Have you been spit on by a rock star lately?

Well, I wasn't actually spit on by Ryan Star, but I very easily could have been, I was so close... as could those ladies in the photo below, who I can best describe as 45-year-old groupies.

The crowd at the Ryan Star concert can only be described as random.
You have the punk rock chicks, all in black with torn fishnets and eyebrow piercings. They were there with their hard rock boyfriends with pants down to their knees and chains and gauges.
You have the 45-year-old groupies, who fawned over him and acted like they were long lost friends, and he tried his best to find a balance between acknowledging them to keep them happy and buying his cds and ignoring them so not to encourage them too much and keep his sanity.
There was the mother with her two small children that stood right in front of me - the only people between me and Ryan Star. I was very confused why a club that only allows adults over 21 in would permit kids probably 5 and 7. I may have only been irritated at their presence because they were closer to the Ryan than I was. (At least I'm honest about my own selfish inclinations).
And then there was Angie and I. I'd be interested in knowing what the other people at the concert thought of the two little clean cut girls sipping wine.

Wine was definitely not the drink of choice at the Troubador - where we went to see Ryan Star. He was technically opening for Thriving Ivory, but I'll be honest, it was a Tuesday - a work night - and I didn't care to stay for the main act. I went to see my Rockstar Supernova star and left.

The Troubador itself was really cool though. It has been in West Hollywood since 1967 and has apparently been helping launch musician's careers ever since, like Elton John and James Taylor.

The scene itself reminded me of the Newport Music Hall in Columbus, but smaller. Just a small area to stand around the stage and a couple rows of seats in an upper balcony over the bar. I really liked the setup though because it was so intimate.

I took a lot of pictures... but mostly I just enjoyed the music. I mentioned in a previous blog post, I discovered Ryan when he was on Rockstar Supernova and liked his songs ever since. I figured he would always kind of be that unknown, undiscovered star who I would really like listening to but no one would really know who he was. Needless to say, I was super excited the first time I heard Breathe on the radio. I hope it is a good break for him.

The concert obviously had everyone on their feet (there were no chairs), but Ryan had everyone up and moving anyway. He was pretty candid about it too. He was like, look if you want to dance, dance, and if you want to jump, jump, and don't be sitting there thinking you are too cool to get into the music. I appreciated his down to earth personality, not to mention his expressive performance and awesome music! :)

I have two of his cds: 11:59 and Songs from the Eye of an Elephant. I'd definitely recommend both (yes, this blog post is now turning into a plug). But seriously, he's a great musician.
Check him out. :) http://www.rstar.net/