Saturday brought the Neighborhood Festival to Queen Mary Park in Long Beach. This was the first rock festival here since All Tomorrow’s Parties in November of 2004. After attending both ATP’s I knew it was gonna take some work to get people out. So, when Luke at Dim Mak told me, a month or so ago, that it was going down, I took it upon myself to help spread the word.
Saturday morn I did a quick clean of Bessie from the Little Radio/Penny Ante party the night before then headed by Long Beach Ice to snag some dry ice, aka, insurance. Since other vendors were selling food at the festival we parked backstage in the VIP area. I love doing events in Long Beach because it’s easy, it’s my hometown, and I know my way around. It was also nice to show up early because the Mormons kicked things off and they’re just great. Right after them were Long Beach’s finest, Sexytime Expolosion. Lion Fever brought on some flower power psych-rock and mixed it up a bit before 8-bit came out decked in their Robot outfits spewing their rather offensive, yet always fun, lyrics.
I was bummed that Cold War Kids weren’t able to make it but The Bronx filled in and rock the hizouse. (sorry..we were in the LBC). They might still have a couple shows left at their Spaceland Residency and if you’re down for some serious rock, you should check it out. My friend Mike’s response to one of those shows was “I got hurt”, ha, you don’t hear that often. Mika Miko brought their all-girl rock down from LA and kept the party going. They were probably the only band I got to see from the other side of the stage, which was a treat.
Whirlwind Heat flew in for the show and I was happy to catch them since I didn’t get a chance at SXSW. For a bass/drum/occasional keyboard three-piece, they killed it. I think the lead singer was doing a headstand before their first song was even over. Local favorites Rolling Blackouts took the stage next and pretty much scored the sunset slot before Icarus Line took over. While they were rockin out Mickey Avalon came by the truck and we talked about big buses, Andy Kaufman, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Hopefully someday we’ll be able to work out a plan we hatched that I’ll keep under wraps til the time’s right.
Ever since seeing Mickey on the cover of LA Weekly, I had a feeling he’d be the big draw for the festival. He doesn’t play too too much around town and the little girls just love him. (Serious side note: Is the music industry really controlled by fifteen year old girls? I’ve had that argument/conversations quite a few times over the last month. I say yes, at least as far as popular music and album sales). You could tell he was loving every minute of it up there and he gave the screaming fans what they came for.
I was never quite sure what to expect from Ima Robot. I had heard their name a ton but never really got into their music. For some reason I expected it to be a lot of keyboards and dance tunes but when they took the stage they were definitely a full-on rock band. I was hopping along next to the truck telling folks how much I dug their tunes but most people seemed to be too cool to care. Whatever… I dug it.
Moving Units headlined the Fest and I think just about everyone hung around to catch their set. They’re another band i’ve listened to off and on a few times over the last couple of years but never really got into. They’ve got some great songs though. ALL DAY long I had “Between Us and Them” stuck in my hand and when they finally got around to it, the demon’s were temporarily set free. The new tracks “Paper Hearts” and “Dark Walls”, off their forthcoming LP are some of my favorite tracks so that’s a great sign. There is no reason Moving Units shouldn’t be as big as Franz Ferdinand or Bloc Party in my book. Maybe they just need a big break.
Gregg and I fired up Bessie and got Gregg back to the train station before they stopped running for the night. I headed over to Rancho Relaxo for a drink then called it a night. What a great day. We should have more music festivals in Long Beach. Maybe when I get back from the summer tour I’ll put something together. We’ll see…
