On the left coast this week as I continue to enjoy the decision to backload almost all my vacation time into the final few months of the calendar year.

I’m currently in Corona del Mar, CA for a couple of days in advance of the 2014 Breeder’s Cup at Santa Anita. I’ll meet up with Jeff D on Thursday in Pasadena where our off-track handicapping seminars will be staged primarily at the Colorado Bar on Colorado Boulevard.

I flew out here Tuesday morning on a non-stop into John Wayne from Newark. I sat next to a woman in coach who announced a few minutes before our 903 AM push from the gate that she was popping a Xanax. When the beverage cart came through after the 737-800 leveled off at cruise altitude, my seatmate ordered two Tito’s minis and a diet Coke. She ate bugles from a large bag and har-harred at a vampire show on the individual satellite TV that’s offered if you slide a credit card into it. The woman ended up falling asleep pretty quickly which was probably the intended result of her morning regimen.

It’s funny. It takes about the same time to jet west to LA as it does to fly east to Dublin, Ireland. Six hours goes by ok with a stack of newspapers and a little daydreaming if you can look out the window. I ordered coffee black each time the cart went by and each time there appeared to be a small oil slick on the top of the brew. It tasted fine so I kept ’em going.

I couldn’t make any of the first four days of CMJ because of the job but I caught a couple sets as the annual NYC music gathering was wrapping up. I saw Kevin Morby (with drummer Justin Sullivan) play at the Academy Records Annex in Greenpoint Saturday night. A supportive crowd of about 50 filled the front half of the newly relocated record shop near the river. It was free. I didn’t know in advance that you could sip BYO beers in the shop so I had a couple Narragansett tall boys at Jimmy’s on Franklin before the gig. Miles, Miles, Miles was a dazzler. Sound was iffy at the start but my ears adjusted as it went along. When Morby backstepped into his Harlem River jam, he flung around that long head of curly hair he’s got right now. A Doug E Fresh record was in the front of the R and B stack near where Morby stood. It had been some time since I saw live music in the record store setting and I really enjoyed it. Morby’s second LP – entitled Still Life – came out via Woodsist in mid-October. The Academy appearance was a low-key chance to celebrate the feat of making another great record and many of Morby’s NYC friends there to cheer the accomplishment.

The next day I saw White Fence at Baby’s All Right. I had seen Tim Presley’s Fence at the same venue two weeks earlier and couldn’t resist going back for more. This was the closing show on CMJ’s closing day and it was free. The folks at Panache Booking hosted the day-long event. When he stepped on stage a few minutes after 5 PM, Presley kinda mocked Panache’s published claim that the day would feature “stripped-down” sets. He immediately launched into a series of torching numbers that were anything but stripped down. Furthermore, White Fence put on a performance worthy of a full paid admission. Sometimes these CMJ bills feel half-assed and rushed. This Fence appearance had major energy and effort throughout. Working without a set list, the band conferred between songs to decide what to play next. Each of the band’s four members appeared to have a say. I’m pretty sure it was one of the King Gizzard guys who came up to play harmonica on Sandra. Arrow Man was awesome. You wouldn’t know it was 530 PM on a Sunday night the way the crowd was into it. And there was marked elevation in the role Cate Le Bon played versus two weeks ago on the East Coast tour’s opening night. Le Bon moved closer into full view of the audience and had all the look of a full-fledged band member. Now that the current string of White Fence dates is over, it will be interesting to see whether Le Bon is able to join Presley on future tours. She adds so much to a band that should be considered one of the best live acts going right now.

More from Cali in the next few days. I guess California Chrome’s run is of interest but I don’t sense overwhelming buzz or focus on any Cup entrants this year compared to some of the big equine stars of recent BC’s past. That’s not to say there aren’t plenty of intriguing Euro invaders and a bunch of wide open races that could bust the tote.