Friday, February 26, 2010
Well, this week was more of an emotional roller coaster then we anticipated: Two Castledoor members said goodbye, Club Ding-a-ling celebrated 3 years of being the best Tuesday weekly of the last 3 years (pictured above), Mary Lynn Rajskub performed one of the most unconformable comedy routines we've ever seen, and Ferraby Lionheart capped off his month-long residency at the Bootleg by pre-releasing his new record The Jack of Hearts ("Pocketknife" is a hit). And, last night, apparently 2.3 katrillion people wept at the sight of young ladies skating on ice. So, yeah, emotional week. And why not keep this roller coaster going with this weekend's shows...
Listen to KXLU for a 5pm performance by Silian Rail and then check them out tonight at pehrspace with Timonium, Summer Darling, and powerdove. Later on KXLU, The Mystery Lights go live on Demolisten. Pepi Ginsberg, Pepper Rabbit, and Jacuzzis at Viper. Paul F. Tompkins Show at g'net. When You Awake celebrates two years with a show at the Bootleg featuring Eric Johnson, Breathe Owl Breathe, Leslie and the Badgers, Shakey Graves and others. Let Go of the Rail, Mikki & the Mauses, Things, and The DeepSea Goes at McWorld. NGUZUNGUZU, Cosmic Kids, Dirty Dave, Louisahhh, and others at Stone Bar. The Damselles finish off their residency at Casey's with HoneyHoney and Common Rotation. Elephant Micah, Jennifer Furches, Ben and Bruno, Aaron Beckum at Music Castle. The Downtown Train, Tricky Sizzler, Ralpheene, and Spring Queen at Echo Curio. The Haters, Sissy Spacek, Gerritt Wittmer and Paul Knowles, and others at The Smell. Nevever opens for The Strange Boys and Chain and the Gang at The Echo. Celeste Prince and others at Room 5.
Saturday, Corridor and Estelle Raskina at Origami Vinyl. Emily Wells and Money Mark at the Getty. "The Shit Show" at UCBT. Patton Oswalt at g'net. Astra Heights celebrates the release of Ship of Theseus at the Bootleg. powerdove and Elephant Micah do an early show at Echo Curio. Bipolar Bear, Residual Echoes, Neverever, and Twisted Stars at The Smell. Mike Watt and The Missing Men, Abby Travis, and others at the Redwood. Pangea celebrates a new tape release at Echo Curio with God Equals Genocide, Moses Campbell, and others. Dirt Dress opens for Scout Niblett at Spaceland. "Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders" screens at the Silent Movie Theatre. Sin City Massive at the The Olympic Collection. The Cute Lepers, The Stitches, The Clorox Girls, and The Choke at Alex's Bar. Infocus Resurrection at 425. And The Shivers and Black Jesus at Dinner House M.
Sunday, Aztlan Underground, Subsistenzia, Guerrilla Queenz, and others at The Smell. Black Apples, Blood Bath, and The Like at Alex's Bar. Only Me, Daniel Brummel, Rama C. Bauer, Brittain Ashford, and others at the Mandrake. 60-Watt Kid, Speculator, Dirt Dress, Tan Dollar, and others at McWorld. Tenlons Fort, Elephant Micah, Miniature Soap, and Ben and Bruno at pehrspace. Neil Hamburger, Brody Stevens, Natasha Leggero, and Two Brothers at Spaceland. And Hightower, Green & Wood, and Space Vacation at 2HeadedHorse.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Yep. We, the honored and privileged souls of la-underground, were quite graciously given two nights to present at pehrspace in the next week. The first happens this Friday with two longtime favorite locals and two new favorites from up the coast.
Timonium and Summer Darling need no introduction. Timonium has roamed this scene longer than most of us even knew what indie rock was and by the time we figured it out Summer Darling had just settled in alongside them as two of the city's best and most under-appreciated bands in town. Timonium was co-founded in 1994 by Adam Hervey, who of course is the genius behind the pehr label (Languis, Grimble Grumble, Empress) and, oh yeah, might also have had something to do with this little awesome venue called pehrspace. We pathetically haven't seen Timonium since the glory days of Timbrespace and even though Friday's show will apparently be a minimal configuration as Adam Garcia is now drumming for Best Coast, we still cannot wait to see them in any shape or form. Summer Darling is one of our favorite bands of all time. We've made this declaration in many a post/tweet/repost/retweet for a little while now and with the release of their new record this summer on Origami Vinyl, we're bound by law/love/lust to declare it again. Deal with it.
Finally, Bay Area bands Silian Rail and powerdove (Annie Lewandowski formerly of The Curtains) will be making the trek southward for the show so we trust you will give them a warm L.A. welcome. Also, listen up to KXLU on Friday at 5pm to hear a live performance from Silian Rail.
We hope to see you there.
February 26, 2010
Los Angeles Loves...
TIMONIUM
SUMMER DARLING
SILIAN RAIL
POWERDOVE
pehrspace
325 Glendale Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026 | Map
$5 / 9pm / All Ages
Facebook Invite
Timonium - "Self Evidence" (MP3)
Summer Darling - "Open Grave" (MP3)
Silian Rail - "... Or the Northern Lights" (MP3)
Monday, February 22, 2010
This last week of February already marks a close to month two of 2010. It's been a very busy one and this past weekend's events were no exception.
The highlight for us had to be Seth and Ed's Puppet Talk Show with special guests Paul F. Tompkins and Garfunkel & Oates. The first thing we did after hearing PFT's "Go Ask Alice" bit was of course see if there was a band called Freak Wharf, which of course, there is (sort of). Garfunkel & Oates (a sort of updated version Girls Guitar Club, but cuter) sang a few musical bits, including their classic rendition of "This Party Took a Turn for the Douche," which looks and sounds much better live than on that one video given their hot new choregraphy. And Rob Huebel, no longer being labeled as the Human Giant guy Sarah Silverman dated after Jimmel Kimmel (mainly because they're no longer dating), was sharper than we've ever seen him, railing off one zinger after another. Makes us almost forgive him for stealing Holly Flax from Michael Scott. Almost.
Hm, what else... Mirah came to town on Sunday with a show at the Bootleg. We normally wouldn't have gone to a show that high profile but we felt it a nostalgic nod to some ten years ago when she played at The Lab, which we do believe was her first L.A. show (she might have played Koo's before that though). The Lab, by the way, was a venue The Fold used to book that we do remember as being the first place Mates of State played in town. Anyway, we hadn't seen her since then so we barely recognized her. Her songs are so much more mature and sophisticated these days (she's got Kane Mathis on oud and kora for the love of gosh) so it wasn't a surprise to see such a KCRW-listening/Grey's Anatomy-watching crowd last night. We miss the girlie-folk from back then but this wasn't too bad either.
Oh yeah, for the 8 million or so people in the Northwest United States that don't read this blog, The Parson Red Heads have been camping up there for the whole month and we haven't heard a peep about it. They've played nearly every other day for 21 days and all we get is this one video? Don't make us doubleyouteeeff you because we will. Get out there in that cold, rainy weather you love and RSS that ish.
Ok, so we'll cut this short because this post is already entirely too long (that's what she... nevermind). But go see Castledoor tonight if you need a good cry.
Happy birthdays this week to John Doe, Sarah Negahdari (The Happy Hollows), Meiko, Josiah Mazzaschi (Light FM), Hunter Curra (Walking Sleep Tourbillon Orchestra), and probably a lot of other people.
Pictured above is Big Whup last Saturday at the latest of great new spaces that have opened up in Highland Park/Eagle Rock, Sea and Space.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Lots of fun shows happened this past week, all of which perhaps culminating with the great lineup at The Smell last night. Traps, Ps (pictured above and who some speculate might have played their last show?), Rare Grooves, and Black Elephant are just the type of bands The Happy Hollows should be playing with all the time and they seemed to feel right at home playing their first show at The Smell with members of VOICEsVOICEs, Moses Campbell, and other regulars looking on. Also, congrats to Dios on their record release show on Tuesday (buy it here) and the welcome return of The Sweet Hurt to the stage earlier that night (playing new songs off her forthcoming record) at the Bootleg. Also, raves to the David Scott Stone-curated New Music Mondays at Echo Curio with Josh Klinghoffer and Black Church (who we finally got for a show at pehrspace on 3/6). Good week.
Tonight, listen up for Meho Plaza on Demolisten. Later, Randy Newman at Royce Hall. Broken Bells at the Bootleg. Honneycombs celebrates the release of their self-titled debut at the Hotel Cafe. Old Toy Trains, Jubilee Singers, and others at pehrspace. Radars To The Sky, One Trick Pony, The Hectors, and Rademacher at Echoplex. The Blasters, John Doe, and Rumble King at Brixton. Fitz & The Tantrums and Pop Noir at The Echo. Jon Brion at g'net. The Damselles, Insect Surfers, and Reigning Monarchs at Casey's.All Leather, Tera Melos, F'N A!, Wet Dreams at The Smell. Intronaut, Ancestors, Black Math Horseman, and others at Spaceland. Pearl Harbor opens for Smith Westerns and Harlem at Madame Wong's. Ainjel Emme and others at Genghis Cohen. C-Horse, Rocking Horse People, The Lonesome Heroes, and The Terrapin at Echo Curio. Gossip Tree, Clark 8, Tubby Boots, and Collisions at McWorld. howardAmb, Vaginals, Farraday Trippers, and Sleepwalkers Local at Sync. The Damned at the House of Blues. Nettie Rose opens for Asylum Street Spankers at Molly Malone's. Susan James and Anny Celsi at Cinema Bar.
Saturday, Mooey Moobau celebrates the release of their new record Live Bloody Live with Restavrant and Headlight at HM157. Bobot Adrenaline celebrates the release of their new record Dumb Bomb at Alex's Bar with The Gears. The Entrance Band, Lights, and Pocahaunted at the Bootleg. Gold Ether (VOICEsVOICEs) at Origami. Amy Lacour, Elliott Lawrence, Nicole Vaughn, and Eddie Joe at Viento Y Agua. Fetus Eaters, Destroyed in Seconds, Downspell, and others at The Blvd. Peanut Butter Wolf and Computer Jay together again at Freak City. Chuck Dukowski Sextet, Insects vs. Robots, and others at Echo Curio. "Make It Better: An Evening of Comedy Benefiting a Better LA" at Nokia Theatre. Sarah Bettens and Meiko at the Hotel Cafe. Actually Huizenga, Big Whup, Emily Lacy, Lola Loshkey at SSE. "Awakening" at the Hollywood Palladium with ATB and Infected Mushroom. Harlem, Hands Below, and Dante vs Zombies at Spaceland. The Health Club, Bastidas, Peg Leg Love, and The Crystelles at TBD (moved from L'KEG). Wavves, Best Coast, and The Franks at Mishka opening at the Echoplex. Wet & Reckless, Cosio, The 1921A, and Wild Yaks at Redwood. Fancy Space People, Saccharine Trust, and Residual Echoes.
Sunday, Rachael Cantu and Morgan Nagler open for Mirah at the Bootleg. Taylor Locke & the Roughs and The World Record open for Sloan at King King. Gina Villalobos and Matthew Ryan at Molly Malone's. Kicking Skunk, David Lee Paulson, and Birds Beware at Echo Curio. Lemon Sun, Maren Parusel, and The Secret 6 at Alex's Bar. T. Mills, Dev & the Cataracs, Barron Von Luxxury, and Jamison at Spaceland. White Lung, Nu Sensae, Friendly Neighbors, and NASA Space Universe at The Smell. Zombelle cassette release, White Widow, 60-Watt Kid, and E&E at Show Cave.
Happy birthdays this weekend go out to the genius that is Vaginal Davis, Barbara Gruska, Cory Kennedy, and Chris Joyner.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Nice weekend. Fun shows. More ahead...
Tonight, we'll be out checking up on the residencies again (if you haven't seen Useless Keys pummel The Echo this month, you really need to). Elsewhere, Ruby Friedman Orchestra, Sally Jaye, Melineh Kurdian, and others at the Hotel Cafe. Teddy Thompson at g'net's Little Room. Foot Ox, French Quarter, Kevin Greenspon, and W.H.I.T.E. at pehrspace. Malaikat Dan Singa, Emily Lacy, and Woah Hunx at L'KEG. Peter Weiss, Josh Klinghoffer, and Black Church at Echo Curio... Dios celebrates the release of their new record We Are Dios at the Troubadour with The Henry Clay People and Signals. Rickie Lee Jones at the Vista. Right the Stars celebrates the release of their self-titled new record at the Hotel Cafe. Comedy Death-Ray at UCBT. Funny or Die at g'net. Los Lonely Boys, Alejandro Escovedo, and Carrie Rodriguez at The Wiltern. Big Whup, Royalchord, and Cheese on Bread at Echo Curio. Our friends Ollin, Las Cafetera, Mentiras, and Upground at Echoplex. Pearl Harbor and Dunes open the Magic Kids show at The Echo. And don't forget the Tuesday residencies. Also, catch a rare performance from Sade on Jimmy Kimmel later... Wednesday, The Watson Twins, Deep Sea Diver, and Daisy McCrakin at the Bootleg. Best Coast and Avi Buffalo open for Cold Cave and Smith Westerns at The Glass House. Sarah Silverman at g'net. Austin Hartley Leonard, Caitlin Crosby, Matt Hires, and others at the Hotel Cafe. Lucy Schwartz and Asia Whiteacre at The Mint. Chris Shiflett, Audra Mae, and Steve Soto at Alex's Bar. Family of the Year at Mountain Bar. Last American Buffalo, The Hereafter, and Irna T and the Harlots at Three Clubs. The Victorians, Heavywater, and others at The Prospector. Mason Reed, Diving Bells, Joshua Norton, and Under the Asbury at SLL... Thursday, Imaad Wasif continues his Spaceland residency with Lou Barlow & The Missing Men and Avi Buffalo. The Happy Hollows, Traps, Ps, Rare Grooves, and Black Elephant at The Smell. Brother Sal, Pete Bernhard, Kenneth Pattengale, and others at the Hotel Cafe. Faster Pussycat at the Key Club. Meshell Ndegeocello at g'net. Sierra Swan, Ghost, and The Strange Familiar at The Viper Room. Tyler Hilton, Terra Naomi, and King Washington at Molly Malone's Chris Shiflett and Audra Mae at LaBrie's. Best Coast opens for Cold Cave at Echoplex. Crooked Cowboy, Cairo Gang, Johnny O’Donnel, and John Webster Johns at The Echo. Gestapo Khazi, Bare Wires, Dead Ghosts, Indian Wars at Redwood. Mother Turf, The Boy, and Tubby Boots at L'KEG. Olin and the Moon, Wartime Blues, and La Font at T's. See Green, Ives the Band, and Audrey Ryan at SLL. Shoenberg Knife Fight Ensemble releases a new record at Echo Curio. The Soft Hands and Bella Novela kick off their tour at The Prospector. And Wild Pack of Canaries, Dirt Dress, and The Mystery Lights at Alex's.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Lookie here, we've got a long Valentine's Day slash President's Day weekend. Not sure what you do with a combo holiday weekend like this other the obvious of making out to the music of Abe Lincoln Story or Andrew Jackson Jihad or something. Just going to the shows below might work too...
Tonight, listen up for Nicole Kidman on Demolisten. Later, check out the debut of Shadow Shadow Shade at Spaceland. Miss Derringer at the Troubadour. The Idyllists celebrate the release of their new record self-titled record at the Hotel Cafe. Pit Er Pat and The Pity Party open for Chicago Underground Duo at the Bootleg. The Monolators play The Smell for the first time ever. Tom Brosseau, Dorian Wood, and others at 2023. Pocahaunted, Moon Duo, and others at Sync. The Charlyne Yi Show at UCBT. Richie Lawrence celebrates a new record with I See Hawks in L.A. at Cinema Bar. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Live/Family Guy Live "A Special Benefit for Haiti" at the Gibson. Sierra Swan, Carina Round, Samuel Stewart, Wildlife and pehrspace. Meshell Ndegeocello at g'net. Pearl Harbor shows off their new lineup at 1520. The Crystal Method at Control. The Damselles continue their residency at Casey's. Dog, The Crystelles, Actuary, Geronimo, and Sissister at Echo Curio. "These Friends" opening reception at THIS. Or stay in and watch The Soft Pack on Letterman.
Saturday, Social Science's Lonely Hearts Club with Obi Best, Sunny War, Soko, Correatown, and others at Social Science Loft. Sea Wolf opens for The Album Leaf at the El Rey. "Get Your Heart On" with Kool Keith at The Church. Blue Jungle, Bestial Mouths, Dva Damas, and Cobalt Cranes at L'KEG. Daniel Lanois' Black Dub at Spaceland. West Indian Girl and Pollyn at the Bootleg. Lucent L'amour with N.A.S.A., Bassnectar and others at the Shrine. Foxtails Brigade, The Karabal Nightlife, Devotionals, and others at Echo Curio. Jesus Makes the Shotgun Sound, LANTVRN, and Black Church at 2HeadedHorse. LACO$TE, Repetitions, I.E., and Essay at The Smell. "Truth: A Kill Souless Bullshit Happening" at Family. Peg Leg love and others at Silver Factory Studios. And The Mau Mau's reunite at the Redwood.
Sunday, Dengue Fever and Buddy play for the kids at The Echo in the afternoon. Daniel Lanois' Black Dub at Spaceland. Janet Klein & Her Parlor Boys at the Coffee Gallery Backstage. Spider Problem and Thunder From Heaven at Cinespace. The Meek, Weekend, and Young Prisms at PTP. John Wiese, Lasse Marhaug, Joe & Joe, and Seven Depressions at The Smell. Normandie, Night Horse, and Yours Til Death at Viper.
Happy birthdays this weekend go out to Meredith Meyer, Henry Rollins, and our ex-girlfriends Christina Ricci, Mena Suvari, Kelly Hu, Feist, and Lisa Hannigan.
Pictured above is BIRTH! and Realicide at pehrspace on Monday getting it on just in time for Valentine's Day. Get BIRTH!'s new record I Will out now on Realicide Youth Records.
Thanks to everyone who came out on Wednesday to The Echo for Pizza!, Cobra Lilies, Superhumanoids, and Findlay Brown. Special raves go out to Cobra Lilies for all the hard work in preparing all the Valentine treats for everybody and for just being so nice in asking us to present the show. Those Lilies certainly know how to host a party. I wonder if they cater? Hmm, anyway, the bands were quite good that night and if you were there you already know all that we are about to write...
We asked Findlay Brown if it would be alright to call him "Finney B." and he almost beat the ish out of us (he's like 200 feet tall). All kidding aside, the guy is pretty polished and well-managed, almost like he's played in front of a couple million people on national television or something. And we hate when music critics use lovechild references, but the guy really might be the only evidence we have of a Roy Orbison/kd lang one night stand and we should cherish that. But, yeah, he was pretty impressive.
Cobra Lilies did a cover of Midnight Star's "Operator" which could be the highlight of highlights to all their rollerskating shenanigans. Considering the theme of the show, however, we were surprised they did not play "There's Always Love," a hit song of theirs they should play anytime we are present regardless of the holiday. Unfortunately, our pleading request for them to cover The Aquabats' "Lovers of Loving Love" has not come yet but fingers crossed!
Pizza! might have played the best set we've ever seen them do. Songs that might have sounded disjointed or incomplete a year or two ago now sound like something you might hear on an iPhone commercial. And, let's be honest, it would really take an act of God or hearing the melody of "Houses" to get us to buy a product that came from a company called Apple. In any case, after their set we overheard some ladies presumably getting in the Valentine spirit by exclaiming how "hot" Pizza! were and how much they'd "like to order a slice of THAT, no toppings" to which we interjected "well, if you'd like a slice of meat lover's we got that right here for you," which they responded "we're vegetarian, you perv!" And that pretty much ended our chances of dating any of the lady Cobra Lilies.
No matter, we were quickly consoled by the sweet synth pop of Superhumanoids whose rest of 2010 quickly flashed before our eyes as we watched them:
- March: Release new EP
- April: Receive rave reviews by popular music blog/zines
- May: Get a Monday residency
- June: Slum it at another la-underground show
- July: Start work on a full-length record
- August: Send advance demos of new record to la-underground for preview
- September: Release full-length record to glowing reviews
- October: Finally answer that email from la-underground asking if Sarah is single
- November: Get another Monday residency
- December: Appear on "Best of 2009" and "Bands to Look Out for 2011" lists
Not necessarily in that order but if they can get to #8 sooner than later that would nice of them.
Videos of the show coming soon but check out photos below:
Thanks for coming out y'all. Our next show is 2/26 at pehrspace with Timonium, Summer Darling, Silian Rail, and powerdove. Pencil it in.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Damn, girl, I got all these things I've been wanting to tell you but life just keeps getting in the way and ish. Like what's up with all this rain and double rainbows foolishness? That kind of magic just don't make no sense. Kinda like my love for you, holla. Anywayz, what's up with you? We still going to The Echo tonight? They got patio benches in the back, you know whatamsayin...
We know this little valentine note won't be enough to get the one or two of our three readers out tonight but in case you're wondering what's actually happening at The Echo this lovely evening...
The frolicy, fun folk family known as the Cobra Lilies asked us to present tonight's show at The Echo and when have we ever said no to them? The once humble little folk duo has bloomed into a Darlingtonia cacophonia of goofy loveliness. And somehow amidst all of their onstage folly they managed to release the hugely underrated vinyl EP "In the Key of Bicycle Bell," one of our favorites of 2009. Along with them on this night they have invited our favorite food group Pizza! who recently released Bogus Rim Shots from the Fourth, a massive collection of all their hits, on Manimal Vinyl (get it here). We thought we had never heard of Londoner Findlay Brown until it was brought to our attention he was the voice behind this commercial and that one guy who just played Letterman. So he's famous and junk. Get there early to see him. Lastly, with the first pick of the 2010 draft la-underground selected Superhumanoids. Yes, we named Superhumanoids one of our Top 10 bands to look out this year and lucky us we got them on this lineup. Their Eno-influenced synth pop has been creating quite a stir lately -- according to recent absurdly-packed shows at Echo Curio, L'KEG, and El Cid. They also might be reason #203 why The Pains of Being Pure at Heart is one of the most overrated bands on the planet. In any case, they'll be batting cleanup tonight so be sure to stick around for them.
Cobra Lilies have deemed this a pre-Valentine's Day party of sorts. We don't know exactly what that means other than the usual makeout sesh we usually have with them so prepare for tons of slow dancing, holding hands, and closed-mouth kissing (but still with tongue, of course).
February 10, 2010
Los Angeles Loves...
PIZZA!
COBRA LILIES
SUPERHUMANOIDS
FINDLAY BROWN
The Echo
1822 W. Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90026 | Map
18+ / $5 / 9pm
Facebook Event Invite
Pizza! - "Gay Hotel California" (MP3)
Cobra Lilies - "There's Always Love" (MP3)
Superhumanoids - "Cranial Contest" (MP3)
Findlay Brown - "Losing The Will To Survive" (MP3)
Monday, February 08, 2010
Monday residencies continue. Elsewhere, Spirit Animal and All Wrong and The Plans Change at the Roxy. BIRTH! celebrates the release of I Will at Carnage Mondays with friends Realicide, TEARIST, and Former Ghosts. Ohioan, Ah Holly Fam’ly, M. Geddes Gengras, Bow+Arrow, and others at Sync. Spring Queen and Hold Your Horses at Crane's. Laura Jansen at the Hotel Cafe. In the round at Room 5 with Joel Eckels, Sally Jaye, Brother Sal, Jamie Drake, and others. Lauren Shera and Drew Schwartz at Dakota... Tuesday, listen up for Wild Beasts on Morning Becomes Eclectic. Mia, Ferraby, and Jamie continue their respective residencies. Loudon Wainwright III at g'net. Jay Nash, Katie Costello, Nikki Jean, and others at the Hotel Cafe. Lucy Schwartz, Letron, and Jennifer Singer at Saint Rocke. Katie Cole and Elizabeth Nicole at ACL. SoKo and Findlay Brown open for Nouvelle Vague at the Music Box. Zsuzsanna, Greg Holden, and Chloe Temtchine at Room 5. Red Tide, River Avenue, and Flying Machine at El Cid. Sinden at Arena. Shakey Graves, Cave Country, and Hod Hulphers at Echo Curio. Venus Infers, Matt Kolar and the Angry Mob, and Brown and Blu at The Prospector... We're presenting a fun night at The Echo on Wednesday. Hope you can come. Earlier, listen up for St. Vincent on MBE. Nocando celebrates the release of his new record Jimmy the Lock at LET with Dntel and King Cannibal. Golden State, The Hundred Days, Taxi Doll, and others at Viper. Austin Hartley Leonard, Joey Degraw, Lindsay Ray, Anne Heaton, and others at the Hotel Cafe... Thursday, February's edition of Downtown Art Walk should be fun. Elsewhere, Big Phony celebrates the release of his new record Kicking Punching Bags at the Hotel Cafe. The Binges, Dinner At The Thompson's, 8mm,and others at Viper. Paperplanes, Two Guns, and Cowboy and Indian at The Prospector. Body Parts, Alina Cutrono, Micah James, and Deathday Party at Echo Curio. Captains, Venus Bogardus, Bullied By Strings, and Dreamers at the Silverlake Lounge. Death Hymn Number 9, Dante Vs. Zombies, and The Living Sickness at Alex's. Death Hymn Number 9, Aftergloam, Stab City, and Manhattan Murder Mystery at L'KEG. Imaad Wasif, Becky Stark, and Voice on Tape at Spaceland. Michael Nhat, Big Whup, No Paws (No Lions), and Pangea at The Smell. Paperplanes, Two Guns, and Cowboy and Indian at The Prospector. Venus Infers, Model K, Atlantic Line, La Vie, and adamandevil at ACL. And The Romany Rye and Line and Circle open for Alec Ounsworth at the Bootleg.
Birthdays this week: Vince Neil, Creed Bratton (The Lampshades), Fred Kiko, and Sheryl Crow.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Listen up for those crazy kids Vulture on Demolisten tonight then see them play Women afterwards. Later, Daedelus, Nosaj Thing, and Jogger at Echoplex. Catherine Feeny is back in town playing a show with Common Rotation, Mia Maestro, and others at the Hotel Cafe. "The Sexy Show" opening reception at Echo Curio with a performance by Land of Ill Earthquakes. Our old friends Anvil return to L.A. with a show at the House of Blues. Leslie and The Badgers open for Rhett Miller at the Troob. Warpaint and Yeasayer at the NHM. "Live At The Smell: Volume 2" taping with Pocahaunted, Lucky Dragons, David Scott Stone, and TEARIST. Chapin Sisters and Sands at Sync. Emily Wells at g'net. Hellen Stellar, Wet & Reckless, Shiloe, and Dirt Bird at Spaceland. Nodzzz, Cowabunga Babes, and Animal Style at Dig In. The Damselles, Les Blanks, and Jack Wilson, Jr. at Casey's. The French Semester, Torches in Trees, and Collisions at L'KEG. Traps, ps, Allah Las, Rare Grooves, Dirt Dress at pehrspace. Best Coast opens for Vivian Girls at Detroit. And Demetri Martin back at UCBT.
Saturday, They Might Be Giants has a couple of shows at g'net (also Sunday). Beth Thornley celebrates the release of her new record "Wash You Clean" at the Hotel Cafe. Vivian Girls, Best Coast, Dunes, and Animal Style. Hepcat, Dengue Fever, Joey Altruda, The Lions, Very Be Careful, and The Tuffingtons play for Haiti at the El Rey. Peg Leg Love, Zing-A-Ling-A-Ding, and Modest Fur at the Legion. HOWARDamb, Missincinatti, Kandyce and the Killdozer, Bobb Bruno at Echo Curio. Ing, Detangler, Josh Ottum, Rats, and Learning Music at pehrspace. Animals on Coke, Tidemouth, Vulture Goner, Warwhore at 2920. Maraca Mouths, My Name is Dalloway, ¡Socorro!, and Cat 500 at L'KEG. Mere Mortals and Repeater at Boardner's. Animals on Coke, Teeth, The Body Parts, and Benoit at Silver Factory. And L.A. Tech: A Chinese New Year Celebration at AREA 33.
Sunday, No Age, Vivian Girls, Darker My Love, Abe Vigoda, Best Coast, NODZZZ, Cowabunga Babes, Wounded Lion, Graham Forest, Ale Mania, Animal Style, and others do a cancer benefit show at The Strange. Isaac Simons, Kate Micucci, Chris Valenti, Shakti, and others at the Hotel Cafe. The always-fantastic California Guitar Trio at McCabe's. Cue the Moon and others at Dakota. Justin Clayton returns to the stage at the Bootleg. BIRTH! and Realicide back again, this time at Records Ad Nauseam. Le Face and The Franks do PTP. And more DVD taping action with Devon Williams, Moses Campbell, PROTECTME, and Rare Grooves.
Pictured above is Austin's The Anchor who are touring the U.S. promoting their new self-titled A.D.D. debut and made stop at Mr. T's Bowl on Wednesday. Perhaps the most significant part of that sentence is that we were at Mr. T's Bowl -- the first time in many months. The place has changed a bit more, adding more lounge space stage right, and even for a night of all-punk bands the sound was really good. Arlo told us that it sometimes takes being away from the club to realize that it's always sounded good, but he's also a crazy ol' man. In any case, we may have to set up another show there now. Who wants to play?
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Woh, look at this, a Wednesday update thing. A rarity.
We stopped by a couple of the three hundred residencies happening this month and we can safely say once again that Los Angeles is the luckiest city on the planet. Not only did we get a not-so-surprising surprise show by Warpaint on Monday at The Echo following a fantastic performance by this month's resident Useless Keys (pictured above), but we get to have to choose between Mia Doi Todd and Ferraby Lionheart on Tuesdays at Spaceland and the Bootleg, respectively. And we haven't even got to Thursdays with Imaad Wasif yet. Oh, woe is us.
We also dropped by Demetri Martin's intimate show at UCBT where he was trying out new material for his Comedy Central show "Important Things" (season 2 premieres tomorrow). The best jokes of the night (spoiler alert) came during his list of breakup lines accompanied, of course, by the three guitar chords he knows. Best breakup line of the night: "Are you being followed? Because I've been seeing people behind your back." Oh, Demetri, you funny. See him tonight on Kimmel or if you lineup early on Friday you might be able to get in standby for the second of these sold-out "test audience" shows.
We've been making it a point to try and make it out to more theatre, comedy theatre, dance, performance art, and art/photo shows to balance out the music, which like anything, can get quite tedious. Two major art show highlights in January were Alex Prager's opening last weekend and the "He-Man Tribute" over at 1988. The line for the "He-Man" opening stretched several blocks down Melrose, indicating we weren't the only ones who aspired to be amongst the Masters of the Universe one day. See highlights here... On the theatre front, Joanna Murray-Smith's "The Female of the Species" debuts tonight at the Geffen Playhouse. It stars Annette Bening as the sharp-tongued feminist writer Margot Mason and a great cast that includes David Arquette, Merritt Wever, Julian Sands, and Mireille Enos who admittedly was the actor that drew us to this play (mainly because she's married to Alan Ruck who of course played Cameron in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," one of the greatest movies of all time.) "The Female of the Species" runs through 3/14. Purchase tickets here.
And since we can't resist the chance of having three forms of woh/woe/woah in this post, our beloved Woah Hunx plays with two fun PDX bands Rob Walmart and White Fang tomorrow at Dig In. Like whoa. Make that four.
Chuck Dukowski, Mimi Starr, Kyle Mabson, Kimberly Wyatt, and our ex-wife Sherilyn Fenn celebrate birthdays this week. Hug them if you see them around town.
Monday, February 01, 2010
We know you've been waiting all year for February and so here we go...
Residencies this month include: Mia Doi Todd, Ferraby Lionheart, Useless Keys, Meshell Ndegeocello, Gamble House, Red Arrow Messenger, Roll the Tanks, Jamie Drake, Jes Hudak, The Damselles, King Washington, Magnolia Memoir...
Record release shows include: Dave Rawlings, Nocando, Butch Walker, Astra Heights, The Idyllists, Beth Thornley, Big Phony, Jason Karaban, Right the Stars, Honneycomb, Jennifer Quiroz, Hot Streets, Josh Charles, FeelGood, Neverwonder...
Big events: Joni Mitchell's "The Fiddle and The Drum" by the Alberta Ballet at Royce Hall, "Stand with Haiti" benefit with Tenacious D and friends, First Fridays at the Natural History Museum, "The Female of the Species" at the Geffen Playhouse, Neil Gaiman at Royce Hall, Haiti Relief concert with Hepcat, Lucent L'amour, Dengue Fever and others at the El Rey, Songs for Haiti at g'net, No Cancer benefit, Benefit for Haiti with Tim Kasher and Craig Wedren, Dirty Projectors with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia Live/Family Guy Live "A Special Benefit for Haiti" at the Gibson, Saint Motel's 2nd Annual Zombie Prom, "Make It Better: An Evening of Comedy Benefiting a Better LA" at the Nokia Theatre, Awakening at the Palladium, and Paleyfest 2010....
And we're presenting two shows this month at The Echo on 2/10 and at pehrspace on 2/26.
