DAY ONE - JULY 4th
Helen - Wow, we we're going to spend the 4th of July watching X play live!  As if seeing the re-united original line up of X with Billy Zoom in Seattle wasn't enough for us!  I think all it did was whet our appetites for even more X!  Are we nuts to fly all the way to California to see one of our favorite bands in the whole world?  Maybe so...

Michelle - We found out through a Billy Zoom e-mail to Helen that X wasn't going to play until 7:00 p.m., so on the 4th of July we decided to go to a party at the Rockplex until 4ish to see Possum Dixon and Puddy Jr. & the Punk Rock All-Stars first.

Michelle - After Puddy Jr.'s set, we scooted out to the rented Olds and headed Southeast to the Hootenanny Fest that was said to be in Irvine but actually was closer to Orange, CA.  The event was nestled in the foothills of the Saddleback mountains, near a lake and wooded recreation areas.  The environment reminded me of Austin, TX with its rolling hills and gnarled oaks.

When we arrived, lots of folks were actually leaving and the grounds weren't too crowded.  At the entrance there was a slew of classic rides from the 40's and 50's displayed.  All I could think of was making out with a cute boy in the back seat of one!  There must have been at least 50 of them.  One for each kiss?  We walked past sausage stands, lemonade and t-shirt vendors, and vintage clothiers and saw that Social Distortion was in the midst of their set...

When "Mommy's Little Monster" came out I loved this band.  I had a crush on Mike Ness' skinny little butt, and dug the black smears he put under his peepers. Then somewhere along the way, Mike Ness got off the junk, Soc D's music slowed down (usually people get off heroin and the music speeds up?), and they put out hit records that appealed to jocky dinkheads.  Enuff said.  They seemed to lack sincerity - even doing Johnny Cash covers ("Ring Of Fire") can not redeem them.

The festival had 2 side to side main stages.  While Social D was playing on the left, X was setting up to the right.  Within minutes of Testocial D's departure, X hit the stage.  They started off with "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene" and I was in heaven!  The crowd was bopping about and a pit started in the middle of the audience.  I witnessed a cat fight between two gals behind me.  One of them boinked the other over the head with her purse while the other was pulling the purse attacker's hair!  Thankfully no blood got on my dress.  I kept getting whacked into these two boffo surfer boys and my hand got stuck underneath the armpit of one of them who was shoved up against the barrier.  Yuck!  But hell, it was worth it to be so close to John Doe!

Unfortunately X's set was cut a bit short due to the descending sun (there was no outdoor lighting set up at the Oak Canyon Ranch.)  But they did close to a good hour's worth of tunes, highlights for me being "Soul Kitchen," "White Girl," "Nausea," and a crowd pleasin' "Los Angeles."  After the show, we managed to finagle our way to the backstage using Helen's Billy Zoom e-mail.  (He wrote her telling her that he wanted to meet us and liked her X pix from the Seattle show.)  Billy told us he would put us on the guest list for the next day's show.  We confirmed this with John Doe who managed to talk with a mouthful of my chocolate peanut butter chip cookies!  We also spoke with Exene who has a penchant for pens!  She got this cool one that a fan from Japan who was backstage gave to her!  What a spantific day!!!  It was almost too good to be true!

DAY TWO - July 5th
Helen - Oh man, what the hell were we thinking?  Upon hooking up with our friends back in L.A. after day one of the Hootenanny, we partied all night long.  And I'm not kidding.  (See travelogue for lurid details.)  Sleeping four hours isn't a good idea when you have to drive miles & miles with a bunch of crazy pals in the car.  You'd never know I was 34 from the way I behave!  Guess I'll never learn the basics of taking care of myself, like getting enough sleep, eating right, not drinking too much, etc.

Ah, I digress.  Due to the shenanigans of the previous night, we were slow in getting our collective asses down to the venue for the festivities of day two.  We arrived at our destination around 3:00 in the afternoon, just in time to hear the strains of "Tiger by the Tail."  Michelle & I mused that it sounded perhaps like the Derailers doing Buck Owens.  Much to our dismay, we found out it was Buck Owens, he was the mystery guest and we missed him!  Damn damn damn!

But we were thrilled to discover that we had NOT missed the Cramps.  They were up next, and they put on a stellar performance.  I've seen them about three times before in Seattle, but this show was by far the best I've witnessed.  Lux Interior is still in fine form, pale skinned and bare-assed, just the way we like 'em!  And is there any guitar player cooler than Poison Ivy?  I think you'd be hard-pressed to find one.  These guys drew a huge crowd both in front and back-stage.  I wish the goons at the front gate had let me bring in my camera (they did the previous day - go figure) as Lux was posing up a storm.  We were digging it!  Babs, Michelle & I wondered why we seemed to be the only few people dancing.  How can you not shake your ass to the crazy beat of The Cramps?

Reverend Horton Heat was up next, and he just couldn't match the heat generated by Lux & company.  He lost our interest, so we moseyed on over to the over priced food vendors to purchase some eats and libations.  Here's what I don't get.  The guards at the gate wouldn't let you bring in any outside food or drink (not even water) yet once inside anyone (and I do mean ANYONE) could purchase beer.  Only in America, I tell you.  And cheap beer at that, for premium prices.  Okay, enough of my grousing.

After the Rev, Social Distortion played.  We suffered through the tail end of their set as we wanted a prime viewing spot for X.  It's not that Social Distortion is bad per se, but they just aren't very interesting.  I concur with Michelle's assessment above.

The crowd was a bit lighter and far better behaved on this day.  The previous day I was getting bashed & mauled by all sorts of idiotic people.  There were people walking around with bloody gashes all over their faces.  Yea, it was the 4th of July, so I guess some people felt they had to get really drunk and act like a fool.  So the folks in attendance on the 5th seemed more sober and interested in hearing the bands, rather than roughing up their fellow concert-goers.  Fine by me!

X played a longer set on this day, as they started about 20 minutes earlier.  I have no pictures of them from this day (as previously mentioned) so all pictures are from the 4th.  They seemed happy and relaxed, and sounded even better on this day!