Strangers Family Band
…and Spindrift
8:30pm, $8.
My desert dreams return and I cannot wait to see them. This will probably be my eleventh or twelfth time seeing Spindrift, and they’ve always floored me with their brand of psychedelic spaghetti western hoobajoo. I first saw them by chance, wandering into The Echo in Los Angeles with a friend on a weeknight in 2006. I’d just gotten on a plane and showed up in LA with nothing more than a suitcase, guitar, and $150. It was maybe my first or second month in town, and a dear friend, who’s guesthouse I was occupying in Laurel Canyon, was taking me out to shows and giving me the lay of the land. We wandered in and began talking to one of her friends, but the band that was playing completed distracted me from the conversation. I was transfixed. I’d never seen anything like it and I just stood there with my jaw wide open. From that moment on I saw them every time I could. From the upstairs bar at the Roxy, to the divey oasis/Mojave desert saloon known as Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. One of those bands that just changed everything for me, permanently(that and they shared drummers with another band that changed everything - The Warlocks). Come out and see some of Los Angeles’ finest!
