The Nightwatchman @ Hotel Cafe in Hollywood

Tom Morello's Nightwatchman reigned over Hotel Cafe and gave me something to look forward to on Tuesday nights. While Zack de la Rocha has been working with Santa Ana's premier son jarocho band Son del Centro from Centro Cultural de Mexico, Tom has been finetuning his acoustic folk alter ego The Nightwatchman at Hotel Cafe. His sound is somewhere between Johnny Cash and Nick Cave with lyrics that pack the punch of RATM but without the hysterics--I'm looking forward to the album release in April.

The Nightwatchman's residency at Hotel Cafe ended on February 6 with Ben Harper as the main attraction--a night I didn't bother going to because friends said it was already nuts at the door with too many on the guest list for what was supposed to be a benefit. All I can say is, I hope they charged em and that the money went to Axis of Justic and Food Not Bombs!

All Star jams featuring the likes of Wayne Kramer from MC5, Jill Sobule, Sen Dog, poet Jerry Quickly, Shooter Jennings and actor Breckin Meyer on drums.

On January 23, Tom kicked off the night with songs from his upcoming album, including "House Gone Up In Flames", "Union Song" (which I love), and "Midnight in the City of Destruction". Queen V rocked the house with her fiery version of "Big Balls" and poet Jerry Quickly nearly broke my heart reciting his poetry. I would love to see him headline a night at Hotel Cafe. The All Star Jam included a rousing tribute to Peter Framption with "Show Me The Way". Later that night Sen Dog and Jerry Quickly made everyone nuts with their cover of "It's Tricky" and ended the night with "How I Could Just Kill a Man"

The next week Jill Sobule and MC5's Wayne Kramer got together with Shooter Jennings and the rest of the band for "I Will Survive". But it was ending the night with "Kick out the Jams" and "Paradise City" that reminded me just why I come to Hotel Cafe in the first place. Val Kilmer was sitting up front and we all wondered if the night would end with some Doors covers. Didn't happen, and that's ok.

Now that we've heard that Christ Cornell is leaving Audioslave and that Rage Against the Machine will reunite for one show only at Coachella, one wonders what will happen next. I'll tell you my personal wish: after seeing Manu Chao live in San Diego last summer, I would love to see him and Tom perform together. What a trip that would be!!