Three Days of Music: Chinatown Summer Nights, Happy Sundays Long Beach, The Echo

It was a jammed packed three days of straight awesome music.

It all started on a Saturday in Chinatown for the final Chinatown Summer Nights of 2018.

Emma Cole with Lauren Ruth Ward

Opening up was Emma Cole who had some wonderful cameos, which included Lauren Ruth Ward. Jane Holiday followed up. When I looked at the schedule, I had no clue who he was. Then when he went up on stage, I recognized him. He used to go simply by Jane when I caught his set at The Hi Hat in early 2018. mini bear was up next. That band will get you dancing. Jasper Bones had the crowd packed in and swooning to his vocals. CLARA-NOVA gave us some French inspired pop while I got fascinated with her drum stick.

Then on Sunday I took a long trip down to Long Beach. I don't go to Long Beach all that often. The inspiration for heading off on this day was that a number of bands that I follow were playing a music festival called Happy Sunday: Spare Parts for Broken Hearts, Ramonda Hammer, The Paranoyds, Holy Wars, Draemings, and Death Valley Girls.

Those weren't the only bands I saw though. I also caught DCHAV, No Tides, The No. 44 and The Shrine.

Best memory was when The No. 44 ended their set at Iguana Kelleys. The Paranoyds were up next and weren't anywhere to be seen. One of the individuals running things went to the microphone, "If The Paranoyds are around, you can set up now." The stage remained void of The Paranoyds. Next, the person went up to someone in the audience and I could hear him ask, "Do you see The Paranoyds anywhere? Do you know what they look like?" Well, shortly after that, they walked in, set up, and basically started on time.

The Paranoyds

Another memory has to deal with Death Valley Girls. It was either the first or second song and the lead singer broke a string on her guitar. The look on her face was priceless. The bassist on this night just happened to be the bassist for Cat Scan.

I also happened to take a walk down to the Long Beach Playhouse to see a photo exhibit of Emery Becker's photography. He was a Los Angeles photographer who died in a highway accident earlier this year. It was a very moving tribute to his work. The photos were amazing.

To close out the three day stint, it was off to The Echo to catch the final Slugs residency night. The night had, in order, Egg Drop Soup, Rumblepak, Nicky Blitz, Slugs, and Turtles on Speed. I was eager to catch Egg Drop Soup as a photographer I know did a photo shoot for them. They were a fun band. I had previously interviewed Rumblepak and Turtles on Speed. Nicky Blitz got hot while wearing his a sport's jacket. It was a fun final night to catch Slugs. They were doing a team sports night. Jerseys were in and Lauren Ruth Ward did some on stage cheerleading.

Slugs

Interestingly, the three nights was a nice way to catch full sets of bands that I wasn't able to catch during Echo Park Rising. That includes Emma Cole, mini bear, Spare Parts for Broken Hearts and The Paranoyds. I won't mention Ramonda Hammer as I essentially caught 95% of their Echo Park Rising set.