You pass this space or a space much like it everyday if you drive up and around Highland Park, Glassell Park, or Eagle Rock.  They’re not public public, but if you’re a friend or a friend of a friend--as I am--then you can get an into some great private events.  Entrepreneurs take a chance on a space like this--converting them into commercial enterprises that are galleries or studios by day, but by night they host private parties and events.  Most won’t last more than a few years before either converting into a full fledged business or rotting on the vine due to poor planning and organization.  In the meantime people like me get to enjoy the heck out of them while they do last.

The event’s slowly building up as I make the scene.  The music’s set, but there are only a handful of people just arriving.  I meet Dan the producer for the night’s headliner and shortly after the headliner himself Cormac.  We get to riffing about things rather too vulgar and obscene for the page, but it’s amusing nonetheless.  They’re busy setting up their event.  Apparently it’s something like a record release for an album name Black Tie Affair.  Having not heard a note of it, I really couldn’t speak to them of it.  I didn’t even know that Cormac is a Hip-Hop act.

I follow my friends inside to explore a part of the space I’ve never been in before.  Just above the main room there is a small room.  We climb a spiral staircase with narrow treads.  Without the security of a safety rail I carefully climb up and down several times through the course of the evening.  There we find a couch, easy chair, and platform with comfy pillows.  I’ll call it the Lair.  From the Lair I can see out into the main room where more and more people are arriving.  Up in the Lair my friends can relax.  Me, I can feel the vibrations rattling through the floor and the chair I’m sitting in.  It unnerves me such that soon enough I leave the Lair and brave the narrow treads down to the main room.

I wander about some.  Cormac is still some time away from taking the stage.  Everyone I know is up in the Lair and I’m just wandering seeing if I can find an interesting conversation.  I can’t quite find the right set of circumstance, until someone interesting comes up to me.  She’s not talking or starting the conversation, but she’s got a camera and she seems particularly interested in one gentleman.  His face fills her camera’s viewer, so I throw away a line like, “Should I warn him your stalking him?”  After that short interaction I cut my losses and retreat to the Lair where me and my buddies wait for Cormac to take the stage.

When Cormac takes the stage I’m happy to say that they’re not too shabby.  They have a definite Tribe Called Quest vibe that I kind of enjoy.  Their beats are simple and very accessible.  Their rhymes flow well and are easy to follow along with.  It’s simple Hip Hop that many fans can easily connect with.  While in the Lair they were good background music to chill to while relaxing with my friends.  

I wasn’t able to stay for the whole show.  It was midnight or so when I Ieft, but from what I heard I sort of wished they were more ambitious.  Their hooks weren’t as catchy as they could have been likely because they wanted to avoid risk.  I say take a leap and see if a beat or hook flies in front of an audience.  I also wonder how connected they are to the Underground Hip Hop community in Los Angeles.  I myself, save for a Project Blowed 10yr Anniversary show, have never been able to connect to that local music scene the way I’ve connected to the Silverlake indie rock community.

And that’s that for this night at an amazing space you’ll never get to go to and on to Shotspeare.

The first time I rolled into this place I was with one of my friends and Shotspeare had just finished up.  I could see from the debris that littered the floor that some good time had been had just recently.  There were cups and empty shot glasses just lying about.  Everyone was in good spirits and happily conversing with each other despite the slightest hint of slurry speech.  It seemed like something worth checking out.

Before the show begins I pass the time chewing gum and looking about the crowd of fifty people or so.  It’s a mixed one that pleases me.  I hate going somewhere and just seeing the usual scenesters and hipsters.  It’s always so cool to see the older folk come out to play.  I direct you to www.shotspeare.com for an accurate description of the format of this event.

This is not for any of you Shakespeare snobs.  I imagine the market for this event are fans of Rocky Horror Picture Show; if you’ve been to that before you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into.  Shotspeare is one part improvisation and one part Romeo & Juliet shaken with two parts of Jack Daniels.  Audience participation is expected and even demanded.  A fearless soul was required to join the cast for the play’s duration.  I do not envy him that task, but he did prove himself worthy of the honor.  That sort of “on the spot” stress would break a lesser person like me.

Two noteworthy highlights of the evening include a shadow play performed during the “love scene” from Romeo & Juliet with Reznor’s song Closer playing in the background.  I myself did not care for the vulgarity of it all--I imagine Shakespeare himself would disagree with me--but I do appreciate the care and detail of setting up that complete sequence.  The other highlight of the evening was Juliet taking direction from another cast member.  It was pure outrageous improvisation.   Juliet suffering the loss of Romeo is directed to motorboat an audience member in the first row; wet willie someone else in the third row; and scissor a woman in the last row.  I do not envy them their experience, but it was rather amusing and entertaining to watch.

After an hour or so the performance ends and I head out for some fresh air only stopping to be greeted and to greet the lovely woman who was documenting the evening on video.  Outside I meet a remarkably familiar man.  He’s quite well spoken and easy to converse with.  A relatively new resident of the area we discussed various local eateries.  Eventually I learned he was an actor.  I asked him what I might have seen of him.  “True Blood.”  I know of it, but I don’t follow that show.  “Gilmore Girls.”  Suddenly struck by how I knew him, I was much more impressed by his casual accessibility.  Todd Lowe, of “Zach and Lane’s three weddings in one day”, is a really cool guy.  He plays guitar and mandolin in a band called LA Hootenanny that’s just about to finish a series of gigs at Villains Tavern in downtown.  I’ve seen I See Hawks In  L.A. and that was worth checking out a couple of times; I’ll likely check out his band in a couple of weeks if they’re still playing at Villains.

Anyway the night quickly wears on me and I head out again into it soon after.