Kevin Bronson on February 5th, 2009

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[I go off the beaten path, maybe even off the rails. You decide …]

Los Angeles is a city of vast distances, and differences. Of this I was reminded a couple nights ago when, standing in line for a random show, an acquaintance asked me what I thought about the Grammys (coming Sunday evening to a city near you). My interrogator expected me to opine on the virtues of “Viva la Vida” vs. “Paper Planes” for record of the year, or “In Rainbows'” chances for album of the year, or how I was ROFL to see the Jonases nominated for best new anything.

Instead, I replied mildly, “The Grammys might as well be on Mars.”

It’s true, the Grammys and their self-congratulatory bloat are far from the worlds in which I orbit. Beyond the utter crassness of awards shows to begin with, the Grammys predisposed me to ignore them in my formative years, when the “academy,” quotes intentional, heaped accolades on music that seemed so inconsequential – even to a kid in the nation’s breadbasket – as to be nonexistent. Even as their consciousness has been raised in recent years, the Grammys and their hype and even their museum (a glorified listening station it costs 15 bucks to get into) seem to be one marathon advertisement for music we’ve already been spoonfed by mainstream radio and mass-marketing campaigns. Keep the celebrity quotient high, get good television ratings, bathe in revenue. Repeat.

I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve heard only a portion of the music nominated in the major categories. I will watch the show – in the same manner I would watch the Super Bowl, for instance, if the competitors were two teams in which I had no emotional investment – and quite possibly I will marvel at some of the passion and musicianship. But I’m pretty sure in the back of my head I will be thinking, “It’s only a television show.” (By the way, I have used as my primer for Sunday’s telecast my former colleague Melinda Newman’s handicap of the awards.)

So I thought about that conversation – and my somewhat limited orbit – on Wednesday night as I was driving from Hollywood to the Valley. Because of a list snafu, I didn’t get to see the Eagles of Death Metal and Living Things at the Fonda, but instead of resorting to the familiar turf of Spaceland/Troubadour/Echo/Silverlake Lounge, I pointed the car toward North Hollywood, to a bar called Skinny’s Lounge.

Skinny’s is a gussied-up storefront on Lankershim that offers live music one night a week, Wednesdays (with no cover), has plentiful street parking and somehow charges Sunset Strip prices for drinks (7 bucks for a well gin & tonic?). Silver Lake it isn’t, but it’s a nice room, L-shaped with low-slung couches in front of the stage, with halfway decent sound. I arrived from Hollywood in less than 15 minutes.

There, I saw a man who goes by Busty Rumproast – day job: a carpenter who builds recording studios – regale a small crowd with humorous ditties on his acoustic guitars, one of which he made himself. I saw Firebug, a transplanted Chicago quartet with some formidable Zeppelinesque licks and a frontwoman, Juliette Tworsey, with flaming red hair and a bit of moxie to match. They’re the resident band on Wednesdays this month – yes, Eastside hipsters, they have residencies in North Hollywood too.

And I saw Kanary, a three-piece all dressed up for the 1980s with a sound that matched. Their Joan Jett-channeling was downright refreshing, actually, with frontwoman Leslie Knauer (footnote: she’s one year younger than I) absolutely killin’ it with her guitar licks and throaty vocals. It turns out that it’s almost 30 years to the month that Knauer had a huge hit, her sibling band Promises’ “Baby It’s You” selling more than a quarter-million copies in Europe (though not making a dent in the U.S.). Somebody oughta cover this song, actually, or maybe somebody has, but Knauer (who went on to front Precious Metal) can still belt out choruses like she did back in the day.

It put a smile on my face. I hope Sunday will too.

Photos: That’s Knauer and bassist Mary Kay of Kanary, top; inset photo is Tworsey of Firebug. Don’t forget to check out the video.