Thursday, October 2, 1997
I received an email from the Hip informing me of a contest to be held on
their website at 5pm EDT.  The first 10 people to respond correctly to
the posted question (via email) would win a pair of tickets to see the
Los Lobos/Tragically Hip/Ozomatli concert at the Greek Theater in LA
(Hollywood).  So I visited the website at the appointed time and the
question is "What song did Victor and Steve of Los Lobos play with the
Hip at the Barrie stop of Another Roadside Attraction?"  Now, I was at
that concert, but I couldn't remember the song, but I remember seeing a
picture of the setlist on the Hip's website, so I sought it out and
answered the question and was one of the first 10 to respond in time.  I
later received an email telling me I could pick up the tickets at the
Greek's box office.  Now I had the tickets, but I still needed someone
to go with and a way to get there.

Now, When the tickets for this concert were offered for sale, I didn't
even attempt to purchase any since I would never have found anyone brave
(or stupid) enough to buy a ticket and share the considerable expense
and discomfort of travelling to LA. But When I won a pair of tickets,
Rajat was more than willing to come to LA with me.

We decided we were going to rent a car as a round trip plane ticket
booked 6 days in advance cost over US$370, so we ruled it out.  Looking
back, the additional cost would have allowed us to stay longer in LA,
but oh well.

Friday, October 10, 1997
Corvallis, Oregon is 900 Miles from Los Angeles.  This is about a 14
Hour drive excluding breaks.  We left work at 3pm to pack and we were on
the road by 4:30pm.  Our estimated time of arrival was 6:30 AM Saturday
morning. Since Rajat and I both being somewhat heavy footed drivers, we
made it to LA in 14 hours (including 2 hours of breaks)

Saturday, October 11, 1997
Hollywood has one of the most amazing sunrises I have ever seen.  It was
a beautiful clear day, we were both tired from driving, so we started
looking for a hotel.  We found one in Hollywood, but the room wouldn't
be ready until 9:30 AM, so we decided to do some sightseeing.  We saw
all the standard Hollywood/ Beverly Hills sights: Mann's Chinese
Theater, the Hollywood sign in the mountain, Rodeo Drive, although we
failed in finding Melrose Place. (We found the street, but not the
apartment).  Anyway, we decided we had to see the ocean, so we went all
the way down Santa Monica Boulevard to Santa Monica Beach.  (I really
liked this place) It was absolutely beautiful.

After noon, we went to a mall in Beverly Hills. Everyone in Beverly
Hills drives an imported car,  There were tons of Porsche's. We later
went to the Greek to pickup our tickets only to find that they were
really not that great seats.  Obstructed view to the right of the stage
and quite far back.  I was expecting better since these were tickets
from the promoter for winning a contest, but oh well, we were here and
that was most important  We went back to the hotel to crash for a few
hours until the concert started.

6 PM we leave for the concert.  We get there and find out that there is
only stacked parking available (They box everyone in)  We were pretty
upset.

We get to our seats and find out that our area is full of other contest
winners (more importantly, Hip fans).
We met some cool people, (Mike from LA/Vancouver and his buddy, the two
women from Fresno, David and his friend from Las Vegas)

The first band was Ozomatli.  About 10 people in the band, they play a
mix of Latin, Hip-Hop music.  They were very energetic, I thought they
were pretty good.  Even though I don't speak Spanish. They played for
about 30 minutes.

Next the Hip came on.  I couldn't see Johnny or Rob because of the
obstructed view, but the guys still looked really good.  The acousitics
in the Greek are amazing.  When the Hip started playing we quickly
realized that there were at most 50 Hip fans in the crowd of 6000 to see
Los Lobos.  Our group was very vocal, the rest of the crowd was very
polite, probably in shock from seeing Gord attempt to juggle fruit and
ride the microphone stand.

Here's the Set List:

01 Grace, Too
02 Save This Planet
03 Gift Shop
04 Ahead By a Century
05 Stereo   (a very different version from the 2 or 3 that I've heard)
06 At the Hundredth Meridian
07 Membership    (this song grows on me the more I hear it)
08 Fully Completely
09 Springtime in Vienna

The set lasted around 50 minutes. The other hip fans were teasing me
"You drove 14 hours to see the Hip play for 50 minutes, You're
Crazy..."  Well maybe I am...

Anyway, Most of the Hip fans there (Us included) were ready to go home
after the Hip's set.  I respect Los Lobos' talent, but I don't much care
for their music... (OK, La Bamba was cool) :) ...  Unfortunately, (or
fortunately) we couldn't leave since our car was boxed in, so whether we
liked it or not we were staying until everyone else leaved.

The other hip fans had now gone down to the concession area (which we
could see from our seats), then Rajat, who's first and only hip
experience was 15 minutes ago says that he thinks he saw one of the band
members in the concession area.  I basically say "Yeah, right", but I go
down to investigate anyway...  No Hip members to be found, but I started
chatting with the other hip fans down there while Los Lobos was playing.

Then out of the corner of my eye I see Paul Langlois talking to someone,
the hip fans and I quickly go over to talk to him... We talked to Paul
for about 15 minutes, then I see Rob Baker out of my other eye and we
quickly go over to him.  When we get there we see Gord Sinclair chatting
beside him.  We talked to Rob for (seriously) over an hour, when I
decide to buy (another) copy of Live Between Us for the Hip to sign. I
grabbed the three guys autographs and continued to talk with Rob and
Gord S.

Los Lobos set was almost 2 hours and we were talking with the various
band members for the whole time!  It was awesome.  Let me tell you those
guys are the nicest and most down to earth guys you'll ever meet in your
life.  We waited until after the concert, but Gord Downie and Johnny Fay
were nowhere to be found. (Rob said they were watching Los Lobos)

Some stuff I found out while talking to the guys:
- Las Vegas was the original choice for LBU, but there were some
technical problems with the tape.
- the band is looking to choose from 35 (!) new songs they have for the
new album
- The band is considering making other live concerts available through
the fan club for like $5 each
- They don't mind that people tape their concerts, but if they see a guy
standing up pointing a mic at them, they're obligated to ask him to stop

- We talked about Killer Whale Tank and Double Suicide for a bit.  These
were both one time things.
- Rob really liked this year's ARA lineup

And, to top it off, We saw John Ratzenburger (Cliff Claven) after the
concert in the crowd.
What a Night!!!  So was it worth the 14 Hours? ...  :)

The ride home was much better than the ride up since we were driving
during the day.  The only downside was getting caught speeding... Those
California Highway Patrolmen are good...

Take it easy,
Mike