It was me and maybe 20 other people, industry types who were talking about kids and private schools in the Valley. We were sitting inside a rehearsal space at Swinghouse, which is that sort of anonymous in a "What the hell kind of factory is this?" building on the corner of Formosa and Willoughby. I sat down quietly in a corner and a really tall guy with glasses came over and greeted me. Then he came back and asked me if I was Beth.
"Liz, actually," I answered.
That's when I knew that this was the person I was set to watch perform because the publicist probably gave him my name and even though people almost always call me Lisa, sometimes my name ends up as Beth.
Terry Sullivan is his name. He has played in countless bands over the past two, maybe three, decades. This is his solo project. Onstage with him are guys who look like the Friends of Rodney, older guys who had played with just about everyone and would hang out at the reincarnation of the English Disco and spin yarns on the smoking patio. The set was short, maybe a half-hour, and solid. This definitely wasn't like watching friends play in a garage. The music appealed the part of me that screams if and when I hear "Alex Chilton" on the radio and
can't decide which Cheap Trick song I like best. Power pop madness, kids, get on it.

Labels: Awesome Local Bands