Side Gig Offers Bass-Line Satisfaction

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Andrew Thomas, 44, says he enjoys nothing more than the sight of a dance floor filled with women and men grooving to the beat.

His 11-person band, That Vibe, in which Thomas plays bass, plays songs by Frank Sinatra, Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga at weddings and birthday parties.

“Performing for me is a part of who I am, my identity,” said Thomas, who is executive director of the Westwood Village Improvement Association. “I would never stop no matter what.”

Thomas joined the band 13 years ago and since then has never gone more than a few weeks without performing. 

He’s seen some interesting incidents over the years. There was the time a drunk insurance CEO got kicked off stage by a band singer and another time a drunk bridesmaid started a fight with the musicians after they refused to play a Miley Cyrus song.

Those tales inspired the book Thomas is working on: “Confessions of the Garage Band Hero.” His other book, “Garage to Gigs: A Musician’s Guide,” was published by Billboard Books in 2008.  

Meanwhile, Thomas has another hobby tied to his music passion: He collects bass guitars.

“They’re different,” he said, adding that 12 instruments might seem like a few too many. “But they all have a purpose and I love them all.” 

Borderline Exasperating

Juan Dominguez usually makes the trip down to Tijuana at least once a year to visit an orphanage he supports there.

But when he was driving to the Mexican city last month to present a donation to Los Angelitos Orphanage, he was met with an unexpected hassle – long lines at the border.

“Never in the history of the 50 years I’ve gone down there do you have to wait through a line to get into Mexico,” said Dominguez, 58, a personal injury lawyer in Koreatown. “Now it’s kind of similar to (trying to get into) the United States. … I don’t know what they were looking for – maybe illegal aliens.”

Staff reporters Olga Grigoryants and Cale Ottens contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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