My list of local bands I'm listening to in the month of June at intraffik.com. There are some cool videos featuring The Dollyrots, Action Design and Lauren Zettler.

Dizzy Balloon at the Viper Room

Off to the Viper Room I went to catch my friends in The Shakers. Their set started at 8 p.m. A really early start time. Of course, there were six bands or so playing. I have to say that their sets are getting tighter.





I didn't stay for all six bands. I did catch one band; however, that I figured I'd highlight, Dizzy Balloon. This band came down from Oakland. They're a band that I initially wasn't blown away by, but as their set progressed I got more into it. An interesting story was told by the lead singer, "I was on Southwest Airlines, heading to Oakland. I sat by a lawyer and a young lady. I asked the guy what he did. He told me he was a lawyer. I told him I was in a band. He said that that was cool and that I was young. The young lady then asked me, 'You said you're in a band, what band?' I said, 'We're a small band, you probably heard of us. My band's name is Dizzy Balloon.' She replied, 'My friend just gave me your CD!!!' That was just a cool thing to happen and she's in the audience tonight." She was indeed, dancing her heart away

This one's for you Melody G: Switchfoot

A number of us left on a rented bus from Glendale at around 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday. Our destination was the Switchfoot Bro Am at Encinitas. I fell asleep around City of Commerce and the next thing I noticed we were in Encinitas.

When we got to the beach we started to set up our tent. We got into an argument with someone who had a tent nearby and decided to take our tent elsewhere. We actually found a better location.

Soon afterwards, the music started. Some of the bands I'd like to highlight are:

The Howls rocked the beach.



Everyone in The New Archaic are under twenty-one. They were energetic to the core.



Tristan Prettyman had a laugh at the beginning of her set. She was introduced as having just come off of a world tour. From what I could figure out by listening to her comments, she was actually just taking a vacation in Bali and ended up doing a couple sets there. However, she is going on tour in England so I guess her world tour is upcoming.


After Tristan Prettyman, Switchfoot came onstage. I read a twitter feed that said there were about 8,000 people there. I was probably twelve rows back from the stage so it is hard for me to verify that number -- not that I'm good at estimating those things. It was crowded as can be seen by the below photo.




As the sound check started, I remember a friend of mine saying how he liked sound checks done behind a curtain. He felt it created an atmosphere of mystery. I disagreed, saying I liked seeing it done out in the open. I still have to disagree. It wasn't Switchfoot doing the sound checks. Others were doing it. I just loved seeing them setting and checking everything.

The crowd was really pumped to see Switchfoot. They did a ten song set. The list is below:

Stars
Oh! Gravity
Gone
This is Your Life
Mess with Me
Bullet Soul
Awakening
Meant to Live
Dare You to Move
I Won't Back Down (cover)

I have to admit I'm not the biggest Switchfoot fan. I've obviously heard of Switchfoot. That said, it was an enjoyable set. It was sort of a greatest hits set, which is great for someone like me who basically knows Switchfoot via their radio hits.







They introduced a new song called "Bullet Soul," which I'll assume will be on their new record. I'll say it was rather good.

Interesting side: their lead singer, Jon, had fun taking various items from the audience: hats, glasses, cameras. He'd wear the hats and glasses for awhile. He also grabbed a couple cameras, taking photos of the audience.

I believe for three songs, they had some guest musicians. A saxophone player played on two songs. The lead singer from The Howls and another guy played on the cover song along with the saxophone player.

There were some artists doing some painting to the side of the stage.

















Over-all, a great time. I also slept a significant amount of the time as we headed back to Glendale. Me and sleep.

Chase Freedom Visa Credit Card

My Chase Freedom Visa credit card terms got changed for the worse recently. If you are unfamiliar with the Chase Freedom credit care, it is a rewards based credit card. Before the terms changed, the rewards were very generous.



Here's what was so cool about my Chase Freedom Visa credit card:



1. I earned 1% cash back on all purchases.

2. I earned triple cash back rewards on specific spending categories such as food purchases.

3. After earning $200, I could cash it in and get $250.



I recently got a letter from Chase that highlights the changes.



First they start off with the good news: Earn 1% cash back every day, everywhere, on all purchases with no caps or expiration dates.



My comment: No caps or expiration dates, that sounds good.



Then comes the bad news: The triple cash back rewards you earn on Everyday spending categories will no longer be available. However, there will be opportunities to earn 3% cash back in new spending categories throughout the year.



My comment: The new opportunities will probably be something like -- if you buy a new Canon camera in the next week, we'll give you 3% cash back. I'm betting these opportunities will have some random purchase attached that very few people will use.



Then even more bad news (cushioned with some good news): Continue to redeem for checks, which now start at $50. Note: The $50 bonus when redeeming $200 in Cash Back Rewards will no longer be available after June 30th.



All good things come to an end eventually.

Gas Station

Static electricity can result in accidents at a gas station?

The Shakers on Intraffik.com

A new column is up on Intraffik.com. This one about The Shakers. Go read it. It is awesome. I promise.

Local Natives and Castledoor at Spaceland

Monday night at Spaceland. I have certain music addictions when it comes to the local music scene. There’s the addiction to The Mulhollands and Automatic Music Explosion. You may as well toss in IO Echo and Great Northern. I'll stop there less I bore you with a long list of bands.

I’ve recently developed a new addiction and they’re called Local Natives. I first came across Local Natives during their Silverlake Lounge residency based on the advice of a friend. From the start, I was enthralled with their vocal harmonies and great melodies. Even though I loved their sound, I didn't catch another one of their sets until this week at Spaceland. For some reason, I randomly decided to check out the Spaceland calendar and realized that they were playing along side the Monday night residency band, Castledoor. For sure, I was going.

A comment I often get when I start talking to folks about Local Natives: Isn't that a bit redundant, Local Natives. I can't deny it, but then I don't really have an answer.

About the Local Natives set. I must say I loved it. I convinced three friends to come along and they also seemed to enjoy it -- though perhaps they were just being nice towards my feelings. The one disappointment was that they didn't have their violinist along. The violinist just adds a bit extra. I was told that for their August residency they expect to have the violinist return on occasion. There was a nice fan base lined up along the stage. The fans danced like crazies.

It was a steam room in Spaceland. I’ve been to Spaceland enough to know that it gets hot inside, but that night seemed specifically heated.

Castledoor. Castledoor has an interesting two keyboard set-up. This was the first time I’d seen them perform. I got more and more into the set as it progressed.

Star Trek: Movie Review

This movie is a good re-boot of the Star Trek franchise.

Spoilers from this point forward.

I did have some issues with this movie. First off, there is a massive Romulan vessel that appears at the start of the movie. I was thinking perhaps this was a massive attack vessel. You later learn that it is just a mining ship. Hmm. A mining ship taking out a military vessel? I'm not so sure about that even if the mining ship is equipped with space guns and comes from the future. And then when the Federation is out to save Vulcan, this one mining ship is able to destroy a number of military ships. Please.

Second, now a days I'm not so into time travel as a source for a storyline. I know that Lost (tv show) is dealing with time travel, as well, and I had issues with this past Lost season. I just find it all too confusing. In the case of Star Trek, I admit it helps with the whole re-boot situation. It gives everything a fresh start. There is no longer any need to stick to specific storylines laid out by the various movies, television shows and books. (This is obviously the issue with writing books for Star Wars as mentioned by Kevin J. Anderson -- who I wrote in a previous blog on the LA Times Festival of Books.) Obviously, you still have the Romulans, Vulcans and Klingons and such. And perhaps similar missions are still taken, but there is no worry in the Star Trek universe to keep to the previous anthology of work. I do understand the burden that keeping to the anthology places, but I also tend to dislike time travel movies (though I admit Star Trek IV is my favorite movie -- which destroys my whole argument, but perhaps I found Star Trek IV fun due to the amusing take on how people from the future would view life in the current.)

Third thing I didn't like about the movie, I didn't get the whole drill thing. Maybe I missed something, but why couldn't the Vulcans have sent out some fighters to take out this drill on their own (this might show my lack of Star Trek knowledge as perhaps the Vulcans do not have a military, but you would think they'd have something). And when the vessel came to San Francisco to start mining, why did Earth have no fighter jets up in the air to try and take this thing out instead of waiting until Spock (I think it was Spock) took the drill out.

Okay, so those are my issues, but then I have issues with most movies. The movie Taken, I believe, takes even more liberties with its storyline. Essentially, I'm just trying to poke holes into the movie. Over-all, though, it was just a fun ride. I guess I'm being negative, because even though I don't consider myself a Trekkie, I still am somewhat invested in the series.

mewithoutYou at the El Rey

I'm always giving suggestions to certain friends about local Los Angeles bands. Recently, one of those friends said, "There's this band called mewithoutYou that is coming to Los Angeles. I'd really like to check them out. Let me know if you're interested."

Of course, I was interested. I'm always up to seeing new bands -- unless they're some death metal band or the like.

First off, the tickets were sold via Ticketmaster. It was interesting how the tickets were $13, but doubled with all the added fees that Ticketmaster applies. Oh well, that is life.

Three of us headed off to the El Rey. We got there around 7:30 p.m. There was already a decent line outside the El Rey. I had to stand in the will call line while my friends stood in the ticket line. I kind of got irritated, because the venue wasn't allowing anyone to pick up their tickets. I was sort of thinking it wasn't all that fair if people that came by at 8:00 p.m. (let's say), but had tickets in hand got to go inside the venue before those having to stand in the will call line. Ah, in the end, that didn't happen. In fact, will call people were allowed inside the El Rey first. Actually, I'm not sure that is all that fair either. Of course, it isn't like there were 2,000 people waiting in line to get into a first come first serve spot so it only really mattered to the 30 or so folks who might have wanted to be right up against the stage. In fact, most of the early entry people took to the chairs that line the walls of the El Rey.

The doors opened up a little past 8 p.m. The first band, Bear Colony started at 9 p.m. -- probably on the dot, actually. I enjoyed their set. My friends weren't as convinced about them. (Funny, we thought they called themselves Bear Claw. We started making jokes that we just saw a donut and now we were going to see a movie.) The next band was Dear Hunter. By the end of their set, folks were demanding an encore. I think there was temporary thought on Dear Hunter's end to do an encore, but I think they were told that the night was a bit behind schedule. An interesting note on this band is that three of the musicians had keyboards -- now not all three would play the keyboards at the same time, two of the musicians also played the guitar. I think that note just shows how unique this band is.






When Dear Hunter finished their set, crowds started to squeeze towards the stage. People were obviously there to see mewithoutYou. When they went on stage the crowd went wild. During the set, it was fun just watching the crowd. Many were singing along. Others seemed in pure ecstasy. This being the first time seeing this band, I couldn't help but feel that mewithoutYou to a large extent was rock combined with the spoken word. I am pleased to say that when I looked up the band on wikipedia, that it was mentioned that the band is inspired by the spoken word. From watching, it seemed that they were having some technical difficulties during the set, but it didn't sound like it. An interesting note on the band is that it is a 6 piece band, but usually they played with five musicians -- two of the musicians rotating out depending on the song. Interesting note about the lead singer: he's a freegan -- people who eat discarded food from restaurants and grocery stores.

Over-all, a very enjoyable night. And when I walked out I couldn't help but notice that a favorite band, Spider Problem, is playing at the El Rey in the near future. Cheers to them.

Final note: The photos aren't the best. I was rather far back and with my camera I need to be within a few feet to get really good photos.

IO Echo on a Sprint Commercial

I'm a fan of IO Echo. I was at a theater recently and during the pre-show I saw the above commercial. "Wait," I said to myself, "that's IO Echo." Awesome for them. If you're interested in an intraffik article I wrote on them, check out the following link: intraffik.com.

Awful awful sports dream

Here's an awful dream I had a month or so ago.

The dream starts with the Pittsburgh Steelers playing the Cleveland Browns. I am watching the beginning of the game. I then need to leave for some reason. I come back to the television and learn that the Steelers lost the game. Next up: the Duke Blue Devils. They're playing some unknown team -- definitely not a Carolina or UCLA quality team. They're missing all their three point shots. Everything is missing. They get five or six chances at various three point shots, but nothing will go in. There are air balls, balls going off the backboard. Duke losses that one. Ouch. Then since I was watching the Duke game, I missed the LA Lakers game. So I go online to see what the score of that game was. A loss.

I woke up -- very depressed. For a few moments there, I didn't feel like going to work.

In reality: I had a really good sports year. Pittsburgh won the Super Bowl. And the LA Lakers just won the NBA Championship. Okay, so Duke didn't go as far as I'd hoped for in March Madness. Over-all though, when two of your three favorite teams reach the pinnacle, what can you complain about?

Los Angeles Lakers Parade!!!

A friend and I took the Red Line from Western and Hollywood. There was an e-mail question put out there regarding getting a $5 day pass. We didn't do it. At the ticket machine, a group of fellow fans were having a similar debate on getting a day pass. They were considering walking from the parade route to the Coliseum. They had a similar plan as I did, which ultimately failed.

We met up with some other friends around 23rd street. Below is the pre-parade crowd.



A couple Lakers flags. The high flying makes me think about an ancient military battle field where victors are hailed after a long fight.



The police were constantly going up and down Figueroa. From what I could see, people were well behaved -- except for one stupid move by a large group of people.



The first sign of the Lakers.



Here are the fire engines with the cheerleaders.



So those firemen are lucky, no?



Here we go.



Close up shot.



More closeup shots.



A very closeup shot of a cheerleader. I think she's looking directly at the camera don't you think? I quickly figured out that when I tried doing super closeup shots, the vehicles were moving way to quickly to capture a perfect shot.



The band.



The band again.



A final cheerleader.



Here come the players.



Gasol saying we're number one.



I think Kareem is looking directly at the camera.



Farmar talking to someone.



I think Kobe is looking directly at the camera, as well.



Kobe and family. And the mayor off to the side.



The crowd heading on an unfulfilled march towards the Coliseum.



Crossing an overpass. Fans were screaming. Cars were honking horns.



A car showing all out support.



Okay, here's where you have stupid people trying to walk onto the freeway. There should have been some police at this entrance. Oh well.



My view of the Coliseum.



I always thought these people only hung out at the AIDS Walk. Just kidding.



I think for the most part, the police were cool as well as the fans.



Hey, if you couldn't get into the Coliseum, why not catch what you can on the television.

This was an over-all great day even though I couldn't get into the Coliseum. I guess it was closed down by 10 a.m. The last times the Lakers won, I saw the parade on Figueroa and then just walked to the Staples Center and when everyone got settled there was still some space for additions fans. I guess this one was much more popular.

Interesting: Councilwoman Jan Perry was complaining about how the city had no money for a parade. The costs were covered by private donations and the LA Lakers. But when I was watching the Coliseum ceremony later in the day via DVR, I couldn't help but notice she was doing the pre-Lakers celebration warm-ups. Politicians do love the attention even if they have initial reservations about something.