Cans of Beer

I went to the famous Bluebird Café last night to hear songwriter’s in a round. The Bluebird is interesting. It is this tiny little café in a strip mall with little to no parking. It sits across from an uber suburban mall not unlike The Grove. And yet, it is crazy famous. There were three songwriters. Two women and a married couple. They chit chat between songs and tell stories. The married couple was awesome. They call themselves “Carolina Sings”. I recommend exploring their music. One of the women had a lovely voice and her music was pretty good. Interesting lyrics, but not really any hooks to her songs. I don’t really remember a single song. Kind of like seeing a musical that you remember liking, but don’t walk away humming the music. The other artist was…well, I didn’t care for her. They are embarking on a tour today. The Bluebird was their first night. The café has a $7 minimum purchase of food and/or beverage. I thought a salad sounded lovely. But I forgot were I was. Iceberg lettuce is NOT a reasonable form of lettuce in a house salad. It has its place. Sandwiches, garnish, or even mixed in with darker greens, I suppose. But it was the only lettuce in the bowl. Felt like I was eating damp, crisp cardboard. I need to learn that lesson quickly. Good salads must be made at home. Then there were the cans of beer. None that I ordered, of course. But they were everywhere. Everybody had beer in a can. What self-respecting bar serves beer in a can? You drink canned beer at a frat party, or intertubing, or on your front lawn. You do not drink it in a bar. They should be ashamed of themselves. At one point, Ben of Carolina Sings was introducing the next song. He said it was inspired in reaction to the horrible movie “2012”. I never saw it so I can’t comment. But he showed his age and ignorance when saying that in an epic film like that the casting should be more thoughtful. “John Cusack? Who is that? He has “Serendipity” to his name and that is about it. They should have gotten Denzel.” I’m sorry, what? Serendipity? Are you serious? Have you ever heard of “Better of Dead”, “Say Anything”, “Gross Point Blank.”? Hell, I would put “Must Love Dogs” higher up on the list of credentials than “Serendipity”. I was a bit horrified. The other part that was quite a shift for me was the number of Christian centric songs. Really threw me when someone played a song she wrote for her Old Testament History class in college. When you go to hear music in LA, there is the occasional Christian song that makes an appearance. Usually, it is performed by a new arrival to the city. Geez, I got a terrible review for singing a spiritual a capella at a show. You can still find it with a simple Google search. It was a warning of what not to do. The reviewer failed to mention that the room went ape shit for the song, and it only bothered him. I figured if U2 can sing “40”, Cream can sing “Presence of the Lord”, and Phish can sing “Amazing Grace”, I was pretty safe at a dinky bar on Sunset. But I digress. One of the girls didn’t understand the reference of one of the songs. The other girl said, “Well, Amy, if you ever bothered to pick up a Bible you would know.” And the room erupted in an “Ooh”. Wow. I am in the South. When a “not reading your Bible” quip can provoke such a reaction from the crowd.

All in all, I dug it. The caliber of voices goes dramatically up in the Music City. Reminds me of Austin. LA for being the seat of the record labels really doesn’t provide a plethora of high quality singers. It is usually a find.