Simple enough title... Yes, it's the name of the venue, but it really was the theme of the night. Thanks to all of you who showed up. We had a really nice crowd with a little extra bump in the number due to the visiting Mintz family from Corpus Christi, TX. I'm always happy to see a family out in support of their own! My sister was out, too, and had to leave from a turbo charge of love talk from me and the book reading she went to earlier in the night. If you're inspired to write about real love, you've always got a pass from me. Some of my favorite books and shows I've had to leave early because they'd inspired such a passion in me.

So there was a love synergy in the room. And so much more. Or maybe that's the override to it all. The meeting stories in that room were pretty outrageous. Julie Mintz & I just met through her friend Ashley whom I met on the plane back from Detroit last week. Ash played me one of Julie's songs and then I was sitting next to her at the Hotel Cafe the next night. Joselyn, who also performed, I met at the Womad Festival after her band members thought I looked like I should join them. We've now been friends for 12 years! Then there was my buddy Michael, whom I met buying Belle & Sebastian tickets off Craigslist, my friend Andrew Kelsey whom I met at the Bazaar Cafe in San Francisco and Brooke Michael whom the owner of the Bazaar told to look me up when she got into town. Andrew and Brooke had never met. Then there's Alvin whom I met at book reading by my sister's college roommate, who brought his friend, the mother of my first boss in the music business. And Aleca who worked at the Clippers Basketball games when my sis had season tickets... And Beth who introduced herself at the Inti Illimani concert on the Santa Monica Pier--that I went to with Alvin--because I just seemed happy. The only traditional meetings in the house were Nailah, Erica and Danny but we've got great musical histories of intertwining friends and lives. Then there were even the couple that had seen me at a Temple Bar gig and decided to stay when they saw us come in the cafe tonight, though they hadn't placed me yet. And I almost forgot Bobby Funky who ran the rehearsal studio where my first real LA band rehearsed in the nineties.

In the beginning of the night I was telling Joselyn and Julie that Nailah and I used to have a duo act and called the event "Love Fest". That's what tonight was! Pure and sweet. I'm so lucky to be able to do what I do with the support of such wonderful community. Thank you all that were there in presence or spirit. Life is great. I'm looking forward to this weekend at the Lounge now. Totally different setting, but I'm confident we'll bring the same sense of community 'cause that's just who we are.

With love,

Your Optimistic Strummer

Just got in from seeing Billy Bragg perform. It was the best I've seen him in years! In the last couple years I've seen both him and Paul Weller (from the Jam, Style Council, wherever you found him...) and I've seen so much of my schtick. I talk about the Beatles and Curtis Mayfield...people like that when people ask about influences, but it was really Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and maybe Suzanne Vega that really got me writing in a voice that was somewhat my own. I caught them when they were writing their vital stuff and that's what encouraged me. And I'm just so grateful for those guys...I wish Suzanne would do a new album...her last one 5 years ago was incredible in it's honesty. (I guess I can't leave out the Clash or the Smiths or Elvis Costello...maybe my 80s guys weren't as good as the "Classic Rock" guys, but that was probably a big part of it. When I first heard them the weren't iconic, they were artists trying to create their own groove on a road well traveled. The road wasn't really there for those titans before. I never did hip hop which was the equivalent of my generation. I liked the songs, I liked the Guthrie...so my road was and is--like any guitar playing singer/songwriter's--well traveled.)

But I am f-in' happy to stumble into Billy Bragg's footprints. One of his rants tonight was all about a shift from left vs. right politics worldview, to seeing cynicism, not ideology, as the enemy. Then he did this song called I Keep Faith that in other hands could've sounded like a Poison power ballad. Yes...Poison, the hair band. But I let my own snarkiness melt away and it was gorgeous.

Billy's always been that mix of bleeding romantic and passionate political idealist that I love. I was thinking...if I just met the woman that loved Billy songs, my life would be perfect. But maybe just the one who loves my songs would be even better. But we all know that's only a part of it... OK time to get to my personal journal...

If you are coming to the show tomorrow, you're in for a real treat. Not only do I have two amazing women sharing the stage with me, but the shows after I've seen a hero perform are usually the best. I might even try to learn I Keep Faith...'cause I do. Music and hope can move a nation and world. Like Billy kept saying, the shared event of the concert is a recharging of the batteries to go out with optimism and activism to bring about a more beautiful world. That's my hippie take.

Which reminds me, John Lennon says in the intro to one of the songs on the US vs. John Lennon says "Okay, so flower power didn't work; so what? We start again." Billy said he worked for 18 years to get Tony Blair elected. With cynicism it's hard to begin again. But we're gonna. Or, to quote that other important 80's band, Twisted Sister, "We're not gonna take it anymore."

[Uh... Twisted Sister had nothing to do with me finding my own voice...]

Happy Thursday.

Jason

Hey everybody.

I changed webservers today and so the site was a little buggy. And with the new server I've had to update my journal program. I think this one will be a little easier to use anyway. But the years of archives are all at www.jasonluckett.com/journal/archive.html if you want to see 'em.

So besides that, I'm really excited about the shows this weekend, especially the one on Thrusday. I have a couple great guests that will come up for a few songs. So don't miss it! Synergy is about the homiest venue in town.

Then Friday and Saturday, I'm in Hermosa. It's a really sweet show, though I only do two songs each night. But the setting is beautiful and the club treats us all so well that it's a complete joy to be there.

You can get more info on the calendar page and also on MySpace. I try to cross update both blogs but sometimes I forget one or the other, so check all the sites often.

Alright. Thanks. See you this week!

J