Jun
06
2006

Open Mic @ Yucca Tap

(Add / View Comments) (0)Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 03:30:00 pm (Monday, June 5, 2006 - 10:30:00 pm MST)
(Posted Under: Travel, Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
On leaving Sugar Daddies, we agreed to take a trip over to Yucca. Despite the fact that Scotty had told me that hye probably wouldn't be at open mic, it'd be pretty stupid on my last night not to make sure. And Katie had suggested that it'd be cool to have Troy sign my sling. Plus, we had to pick up the Truckers On Speed CD's. So we headed on over to Southern, and Katie did a lap of the car park (getting quite paranoid in the process, as she tends to do). When she didn't spot Scott's car, she was ready to just go home, but I convinced her that we should go in.

We parked and went in, I pulled up a seat in front of the stage, and Katie went up to the bar. Apparently as soon as Venus say Katie she said "I completely forgot about the CD's until you walked in!". Which was pretty hilarious! In anycase, we state there for a bit, and it wasn't long before Troy had appeared, and came up to talk to us. He immediately asked what happened to my arm. He said it sucked, and then immediately followed up with "is there anything to sign?". This was pretty damn cool, as I'd gotten fairly sold on the idea once Katie suggested it, and not even having to ask Troy was awesome! [smile] Katie pulled out her sharpie, and away he went!

Before too long, open mic fired back up. A girl took the stage, with a Ibenez guitar, which made me interested to see if it was going to be some hard rock. Alas not...at all. [smile] We sat there for a bit, and then decided to leave once we'd finished our drinks. We'd done what we came her to do. Without Johnson present, and the safe beat that Troy wasn't going to play, there was little reason to hang around. On any other night, sitting around at Yucca, even for open mic would be a fine, but tonight we couldn't drink, and the option of rest was at our finger tips, so it wasn't a hard decision to head on back to the apartment.

After leaving I expressed some regret on not tracking down Troy and saying bye, since I doubtably would see him before I leave.

On getting back to the apartment, we commented, as it approached midnight, how even an "early night" ends up pretty late. We noted how it actually wasn't that long until open mic at Sugar Daddies would be over and Steve would be back on, but it wasn't hard to know that I was good.
Jun
06
2006

Steve Larson @ Sugar Daddies

(Add / View Comments) (0)Tuesday, June 6, 2006 - 02:00:00 pm (Monday, June 5, 2006 - 09:00:00 pm MST)
(Posted Under: Travel, Tempe Music Scene Tempe Music Scene, Music Music)
At around 9pm, we decided to make a move, and head out to Scottsdale to see Steve Larson open up open mic. Which was a major coop, aside from seeing Steve, getting to go out to Sugar Daddies, given how much I'd loved the place last year, and hadn't been there this time yet. We were both actually pretty tired, but we knew it'd be a fairly early night.

This time I think I got carded, which is a first for me at Sugar Daddies. Because it was such a nice night, Steve had decided to play outside - which I guess was another first for me. [smile] On looking for a seat, Katie ran into Marre, who talked to us for a bit. During a lull in a conversation, Katie told me to go grab one of the few free tables. Unlike most Larson shows I've seen, this had a good turn out, with a lot of familar Peacemakers faces. I think because this show was very advertised. Of course, out the front of Sugar Daddies was all high stools. Which is normally a pain for short asses like myself - through a fractured shoulder into the occassion, they're even less fun! Once I'd finally gotten myself onto it, Katie walked over and said Marie had invited us to sit with them. I was down with the idea, but quite frankly with the amount of effort it took to get on the damn stool, I was in no rush to get off it. Which I think I told Katie, with a laugh. But at the end of the day, despite the frustration of going through this again, I was down with the idea, and the seat I was in was really bad in terms of seeing Steve play, right in the back left corner. [smile] Ahh, the pain we'll endure for rock. [smile] So we went over and sat down, this time pretty much right in front of Lars. I first sat down with my back to the stage, and then swapped with Katie, because that was never going to work out with the injury. Which mean dealing with 3 different stools that night. If I never have to deal with a stool with a fractured shoulder ever again I'll be happy! [wink]

Before long Steve took the stage, saying that he'd decided it was a nice night for playing outside. Despite the huge annoyance in my condition getting seated, he was right. The set was a fairly typical Larson set. A definate stand out was the rendition of The Cure's Just Like Heaven. I love whenever Steve does this, but tonight he gave it a real twang, bending the bass G notes between chords. It was such a great version, I wish there was a recording of it.

A guy was walking around with a Pope t-shirt, who went up for an impromtu dance during Cocaine Blues (which was entertaining for everyone including Steve), which was funny given the earlier newly joined phrase. [smile]

When introing $1000 Car Steve mentioned that he was trying to score the opening spot for an upcoming Bottle Rockets show. (Ed: He ended up landing it).

Throughout the set, I felt my eyes glazing somewhat, and my head starting to hurt - which was weird, given that despite being at a bar, I was only drinking Coke because of the pain killers. Later on, I adjusted my hat - which turned out to be the course of the pain. Talk about wishing I'd realised that earlier!

At the end of Steve's set, he said that'd he'd play more after open mic. As tempting as this sounded, and as true it is that I don't often have the opportunity to see my favorite musicians play, I was pretty sure we wouldn't stick around for it. If we hadn't been driving all day, and if my shoulder hadn't been fractured, it might have been different, but... I was really glad we'd gone out, but after seeing Steve's first set, I felt fairly content. After the set, Alan came over and we talked, and he asked what I'd done to my arm. After talking to him for a bit, and Katie talking to Marie, we decided to make a move.

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