GUITAR CENTER STRIKES SWEET NOTE IN VALLEY

November 4, 2006 by PT Rothschild.

GUITAR CENTER GRAND OPENING IN MURRIETA IS GRAND
Murrieta, CA - The GUITAR CENTER opened their latest store location, a huge corner anchor store in the brand new shopping area at the north end extension of the Madison Avenue business corridor across on the other side of Kalmia/California Oaks (editor’s note: In Southern California, streets often change names at intersections. On one side of the cross street you have Main and the same street on the other side is called Cranston. Here it’s Kalmia/Cal Oaks) This new area features a Sports Authority and a very nice ‘small town’ feeling 24-hour PETCO, where your pets can go, ‘round the clock. Now when you really need that cat toy at 2AM, but I digress, and this is about the music.
We pulled away from my ‘day job’ around 4:20 PM in the ‘Grand Dame’ movie bus (see PIC) with me wearing my black READY FOR VEGAS T-shirt and swooped over to pick up Timmy and (Full Value Review’s) Jourdan, before driving over to assemble the troops in the parking lot of Chuy’s, at the south end of Madison Avenue, across from Wal-Mart. Meeting up with the bus crew, Ivan, ‘new guy’ Kenny, Chris and the ‘pickups’ were ‘Killer Queen’ Candice, ‘Nice Day’ Vince, ‘K-Rock’ Keirah, Ryan Mudd without ‘The Stuff’, Adam ‘the Couch Guy’ who only stayed a minute since he had his newborn son with him (a cute little baby), Vanessa ‘the doorbitch’ and a ‘host of others’, all friends of friends. We were all ready to renegade rock the house, having heard that the ‘official’ band is named NOCTURNAL TOMATOES. An ‘anonymous source’ tipped us off to the fact that there were police already at the event site. Actual recon turned up two squad cars close to the front door area between the store and the revival style pitched tent where the NT’s would play, plus an ‘unmarked’ down at the main entrance. Could ‘the man’ have gotten tipped off to our planned prank?? We all wondered as we regrouped then made a pit stop.
When word reached us that READY FOR VEGAS was setting up the flatbed trailer at the other end of the new center’s lot, we climbed in the ‘bus’ and rolled down to ‘crash’ GUITAR CENTER’s grand opening with a Renegade Rock Show. Energy was high, I repeat, energy was high!
The first thing we noticed when we rolled past the main entrance was that the ‘UC’ (undercover car) was gone, a good sign. Pulling up to RFV, we noticed the absence of lead singer Ruby, however, the show must go on, ‘Big Boy’ Edwards assured us. With the band’s big RV towing the band on a flatbed trailer behind it and the movie bus rolling with the advertising facing the crowd side, we started to slowly move toward the event that was about to start. It was 6:45 PM.
We got to the main driveway and parked, playing before a line of people that reminded me of the line for Star Wars when Episode One came out. I don’t know who did the advance PR for the grand opening, but they reached every one in the valley that ever even considered doing anything musical. “I must have met 150 people I know,” said Bill Gould, whose daughter April Lynn was enjoying the carnival-like atmosphere while mom rested at home, under the weather. There were youngsters, kids, families, buds, peeps, grandpas, old rockers and their ladies. The line looked like the one when the 99CENT store opened up in Murrieta. With all the ‘hoopla’ that always seems to going on in Temecula, Murrieta has a way of surprising the casual observer. Perhaps that is why Temecula, ‘where the sun shines through the mists’, also seems to be so competitive with Murrieta, ‘the gem of the valley’.
As RFV played all of about five songs before an admiring crowd, the next surprise came when the police walked over, looked over the operation and then at the end of the fifth song, said we could continue to play, we would just have to find a spot off the main driveway. Decent and fair! We moved to comply but really couldn’t find a spot with a good vantage point. When it was found that the generator was also experiencing difficulties, well, that sealed the deal. Ivan Promotions had made their entrance. It was time to tailgate.
Did I say it seemed that almost everyone in the valley was there? Gibson had a huge bus parked out front and X103, the Inland Empire’s independent alternative FM radio station, had a booth set up just to the front of the bus. When the store opened and people started filing in, they were given a free ‘grand opening’ T-shirt. The GC dignitaries were friendly and helpful. Despite the name, NOCTURNAL TOMATOES, a cover band made up of seasoned players, the set wasn’t too cheesy actually, and if that was a GC line of equipment that they used, it certainly demonstrated the fidelity and clarity through a great sounding performance. After seeing the first round of raffles start and they gave away a lot of stuff, RFV packed it up. We boarded the movie bus and circled twice around the crowd, flashing blue finger lights, Ivan wind surfing on the roof, to bask in the rapt cheers that the people bestowed upon us as we drove past them, waving from the windows. Then it was back to Chuy’s to disband, with the core crew heading over to Vanessa’s for the ‘after party.’ The first Renegade Rock Show was later toasted a success amid a night of rousing revelations. Watch for the ‘movie bus’ when it comes to your ‘hood.

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