Music That's Making Me Happy Today, vol 31

The Three O'Clock and The Bees

Sometimes I am reminded of excellent music taste from my past. Perhaps because I was in my hometown two weeks ago, I have found myself thinking a lot lately about The Three O'Clock. I have been a fan of these prominent members of L.A.'s Paisley Underground for decades. Driven by this recollection, I hopped onto You Tube last weekend and found The Three O'Clock's 1983 performance on MV3, a Los Angeles music show which aired on terrestrial television (a very good thing for us Los Angelenos who were not yet wired for cable and, as a consequence, couldn't have our MTV).

Ah, The Three O'Clock. "Sorry," "The Girl with the Guitar" (which is quoted on my high school senior yearbook page, thank you very much), "Jet Fighter," "With a Cantaloupe Girlfriend." All excellent ditties.

Despite my love of The Three O'Clock, however, I don't actually own any of their albums. Or more accurately, I should say I didn't own any until now. I assumed all their records to be out of print at this point, but how wrong I was. So now, grossly incorrect assumption behind me, I am in possession of four Three O'Clock albums on two compact discs. It's like loving the '60's in the '80's all over again.

While sometimes I am reminded of excellent music taste from my past, other times I am simply a Jane Come Lately. And that is the case when it comes to The Bees (known here in the states as A Band of Bees).

The Bees quietly slipped into my orbit Tuesday afternoon by way of a simple email from All Music. How I had not previously been aware of this indie/psychedelia outfit, I cannot explain. I'm starting small with The Bees; I have purchased three songs from iTunes, my favorite of which may be "Chicken Payback." Of course the other two numbers, "These Are Ghosts" and "One Glass of Water," are pretty darn good, too. So maybe it's unfair to pick just one favorite.

I look forward to many a rendezvous with The Bees.

So that's what I've been listening to this week. Here's what I've been doing. After work on Tuesday I scooted to Brainwash to see Daydrinker. I actually was supposed to get together with them tonight to kind of audition to sing with them. However, Higgins had to cancel, so we're rescheduling for next week. I hope I'm good enough to become a musical Daydrinker. After all, I'm already well versed in the non-musical practice of afternoon imbibing.

I worked an extra day on Wednesday, after which I met the girls in Gourmet Group for a delicious dinner. I made my famous chicken salad, which means Gourmet Group has now been treated to two of the four dishes I know how to make. If I continue to be an active Gourmet Group member, I'm going to need to learn some new recipes. This afternoon I went to the East Bay for my weekly singing lesson with Best Friend, and tonight I'm meeting my friend Kate at the Latin American Club. I haven't seen Kate in more than a year, so we have a lot of catching up to do.

Then it's back to work tomorrow (weekends are awfully short when they're only one day long), but on Sunday I'm going to Tom and Chris' annual Memorial Day party. This is the tenth such gathering, and I have attended every one. Tom, Chris and their third roommate, Nick, have invited about 400 people. So it's bound to be a good time.

Now bad for a backyard get together, I'd say.