On Saturdays, now that it is fairly warm, they have an open mic event in the afternoon outside a Starbucks of all places. As you can see, it is clean, beautiful and the kind of thing you can't do in many cities due to the preponderance of riffraff and defective humans.
On the day pictured there were some good players, many of whom play regular gigs around SoCal. A duo named Mockingbird is one of my recent favorites. It is a husband and wife team with a unique style. She sings and plays drums while he adds harmony and plays a mean guitar. They rock.
Very decent people. Mockingbird; good name, good humans.
This view is looking out from the patio, toward the south, sort of toward where I live. I'm 20 miles east and south of there, and this is the closest of the venues where I play these days. Of course, I live about 10 miles from the nearest store, so what' another ten miles? Mexico is not far past that peak.
A nice thing. People hang out and listen for awhile as they run errands. Starbucks sells frappacinos (how do you spell that?) for half price, and life is good. Lots of people play. It went on from 2pm to almost 9.
So, that is what it looks like. We're not in Memphis anymore. If we were, they'd have to have security people everywhere to prevent the gimme dolla guys and others from harassing the innocent and attacking the non-violent.
the end
*
*rip off on the name Buena Vista Social Club.
One of the few certainties in my life and mind is that I am drawn to many things with strong Latin influence. Especially music---a mix of Mexican, Cuban, and whatnot. Never been to whatnot but I have set foot in Cuba and Mexico. and Miami. So there you have it.
