My Place Sports Bar and Grill
Huntington Beach, California
May 14, 2004
By Kayt
This show, I found out some time after I got there, was originally intended as a private
party, thrown by someone I often see at the shows, but then it got moved to a restaurant and
so became more of a public show. The restaurant in question was a sports bar & grill called My Place and it
seems unused to having live bands, going by the floor covering of trampled-on peanut shells and there was a rather
unsettling lack of evidence of any likely space for a band to set up. But as I usually
do in unusual situations, I started trying to make the most of it. I found a table, which turned
out to be right in front of where the band eventually played (there's something to be said for
experience), and went over to the counter
to order food. The theory was that when the waitress brought us our food she would take drink
orders, and so the long wait for this to happen began. Dare I say it continues to this day.
Soon, I saw Roman and Craig looking for a place to sit, and I called out to Roman, who,
having only seen me at one show so far, wasn’t entirely sure at first of who I was, how
I knew his name or why this strange woman was calling him. Once they got closer I refreshed
them on my identity and we talked for a
few minutes. They had driven down together and said the other guys would probably arrive
soon. So I relaxed, waited for my food and looked around.
There was a sign on the wall above the bar, directly underneath the huge stuffed fish,
reading “Best Service is Self Service!” and that
turned out to be good advice because...well, I hate to say it but there was virtually no
service of which to speak. I'm not complaining – if a place has a sign like that chances are
pretty good that they're used to people making comments like that and are possibly even proud of their
lousy service, so who am I to tell them they're wrong, right? I mean, the now-defunct but once
great 50s hamburger restaurant Ed Debevics in Beverly Hills used to display a sign reading
"Eat and Get Out!" It's all in the "personality" of a place. And fortunately, I'm rather
self-sufficient, which helped a lot once the
food was unceremoniously dumped on my table by a waitress who barely slowed down and
evidently had no interest in taking drink orders or even providing us with forks. So then
I had to go find the napkins, silverware and ketchup myself and was in the process of doing
this, working my way between the long community tables and benches that served as seating,
when I looked up and saw that Oleg and Igor had just walked in. They looked a little
confused…maybe I’m wrong. But I know that when I first arrived I had been confused. I had
asked the first person I saw, a girl working the cash register near the door, “Are Red
Elvises playing here?” She said yes, and that she thought the show would start at 10:00,
contradicting the 9:00 possible start time I had been told on the phone. My next question
had been “Where’s the stage?” and she had explained that there wasn’t one and that they’d probably move
the pool table out of the way to make room. You know you’re in for an interesting evening
with an answer like that. It certainly takes all kinds of places to make a concert tour!
Oleg, and then Igor, hugged me hello and I told them what I had been told about the probable
moving of the pool table, which was near a wide doorway separating the main room from a
smaller second room full of tables and video games. I sure was glad to see those guys again!
Sasha was with them so now the entire band had arrived. They ended up moving that pool table
pretty much by themselves, and moving some tables out of the way too, and then a restaurant
employee swept the peanut shell residue off the floor where they going to set up, and a piece
of carpet was laid down for Craig’s drums. Somewhere in the middle of all this my food finally
arrived but was accompanied by a guy telling me that the burger I had
originally ordered must have been given to someone else and asking if I would be okay with
this burger which, by the way, had avocado and bacon? I said I was, since I actually would
have ordered it that way had I seen it on the menu. The food there did look good and I’m sure
mine would have been better had it not been well on its way to a rather Siberian temperature.
Good thing that for some reason by then I wasn’t that hungry any more. It was more interesting
to watch the people and also the band as they began to set up and get ready for the show.
Ten o’clock came and went as the guys leisurely set up, tested mics and so on. Then after
a while they were ready to start. For various reasons, not the least of which being that I
had been up
since 5:30 that morning and was actually starting to fade a little, I was only able to stay for the first set,
but I presume the second set was equally as exciting because, as they always do, they rocked
the place hard. They opened with “Lovepipe,” and then played “Boogie on the Beach,” “Night
Butterfly,” “Love Rocket,” “Ticket to Japan,” “Venice USA,” “Sad Cowboy Song,” and finished
up that set with “I Wanna See You Belly Dance.” Dancing broke out in a small space where tables
had been moved out of the way, right next to where I was sitting. Everybody seemed to be
having a great time. I was happy to be there even though I had to leave, but at least I
could save some energy for
the Rusty’s show the next night. The place was packed and people looked very happy to have
such a great band along with their hamburgers and beer. I can’t tell you what happened later
but I’m sure it was a great continuation of a fantastic night!
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