Taylor Hanson at Hotel Cafe (again)

Thursday I made my way back to Los Angeles to see Taylor Hanson’s second solo show at The Hotel Cafe.

This was another whirlwind trip, but we managed to fit a lot more in.  I landed Thursday morning instead of evening and we had lunch at the hotel and then headed to WB Studios in Burbank to be in the audience at the Jennifer Hudson show. The show won’t air until April 27th, but our guests were Nikki Glaser and Bilal. The taping was a lot of fun, even with how tired we were from flying, and I am pretty sure they were determined to tire us out completely from all the clapping! We had a really nice spot in the audience to be able to see with minimal camera blockage as well.

After JHud we went to Barney’s Beanery to get a bite to eat – which is where Quentin Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction as well as the last place Janis Joplin visited before her death and a frequent hangout for Jim Morrison. I was just excited that NSYNC was on the table at the spot I was sitting at.

Then we made our way to the Boyband pop-up bar – they were doing karaoke but everyone was being a bit shy about performing so we all sang along together to most of the songs and it ended up being a lot of fun! We also got a welcome drink with our ticket which was a lot stronger than I was expecting it to be.  The walls were decorated in all sorts of boyband posters and memorabilia and it was a cute little spot! The only thing missing was Mickey P! By about 10:15 we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.

Friday morning we started out by lounging at the pool and then headed to Hollywood Blvd so I could see Boyband Row and the *NSYNC star (among many other boybands in that general area).  Then we checked out BTS hand prints at the line friends store and I bought myself some Koya Koala stuff because I had become obsessed since my friend told me about it.

After we had our fill of the touristy area we made our way to eat and then got in line for the Hotel Cafe and ended up moving the location of the line due to some poop in the alleyway that ended up being a hot topic of conversation.

Doors were late which in turn made the show start late.  There was more of a setup on the stage than there was last month, so we had a feeling Taylor would have some friends with him this time. He also had said that the setlist this month would be different and it was – there were no repeats between the two shows. He opened up the show by inviting his friend Zane Carney to join him on stage playing guitar and then said that there was a fan who came a long way to go to the show last month and didn’t make it and dedicated Dream Girl which he heard was her favorite song to her. To Lux. He then played Believe and was going to play a 3rd slower song (One More) but decided it was too sad and skipped it and went into Out of My Head.  The song This is Criminal made its way back into a set – even though when he first played it at Back to the Island he said he’d probably never play it again which that in and of itself was criminal.  He played the guitar – Rambling Heart and Be My Own – ironic was that the song he messed up the lyrics to was the one with the line ‘I’m hoping I can remember the lines’.  He also brought out his friend Hamid Saeidi to join him on the song Baraye that they had recorded to spotlight Iranian protests.  He then brought Zane back out to play U2’s In a Little While. Then the set went into more of the Hanson staple songs… and he once again brought out Zane as well as his brother Mac to play Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” and kept Zane on stage to close out the show with No Rest for the Weary.

After the show we hung out for a bit waiting for Taylor to leave – we saw Natalie Morales leave which was exciting because she is one of us in addition to being a celebrity.  Finally Taylor did stop to take photos and chat – he told me once again that he used my website to figure out what songs he had played.  It’s nice that someone appreciates all my hard work! 😉

We then decided it was time to get some In-N-Out and had some uber drama with a driver who came when we requested an XL and then told us we needed to request an XL… but we made it back to the hotel happy and full.

Saturday we left for the airport a bit early because we weren’t sure the TSA situation – but the line was practically non existent – even in the non precheck line.  The flights home for me were both extra legroom seats – one in the bulkhead as it was a last minute upgrade – but nothing of note to mention. We were delayed about 10-15 minutes leaving Baltimore for Hartford but no biggie there.  So far I’m sticking with Southwest despite the changes they’ve made!

A few of my friends ended up staying out in LA for a couple more days, but as you may have already read, I needed to get home to my Goonies screening!