Liner Notes

A few weeks ago, I was sitting at lunch casually scrolling through my Twitter feed when a certain post grabbed my attention: https://twitter.com/SusannaHoffs/status/1011678404968476672 I'll be honest - the photo is what drew me in, but the caption is what made my day. The Bangles in concert for free? Count me in. For those not aware, Susanna was referring to the summer concert series put on by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The series is now in its 10th year at Pershing Square Park's downtown stage. In addition to The Bangles, this summer they will [...]

The Pacific Amphitheatre (Orange County Fair) has a ton of rock this summer. The Rock in the OC crew has an overflowing dance card at this place and we're ready! If you've never been, the venue seats about 8,000 people and has excellent sound - though some claim the City of Costa Mesa is a little strict on the volume levels. That being said, the sound crew are true professionals and do a perfect job of making the most of every decibel in their budget. The shows are still loud enough for this vintage rock fan to sport his neon [...]

Remember the county fair when you were growing up?  The cotton candy, the popcorn, the funnel cakes, the corn dogs.  Remember the sites and sounds of the midway?  The flashing lights, the carnival games, the giant stuffed animal prizes.  And the rides - remember the rides?  The tilt-a-whirl, the Ferris wheel, the haunted mansion.  In all these years, the county fair remains mostly unchanged - you can find all of those memories waiting for you when the OC Fair opens today. But do you know what makes the OC Fair special?  What sets it apart from the county fair [...]

My first exposure to Eric Johnson was an early morning pounding on my door in 1980-something and my friend frantically waiving a VHS tape with what he described as "the most amazing thing in the world". As you might have guessed, said tape was a recording of Eric's infamous appearance on Austin City Limits. Indeed this VHS tape, erroneously labeled "Cady Shack" (sic), was precisely as my friend described.  We spent the better part of that day watching that tape. Thirty-plus years later and he's one of my all time favorite musicians.Anyone familiar with Eric Johnson knows he's an amazing [...]

For the past 15 years since I moved to Orange County, I've spent the 4th of July in pretty much the same way:  inviting friends over, eating too much BBQ, and watching fireworks from my deck.  This year...this year was different.  This year I spent the 4th with The Go-Go's and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  And sorry old routine, but this was absolutely the best 4th of July on record. Let's rewind a bit.  My story is not unlike many of ours.  I grew up a child of the 80's - a time when you heard of new bands [...]

I last saw The Bangles in concert back in 1989 as part of their Everything tour.  It was Labor Day weekend - the last few days of summer before I started my senior year of high school.  The Bangles were playing at Great America - a theme park in Santa Clara a few hours from where I grew up.  One of my buddies1 and I bought the best seats we could afford (which basically meant waaaay in the back), borrowed his Mom's van, and fought the holiday traffic to catch the concert.  Boy am I glad we did - [...]