Page Eight

Do yourself a favor and have a good friend who tends bar at a pub.

Now, I'm not condoning befriending someone who tends bar at a pub simply to reap the benefits, but I would suggest becoming the kind of person who draws only the cream of the crop of humanity to his or herself. The bartender of a local pub has a very good chance of being in this group.

An important point—find an English pub as opposed to an Irish one. I'm just trying to keep you from spending any unnecessary time in a sports bar, mired in Lucky Charms paraphernalia. There's even a groovy little Scottish bar in the valley.

Several years ago, when I lived in the sleepy little town of Fullerton, California, I became pretty tight with a guy named Sean Stentz. Stentzy was my local English pub (The Old Ship) keep, though I'm pretty sure we became pals before he worked there, and The Ship was a few doors down from a coffeehouse at which I had a weekly band gig. Every week, just before I'd go on, I'd mosey down to The Ship and hang with Sean long enough to drink a Guinness, on the house. That drink always made me feel just loved enough to go put on a great show.

I'm not writing this in the hopes that you will find someone from whom you can get free shit. I would just like to think that you have people in your life who care, who know when you could use a free drink, and who love art enough to fortify it on their dime, even if they have to work while you are playing.

This one goes out to the boys of Leather Cobre—Matts, Bens, and Stentzy. I miss the hell outta youse guys.

Page Seven

Do Yourself a Favor And...

Get all tanked and watch Billy Joel's performance of "Travelin' Prayer" from Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special.

I was grateful, seriously grateful, to get turned onto this show by our dear friends Lindsay and Sarah, the Aguilar Sisters, and Sarah's fiance Mark and Lindsay's then-boyfriend, Rob Douglas. We were visiting home for a week and were hanging out at Sarah and Mark's place in Silverlake.

I'm really thankful for the different take on certain bands and acts that this show has given me the chance to see. For example, Billy Joel's "Travelin' Prayer," an uptempo, ragtimey (banjo, of course) sort of saxophone-heavy song. It made me really feel what he was capable of before over-produced feel-good anthems like "We Didn't Start the Fire" were standard. Don't get me wrong; I love the vocal fineries achieved by Joel and Company on songs like "Uptown Girl" and especially "For the Longest Time," but there was something raw and unpolished and decidedly '70s about "Travelin' Prayer."

I had been prepared some for this, a bit tenderized, even, by my friend comedian Kyle Cease (10 Things I Hate About You, Not Another Teen Movie), who could play a lot of Billy Joel songs on his keyboard at his often-enough, plenty-of-booze-to-go-round parties, and who made me dig Joel a bit more than I had in the past. At any rate, these are just a bunch of seriously talented dudes with a serious level of professionalism, and they really, really love playing music. The lyrics are really quite touching, and the energy level is just stellar.

Seriously, check it out.