When was the last time you tried to listen to anything
worthwhile on the radio in Southern California? It doesn't seem to exist!
Who can enjoy it? Not me! A few weeks ago I was driving up to "Twiggs-Coffee-House" in
the University City section of San Diego to listen to some up and coming
singer/songwriters. Not sure how I talked myself into it but I did. I'd
promised some singer I'd met at the beach after my nightly jog that I'd
show up and shoot a few photos for her.
Am I glad I did! The 1960's had some great music moving
from Gary U.S. Bonds in 1960 to the Beatles and then the San Francisco
sound saved us from too much of the formal "Mo-Town" overdose.
With Meghan La Roque's influence maybe, just maybe this decade will be
something special also.
Meghan La Roque does what just about every other singer/songwriter should do, if they only had the guts. She breaks the mold and sings from her heart, gut and live aggressiveness. When I flip the dial on the car radio and listen to all the “Me-Too” artists it makes me ill. Why can’t these singers who get airtime on the radio do something original. What the hell, Meghan does.
I first ran into her at the Ocean Beach Farmer’s Market on Newport Ave. she was just wrapping up her set but said she’d be playing a place called Twiggs in University Heights and I should check out the show.
Twiggs was what I had imaged as the “normal” coffee house set for the “00’s”, the first decade of a new century and new millennium trying to find and define it’s self. Most of the people were polite listeners to the first couple of acts, followers and friends mostly. But when Meghan took the stage she not only took the stage she took over. She took over the whole place and everyone in it. This was “I don’t care what you want to hear” it was “you’re going to listen to what I sing and you’ll believe it because it’s true. It’s the truth and you’re going to know it." It was the personification of Meghan’s Reality and she made it your reality. It was one of the few times when reality seemed real.
Meghan isn’t’ a Hip-Hop wanna-be
or a Britney Spears – Christina Aguilera – Avril Lavigne.
She’s very, very different just as Neil Young was different from
Crosby, Stills and Nash. She’s raw and real and honest with something
in her voice and style that makes you say. I’m not really sure
I fully understand what she’s saying, I mean I think I understand,
I’m sure I understand but I’m sure that if I listen more
I’ll understand more and I’ll like it more… I’ll
love it.
Do yourself a favor. Pick up her current CD when you catch her show and definitely get the new CD she’s working on with producer David Ybarra of Modern Bakery Productions.
It’s out later this summer and it will be HOT.
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and Other Content Copyright
© Tom C. Marshall and
San Diego Beachlife Magazine®
Tom C. Marshall
PO. Box 70053
San Diego, CA 92167
Email Publisher@sdbeachlife.com
(619) 222-5489