RJ Bloke at Bigfoot West, 10-29-25 Concert Review

Well, this is it, at least for a long while. Last night RJ Bloke (Jay Souza) played his final Los Angeles  gig before his move up to Portland. For the site of his last show, he chose Bigfoot West, a venue where he's done several shows in recent years. It's a cool bar with a decidedly rustic vibe. Playing on the several televisions before the show was one of those silly programs where people pretend to seriously investigate Bigfoot. And I wondered briefly if this program is played routinely there, you know, because of the name. Like those awful, so-called "found footage" films, the program had lines like "I thought I saw something move up there." The camera jerked around in that direction, focusing on nothing at all, because there is no such thing as Bigfoot. There was a decent crowd, especially for a Wednesday night. The stage area was decorated for Halloween, with cardboard machetes and knives hanging from the ceiling and a series of skulls on cardboard attached to the walls, and below them flames, an interesting choice. Even more interesting was the presence of a wardrobe rack stage left, with a tag saying "Costume Shop." I suppose if RJ Bloke had a desire to, he could don any of the two dozen items hanging there. A costume rack is something I don't recall ever seeing at a bar gig before, but then again my memory isn't always to be trusted.

Approximately five minutes before 9 p.m., the televisions were turned off, and just after nine, Jay was ready to go, opening the show with "Raining In My Heart," which featured some nice work on harmonica. He followed that with "Where Are You Now," a song from the Hold Drugs Dear disc. Jay introduced himself after that song, as RJ Bloke, and someone in the audience called out, "Good stuff, man, good stuff." The set contained a mix of original material and covers, and Jay followed "Where Are You Now" with a cover of Bob Dylan's "The Man In Me." The first set also included covers of The Beatles' "She Said She Said," Merle Travis' "Dark As A Dungeon," The Rolling Stones' "Waiting On A Friend," Robyn Hitchcock's "When I Was Dead," and CCR's "Lodi" (with him changing the line to "I'm stuck in Culver City again" just before the end). But of all the covers he did in that set, the one that especially stood out was "Drugs," a song written by Tracy Huffman and included on his Tracy Huffman And The Walking Sticks album. "I just learned this one a couple days ago," Jay said in introducing it. It's a fantastic and humorous song in which he sings that he's taking drugs now and they make him feel good, adding that they don't make him feel like shit, "like you do." "I'm going to take that one to Portland," he said afterward. Yeah, I imagine the Portland crowd will dig it.

But most of the highlights of the first set were originals. "Be Happy" received a big reaction from the crowd. After that song, RJ Bloke said, "I've always enjoyed playing at Bigfoot," and he talked a bit his imminent move to Portland (he leaves tomorrow), and how he's sad to leave Los Angeles. "I like Portland a lot, but I love L.A." That also received a cheer from the audience. I lived in Oregon for a while, and there is a lot to love about that state, especially about Portland, but the rain certainly got me down after a while. When I moved to L.A., I didn't want to see any rain for a year or two. "Coat Of Disappointment" also got a much deserved large reaction. That's one of my personal favorites. And "El Norte" got a cheer before he even started it, during the introduction. And that was the song he chose to conclude the first set.  

The second set also contained a good mix of covers and original songs. He opened with a cover of "St. James Infirmary," and followed it with "God Is A Scarecrow." Covers included Cheap Trick's "Surrender," a really nice rendition of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy," and Paul Simon's "Kodachrome" (with the first line changed to "When I look back at all the crap I smoked in high school"). The cover that really stood out for me in the second set was "Take Out Some Insurance," a cool blues number written by Jesse Stone and recorded by Jimmy Reed. It's great to hear Jay Souza really dig into the blues, and this song featured some excellent work on harmonica at the beginning. This set also included "Widow Next Door" and "A Sailor's Mind," the latter from the Hold Drugs Dear album. It was after that song that a guy in the audience requested the title track from that album. Jay told him he hadn't planned on playing it, but then decided to give it a go. He was joined on stage for part of the song by the guy who requested it. Jay ended the show with "Fast Life Slow Death," another of his best songs. The show ended at 11:03 p.m. And that's it. The end of an era, as they say. Jay Souza, as both RJ Bloke and as the main force behind Patrolled By Radar, has played an important part in the Los Angeles music scene. While it's possible he might come back at some point to do some shows, it will be at least a year before that happens. In the meantime, Portland is adding a talented singer and songwriter to its ranks.

Set List

Set I

1. Raining In My Heart
2. Where Are You Now
3. The Man In Me
4. I Feel Found
5. Drugs
6. She Said She Said
7. All You Need Is Enough
8. Dark As A Dungeon
9. Better Than Then
10. Waiting On A Friend
11. When I Was Dead
12. Be Happy
13. Lodi
14. Coat Of Disappointment
15. El Norte

Set II

1. St. James Infirmary
2. God Is A Scarecrow
3. Surrender
4. Jealous Guy
5. Widow Next Door
6. Take Out Some Insurance
7. A Sailor's Mind
8. Hold Drugs Dear
9. Kodachrome
10. Fast Life Slow Death

Bigfoot West is located at 10939 Venice Blvd. in Los Angeles, California.