Luna, live (remotely) at Gold Diggers, Los Angeles

Fun fact– the last live show I saw was Luna at the Teragram in Los Angeles,  in February 2020. My daughter got to meet Britta and now has an eternal role model.

The world collapsed after that and Luna shifted to living room concerts and the following year I moved to the mountains to escape the shitshow that L.A. became.

Actually, that's not fair. L.A. was always a shit show. It's just that the local government stopped even giving a fake pretense of wanting to take care of the near 70,000 homeless people, 1,000 of which died on the streets in 2019.

But let's talk about something happier. Luna is still as good as they ever were, since the first time I saw them in the late 90's early 00's at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh.

It was strange not being surrounded by an audience but in one way it was better. I remarked to my wife I wish there were supper clubs that catered to the "indie rock," set where people could enjoy great food and drinks and stay naturally distant the way it was in the 40's and 50's. Every seat had a great view of the stage.

They started by showing music videos of two covers: Marquee Moon and Bowie's "Starman." They were a treat and I was glad to see the band back together, so to speak. Live they did not disappoint, running through fan favorites from Penthouse and Bewitched, starting with "Slide," and culminating with the never-the-same, always fun "23 Minutes in Brussels." I wonder if Dean Wareham considers it his signature song. Maybe.

The in-between song banter was fun as if the band were performing for a live audience. But it's also nice to see the genuine warmth that is presumably there regardless of an audience. I can only assume with enough years passed, the hatches have long since been buried.

Tonight "baby girl," was treated to a 16 year-old's version of a cocktail (a mocktail) I made up called the Luna: rooibos, orange blossom honey, a few dashes of chocolate bitters, some Lord Jones orange CBD, club soda and ice. I'm sure a good bourbon would make it a more potent beverage but at this point CBD is enough for me And besides, I've avoided brown liquor for most of my life as the only thing it does is make me sick.

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