Doing Work: Lucero Video

If you're a constant reader of 'The Tasty Morsel' you'd get the impression that all we do here is eat, drink and go to shows. With that kind of lifestyle, who has time to work when there's barely enough time to party? Well, we do work and sometimes our work brings us projects that pull our leisure and labor closer to each other. Recently, Bob applied to direct a music video for one of our favorite bands, Lucero. Needless to say, he got the job and after a month or so of toiling and animating until the wee hours in the home office. Here's what he came up with:

http://vimeo.com/6613272

Johnny Davis from Lucero on Vimeo.

Eating at Jackie Chan's Favorite Food and Gawking Hipsters

Last Saturday we committed ourselves to a lot; transport to Chinatown, finding a restaurant to eat copious amounts of vinegar and cornstarch on a dime, cocktails and then making it to The F-No Fest to see Lucero.

Not only did we accomplish all of this, but we exceeded our own expectations. Usually we would jump in our car and find our way down the 110, but this time we decided we should take public transport. Our friend, Sean, convinced us that it would breed adventure since we were all L.A. metro virgins. But, luckily, it was pretty unadventurous except for the guy that jumped in at the Compton stop and gave a very convincing sales pitch for Coby headphones. So convincing that we decided to take him with us so he could convince security at The Fest to let us into the VIP lounge. No, this didn't really happen, but Sean (who is always looking to score a deal) really thought long and hard about it.

We arrived about an hour later at Grand Central Station. Our journey through the barrios of Los Angeles had us feening for Chinese food. Sean, in a previous trip to Chinatown, had been to the restaurant where they shot Rush Hour and said it was tasty and cheap. We decided to seek this place out again, not wanting to take a chance on sketchy Chinese that would leave us in an uncomfortable predicament...later...at the fest...in a long line...for a blue port -a- potty.

Fortune-ately, we found it "Foo Chow Restaurant Where Best Seller Movie By Jackie Chan Was Shot Here". We ordered Tsing Taos and the family meal, which came with fried rice, sweet and sour pork, orange chicken, chow mein, egg rolls and fried shrimp. Everything was delicious and only cost us $40 and we quickly decided that we should celebrate our tasty and cheap meal with cocktails.

Enter Chinatown's best dive bar - Hop Louie's. It was dark, there was some nice folk to talk to and the bartender, Sean, was a good bullshitter. We liked Sean The Bartender. He had the name of an Irishman and, more importantly, poured a drink like an Irishman, but we were in Chinatown - so, no he wasn't an Irishman.

After a round, or four, we made our way down to The FYF Fest.

Years before, The FYF Fest was called 'The Fuck Yeah Fest' and would be a series of shows spread across a handful of bars in the Hollywood / Silverlake area. The bands were underground and the concept was great. You just barhopped from gig to gig and enjoyed a weekend of music. Not this time. This year, the festival got a makeover. They ditched the 'Fuck Yeah Fest' and traded in the vulgarity for a simple 'FYF'. Pretty stupid I think, since the name 'FYF Fest' pretty much means 'Fuck Yeah Fest Fest'. The stupidity grows even larger once we got to the gig. It was at LA Historical National Park in downtown, a large and spread out lawn. Three stages were spread across the park and the whole thing smelled of Warped Tour Ugliness. Tons of shitty kids going to see even shittier bands. A bunch of 'Hardcore' and 'Crapcore'. The only bands we had any interest in seeing were Lucero, Japanther and possibly Tim and Eric. Oh, and in order to drink beer, you were caged into a small area of the park and couldn't even see any of the stages from the far-away drinkers corner. Oh, and it cost $7 for a Miller Lite. It looks like someone was making money hand over fist.

I'd love to rant about the kids there, but I don't have time. Lets just say they were of the 'hipster' variety. Pretty much a retarded fashion show. Ironic t-shirts that they found at trailer park garage sales, goofy neon glasses, man-shorts that showed enough pale skin to blind a deaf man, shitty hair cuts, bad facial hair, etc. You can study these ilk here and here.

So, those people were enough to drive us to our wit's end.

Needless to say, we could only stomach the gig for Lucero's set. They played well, we screamed all the lyrics as well as our drunk selves could and that was about it.

Verdict: Jackie Chan has good taste in Chinese food, FYF Fest has bad taste in becoming a commercialized mess with masses of people who believe they are not commercial even though they are just another giant mass of people trying to look different, yet looking all the same.

Tunesday: Japanther

Hey kiddos, another fine Tunesday Tuesday installment for you all. Today we'll be looking at a band from Brooklyn called Japanther. Two dudes, bass, drums, casio, phones for microphones, and good tunes. Let's have a listen, shall we?



I'm pretty excited because I'll get to see these dudes play in a few weekends at the FYF Fest at the National Park here in L.A. Along with them will be Lucero and Tim and Eric. Should be a fabulous day of a few bands I know and a bunch I have to learn about.

Here's another Japanther video that I found to be rather interesting...

Lucero Giggin'

Well, I'm a little late on this post since things have been pretty busy over here at The Tasty Morsel.  Since we got back from the east coast, I can promise you that we've been having tasty culinary adventures, imbibing a bit and generally carrying on.  In that time, I've been sitting on writing this article for our gig-going adventures at a few Lucero shows.  So, I figured since I'm (Bob) taking time to slow down for a bit while doing a cleansing fast (isn't it funny that I'm slowing down on a fast?).

Let's rewind back to May 14th at Alex's Bar in Long Beach where we caught Lucero.  Opening for them was Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears who were really something else.  They played southern blues with horns.  I think there were about 8 dudes in the band.  Must be tough when getting paid, although I don't think they're really in it for the money... it's always about the music.  With these guys, I would believe that to be true.  Watching them is a ton of fun, now I just have to get some of their records to really understand what's going on.

Lucero came on shortly after and played their usual long set, but this time with a few songs that were new to us.  The new tunes sounded a wee bit different, a more evolved Lucero.  I didn't have my camera with me that night, so I missed the boat on my photography duties.

The second night was on the 15th at the Troubadour.  The gig went much the same way.  Lucero did pretty much all the new songs from the night before with a bunch of requests mixed in for good measure.  The one truly fun thing about Lucero shows is that they'll play almost any request you can throw at them (their own tunes).  The gig was packed with a lot of kids and the band was having fun and drinking plenty, a good fuel to a good show.  We sat in the back behind the bar where we could sit on our asses and drink $6 Buds.  The Troubadour really needs to work on their prices.  After the gig, we were able to talk to some of the guys from the band and hang out a bit.  They're pretty cool about that and it's always nice to meet the artists that you're into.  Hell, they're just people too.  Enough of my rambling.  Here's a few photos:

Lucero will sometimes pull out the accordion.  Do you like accordions?

Here's Ben Nichols.  He's lit well, or well lit...

Ben going to get a sip of Jameson (what did we tell you about Lucero coupled with Jameson and Budweiser?)

Tunesday: Lucero

Well, it's that time of year where Lucero comes to town.  Definitely one of our favorite bands to see and indulge plenty of booze while watching them go off.  Lucero is from Tennessee and they combine a bit of a country feel with some blazing rockin'.  It's hard to explain or express the awesomeness of seeing these guys live, but the gravelly voice of Ben Nichols and the tone of Brian's guitar tell it all alongside with lyrics about drinking and women, you can't go wrong.

We'll be seeing them twice this week and enjoying it.  See you out there.

Here's a clip from one of their DVD's that gives you a good glimpse of what they're all about.