Sunday, May 8th ... Santa Margarita, CA . April Showers Bring May Flowers

Mother's Day was this past Sunday, I called my mom early and sang her a song onto her voice mail at home "Happy Mother's Day to you. Happy Mother's Day to you. Happy Mother's Day because your my mom. Happy Mother's Day to you." Then she picked up the phone and laughed. My mom is cool. So last Sunday, May 8th my wife and I had a backyard party. We called it April Showers Bring May Flowers, had a Taco Potluck, invited the locals and beyond over some brought food, and beer others did not but it was fun. Plenty fun. Taco's are great with music, community, beer, and tequila. We had them all. The music we had at our place was three bands one local band that goes by The Marquees, the second from Portland, Oregon and they go by The Bugs ~ Hovercraft Records, and Thee Headliners ~ Starcleaner Records, also from Portland. May 8th, Mother's Day, April Showers Bring May Flowers, backyard party in Santa Margarita, CA, was The Bugs, and Thee Headliners last day on their: Double Double Trouble CA/AZ Two-ER 2011 Tour, and they did not hold back at all, dammit.

Pre-Show

The way the morning broke was unusually cold, for May, and so I was getting worried that maybe no one would show. The evening was started off right with preparation, emails, texts and then people started to trickle in with taco fixens, final preparations were made, shopping, more beer, more food, and so on. By the way my wife is the most awesome woman and hostess and together we have wonderful parties. She did a lot of food preparation, she also made sure that the mixed drinks were, um, properly mixed. She is the greatest damn bartender in the world. Together we hustled all day. Taco's in hand, check. Beer in other hand, check. A quick soundcheck for the first band, The Marquees. Then it was rock and roll central. The Marquee's got everyone amped, in the mood, pumped, and sonically lubed for what was to come later in the evening. The Marquee's are from San Luis Obispo, CA and reside in Nipomo, CA. The band consists of: Jason Lee-Drums/Vocals, Garland Lee-Guitar/Vocals, Rachel Owens-Bass/Vocals, and William Mendez-Guitar/Vocals and according to their myspace bio they have been playing music since the age of 15. They played for about a half an hour and rawked.

The Bugs from Portland, Oregon followed The Marquee's. (*Disclaimer: the sun was going down fast. The video I took is not so great, however, the sound is not terrible through the iPhone. Basically new to the phone and fiddling. Not patient, or too buzzed and in the moment I did not look through or scroll through my options. So The Bugs and Thee Headliners, sad but true, mostly ghostly silhouette's.) I apologize and will work on my iPhone skills for future posts, or be more patient, or drink less while operating slick technology.

Okay, The, freaking, Bugs. One word: Bad ASS duo! Okay that is two words but it should be one word. This Ain't Rocket Science folks this is Bad ASS-ness ... really! Really? The Bugs rocking and rolling in my backyard on Mother's Day? Eating taco's, and drinking enjoying The Bugs sound reminded me of Devo some of the time and Angry Samoans or Modern Lovers. Paul Haines and Mike Coumatos are two people aka The Bugs. Check The Bugs out on myspace, youtube, and their record label: Hovercraft Records

The Bugs even did a Pure Country Gold cover, King Cortisone. While you are at it check out Pure Country Gold if you haven't already. Well worth every penny you drop on them.

Thee Headliners were up next and they had plenty of time to put some grub in their bellies and drinks in their gullet's. Holly and JT another sweet Bad ASS duo. Thee Headliner's live show is absolutely amazing. They crank out the freakin jams and JT's blues soaked riffs are beautiful and conjure up ole Beelzebub himself. You can find their stuff on Starcleaner Records and their album Rain & Blood, which came out in 2009. You can also find Thee Headliners on myspace, reverbnation, and so on. Here are some video teases and pics.

After Thee Headliners set Mike, Paul, Holly, and JT were bummed that there was no more beer. I had previously saved and stashed a bunch in my garage beer fridge for our after party debauchery. The evening was filled with laughter and sharing. Good people. Great times. Mike from The Bugs also gave me a Chunk 666 sticker. What can I say I am easy! Best backyard party in a long time.

Woke up the following morning to a wonderful splitting headache. Made coffee, tea, and some breakfast. I really enjoyed the less hectic morning conversations and getting to know these folks. It was nice chillen with them, talking politics, art, music, and whatever else we talked about in our morning hangover. Juliane and I have many new contacts in the Portland, OR area and I hope we can get up there soon and hang out with everyone.