2:00pm | Lately, it seems you can’t throw a rock without hitting a good local or small alternative-based touring band in Long Beach. Thanks to SAM (Summer and Music), Fingerprints Music Store, Que Sera and any number of other music venues our little big town is rocking like I haven’t seen since the days of Bogart’s, the Foothill and Fenders Ballroom back when I first became smitten with this portly burg.
And then the Legend came to town and I fell in love all over again.
Merle Haggard played in a parking lot outside the Queen Mary during opening night of the Ink-N-Iron Festival on Friday. And even though he didn’t conform to my personal playlist he played a great set that seemed to satisfy the largely tattooed crowd that came out to see him.
Besides Merle there was plenty else to see this night with roller girls, pin-up girls, classic automobiles and tables full of people who willingly submitted their bodies to the torture of hundreds of stabbing little ink-filled needles all so that I could have some interesting photos to send to the Post.
