> From: "Stephen Thorn" > > As IPO makes its way up the West Coast, kudos to David Bash and staff for > another great year in LA. > > Is there anyone willing to post thoughts on IPO--SF? Thank you. Well I decided to get out of LA for a couple days and venture on up to SF. The weather was nice and cool...felt good to be away from the summer heat. I attended the 2 shows on Weds and Thurs. Hey Damian....it was nice meeting you Both shows were held at The Red Devil Lounge which was a quick walk from my hotel. Weds. night was well attended with many folks showing up to see Sal Valentino and Freddie Steady. Cyril Jordan was even in attendance. This a was good pop night for me, since 3 of my favorite artist were on the bill, Chris Von Sneidern, Phamous Phaces and Jeremy. Chris Von Sneidern did his set with a full band. Nothng like getting to see CVS twice within 2 weeks :-). Phamous Phaces put a on really good set as well. They have a new cd out and it's full of catchy tunes. Jeremy put on a total rocking set, including stage dives. Lots of fun. Sorry to have missed Chris Brown's set. His set at IPO LA was quite good. And as I have mentioned earlier, his tune "All My Rivals" on the IPO disc is my favorite. On Thursday night the standout bands for me were The Smallgoods from from Melbourne and Danny Scherr. Danny's album is due out later this year. Morty Shallman did nice solo set. I liked one of his new tunes. I think it was called "Dead Rock Star" His for this inspiration came from Material Issue. So he dedicated the song to IPO. Jill Olson and JR and the Randogs put on fun set but that had definte country influences. What's a trip to SF without hitting Amoeba? My big find.......International Pop Overthrow nah, not the festival cd but Material Issue for $1.99! I tried to do that 49 mile scenic driving tour of the city but about 15 miles into it, I lost track of the signs and kind of gave up. I did discover a full sized windmill in Golden Gate Park. It was impressive. If you travel on interstate 5 (between LA and SF) in the lovely town of Shafter, stop at Mike's Roadhouse Cafe. This place is like a museum to pedal cars. They had any and every kind of pedal car you could think of, police cars, ambulances, model-t's, tractors, mustangs, the list goes on. Plus at each table, they had funny books for the patrons to read. The book at my table was something about how to tell if you are an old geezer. Back to music.................. Cathy