Eddie Day is the “Wizard of Rock & Roll,” and you don't need to go down a yellow brick road to see him. Try Tustin Avenue in Santa Ana. The one-man band plays every Thursday and Friday at the Fling, lighting up his guitar, crooning his heart out, and looking at the ladies from his perch in the middle of the dark, steamy dive bar. Knowledgeable music fans will recall that Eddie played guitar for surf-rock gods the Lively Ones, whose twanger “Surf Rider” was featured in Pulp Fiction.
Born and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, and now a Corona resident, Eddie spent many years in Orange County. He has a vast catalog of canned backup music that blasts as loud as some of the outfits the septuagenarians wear, as he belts out everything from Neil Diamond to Lynyrd Skynyrd, from disco and funk to, yes, samples from Lit. Eddie always gets the fogies and young'uns alike cutting a rug. And he takes requests.
A gentleman with a deep appreciation for his fans, you're not Orange County until you've seen Eddie at the Fling. “It's only because you guys come here, that's what makes it happen,” he says. “If you don't come here, what I do doesn't mean anything. It's the people that come here to have a good time. And I'm here to make them have a good time. That's what I'm here for.”
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• “I love the Angels! I'm a big Angels fan; I go home and watch the games when I get off work. Even though I know they already won. I like to watch the good plays.”
• “I love the LA Kings, but I do love the Ducks. I'm a big hockey fan. I played hockey in high school. I played for the LA Senior Kings.”
• “It's a famous place,” Day says of the historic downtown most call the Orange Circle, but persnickety city residents will remind you is accurately called The Plaza. “I've been around that thing and through it so many times. It's unbelievable. I used to live a block off the Circle. I like the restaurants.” Chapman Avenue and Glassell Street, Orange.
• Ristorante Genovese is “a nice little Italian place. I like the food and drink. Of course, I'm Italian. I'm a conventional guy; I'm a spaghetti-and-meatballs guy. It's what I like.” 214 N. Tustin St., Orange, (714) 633-5654; www.ristorantegenovese.com.
• Hart and Shaffer parks: “Those are nice parks. I loved to go down and play baseball. Good parks. We played fast-pitched softball; I played shortstop. I was a young guy.” Hart Park, 701 S. Glassell St., Orange; Shaffer Park, 1930 N. Shaffer St., Orange.
• “The photo shoot for [the Lively Ones'] last album was down in Balboa. We did a lot of shows. We did the Rendezvous Ballroom with Dick Dale, Harmony Park Ballroom [in Anaheim] and the Retail Clerk's Union Hall [in Buena Park]. Orange County, I know it very well. I've lived here a long time.”
