Day Eleven: LA, Club Nokia

IMG_2168, originally uploaded by sleepydoll.

LA is a trip every time. I woke up on the bus couch around 7.30 as we hit the grapevine. Still feels like home here in California. Andi get’s her first and maybe only night in a tour bus bunk – it’s an odd thing to adjust to but she appears to take to it. Girls can sleep. We roll up at the Sportsmen’s Lodge around 10 and encounter apparent resident ‘Peaches’ who is looking for the fish in her car by taking everything out and putting it on the roof; “I’d love to come with you guys but i’ve got too much to do today”. The Lodge is where Clark Gabel and Sinatra apparently used to fish and the restaurant would cook it up for them. I have no idea where they got the fishing in – perhaps the pool. Eggs florentine for breakfast. Good. I pass out in the room fora bit and then join Andi and the others by the pool for a half hour. There’s some Emmys Gifting event going on and we spot Estrada and Bo Duke hanging out along with the kid from Hannah Montana (apparently). All day long the announcer’s voice echos through the hotel “Trust me; these guys are going to be huge! Make some noise! Give it up for WOW! in the house.” over and over. The stream of B-listers keep filtering through carrying bags of pink feather boas and popcorn machines. LA.

We take the generic ’45 minute’ LA freeway ride over to the Club Nokia around 3pm and the bus is searched for bombs before entering the very new and very sanitized complex.The food is great but there is a sign on the wall in the dining room that informs us that we are be videoed and our conversations recorded. Really.

Tonight’s show is good and the sound perfect but somehow almost too good to be true. The standing room area for the audience is so limited because of fire-risk that it appears a bit thin on the ground and the barrier keeps them all too far away from the band. We feel it they feel it but it is still a fairly ripping show with some real high points. I’ve got cousins and baby cousins in the audience along with Jonathan and Brendan. Again, it’s good to have some friendly faces here I finally get to properly introduce Jonathan to Mars which is a meeting made in noise-heaven. We should start a band. Paul gives me some sticks to give to baby-cousin Nick that appears to blow his mind. It’s his, Will’s and India’s first ever show; the Psychedelic Furs in LA. Nice one – i think they got off to a good start. My first was BB King in Croydon. Possibly still my favourite show ever.