The above video can also be found on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Tyk77R7PSeY
We all have our favorite venues for live music. I want to start highlighting some of those that I’ve been to both past and present. The emphasis will be on venues that are still around; the ones that you can still go to and see a show. I’ll also try to throw in some history on venues long gone. As always, I’d love to hear about yours in the comment section.
I’d been looking for an excuse to make the trip to Zebulon in Los Angeles for some time. I’m not sure exactly when Zebulon got on my radar, but I do remember that Fred Frith seemed to be playing there whenever he was in LA. My excuse finally came in late April when a series of events lined up that said I had to go to this show.
The band Acid Mothers Temple was kicking off their North American tour at Zebulon. This is a band that I’ve heard a lot about but never seen live in spite of their many tours. My interest in the band had been goosed in recent years by my research on Giorgio Gomelsky. Gomelsky was instrumental in helping the early careers of many bands including Soft Machine and Gong. Both of those bands were co-founded by Daevid Allen who spent a lot of time in the last years of his life collaborating with Acid Mothers Temple.
Could I get an interview with the band about that collaboration? Would it be worth the 5 hour drive to LA to see the show and do an in-person interview? Which brings up the second event in the lineup of events: the band’s only show in California on this tour would be at Zebulon.
The final event, and the one that made this decision a no brainer for me, was that my very good friend and multi-talented musician from Brooklyn, Ron Anderson, would be playing bass guitar in Acid Mothers Temple for this tour.
I would finally get to see Zebulon.
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Acid Mothers Temple Interview at Zebulon: start of North American tour 2023
The club is located in a neighborhood in LA known as Frogtown. I’ve visited LA many times over the years, but I’ve never heard of Frogtown. I have heard of Glendale and Silver Lake, and Frogtown is basically wedged in between those two areas. The city of LA used the Frogtown area to run railroad tracks and later major freeways right through it during the 20th century. You can easily imagine the light industrial buildings that developed in such an environment, and, unsurprisingly, it attracted a community of artists in the late 20th century, and then became gentrified during the 21st.
Zebulon made its home in one of the Frogtown industrial spaces around 2012 in what was originally a 1930’s bakery. Previously, in 2003, the French owners operated the club in Brooklyn for over a decade, also calling it Zebulon. Then, as now, they created a space that combines an early evening café with a late night bar and a separate main stage performance room. The current space also includes a large outdoor patio where you can enjoy the often great weather. This is simply a great place to hang with your music loving friends anytime, but especially before and/or after a show.
Given the history of the club and its owners, I thought there might be a connection with Gomelsky, who spent a lot of time in France, spoke fluent French, and lived in NYC when Zebulon was operating in Brooklyn. The music presented at Zebulon was right up Gomelsky’s alley.
[Correction (July 25, 2023): the following incident DID NOT happen at Zebulon and I was not able to find any stories placing Gomelsky at Zebulon... My friend Ron Anderson told me a story about having a run-in with Gomelsky at the Brooklyn Zebulon. I don’t think he knew who Gomelsky was, nor would he have cared. It seems that prior to Ron’s gig that night, he found Gomelsky on the stage messing around with instruments that were setup. Ron confronted him on the stage, and probably not so politely asked him to leave.]
That was then. This is now.
I arrived at Zebulon very early in anticipation of interviewing Acid Mothers Temple after their sound check. They were very good at communicating with me by email, but their schedule was understandably chaotic, this being the first of 35 shows in 35 days. I struck up a conversation with the bar tender who also worked at the Brooklyn location. Did she know Gomelsky? No, but I should get in touch with the owners, which I attempted to do unsuccessfully.
Fortunately I would have better luck with Acid Mothers Temple. They arrived late for their sound check, but there was still time to do an interview. There was also time for me to enjoy some food and beer on the outdoor patio before the show, and some more beer on the outdoor patio after the show.
The Venues: Zebulon, Los Angeles