Friday, January 02, 2009
Well, hello you. It's been awhile, yes? It's like a whole new year or something. We trust you had a good holiday and spent some time with family and friends. We were doing the same, albeit on the other coast, and as much as we rag that other coast, we actually kind of had a wonderful time. If you follow us on that one site, you only heard part of the story...
There were mechanical issues with our plane that freaked a few people out and so we diverted to Dallas which freaked even more people out. We were actually tracking our flight online while in the air, testing that new in-flight web service (for work purposes) and saw the route deviation and airspeed drop. No biggie. We sleep better in air terminals (especially DFW) than we do in airplanes.
Hung out in NY, NJ, PA, VA, DE, DC, and MD the next few days. We know this area fairly well so it was semi-nostalgic seeing old places and old faces, traveling for non-business purposes. There are two such places in NY we spend way too much time at: Zabar's and Strand. Saw some shows at Cakeshop, one of our favorite venues in town. Missed out on hanging out with Amy Cooper (sorry Amy!) because we were preparing for a small one-night exhibit of crap we designed with our fellow PS combatants. Finally, it's always important for us to visit the Towers for a good cry. Anyway, thanks to our Brooklyn friends for playing hosts. We shall see each other very soon, wethinks.
Long story short, we made it back to L.A. in one piece (on an even more eventful flight than the first). Saw a few shows when we got back including the return of Katie the Pest who announced her finale back in August but came back with a roar with one of the best shows we've ever seen her do in front of a huge crowd at ye ol' Prospector. Later that night, we went to T's for the 1:30am slot, which of course is our favorite slot at T's. That slot, the 9pm Sunday Spaceland slot, and a few others are one of the true tests of a band and boxViolet nailed that mother... On New Year's we settled back into our normal pattern and hit the Foxtail for that new kid Asher Roth, but that was more work-related and given the amount of Botoxed/tummy-tucked ladies in the house not really our thing -- although some big boys were there to see him. For non-work-related fun we stopped by The Echo for We Are the World but we just missed them (that won't happen again) then to Spaceland for just long enough to realize it was way too crowded (but we heard a rumor that HCP would be touring with TATE so maybe we'll see them soon) so we chose to spend the beginning of 2009 at Comaspace for the Static Aktion-presented/Sean Carnage-endorsed/Captain Ahab-headlined NYE show. We chose wisely. On the way home we saw several drunk drivers that we would have reported but the use of cellphones while driving is prohibited and the irony of being locked up in the same jail with the person you ... New Year's Day we worked the Rose Parade for a few hours. It's the one time of the year when you can fart and it will still smell like roses.
So it's 2009 and you know the deal...
Listen up on "Demolisten" for Le Face. Seasons' "First Fridays" starts off the new year at American Legion with The Monolators, The Mormons, Spider Problem, and Megalosaurus. BlackBlack and others at The Smell. You Me & Iowa and Shiloe at Redwood. Hive, Gaslamp Killer, Machete, and others at Echoplex. Reid Speed, Paparazzi, and others at Boardner's. Hello From Reno at the Buccaneer.. On Saturday, Babyland, The Kris Special and others at Spaceland. Nora Keyes, Billygoat, Fort King, and others at pehrspace. Shiloe, The Tender Box, and others at The Scene... Sunday, Bodies of Water, Jubilee Singers (formerly No Little Kindness), and others at The Smell. Rainbow^Arabia and Bridez at PTP. Fishtank Ensemble, The Monthlies, and others at the Hotel Cafe. Pizza! and others at Cinespace.
In other (sad) news: JPG Magazine is closing down on 1/5. Most of the photos we take are never published or posted anywhere (they're more embarrassingly bad than the ones we post on Flickr). There are some, however, that make us smile and a few of these we submit to JPG. They'll be gone come Monday so feel free to smile along with us for a few more days. A couple of them have been exhibited around the country, most recently on a trip to New York.
Good to be back.
Asher Roth - "Dey Know Asher" (MP3)
Spider Problem - "Big Thunder" (MP3)
Fort King - "Antique Dreams" (MP3)
Bridez - "Rolling Stoned"
