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Pasadena Getting down to Pasadena was going to be straightforward, mainly on I-5 through the great central valley of California, then over the mountains into the L.A. basin. I’d gotten in late the night before and it being in the middle of nowhere, and late for dinner, I didn’t stop for gas. I didn’t realize my lodging would be so far out of town. So the next morning, I wrote some abstracts for presentations for conferences this summer and fall and had to make a last minute change in plan for where to stay in Pasadena, so got a very late start. I noticed the gas tank was down to about a quarter and remembered my host saying you’d go for half an hour without seeing much of anything. Luckily, on I-5 there was an oasis of a few gas stations and eateries just in time. I’d turned off the air conditioning and brought the speed down towards the optimum 55 to save on fuel. Getting to the east-west San Gabriel mountains, I noticed the first exit just before the mountains was called Grapevine. Aha! So this is what they mean when they talk about the Grapevine having unusual bouts with snow or ice. The road goes up to over 4,000 feet, but is still largely desert. This day the awful pollution was worst on the north side in the central valley. It was clearer in the L.A. basin. Ah, Pasadena. The land of the little old lady and Colorado Boulevard (also the Rose Bowl and parade). I’m glad I knew the song because my Super 8 was on this street, and it’s really the main east-west drag in town. In Pasadena I quickly saw that drivers don’t pay any attention to yellow traffic lights, so I adapted to that, sailing through yellows with aplomb. I’d probably cause a rear-end collision if I stopped for them. There is an “Old Pasadena” a few blocks west of the area where the theater is that looks to be vintage ‘50s or ‘60s. The Civic is near the Civic (government) center, and one block off Colorado. I was able to get free street parking a few blocks away. It’s a nice old theater celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The radio station Kearth, must be KRTH (ooh I Like that name) was there in full force outside the venue and introducing the Moodies before the show started. As the Moodies were formally introduced by their own announcer, I realized that the introduction is now much more streamlined. They are no longer the Kings of Rock and Roll or whatever it used to be. I think the announcer is different too. Let’s see, what else was notable. The lighting was fantastic at this venue (for photography, I mean). This was the first time I could remember hearing lots of Hispanic accents at a Moodies show. John’s 12-string guitar was nice and full this evening. I really like it when they pump up his instruments. The bass was a little louder as well, so if you listened for it, you could hear the intricate bass lines of IKYOTS, where usually it’s buried. His mic was also a little louder. Justin’s voice has been cracking a little bit every concert so far.. this one was a little more. He also messed up the words a few times in YWD (he looked to be drifting a bit) and came in quite late once for ILS. Graeme’s now added the bit that it’s an advantage to look like he does so that he can get part time work as Santa Claus right after the hair brown teeth white bit. I noticed how this night Graeme was taking a little longer than usual in some of his dance routine (i.e. the butt shake), so Justin diddled a bit on the lead waiting before giving the single repeated note cue for him to go up to his drumkit, and then Graeme also took his time getting up there and tossing the tambourine behind him, so didn’t start in on the crashing drums when the Jays started the song’s main riff. He waited for it to ‘come around again’. Most wouldn’t have noticed that though. Security was in evidence, though they weren’t thorough at the door, and only pounced on a guy in the second row with a digital SLR who made no attempt to hide it. (He had it sitting on his belly even before the show started.) Oh, and John has a new, really dynamite shirt. The first half is the nifty black jacket over the white shirt unbuttoned a couple, removing the jacket before Slide Zone, but the second half was a form fitting button down of black that has a really nice slim vertical design from top to bottom on either side of the buttons, The colors in the design were white and the colors of his bass (sunburst) and it’s really fetching. But the thing that made tonight’s concert unique so far was the crowd. I talked to a few outside and next to my seat as I sat down and my word, these people were friendly, so up for seeing the Moody Blues, and just genuine articles. The tall young guy I’d talked to outside was standing up front at the end with us and grinning ear to ear the entire time (and he has huge dimples). The usual single-stampede after Nights was slow and cautious this night, but they eventually caught on and filled up the front. The guy who had been brought to the concert by a friend of his, who sat next to me, was also clearly blown away, and very friendly. Before the show I’d tried to move to an empty seat next to some friends, and when I had to move back, he welcomed me back with a hug. I told him about the moving to the front after Nights bit during intermission, and after the show he came to the front with my knapsack so that it wouldn’t be left alone, and then gave me another hug. They just needed to be shown the ropes by those of us who come to concerts often, and then they were off to the races. The audience as a whole was more alive as well. Almost everybody on both floors was up for the last songs and though I didn’t look at the balcony for Singer, much of the orchestra was up on its feet for that one. They were also going wild during Norda’s long solo on AYSC, not just after it as is often the case (though there are those concerts where the audience doesn’t get it when John is motioning towards Norda as she’s doing a solo). Hal had a bunch of new merchandise. He’d been waiting since Vegas for it since most of what he had there was for young girls! One of the new items is a JL.com T-shirt in black that has a brown/gold/off-white colorized pic of John on it (it happens to be from one of my photographs, so I wouldn’t say I’m impartial). J That pairs up nicely with the burgundy 1970 vintage Justin shirt. There are also candles in glass. After the concert I walked around the area a little and saw that we concert-goers were the only ones still left on the street. The town had closed down for the night probably around 10.
To Pechanga
Concert Graeme injured his right knee to the point that he couldn’t do his usual dance without pain (and he did try but had to stop grabbing his knee). In his intro he said that he usually does a little dance, but he went to the gym (uh huh) and injured it there, but continued to talk and something about not going to bars would help came out…Norda was having to do even more to steady him coming down and getting back up the stairs to his drumkit. At one point she was pushing him from behind. He again missed his cue coming in with the crashing drums towards the end of H&H. Justin’s electronics went out again, this time at the beginning of See Saw, so he wasn’t able to play the riff for quite some time. He was singing the verses but not playing at all looking offstage. He had to motion to the guitar tech to come out and hook him to a cord. There were lots of empty seats in the 2nd and 3rd rows. Some of us took advantage. The first two pit rows weren’t even rows. They were more like couches in a living room, set at angles. Since this was another casino show, no intermission, and no change of clothing. I realize Pasadena was the only show out of five that I’ve seen John’s other shirt. John’s guitar was nice and full again, and Justin’s black guild has also been very full. One of the techs came out during the first song, sat in one of the empty seats near me, wrote some things down in what looked like a computer tablet, and went back. I guess he was checking sound levels. I noticed he’s the same guy who brings Graeme’s mic in and takes it out for H&H. I’ve forgotten to mention, but there are a number of new photos in the light show, and they’ve taken to shining colored lights (mostly red) at the audience. H&H has some nice new flowery backgrounds. This place has a nice, waist-high stage around which we gathered at the end. After the show, a large table of us online fans congregated at the café nearest the hotel lobby – it had the most diversity of food for reasonable price. The next day at Pechanga was a blur. I’m writing this quite a bit later so I must have been really busy and unable to write. We’d stayed up late the night before at the café and downloaded the pix at least. It’s quite a rigamarole what with keeping batteries charged and pix downloaded. The room at Pechanga was, by far, the nicest digs of this tour, and of course the most expensive, but mitigated by sharing. I’m still using the bottle of lotion. I had to make a last minute reservation for this night again, and somehow there were precious few reasonable rooms for 50 miles around. Triprewards had only one, slightly off the path I wanted to follow the next day (to Monterey), which was going to be a really long drive, so I declined. Expedia only had one conveniently located - a Travel Inn right along the highway about 15 miles back north on I-15. Sitting at the café for brunch, Graeme walked by and said hi. Coming out of the elevator at the lobby at one point, noonish after I’d worked out, carefully, in the spa, John and Kirsten came in. I grinned and waved and he smiled. Passed Gordon coming out of the pool area on the spa floor, exchanging greetings. The massage was pricey as you’d expect, but high quality. It’s always deep tissue, medical.
Second concert This night there was a larger group of online fans. There were no empty seats this time. Sorry that I can’t recall more details, but I don’t think anything earth-shaking happened. We gathered again after the concert at the café and since I had to get up early and travel to my night’s digs, we said goodbyes a bit earlier than the night before. As I was checking in, another traveler said to me, ‘you couldn’t find anything else either?’ Unfortunately, the Travel Inn was the most disgusting place I stayed this tour. There were overflowing garbage cans everywhere, the “landscaping” consisted of a sawed off palm tree and sterile soil. The bedspread and blanket in this “non-smoking” room had burn holes and there was no light above the sink (or anywhere near it). Opening the bathroom door to get light prevented one from getting to the sink. Breakfast consisted of a packaged Danish, coffee and juice. You get the idea…
To Monterey Yvonne kindly gave me better directions back towards northwest L.A. and it was a weekend/holiday morning, so I made great time to Ventura, my first stop. Even Yvonne was surprised I got there so fast. I’m really glad I didn’t have to do that on a normal day. I could see how the traffic could be monstrous. So in Ventura I spent a little time there getting gas, admiring the width and number of bike lanes, eating some leftovers for lunch on the beach, and strolling around a short while photographing the beach volleyball games. There were five or six games going on, teams of 2, 3, or 4. It was a gorgeous day. More sand in the shoes. At Yosemite, the snowshoeing had finally cleaned the reddish-white color from Valley of Fire off my new brown New Balance shoes (though melted snow had seeped through the mesh).
Nancy had told me that Point Lobos state park is really the best place around from a scenic point-of-view, and she was right.
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