Monday, July 16, 2007

Hootenanny Review.

I've been slacking a bit on the blog but Ravelry is evil and sucking my time. No not really, really I have just been a little busy. Ravelry is just a wonderful place to meet like minded knitters with every possible side interest.


Last weekend Mrs. Twisted and I went to the Hootenanny Rock-a-Billy show. I was asked for a review by more than reader so here it is. To me this was a place to see a few really great bands, a few good bands and some that didn't live up to expectations. Furthermore this was one heck of a great side show of fashions and people of ALL kinds.






Where else could you see such a wide array of people. Supporters of the Pacific Symphony also enjoying to alternative music. The Arts, a place where we can all share common ground.





"The Man" Thank goodness the crowd was mellow compared to the last time when the pit was vicious. They just stood and watched the crowd and enjoyed the show.




Most of the people dressed up for the show and if you had a custom car you could drive it onto the grounds giving you a place to hang out between bands or if you just need a place to relax. We always love to check out the cars.

A 1959 Chevrolet. The year I was born. Wish I looked as good.





Pink Cadillac Sedan De Ville with pink leopard print interior. RRRRRRrrrrrrooooowwww. Nice car to take for a cruise.




Later model 60's GTO. Nice condition.



Yes they drove this car to the show and were driving it home. This is almost street legal in Ca. shocking huh?


Love the H.R. Puff N Stuff guy attached to the frame. Another attention for detail OCD moment here.
A nice Late 40's Mercury with a chopped roof.
Beautiful Early Chevy with the chopped roof line.

The hood or Trunk on this Coupe De Ville is longer than most of the little imports

This is the 2nd one of these we attended so we knew what to expect or sort of. We both worried about the heat but a little overcast skies helped keep the temps down enough to make it The venue was really harsh about any sort of blanket to sit on or chairs so you had to make due.

I just wondered why the ladies would subject themselves to hours in high heels but I understand the look isn't complete with out just the right shoes. but some of these were hard to fathom for 6 plus hours on your feet standing on asphalt, grass, sand and uneven surfaces.

Nice rhinestones


Mr Twisted gets a new hat. Doesn't go with the Supersuckers shirt but looks nice with the shades.


Like I said the parade of fashion was so much fun to take in. The wide array of styles and oh the hair styles.
Nice braid and the purple over the silver over the blond was eye catching.


This lovely lady had a booth and was quite busy. I loved the hair and dress and the red flower. Not the best picture by your's truly.
Nice Mohawk, but not the best hair of the day
These ladies were wearing vintage style swim suits and not to worried about attracting attention. At least there were cool but the shoes were not the most comfortable for the venue. Hmm Red polka dot shoes with a gold leme' suit and gold shoes with a red suit? Don't think so...

Blue hair dead center and another shelf Mohawk, close but no cigar for best hair.


Nice style and the two tone color looked very good together. A parasol was the right accessory for the day to beat the sun.
Pretty hair and one of my favorite dresses of the day. Nicely tailored to fit and classic high waist style. She looked like she just arrived at the end of the day. Perfect hair, make-up and fresh looking dress. How do they do it? It was hot and dusty and we enjoyed standing under the misters to cool off. Love the matching fabric covered headband too, just wish you could see the shoes.


Great dress and shoes...


Remember the WIP basket a few months ago that was trimmed with some red skull bandanna fabric. Also the apron I was wearing a few post back? The fabric was every where here. We saw three different dresses made from it. Rock-a-Billy/Punk music fans tend to be very crafty because of necessity.



Nice halter version of the same fabric.

A wagon lined with the same fabric....

Some of the hardcore, wear true vintage outfits and they even had a few vendors with vintage clothes. Their were even two "beauty shops" set up to transform the ladies who didn't think to do the hairdo before the show.

This is the hair of the day.

Two for the price of one. My guess was that they were Nekromantix fans.

Now don't get me wrong here but this is what I thought when I saw this, Does he roll his pants up because they were too long or because he wanted to follow the style? Look at the other jean pant legs around them.

OK to the music. There was stage A,B, and C. Stages A & B were side by side so one was setting up while the other was playing to eliminate the down time between bands.


Stage C was on the other side of the grounds so the music didn't bleed over too much. We had seen some of the bands before and some were new to us.

The first band we stopped to watch was on Stage A



Big Sandy and the Fly Right Boys are a regulars at this show and tend to play a lot locally in So Cal. Always a great show. Sound was spot on and the set was very typical of their style. Thumbs up...


We wandered over to the C stage to see Deke Dickerson play and were not disappointed. What a true musician and class act. I wondered why the 3rd stage had some
Deke is a legend, go see him if you get the chance.

The Blasters with Dave Alvin were solid again too. I was a little disappointed with the Dave Alvin solo set later in the day until his brother joined him for the last song.

One of our favorite live bands was on the ticket again, The Supersuckers. A Texas Rock and Roll band that always gets the in a fervor. The are a tight band with loads of polish while still holding the raw edge. Big Thumbs up for them.
Eddie Spaghetti front and center.


Lee Rocker from the Original Stray Cats had his band but couldn't hold the crowd as the same with Mojo Nixon. The crowd began to swell when The Nekromantix came on stage. I must admit the sound was very muddy and thin. Like there wasn't much substance to the music itself. the songs on the recordings are a little better but the energy wasn't coming through to the crowd. The previous band sounded much better so it wasn't the sound system. The lead guitarist played an orange Gretsch similar to My Betty and had some chops but the rest of the band wasn't very impressive. I know they have a huge following but the shtick of this guy using a coffin shaped upright base was not making the music more palatable. Looks to be a little over produced on the album and not able to give the same quality live. Thumb down from me.. Sorry Madge.

We walked over to hear the band at Stage C again and found Michael Ulbaldini. Good rock-a-billy sound. the group was well rehearsed and held the smaller audience well. Notice another hand made dress on the lady in foreground from the same skull bandanna fabric. She was quite good or the person who made this was. the finishing was really good. Sorry got off topic a bit. Big Thumbs up ...

The steel guitarist sort of looked like Alice Cooper without his eye liner and 10 years younger.


We waked back to see the end of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and didn't think they were the right band in the right order for this crowd. The crowd wandered away again and then swelled when the main act was getting close to coming on. Thumbs down on Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Would have rather seen Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. but way too late in the show after the energy was raised by some of the other bands.

Social Distortion was the headliner and they didn't disappoint. Lots of older music and great tone from this long time Orange County Band. Mike Ness held the attention of the fans who waited all day and slowly built the tempo from some of his slow stuff to the hard driving crowd pleasers.











With all the "interesting" people there we almost fell over laughing when we saw this. As we were heading to the parking lot I snapped this bad pic of the "Short Bus" pulling out.

Mrs. Twisted did bring some knitting but the show took prority and it was a little too hot to knit.

7 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great time.
    I love people watching.

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  2. Thanks for the awesome review! It was like being there.

    I, too, love the Supersuckers and Blasters. Thanks for the opine re. Necromantix; I don't know them t'all, but they seem to be popular (?)...like Misfits/Damned wannabes? Hee.

    That rad red fabric is Baddanna from Alexander Henry. So cool. I have a knitting bag made out of the black version.

    Rock on!

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  3. Anonymous3:28 PM

    I like your hat.

    What a great post. Your pictures were so good. Thanx for sharing.

    I left a message for you in Ravelry to answer your question about the mosaic etc. Hope that is okay.

    Punkin

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  4. Great photos. Sounds like you had a great time. We are going on vacation in a couple of weeks (Orlando and then Williamsburg) so will have opportunities for great people watching!

    I have a couple of co-workers that walk around in what we call their "hooker" or "come hither" shoes. One of them, who was born in 1955, will walk around in them one day and then the next will be wearing house slippers because her back and feet hurt so much. DUH.

    I'm not on Ravelry yet. Hopefully, someday.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous10:56 PM

    I really love that scene. well, not so much the music, (but maybe I haven't heard enough of it) but the clothes and the hair, the cars, etc...

    Loved the pink Caddy.

    -Stacey

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  6. Great photos! I like it very much!

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  7. What a great documentation! I can't wait to be able to go to a (big) show again. So was the woman with the polka dot shoes Nicole Ritchie or did she just have the same tattoo?

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