I jammed the hell out of work (first day back) to make it here...
in laid back IB...
for several reasons...To meet up with Bert, TC and the nephews (#3, a budding entrepreneur whose latest money making venture is charging for his haircuts and fades, and #2). They enjoyed a day at the beach while I was stuck in boring meetings...
Another reason was to check out the cool IB Farmer's Market. You can't miss it since it's right at the Surf Henge sculpture at the Pier entrance...Many vendors abound selling fresh fruit, vegetables, artisanal/handmade items (jewelry, honey, etc) , food booths (Salvadoran, Filipino, gourmet lemonade, bbq, empanadas, cookies, mini donuts, kettle corn and so on). It's not overly huge and overwhelming but friendly, fun and laid back.
While Bert got kettle corn, I got a trio of empanadas (beef, chicken and spinach with cheese) for $7 which came with a side of chimichurri.
The view from our table which gave us easy viewing access to my third reason to be here...to watch a local teen trio perform (Monday Night Traffic is their name). Like, TC, they are all incoming sophomores at a local high school. Also quite important, they play real instruments. The band is led by local guitar prodigy Stefanos Alexiou (whom I wrote about back in 2013 when he impressed us at the Chula Vista Lemon Festival). They played a pretty long set, followed by a break which was extended unnecessarily by a group of demanding yoga practitioners who felt they were "too loud". Seriously, they should've gotten the hell out of there and did their yoga in a more quieter place, instead of the plaza at the Farmer's Market for cripes sake.
They performed songs by the Frights ("Makeout Point"), Radiohead ("Creep"), The White Stripes ("Seven Nation Army"), Elvis ("Hound Dog"), Dick Dale ("Misirlou"), Guns 'n Roses ("Welcome to the Jungle"), Weezer (
The IB Pier...
The market started closing down a little after 7 which was when we left...
Our snacks:
Loved the dough/crust for these. Fried too, not baked.
We bumped into a few friends including Mr. Saliva, who bought this drink from the fancy lemonade place. This was a spicy watermelon drink. No alcohol. We joked that he could spike it with rum or vodka next time.
Looks pretty. I liked the spicy powder on the rim. For the record, Mr. Saliva did NOT eat the chili pepper garnish.
Bert got a snow cone at Cow-a-bunga for us three to share.
It was such a beautiful day and it was great being out on a Friday seeing folks enjoy themselves at the beach...
The snacks were delicious, the company great (I met the guitarist's mom and we chatted for a bit; super nice she was) with our friends, and the music supercool other than the damn yoga people insisting that they play AFTER they were done with their session. WTF. Anyhow, if you are interested, the band plays again for the Sun and Sea Festival next Friday the 17th which is combined with the parade and Sand Castle Competition on Saturday the 18th. The band also performs every Friday at IB from 3 to 7 pm at the Farmer's Market.
Imperial Beach Farmer's Market
@ the Imperial Beach Pier Plaza
10 Evergreen
Imperial Beach, CA 91932
Summer Hours (April - October):
Friday - 2:00 - 7:00 pm
Links:
Imperial Beach Farmer's Market
Sun and Sea Festival
Stefano's YouTube (there is one Monday Night Traffic video uploaded from 7/3/15)
AlexiouTV channel
I'm not sure if we'll make next Saturday's events since it's expected to be crazy crowded. TC and Bert will probably catch more performances by the band before the end of summer break.
2 comments:
What a fun evening! Those fried (hooray) empanadas look really yummy and nice that you got their setlist. Looks like they played a lot of awesome songs! Maybe Jake and I will try and take T down there to see the band - I think he'd have fun seeing a band play where the kids were about his age.
It was such a fun and relaxed way to spend the afternoon. If I go again, I'd get those empanadas again too! The "setlist" wasn't really in order. It was just the songs I remembered at the top of my head. I tell you, that kid is a total prodigy. He seems like a nice guy and TC had a nice time meeting the band and chatting with the bassist and guitarist. I think T would get a kick out of this band too (as well as you and Jake).
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