Friday, August 29, 2014

The Rock Bottom Boys

The Rock Bottom Boys


For reasons that at this time remain somewhat unclear to me, I like bluegrass, Texas swing, and vintage country. I especially like harmonies. I also like fiddle playing, banjos and country yodeling. And I think I have for as long as I can remember.

This is somewhat interesting in that my parents don't care for any of that type of music, and I don't really remember hearing it when I was young except for maybe the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland, or the musicians you'd see at Knott's Berry Farm.

I remember Aerosmith and KISS being my favorite bands in middle school, and moving into a whole LA punk rock thing in the late 70's and early 80's-though I did like country-punk band Rank and File
and X's country tribute, The Knitters. Wait, maybe I could have gone country in a different set of circumstances....

When Toy Story 2 came out, I noticed that there was a Woody's Round-Up CD by Riders in the Sky, which I promptly bought for my son, though I played it myself, and then picked up a few other Riders in the Sky CD's as well. I don't think my son cared one way or the other, but I enjoyed them.

A couple of years ago, I picked up Strummin' With the Devil:The Southern Side of Van Halen, which has a bunch of bluegrass bands taking apart their favorite Van Halen songs (David Lee Roth even sings on a few of them), and really liked it.

So two summers ago, as I was strolling across the Ventura County Fair, I heard a rendition of Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train that I really liked, and I made my kids stop and listen. They didn't know any of the songs that the Rock Bottom Boys were performing, mostly covers of 60's and 70's FM radio staples in a bluegrass style, but I liked them so much that I bought their CD, It's Only Rock and Roll, which I play once in a while. Good harmonies, and the guys can play.

I missed the Rock Bottom Boys last year, though they were at the fair, and this year I made it a point to watch one of their sets, bribing my kids to listen. They're one of those fair type music acts, with bad jokes and hillbilly costumes that make them more likable. I don't know what happened to the washboard player, but now they added a young guy on mandolin-another instrument I'd like to learn to play as poorly as I do guitar and ukulele. 

This post kind of went around the mountain to just say that The Rock Bottom Boys are fun, and I'm curious as to why they don't throw a few more modern songs in their set. If your walking across some county fair and see them setting up, stop in for a spell and give 'em a listen.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Barrelhouse 101


Barrelhouse 101
545 E. Thompson
Ventura, CA 93001


Up until June, Barrelhouse 101 was a rather pleasant tan color that really didn't stand out much. Then in the two weeks time between my first and second visit, it turned into a Blockbuster Video. Or maybe, there was a close out on the custom Blockbuster Video paints, because suddenly Barrelhouse 101 turned blue and gold.

The first visit was a retirement party, and we arrived late so we didn't order food. I did have one of the zillions of beers that were on tap, and powered down plate after plate of their beer battered, donut size onion rings, which were really good. My wife saw several things that she wanted to try, so a few weeks latter, we were out without the kids and went back.

This time, we ordered food. She had the Steak Salad, while I went with Argentina Steak Sandwich. Both were good, though I wish I had more onion rings instead of the house made potato chips. But really, what the food is for is to balance out the beer selection, and the beer selection is where Barrelhouse 101 shines. 101 beers on tap, with a revolving line-up and most around $6, the choices almost overwhelm you when you walk in.


I had different beers each time I was in, and whatever I had was good, so it's more about knowing what type of beer you like. The food is heavy-even the steak salad-to balance the beer, and works well for that. It's a loud restaurant, so it the kind of place to come with friends or if you want to feel like you're out with friends. The wait staff was friendly, too.

So other than the whole Blockbuster thing, I'm looking forward to coming back with a few buddies and trying some more beer.





Saturday, August 2, 2014

Romeo/Juliet 1140 Productions

Romeo/Juliet
Presented by 1140 Productions
July 18-27, 2014

The Oinkster

Rick's Notes: I finished the updates on 8/2, adding the Oinkster and Snow Station pix as well as doing some basic editing. I like this post better now-better flow, you know.
As I mentioned in a previous post (7/24/14 The Rubicon Theatre), being in So Cal means there's a wealth of talented performers all over the place, and they pop up in productions everywhere. My daughter has been fascinated with Romeo and Juliet, and after watching Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, I promised that I would find a live production for us to see.

I saw one listed at the beginning of summer, but we were tied up on all the performance times, and then it sold out. But I knew I'd find another if I kept looking. I found the site Shakespeare in LA, which I'd check, and looking at it last week, I found a listing for the 1140 Production.

Still, I was a bit wary.  I googled the company, and found that this performance of Romeo and Juliet was funded by Kickstarter. It was also affiliated somehow with USC graduate students. The director posted the Kickstarter notice on June 25, with the first showing scheduled for July 18. It reminded me of those old Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland movies-"I know what we'll do! We'll put on a show!" Still the tickets were only $10, so I bought them, knowing we'd have to drag my son along kicking and screaming. He had read Romeo and Juliet in his freshman English class, and hadn't liked it.

Boxed Water
We got dressed for the Saturday, July 26, showing and as we drove down to Eagle Rock, I warned my kids that I wasn't sure what to expect on this trip. I said that I was a bit wary about this production, and so we were going to stop at the Oinkster, so at least I knew that we'd have a great pastrami sandwich.

A moment to talk about the Oinkster. It has far and away the best pastrami I've had in LA. Tender, salty, not chewy at all, in a great bun, it is excellent and highly recommended if you are anywhere close to Eagle Rock and need a sandwich. Their burgers are good too, and they usually have some pretty interesting beers on tap-I had a Dogfish Head Festina Peche, a citrusy beer that the counter person warned me about and strongly suggested I taste it first. The Festina Peche, apparently, is an acquired taste. There's always a line, but it moves surprisingly fast. The Belgian french fries are very good as well, crunchy but not greasy, and served with a garlic aioli sauce, which I really like. It is one of the few places where the fries are still good even after they get cold. Go with the Oinkster, which is made with cabbage, caramelized onions and Gruyere cheese.

The theater, Live Arts LA, is a space, used for all manner of arts, and it was just a few minutes from the Oinkster. We arrived and were greeted by a young woman wearing the same Hawaiian shirt that I had bought from the ABC Store in Kona on my last trip there, which I mentioned to her. We crowded into a tiny reception room, and as more people arrived, I began to wonder why we were being kept in this small space.

While being crowded, I read the Director's Note in the program. Director Shaya Mulcahy admitted that she'd taken liberties with the play, and bravely added that "it was all for the best." I immediately thought that the director has changed one of the most famous plays by possibly the greatest writer in the English language, and was saying essentially her version would be better. Pretty brave, and either a recipe for disaster or a pretty good play. She also noted that she'd condensed the play so much that she'd even removed the "and."



When we were finally allowed in to the performance space, about the size of a small basketball court, with two rows of chairs running lengthwise on either side, I understood why we were held outside. As we walked in, all 9 actors were standing in the center of the floor, frozen, and waiting to be brought to life. On the internet, I'd read that all parental figures were eliminated, and I immediately noticed that all these actors were quite young (20 somethings in my 50 something perspective) and generally small in stature. The actors portraying Romeo and Juliet were standing in the middle, locked in an embrace with Juliet bearing a dagger.

They stood that way for a good ten minutes, until Mercutio came to life and performed the prologue, weaving among the standing actors and starting the play. The play whipped along at a pretty good clip, which I liked. Without the adult figures you lose the 'us against our parents' aspect, which makes the play popular in high school English classes. It felt vaguely like those 80's John Hughes movies where the parents are largely absent from the film, making it more like the teenagers are the center of the universe. Still, with quick pacing and solid acting, the play was entertaining to watch.

Like at the beginning, the play ended with actors left on stage-Romeo and Juliet lying prostrate on the floor, and we had to step around them to leave. No actors came out for bows after, adding to the tragic nature of the show-four of the nine actors were playing characters that died (unlike the original play, Paris does not die), and we didn't get to see them come back to life for their curtain calls. It left a vague feeling inside, and my kids and I were the last to leave the theater. The young lady in the Hawaiian shirt assured us that it wasn't method acting and that the two dead actors would awaken when we stepped out of the auditorium.

Out on the sidewalk outside the performance space, the 50 or so people in the audience gathered to congratulate the actors. Most seemed to know, at least peripherally, the performers, and though I wanted to compliment the actors and the director, if I could figure out who that was, the actors were having such lively conversations that my inherit shyness kicked in. My kids have some of that, too, so we stood on the outside of the groups, like the new kids on the playground, until we finally decided to go.

I very much enjoyed the show and my daughter and I seem to have a knack for getting front row seats on short notice (like at the Rubicon-see 7/24/14). My daughter did as well, and though my son bitched and moaned before and after, I think he was okay with it.

It was still hot at 10 pm, so we decided to make one more stop before leaving Eagle Rock. We had passed a place called the Snow Station, a shaved ice joint that looked okay. I didn't think much of the decor, but the counter person was very enthusiastic, going through how their 'snow' was better than shaved ice, in that they freeze their juices and then shave that. We were going to order three Mini-Bears, but then saw the Hungry Bear, which seemed to be a much better value. We had the watermelon and salted caramel, topped with Oreo cookies and mochi with white chocolate syrup and honey. It was excellent-it did have the texture of snow and was very light on the tongue.

Then, back to Ventura.



Rick's note: the 1140 productions logo and cast shot for romeo/juliet are from facebook.






Friday, August 1, 2014

Sky Dog Surfboards, Oceanside


As the Rev. Horton Heat might say, "I can't surf."

That's important, in that I've been a swimmer my whole life, and I was a pretty good body surfer in high school, but I never did learn how to surf, though I still have a couple of surf boards around the house.

My father-in-law never ceases to amaze me. He surfed with his Baldwin Park buddies back in the 60's, and a couple of years ago, when he was cleaning out his garage, he brought up a board that one of his buddies had made. It's a single fin short board, (around 5'8"), and if I remember correctly, he said that he and his buddy were driving trucks cross country in the early 70's, and his buddy decided that they needed a surfboard. His buddy shaped boards part-time, and created this one in '74 to fit under the cab of their truck, so that they could do some East Coast surfing if the opportunity arose. I don't recall if the board ever made it into the South Carolina surf or not. My father-in-law reads this blog once in a while, so I'll correct the story if he wants me to.
The way I remember hearing the story, though, is a pretty good. The board's shaper had a cool name, "Sky Dog," but I still don't surf, and starting on a short board I knew that is too small for me in the first place would be a disaster. I took it anyway, and hung it from the rafters of my garage, in case one of my kids decides to take up surfing-unlikely, but it's a good board, and I didn't want it to get beaten up outside.
The last time I saw my father-in-law, he mentioned that his old buddy had just died, and he was going to attend the service.

Then, last night, he called and left a message that he was going to come by and pick up the board. I couldn't quite get if he was going to do the paddle-out ceremony, which I don't think will go well on that short board, or he wants to bring it down to show off and possibly donate to the museum. Either way, just reading the few brief things on the internet, it seems like Skydog was a pretty good guy, and my father-in-law seemed to like him, so I'm throwing this post out in the blogosphere. If you trip over this post, and knew Skydog, (aka Dan Highland), go to the Skydog Surfboards page and add your memories.




8/2
My father-in-law came by and got the board yesterday. He just wanted to have it down there, and said that he hoped someone's kid would be willing to paddle it out. He said that Skydog was only about 130 lbs. or so, and that was the weight the board was designed for. He wanted to go down and prove what everyone will already know, that Skydog was such a hard core surfer that even though he was driving a truck cross-country, with little chance of actually making it in the water, he wanted to have a surfboard with him. Sounds like a good guy to me.