Vinh's L7 Diary March 27-29, 1998

Photos by:

Vinh Le

Vinh's L7 Diary March 27-29, 1998

L7 at The Barn on UC Riverside Campus March 27, 1998

I *just* met Gail in person for the first time tonight! :)

I went to the L7 concert at The Barn on the UC Riverside campus. The Barn is your average sized bar, so nothing new there. ( It is like a barn, by the way. ) There wasn't much of a crowd, probably due to two reasons: 1. It's Riverside and 2. finals just ended today so everyone is off to Spring Break. The show was L7's first show in five months, so they claimed to by "rusty." Heh! They were great! They also debut a new song and everyone gave them the "thumbs up!" as a sign of appreciation of the new songs.

I caught Gail entering through the front entrance. I introduced myself and was caught off guard with a hug! It was *so* cool! She said she felt like she totally knew me since she checks my website to see what Tanya's been up too! That is just coolness. :) We chatted a bit and then she went backstage to get ready. After the show, I walked her out to her rental car and we talked some more about Belly, L7, and other stuff. I'm quite *happy*! This sure makes up for the 30 hours straight I worked between Wednesday and Thursday.

L7 at Linda's Doll Hut March 28, 1998

Well, I attended another L7 concert tonight. It was at Linda's Doll Hut in Anaheim, CA. The Doll Hut is pretty much like what it sounds, a very tiny doll house! Imagine a one bedroom apartment painted black inside and cleared of a kitchen area and you're about there. For New Yorkers, it's not as small as Meow Mix, but very close to being the West Coast version of one. The "official" capacity is something like 49 people. I think there were a lot more. The place was totally packed to the hilt!

When I got there, it was sold out. Thanks to Gail, I got a wrist braclet to get in! :) Before entering, Gail introduced me to the whole band - Donita, Suzi, and Dee - and the road crew - Hinges and Tim. Last time, I only got to meet Suzi, who remembered me from the night before. :) Donita, Suzi and Dee all sat in the car since it's been really cold here in LA; 40's I'd imagine. Gail excused herself to prep for the show. I hung out talking to Ali, who's their number one fan, and Glenn, who's just there shooting a ton of photos for his website "Freakmagnt" at http://www.freakmagnt. He promises to have full photo coverage.

This time I tried to write down a setlist:

Since there was literally no place to go to, the band stayed where they were and pretended to leave the stage and come back for an encore:

After the show, Gail had to take off to visit her brother, her sister-in-law and their new baby, but she graciously stayed until *every* fan who wanted to chat or get an autograph had his/her chance. She is *too* nice!

Oh, Gail says she doesn't recall ever teaching kindergarten. [Someone asked about this.]

One more show tomorrow...

L7 at The Garage March 29, 1998

Tonight was the last night of L7 playing in LA before leaving for their Japan/Australia tour. The venue was a place called The Garage. Once again, the name pretty much describes the size and motif of the venue.

I arrived early, around 7 PM. After not being able to enter for a bit due to a lack of exact change - the show was only $5! - I was finally able to break a $20. The place was packed. The first band had already finished. I meandered my way to the front. The second band, Longstocking, was setting up. They were pretty cool, in the same vein as Sleater-Kinney, another Northwest punk band being piped over the PA. Jody from Team Dresch guested vocals on two songs. (So for some of you out there, this was a pretty awesome line-up!)

While the L7 gear was being put on stage, I noticed that Gail's bass amp still bears a Belly sticker on the case. :) Anyway, the roadies made efficient use of time and the gear was up and ready in about 20 minutes. L7 entered and the show was on it's way...

Being in the front center was not good... and even worse when holding a camera, albiet a pocket camera. Oh, I was tossed around quite a bit and finally had to wade my way over to the right side of the stage. From there I snuck a few photos. :)

The setlist was about the same as the last one I posted, so not much new there.

After the show, I got the whole band to sign my snowboard. Snowboard? Yep! I thought the show was actually in Santa Monica, quite close to where I live. It would have been easy to sneak home and get back in time with the snowboard. The show was actually at the other end of town! Since I already told Gail the night before that I would like to get it signed, I couldn't disappoint. I rushed to my car and lugged it to them. It's pretty cool!

L7 Vinh=Love Suzi Errr... Vinh rocks my hairy ass! GaiL7

I hugged Gail goodbye and wished her well on her trip and waved to Suzi before I left...

Mail me!

Back to the Belly main page