Cretin Hop at The Lodge Room by Taylor Wong
New Year’s Eve; this is usually when you reflect on the year you’ve had and think about the year that’s about to come. Well my year was shit to say the least. Nothing beats losing a job, your dog getting cancer, and two break ups that bookend 2023. The year to come is uncertain for the first time in my life, and that’s pretty insane to me.
With having no job for the first time in 9 years, I finally had an open New Year’s Eve to do something fun. The only thing that stood out to me this year was Cretin Hop’s New Year’s Eve Party with the Black Lips. The Black Lips are one of those bands that I’ve seen over and over and have never been disappointed. So no contest, the Lodge Room was the place to be New Year’s Eve. This was a weird New Year’s, and I think everyone can agree. When traveling around town, it just didn’t feel like there was anything really being celebrated. I started with overpriced drinks in North Hollywood at a ghost town of a bar. I soon realized I was running behind and made my way over to The Lodge Room.
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If you’re curious how Miranda & The Beat was, so am I. I got there just as they were finishing their last song. I grabbed some more drinks. Surprise: It was tequila, like just tequila. I only mention this because at some point I definitely got saucy by the end of the night. I took my tequila and hit the merch tables, but who was I kidding? I’m unemployed and broke, so I wasn’t buying merch.
Grave Flowers Bongo Band started playing and honestly, I wasn’t that into it. Normally I’m a sucker for a slide guitar too. It just didn’t have the energy I wanted leading up to the Black Lips. I took this time to go grab a few more tequilas and adventure around the venue. I went next door to the back bar that usually seems to go unnoticed. Tonight was not one of those nights, I couldn’t get a single bartender’s attention back there. I gave up on that drink and stumbled outside to smoke a blunt and take a phone call from my most recent break-up. Boy, was that a mistake; both the blunt and the phone call. The rest of the night was a big blur for me, but certain moments stood out.
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A few moments during the next band, Escape-Ism, were particularly vivid. The band was awesome and had a great Lo-Fi sound. They remind me of Television. I was really getting into them and then a security guard grabbed me and started yelling at me about using my flash. (If anyone remembers my Surfbort incident, this isn’t the first time security at the Lodge Room has gotten in my face). I wasn’t even the guy using his flash at this particular moment. This security guard was now my least favorite person at this show, and remember that I was pretty saucy at this point.
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Next thing I remember is the Black Lips were up. It was a great set mostly consisting of older hits. My favorite thing that stood out was that even with a well dressed crowd, we got our typically dressed Black Lips. Cole was in a football jersey while Zumi was dressed like she was on her way to walk the runway. The set was a blur aside from the moment the countdown hit.
The song they were playing came to a perfect end and Cole starts asking the crowd how much time was left, the crowd then started counting down. At this point, I think they went into “Dirty Hands”. Who knows? I was trashed and giving that security guard the finger from across the room. All I remember after this was that I went to Footsies to meet some friends. Then I ended up playing pinball at 4 AM at some afters in the worst part of town. Happy New Year’s; if you start low, you have a better chance at going up.
Words and Photos by: Taylor Wong
