I’ve been cooped up in the house all week since my surgery on Monday. I was offered a guest pass to the Nick Lowe/Cactus Blossoms show in Downtown LA tonight and I debated going for quite a while. Should I? The doctor would probably say it’s a bad idea. What if I get tired or weak or pass out or something? I still have stitches in my belly and I’m drinking six hundred calories a day, post-surgery. Hmmm…
Well, hell, there’s only one way to find out.
Turns out, good music is good for the soul. It was a convergence of nice folks. I saw lots of good friends (Justine Smith, Don Lamkin, Julia La Riva, Danika Lugo, Eddie and Coco Gorodetsky, Shylah Ada, Scott McLean, many others), a few celebrities (John C. Reilly was practically foaming at the mouth, he was enjoying the heck out of himself) and the vibe was really good in the room. Everybody was there for some good music.
The Cactus Blossoms never fail to impress. If you haven’t seen these guys either as an acoustic duo (like tonight) or with their band, you really owe it to yourself to check them out. Tight brother harmonies, great songs, they look great, it’s no wonder that David Lynch used them in his Twin Peaks reboot a few years ago. They were really on tonight. All the ladies in the crowd were swooning over ’em.
Nick Lowe hit the stage as a solo act with an acoustic guitar. He just charmed everybody from the first notes of the first song, a bit like a snake charmer but with excellent songs and singing and funny stories instead of snakes. He is one of those rare performers who can hold an audience of jaded and cynical and backstabbing LA music industry types in the palm of his hand, hanging on every word. The place was whisper quiet as he sang, and when he talked between songs. That’s impossibly rare in this town, but it just shows you what a commanding presence he has, and how much respect people have for everything he’s done along the way in his career. “What’s So Funny (about Peace, Love and Understanding)” deservedly got a standing ovation, especially in today’s political climate, but the whole set (and the encore) was just a delight, from start to finish.
Thanks to the Los Straitjackets management (thanks Jake, thanks Tucker), I was able to hang backstage after the show. Had a good catch-up with Jack and Page of the Cactus Blossoms, as well as their sound man, Tom Herbers, who engineered a session I recorded at Kay Bank Studios in Minneapolis a couple of years ago.
Then I got to hang a bit with Nick, who was having a bro session backstage with Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello’s Attractions, and I got to visit with Eddie and Coco Gorodetsky, who I hadn’t seen in person in years (Eddie is the one who got me on the Bob Dylan Theme Time Radio Hour a few years back, both performing guitar interludes between Bob’s spoken-word bits as well as some faux-edited “Bob asks Deke a question” bits, thanks again Eddie!). Nick, of course, is just the coolest and most delightful guy, on or off stage. I wanna be Nick Lowe when I grow up. Just a real, honest-to-god rock ’n’ roll gentleman.
I was worried I might get tired or weak going out to the show. To hell with that. I left the place feeling energized and better than I did all day. Good music and a good hang with good folks is the best kind of therapy.
