Porch Fest In Los Angeles, 8-31-24

Evangenitals playing "Thirty Days"

There is an international porch fest called Play Music On The Porch Day, and it was held yesterday. In fact, yesterday was the tenth year of this event. Boston had been holding its own porch festivals for a long time, and many years ago I thought it would be great for L.A. to do something similar, but folks told me that no one in Los Angeles would want strangers coming to their homes. Well, turns out those people were wrong, for several homes across Los Angeles took part. The problem is that, as everyone knows, Los Angeles is spread out, so there isn’t the strong sense of community one has at the Boston porch fests. Boston holds them neighborhood by neighborhood, so people can walk from one show to the next and catch several different bands in a day. Los Angeles hasn’t gotten there yet. Your best bet yesterday for getting that porch fest feel was probably Highland Park, where there were four or five places near each other, at least according to the website’s map. But just a bit south of there in Montecito Heights, The Evangenitals took part, and that’s where my girlfriend and I spent the afternoon. A stage was set up in the yard, where there was shade and a pleasant atmosphere.

"It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll"

While Evangenitals lead vocalist and guitarist Juli Crockett waited for other members of the band to arrive, a nice jam began with some of the other musicians who showed up. It was very loose, and led to renditions of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “I Shall Be Released,” with bass player Dan Paquin quickly teaching the others the latter. That song led directly into a portion of 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up.” The musicians sometimes switched instruments, which would be a part of The Evangenitals’ set too, fitting with the fun, relaxed vibe of the day. John Allan brought out the bagpipes, and soon brought me back to my early childhood, he and the others delivering a wild rendition of AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll),” which was on High Voltage, the first AC/DC album I ever got (I was six years old). Then Alice Lin did a solo set on keyboard and vocals. At the beginning she told everyone that she usually plays in her kitchen and so was going to imagine us as kitchen appliances. There was a lot of humor to her set, particularly in her banter, but my favorite song was one that was much more serious, and it came just before the end of her set. With that one (I don’t know the song’s title), she had everyone completely captivated.

It was just after 5 p.m. when The Evangenitals took the stage. The band has had many members over the course of its existence, and what was particularly wonderful yesterday was that members from various times in the band’s history shared the stage. They started the set with “Hello,” with Juli Crockett on vocals and guitar, Michael Feldman on keyboard, Andrea Baker on fiddle, Cody Farwell on steel guitar, Ari DeSano on banjolele, and Brett Lyda on drums. Then Brett switched to bass, and Dan Paquin sat in on drums for “Home,” an appropriate song for the occasion. It featured some particularly good work on steel guitar. Dan then switched to bass, and Mike Starr joined the group on drums for “I’m Sad.” As they were getting ready to play that one, in effect re-learning it, Juli quipped that the pandemic wrecked their lives and the band was in shambles. After that song, someone asked Juli to announce that a phone was missing, which she did. And even as she did, the phone was found, leading Juli to joke, “Thank you for your swift action in this matter.”

"The Work Song"

Theo, Juli and Michael’s son, got behind the drum kit for “The Work Song,” always a highlight of any Evangenitals set. And it is Labor Day weekend, after all. They followed that with “Never Too Late,” with Dan back on drums, leaving the band without a bass player. But no problem, Michael said he’d play the bass line on keyboard. During this song, we were treated to excellent leads on both fiddle and steel guitar. Michael then did a little bass solo on keys, receiving laughter from both the band and audience. The band brought the tone down with the beautiful and wonderfully depressing “We Just Get Along.” At the end of that song, Princess Frank arrived and was immediately invited to sit in on drums, which he did. Dan was back on bass. They then did a fun version of Chuck Berry’s “Thirty Days,” with the audience echoing the title line. Princess Frank fanned himself with a cymbal between songs. I think he had biked up the hill. “Hey Ya” was requested, and the band gave it a go. There was a false start, as the key was adjusted, and then everything seemed right. Following that there was a discussion about whether to end the set with “Fuck ‘Em All” or “Gasoline.” My hope was they’d do both. They chose “Gasoline,” always a great choice to conclude a set. And they played around with some of the various clean endings they’d done over the years, before ending it properly. The set ended at 6:25 p.m.

Here are some photos from the afternoon:

first jam of the day

John Allan

Alice Lin

Juli Crockett

"Home"

 

"The Work Song"

"Thirty Days"