Rocker Stalker

A born and bred Angelen(a),I began my path as a “rocker stalker” in good ol’ SoCal. Visiting my family for the holidays, as I said in my previous blog, I discovered shortly before my trip out west that an amazing musician, Cass Dillon, who I met out in the Big Apple and who plays with NYC groups like Reckless Sons and Mike Del Rio, would also be LA-bound at the same time. He had mentioned his band,The Shades, in passing, but I had never heard or seen the band play, and when he invited me to their Hollywood show at Three Clubs (Yes, that’s the name…not literally 3 clubs), I was ecstatic! Arriving at one of the darkest venues on my roster (It’s improved a lot…the tables in the stage room are actually visible now.), it was almost like a blind date; I had no idea what to expect, but I was excited nonetheless. However, based on my previous observations of Dillon as a musician and my knowledge of his music taste, I didn’t doubt that the band would be great. My assumption was a complete understatement. I had dragged my best friend with me, and right when the trio, composed of Jaco Caraco on guitar/vocals, Cass Dillon on bass/vocals, and Michael (?) on drums (Sorry, I didn’t get the full name.), commenced sound check, the BFF and I looked at each other simultaneously with joy and squealed, “OMG! THEY ARE GONNA BE AWESOME!” And, awesome they were. Caraco and Dillon trade off sassy and blues-tinged pop-rock vocals between and within songs, and there’s always a shredding guitar solo at some point during each tune backed by grooving bass lines, which really make a rocker stalker happy. Several times, Caraco got up close and personal with the audience, melting faces with his flying-V and standing atop tables as audience members grabbed at his feet. Three was truly the charm at Three Clubs, and there might be more visits by Rocker Stalker to LA with The Shades in tow. I can’t wait to hear what 2011 brings for the band!