Robert DeLong and Tom Vek Rattle Dinosaur Bones Back to Life at Natural History Museum

Well it was the first Friday of the month and The Echo family and KCRW teamed up to throw a party in a place where dinosaurs, elephants, polar bears and any other animal extinct or not, all coexist with one another. The evening started with the museum opening to guests while checking out exhibits with KCRW DJs spinning records in the exhibit halls, while drinks were being served, and people could sit in front of a tiger and have a casual conversation. Promptly at 7:30pm people rushed to the North American Mammals Exhibit where, North American Bison were the backdrop of the evening. The room filled up and the security was having issues with people leaning on the barricade at the front of the stage, but they handled it.

The headliner — and what I like to call the mad scientist or wizard — you decide, Robert DeLong, put on a fantastic performance. The first time I saw him, he blew me away, this time, he did exactly the same but even more. He really knows how to perform being a one-man-show. He is so animated that every moment of the show was something to see and in my case, as a photographer, something to capture . You can see the passion in his face and in his movements while he plays and sings. Not only in his performance extraordinary, but his music is pretty bad ass too. I liked it even more hearing it live a second time around. Definitely a guy you want to check out, especially at a smaller event such as First Friday.

To start the night off was Tom Vek, another one-man-band act who impressed me. I usually tend to not like these sort of acts but these guys got to me. He drew in the crowd as DeLong did, it was basically a double headliner. I looked into the crowd and people were singing along with Vek and waving their hands. He really got the crowd going and tried some new music that was well received. Looking forward to seeing this guy possibly headlining his own show in the near future (I missed him at The Echo last October).

It was definitely a good night at the museum.

Words & Photography: Wes Marsala