July 8, 2018 – This past Friday, on Day One of this 109 degree-plus heat-wave, coming home to my house with no real air-conditioning and trying to get the internal house temperature of 99 down, I had to forgo an invitation I had received to see a local band. You see, that evening, I took a little horizontal rest at about 8:45 p.m., and that was pretty much all she wrote; I tried to get up to go to that show, but there was no way.

On Saturday, I was a bit better. Perhaps it’s easier to tolerate an inside temperature that hovers only around the low 90s instead of 99. Perhaps I’m getting used to it. Perhaps YYNOT’s early start time made it easier on my body clock. Whichever, at about 7:40 p.m. yesterday, I finished my day of things to do. I looked up the start time of the YYNOT show, JetBlast, no I didn’t forget the date, and happily found that it was to start at 8:15 p.m. I had remembered 7:00 p.m. and thought the day’s tasks had made me miss it. 8:15 — that would give me 10 minutes to get dressed, and 25 minutes to get down Crescent Heights Blvd. to Pico Blvd. to park. Mind you, the traffic here is good right now, holiday light; we send all the locals to Vegas on the holidays – a secret if you ever want to visit Los Angeles, major holidays are the time when it clears out.

I managed the timing just perfectly, showered in a few minutes, looked for the shirt I wanted to wear — a white, with red embroidery-trimmed, loose-fitting cotton smock-tunic , fluffed my not-so-fluffy-heat-exhausted hair, put on a tiny bit of make-up — the one minute version, and got into the truck, the air-conditioner set for 62 in both zones. At 8:14 p.m., I parked across the street from The Mint, a place I’ve never been. I hopped across the street, and asked the door people, when YYNOT was coming on. 8:15, one of the men said. He was very precise, telling me it was 8:16, so they are late. I paid the $12 price with a woman who was seated at a small table just inside the door. She asked what band I was there to see. YYNOT, I said. I wondered why she asked me that. Is that a normal question? Soon I knew.

Turns out, the running late declaration by the doorman only encompassed a total of a minute and a half. For about 30 seconds I scanned the venue to find a place to watch. The venue is typical small venue fare – a respectable stage to one side, booths on the front and back, a few tables in the mid-floor area, and a long bar on the opposite side of the stage. I have too much knowledge of Los Angeles real estate and our building construction, so I notice things like the physical space. Then there were the people in the space.

I passed all of the people at the bar, mostly men, each of them wearing black t-shirts and jeans; seriously men, please find some other clothes. Oh and the shirts….  Rush, Rush, YYNOT, something that seemed like a Rush emblem (is there one?), YYNOT, Rush, just plain black. There was one woman on a bar stool. Even she had on a black tee. The people at the tables – all wearing all black tees, the only slight variation was a black tank on one woman. One guy kept walking around; his outfit? Jack Sparrow, in black, of course. Yep, my loose white cotton tunic? Not a Rush outfit. But hey… you know who you’re dealing with here. What band am I here to see? YYNOT…

Looking like I should be at a Lana Del Rey concert, but feeling like a fan of YYNOT from my affirmation at the door, I situated myself, including getting my phone ready to record the opener. In the process I lost a few seconds of the first song, but because of the stellar job our own contributor Jet has done in promoting this band, I knew the song, Kingdom Come, and from what I know about YYNOT, I would have guessed that would be their first song.

The song was typical of the entire six-song set. The songs heavily featured the musicians of the band. I could feel the energy of the band, driven by the combination between the guitar player, Billy Alexander, and the bass player, Tim Starace. The guitar, bass and drum musicians, each wearing black tees, played for more than two minutes (my video starts a few seconds late) before the singer, Rocky Kuner, jumped up from the seated area in the front of the stage. In each of the songs, there were solos, not the normal formulaic placement either, just sort of here and there. It’s a musicians’ band, seemingly the guitar player’s, from my observation. But still…. Still, Rocky Kuner shines.

For me Rush music is very heavy, and I don’t mean heavy in a high gain, metal sound; I mean, heavy in notes, the amount of notes. It’s note-heavy. It’s very layered, very complex, with a lot going on. And seeing as YYNOT is heavily inspired by Rush, I find their musicality to be heavy as well. If their music were something visual, it would be a black tee. Rocky, and I’m going to borrow metaphors that are used about me, and they are compliments… Rocky is like adding a butterfly, okay, a unicorn to the mix of heavy. Don’t get me wrong; she’s so talented. I think I’ll say she’s like adding a butterfly colored dragon to the mix, you know, one of those cute little baby dragons, not a crazy fire-breathing one.

She is tiny. Perhaps that’s part of it. She has a personable and pretty look. Perhaps that’s part of it. She wore a cute flowery jacket. Perhaps that’s part of it. Yes, definitely part of it, flowers in a room full of black tees; Rocky, I totally understand your vibe. But it really is the addition of a paradox, a contradiction, in the otherwise heavy music. The addition of her high, sing-y and powerful voice rings over the complication of the underlying music, making it audience-friendly. And seeing as Rush is a heavily male-loved band, perhaps Rocky makes YYNOT cross-over-able (if that’s a word) so we all can like it. And like it, I did.

At the conclusion of the concert, Rocky said they would hang around to sign things, including photos or CDs that they were selling, pointing to a booth of obviously their people. I walked that direction, passed a guy with hair made into an early 80s punk Mohawk, complimented his hair, said I hadn’t seen that in a while, to which he said someone has to keep it alive. I nodded. Yes, keep it alive…. There were only a handful of people going to buy something. I’m glad the CD wasn’t more than $20 because that’s all I had, and I felt like I should buy the CD…. Keep it alive. We all need to. It was then that I noticed Rocky standing, her back to me. I said her name and she turned around to face me. Moment of truth here.

I introduced myself. I said you don’t know me, but I want to tell you a story. She held out my hand to shake it. She started to hold onto my hand as I told her I have a website, sort of a small collection of friends who once wrote on another fan website, and I started my own. I said one of the people who hang out on my site is a pilot, that he found YYNOT, and is a big fan, and especially likes her. I told her my friend has posted her videos, the band’s videos, and taught us all the songs. I said he would have flown to the show, but his schedule would not permit. She was visibly touched. She hugged me in a real way. We affirmed the support of girls, girl power. And at my request, she set out to make a present for my friend, the pilot. She suggested the set list from the show. I thought it was a wonderful present. She said she would get each of the band members’ signatures on the back of the set list. Her signature she made straight away. She explained it; she said it is her initials. She showed the paper to me, but then took it away saying she would get it back to me.

Many of the Rush-tee-clad men were around and about getting signatures too, so I decided to get my own CD signed. I got Rocky’s signature, then the guitar and bass players, each of whom were signing signatures one after the next and thanking the people for coming. A few of us realized we were missing the same signature, that of the drummer, Joel Stevenett. I believe it was the bass player who said the drummer was outside and that we could go outside. So outside I went, with three of the Rush-tee-men to the loading area where the drummer was packing his gear. The Rush-tee-men seemed to know the band’s cover performances. I asked the drummer if they were going to play New York. The drummer said they don’t have any plans to yet, but they want to; some relative is there. The Rush-tee-men were in their element with this guy. I think it was a Rush thing, but by then I had my signatures, so I appreciated the moment as well. Honestly, it was a fun thing going to get these signatures. I got a brief moment with each of the actual people, always more important to me than an autograph, of course, a very short autograph vibe thing with the guitarist and the bass player, but Rocky, my moments with Rocky were so special. Rocky really talked.

She had been busy signing as I approached her, happy to have the set list in whatever form it was in, not sure if it was okay to ask for it. She retrieved it from under a glass on the table where her friends or family were seated and realized she didn’t have “Joel’s” (the drummer’s) signature. I was about to say it was okay that way, not wanting to trouble her any more, but she went bounding outside, saying she was getting it. Yes, one bounds when they are Rocky’s size. I waited, and she returned the paper to me, fully signed. I thanked her. It really was very special for her to go around getting these signatures all while signing things for and talking to fans. I had another moment of conversation with her as well. I told her I hoped she gets everything she wants from her music; she told me she hoped my website is successful. I told her it’s just a little thing, but as I realized she was seriously hoping for success for me, I decided to take it in. Girl power. I just felt it. We hugged, blew kisses to each other, and I walked away, a much happier person for having met this amazing person. Rocky… fan for life.

I walked back to the bar, contemplating watching the next band. I hovered back in my original place near the Rush-tee-men and their black-tee woman with them, and watched as the guy with the punk Mohawk sat behind the drum set and Jack Sparrow grabbed his guitar. The black-tee woman offered me her stool, and I sat, staying for one song. At the end of that song, the Rush-tee-men and their black-tee woman with them left, so felt like it was time for the YYNOT people to go, even the one who was dressed for a Lana Del Rey concert. I had come to see what I had come to see, and it was time to go home to my Kingdom. Queendom? Yes, Queendome. Girl power and all.

 

 

 

 

 

Again, if there’s any way she sees this, I thank Rocky for the fantastic hospitality. I hope for great things for her. Rocky… fan for life.