L.A. Grunge Scene Celebrated on Book Store Patio (Photos)

For fans of Flipside and grunge music, Saturday June 11th was a pretty special night on the patio at .  Author Jim Miller read from his book Niceness in the Nineties.  It's a personal memoir about the emergence of what would be called grunge music in Los Angeles.  

Turning the tables at the traditional authors event, Jim passed around his copy of the book for others to write in.  In attendance were some of the musicians who were a part of that scene.  If you remember names like Clawhammer, Wild Stares, Black Angel Death Song or Backbitter you wanted to be there.

Jim Miller opened the evening with a reading then performed a short set with Dave Matke, with whom he played in The New Balladeers.  Next up was  Jonathan Hall of Backbiter, and afterward Jon Wahl of Clawhammer.  Steve Gregoropolous of the Wild Stares served up an intense set.   Jack Gould and of Black Angel Death Song and Rob Zabrecky of Possum Dixon also played.

Stories, as you may know, has a rotating calendar of book and music related events. What better place to enjoy them than the patio in the back under the summer stars.

Look for my interview with Jim Miller in Part Two of this article. It's coming soon.