DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME;

"Mike Spoils the Spoilers as the b/day girl goes mariachi"

i needed my shoes repaired and i wanted them repaired before my trip to the
east coast so i biked to this place in my neighborhood, to this armenian guy's
shop who's the best. on the wall is a pix of his dad making shoes in armenia
in 1949 or something like that. makes him the best in my book. so i need em
by friday i tell him. ok he says, friday. so i hop back on my bike and grab
some coffee.

i was thinking about how much fun rehearsal was on monday. we even tried (on
the spot and NOT very good at) a weird funny version of WOULDN'T IT BE NICE,
which wound up sounding like a marching band filled with septuagenarians on
schrooms. not a pretty sight. but still, you can't pay people to play like
that. it's not too often musicians let their guard down in order to have fun
like that.

Mike and birthday girl, Deborah, pose for the New Guy at the Bitter Redhead.

fast forward to 9pm and me and the new guy are at the bitter redhead to see the
spoilers, the band rusty plays with every tuesday. but not only were we there
to see the band but another bitter redhead (ok, joking), my very best pal, Deb,
was having a celebration for her birthday. so we had something to toast too
and i bought her a nice vodka and cranberry juice. several good friends showed
up, including our mate nick walusko (wondermints/brian wilson) and the one and
only, lisa jenio, who sings in the awesome local pop band 'candy pants', as
well as playing flute in the 'negro problem and 'stew' projects. so we were
all there to toast.

-----Sitting in with The Spoilers.----------------------------------and with Bo Shit

earlier, before anyone got their, i was playing guitar at the spoilers
soundcheck and singer/guitarist, sam jones, asked me to jam one of my favorite
neil young tunes, "come on baby let's go downtown" i did and it was a bit
rough but stil fun. sam asked later if i would join em during the show. i
took a swig of my pint of stella and said, 'sure'. so later on i came up and
it didn't sound bad at all. also, 'bo shit', the unbelievably amazing best
guitarist in town guy came up onstage and played a few tune with them as well.
bo normally plays in 'jack shit', which features bo, his brother shorty shit
and drummer (and cousin) petes o'shit. i shit you not.

Wolfing down a Tommy Chili Cheeseburger with everything on it, at midnight

after the show (and like my 5th pint - which is not enough to blur my
vision...7 is my limit), the new guy and i went to tommy's for chili cheese
burgers. we invited rusty but he said 'no way'. so we chowed down before
hitting that '10' fwy, known round these parts as the santa monica fwy but
known nationally as the christopher columbus interstate freeway. this, the day
AFTER columbus day. it was almost like a joke that someone forgot to tell.
and so i hopped that '10' fwy to robertson north. for a second thought about
hitting a left on national and bugging (violinist) paula. but it was midnight.
she would have killed us. besides, teh new guy is going there tonight to
watch WEST WING. tonight's episode was co-written by paula (yay!) and so my
big question is this: do i need to bring my winter jacket to the east coast or
can i get by on a reg jacket and sweater underneath. be honest. ok, cubs
clinch tonight. curse be gone i say.

=====

all pix by The New Guy

Mike Randle
mike@lovewitharthurlee.com

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