LA is Like So Totally Cheap…For Realz, Yo (Dawg)
Story and Photo by Alexis Hawkins
Being poor in LA on a Friday night is a scary notion. The very thought of leaving your apartment invokes nightmarish premonitions of $10 draft beers as well as the $29.95 you’ll be spending at Wendy’s when you opt to buy for all your friends after 6 of said draft beers. Yes, the City of Angels has a cruel habit of mocking the underpaid, the least of which is making you think you’re a total “baller” in the Wendy’s drive-through.
Luckily though, a combination of LAfreebee.com, apathy toward sharing my email address for a free well drink, and, of course, knowing all the right people was just the right antidote for a successful night of revelry in the 213…er, 323. Hmm.
Every 2nd Friday of the month a free concert, aptly named “Friday Night Sessions” takes place at California Plaza in Downtown LA. The idea is that a handful of local, emerging indie bands play right outside of Casa Cocina & Cantina, which is more than happy to provide a complimentary (well) drink to those who RSVP’d online (or provide their email to the hostess). Casa is also more than happy to provide overpriced 2nd and 3rd cocktails to everyone reveling in the fact that they just got a free drink with free entertainment in the same night.
“Free” is such a thrilling word. The category of free things, however, encompasses so much unappealing crap that the word is often tainted with doubt. For example: airplane headphones, a stress test from the Church of Scientology, court-side Clippers tickets.
Friday Night Sessions, though, heroically restores good faith in freebees! I was truly impressed with each band almost to the point where I felt guilty for not paying for the pleasure of enjoying their music. Almost. And how the hell are local bands playing outside in an office plaza for free able to break down and set up their equipment between sets faster than any paid show I’ve ever seen in an actual venue where I’ve purchased a ticket that helps pay the salary of multiple sound technicians???
Local indie bands play free Friday Night Sessions at California Plaza surrounded by an inspiring LA skyline.
Please check out the bands that played that night and pay to go listen to them. I’ll feel better that way.
Franklin Music School (www.myspace.com/franklinmusicschool)
The Ross Sea Party (www.myspace.com/therossseaparty)
Facts on File (www.myspace.com/factsonfile)
The French Semester (www.myspace.com/thefrenchsemester)
Thankfully my complimentary drink from Casa was the strongest margarita I’ve ever had and quite literally took an hour to finish mine plus my friend’s drink, which was abandoned a few bitter sips into it, and thus spared the expense of drink #2.
The triumph of this fateful free Friday did not end at the California Plaza though. No, the vibrations from my feature-less Samsung cellular telephone would only invite a fresh stream of free frivolity!
The call: My next-door neighbor was off to a show at The Mint.
The dilemma: a $15 cover. Hells No!, I thought, I own this town. I don’t pay for shit! (it’s an amazing sense of entitlement that comes from 2 free cocktails and a free concert)
The solution: one of the security guys working Sunset Junction last August who got me on stage with Built to Spill without a photo pass happened to mention that he ran security at The Mint…and I happened to remember this after two margaritas.
At the Mint. Out of appreciation for my mad hook-ups, my neighbor buys me a drink. Free x3! We wrestle our way through the crowded venue toward the stage. The Mint is so packed that squeezing past each person is like being birthed out of a collective sweaty, half-drunk mass about 9 times over.
Chris Pierce, the man who my neighbor informs me is the musician we’re there to see, takes the stage.
A soul singer. A sweet crooner. I bad ass guitarist. Chris Pierce’ s music elevates the high of my “free” streak to unfathomable levels. The dimly lit Mint now basks in the glow of Pierce’s amazing talent and the unique excitement of an “oh shit, soul is awesome” revelation from what seems like quite a few people in the crowd.
“Take the business out of the music business and this is what you get,” says Chris. I suppose that would leave the music, which is conveniently located here:
http://www.chrispierce.com/ and here: http://www.myspace.com/chrispierce. Get a taste online, but the true Chris Pierce experience happens somewhere sandwiched between a bunch of white people getting down to soul music for the first time.
So there you have it. I had successfully spent less money on an amazing Friday night in Los Angeles than a mediocre Friday night I had once spent in Billings, Montana. Maybe it’s true that the best things in life are free,…but then again they’re always giving away free Clippers tickets.
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*** How many people, nay, groups of people, does it take to put on these relatively low-key free concerts in California Plaza once a month?
Well, Friday Night Sessions in all their glory are made possible by lafreebee, Isgoodmusic, SideCho Records, Dramaturgy Promotions, Casa Downtown, Grand Performances and the artists themselves.
