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.

Saturday night’s Porches/Frankie Cosmos show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn was the capper of a four-week cross-country tour. Lots of gigs (mostly in the immediate vicinity) have been the M-O for these two bands but the now-completed stretch of dates reached via vehicle no doubt tested their endurance.

Playing every night with only a couple days off, Porches and Frankie Cosmos started out September 19th in Philly and went coast to coast with stops that included far-flung places like Northfield (MN), Fargo, Missoula, Oakland, El Paso and Durham.

Probably not knowing for sure what kind of demand there would be for two tour-ending dates at Baby’s, both Aaron Maine (pictured – above left) and Greta Kline (back turned) were effusive in their appreciation for the large, enthusiastic audience. Both the Friday and Saturday shows ending up selling out. Maine was actually a little punchy as he walked out for the Porches set Saturday night with a jug of low-end whiskey. He rambled between songs – carrying on a bit as he created a vision of a male body part laying on a sound monitor. Kline frowned during the initial banter. None of the Porches sideshow was a big deal though given the greatness of the music.

There were rousing versions of Airport Terminal and Headsgiving. I was hoping for Leather but it didn’t come.

The fog machine was in the on position throughout the Porches set prompting several audience shouts for Fog Dog. That wasn’t happening given Kline’s need to save what little voice she had left for the Frankie set.

Kline drank hot tea on stage in an attempt to revive her scratchy vocal cords but they were shot beyond viability and certainly were not vibrant. A month straight in a van can be rough on the body. The Frankie Cosmos set was abbreviated and I thought the audience showed too much quit by talking during the songs. Kline got big help from keyboardist Gabby Smith who chimed in on spots to supplement Kline’s weak and hurting output. It wasn’t ideal but I felt like the night was a triumph on the whole and I appreciated Kline’s effort to fight through the Frankie set. Frankie closed with Ronnie Ronaldo! As the number wound down, Maine put himself on top of an actual surfboard and caught an audience wave before clunking hard to the ground near the back of the room.

The evening was extra fun because Kize joined us. We did pre-game with dinner at Xixa and then a couple rounds at East River Bar. By chance, Marc’s sister saw us on the street as we exited Baby’s at the end of the night. She drove us to the G train stop at Metropolitan. The G to the E and I was back home in no time.