On The Strip

Los Angeles

Did the quintessential American night out yesterday. On Rowan's recommendation I broke my self-imposed fast food ban and checked out an In-N-Out Burger joint. Their slogan is "Quality you can taste" and they're not wrong, their gimmick of never freezing or microwaving anything makes for a fine tasting burger. Their chips are even fried with the skins on. The curse of the free refill struck me down, I just had to go for that second cup of Coke even though I was truly forcing it in by the end. At least I had plenty of time to drink it, because everything's cooked to order even a burger and chips takes more than five minutes.

After that I headed down to Sunset Strip to take a look around. The billboards are huge and the lights are bright. Feeling like another gig I tried the Roxy although Cake had sadly sold the place out. I settled for the Whisky A Go Go instead. This once important venue has sold out a bit I think, or at least that's the impression I got from the "If you stage dive you go home" sign beside the stage. The music was a lot more stately than at the Troubador as well, the first band on looked and sounded like Counting Crows' older brothers.

Things picked up with the Bloody Lovelies, a piano based three piece. I was going to write them off as only mediocre, but after they'd finished their set and I was at the bar about to get a drink a girl walked up beside me and asked if I wanted a beer. When I gave the obvious answer, she led me over to where a group of people were standing and handed me a Miller. Turns out they were all "with the band" and they were trying to dish out what remained of the rider. She had one more beer left and after I hinted I'd like that one too, she said she'd go and put it on the bar for me, assuring me it'd still be there when I'd finished my current one. It's obviously a British/American thing, but a pint standing untouched on a bar in the UK would be there for about 6 and a half seconds before some scally came along and swiped it. So, insisting I was more than capable of holding two beers at the same time, I went and claimed it. Because they were so nice in giving me free booze, I agreed to go on their mailing list and I can now heartily recommend the Bloody Lovelies as an excellent band, surely set for huge international success.

Jetlag meant I didn't get much sleep after getting back, waking up in the early hours I couldn't drop back off so I got up at dawn and bussed it up to NBC to get a ticket for this afternoon's taping of The Tonight Show. The First Lady is among the guests, so keep an eye out for me gurning away in the audience during her interview.