I haven't done that in a while. I haven't had one of those go out on the town and party with friends until 3am nights in a long, long time. So I guess I was about due. My initial plans were simple enough. Magnuson, my former band, was playing at Soma, which happens to be the venue of the last show I played with them. I also try to get out to see them whenever they manage to play a show in San Diego. After all, I still consider them to be good friends, and we enjoy one another's company. So that was the plan, go see Magnuson at Soma then maybe hang out with them a bit, then back home by midnight before I turn into a pumpkin. Then, 2 days before the show, on Wednesday, I get a call from Carl, the former bass player of Magnuson, that his band, "Critical Me" is playing "House of Blues" that same night. So I ask Carl when he's going on, he says 10 or 10:30. "Well", I tell him, "I already told Magnuson I'd go see them, but let me find out when they're going on, and maybe I can do both". That's just crazy talk. Going to see 2 bands at 2 different (and not very close together) clubs in one night is very difficult to pull off in a city the size of San Diego, and not to mention expensive. But hey, I need a good night out every now and again, right? So, I finally get a call from Greg Friday afternoon, and he tells me that they go on at 8. "Sweet!", I think to myself, "That will give me plenty of time between shows to get to the other venue." I had previously talked to Jen, my band's lead singer, about going with me to the House of Blues show because I was pondering trying to get Critical Me to let us open for them the next time they play there, which would be their CD release party. Jen didn't feel up to going out, so I conscripted my roommate, Mike, to go with me instead. (incidentally, I determined that it would make no sense at all for earthShine to open for Critical Me. Our sounds, styles and crowds are completely incompatible). So, we head out to Soma with plenty of time to get there by 8. Then we encounter the traffic. Now, southern California is known worldwide for bad traffic, but I had a reasonable idea of what to expect at 7:30 at night and this wasn't it. There was a huge line of cars that all seemed to be going exactly to where I was going. I remember joking to Mike, "are all these people going to see Magnuson?". As it turns out, Christina Aguilera was playing at San Diego Sports Arena (now called the "I Pay One Center", Stupid corporate naming bullshit). The sports arena happens to be right next door to Soma. After braving Aguilera traffic, we got to Soma a few minutes after 8, and I was worried that I may have missed some of Magnuson's set. It turns out that it was nothing to be worried about, I had actually missed most of Magnuson's set. I could hear them playing as we approached the club. At this time I spotted my buddy Russ working security at the side entrance. I went over to say hello and, as I'd hoped, he pulled back the barrier and let us in free. This was a good thing, I'd hate to have spent 8 bucks to see Magnuson play their last 2 songs. Now, I don't care who you are, I don't care where you are, and I don't care who's on stage, but to me there is nothing cooler than to walk into a club where a band is playing and have all of said band's members individually and outwardly acknowledge your presence, while they're in the middle of a song. Maybe I'm wrong, but nothing says "I must be cool" to me more than having the band you've gone to see greet you in the middle of one of their songs. Magnuson sounded good, at least the 2 songs I heard did, anyway. We snuck backstage while they were loading out to visit with them. Greg explained that there had been cancellations, and one band had even broken up, which had caused them to start their set half an hour earlier than they had originally been slotted. This meant that we were not  the only people to come see them that night that wound up missing at least a portion of their set. So after the venting about how crappily local venues treat bands (they do) Greg let me know that they were having a party at Matt's house later that night (Matt is the drummer). So I add that to the itinerary for the evening. Why not? I haven't gotten to hang out with those guys in a long time. So now we're done with Soma, and it's an hour earlier than we're supposed to be done with Soma, so we've got some time to kill. Mike and I stop at the bran new Chic-fil-A that just opened, and I enjoy a nostalgic meal that reminds me of life back east where Chic-Fil-A's are common. (Ben Folds mentions getting a job at Chic-Fil-A in the song "Army"). So after lingering there for a while, we make the cross-town to downtown trek to House of Blues to check out Critical Me. After orbiting for a while, we manage to find parking in a structure for a mere $12 (Stupid downtown) and set out on foot towards HOB. As we are approaching, Carl, himself, magically appears beside us. How does he do that? We're walking down the street towards the venue that Carl should already be inside, preparing to go on, and then he somehow manages to appear right next to us while we're looking for the main entrance. It's a good thing he did, though, because, as he tells us, tickets are 20 bucks (!), but he can get us in for 10. Good thing we got into Soma for free. So we get tickets from Carl and head inside. HOB is always a nice venue, and this one is no different. We get in in time to see the band before Critical Me, who's name I don't remember. This band was pretty cheesy. The bass player did the "Captain Morgan" pose at least 100 times on the monitor speakers at the front of the stage. C'mon, man, you can get away with it once or twice, but change it up a little! After these guys finished, Mike and I grabbed spots on the front railing for Critical Me. This may have been a mistake. Although it was nice to get a nod from Carl while on stage, making it a two-fer for the band acknowledging me thing. (Am I the only one that thinks that's cool?), we did have to withstand some rather insane fans that decided to mosh all over us and around us. They then tried to tear down the barrier that keeps them from reaching the stage. Maybe they thought that "accidentally" slamming into me on the fringe of the mosh pit would cause me to become discouraged enough to relinquish my spot on the front row, but I've had much worse than what they were dishing out. We stuck around to visit with Carl one more time and to check out, momentarily, the final band of the night. Now, what struck me here was the overwhelming conformity that the "Hardcore Punk" scene seems to employ. All 3 of the bands we watched at HOB had the exact same line-up (1 guitar, bass, drums, singer that doesn't play an instrument). They all behaved similarly on stage (Captain Morgan poses notwithstanding), and every band's lead singer, like clockwork, took off their shirt after the second song. Critical Me's singer was decent enough to retain his wife beater, but that may just be because, unlike the other two lead singers, he hadn't been working out so much to buff up. The last band was a study in California bands. They all looked like they could be on MTV right now. They had obviously worked on the image thing. And they all played their instruments well and had good stage presence. But, they didn't do a darn thing new or different. Such is the state of music in the post-MTV era. All style, no substance. This could be said of the first band at HOB as well.

After HOB, we took off to Matt's house down in Chula Vista. We managed to find it. I, once again, felt like a minor celebrity at this party, as everyone there remembered Magnuson from the days when I played with them. This crowd is all super-nice guys, too, and I enjoy hanging out with them, Even to the point that I'm able to overcome my well known aversion to parties and large groups of people. The fact that we stayed there until nearly 3am is testament to this. Greg was more baked than I'd ever seen him. Greg is fun when he isn't sober. He's even funnier than usual, and also loves everyone and everything. He's a happy drunk/stoner. It is interesting to note that everyone in the band Magnuson has grown out their hair and grown beards. I like to think it is because they miss having me around so much that they try to look like me to make up for it. But we laughed and joked the night away, and talked about doing a show together, which we really need to do. Greg even mentioned possibly having me up to do some track work for their album, which I would love to do. Matt, as always, suggested that we get together and jam. I'm all about jamming, with anyone, anywhere, any time. So I always tell him to call me and I'll be there. So then Mike and I made our way back home and collapsed in exhaustion.

I have to say that nights like these tend to make me more outgoing. It really makes me want to get out there, and get more involved in the music scene, meet more people, do more jamming, do more studio work. Of course, all of these are things that I really should do. And I've managed to get enough of a reputation in some circles that I'm considered a "respected musician", which means that I can do things like that if I seek them out. Perhaps I will manage to escape from this little tiny world that I like to sequester myself in someday, and will take advantages of the friendships and contacts I've collected over the years. I should.