Monday, November 10, 2008
We tried to make up for missing some shows recently by seeing a few friends play over the weekend. First of all, we never miss an Audrey Kawasaki opening so we stopped by thinkspace on Friday to see the biggest crowd we've seen since her last show at the gallery. We double parked for five minutes just so we could get a quick look-see and became instant fans of Travis Louie and Laura Laine's graphite work and would have bought something if everything wasn't already sold slash within our five dollar price range. Then we left for pehrspace for No Little Kindness, The Sleeping Bags (featuring members of Princeton), and The Dandelion Council. We love NLK. Seriously, how good is this band? And so humble. Like, they haven't a clue how good they are. How good? They're working on a new record for next year and it's already on our Best of 2009 list... Saturday, we stopped by The Smell to see the great lineup of Moses Campbell, The Widow Babies, Watercolor Paintings, and Voice on Tape. Four bands that many are saying are among the next wave of hitmakers to come out of the so-called "Smell" scene. And having seen them all a few times now we do think the future is bright for this latest collective -- although we still think it's depressing that most of them were like six years old when The Smell first opened... On Sunday, we changed it up a bit and went to Mountain Bar for the heck of it. The heck of it being Bonnie McKee. We all know the story by now. Huge buzz leads to bidding war leads to record deal leads to differences in artistic direction leads to unsuccessful sales leads to being dropped from record label. We met her many moons ago and we're glad she's still doing her thing although singing to a backing track is really not her thing. She's still got that star quality though and she'll apparently be showcasing it on an upcoming episode of CSI:NY. But just a piano and that voice is all this girl really needs. We were also very impressed with Falsetto Teeth, fronted by guitar madman Alex Noice who obviously has been holding back playing in Alex & Sam. Wonderfully playful and chaotic, like a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoon if Nels Cline and Melt Banana were doing the chasing... Photos up.
The Monolators continue their residency at pehrspace tonight and we must say that it was such a great blast from the past to hear those old songs the first week with original guitarist Mike Dennis. This week, they're playing with another fantastic lineup of friends and the almighty 60-Watt Kid. Check out a video of 60WK we took last year below to get a taste of how utterly brilliant they are. Web in Front has an outstanding interview with the Monos here with live tracks from the first residency night. CGT has a review of the first week. And Elaine Layabout has vids from the first week posted.
Other stuff this week: Steve Reynolds opens for Tom McRae at the Hotel Cafe. Beck at Club Nokia. And the other great residencies for His Orchestra, The Western States Motel, and Francisco The Man... Tomorrow, Earlimart, Afternoons, Red Cortez, and Dazzler at Echoplex. Rickie Lee Jones at g'net. Spindrift, Restaurant, and The Sky Parade at the Roxy. 60-Watt Kid, Featherbeard, VOICEsVOICEs, and others at Ding a Ling. Lucky Dragons, Hecuba, and Palms open for Pit Er Pat at The Smell. Dusty Rhodes and the River Band and others at The Prospector... Evan Way opens for Adam Stephens at Tangier. The Entrance Band, Golden Animals, and The Growlers at Spaceland. Love Grenades and Little Red Radio at The Bordello. The Health Club, boxViolet, Cobra Lilies, and others at Mr. T's Bowl. Restaurant and Line and Circle at Marathon Live. Night Horse opens for The International Noise Conspiracy at El Cid. Blank Blue and Damon Aaron at Low End Theory. And, of course, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen sign their new book at Borders Westwood... On Thursday, David Garza celebrates the self-release of his new album Dream Delay at g'net (official release is in January). John Doe and Kathleen Edwards at the El Rey. Useless Keys open for ...Trail of Dead at The Echo. Jesca Hoop, Lelia Broussard, and Emi Meyer open for Alice Russell at the Hotel Cafe. Look Daggers at Amoeba. Thailand, Death to Anders and others at the Silverlake Lounge. The Airlines celebrate the release of a new EP at the Viper Room. Meho Plaza, PROTECTME, and others at The Smell. And West Indian Girl continues their Thursday residency.
