Re-Discovering the Sunset Strip: Viper Room, Trip Two (Part 2 of 3)
Second trip to the Sunset Strip. Viper Room.
Re-Experience. This is part two of the Sunset Strip re-experience.
Off to See: Tommy Peacock, Automatique, The Mulhollands, The Shakers.
For Super Bowl Sunday I hung out with some friends. Most of us were cheering for the New Orleans Saints. I’m a Pittsburgh Steelers fan so I wasn’t cheering for the Saints because I was all happy to see them win the Super Bowl. Obviously, I’d so much rather see the Steelers winning the Super Bowl. But there is a reason why I decided to cheer for the Saints: Drew Brees. (Yes, it has nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina.) Earlier in the season, the Steelers were playing the Chargers and after the game I noticed all these anti-Steelers comments up on Facebook being made by all my friends who are San Diego fans. Now the Steelers and San Diego have a bit of a rivalry, having met in the play-offs a number of times throughout the years. Drew Brees used to play for San Diego. In his last season there, he got injured during the last drive of the season and soon thereafter San Diego decided to ditch him in favor of Philip Rivers. What can I say; I wanted a knife to go into the backs of all those San Diego fans. Many, I’m sure, had to wonder if San Diego should have stuck with Drew Brees.
Parking. Sunday nights equals free parking on the Sunset Strip – at least until the City of Los Angeles decides they need more money and make the meters 24-7.
Missing Friends. I was talking with one of my friends at the Viper Room. We don’t see each other that often. We lamented the demise of one of our favorite local bands, Automatic Music Explosion. She mentioned how she hadn’t seen some of us for six months. The world of the local music scene: we form friendships with fans of various bands and then a band breaks up and our ties with each other are stretched. I had a similar conversation with someone else while hanging out at Club Moscow. I wouldn’t necessarily call her a friend, more of an acquaintance. I would see her around once a month or so at various Automatic Music Explosion sets. She came over to me during a break at Club Moscow and said, “It’s been so long since I last saw you.”
The Viper Room was rather empty when I first got there. Folks missed a good band called Vas Defrans. I have to admit I only caught their last two songs. I don’t believe they sang during those songs, just went on a long jam session. Next up was Tommy Peacock (pictured left). At this point, the Viper Room started to fill up. (more…)