Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Didn't May kinda fly by?... Made another rare appearance in Weho for one of the best lineups of the entire month with Marjorie Fair, Space Mtn, Monsters Are Waiting, and The Words. All were in top form and looking good (ahem, Annalee). That's fine and dandy but we were there to see permament eastsiders My Sexual Dad cross the Mississippi (La Brea Ave.) for a midnight spot at the Viper Room. That room wasn't nearly filled as it should have been. That can't be said about the 400 Blows CD release at the Knitting Factory, which was bulging at the seams. What might have been the last Divebomb night at the Knit,
the Blows opened with "Ice Forest" with special guest Joseph Hammer tinkering on his usual noisemaking gadgets. We got into it a bit with The Bronx's Caughthran stagefront. Can't help it if we're bleeders... Looks like Vagenius is starting to finally get the love they deserve with May's residency at Spaceland. What took you so long L.A.? Around this time last year they played a show with The Ditty Bops and Loquat at the effing Joint of all places. Yeesh. Anyway, does anyone wish they'd just play "After All" and "Plain & Simple" over and over? Me too... NYC's The Feverfew concluded a long West Coast swing with a stop at 
Tangier. So lovely. Azure Ray and Cat Power fans should be crying right about now if you missed this tour. Go pick up their new album Apparitions... Meanwhile, Autechre was in town promoting their new album Untilted the other night. The lighting guy had an easy time setting this one up since it was darker than a witches tit in there. Still, I'm glad they haven't lost their need to be accessible. They're probably the only band that uses 
as their time signature... 
For the past few years, rhodeislandmusic has been quietly keeping their s[low]core to themselves (emphasis on quietly). Things are about to change, I assure you. They took the opening slot for Gliss at the Echo crawling through songs at a perfectly unhurried pace. It was so utterly quiet I could hear The Idaho Falls new record Concrete Prairie playing at the listening station down at Sea Level Records (hint). I just wish I'd brought my woobie. By the way, O'Shura is officially my new girlfriend so bitches stop calling.Speaking of May sweeps. We don't watch television... however we do receive episode screeners from time to time. Shows we stayed awake through: "The Office", "CSI: Las Vegas", "Lost",and "E.R.". There was no better show than "E.R.". As far as the fall 2005 lineup, here are the picks: "Kitchen Confidential" (FOX), "My Name Is Earl" (NBC), "Head Cases" (CBS), "Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN), "Supernatural" (WB), "Invasion" (ABC).
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Yes, LAU was at E3 this year. Nothing new to report... The PS3 looks good. Xbox's booth had the best layout. Fatal1ty lost like twice in head-to-heads with over 1400 frags. EA is going to kick more ass this year. And our best gamer embarrassed his entire family by getting tied up and spanked by the Singles2.com girls and lost every tournament he entered. Oh, and I sat in and played some Texas hold'em with Howard Lederer at the World Championship Poker 2 booth. I lost on pocket queens.
Monday, May 09, 2005
In case you didn't get the memo, Angie Hart is back in L.A. and for the first time doing it solo.
Well, sort of. She invited Angela Correa and Sime Nugent to her set at the Hotel Cafe, offering an appetizer of the trio's next show together on 5/15 at Tangier. Most of the set was full of new songs, but she did offer "Bizarre Love Triangle" for the folks in the back of the room who couldn't quite place that beautiful, delicate voice. Sunday's show is looking like a KCRW who's who of local talent. Jesca Hoop headlines...
Straight from the UK, Nerina Pallot opened the show with her usual brilliance. She's got a wicked sense of humor and charm and wit to match. She'll be headlining theatres soon. At least that's what everyone in the room was thinking everytime her hands glided down the ivory. New album, Fires, is out now.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Yes, I gave in and did some Spring cleaning around the blog. I also renamed the Flyerzone blog to FlyerPIMP so take note if you give a damn (posted some new flyers for May). Anyway, on with the shows... Made a quick stop at Spaceland for a last-minute booking Midlake threw together. Badman and Silvercork was one of the best albums from last year so it was nice to see the band do a club appearance before hitting the big stage at Coachella (no, I didn't go this year). Unfortunately had to miss Leerone's CD release at the Knitting Factory because of overlap, but fans of Tori Amos' upper register and Charlotte Martin's balladry should get familiar with her new EP Hail To the Queen. Like today... I did
make it out to the KF on Saturday for a rare West Coast appearance from Over the Rhine, who cancelled their last L.A. appearance a few months ago. "Ohio" alone was worth the wait... Special thanks to you-know-who for the invite to Imogen Heap's midnight hush-hush show at the Hotel Cafe where she treated the lucky handful to four songs and a special viewing of a rough cut for the video "Hide & Seek." Good gosh, the video was stunning. Directed by Joel Peissig (Frou Frou, Tanya Donelly, Mudvayne), 
it's done in a sort of single-shot, fade in/out, artsy montage. Utterly beautiful. Still, the video could have been four minutes of color bars and I still would be sold into buying the album, probably out sometime this summer. "Hide & Seek," by the way, is easily one of the songs of the year. Photos of the video shoot are up on her site.
