Throw Rag live

Last night, October 3rd, I went to see a local band I haven't seen in several years, Throw Rag. I used to know the singer, Sean, pretty well and we went along to every show we could.

Last night they were at a little bar in Huntington Beach, a So Cal city long known as Surf City. The Surf City Saloon continues the the surfer tradition, with surf movies on the screens in the bar. At $10 cover, the price was certainly right. Once again, we marveled at the weird American ritual of the checking of the IDs and the stamping of the hands, in this case with a picture of Crazy Frog, to prove we were over 21.

The first band was Shaun Kama and the Kings of the Wild Frontier, and they were more than adequate. The singer, Shaun Kama, seems to have modeled himself on a combination of Johnny Cash, Tom Verlaine, Tom Petty and Joe Strummer, which isn't a bad start, and had songs to match. There was an accomplished guitarist on Chuck Berry riffs via Telecaster and a pretty good drummer. As a downside, the singer had not heard the adage about letting the songs do the talking for themselves and instead let his talking do the talking. Eventually I got fed up with the talking thing. Songs were good though. And Shaun Kama had a greasy, good-looking rocker vibe that went down well.

Best spoken lines:

Man in audience, yelling: I want to have your baby!
Shaun: Do you really? Well, I'm glad somebody does.

Throw Rag was awesome as always. Sean was his usual self, a mass of skinny torso, OTT tattoos and from-the-desert features and goatee. The band's sound and professionalism has soared since I last saw them. Also new since I last saw them was the tendency of the women in the crowd to come up and sing a verse on stage whenever they felt like it. One was so striking (well over six feet, two hundred fifty pounds and with ink to rival Sean's) that she startled even him when she managed to loom up silently behind him, but he recovered well. We all danced and generally had a good time.



Capt. Sean, Throw Rag, October 3rd 2009.

I bought a t shirt and then regretted it because it's got naked tits on it and I don't think there are many venues where I can wear it. Sigh.

The audience wasn't very much like the video below, and Sean didn't strip all the way last night, though I have seen him do that before. It's that kind of a band.