Los Angeles, CA @ Jaunita's

We hit Venice beach looking for freaks and were disappointed. We saw a few small ugly pug-nosed dogs and a lot of shaved female legs, but few true freaks. (Even the World's Greatest Wine-O, who wore a sign proclaiming his title and sang, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, help get me drunk today," he seemed like a reasonable fella.) Eventually we ended up at Juanita's, the night's venue. After getting some dollar tacos down the street, and our free pitcher of beer, we played. Unbeknownst to us, a man was sitting patiently in the back of the restaurant, alone, wearing an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, smiling. We played, Margy Pepper played, and Blanket played. As Blanket loaded their equipment, we sat on the edge of the stage and finished our drinks. The man with the acoustic guitar approached us, introduced himself. A few minutes later, he took the stage. His name was Jetson. He wore jeans. The end of his belt hung off his waist. He wore modest glasses and smiled happily. The customers in the restaurant were drunk, but Jetson wowed them with a practiced set of originals and covers, including the occasional guitar solo (and with no backing band, these were indeed solos, ballsy solos). Halfway through Jetson's set, he won himself a free beer by covering "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay." I didn't stay to the end of his set.