Taylor and I planned weeks ago to grab drinks at the bar inside Gelson's grocery store in Silver Lake and that was the only thing on my calendar since I put it in. The day before we were supposed to meet up, I get word of a couple of events all one after the other so my day was gonna be PACKED. I woke up around noon to see Tori premiere her Endings physical shop at BAD Showroom.
I was in the elevator at Apparel Mart and a person holding two coffees walked in. They saw me press "2" and asked me, "Can you visit my shop?"
I asked, "Where's your shop?"
"The end of the hall, in the corner unit. We're called BAD."
"Oh," I told them. "I'm already going there to see Tori."
They were excited. We walked into the store and they said, "I brought your friend here." I learned that their name was Francis and just opened up this physical store a month ago and today was the one-month anniversary party. I gave Tori a hug and we caught up, I probably haven't seen her in a year. She and I are neighbors now, we learned, and she caught me up on the gossip of who's canceled and which of our friends is dating which celebrities. I perused the inventory of the shop and was too afraid to touch anything. There were lots of new-old-stock vintage band tees, never been worn, and made in the USA, interspersed with the goods Tori was designing and selling, mostly lingerie. She planned on meeting up with me again so I could mold her teeth and make some grillz or a cap for her, she hasn't decided yet.
I told her that I was meeting up with a friend for drinks at the bar inside of a grocery store in Silver Lake and she was amused. I also told her that I was planning on going to a house show later that night for this indie-emo-revival band I had just learned about called Apperson. They sound something like the Get Up Kids, Texas is the Reason, and Clarity-era Jimmy Eat World. I showed her some pictures of them and sent her a song by them called Closer. She told me she loved how there was an emo-revival being fueled by teenagers on TikTok discovering these bands from the 90s/early 2000s, primarily American Football. I told her that I was slowly becoming obsessed with Apperson and I might want to put out a record by them. We'll see how it works out.
I took an Uber over to Gelson's to see Taylor. I was running late and, thankfully, so was she. I got there first and went over to the bar, which is right next to the grocery store entrance between the floral department and the prepared foods section. I looked through the menu and was stoked. $7 pints of all beers on tap and wine was around $8 - $11 per glass; they had a strict no-tipping policy.
Taylor got there a few minutes after I did and we caught up. I can't remember the last time I saw her, maybe a year, but that doesn't really sound right. She only had 2 glasses of wine over the 2 or 3 hours we hung out and I, personally, tried to drink as much as I could. She told me that she and Nick moved to Koreatown and she also started a new job. She told me about all the fucked up shit going on, policy-wise, in the public healthcare and therapy sector. I told her about all the frivolous stuff I was working on recently: records, polo shirts, hats, paintings, drawings, grillz. I told her I had a huge crush on this waitress at Canter's that I see all the time who tells me about the books she's reading. Taylor asked me if I had ever been to Dollywood and after I told her no, she told me about visiting the place when she was a teenager. I told her that I was gonna plan a surprise shotgun-engagement-proposal between her and Nick there and she hated the idea. After a few hours, she had to go hang out with Mir and I had to go to the house show so we split up. I actually stayed behind at Gelson's for a bit to drink more and a wine rep convinced me to buy a bottle of some pretty decent champagne. I planned on taking it to the show.
I stopped by 7-11 to grab some snacks and I saw this dog.
The night before, Xtina posted a flyer for the show: "Apperson and friends at the HiFi House in Historic Filipinotown (asked the bands for the address)". I didn't know anyone who knew the address, not even Xtina knew at the time even though she knows of the band through
Trash Panda Cycling Club, so I reached out to directly Apperson for info. I told them that their music blew me away, especially the song "Closer," and I was skeptical about the description they had on their Instagram ("If the Goo Goo Dolls grew up eating lumpia. 🇵🇭") but then I realized that they meant
Angus-soundtrack-era Goo Goo Dolls when you could tell they were influenced by the Replacements. They responded with "You’re legit saying the right words. Goo goo dolls and angus soundtrack 🫡" and they gave me the address. Hell yeah.
I was unsure that I had reached the right house because I didn't see or hear any ruckus going on, but then I walked up the driveway and realized that the show was going on in the backyard between the pool and the poolhouse.
I grew up going to house shows as a teenager and they were the best shows of my life. I honestly thought that the whole tradition was either dead or dying, but it turned out that I was just getting old and wasn't putting my ear to the ground well enough. The drummer for Apperson (
Justin) is also the chef/owner of
HiFi Kitchen so a bunch of them were cooking and serving Filipino food for showgoers. I hung out in the kitchen when things stopped being busy so I could meet some of the bands and the people helping out with the food and the show. Everyone told me a little bit of the LA punk scenes they grew up: shows at the Smell, Teragram Ballroom, 5 Star Bar. I told them about how the Houston punk scene I grew up with was very all-ages-oriented. Most of the venues hosting indie and punk shows were all-ages, regardless if they sold alcohol. They would just X the hands of everyone under 21 and kicked them out if they were caught drinking, which was a great policy because it was the only way I got to see bands like Hot Water Music, Alkaline Trio, and Bright Eyes when I was still in middle school.
I talked to Joe, the guitarist and singer for Apperson, and we got to talking about the movie Angus and how he kinda got his start in the punk scene as a photographer, which is similar to my history. He mentioned his friendship with
Bobby Hundreds, which I wished I remembered more about because I love
Toby from H2O's podcast and was fascinated by the
Hundreds/Avail collab when I was a kid. He ran off to go perform and I followed him out and watched the band from the side window. They're even better live than they are on recording. I really hope they continue playing shows and more people come out to see them.
