Venice Beach, CA

These guys were the highlight of a lunchtime stroll along Venice Beach last Tuesday.

Before air guitar dude turned up there was just the drummer under the shade and his programme had kicked off rather gently with Lovely Day by Bill Withers. As the outside tables at the nearby Delizia cafe filled up, the percussion became considerably more pronounced and the pair went on to give rousing renditions of Bamboleo and Van Halen's Hot for Teacher. Eventually a nettled-looking waitress leaned over the rail and asked them to keep it down. Air guitar dude then went into one about the local residents and their "be-bop shit".

I ended up eating some delicious empanadas from a little cafe run by an ex-pat Argie, with whom I discussed the impression that the Pumas have made at the Rugby World Cup. He seemed to belong to the limited group of small business owners on this stretch of the California coast who aren't trying to monetise a lost plot.

A selection of my pictures from Venice:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47524364@N00/sets/72157602579294007/