Wednesday, April 9, 2008

California Lightening

I first saw them play in San Jose with Sea Scouts. George Chen seemed to sort of know them so we chatted for a little while and realized that we lived pretty close to each other in Oakland.

A month or so goes by and I am in the process of putting together my 21st birthday party. I ask Vue and they can't really do it because one guy lives in Santa Cruz, etc. I also ask Mates of State but they are out of town.

I call George and ask him for his advice. He suggests that I ask that band we saw in San Jose, California Lightening. I agree that they would be a good choice. I call up Bianca and they are psyched!

I have some funny polaroids from that night. Jenny and Bianca look like bandits (or raccoons) as they put black markings of some kind on their faces.

It was a pretty amazing birthday party, all told. I had someone (a friend of a friend) camping in the backyard, people were dancing until 3am, and it was the last time that I wore makeup of any kind. I seemed like a good idea at the time, although not everyone who has examined the evidence is inclined to agree.

Throwing your own 21st birthday party is kind of a pain in the ass. I spent most of my birthday feeling slightly unwell, driving around town running errands. I did start it off with a bang however as we went to the first showing of Detroit Rock City. I still love that movie.

California Lightening didn't really play as much after Erase Errata took off, but I will always remember them fondly as not many bands played my 21st birthday party (two to be exact, but I was in one of them).

Ladies and gentlemen, for your listening pleasure, 1.5 singles by California Lightening.

Summer Record (Sound On Sound)
1. Penitentiary
2. Angel Outfit
3. Just Broke Up



















Four Virgins (City)
1. Basement

1 comment:

Joly MacFie said...

Your blog does gooed work in making me think of bands buried deep in the punkcast vault that I should seriously consider exhuming, and this is one of them. I'm pretty sure I got them at Mighty Robot around 2003.