Sunday, November 06, 2005

N. L. Revealed, Lords Released

NOVEMBER 5 LENGTHWISE POST-SHOW PICS AND COMMENTS

Yesterday afternoon, Nico and I joined Norfolk, The Filthies, Fatt Katt and the Von Zippers, Nunez, and Mento Buru at Lengthwise Brewery for the Official Lords: Part I Book Release Party. This show was a grand success and a groundbreaker unplugged session for Bakersfield musicians. Lengthwise was packed with happy people eating fried twinkies and French fries, drinking good beer, and purchasing copies of N. L. Belardes' new Bakersfield-grown novel. I noticed many artists and musicians in the crowd, including bloggers of Ill News, Matilda Kay, Three Chord Whore, and Art Speak.

We had some difficulty hearing ourselves through the monitors but seemed to pull off a short set of new tunes without a hitch. Usually we're feeling pretty confident in front of a crowd, but without the other guys to back us up, honestly, we were feeling a bit tentative and nervous, two folks sitting in a fish bowl. This was definitely good practice for us and a very good reason to work out some new tunes. Rumor has it there'll be a Buck City Podcast of the event up soon.

The most revealing part of the night occurred when Belardes himself joined Mento Buru front and center and shook a set of hollow-gourd maracas. Was his dream finally coming true that moment on stage? To become the frontman maraca shaker of a Latin ska band? Is there a future for him in the maraca shaking field? If last night is our preview, we may just see Belardes taking up a new career path. "More maraca! More maraca!"

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