Coffee Shop Music Scene

First, I apologize about the lack of entries lately. I’ve sequestered myself at a coffee shop, here in Hermosa, in order to crank out a pilot during my five week vacation. Nearly all of my time and energy has gone into writing, although I must admit there’s nothing more enjoyable to me, then taking a break in the middle of the day to walk my buddy Hayden’s massive Labradane, Herman. There is perhaps no greater piece of mind, then experiencing the unconditional love of a good dog.

Anyway, back to the coffe shop. Java Man. You should know this about me: I don’t much care for pastries and sweets, refuse on principle to pay nearly nine dollars for a turkey sandwich that I could just as easily make at home, hate the taste of coffee and almost all coffee-related products, but I fucking love the coffee shop. I like that I’ve become a regular. I suppose spending six hours a day there will do that. They know what I’m drinking when I walk in. It’s hot tea in the morning (I vary it up, Earl Grey or this is kick-ass green tea called Fiji) and Iced in the afternoon. I have a little spot by the window that I like. It’s great for dog watching and checking out the most attractive forty year old women you could ever imagine. They’re not that nasty, botox, boob job, liposuction, alien-looking-like, forty-something that plagues Hollywood. These women are beach trophy wives and they’re hot. Okay, some of them definitely have boob jobs. But I’m losing my point.

The coffee shop is the only place I really get productive writing done. I focus there. I sit at my table, sip my tea, put on my iTunes, and write. Recently, I discovered a wonderful thing about Java Man. Because they offer free wireless internet, I’m part of the Java Man network. That means, every other guy in the place writing a script, listening to their music with iTunes, is plugged into the network… and if they’re decent enough, then like me, they’ve set their iTunes preferences to allow other people to check out and listen to their music library.

This is the single best method I’ve found for sampling music for free. Yesterday, I listened to The Street’s “Original Pirate Material,” off Hey Sexy Girl’s library. I’ve heard The Streets before, really like them, was briefly obsessed with their single “Never Went To Church,” but I don’t own any of their complete albums. I will shortly though. Thanks to Hey Sexy Girl, I discovered that “Original Pirate Material” is from top to bottom a fantastic hip-hop record. Ultra chill, great beats, wonderful production, and I’m a sucker for a British accent.

The day before I listened to Jay-Z’s back from retirement “Kingdom Come.” I’d heard about four singles from the album on the radio, wasn’t too impressed. “30 Something” had some impressive lyrics, but I wasn’t crazy about the beats. “Show Me What You Got” (the one from the Bud ads) was a bit too smooth for my tastes. The title track, “Kingdom Come,” which samples “Superfreak,” was nothing special. Then listening to it the other day in Java Man, I felt like maybe Jay shouldn’t have come back. This album paled in comparison to “The Black Album.” That was, until I got to the last track, “Beach Chair,” produced by Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Dr. Dre. Featuring Martin on the song, it was the only track on the album that felt full of soul. It’s probably not catchy enough to release as a single, but it’s far and away the best track on the album and left me with hope.

Quick sidebar. I have no idea what makes a good single. I think I’ve said this before, but in my opinion Kanye West’s “Gone” was the best produced hip-hop song to come out last year. And I understand releasing “Gold Digger” and “Heard ‘Em Say” as the first two singles from “Late Registration,” but I can’t for life of me understand why “Touch The Sky” and “Drive Slow” were the next two released and no one ever heard “Gone.” Craziness. But like I said, I don’t understand how and why a single gets chosen. And I like Jay-Z and Kanye are probably doing alright without me as an A & R guy.

Back to the coffee shop. There are a lot of thirty something guys in the shop and everyone of them seems to have tons of The Dead Kennedy’s in their library. That and Aerosmith’s “Pump.” And show tunes, tons of show tunes. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but this is all seems a bit odd to me. I think if I knew people were going to be browsing my music library, that I might avoid having a significant chunk of it dedicated to show tunes, but that’s just me.

And maybe these guys don’t care. After all, it’s all pretty anonymous. I have no idea who Hey Sexy Girl really is. It’s fun to guess. I assume it’s the prematurely balding guy in the corner, the one with a book on web design and cigarette stains on his teeth. Or maybe it’s his buddy, that he always talks with. The long haired smoker, who talks shit about his ex-girlfriend and he’s better off without her, but it’s so painfully obvious that he’s lonely, that he makes eye contact with me wondering if maybe I’ll talk to him.

There’s no way to know, unless I’m listening to the music and the guy quits out of iTunes and stands up and walks away. Not knowing only adds to the voyeuristic pleasure of it all though. You take a person, check out what may or may not be their music collection, and then construct a personality profile, imagining what they’re like as people. It’s people watching with a musical twist. And when I’m not writing, it’s one of my favorite things to do.

A few other little tidbits. I’ve had the opportunity to go through my own music and dust off some cobwebs, so a few quick thoughts:
1. The Beta Band “The Three EP’s” is perhaps the ultimate coffee shop album.
2. If you like reggae and you like Radiohead, check out Easy Star All Stars… it’s exactly that… reggae covers of Radiohead songs.
3. If you like jazz and you like reggae, Ernest Ranglin is the shit!
4. Gillian Welch is a white girl with some serious soul. You might know her from the O’ Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack… she does some awesome Appalachian folk music. I mean, white chicks with soul are few and far between. I’m struggling to think of any. Maybe Nelly Furtado? Amy Winehouse? Lily Allen? Anyway, check out “The Devil Had A Hold Of Me,” if you don’t believe me.
5. Vic Ruggiero’s “A Live At The Ladybug House” is everything that a singer songwriter should be live in concert. Great singing, neat and tidy guitar, and lyrics about nasty women and booze.