Monday, September 22, 2008
Mrs. Padrone and I stepped out last night to a little joint that should be up every man's alley. The always hot Mrs. Padrone wore her sexiest high heels, and slit legged skirt, my personal favorite. And not be too out done, I donned my favorite pair of Asprey cuff links and coordinating Thomas Pink tie; both gifts from my lovely wife! Needless to say we looked like superstars... but I digress. We made our way to the west side of Los Angeles, which is rare for us, to check out a hot band I recently heard about, The Toledo Show at Harvelles, - a dive, blues bar that has been around since 1931. The likes of Ike Turner, Imperial Crowns, and John Lee Hooker Jr., have performed there and we wanted to see for ourselves what all the fuss was about.
Why should a place like this be up every man's alley, you may ask? To begin with, it's a bar. No fancy ridiculously, decorated high-tech McNightclub here. It is definitely a joint in every sense of the word, from the red leather banquets, to the no nonsense door policy (which is: if you pay $10, then you get in). The crowd: a nice mix of young and old, brown and beige, hipsters and the not-so-hip, all made it even more funky.
DJ Vicious Lee definitely put us in the mix, by warming up the crowd for the main attraction, spinning the perfect blend of old and new school hip hop/dance music.
The show opened with Toledo's dancers, affectionately known as The Dames: 4 burlesque types, that would be considered "hype-men" if Toledo were a rap artist. The band, comprised of a trumpet, drums, key board, bass, and a busty, bubbly, backup singer opened the show with a funky bass line and the BOOM BAP, BOOMBOOM BAP of the drums. Then Toledo entered the stage, wearing Zoot Suit-esques attire, fingerless leather gloves, a broad-rimmed hat, and sunglasses. His vocal styling are best described as a blend of Eartha Kit's growl (if she were a man), James Brown's incoherency, and Prince's funk during the New Power Generation. And it's here where you first notice 2 major problems.
After reading my description of Toledo's voice, the first problem is obvious: unfortunately I could not understand a damn thing he was singing or singing about. During the first hour and half set, all I was able to make out was "...fishnets...", "...lions roar...", and "...sexy, m.f" spread across maybe 10 songs. But he definitely gets points for showmanship and the cigarette smoke posturing, male bravado, which was entertaining to say the least.
The other problem was with The Dames, who intially were a pleasant surprise. But the grungy, Riot Girl-style, beat up look is really not my taste, per se. (There are only a handful of the tattooed and pierced set that have crossover appeal in my opinion -these were not them) Also there were no costume changes, and the choreography was redundant... which made their whole presence redundant...kind of like how this sentence has become... REDUNDANT!
Thankfully, the music (Toledo and the DJ) was great, danceable, and just plain cool. So I still would recommend Harvelles and the Toledo Show as a way to start a night on the town. You can step outside to grab a quick smoke (Mrs. Padrone's guilty pleasure), the drinks are reasonably priced, the staff is courteous, and ultimately it's just a damn good time. The only other caveat to this would be that since the show starts at 9:30pm (a bit late for me on Sunday), I decided to forgo the second set, so that I could enjoy Mrs. Padrone's high heels in private. You have to have your priorities man!!
