Monday, October 06, 2008
Congrats to The Henry Clay People on making a few hundred smiling faces on Friday. For those who missed it, imagine sweat. Everywhere. Look for For Cheap or For Free in stores 11/4 and they're playing a Halloween show on 10/26 at Saint Rocke... Earlier Friday, we caught a bit of Happy Hollows (apparently the "The" has been officially taken out of their name) opening for Deerhoof before running over to the Troubadour to see some of that great lineup with Warpaint. Yeah, that seems like overkill but just think if we weren't under the weather.
Saturday, rain was in the forecast but it didn't seem to bother the thousands of people that showed up for both Detour and Eagle Rock Music Festival. Caught pretty much all the early slot bands at Detour that played before we had to leave for Eagle Rock. Props to Ms. Jillinda and Señor Joey of HCP for playing with The Monolators a few hours after coming down from their own cloud nine rock show (and a few hours before leaving for another HCP show in Pioneertown)... In contrast to the well-oiled machine of Detour, Eagle Rock was a loose, casually organized event this year with a fantastic lineup of local bands attracting the most people we've ever seen ever at the festival. Quite noticeably was the amount of younger people in attendance over previous years, which obviously was bolstered by the appearance of certain younger bands. One certain band, in particular, may make event coordinators rethink being so "casually organized" next year. Special props to Ms. Fargier (Antarcticans/The Black Pine), Mr. Embry (Fool's Gold/Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros), and Ms. Pauline (Cobra Lilies/Divisadero) for doing double-duty work.
Residencies this month include: Juliette Commagere, Rademacher, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Brookline/The Happy Hollows, Greg Laswell, Love Grenades, Kenan Bell, Jon Brion/Dave Palmer, Rachael Cantu, Ryan Calhoun, Josh Kelley, The Family Band...
Release shows this month (some already happened): The Henry Clay People, Army Navy, The Monolators, Samantha Shelton, Shiloe, The Soft Hands, Hearts of Palm UK, HoneyHoney, Kathleen Grace, Damon Aaron, VOICEsVOICEs, Kyler England, Modern Subject, Ed Vallance...
Touring bands of note: Césaria Évora, Killing Joke, The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Patti Smith, Julieta Venegas, Denali,Tina Turner, Giant Sand, Ron Sexsmith, The Roots, Jay-Z, Yael Naim, The Locust, Against Me!/Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Yngwie Malmsteen, Mates of State, Genghis Tron, Rachael Yamagata, Andrew Bird/Haley Bonar, Dar Williams, High Places/Ponytail, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, Natalie Walker, Grand Buffet, Girl Talk, The Usaisamonster...
Other news: Didn't really say much about Ruby Tuesdays ending as a weekly at the Key Club last week. It started strong back in 2004 with The Adored but we kind of lost track over the last few years. We can't even recall when or why Joseph Brooks stopped promoting the nights but we always thought a free weekly all-ages show on the Westside was a good idea for those underage and not capable of getting somewhere east of La Brea. We stopped by on a few random nights to see BlackBlack, Shiny Toy Guns, Yes Dear (Ozma/Arlo), Cold War Kids, The Killingtons, We Are Scientists, Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, Gran Ronde, Mighty Six Ninety, The Mulhollands, and most recently The Polyamorous Affair. Out of all the Sunset Strip venues, the Key Club is one of the few we don't mind so much -- but this is based really on the absolutely horrible incidents we've seen at other nearby venues. Plus, we still reminisce fondly back when it was Gazzarri's (and later Billboard Live) when hair metal wasn't relegated to a Metal Skool/Steel Panther trip down memory lane. In any case, Ruby as a club night supposedly will continue on presenting one-off shows like Secret Machines on 10/30.
