The first band tonight was called Media Jeweler. I'd seen them once before at a small show at Comic Book Hideout. I hate to compare bands to other bands, but it's often the best way I can describe them to people. I thought Media Jeweler sounded kind of like The Minutemen. Also, the lead singer played some kind of miniature horn instrument. They were pretty legit.
After Media Jeweler, I was feeling kind of introspective and anti-social, so I sat at a table and did some writing about the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, which is a slave narrative that I just read. I've been having a bit of anxiety and depression lately, and you wouldn't necessarily think that reading a slave narrative is a good thing to read when you are feeling kind of down, but it does put your particular problems in perspective. Compared to Frederick Douglass, my personal problems are fairly petty and small. Anyway, the next band was called Heathers. Shortly after they started playing, my friend Ryan showed up. I was glad to see Ryan. He bought me a drink and we sat and listened to Heathers together. Ryan thought they sounded like The Jam. I thought they sounded like this one band called Japandroids.
After Heathers, Ryan and I headed outside to check out the "blood moon" tonight. Neither of us was really sure what caused the moon to turn red, but it was pretty neat to watch. There was a fairly large group of bar patrons gathered outside, just staring up at the blood moon. I took a picture, but my zoom lens is not very powerful, as you can see…
My friend Nick, who recently started a local astronomy club called FACT (Fullerton Astronomy Club Travelers) texted me: "You have to wonder what our ancestors thought when they saw that blood moon." I was actually wondering that. I think there is a blood moon in the Bible, and I think it means something bad happened, or was about to happen. Now we know that the redness of the moon has purely materialistic and natural explanations, but I'm still not sure what they are. Anyway, Canyons went on next, as the blood moon shone overhead, just outside. Canyons are pretty terrific. I can't think of a band to compare them to. You can check them out online HERE.
The above picture features my friend Renjit to the left, who is a big fan and supporter of Canyons, and lots of cool local bands. Renjit has lots of really cool sweaters. Anyway, listening to these bands helped me feel a little better about my personal problems. I like going to live shows like these featuring good, sincere, local bands. The music is often loud, sometimes angry, sometimes introspective, sometimes just fun, but for me music is important because it provides an outlet for emotions. Even just listening to music can be a cathartic experience. And listening to music with other people can be a communal catharsis, which is a unique and wonderful thing.
