Can you believe I drove highway 10 just a few hours before that fire? Leaving East LA on Friday night it never would have crossed my mind that I would wake up the next afternoon to learn that that freeway was shut down indefinitely while they attended to a massive fire. The Governor declared a state of emergency for my state due to a road I had been on just a few short hours earlier and it all happened while I was asleep with my liver trying to process Tequila.
I was at The Paramount watching Edgar Alejandro’s show. James Silva opened for him and it was a fun night. I found Edgar on TikTok. I spent the summer researching costume ideas for a New Orleans trip that fell through, but what I took away from the research was an affinity for Dia de Muertos.
The culture, the costumes, the evening celebrations honoring those that have passed resonates with me. I did spend the All Saints holiday on Olvera Street and the performers in costume definitely felt like a conduit to the other side. I wanted to get blessed by a bruha, but the line was about thirty people deep so I walked up to the front to witness someone else go through it and had a bit of the smoke from their blessing hit me. Does a second-hand blessing count as good luck? I’ll take it.
That leads me to the night of music. I found Edgar on TikTok because I use the platform to find music. I’ll repost a song from the 80’s, find a new song from an artist that I’ve never heard before and the cycle continues. His song “A Tu Lado” has stayed with me since I heard it this summer. I knew he was young, he’s like 23, but I never would have guessed he’d appear like an old soul on stage. Do you know how pop stars sing about love and they smile and emote into the song? This guy took a few shots of tequila and sang like he had lived every word and would be lighting a cigarette the minute he was off stage. He had stage presence and I loved watching him perform.
James Silva opened for him. James has a similar style and I love him on the keyboard. They also had a whole mariachi band with them on stage. It’s the kind of live show I wish we would see more of.
What a La La Land moment to be in a jazz club listening to original love songs live while the light of a large neon red “cocktails” sign glows down on me in a dark room. Lower your expectations, I was wearing crocs. Beautiful, but comfortable. That’s my vibe.
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You know how I get about sliding doors. The way I’ve seen scenarios play out in my mind before they happen and then when it does happen, it’s like the characters or setting are what I imagined, but not in the order that they appear. A Jazz club in Los Angeles on a Friday night? I’ve definitely had that vision. A guy at the keyboard playing a melodic tune that echoes across a crowded room. Check. I’ve lived this before, but it was a different song and I’m pretty sure it was a different me. If I had been allowed to light up a cigarette in the backroom that could easily be a nice outdoor patio, it would have happened. It was a fun night and it took me all of Saturday in bed to recover.
The October festivities have ended on a musical note into November. Language at its highest form is musical and the one thing I know about 2023 leading into 2024 is that it will always be filled with music. I was inculcated with advice - stack paper and choose peace. Roger that, chief. I hope to be that wise one day. Until then, I’d like to think that I’m right a few more times a day than a broken clock.
Speaking of a broken clock there is a trend that I’m noticing with Edgar, James, and Shayne Davies below. These twenty-something guys that carry themselves with swagger and the musical history of my parent’s generation. Shayne works at a record store in New Jersey. He looks like a marble statue of David, but he records TikTok videos cleaning up a record store in vintage denim while listening to Sting and Steely Dan. Watch the TikTok video below. The scene where he smiles with those shades on while Sadie and the Devil is blasting in the background. That’s the sliding door I will gladly walk through if the timeline ever shifts in my favor. Take me to a record store blasting 70’s music where I can organize records while wearing sunglasses and smoking cigarettes.
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As someone with a background in media studies, Shayne Davies’ Tiktok fascinates me. He was born with a 2 in the front of his year, but he knows the lyrics to every Rolling Stones song including the B-sides. He looks like he could be a professional soccer player, but he’s invested in the store, with live music and a cafe coming soon. There was a tv show a little over a decade ago where a guy quit his job to move back to his home town to run his local bowling alley. There are elements of that in Davies’ story, but you also see that he could hop on the train from Jersey to NYC and steal a role from Jacob Elordi if he felt like it.
Do these TikTokers have their act together really young or am I romanticizing jazz clubs and record stores? Fair question.