Greetings from Santa Ana, CA.

I’m here for Burgerama II at the Observatory.  The second annual two-day music festival celebrating Burger Records starts Friday.

On the way out west, I made a stop in Nashville Wednesday night to see Jeff and Deborah.  Alex Bleeker (pictured above with his great band The Freaks) was in town as part of his tour turn-back from SXSW.

Bleeker and the Freaks performed a purely professional 60-minute set before a Mercy Lounge crowd estimated at only 40 people.  Bottles of water were arranged on stage for a tired-looking Bleeker and his bandmates.  A gig the night before in Oxford, MS likely had something to do with the fatigued appearances.  As always seems to be the case with those associated with the Woodsist family, Bleeker and the Freaks exerted max effort despite the uphill factors at play.

Bleeker’s next record “How Far Away” will be released by Woodsist in May.  The tune “Don’t Look Down” appears on the new record and was released by the label via the Sound Cloud platform to generate interest.  Bleeker and Woodsist are a great fit for a bunch of reasons.  Perhaps most importantly, Bleeker is chummy with Woodsist’s founder Jeremy Earl and is a supportive presence at a lot of shows featuring Woodsist bands.

Totally by coincidence, a band Deborah is fond of played an opening set in the smaller adjoining space High Watt.  Fronted by Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe, Lucius played a 35-minute set that was notable for its energy and creativity.  Their sound reminded me a bit of Tilly and the Wall.

The Mercy Lounge (capacity 500) and High Watt (250 max) are housed in a large out-of-the-way historic building formerly used for food processing.  The Cannery Ballroom (1000 capacity) is the site’s spot for big gigs.  Once you’re inside, both the Mercy and Watt are high quality performance spaces with well-staffed bars.  My only beef about the place is that it had kind of an impersonal feel given its isolation from the city’s hustle and bustle.  Juggling three venues in one makes it feel part amusement park-like.

I had at least one or two adult beverages too many Wednesday night.  I give large credit to the homemade chicken soup at Nashville’s Pied Piper Eatery for bringing me back to life just before Jeff dropped me at the airport Thursday morning.

Air travel on this trip has been a little tricky.  Lots of young people are on spring break and the airplanes I’ve tried to ride on have been pretty full.

I ended up sitting around Houston’s Bush airport for more than six hours en route to Orange County.  As has become my custom when time allows on the IAH pass-thru, I stopped by the Shipley Do-Nuts shop in Terminal B.  The cake doughnuts at Shipley are insanely tasty and fresh.

The six-mile trip from Orange County’s John Wayne airport to the hotel near the Burgerama venue didn’t leave much time for conversation with the cab driver late Thursday night.  But about five minutes into the ride, we were both smiling at the discovery we had a common link.  Twenty-three years ago, the cabby said, he packed up and left Jackson Heights after his doughnut shop near the Rosie Ave. subway station failed.  He blamed changing demographics in the Heights for the demise of his business and said he had grown tired of the cold winters.  We stood out in front of my hotel talking for at least ten minutes.  He wanted to know what Jackson Heights was like now.

I told him it could use a good doughnut shop.