The disco ball, the flowing angles and the red glow all provided a powerful melange of energies for one of the latests uploads to the channel of young YouTuber Estuardo Ruedas, who popped into Los Gatos’ Number 1 Broadway bar, Friday night.
In addition to videos showcasing Bay Area group REBEL powering the South Santa Cruz Avenue crowd all the way up to 11 with covers of Van Halen, Bon Jovi and Tears for Fears, the channel broadcast them dropping a stunning rendition of a classic from Canadian icon Alanis Morissette.
Ruedas’ travel-focused YouTube has covered topics like Pokemon and captured trips to Ocean Beach and Orange County. But last week he found himself in the company of Los Gatans at one of the community’s most popular party spots.
And it was there at Number 1 Broadway that he witnessed REBEL delivering a hazy wash of song that’s part of a album that’s sold somewhere north of 30 million copies.
Out of the long-press synth chord and an emphatic drumbeat came the signature lyrics, “I want you to know, that I am happy for you…” and it was clear the second-floor space was about get a rendition of “You Oughta Know.” It was a fitting choice, given the recent re-opening of the theater just a block away.
The band had selected the interesting marketing technique of wearing their own T-shirts, as they roused the audience with a song that featured Flea and Dave Navarro, from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction, in the original version.
Flea, by the way, told Bass Player magazine about how he lent his magic to the song back in the day, saying, “When I first heard the track, it had a different bassist and guitarist on it. I listened to the bass line and thought, ‘That’s some weak shit!’ It was no flash and no smash, but the vocal was strong, so I just tried to play something good.”
Meanwhile Alanis recently headed out on a 25th anniversary tour of the Jagged Little Pill album with Garbage and recently released a meditation album entitled “the storm before the calm.”
Here’s how she described what that’s about:
“While within the pandemic I felt very inspired to write and remain connected (didn’t always work. and when it didn’t, it felt like a unique torture),” she wrote. “All I knew was that I wanted to write a record that would offer something. And throughout the process of creating it with Dave Harrington,—beautifully and mercifully—it became its own multi-layered life raft during a time where I felt like I might disappear and float away.”
She’d created, she said on her website, a sort of traveling companion to dropping in.
“Whether it be relaxation or resting or releasing or emboldening or sweaty wildness or embodying or empowering or clarifying. may it serve as a catalyst, a soothing, a glimpse of awakening. an honoring. an objectivity. a wordless partner in healing. a place to land. inquire. breathe. notice. one in which you are held. in your lying down and jumping up. your movement, your numbness or your feelings… any of them… anger or clearing… sadness, grief, joy … fear, all. are. welcome,” she said. “May this music serve as a friend in the thawing.”
