Monday, April 13, 2009
Congrats to Seasons on the release of their new EP "Spring." Look for it available online at some point but you can also get it at shows now. Their next one is at The Blvd on 4/26. Unfortunately, their performance was unfairly cut short because of time so things got kind of ugly as family and friends had their say and a gang of security had their say. The issue was that James Yuill was added to the lineup last-minute, making a release show that was booked months ago more of a Yuill showcase. Even The Echo must know that this is kind of effed, especially for a band that brought a good crowd to the club. Still, it was a good night of music despite that and The Echo will probably offer Seasons another night to make amends.
Saturday, we stopped by Scion's "Papershapers" installation proving once again why Scion continues to be at the forefront of large-scale exhibitions. Opening night included a rare special appearance from Ryohei Tanaka who performed live paper cutting. We were totally hypnotized by his skill and this exhibit is a total must. Closes 5/2. Pictured above is a piece by the brilliant Polly Verity... Later, we visited the opening reception for Cyril Helwein's new photo exhibit "Downtown" at the Phantom Galleries, featuring B&W nudes lovingly shot around beautiful downtown Los Angeles. The centerpiece was a cleverly-captured mirrored shot called "4th Street Bridge Tug of War". The night was hosted by Danny Masterson with live jazz and lots of famous/beautiful people. We chatted with some old art friends before hopping a few blocks down to the Regent for KXLU's Fundrazor. Loving KXLU with all our heart, we've been going to these for quite a few years. They used to be held at Fais Do Do back in the 90's before moving a few shows to the Knitting Factory and The Echo, but it's a welcome trend if they decide to keep it downtown. Don't know if they even tried to secure a big national headliner for the event (Beck and The Breeders once headlined) but we enjoyed this all-local Smell-slanting lineup. What was probably missing were some hip-hop, metal, and indie folk bands but that's an oversight considering the bands they did get. We should also note that this was probably the best lineup that we've ever seen The Happy Hollows on. Gosh knows they probably should be playing more shows with Mika Miko, No Age, The Mae Shi, Anavan, and Abe Vigoda rather than the same Silver Lake bands they always play with given that they're largely considered to be the best Japanese punk band (that's not Japanese) in town. Hopefully this show changes all that.
On Sunday, we were set to see the wonderful Mere Mortals at Cinespace but, as you are probably aware, the club is notorious for holding lines (not letting people enter the club, thus creating an unnecessary line in front of their club to make it look like it's a hot ticket). So we waited in line for a half-hour, which for us is an effing miracle we lasted that long, and left. We apologize to Mere Mortals and we will see them soon... We ended up at The Scene for the best black/death metal lineup of the week with one of our absolutely favorite bands in Los Angeles, Lightning Swords of Death. We haven't given them enough praise on here so we made it a point to see them on one the holiest days of the year. And we could not think of a better way to spend Easter Sunday than to see these guys rip through some of the best metal we've ever heard. They play at The Black Castle (which was our pick for favorite new venue of 2008) on 5/8.
Since this post is getting way too long, no weekly highlight thing today but check the calendar for cool stuff to go to (it's loaded again this week).
But in other news: LBPD pulled the plug on Summer Darling last Saturday at the "Roll Up Long Beach" show for apparently being too loud (aka being too awesome). Tsk tsk, Long Beach... Xenia from LACO$TE had a house-warming party last Saturday and had her laptop stolen. If you know any details of the perpetrator please let them know... Tickets for Busy P's semi-secret birthday show at Cinespace on 4/21 with most of the Ed Banger crew are on sale now. And, yes, we look forward to waiting in line for two hours to not get into this show.
