Dakota in Santa Monica? What the?
On Saturday night, I joined back up with artists and songwriters Shane Cooley and Adam Smith for one more show together at Dakota Lounge in Santa Monica, CA for another solo acoustic performance. I hadn’t ever been here before, but a bunch of buddies in the area had been talking it up for a long time so I was glad to have the chance to finally check it out. In any case, they had an awesome stage, great sound (Thanks, Stephane!), a cool design theme/vibe, and just great, fun, helpful people running the place. Plus, the location (just a few blocks from the water in Santa Monica, CA) was pretty neat.
A couple new friends/fans at Dakota Lounge after my set. Thanks for the support, guys!
Both Shane and Adam did a phenomenal job (I really enjoy their writing) and the flow was really pretty darned good throughout the entire night. If you ever have a chance to check out one or both of those guys, do yourself a favor and make sure you go see them.
Adam Smith doing his thing at Dakota Lounge on Saturday night. Nice mix of what I suppose Tracy Chapman and Stevie Nicks might sound like together. Pretty sweet...
After we wrapped up the set, I said my goodbyes to Shane, Adam, and Adam’s manager, Jim. They took off for The Stinking Rose whose motto is “we add food to our garlic” or something like that. (Nice!) I joined some new friends and fans for a milkshake at this place called Swingers that, oddly enough, I found myself at several months ago after a really late set in Venice. (Funny how I end up at the same spots!) Anyway, time passed, we had some fun conversations, etc. but dinner finally ended and it was time to go home… but where? I thought I would just pick up a cheap motel somewhere in LA, but on a Saturday night? (Oops…) After driving around for a bit and making more than a few calls, I threw in the towel and just starting driving up the coast. I made it to Malibu/Point Dume and, feeling as though I was going to fall asleep at the wheel with no motels in view, I decided I’d just find a quiet neighborhood, pull over on the side of the road, and crash out in my truck. The only problem (that I failed to realize at the time) was that my truck was packed with gear, surfboards, CDs, instruments, etc. There really wasn’t any room, so I just moved some things around, got my passenger front seat as far back as it could go (not very far), lowered the sun shades, pulled my coat over my head to block the street lamps, and tried to get comfortable. Well, it wasn’t much, but I think I did sleep until about sunrise (sort of). Long story short, you gotta pay yer dues and, you know what… it wasn’t all that bad. Plus, I think I’ve got some songwriting ideas out of it, too. Nice. I was just hoping that I could muster some singing and playing for three hours as I had a gig in Santa Barbara that afternoon… it was to be a game time decision, I suppose.