Vault 350 Long Beach, CA April 9, 2005

Lookout kids! I survived the end of last year and I’ve got my reviewing chops back. Maybe I should call this one "how Lisa got her reviewing groove back" or sumpin.

Well, no matter what you call it, I'm ready to clutter the internet with another one of my long-ass reviews. Click here, here or here if you don’t want to read all this mess.

Hell, I’m feeling so good, I may actually get reviews of last November’s HOB shows in Cleveland and Chicago one of these days. ;)

So.

What with the upcoming Alice Cooper tour, Rusty’s Last Call gigs and the inevitable summer fair shows, CT club gigs are in short supply - therefore the Vault 350 show had my name all over it.

Major bonus: I talked WC Dawn into coming and Flis was up for some house, er, apartment guests.

The flights to Burbank were easy and I got my car with no problem. (You can’t not have a car in LA ;) ) I arrived at Flis’ place just in time to ride back to the airport to pick up Miss Dawn. It was great to be reunited with my west coast buds.

Although poor Flis had to work on Friday, Dawn and I had a leisurely, non-CT show day. After the obligatory coffee, we headed for Venice Beach to enjoy the beautiful (albeit windy) day. I could’ve walked around there for hours if I wasn’t so paranoid about getting stuck in traffic. LOL

We took the scenic route back to the Valley. Unfortunately my plans to drive through Topenga Canyon were shot to hell, thanks to the massive rainfall of recent weeks (and months). The road was shut down for mud slide clean up, I think. Doh!

Anyway, we managed to BS another route and successfully avoided sitting in traffic. Woo hoo! Later that night, the three of us enjoyed "1/2 Price Sushi" – thanks to both of them for helping a sushi novice try some new things. ;)

DAY OF THE SHOW

I must be a bad influence on Dawn, because she decided to join me for the stupid early arrival time. The drive down was pleasant: a nice day and traffic wasn’t too bad (nothing like a trip to LA to make one obsess about traffic issues).

In true style, we were blathering on and on (probably one of the countless Homestar Runner quotes of the weekend) when we found ourselves in the loading dock area of Long Beach. One illegal u turn later and we were back on track - thanks in part to a friendly hand signal (seriously!) from a truck driver who pegged us for tourists. LMAO!

Much to our surprise, it was very easy to get through town and we found the Vault, no problemo.

As dorky as I am about showing up early, let the record show that 7 others beat us there by a couple hours! LOL

Stiff competition, as it were. ;)

The upside to getting to these shows so flippin’ early is that you have lots of time to catch up with fine folks like Celina, Janice, Shoandra, Rick, Candice, Christopher and Victoria! And as far as waits outside venues go, this one was pretty painless. There was a Starbucks just down the street and several restaurants to choose from for lunch.

After lunch we returned and more local-type fans were on hand, including Caryn – whom I’d met last year at the Agoura Hills shows. Later that afternoon, I got to catch up with Daria and Claire [who’d brought 2 of their friends to enjoy the splendor that is CT ;) ]

As the day went on, the line continued to grow and there was entertainment from a goofy Vault 350 staff member. He gave us the good news that the doors would open at 6 PM, instead of 7.

Danny F. Saint and Laura joined the line just before the doors opened. Great to see them both again! By the time the doors opened, there were 3 separate lines – which made us Sidewalk Sitters a wee bit nervous. I figured we were screwed – but as luck would have it, we scored front spots right between Rick & Robin. Woo hoo!

Without a doubt, the Vault has the biggest security team I’ve ever seen. LOL And they were all decked out in 3 piece suits. Kinda gangsta. Kinda scary. I guess when you charge $4 for a bottle of water, you have an image to uphold.

Flis arrived about that time and pointed out that she showed up 8 hours after us and was in the second row. LMAO! Although she opted to stand on Tom’s side, Dawn and I were grateful to have the company of Tony and Brenton. Tony had video clips galore on his cell phone, which kept us entertained during the wait for CT.

The Vault 350 is a nice sized club with tables scattered around the outside of the main floor and a balcony wrapping around the outside of that. Off to the side, there’s an assortment of comfy chairs ‘n couches.

A not-so-comfy barricade was there for us dorks in the front. ;) Several of us noted that the sheer black sparkly curtain looked a bit like the shirt Robin used to sport a couple years back. Only the curtain wasn’t old and ratty. ;) WKRZBWL!

THE SHOW

UNBUSTED

Of course, with a name like that, there were many quips.

Are they a CT tribute band?

Do they only play stuff off that album?

Or do they *not* play anything from Busted?

I enjoyed their set – despite the fact that I about lost my hearing. Oy!

Dawn and I agreed that the drummer was hot and that we didn’t like one of his cymbals blocking our view. ;)

I appreciated the fact that they thanked CT – commenting that they’d be out in the crowd for CT’s show. They seemed a little tentative – there were a handful of false starts. I asked Tony for his thoughts on their set… "I felt like I was watching a practice." LMAO!!!!

It’s just not an LA show for me without a steady stream of Tony & Brenton barbs. :D

CT finally took the stage a little before 10 PM. Tony’s Spidey Sense kicked in and he asked if we were ready, right as "the drone" started.

WHAT THEY WORE

WHAT THEY PLAYED

MISC.

For awhile there, I thought the crowd was well behaved. However, it seems that sky high drink prices don’t keep folks from overindulging and by the time the DP fistfuls of picks went into the crowd, the shovers and pushers were up to their usual crap. Poor Chris got sick of it and shoved back, only to have the loser attack him. Things just got worse when Shoandra and Rick (his mom and dad) saw what was happening. It ended with Rick and the loser getting the boot.

Even Bun E noticed what was going on and came out from behind his kit, asking if everything was OK.

It’s a sad world we live in when an adult feels like it’s OK to pick on a youngster. :P Eff you, Drunken Loser Dude! And your little girlfriend, too!

Before all this mess, the guys were in good spirits and having fun. At one point Robin and Tom whispered something to each other and laughed out loud. Rick went over to their side of the stage to investigate. I don’t know what was said, but here’s what I did catch during the show…

RICK SEZ

Rick started the night with a gripe: they were happy to play this show affiliated with the LB Grand Prix, but the cheap bastards hadn’t given them any tickets to the race. LOL Of course, given the crowd, Rick had to mention the Rusty’s Last Call tour.

A comment regarding the Alice Cooper tour got a "Yes!" and a big grin from BEC.

He pointed out producer Bob Rock and one of the current members of KISS in the crowd. (Sorry – I don’t know Kisstory and I don’t wanna know Kisstory so I have no idea what the name of the dude is. LOL)

"Camilla Parker Bowles but Rick Nielsen rocks!"

After handing off a guitar (a black beauty made by Lace Music) to the ladies standing next to Dawn, he said it had been given to him... all he had to do was trade $5000 for it. *rim shot*

When he tech came to collect it, Tom and Rick feigned surprise.

He spotted a cute lil’ 9 year old girl in the crowd… "I haven’t done this in awhile but what the heck…" Of course after being invited onstage, she blew her line when he asked her to name her favorite band. Doh! After a couple tries she finally said, "Ummm…Cheap Trick?" Hardly a ringing endorsement. LOL Of course that didn’t stop the guys from giving her guitar picks and a drumstick, plus the sweet spot off stage right. Rick made some comment about that not being Neverland. Doh! The special moment was capped off the special moment with a MILF comment. Bad, Rick! Bad! Bad!

I forget the song, but at one point Rick asked me about my "baby" – I decided to pick a semantic argument, pointing out that Zach’s a preschooler now. I don’t know what his reply was – I just know he said something about Viagra and made a lewd gesture with his guitar. LOL!!!

There was a group of enthusiastic ladies there on Rick’s side – one of them opened her shirt on a quest to get more guitar picks. RN seemed happy to oblige. LOL

POST SHOW SCHTUFF

Afterwards, there was the usual fan mingling. It was a pleasure to meet Pam C’s hubby. And yes, he really does look like Jeff Spicoli. :)

Some of us decided to get something to eat and with the Saturday night crowds, it was no mean feat to find some place for our group. Eventually we settled on the same restaurant where we got lunch. LOL I come from the land of Mexican food and end up eating it on my trip out west. Oh the irony!

Anyway, it was nice to have some more relaxed time with friends before the trek back to the Valley. Thankfully, Dawn was awake enough for both of us on the ride. Must’ve been residual caffeine from all those Starbucks runs? ;)

HOME AGAIN

Before my flights home, there was time to visit Tony’s lovely family. His kids are total dolls!!! Made me miss Zach even more… Thanks to them for their hospitality.

Checking in at Burbank was just too easy. I swear, I’ll never fly into LAX again, if I can help it!

Although both flights went smoothly, it was a long trip back to Tejas. As they say in the song, "I’m just so glad to be back home."

GRACIAS

A huge thanks to Flis for putting up with me and Dawn. It was a great weekend you ladies! :)

Thanks to all the fans in line that day who held our spots during various food and coffee runs… It was a pleasure to see all y’all again!

Of course, the biggest thanks goes to Tim and Zach for letting me make another CT pilgrimage.

And the final thanks is for CT and their crew for another fun-filled show. Y’all make life good! :)

Peace,
Lisa J.
"I prefer to listen to Cheap Trick."
-Homer Simpson

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© Lisa Jebsen, 2005