Leaving the Echo behind in a race to see Greg Ashley… I was waylaid by an iconic act of guerilla rock ‘n’ roll that goes back as least as far as the Beatles’ “Let It Be”: A sloppy, scrappy little quartet from Garden Grove called AM, which had neither applied for nor been invited to play the festival, set up on the sidewalk two doors down from the Echo and began to play an impromptu set of good-times garage-rock. Explaining the tactic, co-lead singer Fonzie said, “[Heck with] venues, [heck with] shows. We’ve got a portable generator!”

But what should have been a nice little diversion became an ugly little incident when two bouncers from the Echo decided that the foursome posed a clear and present danger to the festival and attempted to shut it down. Taking a cue from Ringo, the kids kept playing despite some unnecessarily aggressive alpha-male posturing. Instead of waiting for the end of the song to issue his decree, however, one of the muscle-bound bouncers actually tackled singer-guitarist Felipe mid-riff, railroading the skinny non-threat against the iron security gates along Sunset, knocking his guitar — and probably his spine — right out of tune. That was the end of that.