NFV Song Spotlight: MacGregor Burns' Paradise Motel

I went off to a Ryan Pollie presents night at The Fable mainly to catch Swimming Bell. I'd seen Swimming Bell back in 2022 and figured I'd catch another set. If I were more real life work focused, I probably should have been tapping away at my computer instead of heading out to The Fable. The company I work for is going through system upgrades and people who send out reports are sending the reports out much later than normal and the reports are filled with errors. It will all get resolved eventually, but there's always that rough patch where sometimes you just got to put in the extra effort to deal with all. Well, I was like screw it, it is 8 p.m., I'm heading out to catch some live music. I should note that I don't always prioritize music over work. I often pass on various assignments for US Rocker Music due to real life work. Don't worry, I'm not trying to drive myself into unemployment due to my love of the LA music scene, but I do try to walk that fine line. 

MacGregor Burns at The Fable

After Swimming Bell hit the stage (you can read that review here), MacGregor Burns came up on stage with his drummer. He took a rather modest approach to start off his set. He just started off singing without even an introduction or comment. It was one of those moments that happens every so often where I'm not sure if a band is starting off their set or doing a sound check. That first song was "Silence Answers" which has The Smiths vibes. It got a couple guys dancing near the stage. One of those guys was initially hanging out with his buddies in a booth and was inspired to leave and dance to the song. His friends must have given him a hard time about wanting to dance to the song, because I happened to notice that when he started walking back to the booth he gave his friends a very subtle middle finger. 

Comment of the set: Who parks a mile away from here to get their steps in? 

MacGregor Burns at The Fable

Okay, I don't know if I park a mile away, but I always park down the hill from The Fable and walk up. It isn't to get my steps in, but that is a by-product. It is just difficult to find parking near the venue / bar so I just park on a section of Colorado Blvd that I know has parking. The problem with parking in that area of Eagle Rock is that east of The Fable is Trader Joe's and west is Casa Bianca Pizza. 

Comment 2 of the set: Can I get a hell yeah!

That comment reminded me of Harry Katz and the Pistachios.

He dedicated the unreleased song "The Real Thing" to Ryan Pollie. He mentioned that "You gotta get up to get down" was written in Santa Cruz. That got one person in the audience excited, "I used to live there!" 

MacGregor Burns at The Fable

The last song of the night was "Paradise Motel" which he mentioned was recorded with Ryan Pollie. He requested that the audience sing along, which they did with spirit. A tribute to a motel in the middle of no where that is about to shutter for good?  

I hope you're doing well at the Paradise Motel.
Getting there is good.
Getting there is great.
As long as I'm getting back to you anyway.

His Soundcloud bio has the following: He has held a variety of random jobs to support the lifestyle from Hollywood Tour Guide to Water Polo Referee to Children’s Entertainer. 

Work, work, work. That's what we all do.

Setlist: Silence Answers, Julia, Quit Making Me Cry, Shake it All Night Long, The Real Thing, Can't Go Back, My Love Is Still True, Let Yourself Go, You gotta get up to get down, Paradise Motel.